Saturday, October 26, 2013

The Most Powerful Habit You Can Imagine

Be generous and expert, trustworthy and clear, open-minded and adaptable, persistent and present.

Monday, October 21, 2013

GDG Devfest Phnom Penh 2013

I very appreciate to Mr. Pich Virak for creating GDG DevFest Phnom Penh 2013 video. Check this video together.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Startup Weekend Phnom Penh in 2013


Startup Weekend is a global event run in many countries and cities around the world. This is the 3rd year for Startup Weekend in Cambodia. 

Startup Weekend is a 54-hours work week where designers, developers, and any startup enthusiasts come together to pitch their business idea, form a team and build startup in that weekend. 

Do not miss the opportunity ! the winner from Cambodia Startup Weekend this year will join Global Startup Battlehttp://globalstartupbattle.co/  to compete with the rest other winners from around the world. That's cool, right ?   

The seat is limited, go and register now atcambodia.startupweekend.org

Some photos from last year Cambodia Startup Weekend https://www.facebook.com/startupweekendcambodia/photos_albums

10 Reasons You Should Upgrade to Windows 8.1 Now


For users on previous versions of Windows who skipped Windows 8, the updated OS deserves a look. Many of the promises Microsoft began to deliver on with Windows 8 (cloud integration, for example) are fully realized in Windows 8.1. It also makes the touch-first modern UI more friendly by introducing some conveniences such as the option to boot up straight to your desktop.
Here are our top 10 reasons for Windows 7, Vista or XP holdouts to make the jump to Windows 8.1:

1. It Takes Up Less Space 



Although Windows 8.1 introduces many new features, it's actually less of a storage hog than Windows 8. Microsoft says the footprint is significantly smaller and will win you back 8-15% of the storage on your device.


2. Supercharged Search



One of the most convenient features of Windows 8 is its ease of search: Just start typing from the Start screen and you can search for settings, content, apps or even stuff on the web. Windows 8.1 takes this to a new level with Smart Search, powered by Bing. Now if you search for a subject such as Benedict Cumberbatch, the White House or Cairo, the results are organized in a search "hero" -- a visually-driven page that will call up basic facts, photos, a map (if applicable) and relevant links -- creating an orderly buffet of information out of what used to be a slop pile.

3. Better Multi-Tasking



Snap -- the ability to have multiple app screens open simultaneously -- is theoretically a great idea, but it was kneecapped in Windows 8 by having only one size and limiting the ability to just two windows. Now Snap is a little more true to its name, letting you resize the smaller window to virtually any size with just a finger swipe. If you have a large, high-res monitor, you'll be able to have multiple windows, potentially having email, Skype, a web browser and the weather all open at the same time.

4. All Live Tiles, Great and Small



Since Microsoft's design philosophy doesn't allow for organizing app icons into folders, it's a big improvement that Windows 8.1 brings with it two new sizes for live tiles: A small square that takes up one-fourth the size of a regular tile, and a biggie size that's the same as four regular squares. The former is great for power users who want to cram as many shortcuts into their screen real estate as they can, and the latter is great for apps with lots of "glanceable" info, like Bing Weather.

5. Automatic App Updates



Sick of all your devices screaming at you to update two, three or a dozen apps? With Windows 8.1, all those updates will just happen in the background, and the Windows Store will stop pestering you with that ever-increasing count of what's still pending.

6. Start Screen Can Share Desktop Background



This may seem like a minor feature, but it may have the greatest potential to make the modern UI friendlier. By having the same background image on both the Desktop and Start screen, Windows "traditionalists" may begin thinking of the modern UI as the extension of the platform that it is, not some alien world to be feared. Unfortunately, Microsoft buried this option in the Taskbar's Control Panel on the Desktop for some reason.

7. Dynamic Lock Screen



The lock screen on a Windows 8.1 device doesn't have to be a static image anymore. There's now the option to play a slideshow, which can pull photos from various folders including whatever you've got in SkyDrive. Plus you can choose to get calendar alerts, email notifications and even take Skype calls without unlocking your device.

8. Improved Multi-Monitor Support



External monitors are a big deal for Windows tablets, since many of them have serious computing power but screens that aren't exactly what you'd call large. Now in Windows 8.1, users will have more control over how content renders on a second display, giving tablets more flexibility.


 9. Deeper SkyDrive Integration




Cloud storage has a lot of advantages over saving things locally: you can access the files from anywhere, they're shareable and they don't take up any room on your device. In Windows 8.1, Microsoft has made SkyDrive the default place to save new documents, and improved things on the back end to ensure the system sees them as local files in every way that matters (for searches, etc.).

10. The Only Way to Get the Facebook App



Chances are you're on Facebook, and chances are you interact with the social network via apps. If you upgrade to Windows 8.1, you'll be able to run the official Facebook app for Windows, which provides a native experience for PCs. There's room for improvement -- the app doesn't appear when you call up the Share charm from another app -- but the response is fast and fluid, and the interface encourages you to explore parts of the service you may have overlooked (just watch the map fly when you browse "Nearby").

Resource: mashable

Friday, October 11, 2013

DevFest Phnom Penh 2013 is open for registration

The waiting is over. DevFest Phnom Penh 2013 is open for registration. 

Seats are limited. participant working / studying in IT field are most welcome.

DevFest Phnom Penh is proudly sponsored by Google & Norton University.

Click here : http://goo.gl/MmH69D


Read more about what is GDG DevFest Phnom Penh 2013

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Top 10 Quotes About Economics



Since the world economy is apparently about to go to heck in a hand basket, I thought it might be useful to let the experts weigh in on the subject:
1. "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice."
Adam Smith
2. "There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."
Henry Ford
3. "We know that advanced economies with stable governments that borrow in their own currency are capable of running up very high levels of debt without crisis."
Paul Krugman
4. "Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community."
Andrew Carnegie
5. "The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people."
Karl Marx
6. "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Jesus of Nazareth
7. "We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission."
Ayn Rand
8. "Prison inmates are treated to cable TV, hot meals and a college education, while on the outside some people can only afford these things through a life of crime."
Alfred E. Neuman
9. "A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
Alexander Hamilton
10. "The inscrutability [of economics] is perhaps not unintentional.  It gives endless employment to dialecticians who otherwise might become public charges or, at very worst, swindlers and tricksters."
Jack Vance
Author: GEOFFREY JAMES

8 Things NOT to Do to Make a Good Impression at Work

Avoid these behaviors if you want to get ahead


Don't underestimate the importance of a first impression. You want to start off on the right foot so your colleagues will like and respect you. So, what shouldn't you do at work?

1. Don't emulate your worst-dressed colleague

Just because you saw someone in accounting wearing flip-flops, doesn't mean you should dress like you're going to the beach. Many organizations encourage comfortable attire, but be careful not to be too quick to try to win the "worst dressed" team member award.

2. Don't give off a "don't talk to me" vibe

Maybe you don't really like people, but if you don't want to be considered a problem employee, you need to appear approachable. If you walk around with a sour expression, arms crossed in front of you and fail to make eye contact with your colleagues, it may just mean you're having a bad day or you're very shy. However, you'll quickly earn a negative reputation that will be difficult to overcome. Smile, even if you don't feel like it or if you are having a bad day.

3. Don't be a slob

At home, if you want to challenge yourself to see how high your piles of junk can get before toppling over, that's up to you. At work, especially in shared work spaces, it's important to maintain a neat workspace. If you appear sloppy, people may assume you aren't organized and can't handle important responsibilities and you'll find yourself in a dead-end job.

4. Don't be a bully

Maybe you were one of the "cool kids" and have a tendency to make fun of people, either to their faces or behind their backs. In the workplace, that can be considered bullying, and can be grounds for being fired in some cases. Regardless of the laws in your state or expectations at your workplace, you aren't likely to win many friends when people worry they may be your next target.

5. Don't spill your guts

Do you tend to overshare? At work, it's best to keep yourself in check and find other people to tell the long, drawn out story of your bad breakup, sex life or wild, partying ways. Keep conversations friendly and professional and keep your personal drama to yourself.

6. Don't talk about how busy or tired you are

No one cares how busy you are. Everyone is busy, and your job is to get the work done. If you are exceptionally overwhelmed, it's a good idea to have a conversation with your boss and to ask for some help, but most of your colleagues will quickly tire of hearing about how busy and overwhelmed you are at work.

7. Do not spend your day on personal calls, texting or posting to social media

When you're at work, phone calls should be work related. At most offices, it's acceptable to have some personal interactions on the phone, but if your friend/child/mother calls you five times a day, it's up to you to table those calls to after hours. The same goes for texting and updating personal social media sites.

8. Don't be the first one to leave

Everyone will judge your work ethic based on when you run for the exit. Do not close up shop at the earliest opportunity if you want to make a good impression. "Face time" is more important at some companies than others, but if you work in an office, make sure you're doing everything you can to help out and to be available to help others before you bolt for the door.

Resource: Aol Job

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

3 of the Most Dreaded Words in Business


For sure, the business world is full of words that are so contrived and over used that our eyes glaze over and we pay no attention. Paradigm and market-focused come to mind but there are hundreds that clutter the subject line of our emails. In fact, our eyes and ears have grown oblivious to most buzzwords and phrases like the safety video on airplanes that we just tune out. We even make a joke of it by listing the most onerous buzz words and playing buzzword bingo.
But there are exceptions – big exceptions. Certain words capture our attention like a flashing red alert. The words seem innocuous enough and are used often, but they make us stop all other activities. There are others that make us pause, but these three are to work, what the phrase, “we need to talk…” is to love.
Here are the three dreaded words that could change your life:
Unfortunately. A word that commands attention so much that it could be the only word in the message and we know that it means something bad is about to happen. For the job hunter it means brutal rejection no matter how wonderful your credentials or how many applicants there involved. For the internal email, it means a layoff is about to happen or some other negative change. Or it could mean that the cappuccino machine is broken or that the company masseuse is out sick. It is a word that always means bad news is about to follow. Unfortunately, the word unfortunately is used way too frequently.
Downturn. It could be the global economy is suffering a downturn. It could be that the industry is dealing with a downturn. Or, it could just me management is feeling a downturn in their collective bones. In all cases, something awful will be embedded in the next sentence. Words like layoffs, cuts, reductions, eliminations and headcount changes almost always circle around the word downturn. Often, the word is accompanied by a chart or diagram that shows an arrow going down like a cartoon out of the New Yorker magazine.
Performance. It seems an innocent enough word but “performance” engenders a sense of fear when we hear it. Rarely is it used in a sentence like “the team’s performance was incredible”. More often, the word is used to announce the forthcoming performance review, an event that brings to mind a trip to the dentist for a root canal. Or, the word will foreshadow the organization will be missing its goals. As in, “…the performance of the sales team is disappointing this quarter…” The two words “performance and unfortunately” are often used in the same notes.
When all three words are used in the same sentence? It's time to get your resume together, and fast.
Author: Richard A. Moran

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Never Want to Be Late Again? Stop Rushing


Does this sound familiar?
"For many years, the only way I knew to get from one place to another was to rush. I was chronically ‘running late.’ In fact I couldn’t conceive of managing time in any other way. I usually would get to an appointment in the nick of time, but never without a rush."
And how about this next observation, does it also ring true for you?
"It’s common to treat each other terribly when we’re 'in a hurry.'"
Both quotes come from a blog post by coach Linda Gabriel on happiness site Tiny Buddha.In-depth, thought-provoking and generous, the piece tells the story of Gabriel’s previous life as a chronically late working mother and is packed with details that many time-crunched business owners will identify with.
The set up and problem may be all too familiar, but Gabriel’s solution is far from expected. In fact, her eventual fix for her crazed schedule was simple but utterly counter-intuitive. She just stopped rushing.
Wait. What? How?
If that’s your reaction, the complete post is worth a read in full, but the essence of Gabriel’s argument is that, "rushing and being late are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. When we are in rush mode, we believe we have to not be late in order not to rush.The truth is if you stop rushing, you’re far less likely to be late."
If you’re skeptical, Gabriel offers up her own life as an example and testifies that as soon as she vowed to stop hurrying everywhere, “much to my astonishment, I started to be on time. All the time. If I ran into traffic and arrived late, I just relaxed into it. More often than not the timing was perfect anyway.”
But if you find this too perfect to be believed, perhaps the best bet, she suggests, is simply to try it for yourself. What’s the worst that can happen after all?
For those hard-charging types who are about as likely to embrace this zen approach as they are to grow flippers and take to the sea, there is more practical advice available which involves handicapping your time estimates and investing in some more clocks. But perhaps don’t dismiss the wisdom of simply letting go of your stress and accepting whatever time you're actually going to arrive quite so quickly It may seem counter-intuitive at first, but it has strong backing from psychologists, doctors and thousands of years of spiritual tradition.
What do you make of Gabriel’s story?
Author: JESSICA STILLMAN

3 Questions You Must Answer to Close the Sale


Salespeople spend a lot of time crafting questions to probe potential customers and--hopefully--close the deal. But, regardless of your product or the size of your company, there are three fundamental questions you must answer for buyers before they will sign on the dotted line. And, when it comes to answering these questions, your behavior often speaks louder than words.
(I would like to say I came up with these questions, but I borrowed them from Lew Holtz, legendary football coach and author--and the man I consider my “long distance mentor.”) 
1. Can I trust you?
Have you ever tried to buy from someone you didn’t trust? It’s difficult, isn’t it? Trust is fundamental to healthy human and business relationships. It is often said that a business is driven by relationships-;that it’s a “relationship” business. Smart sales representatives focus on cultivating trust, taking special care that they keep all commitments they make to clients and potential clients.
2. Do you care about me?
Have you ever been ignored by a sales rep or a store owner? The message they send when they ignore customers is that they don’t care--and they probably don’t. The most effective salespeople care about their customers and put the customer’s interest first, even ahead of their own. Along with being attentive to the customer’s purchasing needs, remembering details, such as birthdays or children’s names, is an effective way for salespeople to show they care.
3. Are you committed to excellence?
When you spend your money, you want to spend it wisely. That's why people prefer to buy from salespeople who truly know their industry and their products from top to bottom. Sales reps--particularly new reps--must be well educated on their products and able to succinctly describe them to customers. Showing you are committed to product education goes a long way toward demonstrating excellence.
Author: JOHN TREACE

Make Better Decisions: 7 Steps


Although everyone knows that success results from good decisions, few people bother to hone their decision-making skills.  The following step-by-step process will help you make decisions like a champ:
1. Set a deadline.
The opposite of decision-making is indecision. Indecision drags things out until the world does the deciding for you.  Therefore, every important decision must have a deadline, a specific time when you WILL make the decision.
2. Discover the knowns.
Informed decisions are better than shooting from the hip, so finding facts is helpful.  However, when it comes to researching a decision, there's a point of diminishing returns. When you start obsessing on minor details, it's time stop fact-finding.
3. Gather relevant inputs.
If your decision requires other people to execute that decision, you MUST get their perspective prior to making the decision.  If you skip this step, those people will not "own" the decision and therefore not execute it well.
4. Decide.
The root of the word "decide" is the Latin word for "cut off."  A decision cuts off the debate and cuts off the possibility of pursuing some other course of action.  Once you've decided, you MUST now move to executing it, or it's not a real decision.
5. Explain your reasoning.
If other people have provided their perspective (in Step 3) and are now expected to execute the decision, they are more likely to execute well if you explain why you made that decision rather than pursue other options.
6. Never second guess.
Once you've made a decision, you must not question it, or seriously listen to other people question it, until you've obtained the results of executing that decision. Doing so pollutes the execution of the decision with indecision, thereby creating inaction.
7. Observe the results.
It's only after you (and your team, if they're involved) have made an honest and focused attempt to execute the decision that you stand back and observe the results. If the results are as expected, congratulations! If not, continue to step 8.
8. Adjust the decision.
Bullheadedness makes you just as helpless as indecision but with a lot more effort.  Therefore, if you're not getting the results you expect, go back to Step 1.  Use the knowledge you've gained to hone or change your decision.
Author: GEOFFREY JAMES

21 Ways to Be a Better Leader Without Breaking a Sweat


Let's jump right in, shall we? 
1. Switch off your cell phone. Go on, you can do it. Just for one meeting.
2. Look people in the eyes. Practice doing it consistently.
3. Think. Pick an hour in the day (the week, if you're really strapped) and just think. Don't listen. Don't read. Don't talk. Don't eat. Don't drink. Just think.
4. Get out of your inbox. Twice a day is enough for most people. If it's not, for you, then you have deeper communication management problems.
5. Stop using amplifying adverbs. Every time you use words like 'very', 'fundamental', 'must-do', 'imperative', you drain their impact. Simply state what you want to say, or want done, without amplification.
6. Ask 'What can I do for you?' Many leaders fail to recognize that they can be a tremendous asset for their people - but only if they place themselves in that position.
7. Get out from behind your desk. You do know the real action is happening elsewhere, right?
8. Get comfortable with silence.
9. Know your presuppositions. Before any important meeting or discussion, jot down what presumptions, assumptions or biases you're walking in with. Note that they might be right, helpful, useful - or they may not.
10. Distrust what you trust. Not all the time. Just often enough to rethink what you take for granted.
11. Don't talk to think. Thinking out loud is confusing when the person doing the verbal processing is the leader of those who are listening ('Is this an instruction? Are we really going to do this?'). Only do it with people who know you well, or make it clear when you are 'just musing'.
12. Give positive feedback three times more often than you do. You don't do it enough, trust me.
13. Get low-level seating in your office and use it. If you have the real estate, add a round table (or a coffee table), and use it by default. Make your desk a work surface, not a communication barrier or power play.
14. Be present. You can only be in one place at a time-- so be there. Stick a pin in your palm, snap an elastic band on your wrist. Do whatever you need to give the present your full attention.
15. Ask more than you tell. Sure, there are communications that require you to be declarative, but leadership as a whole is an exercise in inquiry.
16. Show more than you demand. The leader as a role model isn't something that's talked about much right now (mostly because of the lack of such role models in many areas of life-- politics, sports, entertainment), but it's still the most powerful tool in your leadership toolkit.
17. Repeat yourself. When you literally feel nauseous at the thought of repeating what's important, others are just beginning to get it.
18. Batch crap. When you allow the prospect of dealing with dreck to get you down, you underperform. Pull together the three or four things you truly loathe the thought of doing, and get them done as early in the week as possible. You'll be amazed how well you perform the rest of the week.
19. Only use email to move around information. Your keyboard isn't a proxy for rich communication.
20. Reach down two levels. Don't build a cadre of lieutenants who get all your attention. You're leading the enterprise, not your immediate reports.
21. Be nice. Whatever reason you use to justify being a jerk, you're wrong.
Author: LES MCKEOWN

The Work-Life Strategies that Really Matter


Every year for the last decade, I’ve spoken to MBA graduates returning for their one-year reunions. As predictable as the annual return of swallows to San Juan Capistrano, graduates who flock back to campus bring with them real-world anxiety over three things:
1) Work – doing meaningful work;
2) Companionship – finding a life partner, or figuring out life with their partner; and
3) Balance – dividing time and energy between work and family
This weekend, my own business school class marks its 40-year reunion, and the issues won’t have changed much. While for many of us, life’s ups and downs may have rounded off the sharp edges on those same apprehensions, they remain the struggles of our lives.
If any of us in the class of ‘73 has had success in four decades of dealing with these existential concerns, it’s because we recognized the truth of the following:
You can’t do it all yourself. Those who’ve done well will likely have one significant quality in common: They’ll have joined (or formed) the right teams. After picking the best players, they’ll have shared their own successes, and celebrated the successes of others. As Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson advised a young and wildly-talented Michael Jordan, “Let the game come to you." After Jordan committed to being a team player (though not always as the nice-guy), the Bulls won six NBA World Championships. In the same way, realizing that both business and family life are “team sports” will help with finding a team-centered life.
Life is a marathon. A meteoric rise right after grad school is impressive, but long-term success is far more satisfying. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Quick success sometimes goes to people’s heads – and makes them forget everyone who helped them get where they are. In the 1980s, after good fortune and good times made many folks wealthy, real estate markets collapsed. Some panicked; others dug in -- and dug out. It turned out that no one was as smart as they thought on the way up (or quite as dumb as others thought on the way down). But steadfast efforts when the chips were down revealed character not apparent when things were going well.
Bouncing back is key. Scanning reunions for grads once deemed “most likely to succeed” may not reveal the ones who did. Brains and ambition help, but it’s a never-say-die resiliency that allows people to move forward through life’s inevitable setbacks. “Most Likely To Bounce Back After A Fall” might have been a better yearbook category.
Give before you get. Real friends give without calculating a return on their friendship. So do spouses. Even salespeople first give information and authentic assurances in order to make sales. And while children require that you give, give, and give some more, they can return something far more valuable than you ever gave them — the chance to pass on the best of what you know, and the best of who you are, to the next generation. We end up caring about things for which we sacrifice. So, finding opportunities for giving goes a long way to relieving personal and career anxieties – which can be rooted in the desire to get before we give.
Don't underestimate refuge and recovery. I’ve never met a career-driven person who’s found peace in work alone. You need a space for refuge – a way to be alone, to recreate, and to recover; or things can go south. Letdowns are inevitable; so make sure you meditate, pray, stay active, or have a close friend in whom you can confide. Making sure you have the time and place and support for recovery is not selfish. It’s essential.
Wealth, power, fame and influence – perhaps all well and good – don’t reliably deliver satisfaction or meaning in life. I submit that meaning comes from the ability to look back with pride, and to look forward with peace, knowing that those we’ve worked with and cared for are better off for having known us. If recent graduates could be sure of these, they might choose to live with their team in mind.
Author: Joel Peterson

Monday, October 7, 2013

5 Things Smart Managers Know About Building Teams


In order for your company to prosper, you must figure out how to build a team that works well together. That can be a difficult task.  After all, creating a team means bringing together people with different skillsets and varied personalities to work towards a common goal--a complex undertaking.
When I look at the tactics smart managers implement, I see five common threads to how they approach team-building:
1. Play to Individual Strengths
You need to understand what each individual member's strengths are and put each person in a place to shine.
It is very rare that an employee can improve upon a deficiency, especially if that deficiency is a part of their nature. If a team member isn't good at details, they will never be good at details. You need to decide if they do the rest of their job well and if so, partner them with someone else who can help shore up their deficiency.
I hired an account manager who was excellent with customers--especially our more difficult customers--but she was not good at details. I partnered her with another team member for one final review of the documents she produced before they were sent out.
2. Encourage Transparency
Teams are a lot like families, and you need to let them work things out on their own.  When things start to go awry, bring together those who aren't getting along and make them work through their concerns. Don't let them put you in the middle of a he said/she said situation. Your primary job is to help team members understand each other better.
This approach will feel uncomfortable, but if they learn that your go-to strategy is to bring them together to work it out, they will start trying that on their own and will only involve you when absolutely necessary.
3. Establish Ground Rules 
Your team needs to know how you like to operate. I'm a solution oriented manager. I am fine with talking about problems with a project or an approach, but I insist that everyone contribute ideas for resolution. When issues arise, and they will, I don't want to get caught up in whose fault it is, or why it happened. I prefer to take time to do that at an established and appropriate time later. I am known to say, "Don't bring me a problem without a solution" and, "I don't want to know why we can't do it, I want to focus on how we can."
Other managers prefer to do root cause analysis immediately and then move forward from that point with a solution. Everyone's style is different, and it is often based on the type of work you do.  The important thing is that your team knows your preferred work style so everyone is thinking toward that same goal.
4. Let Them Know You Have Their Back
As the leader of a team, your team members must know that you have their back and that you are their greatest supporter.  I see my primary job to remove obstacles that are in my team's way and to be there to support them when issues arise with a customer or other internal groups.  When you team members know they have your unconditional support, they can move forward with confidence.
5. Provide an Incentive
Create a goal that your team can work towards--a day off at the end of the quarter, flexibility in their work schedule, or a bonus.  Realize that just as your team members have different skills, they probably respond to different incentives, so rotating through the types of incentives you provide or allowing for flexibility is key to the success of an incentive.
I always have team members who prefer time off or an experience over money.  A bonus program, while nice, doesn't have the same impact as providing an extra day off or a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. It comes back to knowing that everyone's different.

8 Things You Should Not Do Every Day


If you get decent value from making to-do lists, you'll get huge returns--in productivity, in improved relationships, and in your personal well-being--from adding these items to your not to-do list:
Every day, make the commitment not to:
1. Check my phone while I'm talking to someone.
You've done it. You've played the, "Is that your phone? Oh, it must be mine," game. You've tried the you-think-sly-but-actually-really-obvious downwards glance. You've done the, "Wait, let me answer this text..." thing.
Maybe you didn't even say, "Wait." You just stopped talking, stopped paying attention, and did it.
Want to stand out? Want to be that person everyone loves because they make you feel, when they're talking to you, like you're the most important person in the world?
Stop checking your phone. It doesn't notice when you aren't paying attention.
Other people? They notice.
And they care.
2. Multitask during a meeting.
The easiest way to be the smartest person in the room is to be the person who pays the most attention to the room.
You'll be amazed by what you can learn, both about the topic of the meeting and about the people in the meeting if you stop multitasking and start paying close attention. You'll flush out and understand hidden agendas, you'll spot opportunities to build bridges, and you'll find ways to make yourself indispensable to the people who matter.
It's easy, because you'll be the only one trying.
And you'll be the only one succeeding on multiple levels.
3. Think about people who don't make any difference in my life.
Trust me: The inhabitants of planet Kardashian are okay without you.
But your family, your friends, your employees--all the people that really matter to you--are not. Give them your time and attention.
They're the ones who deserve it.
4. Use multiple notifications.
You don't need to know the instant you get an email. Or a text. Or a tweet. Or anything else that pops up on your phone or computer.
If something is important enough for you to do, it's important enough for you to do without interruptions. Focus totally on what you're doing. Then, on a schedule you set--instead of a schedule you let everyone else set--play prairie dog and pop your head up to see what's happening.
And then get right back to work. Focusing on what you are doing is a lot more important than focusing on other people might be doing.
They can wait. You, and what is truly important to you, cannot.
5. Let the past dictate the future.
Mistakes are valuable. Learn from them.
Then let them go.
Easier said than done? It all depends on your perspective. When something goes wrong, turn it into an opportunity to learn something you didn't know--especially about yourself.
When something goes wrong for someone else, turn it into an opportunity to be gracious, forgiving, and understanding.
The past is just training. The past should definitely inform but in no way define you--unless you let it.
6. Wait until I'm sure I will succeed.
You can never feel sure you will succeed at something new, but you can always feel sure you are committed to giving something your best.
And you can always feel sure you will try again if you fail.
Stop waiting. You have a lot less to lose than you think, and everything to gain.
7. Talk behind someone's back.
If only because being the focus of gossip sucks. (And so do the people who gossip.)
If you've talked to more than one person about something Joe is doing, wouldn't everyone be better off if you stepped up and actually talked to Joe about it? And if it's "not your place" to talk to Joe, it's probably not your place to talk about Joe.
Spend your time on productive conversations. You'll get a lot more done--and you'll gain a lot more respect.
8. Say "yes" when I really mean "no."
Refusing a request from colleagues, customers, or even friends is really hard. But rarely does saying no go as badly as you expect. Most people will understand, and if they don't, should you care too much about what they think?
When you say no, at least you'll only feel bad for a few moments. When you say yes to something you really don't want to do you might feel bad for a long time--or at least as long as it takes you to do what you didn't want to do in the first place.
Author: Jeff Haden