How to write

On September 7th of 1982, advertising legend David Ogilvy sent an internal memo to all employees of his advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather. The memo was entitled "How to Write," and consisted of the following list of advice.

(Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners; Image: David Ogilvy, via Ogilvy & Mather.)

The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well.

Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.

Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing*. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning—and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

David

*Writing That Works, by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson

What are your regrets since graduation?

Its been 2 years since we shed the protective layers name "student".
I am sure we have our share of bad decisions made for the past 2 years.
It will be good to share them here away from the public eye of facebook.

Shall kick start mine.
1) Switch Job too fast

Book Reviews

There are some books which I need to read and digest as part of my work. I will be sharing some of my key takeaway here although I'm not sure how much of it is interesting to you guys... haha. Ok. Watch out for it! =D

The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.

People skills more impt than IQ?

I think its true. If you think about it, no one who succeeds in life ever says I did it because I have High IQ, but many say that it is perserverance and people skills.

I take perserverance as a key ingredient in anything that you do. but lately I feel that good people skills is the other key ingredient, much more so than interllect. I think that there is little space for people with good interlect to contribute anymore, unless you are in research and such. But people skills is what flies in today's environment. Look at the top earners in every area. They have great people skills(eg insuracne agents, real estate agents, investment bankers.)

For discussion, to revive this dead blog....

Nice Song

another outstanding article by Scott H Young.

I love this guys articles and have learn alot from his writings. it is not that i always agree but some articles i am a complete proponent of. this is one.

Personally I have never read the book mentioned below but i have read another book that brings me to the same conclusion(perhaps one of the best conclusion I have ever made in my life),namely the brain at work by david rock.


By Scott H Young
Five years ago, I read a book that completely transformed how I work.

It was a rather unheard-of book with a throwaway title: The Power of Full Engagement. But the main idea in the book was groundbreaking. I won't keep you in suspense, so here it is:

Time management is wrong.

Now for most people, time management and productivity are synonymous. Time management is all about beating procrastination, being efficient and organizing yourself to get the most done in the least time. That's hardly a controversial idea, right?

But this book argued differently. It claimed not only was time management wrong, but things like avoiding procrastination or scheduling your time wisely were wrong too.
Time Management is the Wrong Way to Work
Time management is broken because you're trying to measure the wrong thing. Using time efficiently isn't the problem, using your energy efficiently is.

Take a common situation to people who start on a new productivity system:

The first day, they get more work done than they had anticipated. On their high of accomplishment, they get even more done the second and third days. On the fourth day they start to forget their schedule. By the end of the week, they're back to where they began and give up in frustration.

From a time management perspective, this doesn't make sense. Why would these people start productive habits only to fail a few days later?

But from an energy management perspective, it makes perfect sense. On the first few days, these people spent a lot of their energy to get a productive boost, by the fourth day, they didn't have any more energy to spend. Queue laziness and procrastination.
Why Energy Counts
If you've ever been paid a wage, you know what it's like to count work with time. Paying someone $20 per hour implicitly divides up work in hourly chunks. It's part-ease and part-tradition, but does it make sense?

Take your current hourly wage (if you earn a salary, you can estimate by halving it and dropping three 0's [$60,000 = ~$30/hr]). Now, ask yourself, have you ever done an hour's work that was worth more than this amount? If you're any good at your job, you probably have.

Now ask another, easier, question--have you ever been paid for an hour which was worth less than your hourly rate? Unless you're an extremely charitable individual, I'd guess you probably have as well.

My guess is that it's actually fairly rare when your hourly rate is equal to the amount of value you create. A $50/hr worker might waste dozens of hours on $10/hr labor, but make up for it in solving a $1000/hr problem.

Time is an easy way to divide time, not an accurate one.

Now if you examined those times you created extraordinary value and the times you slacked off, I think there is an underlying cause in both of those: your energy. Enthusiasm, focus and drive result in high output per hour of work, fatigue and frustration result in the opposite.

If it were possible to measure energy, I'd guess your rate per unit of personal energy, would be far more consistent than your hourly wage rate.

Now, to ask a final question: if energy is far more relevant to the value of work you accomplish, why do people insist on "time" management?
How Do You Manage Your Energy?
The first step is to make energy optimization, not time management, your priority. Athletes understand that "rest" isn't wasteful--it's essential to playing at their peak. As a working athlete, you need to adopt the same approach.

Here's how to manage energy and get way more work done with less stress:
Don't worry about procrastination. I go with the 15-minute rule--work on a task for 15 minutes, if you still can't focus, take a deep break and come at it again later.
Don't make your days equally busy. I work 12 hours some days and 3 hours or less on others. Humans work in rhythms, so don't be afraid to oscillate, which means not fearing a few busy days but also forgiving yourself for other, lazier ones.
Sleep is your most productive time of day. I sleep at least 8 hours a day, whenever possible. "Sleep is for the weak," is a good motto for a cram or grunt work, but if you need your mind, it's stupid.
Exercise creates stamina. Giving up exercise won't have short-term consequences, but taking on a regular exercise program will have long-term benefits. If you regularly exercise your energy levels go up, helping you get more done in the long-term.
Don't count the hours. Focus on your energy levels and let that guide the work you do.