31 Jul 10 3 Time Wasters to Avoid If You Want to Make It Big In Life
Time is the currency in which corporate warriors trade in. And why just corporate warriors, we all do business using this currency only, but not everyone – in fact most of us – are wise with the way we spend time. We often splurge on spending time chit-chatting or just day dreaming, which we should not. But to defeat the “time wasting” monsters, we need to figure out first who they are and where they are. The aim of this blog post is to do that only. To make you aware of the 3 biggest time wasters, so that you can fight it off.
3 time wasting monsters
Personal conversation
This is the most dangerous monster that covertly follows you everywhere, which you always fail to notice until it’s already late. You can find this monster lurking around in your office and even in your home. It makes you feel that you are doing some important discussion, but the fact is you are not. You are just wasting time talking about your personal stuff when you should be working on the project at hand.
There is a time and place for personal discussion. Confine it there only. Do not let it disturb your work schedule.
Frequently checking e-mails
E-mails are important, and some are very important. But none of them is as important as the work you have at your hand, so it will be more fruitful to spend time on doing the work than checking mails, regularly.
Make a mail checking routine. I would suggest checking your mails once or twice a day, but if you expect important mails throughout the day or if you cannot live without browsing through your inbox then check your mail 4 times a day, at max. Do not let this monster kill your time.
Breaks
Taking breaks during a day is important, as it help you energize yourself. A break helps you remove your thought from the project, and hence get a fresh perspective on the subject matter, when you get back to it after the break. But frequent or too many breaks do not allow you to come back to the subject matter, ruining the purpose of the break itself.
Too many breaks create distraction, so avoid indulging in that. In fact, I will suggest you to make a “break taking” plan around your work schedule. This will keep you on track, and the plan will keep this “time wasting” monster contained.
These 3 monsters should be avoided at any cost, if your goal is to do anything with your life.
Tags: Aim, Break, Chit, Currency, Inbox, Life Time, Mail, Monster, Monsters, Personal Conversation, Personal Stuff, Perspective, Ruin, Spending Time, Splurge, Subject Matter, Time And Place, Time Wasters, Warriors, Wasting Time
07 Nov 09 Get Maximum Value out of your Marketing Writing
The marketing writing is different from any other form of writing in the sense that the former kind of writing requires people to take some kind of action, while general writing just aim at informing and persuading people. Thus, you need to make your writing clear, concise, and emphatic. You need to entice your customers into reading your stuff to the end, and to achieve this goal, you need to follow the following guidelines.
Use emphatic headlines
The goal of a headline is not to sell the product, but to push the audience to read further by generating interest in them. When writing a marketing copy or copy for print ads then write headline in such a way that audience get curious after reading this and decide to read further.
Use descriptive sub-heading
The purpose of the subheading is to explain the promise made by the headline and push the reader to read the body copy.
Write focused body copy
This is where you need to sell your stuff. Your body copy should fulfill the promises made by the headline and the sub-heading. Use a conversational tone, do not preach your target audience. They hate it like anything. Each word of the body copy should lead you to the next word, and the next word to the next word, and so on. You can achieve this only by using measured words.
Tips for writing body copy
- Use short sentences.
- Write the body copy using active voice.
- Keep the writing jargon-free. No one likes to read technical details.
- Express the benefits not the features.
- One size doesn’t fit all, therefore, right body copy with the target audience in mind. The copy you will write for a doctor who is 26 years of age and an artist of the same age will be different. Keep this subtle difference in mind.
- Talk, do not preach.
- Tell the reader, how you can help him solve his problem.
- Use direct sentences.
Add Call to action
The marketing copy will fetch no result, if there is no call to action included at critical juncture in the marketing copy. A call to action tells the user what is expected of him. What action you want from him. This is very, very important.
Conclusion
Marketing copy writing is as much a science as it is an art. You cannot achieve anything meaningful by just making the writing flowery. Always remember, you are not writing a birthday card, its marketing stuff that you are writing.
Tags: Active Voice, Aim, Audience In Mind, Conversational Tone, Critical Juncture, Doctor Who, Headlines, Jargon, Marketing, Maximum Value, Persuading People, Print Ads, Promises, Sell Stuff, Sentences, Size Doesn, Subheading, Subtle Difference, Target Audience, Technical Details
03 Sep 09 Stand Out At A Meeting
Meetings are a fantastic opportunity to make yourself shine at your job. They serve as your chance to show your ability in front of people that might otherwise be unaware of your potential. Usually it’s only your direct boss that gets a real feel for what you can achieve. But at a meeting, most times you have a chance to make yourself known to the people higher up on the ladder. So clearly, thinking of a meeting that way, each one is a vital chance to make a name for yourself at your company. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:
1. Research, research, research. Make sure you know the in’s and out’s of every single detail of the meeting. Make yourself an expert, so that if you have visual aides during a presentation, you know all of them without having to look. Or if there are packets of statistics to be used during discussion, make sure you know the important stuff like the back of your hand. Knowledge is key to presenting yourself as a valuable, informed employee.
2. Participate in the meeting by offering useful information or helpful suggestions. Don’t try to take control of the meeting, as the idea is to get yourself noticed in a good way. Coming off as a control freak is not your aim at all. So just offer positive insight whenever the situation presents itself. But don’t try to force yourself into every open dialogue.
3. Show up a few minutes early to the meeting. This shows preparedness every time. Nothing makes you look worse to the big wigs than showing up to a meeting involving them late.
4. Follow up on anything that you promised during the meeting immediately. If you said you’d deliver a report after the meeting, make sure that it’s the first thing you do afterward. Nothing makes you look worse than when you promise something and don’t come through. Always keep your promises, especially when they were made in front of a room full of people.
Tags: Aim, Boss, Control, Control Freak, Few Minutes, Hand Knowledge, Insight, Job, Ladder, Open Dialogue, Opportunity, Preparedness, Presentation, Promises, Research Research Research, Statistics, Visual Aides, Wigs
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