People all across have realise the benefit of leading a minimalistic life, reducing wastage and eliminating all the unnecessary things out of their way. This helps to increase the focus and reduce distractions.
I apply same to our presentations. It is very important to reduce distractions and keep the engagement levels high during our presentations. If we keep a minimalistic view and design our presentations with that goal in mind, half of our task is done.
Question: How can you engage your audience more and reduce distractions?
What needs more emphasis – text or an image? Well, both meet their individual purposes – for example, text should be preferred where statistics and numbers are involved, while an image shall take precedence to create a higher visual recall.
Follow: “Give up to Gain more” approach
Let’s look at an example below.
Is it possible to make this more aesthetically appealing, ensure none of the key datapoints are missed and more engaging for the audience? Lets try this,
The above is an example of a statistics that we very often use in our ppt. In any statistics the focus is on numbers. This helps audience to pick up the relevant information quickly without losing interest.
Lean simply means creating more value for customers with fewer resources.
It was originated and developed by the Toyota executive, TAIICHI OHNO (1912-1990) for lean manufacturing of automobiles. I am sure terms like Lean Manufacturing, Lean Organisation, Lean Production, Lean Process does ring a bell. You may be a pro and already using this in your organisation.
How about take a leap further and follow Lean in your day to day content?
Using Lean methodology, we let our content talk a lot with very few resources or in this case here text.
Can you imagine how much data are we creating on daily basis? 2.5 quintillion bytes.
This would fill 10 million blue-ray discs, the height of which stacked would measure the height of 4 Eiffel Towers on top of one another.
How much of it actually creates value for the customer or the target audience? Hmm tricky question!!
Life is busy, time is less. Customers don’t have time to read several pages of your terms, reports or what you did last summer (pun intended)!
This is the time for Lean transformation of your content!
Think how you can provide the same information with limited resources and limited text and minimising waste.
Here are some tips to streamline your content and make it lean.
Focus on audience: The audience of your content can be your customer or your stakeholders. Don’t lose the focus on them. What they need to see should be mentioned first and clearly.
Clarity: Be clear of your content and the information you wish to pass.
Prioritize: Identify the key areas of your content that are the major takeaways for your customer and make sure they are prioritized.
Curate: Don’t always try to write your own content. Reuse what is available. Curate wherever possible. It saves time also.
Story always win. Keep storytelling in your mind while you create your content. Write your content as if you are narrating a story. It is very important and will always help you to engage your audience.
Fit: Your content should be viewable on the single screen. If it is an email, there are higher chances that most of the stakeholders will read it on their phone. People lose interest if they have to scroll. Pass the most important message first.
Use appendix or detail page for all kind of information that is not relevant to the customer but important for further references or documentation purposes
In Time, On Budget: Content writing should not eat away lot of your resource time or your organisations budget.
Simple, clear and concise content. Don’t overcomplicate your content and make it difficult to understand.
Stick to Basics: Use short sentences, coma and full stops. Try to use bullet points and change paragraphs when the context changes.
Make it pictorial where ever possible and as much possible.
Your content must Intrigue your audience. Strive to write your content pretending you are writing for clicks and make sure that your message is so compelling that will force your customer click on it to know more and read more.
Put aside your technical or Experiential ego and dive in to writing lean content
Good Luck and have a great start towards your Lean Content.
Sometimes life gets too busy that the only peaceful time you get is in the toilet. This blog idea comes straight from there.
Make your kitchen and your home smart by using some smart techniques and replacing the hard work by the smart work. Don’t just manage things!
Become a leader in your house by using these simple tips.
Tips for all the busy homemakers to increase efficiency in kitchen and at home.
Tools:
The purpose of any tool is to make life easy and simple. By tools I mean all the tools used in the kitchen. Let me say it the other way, the most commonly used tool in your kitchen is your knife. Make sure it is always sharpened. A well sharpened knife promises smooth cooking process.
Abraham Lincon said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Imagine a woodcutter who doesn’t sharpen the axe often. That diverts me to a motivational woodcutter story often quoted by leaders and gurus. Read it here (http://academictips.org/blogs/the-story-of-a-woodcutter/). Invest in a portable knife sharpener. A well sharpened knife promises hassle free cooking.
Scissors are also very important tool. Always keep a scissor handy in your kitchen.
Kitchen cleaning cloth, a clean towel, kitchen tissues, etc, be equipped with your tools at all times.
Automate:Try to bring some amount of automation to all the monotonous daily chores. It sounds like a big word, but things as simple as getting into habit of making notes can reduce lot on your time. Let’s start with the kitchen pantry. As soon as you open the packet, note it down. Buy it in your next grocery shopping. This way you will never run out of anything at any time. Remember the feeling when you find out that you have run out of salt just before cooking? Aghhhhhh!!!
Take the help of technology and little bit of process inclusion for automation
Technology: Use online cloud based notes to make your notes and it will be available to you on all your devices. I use Evernote a lot. It comes free for two devices. You can also save your favorite recipe on it. Technology helps to save our time. Chores like grocery shopping can be done online. Make all your bill payments online. Use the calendar and reminder option in your phone to its best for scheduling the processes as mentioned below.
Processes: Create processes for recurring tasks. Write a list and classify your chores into daily, Weekly and monthly tasks. For example, change of bedsheets once in a week, fan cleaning once in a month, store room cleaning once in every two months. Daily activities like emptying the trash can at 9am, watering the plants at 8am. Once the list is ready put them and schedule them in your calendar. Later analyze what all work can be pushed out of your plate and passed on to other members of the family. This way every family member has a part to play and remain connected to the household activity.
Planning:
Planning works in every field of life, not just at work. With a little bit of daily planning your life can be stress free. Planning the menu, a day ahead of your cooking or preparing a weekly menu list can save daily time in thinking what to cook. Teach your children to plan a day ahead and keep their school uniforms, bags, etc. ready. Plan to put the kids to bed 15 mins early every day so they wake up all fresh the next day morning. Plan to sleep early yourself and wake up early. Those 15 mins of your quiet early morning time is totally incomparable.
Time: We crib about how the life is moving fast and there is no time for ourselves. Reduce your time wastage during the day. TV time is the most useless time of the day. Cut it short. Don’t become a couch potato or else we start looking like one. Instead listen to the music, dance on a song (works as exercise also) or read a book. Phone a friend and gossip! very important part of our life but make sure to keep it time bound so that it does not hijack other important activities during the day.
Delegate:Don’t hesitate to use the help available. Involve your children and spouse in helping you at home. Minor chores like putting and removing the dishes from the table, doing laundry, or helping you in managing inventory can be easily delegated.
Outsource:Yes, very simple, hire a maid and outsource what all you can to your house help. Paying little money here can give you a tremendous peace of mind. If you have already created a list of daily, weekly and monthly chores and scheduled it on your calendar, guiding your maid becomes easy.
Make Notes:
Be Honest! you cannot just remember everything specially when there is already lots on your mind. Get into the habit of making notes. Make sure you maintain small notes for your daily to do list and kitchen activities. Use your smart phones. Sometimes things as simple and innovative as sticky notes help a lot. The best place to put them is on the fridge. It saves space and push everything out of your head to the black and white right in front of your eyes every day.
Declutter:
Make sure you don’t pile things in your house. Move towards minimalistic life. Keep clutter out of your home and out of your life. Items that you haven’t used in the past 2 years, chances are you will never use them. Things in your store room that haven’t come out in past few years means they are junk. Get rid of them.
To know how to declutter and increase your efficiency and decrease stress, read more.
Smart Look:
Buy the kitchen containers which are stackable and maximizes space. Label all your containers with the content inside it. Make sure all your food and grocery items has a container allocated to it. Similarly, give a smart look to your wardrobes by investing some time in organizing it better.
If we plan and manage better, a lot of difficult and complicated things becomes easy going. We reduce our stress to tremendous level. Less stress ensures better relationship with your family and most importantly with yourself.
A new study by Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) showed that almost 36% women leave the workforce in India and almost 91 percent of women who take a break in India wants to come back to work.
Market knowledge: Keep checking on the job sites and other such resources to gauge what’s going on in the market. This will give you knowledge about what kind of jobs are available and what experience are the companies seeking. Stay abreast and employable at all the times. Always keep your resume updated on these sites. You will get an idea what kind of jobs are in the market and which companies are hiring in your area.
Network: Network, Network and Network. Cannot emphasize more on this. Please don’t lose touch with your old colleagues and bosses. Do not dilute your connection with your colleagues and friends just because you are not working. In today’s era, it might seem odd to hear but yes this is still the best way to find the job and as Forbes study suggest almost 41% of the jobs are landed through network. Use linkedin and facebook to its full potential to maintain your network.
Conferences: Plan and attend any related event once every quarter. Attend the expert talks, seminars, webinars. Make sure you still remain in the game. These kind of events and seminars provide a great platform to network and upgrade. This will also keep you abreast with the current knowledge and skills.
Current affairs: Read the newspaper daily and be updated with what is happening in and across the globe. It is a very effective means of gaining knowledge. You can influence several decisions in your favor by just the use of your knowledge. Moreover, we cannot exist in vacuum. We all are affected by what is going on in the outside world. Scientists say that people who are more up to date with current affairs keep fit and stay healthier and have lesser chances of Alzheimer.
Online training: No time to step out for any skill upgradation, don’t worry, online platforms come to the rescue. Enroll for a training and upgrade yourself from the comfort of your home. There are several online training portals like lynda.com, coursera.com and manipalprolearn.com
There are plenty of other websites that provides online trainings, do a research and find out which one suits you best.
Education: Make sure your certifications are up to date. Don’t loose on certification validity just because you are not working. Do give the refresher exam to keep your certification valid.
Develop a hobby and monetize it: Sujata Pedely of Hyderabad based Jason Creations says: “Empowering the housewives is my only motive, any women can come to me and learn the skills of making Jute bags, paper bags, cupcakes, cakes and chocolates. Once the training is completed all these businesses can be run from the comfort of your home with some effort on digital media marketing. ” She also conducts classes for jewelry making. One can find out more about such hobby courses in their own area and start monetizing it.
Freelancer: Look online for projects where you can enroll as freelancer and work. Keep looking to find the job appropriate for you and then you bid for it. The websites that you can check out are freelancer.in, worknhire.com, elance.com and upwork.com. You can work from the comfort of your home and make some extra bucks also!
Teaching others is the best way of retaining knowledge. It is so rightly said that you learn twice when you teach. A big opportunity in the teaching industry is opening up for women in the form of online teaching. With commuting becoming more of a hassle in the cities and going to someone’s home to teach not being a safe or comfortable option, more and more women are taking to teaching online these days. You can work from the comfort of your home, teach a variety of students, develop your skills and earn decent money on the sides. There are many such online teaching platforms and one such organization is Uplift Academy whose founder Dr. Arti Aggarwal is passionate and in her own words partial to bringing more and more women on her platform. Having gone through the challenges of balancing a career and raising a family herself, she empathizes with women who face the same dilemmas and is at the forefront when it comes to giving them a chance to work and lead their lives with dignity
Flexible work option: If you wish to join back work for limited hours, there is a good news here. Several companies provide flexible work option to women. There are organizations which run campaign especially for women on their career break to join back work. It is very encouraging. Keep a tab on any such opportunity.
There are several successful portals that help you get work from home and flexible options in big organizations. You can try powertofly.com and sheroes.in. There is another portal called v-pact.com whose founder, Shilpa Rao, is very passionate and dedicated to provide flexible work opportunities to women. Shilpa says, ” Women constitute approximately 50% of the total adult population in the world. Yet, in terms of opportunities, they face several challenges particularly relating to gainful employment. There is a need to provide remunerative and flexible opportunities to women to make a more satisfying use of their time, thereby promoting the well-being of the society as a whole. Many women have professional skills, but due to various reasons—family, children and other commitments, are unable to take up full time employment. Such women can now look at part time employment opportunities or jobs on assignment basis or hourly basis. This will allow women flexibility to manage commitments at home and professional aspirations.
V-Pact.com is a platform dedicated for providing part time job opportunities to women professionals within India. Those who wish to utilize the opportunity may log into v-pact.com and register for the jobs.”
V-pact.com is an exclusive portal only for women. Several women have been successfully placed through this portal.
Blog: It is the best way to write down your thoughts share your knowledge with others. It is also a great way to destress. Two major blog post sites are blogger.com and wordpress.com. There are other creative ways of blogging like tumblr.com. Share your blogs with your friends, ask them to give feedback and improve on the content. There are ways of making money through the blogs, boost your readership and generate target traffic using seo. Read more about blogging tips here: https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/how-do-i-start-a-blog-and-make-money-online-483
Entrepreneurship: It is a good choice to start your own venture. I have seen women starting their own venture out of their hobby. Good with kids and arts and crafts, make some extra buck, run a summer camp for your neighborhood kids. Suraksha, once a full time employee of a renowned bank quit her high paying full time job for family and took up her hobby of making chocolates. She makes chocolates and sells online and in the nearby area and yes make profits also.
As Thomas Edison once said, I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Companies hire you for the experience and skills you have. In your entrepreneur journey you might fail multiple times before you succeed or you might succeed initially but may not be able to sustain long term. Both the outcomes give you immense exposure and experience. I once attended a session of Bhanu Varla, CEO of GrayLogic, He said “If you tell an organization you started up your own venture and you failed, they will love to hire you for the experience you have gained in failing. So don’t be worried about failing in your startup.”
NGOs: It is not only about sponsoring education or providing financial help, It is about using your knowledge and time as a tool to make a difference in others life. Just few hours in a week, you can teach needy kids basic language or math, play with them, do color and play activity. You can also share your skills with the destitute women to train them to make some earning of their own and become independent. This will bring an immense satisfaction to you and will give you the purpose. Find one in your area and work with them.
Lastly, get a mentor who understands you. Whenever you plan to join back work mentor will help you rolling at a faster pace. It will help you regain your work confidence. It can be your colleague, anyone who understands and knows you and has industry knowledge. Finding a good mentor is as important as finding a good teacher for your child.
Don’t let your career break become a full stop. Consider it as just a pause. It doesn’t have to be a bad experience, there are so many women who wish to take a break in their career but couldn’t do so. Think of this as a blessing in disguise, use this time for your professional and personal development. Make sure you don’t lose your skills and remain hirable at all times.
Leaving the corporate life to manage home is a full time job in itself. In between running chores make sure to take out time for yourself, be career savvy and ready to conquer the outside world at any time. This is not the end of your journey but a fresh start.
The good news is we already know these tips but it seems so insignificant and so small that we forget to use it in our daily lives. One day I was attending a talk on Operations Management and the professor shared the Japanese code to their success and how they achieve high quality in their products. This mantra was also used by Sir Henry Ford in his Ford Motor Company before Japanese figured it out. I then realized that the same tips could be practiced in our day to day life to make it more organized and to enhance its quality.
Getting restless? Ok enough of the background story.
The Japanese or Sir Henry Ford believed in the theory of 5S. 5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. The definition on wikipedia says: “It describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order.”
Too many ‘S’. Lets find out what it is.
seiri means Sort: This means all the useless and unnecessary items must be removed and disposed off from the workplace. The same goes for our home as well. Most of the time we get emotionally attached to our stuffs so much that we keep them for years even if we don’t use them. Figure out ways to dispose off such unwanted items from your home. I will give few examples here.
Clothes that didn’t fit you in the last few years, chance are it will never fit you. Plus the fashion may also get obsolete. Donate those.
All your past college books, the book on computer networking or Java that you learnt during your computer course all are obsolete now. Every day the technology changes and so does the course curriculum. Sell off those books to the junk dealer and make some money also.
Never opt for any printed phone bill, internet bill, bank statement etc. It just increases the junk in your home. Go paperlessas much as possible.
Non working chargers, wires, old telephones, old mouse, etc. Do you have a lot of such electronic waste lying in your house? Look for ecycling companies in your area and give it for recycling. This way you will contribute to the greener environment also.
Any other good condition and working item in your home and you can’t just get rid of it then sell it online.
seiton or set in order/straighten: That means arranging all the items at the workplace so that they are easily visible and identifiable. This rule reduced workers time in looking and searching for their tools in Japanese automobile industry. How we apply this to our home? Let’s start from our kitchen.
Label and all containers and boxes and organize all the utensils properly. You will be amazed how effective and fast you will become in your cooking. Then you can slowly start organizing other areas in your house like wardrobes, keeping all the tools at one place, dirty clothes in laundry bag only; organize your books as per the topic. You can also go one step further and start organizing the invisible and least used areas like the under the bed storage, store rooms. Also maintain an inventory list of your items kept in less used storage areas so that whenever you need it, you don’t have to waste time searching it. Another idea is to label all the door keys and keep them on one place, when in hurry this will come very handy.
seiso or Shine: It implied that the factory workers must clean their workplace completely. Most of the employees volunteer to come half an hour early in Japan to spend time cleaning their workplace. So needless to say, Ladies and Gentlemen, please keep your house clean. Don’t always rely on your maid. One small tip, just follow one rule and rest all will fall in place –keep everything back in its place. Small acts of cleanliness can go far in keeping your house always clean. It just doesn’t take any time. Teach the same to your kids and spouse. Everyone should be responsible for their own items.
seiketsu or standardize: Revisit the first three S and make sure it is followed. Standardize the best practices. Maintain everything in order. Make sure everything has a place – A place for everything and everything in its place.
shitsuke or sustain: Keep to the rules and continue following it. Practice and preach and teach the same to all the family members. Figure out what works best for your home and continue to improve on that.
The buzz word in Corporate today is lean organization; try to keep our homes also as lean as possible by reducing the clutter and organizing everything.
Sometimes we need to be our own devil’s advocate and focus on minute details rather than the bigger picture. If everything is in order and set, it will keep your mind happy, calm and stress free. Don’t believe me? Try it out.
Teach your child the ABCD of touch through this Rhyme using traffic light analogy
Code Red
If someone touches you on your lip Or they try to touch your hips Only mommy and dady do that, If anyone else, it is code Red
You must say No, I don’t like Tell your mommy as it is not right Don’t fear and be strong and brave Mommy loves you, will help you always
The part covered by your underwear Or the part between your legs Make sure Never ever anyone touch Only mommy do that, else it is code Red
Code yellow
Few touches are good, few are bad
Some touch your leg, chest and back
Doctors, teachers help when you are low
But if it doesn’t feel good, it is code yellow
The other parts like shoulders and tummy
Someone tickles and it might be funny
But if it feels bad and you don’t like
Shout and say out loud, it is not right
It is a beautiful body, it belongs to you
If wrong happens and someone hurt you
Tell your mommy, she is your best fellow
If it doesn’t feel good, it is code Yellow
Code Green
We have friends and we play with them
We give them hugs and we shake hands
Teachers and friends are nice and clean
Always smile and know, it is code Green
Don’t talk to strangers if mommy is not there
Say hello politely but don’t let them touch
Stay close, stay safe and protect your body
Says your best friend, she is your mommy
Remember these things wherever you are
Your body, belongs to you, no one should hurt
Everyone is not bad, all are not mean
Always smile and know, it is code Green
Do you believe that your son is not at a risk of abuse because he is a male child or because these incidents happen only in the less educated and low income groups whereas your family is affluent and everyone has degrees?
Fact check – In a survey conducted by the Government, more than 50% of the kids were found to be victims of abuse, of which more boys than girls reported physical abuse. What’s worse – they did not report the incident to anyone in the family or outside because majority of the perpetrators were either a relative or a person whom the child and the family trusted.
Stop shutting your eyes to child abuse, it’s for real, it can happen to any child, in any family and from any background, including yours and mine! Having said that, there are ways to prevent it, fight back and deal with it. Here’s how you can –
Make sure your child knows and understands his body parts. Go down to his level of understanding and try to explain the function of all the body parts in a simple manner.
Teach your child about good touch and badtouch. Give them touching rules – the part between their legs, hips and their lips are strictly no touch areas. No one should touch these parts, other than the parents or caretaker. Also no one should hurt them or any part of their body.
Inculcate the feeling of ownership of the body in yourchild. Tell him that his body belongs to him and that no one should touch him in any way he doesn’t like.
Practice with your kids and train them to say out loudly – “Do not touch…I am not liking it” or “No touching….take your hands away” whenever they are being touched inappropriately. Ask them to move away from such a person immediately.
Give 5 trusted names to your child other than mommy and daddy. If you are not around, they should reach out to these people for help. Make sure they not only know your address and phone numbers but are able to rattle it off as if it were their favorite song. Train them not to talk to strangers when you or your spouse is not around.
Talk to your child about his daily routine when he comes back from school and whenever you have been away. Make it an everyday affair. Encourage your child to treat you as their best friend. Train them to tell you everything, without feeling scared.
Practice to be a good listener. Often, as parents, we feel we know what’s best for our child and dictate what needs to be done all the time. Give your child the freedom to express his emotions. They should feel free and comfortable to share their feelings with you whether they are angry, sad, scared, anxious or plain happy.
Precaution is always easier than dealing with a crisis but just in case such an incident happens, never blame your child. Never say – you shouldn’t have gone there, or you shouldn’t have done that. Listen, offer support and be ready to act appropriately.
Source: Flickr
As parents we often hesitate in adopting the proactive approach. Most of us feel awkward bringing up such topics for discussion in the living room, but getting over this awkwardness is a must to equip and empower your child. Talking to them and training them is the best way to ensure their safety.
On the other hand, make sure that you do not overdo it lest you end up building mistrust in the subconscious mind of the child. Tell them the world is a beautiful place to live in and not all are bad! They just have to be careful and learn how to be safe.
TroublesomeTwo 