Are you ready?

Like most of you, I’ve gone through the public school system and learned English, Math, Social Studies, Science, P.E. and conformity. That in itself wasn’t a bad thing during the industrial age when industry required many workers that demonstrated conformity and careful following of instructions. The work was monotonous, but people were able to earn a comfortable living mass-producing widgets. Thus the educational system was tailored to produce pre-programmed ‘cogs’ ready to follow a set of instructions input by management.

“Sit down, shut up and conform with the rules.”

As is with most large systems burdened by bureaucracy, our educational system has been slow to evolve and has fallen behind in understanding what is currently in demand by society. Unfortunately, the idea of conformity and ‘going with the flow’ has become a de facto rule in making a living for oneself. Parents encourage us to stay in school, graduate and find a stable, well paying job. Peers calculate your success depending on the size your employer.

Seth Godin challenges this idea in his new book ‘Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?‘ Are you only doing the things your boss tells you, following instructions and keeping below the radar? Then you’re easy to replace, just as a cog in a machine. In Linchpin, Godin instead challenges you to become indispensable, be generous and create ‘art’. The ‘art’ Godin refers to is ‘something that creates change in another’ and can be applied to anything from products to services to that sincere smile that brightens your day from the cashier at the local coffee shop. This form of ‘art’ requires creativity and boldness to take your work from the mundane to the edge of the box. (Outside of the box may not produce the results you’re looking for).

Godin also sheds light on ‘resistance’ created by the genes passed down by our ancestors. The same fear that helped our ancestors survive has gotten a grip on our best ideas and hampered us with fear. But this fear keeps us from taking risks, standing out, or doing remarkable things because it feels safe to stay put. Staying put means you do ordinary work, and that increases your risk of being replaced.

If you’ve ever felt that you have more to offer the world, something better, something worth talking about, get the inspiration you need by getting a hold of Linchpin. This book is for anyone doing indispensable work, wants to do indispensable work and people who need to do indispensable work. Go, get out there and become a Linchpin.

Posts by Seth Godin on:

- Making Art

- Quieting the Lizard Brain (Resistance)

Cognitive performance can be improved!

You’ve heard the hype: ‘supplements’ that boost brain performance, games that improve your IQ, toys for toddlers that’ll make them the next Mozart.  Although some companies may claim an extreme brain boost at an extreme price, the verdict is still out on if the products offer a real boost to brain performance apart from the placebo effect. Much to the delight of such product peddlers, the lack of concrete research doesn’t detract the people who are driven to gain any advantage they can in the race to achieve more.

Research and the Proven Way to Boost Cognitive Functioning
Reading ‘Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School’ by John Medina, I came across a study at Nihon Fukushi University in Japan testing the benefits of jogging on mental performance, such as memory, perception and thinking over a 12-week period. The researchers, lead by Dr. Kisou Kubota, found that jogging significantly improved the mental performance of the group that had been asked to jog, while the performance of the group that had not participated in the jogging remained the same. They also found that once the jogging regimen stopped, so did the benefits of the mental performance boost.

Another study at the National Institute of Aging showed that exercise ‘has profound benefits for brain function.’ By keeping an active lifestyle and complementing it with a healthy diet, this not only boosts the performance of the brain but also delays the effects of aging.

Exercise also improves grades in school-aged children
A National Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that students who do not get sufficient physical activity are much more likely to receive poor grades in school compared to students that engage in physical activity. (Physical activity in this survey was defined as activity that gets children to sweat at least 5 or more days a week.)

Slow Down Cognitive Decline in Your Later Years
Long-term research study was conducted on elderly women aged 71-80 and found that women who were the most active (over 1:30 hours of walking a week) saw significantly better cognitive functioning than that of their more sedentary counterparts. This is also true for elderly males, as a study found that males aged 71-93 who walked more than 2 miles (3.2 km) a day were around 2 times less likely to develop dementia than males who walked less than 0.25 miles (0.4 km) a day!

How much exercise do we need to improve brain performance?
So you might ask, “How much exercise do I need to get the benefits?” A study from the University of Georgia found that moderate exercise of up to 60 minutes improves brain performance. On the other hand, extremely strenuous and extended exercise will lower brain performance for the short period one is tired and dehydrated. Studies have also shown that exercise in short bursts of 10 minutes 3 times a day yielded the same results as one 30 minute exercise session to improve cardiovascular health. With the improvement of the cardiovascular system, more fresh oxygen is introduced into both the body and brain, thus helping boost brain performance.

You will also want to consider your physical condition before you begin or up your exercise schedule. If you’re uninterested in jogging, try walking around the block for 15-30 minutes 2 to 3 times a week and if you’re just starting off, aim to break a light sweat. The key is to start moving your body and get your blood flowing to your brain.

Do I have time to exercise?
When we’re hit with a last minute work project, a call from a friend to hang out, your child’s science project that’s due tomorrow or any number of things that could happen and do happen, exercise and sleep usually take the back seat. Although a regular exercise schedule is ideal, if you’re on a time crunch, use lunchtime to get some exercise in. Don’t want to get too sweaty while exercising? Try these exercises without breaking a sweat and if you do, here are 4 ways to combat sweat. Use the often-missed opportunities to get moving. Do you need to go to the water cooler? Take the long way and get an extra few steps in. Get creative, move your body and get smarter!

Many other benefits of exercise
It’s been said time and time again that exercise has benefits beyond just losing weight. But to drive home the importance, here are some more benefits of exercise:

• Fight depression
• Improve body functioning
• Improved mood
• Stronger muscles and bones
• Boost your energy
• Get better sleep

And much more!

WB Summary:

• Exercise has been empirically proven to improve cognitive performance in every age group.
• Exercise significantly helps fight dementia in your later years.
• Exercise regularly for benefits. Once you stop exercising, the benefits will start diminishing
• Exercise with your physical condition in mind. Too much is too much. Know your limitations.
• If you haven’t started exercising, get started. The key is to get your body moving.

Are you networking?

This is a guest post by Srinivas Rao, a personal development blogger at The Skool of Life where he writes about personal development and spirituality, and ties it all together through his love for surfing. He also runs a surfing blog called Stoked for Life.

One of the things that I’ve done a good amount of over the last 7 months is attend networking events. They always make for an interesting dynamic and are a fascinating study of human behavior and how people connect.  My main piece of advice on how to work the room, is don’t. I know that sounds ridiculous considering the title of the article, but I want to share some of my own thoughts on this.

Keith Ferrazi, in his book Never Eat Alone, describes a personality type called “the networking jerk.” This is a person who is concerned with working the room, collecting cards, meeting as many people as possible, not present at all and always looking for somebody more important to talk to. In other words this person is a COMPLETE DOUCHEBAG.   That’s a bit harsh, but let’s face it. Do you really want this kind of person in your network? This is often the kind of person who is all take and no give.  It’s best to the complete opposite.

4 Tips for being a Networking Event Rockstar

1. Focus on Quality – I tend to prefer longer more in depth conversations with people at a networking event. In fact it’s not uncommon for me to spend the entire night talking to 2-3 people. I’ve found that in the long run these end up being much more valuable connections from both a personal and professional standpoint. I got to a networking even with the notion of making friends rather than business contacts. That way the interactions I have with people are much more sincere and I have an opportunity to grow my social circle.
2. Introduce People to Each other – This is another strategy that will make you a rockstar at a networking event. Let’s say you are talking to 2-3 people and a new person arrives. Introduce them to your group and make them part of your conversation. If you did that for most of the night you’d meet 10 new people, and it wouldn’t be the “networking jerk” approach.
3. No Person is More Important than Another – If there’s anything I hate, it’s when people think you are not important enough to talk to them. That’s such a jack ass mentality to networking, yet I see so many people driven by pure ego behaving that way. If you treat everybody like they’re important it will pay off dramatically. You should never assume somebody is not important enough to talk to because you never know they might be connected to. That and you should just be kind to people.
4. Have Good Energy – This is a tough one for many people because they are completely unaware of it. If you are a positive high energy person, people will open up to you fast. If you are  coming across like a serial killer than you should get your energy in check. Fortunately something as simple as an affirmation repeated daily before going to sleep and right when you wake up can change that for you.

Srinivas Rao is a personal development blogger at The Skool of Life where he writes about personal development and spirituality, and ties it all together through his love for surfing. He also runs a surfing blog called Stoked for Life.

Photo by: thinkpanama

Get inspired, download the ebook today

Once in a while, something ‘remarkable’ happens.

For us, today is one of those days when ‘gratis’ and ‘significance’ collide to make huge waves across multiple industries leaving positive change in their wake.

Seth Godin, the author of the Purple Cow and many other great ideas released a free ebook today containing a compilation of over 70 ideas and inspirations by the world’s thought leaders.

If you’re in need of inspiration to do great things or even if you’re burning with motivation, take some time to download the ebook and give it a quick read. I’m sure you’ll find something that will push you to take the next step.

Download it by clicking here

Do you work on projects with others that require file sharing? Do you want to share files with all of your friends? Do you have multiple computers you work on? Tired of lugging around your USB drive from computer to computer to move files? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, DropBox may be a great solution that will make your life a lot more simplified and productive.

Pros
- Simple easy to use interface
- File sharing across multiple computers and users (File sharing with your friends!)
- Use it to backup files
- Able to access all your files through the DropBox website when you’re away from your computers
- Unobtrusive background file syncing
- Free 2GB of storage

Cons
- Not able to share folders outside the DropBox folder

What Does It Do?

DropBox is a folder that sits on your computer (I placed mine on my desktop for easy access) that syncs with the DropBox servers. This means that you can install the DropBox folder onto many different computers running different operating systems. I am currently sharing files between computers running OS X Tiger, OS X Leopard, OS X Snow Leopard and Vista.

It’s Simple

Although many programs experience feature bloat as they mature, DropBox keeps everything simple by keeping one folder wherever you want.

1. Install DropBox on any computer you want to sync with. (You can also share files with friends by having them install DropBox with the account you create.)
2. Place all the files you want to share into the DropBox folder and let the automatic sync do its job. Once the files are automatically synced, a little check mark appears on all synced files.
3. Now you’re able to access your files through their (the Dropbox) website, or any other computer you’ve installed the DropBox folder on.

Syncing with multiple sources are made easy with DropBox

How I Use It

Between work, home and side projects, I alternate between multiple computers that required a lot of USB flash drive swaps in the past.  By using DropBox, the need for USB flash drives have decreased dramatically and I now only use the USB drive for sensitive work related documents.  (FYI: DropBox transmits all their data through a secure channel (SSL) and the files on their servers are encrypted for security)

I also have side projects that require sharing documents and images between my business partner and I and this is where DropBox shines. Rather than email clogging attachments, all that’s required is to place the needed document/image into the DropBox folder and after it’s done syncing, my business partner has full access to the required files. Fast and simple.

Try It Out

If you’re in need of a file sharing/syncing solution, DropBox offers a basic version that allows 2GB of storage for free. Take it for a test drive and see how you like it, they also offer an iPhone DropBox app for people who need access to files on the go.

Extra 250MB of Storage Space!

If you decide to try out DropBox, click on this link to join. It’s a referral link that will give you and I both an extra 250 MB of storage space on top of the free 2 GB, sweet! (Make sure you complete 5 of the 6 ‘Getting Started’ sections)

Take your reading skills to the next level by implementing simple strategies

Have you ever wanted to increase your reading speed and retention for school or work?  Many professors at the university level tend to assign more reading than is possible to read.  Your workplace may require you to read and digest technical manuals frequently.  Or you may be a high school student trying to develop skills for college.  Whatever your case may be, reading is a crucial skill in the information age where many jobs are fast becoming knowledge work.

The tips I’ll share with you below are especially useful for textbooks that are mainly information gathering and retention-type reading.  The tips below can also be applied to other types of reading that require high retention.

Set aside a specific time block to read (Speed/Retention) – We all have varying degrees of reading endurance; some people may be able to read for an hour without fatigue, while some may lose focus in 30 minutes.  At first, try budgeting one hour and gauge where you are in terms of reading endurance.  You’ll also want to take into account the time it takes for you to get settled and focused.  It may take you 5 minutes, 20 minutes and sometimes even longer to get yourself focused.  In most cases, reading endurance of textbooks and manuals will be significantly lower than leisure reading.

Read when your energy levels are optimal (Speed/Retention) - When is your concentration and focus at its peak?  For most people, it’s when your energy levels are at their highest.  One way to figure out when your focus is at its peak is by knowing your chronotype.  Early birds tend to have the most energy early in the day, while night owls tend to wake up and work best later in the day.

Read in multiple sessions (Speed/Retention) - When you’re fatigued, you’ll have a difficult time concentrating on the material and grasping all of the information.  I’ve had many experiences when I’d be too tired to be reading, but forced myself to keep reading and turning the page.  After many pages, I would snap awake, only to realize that I couldn’t recall anything.  Save yourself some time and take a break when you start to lose your focus.  Go for a run, take a nap or grab a bite to eat and work on something else and then come back to your reading at a later time.

Direct your focus on information rich areas (Speed/Retention) - Read the chapter headings, introductions and skim though the table of contents to get a balanced overall grasp of what the book will be covering.  The beginnings of chapters will usually contain the broad points of the chapter and the ends of chapters will have summaries.  The middle of the chapter will usually contain detailed explanations of the  points covered in the introduction section of the chapters.  Focus on the chapter openings and ends and skim through the middle to speed up your reading.  Textbooks will frequently use bold or italicized fonts to highlight important terms and ideas.

Ask questions (Retention) - As you read, ask yourself questions such as how the reading applies to real world situations.  How can the reading be applied to you?  What is the author trying to convey?  Are there points that the author brings up that you disagree with?  Why?  Also at the end of the chapter, take a few minutes to stop and quiz yourself on the main points of the chapter.

Visualize (Retention) – We are visual creatures whose vision takes up half of our brain’s resources.  Because so much of the information we take in is through vision, our brains are wired to optimize visual memory.  By visualizing the meaning of the words, you’ll be able to retain more than if you were to read the text straight through.

Bonus tip:

Retain more information in the same time it would take to read just once – We may be used to reading a book from beginning to end, but when the reading requires you to extract information and retain it in the shortest possible time, there’s a better strategy than to reading just once through.  Utilizing your time wisely, reading your book/document 3 times in the time it would take you to read once through will help you retain significantly more.

1. First Pass (Spend about 15% of your total reading time) The first pass will be very quick.  Skim though the book at a fast pace and highlight important terms and terms you don’t understand.  Your highlighting should be as minimal as possible.  Don’t highlight more than one sentence.  This is to keep from diluting the important information on the page.
2. Second Pass (Spend about 60% of your total reading time) For your second pass, you’ll want to take extra time on areas that contain important information, which you caught during the first pass.  You can skim though areas that don’t contain the information you seek, but slow down in areas with dense information and take notes including terms you don’t understand.  When taking notes, make sure you write your notes in your own words rather than just copying verbatim.  By taking notes in your own words, you’ll process the information deeper, helping you retain more.
3. Third Pass (Spend about 25% of your total reading time) The third pass will should focus on key terms and compare them to your notes you took during the second pass.  Put the book down and replay what you’ve learned in your mind.

What are your methods for reading?  Share by commenting below!

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Are you taking advantage of learning opportunities at your workplace?

5 Lessons I Learned from a 300 Million Dollar Man

Living in a capitalistic society, I tend to wonder what characteristics contribute to a financially successful person. Although I currently work in a constrictive corporate 9 to 5, there are many opportunities to learn and enrich myself within the confines of my company. Even among the negatives of the corporate world, I’m lucky enough to work in an environment where the president of the company is readily accessible.

Thomas, the president of the company, created the business from scratch 35 years ago with his father and brother. With only $20,000 in capital to start the company, they worked tirelessly out of their small living room. Since then, the business has grown exponentially, raising revenues to $300,000,000 and employing over 600 full time staff.

I used to be a night owl and had a difficult time getting out of bed and getting to work. (If you haven’t read my post ‘night owl turned early bird,’ let’s just say I was consistently late to work) Obviously, the president took notice of my tardiness and so began the “come into my office, for a talk.” Rather than threats or intimidation, however, he began teaching me what he believed lead to his successes in life.

The 5 lessons I learned from the 300 million dollar man:

1. Optimism is important, especially in tough times: Optimism is an asset and comes in handy when times are tough. Even after an enormous drop in revenues late last year and into this year, Thomas has stayed optimistic and has let his employees know that the company will overcome the slump together. Optimism allows us to keep our focus on the important tasks, while pessimism keeps you focused on things that can go wrong.

2. Putting in a constant stream of hard work: Dedication and hard work toward your profession is as important as the passion you have for it. Thomas, together with his brother and father, worked tirelessly to grow the company and toiled out of their living room for years before they made enough to afford a small office. Even to this day, Thomas gets to the office at 6:30 am to sort out emails and prepare for the day.

   “Great achievements is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never out of selfishness.” Napoleon Hill

3. Be on time: In business and in life, Thomas stresses the importance of punctuality. This is especially true in business dealings, as one needs to respect their own time and even more so the time of others. Taken further, if you’re early to a meeting, you have the opportunity to prepare ahead which gives you an extra edge.

   “Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes.” Edward Bulwer-Lytton

4. Embrace change: As Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant.” By resisting change, businesses may stifle growth, eventually leading to a death of a business. Thomas put it this way: “There was once a bustling city that had it all. Then came the invention of the locomotive. Not interested in embracing the new form of transportation, the city denied the construction of the railroad tracks. What happened next? Because they denied change, the city got left behind and now ceases to exist.”

5. Never stop learning: Love books and love learning. Thomas reads 1 new book a week on a wide variety of subjects and is never too proud to ask his employees about things he’s not familiar with. Try learning about a new subject every month, or if you have a special subject you enjoy, try learning as much as you can about it.

   “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi

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(FYI: I no longer have a problem with tardiness and enjoy walking into the office instead of running)

Photo by: Ian Muttoo

Hard Work, Sacrifices and Discipline

I was fortunate enough to come across this inspirational video by Zack Arias today and would like to share it with everyone.

It is about a man named Derrick, who in his past had been involved with the wrong crowd, leading him to be convicted of felony. Time changes everything and he is now hitting the ‘pavement’ selling soap door to door to care for the needs of himself and his son. He goes by the motto, “Instead of robbing or stealing or selling dope, selling soap instead of dope, so we all cast some hope,” and he shows us that through hard work, sacrifices and discipline, anyone can improve and pave a better future for themselves.

Derrick’s Message:

1. Do what you gotta do

2. Never allow yourself to believe that you’re insignificant without acceptance, the latest clothes or the finest things

3. Everything takes time

4. Be patient with yourself and pace yourself

5. Make small and large goals – By achieving your small goals, you get closer to your large goals

6. You’ll continually grow and gain confidence and self esteem

7. Everybody feels depressed at times

8. Learn to pick the happy thoughts or find things that motivate us

9. You can’t let your down or depressed self make bad decisions or give up

10. You’re not living alone

11. Even if you don’t see it, you’re not just helping yourself, but you’re helping others too

I sincerely hope that you get as much from the video as I did.

How did Derrick inspire you?

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