Change & Transformation from Frontier Of Science
November 30, 2009
Change & Transformation from Frontiers Of Science
“Whether sudden or gradual, profound or mundane, relatively minor or earthshaking, change happens. And just as change is always happening in the natural world in endless cycles of seasons, birth, and death, it happens continuously in our human experience. When those changes are profound and life changing, affecting our view of the world and our place in it, we call them transformations in consciousness.
…the transformative process—indicating that while the process may be complex, it is not completely random and unpredictable. A transformation in consciousness begins long before most people are aware that anything is changing. Genetics, environment, peak experiences, numinous or mystical moments, life transitions — all these primers, even if not directly experienced as transformative, lay the groundwork for what is to come. Even when people can point to a pivotal moment in their transformative journey, they can often identify, in retrospect, what might be termed “destabilizers”—a combination of factors that set the stage. The result is a specific episode, period of life, or series of experiences that culminate in an aha! moment. Whether an encounter of stunning beauty or one of deep pain or loss, this “moment” challenges people’s previous assumptions, leading them to change the way they see the world. Attempts to fit the new experiences or realizations into their old perspective fail, often forcing their awareness to expand to make room for the new insight. This can lead to redoubled efforts to protect against further destabilization, but it can also lead to an entirely new worldview that is capable of giving meaning to what happened.
…Once that sweet dance between self-actualization and self transcendence, formal and informal practice, and receiving and giving comes more naturally, people report an experience of existence that we call “living deeply.” From equanimity in the face of life’s challenges to a daily sense of wonder and awe, even the most mundane aspects of life become sacred in their own way. And this way of living makes personal transformation contagious. As people share their experiences and their presence of being with others, a collective transformation that is more than the sum of its parts begins to emerge. Individual transformations combine to create collective transformation, which in turn stimulates more individual transformations, and so on in an ever-widening circle of deep renewal.”
Emailing Rules From Time Excellence By Manoj Sharma
November 25, 2009
Emailing Rules From Time Excellence By Manoj Sharma
Emails while a great tool of productivity can also be one of the greatest wasters of time. To ensure emails are used to gain productivity, with the right intention, here are some simple rules, you, your team and your organization can follow to save time for everyone.
Rule #1 – Keep Your Emails Short
Emailing was meant as a tool to makes communication easier for people. Long emails don’t make things easier. They are tough to read and the gist of your message tends to get buried deeper, the longer you write. So keep it short.
If you can’t keep your emails short because the topic is complicated and convoluted, make the time for a conversations instead and follow up with a short email that highlights the crucial points.
Rule #2 – Keep It To The Point
Don’t tell long stories when sharing information; keep your message to the point. When requesting for information. Make sure you state it clearly, so the recipient knows what you want of the recipient!
When replying to requests for information, answer then to the point. Do not overlook, evade them or ignore requests (deliberately or otherwise). Overlooking, evading and ignoring requests will waste you time later on, as in all likelihood you will receive another email with the overlooked, evaded or ignored request.
Rule #3 – Don’t Abbreviate The Message
Imagine if I had said “Rule #3 – X Abb E Msg” instead of the way I did! More than half of you reading wouldn’t have a clue what I was on about and the other half might imagine it to be something else. So don’t abbreviate as most abbreviations are not commonly understood.
Also since we are on this topic, punctuation marks are there for a reason – to allow people to better follow your thought process – so use them. The same goes for grammar and spell check. They may not be perfect, but, they are better than not being sure.
Not venturing too far from the above, I would also like to mention emoticons. Here is the rule on that – f you have to use them, keep them to the bare minimum and away from professional correspondences.
Rule #4 – Don’t Skip The Niceties
“Dear Mr. ABC XYZ, hope you are having a great day!” or its appropriate equivalent is never a bad way to start. I know you are often rushed for time, but softening your emails with starting and ending niceties is really the best way to go.
It humanizes our often inhumane email communication tendencies.
Rule #5 – Respond As Soon As Possible
We are living in an instant world. Long gone are the days when people sent letters to each other across the world and were content to wait for months to receive a reply. Whatever your “as soon as possible” is, do your best to stick to it.
If you are unable to respond to an urgent email upon receiving it, at the very least acknowledge it and let people know you will reply to it when you have the information handy.
Rule #6 – Create Lots Of White Space & Use The Appropriate Tools
Long paragraphs of information are difficult to read if they are clamped together, as they tire out the eyes. Our eyes pick up information best when there is lots of white space to create contrast around the information. This is why software engineers create standard templates in a white background although black will possibly save energy. This is also why you should write in highly contrasting coloured fonts in relation to the background.
So, break your communication into paragraphs. Give them heading if necessary and put “calls to actions” in bold to draw attention to them, but don’t overuse this. The same gone with CAPITAL LETTERS – they are the equivalent of raising your voice in normal conversation – so use them sparingly.
Yes, do, use bullets, numbers, italics, inverted commas as and where appropriate with lots of white space around them. And remember, center aligning things makes it tougher for human eyes to follow from one line to another.
Lastly, on that note, keep hyperlinks short, don’t put in the full URL. For example, go here to register for the next Time Excellence program.
Rule #7 – Make The Subject Appropriate
Subject bars are there to summarize what the content of the email is so it can be accurately referred to both now and later. So, make the subject you put in it directly relate to the content of the email.
If the email has become a conversation that is no longer represented by the subject bar, don’t be afraid to change it, especially if you are the initiator of the series of correspondences.
Rule #8 – Check And Check Again For Intention
More important that anything else, check your email for intention before you send it. Emails are made of words which do not have the presence of body language, tonality and expression, which we human beings use to decipher the intent of the communication.
Ask yourself… if face-to-face dynamic communication can have such a great chance of misinterpretation, what are the chances of written static communication going wrong? Sadly one of the laws of communication is, “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong”. On that note, avoid any written communication that can potentially go wrong and instead first endeavour to have a face-to-face or tele-conversation on it if possible.
Having said that, the way we create the context of emails and the manner in which we put content together can often time betray our true intent. One of the observations I have made when it comes to emails is, more often than not, if you write with a particular ill intent, the intent does, somehow, get received even in the absence of body language, tonality and expression. So check your intent and avoid time-wasting grievances.
Bonus Rule – Who To Address To
This is a simple enough rule so I do not know why people mess it up so very often.
“To:”
Address the email only to those who are involved and those who need to be involved.
“CC:”
CC it to those who might need it as a reference either now or somewhere in the future. Please note unless you specifically mention what you want the referenced people to make a note of, you are unlikely to get their full attention. After all, other people (just like yourself) receive numerous emails in which they are CCed and they will never take the time to read everything word for word.
“BCC:”
I can appreciate when the BCC function is used, to keep certain bosses, colleagues or involved parties informed. At the same time, I am keen on transparency so this again is to be avoided unless you really see it fit. So please use your discretion on this and check your intention for BCCing.
Conclusion
Please go ahead and start by applying these rules across your entire organization and I guarantee you, the sending of receiving of emails will cease to be a time waster, but will instead become a great tool to gain productivity.
Time Excellence Questionnaire By Manoj Sharma
November 19, 2009
Looking To “Manage” Your Time Better?
Here are a few questions you need to answer first before you can benefit from the higher levels of profitability, performance and fulfillment that come with Time Excellence….
1) What Areas When It Comes To “Managing” Your Time Do You Feel You Most Need To Improve Immediately?
2) Why Do You Seek Improvements In The Above Areas?
3) What Do You Think Is Causing You To Struggle With The Above Areas That You Are Seeking To Improve?
4) How Would You Benefit If You Were Able To Improve In The Areas You Mentioned Above?
5) What Can You Identify As The Biggest Obstacles To You Improving Your Time “Management”?
To Benefit From This And More Go To… Time Excellence
Has Anyone Supposed It Lucky To Be Born? By Walt Whitman
November 5, 2009
Has Anyone Supposed It Lucky To Be Born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die,
and I know it.
I pass death with the dying
and birth with the new-wash’d babe
and I am not contain’d between my hat and boots,
And peruse manifold objects no two alike and every one good,
The earth good and the stars good,
and their adjuncts all good.
I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,
I am the mate and companion of people,
all just as immortal and fathomless as myself,
(They do not know how immortal, but I know.)
Walt Whitman
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