02 Oct 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-XI

We have come a long was in this series, and in the process we have learned quite a few things. We have covered from timing to inspiration to description to techniques to tools of writing. Each one of them was important, and so are the tips I am going to share in this part. In this part of the 5 Ways to Improve Your Writing series, I will tell you about quality; about how you can maintain the quality of your writing. Let’s begin with shedding inhibition for risks.

Take risks

Do not always play a safe game; rather, never play a safe game. Take risks and explore the terrain. You will not learn new things about life, about new ways to construct sentences, and will never get new ideas to write about until you venture out and take risk. Try different construction; try different storyline; so what if you fail!

Revisit your write-ups

Reading and analyzing what you have written in the past is another way to ensure quality of your future writing. You should have a sense of history. You should know from where you started and how far have you come, and then only you can realistically decide where you can go from here.

Rope in your friend

This advice is the toughest to follow because no matter how good your friendship is, he or she will not like to do proofreading for you, at least not readily. My friends have never done that for me, and neither have I put myself through the grueling session of proofreading for my friends. You got the clue, but still you need to talk your friend into proofreading your stuff. If they don’t agree then you have not tried hard enough.

Take a break

Writing is not like producing soap in the factory. You cannot just keep on pouring oil and chemicals for hours, even when you are tired and exhausted, to get the final product. To write well, you need to take breaks between your writing. Play games, watch TV, listen to music, or do whatever you like, but take breaks.

Take a break then return to proofread

Do not proofread your document right after finishing it. You will miss out many errors because your mind was primed by the article. Take a break 10-20 minutes and then come back to do the proofreading. Please do not think about what you wrote during the break.

Tags: Break, Chemicals, Clue, Documen, Friend Advice, Friendship, Grueling Session, Inhibition, Inspiration, Listen To Music, New Ways, Play Games, Risk, Rope, Sense Of History, Sentences, Soap, Stuff, Tools, Ups

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12 Sep 09 Google Did It Again

From the day when I started using Google.com for my searches – my love story with Google goes way back to the time when Altavista and Lycos were the big daddy, Yahoo a rebel teenager and Google the toddler learning to “crawl” – I seem to have forgotten what Yahoo and rest of the search engines are all about. I was sold to the simplicity of Google.

The clean, no-nonsense homepage of Google brought storm; it was not just the homepage that created a furor, but it was all the under-the-carpet innovations by Google that amazed all of us. Unlike many start-ups, Google did not go on the roof and shouted about its better algorithm or Page Rank system. It was left for us to find out and get excited over the things, and thus we all fell in love with Google.

Google’s penchant for under-the-carpet innovations is what has always excited me. I feel the ownership of the information when I find something exciting about a topic on my own, and Google gave me a lot of space to feel like an owner of the search engine.

Google has this uncanny ability to control the excitement over its products or its feature. Contrary to going over the top and telling us what to do and how to do it with its products, Google maintains silence, and let us explore. The company lets its products take life of their own.

Let me give you an example: have you tried the time zone feature of Gmail? Or have you used Google’s wonder wheel for keyword research or relative search?

Or,

Have you noticed the super-size search box?

Yes, Google has increase the size of search box that you see on Google.com. Well, you may say, so what, and brush this innovation aside. You might not feel any real difference, but I am sure you will agree about the symbolic value of this change.

The new, big search box suggests, no matter what, Google is still all about search. Happy Goggling!

Tags: Altavista, Big Daddy, Gmail, Goggling, Google, Google Google, Love Story, Lycos, Nonsense Homepage, Page Rank, Rank System, Relative Search, Search Engine Google, Search Engines, Search Google, Start Ups, Symbolic Value, Uncanny Ability, Ups, Zone Feature

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04 Jul 09 Stand Out At Your Job

One of the best ways to ensure that you become “unfireable” at your job, is to make yourself stand out from the rest of the endless rabble of employees. If you work at a big corporation, you’ll find that most of the people around you are fairly dead eyed at work, just doing enough to get by and keep their paycheck coming, and with that sort of ‘competition’ it’s really not as hard as you might think to make yourself look all the better. The first step is just keeping yourself motivated. You have to be able to decide, and commit to working hard all the time, and always doing what you can to further your position with the company. This may mean more of a workload on your part, but the time you put in today will pay off dividends tomorrow.

Keep yourself motivated, and keep on top of your assignments. Finish your projects as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of the work you’re putting out. A fast turnaround time, especially faster than the boss expects, is a great way for the higher ups to start noticing your name on these projects. Being faster than your coworkers to turn in a project, and especially if you can keep up the same quality your boss would expect, ensures your boss will start remembering your name before anyone else‘s.

Take advantage of opportunities to do work that you may not even be required to complete. If your boss offers something that isn’t necessarily in your job description/department, do it anyway, and give it your best. This shows initiative, and commitment to the company, both of which make you a standout performer the next time your boss is considering who may need to be leaving the team because of cutbacks. The last thing your boss will ever want to hear is “that’s not in my job description”, remember that, because that response will make you look terrible.

Finally, lead as much as possible without stepping on your bosses toes. Become a standout performer by taking initiative and helping your coworkers as much as possible. The more that you help others around you, the more your skills will be noticed, and the better they will appear.

Tags: Boss, Coworkers, Dividends, Fast Turnaround Time, Initiative, Job Description, Paycheck, Rabble, Standout, Toes, Ups, Workload

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02 Oct 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-XI

Take risks

Revisit your write-ups

Rope in your friend

Take a break

Take a break then return to proofread

12 Sep 09 Google Did It Again

04 Jul 09 Stand Out At Your Job

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