The 50 New Rules of Work

Photo courtesy of Budzlife. 

I was researching on how can I improve the websites I created when I stumbled upon Robin Sharma's blog. He has written the "50 New Rules of Work". He encourages us to share, discuss and debate with our team throughout our organization. Let's try them over the next thirty days and let's see the results.

The 50 New Rules of Work by Robin Sharma

1. You are not just paid to work. You are paid to be uncomfortable – and to pursue projects that scare you.
2. Take care of your relationships and the money will take care of itself.
3. Lead you first. You can’t help others reach for their highest potential until you’re in the process of reaching for yours.
4. To double your income, triple your rate of learning.
5. While victims condemn change, leaders grow inspired by change.
6. Small daily improvements over time create stunning results.
7. Surround yourself with people courageous enough to speak truthfully about what’s best for your organization and the customers you serve.
8. Don’t fall in love with your press releases.
9. Every moment in front of a customer is a moment of truth (to either show you live by the values you profess – or you don’t).
10. Copying what your competition is doing just leads to being second best.
11. Become obsessed with the user experience such that every touchpoint of doing business with you leaves people speechless. No, breathless.
12. If you’re in business, you’re in show business. The moment you get to work, you’re on stage. Give us the performance of your life.
13. Be a Master of Your Craft. And practice + practice + practice.
14. Get fit like Madonna.
15. Read magazines you don’t usually read. Talk to people who you don’t usually speak to. Go to places you don’t commonly visit. Disrupt your thinking so it stays fresh + hungry + brilliant.
16. Remember that what makes a great business – in part – are the seemingly insignificant details. Obsess over them.
17. Good enough just isn’t good enough.
18. Brilliant things happen when you go the extra mile for every single customer.
19. An addiction to distraction is the death of creative production. Enough said.
20. If you’re not failing regularly, you’re definitely not making much progress.
21. Lift your teammates up versus tear your teammates down. Anyone can be a critic. What takes guts is to see the best in people.
22. Remember that a critic is a dreamer gone scared.
23. Leadership’s no longer about position. Now, it’s about passion. And having an impact through the genius-level work that you do.
24. The bigger the dream, the more important the team.
25. If you’re not thinking for yourself, you’re following – not leading.
26. Work hard. But build an exceptional family life. What’s the point of reaching the mountaintop but getting there alone.
27. The job of the leader is to develop more leaders.
28. The antidote to deep change is daily learning. Investing in your professional and personal development is the smartest investment you can make. Period.
29. Smile. It makes a difference.
30. Say “please” and “thank you”. It makes a difference.
31. Shift from doing mindless toil to doing valuable work.
32. Remember that a job is only just a job if all you see it as is a job.
33. Don’t do your best work for the applause it generates but for the personal pride it delivers.
34. The only standard worth reaching for is BIW (Best in World).
35. In the new world of business, everyone works in Human Resources.
36. In the new world of business, everyone’s part of the leadership team.
37. Words can inspire. And words can destroy. Choose yours well.
38. You become your excuses.
39. You’ll get your game-changing ideas away from the office versus in the middle of work. Make time for solitude. Creativity needs the space to present itself.
40. The people who gossip about others when they are not around are the people who will gossip about you when you’re not around.
41. It could take you 30 years to build a great reputation and 30 seconds of bad judgment to lose it.
42. The client is always watching.
43. The way you do one thing defines the way you’ll do everything. Every act matters.
44. To be radically optimistic isn’t soft. It’s hard. Crankiness is easy.
45. People want to be inspired to pursue a vision. It’s your job to give it to them.
46. Every visionary was initially called crazy.
47. The purpose of work is to help people. The other rewards are inevitable by-products of this singular focus.
48. Remember that the things that get scheduled are the things that get done.
49. Keep promises and be impeccable with your word. People buy more than just your products and services. They invest in your credibility.
50. Lead Without a Title.

I encourage to share this post to your team. :)

Until my next post,

Elvin

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I Love My Job

I was searching for an email in my archive when I found this facebook note from Francis Kong.  I believe that this is worth sharing.

Dr. Seuss came up with a poem entitled “I Love My Job” and it is so funny in its attempt to reflect reality. Now listen to this: 

I love my job, I love the pay, I love it more and more each day.

I love my boss and he's the best. I love HIS boss and all the rest.

I love my office and it's location. I hate to have to take vacation.

I love my desk, drab and gray, and love those paper piles each day.

I love my chair in my padded cell; there's nothing else I love so well.

I love to work among my peers. I love their leers 'n jeers 'n sneers.

I love my computer and all its ware; I hug it often to show I care.

I love each program and every file; I even try using it once in a while.

I'm happy to be here, I am, I am...I'm the happiest slave to my Uncle Sam.

I love this work; I love these chores; I love the meetings with deadly bores.

I love my job AND I'll say it again, I even love these friendly men: 

These men who've come to visit today, in lovely white coats to take me away!

So what is he saying here? That those who really love their jobs are truly insane? 

This is funny and it actually reflects the attitude of many people in the work place. 

What about you? Do you share the same sentiment? 

If you think your job is awful allow me to give you a list of the world’s most terrible jobs. And here is the list: 

1. Nuclear Warhead Sensistivity Technician

2. Circus Elephant Clean Up Specialist

3. Rotten Sardine Taste Detector

4. Executive Assistant To The Boss's Nephew

5. Shark Baiter

6. Russian Cartographer

7. Vice President, Screen Door Sales, North Pole Division

8. Hurricane Photographer

9. Director Of Public Relations, Chernobyl Nuclear Facility

10. The Person Responsible For Replacing Urinal Deodorizers

11. Prison Glee Club President

12. MGB Electrical Specialist

13. Road Kill Removal Crew 

A lot of people complain all the time about the kind of jobs they are involved in yet when news travel through the grapevine that a re-engineering is about to take place, layoffs will happen, that will be the only time they begin to value their jobs.

No one can make you happy and neither can anyone make you unhappy in your job. It is your choice you make and no one can make that choice for you. There are people out there who would be happy to take over your job if you are willing to hand it over. 

Work is a blessing. It is not a curse. It becomes a curse when you make it so. 

Only productive people can be happy and only the happy people can be productive. This has been the secret of winners and now this secret is yours to keep. 

Stop focusing on your boss as the monster and start focusing on God as your Provider and Employer and do everything you can to make the most out of your job. Learn new things. Improve your craft. And then suddenly, a mysterious thing begins to happen. You begin to be excited with your job. 

Just a parting thought:

Live every day as if it were your last. Do every job as if you were the boss. Drive as if all other vehicles were police cars. Treat everybody else as if he were you. 

Love God serve Him and men and enjoy your day.

Hope you find this helpful. Have a great day!

Elvin

PS. My wife wrote an ebook about Job Hopping, two years ago. If you haven't read it yet. You may download a copy on this link: Stop Jobhopping Now! 

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The Donkey Story : Shake It Off and Step Up

I was doing a project for my wife when I stumbled upon Bo Sanchez' Easter Sunday article. He shared a story of a donkey.

One day, a donkey fell in an old well. 

The donkey’s owner looked down and realized the old well was too deep to pull out his donkey. It was hopeless to rescue his beloved animal. 

It was heartbreaking, but he knew there was only one thing to do—to bury his donkey. 

And his neighbors came to shovel dirt in the well. 

When the dirt fell on his back, the donkey became hysterical. How dare they bury him alive! But in a flash, a bright idea struck him. The next time dirt fell on his back, he said to himself—“All I have to do is shake it off and step up”—and that’s what he did. And it worked!

Every time dirt fell on his back, he’d say, “Shake it off and step up… Shake it off and step up…   Shake it off and step up…” 

The dirt that was meant to bury him was the same dirt that saved him. 

In life, we experience failures. We experience falling into a deep well.

We failed in our board exams for the second time. We failed in our businesses. We failed in our love life. We  failed in handling our finances. We failed in our work. We failed in almost all aspect of our lives.

The good thing is that our failure does not mean the end of everything. The fact that we survived the fall means that there's still hope. There's still something that we can do. We have a choice. We can choose to do nothing and be trapped in the well until we die or we can just shake it off (accepting our failures) and step up (use our failures to move on to the next level) just like what the donkey did in the story. The choice is ours.

The next time you fail, remember this donkey story. 

Until my next post,

Elvin

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Mobile Internet Options in the Philippines

Recently, Edel told me that she was having problems with her thumb. She was constantly having a thumb ache because of her more-than-two-year old mobile phone. The phone's keypad started to show signs of aging which requires huge amount of pressure in pressing certain buttons.

Also, she raised the issue that she wants to read articles online while going to school. Every time she goes to school, she spends 2 to 3 hours of her time on the road. That time is enough for her to read one 20-page article.

Her quick solution was to bring our pocket Wi-Fi together with her iPod Touch. However, every time she brings the pocket Wi-Fi with her, it disables me from doing my online research at home. In short, I also need the pocket Wi-Fi at home.

In order to end our problem, I took the time to visit mobile network stores available in SM Calamba. Good thing, SM has Globe, Smart and Sun stores in it.

I took all their brochures and did the unthinkable. I researched and created what ifs scenarios.

I came up with five options which consider the following criteria:

1.       Cost

2.       Internet 24/7 with any Wi-Fi gadget available (laptops and iPod Touch)

3.       Lock in Period

  

Let's discuss the criteria one by one.

Cost.

Currently we're spending roughly P2000 a month for our plans: Globe's Unli Call and Unli text promo for the both of us and Sun's Easy Broadband for P799 with Pocket Wi-Fi. If we need to select a new plan, we need to stay within that price range.

In addition, as much as possible, we wanted to balance the initial payout cost. I learned that if we terminate our current Globe Plans, we need to pay 3.5K each.

Internet Connection 24/7.

This answers my wife's concern. If I can find an option where in both of us can enjoy internet connection anywhere we go 24/7, the better.  Currently, we enjoy this if we're together because of our pocket Wi-Fi. The pocket Wi-Fi provides internet connection up to 1.5Mbps and it can connect multiple gadgets simultaneously. However, if we’re not together, the pocket Wi-Fi can only be useful to the person bringing it.

Lock in Period.

If we decide to get another plan, we need to consider the lock in period. We need to have a phone that is durable enough to last for two years (common lock in period of postpaid plans). What if at the middle of the lock in plan, one of the phones breaks up?

Based on the brochure I obtained from the shops, I have the following options:

1.       Unli Surf Sun using ZTE tablet. (Cost: 4, Internet Connection: 4, Lock in Period: 3,Overall Rating: 11)

2.       Unli Surf Sun using Nokia C5-03 Plan 799. (Cost: 5, Internet Connection: 3, Lock in Period: 4,Overall Rating: 12)

3.       Globe's iPhone 8GB Super Surf Plan 999. (Cost: 1, Internet Connection: 3, Lock in Period: 4,Overall Rating: 9) 

4.       Smart's All in Plan 1.2K. (Cost: 2, Internet Connection: 5, Lock in Period: 4,Overall Rating: 11)

5.       Globe's Super Surf Plan 999 using their free phone either LG Optimus ME or Sony Ericsson W8 or Samsung Galaxy Mini. (Cost: 4, Internet Connection: 5, Lock in Period: 4,Overall Rating: 13)

Mobile Internet Options

Obviously, option 5 is the most viable option for us in terms of cost, 24/7 internet connectivity and lock in period.

Hope you find this article helpful.

Elvin

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Maximizing Google + for Business

I love subscribing to tons of newsletters I could find that interest me. HubSpot and WebProNews are one of them. Both of them are giving away lots of helpful freebies from social media tips and tricks, email marketing, and other topics related to the internet. 

This morning, I was surprised to see this ebook. See below.

How to Use Google Plus for Business

Be sure to subscribe to HubSpot to receive lots of free ebooks.

Until my next post, 

Elvin

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