Chickens And Pigs Help Define Two Things We Need For SuccessWritten by Gordon Bellows
This article is about involvement and commitment, two of things we need to be successful. This applies to our jobs or businesses, relationships, and even our recreational pursuits. Any type of success, whether it is personal, professional, academic, or athletic, will usually require a combination of involvement and commitment.I hope headline stirred your interest. Here is how chickens, pigs, and even cows, can help define involvement and commitment. Think about a meal consisting of eggs and ham and consider contributions made by a chicken and a pig. A chicken provided eggs and a pig provided ham. It can be said chicken was involved, because chicken continues to live as it lays more eggs. It can be said pig was committed, because pig gave its all to provide ham and other pork products. The same principle can be applied to two cows and a cheeseburger. The cow that provided milk to be processed into cheese was involved, while cow that provided beef for hamburger patty was committed. It is not my intention to make light of animals that lose their life to provide food for humans, nor to offend anyone that does not eat beef or pork for religious or dietary reasons. These examples simply illustrate that being involved may mean being a participant with little or no effort, while being committed takes time and energy, and means much more than just being involved. Consider a recreational activity, such as a game of chess, or a softball game. You can be involved by just playing game, no matter how good you are. However, to really be successful, to win more than you lose, you must have made a commitment at some point in your life. For chess, it means taking time to understand game and study winning strategies. For softball, it means at some point you practiced hitting and throwing a ball. There are a few fortunate people with a large degree of natural ability to do certain things, but most of us need to work at it.
| | Use The D System To Get Organized And Reduce Clutter!Written by Gordon Bellows
There is a simple system, known as D system, that can help you to be better organized and may also help to reduce clutter. This system can be used at home or at office with regular mail, email, and inboxes. It can also be used with voice mail messages. This effective system uses 6 D's:Do - Delegate - Decide - Delete - Dump - Document files The goal with this system is to use one of 6 D's with every letter, memo, report, email, newspaper, and magazine that enters your home or office. Select D that is most applicable for each item before moving to next item. Do: If something only takes a few minutes to do, do it now. If you need to review and sign a memo, do it and return item to originator or send it to next person on routing list. If you need to reply to a voice mail message or an email, do it now. By doing it while it's fresh on your mind, it'll be taken care of, plus you'll save time by not having to shuffle papers or listen to voice mail message again. Delegate: If an item requires action, decide if it is best for you to take action or if task can be delegated. Entrust task to person most suitable for responsibility. Make a call, use an interoffice routing envelope, send an email, or whatever method is appropriate to inform person to whom task has been delegated. Decide: If you are not able to read it or complete task right away, decide which action file that item belongs in. Suggested files/bins include, "to be read," "to be copied," "to be faxed," and so forth. It is essential to do whatever needs to be done with these items within a few days. Magazines and newspapers should be read and then recycled before accumulating too many issues of same publication. If there are articles or recipes you want to save, save only that part and not entire publication. Create files to keep your clippings organized. Also, review clippings once or twice each year to dump any that you no longer want. Delete: If you keep getting items you don't really want, do something to keep them from coming to you again. Don't renew magazines you don't read, opt-out of ezines or newsletters that you're not interested in, and remove yourself from routing list for things that don't apply to you. If you get items you know you don't want and you're not able to remove yourself from mailing list or subscriber list, then just toss it out as soon as you know what it is. Recycle as much as possible.
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