Friday 29 June 2007

If there were ever a time to dare...

If there were ever a time to dare, to make a difference, to embark on something worth doing, it is now.
Not for any grand cause, necessarily- but for something that tugs at your heart, something that's your aspiration, something that's your dream.
You owe it to yourself to make your days here count.
Have fun.
Dig Deep.
Stretch.
Dream big.
Know, though, that things worth doing seldom come easy.
There will be good days.
There will be times when you want to turn around, pack it up, and call it quits. those times tell you that you are pushing yourself, that you are not afraid to learn by trying.
Persist.
Because with an idea, determination, and the right tools, you can do great things.
Let your instincts, your intellect, and your heart guide you.
Trust.
Believe in the incredible power of the human mind.
Of doing something that makes a difference.
Of working hard.
Of laughing and hoping.
Of lazy afternoons.
Of lasting friends.
Of all the things that will cross your path this year.
The start of something new brings the hope of something great.
Anything is possible.
There is only one you.
And you will pass this way only once.

Sunday 24 June 2007

Thank you God !


I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was
showing me around. We
walked side-by-side inside a large workroom
filled with angels.

My angel guide stopped in front of the first
section and said, "This
is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to
God said in prayer
are received."

I looked around in this area, and it was
terribly busy with so many
angels sorting out petitions written on
voluminous paper sheets and
scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we
reached the second section.
The angel then said to me, "This is the
Packaging and Delivery
Section. Here, the graces and blessings the
people asked for are
processed and delivered to the living persons
who asked for them."


I noticed again how busy it was there.

There were many angels working hard at that
station, since so many
blessings had been requested and were being
packaged for delivery to
Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long
corridor, we stopped at the
door of a very small station. To my great
surprise, only one angel was
seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the
Acknowledgment
Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to
me. He seemed
embarrassed "How is it that there's no work
going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people
receive the blessings that
they asked for, very few send back
acknowledgments.

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I
asked.

"Simple," the angel answered.

"Just say, "Thank you, God”.

"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I
asked.


"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes
on your back, a roof
overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer
than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet,
and spare change in a
dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's
wealthy."

"And if you get this on your own computer, you
are part of the 1% in
the world who has that opportunity."



Also..."If you woke up this morning with more
health than illness
.... You are more blessed than the many who will
not even survive this
day.

"If you have never experienced the fear in
battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs
of starvation. You
are ahead of 700 million people in the world."

"If you can attend a prayer meeting without the
fear of harassment,
arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and
more blessed than,
three billion people in the world."

If you can hold your head up and smile, you are
not the norm, you're
unique to all those in doubt and despair."

Ok, what now? How can I start?
If you can read this message, you just received
a double blessing in
that someone was thinking of you as very special
and you are more
blessed than over two billion people in the
world who cannot read at
all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if
you want, pass this
along to remind everyone else how blessed we all
are.

Attn: Acknowledgment Dept:
Thank You God! Thank you God, for giving me the
ability to share this
message and for giving me so many wonderful
people to share it with".

Tuesday 19 June 2007

Vision, Strategy & Tactics

Vision: What you want the organization to be; your dream.
Strategy: What you are going to do to achieve your vision.
Tactics: How you will achieve your strategy and when.

Your vision is your dream of what you want the organization to be. Your strategy is the large-scale plan you will follow to make the dream happen. Your tactics are the specific actions you will take to follow the plan. Start with the vision and work down to the tactics as you plan for your organization. Concepts Are The SameWhether you are planning for the entire company or just for your department the concepts are the same. Only the scale is different. You start with the vision statement (sometimes called a mission statement). When you know what the vision is you can develop a strategy to get you to the vision. When you have decided on a strategy, you can develop tactics to meet the strategy.

Vision

A vision is an over-riding idea of what the organization should be. Often it reflects the dream of the founder or leader. Your company's vision could be, for example, to be "the largest retailer of automobiles ", "the maker of the finest chocolate candies", or "the management consultant of choice for non-profit organizations ." A vision must be sufficiently clear and concise that everyone in the organization understands it and can buy into it with passion.

Strategy
Your strategy is one or more plans that you will use to achieve your vision. To be "the largest retailer of automobiles " you might have to decide whether it is better strategy for you to buy other retailers, try to grow a single retailer, or a combination of both. A strategy looks inward at the organization, but it also looks outward at the competition and at the environment and business climate.

To be "the management consultant of choice for non-profit organizations " your strategy would need to evaluate what other companies offer management consulting services, which of those target non-profits, and which companies could in the future begin to offer competing services. Your strategy also must determine how you will become "the consultant of choice". What will you do so that your targeted customers choose you over everyone else? Are you going to offer the lowest fees? Will you offer a guarantee? Will you hire the very best people and build a reputation for delivering the most innovative solutions? If you decide to compete on lowest billing rates, what will you do if a competing consulting firm drops their rates below yours? If you decide to hire the best people, how will you attract them? Will you pay the highest salaries in a four-state area, give each employee an ownership position in the company, or pay annual retention bonuses? Your strategy must consider all these issues and find a solution that works AND that is true to your vision.
Develop Flexible Tactics
TacticsYour tactics are the specific actions, sequences of actions, and schedules you will use to fulfill your strategy. If you have more than one strategy you will have different tactics for each. A strategy to be the most well-known management consultant, as part of your vision to be "the management consultant of choice for non-profit organizations " might involve tactics like advertising in the Newsletters for three successive issues, advertising in the three largest-circulation newspapers in the area for the next six months, and buying TV time to promote your services. Or it might involve sending a letter of introduction and a brochure to the Executive Director of every non-profit organization in the Southwest with a handsome annual budget.

Firm or Flexible?

Things change. You need to change with them, or ahead of them. However, with respect to vision, strategy and tactics, you need some flexibility and some firmness. Hold to your dream, your vision. Don't let that be buffeted by the winds of change. Your vision should be the anchor that holds all the rest together. Strategy is a long-term plan, so it may need to change in response to internal or external changes, but strategy changes should only happen with considerable thought. Changes to strategy also should not happen until you have a new one to replace the old one. Tactics are the most flexible. If some tactic isn't working, adjust it and try again.

Manage This Issue

Whether for one department or the entire company, for a multi-national corporation or a one-person company, vision, strategy, and tactics are essential. Develop the vision first and hold to it. Develop a strategy to achieve your vision and change it, as you have to meet internal or external changes. Develop flexible tactics that can move you toward fulfilling your strategy.

Self Management

You are responsible for everything that happens in your life. Learn to accept total responsibility for yourself. If you do not manage yourself, then you are letting others have control of your Life. These tips will help "you" manage "you."


Here is a list of things that help you in self management and which will in turn lead you to the path of success: -

-) Look at every new opportunity as an exciting and new-life experience.

-) Be a professional who exhibits self-confidence and self-assurance in your potential to complete any task.

-) Agree with yourself in advance that you will have a good attitude toward the upcoming task.

-) Frequently ask, "Is what I am doing right now moving me toward my goals?"

-) Do it right the first time and you will not have to take time later to fix it.

-) Accept responsibility for your job successes and failures. Do not look for a scapegoat.

-) Do not view things you do as a "job." View all activities as a challenge.

-) Use your subconscious mind by telling it to do what you do want. Instead of telling yourself, "I can't do that very well," say, "I can do this very well."-) Give yourself points for completing tasks on your "to-do" list in priority order. When you reach 10 points, reward yourself.

-) Practice your personal beliefs. It may be helpful each morning to take 15 minutes to gather your thoughts and say a prayer.

-) Make a commitment to show someone a specific accomplishment on a certain date. The added urgency will help you feel motivated to have it done.

-) Practice self-determination, wanting to do it for yourself.

-) Believe that you can be what you want to be.

-) Never criticize yourself as having a weakness. There is no such thing. You are only talking about a present undeveloped skill or part of yourself that if you so chose, you can change. You do not have any weakness, only untapped potential.

-) Be pleasant all the time-no matter what the situation.

-) Challenge yourself to do things differently than you have in the past. It provides new ideas and keeps you interested.

-) Talk to yourself. A self-talk using positive affirmation is something that is common among all great achievers. They convince themselves that they can accomplish their goals.

-) Create your own "motivation board" by putting up notes of things you need to do on a bulletin board or special wall space. It is an easily visible way to see what you need to work on. When an item is done, remove the note. Also keep your goals listed and pictured on your board.

-) Stay interested in what you are doing. Keep looking for what is interesting in your work. Change your perspective and look at it as someone outside your job would,

-) Establish personal incentives and rewards to help maintain your own high enthusiasm and performance level.