So next week, my classes begin and my social life is being put on hold whilst I embrace the new love affair with programming. If any of you have suggestions, tips or hints on how you conquered programming, your advice would be appreciated.

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose… By any other name would smell as sweet

If you want to see more of what SharePoint can do for your company, check out this video overview of SharePoint:

Think Win-Win

Stephen R. Covey really captures the true formula for success in habit 4 called “Win Win”.

Think Win-Win isn’t about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique. It is a character-based code for human interaction and collaboration.

Most of us learn to base our self-worth on comparisons and competition. We think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing–that is, if I win, you lose; or if you win, I lose. Life becomes a zero-sum game. There is only so much pie to go around, and if you get a big piece, there is less for me; it’s not fair, and I’m going to make sure you don’t get anymore. We all play the game, but how much fun is it really?

Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying. We both get to eat the pie, and it tastes pretty darn good!

A person or organization that approaches conflicts with a win-win attitude possesses three vital character traits:

Integrity: sticking with your true feelings, values, and commitments
Maturity: expressing your ideas and feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and feelings of others
Abundance Mentality: believing there is plenty for everyone
Many people think in terms of either/or: either you’re nice or you’re tough. Win-win requires that you be both. It is a balancing act between courage and consideration. To go for win-win, you not only have to be empathic, but you also have to be confident. You not only have to be considerate and sensitive, you also have to be brave. To do that–to achieve that balance between courage and consideration–is the essence of real maturity and is fundamental to win-win. Think Win-Win isn’t about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique. It is a character-based code for human interaction and collaboration.

I liked this page so much I reposted from this page: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit4.php

Tracey Nolte Winning 1st Place - Texas All Natural Bodybuilding, Houston, TX

Productivity. Most people strive for it in futility and some master it effortlessly. Why then are companies struggling with understanding why they don’t have it and how to get more of it?

I’d relate it to having the perfect combination of DRIVE, ORGANIZATION and CREATIVITY. You can juggle many things, but without having those 3 as your base… you won’t keep everything in the AIR for long. We all have the same amount of time given to us. However, your priorities in life are STRICTLY YOUR OWN CHOICE.

Since, I’m not married, nor do I have any children, I am able to maintain a full-time job and several side jobs. It does take effort to organize, prioritize, maximize and execute getting it all done on time, but I love it. I love the feeling of accomplishment, I think I’m addicted to solving problems and fixing things. So here is my algorithim for getting it all done.

1. Keep a calendar and use it! Organize everything, every meeting, every piece of work you plan to do and put it on the calendar, along with the time you think it will take to finish. Also be sure to schedule your rest, social and personal time. Keep balanced.
2. Integrity is everything! Do what you commit to… follow through on your word. Your word is your bond, it’s the way people learn to trust you.
3. Don’t overcommit! Only do what you KNOW you can do. Do not make agreements, promises or anything that you are unsure of. Be clear about your boundaries and people will respect you.
4. Communication is Key! Keep in constant communication with stakeholders of your work. Keeping people informed about your progress or any changes allows for them to make educated decisions about the work you are performing.
5. Be creative and have fun! If it’s not fun, don’t do it. You will perform poorly, your commitments will suffer and so will you. Be creative about the things you take on and make it enjoyable… when you do… you’ll stick with it. It’s always great to get paid to do things you love. You will find it easy and you will accomplish alot more.

I am a strong believer in the power of “you can do anything you set your mind to.” I’ve proven it over the past 40 years, from being a triathalete, body builder, rock climber, cyclist, kick bocking instructor, painter, sculpter, IT professional, graphic designer, web developer, photographer, videographer, costume designer, interior designer, woodsmith, leathersmith, metalsmith, writer, musician, fashion designer, model, aerobics instructor, mountain climber, financial analyst, legal researcher, filmmaker, mobile app developer, and so much more!

It’s completely possible if you plan your work and work your plan.

There are no short-cuts here. To engage in this habit, you need to have a dream, define your own vision and get into the practice of setting goals which will allow you to make measurable progress toward the dream. Next, create the steps you think it will take to accomplish those goals. For example, the goal may be to have 1,000 OPT IN leads per month. Once you know that, they you can make steps to get there and measure your progress if you hit your goal. But, without knowing what you want… it’s kind of hard to tell if you have made it or not.

1. Find out what the problem is.
   • Listen carefully to the customer’s explanation of the problem.
   • Ask questions to clarify.
   • Paraphrase to be sure you understand the problem.
2. Find out what the customer expects to be done about it.
   • Listen to what the customer wants you to do about the problem.
   • If the customer’s expectations can be met, offer assurances that the problem will be solved.
3. Take personal responsibility for solving the problem.
   • Offer to help.
   • Don’t pass the problem along to someone else.
   • Know the policies of your organization.
   • Explain the options calmly.
4. Go out of your way to make the customer comfortable.
   • If you know that a problem may take awhile to solve, do whatever you can to make the customer comfortable during the wait.
   • Don’t leave a person on hold for more than two minutes. Instead, offer to call back.
   • In a face-to-face situation, suggest the customer wait in a more comfortable area, or come back in an hour.
   • Offer lunch, coffee, or magazines—anything to show that you care and that you will solve the problem.
5. Maintain an objective frame of mind.When someone is angry, don’t take it personally. The person is angry at the problem, not at you. So just listen. Let the person who is angry get his or her feelings out.
6. Stay positive and calm.
   • Apologize for the difficulty, even when it was not your fault.
   • Don’t blame others for the problem.
   • Never tell an external customer that the problem is something that always happens.
7. Resolve the problem quickly.
   • Think resourcefully. Try to determine the fastest and most effective way to solve the problem.
   • Offer reasonable alternatives if you can’t give them exactly what they want.
   • If you need to get someone else involved, explain the problem so the customer does not have to repeat it. And stay involved, even when someone else is helping.
8. Follow through.
   • At a later time, make sure that the problem was solved to the customer’s satisfaction.
   • Never ask the customer whether the problem was solved or what happened. You should know these answers.
   • Send a letter of apology, a gift, or premiums such as coupons, a free item, or additional service.
9. Look at the big picture.
   • Determine if the problem is a recurring one. If so, figure out ways to prevent it from happening again.
   • Work with others to find out how they solve similar problems.
   • Try to put a dollar cost on poor recovery.
10. Look for common sources of problems in the recovery process itself.For example, the source of the problem may be one of the following:
    • Inappropriate selection of people to handle recovery
    • Inadequate internal support systems (information and other) to do the job
    • Poor training
    • Insufficient latitude (within limits) allowed by management to deliver results to customers
    • Inadequate recognition and reward for good service recovery

Data cleansing, also known as data scrubbing, is the process of ensuring that a set of data is correct and accurate. During data cleansing, records are checked for accuracy and consistency, and either corrected, or deleted as necessary. Data cleansing can occur within a single set of records, or between multiple sets of data which need to be merged, or which will work together.

With the power of accurate information … you could:

• make the best decision and course of action (correct situational understanding)
• gain perspective of an obstacle you didn’t have before (learn new techniques)
• accomplish more (enhance productivity)
• prevent fires (figuratively and literally)
• change the course of history (correctly know your strategy vs. enemy strategy)
• save money and save time (know what works best in each situation)
• prevent disaster (accurate weather prediction)
• increase value (correct stock & bond gain/loss)
• prevent a war (accurate government intelligence)
• develop new technology (understand true needs of a culture)
• feed, heal and comfort disaster areas (accurate news coverage)
• save a life (correct doctor diagnosis)

For this reason, it’s critical to find out all the facts and be diligent about what an impact having the right information can have… not only to you, but to the world.

Stop, hammertime….

For example data mining, on inacurrate and “DIRTY DATA” can be a waste of time for the data engineer and the data requestor. If the requestor bases their decisions on faulty data, it could hinder their outcome. Data integry plays a bigger role than most people anticipate. Most of the reasons data get’s dirty is laziness, poor input planning processes and lack of concistency input. Here are some ideas that will help your team during a data cleanse.

STEP 1
Ask the right questions.

1. What is the data source (manual or automated)?
2. Is the input consistent (drop lists or free form)?
3. Are you capturing all the data you might need or are you capturing data you won’t need? (lean vs. bulk)
4. Who will need the data and what will they want to see?
5. How long does it take to pull data vs. how freqently do they want the data?
6. Do you understand what they are looking for vs. what they asked for?
7. What is the best method to interpret the data to help the requestor understand the results?

STEP 2
Plan your steps

1. Decide the best course before taking action (don’t waste time developing on the fly… work with the end in mind and work backwards).
2. Ask the stakeholders before taking a step (ensure that the end result you plan to deliver will contain all they need and be easy to understand.)
3. Document delivery methods if they are new before execution (it gives you a guide and if you need to recreate this, you can always refer to your map.)

STEP 3
Step your plans – Execute

1. Follow your plan and adjust it as needed as you go, while keeping stakeholders informed.
2. ALWAYS double check before you deliver.

With a little time on ensuring accuracy, you will increase the trust of your requestor and ensure the best decisions are made.

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to view and create a layer.

1. Open Adobe Photoshop (CS3 or CS4).
2. Create a new image by pressing File, New. When the pop up appears, choose a width and height around 500 pixels each and press OK.
2. If you don’t have a layers popup window already visible, click Window from the top drop down menu and choose Layers (or press F7).
3. Click the Layers Tab.
4. On the layers window, click the icon that looks like a paper with a fold to insert a new layer.
** Note it’s very important to have this screen visible because the layer that is SELECTED is the one that will be modified.

You can create multiple layers and very intricate works of art. With many layers it can get confusing, thus there is a create folder icon next to the create layer. With this option, you can drag your layers around or into folders to help organize the groups of images on your file.

Heath Shields - AKA SUPER HEATH

There are so many movies about super heros: Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Watchmen, Wonder Woman, Smallville, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Daredevil, Ultraviolet, Fantastic Four, Blood Rayne, Hulk, Ironman and Kick-Ass.
I suspect our love of superhero’s stems from our desire to be more than we think we TRULY ARE… and then projecting that “IDEAL” into a persona to idealize.

The problem with this fascination with ’super’ ness is that we feel that it’s something we can’t be or strive for or even attain. Of course we can’t have the strength of a speeding train or stop bullets with our eyeballs, but I do think we limit ourselves by putting boundaries on ourselves without really testing … I think I can. I’m a strong advocate of ‘you can do anything you put your mind to.’ I’m seriously not going to argue that if I wanted to fly bad enough I could… but I do suggest that you stop thinking about your boundaries of “comfortableness” with your capabilities and start EXPLORING those things that may seem highly improbable or impossible.

For example, have you ever NOT tried Chess because you didn’t think you were “SMART” enough? That’s a self limiting belief. TRY CHESS! Another example, do you avoid doing something because as a child you had a bad experience (like Karaoke, running, or even shooting for a new career in something your interested in doing?) TRY IT NOW… it’s never to late to use the time you have left on this planet to explore, expand and become your own inner SUPER HERO.

Uncle Ben always said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” I interpret that to mean that you are FULLY RESPONSIBLE for your own success or failure. You cannot blame anyone for your choices (which have consequences). I’m talking about the day-to-day problems you encounter when trying to deal with all the normal folks and making choices that REFLECT GREATNESS… SUPERNESS.

It all starts in your mind. Your mind is a SUPER computer and what you think about and focus on will manifest itself as a view or belief. If struggling with the DESIRE to do something that’s not so SUPER, then remember the words of my ZEN MASTER Niki (aka Sharon Jacobs Pieters) of Nikifit. She once told me “You choose the outcome when you choose the action. A mature person makes choices that align with their goals an idiot does what they want without considering the consequences. Then later they sprial into misery of never accomplishing goals due to their own poor choices and end up blaming everyone else because their are unhappy with life.” I strongly feel that being a SUPERHERO has everything to do with setting VERY HIGH attainable goals and aligning your actions to support your goals. (e.g. going to the gym, trying a new hobby or exploring a new job etc.) There is a super hero in all of us. Tap into your inner greatness and keep it plugged into your daily actions and you will SOAR, CONQUER, and ACHEIVE ALL KINDS OF GREATNESS!