Google Voice- why you should use it? Pt 1

It saves you time.

It’s cool.

You can use it for strangers without having to give your real phone number.

It’s a winner and I like it more than I like Google Buzz. I personally don’t like dialing in to listen to my voicemails, I’d rather read texts or emails. If the phone call was really important I’d take it anyways. Since, it wasn’t or you called me at the wrong time I let it go to my voicemail.

Google Voice will transcribe the voicemail for you and send it as text to your phone and email (Gmail id you use to subscribe to it). I love it- since I can play back the message if I want to or just read the text.

It’s available only in US (at least for now).

The error in transcription obviously happens if the language used is not English.

There are 2 ways you can use Google Voice - one with your existing number (the one I use) and the other with a new number. It’s available by invite only and that’s why they are so many people who are unaware that it has launched. The first time I read about it, I requested an invite over twitter. I got it through a connection and friend of mine over LinkedIn because my twitter is connected to LinkedIn- so anything I tweets is my status update for LinkedIn. I almost forgot about it till I got the invite!

To know more about Google Voice, click here

To request an invite here , unless you already have the invite through a friend.

To read, how Google Voice helps you as a PM or a blogger, come back next week!

(Pic Courtesy)

Are you happy at work?

Do you love what you do- your job or do you maintain it to pay the bills? How to be happy at work is what Karl Staib specializes in.

So, I ask him- what needs to be done to be happy and here are some great tips from him. Enjoy the interview.

How can work make you happy or can it? Most people I meet keep their jobs, so they have the money to do they like to do.

I believe work can make us happy. We need external elements to understand what excites us. For example I may love filming videos in my mind, but when it actually comes down to the preparation and execution I need to actually do it. The imagination is fluid, but actually doing the work is a whole different game. Our actions create results. It's these results that help us measure our development.

We need to do work that excites us. It's this work that we can connect with and also helps us bring value to other people.

Money is really far down on the list of things that make people happy at work. Relationships bring us the most happiness. When we share an experience we create bonds that support our development.

So, even if someone is not happy right now- what can they do to be happy?

I'm glad you asked this question. Happiness is really a state of mind. It's amazing how some people can connect to their work and others can't. I really believe it depends on the person's ability to reflect on the positive, make adjustments, and try new angles (finding a way to be creative at work) that help us build our happiness. It comes down to believing in what we do.

My favorite tool is a gratitude journal. Whenever I feel sad I write three things that I've enjoyed about my day. By refocusing my mind back on the positive I'm creating new synapses that build my emotional strength. Now it's become such a habit that I do it automatically, helping boost my mood, so I can do great work.

When you start your job and you are the newbie in the office and you don't have the best projects- how should you train your mind to be happy?

This is where happiness is overrated. We want a job to be perfect. We start our new job and we get the crap work. This is normal. We can't run the company in just 6 months. We need to find ways to develop ourselves at work while at the same time being so helpful that managers and co-workers notice you.

My suggestion would be to think of every task as a way to work on your emotions. If you are getting frustrated with the work use the "5 Whys" method. By asking yourself why 5 times you'll get to the root of the problem. 99% of the time the root cause will be your lack of emotional development.

What does happiness mean for you?

Happiness is helping business create an environment that loves its employees so much that they are dedicated to make their employees happy. Also hugging my son, going for a walk with my wife, and throwing the tennis ball for my obsessed dog. You should see how happy my dog is when chasing her ball; it just makes me laugh out loud.

Happy employees are productive employees- what should employers do to keep their employees happy?

Where do I start? Employers need to give their people the freedom to create great work. They also need to show appreciation for the hard work their people do and celebrate it as much as they can. They should also be given career and personal counseling. When you understand an employee's motivation it's easy to encourage great work out of them.

Relationships are the glue to work happiness. Most people leave a company because their manager is a terrible leader and/or they don't have any friends at work. Companies need to help their employees create better relationships that focus on employee's needs too.

Thank you Karl and hearing from you was certainly helpful.

If you want to know more, look up his site here or follow him on twitter

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The 4 Hours Work Week by Tim Ferris- why you should read it?

Ever thought you need that push to get over the conflicting emotions? The strength even when you sleep, the dream to free up some of your time to go travelling or sit in your backyard and sip bubbly, create something of your own that is bigger than yourself- this is the read for you.

The book is focused and will not waste your time- will get your attention to the point where you cannot put it down unless you have read the whole thing. As much as the title suggests like its some magic scam like pill where you delegate all your work, not work and have long vacations- not true.

The 396 page book, talks about a concept, tells you how to implement it, gives you links to resources like websites, companies etc and then quotes people who have used the concept. Overall- I think it will make you think like never before.

The books is for everyone, if you are busy professional, starting your own business , stay at home mom- everyone will find something special here.

And if you are project manager- you will wow’d by all the statistics and charts, the logic behind his thinking; if you are not- don’t be mortified – this book is all text and has sparse use of flow charts. I think after you finish reading you will take in what you have read and create something of your own out of the whole experience of simply reading the book.

A must read and I have to say- I’m using some of the ideas from the book and it works! Adding this book to my library and among my favorite reads.

So, happy reading!

Interesting Reads

Here are some links that I find interesting:

• Listen while you commute
• 72 project management tips
• why you should love your job?
• Cheer yourself
• Social contract with your team
• Turn up your mental game
• Are you a professional?
• Success- an e-book
• All about Scrum

Do more even when you don’t have enough time

If you are spending too much time in office or commute has doubled up, you can always find time to do what you have to do.

Whether it’s about keeping your PDU or keeping up with the new developments happening every day, here are some time savers:

•Use outlook for your personal email as well. Saves you time by easy search and the ability to filter, create sub folders and use the calendar

•Carry pen and paper always in your bag, don’t waste time trying to think of that idea you had when you were in the bus.

•Delegate if possible- if you think you have too much on your hand take an intern/ volunteer anyone who is getting ready to land into the job market. They get the experience working with you and you save some time. Now you can watch your favorite show on TV or go to the gym. Best part, it’s good for your conscience because you are helping someone else at the same time.

•Try to get more done at the same time- instead of running for errands, try to organize things so you can do as much as you can while you are outside. Like you can club your gym, grocery and meeting a friend for coffee all the same time after work.

•Keep back ups, so you are sweating over lost data. Export data from outlook, your contact management, phone- everything.

•Say No to commitments you can’t keep. A simple no will save you more time.

•Focus on the combination of short time deadlines with priority. Tackle them in order.

•Instead of trying to do 5 things at the same time, try 2. Like running on the treadmill and thinking of your next blog post. This slows nothing most likely.

•Ask- instead of trying to find everything by yourself, save time by asking someone who might know or read a book which talks about it. Why waste your own time, when someone else has already taken the time to find the solution. Build on that.

•Use technology for you and not against you. Learn using CDs, podcast while you drive, commute. Don’t wait to come back home and then read.

•Do it in bursts, if you don’t have an hour long.

•Stay calm- sounds funny but stress is a time killer. Try whatever works-meditation, running, reading etc.

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