Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Blog moved to armaghansaqib.wordpress.com
Monday, July 19, 2010
Making this world a better place for you and for others
- Complain about these injustices and keep complaining forever.
- Manage yourself to take some small positive steps; learn new skills, make new connections, read books, volunteer somewhere, tell others what you can do for them etc.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Bringing discipline into our thinking
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Web site developers and bloggers, your attention please
Friday, July 16, 2010
Protesting, peacefully
Thursday, July 15, 2010
It is time to identify your passion and here is how
#1: What do you really want to get out of life?Here is a direct download link for the pdf.
#2: What can you offer the world that no one else can?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
How to avoid really big blunders
There are times when, despite all your intelligence and experience, you make a really big blunder and then keep regretting it for a long time. You are just bewildered how on earth you did that. But it has happened and now get over it. And you have a big company. :)
Why this happens? This is not stupidity. This is due to the way our brain works as a pattern making and pattern matching system. All new incoming information is matched to existing brain patterns. A particular sequence of events can trigger a potentially unfavorable pattern in our brain. A con artist can use his skills to make our brain's pattern matching system work to his advantage. Edward de Bono's thinking tools can help you to cut across existing brain patterns instead of matching these. The three important tools to help you in tricky situations are APC, CAF and PMI. APC stands for alternatives, possibilities and choices.CAF stands for consider all factors.
PMI stands for plus, minus, interesting. To apply each tool, you list as many points as possible within 1 - 3 minutes without bringing your judgment into the thinking process. Spend some time on practicing these tools with a paper and a pencil. Simplicity of these tools and few days of practice will make it possible for you to use these in real life situations without much effort. Let us avoid the next big blunder. (Photo credit: lolsnaps.com)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Every one can be a blogger and can write daily
Monday, July 12, 2010
The best advice you can have: DO LESS
I often see the web pages of companies and individuals full of all
possible things they can do and just wonder what they really do and
what they really have experience with. Perhaps this strategy (we can
do everything) only dilutes their message.
exact opposite) is do less. And it has changed my life, for better. With do less philosophy, you do not try to do every thing you can do;
you try to do the best thing you can do. And the best part is you are
going to be happy with your life and there is a good chance you will
make more money too. This is what Seth Godin tries to convince us in the attached 7 page pdf.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Running windows software on ubuntu linux
In a recent blog post I told you how to install and run Ubuntu Linux on your PC. You can also run Ubuntu Linux directly from CD without disturbing you PC. A number of people have installed and started using Ubuntu Linux as their desktop operating system on my suggestion.
One of the often asked questions is what to do if there is no alternative available in Linux to a particular Windows software. In such cases you can always run Windows and your favorite Windows software in virtual environment on your Linux desktop. Sun/Oracle's VirtualBox for Ubuntu is a software which allows you to run Windows and its software in virtual enviornment. You install it on your Linux desktop, install Windows within virtual box environment and then run any Windows software.Saturday, July 10, 2010
A great source of motivational and self-help pdfs by best seller authors
Friday, July 9, 2010
Triumph of simplicity
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Learn to self-learn this summer
- Buy and read a book.
- Download a pdf or subscribe a blog.
- Use Google to find (possibly free) on-line courses.
- Wikipedia
- Experiment with what you have learned. Try again and again.
- Ask questions on Internet discussion groups/forums and mailing lists related to your subject.
- Send email directly to gurus. They will help you provided you have done your homework.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Sales tip: get the most out of your ignorant customer
Ask them to show you a recipe for how to make what they make on your own, and "it's a trade secret."And this one is really a gem:
Their perfect customer is someone in a hurry, with plenty of money and not a lot of knowledge about their options.And here is what happens when the competition does just the opposite and tries to make you, the customer, smarter and more informed:
if just one player enters the field and works to make people smarter, the competition has a hard time responding with a dumbness offensive. They can obfuscate and run confusing ads, but sooner or later, the inevitability of information spreading works in favor of those that bet on it.That's the beauty of today's world powered by social media. Every one has a voice. Thanks Seth Godin.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
It is 100% un-natural
We get a sense of confidence when we read "100% natural", "natural contents only" or something similar on product labels. We feel rest assured this is not going to harm us, we are going to get the best of what nature has produced, it has not been tempered by humans, it is 100% natural etc. etc.
Yes, this line sells products. Just look at all those soaps, shampoos, cold creams, food products which contain "pure" extracts of a natural thing, probably a herb or a fruit or a vegetable. It is debatable whether these 100% "natural products" or "pure extracts" are of any value if at all. But this is a topic for some other time. What I want to discuss is just the opposite of these claims. What if the manufacturer writes; "100% man made", "No natural contents", "Synthetic chemicals only", "No fresh juice inside". Will this make you uncomfortable? Will you still buy that product? It makes sense to assume that if there is no first type of statements (100% natural), the opposite is true. But the manufacturer is of course shy to tell this to you explicitly. The 100% un-natural statement can make you uncomfortable. You may not buy that product. Next time when you visit your superstore, have a closer look at all those items which are not 100% natural; juices, drinks, food items, cosmetics and others. Will you still buy these? Especially the edible items? (CC photo credits.)Monday, July 5, 2010
Thinking about thinking
- Why I am doing what I am doing? Can I do something better? When will I do that?
- What is the worst thing that can happen if I stop doing this today? Can things get better? Perhaps I shall get rid of my ever scolding boss and start living with dignity.
- What other possibilities (perhaps better ones) are there for me? Have I ever tried to explore?
- Should I re-evaluate my priorities? Reading, teaching, kids, spending, eating, pleasure, exercise, money, volunteering etc.
- What I am going to do in next 10,20,30 years?
- What is my past performance for the last 2, 5, 10, 15 years? Do I need to change my tactics radically?
- Is it time to develop new habits or get rid of old ones?
- Am I thinking too little?
- Am I thinking too much? (with too little action)
A pdf reader which allows you to highlight text and add notes
Foxit is a free pdf reader for windows (similar to adobe reader) but it allows you to highlight and underline text as well as add notes.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Incorrectly placed priorities
I am tired of it; the wrong sort of priorities and optimizations.
- Friends ask me to get their website on the first page of Google search.
- Clients ask me to optimize the data entry screen to get the maximum possible juice out of a data entry operator.
- Accountants ask me to provide as many analysis reports as possible.
- Friends can optimize the website/blog text by learning to write a story.
- Businesses can get better returns by spending more time on generating new ideas for sales and simpler business processes rather than worrying about the extra tab key needed to post a transaction.
- Accountants need to learn that "we can analyze the past but we have to design the future".
"That's one reason I resist the temptation to optimize this blog for traffic and yield. I'd rather force myself to improve it by having the guts to write better posts instead."If Seth's policy can result in more than 700 re-tweets of his blog posts, we badly need to re-evaluate our priorities.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Why we can't eat less (or how we can)
Friday, July 2, 2010
Do this and you won't need to visit your dentist
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Some more Ubuntu Linux hints
- You can try Ubuntu Linux without installing it on your computer. Just put the CD into your computer's cd/dvd drive and select the live desktop when it shows initial boot options. Ubuntu will discover and configure almost your hardware appropriately (including most wireless network cards). You should be able to browse Internet, try out OpenOffice and few other things of interest.
- You can start installation on your hard disk from this live cd environment.
- You do not need to have a free partition on your hard drive. You can install it on your existing C: or D: drive. (Though hard disk performance will be suboptimal)