The Great Kindness Challenge

My wife found this awesome challenge from GreatKindnessChallenge.org. Even though the challenge already ended last August 11, 2012, we can always choose to do it everyday. How many do you think you do in one day? 

Acts of Kindness Checklist

Share and spread the kindness to everyone!

Enjoy!

Until my next post!

Elvin Peria

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7 Deadly Sins of Business Meetings

Here, seven deadly sins to watch for in business meetings -- and tips on how to redeem yourself.

1. Meetings that become useless rituals. Companies frequently meet simply because it's time for their weekly, monthly or annual sales meeting. "Meetings that are ritualistic instead of necessary are often boring, and attendees eventually flip an 'off switch' in their brains," says Joe Calloway, business strategy consultant and author of Becoming A Category of One (John Wiley, 2003).

Tip: First, reexamine your routine. "Do not have a meeting unless you can very specifically define why it's necessary and how it will advance the strategy of the organization," he says. Also, create a specific agenda and send it out early enough for people to prepare.

2. Meetings that are a one-way conversation. People often tune out monotone lecturers and mind-numbing PowerPoint presentations. "A one-way speech is generally one of the least effective ways of teaching, informing or motivating people to action," Calloway says.

Tip: Encourage your team to speak up, exchange ideas and comment on what they've heard. If you show PowerPoint slides, make them visually interesting and keep words and numbers to a minimum.

3. Meetings with lax leadership. In today's "virtual" conference rooms, time is often wasted waiting for people to join the call and then getting stragglers up to speed on what they missed. "This punishes the people who joined the meeting on time with the likelihood you'll run over, leaving employees stressed out playing catch-up on the rest of their day," says Gary Bradt, business strategy expert and author of The Ring in the Rubble (McGraw Hill, 2007).

Tip: Choose a leader who is organized and forceful, leaving latecomers to catch up on their own. "Use tact, of course – you don't have to be Attila the Hun – but if you're too nice, it allows too much nonsense to go on," Bradt says.

4. Meetings that harp on setbacks instead of strategies. One of Bradt's clients spent 95 percent of each meeting having plant managers explain why their numbers weren't up to par and only 5 percent planning future strategies. Not surprisingly, Brandt says, everyone came out of the meeting with a long face.

Tip: Use the past as a platform for understanding and planning future actions, not "a battering ram to beat people up," Bradt says. The collective brainpower in the room should be used to avoid mistakes going forward.

5. Meetings that disrupt the most productive hours. Many companies hold meetings in the morning, interrupting employees' most productive hours, says Jackie Freiberg, co-author of Nanovation: How a Little Car Can Teach the World to Think Big and Act Bold (Thomas Nelson, 2011).

Tip: Schedule meetings in the afternoon, when escaping the cubicle can be a welcome relief.

6. Meetings that are held in a bland environment. At the vast majority of meetings, employees gather around a conference table and keep their gaze focused on the leader at the head of the table. Freiberg believes this format does little to stimulate discussion and creative ideas.

Tip: Take your employees on a "walking" meeting in the park or just around the building and parking lot. "When you're not eye to eye, you have the guts to say certain things," Freiberg says. "And when walking, you look at the world differently, which stimulates fresh ideas."

7. Meetings that are too formal and rigid. Few meeting leaders have a sense of humor. The result is a room full of bored, restless employees, says Eric Chester, author of Reviving Work Ethic (Greenleaf Books, 2012).

Tip: Break up the meeting with music, a video, jokes or an engaging story, Chester says. "In the age of YouTube and iTunes, there's simply no reason to not inject a bit of levity in a meeting to gain attention, disarm negativity and generate enthusiasm."

I got this amazing article from Entrepreneur.com by Lisa Girard. I hope you find something useful.

Elvin

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100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

Scientists and academics have spent entire careers investigating what makes people happy. But hidden in obscure scholarly journals and reports, their research is all too often inaccessible to ordinary people.

At last, social scientist and psychologist David Niven, Ph. D., distills the scientific gobbledygook of over a thousand of the most compelling and important studies on happiness and habits for happiness is illustrated with a clear example and illuminated by a straightforward explanation of the science behind it to show you how to transform a ho-hum existence into a full and happy life.

1. Your Life Has Purpose and Meaning
2. Use a Strategy for Happiness
3. You Don’t Have to Win Every Time
4. Your Goals Should Be Aligned with One Another
5. Choose Your Comparisons Wisely
6. Cultivate Friendships
7. Turn Off the TV
8. Accept Yourself—Unconditionally
9. Remember Where You Came From
10. Limit Yourself to Thinking About One Subject as You Lie Down to Sleep
11. Friendship Beats Money
12. Have Realistic Expectations
13. Be Open to New Ideas
14. Share with Others How Important They Are to You
15. If You’re Not Sure, Guess Positively
16. Believe in Yourself
17. Don’t Believe in Yourself Too Much
18. Don’t Face Your Problems Alone
19. Age Is Not to Be Feared
20. Develop a Household Routine
21. Don’t Be Overprotective
22. Pay Attention. You May Have What You Want
23. Don’t Let Your Religious Beliefs Fade
24. Do What You Say You Are Going to Do
25. Don’t Be Aggressive with Your Friends and Family
26. Root for the Home Team
27. Don’t Confuse Stuff with Success
28. Every Relationship Is Different
29. Don’t Think “What If”
30. Volunteer
31. If You Can’t Reach Your Goals, Your Goals Will Hurt You
32. Exercise
33. Little Things Have Big Meanings
34. It’s Not What Happened, It’s How Your Think About What Happened
35. Develop Some Common Interests with Loved Ones
36. Laugh
37. Don’t Let Your Entire Life Hinge on One Element
38. Share of Yourself
39. Busy Is Better Than Bored
40. Satisfaction Is Relative
41. Learn to Use a Computer
42. Try to Think Less About the People and Things That Bother You
43. Keep Your Family Close
44. Eat Some Fruit Every Day
45. Enjoy What You Have
46. Think in concrete Terms
47. Be Socially Supportive
48. Don’t Blame Yourself
49. Be a Peacemaker
50. Cherish Animals
51. Make Your Work a Calling
52. Never Trade Your Morals for Your Goals
53. Don’t Pretend to Ignore things Your Loved Ones do that Bother You
54. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
55. Buy What You Like
56. Accomplish Something Every Day
57. Be Flexible
58. Events Are Temporary
59. Be Your Own Fan
60. Join a Group
61. Be Positive
62. There Will Be an End, but You Can Be Prepared
63. How We See the World Is More Important Than How the World Is
64. Keep a Pen and Paper Handy
65. Help the Next Person Who Needs Some Minor Assistance
66. Take Care Not to Harshly Criticize Family and Friends
67. Some People Like the Big Picture, and Others Like the Details
68. Do things You Are Good At
69. Go visit Your Neighbor
70. Smile
71. Don’t Accept Television’s Picture of the World
72. You Always Have a Choice
73. Be Agreeable
74. Don’t Ignore One Part of Your Life
75. Listen to Music
76. Let Your Goals Guide You
77. Use Your Job Positively
78. Don’t Forget to Have Fun
79. Believe in Ultimate Justice
80. Reminisce
81. Be Conscientious
82. Don’t Dwell on Unwinnable Conflicts
83. Enjoy the Ordinary
84. Focus Not on the World’s Tragedies, but on the World’s Hope
85. Get a Hobby
86. Envying Other People’s Relationships is Pointless
87. Give Yourself Time to Adapt to Change
88. Focus on What Really Matters to You
89. Realize that Complete Satisfaction does Not Exist
90. Surround Yourself with Pleasant Aromas
91. Don’t Let Others Set Your Goals
92. You Are a Person, Not a Stereotype
93. Know What Makes You Happy and Sad 94. Keep Reading
95. We Must Feel Needed
96. Say “So What”
97. Have a Purpose
98. You Have Not Finished the Best Part of Your Life
99. Money Does Not Buy Happiness
100. What Does it All Mean? You Decide

Until my next post,
Elvin Peria

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