'' It's easy ''

** Tra-la-la-la-la-la. Easy like a sunday morning. **

When something is percieved as easy, one can fool himself into believing the action will be done without much effort.
That's common trap for most people. Even for Zec.

If you think that way, you'll have trouble getting things done.

Zec thinks he's good at writing. It's very easy for him to write blog post. His experience and knowledge gives him confidence he'll do it right, accurate and on time.

But then, he delays a little. Then he delays further, and now it becomes serious procrastination. Everything looked so easy at first.

But now he's having problem. A writer's block. The things are not done.

He sees his mistake and is ready to make correction. Hard work takes over. He's done. + 180 Karma points for a good job.
Well done !

Words don't come easy when they're not true !

Satisfied Employee

It's not only about paycheck.

There is more to employee productivity, efficency and satisfaction than good money alone. Good bosses know this very well, and behave accordingly.
It's employee's right to be assertive on this counts:

- Work / life balance
- Time for family / friends
- Training & specialisation
- Fairness, cooperation and communication among colleagues
- Flexible hours
- Challenging tasks
- Job autonomy ( Power & influence )
- Highly professionalism ( quality performance )
- Days-off
- Feeling of control
- Changing things & making difference
- Seminars & workshops ( job related )
- Coolness ( product & services )
- Recognition & acknowledgement
- Room for creativity
- milestones for promotion
- Non - bureaucracy
- Well defined organisation's structure and worker's roles
- Random Perks ( free coffee, dougnats, fruits, snacks )
- Security ( retirment & health coverage, life insurance )
- Fair compensation - Money & equity & bonuses
- Manager's support

Multitasking Leave You Frazzled?

Do you feel overwhelmed on the job as text messages arrive on your cell, the phone rings and someone steps into your work space?  One professional woman in her early 60's said she came home exhausted after work.  "When she put a loaf of bread in the dryer, she said she knew she had to stop burning the candle at both ends," Edward T. Creagan, M.D. of the Mayo Clinic shares.

Throughout the day, I get curious about who's sent me an email or what's happening around the world, so I quickly check Twitter or my email for a quick update. But my attention quickly moves to these formats and off my current work.  Even though I think I can trust my will-power to check at scheduled points in a day, before I know it I look in without thinking and my focus shifts.  Is this true for you as well?

Imagine this... "Allison Miller, aged 14, sends and receives 27,000 text messages a month, according to Seth Godin. "Hey, that's only about sixty an hour, every hour she's awake."

Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress.  And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is also your brain off computers.

Added to that, the nonstop interactivity is one of the most significant shifts ever in the human environment, said Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco.

For example, when Gloria Mark, University of California at Irvine researcher first started her faculty job, she only completed a small portion of what she hoped to do in a day.  "Madness," she thought. "I'm trying to do 30 things at once."  Mark decided to figure out why multitasking worked against her. Mark, a scientist of human-computer interactions conducted a research study to find out more.

When she "crunched the data, a picture of 21st-century office work emerged that was, she says, far worse than I could ever have imagined." Is this typical at your workplace?

Each employee spent only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and whisked off to do something else. What's more, each 11-minute project was itself fragmented into even shorter three-minute tasks, like answering e-mail messages, reading a Web page or working on a spreadsheet. And each time a worker was distracted from a task, it would take, on average, 25 minutes to return to that task. To perform an office job today, it seems, your attention must skip like a stone across water all day long, touching down only periodically.

Though Gloria Mark and Mary Czerwinski, an interruption scientist, separately looked at people working at their desks, a pattern emerged. People stuck all kinds of Post-It notes around their computer screens. Workers swore this made them feel calmer.

Consider this possibility...

But did more screen area actually help with cognition? Czerwinski mulled it over. As a result, she compared the number of tasks completed for a group of 15 workers at a 15 inch monitor versus the number of tasks the same workers completed at a 42 inch monitor. Productivity...

On the bigger screen, people completed the tasks at least 10 percent more quickly - and some as much as 44 percent more quickly. They were also more likely to remember the seven-digit number, which showed that the multitasking was clearly less taxing on their brains. Some of the volunteers were so enthralled with the huge screen that they begged to take it home. In two decades of research, Czerwinski had never seen a single tweak to a computer system so significantly improve a user's productivity. The clearer your screen, she found, the calmer your mind. So her group began devising tools that maximized screen space by grouping documents and programs together - making it possible to easily spy them out of the corner of your eye, ensuring that you would never forget them in the fog of your interruptions.

These insights can help us work more effectively with our brain than against it.

What's your experience?

Hmmm... think I'll see where I can get a good buy on a larger computer monitor. You?

Plants Enhance Workplace Well Being

Does your workplace environment nurture your mind?  It can.  If your office has both a window view and/or plants, you can cut down on stress and anxiety.

Many recent studies on job satisfaction reveal that workers who spend more time in offices under artificial light, or in cubicles with no outside view, report reduced job satisfaction. Light also decreases stress levels, and plants offer nature's dividends to your work environment.

A manager friend described going to a local nursery, picking out colorful potted plants and putting one on each employee's desk, first thing in the morning.  Smiles erupted all around and he noticed more productivity, that day.  Fresh potted blooms and plants in your office can your serotonin level.  Think of doing this as a serotonin tap for yourself and others, if your manager or supervisor doesn't.  The addition of many plants can enhance well-being for all and make people feel better at work.

In particular, Jonathan Kaplan, points out that plants have been shown to...

• Lower blood pressure (systolic)
• Improve reaction times
• Increase attentiveness
• Improve attendance (at work and school)
• Raise productivity (at work)
• Enhance well-being
• Enrich perceptions of the space
• Lower levels of anxiety during recovery from surgery
• Boost job satisfaction

Helps me to think twice about including fresh plants in my office.  You?

Indoor plants at work also improve the air quality by removing pollutants, in addition to boosting creativity and productivity, in addition to improving comfort levels according to Smith and Pitt's article published in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate (2009).  Smith and Pitt argue that indoor plants have potential to alleviate sick building syndrome symptoms. 

I need all the serotonin taps I can get throughout a work day.  Hmmm...  my next outing is to the nursery!

You @ Flow and Zen

Concept: From Idea To Result

Do just one thing === Do the best you can === Have a partner
<< STAY FOCUSED >>

1. IDEA
{ only one }

2. ACTION PLAN
{ every step }

3. QUALITIES
{ drive, courage, spirit, competence }

4. RESOURCES
{ people, time, money, stuff }

5. RESULT
{ quantity }

6. REFLECT & SHARE
{ the end }


Author: Zec
Licence: Creative Commons By Attribution
Inspiration & Acknowledgements:
Quotes:

Alan Kay:
Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do… The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Really smart people with reasonable funding can do just about anything that doesn't violate too many of Newton's Laws!

Stevan Dedijer:
Science and technology doesn't matter. It's what do you know about the world.

Albert Einstein:
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.

Steve Jobs:
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Bill Gates:
I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.

Warren Buffet:
I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.

Budhha:
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Napoleon Bonaparte:
I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.

Donald Trump:
I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.

Stephen Covey:
We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.

US Army Ad:
If someone wrote a book about your life, would anyone want to read it?

Albert Einstein:
Play is the highest form of research.

Gregory Bateson:
The source of the new...is the random.

J.F. Kennedy:
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.

Jeff Bezos:
There are two kinds of companies, those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.

Larry Ellison:
A corporation's primary goal is to make money. Government's primary role is to take a big chunk of that money and give it to others.

Katharine Graham:
To love what you do and feel that it matters how could anything be more fun?

Carl Icahn:
You learn in this business: It you want a friend, get a dog.

David Rockefeller:
The Japanese have a wonderful sense of design and a refinement in their art. They try to produce beautiful paintings with the minimum number of strokes.

Dalibor Kunich:
You and I could be very, very rich.

David Allen:
The main one is staying focused on both the big picture and the important details.

Zappos' Brain Friendly Work Culture

Zappos, CEO Tony Hsieh formed a theory, "if you create a work culture that fosters well-being, good practices and (eventually) good profits will naturally flow out of the operation." By 2008, Zappos.com hit a major financial milestone when gross merchandise sales for the year surpassed $1 billion, driven primarily by repeat customers and word of mouth. On any given day, approximately 75% of orders are from repeat customers.

"No matter what happens with the economy, the demand for talent will remain," Managing Editor Andy Serwer writes in his FORTUNE.com blog. "Great companies know that super-motivated, happy, world-class employees are an incredible competitive advantage."

How do good ideas harnessed in vision lead to policy where you work? Business schools teach the importance of creating vision. Yet, impact of carrying out policy to make vision a reality creates flames of inspiration or dampens them. Ever wonder what makes the difference as leaders and employees alike begin to walk the talk...

Interestingly, leaders shape vision into action as the brain cultivates new neuron pathways toward spirit and highest values. Let's look briefly at Zappo's "10 core values" formed by leaders and employees alike, to see how they relate to workings of the human brain.

1) Deliver WOW Through Service - Creating a "WOW" factor challenges the brain and breaks routines. The human brain leaps to problem solving and challenge to break boring routines.

2) Embrace and Drive Change - Changes take place by taking on and tackling new approaches. You work in working memory more as you learn, practice and problem solve.

3) Create Fun and A Little Weirdness - Play brings a joy to the work experience. The drive to play is located in the brain's thalmus.

4) Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded - The human brain thrives on creativity. By developing a fascination for discovery and adventure, you can experience joy in your work.

5) Pursue Growth and Learning - Zappos created a company library which provides hundreds of self-help and positive psychology books, Carlin Flores notes in Psychology Today, Oct, 2009. Reading unleashes your brain's thinking box. And, now Zappos is offering courses as well.

6) Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication - While experience and upbringing shape our communication style and the way we develop relationships, these can be changed. As we share what we care about with fellow workers we build honest relationships. Because the human brain has great plasticity, we can change how we communicate.

7) Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit - Creating a mindset that builds a team spirit can make or break an organization according to Jim Collins in How the Mighty Have Fallen. Folks at Zappos live team spirit daily.

8) Do More With Less - Having all the newest gadgets at work does not make people happier. Experiences create meaning because people find "more meaningful part of one's identity and contribute more to successful social relationships," according to Leaf Van Boven, psychologist at CU-Boulder. When the recession hit in 2009, Zappos changed their congratulatory $3,000 happy hour that bonds new employees to a $110.00 in-house social and it's just as effective, if not more, than going to a bar.

9) Be Passionate and Determined - If people are passionate about what they do, it stimulates on-the-job optimal experience. Demanding cognitive tasks prompt the brain to focus intensely by filtering out irrelevant signals as you work.

10) Be Humble - "Something interesting happens," Bruna Martinuzzi notes, "when we approach situations from a perspective of humility: it opens us up to possibilities, as we choose open-mindedness and curiosity over protecting our point of view. We spend more time in that wonderful space of the beginner’s mind, willing to learn from what others have to offer. We move away from pushing into allowing, from insecure to secure, from seeking approval to seeking enlightenment. We forget about being perfect and we enjoy being in the moment." Humility is developed as part of the emotional or intrapersonal intelligence.

Brainpower's in play at Zappos!

Wonder how CEO Tony Hsieh truly walked the talk, when so many others let good ideas fizzle?

He describes the process...

Many companies have core values, but they don't really commit to them. They usually sound more like something you'd read in a press release. Maybe you learn about them on day 1 of orientation, but after that it's just a meaningless plaque on the wall of the lobby.

We believe that it's really important to come up with core values that you can commit to. And by commit, we mean that you're willing to hire and fire based on them. If you're willing to do that, then you're well on your way to building a company culture that is in line with the brand you want to build. You can let all of your employees be your brand ambassadors, not just the marketing or PR department. And they can be brand ambassadors both inside and outside the office.

If you were heading a company, what might you add to Zappo's 10 core values?

What one would you like to see incorporated into your workplace?

VIRTUAL COMPANY AND COLLABORATION

Virtual Inc.




DJURDJEVAC- Setting up a virtual company is easy.

You need tools to manage your , usually, small group of people from all over the world in a consisten way. Robin Good posted excellent list of these collaboration tools available online for free or for a small fee .

It's basicly everything you need to work on a project from your home and collaborate with other people in the virtual company.

The mix of these tools depends on the type of project you work on. So, here's my selection of these tools for simple online collaboration based on my experience, familiarity, practicality and value ( relative price ) :

E-mail, IM, web phone, chat:
Gmail ( Google account )
Skype
Meebo
Tinychat

Project management:
Basecamp
Zoho Project


Event scheduling:
Google Calendar

Collaborative writing:
Google Docs
Zoho writer

Video conferencing:
Meeting24

Document sharing:
PBWiki
Google Docs

WorkGrouping:
Google groups
Meetup
BarCamps

Web presenting:
Slideshare

Co- browsing:
PageShare
Pocket Meeting

Whiteboarding:
Dabbleboard

But the aim is to keep it simple, easy and uniform. To be clear, these are basic collab tools ( for internal process ) and do not include ''external'' web services you use for other business purposes like PR, marketing, sales or business productivity ( Facebook, Twitter, Google Analytics, AdSense, SugarCRM, Highrise, YouTube etc. )

BONUS:
Entrepreneur's toolkit

Envy Curtails Productivity

Ever sensed a colleague on the job didn't deserve the promotion and that your talents were overlooked? Envy can easily flow like acid reflux. Initial reactions may lead you to swallow pride and offer congratulations or you might ignore your colleague and talk to others who may share your sentiments. Remarkably, envy's often veiled within us because it's socially unacceptable.

Four factors feed envy and cause it to ferment in today's offices, according to Judith Sills, a Philadelphia-based clinical psychologist:

A highly competitive workplace culture

An emotional dunce of a boss

Favoritism in our families of origin

Exceptional achievement that ticks off everyone else.

“Envy is the fear of losing social standing. ... It can affect people in subtle and unseen ways. People don’t want to admit to it. ... If you’re admitting that you’re jealous, you’re admitting that you have a sense of inferiority,” Robert Vecchio, professor of management at Notre Dame, contends.

Managers often shy away when it comes to envy because they don't want to deal with "emotions" in the workplace. "It's considered childish or inappropriate to talk about," Robert Vecchio, says.

Envy costs in the end.. it affects more than just emotions within a firm. A perceived slight can lead a worker to fume and impede productivity. And, if the worker seeks to get even -- files might disappear or...

Unfortunately it's hard for people to forget perceived social put downs...

Our brain's cerebral cortex easily replays scenes that created envy. Though complex thinking, perception and language processing is the primary function of the cerebral cortex, it may have an unintended effect of allowing humans to relive, re-experience, and suffer social pain. You can see why incidents are hard to put away, unlike physical pain that's soon forgotten.

Then how would a supervisor, manager or boss turn an environment racked with jealousy upside down? Since envy breeds in a highly competitive environments, how about starting here...

1. Share decision making.

2. List clear job descriptions and performance expectations and stick to these consistently based on employees' performance.

3. Delegate work to people demonstrating talents, who follow through to finish with timeliness.

4. Take time to chat with employees to really listen and know their concerns.

5. Encourage good work accomplished.

6. Demonstrate respect for colleagues and employees daily. Start by using their names more and smiling when you pass them.

7. Invite diverse views at project roundtables.

8. Lead interactive sessions on ways to work collaboratively. Draw most input from employees.

9. Play together. Create such opportunities based on employees' input.

10. Alternate "drudgery" tasks so these are shared more.

How do you handle over-competitiveness and its fallout at your organization? What solutions would you add?

A Dash of Humor Ups Performance and Creativity at Work

When you hear a funny story or quick-witted line as you launch another day at work, what happens? Perhaps a belly laugh, good feelings about colleagues, a positive spirit or relief from a toxic work environment. Here're three bonuses humor brings...

1. Creates more camaraderie in teams and departments... "The ability to appreciate humor, the ability to laugh and make other people laugh actually has physiological effects on the body that cause people to become more bonded," Chris Robert of MU' College of Business, finds.

2. Stirs your creativity... A dose of humor releases a flow of serotonin in your brain. Serotonin helps you to find well-being... to think clearly, solve problems more objectively, step beyond rigid thinking, change your point of view...

3. Improves performance... humor brings relaxation and an upbeat mindset which enables you to get past workplace toxins that stall you in the trenches. Recent research shows a strong link between positive emotions humor brings and optimal performance outcomes.

Ellen Weber explains how humor makes a difference for you and folks working near you...

Humor’s good for business because it releases enzymes into the brain and opens new spaces for learning, giving and for enjoying what you do. It’s also good for expansion … because people gravitate to humorous people, and research shows they like to do business with people who can laugh at themselves.

Laughter works best when it's light and witty. For instance, laugh at yourself to relax a room, make a play on words, tell a funny anecdote.

Recommended links that show how to use humor to increase creativity and productivity at your work:

Frank Roche at Know HR: Humor and the Work Team: Healing, Harmonizing, and Harnessing Morale, Cooperation, and Productivity

Drew McLellan at Drew's Marketing Minute: M&M capitalizes on a myth

Ellen Weber at Brain Based Business - 10 Tips for a Belly Laugh at Work

Workplace Office Buzz: Workplace Humor - Uniting and Dividing

Barbara Rozgonyi at Wired PR Works: Funny Business PR Why Don’t Companies Use Cartoons in Their Marketing?

Brad Shorr at Word Sell: Funny Companies with Serious Performance

GL Hoffman at What Would Dad Say: Your Resume Headline Should Get My Attention, First.

Here're a couple of quotes for your thoughts...

I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out. David Sedaris

Tell me what you laugh at, and I'll tell you who you are. Marcel Pagnol

Try humor... what difference has it made for you?