The Power of 90 seconds

The Power of 90 Seconds can transform your life. It can allow you to:

--prevent countless problems
--add additional hours to your day
--maximize your efficiency, while reducing stress
--save hours of time as you make less mistakes
--make smart decisions

Few people truly understand the power of 90 seconds and use
it properly. The results are staggering: unnecessary
stress, problems, hours of lost time, etc.

Did you know, that it takes over 20 times more time or
money to fix the problem than it does to prevent the
problem? Thus, time spent on preventing problems is as
valuable as gold.

Example A:
Your boss comes in and hands you an important document.
Instead of using 90 seconds to file it away, you toss it on
a stack of papers. As usual, it is gone when you want it
three days later. Stress and anxiety builds as the time
slips by while you frantically search for the report. You
could have saved hours by using 90 seconds to file it away.

Example B:
You decide not to write down an appointment in your book because it would have taken too long--90 seconds or less. Because it wasn't written down in your appointment book, you miss the scheduled appointment. This results in a lost customer, distrust, and a talk with your boss. Ninety seconds would have prevented all this.

Example C:
Instead of writing down a list of the things you need--90 seconds--you go straight to the grocery store. You forget an important item. The result: $3 of gas lost, plus 1 hour of time gone forever, because you had to back to the store.

Example D:
You look outside your window and see that your son has left
his bike in back of your car. Instead of spending 90
seconds to move it or telling your son to move it, you
decide to wait and deal with the problem tomorrow. Of
course, you forget and back over his bicycle:

Ninety seconds would have prevented: a half hour changing a tire (plus $40 for a new one) $95.95 for a new bicycle and 10 minutes of lecturing from your boss at work for being late.

Example E:
One afternoon you notice that the rope that secures your
dog to the tree is getting frayed. Just like human nature,
you figure you will replace the old rope with the new rope
from the garage in the next few days. Three days later your
dog breaks loose. Ninety seconds of replacing the rope
would have prevented, 5 hours searching for the dog,
a $50 reward for having him returned, $13 spent on printing
flyers and undue stress.

Get the picture? Every day you will run into situations
where you can use the 'Power of 90 Seconds' to prevent
problems and reduce stress.

To make sure this is clear, let me throw out some specific
examples so you can start using the 'Power of 90 Seconds' today.

--Fill the car up with gas when the tank is only 1/4 full.
Never will you have to waste time and money standing by the side of the road.

--Replace burned out light bulbs, old tires, etc. now,
before someone trips down the steps in the dark, the car
skids on the road, etc.

--Think before you speak. Save embarrassment and a ruined reputation.

--File something away before it gets lost, or the papers
that need to be filed get out of hand.

--Don't put it down. Put it away. You'll avoid clutter from building up.

--Write down your appointments, and things-to-do in one,
consistent place. You'll avoid forgetting something important.

Let me use one last point to illustrate it.
One day I was on the beach by the Great Lakes. For six
hours I played soccer, volleyball, and had a blast.
However, I did not take the time to spend 90 seconds and
apply sun block on my feet. My feet got scorched and I
mean scorched. The result?

Money spent on lotions and creams. Fiery pain for 7 days. Swollen feet. Numerous hours lost while I laid on the couch with my feet on ice. Missed activities, work, and a lack of productivity.
If I had only used 90 Seconds to put sun block on then,
none of this would happened. However, it was a good lesson
and I now continually put the 'Power of 90 Seconds' to work
on a regular basis.

~~~~~ About the author
Arlen Busenitz. Arlen is a freelance writer specializing
in people skills and personal improvement. Free articles
and the 'Secret to Making People Like You' can be found
here: http://www.Magic-People-Skills.com

Live A Life That Matters

A lot of wisdom here. Food for thought.

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten,
will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will
finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the
tracks you lived, at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or
sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to
emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many
will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live
in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom
and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

Source: Unknown

On work and life

This came in today from a good friend. It really makes a lot
of sense. Read on...

Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous
persons from Karnataka. He is known not just for building the
biggest IT empire inIndia but also for his simplicity.

Almost every important dignitary visits Infosys campus. He
delivered an interesting speech during an employee session with
another IT company in India .

He is incidentally, one of the top 50 influencial people of Asia
according to an Asiaweek publication and also the new IT Advisor
to theThailand Prime Minister.

Below is an extract of Mr. Narayana Murthy's Speech during
a Mentor Session :

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more.
Some people do so because of a work emergency where the long
hours are only temporary. Other people I know have put in these
hours for years. I don't know if they are working all these hours,
but I do know they are in the office this long. Others put in long
office hours because they are addicted to the workplace.

Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours
over the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization.
There are things managers can do to change this for everyone's
benefit.

Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes
way for potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long
hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue.Correcting
these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy
of others.

I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct
mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday. Another problem is that
people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company.
They often complain about other people (who aren't working as
hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people
avoid them.

Such behaviour poses problems, where work goes much better
when people work together instead of avoiding one another.
As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave
the office.

First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves.
I work with a manager who chides people for working long hours.
His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends these
chiding group e-mails with a time-stampof 2 AM, Sunday.

Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives.
For instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:

1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3) Go home.
4) Read the books/comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt,
play with your kids, etc.
5) Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2.
Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts.
They are hard for some of us because that requires 'personal
change'. They are possible since we all have the power to choose
to do them.

In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my oldest
son. When he was a toddler, if people were visiting the apartment,
he would not fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter
what time of day it was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left.
It was as if he was afraid that he would miss something. Once our
visitors left, he would go to sleep. By this time, however, he was over
tired and would scream through half the night with nightmares.
He, my wife, and I, all paid the price for his fear of missing out.

Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't
want to miss anything when they leave the office. The trouble with
this is that events will never stop happening. That is life !! Things
happen 24 hours a day. Allowing for little rest is not ultimately
practical.

So, take a nap. Things will happen while you're asleep, but you
will have the energy to catch up when you wake. Hence...

"LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR
COMPANY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THE
COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU" -- Narayana Murthy