Attitude is Everything

10 Dangerous Things Users Do Online

Protect yourself from getting hacked, phished or burgled

Researchers at internet security service provider CyberDefender look at some of the most dangerous things users do online. They also offer advice on how to avoid these negative habits.

1. Checking the ‘keep me signed in’ box: Never check this box if you are not using your personal laptop. If you just sign in to any site from a public PC, make sure to sign off once you are done. Delete your browser history from the browser tools when completed. Use your browser’s privacy mode where possible, and never save passwords.

2. Failing to update: Java, Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash are responsible for an astounding number of PC infections due to security exploits. The best way to avoid becoming a target is to update all three software as often as you can. Make sure to update Windows operating system by setting Windows updates to install automatically.

3. Searching for celebrity gossip: Always be cautious while accessing incriminating info. Malware authors know that people naturally gravitate towards the sex and celebrity combo, so new attacks are targeted specifically towards this crowd. If you must, search for news on Google News, Bing News or other aggregator. When searching on Google, use https://www.google.com instead of the common http://www.google.com.

4. Using BitTorrent: Stick to official downloads and streams such as iTunes, Hulu and legitimate websites. Avoid torrent sites at all costs, as some of its ads could be compromised.

5. Searching for free adult content: This might turn out to be quite expensive, as free porn sites can be downright shady in the way they treat users. Stick to paid sites, and also invest in a high-quality security suite.

6. Online gaming: Be careful when downloading free to pay (F2P) clients. Do not give out any kind of information, personal or not, to people you meet while gaming. At the very least, you could have your virtual items stolen. At worst, you could lose real money. Avoid falling for the old ‘FarmVille Secrets’ scam. You will either download a Trojan or expose your Facebook login info to criminals.

7. Leaving Facebook privacy setting open: Carefully review your privacy setting on Facebook. Do not let ‘friends of friends’ see your birthday or contact. All of these could be used to impersonate you.

8. Connecting to unknown wireless networks: In public places, be careful about logging into unknown (private) wireless networks. Make sure you choose the official one.

9. Using one password for all accounts: If that one password leaks out to cybercriminals, your entire online life is suddenly open to the world. Keep different passwords for different purposes. Certain browsers can also help with a ‘master password’ that keeps a multitude of passwords in check. Using a tool like Roboform or Password Vault that encrypts information and uses best practices to generate passwords is an even better idea.

10. Trying to get free stuff: If an online offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Avoid any give away that is not supported in a big way by a known brand. Keep a security suite fully updated to catch phishing attempts resulting from this kind of scam.

Image: Business Insider

Colours That’s You

Do you know that colour personality plays a major role in your life? Are you even aware that such a concept exists? Although not highly publicised, colour psychology has been around for quite some time. Individuals can use their colour personality to better understand themselves. If you are interested in learning how colour preferences affect your life, keep reading.

Colour psychology

Personality is the bundle of traits and characteristics that define one’s character. Swiss psychologist Max Lüscher, a trailblazer in colour psychology, believed colours reveal our traits and underlying causes of psychological stress. In his footsteps, other psychologists developed theories about the connection between colour and personality. Today, it is believed that colour personality reflects our conscious motives, drives and values.

Some think that understanding the link between your colour personality and the events in your life can help you make better decisions. You may also understand why you act certain ways why you have been unsuccessful in your attempts at certain goals or relationships.

Entrepreneurial style by colour

You can decode your entrepreneurial style by colours of your choice.

Green people rarely begin their professional lives as entrepreneurs. They are not highly driven by material gain. They get satisfaction from expressing their creative energies and possess a gift for drawing the best from a team.

Red people are likely to be born entrepreneurs. They are risk takers who act on their gut instincts. These people are not bound by rules or procedures. They create their work strategy based on the needs of a project. They excel during crises. There is more to it than this as they are excellent negotiators.

Blue people yearn to test new ideas. They will act based on hunch or limited information. Although they are multi-taskers, they oftentimes lose interest in the details, routine and execution of a venture. However, they possess a talent for identifying trends and selling others their visions.

Gold people are cautious. Before making a move, they need a well-developed plan. They require predictability, order and structure. These people are rarely enticed from their objective by outside opportunities. They have exceptional skills for paying attention to detail and keeping projects on track.

Etiquette Rules for Managers

What you should avoid in the workplace

To help you navigate tricky situations below is a list of what you should avoid in the workplace:

Do not always stay behind your desk: For anything that is not part of the daily routine — meeting a client, an interview, a review — stand up. If you welcome that person and shake his or her hand while standing over your desk, you set up a power play.

Do not skim on small talk: Granted small talk can prove uninteresting, but this basic information helps your employees connect with you. You must have the believable, likable and trustworthy factor.

Do not use slang in e-mails: Treat initial e-mail exchanges like business letters. As you get to know the person you e-mail with, you can write more casually.

Do not avoid compliments: Find a justified compliment to pay someone, and make this a regular occurrence.

Do not add employees on social networking sites: When your employees or clients go home at night and log onto Facebook, it is likely a respite from the workplace and a way to connect with people outside of the office. If a boss adds them on Facebook, they can feel nervous about what to share and who to associate with.

Do not forget your facial expression: You should always work on your ‘boss face’. Shoot for an expression of concentrated attentiveness, and flash that smile when necessary. — Agencies

Tips to Improve Productivity

Small businesses do not always have the luxury of being able to hire more employees or bringing in business consultants to improve productivity. As a business owner, this means you must find ways to increase the productivity of your current work force. Take a close look at your present operational and managerial procedures to discover areas where you can eliminate waste and increase employee motivation.

Improve the work environment

A happy office is a productive office, so look for ways to lighten the work environment. Promote an open-door policy in which your workers can feel free to express their concerns or offer ideas. If you make use of a dress code, consider allowing the occasional causal day during which your staff can dress more comfortably. Recognise employee birthdays, and hold occasional employee outings. Sometimes organise office outings and family picnic.

Assign proper roles

In a small business, employees often wear a variety of hats. If you constantly assign employees to roles for which they are not suited, their confidence may suffer, leading to disgruntled feelings. Make an effort to match your employees’ skills and interests to roles that fit them best so that they will be more satisfied with their jobs, as well as more productive.

Offer incentives

Small businesses often operate on tight budgets, so you may not always be able to afford to give regular pay raises. As an alternative, offer incentive programmes tied to productivity. This improves your bottom line, enabling you to provide rewards, such as cash or prizes. You can use incentives a means to increase sales or reduce operating expenses.

Use technology

Encourage your employees to make use of technology, whenever possible, to save time. Instruct them to send an e-mail instead of making a phone call that costs money.

Develop goals

Let your employees know what you expect from them in terms of productivity by establishing goals, and holding them accountable for reaching them. For example, if your goal is to increase your annual revenue by 10 per cent, give each of your salespeople a personal goal for his own contribution. Schedule regular meetings with your employees to gauge their progress, and to offer your input. — Agencies

Annoying Bosses

Even good managers frustrate their employees now and then — while bad managers, of course, do it regularly. Here are some of the most common complaints about the annoying things bosses do without even realizing it.

Mandatory officially social events

Employers frequently assume that employees will view office social events (like staff happy hours or holiday parties) as a treat — and then get offended when employees don’t want to go. Most employees would prefer that employees make it clear when events are mandatory, rather than implying they’re optional and then penalising people who don’t attend. And managers should realise that not everyone wants to socialise with their co-workers. Requiring employees to attend events that are ostensibly to build their morale may have the opposite effect.

Forcing for charity donation

Employers often mean well when they organise workplace charity drives, but too often managers pressure employees to donate and even monitor individual participation. Charity drives are great, but participation needs to be strictly voluntary, both officially and unofficially. How employees spend their money is their business, not their employer’s.

Interrupting employee’s vacation

Too many employers act as if employees are on-call day and night, even when they’re on vacation — which means that too many employees have had their vacations interrupted by calls and emails from the office. Companies that operate this way will have trouble retaining great employees over time, because great people with options will leave for companies that respect their personal lives.

Too long idle meetings

There’s nothing worse than knowing you have a looming deadline but being forced to sit in a long and needless meeting — but it’s also incredibly common. Most employees report that they waste far too many hours a week in meetings without clear agendas or purposes, and that they’re forced to sit around listening to idle conversation when they could be working productively at their desks.

Avoiding tough conversation

One common way this plays out is with managers who won’t address performance problems of fire under-per-formers — and if you’ve ever worked somewhere where laziness or shoddy work was tolerated, you know how frustrating and demoralizing this can be. But it plays out in other ways as well. For example, a manager who’s afraid of conflict may hesitate to make necessary course corrections midway through a project, but then be unhappy with your final product. Good managers know that their job is to solve problems, not avoid them, and that they can’t value preserving harmony or avoiding tough conversations above all else.

Confusion on responsibility

Sometimes a manager is so nervous about, or invested in, a project that even though she has technically assigned it to a staffer, she doesn’t really let go of it, continuing to drive the work herself or even doing some of it herself. This leads to confusion about who is actually responsible for the work getting done and diminished ownership (and therefore diminished performance) on the part of the staffer it was assigned to.

Creating false expectation

Some managers feel kinder or more polite sugar-coating a difficult conversation, but it’s not at all kind to let someone miss an important message.

When a manager sugar-coats to the point that her message is missed, or presents is missed, or presents requirements as mere suggestions, staffers end up confused about expectations. And the manager ends up frustrated that their suggestions weren’t acted upon. Most employees prefer straightforward communication so they don’t need to figure out what they’re really supposed to hear. — Agencies

Crying at Work Helps Women Succeed

LONDON: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has suggested that it is okay for women to cry at work. Sandberg asserted that she attributes her tears to part of her success.

During a recent speech to Harvard Business School, the 42-year-old doled out career advice to graduating students, revealing details of how she paved her way to success in Silicon issues at work.

“I’ve cried at work. I’ve told people I’ve cried at work… I try to be myself,” the Daily Mail quoted Sandberg as saying. “I talk about my hopes and ask people about theirs… I am honest about my strengths and weakness and I encourage others to do the same. It is all professional and it is all personal, all at the very same time”, she added.

According to a study, workplace tears do not seem to have the same career suicide stigma they used to, with 41 per cent of women claiming they have cried at work, compared with nine per cent of men. In majority of these cases, it does not affect workplace performance, and in some instances, ability to show emotion can be viewed as an asset.

However, she made the distinct comparison between authentic tears, and manipulative waterworks, cautioning against dishonest weeping.

“As we strive to be more authentic in our communication, we should also strive to be more authentic in a broader sense. I talk a lot about bringing your whole self to work —something I believe in deeply,” she added. — Agencies

Do You Need a Career Change?

So, you’ve had enough. You’ve poured your heart out, worked your fingers to the bone, and turned your hair gray, but no one seems to appreciate it. You’re unhappy, and ready to make a career change.

But there alternative solutions to seemingly hopeless situations. Before shifting gear completely, consider the suggestions offered to these problems.

Having issues dealing with people at workplace

If your issue is with your relationship with your boss, co-workers, or your company’s values, then start exploring new workplaces. You might find that your job is much more enjoyable at a place that complements your work style.

Being unseen and unappreciated

If you’re seeking validation from a prestigious title or fame, then you might be suffering from low self-esteem rather than the wrong career. Prestige is a hollow goal when it comes to careers. You’ll find yourself much unhappier if your goals are dependent on others’ approval. Try to let go of what others think and focus on you.

Getting bored at work

Yawning a little too much in your cubicle? Banish boredom by practicing your self-starter skills. Start your own side projects. Peek into others’ assignments and see if they could use your talents. Or challenge yourself to do your current job faster and better.

Looking for juicy pay check

Changing industries or careers is much more worth it for young professionals on the hunt for a fat, juicy paycheck. However, seasoned professionals are likelier to face disappointment. Often times you’ll have to take a step you’ll have to take a step down or sideways before you get to the level you were in your previous career and finally rise above that. If you’re recently out of college, this doesn’t pose much of a problem because you haven’t really begun to establish a track record, career path, or a significant upward trajectory in salary history. — Agencies

Stay Focused

Are you finding it harder than ever to stay focused at work? Every day, people are bombarded with emails, gchats and other electronic disruptions and distractions from the task at hand.

Indeed, according to a new study by LinkedIn of 6,580 professionals, only one out of 10 workers said they actually accomplish each day what they set out to do — and many cited electronic distractions.

So, how do you manage the constant interruptions and distractions so you actually get your work done?

Identify the distraction: You can’t address the problem until you acknowledge it. Whatever is your distraction of choice, you’ll be much better to deal with it once you’ve called it out.

Prioritise: Which tasks need to get done immediately — and which can wait until tomorrow? It sounds obvious, but if you focus on the most pressing, you’ll be able to minimise the distractions.

Finish one task before starting another: All too often people are 70 per cent done with 100 per cent of their projects, rather than 100 per cent done with 70 per cent of projects. What this means, of course, if you’ll have nothing completed to show for your effort. Focus on getting one assignment done before starting the next.

Block out time for e-mails and phone messages: In most cases, personal interactions — whether on the phone, or via email — are the source of interruptions and distractions. So, set aside a time when you’ll be responding to emails and voicemails.

Take breaks: Whether it’s a walk to get a cup of coffee or just to stretch your legs, most experts say you’ll be more productive if you take a break every 60 or 90 minutes. — Agencies

Reasons to Turn Down a Job Offer

Employer caution has expected the hiring process and you may interview for a position several times — in person and by phone. No matter how long the process and how well you got to know your potential colleagues, it is still perfectly acceptable to turn down a job offer. In fact, there may be many valid reasons you should politely decline an opportunity, assuming, of course, that you are not in dire financial straits.

The word on the street

Is the company’s stock price tanking? Or is there talk of a merge? Both of these things could indicate that layoffs loom large, and the position you accept today may not exist in a few months. To calculate your risks, speak with industry experts, do your due diligence, and consult with family and trusted friends. If you still want to accept the position, try to obtain an iron-clad employment contract.

A revolving door

A certain percentage of employee turnover is normal. However, high employee turnover should raise a red flag for any potential worker. Research a company thoroughly before accepting an offer. Also, be sure to listen carefully during the hiring process. Do interviewers keep referring to folks who have left the company or mentioning a total lack of redundancy? These could be signs people are leaving faster than replacements can be recruited.

Money is not everything

If money is a major factor in your decision to accept a new job, think twice. Depending on your personal financial situation and how much more you would be earning in a new job, money may not buy you on-the-job happiness or professional fulfilment. It may not even guarantee career advancement. Making a move for a modest increase may not be worth it if there is more long-term potential with your current employer. Also, be sure to calculate your entire compensation package to make sure that you are not forfeiting a valuable retirement or insurance plan for a bigger pay check.

All work, no life

There is a time in almost everyone’s career when they have to put their nose to the grindstone and work almost to the point of burnout. If you are just beginning your career or starting a second one, this may be what lies ahead for the next few years. However, if you are a mid-careerist with a family and personal obligations, it may not be wise to accept an 80-hour-a-week job. Forfeiting invaluable work-life balance benefits without assessing the consequences can have a devastating impact on your personal life.

A bad reputation

Going to work for a company with a reputation that is been sullied by a corporate scandal or that is not well-respected can, in turn, sully your résumé. Investigate any potential employer’s standing within its industry. Solicit opinions from within your network. You may learn that it is better to be a top salesperson at an admired organisation rather than a VP of sales at a suspicious one. — Agencies

10 Tricks Job Interviewers Use

Relax, but do realise that this is not a cosy chat with a friend

With more job candidates coming to interviews with prepared and rehearsed answers, savvy interviewers are developing ways of getting beneath the surface so that they can find out what you are really like.

Here are 10 tricks interviewers often use that can trip you up if you are not careful:

1. Silence: Some interviewers will intentionally remain silent when you finish an answer, waiting to see if you will start talking again. Most people are so uncomfortable with the silence that they will rush to fill it, and in doing so, they might offer information that is too candid or maybe damaging. So, if your interviewer is using silence on you, you should remain silent too. Chances are good that after about 10 seconds, the interviewer will start speaking again. If not, you can always ask, “Did I answer your question satisfactorily?”

2. Extreme friendliness: Good interviewers want you to let your guard down. By putting you at ease, they can get a better sense of who you really are (which is probably good for you) and maybe get you to relax and slip up (not so good for you). You are more likely to reveal something unflattering if you feel comfortable. This does not mean that you should not relax, but do realise that this is not a cosy chat with a friend, it is still an interview.

3. Asking what you know about them so far: Interviewers ask this because they want to know if you did your homework. If you have not prepared for the interview by learning all you can about the organisation, it will show.

4. Asking why you are thinking about leaving your current job (or why you left your last job): Interviewers want to know if you are leaving (or if you left) on bad terms, or if you are willing to badmouth an employer.

5. Asking how soon you can start: You might think that expressing a willingness to start right away will play in your favour. But if you indicate that you would leave without giving your current employer at least two weeks’ notice, interviewers will assume you will do that to them someday too. Instead, explain that you can start as soon as you give appropriate notice and fulfil your obligations to your current employer.

6. Asking you to follow up about something: If the interviewer asks you to follow up with some information — or takes you up on your own offer to send, say, a relevant article — make sure that you do it. She might be watching to see how well you remember and follow up on commitments, even small or informal ones.

7. Leaving you with the receptionist: Some candidates will say things to the receptionist that they would never say to the interviewer — whether it is revealing candid impressions about the job, mentioning that they are hung-over from last night, or flirting inappropriately. Smart interviewers will always ask the receptionist or others who came in contact with who came in contact with you for their impressions.

8. If you were laid off, asking if others were laid off with you: ‘How many in your department were laid off as well?’ probably is not an innocent question; it is an attempt to figure out if a past employer laid you off to avoid having to fire you for performance.

9. Asking you to describe your dream job: If you start talking about your true desire to work in film when you are applying for an accountant job or your hope to manage political campaigns when you are applying to be a teacher, most interviewers will think you are not really committed to the position for which they are hiring.

10. Asking what questions you have: This one is not really a trick, but a good interviewer can tell a tone about you by what questions you ask. Do you focus on benefits, pay, and hours, or are you curious about the job itself? Interviewers want to hear thoughtful questions about the work, the culture, and the organisation — questions that show that you are really trying to figure out if this is the right fit for you. — Agencies

Grammar lessons all job seekers should know

Read and reread everything you write for a job application

These days, human resources departments and hiring managers are flooded with résumé. They have to be narrowed down somehow, and grammatical errors are an easy way to eliminate applicants. In an era of spell check, easily edited documents and instantly shared ‘can you give this a look’ e-mails, typos and grammatical errors on résumé and/or cover letters are pretty much unforgivable. The message sent by typing ‘too’ when it should be ‘to’ can literally be the difference between getting the nod or getting a no.

Here is a proofreading checklist for your résumé and cover letter:

Know your homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, like too, to and two. Using the correct version on your résumé is crucial. The misuse of your with you’re, there with their or they’re, and to with too or two are the most common mistakes. If someone uses one of these incorrectly on a cover letter, he or she can say goodbye to his chances of even landing a decent job. If this is due to a simple typo, that is one thing; however, if the individual does not know the difference between these basic words and has never bothered to take an hour out of his or her life to learn it, he or she is not deserving of landing a decent job.

Use apostrophes properly

Apostrophes are used for few reasons:

• They indicate the possessive: In my last job, I managed the CEO’s calendar.
• They indicate the omission of letters in words (that is, in contractions).
• They indicate the exclusion of numbers in dates: I graduated college in ’05.
• They indicate time or quantity: I must give my current employers two week’s notice.

Be sure to check your résumé for proper use of apostrophes, as well as any erroneous punctuation. Apostrophes do not, for example, indicate the plural form of a singular noun. It is incorrect to say ‘I developed orientation programmes to help new employee’s get acclimated to the company.’

Keen tenses consistent

Building lists correctly is important. If you start your job duties with ‘managing multiple employees,’ do not have your next point as ‘prepared annual reports’ but ‘preparing annual reports.’

Similarly, as a general rule, all activities or accomplishments that you completed in the past should be in the past tense. Activities that you perform now should be in the present tense. This should be kept consistent throughout your résumé.

Proofread and then proofread again

The bottom line is that proofreading your application materials before submitting them is a must. There are enough people with bad grammar pet peeves that there is virtually no position out there where grammar does not matter. Since a basic search-engine inquiry for ‘grammar pet peeves’ nets more than 400,000 returns, it is safe to say that hiring managers are paying close attention to grammar and other résumé and cover-letter errors. Read and reread everything you write for a job application, and if you doubt yourself even slightly, run your submission past someone you trust. — Agencies

5 Tips for Hiring a CEO

It may be useful to agree upon a designated trial period to test the waters

Being in charge is not easy, but neither is handling over the job to someone else. For a determined-yet-inexperienced entrepreneur, bringing in a seasoned pro as CEO can help a company make the transition from being a scrappy start-up to an established and respected leader in its field. Even after you have found the right person to nurture your vision, adjusting to a new role apart from the company helm can be a daunting task. Here are five steps to take in order to ensure a smooth transition.

1. Any initial soul-searching should be accompanied by ample contemplation of long-term goals, needs and strategies. After all, if you cannot articulate your company’s vision, a newcomer will not be able to either.

2. Creating a roadmap will help identify your strengths, so that you can hire someone to handle your weaknesses.

3. Bearing primary responsibility for choosing your own replacement will likely put you, as well as anyone who is up for the job, in an awkward position. So, it is a good idea to have someone independent involved in the process. Having multiple eyes and ears will ensure that all aspects of the company’s needs are addressed and that the search process is not skewed by one person’s perspective.

Allowing others to aid in the vetting process also frees you to concentrate on the intangibles that others might miss. Having that screening process in place allows you to focus on finding someone who shares your vision in your one-on-one interviews.

4. Not even a sterling résumé and ironclad references can assuage the gut feeling that someone just will not click with the rest of the company. If you feel a certain personal attribute is essential to the company’s culture, do not be afraid to say so explicitly when dealing with an executive search firm or other advisor.

5. Examining candidates’ relationships with past employees and authority figures can help identity how their personal traits might tie into their managerial styles. One effective way to do so is to interview their direct reports in three previous positions. You can also ask candidates about their family history and relationships with figures such as college professors to gain insight into their perspectives on authority. People’s self-perceptions are often very different from what others perceive. However, know some boundaries when asking personal questions — even for managerial positions, discriminatory hiring practices (including judging a candidate on marital status, for example) is illegal.

While you should not attempt to cling to your previous duties, designating specific stages for the transition will help the process go more smoothly. For each area, decide whether you should maintain a leading role, retain some influence, or cede all authority. As you identify responsibilities, also brief the new CEO on the company’s progress in those areas.

In some cases, it may be useful to agree upon a designated trial period to test the waters. After the CEO has come on board, check in after the three-and six-month marks to discuss both parties’ progress with the transition and address any operational or management challenges. — Agencies

1 thing every new hire should get on their first day

It is being reported on several techie websites that when employees arrive for their first day at Apple, they are given an inspirational note. The concept of giving every new hire a letter on their first day is a great idea for the following reasons:

1. First days are tough. You have not made ‘work friends’ yet so you feel alone, you do not know the company culture or jargons yet so you feel confused, and you are quite liberally lost. A warm letter can make you feel welcome.

2. First impressions count. A good orientation programme helps, but a warm note shows that the company cares enough about you to think ahead to your arrival.

3. Cultural immersion should start early. First days or weeks are often periods of lighter workloads. It is the perfect time for new hires to ‘work’ on understanding the company culture and values.

Welcoming each newbie on their first day with a note is a great idea. To make it effective, make it personal and focused on organizational values. — Agencies

Overcome study boredom

For effective study habits, it is suggested that you set up a proper study space, adjust the light, get rid of all distractions and even take a few breaks. But after doing these things, you are nodding off, when you know there is work to be done. So, what can be done when this happens? Here are five tips for overcoming boredom and tiredness while studying.

Take a short nap!

Think of a brief nap as an unscheduled break. Naps are known to restore energy if they are brief, no more than 30 minutes long; 20 minutes is deal. If you go too long you actually may awaken more tired than before.

Caffeine wonders

A cup of coffee, a coke, maybe some tea makes for fine pick-me-up. Too much caffeine, like the amount contained in an energy drink is counter-productive mainly because the properties of caffeine can have an upside-down effect when you have too much of it. One cup of coffee is often enough to open your eyes long enough to complete your work and not interfere with your sleep.

Turn down the heat

Ideally, you should be studying in a room where the temperature is on the cool side, around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Often, however, the room temperature is higher than that. Warmth makes you lethargic which, in turn, robs you of focus. If you can’t adjust the temperature, you can adjust your clothing. Take off your sweater, remove an unneeded layer and see if that doesn’t cool you down.

Take a walk

A walk outside will help stimulate your body. If you can’t get outside, do a few jumping jacks or stretch. Even mild physical exertion provides an immediate increase in focus and alertness.

Change your schedule

You’ve taken a nap, had some coffee, cooled down, done some exercise and you still want to nod off. Stop what you are doing and go to bed. Study another time for maximum effectiveness. When nothing seems to keep you awake your body is telling you to get some needed rest. Listen, you’ll be better off for it. — Agencies

Walking in office

London: There are plenty of ways to squeeze in exercise and some social time at work without sacrificing productivity. The American Council on Exercise mentions these suggestions —

• Skip the coffee/smoke break and ask a co-worker to join you for a 15-minute walk.


• If you have a regular one-to-one meeting with a co-worker, make it a walking meeting.


• Take the stairs instead of the elevator, and see how many co-workers will join you.


• Start up a workplace walking group to walk on breaks, during lunch and after work.


• Visit a bookstore or museum for a stroll.