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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Quite time to think

July 20, 2010 4 Comments

Listen to this postI was fortunate to visit Versailles Palace in France many years ago. After the guided tour we were given free time to walk through the place gardens. The gardens were beautiful and a simple walk through them would reduce your blood pressed by at least 10 mmHg. At the start of my walk I noticed an elderly couple setting on a long chair watching the beautiful view in front of them. They were about one meter a part (3 feet) from each other. I continued my walk around and came back to the same spot after 20 minutes and set down on a single chair and notice that the couple still at their same silence and still looking at the beautiful view ahead. I thought that what they were doing was boring and they might have reached the age were nothing matters anymore. So I sat and started enjoying the view and get lost in my thoughts. Before I knew it, I spent more than an hour of complete silence, similar to what the elderly couple were doing, and it was wonderful!

A distant family member in his 70’s used to set in his wheelchair for hours watching the sea. When we pass-by and greet him he sometimes replay to us and sometimes he just ignore us as if we do not exist. He seems lost in his thoughts and living his past by just watching the sea. Few years after that gentleman pass away I went to the Maldives islands. I use to set in the balcony of my bungalow after the tiresome deep water dives. Each time I set I get lost in my thoughts and spend hours relaxing and enjoying the ocean’s calm waters.
Lately, I do not have the luxury of traveling to these nice places but I still set alone in quite places for at least 30 minutes 3 times every week. I lay down or set without watching TV, listening to music or reading a book. I just relax and let my thoughts flow slowly and reflect on the things I have done or the problems I face. After about 30 minutes I would have good thoughts and practical solutions to whatever challenges I have. Just by simply setting alone and thinking. No TV, no music, no reading or writing, just plain simple thinking. My best ideas and most important decisions were the results of those quite sessions. The sad thing that many people live their lives without setting once in a quite session like that, and they miss the opportunity to clear up their minds and generate wonderful ideas. Go ahead, please try it for half an hour and you will start generating wonderful thoughts and ideas after you pass the 30 minutes mark, trust me!

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Don’t Complain, It is only Hot!

July 11, 2010 3 Comments

Weather forecast Listen to this postThe weather in Kuwait is intolerable, I hear complains about the weather from everybody and from every direction. The complains are coming from Kuwaitis and ex-patriots who lived in Kuwait for at least 15 year. So, what is new? If you are wondering what is the temperature like in Kuwait then you have to understand that at midnight the temperature was 31oC (87oF). The expected highs for the next few days is above 50oC (122oF). OK, so the temperature is high and the weather is intolerable but we should look at the bright side of living in Kuwait. With the hot weather, Kuwait never had a natural disaster. Kuwait never experience an earthquake that registered more than 3 on Richter scale. Kuwait never experience tsunami, floods, hurricanes or volcanic eruption. On top of that, Kuwait is blessed with oil and a lot of it. the natural resource is enough to tolerate the hot weather. So we can afford air conditioning and nice cars to drive around in the hot afternoons. Nest time you sweet go ahead and take a cold shower and enjoy life.

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Is Marketing Ethical?

May 4, 2010 2 Comments

Listen to this postI think the biggest ethical challenge for marketers would be the fact of capturing the customer’s attention while being ethical. This is a big marketing challenge that most marketers avoid taking. Marketing a product required presenting the benefits and the advantages of the product but sometimes exaggerating these benefits. The customer would equate the products benefits and advantages with the amount of money paid for buying it. Another ethical challenge in marketing and advertisement would be transparency in telling the customers the side effect of the products. The marketers either neglect or fine print the side effect of their products. Sometimes the harmful effect of the products are displayed on the product, such as the cigarettes,  but the marketing campaign is so strong that the customer would go ahead and use the product anyway. Sundaram & Mitra (2007) found that cigarette manufacturers are advertizing in magazines and internet sites with considerable number of young reader. The advertisement in these locations use young models and display smoking as fun activity to attract large segment of the population.

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References:

Sundaram, D. S., & Mitra, K. (2007). Ethical evaluation of marketing practices in tobacco industry. [Article].International Journal of Business Research, 7(2), 194-204.

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Drug Testing Policy at Work

April 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Listen to this postUnited Kingdom (UK) workers are known for drinking of alcoholic beverages heavily. Research was conducted on UK workers estimated that 40% of the workers believe that alcohol misuse is the main cause of employee absence and productivity loss (Johnson, 2009). Another research quoted by Johnson (2009) estimate that 33% of the organizations in the UK report similar effects of drugs abuse although 40% of these organizations do not have a policy to manage drinking and drug abuse. Drug testing is useful but brings up personal issues and reservations. Drug testing can be justified if the nature of work need alertness like running heavy machinery, driving public transportation or performing sensitive and delicate work.

Drug testing maybe not needed for less critical jobs but lost productivity due to intoxication or absenteeism amount to huge sum of money. Pre-employment drug test is useful to screen candidates. Hair analysis is a new drug test that give a three months history of the candidates lifestyle (Johnson, 2009). Unannounced random screening could be a good practice to eliminate the thought that such test was done because of personal issues with the superior or because of prejudice reasons. The code of conduct policy should support drug testing and details how the test is performed and what to do if violation was found. A research was done on schools in Australia showed limited success in detecting and preventing drugs abuse (Roche, Bywood, Pidd, Freeman, & Steenson, 2009). Schools can be the informative and supporting medium to educate the students on the harmful sides of drugs-abuse on their health and social relationships (Roche, et al., 2009).

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References:

Johnson, G. (2009). Under the influence. [Article]. Occupational Health, 61(12), 32-34.

Roche, A. M., Bywood, P., Pidd, K., Freeman, T., & Steenson, T. (2009). Drug testing in Australian schools: Policy implications and considerations of punitive, deterrence and/or prevention measures. [Article]. International Journal of Drug Policy, 20(6), 521-528. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2009.04.002

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How Sick You Are?

April 13, 2010 10 Comments

Listen to this postSick leaves have been used and abused by workers depending on their health and employer’s firmness. The cost of sick leaves on the U. K. taxpayer is exceeding £11 billion due to different reasons. Work related stress is one of the contributing factors along with workers lifestyle and malingering. The sick leave issues are management concern and health and safety topic. Workers feel the need for sick leaves to revive their mental and physical health. The organization management considers sick leaves as wasted valuable assets. Worker’s lifestyle in workplace or outside affects his/her health. Sleep deprivation can cause fatigue and negative impact on health. Work related stress is because of apprehensions over job security and family finance. Malingering is workers laziness to the point of taking sick leave when not sick.

Workers sickness due to work environment or work stress is a natural phenomena, but workers misuse of such privilege intensifies the debate against general practitioners (medical doctors) issuing the sick leaves. A survey showed that 80% of the general practitioners did not want the responsibility of writing sick leaves. The general practitioners are generally busy on more important issues that force them to write the sick leave without careful consideration.

Many of us have different justifications for taking sick leave when they are not sick. We have to ask ourselves how do we feel if our employees, whom we pay their salaries from our pockets, used the same justifications for taking one or two days off. For example, if we have a driver or housekeeper that declare that they are sick today and they got the official sick leave from the doctor to prove it? And they make this announcement to you just before you leave to work! How would you fee? What would be your reaction if they repeat the sick leave once every week?

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References

Cumulative sleep debt on rotating night shifts. (2005). Nursing Standard, 19(43), 18.

Duffin, C. (2004). Staff take less sick leave with flexible shift system. Nursing Standard, 18(33), 7.

Paton, N. (2008). Economic crisis starts to take its toll on occupational health. Occupational Health, 60(11), 5.

Sicknote pressure could backfire on business. (2004). Management Services, 48(6), 6.

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Case Study: Kuwait National Day

March 9, 2010 Leave a comment

Kids with foam at night

Kids with foam at night photo by Tariq Malallah

Listen to this postThe Kuwaiti citizens celebrate their national day and independence day in a way that do not display patriotism or show a sign of loyalty to their country. The festival is more risky than fun and could develop into more violent occasion in the future. Party foam is sprayed liberally on the celebrating crowd without a concern to their health or safety. The quality of the water used in the water guns could be contaminated or replaced with other harmful liquids. Mixing cars, crowds and drivers with limited visions would definitely lead to undesirable accidents. The eye clinic treated hundreds of celebrating participants. Ambulance transferred many casualties because of the car accidents and teenagers fights. This case study will attempt to highlight the development of such dangerous festival and  suggest a solution that will make almost everybody happy. Read more …

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So Quiet …

January 3, 2010 1 Comment

Big Kite

The big kite in the quiet sky

I took a look at the social networks in the Net and I found the activities are considerably low except for those professionals who drafted generic message ready for pushing during the holidays. It is good to enjoy the off days and relax from the stressful work environment or family responsibilities.

The Japanese are known for their dedication and long working hours but they are also known for work related stress and health problems caused by the long working hours and daily crowded commutes to and from home.

We need a break from almost everything we routinely do. We need to be relaxed, free and peaceful like the big kite flying in the quiet sky not caring for whatever going around us (or below us). However we need that invisible thread to connect us with reality down on earth.

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Morning walk

November 13, 2009 Leave a comment

One of the things I like to do is walking. I usually listen to an audio-book while enjoying the scenery. One can be optimistic to have nice weather in Kuwait to walk, but unfortunately I use the hot weather as an excuse for replacing the healthy walk by a cheesecake.
When I travel outside Kuwait I try to maximize my walking routine. The picture here is during my early morning walk in the Hyde park in London earlier this month.

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