Self Development Programs are Like Ice Cream

March 11, 2010 5 Comments

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Robin Sharma and Me

Robin Sharma and Me

Yesterday I attended a nice full day workshop by the best-selling author Mr. Robin Sharma. His most popular book is “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari“. I enjoyed the workshop but there is a variety of self-development books which I read before made this workshop look similar. Once you read few of these self-development books you will find them repeat the same principles. They are like choosing a flavor at Baskin-Robbins, the color and taste might be different but the basic ingredient is Ice Cream. I distilled the presentation to the following important points:

  • All human are equal and anybody can be an amazing leader.
  • We all have equal opportunities which we should take advantage of before it is too late.
  • We need to set long-term personal targets (10-50 years) and then dissect them into smaller tasks.
  • Work everyday on 1% of the task (or goal). You will accomplish the goal withing the target date without being overloaded.
  • Ice Cream

    Baskin Robins Ice Cream

    Keep on focusing on your goals all the time.

  • Fall in love or be passionate about what you do. Keep your focus on that ultimate goal and neglect other distractions.
  • Do not make yourself a victim. Do not blame other people or circumstances for your failures.
  • Learn from you failures, they are a good opportunity to learn.
  • Do not be afraid of risk. Change will always bring the best in you.

Mr. Robin Sharma has a good presentation style that captivate the audience and has a talent for telling passionate stories that makes the audience want to cry. On my scale I would give Mr. Sharma 7/10 when compared with other motivational speakers.

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Sunflowers in The Least Expected Places

February 28, 2010 Leave a comment

Listen to this postFew years ago I use to have spare time to click some pictures here and there. I was keeping the camera in the car when I was driving to a remote area. That’s when I noticed three rows of  sunflower plants on the backyard of an old shack. The place was used by labors and mechanics as a tea room. One of them had extra sunflower seeds few months before and decided to plant them in the backyard. When I stopped, the mechanics thought something was wrong because a car suddenly stopped and somebody went to the backyard taking pictures. They were happy to know that I was admiring their followers and wanted to take the pictures since the weather was beautiful and the sun was shining. I gave a large print of this picture to the mechanic who planted it as an appreciation for his beautiful work. I went next year to the same place but there was now flowers at all because the mechanics were relocated to another contract.

Sun Flowers

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Everybody Should Answer This Survey!

February 23, 2010 2 Comments

Please check one

Please check one

Listen to this postLarge and medium size companies usually ask consultants to help them improve their administrative and human resources work. The consultant usually start by distributing a survey to assess the current condition and find gaps from the desired conditions they are in at that time. Most of the surveys used by the consulted are well constructed surveys that were used in different companies before. The consultant usually do few tweaks on the standard survey to customize it for each company’s special needs and culture. The problem with most of these surveys is the method it is written with. The questions are written in a way only middle management and senior staff would understand and answer. Junior staff will find such questions to be difficult to understand because they are related to the company’s long term strategies, failure of change management and other complicated issues. The consultant needs cross sectional response and the management wants the survey to end as soon as possible. The result would be using a well constructed survey for the wrong population to produce wrong results. Normally the results are never showed to the junior staff., but the management would ask them to carry out the recommendation in every possible way. I am sure that some of the surveys could be more successful if more time is spent in writing them.

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How To Deliver A Presentation With Confidence

February 18, 2010 6 Comments

Delivering the Presentation

Delivering the Presentation

Listen to this postIn the past two months I presented two different technical papers in two major conferences. It was not easy and needed good preparations. The latest paper was presented in the 13th Middle East Corrosion Conference and Exhibition in Bahrain. The paper was presented within the allotted time and generated many interesting questions which continued during the coffee break. I thought of sharing some of the tips I use to deliver my technical paper with confidence:

  1. Write the paper by yourself, do not let anybody else to,write it for you. You will subconsciously synthesis the information while writing and keep the information for future use.
  2. Prepare the presentation by yourself. Avoid using text automation and “cool tricks”, they might stop functioning during the presentation or function wrongly when the presentation is installed on a different PC.
  3. Last minute changes in the presentation will make you nervous, avoid them unless they are necessary. You may complicate your presentation or mistakenly drop some slides during the last minute changes.
  4. Go early to the conference place so you do not get stuck in the traffic. When you reach the presentation hall, get familiar with the place, lights, podium and microphone.
  5. Check the loaded presentation in the PC. It might be distorted because the presentation is transferred to anther of PC. If possible, stand at the podium and switch on the microphone. Talk or do quick rehearsal of your presentation while you are still standing at the podium. You will get used to hearing yourself through the speakers and will get familiar to the presentation position and relax a bit.
  6. When presenting, avoid unnecessary jokes unless you have tried them before and they were funny without offending anybody.
  7. You will be nervous in the first 5 minutes of the presentation, this is normal. The intensity of your nervousness depends on the situation and your confidence level.
  8. Stick to the time allotted for your presentation. Try to finish early to avoid rushing through your summary and concluding remarks. Most of your audience are interested in the conclusion. Make sure you deliver it clearly and slowly.
  9. When somebody ask you a question that you can’t answer just say ” Thank you, this is an interesting question… I never thought of it this way. I will explore it and give you the answer…I need your email to send the answer to you” hold you pen and write the question.
  10. Smile and thank the audience for their participation and excellent questions.

That’s it, you have done it.

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Cell Phone Guilty Until Proven Innocent

February 11, 2010 2 Comments

Are you expecting this?

Listen to this postYou think that banning drivers from using the cell phones while driving would reduce the number of car crashes. You are wrong! This post might be controversial and may generate a lot of argument but I have a research to support it. So take a deep breath and relax. Cell phones distract the driver and may turn his or her attention to the discussion with the speaker on the other side. The other speaker might be driving also! There are many distractions in the car like talking (or shouting) to the kids while fighting on the back seat. This is a major distractions especially if you are trying to catch the action on the back seat using the rare view mirror. Another distraction would be switching channels on the radio or following the trip route on the navigation screen trying to find your way.

Car Navigation Display

Car Navigation Display

Wall Street Journal reported a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) claiming that banning cell phones did not reduce the number of car crashes. New Your state forbade drivers from using their cell phones in November 2001, but the 47% reduction in car crashes took place before that date and no reduction was observed after the ban. California had similar law in July 2008 but no noticeable reduction was seen because of the ban. Connecticut and Washington, D.C., had the same laws with no effect. So …what do you think?

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Try Listening to Your Books

February 5, 2010 4 Comments

Freakonomics

Freakonomics my favorite book

AudioI love to read and I am sure that you like it too because you chose to spend some time reading (or listing) to this post. I do not read newspapers though, I just skim through the newspaper‘s pages and then throw it away every morning. Few yours ago I heard about the audio books, and I thought of trying them instead of reading the regular paper back books. I did not like it in the beginning because I like the feel of holding the book and  paging through it, but then I liked the convenience of listening to the book while I am on the move.  The main problem with audio books is the impression they give to others. When you see somebody holding a book you would imagine that they are educating themselves.

I am listening to

I am listening to

But if you see somebody inserting those white ear-buds in their ears and listing to an audio book you would think that they are wasting time listening some useless music. Do not get me wrong, I like music and I am now listening to one of the Smooth Jazz internet radio channels now while writing this post.

I was able to read, or better said, listen to a book every week. Which total to almost 50 books every year. I listen to the book while I am driving, walking or while exercising in the gym. Below I listed (alphabetically) some of the books I listened to in the past few months and I would like to recommend them to you. Go ahead try listening to books instead of reading them and let me know about your new experience. Also, please recommend for me a good book that you read and enjoyed.

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When We Will Meet Again

January 31, 2010 2 Comments

Fighter Jets

Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet. Photo by: Tariq Malallah

Audio FileWe meet different people every day, some of them leave a great impression on us and we long to meet them again. We cherish their memory and remember them the way they left us as if time had stopped at that moment. We might hear that they passed away, left to another country or just simply busy with their life’s challenges. Many times you gladly pump into one of your old friends and you are glad that you saw them, but after a worm welcome you leave each in his or her way without even exchanging your mobile number. You ask yourself why we did not want to meet again, we used to be very close friends?

Mr. Tariq Malallah, the photographer who took this breathtaking picture, wanted to meet the pilot to give him a copy of the picture but was not able to find him. The only connection between them was the moment when the fighters flew by and the photographer clicked his camera. That’s it, and the time stood still on this picture. The photographer gave up looking for the pilot although this picture became famous in Kuwait. The pilot met the photographer again after nearly 10 months during photo exhibition in the “Avenues shopping Mall” when the pilot introduced himself to the photographer after noticing this picture framed in the exhibition.

Name plate

At 360 Mall

Note: If you are shopping in “360 Mall” in Kuwait you may see the latest pictures taken by Mr. Tariq Malallah exhibited in the center of the shopping area. Thumbnail on the left has the photographer’s name on the honorary name plate in the 360 Mall.

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