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Jay Whitenoreply@blogger.com2008-05-30T08:29:55.590-05:00So What Really Is The Meaning of Life?</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/30/2008 by Michael Miles, writer of <a href="http://effortlessabundance.com/">effortlessabundance.com</a>. You can subscribe to his <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/effortlessabundance/eitD">RSS feed</a> here.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aarongeller/375989869/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SD9aqC9WFMI/AAAAAAAABy4/IUhjuN12G9k/s320/ponder.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205979372658758850" title="ponder" border="0" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Torga">Miguel Torga</a>, the great Portuguese writer, said that 'life has the meaning we give it -- our richness, our enthusiasm, our pride -- or our cowardice.’ The search for meaning is a constant theme in our lives and we try to find it in many different ways. But in the end, I believe that meaning can only be found in the way we add something to the world. What is adding value? Ask 100 people what they think gives meaning to their lives and you will get 100 different responses. Money, property, a successful career, a big car, an attractive spouse, partner,… But I’m sure most people would agree that these things in themselves do not add lasting and profound meaning to us. Albert Einstein said that ‘only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile,’ and I believe that a life of service to others is what truly brings meaning. The term ‘service’ may suggest that we have to give up our jobs and money to go help the poor and destitute. I know several people who have done just this, and they have certainly found happiness and peace in their choice of lifestyle. But a life of adding value does not mean abandoning your own needs and desires. It is not the same as sacrifice; far from it. When we truly add value to the lives of others, we cannot help but receive value ourselves. Adding value is the only real way to live a meaningful life. Love what you do So the question remains: How can we add value? I believe the answer to this is surprisingly simple. To quote Steve Jobs in a speech he gave in 2005: <blockquote>‘Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.’ </blockquote>Through Apple, Steve Jobs has undoubtedly added immense value to the world. He did it by following his heart and has been richly rewarded for it. The same can be said for many famous, successful and wealthy people. Loving what you do means starting right here, right now. Whatever you are doing, you can start to love it. Of course, you’re not suddenly going to love a job you’ve hated for years. In fact, if you hate your job so much then you probably ought to leave. But it’s unlikely that there is no aspect of your job that you like. The trick is to identify these good bits and focus on them, making them more central to your experience. And the things you don’t like? Can you find any redeeming qualitative in these things? Can you change your attitude so that you see these tasks as useful or meaningful? If you can start to love what you’re doing, then you’ll be adding value in some way. Do What You Love Interestingly, Steve Jobs didn’t say do what you love. He said love what you do. You don’t have to quit your dull nine-to-five job and start all over again. But doing what you truly love certainly has its rewards. In Making a Life, Making a Living, Mark Albion cites a study carried out by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srully_Blotnick">Srully Blotnick</a>. The careers of 1,500 business school graduates were tracked from 1969 to 1980 and were split into two groups: group A said they wanted to make money first so they could do what they really wanted later, and group B said they would follow their interests first, regardless of financial considerations. At the end of the study, there were 101 millionaires. All but one came from group B. -Michael <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=a6ea68cec67761fa01bcfd9ca62c5e05" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=a6ea68cec67761fa01bcfd9ca62c5e05" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=QBIQvU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=QBIQvU" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=08mAlh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=08mAlh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=a0Rsvh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=a0Rsvh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=u7scGh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=u7scGh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=CUlumh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=CUlumh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=6e7BCH"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=6e7BCH" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/301269552" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-05-29T20:19:58.594-05:00</updated><title type="text">7 Ways To Manage Your Email Like An Expert</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/29/2008 by Abhijeet Mukherjee, of <a href="http://www.jeetblog.com//">Jeet Blog</a>.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/356906270/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SD9N0i9WFLI/AAAAAAAAByw/8sF_rNHE_Mk/s320/email.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205965259396224178" title="email" border="0" /></a>If you are someone like me who is online 15 hours a day, then I am sure you understand the importance of email and are always hunting for ways to manage it better. It won't be an exaggeration if I say that today, email is the second most common way to communicate after telephone. And I am sure it will surpass it soon because I can already see people using their phones to in fact send email. Hence today I decided to list 7 simple ways to better manage your email and increase your productivity while dealing with your inbox. These are the methods that I have followed and they have helped me a lot. Before I start, I'd like to mention that these ways are only for those who get less than 300 to 400 emails (excluding spam ) a day. If you get more, then I strongly suggest you to immediately hire someone else like a <a href="http://longerdays.com/">virtual assistant</a>, to manage your email. For the rest of you, here are the ways to manage your email like an expert: <ol><li>Set a time frame: This is very important; it is easy to lose track of time while checking your mail. In between the deleting and replying, you simply lose track of time and find later that 4 hours has slipped by. You could probably set 3 slots of 20-30 minutes each, during different times of the day, to check your email. Use reminders or other time tracking tools to keep track of your time. </li> <li>Use Gmail: If you are using a different web based email then waste no time in switching to <a href="http://www.gmail.com/">Gmail</a>. It will make you much more productive. You could also switch to Gmail without changing your original email address, which is probably preferred. <a href="http://www.jeetblog.com/switch-old-email-address-to-gmail-account/">Here is an article</a> that explains how to do it. </li> I advocate the use of Gmail, not as a die-hard Gmail fan, but as someone who has tried out various email clients in the past 5 years and found that nothing else compares. It has some amazing features including <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6579">filters</a> and <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2006/09/5-resources-and-over-100-tips-and.html">keyboard shortcuts</a> and if you use a desktop client like Outlook or Thunderbird, then Gmail also provides for <a href="http://www.imap.org/about/whatisIMAP.html">IMAP</a> access which makes life easier. <li>Prioritize using Labels / Folders: It's important to differentiate the important mails from the unimportant ones. If you use Gmail, then you can set filters which will do the job automatically by applying labels or re-routing the incoming mail. In all the other email clients, there are folders which you can use to prioritize your email as well. You can make folders named "friends", "Reply today", etc. and when you open your inbox, immediately start shifting mails to their respective folders. </li> <li>Be Precise: Be precise and to the point when answering emails. You could even skip 'Hello' and 'Regards' if you want; I don't think anyone will mind it. Learn to use one-liners effectively. If you use web-based email and Firefox as your browser, then there are some add-ons like <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1063">Paste Email</a> which helps you to paste repetitive texts in forms or emails with one or two clicks. </li> <li>Delete Ruthlessly: You can easily conclude from the subject line of an email if it's worth reading. If it isn't, delete it without thinking twice. If you slack, thinking that you probably might read it later, then believe me, that email will remain there as unread until you finally decide to do away with it. Act upon the email the first time you see it by either responding immediately, deleting it, or setting it as a task to accomplish at a specific time. </li> <li>Don't leave it for the next day: Try and finish replying to the emails and clearing your inbox within the time frame you decided. I know, it's not always possible, especially if you get more than 100 emails a day, but if the emails go pending then the next day it becomes much more difficult for you to sift through your inbox. Think of your inbox like a snowball, the more it rolls, the larger it gets. <blockquote>Tip for Outlook users from Jay: If you receive an email that you want to address tomorrow, right click on it and drag it to your task pad. You can then assign a due date and a priority level. Heck, you can even assign it to someone else on your team. If you constantly do that, you'll have a good task list to work from and a clean inbox. This will completely remove the constant inbox browsing that you're doing now; not only is that habit unproductive but it's downright frustrating. If it's something that will take a long time or if it's a critical task, drag it to your calendar instead and actually create an appointment with yourself to dedicate time to it. </blockquote></li><li>Replace the source: Inspite of trying out the aforementioned 6 steps, if you still find it difficult to manage your email, then check the source of emails and try to replace it with something more useful. For example, if you get tons of emails from the contact form in your website, then identify the major concern which visitors have and then publish something on your website which will help those visitors, thereby helping to reduce your incoming email flow.</li></ol>Email is a great tool if you learn how to manage it. Unfortunately most people are managed by their email. Get it under control by implementing some of these tips. 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