It looks that i haven’t blogged for a while now due to many reasons (working on other projects, being on vacation).

Anyway, let’s talk about how to maintain your work and life balance. How to improve your quality of life without affecting your quality of work. I find the following very helpful:

• Don’t bring your work back home with you: easier said than done, but try to avoid it. Finish what you have to do in the office, go home and relax.You earned it. An exception would be a deadline or an emergency but that’s why it’s called an exception.

• Seek and do whatever makes you happy: we all have to do different sort of tasks,some of them would bring us more satisfaction than others. Do those more often and minimize the rest. This doesn’t happen overnight, take some time to think about “happy tasks” and try to incorporate them in your routine.

• Don’t stay inside: make it a point to go outside the office, it always feels good under the sun.

• Go on holidays: do i need to say more? well maybe this small tip: “Stay away from the computer”. There’s a time and a place for everything. A friend once said to me: ” Work never ends while life does”.

• Be good in what you do: if you are a guru in your work, the stress becomes something from the past. If you are not an expert, look for training or ask for help and soon enough you’ll become one. I find unqualified people working in vain for extra hours, stressing over tasks and messing up their personal life only to achieve so little. You lose on both ends.

hope my tips helped you , feel free to drop me your thoughts on the subject and hopefully I’ll be posting more often now that I’m back.

This story is an ‘alleged’ transcript of an actual radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian maritime contact off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995.
Unfortunately this tale is not true, but it is nevertheless a great story:

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees South to avoid collision.

Americans: This is the captain of a US navy ship; I say again divert your course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: We are a lighthouse; your call

The German World War II general Erich von Manstein is said to have categorized his officers into four types. The first type, he said, is lazy and stupid. His advice was to leave them alone because they don’t do any harm. The second type is hard-working and clever. He said that they make great officers because they ensure everything runs smoothly. The third group is composed of hardworking idiots. Von Manstein claims that you must immediately get rid of these, as they force everyone around them to perform pointless tasks. The fourth category are officers who are lazy and clever. These, he says, should be your generals.

When i read this it made me wonder how can we apply Eric’s categories to business organisations.

for that, i thought of asking you guys about your opinions. Which type of officers are you or your boss is?

feel free to drop your comments.

While surfing the net i discovered some cool mind mapping tools like Personal Brain, Xmind and Freemind.

basically, these software are tools to help us visualise the links between ideas or other pieces of information. They can be used for brainstorming, project management, creating Organisation chart and of course mind mapping. Different tools will give you different ways of processing the data,some of them are more visual like Xmind while others focus on the links and the data entered like Personal Brain.

So if you are in project management, workshops and other related fields, it might be worth your time to check them out.

As a starting point, download the free trials and start mapping.
Xmind
Personal Brain

i’m currently working on mapping my mind, will try to post it soon!

(by soon i mean as soon as i can sort my ideas and deal with my demons).

One of the most used examples in project management is “the coffee” one.

3 people working in project management were asked to write down (on a high level) how they would proceed to make a cup of coffee.

Person ‘A’ proposed the following:

• Buy the kettle, the cups, the milk, the sugar, and the coffee.
• Ask what kind of coffee is needed (with or without milk, sugar, etc.) 
• Make the coffee.

Person ‘B’ proposed the following:

• Check the kitchen and see what we already have (Kettle, milk, coffee, etc.).
• Ask what kind of coffee is needed and advise if it is possible based on what we find in the kitchen.
• Make the coffee.

Person ‘C’ proposed the following:

• Ask what kind of coffee I want.
• Check the local coffee shop for availability and price.
• Buy the coffee.

 The end result of all 3 proposals is me having the coffee, but it all comes with complications.

The first one is going for the whole start-up in order to make a cup of coffee. This can be very costly if we do it only for the purpose of one cup. Only chose this solution if you have the money and you are sure more cups will be served later, otherwise you end up losing money.

The second one is going to use what he already has (already paid for) and try to satisfy my needs. If I wanted Skim milk and all he had was normal milk, Person ‘B’ might try to convince me to change my mind and try the other milk. This is a very cost effective way, low risk and usually gets the job done. Worst case might be nuying the skim milk only.

The third person doesn’t have the equipment or the ingredients, so he opted to buy me the coffee form outside. He ‘outsourced’ it so he doesn’t worry much about the equipment and the ingredients. He’s pretty sure as well that the coffee will be good since he’s buying it from a specialised supplier. It’s a great solution for people who need to achieve something outside their field of expertise and a low risk (unless the coffee is really bad).as a stand-alone cup of coffee, this might cost more on the long run.

Bottom line: making a cup of coffee is like working on a project. How would you do it?

Another shared story by MG:

Fred and Mabel were both patients in a mental hospital. One day as they both walked beside the swimming pool, Mabel jumped into the deep end and sank to the bottom. Without a thought for his own safety, Fred jumped in after her, brought her to the surface, hauled her out, gave her the kiss of life and saved her.
 
The next day happened to be Fred’s annual review. He was brought before the hospital board, where the director told him, “Fred, I have some good news and some bad news: the good news is that in light of your heroic act yesterday we consider that you are sane and can be released from this home back into society.
The bad news is, I’m afraid, that Mabel, the patient you saved, shortly afterwards hung herself in the bathroom with the belt from her bathrobe. I’m sorry but she’s dead.”
 
“She didn’t hang herself,” Fred replied ,

“I put her there to dry.”

Things are not always what they seem!