Did u remember to look up today?

...Sometimes we simply forget that most of us have so much to be grateful for....,

Embrace, do not fear your clock - the question of work/life balance:

Embrace, do not fear your clock - the question of work/life balance: 

Finding it more challenging than ever to juggle the demands of your job and the rest of your life? You are not alone!

Many people are putting in extra hours, and rather than getting more quality from life!

Take stock of activities in your career or personal life, and minimize the time you spend on them without compromising quality by being smarter about how you spend your time - we seem to be stressing more and enjoying life less!

Here are some practical thoughts on how to turn that around:

1. Build downtime into your schedule.

Plan your week ahead of time where possible. Make it a point to schedule time with your family and friends, and activities that help you recharge.

2. Drop activities that sap your time or energy.

Many of us waste time on activities or people that add no value -- for example, spending too much time at work with a colleague who is constantly venting and gossiping and distracting you. Another thing most of us could easily improve on is NOT second guessing ourselves so often.

Just think: you may even be able to leave work earlier if you make a conscious effort to limit the time you spend on the web and social media sites, and perhaps most importantly, consider the efficiency and effectiveness of all calls and emails!

3. Rethink your errands.

Consider whether you can outsource any of your time-consuming household chores or errands: By ordering certain groceries online, or hiring a kid down the street to mow your lawn? Have your dry cleaning picked up and dropped off at your home or office? Spend less time in traffic by planning a sensible route in one trip instead of two in order to cover as many things in that trip as you reasonably can. Order your stamps and other necessities as well as pay your bills online where possible.

4. Get moving - 

It's hard to make time for exercise when you have a jam-packed schedule, but it may ultimately help you get more done by boosting your energy level and ability to concentrate and ultimately gives you a healthier, less stressful lifestyle!

5. Remember always that a little relaxation goes a long way.

Don't assume that you need to make big changes to bring more balance to your life. Set realistic goals, like leaving the office earlier 1 night per week. 

Gradually build more activities into your schedule that are important to you. Maybe you can start by spending an hour a week on a hobby or planning a weekend getaway with your partner or a friend.

The reality of Life in 2014 - a tragedy....?

Life's truth - a tragedy? We seem to be literally and typically bombarded, in our 'younger days' with messages of opportunity .... of how fortunate we are compared to those of past generations.....of how grateful we should be...for the many things we have to look forward to. However have you really stopped to ask yourself what are/were these people talking about? Is it any wonder that the world is in the state of flux and confusion that it is in today and that pain, suffering, depression, strife and utter chaos as well lack of direction are as prevalent in today's 'sophisticated' world, as in fact it is?

Certainly, in 'modern' western philosophy on the meaning of life, most people are taught, from an early age that if we study hard, if we strive to achieve all that which society classifies as good and meaningful....education, hard work, positive thinking, dedication to our individual and collective ideals....that peace, harmony and happiness will inevitably result!.....oh, and lets not forget....how we must constantly give thanks for all the good that we have and that we can look forward to!

 Ironic isn't it...at least a little perhaps?...that as the Earth's population zooms towards 8 billion, as we 'discover' more and more about the way our minds and bodies work, as technological breakthroughs are achieved daily...that rather than getting simpler and more comprehensible, "LIFE" as we know it seems to just get more and more complicated, people are less satisfied and even despite all the theoretical freedom of thought and acknowledgement of personal rights, we are challenged by yet more sadness, inequity, isolation, devastation and disaster.

We do all that we are 'supposed' to do and then at the next turn, even after we have the education, the job, the house, the car, the family and the white picket fence and happy pets, there is still something missing, some reason we are left to either contemplate "Whats missing?" or "Why did we lose a loved one" etc!

The media, often labelled as sensationalistic and negative could quite easily and plausibly counter with the cliche "the only real bliss is in ignorance or in good old-fashioned choice to stick our heads in the proverbial sand!".....and would they be wrong? I contest that the proponents of this cliche are not in the least bit far from the honest explanation reality of life as we know it today! 

For those of us who are prepared to accept the truth of our respective realities rather than allowing others to convince us to put on rose-tinted glasses and see those virtually empty containers as somehow overflowing with happiness and opportunity.....it is far more credible to argue that we are far closer to accepting life for what it is in 2014.

So PLEASE - give us a break- the unpredictable inevitably of life predominantly ruled by challenge after challenge, difficulty after difficulty and infiltrated with a few fleeting moments and feelings of things fundamentally happy or pleasant is the factual condition of human life in today's world - like it or not!  Perhaps if we all became more adept at calling a spade a spade things would not be as hard as they are today nor would human existence in our world continue to be as miserable as it too frequently is!       

El amor y su poder....

             

El amor es un sentimiento universal, que se siente por cada ser viviente en esta tierra. 

.....de hecho, es no sólo un atributo de los seres humanos. Los animales también están familiarizados con esta emoción 'extraña y con frecuencia inexplicable.'

Aunque no existe una definición exhaustiva para describir esta sensación única que conocemos como amor, se caracteriza por un sentido de apego y afecto profundo hacia alguien o algo. 

Es tal vez la emoción más fuerte que uno pueda sentir. Tan fuerte es la sensación de que se dice que hace girar el mundo para aquellos que lo sienten!

Si usted todavía se pregunta por qué el amor es tan importante en nuestras vidas, creo que la respuesta es que cumple los deseos emocionales, aspiraciones, de hecho, las necesidades de los seres humanos.....asi con tanta fuerza que es capaz de superar cualquier otra emoción que uno podría sentir. 

Los seres humanos tienen una cualidad innata de dar y sentir amor. Por otra parte, incluso se relaciona con nuestra estructura biológica. Es este sentimiento de amor, que es responsable de tanto en relación con la existencia y el mantenimiento del equilibrio en la vida de uno y concordantemente afecta directamente a la salud de toda la sociedad.

Cuando nace un bebé, por ejemplo, los padres se olvidan de su hambre, falta de sueño, etc, ya que son tan enamorado con su hijo.

La dulzura y la felicidad del amor permite a aquellos de nosotros que tenemos el privilegio de vivirlo para realizar tareas que no habría sido posible sin sus poderes. La emoción enigmático supera todas las fronteras y tiene el gran potencial de cambiar la vida de las personas para siempre.

La majestuosidad de la sensación es tal que permite que los humanos se tratan con bondad y compasión. ...... el beso de un amante apasionado, el toque de una madre tierna, una preocupación paternal o de un afecto fraternal o de hermana, todas esas cosas son demostrativos del amor.

No olvidemos nunca su importancia en nuestras vidas, ni la negligencia de demostrar cómo verdaderamente amamos a los que nos importa tanto!

WHAT DEFINES A GOOD LEADER?

 

WHAT CHARACTERISTICS ARE NEEDED TO HAVE OR BE A GOOD LEADER?

One of the most revealing questions you can ask someone in any kind of leadership role is: What motivates them to be a better leader? Some will answer that it’s to enhance their personal effectiveness, or that leading is an expected part of their professional development. Others may say that they lead because of a sense of leader identity, purpose, or personal obligation to serve their organisation and the people with whom they work. Many proffer a mix of instrumental, external motivations (e.g. pay or career progression), as well as more intrinsic, internal rationales (like the obligation to serve).  

The group with a combination of motives clearly has the most reasons to lead, and so it seems intuitively reasonable to assume that they would be the most committed, high performing leaders…….are they?

A key leader performance measure is often identification of early promotion potential. Comparing a leader’s performance to the organisation’s leadership framework. Regular appraisals, as judged by immediate and higher-level supervisors serving in positions which facilitate the appraiser’s observation of demonstrated performance in leadership  roles, is one means of assessment often used.

Predictably, studies have shown that those with internal, intrinsic motives performed better than those with external, instrumental rationales for their service — a common finding in studies of motivation. Surprisingly, however, those with both internal and external rationales actually frequently prove to be worse ‘investments’ as leaders than those with fewer, but predominantly internal, motivations!

Adding external motives does not make leaders perform better — additional motivations typically reduces the selection to top leadership by more than 20%.  Thus, external motivations, even in addition to strong internal motivations, often constitute ‘leadership poison.’

Common methodology and management policy in leadership training and guidance pontificates that the best way to influence behavior is to incentivise it, and such external incentives certainly work with laboratory animals.

When dealing with human behavior, however, adding external incentives clearly does not, (per various studies on the topic) improve leadership performance!

In practice, consider leaders in an organisation in which most leaders, already have strong, internal motivations to serve (e.g. because of their dedication to the cause and/or because of personal experiences)…..add hefty bonuses as motivation, and the organisation often finds itself with a significant leadership problem, as some leader’s appear to lose sight of the core purpose of the organisation.

A longstanding dichotomy in the field of leader development is whether to teach leadership as a set of skills that lead to higher performance (a competency-based model), or to teach leadership as a complex moral relationship between the leader and the led, (a values-based model that is relatively challenging to measure).  Recent major studies demonstrate that those who lead primarily from values-based motivations, which are inherently internal, outperform those who lead with additional instrumental outcomes and rewards.

If you aspire to lead in business or society or otherwise, first ask yourself, “Why do I want to be a leader?”

….The answer to that question, as it turns out, will definitively make a significant difference in how well you lead.