Manhardeep Singh

Key to Interview Success: Self Confidence

March 17, 2018

Searching for employment is one of the stressful times in anyone’s life. The process of preparing a resume, finding the perfect job, and completing an interview may send even the soundest individual into a panic attack. Whereas a resume presents your abilities and experiences on paper, an interview represents you in the first person. The pressure to present yourself in the best light possible in a short, controlled environment is exceptional, so it is key to keep an air of self confidence during this time. Although there is a fine line between self confidence and arrogance, a prospective employee that enters an interview poised and put together already has an edge on the competition.

Dressing for success is not just a time worn cliché. Individuals who show up to an interview in a thoughtful, put-together outfit will best convey the immediate sense of self confidence. When choosing an interview outfit, carefully consider both the employer and the job opportunity. Match your clothing to the mood of the office is a must. If you are interviewing for a position in a conservative law firm, consider conservative attire. However, if you are interviewing at an up-start internet company, you may want to rethink conservative attire. Regardless of the individual items you choose to wear, ensuring they are clean, smartly pressed, and well tailored will make all the difference.

In addition to your dress, you should ensure your personal appearance reflects that of a potential employee. For those individuals with physical forms of self-expression, i.e. piercings, tattoos, or extreme dyed hair, you may find interviewers have difficulty getting past your initial appearance. Before you begin the interview process, take time to review the company’s specific rules regarding appearance. Ensuring your presence is neat will lend to your air of self confidence and appeal to your prospective employer. Take time to evaluate your appearance. Do you need a haircut? Are your nails neatly trimmed and clean? Make all necessary appointments a day or two before your interview.

Of course, a potential employer is not just looking for an individual with a put-together outfit and a clean, neatly appearance. Employers are looking for individuals who have the capacity to successfully complete the job at hand. Whatever the job, affiliate yourself with the requirements necessary to fulfill the task. You will soon find that when you are confident in the task, you will exude self confidence and positively influence the interview. Create a list of potential questions an employer may ask in an interview setting. These questions can relate to your educational background, previous work experience, or your capability to handle the specific job. Once you have created this list, prepare your responses to these questions. Ask a friend or family member to pose as a mock interviewer in order to better prepare you for the actual interview.

Your actions during the interview can also affect the overall outcome. Individuals who possess a great deal of self confidence walk with their head held high, make eye contact, and have firm handshakes. Self confident individuals do not fidget, pull on their clothing, or make movements with their feet. Furthermore, you should take care to speak of your positive attributes and not focus on your negatives or weaknesses. Be careful not to brag or boast about your current position, educational background, social status, or work experiences. Again, there is a fine line between self confidence and arrogance, and few employers wish to add an arrogant individual to a team of employees. Instead, focus on how your positive aspects can best benefit the job, team, and company. However you choose to tackle your job interview, remember to bring your best attitude and self confidence.
Do You Have Low Self Esteem?

March 16, 2018

Low self esteem can be devastating to an individual’s personal, work, and scholastic life. The constant feeling of inadequacy and unworthiness can undermine attempts to succeed at even the smallest things. If you find yourself plagued with such feelings, you may need to ask “Do I have low self esteem?” Self esteem is your own view of yourself, your capabilities, and your attributes. It is impossible to succeed in life if you are constantly second guessing and berating yourself over the tiniest detail. Many individuals suffer from low self esteem, so you are certainly not alone. Some individuals have recently begun to question their self esteem while others have been doing so their entire lives. Whatever your situation, honestly answering these questions will give you a great deal of insight into how you view yourself.

Are you nervous or awkward around other individuals? These people can be coworkers, friends, family members, or even strangers on the street. Do you ever look at anyone and think you are not on the same “level” as they are physically, mentally, or athletically? Do you see yourself as the least important member of your family, group of friends, or office? These persistent feelings can erode your self esteem. Most likely, you are the only one who thinks these things. Ask your friends, coworkers, and family members about your performance, attitude, and personality. More than likely, you will be pleasantly surprised. Remember to rank your own needs up there with the needs of others. Quite often, individuals with low self esteem strive to please everyone but themselves in order to make themselves feel more adequate. This act usually backfires since your focus is on those surrounding you instead of yourself. Dig deep and figure out your own needs. Focusing on yourself for a while will allow you to identify the root cause of your self esteem issues so that you can go about conquering them.

Do you worry or obsess about your physical appearance? Are you constantly trying to change your appearance for what you think is the better? These feelings of inadequacy are quite common, especially among children and women. Often, individuals notice certain qualities about themselves as children due to comments by a friend, family member, or school mate. These feelings harbor themselves inside, making them stronger and deeper-rooted. Some individuals obsess about their weight, height, statue, bone structure, facial features, hair, and any thing else under the sun. These issues can become the root of serious problems, including eating disorders. Even the most beautiful people in the world have some feelings of inadequacy about their outward appearance. The people society deems beautiful or perfect have secret issues about their own appearance or body, so you are definitely not alone. Instead of constantly worrying about those aspects you deem as negative, focus on the positive. If you find yourself slipping into a dangerous or deadly habit, seek professional help as soon as possible. The world has learned to live with you, now you must make the decision to live with yourself. Once you are comfortable in your own skin, your self confidence will soar sky-high.

Do you publicly berate yourself for fun? Is your idea of a good conversation tearing yourself down at the expense of others? Would you rather talk about your failures and weaknesses over your successes and strengths? This is often the case with individuals with low self esteem. Instead of accentuating the positive, they verbalize that constantly criticizing voice they hear in their own heads. Whatever the case, if you find yourself to be suffering from low self esteem, there are ways to rebuild from within. Seek help from friends, family members, colleagues, self-help books, or professionals if necessary. Low self esteem is a problem that should not be ignored.
Dealing with a failure to lose weight

March 15, 2018

We all want to change something about ourselves. There is always something that we want to change in our life. Dealing with something that we want to make different is not always easy but we have to figure out the best method to make it happen. Many people are trying to change the way that they look and their weight. This is going to be a very challenging idea and something that takes a lot of will power.

How many times have you tried a diet and failed? This can be very disappointing. It is hard to realize that you are not losing the weight that you want and be the size that you have dreamed about. However, with the right state of mind and a little bit of help you can make your dreams a reality.

The one thing that you can do is make sure that you keep a positive mind and always keep telling yourself that you are better than someone that quits. You are someone that is important and that should give your diet the best possible try that you can. Being positive is all part of making a diet work for you.

Make sure that you are serious about your weight loss plan. You need to know that there is no room for failure and that you are going to make this happen for you. Sometimes we may not be able to succeed at a diet because there is something else going on in our life. Maybe we have a problem that lies deep beneath that we are having a hard time dealing with. If this happens we need to seek help for it and get started on a good method of healing.

Staying focused is something that is very important too. There are many reasons why we need to be sincere and realize that this is something that we really want to do. Being disciplined is something that is must when we want to lose weight and make ourselves feel better. We need to know what we have to do in order to make our goal a reality and be the weight that we want to be.

Take some time to listen to your heart and what you want to be. Are you ready for the challenges that come along with dieting and not being a failure? Is this something that you are physically and emotionally ready to do? Make sure that you are strong and able to handle this type of process. Being ready for the challenge is something that you should realize so that you are not losing sight of what the impertinence is.

If things are not going your way you need to figure out a plan to make it right. Make sure that you are checking out the options that you have and all that is going on. Give yourself plenty of time to make your weight loss dreams a goal that is going to happen for you. There is no need to pressure yourself into something that you are not ready for.

Remember, you are not a failure, you are a success story. As long as you have dreams and goals set for yourself you are going to make it all happen. Giving your best shot and keeping sight of what is important will give you the help and the reinforcement that you need. Just be positive and never give up on yourself. You are not a failure as long as you give it your all.
Create a Problem and Then Solve It

March 14, 2018

How well your presentation goes the next time you step up to a podium depends on several factors. But one factor you can control completely is your script. The way you organize your content and how you present the material to that crowd can either totally captivate them and drive them step by step to conclusion or it can bore them to sleep. Its all in how you construct your presentation and how you present what you want them to know throughout the talk.

The difference between a great talk and a boring one is simple. A great talk is compelling. A great talk gets to the heart of a common experience. It addresses something we all go through and deals with a need we all experience. In short, a great talk solves a problem. So to create a presentation that reaches out and grabs your audience and holds them for the entire time of your presentation, you have to create a problem for them. And then you have to solve it.

The point when you create the problem is in your opening comments. Now don’t shy away from being a bit melodramatic in your opening. Remember the goal of the opening is to grab the audience’s group attention and rivet it on your talk. So present the problem statement in a personal way, how it is meaningful on a personal level to the audience and to you. Spend about 20% of the time to the creation of the problem statement. By the time you have created that big monster in the room, they will be ready for you to guide them toward the solution.

With the audience “in the palm of your hand”, you can move directly into the description of the perfect solution. The solution phase of your talk can be broken into two parts. First describe what the perfect solution would look like. You would not even directly bring up your solution just yet. Base your description of the perfect solution on the problem statement so you have an aspect of the solution that fits every possible problem created at the first part of your talk.

The next phase is the next to the last and comes about 50% into your time. Now you have the audience in a perfect place to hear your solution. Use about 30-40% of your total time on the proposed solution, fitting it perfectly to your discussion of the problem and the outline of what a perfect solution looks like. By this time the audience is eager to know the solution. All you are doing now is closing the deal.

If we followed a standard “term paper” approach to a program, the final phase would be to sum up and go over what you just talked about. But we are not going to follow that pattern because this is the time for the “pay off”. In your closing statements, you finally disclose the action to be taken. By giving your audience what they can do to take the first step on putting your solution into motion, you are cashing in on all that energy you created in the first 80% of your speech.

Now close the deal by giving them concrete and “right now” things they can do to recognize the problem and start the wheels turning on making the solution a reality. If its possible make the first step of implementing that solution happen right there in the room with you. That might be signing up for a newsletter, giving you an email address or going to another room for further counseling and discussion. You know what it is. But by using that energy, you convert passive listeners to active participants. And you did that with a very well designed and a well executive presentation plan.
Commit To Be Happy

March 13, 2018

Today, why not make a personal commitment to be happy, in spite of what life hands over to you. You have to admit that there are too many things over which you have no control. The only thing you can do is to stop allowing them to make dents in your spirit.

Happiness is not something that others can take from you. It’s something that you would have to throw away on your own.

There will be times when things don’t turn out the way you want them to. Your best friend at work may turn out to be a power-hungry corporate animal that backstabs you at every opportunity. The promotion you worked so hard for may go to someone else. Your partner might decide to leave you, a day before you are due to go for a vacation together. You may lose most of your savings in a market crash.

These are things that can happen to the most loving, compassionate, careful and reasonable person. But after the initial pain and shock, the decision whether or not to let yourself languish in despair is entirely up to you. You can allow misfortune to form the bulk of your life, or you can choose to leave what’s past in the past, and move on.

One’s friendly and caring behavior towards others should not be motivated by the thought of equally kind and affectionate responses. You understand yourself best, and regardless of how reasonably and responsibly you live your life, there will be people who won’t see your point of view or share your motivations.

People have the right to act in any way they see fit. I don’t have the right to judge whether their behavior is acceptable or not. They have to bear the responsibility for their own actions, and so do you. By feeling sorry for yourself, you are simply continuing the work for them, long after they have dealt their blow. You have to decide that, as far as possible, you will not allow these people to disturb your mind.

There are many things for which you can be grateful. There are yet unexplored experiences in which you can find enrichment and meaning. There are yet others who will like you for who you are, and in spite of who you are. If you spend your time being resentful and miserable, you are denying yourself the satisfaction of enjoying what this life has to offer.

There are enough unhappy people in this world who punish themselves and others constantly in a bid to find redress and compensation. But there is no satisfaction in retaliation and revenge. It’s a waste of time and spirit.
Better Public Speaking

March 12, 2018
Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too many presentations are easy to forget. And that’s a big problem because the only reason the presenter gave the talk was to communicate something to you.

However, there are four basic things that you can do to ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and remembered – time and time again.

Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these are:
- Understand the purpose of the presentation
- Keep the message clear and concise
- Be prepared
- Be vivid when delivering the message
Understand what you want to achieve:

Before you start working on your talk or presentation, it’s essential that you really understand what you want to say, who you want to tell and why they might want to listen. To do this, ask yourself: Who? What? How? When? Where? Why?

Who are you speaking to? What are their interests, beliefs and values? What do they share in common with others; how are they unique?

What message do you wish to convey? One way of answering this question is to ask yourself about the ‘success criteria’. How do you know if and when you have successfully communicated what you have in mind?

How can you best put across your message? Language is most important here, as are non verbal cues such as body language and expressions. Choose your words and non verbal cues while keeping your audience in mind. Plan a beginning, middle and end. If time and place allow, consider and prepare audio-visual aids.

When? Timing is important here. Develop a sense of timing, so that your contributions are seen and heard as relevant to the issue or matter at hand. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent.

Where? What is the physical context of the communication in mind? You may have time to visit the venue, for example, and rearrange the furniture. Check for availability and visibility if you are using audio or visual aids.

Why? In order to convert hearers into listeners, you need to know why they should listen to you – and tell them if necessary.

The Importance of Simplicity:

When it comes to wording your message, less is more. You’re giving your audience headlines, too much information will overload and bore your listeners. They are not expecting to become experts on the subject as a result of hearing your presentation, therefore simplicity is best.

If you’re using slides, limit the content of each one to a few bullet points, a single statement or a very simple diagram.

Preparation:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. In fact, it is the most important factor in determining your communication successes. When possible, set meeting times and speaking and presentation times well in advance, thus allowing yourself the time you need to prepare your communications. Each minute of a presentation deserves thirty minutes preparation.

Of course, not all communications can be scheduled. In this case, preparation may mean having a good, thorough understanding of the office goings-on, enabling you to communicate with the knowledge you need to be effective, both through verbal and written communications

Successful Delivery:

The manner in which you deliver your speech or presentation has a lasting impact on your audience. Again, preparation is paramount here, in order to hold the listeners attention. Some useful tips for keeping your presentation vivid include:
- Use examples to bring your points to life
- Keep your body language up-beat – don’t stay stuck behind a rostrum
- Don’t talk to fast. Less is more here too. Pauses are effective.
- Use a variety of tones of voice
- Use visual aids.
Presentations and public speaking, although daunting, can be a very enjoyable, rewarding experience, once adequate time is taken to prepare and rehearse them. An enthusiastic speaker who is confident with his material will make a lasting memorable impression on the audience.
Are you afraid to die?

March 11, 2018

In the free evening you sit comfortably in your armchair and read an exciting book. Suddenly the clock strikes ten and you listen carefully to every strike of it. It seems like these are the last seconds of your life passing by and a strange feeling appears deep down in your gutter, but you are not able to define what is it. The feeling appears when you think of death. So, what is the truth? What do you feel to that moment that is going to come eventually?

Many researches have been done in psychology to define the most common feeling towards death. According to the majority of the scholars, it is fear. Only in one term paper outline of a student there was another feeling mentioned. It was indifference. We can determine what the feeling depends on. Certainly, it depends on a personality and his/her outlook. Those who haven’t accomplished everything that was planned think that they should live until they do what they were destined to in this life. People are afraid of death when they imagine the way they die. Will it hurt? What will I feel? Fear to die makes them outsiders, for they are convinced that communication will bring a lot of severe maladies and close themselves in their little worlds. Love can also be a factor. You will not agree to shorten your life if you know that there is somebody who loves you more than anything and will not agree to leave this person. And finally, when it comes to those who are willing to die and desperately want it to happen very fast, a couple of factors can also be found. This can be also a nice term paper idea. Psychology is very interested in motivations of actions of people.

Why are people ready to say good bye to life? We can find several reasons. If a person is tragically unhappy and there is nothing in his/her life that can satisfy, he/she will commit suicide. This is a trait of an extremely weak personality and if found they should be closely watched over by relatives and friends. A person can decide to commit suicide because of extreme circumstances. Once a person is in the corner and there is no way out, he/she can give up and leave this world for the situation is absolutely unbearable. When one has experienced a big loss, he/she is also ready to commit suicide. This is the easiest way to kill the pain inside and join whomever they have lost. People, who are mentally sick, are also able to commit suicide. They don’t think about what they leave behind because their brain functions are out of order. At times of clear conscience they decide to relief themselves out of misery their ill mind creates. Those who already know that they don’t have much time left can also be close to suicidal thoughts, though some of them can cherish every second left over anything a common human can imagine. Suicide is an awful sin and nobody has the right to commit it, for we were given a life and are not to waste it, even if some problems appear. Those, who are brave, openhearted, and successful, are not afraid of death and are always ready to look her into the eye. Those who don’t think of it are indifferent and those who are stressed out and think of it all the time will eventually be afraid. It is better to accept the future and not to try to fool yourself. You are going to die one day. Isn’t it better to die a happy person?
Action Vs. Inaction

March 10, 2018

Spring is a great antidote to long cold winters. It’s the same with action and inaction. Action is a powerful antidote to the stagnation of inactivity. Being creatively alive involves abandoning a position of inaction in circumstances which have traditionally immobilized you. The name of the game is action. Doing. Overcoming your inertia and acting will give you a whole new lease on being creatively alive.

Action is the single most effective antidote to depression, anxiety, stress, fear, worry, guilt, and of course, immobility. It is virtually impossible to be depressed and active at the same time. Even if you wanted to, it is difficult to keep on moping, complaining, lolling around and wallowing in self-pity if you get active and do something. Anything! Just doing is such an important part of being a fully functioning person.

In fact, that lack of action is not a result of depression; it is the cause. Don’t be paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake. Taking action, gives you momentum. Initiating the effort attracts opportunities and synergistic things happen.

Inactivity, on one hand, is most often a choice rather than an inescapable fact of life, while action is a definite way to avoid being victimized by yourself or others. If you decide to do something about your problem or challenge, rather than grumble about it, you’ll be on the road to changing things around for yourself. When you take action, you also take control. Thinking keeps you a prisoner of the past. Action puts you in control of the future.

If you find yourself asking, “Yes, but what can I do” the answer is very, very simple. Anything is a lot more effective than nothing.

This old proverb has a lot of truth in it: Even when you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
5 Ways to Liven Your Audience

March 9, 2018

Has a boring speaker ever put you to sleep? Your head begins to nod as you fight off the urge to slip mercifully into the Land of the Z’s. Or has your mind ever wandered during someone’s dull presentation? Although you appear to listen intently, what you are really thinking about are the million tasks waiting for you at home.

Sure, this has happened to all of us, more than we would like to admit. However, don’t let it happen to you when you are the speaker. The key to keeping your audience from taking a mental exit is to involve them in your talk. Yes! Studies show that the more you involve your audience, the more they retain. Why? Because they are listening!

You can involve your audience in several ways, and I have listed 5 of my favorites below. Select those that will work well with your presentation and that feel genuine to you. If it feels uncomfortable, it will look uncomfortable—so don’t use it.

1. Ask questions
Questions will cause your audience members to try to think of an answer. They can’t help it – it is simply how our brains are wired. If the energy in the room starts to drop, ask a question and select a member of your audience to respond. Then, thank him or her for participating and move on to the next person. Don’t worry about loosing control of your audience. Sales guru Brian Tracy emphasizes, “He (she) who asks questions is in control.” I personally prefer questions like “How many of you . …,” and then I ask for a show of hands. These closed-ended questions get your audience involved both mentally and physically.

2. Finish your sentence
For example, if you said to your audience, “Lions and tigers and bears . . .” and did not finish the sentence, what do you think they would say? As long as they are familiar with the movie The Wizard of Oz, they would respond with “Oh my!” This is a fun way to get your audience to participate. If they know the answer, they will blurt it out. If they don’t, you answer it. Choose something that should be so obvious they will absolutely get it.

3. High-five
This is one of my personal favorites. If you ever feel like the energy in the room is heavy, you can change it by using this technique. Simply ask a question (remember the power of asking questions). Ask, “Is this good stuff?” When your audience responds with “Yes,” say “Then, turn to the people on either side of you and give them a high-five and say ‘This is good stuff!’” Most people get a kick out of it. However, if you have an individual in your audience who does not want to participate, don’t worry about it. Some people simply just don’t want to have fun.

4. Do exercises
I learned this trick from the famous millionaire T. Harv Ecker. He says, “Get your audience to do the work.” To accomplish this, ask them to break into groups of two or three (with people that they don’t know) and give them an exercise that is congruent with your presentation. Afterward, ask them to share openly with the rest of the group and thank them for doing so.

5. Give them candy
Reward your audience for participating, and they will participate even more. Simply ask a question and when someone answers it, gently throw a small piece of candy to that person. I find that chocolate works best. You will find that it becomes a game and people will compete for the chocolate. I don’t use this throughout my entire speech, only for a few minutes in the middle of my talk.

There are many other ways and techniques to get your audience involved. What is important as a speaker is for you to come up with as many different ways as you can think of that are appropriate for your audience and for you as a speaker. Believe me, your audience will thank you.
10 Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs

March 8, 2018

10 Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs

1. Barter

If you have a business you should be bartering goods and services with other businesses. You should try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require little or no money.

2. Network

Try networking your business with other businesses. You could trade leads or mailing lists. This will cut down on your marketing and advertising costs. You may also try bartering goods and services with them.

3. Wholesale/Bulk

You’ll save money buying your business supplies in bulk quantities. You could get a membership at a wholesale warehouse or buy them through a mail order wholesaler. Buy the supplies you are always running out of.

4. Free Stuff

You should try visiting the thousands of freebie sites on the internet before buying your business supplies. You can find free software, graphics, backgrounds, online business services etc.

5. Borrow/Rent

Have you ever purchased business equipment you only needed for a small period of time? You could have just borrowed the equipment from someone else or rented the equipment from a “rent-all” store.

6. Online/Offline Auctions

You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online and offline auctions. I’m not saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for these items try bidding on them first.

7. Plan Ahead

Make a list of business supplies or equipment you’ll need in the future. Keep an eye out for stores that have big sales. Purchase the supplies when they go on sale before you need them.

8. Used Stuff

If your business equipment and supplies don’t need to be new, buy them used. You can find used items at yard and garage sales, used stores, used stuff for sale message boards and newsgroups etc.

9. Negotiate

You should always try negotiate a lower price for any business equipment or supplies. It doesn’t hurt to try. Pretend you are talking to a salesman at a car lot.

10. Search

You can always be searching for new suppliers for your business supplies and equipment. Look for suppliers with lower prices and better quality. Don’t just be satisfied with a few