Month: December 2009

The definitive guide to Remembering Names..

I had a really bad memory for names 2 years ago, not because I had a bad memory but just because I didn’t care so much to remember names. Then, 2 incidents happened..

1) We were out for dinner as a team and a mentor of mine began addressing the waiter by name(they generally wore tags) and suddenly, this guy started serving us with great pleasure. I was amazed!
2) I read a bunch of books that emphasized that the easiest way to make an impression with people is to remembered their name! :)

So, the effort began. I spent an exciting week with a bunch of truly amazing people.. and I realized that remembering names can be really fun. Here’s an example..

Peter has a wonderful little nephew called Daan. Guess what, we had a camp mate called Daan. His niece is called Finka(reminds me of another RealAcader called Tinka).. and sister Sara(simple enough to remember eh? :))

Now, Daan’s sister’s name is Elaine and Alan(another camp mate) also has a sister with the same name..

Aren’t the patterns fun?

What do we need to do?
We will need to take some effort to make sure we write names down/form maps about people.
For eg: Daan’s sister Elaine’s map in my mind would be – Elaine, Law – related to Daan-political Science, Canada etc.. makes it easier to remember Elaine all of a sudden..
or Daan’s brother’s map would be something like – Robert, runs faster than Daan, pic of Robert on Daan’s desktop wall paper.. :)

How can we do it?
Here are a few tips that may help..

1) Memory is all about forming patterns. It is the exact opposite of decoding logic/algorithms. Here, we just have to create these algo’s for ourselves. Now, everyone has their own programmable computer.. so its a question of what works for you.

2) What works for me is.. if I know when I meet a person that I won’t remember it(we know it.. most likely we can feel it in our gut), I make sure I type their name into Memos on my Palm(do find a place that you look at from time to time) and within 3 days, I am confident I can take the memo off..

3) I also take a bit of time to form mental maps about people. Helps here to prepare.. for example, before the camp I had little maps of people drawn out for myself from applications/intro cards. This may/may not be in our control, but hey.. let’s do the best we can with what we have.. :D

4) Helps understand and get to know people. I know someone whose name means the ‘morning dew’ and his sister’s name means ‘morning’ and somebody else whose special friend means ‘wisdom’ in latin. These things definitely help us remember.. but again, they take effort..

5) There is NOTHING wrong in asking a person you have met after a long time to repeat their names. It can feel bad but its much better than pretending.. :) 1 way that can save your face though is –
5a. Ask them for their phone number as your phone has been reformatted and ask ‘How do I spell your name?’

:)
Hope this Names101 helps whoever necessary. Just as a closing note, it’s worth remembering names.. it works like Magic and all it takes is a bit of effort! :)

Oh, and Big Question
Will I remember all the connections between Daan, Peter and Alan 6 years, or even 6 months from now?
I’m not sure would be the best answer, but atleast I know I can come back to this blog post and refresh my memory.. ha ha ha

:D

Never forget an attachment on Outlook..

http://mark.bird.googlepages.com/

Tools->Macro->Visual Basic Editor..

Copy and paste in ‘Thisoutlooksession’

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim m As Variant
Dim strBody As String
Dim intIn As Long
Dim intAttachCount As Integer, intStandardAttachCount As Integer

On Error GoTo handleError

‘Edit the following line if you have a signature on your email that includes images or other files. Make intStandardAttachCount equal the number of files in your signature.
intStandardAttachCount = 0

strBody = LCase(Item.Body)

intIn = InStr(1, strBody, “original message”)

If intIn = 0 Then intIn = Len(strBody)

intIn = InStr(1, Left(strBody, intIn), “attach”)

intAttachCount = Item.Attachments.Count

If intIn > 0 And intAttachCount <= intStandardAttachCount Then

m = MsgBox(“It appears that you mean to send an attachment,” & vbCrLf & “but there is no attachment to this message.” & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & “Do you still want to send?”, vbQuestion + vbYesNo + vbMsgBoxSetForeground)

If m = vbNo Then Cancel = True

End If

handleError:

If Err.Number 0 Then
MsgBox “Outlook Attachment Reminder Error: ” & Err.Description, vbExclamation, “Outlook Attachment Reminder Error”
End If

End Sub

20 ways to screw up management..

20 Ways to Screw Up Your Management Career:

Stop asking questions. Think or act like you know it all. Think you can stop learning.

Take it personally. Business is about business. Conflict over business, products, and services is healthy and good. It’s not about you.

Micromanage. The converse – being too hands off – can be just as bad.

Distance yourself from employees. Think you’re above “management by walking around.”

Distance yourself from customers. Take your eye off the ball … the ball that matters most.
Play it safe. Success means growth, growth means taking risks – analytical, not frivolous, though.

Test moral, ethical, or legal limits. Slippery slope.

Hire yes-men (or women) you can control. Even worse, be a yes-man thinking it’ll get you places.

Overpromise and under-deliver. Success is all about results.

Engage your mouth before your brain. More people screw up by talking than any other way.

Stick to your guns. Commitment and focus are critical, but inflexibility in the face of internal or external change makes you a dinosaur.

Work beneath your capability. Your reach should always exceed your grasp.

Ignore what the market is telling you. Think you know better than what customers tell you. Then there’s the reverse problem:

Ignore your gut instincts.
Fight too many battles on too many fronts.

Coast. Driven people don’t coast well.

Focus solely on your own little world. Silo mentality is dysfunctional, bigtime.

Become big and bloated. Grow your domain for its own sake.

Lose your sense of humor and humility.

Let your inner child reign. Nothing will kill your career faster than failing to act like an adult. 20 Ways to Screw Up Your Management Career: