Wednesday 1 July 2009

New challenges, same cast of actors, same set of rules

I started a new challenge, closer to what I want to do in the future.



Like all things new, you are mixed with butterflies and anvils inside your stomach. A very critical point where you have to decide whether or not you want to succeed there or not. You may over prepare, you may waste too much time waiting for needed input. You may think too little or too highly of yourself.


I am learning a lot of things from this experience, and I'm still a long way from where I want to be. It's really very different from viewing it from the side, or recieving it on the other end. Being here really puts things into perpective. And I can't help but be happy of how things are going now. So how will I be able to continue further with this endevour?



1. Continue on living the principles and values that I learned from my mentors, friends, and family

2. Never stop learning

3. Being humble is key :) never become what I hate

4. Do everything in my power to accomplish my commitments

5. Be more flexible



Maybe I will add other items to my list, for now this will be all :)

Thursday 25 June 2009

Self Confidence

"The only way to have self-confidence is to persistently do an activity you fear until you have a number of successes to look back upon"



Very powerful quote. True. In every endevour, chalenge, activity, all you need is to put in dedication and commitment.

If you don't know how to swim, finish laps in a 25meter pool. Then you will be surprised with each stroke.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Humble and Arrogant people


I just did something inappropriate, out of anger and angst for someone.



How long has it been since I've lost my temper? Very long, maybe it was about 9/10 months or so. The last incident was with 5 uniformed policemen trying to abuse their authority. I gave them a mouthful, I was not afraid of them since I knew my rights. I'm usually a patient and forgiving person, I rarely go into an outburst. The usual things that I get pissed about are:


1. Arrogant people
2. ...


I can't think of something else. Other people say that when you meet a person like that, you say a prayer for them and just let them be. I do that, this big idiot just pushed a button.



Been reading a book related to this - "After you - Can humble people prevail" by Roger Fritz. Has a lot of thoughts on how disadvantaged Arrogant people are compared to humble people. Thoughts inside the book are:

Why Arrogance is Vulnerable: How to Test Your Selfishness Quotient (SQ)
Loyalty Works Both Ways:
The Signals of Contempt
The Upside of Defeat: The Real Sources of Power
When Pride Goes Too Far: Who Follows “Me First” People?
How to Identify Pretenders: Must Winners Be Overbearing?
Quiet Dignity: How to Detect False Modesty
Random Acts of Kindness: Can You Get Ahead When You Step Aside?
Defining Moments: When Credit is Shared
No Need to Get Even: How Humble People Make a Difference
Why Egotists are Lonely: How Vanity Thrives

An ineresting enough read for the concerned. A lot of people forget how important humility is. I guess it depends on the person if he can take the conversations behind his back, we all know how people talk about you behind your back.

What do you do with arrogant people? how do you deal with them?

Wednesday 20 May 2009

Identy theives taking advantage of our situation

From Anne Fisher, CNNMoney.com Fortune newsletter

Don't let ID thieves hijack your job hunt

Scammers increasingly are targeting job seekers; here are 6 ways to protect yourself.
By Anne Fisher, contributor
May 19, 2009


NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Let's say you've been job hunting for months now, and applied to so many employers you're starting to lose track of them all. One day you get a call from someone in HR at a well-known company. He found your resume on an online job board, thinks it's very impressive, and is looking forward to meeting you, he says. To set up the interview, he asks for your home address, date of birth and Social Security number.
Odds are, you give him the information, even if it seems a bit strange. After all, this person could end up offering you a job, and you don't want to seem difficult to work with. And odds are, you'll never hear from him again, or the company he claimed to represent -- but, within a day or two, he'll have opened half a dozen credit cards in your name, maxed them out, and created an enormous mess it could take you years to straighten out.
Identity-theft experts say this exact scenario is playing out more and more often these days. "Fraudsters getting more sophisticated, and they're taking advantage of a bad situation," observes Jeremy Miller, director of operations at New York City security firm Kroll Fraud Solutions. "They know many job seekers are desperate, and they prey on that."
Nice, huh? As if looking for work weren't tough enough in this economy, here's one more thing to keep in mind: Every three seconds, someone's identity is stolen. Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. had their identities ripped off in 2008, a 47% jump from 2007, making identity theft the fastest-growing crime in America.
"Victims spend an average of 200 hours recovering their identity," says Dianne Cutter, CEO of Asurency, an ID-theft prevention company. That's time taken away from your job hunt and your family, not to mention a huge extra source of stress and anxiety you really do not need right now (or ever).
The good news is, you can take steps to protect yourself from these miscreants. Here are six ways to keep your identity safe while you job hunt:
1. Don't put personal data on your resume. "Some information should never be disclosed on a resume, particularly if you intend to post it online," says Miller. Do not list your date of birth, Social Security number, or home address. Likewise, if any of these, or a driver's license number, is requested on a job application, says Miller: "You might consider writing 'prefer to provide this during the interview.' " Employers don't need to know this information until they're ready to hire you, he notes -- and in fact, asking your age is not legal anyway - and you should be suspicious of anyone who insists you disclose it before then.
2. Proceed cautiously with online job boards. "Not all job-posting sites are created equal," says Miller. "Make sure you review the privacy policy and user terms and agreements before you post your resume." When in doubt about a job site, Miller recommends checking it out with online resources such as the World Privacy Forum's Consumer's Guide to Online Job Sites.
Look for sites whose privacy policies, which are legally binding documents, state that the site won't give or sell your resume or other information about you to third parties. The WPF also recommends checking to see if the site will let you "opt out" of tracking cookies (sometimes called profiling cookies or persistent cookies), which are tiny files some job sites allow advertisers to put on your computer so they can follow you everywhere you go on the Internet. Over time, this allows them to accumulate lots of information about you that you may prefer they didn't have.
3. Know how to spot bogus job ads. "Despite the best screening efforts on the part of job sites, scammers always find a way in," says Miller. You are probably looking at a fake job ad if it offers considerable pay with few or no duties; promises payment of wages in cash; includes no physical address or contact person; and/or requires you to open a new bank account or accept company checks to "test" a wire transfer service.
4. Keep a detailed record of your job search activity. Maintaining good records will not only help you track the progress of your search, it will also provide a paper trail if someone steals your identity. "Record where and when you distribute your resume, maintain lists of contact information for businesses and recruiters or hiring managers you come in contact with, and keep a record of any additional information such as job applications that you've provided to employers," Miller says.
5. Limit the amount of information you post on social networking sites. A recent poll of Facebook users, by consumer research firm NextAdvisors.com, found that 27% listed their full name, date of birth, phone number, and e-mail address on their Facebook profile. An additional 8% revealed all that plus their physical address.
"This type of information is extremely dangerous as it can be used to perpetrate various forms of identity theft," notes the NextAdvisors report. A separate NextAdvisor survey showed that 49% of Facebook users accept some or all friend requests from people they don't know. "As a general rule, we suggest that Facebook users only accept friend requests from people they know or whose identity they can verify by some other means," advises NextAdvisors. Also, adjust your privacy settings so only your friends can see your profile.
LinkedIn, which many job seekers rely on for job leads and recommendations, has posted an official policy on the site that advises users to keep personal data to a minimum and accept invitations "only from people you know and trust well enough to recommend them to others." You can also go to Accounts & Settings on the LinkedIn home page and review your privacy settings. Rather than choosing that your profile be available for viewing by "everyone," Miller suggests allowing only your connections to see it. "Always think before you post," he says. "What many people do not realize is that the more information you reveal online, the greater your chances of having that information fall into the wrong hands." A good rule of thumb, he adds: "If you wouldn't hand it to a stranger on the street, don't post it online."
6. Be proactive. Let's return to the hypothetical phone call above. What should you do if someone contacts you claiming to represent an employer, and asks for detailed personal information? Instead of blurting out the data, politely ask for the person's phone number or e-mail address and say you'll get back to him or her shortly. Then call the company's HR department, ask whether the person works there, and inquire if they customarily request these vital stats when scheduling an interview. Most likely, the answers to both questions will be "no."

Eight principles of FUN

I used to be the opposite of these principles, until later in my life I reallized that I didn't have enough time to start things and do things that I really wanted. Fished this off from a stumble upon :) Sharing this for others to start having fun :)

http://www.eightprinciples.com/

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Blunders of the world

"Seven Blunders of the World"

1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle
—Mahatma Gandhi

I have a very fresh experience with the third blunder. A monumental idiot who announced during our conversation, out of the blue (i didn't need to know it), that his IQ is 150+. How fresh is that? We were talking about professional growth plans, what's that got to do with anything? Why would I need to know your IQ score?

Classic

Monday 13 April 2009

Teaching for the right reasons

If you teach people just for the sake of making them feel that you know more than them, you'd be better off drugged in an alley full of idiots like yourself. You'll be more helpful there. Seriously, you'll do more damage to the person, when you just boast limited knowledge. Because a teacher is someone who is a guide or helper in the process of learning, a teacher is not someone who flaunts his so called knowledge to every unknowing individual.

You share your knowledge and experiences because you have to, cause you know better, cause information and morals need to be passed down to the generation next to you.

Also, I read an interesting line, "Know what you know, know what you don't know, do no confuse the two"