Stop thinking of it as exercise. That separates it from life, which is counterproductive. No wonder you still don't have ripped abs! Better to think of being more active. This subtle shift in mind-set appears to be more conducive to long-term health and weight loss. Russell Pate, PhD, a professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina, compared two people, one who was "sedentary" (but active most of the day) and one who exercised for 60 minutes daily (but who was not very active). The sedentary person expended 10 percent more energy than the exerciser. So if you're constantly feeling as if you don't have time to get to the gym, make the world your gym. Do errands on foot, trade the tractor for a push mower, and open the garage door by hand rather than remote. Active is the new fit.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink |
( 2.8 / 58 )
What is the fountain of youth? Exactly what it suggests. Being just 2 percent underhydrated can make you act and feel older. For a sharp mind, smooth skin, better health, and fluid movement, you need water. But forget about the old eight-times-eight rule (eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily). Healthy people, it turns out, get all the water they need from what they eat and drink (that includes tea and coffee but not alcoholic beverages). Thirst, though, should be your guide. If you've worked up a sweat exercising, are in a hot climate, or are taking medications, you may need to drink more than usual.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink |
( 2.9 / 47 )
Become the solution. When embarking on a job search in todays tough times, many people still stick to refining their rιsumιs and honing their people skills. Experience is good. Strong interpersonal skills are great. Integrity matters. But the thing that makes all the difference today is presenting yourself as a problem solver.
[ add comment ] | permalink |
( 2.9 / 37 )
Fear of failing at school, work, or relationships holds many people back. As Carlin Flora explains in the Psychology Today article "Embracing the Fear of Failure," "Even if environmental conditions allow for high failure tolerance, some people will take setbacks to heart instead of to mind. Such people let a disappointment seep into their sense of self like a poison."
But failure is "not as bad as you may think," says Marcia A. Reed in the Black Enterprise piece "The Truth about Failure." In fact, Reed quotes job counselor Seaborn Morgan who says, "If you're not failing on a regular basis, then you're probably not doing a whole lot."
Recognizing "that there's more to be learned by focusing on what went wrong than what went right," Morgan explains, "successful individuals learn to use failure to their advantage--they acknowledge it, analyze it and overcome it."
Reed summarizes Morgan's tips for managing and surmounting failure:
First, "Find your purpose and define your goal... in specific, measurable outcomes. Use them as the criteria for assessing progress, as well as success and failure. For example, if you aim to improve your health, use changes in cholesterol, blood pressure or weight to track how far you've come toward achieving your goal."
Second, "Know your weaknesses... Conduct a self-assessment and look for areas in which you feel most prone to fail. Then, create an action plan to strengthen yourself and respond positively when you do fail."
Third, "Think of failures as learning... Don't make excuses for failure; acknowledge and accept it as soon as it occurs." Analyze it and ask yourself: "What was the mistake? Why did it happen? How could it have been avoided? How can I do better next time?"
Fourth, "Rebound and take more risks... Build your tolerance for failure and resilience by forcing yourself to take more risks as soon as possible."
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink |
( 2.9 / 30 )With the ever-expanding application of computers into business areas as diverse as accounting, desktop publishing, billing, mail and scheduling, it seemed every business organization would soon move to a paperless office. Ironically, the ease with which computers enable people to print documents has created a flood of new paper.
This expansion is the cause of the global campaign for paperless office. People are just tired and overwhelmed by scraps of paper, clunky old file folders, envelopes and the likes. Everybody wants to store information electronically.
However, paper plays a vital role in every business organization and can not be completely ignored. Therefore, the current trend is not that of a zero paper but rather the economics of physical office document and digital document co-existing such that there will be an efficient, cost-effective and easy to use workflow. This is the new revolution!
This laudable co-existence can be achieved by reviewing the two methods:
Digitizing Files
Document digitization is the process of converting manual documents into digital formats. In the process of document digitizing, any type of document like texts, images, video, business cards or periodicals are digitized and converted into digital formats such as text, html, xml, pdf, doc, xls, gif, jpeg or tiff.
The most vital contribution of data digitization is a perpetual preservation of your important documents. Another benefit is that digitized data can also be stored on any media format such as CDs, tapes or Zip disks.
It is like scanning. So, identified each document and determine those appropriated for scanning.
Technically, document scanning services is a service that is used to scan the hard copies of documents into scanned images. Document digitizing on the other hand refers to a process wherein data from newspapers, books, paper documents, business cards, periodicals or image files are converted into digitized data and delivered in any file format such as XML, HTML, PDF, Access, Excel, Word etc. The data can also be delivered in a media file.
Some bigger organization decides to outsource this section but outsourcing would not be advisable for smaller firms as ordinary scanning will do.
Whichever approach is taken to digitizing or scan office files, these features are the same:
Identification of customer needs - At the very beginning of the process of digitizing documents the need of the customer is thoroughly understood. The main aim of this step is to locate the exact need of the client for data digitizing
Collection and alignment of documents - In this phase of data digitization services, the scattered documents are collected from the customer and after removing all the foreign objects like pins, paper clips and threads, the documents are aligned properly
Scanning In this segment of data digitizing services, aligned documents are scanned and saved as an image files
Digital transferring - In this stage of digitizing paper documents with the use of Optical character recognition (OCR), the scanned documents or images are converted into text files
Indexing - So as to have an easy retrieve, the documents or data are saved with detailed file names which are termed as indexing the documents
Organizing - In this part, after taking into account the exact requirement of the customer, the documents are organized in separate or combined PDF files
Packaging - In this last phase of document digitization, quality checking is done so as to rectify all the minor errors that might have remained and then the data is taken into a CD. Once proper packaging is complete, the CD is delivered to the customer
The benefits of data digitizing/scanning
Perpetual preservation of all your vulnerable physical documents
Easy storing advantages
Effortless duplication of data
Quick and easy retrieval
Easy access
Easy transportation
Easy to share
Makes data compatible with all modes of digital data transfer
The Downside of Digitization:
Despite everything that digitization can accomplish, there are also some very good reasons to stay out of the digital realm. First, not every collection is worth digitizing. The idea of entire office files being completely online is a long way off, and many experts say that it will never happen. Successful digital projects are the result of careful evaluation of collections, and the digitization of only those items that will provide the greatest benefit to the user.
Digital projects are also expensive. At this point no institution has managed to make digitization projects cost-effective, and most attempts to recoup the costs of digital imaging through user fees have failed. Costs for digitization continue even after a projects conclusion, as all digital files require maintenance to ensure that they will be readable in the future.
Storing Physical Office Documents
Filing means keeping documents in a safe place and being able to find them easily and quickly. Documents that are cared for will not easily tear, get lost or dirty.
A filing system is the central record-keeping system for an organization. It helps you to be organized, systematic, efficient and transparent. It also helps all people who should be able to access information to do so easily.
It is always a pleasure when someone looks for something and is able to find it without difficulties.
Whether you use a manila file folder, a three ring binder or a simple binder clip, be sure to keep all your paperwork for a single project in one place. Have a file list of the content of each folder and cabinet with proper indexing for easy reference.
Common tool for physical filing
Filing Cabinet - It is used to keep flat files and suspension or hanging files
Steel Cabinet - It is used to keep big files that need to be locked up
Date Stamp - It is used to date stamp documents that are received on daily basis so that they are filed in chronological order and so we have a record of when we received the document
Register - It is used to record files taken out and files returned
Filing shelves - It is used to file box files
Box file - This is a big file that is used to keep big documents that cannot go into a filing cabinet. They are kept in shelves.
Methods of filing
There are 5 methods of filing:
Filing by Subject/Category
Filing in Alphabetical order
Filing by Numbers/Numerical order
Filing by Places/Geographical order
Filing by Dates/Chronological order
Managing physical Documents and digitized documents
Have you ever sat there while your boss stands over you, desperately searching for that missing document he or she needs RIGHT NOW? Or have you kept a client waiting on the phone for several minutes while you've searched for a status report?
If you have, then however organized and effective you are in your day-to-day work, your boss and your client may have a less than perfect opinion of you, because in a key encounter, you've let them down. And if it's your job to help people, how much of other people's time are you wasting if you can't find the information you need when you need it?
You owe it to yourself to file effectively, however boring this may seem. Imagine how much more impressive it would have been if - when asked - you'd smiled, accessed a well-organized filing system, immediately found the document, and quickly given the answer!
Managing Time
On a typical work day, we deal with many documents, presentations, graphics, and other files. There's a flurry of data pouring in from all directions that we need to process and, usually, store to retrieve later. We want to be able to lay our hands on the information we need - at the right moment, when we need it - so it can be used for further analysis or report writing, or perhaps for creating a presentation.
All too often, though, we waste our own time (and often the time of other people) searching for data that's sitting on the very computer we're using! This adds to our stress, and makes the task of putting the data to use more difficult than it ought to be. So we need to get more organized and efficient with our file management if we're going to get our work done in a timely manner.
Managing Information Efficiently
When you receive a file in an e-mail from a co-worker, vendor, or customer, it's tempting to "just put it away" in some folder for the time being. "Hmm. looks interesting, but I'll take a closer look at this later, when I've got more time." Sound familiar? Or, worse still, perhaps you just leave the message and its attachment sitting in your Inbox. After a while, many such documents build up, leading to a lot of clutter. It's highly unlikely that you'll ever find time to go back and get all of that information organized, especially considering that you're usually under pressure with other things and have hectic work schedules to meet.
You can spend hours of precious time searching for data you've filed away somewhere, because it's easy to forget the filename - or even to forget that such information is on your computer in the first place. How can you go about simplifying your work? Get better at managing files.
Effective File Management
Managing files on your computer isn't much different from the way you've always stored and managed your paper files. It boils down to this: Store the information in folders - by category, and in a sequence that makes sense to you.
Here are some tips to help manage your files:
Avoid saving unnecessary documents. Don't make a habit of saving just about everything that finds its way into your Inbox. Take a few seconds to glance through the content, and save a file only if it's relevant to your work activity. Having too much data on your computer adds to the clutter that makes it harder to find things in the future - and it may, over time, slow down your computer's performance too - so be selective about what you keep.
Follow a consistent method for naming your files and folders. For instance, divide a main folder into subfolders for customers, vendors, and co-workers. Give shortened names to identify what or whom the folders relate to. What's more, you can even give a different appearance or look to different categories of folders - this can make it easy to tell them apart at first glance.
Store related documents together, whatever their type. For example, store Word documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and graphics related to a particular project in a single folder - rather than having one folder for presentations for all projects, another folder for spreadsheets for all projects, and so forth. This way, it's much quicker to find, open, and attach documents for a particular project.
Separate ongoing work from completed work. Some people prefer to save current or ongoing work on their computer's desktop until a job is completed. Then, once it's done, they move it to the appropriate location, where files of the same category are stored. At periodic intervals (for example, weekly or every two weeks), move files you're no longer working on to the folders where your completed work is stored.
Make sure your filing system is backed up. Again, this is a bit tedious, but it's so important, as anyone who's had a failed disk drive will testify! Make sure, firstly, that your PC is backed up regularly and, secondly, that the backup includes the directories where you file information.
Finally, for any system or combination of system to be useful and effective, it must also be convenient for you. To some extent, this depends on the nature of your business or the work that you do. So, although there's no "one size fits all" solution to file management, you will likely profit by using some of these file management tips, and by customizing them in a way that best serves your own needs.
Bob Akin specializes in economics and information technology. Your opinion is also appreciated as you can join this forum at: http://www.strategicfloret.com/floretco ... c.php?id=3
[ 1 comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 39 )
Calendar
