Tuesday, January 22, 2013

How to Refresh Your Brain - in 10 Minutes


Francesca Fenzi – Inc.com Staff

When you go from one task to the next--all day long--your mind constantly races to catch up. Hit the reset button with this underrated trick.

Andy Puddicombe is a former Buddhist monk and co-founder of Headspace, an entrepreneurial venture designed to demystify meditation and make it easily accessible to all audiences. In a recent TED talk, Puddicombe promotes an idea that almost sounds too easy to be true: refresh your mind in just 10 minutes a day and you might be happier at work.

Puddicombe seeks to provide “meditation for the modern world,” eliminating stereotypes of incense and cross-legged monks. And he might just be on to something. Here are two problems that plague modern-day workers--and how Headspace’s bite-sized meditation plan can help. 

Problem #1: Inability to Focus

“The average office worker changes windows [on her computer] 37 times an hour,” Headspace’s head of research Nick Begley says in a meditation tutorial.

According to Begley, when your mind changes gears that rapidly, part of your brain is still engaged in the previous task and you don’t have all of the attention and resources necessary to concentrate on the current task. This slows down productivity and reduces your ability to filter relevant information from irrelevant information. 

Problem #2: Stress

When people get stressed, there is a part of the brain called the amygdala that fires up the “fight or flight” part of the nervous system that helps you make quick, impulsive decisions.

“It signals to our hormonal system to secrete adrenaline and cortisol and increases our heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, so we can escape this immediate physical danger,” says Begley.

The problem arises when there is no immediate physical danger--when, say, you’ve forgotten to hit “save” on an important document and your computer crashes, or you arrive unprepared for an important business meeting. The “fight or flight” impulse is not actually helpful in those situations and merely puts undue stress on the body, Begley explains.  

The Solution

Refreshing your brain is easier than you think. Here's the first and only step: Do nothing.
Puddicombe recommends simply setting aside 10 minutes each day to quiet your mind. Practice observing thoughts and anxieties without passing judgment--simply experience them. Focus on the present moment and nothing else.

“We can’t change every little thing that happens to us,” he acknowledges, “but we can change how we experience it.”

Thursday, January 17, 2013

7 Must-Have Project Management Skills for IT Pros


A good--or bad--project manager can make the difference between a project coming in on time and on budget and it being a failure. How can you spot a good project manager? CIO.com talked to experts and IT executives to find out.
By Jennifer Lonoff Schiff
CIO — Just because someone has the title of "project manager" does not mean he knows how to effectively manage projects, as many CIOs and other IT executives have learned the hard way.
So how can you tell a good project manager from a bad one? CIO.com surveyed project management experts and executives to learn what skills are required to successfully manage projects--that is, to ensure that projects are kept on track and stay on budget.
Here are seven skills project managers need in order to be effective and successful:
Skill No. 1: Be highly organized and a good multi-tasker. A good project manager knows how to "manage multiple projects or tasks and track issues on a daily basis," says Hilary Atkinson, director of the Project Management Office at Force 3, a business solutions provider.
The difference between the success or failure of a project is often "the difference between a project manager who is highly organized and one who is not," she says. "If a project manager is spending more time trying to figure out where information is rather than productively managing their project, failure is eminent."
Skill No. 2: Take charge and know how to lead. "Project managers need to be good leaders," says Lew Sauder, senior project manager Geneca, which develops custom enterprise software. Specifically, "project management is about leading stakeholders and vendors to a successful outcome," states Brian Lee, partner atNavigate, a management consulting firm.
"Projects need to be led in a fashion that builds consensus while also fleshing out the real risks and roadblocks," he says. "Effective project managers paint a picture of a better tomorrow and inspire confidence in their team's abilities to realize that vision. They build credible relationships with key stakeholders to ensure alignment to the project's objectives and exude the confidence necessary to hold everyone participating in the project accountable."
Skill No. 3: Be an effective communicator. "Being an outstanding communicator requires the project manager to consistently ensure they are clearly understood by all stakeholders; that all stakeholders understand what is expected of them throughout the project lifecycle; and that all stakeholders communicate effectively with one another as well as with the project manager," says Dr. Greg Thomas, CMC, PMP and CEO of Roos Technologies International, a management consulting firm.

"Project managers need to be able to communicate status changes, good news and bad news to all levels of staff across different departments," says Nandi Hayes, an agent at Vitamin T, a talent agency for digital creatives.
"They also need to be able to distinguish who needs to know what, when they need to know it and how that information will be delivered," she says. "For example, a slight scheduling delay may need to be communicated to internal teams but not to the client if the key client review dates are not affected."
Skill No. 4: Know how and when to negotiate. "Project managers must be excellent negotiators," says Brock Boddie, an associate program director at Huge, a global digital agency. "You're very often dealing with people who have divergent interests from your own or who appear to have no interest in understanding what you're trying to accomplish and why they should help you or fully participate," he says.
"A good project manager will invest time to understand and negotiate these relationships and figure out these stakeholder's interests, so that she can triangulate what will make her project continue to move forward. Without these negotiating skills, you may spoil or ignore these critical relationships, making project success highly unlikely," Boddie says.
Skill No. 5: Be detail-oriented. "Project management is all about the details--big ones and small ones," says Aziz Kara, head of Product Management and Design at Xtreme Labs, a mobile app and product developer. Therefore, project managers must be "meticulous about managing the details of every project and the impact each detail may have on the overall project success. Details can make or break a project, and the effective PM recognizes that."
Skill No. 6: Recognize and solve problems quickly. "Inevitably, there will be times when problems and obstacles arise that involve immediate solutions," notes Michael Pesochinsky, cofounder and vice-president of GovernmentBargains.com, a free site that compiles and provides information about government auctions. "How a project manager handles these problems will separate him from the others."
Skill No. 7: Possess the necessary technical skills. To be a good project manager, you "must have solid knowledge of the platforms, software and programs that your company regularly works with, even if your job is not actually technical," says Joel Gross, the founder and CEO of Coalition Technologies, a Web design and marketing firm.
And "a great project manager needs to have enough technical knowledge about areas of the project to be able to assign themselves to some of the tasks," adds Bob Herman, the owner of Tropolis Group, which provides IT, mobile and social media management services to companies. Why? "Assigning yourself to some of the project tasks and successfully completing those tasks on time helps you earn the respect you need to successfully manage the project team."

Friday, January 11, 2013

Resume Critique Checklist


Resumes normally get less than a 15-second glance at the first screening. If someone has asked you to review his resume and you want to help him ensure it gets read -- or want to know if your own is up to par -- be sure you can answer yes to the following questions: 
First Impression
  • Does the resume look original and not based on a template?
  • Is the resume inviting to read, with clear sections and ample white space?
  • Does the design look professional rather than like a simple typing job?
  • Is a qualifications summary included so the reader immediately knows the applicant's value proposition?
  • Is the resume's length and overall appearance appropriate given the career level and objective?
Appearance
  • Does the resume provide a visually pleasingpolished presentation?
  • Is the font appropriate for the career level and industry?
  • Are there design elements such as bullets, bolding and lines to guide readers' eyes through the document and highlight important content?
  • Is there a good balance between text and white space?
  • Are margins even on all sides?
  • Are design elements like spacing and font size used consistently throughout the document?
  • If the resume is longer than a page, does the second page contain a heading? Is the page break formatted correctly?
Resume Sections
  • Are all resume sections clearly labeled?
  • Are sections placed in the best order to highlight the applicant's strongest credentials?
  • Is the work history listed in reverse chronological order (most recent job first)?
Career Goal
  • Is the career objective included toward the top of the resume in a headline, objective or qualifications summary?
  • Is the resume targeted to a specific career goal and not trying to be a one-size-fits-all document?
  • If this is a resume for career change, is the current objective clearly stated, along with supporting details showing how past experience is relevant to the new goal?
Accomplishments
  • Does the resume include a solid listing of career accomplishments?
  • Are accomplishments quantified by using numbers, percentages, dollar amounts or other concrete measures of success?
  • Do accomplishment statements begin with strong, varied action verbs?
  • Are accomplishments separated from responsibilities?
Relevance
  • Is the information relevant to hiring managers' needs?
  • Does the resume's content support the career goal?
  • Is the resume keyword-rich, packed with appropriate buzzwords and industry acronyms?
  • Is applicable additional information, such as awards and affiliations, included, while personal information like marital status, age and nationality unrelated to the job target omitted?
Writing Style
  • Is the resume written in an implied first-person voice with personal pronouns, such as I, me and my, avoided?
  • Is the content flow logical and easy to understand?
  • Is the resume as perfect as possible, with no careless typos or spelling, grammar or syntax errors?

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!!


12 Great Motivational Quotes for 2013

by Geoffrey James
This set of inspirational thoughts for the new year will galvanize you into action.

At the start of every year, I create a list of quotes to guide and inspire me for the next 12 months. Here are the quotes I've selected for 2013:
  1. "Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."
    Napoleon Hill

  2. "The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear."
    Brian Tracy

  3. "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."
    Dale Carnegie

  4. "Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats."
    Og Mandino

  5. "A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided."
    Tony Robbins

  6. "If you can't control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls waiting to be attacked."
    The Book of Proverbs

  7. A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves."
    Harvey Mackay

  8. "Freedom, privileges, options, must constantly be exercised, even at the risk of inconvenience."
    Jack Vance

  9. "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live."
    Jim Rohn

  10. "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want."
    Zig Ziglar

  11. "The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying."
    Tom Hopkins

  12. "You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself."
    Seth Godin