Monday 16 April 2012

What does it take to succeed?

What does it take to succeed? A positive attitude? Well, sure, but that’s hardly enough. The Law of Attraction? The Secret? These ideas might act as spurs to action, but without the action itself, they don’t do much.
Success, however it’s defined, takes action, and taking good and appropriate action takes skills. Some of these skills (not enough, though) are taught in school (not well enough, either), others are taught on the job, and still others we learn from general life experience.
Below is a list of general skills that will help anyone get ahead in practically any field, from running a company to running a gardening club. Of course, there are skills specific to each field as well – but my concern here is with the skills that translate across disciplines, the ones that can be learned by anyone in any position.


1. Public Speaking

The ability to speak clearly, persuasively, and forcefully in front of an audience – whether an audience of 1 or of thousands – is one of the most important skills anyone can develop. People who are effective speakers come across as more comfortable with themselves, more confident, and more attractive to be around. Being able to speak effectively means you can sell anything – products, of course, but also ideas, ideologies, worldviews. And yourself – which means more opportunities for career advancement, bigger clients, or business funding.

2. Writing

Writing well offers many of the same advantages that speaking well offers: good writers are better at selling products, ideas, and themselves than poor writers. Learning to write well involves not just mastery of grammar but the development of the ability to organize one’s thoughts into a coherent form and target it to an audience in the most effective way possible. Given the huge amount of text generated by almost every transaction – from court briefs and legislation running into the thousands of pages to those foot-long receipts you get when you buy gum these days – a person who is a master of the written word can expect doors to open in just about every field.

3. Self-Management

If success depends on effective action, effective action depends on the ability to focus your attention where it is needed most, when it is needed most. Strong organizational skills, effective productivity habits, and a strong sense of discipline are needed to keep yourself on track.

4. Networking

Networking is not only for finding jobs or clients. In an economy dominated by ideas and innovation, networking creates the channel through which ideas flow and in which new ideas are created. A large network, carefully cultivated, ties one into not just a body of people but a body of relationships, and those relationships are more than just the sum of their parts. The interactions those relationships make possible give rise to innovation and creativity – and provide the support to nurture new ideas until they can be realized.

5. Critical Thinking

We are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of times more information on a daily basis than our great-grandparents were. Being able to evaluate that information, sort the potentially valuable from the trivial, analyze its relevance and meaning, and relate it to other information is crucial – and woefully under-taught. Good critical thinking skills immediately distinguish you from the mass of people these days.

6. Decision-Making

The bridge that leads from analysis to action is effective decision-making – knowing what to do based on the information available. While not being critical can be dangerous, so too can over-analyzing, or waiting for more information before making a decision. Being able to take in the scene and respond quickly and effectively is what separates the doers from the wannabes.

7. Math

You don’t have to be able to integrate polynomials to be successful. However, the ability to quickly work with figures in your head, to make rough but fairly accurate estimates, and to understand things like compound interest and basic statistics gives you a big lead on most people. All of these skills will help you to analyze data more effectively – and more quickly – and to make better decisions based on it.

8. Research

Nobody can be expected to know everything, or even a tiny fraction of everything. Even within your field, chances are there’s far more that you don’t know than you do know. You don’t have to know everything – but you should be able to quickly and painlessly find out what you need to know. That means learning to use the Internet effectively, learning to use a library, learning to read productively, and learning how to leverage your network of contacts – and what kinds of research are going to work best in any given situation.

9. Relaxation

Stress will not only kill you, it leads to poor decision-making, poor thinking, and poor socialization. So be failing to relax, you knock out at least three of the skills in this list – and really more. Plus, working yourself to death in order to keep up, and not having any time to enjoy the fruits of your work, isn’t really “success”. It’s obsession. Being able to face even the most pressing crises with your wits about you and in the most productive way is possibly the most important thing on this list.

10. Basic Accounting

It is a simple fact in our society that money is necessary. Even the simple pleasures in life, like hugging your child, ultimately need money – or you’re not going to survive to hug for very long. Knowing how to track and record your expenses and income is important just to survive, let alone to thrive. But more than that, the principles of accounting apply more widely to things like tracking the time you spend on a project or determining whether the value of an action outweighs the costs in money, time, and effort. It’s a shame that basic accounting isn’t a required part of the core K-12 curriculum.

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Saturday 17 March 2012

Part Time Study - Heaven or Hell?

                     Balancing part time studies, work and have a social life is no walk in the park.




Balancing Study and Work While maintaining fun in life can be overwhelming, the best and most enrapturing fraction of our
entire life is the teenage and early adulthood. everyone craves to make the most out of it but this time in your life is
also the time to decide what it is that you really want to be in life, what makes you satisfied, a time to think about your
future and where you would like to see yourself in a few years.

This is the time to make the most of your life and have fun but also you can not really be lax at your studies and expect
a solid platform is building up out of nothing. Whatever the profession you decide to take up as your life’s destiny, you must become
well-versed and expert at it. That itself entails the fact that you must pay enough attention to your studies in your
chosen field. Cause only knowledge and good standings in academic stations will bring laurels for you once you enter
into the planet of real jobs. This is why it is important for each of us to develop the ability to prioritise, but one thing
to clarify is that you actually don’t need to become a typical nerd or bookworm sort of a character,there is time for
everything,do enjoy and relax when the opportunity arises out of situations.

Working while trying to balance studies and a social life...tricky but possible, the best possible way to do this is
ORGANISE AND PRIORITISE!

Organise:
Make a 'time table' and 'follow it with the right amount of 'discipline'. Make a time-table keeping in mind that in it
there is time for work, study and socializing.I can assure you that doing this much is enough and soon the overwhelmingness
shall be gone and you will witness the balance that you so desperately/urgently seek.

Prioritise:
Successful prioritising is all about balancing that which is urgent and that which is important, Once you have done this
you will find that all of your work will fall into place.

Now, here comes the fruit of it: you see that all is coming naturally to you, without any incidental craziness. Study seems
a lot easier to you than to others. Because you already have built the basics that others have just started to
work out. Not only that, you’ll find extra time for other activities also, slowly you come to appreciate the fact that you are not having to burn up your late night cozy sleep.