Marketing and Self Development explained - Corporate Skills

How to download purchased Apps from iPhone/iPod to iTunes?

Sheraz Alvi — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:30:42 +0000

After doing a fresh install of Snow Leopard I lost my iTunes Purchased Apps as I had no backup what so ever. (silly me). I had a new iPhone and my old iPod Touch was loaded with Apps and I wanted to transfer those to my brand new iPhone. As there was no backup on iTunes I could not get the Purchased Apps from iPod to iTunes so that I can restore them to iPhone. I tried a lot of forums and could not find a simple answer. Finally, in a moment of desperation, I righted clicked on my iPhone and chose the option “Transfer Purchases” and to my suprise and glee I successfully moved my applications onto to my computer.

To transfer applications to iTunes from your iPhone:

Right click on your iPhone in the left hand explorer bar
Select “Transfer Purchases”

You should see a progress bar in iTunes and your phone should read “Sync in Progress”

If everything went as planned, all of your applications that were purchased on your iPhone should now appear in iTunes

Then you can sync all the Apps (free or purchased) them with your new iPhone easily and also with your iPod at the same time. ah what a relief. Hope it saved others a lot of time.

Marketing Communication Plan Templates

Sheraz Alvi — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:11:43 +0000

Marketing Communications Plan is the marketing plan which incorporates two or more integrated marketing communications mediums aiming to reiterate the same goals and objectives. Marketing Communications Plans are considered by many professionals as an excellent way to effectively communicate with target audience.
Marketing Communications Plans are generally based on two different frameworks: Marketing Communications Planning Framework and SOSTAC (Fill, 1999).

Marketing Communications Plans consist of the following vital elements:

Context analysis
Promotional objectives
Marketing communications strategy
Promotional mix (methods and tools)
Budget schedule
Evaluation and control"

When writing marketing communications plan it is important to:
1. Set corporate, marketing and marketing communications objectives, which would support and integrate with each other.
2. Develop segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies
3. Develop creative message with which Marketing Communications Plan with communicate with target audience
4. Select and justify one or combination of marketing strategies (push, pull or profile)
5. Develop well-rounded and creative set of promotional mediums and allocate appropriate budget for each medium.
6. Create contingency planning strategy (in case something goes wrong)
7. Set strict set of evaluation and control mediums which would include milestones and continuous evaluation

SOSTAC Model Of Marketing – step by step

Sheraz Alvi — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:28:46 +0000

What Is The SOSTAC Model Of Marketing?

SOSTAC focuses on the six most important elements of any business SOSTAC is an acronym for these six elements: That may look intimidating at first glance. But, each element asks a simple question and provides an easy starting point.

Situation analysis, asks what the current state of the business is.
Objectives, helps list an overview of goals for the business.
Strategy helps provide a “big picture” plan to achieve the goals
Tactics breaks down the “big picture” strategy into smaller details
Action helps assign responsibility and deadlines for certain tasks
Control offers an easy way to track the progress of the plan

Each of these six elements contributes an essential piece of the overall marketing plan. We can also look at it in another manner:

SOSTAC is an Acronym for the 6 basic elements of the Marketing Plan:

Situation Where are we now?
Objectives Where do we want to get to?
Strategy How are we going to get there? – The Big Picture
Tactics How are we going to get there? – The Detail
Actions Who is going to do what and when?
Control How can we control, measure and develop the process?

Each element relates to a key step in the process. Simply work through the Pro-Forma on the following pages step by step and fill in the gaps to suit your business and your goals.
One thing you need to be aware of:

Often people deal with the SOS as a wish-list of achievements and then fail to develop and implement a detailed, controllable & measurable action plan (the TAC). This leads to a statement of great goals with no clear idea of how – or even if you can achieve them. We will be looking specifically at Action Planning in a future issue of News & Views If however you would like some help in developing and, more importantly IMPLEMENTING, a marketing plan, we would be delighted to talk to you.

Lets see them now one by one and try to cover what exactly we need to do:

STAGE 1 SITUATION ANALYSIS WHERE ARE WE NOW?

How are we performing?
What are our distinctive competitive (marketing) advantages?
How effective is our Marketing Mix?
Are we focusing on the best segments with the right type of customer?
Are we using the most appropriate channels for communication and distribution?
What uncontrollable event(s) or trend(s) can impact my business?

STAGE 2 SET OBJECTIVES WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO?

Business Mission?
Business Objectives?
Marketing Objectives – Business Development?
Marketing Communication Objectives?
The SMART Test for Objectives
Make sure your objectives are practical and measurable. Do they fit the following criteria?
- Specific (with numbers)
- Measurable (to monitor progress and confirm achievement)
- Actionable (can we do it?)
- Reasonable (realistically attainable)
- Timed (incorporate deadlines)

STAGE 3 STRATEGY HOW DO WE GET THERE?

Segmentation – How do we want to divide up the market(s)?
Targeting – Which segments of the market do we wish to focus upon?
Positioning – How do we want to be perceived in each different target segment?

STAGE 4 TACTICAL PLAN HOW DO WE IMPLEMENT THE STRATEGY?

Which Communication Tools are we going to use?
How are we going to use them?
What message(s) do we wish to communicate?
Are we being consistent across different tools and messages?
Do we have the necessary resources/budgets?

STAGE 5 ACTION PLAN WHO, WHAT, WHEN?

Who is going to do what?
When are they going to do it?
What is the resource allocation for the action?
What are the key performance measurements?
How is performance going to be recorded?

STAGE 6 CONTROL KEEPING TRACK OF PROGRESS

Do action performance measurements relate to objectives?
Responsibility for measurement?
Frequency of measurement?
Resources for measurement?
Review of measurements?
Actions on variance?

If you are able to answer and work towards finding the answers to all the questions discussed above you are bound to have a perfect working plan which now needs implementations and team work. We have seen that SOSTAC not only works for marketing purposes but it is a very important and quick Project Management tool.

So in siutations where you have to do a quick project plan and there is too much info flowing around and you cant focus SOSTAC can be your rescuer.

Easy Steps for Decision Making

Sheraz Alvi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:31:44 +0000

One of the most frequently used and effective decision making techniques can be summarized in the following 7 steps.

Step 1: Identify the problem/situation for whicj you need to make a Decision. What exactly is the problem, for which you need a Decision to be made?Step 2: Collect information based on different parameters. This step can also be called as collecting the facts and impacts of the problem?

Step 3: Identify the various possiblities. Prepare a list of the possiblities the problem can be solved and rate each possiblities between 1 to 5 in terms of its consequences on your Decision.

Step 4: Evaluate each possiblities in terms of its consequences. Use your standards and judgement criteria to determine the cons and pros of each alternative.

Step 5: Determine the best Option/possiblities you enlisted in step 5. This is much easier after you go through the above preparation steps.

Step 6: Evaluate the outcome of your decision.

5 Presentation Secrets That Will Change Your Life

Sheraz Alvi — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:25:19 +0000

by Debbie Bailey

About the Author: Debbie Bailey is a well-regarded Presentation Skills Training Consultant and founder of Trainer2go Inc. For more information about Debbie go to http://trainer2go.com or email debbie at debbie@trainer2go.com

You’ve been asked to give an important presentation. A lot is riding on how well you can deliver. The problem is, you’re not sure where to begin. The last class you took on presentation skills told you to tie your hands behind your back and blend in with everyone else. Is that really a good approach?

The answer is a LOUD and RESONATING NO WAY.

If you want to WOW your audience, you have to STAND UP and STAND OUT!

Here are 5 Presentation Secrets designed to help you see an immediate and dramatic improvement in your presentation performance.

Secret #1 – Manage Your Anxiety So That It Doesn’t Manage YOU!

Most of the nervous symptoms you experience before a presentation are exactly the same as those you feel when excited. To the body adrenaline is very simply- ENERGY. If we call it energy or excitement it is good, if we call it anxiety, it is bad. The first step toward successfully managing your anxiety is to remove the negative label and rename that feeling you have right before you step up to the podium, EXCITEMENT. Tell yourself that you are excited about the opportunity to speak in front of this group. “Excitement” is a much more manageable and positive emotion than “anxiety.” Then use your excitement to energize you and help you communicate your enthusiasm to your audience.

Secret #2 – When It Comes To Your Delivery Style, Be More Of Who You Really Are!

Everyone has their own innate “style” of presenting. Your style is made up of many different aspects of your delivery, including your body, voice, face, the way you use language, level of formality, etc. The trick, within your style, is to be more of who you really are, which means knowing and then capitalizing on your greatest delivery strengths. Many presenters focus too much attention on their words. With words only accounting for 7% of your power as a presenter, spending too much energy on the words alone is a big mistake. Your nonverbal delivery style-also called your presentation personality– accounts for 97% of your power as a presenter. To improve your chances for success, focus on the real source of your power-your nonverbal communication such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, movement, proximity, clothing, vocal variety, rate, loudness, and silent pauses.

Secret #3 – Give the Audience All the Enthusiasm You Want Back!

You can’t expect an audience to be enthusiastic about a product or program you aren’t excited about. Presentation author Doug Staneart concluded, “Your audience will have just about as much excitement about your presentation as you do, and no more.” Enthusiasm is very catchy. Most audiences will match your level of enthusiasm pound for pound.

According to the Lamalle Report on Top Executives of the 1990s, one of the most important factors in determining financial success by those earning over $250,000 is being enthusiastic and having a positive attitude (46%). Apparently, along with being incredibly enthusiastic, successful people never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

Why does having a positive attitude matter so much? Research solidly indicates that expectations influence behavior meaning if you expect to succeed, it is likely that you will and if you expect to fail, you are more likely to be unsuccessful. Expectations create outcomes because we work toward the outcome we expect, even if it is failure. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t–you are right.”

Enthusiasm has amazing transformational powers. As you release your energy using positive nonverbal behaviors (gestures, movement, loud voice, etc.), you will begin to relax. And, your audience will quickly become excited. It works like magic! Watch how easily you can transfer your enthusiasm to your audience.

Secret #4 – NEVER Apologize, Confess, Or Make Excuses!

Presenters say the darndest things…”I’m sorry but I have a cold today so my voice may sound a little funny” (apology) OR “I just found out about this presentation yesterday, so I didn’t have as much time to prepare as I would have liked” (excuse) OR EVEN “I’m so nervous…” (confession). It is always surprising how often and how easily presenters use these NEGATIVE phrases.

Up until now, that is.

If you want to WOW your audience, you have to adopt and live by the motto: NO APOLOGIES, NO EXCUSES, NO CONFESSIONS.

When you APOLOGIZE, MAKE AN EXCUSE, or CONFESS at any time during your presentation, you are in essence saying to the audience, “Don’t expect a lot from me today because I’ll disappoint you.” Instead of APOLOGIZING–”I’m sorry I didn’t bring in a sample, but I couldn’t arrange it on such short notice,” try framing it in the positive, “I am working on getting you a sample and I can deliver it next week.” Instead of making EXCUSES, put your energy into delivering the best possible presentation and then stand behind your performance–”I did the best job I could given the circumstances.” And limit your CONFESSIONS–especially those the audience has no business knowing such as “I’m so nervous”–to church!

Secret #5 – Get Your Audience Involved In Your Presentation!

People are notoriously BAD listeners. In fact, the attention span of the average American is just nine seconds. That means every nine seconds each member of your audience takes a little mental vacation from the taxing work of listening to your presentation.

With so much fading in and out, it makes sense that the audience remembers only about 20% of what they hear. Stated conversely, the audience will FORGET nearly everything you say (80% of it anyway). Retention improves when you add a visual element to your presentation, but it still is rather dismal at 50% (don’t celebrate yet, they are still forgetting half of your presentation!). And that’s just immediate recall. I’m sorry to say that it gets worse as time elapses.

1. Ask the audience a question
2. Take a poll
3. Involve the audience in a demonstration
4. Give the audience a test
5. Give the audience a listening assignment
6. Employ a gimmick

When an audience participates in a presentation, they are fully engaged in the presentation. This means that every part of them is involved in the presentation- their hearts, minds, and bodies. The voice inside their head that thinks of all kinds of extraneous, random thoughts, is for once, silent while they focus solely on your presentation. This concentrated focus enables them to remember so much more!

Keep Calm and Control the situation

Naveed Rahmat — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:55:02 +0000

The Tiger

By Remez Sasson

A teacher and his student were walking from one village to another, when they suddenly heard a roar behind them. Turning their gaze in the direction of the roar they saw a big tiger following them. The first thing the student wanted to do was to run away, but as he has been studying and practicing self-discipline, he was able to halt himself, waiting to see what his teacher was going to do.

“What shall we do Master?” Asked the student.

The teacher looked at the student and answered in a calm voice:
“There are several options. We can fill our minds with paralyzing fear so that we cannot move, and let the tiger do with us whatever pleases it. We can faint. We can run away, but then it will run after us. We can fight with it, but physically it is stronger than us.”

“We can pray to god to save us. We can choose to influence the tiger with the power of our mind, if our concentration is strong enough. We can send it love. We can also concentrate and meditate on our inner power, and on the fact that we are one with the entire universe, including the tiger, and in this way influence its soul.”

“Which option do you choose?”

“You are the Master. You tell me what to do. We haven’t much time”, responded the student.

The master turned his gaze fearlessly towards the tiger, emptied his mind from all thoughts, and entered samadhi (a kind of trance). In his consciousness he embraced everything in the universe including the tiger. In this deep meditation the consciousness of the teacher became one with consciousness of the tiger.

Meanwhile the student started to shiver with fear, as the tiger was already quite close, ready to make a leap at them. He was amazed at how his teacher could stay so calm and detached in the face of danger.

Meanwhile the teacher continued to meditate without fear. After a little while, the tiger gradually lowered its head and tail and went away.

The student asked his teacher in astonishment, “What did you do?”

“Nothing. I just cleared all thoughts from my mind and united myself in spirit with the tiger. We became united in peace on the spiritual level. The tiger sensed the inner calmness, peace, and unity and felt no threat or need to express violence, and so walked away.”

“When the mind is silent and calm, its peace is automatically transmitted to everything and everyone around, influencing them deeply”, concluded the teacher.

How to make a good presentation?

Sheraz Alvi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:58:27 +0000

I came across a very interesting article about how to make a good presentation by Debbie Bailey:

The answer is a LOUD and RESONATING NO WAY.

If you want to WOW your audience, you have to STAND UP and STAND OUT!

Here are 5 Presentation Secrets designed to help you see an immediate and dramatic improvement in your presentation performance.

Secret #1 – Manage Your Anxiety So That It Doesn’t Manage YOU!

Most of the nervous symptoms you experience before a presentation are exactly the same as those you feel when excited. To the body adrenaline is very simply- ENERGY. If we call it energy or excitement it is good, if we call it anxiety, it is bad. The first step toward successfully managing your anxiety is to remove the negative label and rename that feeling you have right before you step up to the podium, EXCITEMENT. Tell yourself that you are excited about the opportunity to speak in front of this group. “Excitement” is a much more manageable and positive emotion than “anxiety.” Then use your excitement to energize you and help you communicate your enthusiasm to your audience.

Secret #2 – When It Comes To Your Delivery Style, Be More Of Who You Really Are!

Secret #3 – Give the Audience All the Enthusiasm You Want Back!

You can’t expect an audience to be enthusiastic about a product or program you aren’t excited about. Presentation author Doug Staneart concluded, “Your audience will have just about as much excitement about your presentation as you do, and no more.” Enthusiasm is very catchy. Most audiences will match your level of enthusiasm pound for pound.

Secret #4 – NEVER Apologize, Confess, Or Make Excuses!

Up until now, that is.

If you want to WOW your audience, you have to adopt and live by the motto: NO APOLOGIES, NO EXCUSES, NO CONFESSIONS.

Secret #5 – Get Your Audience Involved In Your Presentation!

So how do you get the audience to remember MORE of your presentation for longer periods of time? To raise your audience’s remembering quotient, you have to engage them in your presentation, getting them to actively participate in it. Your goal is to transform the audience from passive listeners to active participants. The six best ways I’ve found to engage the audience in your presentation is to:

1. Ask the audience a question
2. Take a poll
3. Involve the audience in a demonstration
4. Give the audience a test
5. Give the audience a listening assignment
6. Employ a gimmick

When an audience participates in a presentation, they are fully engaged in the presentation. This means that every part of them is involved in the presentation- their hearts, minds, and bodies. The voice inside their head that thinks of all kinds of extraneous, random thoughts, is for once, silent while they focus solely on your presentation. This concentrated focus enables them to remember so much more!

Can you Save Time and be more productive?

Sheraz Alvi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:54:29 +0000

Hi Readers

I found a very useful article at: http://www.chartcourse.com about Time management tips. I know this is one of the most challenging thing one faces and thinks about everyday. I am in pursuit of gathering enough information to develop a plan and a process to manage my time properly and remember that I need to manage it properly.

Sometimes we know the tips then we forget them in the heat of the situation and that is sometimes very challenging. Its easy to learn about time management, I have been to many courses and have read a lot but when you are struck with challenging situations then you tend to forget those ground tactics. You know why? The reason is that you have not been able to make them a habit. Habits are never forgotten but things you learn are easily put in the back seat when you think there is something more important to tackle then follow some rules. I’ll be honest the major problem I face is remembering the rules I know them but I seem to forget some of them you can call it bad memory but I call it lack of good habits. In any way I think you read and read and keep on embedding the idea and making them as habits and it will not be long that you will start seeing changes.

Consistency is most important then anything and of-course being positive and having confidence and belief in oneself is another big factor. OK here is the article:

Stomping Ants or

Making Hippos Fly!

The Art of Managing Time and Your Life

By Gregory P. Smith

Many people go through life satisfied with status quo, stomping ants, handling the routine, not reaching their God-given potential. Others make Hippos fly, reaching their potential, accomplishing something major. Which type of person do you want to be?

The two major components of time management are practice and purpose. The practice component refers to what you do with the minutes of your day. The purpose component refers to finding and knowing your purpose in life. When you manage your time, the minutes of your life, and it falls in alignment with your purpose of your life, you have a fantastic chain reaction. This alignment can enable you to accomplish your tasks more effectively, to reach your goals more quickly, and to give you a greater sense of peace.

Quiet Time

God gave each of us a brain and a soul, but many of us don’t make time to exercise it. I begin each day with a cup of coffee on my front porch. I watch the sun rise, pray, and ask God for direction for this day. I think about my goals and projects, and I listen for new ideas. I then head off to my office to begin work. Every person must make time to think. Schedule an appointment with yourself, close yourself off, and don’t allow interruptions. You will be amazed how clear your life’s purpose as well as the quality of your life will become.

Create A Hippo Goal

The best way to accomplish a major goal is to break it down into smaller pieces. Learn how to implement Work Break Down Structure. The old saying, “How do you eat an elephant?. . .One bite at a time.” The same is true with major goals. For example, when I wrote my first book, I broke the writing down into smaller pieces. I got up an hour early each day and wrote approximately 250 words. At the end of the week, I had completed a chapter. At the end of the month, I had completed four chapters. I continued on until I completed the book. This process can be applied to almost any major undertaking. Focusing on the smaller parts makes any task much easier and keeps motivation high. When you reach goals, reward yourself.

Greg’s Ten Tips

1. Prioritize. Feeling overwhelmed by all you have to do? Stop and Think–which item must be completed today? This does not include items you’d like to get done today, but only the item(s) that must be completed today. A friend woke up at three in the morning feeling overwhelmed by the many tasks for the coming week and was worried that she could not get it all done. In desperation, she asked herself, what has to be done by Monday afternoon? Tuesday afternoon? The result was she discovered she could indeed accomplish all of her deadlines for the week on schedule when she prioritized!

2. Be realistic. One way to set yourself up for a panic situation is to plan an unrealistic amount of work for one day or one week. Use your common sense to recognize when you have over-scheduled yourself. Enthusiasm is wonderful, but it doesn’t add more hours to the day.

3. Delegate. A person who refuses to delegate will very likely be a very busy and frustrated person. For anyone to personally handle every item is unnecessary and unwise. One very successful regional manager readily attributed part of his success to the fact that he trusted his administrative assistant to handle routine items that did not require his personal decision. This left him free to concentrate on working with sales personnel outside the office.

4. Work Efficiently. For example, make sure your electronic calendar does not cost you time. People who love electronics will shake their heads no at this idea. But sometimes it can take longer to enter and maintain information in a gadget than to jot it down with a pencil in an old-fashioned paper planner.

5. Organize Meetings Wisely. According to a Wall Street Journal survey, meetings account for the greatest amount of unproductive time–topping telephone calls, paperwork and travel. With a little preparation, meetings can be transformed into productive assemblies helping you and your group steam toward, instead of away from, their goals. The key ingredient for a good meeting is preparation. Ask yourself–Is this meeting really necessary? Can the information be presented best another way? If there is still a need for a meeting, plan it well.

6. Learn to Say No! Many people have a tough time saying no. They allow themselves to become members of every committee even ones that are outside their particular talent or spiritual gift. I once knew a man in my church that dedicated his life to youth. He was the pastor’s dream come true. He organized youth trips and retreats. He was always at the church. He taught Sunday school for the youth and they were being led to the Lord. We were all shocked when we learned his wife asked for a separation. She was upset because he spent all his time with the youth and very little with his family. People, who can’t say no, quickly discover their life is out of balance; it is being pulled in the opposite direction. No matter how important the obligation maybe, do not allow your family priorities to suffer.

7. Destroy the Paper Monster. The best guideline for paperwork is to either file it or toss it. We never use 80% of the paperwork we keep. Paper, magazines and other forms create clutter and confusion, which could turn into stress.

Another principle for paperwork is handle it now. Spend 20 seconds filing that important paper now rather than 30 minutes searching for it later. Take a moment to jot down that phone number on your permanent list instead of spending ten minutes tracking it down again later. A third rule for paperwork is organize it. Use colored folders to prioritize your work; colors allow you to see at a glance, which jobs, need your immediate attention. Sub-divide files for greater efficiency. An administrative assistant, tired of rifling through the thick folders left by the previous employee, took time to sub-divide each large file into smaller, separate files. The time saved was worth the time invested in the task and the compliments from the boss who recognized the ease of use of the reorganized files was an unexpected bonus.

8. Manage Mail. Answer E-mail immediately. Don’t read it and then let it pile up in your in-box; keep your in-box clutter free. Create a “keeper” folder and transfer the mail you want to retain. Create another folder for “actions pending.” Respect other people’s time and avoid forwarding all those stories people love to send you. Delete junk E-mail without reading it and use your filters to eliminate spam. Sort regular mail next to a trashcan. Handle it once-open it or throw it away. Don’t stop doing the important things in your life to sort mail.

9. Make Lists. Making a list can be a legitimate time manager. Keep a pad handy to jot down projects as they arise, items that come to mind to do later, and even phone calls you need to make. At the end of the day or week, whichever is best for you, mark off the items handled. Then, make a fresh list and prioritize the remaining items. This shouldn’t take but a few minutes each day or a little longer if done once a week. Using this process can help you avoid that familiar sinking feeling when you realize you forgot something important and also help you feel on top of things on a daily basis while freeing your mind to concentrate on the job at hand.

10. Allow Time for Fun and Surprises. Don’t carry time management to the point of where everything in your life is plotted, calculated, and placed on a calendar. Allow some spontaneity and fun in your life. I know a manager who decided to invite everyone over to her office for ice cream floats. This was a lot of fun and created a very positive work environment. I know another company that provides their employees 22 tons of M&M’s to eat each year. Every now and then do something nice for someone totally unexpected. Call someone up and tell him or her how much you appreciate them.

—————

Another tip from me: Meditate just 10 minutes a day and also excercise just 15 minutes a day.

100 Positive-Thinking Exercises

Naveed Rahmat — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:09:24 +0000

By Christina Laun

There are days when it seems like everything is going wrong. You can’t seem to catch a break from work, home or personal responsibilities, and everything and everyone seems to be out to get you. It’s times like these when some positive thinking exercises can really come in handy. They’ll help you deal with and resolve the every day stresses and problems that affect your life. Here are 100 that we’ve compiled to help you change your thoughts from doom and gloom to a happier and more productive positive outlook.

General

Practice these simple exercises and suggestions to keep your thoughts on the positive side.

Only use positive words when talking. If you’re constantly telling yourself “I can’t” you may convince yourself that’s the truth. Replace these negative words with positive ones instead. Tell yourself you will do your best or that you will try your hardest instead.
Push out all feelings that aren’t positive. Don’t let negative thoughts and feelings overwhelm you when you’re feeling down. Even if it’s only for a few hours a day, push your negativity aside and only focus on the good things in your life.
Use words that evoke strength and success. Try filling your thoughts with words that make you feel strong, happy and in control of your life. Make a concentrated effort to focus on these words rather than those that make you feel like you are failing or incompetent.
Practice positive affirmation. One of the most popular positive thinking exercises is positive affirmation. This means you repeat a positive phrase to yourself on a regular basis like “I deserve to be happy” or “I am worthy of love”. Believing that these things are true, and reminding yourself of it can help give you a more positive outlook on life.
Direct your thoughts. This technique, used by psychotherapists, can help you to control your thoughts when you start to feel down or anxious. Create a happy thought, a positive image, or give yourself positive feedback to keep bad feelings in check.
Believe you will succeed. There is nothing like believing in yourself to create a successful reality. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and believe that you will succeed at fulfilling your goals.
Analyze what went wrong. Thinking positively doesn’t mean denying that there is anything wrong. Instead, give yourself some time to think about the things that led up to your current situation so you can avoid future mistakes and look toward a more positive tomorrow.
Give yourself credit. Often when we feel frustrated or upset we only concentrate on the bad things or the mistakes we’ve made instead of giving ourselves credit for what we do right. Allow yourself to feel confident about the things you have accomplished, even if you’ve messed up in other areas.
Forgive yourself. Constantly beating yourself up about things that have gone wrong won’t change them. Tell yourself that you’re forgiven for your mistakes and allow yourself to move on.
Learn from the past. The past is behind you and no matter how badly things went there is nothing you can do to change them. Whenever you feel negative thoughts about the past come up, replace them with positive thoughts about the future.
Remember things could be worse. No matter how bad things get remember that they could be worse and be grateful for all the good things that are in your life, even when it seems there’s more bad than good.
Think of it as an opportunity. Sometimes even the seemingly negative things in our lives present us with opportunities we wouldn’t have been strong enough to pursue otherwise. Maybe losing your job is just the chance you need to start your own business or go back to school.
Come up with ideas of how to turn negative thoughts into positive ones. If you find yourself thinking you should have done this or that differently, try changing your thoughts around. Instead give yourself credit for what you did do, remember that you are not perfect or that you can do better next time.
Work on visualization. Picturing what you want to accomplish or the person you’d like to be can be a great motivator to getting you there and helping you feel more positive about the distance you have to go yet.
Think of ways to turn visualization into action. The next natural step of this is to think of just how you’re going to get to where you see yourself. Just picturing it isn’t going to make it happen, so create a plan to take it one step at a time until you’ve made it.
Practice self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis brings about a highly conscious state of mind that is willing to follow instructions. This means you’ll be more open to positive suggestions that will allow you to be happier and hopefully healthier in your life.
List the reasons you will get what you want. If you are having trouble believing that you’ll get that big promotion or that your book will get published try sitting down and coming up with a list of reasons that you will get what you want rather than focusing on the reasons you might not.

At Work

Work can be a stressful place but use these techniques and ideas to keep yourself looking on the bright side.

Be constructive. Giving yourself cruel and unwarranted criticisms will not only put you in a bad mood it surely won’t help you improve either. Be constructive in your criticisms of yourself so you can grow and learn.
Visualize a successful outcome. Sometimes it can be helpful to picture yourself completing a project successfully or getting the promotion you desire. This can encourage you and make you feel better about the situation.
Sit up straight. Slouching down in your chair isn’t going to make you feel any better about anything that’s bothering you. Sit up straight in your chair and see if it improves your thinking.
Surround yourself with positive images. Make your desk your own private happy getaway. Put up pictures of things that make you happy or that remind you of your goals to create a calming and positive environment.
Relax and let things happen. Sometimes the best way to deal with problems is to relax and let them take their course. Things can often appear to be a bigger deal than they really are and reminding yourself of this can help you to relax and not feel so stressed.
See it from another point of view. Change your pattern of thought by trying to see things from another point of view, whether it’s your coworkers, your bosses or just someone impartial. It can help you see where you went wrong and understand why others might be upset.
Keep track of your thoughts.When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, try jotting them down. You may find a pattern and figure out some ways to reverse how you’re seeing yourself or negative situations.
Don’t dwell. So you made a mistake. It happens to everyone. Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Make peace with yourself and move on to other projects.
Stop being your own worst critic. There’s no one else who knows just how to make you feel terrible like you can. Lay off on the harsh criticism and think good things about yourself when you feel you’re at your worst.
Look at yourself rationally. It’s easy to get down on yourself for messing up at work, even on the little things. But try taking a step back and looking at the situation. You may find that what you thought was a big deal really doesn’t matter that much.
Believe in yourself. Want that promotion? Hoping to get that huge account? Believe that you can do it and it just might come true.
Avoid negative coworkers. Nothing can ruin a positive attitude like coworkers who bring out the negatives in everything. Avoid talking to those you know will only make you feel worse.
Truly believe you are the best at your job. If you’re constantly looking for failures in your work and put on a sour attitude you’re much more likely to actually be putting in a poor performance. If you think that you’re good at your job you’re much more likely to put in the effort and performance that will make you good.
Look for opportunity. In every failure there’s an opportunity to improve. Spend time thinking of ways you can turn your setbacks at work into ways you can get ahead in the future.

Family and Personal Life

Whether you’re struggling with keeping a positive attitude about yourself or about issues within your family, try these positive thinking techniques.

Associate yourself with those who think positively. Positivity is contagious, so find friends and family members who look on the bright side to surround yourself with.
Be glad your life isn’t boring. If nothing good or bad ever happened to you, likely you’d start to get pretty bored with your life. Take everything that is coming to you as a challenge and a way to keep yourself busy and interested in your life.
Look at the big picture. Is that parking ticket you got a bummer? Of course. Will you still feel bad about it later this week? This month? Learn to let go of the things that don’t really matter.
Let go of the past. It does not determine your future so why focus on it? If you feel yourself ruminating on the past make a conscious effort to take your thoughts in another direction.
Benefit from the attitudes of others. Have a friend that always knows just what to say to make you feel like things will be alright? Take comfort in those around you that have positive attitudes and can make you feel better about anything going on in your life.
Develop a personal mantra. No matter what you choose to repeat to yourself, make your mantra words you want to live by each and every day that can remind you to be positive and take whatever life has to offer.
Find someone to share with. Knowing you are not alone can be a healing experience. Share your negative feelings with a friend, a family member or a even a mental health professional. You’ll likely feel better after you’ve gotten things off your chest and had someone to sound off with.
Do something nice. Want to feel better? Try doing something nice for someone you care about. You’ll get to feel good for being nice and you just might make someone else’s day.
Indulge yourself. One way to remind yourself of the positive things that life has to offer is to indulge yourself in whatever it is you love. Whether it’s a box of chocolates, a massage or a new video game, give yourself a break to relax.
Remind yourself of your blessings. Whether you feel blessed by your family, your friends or even that you just have food to eat each day remind yourself of these things, however small you may feel they may be.
Say thank you. Most of us have a lot to feel grateful for that we simply take for granted. Thank those in your life that make it better and happier to get a positivity boost for yourself as well.
Come up with positive things about those you love. Making someone else feel good about themselves can strengthen relationships and give you a positive thought to concentrate on, instead of the negative.
Avoid laying blame. So the water bill didn’t get paid. You could get mad and start a fight with your spouse or roommate. Or, you could let it go, take it in stride and work together to remedy the situation.
Be playful. There’s nothing to lift your mood and change your thinking like taking some time to embrace playfulness and your inner child.

Fun and Relaxation

Don’t spend your free time feeling bad about things that have happened. Change your thoughts from the bad to the good with these helpful tips.

Read an inspiring book. If you’re having trouble finding something inspiring about your life right now try getting inspired by the life of someone else by reading a book meant to inspire and uplift.
Watch your favorite sappy movie. Get a quick pick me up by watching your favorite movie or just your favorite scenes. You’ll get a smile or a laugh and forget whatever was getting you down.
Take a break from the news. The news is often filled with all kinds of depressing information. If you’re already in a bad mood take a night off from the news and do something that you find enjoyable instead.
Engage in physical activity. Working out releases chemicals that give you a mood lift. Take a jog, play a sport or just walk around the block to improve your outlook.
Listen to something upbeat. Music can be a great mood enhancer. Whether you’re driving in your car or hanging out at home, crank up the tunes with something that makes you feel happy.
Monitor your stream of consciousness.When you’re just sitting and thinking do negative thoughts overtake everything else? Monitor where your mind goes when it’s at rest and learn to redirect your thoughts towards happier memories.
Engage in activities that work towards your goals. If you’re trying to lose weight don’t spend the weekend baking cookies that will only tempt you towards falling off the low-cal wagon. Instead, pump yourself up by going on a hike, playing tennis with a friend or just getting active.
Concentrate on breathing. When things just seem to be too much to deal with, try concentrating on simply breathing. It will relax you, eliminate some of your anxiety and allow you to focus on more positive elements in your life.
Focus on all the fun in your life. While you might spend 40 hours a week slaving away behind a desk you likely have some things in your life that are fun and enjoyable as well. Focus on these things and spend time thinking of new and exciting ways to have fun when you’re feeling down.
Explore the world around you. Distract yourself from your negative feelings by embracing your sense of adventure. Check out a part of town you have never been to, take a day trip to a local winery, or just spend time reliving the happy memories from things around your house.
Get excited. Even if there are a million things you’re dreading doing come Monday try to find one thing that you’re excited about. Even that one thing can have a big impact on how you feel and how you approach your day.
Find something to laugh about. If you don’t have anything in your day that’s been particularly funny, think about a memory that never fails to make you laugh. It’s hard to be negative when you’re laughing and smiling.
Count down to total relaxation. All of us have been so upset or frustrated at some point that we just feel like we want to explode. If you feel yourself reaching this point, stop, and start counting. For an additional bonus, try relaxing each body part in turn as you count so you end up completely relaxed and ready to think logically.
Meditate. The benefits of meditation are many, and one of them can be encouraging positive thinking. By clearing your mind and relaxing you can push out a large amount of negativity that may be troubling you.
Think of 100 things you enjoy doing. Feeling like your life is one big, horrible sinkhole at the moment? Sit yourself down and try to come up with a list of things that you enjoy doing. Even small things like taking a hot shower or enjoying a walk in the snow can make you realize that your life isn’t so bad after all.
Create something. Negativity inspires a lot of destructive feelings and one way to counter that is by working to create something instead. Paint or draw, sew some new curtains, build a model or even put together a puzzle.
Imagine yourself in a happy place. Visualization can be a powerful tool and you can use it to remove yourself from whatever situation you feel unhappy in to one that makes you smile. Just close your eyes and imagine whatever makes you feel best.

Facing Challenges

Everyone has to face challenges in their lives from time to time. Whether they’re difficult personal goals to meet or unexpected problems these tips can help you make it through with a smile on your face.

Fake it till you make it. One way to deal with a challenge is to create a feeling of confidence and happiness in yourself. At first this feeling might not be real, but over time you’ll start to actually feel happier and maybe even closer to your goal.
Believe you will get well. Those facing illnesses can feel a sense of hopelessness and fear. These feelings aren’t going to help anything. Concentrate on getting better and living each moment as if you will soon be well.
Understand the obstacles are there to challenge you. Along your path to success you’re going to encounter some roadblocks. Understand that these aren’t necessarily there to stop you from doing what you want, just to ensure that you truly want it.
Picture yourself at the weight you want to be. Losing weight can be a huge challenge, even for the most determined. Picturing yourself at the weight you want to be can be a great motivator to getting you on the track to success.
Start small. Working at a huge goal all at once can be overwhelming and sometimes discouraging. Take things one step at a time and chip away at your ultimate goal until you get there.
Don’t let yourself quit. Giving up is usually taking the easy way out of a situation. No matter how negative you’re feeling, never let yourself quit pursuing something you truly want. You’ll thank yourself in the long run if you don’t give up.
Don’t expect change to be easy. No one ever promised that making a big change in your life would be easy or that overcoming obstacles would be a walk in the park. It’s not supposed to be. Don’t let opposition let you lose your confidence and adapt a negative attitude.
Find the bright side. Every cloud has a silver lining and you just need to find yours. Try finding the bright spot amidst all the turmoil surrounding a situation and focus on that to get you through.
Understand that the situation is not forever. Even if you’re dealing with the grief of a lost loved one, remember that in time you will feel better. You may always feel sad about a loss, but it will only get easier as time goes on. Take it day by day and keep in mind the transience of any bad situation.
Truly believe you will succeed. If you want an extra edge on success, believe that you will be successful. This may give you the confidence and assurance you need to make the difference.
Face up to change. The world is constantly changing and you and those around you are changing as well. Make peace with these changes and understand they don’t always mean the end of happiness just because they’re something different.
Make a conscious decision to be resilient.In life you can either let a challenge break you down and make you see the world in a negative light or you can draw on strength you didn’t even known you had and rise above it. Choose the latter– it’s never too late.
Take it head on. Sometimes the best way to deal with negative things in your life is to take them head on. Reaching a resolution or at least working towards one will likely make you feel better about just about any situation.
Focus on finding a solution. Don’t wallow in your problems. Instead, work towards finding a solution and getting them resolved. You’ll be able to feel proactive and feel in control of your life.
Don’t let loss stop you. When pursuing any goal there are bound to be setbacks along the way. Don’t let these stop you from heading towards your ultimate goal.
Keep yourself on track. It’s easy to be weak and get off track to whatever goal you’re pursuing because it’s easier right now. Don’t let weakness get the best of you– you’ll only feel worse later. Provide yourself with reminders to stay in a positive mind set and stay with the program.

Daily Attitude

If you really want to change your outlook on life, try using these techniques to change how you deal with problems and see the world.

See the beauty in everything. Even if you’re in the worst mood, taking the time to look at all the beautiful things that surround you in the world can provide an instant and insightful way to lift your spirits.
Realize that your thoughts do not own you. Stop your negative thoughts in their tracks by realizing that you’re in charge of what you think, not the other way around.
Take time to figure out what you really want. When you feel yourself feeling negative about things that you haven’t accomplished, take time to think if you really want those things. Finding out what is really important to you can help eliminate bad feelings over things that you don’t truly want.
Accept the good things. Sometimes we get so caught up in the bad stuff coming our way that we forget to appreciate the good things. Take a minute to sit down and think of all the positive things that happened in your day, no matter how small.
Get excited about all the possibilities that lay ahead. Even in the midst of the biggest disasters there are a multitude of possibilities that await you to make changes or take on the world tomorrow.
Believe the world is a good place. If you look at the world and only seem doom and gloom laid out in front of you you’re not doing yourself any favors. Believe the world is a good place and you’re likely to find many more ways good things can come your way.
Stop making excuses. There are always a million excuses for any person not to do something even if that something can make them feel happier. Stop putting up obstacles to your happiness and ditch those lame excuses when you hear yourself making them.
Don’t play the victim. Bad things happen to everyone from time to time. Pitying yourself and wanting others to feel sorry for you isn’t going to make things better. Pick yourself up and start working towards a happier future.
Don’t place your future in someone else’s hands. Your future is yours alone to shape. Remember this and take control of where you’re going in life.
Create realistic goals. Of course you’re going to feel frustrated if you make your goals so unattainable that you can’t reach them no matter how hard you work. Create smaller or more realistic goals so you can feel accomplished instead of defeated each day.
Choose joy. Every day when you wake up you make the choice whether to be happy or miserable. Make the choice to be happy and you’ll live a much more joyful life.
Believe you can change. Everyone has qualities they don’t like about themselves and that sometimes make them feel bad about themselves. Believe you can change these things and you’ll start to see little ways that you can.
Start immediately. Want to make a positive change in your life? Do it now. Putting it off just gives you time to make excuses so get started as soon as possible.
Believe you deserve good things. If you don’t truly believe that you deserve good things in your life you likely aren’t going to encounter many. Believe that you are worthy for good fortune to come your way and it just might.
Stop letting negative thoughts control you. Negativity can be an overwhelming emotion, one that can make you feel out of control and unhappy in every aspect of your life. Put a stopper on these negative thoughts and take control of how you’re feeling.
Smile. Sometimes all it takes to feel good is to put a smile on your face. Practice putting on a happy face even when you just feel so-so.
Take control of your decisions. You’re the boss of what is going on in your life, even when you feel like you don’t have a choice. Take back control of your decisions and make the choice to be happier and more positive.
Change your vibe. Some people think that you get back what you put out, so stop putting out bad energy and change to a more positive outlook. Whether it truly works or not doesn’t matter, you’ll feel better either way.
Keep the bad out. You’re in control of the good and bad you choose to let into your life. When you can, limit the amount of negative things you let into your life, including your thoughts.
Make positive thinking a habit. Don’t just practice thinking positively when you’re feeling down. Make it an everyday occurrence whether you’re in a good mood or bad.
Decide why you want what you want. If you’re feeling upset because you feel like you aren’t achieving the things you want in life, take a moment to sit back and figure out the reasons you actually want those things. You may find you’re not as attached to them as you think.
Look at things with fresh eyes. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to sleep on a problem so you can look at it the next day when you’re not feeling so emotional.

Enabling incoming email on SharePoint Document Libraries and Lists

sanjaydachary — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:19:29 +0000

By Alan Sugano of www.Adscon.com

As you know, Microsoft is gently nudging users to migrate away from public folders and onto SharePoint document libraries and lists. In the initial release of Exchange Server 2007, there wasn’t even a GUI interface to manage public folders, although this was added in Exchange 2007 SP1. It is fairly easy to configure SharePoint to accept incoming email for document libraries and lists. Once a document library or list is configured to accept incoming email, you can send messages to the Document library or list just like a public folder.

If your message has an attachment, the attachment will also be saved in the document library, however the attachment and email message (if you’ve configured the document library to save your email messages) will appear as two separate entries in the document library. If you’re currently using public folders to track message threads, consider enabling inbound email for a Discussion Board Web Part, which is probably the closest match for this type of use of a public folder. Here are the high-level steps to configure incoming email for your Document Library or List:

1. Install SMTP on the SharePoint front-end server.
2. Configure Active Directory (AD) for SharePoint Contacts.
3. Configure Inbound Email Settings using SharePoint Central Administration.
4. Configure a document library to accept incoming email.
5. Test.

Install SMTP on the SharePoint Front-End Server
If you want to enable inbound email on SharePoint, verify that the SMTP Service is installed on the SharePoint front-end server. Complete the following steps to install SMTP on the SharePoint Server.

1. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. Click the Application Server, Details button.
4. Click Internet Information Server (IIS), Details button.
5. Select the SMTP Service check box and click OK.

Alternately you can specify an email drop folder that’s on a different server or share, however Microsoft doesn’t recommend doing this, because there is no way for the SharePoint server to detect if the drop location has changed.

Configure Active Directory for SharePoint Contacts
You can configure SharePoint to automatically update contact information, groups and distribution lists in AD. To segregate out these SharePoint-generated Active Directory Objects, I suggest you create a separate organizational unit (OU) in AD. In this example, I created an OU called SharePoint that is placed off of the root container in AD.

Configure Inbound Email Settings Using SharePoint Central Administration
Complete the following steps to enable incoming email on SharePoint.
1. Start SharePoint Central Administration on the SharePoint server.
2. Click the Operations tab, Incoming e-mail Settings.
3. Select Yes to enable incoming mail.
4. Select Automatic for the Settings mode.
5. Select Yes to use SharePoint Directory Management.
6. Specify the location of the SharePoint OU in AD. If you created a SharePoint OU off of the root the entry would be OU=SharePoint, DC= , DC=com.
7. Specify the fully qualified name of the SharePoint server that will accept incoming email.
8. Select Yes (highly recommended), to only accept messages from authenticated users.
9. Select Yes, (recommended) to allow creation of Distribution Groups from SharePoint.
10. Optionally check approval requests for New distribution group, Change distribution group e-mail address, Change distribution group title and description, and Delete distribution group.
11. Enter the email display address.
12. Safe Email Servers. I suggest specifying which servers your Sharepoint Server will receive mail from, otherwise you may receive a lot of Spam into your document library.
Configure a document library

After you have configured your Sharepoint Server to accept incoming mail, you must configure a document library or list to accept incoming mail. Complete the following steps to allow a document library or list to accept email.
1. Navigate to the desired document library or list and click Settings, Document Library Settings, and Incoming E-mail Settings.
2. Select Yes to allow the Document Library to receive e-mail.
3. Assign an email address to the document library.
4. Select an Option for Attachments. You can save attachments in the root folder, in a sub-folder grouped by email subject, or a sub-folder grouped by sender.
5. Select an option to overwrite files with the same name.
6. Select an option to save the original email. If you select Yes, and you send a message with an attachment, the message and the document will be stored as two separate items in the document library. I suggest initially selecting Yes for this option until you verify that the document library is properly accepting emails.
7. Select an option to save meeting invitations.
8. Select an Email security policy to accept messages based on document library permissions (recommended) or to accept messages from any sender. After you configure the document library, start Active Directory Users and Computers on a domain controller (DC). If you’ve configured your SharePoint Active Directory Management properly you should see Contact in the SharePoint OU that has the Document Library Address. However, you may notice that it does not have the same email address domain that you specified when you set up the email address for the Document library. It probably will have an address in the format of

@ _ qualified_name_of_your_SharePoint_Server> .

You can use this address, but if you want to have the address with your standard domain name and not the name of your SharePoint server, you can add in an additional email address for the document library if you are running Exchange. Start the Exchange Management Console and navigate the SharePoint Contact object and add the desired email address for the document library.

After you’ve configured the document library, send an email message with a test attachment and verify that it was properly received into the document library. It can take a few minutes for the email message to appear in the document library.

Alan Sugano is the president of ADS Consulting Group, which specializes in networking, custom programming, Microsoft .NET Web development, and SQL Server development. asugano@adscon.com