Tag Archives: Education

Common sense doesn’t mean spending millions

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Find real food at supermarketsThis following story highlights the creativity of man but especially how we can get caught up in the systems we created for ourselves.  Case in point when NASA had to engineer a pen that worked in space, meaning absolute cold, no gravity.  After millions of dollars spent, they had their product.  Russia on the other hand used pencils!

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside.  This was due to the way the production line was set up.  It is very difficult to have everything happen with timing so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time.  Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get annoyed and buy another product instead.

Understanding the importance, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months and $8 Million later they had a fantastic solution—on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time.  They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should.  The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the line.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results!  No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place.  Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share.  “That’s some money well spent!,” he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use.  It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report.  He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct.  The scales really weren’t picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.
A few feet before the scale, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin.

“Oh, that,” says one of the workers,  “one of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over… every time the bell rang.”

Simple coaching techniques anyone can use

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Picture, Nick Zart

Here are some tools you can use with and outside of coaching.  Some of them are free, some of them are available for purchase.

Meditation.  Here is a topic that is so often misunderstood.  While some view meditation in the strict sense of Zen Buddhist, rigid, static, striving for that illusive spontaneous self, other see a way to relax.  The bottom line is that meditation helps you connect back with your self, take scope and regroup.  It’s a must for anyone wanting to reclaim their runaway life and none other than high up successful executive and business owners know its merit all too well.

You can start simply on your own by devoting 15 minutes every day by yourself, with yourself.  Find a secluded spot in your home.  If you can, buy yourself something to shield any lights away from from you.  I found MindFold to be particularly effective and anyone can actually build one from scrap.  You can also use noise cancelling headsets, such as Boses Quiet Comfort or others.  Once comfortably seated, close your eyes, and start by observing yourself.  Observe your breath.  Don’t be disturbed by thoughts coming into to your mind.  Simply, in a detached way, let them slip away.  They are not you, nor do they define you.  The are just thoughts.

Binaural Beats:  Binaural beats are interesting and for those who have been reading this blog, I wrote a little about it a year or so ago.  What they do is put a tone in one ear and another one, slightly off-tune in the other in order to balance both hemispheres.  This allows you to go into deep states of relaxation, meditation and even concentration.

The Monroe Institute pioneered this type of work and perfected it over the decades.  Their CDs are available.  Mark Certo hails himself as a sonic alchemist and worked closely with the Monroe Institute.  His CDs called The Tranquility Training Method (TTM) are fantastic and I’ve particularly enjoyed them.

Soul Contract Reading.  The new tool I added for my practice is called Soul Contract Reading.  The system, also called the Holy Numerology of Moses goes back to millennial and has been “reintroduced” in order to facilitate this forward momentum the human race is experiencing.  By phonetically translating each letter to its Hebrew equivalent, a number and “energy” is given and put on a chart.  This charts helps you understand why your life works the way it down and how to make full use of it.  My initial reading was so fascinating and intense, I felt this would be an amazing tool for coaching.

Listening to your heartbeat is very helpful, so is your breath.  After sometime, you will find that inner peace many speak of.  In these states, everything becomes relative and problem solving is done with great ease.

Those are the basic free, if not at least affordable techniques anyone can use.  Still, nothing replaces a certified, professionally trained Coach.

89.3 KPCC asks about OWS Los Angeles

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It will be interesting to see what future generations make of Occupy Wall Street.  In the meantime,  89.3 KPCC is asking: What do you make of Occupy LA?  Check it out.

While most of us can’t participate and don’t feel heard, at least this is one way of weighing in.  And isn’t it what this is all about, reclaiming our voices?

http://www.scpr.org/network/questions/occupyla/

You can also check the Los Angeles event last night as the LAOWS was forced out.  People are mad.

Maneuvering the iPhone plans from the big three

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This is going to be a different post but my Blackberry, affectionately called Crackberry due to a crack on the screen is finally walking on its last leg.  The tracking ball fell off the other day, which spells the end of its usability.

The gist is the problem with Blackberrys is once the track ball is gone, your cell phone is close to worthless and can’t maneuver it leaving you stuck.  If Blackberry’s fame is email, without hosting your own servers or using theirs, it’s a corporate tool.

iPhone Plan Hell.  If you think shopping for an iPhone plan is easy, think again.  First you need to see if you really need to have an iPhone, then decide which one and finally which three carrier makes the most sense.

Which iPhone.  You can currently get 3 iPhones as of December 2011, the 3GS, the regular 4 and the very cool 4S.  The difference is the 3GS and 4 don’t have the famed artificial intelligence SIRI the 4S has.  The specs are not the same but a regular user won’t feel much difference between all three.

All iPhones come with a 2 year contract, although AT&T is the only one that offers the 3GS, which you can get for free from Apple, if you sign up for a 2 year contract.  All three offer the 4 and 4S.  Sprint and Verizon use a same technology iPhone, while AT&T a different one.

OK, But What About The Plans?  Sit down, brew yourself a cup of tea.  It will take time to decipher them.  Verizon has the most confusing website and wants you to buy without seeing the complete price first, so avoid it.  Their chat service is slightly better.  AT&T trails behind as far as the complexity of explanations and Sprint has the clearest descriptions.  As of December 2011, Sprint is the only “unlimited” carrier, meaning you should be able to use it’s web without being throttled (slowed down).

Here is a recap of the most basic service plan you can get for an iPhone 4S.  Numbers are per month:

Sprint

Single line: $80 text, web, nights 7, unlimited, 700mn talk time, AAA 10%, roughly $80 per month, roughly $90 without AAA.  Activation fee (?)

Family plan: $150 with the extra iPhone, any mobile unlimited from any carrier, 1500mn talk time and same as above for both lines, AAA 10%.

Verizon

Verizon insists you buy voice and texts seperatly from data.

Single line: $30 will get you 2gb of data, $40 450mn mobile Verizon calls, $10 text 1,000 verizon to Verizon, $70, $100, activation fee $35

Family plan: gives you 700mn for $100 or 1400 = $120, the same data per line for $60 2gb altogether for $200

ATT

The basic plan: text and cell phone is $20, $40 will give 450mn of calling landlines how you would know is your guess, free AT&T mobile to mobile, and a neat feature not seen in a while with roll over minutes, $25 gives you 2gb ($10 for additional gb), $95 per month, with an activation fee of $36

Family plan: $150 will add another line, with 700mn land line calls, 2gb per, not shared.

Finally, I decided to have a look at Metro PCS which claims the best price and to be truly unlimited, unfortunately no iPhones are available.

Metro PCS

There is no contract, you pay on a month to month, whatever day the service bought, you pay the follow month’s day before.  For instance if you buy you phone and service on the 15th, you will pay on the 14th of the following months.

To use their 4G spectrum, Metro PCS has an LG phone that costs $440, the unlimited $60 a month plan, you can add $10 for unlimited international calls for a total of $70.

In the 3G spectrum, there is a Samsung for $141, with $50 regular unlimited, a $60 plan which adds some TV station streaming and you can also get international calls for $10 more.

Family plan: You subtract $10 for both, i.e. a two $60 per month plan becomes $110 a month.

How Much Do I Need?  Therein lies the real problem I suspect Verizon and AT&T want to cash in on as much as possible.  As a rule of thumb, roughly 200 MB will be 10,000 normal emails (no intensive media attachment there), or you could view about 1,150 web pages, or 105 minutes video streaming.  2gb of data will allow you to send about 100,000 emails, or view 11,500 web pages, or 1,050 minutes of video streaming.

Final Thoughts.

How Difficult Can We Make The Plans?  Both Verizon and AT&T score very high on the confusion factor.  Sprint ranks better but I assume it is because they are new into the game and want to snatch the new lucrative market.  Nonetheless, it is very, very confusing shopping for a cell phone plan and it feel carriers deliberately confuse on purpose to make it hard enough for anyone to eventually give up and buy any plan.  The complexity of the explanations is enough to make sure 80% of clients will not understand everything.  Verizon’s website is the worse example.  Maneuvering it was a lesson in futility, luring you “buy” the plans without seeing the complete price.

Unlimited.  Here is another catch phrase that means very little these days.  Unlimited is not really unlimited and so far the only truly unlimited service is Metro PCS and it would seem Sprint, although I’m not sure if they throttle you after a certain amount.  What this means is that when the carrier tags you as a heavy bandwidth consumer, you are throttled.  Instead of getting full speed, they slow you down.  I’m witnessing this with my home internet with Clear Communications.

To make things worse, these findings only apply for this month!  You can be sure that after the holiday, prices and plans will change.  There is really little to no competition in this industry, which we’ve come to see over the decades.  AT&T has the biggest global coverage but Verizon might have you covered in that little tucked away city.  Sprint has a strong Internet back bone and Metro PCS is riding on Sprints network.

Will we see an iPhone on T-Mobile, my current carrier and Metro PCS?  You bet, st some point at least.

Confused yet?  In the end, and for this month only, if you want the latest iPhone, Sprint is the way to go with $80 a month with a AAA membership.  If Android is your choice and coverage is not an issue, i.e., you will say within the confine of big cities, it’s hard to beat Metro PCS prices.  AT&T makes sense for global businessmen and Verizon if you travel to smaller cities within the US.  Watch out for Verizon’s soon-to-come Hotspots.

The Shift’s From Ego to Essence free teleseminar, don’t miss it

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Dear friends,

I’m excited to let you know that The Shift is about to start another powerful free teleseminar with celebrated evolutionary leader Barbara Marx Hubbard and transformational meditation teacher Patricia Ellsberg on The Shift from Ego to Essence.

You will most likely greatly benefit from this call in which they will reveal the keys to shifting from the egoic “local self” to the Essential Self — giving access to divine guidance and the ability to live with grace, confidence, creativity, purpose and joy — particularly needed in these times of great change.  A much needed quality to develop these days.

Please, register for free here:

It’s happening this Monday, November 21st, at 5:00pm Pacific / 8:00pm Eastern! Don’t worry if you can’t make it live — you can register and you’ll be sent a link to the recording.

Warmly,
Nick

Are you sure you’re sure to be sure you want to do that?

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For the past two decades, the computer industry and how it is turning the Internet has been asking you: “Are you sure, that you’re sure that you want to do that?”

The gist is how sure am I from deleting a file?  Why, I clicked on the button, didn’t I?  Don’t understand what I mean?  Have you tried signing up for a an Internet service lately?  Worse yet, have you lost a password and had to retrieve it?  Then you know what I mean by the countless mouse clicking and: “Are you sure that you’re sure you want to do that?” treatment.

Apple iTunes, Leading The Way.  I’m using less and less iTunes since a while back I realized I inadvertently created 3 different accounts.  I had money on all and things got complicated when a friend gave me her iPhone.  iTunes got confused.  It asked for password and somehow, I lost all but one account, including the money in it.  I found out Apple has different  structures, iTunes, Apple and Mobile Me.  I dropped the last two and I hear iCloud will address these issues.

Social Media Sign Up Nightmare.  A while back, my business partner and I started a website which will be revealed in due time.  We tried signing up on Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace.  Facebook wouldn’t allow fictitious names, nor does LinkedIn.  I started a new Gmail account to bypass these non-sense but Google didn’t allow our newly registered domain generic info@ email address.  In the end, MySpace and Twitter were the easiest.  Should it really be that difficult to sign up for a free service?  Or the better question is, should I have to pay for the idiotic spammer and physhers out there making it hard for us to use our Internet?

Social media and the Internet should be open and easy to use.  The problem, as usual is that those who abuse it make it tough on us.  In the end, it’s a pretty day outside, I’ll go out and enjoy it :)

Why Wholistic?

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Kindle the ligh of spiritualityI get asked this question frequently, if not: “Don’t you mean holistic?”

The gist is yes, I do mean wholistic because you need to see life, approach it in its entirety as a whole.

So why wholistic?  If you don’t look at life in a wholistic way, then you are missing pieces…

Social media, what are you and what’s your worth?

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How to use Social Media intelligently

USing social media to listen, not just to sell

I admit, I love social media and I get it.  It’s fun, can be a great tool and of course, it’s not very well used most of the time.

The gist is social media is great.  The varieties of social media channels available cater to almost every type of businesses.  The trick is what do you want to use it for and to do what?

IBM Survey.  IBM had an interesting survey of global companies where CEOs said their biggest difficulty is information management and second, social media.  It turns out companies know how to market to the mass but not to individuals.  Companies spend a lot of money advertising to groups of people but they are not good at reaching out and hearing to individuals.

So how do you reach out to individuals?  How do you get individuals to tell you what they want?

It’s not very difficult if you offer something needed and worthwhile.  You need to compete for 5 to 10 minute attention from individuals who are overwhelmed with a hectic pace of life leaving little time to stop and think.  What makes your question or offering appealing to them?  It’s what you offer.  It can be as simple as giving them enough attention to express themselves, something they would like to see or have, something that would actually make their life easier.  Intrigue them, put out reports, let them ask, and ask back, what should the company provide them.  There is plenty to offer but the key is to offer something they need and can use.

In the meantime, social media is a fun game you can tweak to serve your broadcast platform.  It will not work if all you do is tell people to check out your site or your product.  If you don’t get personal, you won’t get much out of it and be just another sales pitch drowned in a sea of look alike.

So here are some questions to get you going; What is social media?  What does it me to use social network?  What is networking?  Why use it and to what end?  After this go talk to your coach and if you don’t have one, reach out I can help you.

The greatest session I had… today

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Tap The Source

Tapping the source for better decision making

Do you know that Smashing Pumpkin song: “Today”?  That’s a little how I feel.

The gist is breakthroughs are wonderful when they happening but what we choose to do with them is where the real work is.  In order for a breakthrough to happen a few things must be in place.  You must be aware that life has been sending you signs, most of you the time, we disregard them until they become too powerful to neglect.  See my post yesterday.

Stepping Into Your True Nature.  There is a great saying in French, chase away the natural and it will come back running to haunt you.  In my case, most of my adult life, I tried to look like the person I wasn’t.  Needless to say, that doesn’t work in the end.  When things got tough, I applied what I had been taught at school… work harder.  That doesn’t work because you will eventually collapse at some point.  If you do, the only alternative is to truly be yourself.  Once you allow yourself to be, it feels great.  The road there is more difficult.

Honoring Your Purpose.  In the end, it’s a case of honoring your purpose in life.  Trying to be what you are not in order to appease those who care about you is counter productive, for you and them.  You must be who you are deep inside, not supposed to be.

Oh, and my personal story?  Today I actually did the type of coaching I feel is the most natural.  At the request of my client, I took out my pendulum and we asked questions.  It felt genuine, comfortable and at the same time, I saw my real face and it wasn’t proud, righteous or anything like that.  It just was.  Yes, some coach would scoff at this, but other MCC will smile.

Indeed Today is the greatest, day of my life… Can’t wait for tomorrow…  The Smashing Pumpkins.

How to live a balanced life anywhere

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Watching the movie: “The Science of Healing with Dr. Esther Sternberg” made me smile.  Western medicine is discovering the virtues of traditional Mediterranean healthy living…

The gist is many of us know intuitively or by having lived abroad that a healthy involves a life/work balance.  That documentary approaches that topic well.  Dr. Sternberg discovers a century old way of living and it health benefit.  In other word balancing work, play, eat, enjoy and rest makes for a healthy life.

It’s interesting to see the paradigm shift currently happening.  On the one hand, there well established business 1.0 companies making a fortune on consumers not living well, eating poor food and treating ailments.  What happens when more people become vegetarians, vegan and eat organic or local produced foods?

It will be a few interesting upcoming years…