Manage Your Time with Parkinson’s Law

Manage Your Time with Parkinson’s Law 

We can use Parkinson’s Law to be more efficient and effective in meeting deadlines and reaching our personal goals.

Ever noticed that when you have too much time to complete a task, you procrastinate until the very last minute?

But then you immediately go from lazy-mode to productivity superhero to hit a deadline, without sacrificing the quality of your work at all? 

Articulated by the British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson’s Law says: 

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.

For example, according to Parkinson’s law, if someone is given a week to complete a task should really only take them a day to finish, they will often end up unnecessarily stretching out the task, so that it will take them the whole week to complete it. 

When people decide to work on some project, whether it’s a business idea that they want to develop or a story that they want to write, they will often end up taking significantly longer to get started and to finish those things than they need, especially in situations where they don’t have a concrete deadline for finishing the project.

We can use Parkinson’s Law to be more efficient and effective in meeting deadlines and reaching our personal goals.

Putting a deadline to each task or each goal refocuses our target and energy to what needs to be done as well as enforces our effort to its maximum possibilities.

By applying Parkinson’s Law, you can remove the time fillers that slow you down, set time constraints, and limit the choices you have to make.

In doing so, you can reserve your energy for staying focused, productive, and smarter about how you work and the tools you work with.

Long story short, our efforts are increased when the time allotted is shortened. As time is dragged on, our efforts get drastically decreased.

So, give a strict time frame when goals and task needs to be completed and our energy and resources are focused to complete them.

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Why Life Skills?

Life skills are the abilities and behaviors that help us deal effectively with the events and challenges of everyday life.

Why Life Skills?

Do you know that teaching and learning life skills are incredibly important for empowering young people to achieve success in education, employment and personal goals?

According to National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), teaching and learning life skills are incredibly important for empowering young people to achieve success in education, employment and personal goals. 

In her groundbreaking book, "Mind in the Making," Ellen Galinsky describes life skills as essential skills for success in all aspects of life, including college, relationships, and work. 

Life skills are the abilities and behaviors that help us deal effectively with the events and challenges of everyday life. 

They are the skills that allow us to handle everything from interactions with others to identifying and processing our emotions. 

They assist us to develop self-confidence and successfully deal with significant life struggles and changes. 

Interestingly, only a few universities all over the world have integrated life skills into their education systems; and University of Petroleum and Energy Studies is the part of the proud league. 

Glad to be a member of School For Life team at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies to offer these incredible life skills to its dynamic student community.

It was an honor to teach elements of Indian culture to 28 British youngsters (from various universities in the UK) who came to India for a British Council-supported 14-day-long “Generation UK-India” programme. 

I taught them with the help of inspiring interactions, interesting activities and fun games, in a professional and approachable manner. 

I am very sure and strongly believe that education on Life Skills is set to see a significant increase in demand across the globe.

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Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural Sensitivity is crucial as it helps us lead with understanding and empathy, rather than judgment.

Cultural Sensitivity

With world rapidly becoming smaller, and people travelling far and wide, there are high chances that we will encounter people with varying cultures. Is your team at the workplace aware of cultural sensitivity?

Cross-cultural experiences help us build respect and empathy for other people, and celebrate our differences as well as our similarities.

On this day (Nov 25, 2020), one year ago, I along with my colleagues from different nationalities, completed my educational sojourn from JAIMS (Japan - America Institute of Management Science), Hawaii.

On our final day of completing the most prestigious program GLIK (Global Leaders for Innovation & Knowledge), we participated in a cultural event.

We represented our countries, and showcased our cultures and traditions through dance, music, and food.

Based on my experiences dealing with my colleagues from various cultures, I believe that cultural sensitivity is crucial as it helps us lead with understanding and empathy, rather than judgment.

In our globalized, interconnected world, colleagues, business partners and customers hail from a diverse range of cultures.

With world rapidly becoming smaller, and people travelling far and wide, there are high chances that we will encounter people with varying cultures. Is your team at the workplace aware of cultural sensitivity? 

In 2016, it was an honor to teach elements of Indian culture to 28 British youngsters (from various universities in the UK) who came to India for a British Council-supported 14-day-long “Generation UK-India” programme.

I taught them with the help of inspiring interactions, interesting activities and fun games, in a professional and approachable manner.

I am very sure and strongly believe that education on Cultural Sensitivity is set to see a significant increase in demand across the globe.

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Skills on The Rise

Life Skills education is set to see a significant increase in demand across the globe.

Skills on The Rise

Workers will see an average shift of 42% in required workplace skills in the period leading up to 2022. Life Skills growing in prominence include Analytical Thinking and Active Learning.

Do you know, according to World Economic Forum, by 2022, Life Skills are set to see a significant increase in demand?

Global average “skills stability”— the proportion of core skills required to perform a job that will remain the same — is expected to be about 58%.

That means workers will see an average shift of 42% in required workplace skills in the period leading up to 2022.

Life Skills growing in prominence include Analytical Thinking and Active Learning. However, proficiency in new technologies is only one part of the 2022 skills equation.

Other Life skills such as Creativity, Originality, Initiative, Critical Thinking, Persuasion and Negotiation will increase their value, as will Attention to Detail, Resilience, Flexibility and Problem Solving.

Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and Social Influence as well as Service Orientation are also set to see a particular increase in demand.

Only a few universities all over the world have paid attention to this most crucial aspect of education, and University of Petroleum and Energy Studies is the part of the proud league.

Glad to be the founding member of School for Life at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies to offer these incredible Life Skills to its student community.

Also in 2016, it was an honor to teach Life Skills to 28 British youngsters (from various universities in the UK) who came to India for a British Council-supported 14-day-long “Generation UK-India” programme.

I taught life skills with the help of inspiring interactions, interesting activities and fun games, in a professional and approachable manner.

I am very sure and strongly believe that Life Skills education is set to see a significant increase in demand across the globe.

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Present Like A Pro: End with Effect

As presenters, we always hope that our presentations will end off on a high note.

Present Like A Pro: End with Effect

If you start strong but flounder at the end of your presentation, what feeling are people going to be walking away with? Not a good one, that’s for sure! That’s why the ending your presentation is so important.

Yes, it’s critically important to open a presentation well, so you capture the audience's attention. Equally important – closing it well, as that’ll be what people remember most from your talk.

Fireworks Techniques

Here are selected 'Fireworks Techniques' to effectively close your presentation,

(i) A Short Summary: 

Simple, straightforward and effective. For example, if your presentation has three takeaways, just summarize those three quickly. Or, summarize your main point. Is it the sexiest way to close your presentation? No. But it will imprint your point on your audience’s mind – and it’s particularly effective when giving an informational talk. 

(ii) Call to action:
What’s the point of giving a presentation? To share important information, yes. But you also want people to DO something with that information. And in order to do that, you need to end your presentation with a clear call to action. Something which motivates, empowers and inspires your audience. Make even more of an impact by starting your presentation with a negative motivation, something shocking perhaps, about how bad things could be if they don’t take action. Then, end it on a positive motivation, showing how great things could be if you do take action. 

(iii) If Possible, Skip the Q&A at the End of Your Presentation: 
Certainly make ‘question time’ a part of your presentation, but not the end. Q&A sessions have the tendency to run long, off-topic and have the possibility to turn sour. You want to end on a high-note or at least a note of your choosing. Not having questions at the end of a presentation means you can stay in control of the mood, what people take away from your presentation, and the timing. 

(iv) A Personal Tagline: 
There was a sales manager who closed every sales presentation with “Sell value.” Russell Wilson ends every interview he does with “Go Hawks.” Over time, this will build your personal brand and reinforce your message. Or, if there is a phrase you use again and again in your presentation, use it again as the closer. “The constant drumbeat of a few choice words can make you and your message more memorable to your audience,” Bergells said. 

(v) End Your Presentation with a Question:
Asking a question on the other hand can keep your audience thinking about your presentation long after it’s over. Provocative questions can compound your message, stir emotions, or invite action. Suspense can be a fantastic way to create a memorable ending if you use it appropriately. Round off with a question that they can reflect on after the presentation, to keep them thinking about what you’ve shared. Keep it closely related to your topic, and use it to put the spotlight on a point you which to bring across. 

(vi) Conclude Your Speech with a Story: 
Storytelling is a powerful presentation tool and is a great way to neatly bookend your presentation. Through storytelling, emotional listeners retain more information. An emotional story, whether it’s funny, sad, or thought-provoking, is a sure fire way to engage your audience. If you can, try to tie the beginning and end together with your stories, it works like a great strategy. 

(vii) The Power of 3 for Your Conclusion: 
Summaries are essential for info heavy presentations, but they can be super dull! Use the power of 3 to keep them short, snappy and more importantly, keep them memorable. This is a tried and tested method that has worked throughout the ages. Here are a few of the most famous examples of the rule of 3:

• “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” – Winston Churchill
• “Blood, sweat and tears” – General Patton
• “I came, I saw, I conquered” – Julius Caesar
• “Just Do It” – Nike slogan 

(viii) Come Full Circle at the End of Your Presentation:
Give your audience a sense of completion by referring to your opening message at the end. It’s a great way to bookend the presentation and is a neat and tidy way to sum up.  You can set this up at the beginning of your presentation in a few different ways: Pose a question which you answer at the end; Tell a story and either refer to it or finish it at the end; Repeat the first slide, this works especially well with powerful images or quotes.

(ix) Demonstrate Your Product: 
"Show, don’t just tell" is a great rule of thumb, as the saying goes ‘actions speak loudly than words.’ Ending your presentation with a practical demonstration, will not only clarify your message but be memorable for your audience. It can also be a chance to inject some fun into your presentation.

(x) End with an Either / Or Scenario: 
Give your audience a choice at the end of a presentation. This is one way to encourage your audience to continue thinking about your presentation. This can be linked to your ‘call of action’ ending in tip (ii). For example, you can close a presentation by saying something along the lines of, “We can do this, or we can do nothing. The choice is yours.” 

(xi) Inspire Your Audience with a Quote: 
Quotes are one of the most commonly used methods. It has been a tried-and-tested way to reach out to your audience and connect with them on a deeper level. But here’s the thing: You need to figure out what resonates with them, and choose one that fits the presentation theme. If you’re up to it, you can round off the quote with your own thoughts as well. 

(xii) End Your Presentation on a High Note: 

Whichever way you choose to end your presentation, end it with energy! If you don’t show any passion or enthusiasm for your topic, then no one else will. As well as a more energetic ending, try to lift the mood. This can be especially important for those presentations which may tackle a difficult subject or convey some bad news. You don’t want your audience leaving the auditorium thinking, ‘well, that was depressing!’ Even if you do have to give dark data, try to end on a high-note and with hope 

(xiii) A Sound Bite: 
A sound bite is like a slogan, a phrase which demands attention. Can you condense your presentation message into a quick and catchy phrase? If you can fit the central message of your presentation into a few words, they will be memorable and ‘Tweet-able’. Here are a couple of great sound-bite examples for ending presentations: “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs “Chance favors the connected mind.” — Author Steven Johnson.

(xiv) End with a Compelling Image: 
We all know the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. It’s pretty cliché, but true – Images do help to bring your message across in an impactful way. Ever heard of the ‘The Burning Monk’? In 1963, photographer Malcolm Browne captured a stunning photo of a monk who self-immolated in protest against the persecution of Buddhists. That award-winning photo sparked outrage around the world, and brought the situation into focus for many who were previously unaware of the situation. When you’re selecting an image to put on your final slide, ask yourself these questions to guide you along.

• What do you want to show your audience?
• What are you trying to illustrate?
• How should they feel after looking at the image?

(xv) End with a Provocative Statement/ Question: 
How often have you been sitting in a presentation only to find that you have stopped listening before the end and are now day-dreaming or thinking about lunch? Make sure your audience is still with you at the end by making a provocative statement/ question. Statements/ questions, especially those that jolt us out of our comfort zone, stimulate and challenge our mind. 

(xvi) Use the Title Close Technique:
Another useful technique for how to end a presentation is to use the title of your presentation as the closing words. This creates a bookend to your entire presentation and can be used to bring your audience full circle. 

(xvii) A Quick Presentation Recap:
One method commonly used when giving presentations is the “tell them” method. This involves stating what you are going to say, saying it and then telling them what you told them. While this sounds repetitive, you can use it as a general framework for keeping your presentations short and to the point. That’s because no matter how amazing your presentation has been, you will still need to remind people what you’ve covered. However, try to avoid dull phrases such as “In conclusion” or “To sum up”, you’re not writing an essay! Instead, instigate your summary with a question, such as “Where is this all leading?” or “What does this all mean?”

(xviii) Close with a Clear Cut Ending:
This is a must! There is nothing more uncomfortable than a presenter that doesn’t know how to end and just waffles awkwardly. The audience is left thinking, ‘Is that it? Do we clap now?’ Make sure you and your audience know when the presentation has reached its final destination. This can be a clear cut, ‘thank you!’, a wave, a bow, but let it be a clear signal this is the end. Or it can even be a summary slide that wraps up your talk and leaves your audience with the key takeaways and learning points.

(xix) End Your Presentation on Time: 
Remember time is precious. If you want to impress your audience, then end on time, or even better, with a few minutes to spare. The trick to keeping time is to practice your presentation well in advance, timing yourself each time. Cut out any fluff or filler and stick to what you’ve rehearsed.

(xx) A Few Last Tips:
Practice your last words, so they come out smoothly. And then, after you say them, hold for silence for a minute – and then nod, bow or use other appropriate body language to let the audience know the presentation is over.

As presenters, we always hope that our presentations will end off on a high note. So now that you know how to end a presentation with effect, take some time to prepare and practice, and you’re good to go. 

All the best!

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Present Like A Pro: Impactful Content Development (II)

Present Like A Pro:
Impactful Content Development (II)

Let's look at ways that an audience measures your ethos-pathos-logos, and examine why it is so critical for a successful speech.

Tactics to Establish Ethos

If you have high ethos, your audience is listening and attentive from your first word. They expect that you have something valuable to say, and they are eager to hear it. They are likely to be persuaded by you, provided that your speech is compelling.

Ethos is about your audience’s perception of you, and this perception can be formed over time, or perhaps over many past speeches. So, first let's examine things you can do in the long run to improve your ethos.

(i) Have a clean online profile and social media presence. 

(ii) Develop deep expertise in topics you speak about.

(iii) Your introduction is probably the single best opportunity for you to establish your ethos with this audience on this day. For this reason, you should always write your own introduction.

(iv) You’ve got to take charge of your personal branding and make sure that it’s a brand that emphasizes the qualities you want to emphasize.

(v) Analyze your audience. Audience analysis will reveal valuable clues that you can use to adapt yourself to your audience. 

(vi) Seek to find common traits that you share and highlight them. For other traits, find ways to adapt your language, your mannerisms, your dress, your PowerPoint visuals, or your stories to match the audience.

(vii) Can you show up early to welcome the audience?

(viii) If your presentation is part of a larger event, try to attend as much of it as you can. Every minute you spend with your audience as an audience member builds your level of affiliation with them. The event becomes a shared experience. The audience sees you as one of them.

(viii) Tell stories or anecdotes which show you are consistent with your message.

(ix) Use language familiar to your audience.

(x) Use visuals/examples which resonate with your audience.

(xi) Reference people in the audience or previous speakers or events earlier that day. This forms connections with the audience.

(xii) Make yourself available to your audience. Whenever possible, stick around after your presentation is over. Mingle with the audience. Not only will you have the opportunity for productive follow-up conversations, but your audience will see you as accessible.

(xiii) Follow through on promises made during your presentation. One technique for managing a short Q&A session is to defer thorny or complex questions to a later time.

Tactics to Establish Pathos

Emotions — whether fear or love, pity or anger — are powerful motivators for your audience. An audience emotionally stimulated in the right way is more likely to accept your claims and act on your requests. By learning how to make emotional appeals, you greatly improve your effectiveness as a speaker.

(i) Choose emotional points and topics, for example "Beat your social anxiety" would trigger more powerful emotions than "Learn how to speak in a group."

(ii) Use analogies and metaphors - linking your ideas with something your listeners already know about and feel strongly about can trigger emotional responses. For example, "They are awful" compared to "They are poisonous." This will use the audience's knowledge that poison is bad and therefore this issue needs to be dealt with.

(iii) Use emotionally charged words, for example, say "This kitchen roll is a life-saver" rather than "This kitchen roll is great". Another way to make a statement more emotional is to use vivid and sensory words which allow the audience to experience the emotion. For instance, "The smell of your grandparents' house" will increase the recollection of hopefully warm memories, and therefore will trigger certain emotions.

(iv) Using humour increases the likelihood that the audience are enjoying themselves and so they are more likely to like you and listen to you.

(v) Visual aids can sometimes be more powerful than words, for example, showing an image of a scared small child will have more impact than saying that children are often victims of domestic violence.

(vi) Research your audience and find out what their shared values are. Target these values and beliefs because they are strongly associated to emotions.

(vii) Storytelling is a quick way to form an emotional connection. It's often used to link a part of a key message with an emotional response - you'll be familiar with seeing this in adverts asking for charity donations.

(viii) Match what you're saying with your body language, face and eyes. People often mirror emotions so by matching your body language with your words you increase the chances of triggering the desired emotions.

(ix) Also match your voice to your words, for example, if you want to show sadness speak in a soft voice, if you want to show excitement then increase your pace etc.

(x) Stand as close as you can to the audience so the speech feels more personal - don't hide behind the computer screen.

(xi) Be Authentic Remember that the goal of pathos is to connect with the audience and share emotions with them. To share an emotion, you’ve got to feel it too. Be honest. Share your presentation in a way that your audience will feel as passionately as you feel.

(xii) Connect with your eyes. Meaningful eye contact is about connecting with one person at a time. Your eyes should express your excitement, your confidence, or your joy.

Tactics to Establish Logos

Logos is often equated with “logical reasoning” or “an argument based on reasoning”. You might be thinking that logic is dry and boring. You might also be thinking that you want to be a dynamic and fun speaker, and so logical reasoning isn’t really that important to you. While you may not get turned on by logical analysis, it is critical to your success.

(i) Use language that your audience will understand. Avoid jargon and over-technical terminology.

(ii) Use simple figures and charts to make the presentations more understandable.

(iii) Make the relationship between your evidence and conclusions clear.

(iv) Analogies and metaphors are helpful especially when explaining new ideas and theories.

(v) Ask questions, and get your audience thinking. This will make them active listeners so they may even come to your conclusion themselves.

(vi) Talk about opposing views as this allows you to explain why your logical arguments are more reasonable.

(vii) Facts and stats cannot be debated and they signify the truth.

(viii) Talking about something in abstract terms is good, but using real objects or photographs carries more logos. Visual evidence, such as, objects and videos are hard to challenge. 

(ix) Citing specialists, experts and authorities on a topic increases the quality of your evidence and therefore your claims. 

(x) Tell stories, such as, case studies or personal experiences. The audience would like to hear your own stories. 

(xi) Cite your sources. A statistic may be accurate, but without citing a source, your audience may dismiss it. By citing a source, you tip the scale towards believability.

(xii) Use real examples and case studies. Real examples and case studies show that the theory works in the real world.

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Present Like A Pro: Impactful Content Development (I)

Present Like A Pro:
Impactful Content Development (I) 

2,300 years ago, Aristotle determined the components needed for persuasive speaking. They are referred to as the three pillars of persuasion - ethos, pathos and logos. 

Here, you’ll learn what ethos, pathos, and logos are (the secret!), and what every speaker needs to understand about these three pillars of public speaking.

What Are Ethos, Pathos and Logos? 

Ethos, pathos and logos are modes of persuasion used to convince and appeal to an audience. You need these qualities for your audience to accept your messages. 

Ethos: Your Credibility and Character 

Pathos: Emotional Bond with Your Listeners 

Logos: Logical and Rational Argument

Ethos - The Ethical Appeal 

Ethos is Greek for "character" and "ethic" is derived from ethos. Ethos consists of convincing your audience that you have good character and you are credible therefore your words can be trusted.

Ethos must be established from the start of your talk or the audience will not accept what you say. In fact, ethos is often established before your presentation.

There are many aspects to building your credibility: 

Does the audience respect you? 

Does the audience believe you are of good character? 

Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy? 

Does the audience believe you are an authority on this speech topic?

Pathos - The Emotional Appeal 

Pathos is Greek for suffering and experience. Empathy, sympathy and pathetic are derived from pathos. Pathos is to persuade by appealing to the audience's emotions.

As a speaker, you want the audience to feel the same emotions you feel about something, you want to emotionally connect with them and influence them. If you have low pathos the audience is likely to try to find flaws in your arguments.

Pathos is the quality of a persuasive presentation which appeals to the emotions of the audience. 

Do your words evoke feelings of … love? … sympathy? … fear? 

Do your visuals evoke feelings of compassion? … envy? 

Does your characterization of the competition evoke feelings of hate? contempt? 

Emotional connection can be created in many ways by a speaker, perhaps most notably by stories.

The goal of a story, anecdote, analogy, simile, and metaphor is often to link an aspect of our primary message with a triggered emotional response from the audience.

Logos - The Logical Appeal 

The word “logic” is derived from logos. Logos is to appeal to logic by relying on the audience's intelligence and offering evidence in support of your argument.

Logos also develops ethos because the information makes you look knowledgeable. 

Logos is synonymous with a logical argument. 

Does your message make sense? 

Is your message based on facts, statistics, and evidence? 

Will your call-to-action lead to the desired outcome that you promise?

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