I started my company (EMJ) from the trunk of my car (and it was a small trunk so that?s a small business). I grew EMJ to $375,000,000 in sales prior to selling it to SYNNEX. I am now CEO of a $1 billion business.One certainty in life is you will not always see eye to eye with everyone. The purpose of this article is to share practical ideas on dealing with difficult people.1 ? I hate the title of this article. The first step is to reframe the situation. If you think you are dealing with a difficult person, it will be difficult. If you think you are dealing with a challenge, it can be invigorating.2 - Use the Stephen Covey rule: ?seek first to understand.? Often the simple act of understanding the person will be cathartic enough to have the person deal with you civilly. People have a need to be understood and if they feel understood, they tend to be easier to work with. If you truly understand the other person, often you will see a solution to the challenge or will have empathy for them and not feel as threatened.3 ? Leave stubbornness (and ego) at the door. Most cases I have seen where someone is very challenging, it is because both of the parties are set on their point of view.4 ? Be Zen. If you cannot change the situation, live with it. Not only tolerate it but do not stress about what cannot be changed.5 ? Take a break. Often challenging situations can bog down. Stepping away from the situation can allow more creativity. It can also allow for a cooling off by both parties. Some of the best breaks include deep breathing, exercise (take a walk) and of course the longer the time, the better.6 ? Ask yourself why you think this person is a challenge. Often the reasons tie to interpreting cues wrong. For example, I do business with an individual who uses a lot of foul language. I find this somewhat offensive and it tends to raise my stress level. When I look at the situation, his first language is not English. He likely does not have the same associations with swear words as I do. Furthermore, they are only words so perhaps I need to look at myself. Does it really matter?7 ? Be creative. This ties into the stubbornness. Often creative solutions can solve an impasse. Take a win-win negotiations course. Much conflict is actually about problem solving and negotiation. Much of win win negotiating is about creativity.8 ? Ask ?what about this person or situation is good?? There will always be something about everyone and every situation that is positive.9 ? Ask the How question. How could you solve this challenge? How could dealing with this person be a good thing?10 ? Get help. Often someone might be tough for you to communicate with or be challenging to deal with but someone else might deal with them easily. I often end up in this role in my company. Because the card says CEO, people are often more polite and nicer to me than they are one of my staff. It is not that I am better, it is the position. Or sometimes just someone different might have different chemistry. I used to do an account swap among the sales reps and trade underperforming accounts. Invariably sales would increase for both reps. There was something about adding new energy and a new person that moved all underperforming accounts to higher sales by just switching reps.11 ? If all else fails, avoid the situation. In some cases, this can be a viable option. I often ask myself ?will this go away if I do not deal with it?. If the answer is yes, why should I spend time and energy on it?Good luck dealing with your challenging people.

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Excuses. If you’re responsible for the performance of a group, you’ve heard excuses. Your job is to get rid of those excuses. With excuses gone, the real slackers stand out from the crowd. Then you can concentrate on rewarding and supporting your producers. You can zero in on the slackers and offer them the choice of repentance and reform or documentation and departure.There are two kinds of excuses. Some excuses grow out of the way that you assign work. They’re really communications problems. And they’re your problems because you’re the boss. You need to communicate effectively so that your subordinates know what you want done and when.Excuse: “I didn’t know what you wanted.”You think your subordinate understands what you want them to do. But it turns out wrong. What happened? How can you prevent it?Give clear instructions. That’s easy to say, but hard to do.You’ll give better instructions if you give them in more than one way. You can tell people. You can write things down. You can use diagrams or charts. You can act things out or demonstrate. Check for understanding. Ask your subordinate to tell you or show you what you want them to do. Correct any misunderstandings. Check again.Then follow up on the job to see how things are being done. Remember that lots of small, early course corrections are easier than later, larger course corrections.Excuse: “I didn’t know it was that important.”You give your subordinate an assignment. It seems that he or she understands what to do. But then they spend their time on other things. You wanted them to do a task right away. They did something else instead.We’re back to communications again. Part of your job as leader is to set priorities for your people. Tell them what tasks are most important. When you give out an assignment, tell people when you want the job done. Be specific. “Friday at 5 PM” is better than simply “Friday.”If it’s a complex task, set milestones. Here’s how it might work for a simple report. You might want to see a list of key points for a report done by Friday. The outline should be done by Tuesday. Next Friday the rough draft should be done. And all of that leads up to the final report which is due in two weeks.Before you’re done with assigning the work, check to see that your subordinate understands what is wanted and when. Check to see if they think it’s reasonable. Then follow up on the job to gauge progress. Send reminders if you need to. Review work along the way if that’s appropriate.Communications problems are one thing that can generate excuses. You can improve things by giving better directions, checking for understanding and following up to check on performance. But sometimes what sounds like an excuse is actually reason for non-performance that doesn’t have anything to do with willingness to work. To find out you have to dig deeper.Excuse/Reason: “I don’t know how to do it.”If your subordinate doesn’t know how to do a job, you can’t hold them accountable for it. So it’s important to determine ability as early as possible.Pay attention to training. If you know that your subordinate should be able to complete a job, but can’t, devote some time to preparing him or her.I suggest to my clients that every job has a limited number, usually no more than six or seven, key jobs or assignments. You need to identify what those are and evaluate the competency of each of your people on each job.Devote some of your management time to helping your subordinates develop their skills in the important jobs. In the long run this will pay off in greater peace of mind and less stress for you, not to mention higher morale and productivity for your team.Sometimes people think they can do a job but can’t. You can catch this early if you’re following up on performance. Sometimes people will seem like they’ve got the ability to perform, but just can’t seem to do things right on the job. If you notice that an otherwise-effective worker is having performance problems in one area, the problem might be confidence. Help the subordinate take small steps, generating small wins to develop both skill and confidence.Alas, sometimes you must wait until an assignment is complete before you realize that it’s done wrong and lack of knowledge, skills or abilities is the reason. Then you must both solve the training problem and make sure the assignment gets done. Training problems are just one kind of problem that often shows up as an excuse or reason. The other kind is a resource problem.Excuse/Reason: “I knew what to do but I couldn’t.”You can often head this one off when you give the initial instructions. You and your subordinate should answer the following questions.Do we have enough time to do this?Ask that one again as “Do we have the time to do this, given the other things we have to do?”Do we have the people we need?Do we have the money we need?No ExcusesGetting rid of excuses is great for people who want to perform but it sounds the death-knell for slackers. And it’s hard work, the gritty kind of supervision-in-the-trenches work that doesn’t have a whiff of glory about it. But if you do it and take away your people’s excuses, you’re on your way to developing a top-performing team.

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Creativity, in its general sense is truly a vague idea that requires compartmentalization of ideas before one can actually arrive to a more concrete concept.In its primary sense, creativity is one facility that man has. This helps him to create or to reproduce something out from his own interpretation or from the ideas that were copied from another person’s concepts.The possibility of using creativity is endless. We can use this factor on virtually everything that we can think of. Persuasion is one type of creativity. One must use his proper faculties in creating a desired response from a person. Art is full of creativity. As we know it, without the drive to produce something, art would be turned into mere nothing. Music is creativity. Literature is one form of creativity along with others.However, even if one seems to be creative for very long periods, there are times when he can’t help but sit with blank stare. In such moments, creativity is sapped. What could be the reasons? Are there things that we must consider so as to determine what truly affects one’s person’s ability to create something out from his innate capacities?These are some of the common ideas that hamper the materialization of creativity in us.Fatigue and Lack of Inspiration- This actually does not deal on the physical fatigue but on the mental and emotional aspects. This normally roots from the lack of satisfaction in things that we do. When one no longer find sense on what he is doing, the capacity to create suffers. Or say, when the inspiration is redirected towards obligation. Artists are not meant to be obliged to produce something the inspiration must come from natural environments which were crafted from a necessity within the scope of inner drives and not from outside motivations such as profit, fame and etc.Stoppage of an activity- Start is never good enough unless it is pushed through to its end. For one reason or another, a person may either stop right after the idea pops out of his mind or stop right before he finishes his project. It may be stranger but there seems to be a common denominator to all those people who practice doing this- they all loose interest eventually after accumulating unfinished stuffs. Thus, as a philosopher once said- all things that were started must be finished, no matter what the consequences may be.Cluttered thoughts- Especially in writing, it is crucial that thoughts are organized in such a way that they are presented systematically towards the readers. Often, if this is the problem, the artists may either find himself at loss with his thoughts while trying to reorganize stuffs and ideas or it may also be that the onlookers would find his work confusing. It is observed that cluttered working space is also a great contributor to the gradual gnawing of your creativity. While it is an artist’s nature to be disorganized, he must still secure to it that things are put into proper order as this evidently affects the mind.The inner wisdom- It is the ultimate source for inspiration, some people would even call this as the Divine Guidance. Whichever name you prefer, this seems to be the pipe from which we draw our inspiration to be creative. Most people find this inner self on accident. This does not negate the fact though that it can be outsourced through guidance; say a saying from a book or a teaching from a guru. Nonetheless, this must be nourished and should be well regarded so you would have a continuous supply of creativity in you.The last thing is to never say no to your calling, you must always be alert that you entertain your thoughts and drives. Say for a poet, when one line of thought passes your mind, you must be eager to write this right away before the moment passes.

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Everything comes with a price; and contrary to what many people believe, the U.S. government is not “giving away” free federal grants. In his book American Government and Politics, Jay M. Shafritz defines a grant as “a gift that entails certain obligations on the part of the grantee and expectations on the part of the grantor”. The operative word in this definition is ‘obligations’. Along with every “free” federal grant, there are responsibilities to fulfill and obligations to meet. Federal grants are generally awarded to organizations to support major projects that are deemed beneficial to a particular community. Neighbourhood street paving projects, state-wide programs to retrain displaced workers and regional water conservation programs are all projects that would be considered to receive federal grants. The money is given to help the group realize a specific goal and in return, the organization is obligated to fulfill that goal. Organizations that receive federal grants are required to adhere to strict oversight performance standards. Detailed accounting of project expenditures must be submitted, and audits are performed at least once a year. Further, when a federal grant is received by an organization, every last cent must be spent on the project. Any remaining funds must be returned to the Treasure Department. Program goals as indicated in the federal grant application must be carried out exactly as specified, and any changes to the project are subject to approval by the federal government. All project phases must be completed upon deadline, and the entire project must be successfully completed.Organizations that fail to comply with these requirements will result in penalties instated to the grantee. Penalties for federal grants non-compliance can be in the form or economic sanctions. If theft of improper use of grant funds is proven, the grantee could face jail time. Most beneficiaries of federal grants are cities, states, colleges, universities, federal agencies and research organizations. It takes a certain degree of expertise to successfully apply for federal grants, so individuals will usually not qualify. As a matter of fact, groups that actively seek federal grants will often employ staff members just to facilitate the applications and administer the grants. With federal funding cutbacks and intense competition, seeking federal grants can take a lot of time and money with no guarantee of success. It takes a lot of legwork on the part of the applicants to attain a federal grant, and those who receive them are required to fulfill some serious obligations. Nothing is free in life, even “free” federal grants.

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Any form of training, so long as it is directed towards enhancing the present will always turn out to be a productive means for improvement. And for that matter, critical thinking is one form of training that creates the edge between the achievers and the non-achievers.Critical thinking, in a nutshell, is the facility by which the mind is receptive towards new ideas. Yet, that doesn’t stop there. Critical thinking goes beyond the acceptance of facts. Instead, this will lead you towards the channels of thinking that would take one piece at a time.Say, if one concept is proposed on you, you will not accept this concept as it is. With critical thinking, you will take this concept from its general form and transform it into specific issues that create the map towards the bigger picture. This way, you will see flaws and good points and thus, understanding of the general to the specific ideas will be realized.Critical thinking is a relatively profound idea. But central to this is the ability to discern what is valuable information from not. And from this, one can draw a concrete conclusion that can be applied to the demands of the condition.Critical thinking itself is a discipline that aims the processing of information through effective and methodological methods, conceptualization and application of the concepts, creating thesis, synthesis and anti-thesis to transform an object of inquiry to its final and well-studied form, evaluation of the information with respect to the source, experience, observation, correct reasoning and data gathered. All these are applied depending on the needs of the certain situation. While these can all be used for a single inquiry, varying conditions don’t often require one to manipulate information and therefore, learn in the process, many problems require the minimal use of the ideas as covered by critical reasoning.As you might have noticed by now, critical thinking is an interweaving of thinking processes which in themselves are complex grounds to deal with. To complete the process, one must also consider the evaluation of certain precepts, elements of reasoning such as purpose of studying the problem, the problem itself, and the assumptions and the previous concepts as covered by the object at hand. To make things more complicated, one must also integrate concepts that deal with the various forms of thinking which include the scientific method, mathematical reasoning, the moral and ethical concepts and the philosophies that surround the inquiry.However to simplify critical reasoning, one must have basic knowledge on correct logic because it is basically “logic”. Don’t be deceived though since sometimes, logical reasoning (if used incorrectly and not within the scope of the study of logic itself) may be very manipulative and deceiving.Critical thinking has two major components:One is the raw information and the well-established beliefs generated through the intellectual processing skills. The second is the intellectual commitment and the habit itself of thinking with minimal subjectivity and maximum objectivity. As common perception would tell us, critical thinking is not actually the mere gathering and retention of data and information, but should include the process by which this information are found and eventually treated. It is not also the possession of thinking skills alone but the actual application of these skills. Critical thinking is not thinking alone. It is unique and free flowing but never tied to the primitive concepts of what thinking is. That is- simplistic approach to the processing of information.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Any work-at-home-mom will confess that owing her own business is as challenging as it gets. While the rewards are bountiful, the word easy is not one used to describe small business ownership.Many moms who work out of their home also have to multitask tending to the needs of their small children. In fact the reason many parents choose to work at home is so they can be available to care for the kids. Keeping up with household maintenance and child rearing is a full time job. So how does one find time for her business?The answer to that is simple. You don’t find time; you make time. Okay the part about making time may not be that simple, but it is very much doable. The most important factor in making time is your mind set. Remember RYBLAB ? Run Your Business Like a Business. Assuming we’re talking about a bona fide business and not just a little something you do periodically to earn a little extra cash, then it’s important to manage your time.The mom business owner who has an infant or toddler will need to manage her time much differently than one who has school aged children. For those who are also caring for an infant, take advantage of the times when baby is sleeping. Just don’t forget to get a few hours of sleep yourself!Toddlers are a little more challenging as they are very busy little people. Set up a desk for your little one near your computer. While mommy is working, your toddler can color or work on simple crafts. Or set up a small corner near you with some favorite toys.Business owner parents who have children in school all day know they have a window of approximately six hours to get as much done as humanly possible without interruptions of parental tasks. The key is to take full advantage of any time you have to yourself or at least without a child needing your undivided attention.Don’t try to find the time ? you’ll run yourself ragged trying to find something that isn’t there. You need to make the time. If you fail to plan, you can plan to fail. Just as married couples should schedule dates on a regular basis, small business owners need to schedule work time and stick with it!You can do it!

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