Planning and Arranging Time

October 20, 2010 4 Comments

Listen to this postMost of us are busy. Some are busy at work, others are busy with school work, many are busy socializing and networking. Most of us return back home and complain that we don’t have enough time for everything we want to do. The best time maker is planning. The general rule says that ten minutes of  planning will save you 100 hundred minutes in execution. You will have an organized and well planned tomorrow if you spare few minutes by the end of each day to plan what you are going to do tomorrow. By planning you will identify which activity has more importance and value for your time and effort. You will also plan the best time to do each task. Your subconscious will be working on your pan while you are sleeping and you would wake up with a refined plan in the morning. Changes and new issues in the morning will demand some changes to your plan but overall you will have a more productive day if you plan it a head of time. Without a plan, you will be like building a house without deciding how many rooms are needed and how many windows for each room. By planning, you would know were the furniture will be arranged in every room before hammering the first nail.

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Waiting For That Promotion

October 18, 2010 1 Comment

Listen to this postA time will come during our long careers when we would wait for that important promotion. Naturally, most of the promotions involve a decision to select you between different candidates. Office politics and favoritism may have some affect on the selection but finally the selection is made and you will know about it in one of the following ways:

  1. You are called into one of your Bosses offices and told that they have thought about the selection and how difficult was the decision to select between you and the others, but at the end you were the best choice. You tell your self “finally they noticed me, I don’t now why it took them so long?” If you are promoted then you need to gain new knowledge and learn new skills to fulfill the job requirement. What you have learn so far was enough to get you the promotion, but your current capabilities are not enough to survive and thrive. First you to learn what it takes to do your new job, and then you have to improve your skills and knowledge to be ready for the next promotion.
  2. You are called into one of your Bosses office and told that they have thought about the selection and how difficult was the decision to select between you and the others, but at the end you were not the chosen one. You blame everybody and everything (except yourself) for not getting the promotion. You have to understand why you did not get that promotion. What were the reasons for not selecting you. What was the selection criteria and in which part you were not competitive. Start immediately working on your weaknesses and get ready for the next opportunity.
  3. You are not called, or you don’t know about the selection process and you would be the last one to know that somebody else was promoted and you have missed the chance. You feel that you were cheated or stupid. If you were not aware of the opportunity then you need to improve your networking skills. However, if the opportunity was keep secret on purpose then you should consider changing your employer. Go ahead and find another employer who appreciate your work and give you equal opportunities with other candidates.
By the way, if you are not ready for a promotion or there are no promotions for you in the near future then you have to think seriously about your career.

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There Is Only 24 Hours Every Day

October 16, 2010 6 Comments

Listen to this postWe have only 24 hours in every day. I am sure that you know this fact but I just thought of reminding you. Some of us would like to have more hours everyday, while many people complain of boredom and say “I have nothing to do” or “I can not think of anything interesting things around me!”  I am one of those people who wish we can store time and use it when we need it most. But actually I do not have extra time to store for later use. I consume most of my time between work, exercise, family and study. Oh, yes, I forget to mention sleep!

Some days I come home from work at 5 PM to have my main hot meal then take a long nap ( or short sleep) and wake up at 9:00 PM to start studying until the early hours of the morning. Late night studying is very good because of the concentration. No distractions because everybody at home would be sleep or ready to sleep. The worst part of this plan is messing the quality time with the family and the uncontrolled weight gain. For those who complain of boredom I would recommend they read a book.

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10,000 Hits In 10 Months

October 12, 2010 6 Comments

I am speechless, I can not thank you enough for visiting my humble blog. yesterday the blog passed an important milestone which is the 10,000 hits in less than 10 months.I tried to balance my posts between academic and social subjects but most of the visitors were interested in the academic subjects. The top five most visited posts in the last three months are:

  1. Acer SWOT Analysis
  2. Quantitative or Qualitative
  3. Research Overview
  4. When Do We Blow the Whistle?
  5. Survey’s Perceptions and Biases
I hope that you keep on visiting again.


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Are You New To The iPad

October 8, 2010 5 Comments

App Store
Image via Wikipedia

Listen to this postI have used the iPad for sometime now and was asked by a close friend to recommend some of the applications I used so far. I listed some of them below but the best guideline I would recommend for purchasing and using an application for your iPad would be the number of stars the users rated the application in the App Store. Aways chose applications that have the plus sign displayed next to the price tag. The plus sign means that the app will work on your iPad and iPhone. If you do not have iPhone until now, you will buy yours very soon after you use the iPad. I can not tell you which app is best for you but most of the apps are priced between $1 to $3 less than your Starbucks Latte, so do not feel bad when you buy the application and find it disappointing.  One last advice to the iPad users: do not use the Jail Break no mater how wonderful the idea seems.

You may be interested in reading “Should I buy an iPad” in this blog.
Application Free Type Remarks
Pages No Prof. Equivalent of Word in windows although I find this application much better for the regular user
Keynotes No Prof. Equivalent of PowerPoint in windows although I find this application much better and easier for the regular user
Numbers No Prof. Equivalent of Excel in windows although I find this application much simpler for the regular user
OmniGraffle No Equivalent of Visio in windows although I find this application much better for the regular user
Digits Nice calculator but there are many of them in the App store. You may choose another one according to your needs and taste
Twitter Yes A social networking application if you like to tweet.
OmniFocus No Prof The best task organization App. This app had more functions than the regular user need, but the options and functions let you organize and achieve your task in a professional way. App price is $39.99 but worth the money if you are serious about your tasks.
Todo No Pro Excellent task organization App. good functions and options and recommended for the regular users. I stopped using this app after i installed the OmniFocus.
Corkulous No Nice app to organize your thoughts and ideas. The app will help you visualize your thoughts in a fun and simple way. You can export the action list in this app as a task in the Todo app mentioned above
FlipTime XL No Nice time display and alarm. There are many you can choose but this is my personal favorite.
AccuWeather Yes Free app with excellent weather display.
GoodReader No To view and download PDF files.
iBooks Yes To buy and read digital books
Priority Matrix No Prof Excellent thought and priority sorting application that is easy to use and organize. The best SWAT analysis application I used so far.
Pocket Pond Yes To relax and unwind.
Flipboard Yes To organize and display multiple feeds in a magazine like display.
Angry Birds No Game Must have.The best so far
RealRacingHD No Game Steer the car by tilting the iPad
MultiPong Yes Game Nice game
Pinball HD No Game Good resemblance of the Pinball game we use to play 30 years ago
Fruit Ninja No Game Must have
UZU No To relax and unwind.
Super 7 HD Yes Game Educational and relaxing game

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Keiretsu

October 7, 2010 2 Comments

Minority networks of Japanese organizations have shares in the other organizations to create a larger network. The network collaborates to boost each other’s interest (Jones, 2007).
Financial Keiretsu link and group various companies which have their own large banks. The capital Keiretsu is used to manage input and output linkages between the small networks of organizations (Jones, 2007).
Toyota is using capital Keiretsu by owning as large as 40% share from the companies that supply it with inputs. With this share, Toyota is able to exercise good control on its resources (Jones, 2007). The Fuyo Keritsu is a financial Keiretus that has Hitachi, Nissan, Canon and many other companies joined by Fuji bank which provide the financial services to the group.
Just In Time (JIT) principle is part of the Keiretsu theory where companies depend on receiving the needed parts just in time for their use from a supplier that produce the right amount for the user. Keiretsu enabled Toyota to have the strong relation with its suppliers without the cost of owning and managing them. General Motors (GM) has full ownership of its suppliers than any other carmaker which made GM incur the cost of the supplier while the supplier running inefficient operations knowing that GM will buy their products regardless of their business efficiency.
Ford the car manufacturer formed its Keiretsu by owning minor share in its engine supplier, windows producers, body parts and wheels manufacturer. Ford also had notable ownership in the car rental company Hertz which use Ford’s cars only (Jones, 2007).

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Going to the Movies

October 2, 2010 2 Comments

Listen to this postI do not spend much time enjoying the entertainment most of the people do, or at least not the same way they did. I listen to music from my PC or iPad while I working or studying and using the Internet. I usually listen to Smooth Jazz music on one of the Internet radio channels. I do not watch TV! In a full week I would spend about one hour watching TV only because it was switched on one by somebody else. For example the TV is now switch on one of those 24 hours cartoon channels and I am now typing this post thinking that I am spending quality time with the kids! I entertain myself by spending time chatting with my wife or drinking tea with my mother. I do that almost everyday. I do not go out to coffee shops, restaurants, theaters or other public functions, but I enjoy going to the movies. Every weekend, and sometime weekdays, I would dress up and take my wife to the movies. I like sci-fi, adventure, and drama. I only chose movies which are ranked 6.5/10 or above. I usually buy nachos with cheese and jalapeño. Every time I eat the jalapeño I wake up the next day with a troubled stomach, but again, I would have the same Nachos and jalapeño next time I go to a movie. I consider the weekly movie as major entertainment that break my busy weakly routines. I wonder what other busy people do to entertain themselves?

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