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The Difference Between a Cover Letter and the Email You Send With Your Application

Cover Letter Versus Email: Which Is Better? - The Muse: What's the difference between your cover letter...

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Facebook should be eighty per cent of your effort, if you’re focussed on social media; “Try to change every comma to a period; Use lists whenever possible. Lists just hijack the brain’s neural circuitry. The more awesome you are, the more emotion you create, the more viral it is.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/05/virologist

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Seth Godin’s How to be heard

Do your homework.

Show up with contributions and connections long before you bring your opinion.

Save the snark for later.

Pay your dues.

Speak up about shared truths, shared principles and shared goals.

Don’t blame the ref only when the call is against you.

Reflect back what you believe the other person is trying to say before you disagree with it.

If you want to persuade on the merits, avoid joining the threatening mob.

Convert six people before you try to convert sixty.

Tell true stories.

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HIRING IDEAL TEAM PLAYERS: AN INTERVIEW GUIDE TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY CANDIDATES WHO ARE HUMBLE, HUNGRY AND SMART

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10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be

Two words: Live boldly. Every single time you are offered a choice that involves greater risk, take it. You will lose on many of them but when you add them up at the end of your life you’ll be glad…

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Storytelling, engagement, effectiveness, collaboration, innovation, performance, motivation and agile. A bunch of things businesses say they want. The cool thing is, when you break any concept down into the smaller pieces (example: motivation = autonomy x mastery x purpose; engagement drives performance; imagination drives curiosity and curiosity drives intrinsic desire for knowledge) then you can use those smaller pieces as variables to make the right connections and solve business problems with the clarity of math problems. Removes the guesswork. Here I have shown how a business can increase everything they say they want just by simply asking their employees questions across a process which never fails, and it ends in step-change innovation. But, if the concepts are never broken down, the relationships can't be seen... and efforts aren't effective. System hacking is always the solution. It applies to everything from business to biological systems. Same method. Fave quote: "if I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions" #socialequations#behavioraleconomics #gametheory #collectiveintelligence#collectivegenius #engagement #performance #business #dopamine#flow #agile #teamwork

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Improve Your Conversations Forever

How to ask better questions.

Since my tips to improve your writing in two minutes were so popular, I thought I’d share some similar tips to improve your next conversation.

Following are the simplest tips I can give you to ask better questions, which will make your conversations more valuable to you and the people you engage with.

Don’t ask yes/no questions.

Open-ended questions generate more interesting responses because they unlock more information from people.

Example: Don’t ask, “Do you like movies?” You’ll get a more interesting answer if you ask, “Why do you like movies?”

Ask “why” three times.

This is the easiest way to deepen the level of a conversation.

Example: If you ask a person why they like movies and they answer because it’s a good escape, you can follow up with, “Why do you feel like you need an escape?” If they answer because their job is stressful, you can follow up with “Why is your job stressful?” Repeated “Why” questions can turn a simple question about movies into a much deeper conversation.

Ask about specifics, not generalizations.

Questions about specifics lead people to give you answers that are not generic.

Example: Don’t ask, “What was fun about your trip?” Instead, drill down and ask, “What was the single most fun moment of the trip?”

Ask about reactions.

Frame questions around a person’s reactions to experiences in their life — what surprised them, challenged them, or changed their viewpoint.

Example: Don’t ask, “What’s it like to be a doctor?” Instead, ask “What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered about being a doctor?”

Ask follow-up questions.

When you ask a question, pay attention to the answer and ask a follow-up question about it to dig deeper.

Example: If a person says the most surprising thing about being a doctor is how uncomfortable people get in hospitals, follow up with a question like, “What do you do to help make them more comfortable?”

Ask about lessons.

If your goal is to learn from somebody, the easiest shortcut to do that is to ask them what they’ve learned.

Example: Ask questions like, “What did you learn from working with that client?,” “What do you wish you knew before you started working with them?,”and “What advice would you have for others who want to get into your field?”

Ask for a story.

The most interesting information is found in stories, so ask people to tell you one.

Example: Don’t ask, “What’s it like to be a teacher?” Instead, ask “What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you in a class?”

Ask like a kid.

If you don’t fully understand something and want more clarity, ask a person how they would explain it to a kid or somebody with no experience on the subject.

Example: Instead of asking, “Can you explain that product feature again?,” ask “How would you explain that feature to somebody who’s never seen our product before?”

Ask what else you should ask.

When you wrap up your questions, give the other person an opportunity to tell you what you should have asked. They will likely suggest a question that provides valuable information.

Example: Ask, “Am I missing anything? What’s the question nobody ever asks you but you wish they would?”

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Everyone is their own person. The one person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday."

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Inspo on how to wake up early

Picture Your Rivals

Name: John Burk

Location:   Fort Stewart, Georgia

Occupation: Instructor at the Fort Stewart Noncommissioned Officer Academy and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Burk’s a former drill sergeant, but that doesn’t mean a 4 a.m. wakeup call comes easy. So Burk remembers an old military mantra to drag himself out of bed: “You may be tired or hurting, but there is someone somewhere training harder to kill you.’”

He then applies that saying to his current goals. Right now, the vet is training for a bodybuilding competition. “All I can see is this blank figure, this silhouette, and he’s training even harder than me to beat me on that stage,” he says.Make It As Easy As Possible

Name: Richard Rees

Location: Fort Langley, British Columbia

Occupation: Executive director of Rees Family Services, a company that provides assistance for foster children and personal trainer at Rees Personal Training

Rees’ alarm clock goes off at 3:50 a.m., and he’s out the door on a run just minutes later.

His quick turnaround is due to the fact that his clothes, coffee, and breakfast are all ready when he wakes up. Even his socks and the coffee scooper are laid out waiting for him. He doesn’t need to think about anything.

The longer your to-do list in the morning, the easier it is to stay in bed, Rees says. So prepping every last detail the night before eliminates excuses.

Remember How Crappy You Feel When You Miss a Workout

Name: Tom Carpenter

Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana

Occupation: Executive at Waste Management and Ironman

There are a million excuses to not get out of bed—you’re tired, it looks like rain, you’re sore. But Carpenter says to ask yourself one question: Have you ever regretted a workout?

The answer is probably no. 

You’ll definitely be sorry you skipped a workout, though. “If I miss a workout, I’m in a bad mood,” says Carpenter. Thinking about that may just be enough to outweigh the pros of sleeping for an extra hour. 

 

Think about Tomorrow

Name: Joseph Eazor

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Occupation: CEO of EarthLink, a managed services provider; and Ironman

When Eazor wakes up early to train for 140.6-mile Ironman races, he thinks about the long-term benefits. Sure, devoting early mornings to training will make him faster and stronger. But they’ll also make race day more bearable—maybe even enjoyable, he says. It’s the difference between crossing the finish line with a smile or a grimace on his face.

So remind yourself of the end result—the whole reason you’re doing this. Whether it’s keeping up with your kids in the backyard, going shirtless at the beach, or running your first 5K without getting winded, imagine exactly how you’ll feel in the moment that you conquer your goal.

Have a Bedtime Routine

Name: Craig Ballantyne

Location:  Denver, Colorado; and Toronto, Ontario

Occupation: Certified Turbulence Trainer and author of Turbulence Training

Getting up early starts the night before. Ballantyne recommends setting an alarm to go off an hour before the time you want to hit the hay. 

Use those 60 minutes to wind down. Stop looking at electronics, make tomorrow’s lunch, or read a book. The goal: Get your mind to shut up so you can go down for a full night’s sleep. 

If you’re still buzzing with ideas or to-do lists, dump it all onto a pad of paper, Ballantyne says. Writing out what’s on your mind will help clear your head.

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25 brainstorming techniques

http://personalexcellence.co/blog/brainstorming-techniques/

Here is a list of 25 brainstorming techniques you can use to get out of the situation you are in. From this list, you can assess what’s the best method for the issue you are facing and apply it accordingly.

Time Travel. How would you deal with this if you were in a different time period? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1,000 years ago? 10,000 years ago? How about in the future? 10 years later? 100 years later? 1,000 years later? 10,000 years later?

Teleportation: What if you were facing this problem in a different place? Different country? Different geographic region? Different universe? Different plane of existence? How would you handle it?

Attribute change. How would you think about this if you were a different gender? Age? Race? Intellect? Height? Weight? Nationality? Your Sanity? With each attribute change, you become exposed to a new spectrum of thinking you were subconsciously closed off from.

Rolestorming. What would you do if you were someone else? Your parent? Your teacher? Your manager? Your partner? Your best friend? Your enemy? Etc?

Iconic Figures. This is a spinoff of rolestorming. What if you were an iconic figure of the past? Buddha? Jesus? Krishna? Albert Einstein? Thomas Edison? Mother Theresa? Princess Diana? Winston Churchill? Adolf Hitler? How about the present? Barack Obama? Steve Jobs? Bill Gates? Warren Buffet? Steven Spielberg? Etc? How would you think about your situation?

Superpowers.This is another spinoff of rolestorming. What if you suddenly have superpowers? Superman? Spiderman? Wonderwoman? X-Men? The Hulk? One of the Fantastic Four? What would you do?

Gap Filling. Identify your current spot – Point A – and your end goal – Point B. What is the gap that exists between A and B? What are all the things you need to fill up this gap? List them down and find out what it takes to get them.

Group Ideation. Have a group brainstorming session! Get a group of people and start ideating together. More brains are better than one! Let the creative juices flow together!

Mind Map. Great tool to work out as many ideas as you can in hierarchical tree and cluster format. Start off with your goal in the center, branch out into the major sub-topics, continue to branch out into as many sub-sub-topics as needed. Source Forge is a great open-source mindmapping software that I use and highly recommend.

Medici Effect. Medici Effect refers to how ideas in seemingly unrelated topics/fields intersect. Put your goal alongside similar goals in different areas/contexts and identify parallel themes/solutions. For example, if your goal is to be an award winning artist, look at award winning musicians, educators, game developers, computer makers, businessmen, etc. Are there any commonalities that lie among all of them that you can apply to your situation? What worked for each of them that you can adopt?

SWOT Analysis. Do a SWOT of your situation – What are the Strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? The analysis will open you up to ideas you may not be aware before.

Brain Writing.Get a group of people and have them write their ideas on their own sheet of paper. After 10 minutes, rotate the sheets to different people and build off what the others wrote on their paper. Continue until everyone has written on everyone else’s sheet.

Trigger Method. Brainstorm on as many ideas as possible. Then select the best ones and brainstorm on those ideas as ‘triggers’ for more ideas. Repeat until you find the best solution.

Variable Brainstorming. First, identify the variable in the end outcome you look to achieve. For example, if your goal is to achieve X visitors to your website, the variable is # of visitors. Second, list all the possibilities for that variable. Different variations of visitors are gender/age/race/nationality/occupation/interests/etc. Think about the question with each different variable. For example, for Genre: How can you get more females to your website? How can you get more males to your website? For age: How can you get more teenagers to your website? How can you get more adults to your website? And so on.

Niche. This is the next level of variable brainstorming method. From the variations of the variable you have listed, mix and match them in different ways and brainstorm against those niches. For example, using the example in #14, how can you get more male teenagers to your website? (Gender & Age) How can you get more American female adults to your website? (Nationality, Gender & Age)

Challenger. List all the assumptions in your situation and challenge them. For example, your goal is to brainstorm on a list of ideas for your romance novel which you want to get published. There are several assumptions you are operating in here. #1: Genre to write: Romance. Why must it be that romance? Can it be a different genre? Another assumption is for a novel. #2: Length of the story: Novel. Why must it be a novel? Can it be a short story? A series of books? #3: Medium: Book. Why must be it a book? Can it be an ebook? Mp3? Video? And so on.

Escape Thinking. This is a variation of Challenger method. Look at the assumptions behind the goal you are trying to achieve, then flip that assumption around and look at your goal from that new angle. For example, you want to earn more income from selling books. Your assumption may be ‘People buy books for themselves’. Flip the assumption around such that ‘People do NOT buy books for reading’. What will this lead to? You may end up with people buy books as gifts, for collection purposes, etc. Another assumption may be ‘People read books’. The flip side of this assumption may be people look at books (drawings). Escaping from these assumptions will bring you to a different realm of thought on how to achieve your goal.

Reverse Thinking. Think about what everyone will typically do in your situation. Then do the opposite.

Counteraction Busting. What counteracting forces are you facing in your scenario? For example, if you want to increase traffic to your website, two counteracting forces may be the number of ads you put and the pageviews of your site. The more ads you put, the more users will likely be annoyed and surf away. What can you do such that the counteraction no longer exists or the counteraction is no longer an issue? Some solutions may be 1) Get ads that are closely related to the theme of your site 2) Get contextual ads that are part of your content rather than separate, and so on.

Resource Availability. What if money, time, people, supplies are not issues at all? What if you can ask for whatever you want and have it happen? What will you do?

Drivers Analysis. What are the forces that help drive you forward in your situation? What are the forces that are acting against you? Think about how you can magnify the former and reduce/eliminate the latter.

Exaggeration. Exaggerate your goal and see how you will deal with it now.Enlarge it: What if it is 10 times its current size? 100 times? 1000 times? Shrink it: What if it is 1/10 its current size? 1/100? 1/1000? Multiply it: What if you have 10 of these goals now? 100? 1000?

Get Random Input. Get a random stimuli and try to see how you can fit it into your situation. Get a random word/image from a dictionary/webpage/book/magazine/newspaper/TV/etc, a random object from your room/house/workplace/neighborhood/etc and so on.

Meditation. Focus on your key question such as ‘How can I solve XX problem?’ or ‘How can I achieve XX goal?’ and meditate on it in a quiet place. Have a pen and paper in front of you so you can write immediately whatever comes to mind. Do this for 30 minutes or as long as it takes.

Write a list of 101 ideas. Open your word processor and write a laundry list of at least 101 ideas to deal with your situation. Go wild and write whatever you can think of without restricting yourself. Do not stop until you have at least 101.

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How Successful People Spend Their Weekends

As co-founder of Hotwire.com and CEO of Zillow for the last seven years, 39-year-old Spencer Rascoff fits most people’s definition of success. As a father of three young children, Spencer is a busy guy at home and at work. What’s the one thing that Spencer refuses to do on the weekend? [...]

How to win during your weekends:

#1. Keep the same schedule

#2. Schedule mini-adventures

#3. Don’t do chores (save them for the week)

#4. Exercise 

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How to Dispute and Ask a Debt Collector to Validate a Debt

If you have been contacted by a debt collector that is not the original creditor or representing the original creditor, I think it would be smart to ask the debt collector to validate the debt and prove you actually owe it if there is any doubt on your part you owe the debt. Many debts ...

Good luck to all of you in debt. Hit me up if you need some advice to get out! 

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PREACH OPRAH!

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1. START EARLY No one, and trust me when i say, no one loves sleep more than i do. I could be sleeping all day if i didn’t feel guilty for doing so. Waking up early, the earliest you can obviously makes your day longer. Not only that, but the action itself motivates you to have a nice productive day. It gets easier by time and all you need to do is to kick yourself in the butt and just do it. Just get up. – Although unhealthy, i grab my phone and open Pinterest. I wish i could make my mind work in a more romantic and poetic way, like “i hear the birds sing”, but it does the trick and that’s good enough for me. I allow myself to stay in bed for one minute and then i’m up. – Another thing that helped me, was finding the perfect alarm. I monitor my sleep with Sleep Better, which also happens to have the most and best alarm tones ever. I remember the first time the alarm went off, i felt like the happiest person ever. And that’s kinda a big deal for me as i always make up angry.

2. CREATE A QUICK ROUTINE By creating a morning routine, you ensure that even though you’re sleepy, you have a set of things that you will be able to do without thinking. For me, it goes like: Bathroom first, cleaning myself up and feeling fresh. At this point a nice warm (not hot) shower is the best thing to wake you up. I will either have a quick shower in the morning, or after i finish work in the evening. Feed the cats, tidy up the living room, make the bed, wash the dishes, have breakfast and head over to the office. When focused, my morning routine takes about 30 minutes.

3. PRIOROTIZE This one is a challenge for me on a daily basis. Normally i want to start with what inspires me most and when i do, i end up working on it for half of the rest day. Prioritising for me means starting with what’s more urgent in the schedule. A project that should be complete yesterday? Start with that one. You’ll thank yourself later. Leave the best for last, as you don’t want to get stuck and feel uninspired by the end of the day when you will already tired. – Set a timer to reply to your emails. It sounds stressful but when you have a limit, you become more productive. I bet i’m not the only one who can spend 3 hours a day only replying to emails, so what works for me, is to allow one hour per day (mostly at the end of it) and spend no more than 2 minutes writing one.

4. KNOW YOUR LIMITS & WHAT WORKS FOR YOU Don’t burn yourself up for the sake of having a productive day. That is not the point. The point is to do more with less. So make sure you tick the right checklists, make the right moves and take care of yourself along the way. – Listen to some sweet tunes. Originally i started listening to music because it calmed me down and made me inspired. Along the way i realised that music also created a nice background for my mind to stay focused. It basically shuts down all the noises and distractions. Since last week, i started listening to audiobooks that’s just as good, even if not better. I become so absorbed by the story that even if there was an earthquake i wouldn’t notice it. Hope God won’t test me for what i just said. Imagine what a good effect that has on my productivity though! Plus, you get to hear all these amazing stories, and you always feel eager to go back to the office and hear the rest of it.

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You Learn a Lot About Investing as You Go, So Don’t Be Afraid to Just Get Started

Years ago, I vowed to learn everything I could about investing in one afternoon. It seemed like so much information, but I figured if I just studied up on it, I could figure it out. It didn’t work. You know what finally did help me learn about investing? Just getting started. All it takes is one step.

Robinhood app

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How To Talk About Your Skills Without Sounding Like A Show-Off

In the era of the humblebrag, how do you honestly share your successes without being annoying?