saturn

Three people were laying bricks. A passerby asked them what they were doing. The first one replied, "Don't you see I am making a living?" The second one said, "Don't you see I am laying bricks and making a wall?" The third one said, "I am building a beautiful monument." Here were three people doing the same thing who had totally different perspectives on what they were doing. They had three very different attitudes about their work. And would their attitude affect their performance? The answer is clearly yes. Excellence comes when the performer takes pride in doing his best. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it, regardless of what the job is, whether washing cars, sweeping the floor or painting a house. Most people forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well it was done. If a man is called to be street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare w...

"There was a time when I was just a dumb lump of red clay. Then one day my master came. He took me, brought me home, rolled and pounded me on a wooden table. Again and again, he poked his fingers into me until finally I yelled out: 'Don't do that! Leave me alone!' But he only smiled and gently said: "Not yet!" Then, whoommmm! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly spun around and around and around until I lost all my sense of direction: 'Stop it; don't you see that I'm getting sick? Quickly, take me from the spinning wheel!' But the master only nodded in understanding and quietly said: "Not yet!" Then he placed me carefully into an oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door: 'It is hotter than hell - I'm burning to ashes. Please get me out of here before it is too late.' I could only read his lips as he shook his head from side to side and silently pronounced, "Not yet!...

Essentially, “seek first to understand” implies that you become more interested in understanding others and less in having other people understand you. It means mastering the idea that if you want quality, fulfilling communication that is nourishing to you and others; understanding others must come first. When you understand where people are coming from, what they are trying to say, what’s important to them, and so forth, being understood flows naturally; it falls into place with virtually no effort. When you reverse this process, however (which is what most of us do most of the time), you are putting the cart before the horse. When you try to be understood before you understand, the effort you exert will be felt by you and the person or people you are trying to reach. Communication will break down, and you may end up with a battle of two egos. Seeking first to understand isn’t about who’s right or wrong. It is a philosophy of effective communication. When you practice this metho...

Compassion is a sympathetic feeling. It involves the willingness to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to take the focus off yourself and to imagine what it’s like to be in someone else’s predicament, and simultaneously, to feel love for that person. Compassion is the recognition that other people’s problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own---often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our own hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude. Compassion is something you can develop with practice. It involves two things: intention and action. Intention simply means you remember to open your heart to others; you expand what and who matters, from yourself to other people. Action is simply the “what you do about it.” Compassion develops your sense of gratitude by taking your attention off all the little things that most of us have learned to take too seriously.

When you interrupt someone, or finish his or her sentence, you have to keep track not only of your own thoughts but of those of the person you are interrupting as well. This tendency (which, by the way, is extremely common in busy people), encourages both parties to speed up their speech and their thinking. This, in turn, makes both people nervous, irritable, and annoyed. It is also the cause of many arguments, because if there’s one thing almost everyone resents, it’s someone who doesn’t listen to what they are saying. Once you begin noticing yourself interrupting other, you’ll see that this tendency is nothing more than an innocent habit that has become invisible to you. This is good news because it means that all you really have to do is to begin catching yourself when you forget. Remind yourself (before a conversation begins, if possible) to be patient and wait. Tell yourself to allow the other person to finish speaking before you take your turn. You’ll notice, right away, ho...

Many people spend a great deal of energy arguing for their own limitations; “I can’t do that,” “I can’t help it, I’ve always been that way,” and thousands of other negative and self-defeating statements. Our minds are powerful instruments. When we decide that something is true or beyond our reach, it’s very difficult to pierce through this self-created hurdle. Suppose, for example, you tell yourself, “I can’t write,” You’ll look for examples to prove your position. You’ll remember your poor essays in high school, or recall how awkward you felt the last time you sat down to write a letter. You’ll fill your head with limitations that will frighten you from trying. In order to become a writer or anything else, the first step is to silence your greatest critic --- YOU!

It is important to know that there is a relationship between your thinking and the way you feel. It’s important to realize that you are constantly thinking. Don’t be fooled into believing that you are already aware of this fact! Think, for a moment, about your breathing. Until this moment, when you are reading this sentence, you had certainly lost sight of the fact that you were doing it. The truth is, unless you are out of breath, you simply forget that it’s occurring. Thinking works in the same way. Because you’re always doing it, it’s easy to forget that it’s happening, and it becomes invisible to you. Unlike breathing, however, forgetting that you are thinking can cause some serious problems in your life, such as unhappiness, anger, inner conflicts, and stress. The reason this is true is that your thinking will always come back to you as a feeling. Try getting angry without first having angry thoughts! Okay, now try feeling stressed out without first having stressful thoughts –...

Effective listening is more than simply avoiding the bad habit of interrupting others while they are speaking or finishing their sentences. It’s being content to listen to the entire thought of someone rather than waiting impatiently for your chance to respond. In some ways, the way we fail to listen is symbolic of the way we live. We often treat communication as if it were a race. It’s almost like our goal is to have no time gaps between the conclusion of the sentences of the person we are speaking with and the beginning of our own. Slowing down your responses and becoming a better listener aids you in becoming a more peaceful person. It takes pressure from you. If you think about it, you’ll notice that it takes an enormous amount of energy and is very stressful to be sitting at the edge of your seat trying to guess what the person in front of you (or on the telephone) is going to say so that you can fire back your response. But as you wait for the people you are communicating wit...

There is something magical that happens to the human spirit, a sense of calm that comes over you, when you cease needing all the attention directed toward yourself and instead allow others to have the glory. Our need for excessive attention is that ego-centered part of us that says, “Look at me. I’m special. My story is more interesting than yours.” It’s that voice inside of us that may not come right out and say it, but that wants to believe that “my accomplishments are slightly more important than yours.” The ego is that part of us that wants to be seen, heard, respected and considered special, often at the expense of someone else. It’s the part of us that interrupts someone else’s story, or impatiently waits his turn to speak so that he can bring the conversation and attention back to himself. To varying degrees, most of us engage in this habit, much to our own detriment. When you surrender your need to hog the glory, the attention you used to need from other people is replac...

Your negative and insecure thinking can spiral out of control. Have you ever noticed how uptight you feel when you’re caught up in your thinking? And, to top it off, the more absorbed you get in the details of whatever is upsetting you, the worse you feel. One thought leads to another, and yet another, until at some point, you become incredibly agitated. Needless to say, it’s impossible to feel peaceful with your head full of concerns and annoyances. The solution is to notice what’s happening in your head before your thoughts have a chance to build any momentum. The sooner you catch yourself in the act of building your mental snowball, the easier it is to stop. You stop your train of thought before it has a chance to get going.

Most people who invest in mutual funds don't know what they are doing. They take advice from someone at a bank or perhaps a friend and plunk down money into a fund. Sometimes this strategy works, but most of the time, it doesn't. When you invest your money in a mutual fund, you are trusting someone to invest in the stock market for you. Because of this, you want to be sure this person knows what he or she is doing. Also, you want to make sure that this person is not charging you too much to manage your money for you. Mutual funds fees are "hidden," in the sense that they do not charge you an upfront fee but rather a percentage of the amount of money in your account. If this percentage is too high, you would do better just blindly picking stocks yourself. Here are five helpful tips for choosing the right mutual funds. 1. Keep the fees low. Generally, expense fees should not be much higher than 1% if it is just a basic domestic equity fund. You should never in...

When deciding where to invest your money, you need to always take into account your investment goals and objectives. Different types of investments carry varying degrees of risks and potential return. CD A bank CD is a very safe investment. The CD is FDIC insured up to $100,000, so there truly is minimal risk. The only downside is that you cannot withdraw that money in the CD for a specific amount of time or else you'll receive a penalty. Bank CDs generally only pay up to 5% interest. Bonds A bond is essentially a loan you make to a company or a government. Bonds have varying degrees of risk, from essentially risk-free treasuries to junk bonds. The higher the risk of the bond, the higher the return will generally be. Stocks Stocks are investments in companies. Depending on the company, the risk of the investment can be high or low. Obviously, buying stock in Johnson and Johnson is a lot less risky than a new internet startup company. In general, the stock market retu...

Spell Success with right CRM for your Business CRM is not just a technology and can help your small business grow. Once you’ve decided to employ a Customer Relationship Management System, you need to keep a few points in mind before you can choose which solution can work best for you. Ideally, CRM is a database which can effectively store, manage and allow access to your sales , marketing and customer service related data Your CRM should be able to: • Collect, store and manage customer data • Collaborate between the various databases with ease. • Generate customer profiles for reference • Enable easy access to customer data from anywhere • Analyze the customer needs, preferences etc. • Identify customer trends to provide us with specific marketing methods. • Fulfill all the customer requirements effectively and efficiently. The primary objective of a CRM system is to effectively manage the existing customers while constantly evaluating and expanding the customer b...

In the cutthroat world of business, every company is consistently vying for the interest and attention of consumers and constantly looking for ways to expand their market. This is the main reason why advertising and marketing corporate branding is a key factor in the success of any business entity. Some people assume that corporate branding is only important for people who are relatively new players in the corporate arena. Since they are the ones who desperately need to establish their identity and to make their presence known to both competitors and consumers as well. This is true. However, even old companies should realize that they too should give equal importance to advertising and marketing corporate branding. It is a widely accepted concept that in order to build an excellent reputation in any industry, it is a prerequisite that the company should first work on establishing a specific identity. This would certainly vary from one company to another; depending on what image the...

There has never been a better time than now to get involved in the trade and investment in metals. As the old saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. With scrap metal that’s definitely the case, and at the very lowest level it is possible to monetize your investment from a number of different sources. Aside from that, metal investment is seen as a safe haven from riskier investments in times of crisis, which has naturally become particularly relevant since the sub-prime mortgage sector collapse and the resulting stock market unrest throughout the later months of 2007. In this article we will look at why investment in metals may be a valuable proposition, and why it may be favoured over other investment strategies. Scrap metal is a valuable commodity for the simple reason that it can be resold in parts to other dealers, or eventually melted down and recycled for resale. From there, a commodity trade has emerged where investors from around the world are drawn towards buy...

A manufacturer directory is a wonderful tool that allows businesses to link with similar businesses, as well as exporters, importers, and customers who can benefit from their services. It used to be that businesses needed to participate in trade shows in order to find their target audience. The inherent problem with this was that the trade shows occurred only a few times each year, they were quite expensive to participate in, and there was no guarantee that a business would be able to make the many needed connections that they sought. Other methods of linking a prospective business and/or customers with businesses included direct mail, cold calling, and branding. With each passing year, technology becomes better and better, and the Internet becomes a more utilized resource. More business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) websites are being created each day. Because of this there are more manufacturer directories available for use and are they just a few keystrokes away...

Autor: newcheapsubmit Of late, online banking has increasingly gained popularity. Countless consumers have largely benefited from this real possibility to conduct all their banking transactions online, without having to stand in a queue at the bank. Even speaking to someone miles away has now become fairly easy and lightning fast. You can now run your day-to-day finances, and manage your bank account with ease and convenience, thanks to online banking. This method of banking gives you total control of your transactions. Convenience, ease, speed, and increased control are the benefits of online banking. This has resulted in more and more people now deciding to conduct their banking transactions online, rather than at a branch. Specifically speaking by bankruptcyinformations.com, the main reasons why people prefer online banking are the following: i) Convenience: Online banking is so convenient that you can conduct your transactions from the comfort and privacy of your own home. Fo...

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peacefully towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on the nest - in perfect peace. Which picture do you think won the ...

One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written: “Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral”. In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: “Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!” One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: e...

Bangalore: Be it the H1B visa price hike or the anti-offshoring policy that breezed past the U.S senate, India seems to be the offshoring abode for U.S companies to outsource despite all odds. As per a survey done by Harvey Nash of a UK-based IT staffing and managed services firm, 90 percent of CIOs will be maintaining or increasing offshore outsourcing projects in 2010 and 2011. In the first quarter of this year, financial services companies reported 40 outsourcing deals, versus 26 in the previous quarter. Notable deals in early 2010 include Deutsche Bank's $114 million contract with GFT Technologies in which GFT will take responsibility for applications that handle payment transactions, online banking, credit card management and securities transactions; and the multiyear contract that U.S. Bank signed with TSYS for card processing services. Cheap labor and quality output seems to drive U.S companies to India as they face simultaneous pressures of cost savings and software-cen...

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this...

The husband and wife gifted themselves a new car for their first wedding anniversary. They drove downtown, watched a movie, and finally returned home. They didn't have the garage facility. So the car was parked in the street. To their utter shock, when they woke up the next morning, the car was missing. The car was stolen. First car, first wedding anniversary gift, and they had enjoyed the car for just a day. The wife couldn't take it. With misty eyes she sank into the sofa. The husband too was a little jolted, but he said, “The car is lost. You can feel heavy about it. You can take it easy. Either way the car is lost. Then, why not take it easy.” She gave him a cold stare and the moment passed. A logical question: When the car, how can anyone take it easy? But what else can you do? Feel heavy, if you want; take it easy, if you want - either way, after the emotional drama, what has to be done has to be done. The police complaint has to be lodged; the insurance has to be claim...

Cross-posted from the Chromium Blog As part of Google’s initiative to make the web faster, over the past few months we have released a number of tools to help site owners speed up their websites. We launched the Page Speed Firefox extension to evaluate the performance of web pages and to get suggestions on how to improve them, we introduced the Speed Tracer Chrome extension to help identify and fix performance problems in web applications, and we released a set of closure tools to help build rich web applications with fully optimized JavaScript code. While these tools have been incredibly successful in helping developers optimize their sites, as we’ve evaluated our progress, we continue to notice a single component of web pages is consistently responsible for the majority of the latency on pages across the web: images. Most of the common image formats on the web today were established over a decade ago and are based on technology from around that time. Some engineers at Google deci...