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How to avoid distractions at work

When it comes to distractions, we are not alone. Many of us struggle to complete our daily office tasks. Why? Well, it is all about distractions, primarily social media. 

Yes. We watch YouTube, we lose 15 minutes there. 

We check Facebook, we lose almost half and hour there, 

We check Instagram, there there, more minutes gone. 

And eventually we realize we haven’t done a single task in the entire morning and now it is lunch time. 

So, what happens then? We have to stay back and finish those chores and time seems to fly. What should we do here? Use productive apps to stop us from distractions? 

No. We do not need those. All we need is self-control. Self-control seems difficult but as they say, practice makes a human perfect. So, we practice, and we are there. Here are some tips:

1. Control your mind: Well, it is very simple. You don’t have to control someone else’s mind. You have to control your mind. All you have to do is not to give in to temptations. Temptations can be anything, right from going to the pantry/kitchen to get coffee/tea or checking your phone. Don’t give in to any temptation

2. Keep track of your time: Remember your work pays you. So, focus on the work which will give you 80 to 90 percent of return. Social media posts won’t give you any return unless you work with them. For example, if you are a recruiter, you would need to check LinkedIn, if you are a youtuber, you will have to check your channel, if you are a content writer of a company and manager of the social media profile of the organization you are working with, then you will have to be active on maybe Facebook or Instagram… etc.  All the same, if you are not working with social media, it is wise to stay away from those during work hours.

3. Visualize yourself completing your goals for the day: For example, you have to finish a task and send it over to your supervisor. Once he/she receives it, you will be free for some time without any worry of missing a deadline. That’s when you can go for a peaceful break. So, visualize that idea of rewarding yourself with some moments of stress free break and, immediately start working on your task.

4. Internal distraction: That’s the thing about the mind. It keeps on wandering. Keep it in place when you are working. If you are expecting a call from someone, or you are dreaming of the date you have in the evening, tell yourself that when the phone will ring, you will hear it. When evening comes, you will go on a date. Thinking about those during work hours will only result in delay of your work and you won’t have time to talk to your friend, neither will you have time for your date.

5. External distraction: Switch off the television, keep your phone away, switch off notifications from social media. After work, you can check your social media profile and other text messages. Remember, if something is urgent, people will call you and when they call you, you will hear your phone ring. You don’t have to keep on checking your phone.

6. Be consistent: If you have decided that no matter what, you will work for 45 minutes without checking your phone, practice that every day. Eventually it will become a habit and remember habits die hard. The more you focus on constructive habits, the better you get in making yourself a disciplined human.

 

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michalbohanes/2018/07/31/when-youre-distracted-at-work-be-ashamed-of-yourself/#4179ffe6c588

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-critical-tips-prevent-distraction-and-sharpen-your-focus.ht

https://hbr.org/2017/12/what-to-do-when-youre-feeling-distracted-at-work?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=hbr&fbclid=IwAR3-V6poEIQW-59bnJsZ-G3IKNRTcL2H1z8Dun9RuBV3YlD37xtUPTrF9QQ

 

 

 

Job Interviews, how to handle!

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Interviews are scary sometimes and sometimes they are breeze. Why are they scary? Because we don’t know what to say. And sometimes, we wanted to say something, but we ended up saying something else. Sometimes we did not answer what the interviewers wanted to hear. So, how should we handle interviews?

Here is what we can do:

1)      Thorough research:  Do a thorough research about the company. For example, there are companies which publish certain reports like earning reports and so on and so forth. Read those details. So if the interviewer asks you about the opportunities the company might get in a year or two from now, you can say, ‘While reading some reports the other day on the internet, I saw that there were some changes implemented in web marketing. I feel, owing to that, there could be chances of xyz opportunities….

2)      Tell me something about yourself. Now this one question, everyone thinks he/she  can answer perfectly because we feel we know everything about ourselves. However, the interviewer, here, is not looking at answers from your resume or your cover letter. He/She is looking at an answer which can connect you and your credentials for the role you are applying. For example, talk about something which you have achieved in your professional career which fills up the need of the role you are applying for in this current company. You can say something like, ‘When it comes to work, my way of working is such that…..’ . If you are applying for a role in HR, you can start with, ‘I have always been a people’s person….’

3)      Ensure your social networking sites are clean. Interviewers nowadays check the candidate’s social media profile for any red flag/sore point. Hence, ensure your profile does not have anything objectionable.

4)      Time: The best day and time to schedule an interview is Tuesday, 10:30 a.m. Why? Because Mondays and Fridays are all about scheduling for the week and winding up. Avoid lunch time or a time slot right before or after lunch. After lunch, the interviewer might be in food coma and before lunch, he/she might be in a rush to go for lunch. Avoid the last slot of weekdays as well because if they are in a rush to go home, they will be rushing through your interview as well.

5)      What is your weakness? This is one question, which is primarily asked not to know about your weakness, but to know how you handled it. The answer can be something like, ‘I usually tend to panic when it comes to organizing huge events. But now I know, how to go about it. I plan it perfectly and never wait till the last moment. I ensure all the arrangements are done before time, so that there is no last moment running hither thither.’

6)      Be ready with PAR anecdotes: PAR stands for Problem Action Result. If you come with anecdotes of interesting experiences, the interview becomes memorable. So, have three anecdotes ready from your professional experience wherein there was a problem, what action you took and what was the result.

7)      Do you have any questions? If the interviewer asks you ‘Do you have any question for me?’. Ask something which will portray one more attribute of yours. For example, you can say, ‘I have always actively participated in CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility)activities. Will I get an opportunity to do that here?’

8)      The final question: Before the interview ends, you can ask this question. Although the question is bold, it would show your confidence level. You can ask, ‘Have I said anything in this interview which makes you feel that I wouldn’t be the right choice for this position?’. That way, the interviewer might tell you what he/she felt.

9)      Do not forget to send a thank you email. Try doing it within 24 hours. That shows gratitude and also, even if you do not get the job now, there are chances, the recruiter might get back to the email thread months later.

Sources:

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonyoushaei/2014/10/20/12-surprising-job-interview-tips/#47493bdd50f4

https://hbr.org/2019/08/how-to-respond-to-so-tell-me-about-yourself-in-a-job-interview

Job Satisfaction

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We all have come across the term job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction, although the term seems very simple, many of us still end up confusing it with job comparison. Being happy with your job is one thing and comparing your job with someone else’s job is entirely a different thing. There are times when we are frustrated with some things happening around us and we start grumbling that there is no job satisfaction here and hence we need to look out for new ventures. Looking out for new ventures is not wrong, but why are you looking out for new ventures is important. It shouldn’t be the case that you are jumping from one organization to another and you are still not happy. Here are the factors you need to look at to know about job satisfaction.

1)      Relationship with reporting heads: Well, reporting heads sure are stern sometimes and they have to be because they are the ones answerable to clients for any glitch. All the same, if they care about you, if they are fair, guide you well, then you should be happy because you have one factor ticked marked ‘yes’ in the list of job satisfaction.

2)      Honing your skill-sets: Are you able to hone your skill-sets in this job? Are you learning something new? If yes, this is the second factor of job satisfaction, which you can you tick as done.

3)      Does the company care? If your company cares for its employees, ensures transparent communication, recognizes your efforts, provides rewards and good incentives, then this is the place for you to be.

4)      Cordial work environment: If you have wonderful colleagues, supportive team members, this adds to your job satisfaction.

5)      Feedback: If  feedback is given in positive light and the company also has the culture of two-way feedback, this place is your place.

6)      Work-Life balance: Does your company have options for working from home when you need it? Do they have paid time off?  Do you get leaves when needed? If yes, then you are at the right place.

7)      Policies: If your company ensures fairness regardless of age, gender, disability etc., this is the perfect place for you.

8)      Job Security: If you don’t feel insecure about your job, if there is consistent communication, and you are happy with your role, this is certainly a factor you can tick as yes in your list of factors of job satisfaction.

9)      Growth: If you are growing in terms of knowledge, if you are getting recognition for your efforts, if you get promoted based on your diligence, knowledge, efforts, and your contribution in making the company grow and of course at the right time intervals, this is your place.

.NET Blogs to Follow - The Beginners List

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Technologies are changing, evolving and deprecating every day. One needs to be well versed with the jargon like open-source, architecture, programming model or buzzwords like AI, ML.

To keep yourself updated with these trends, reading and exploring is imperative. When I start my day and before I jump onto my work, I go through some posts, blogs and articles.  The internet is flooded with content so here is my recommendation for beginners.

1. Dew Drop - https://www.alvinashcraft.com/
   This is my favorite link and I never miss on reading this one everyday. The best part is that it is regularly updated with great content to explore.
2. Discover Dot - https://discoverdot.net/
   My second most favorite and an another brilliant web-page to visit daily. A unified place that has new NuGet packages information, blogs, links and videos to go through.
3. Channel 9 - https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/On-NET
   An extensive channel to go through .NET videos.
4. Dev.to - https://dev.to/
   A great social platform for programming
5. The Morning Brew - http://blog.cwa.me.uk/
   Another blog post that gets updated on a daily basis is this one. This too has some useful references to go through.

This is my curated list of top 5 links that I usually follow and read whenever I get time. Also, Twitter is another good source that gives you a lot of content to explore. A great microblogging and social networking service where I follow many tech evangelists.
If there is an amazing data or blog that I am not aware of, feel free to update these in the comments section.

Behind the scenes of a https request

Whenever we visit any online shopping website, website of a bank or financial institution, we always want to ensure it is using "https" (i.e. web site is secured), and data exchanged with the website is encrypted to maintain high level of security. 

Many of us may not aware of the steps that are executed in the background whenever we access any secured website using "https". This has been explained below using a very simple scenario i.e. a web browser's interaction with a web server. 

Writing a compelling resume.

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Writing a resume is never breeze. There is a recruiter out there, who has received innumerable resumes and he needs to shortlist the best. Will your resume make it to the shortlisted ones? Well, that is where the challenge begins. So, how do you ensure that the recruiter likes your resume? Here are some tips.

1. Remember, people do not have much time to read details. Hence, it is always about the first 15 to 20 words that decide whether the recruiter will approve your resume or not. Write about yourself precisely, stressing on why you are the right person for the job.
2. Do not use Clichés.  There are resumes which start with phrases like, ‘Completed five years in this field. Responsible for managing a team of 15 people’ and so on and so forth. These are overused phrases. Try avoiding such phrases.
3. Write in the correct order. In case of business resume, write your employment history and relevant work experience first. You can add your education and certification details at the end of the resume.
4. A Resume is not meant to be comprehensive. Hence, select only the relevant details and add those. Do not add every single detail of your career.
5. Write the accomplishments, not the responsibilities. For example, you may have managed a team of 15 people. But what is important is, in your guidance, were they able to achieve their goals, were their skill sets and knowledge enhanced?
6. Your resume should be readable. It is okay for the resume to be 2 to 3 pages long. But, do not make it longer than that. Do not use fancy fonts. Keep appropriate spaces between words.
7. Tweak your resume as per the job requirement. Do some research on the company you are applying for job, talk to people and try and find out more about it and then go ahead and tweak your resume based on that. Tweaking, however, never means that you have to be dishonest. Be honest and truthful when it comes to highlighting your skill sets.
8. Most important point here is, ensure your LinkedIn profile is updated. Ensure that your profile summary is written in first person. If you do not have a LinkedIn Profile, sign up now. All the same, do not copy paste your resume on your LinkedIn profile.

References: https://hbr.org/2014/12/how-to-write-a-resume-that-stands-out

Staying Positive in gloomy times

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With the storm of negativity looming in our lives in this period, right from corona virus pandemic to financial crisis, some of us might be fighting a war with ourselves pondering on how our ships will sail through. Well, negative thoughts coming to our minds at this point in life is natural, but what is not right is letting these negative thoughts gulp us. So, what can we do here? Here are some steps to let positivity breathe life.

• Tell ourselves, it is a phase and it will pass. Remember, nothing is permanent. This phase is not permanent either. After every harsh winter, there is always a bright summer.
• Stop sympathising with ourselves. We must never tell ourselves that we are wronged. If we do so, we will end up extending our period of self pity and thereby bringing suffering to us and people around us. Not just that, self pity can sometimes lead to bitterness and bitter feelings can nip the bud of creativity and positive thoughts
• Let us try and look at the positive sides. We can think of at least 5 positive things that happened because of this. Maybe we were able to bring out the creative side in us, maybe we were able to come up with new ideas for growth and self-development, maybe we were able to work on some things which we thought we would never be able to work on.
• Let us try and be thankful for all the good things we have. The phase is strenuous and it’s not easy to be thankful in this period of crisis. However, if we are thankful for the good things we have, it becomes easier for us to face challenges.
• Let us talk to our well-wishers, friends and family. We are not alone. Also, let us try and help people who need us. Yes, times are tough, but there could be people who are in a worse situation than us. Let us reach out to them. Help them if we can. Helping people less fortunate than us can help us put things in perspective.
• Stay away from media. Listening and watching the same old gloomy stuff again and again will do us no good. We are already fighting a war with ourselves. We need to emerge as winners. Dismal news will only push us back to the dark clouds
• Get some sleep. In periods of stress, getting sleep is a herculean task. Nonetheless, getting sleep is imperative to think clearly and stay focused
• Re- think the values of life. Ask yourself, ‘Have I realised what really matters in time of crisis? Whatever goals and meanings I was following before this period of crisis, are they precious or do I need to work on new goals?

Period of crisis teaches us some important lessons in life and these lessons are valuable. We learn to appreciate things which, we might have taken for granted earlier. All the same, every day is not the same. Things change, better things come our way. Everything will be okay in the end. John Lenon rightly said, ‘Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.’

Sources: https://theconsciouslife.com/stay-positive-tough-times.htm