5 ways to Think More Clearly: Brain & Mental Health Maintenance

Your friend texts you about their frustrating day, your taxes have to be filed, the radio spouts news of another disaster somewhere, and you still haven’t taken your car in for its oil change.  With the wonders of technology and high-speed interaction between us all, we’re finding it more and more difficult to keep our mental machinery chugging away at optimum performance.  What you need is scheduled maintenance.

Just like your car, your brain needs fuel and regular care to perform like you need it to.  If you drive your Ferrari too many miles without adding gasoline, it will sputter and quit on you.  If you go months without replacing oil and tires and hoses and belts, your Maserati will eventually respond with sluggishness or even more catastrophic ends.  Your brain is precision crafted—there is no substitute.  Here are five things to make sure your brain and mind keep humming along to serve your increasing needs:

1)      Sleep! Deprive your brain of sleep long enough and you’ll simply go crazy.  Your brain needs sleep to organize what’s happened during the day. Memories are processed and learning is cataloged during sleep.  Don’t get enough sleep, and you’ll simply not think clearly.

2)      Meditate.  Very different from sleeping, meditation is focused concentration on right now.  It gets your brain functioning in different wave patterns by clearing your thoughts and keeping your mind in the present—not worried about the future, not haunted by the past, but simply focused on right now.  Your brain finds peace in mindful meditation, and that produces rejuvenation.

3)      Experience beauty.  For some, this is the same as creativity, but not all of us are creative types.  Soak in what you find to be beautiful.  Some find beauty in the purr of an engine, others find it in a baby’s laugh.  This is what generations have referred to when they advise us to “stop and smell the roses.”  Whether you find beauty in flowers, in a fast pitch at a baseball game, or in the grandeur of nature, “beauty appreciation” is the brain’s opportunity to stop and function in a different mode.

4)      Experience the spiritual.  This isn’t your mother nagging you to go to church.  It’s an invitation to open your mind to awareness of something beyond the physical and visible.  For some this comes through study of quantum theory while others may experience it in religious worship.  The 12-steps refer to it as appreciation or awareness of a “higher power,” or something bigger or different than all of this and us.

5)      Veg!  In addition to sleeping and meditating, your brain needs time to let go and roam where it may.  You might “veg” by perusing Facebook or a magazine.  Some people might just exist for a period of time in front of TV news or a rerun of a mindless sitcom.  In men, “vegging” actually releases a hormone that produces a sense of calmness and can be useful to let go of the day’s stress.

While none of these five suggestions are helpful when practiced in excess, they each add to brain health.  So to prevent your brain from pinging or backfiring, give it a tune-up with these five maintenance activities, and your thinking will be clear and smooth

Kevin Bergen, MFT, is a freelance writer and the curator of  www.kevinbergen.com

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Credit: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-ways-to-think-more-clearly-brain-health-and-mental-maintenance/

Brainware Solutions LLC Hotlist for April 2011

Hello!

Name	Skill	Exp	Location	Relocation
Inderjot	Remedy Consultant	7+	Ca	YES, CA
Davinder	QA Analyst	7+	CA	Sacramento Area
Bujja	QA Analyst	7+	CA	Northern California
Somnath	Jr. Net Developer	3+	CA	CA
Prasanna	Jr. Net Developer	3+	Little Rock AR	OPEN
Priyanka	Oracle PL/SQL – UNIX	3.5 +	CA	OPEN
Hina	Business Process Analyst	7+	CA	Sacramento area
Ashwini	Project Manager/PMP	18+	CA	Sacramento area
Pratik	Business Analyst	7+	NJ	OPEN

Ten Tips for Better Time Management

When your life is out of balance, there’s a good chance that you’ll find your self struggling with time management. A balanced life means you have adequate time for work, goals, recreation, family, friends, spirituality and relaxation. It’s what I like to call being “Brilliantly Balanced”.

Causes of poor time management

• Your work can be too difficult or unsuitable making it hard for you to focus on being organized.
• You may not be making full use of your hours during your day or evening.
• You may be simply too tired to organize at home allowing for very little rest or peace at the end of the day.
• Or maybe you don’t have enough time to do anything in the evenings, then your daily routine is out of balance and you need to make adjustments.

At the core of each of these causes is poor organization. Becoming more organized can make you more efficient and productive which both open the door to better time management. Being well organized takes lots of time and effort and there is a lot to remember but the results are worth it: The more organized you are the more time you will have to take care yourself and your responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed or stressed out.

Here are ten tips to help you become better organized:

1. Write things down. With so many details to remember on any given day it can be overwhelming to try to keep it all in a memory bank. When you remember that something needs to be done write it down as soon as you can in a to-do list.
2. Use free web-based tools. Two great on-line tools are Toodle-do and Remember the Milk. They are online and can be accessed and synced on certain mobile devices.
3. Set-up email reminders. There are many good and free e-mail reminder services available. You can type in what you want to remember, such as a welcome party, anniversary or special event, and you will receive an e-mail reminder when the date is approaching. This is a terrific way to keep tasks fresh in your memory.
4. Use sticky notes. Sticky notes like Post-its from 3M are amazing as memory helpers. Write your tasks down and post it highly visible spots at home or at work. The bright, neon colors will be great to catch your eye as you are leaving. You will not likely miss it! Need to make an urgent call first thing in the morning? Leave a Post-It Note on your telephone.
5. Keep it all in one place. Whatever method you choose, make sure you are consistent in where you keep your list. Having things listed in one place keeps you from spending valuable time searching for your notes.
6. 10) Deal with items only once: Handle each letter and email as soon as they come in.  Whatever it is read it and file it, redirect it to somewhere else, schedule it in your day planner or toss it. This will keep you from creating a never-ending pile on your desk in hopes that you will get to it eventually.
7. Use timers and alarms. Take advantage of alarm clocks and timers throughout your day. Have to take the clothes out of the dryer by 12 noon? Set your alarm clock to remind you. Want to leave for the ladies luncheon by 7 p.m.? Set your timer to beep a few minutes before it is time to start to get ready.
8. Be confident in yourself. If you keep saying you have a bad memory, you will continue to have a bad memory. Use affirmations and self-talk to drown out the negative messages that keep you believing that you can’t do what it takes to become organized.
9. Stay healthy. Eat healthy; get plenty of rest and lots of good exercise. These will enable you to have better memory, stay focused and be alert. And it’s not just your physical health you want to pay attention to – your emotional health can contribute to how organized or disorganized you are.
10. Establish a good routine. Having a structured routine helps you plan your time. Use a planner or journal daily and be sure to schedule time for yourself. Stick with your new routine and you will find you will be happier and with much less stress.

You can become better organized. First, you decide to change the environment to a better one. Then, you change an attitude. After that, adjust your habits, establish and implement your plan, and lastly, adapt policy to maintain the order put there. Evaluate your daily routine, examine your findings and come up with a plan. Be prepared to follow your plan and with this, you can become better organized.

Starting in January I’ll be posting as I work through Regina Leeds, “One Year to An Organized Work Life”. ant to join me? Grab a copy of the book and join in the dialogue on the Careerkeover Coach blog!

http://careermakeovercoach.com/ten-tips-for-better-time-management/

by TAI GOODWIN on DECEMBER 18, 2009

Courtesy of : AVID Technical Resources -

Employment Gaps in Resumes

As IT recruiters, we often find candidates trying to cover up gaps in employment on their resumes.  Instead of trying to cover up any gaps and potentially jeopardizing your chance at landing your next IT job, following our simple advice:  Honesty is the best policy.

Most IT recruiters will tell you that it’s pretty easy to uncover gaps in employment.  Some of the most common include:

*Not using dates whatsoever:  Employment dates are mandatory in all resumes.  If an IT recruiter finds a    resume without any dates, it’s the biggest of the red flags.  No dates means the person behind the resume is trying to cover something up. 

*Using years, instead of adding the month and year of employment: This is also typically a red flag to IT recruiting firms.  The month and year should be included with every job listed on a person’s resume.  Excluding the month ignites suspicion with an IT recruiter that the candidate may be covering up anywhere from a one to twelve month gap in their resume.  When he or she is looking through dozens of resumes, sometimes all it takes is one red flag to disqualify the candidate.  Don’t lose out on an opportunity because you failed to include the month and year of employment on your resume.

*Fabricating employment dates:  Fabricating dates of employment is inexplicable.  Lying on your resume would, and should, black list you from that IT employment agency and/or client company.  Don’t run the risk of being caught, don’t jeopardize your chance at landing that perfect technical job opening

*Fabricating a position:  This is obviously just as unprofessional and deceitful as lying about employment dates.  Resumes should be an honest overview of a person’s skills and IT job experience and is a reflection upon the integrity of the person behind the paper.

  Instead of attempting to deceive the reader, be honest.  Ultimately, the employment gap will probably not prohibit you from getting the IT job as long as you candidly and honestly explain why there was a gap and what you did during this time.

In today’s economic environment, there are thousands of people out of work and faced with employment gaps.  If you are out of work for an extended period of time, do your best to sharpen your skills.  Take classes in the information technology field.  If you can’t afford them, most states provide these services through the local unemployment office.  IT recruiting companies or the clients themselves will typically respect the fact that you went out of your way to keep up with your skills.

Five ways to fail a job interview

AGENCY LIFE, GTD, PR — BY MORGAN MCLINTIC ON MARCH 12, 2010 9:59 AM 

I’ve interviewed hundreds of
job candidates. Going into an interview, I want the interviewee to
get the job, to be ‘the one’. But the law of averages says that’s
unlikely. Most candidates make the same mistakes:

They just
want A job not, THIS job - Particularly in the current economic
climate, candidates just want a position, any position. If you
can’t answer why you want to work for this company in this particular
role, and are the best person to do that, save yourself the bother of
applying. Contrary to what you may think, it’s not a numbers game. You
don’t marry just anyone with a pulse, so don’t apply to just any company
with a payroll. As an employer, I want to know why you are the only
person who can do the job.

They don’t know what we do -
You have to do your research into the company, its positioning,
competitors, challenges, financials, recent news. For instance, in my
sector, you have to know the difference between PR and advertising. I’m
sure there are similar fundamentals in other areas which scream lack of
research. It’s hard to take a candidate seriously who hasn’t put in a
few hours getting the fundamentals down.

They mess up the
basics – Turn up on time, wear a clean suit, bring an up-to-date
resume which is free of typos, don’t smell (e.g. of smoke or attack
perfume), brush your hair, have clean shoes, don’t wear too much make-up
(especially guys!) or show too much cleavage (guys!!), don’t sweat
profusely, or in any way give a first impression which is not the one
you intend. Your apparel and punctuality should not be noticeable. You
should be what we notice.

They’re dull - Companies want to
hire fascinating, engaged and exciting people. The ones who ooze
potential. So don’t bore your interviewer with trivial accomplishments,
bland perspectives, wrote answers or lengthy diatribes. Be different. I
often ask myself – would I want to get trapped in an elevator with this
person? If I can’t imagine inviting them home for dinner or going to a
bar with them, they’re probably not the right fit. Keep your answers
short, laugh your way through the interview, be yourself. This is
supposed to be you at your sparkling best.

They exaggerate
- During an interview the BS radar is on full alert and pointed
directly at you. So just be honest. By all means, highlight your
accomplishments but don’t claim abilities which you don’t possess.
Honesty and humility are far more important than supposed superpowers.
And don’t forget, if you get the job, and your track record is a
fabrication, we’ll find out. Start the relationship on a solid foundation -
in many ways it’s better to underplay your role and then over deliver
when you get the job.

Credit:

Five ways to fail a job interview

AGENCY LIFE, GTD, PR — BY MORGAN MCLINTIC ON MARCH 12, 2010 9:59 AM 

http://www.morganmclintic.com/pr/2010/03/five-ways-to-fail-a-job-interview.html?goback=.gmp_3688976.gde_3688976_member_46221938
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