End of term 3 assembly holiday plans2010
View more presentations from karongraham.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Eat that frog now!
“Eat that frog”, brings to mind all sorts of connotations and most of them, not good for sure. Now before you go thinking I have lost the plot, I should explain exactly why you should ‘eat that frog’. According to author Brian Tracy, your frog is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. ‘The frog’ part comes from Mark Twain who once quipped:
"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."
There are lots of reasons why we put off doing the biggest, most important task. Some of us are perfectionists and let our desire to have the task or the outcome to be so idealised and perfect that it stymies our ability to actually start the task. Some people suffer inertia because the task seems too large to deal with, while others are so lacking motivation or drive that they fail to start, or there is another group of people who mean to do the task (and know that the task has to be done), but let the myriad of little, unimportant things get in the way so that they never have time to even start, let alone complete the most important task. You’re not alone if you recognise yourself in one of these groups.
Stephen Covey has a great method of sorting the important from the unimportant tasks. He says that all tasks fall into one of four categories or quadrants. Important tasks are the activities that represent your values, mission and high priority goals and urgent tasks are activities that require immediate attention.
• Important and urgent e.g. Crisis, deadline driven projects, meetings, reports
• Important and non-urgent e.g. Preparation, planning, relationship building, prevention, values clarification and re-creation
___________________________________________________________
• Unimportant and urgent e.g. needless interruptions, unimportant meetings, email, phone calls, and dealing with other people’s minor issues
• Unimportant and non urgent e.g. ‘busy’ work, phone calls, email, excessive television, internet and relaxation
Many of us focus on the tasks below the line, that is, the unimportant ‘busy stuff’, which consumes us and occupies our minds, most of the time, most days. Covey argues that we would be more productive and have better outcomes if we focused on and live “north of the line”, that is on the important and urgent, but also the important and non urgent. If we were to spend more of our productive time on preparation, planning, and the most important tasks, then it’s more likely that we will achieve far more and be more successful in the long term.
Remember John Lennon’s line: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans” Well, yes, this is true to a point, but keep in mind that doing the ‘unimportant busy stuff’ can be a sheer waste of our time and energy and at the end of it all, we have not achieved or moved closer to our more important goals and achieving our most important tasks.
It’s time to reclaim back part of our life that may have gone astray and divest ourselves of the ‘busy unimportant’ parts of our life. Some ways you might do this, is to:
• Limit the amount of time spent watching television
• Limit the time spent writing and answering emails
• Limit the time spent on interruptions, phone calls and the like
• Do the most important tasks first – prioritise them
• Keep going on these tasks until they’re completed
• Allocate time to planning and preparing for the day, week and rest of the year
• Write down your top three priorities or tasks each day and work on these
• Spend time each day working on your ‘real’ priorities – number them, so that you know what’s most important to you at that point in time or in the future
• Spend quality time but more importantly, spend more time with your family
• Ask yourself, “If I could do only one thing all day long, which task would contribute the greatest value to my life, or my career or my happiness?”; that’s what you need to focus on that day, according to Brian Tracy.
It's not a perfect world and sometimes our best intentions come unstuck by the 'busyness' of life but it is within all of us to make some small changes that might yield amazing results in what we can achieve in life. It's worth the effort to make some simple changes, apply some easy strategies that can exponentially improve our productivitiy and ultimately our happiness and sense of achievement. What are you waiting for? As Brian Tracy would suggest: Eat that frog now!
"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."
There are lots of reasons why we put off doing the biggest, most important task. Some of us are perfectionists and let our desire to have the task or the outcome to be so idealised and perfect that it stymies our ability to actually start the task. Some people suffer inertia because the task seems too large to deal with, while others are so lacking motivation or drive that they fail to start, or there is another group of people who mean to do the task (and know that the task has to be done), but let the myriad of little, unimportant things get in the way so that they never have time to even start, let alone complete the most important task. You’re not alone if you recognise yourself in one of these groups.
Stephen Covey has a great method of sorting the important from the unimportant tasks. He says that all tasks fall into one of four categories or quadrants. Important tasks are the activities that represent your values, mission and high priority goals and urgent tasks are activities that require immediate attention.
• Important and urgent e.g. Crisis, deadline driven projects, meetings, reports
• Important and non-urgent e.g. Preparation, planning, relationship building, prevention, values clarification and re-creation
___________________________________________________________
• Unimportant and urgent e.g. needless interruptions, unimportant meetings, email, phone calls, and dealing with other people’s minor issues
• Unimportant and non urgent e.g. ‘busy’ work, phone calls, email, excessive television, internet and relaxation
Many of us focus on the tasks below the line, that is, the unimportant ‘busy stuff’, which consumes us and occupies our minds, most of the time, most days. Covey argues that we would be more productive and have better outcomes if we focused on and live “north of the line”, that is on the important and urgent, but also the important and non urgent. If we were to spend more of our productive time on preparation, planning, and the most important tasks, then it’s more likely that we will achieve far more and be more successful in the long term.
Remember John Lennon’s line: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans” Well, yes, this is true to a point, but keep in mind that doing the ‘unimportant busy stuff’ can be a sheer waste of our time and energy and at the end of it all, we have not achieved or moved closer to our more important goals and achieving our most important tasks.
It’s time to reclaim back part of our life that may have gone astray and divest ourselves of the ‘busy unimportant’ parts of our life. Some ways you might do this, is to:
• Limit the amount of time spent watching television
• Limit the time spent writing and answering emails
• Limit the time spent on interruptions, phone calls and the like
• Do the most important tasks first – prioritise them
• Keep going on these tasks until they’re completed
• Allocate time to planning and preparing for the day, week and rest of the year
• Write down your top three priorities or tasks each day and work on these
• Spend time each day working on your ‘real’ priorities – number them, so that you know what’s most important to you at that point in time or in the future
• Spend quality time but more importantly, spend more time with your family
• Ask yourself, “If I could do only one thing all day long, which task would contribute the greatest value to my life, or my career or my happiness?”; that’s what you need to focus on that day, according to Brian Tracy.
It's not a perfect world and sometimes our best intentions come unstuck by the 'busyness' of life but it is within all of us to make some small changes that might yield amazing results in what we can achieve in life. It's worth the effort to make some simple changes, apply some easy strategies that can exponentially improve our productivitiy and ultimately our happiness and sense of achievement. What are you waiting for? As Brian Tracy would suggest: Eat that frog now!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
How Can One Person Make a Difference?
I think deep down in all of us, we want to ‘make a difference’ in this world. Some people are able to affect change on a global scale, like Bob Geldof and the Live Aid Concert which raised millions of dollars to help ease poverty and famine in Ethiopia. Geldof did not start out with a noble mission of changing the world’s attitude to famine, but appalled by images of famine in Dafur he took action. In his own words, Geldof says that momentum built faster than he could ever imagine or organise: “ hundreds of people dropped everything to do this one thing…..No one particularly stood in my way; on the contrary, doors impenetrable a week earlier swung open effortlessly.”(Geldof, Is That It?, 281)
In the book, 'Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed', authors Westley et al, discuss at length this notion of change and the growing social conscience and the need to take action on matters that affect all of humanity and how momentum can build quickly to bring this about. Famous author and poet, Victor Hugo once said: ‘There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.’ and this has been the case, time again, in the turning points of human history. Think of the change that Gandhi brought through his ‘passive resistance’ which led to the liberation of the people of India or the changes wrought by the great humanitarian and politician, Martin Luther King to the African Americans, or Mother Teresa whose impact on the poorest of the poor in Calcutta was profound in establishing the Missionaries of Charity.
How can one person affect this kind of change in society? It bears thinking about because, so often, it is the vision or impetus of a single person that is enough to bring about not only change at the local level but significant change globally, too. Al Gore may not have been the most successful of modern day American politicians, but he certainly brought the world’s attention to the issue of climate change with his book, documentary and presentations based on “An Inconvenient Truth”. As one individual, he was the catalyst for a global shift in thinking about the impact of humans on the rate of climate change.
The concept of momentum or what psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (no - that’s not a spelling mistake) calls ‘finding flow’ is a science in itself. He describes the ability of any person to focus entirely on a project which becomes far more significant than their own well being. Translated, I guess this means ‘being in the zone’, where we are totally focused on a bigger need than our own needs. This kind of focus or flow builds momentum too. Others are drawn into the project resulting in an increased energy level by everyone, who shares the common idea and a strong common sense of purpose.
Millard Fuller makes the point that:
“For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people's love and concern for each other.”
A community built on trust, love and concern for one anther and wanting the very best possible outcomes is a powerful motivator. This is surely the best way to bring about change in our society..... starting at the local level is the most effective way to start building momentum and change for the good of all.
One of my favourite poems is one written by George Bernard Shaw. I will leave you with a little quote from this poem:
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”
What better purpose can there be in life but to make a difference to someone else’s life and to make a difference in this world.
In the book, 'Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed', authors Westley et al, discuss at length this notion of change and the growing social conscience and the need to take action on matters that affect all of humanity and how momentum can build quickly to bring this about. Famous author and poet, Victor Hugo once said: ‘There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.’ and this has been the case, time again, in the turning points of human history. Think of the change that Gandhi brought through his ‘passive resistance’ which led to the liberation of the people of India or the changes wrought by the great humanitarian and politician, Martin Luther King to the African Americans, or Mother Teresa whose impact on the poorest of the poor in Calcutta was profound in establishing the Missionaries of Charity.
How can one person affect this kind of change in society? It bears thinking about because, so often, it is the vision or impetus of a single person that is enough to bring about not only change at the local level but significant change globally, too. Al Gore may not have been the most successful of modern day American politicians, but he certainly brought the world’s attention to the issue of climate change with his book, documentary and presentations based on “An Inconvenient Truth”. As one individual, he was the catalyst for a global shift in thinking about the impact of humans on the rate of climate change.
The concept of momentum or what psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (no - that’s not a spelling mistake) calls ‘finding flow’ is a science in itself. He describes the ability of any person to focus entirely on a project which becomes far more significant than their own well being. Translated, I guess this means ‘being in the zone’, where we are totally focused on a bigger need than our own needs. This kind of focus or flow builds momentum too. Others are drawn into the project resulting in an increased energy level by everyone, who shares the common idea and a strong common sense of purpose.
Millard Fuller makes the point that:
“For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people's love and concern for each other.”
A community built on trust, love and concern for one anther and wanting the very best possible outcomes is a powerful motivator. This is surely the best way to bring about change in our society..... starting at the local level is the most effective way to start building momentum and change for the good of all.
One of my favourite poems is one written by George Bernard Shaw. I will leave you with a little quote from this poem:
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”
What better purpose can there be in life but to make a difference to someone else’s life and to make a difference in this world.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Happy Grandparents' Day
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Happy Grandparents' Day
View more presentations from karongraham.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Predicting the Future
Wouldn’t you love to be able to predict the future? Wouldn’t it be good to know what’s coming next or to have a jump start on everyone else and secure a place in history like Nostradamus? Since time immemorial there have been people who have claimed to have a ‘gift’ to foresee the future. Sometimes these people have been true visionaries, like the great 15th century painter, inventor, sculptor, naturalist and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, while others have been nothing short of charlatans, like the infamous, Rasputin.
Predicting the future can be a perilous pastime. Take for instance, the famous ‘last words’ of Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, who in 1943 said:
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Or the quote from Bill Gates who said of the computer:
“640k ought to be enough for anybody.”
Weather prediction is one of those fundamentals, which despite the best efforts of meteorologists, satellite tracking and computer modelling, still defies accurate predictions. Many is the time that the so called experts get it wrong. I was reading a book recently which tells the story of how there was a world wide competition to see who had developed the best and most successful computer program to accurately predict the weather. They received dozens of entries in the competition, with everything from sophisticated weather pattern modelling to complicated computer software programs with thousands of lines of code which required supercomputers to run all of the calculations.
Each day, the competing models were required to make predictions as to what the weather conditions would be on the next day in thirty different cities across America. After six months, the results were tallied to see which program was the most accurate. Guess what won? It was a simple one line code that had the following words: “Tomorrow’s weather will be the same as today’s weather.”
If you think about it, weather often changes gradually and so there is a very strong possibility that the next day’s weather will be exactly the same as today’s weather. Sure it’s not sophisticated but the odds are that more often than not, the weather will be the same. Of course there are major weather events and abnormalities that are difficult to explain with such a simplistic model, but it’s not a bad method and it’s certainly a lot cheaper than satellites and computer modelling. Long range weather forecasters use the data from the weather records kept for over a hundred years to make predictions about the future weather patterns, with surprising accuracy.
Even animals have the ability to predict and know what’s coming in the natural world. Many animals have an innate sense of impending natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis or severe storms. Immediately before major earthquakes, animals have been observed to take on very strange behaviours (jumping vertically) and trying to escape the local region; before major storms and tsunamis, birds fly away and animals disappear to higher ground and most of us have observed how ants come indoors en masse just before severe rain depressions.
What can we conclude from all of this seemingly unrelated information about making predictions for the future? Much of what we can predict can be deduced from the status quo, or from our current observations or pattern of behaviour. What are the implications of this? For all of us, we need only look at what we do and say today to have some sense of what the future has in store for us. I know we don’t have the power to know with any certainty what other events will happen in our lives but in terms of our own destiny, ‘the writing is on the wall’.
For students it is very straightforward, if they are to succeed in their studies (or sport or music or anything for that matter) they need to commit now. The foundation for future success lies in the groundwork that you do today. The prediction of potential success may not be as much a mystery as we think. There are many people who argue that life becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you work consistently towards a goal then chances are that you will succeed in this. If you are half hearted and doubt your own ability well then chances are that you won’t be successful.
Whether it’s in a study program or application in class, the best predictor of future success is success today. Even the universities recognise this and after years of high drop out rates in first year university, they’ve found that those students who can successfully complete a unit or two of a particular university course in Year 12, are more likely to succeed in that course when they commence full time university study. At CCS we give all students in Years 11 and 12 the opportunity to commence university study or vocational education Certificates II, III, or IV.
Often the students who have the highest results at the end of Year 12 are not necessarily the most intelligent students – these students certainly have an advantage – but the students who achieve the best results are the ones who do the hard work day in day out, in class and at home. They are students who ask lots of questions of their teachers. They are the students who have a well planned and well organised study program and forward planning process in place for assignments and upcoming assessment. It takes time and commitment to succeed. As Beverly Sills, famous American operatic soprano once flippantly commented:
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
Predicting the future can be a perilous pastime. Take for instance, the famous ‘last words’ of Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, who in 1943 said:
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Or the quote from Bill Gates who said of the computer:
“640k ought to be enough for anybody.”
Weather prediction is one of those fundamentals, which despite the best efforts of meteorologists, satellite tracking and computer modelling, still defies accurate predictions. Many is the time that the so called experts get it wrong. I was reading a book recently which tells the story of how there was a world wide competition to see who had developed the best and most successful computer program to accurately predict the weather. They received dozens of entries in the competition, with everything from sophisticated weather pattern modelling to complicated computer software programs with thousands of lines of code which required supercomputers to run all of the calculations.
Each day, the competing models were required to make predictions as to what the weather conditions would be on the next day in thirty different cities across America. After six months, the results were tallied to see which program was the most accurate. Guess what won? It was a simple one line code that had the following words: “Tomorrow’s weather will be the same as today’s weather.”
If you think about it, weather often changes gradually and so there is a very strong possibility that the next day’s weather will be exactly the same as today’s weather. Sure it’s not sophisticated but the odds are that more often than not, the weather will be the same. Of course there are major weather events and abnormalities that are difficult to explain with such a simplistic model, but it’s not a bad method and it’s certainly a lot cheaper than satellites and computer modelling. Long range weather forecasters use the data from the weather records kept for over a hundred years to make predictions about the future weather patterns, with surprising accuracy.
Even animals have the ability to predict and know what’s coming in the natural world. Many animals have an innate sense of impending natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis or severe storms. Immediately before major earthquakes, animals have been observed to take on very strange behaviours (jumping vertically) and trying to escape the local region; before major storms and tsunamis, birds fly away and animals disappear to higher ground and most of us have observed how ants come indoors en masse just before severe rain depressions.
What can we conclude from all of this seemingly unrelated information about making predictions for the future? Much of what we can predict can be deduced from the status quo, or from our current observations or pattern of behaviour. What are the implications of this? For all of us, we need only look at what we do and say today to have some sense of what the future has in store for us. I know we don’t have the power to know with any certainty what other events will happen in our lives but in terms of our own destiny, ‘the writing is on the wall’.
For students it is very straightforward, if they are to succeed in their studies (or sport or music or anything for that matter) they need to commit now. The foundation for future success lies in the groundwork that you do today. The prediction of potential success may not be as much a mystery as we think. There are many people who argue that life becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you work consistently towards a goal then chances are that you will succeed in this. If you are half hearted and doubt your own ability well then chances are that you won’t be successful.
Whether it’s in a study program or application in class, the best predictor of future success is success today. Even the universities recognise this and after years of high drop out rates in first year university, they’ve found that those students who can successfully complete a unit or two of a particular university course in Year 12, are more likely to succeed in that course when they commence full time university study. At CCS we give all students in Years 11 and 12 the opportunity to commence university study or vocational education Certificates II, III, or IV.
Often the students who have the highest results at the end of Year 12 are not necessarily the most intelligent students – these students certainly have an advantage – but the students who achieve the best results are the ones who do the hard work day in day out, in class and at home. They are students who ask lots of questions of their teachers. They are the students who have a well planned and well organised study program and forward planning process in place for assignments and upcoming assessment. It takes time and commitment to succeed. As Beverly Sills, famous American operatic soprano once flippantly commented:
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)