Be an interesting person

We Can’t Make Someone Like Us

-Hansen Lee

Actor and TV Host

www.clipartlogo.com

The only thing to do, according to Hansen is be an interesting person.  To be so, you need to read, and know what you like; have hobbies and interests; be passionate about what you enjoy.

Guys like girls who are passionate about life in every aspect.  When we find ourselves interesting, that’s when we feel most confident.

To find an interesting person, you need to start breaking down what you find interesting about their people.  Identify what exactly that makes a person so interesting to us.  Being curious and energetic makes us more interesting as a person.  This in turn will lead us to feel more confident.

The point to remember here is that, finding ourselves interesting and being interesting for another person are two very different things.  But if you find yourself interesting, enhances are, other people do too.

Xiandria Oii

Beyond good looks and confidence

StarMetro, 26 February 2014 Wednesday 

5.2 THE STRATEGIST IN YOU: Achieving Excellence in the Things That Really Matter

(SHORT NOTES FROM STRATEGY TOOLS:

Strategic Prioritization at http://www.mindtools.com)

 

Value Chain Analysis

Value Chain Analysis is a useful tool for working out how you can create the greatest possible value for your customers.  In most cases, the more value you create, the more people will be prepared to pay a good price for your product or service, and the more they will they keep on buying from you.

Value Chain Analysis helps to identify the ways to create value for customers, and then helps think through how to maximize this value: whether through superb products, great services, or jobs well done.

Value Chain Analysis Process

Step 1 – Activity Analysis ·        brainstorm the activities that you, your team or your company undertakes that in some way contribute towards your customer's experience ·        include the step-by-step business processes that you use to serve the customer ·        including o    marketing of your products or services; o   sales and order-taking; o   operational processes; o   delivery; o   support ·        other things involved o   How to recruit people with the skills to give the best service. o   How to motivate yourself or your team to perform well. o   How to keep up-to-date with the most efficient and effective techniques. o   How to select and develop the technologies that give you the edge. o   How to get feedback from customer on how you're doing, and how to improve further.

Step 2 – Value Analysis ·        , list the "Value Factors" for each activity identified ·        write down what needs to be done or changed to provide great value for each Value Factor

Step 3 – Evaluate Changes and Plan for Action ·        pick out the quick, easy, cheap wins ·        screen the more difficult changes ·        Drop: o   Impractical ones o   marginal improvements, but at great cost ·        prioritize the remaining tasks and plan to tackle them in an achievable, step-by-step way

Creating a More Ethical Organization

Plenty of organizations prioritize profits over people; and growth over ethics.  Other companies recognize that they can make a healthy profit while also reflecting higher ethical values.  These values can include responsibilities to the environment and to communities, as well as to employees.

5.1 THE STRATEGIST IN YOU: Understanding How Value is Created Within Organizations

(SHORT NOTES FROM STRATEGY TOOLS:

Strategic Prioritization at http://www.mindtools.com)

thinbluelineuk.blogspot.com

Porter's Value Chain

Understanding how your company creates value, and looking for ways to add more value, are critical elements in developing a competitive strategy.  A value chain is a set of activities that an organization carries out to create value for its customers.  The way in which value chain activities are performed determines costs and affects profits.

Porter's Value Chain focuses on systems, and how inputs are changed into the outputs.

Primary activities relate directly to the physical creation, sale, maintenance and support of a product or service. They consist of the following:

·        Inbound logistics

o   the processes related to receiving, storing, and distributing inputs internally

·        Operations

o   the transformation activities that change inputs into outputs that are sold to customers.

·        Outbound logistics

o   the activities deliver product or service to your customer

o   things like collection, storage, and distribution systems, and they may be internal or external to your organization

·        Marketing and sales

o   the processes to persuade clients to purchase from you instead of your competitors

o   the benefits you offer, and how well you communicate them, are sources of value here.

·        Service

o   the activities related to maintaining the value of the product or service to your customers, once it's been purchased.

Support activities support the primary functions above.  For example, procurement supports operations with certain activities, but it also supports marketing and sales with other activities.

·        Procurement (purchasing)

o   includes finding vendors and negotiating best prices.

·        Human resource management

o   how well a company recruits, hires, trains, motivates, rewards, and retains its workers.

·        Technological development

o   relate to managing and processing information, as well as protecting a company's knowledge base.

·        Infrastructure

o   a company's support systems, and the functions that allow it to maintain daily operations.

o   Accounting, legal, administrative, and general management are examples of necessary infrastructure that businesses can use to their advantage.

Steps to identify and understand your company's value chain
Step 1 Identify subactivities for each primary activity	Direct activities create value by themselves. Indirect activities allow direct activities to run smoothly. Quality assurance activities ensure that direct and indirect activities meet the necessary standards.
Step 2 Identify subactivities for each support activity	determine the subactivities that create value within each primary activity identify the various value-creating subactivities in your company's infrastructure look for direct, indirect, and quality assurance activities
Step 3 Identify links	Find the connections between all of the value activities the links are key to increasing competitive advantage from the value chain framework
Step 4 Look for opportunities to increase value	Review each of the subactivities and links think about how you can change or enhance it to maximize the value

12 Symptoms of Kidney Disease you shouldn’t ignore

www.classmint.com

1.         Changes in urinary function

·        Change in amount, frequency of urination

·        May be an increase or decrease, especially at night

·        May also look more dark colored

·        Feel the urge to urinate but are unable to do so when in the restroom

2.         Difficulty or pain during voiding

·        Difficulty or feel pressure or pain while voiding

·        Urinary tract infections may cause symptoms such as pain or burning during urination

·        When these infections speed to kidneys, they may cause fever and pain in your back

3.         Blood in the urine

4.         Swelling

·        Swelling hands, feet, ankles and / or face

5.         Extreme fatigue and generalized weakness

·        Kidneys produce hormone called erythropoietin which helps make red blood cells that carry oxygen

·        Kidney disease lower levels of erythropoietin which causes decreased red blood cells in the body, resulting in anemia

·        Decreased oxygen delivery to cells causing generalized weakness and extreme fatigue

6.         Dizziness and inability to concentrate

·        Anemia also depletes brain of oxygen which may cause dizziness, trouble with concentration, etc.

7.         Feeling cold all the time

·        May even feel cold even when in a warm surrounding due to anemia

·        Kidney infection (pyelonephritis) may cause fever with chills

8.         Skin rashes and itching

·        Kidney failure causes waste build-up in the blood

·        This can cause severe itching and skin rashes

9.         Ammonia breath and metallic taste

·        Kidney failure increases level urea in the blood (uremia)

·        This urea is broken down to ammonia in the saliva causing urine-like bad breath called ammonia breath

·        Usually associated with an unpleasant metallic taste (dysgeusia) in the month

10.       Nausea and vomiting

·        The build-up waste products in the blood can also cause nausea and vomiting

11.       Shortness of breath

·        Kidney disease causes fluid to build up in the lungs

·        Anemia stares body of oxygen, thus may cause trouble catching breath

12.       Pain in the back or sides

·        May feel a serve cramping pain that spreads from the lower back into the groin (if there is a kidney stone in the ureter)

·        Pain may also be related to polycystic kidney disease (an inherited kidney disorder) which causes many fluid filled cysts in the kidneys

Shared from:

Green Yatra Blog

greenyatrablog.com

Mutiara 2 Kata Dr. Maznah Hamid

(8 Februari 2014)

i365art.com 

1.            Hidup jauh lebih indah, aman dan menyenangkan bila kita saling menyayangi.  Namun, kasih sayang tidak akan datang dengan diminta, kasih sayang akan datang bila kita yang memberi.

2.            Sabar terbahagi kepada 2 iaitu:

a.    sabar dalam mengawal daripada apa yang kamu tidak kehendaki

b.    sabar dalam mengejar apa yang dikehendaki.  Jangan cepat mengalah

3.            Kalau manusia sentiasa mengejar kasih Allah swt, tidak akan timbul perselisihan dan perbalahan.  Jika sesama manusia mengejar kasih manusia, hasilnya mereka sering bersaing dan berbalah.

4.            Konflik biasanya terjadi kerana saya benar dan kamu salah.  Berilah kesempatan hati menngatakan kita benar dan diapun boleh jadi benar.  Insya’Allah akan mudah cari jalan penyelesaiannya.

The Secret of Happiness

A merchant sent his son to learn the secret of happiness from the wisest of men.  The young man wandered through the desert for forty days until he reached a beautiful castle at the top of a mountain.  There lived the sage that the young man was looking for.  However, instead of finding a holy man, he saw a great deal of activity; merchants coming and going, people chatting in the corners, a small orchestra playing sweet melodies, and there was a table laden with the most delectable dishes of that part of the world.

The wise man talked to everybody, and the young man had to wait for two hours until it was time for his audience.  With considerable patience, the Sage listened attentively to the reason for the boy’s visit, but told him that at that moment he did not have the time to explain to him the Secret of Happiness.  He suggested that the young man take a stroll around his palace and come back in two hours’ time.

“However, I want to ask you a favor,” he added, handling the boy a teaspoon, in which he poured two drops of oil. “While you walk, carry this spoon and don’t let the oil spill.”

The young man began to climb up and down the palace staircases, always keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon.  At the end of two hours he returned to the presence of the wise man.

“So,” asked the sage, “did you see the Persian tapestries hanging in my dining room? Did you see the garden that the Master of Gardeners took ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?”

Embarrassed, the young man confessed that he had seen nothing. His only concern was not to spill the drops of oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

“So, go back and see the wonders of my world,” said the wise man. “You can’t trust a man if you don’t know his house.”

Now more at ease, the young man took the spoon and strolled again through the palace, this time paying attention to all the works of art that hung from the ceiling and walls.  He saw the gardens, the mountains all around the palace, the delicacy of the flowers, the taste with which each work of art was placed in its niche.  Returning to the sage, he reported in detail all that he had seen.

“But where are the two drops of oil that I entrusted to you?” asked the Sage.

Looking down at the spoon, the young man realized that he had spilled the oil.

“Well, that is the only advice I have to give you,” said the sage of sages. “The Secret of Happiness lies in looking at all the wonders of the world and never forgetting the two drops of oil in the spoon.”

- from the book The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

 

The Secret of Happiness

by STEPHEN on OCTOBER 13, 2013 • 24 COMMENTS

in MORAL STORIES

http://academictips.org/blogs/

How to filter gossip....

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.  One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute”, Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right”, Socrates continued.  “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say.  That’s why I call it the triple filter test.  The first filter is Truth.  Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it and …”

“All right”, said Socrates.  “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.  Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness.  Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary.”

“So”, Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.  You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: The filter of Usefulness.  Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well”, concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Author Unknown

Submitted by Amoda

cuboiart.blogspot.com

Shared from:

Testing For Gossip

by STEPHEN on JANUARY 17, 2014 in INSPIRATIONAL STORIES

http://academictips.org/blogs/

Where our happiness lies....

A group of 50 people was attending a seminar.  The speaker started giving each person a balloon.  Each one was asked to write his or her name on it using a marker pen.  Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.

credit: gallery.yopriceville.com

The delegates were then let into that room and were asked to find the balloon which had their name written on it, within 5 minutes.  Everyone was frantically searching for their name, pushing, colliding with each other, and there was utter chaos.  At the end of 5 minutes, no one could find the balloon with their name on it.

Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it.  Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

Lesson learned:

This is exactly happening in our lives.  Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.  Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people.  Give them their happiness, and you will get your own happiness.  And this is the purpose of human life.

Submitted by Hemendra Chanchani

Shared from:

Finding Happiness

by Stephen in Inspiring stories

http://academictips.org/blogs/

The reality of love

credit: xitefun.com 

          

          Love exists throughout the year and throughout our lives.  The truth is love is a lot more complicated than it seems.  Love, as it turns out, doesn’t mean that you never get mad with the person, or that they constantly and consistently fulfill your need for love.

          You can get terribly angry with someone you love dearly and many times, people just get caught up in the bubble of their individual lives that they forget about the needs of the people they share their lives with.

          Love in itself can only do so much.  A lot more depends on an awareness of the skills and tools we need to overcome the curve balls thrown to us in our lives.  Love is the magic that blinds us together.  The singular X factor that we can’t quite define as we stay tied to people throughout our lives.

          Love, passion, and attraction are all very different emotions.  Someone who may cause you to have those butterflies in your stomach may not be the love of your life.

          Mostly, love is something we learn from others.  The measure of joy, kindness, empathy and gentleness we receive from the people we love generally out weights any negatives emotions associated with a long-term relationship.

          Love is something we teach others as well.  Children’s idea of what love looks and smell like tends to revolve around the expressions of love in their everyday lives.  Little random acts of kindness count a lot.  In fact, probably even more, than the big gestures of love.  Love is anchored in something a lot more practical and pragmatic.

          The reality of love is that it’s practiced, felt and manifested each and every day not-so-positive moments of our lives.  After all, life is not a bed of roses.  Thorny issues will crop up in any given relationship we’re in.

          There are more people in your life who love you.  It’s worth reminding yourself of that, and not gets bogged down by sadness and loneliness.  What remain in our life are our individual ideas of love and the people we practice it with.  That will endure till the end of days.

credit: xitefun.com 

Sheila Stanley

The Meaning of Love Different Spin

StarMetro Friday, 14 February 2014