Jeff Davidson's Blog, page 22
November 30, 2016
A Sedentary Society
An astounding cultural change: people's sedentary time outside of work has increased by about 40% between 1965 and 2009. Can there be any doubt? Our contemporary embrace of technology which means, for most people, more time seated is contributing to our demise, personally and collectively.
November 23, 2016
Dealing with Other People's Voice Mail
To successfully deal with other people's voice mail:
* Speak a little louder than usual, enunciating as you speak.
* Say your name and organization, and then slowly leave your phone number.
* Follow that with a short, essential message.
* Make your message last 40 to 50 seconds.... too short, and it might seem insignificant. Too long, and you may irk the other party.
* Pretend you're writing your phone number in the air as you're reciting it.
Some callers speak too fast, making recipients replay the message repeatedly.
* Days later, if you’ve had no reply? Say, "I'm calling to follow-up on my call last Tuesday."
* Be flexible when offering times and dates when you can be reached.
Be friendly and personable. You'll stand out like few others callers that day!
* Speak a little louder than usual, enunciating as you speak.
* Say your name and organization, and then slowly leave your phone number.
* Follow that with a short, essential message.
* Make your message last 40 to 50 seconds.... too short, and it might seem insignificant. Too long, and you may irk the other party.
* Pretend you're writing your phone number in the air as you're reciting it.
Some callers speak too fast, making recipients replay the message repeatedly.
* Days later, if you’ve had no reply? Say, "I'm calling to follow-up on my call last Tuesday."
* Be flexible when offering times and dates when you can be reached.
Be friendly and personable. You'll stand out like few others callers that day!
November 17, 2016
Apps That Offer Breathing Space
Mobile phone apps allow you to handle text and audio in convenient ways. Examples:
* Evernote has long enabled users to record their notes and ideas. It now allows you to convert your audio files into text. Also, the app’s search function works with audio or text files. It is free for iOS and Android users.
* Voice Assistant more easily enables you to post your text to Facebook, Twitter, your email account, or to a wireless printer, and gets better with each use. For IOS users only at a cost of $1.
* Dragon Dictation offer simple voice transcription, and once you develop a personal rhythm, you efficiently can handle even long emails and other such documents with a high degree of accuracy. A free product for use on iOS.
* Evernote has long enabled users to record their notes and ideas. It now allows you to convert your audio files into text. Also, the app’s search function works with audio or text files. It is free for iOS and Android users.
* Voice Assistant more easily enables you to post your text to Facebook, Twitter, your email account, or to a wireless printer, and gets better with each use. For IOS users only at a cost of $1.
* Dragon Dictation offer simple voice transcription, and once you develop a personal rhythm, you efficiently can handle even long emails and other such documents with a high degree of accuracy. A free product for use on iOS.
November 15, 2016
Depart from the Office on Time
Leaving Ready for the Rest of Your Day!
Here's what you can do, on a typical weekday, to leave on time when you choose to:
1. Tell everyone that you have a personal commitment at 5:30 that evening. If you have a
child you could say that your child is in need of important parental assistance. Schedule
something for 5:30 that evening if it helps.
2. Mark on your calendar that you'll be leaving at five.
3. Sleep well the night before.
4. Eat a light lunch.
5. Strike a bargain with yourself at the start of the day, in late morning, in early
afternoon, and in late afternoon.
6. View any intrusion as merely part of the workday.
7. Once striking the bargain with yourself, don't add more items at the last minute.
8. Imagine how you'll feel when you leave right at closing time (however, there is no
reason for you to be staring at the clock for the last 45 minutes).
9. Ask a co-worker to walk you out at closing time.
Here's what you can do, on a typical weekday, to leave on time when you choose to:
1. Tell everyone that you have a personal commitment at 5:30 that evening. If you have a
child you could say that your child is in need of important parental assistance. Schedule
something for 5:30 that evening if it helps.
2. Mark on your calendar that you'll be leaving at five.
3. Sleep well the night before.
4. Eat a light lunch.
5. Strike a bargain with yourself at the start of the day, in late morning, in early
afternoon, and in late afternoon.
6. View any intrusion as merely part of the workday.
7. Once striking the bargain with yourself, don't add more items at the last minute.
8. Imagine how you'll feel when you leave right at closing time (however, there is no
reason for you to be staring at the clock for the last 45 minutes).
9. Ask a co-worker to walk you out at closing time.
November 8, 2016
A Flat Economy for 8 years
William Falk, editor of The Week magazine, in March 2013 wrote:
“Stocks are booming, with the Dow Jones industrial average this week climbing to an all-time high. Corporate profits are soaring, and companies have piled up a record $1.4 trillion in available cash. It is, The New York Times said this week, ‘a golden age’ for corporate profits. So are you feeling flush? Pocketing a fat raise? Didn't think so.”
“Since 2008, corporate earnings have risen 20% a year, while worker salaries have been flat. Even when companies expand, they don't hire new workers. United Technologies, for example, has raised its annual revenues by $15 billion since 2005, but cut 4,000 workers last year and will cut 3,000 more this year. ‘Productivity,’ the CEO explained.”
“Ah, ‘productivity’ – a fine-sounding word. In practice, it means 11-hour days, working on weekends, skipped vacations. In practice, says a new survey by the American Psychological Association, it means that more than half the U.S. workforce feels underpaid and unappreciated, and a third suffers symptoms of chronic, work-induced stress. But how can a worker bee complain? Millions of unemployed Americans would gladly take their jobs for less pay, and so would millions of telecommuters in India, China, and Brazil...”
“Stocks are booming, with the Dow Jones industrial average this week climbing to an all-time high. Corporate profits are soaring, and companies have piled up a record $1.4 trillion in available cash. It is, The New York Times said this week, ‘a golden age’ for corporate profits. So are you feeling flush? Pocketing a fat raise? Didn't think so.”
“Since 2008, corporate earnings have risen 20% a year, while worker salaries have been flat. Even when companies expand, they don't hire new workers. United Technologies, for example, has raised its annual revenues by $15 billion since 2005, but cut 4,000 workers last year and will cut 3,000 more this year. ‘Productivity,’ the CEO explained.”
“Ah, ‘productivity’ – a fine-sounding word. In practice, it means 11-hour days, working on weekends, skipped vacations. In practice, says a new survey by the American Psychological Association, it means that more than half the U.S. workforce feels underpaid and unappreciated, and a third suffers symptoms of chronic, work-induced stress. But how can a worker bee complain? Millions of unemployed Americans would gladly take their jobs for less pay, and so would millions of telecommuters in India, China, and Brazil...”
November 3, 2016
Apps that offer Breathing Space
Mobile phone Apps allow you to handle text and audio in convenient ways. Examples:
* Evernote has long enabled users to record their notes and ideas. It now allows you to convert your audio files into text. Also, the App’s search function works with audio or text files. It is free for iOS and Android users.
* Voice Assistant more easily enables you to post your text to Facebook, Twitter, Facebook, your email account, or to a wireless printer, and gets better with each use. For IOS users only at a cost of $1.
* Dragon Dictation offer simple voice transcription and once you develop a personal rhythm, you efficiently can handle even long emails and other such documents with a high degree of accuracy. A free product for use on iOS.
* Evernote has long enabled users to record their notes and ideas. It now allows you to convert your audio files into text. Also, the App’s search function works with audio or text files. It is free for iOS and Android users.
* Voice Assistant more easily enables you to post your text to Facebook, Twitter, Facebook, your email account, or to a wireless printer, and gets better with each use. For IOS users only at a cost of $1.
* Dragon Dictation offer simple voice transcription and once you develop a personal rhythm, you efficiently can handle even long emails and other such documents with a high degree of accuracy. A free product for use on iOS.
October 28, 2016
Appropriate Role Models
Chip Eichelberger, a fountain of energy and ideas, asks a compelling question in his blog, The Light Switch. The question is "Who is the role model?" Chip is referring to all the shows highlighting people who have lost a tremendous amount of weight. As Chip says:
"Their stories of people can serve as motivation and provide guidance to those who need it. 35.7% of the people in the USA are obese and an amazing 68% of Americans are overweight. My point is this: What about the people who have done what it takes and made the decisions to be in shape their entire lives?"
"Where is the show about the people who have always lead a healthy lifestyle? Only 3% of Americans lead a healthy lifestyle according to the Michigan State study. I am proud to have been a 3%'er my entire adult life and have worked hard to guide my family the same way... Wouldn't it be very useful to study the 3% of people who have been in shape and NEVER gotten out of shape?"
"How were they raised? What did their parents do to create the environment where they exercised together, purchased the right foods, purposely DID NOT have the house chock full of soda, chips, whole milk and processed foods?"
"I think it would be more valuable to make it the cool thing to be a 3%'er than having being overweight and obese as the norm. It has not always been that way. From 1950 through 1960, 33 percent of U.S. adults were overweight and only 9.7 percent were clinically obese, with body mass indexes above 30, according to doctor and author Jeffry Weiss. Obesity was not yet recognized as a disease in the 1950's."
"Obesity was not a disease back then....is it now? Have they changed the definition? The answer is yes, the question is why? I always thought a disease was something that happened to you that was out of your control, not something you did to yourself: smoking, over drinking, drug dependency, obesity, lack of maintaining your body."
"Did you know you can go on disability for the rest of your life and get paid by the government if you are obese? Check out this page from the web site www.DisabilitySecrets.com -- that web site exists to help people get on disability. Obesity is responsible for the largest portion of new disability claims by far and is growing rapidly. There is an entire industry working to get people on disability. There are, of course, many reasons to legitimately qualify, do not misinterpret my argument. The reality is the rate of people going on disability has outpaced the number of people getting jobs the last five years. That is not a good trend."
"If you are not a 3%'er, get started now and see what impact it can have on your life. Share what you do and how you do it with others and be in inspiration!"
"Their stories of people can serve as motivation and provide guidance to those who need it. 35.7% of the people in the USA are obese and an amazing 68% of Americans are overweight. My point is this: What about the people who have done what it takes and made the decisions to be in shape their entire lives?"
"Where is the show about the people who have always lead a healthy lifestyle? Only 3% of Americans lead a healthy lifestyle according to the Michigan State study. I am proud to have been a 3%'er my entire adult life and have worked hard to guide my family the same way... Wouldn't it be very useful to study the 3% of people who have been in shape and NEVER gotten out of shape?"
"How were they raised? What did their parents do to create the environment where they exercised together, purchased the right foods, purposely DID NOT have the house chock full of soda, chips, whole milk and processed foods?"
"I think it would be more valuable to make it the cool thing to be a 3%'er than having being overweight and obese as the norm. It has not always been that way. From 1950 through 1960, 33 percent of U.S. adults were overweight and only 9.7 percent were clinically obese, with body mass indexes above 30, according to doctor and author Jeffry Weiss. Obesity was not yet recognized as a disease in the 1950's."
"Obesity was not a disease back then....is it now? Have they changed the definition? The answer is yes, the question is why? I always thought a disease was something that happened to you that was out of your control, not something you did to yourself: smoking, over drinking, drug dependency, obesity, lack of maintaining your body."
"Did you know you can go on disability for the rest of your life and get paid by the government if you are obese? Check out this page from the web site www.DisabilitySecrets.com -- that web site exists to help people get on disability. Obesity is responsible for the largest portion of new disability claims by far and is growing rapidly. There is an entire industry working to get people on disability. There are, of course, many reasons to legitimately qualify, do not misinterpret my argument. The reality is the rate of people going on disability has outpaced the number of people getting jobs the last five years. That is not a good trend."
"If you are not a 3%'er, get started now and see what impact it can have on your life. Share what you do and how you do it with others and be in inspiration!"
October 21, 2016
Trust Your Intuition
There is no research to prove the age-old notion of “woman’s intuition,” but there is some evidence that certain types of people are more intuitive than others. Kathy Dalton, Ph.D. a visiting scientist at the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina discovered that musicians, visual artists, fiction writers, and actors seem to have stronger intuitive powers than others. And, apparently we can all improve our own ability to proceed based on intuition (thereby saving oodles of time and gaining some breathing space!)
October 16, 2016
Golden Solitude
Too many career professionals are uncomfortable with solitude. Increasingly, this discomfort tolerates only shorter and shorter attention spans. To retreat into one's own mind, to pause, to reflect is now treated as if it were enemy territory, yet these skills are needed now more than ever!
October 11, 2016
Understanding the Zeigarnik Effect
When interruptions predominate, little work gets done, observes Paul Radde, Ph.D. author of Thrival. Radde says "Cell phone use is not just plain rude, it is mentally distracting and abusive to others. Cell phone use captures the brain's interest in completing the conversation, so whether the user is broadcasting or simply within earshot, the Zeigarnik effect kicks in. This is the same desire for closure that makes the effects of multi-tasking akin to the effects of post-traumatic stress."
The Zeigarnik effect is characterized by the tendency for people to remember interrupted tasks better than those that have been completed. "Once taken off one task, without completing the transaction," Radde observes, "the mind continues to seek closure. If you have a number of things going, but none of them to completion, you have these tensions tending toward completion -- and that is stress-provoking."
The Zeigarnik effect is characterized by the tendency for people to remember interrupted tasks better than those that have been completed. "Once taken off one task, without completing the transaction," Radde observes, "the mind continues to seek closure. If you have a number of things going, but none of them to completion, you have these tensions tending toward completion -- and that is stress-provoking."
