Sense of urgency

Read this article
http://www.businessinsider.com/where-is-your-sense-of-urgency-take-6-steps-to-get-your-company-moving-2010-10?op=1

Highlights


Speed is the driver because customers have a zero tolerance for waiting, and there are always competitors gaining on you.

Positive steps to increasing a true sense of urgency
1. Behave with urgency every day

     Always demonstrate your own sense of urgency in meetings, interactions, memos and e-mail, and do so as visibly as possible to as many people as possible.
     You are the role model for everyone in your organization. If your tone or actions lack urgency, it percolates quickly to everyone, and you reap what you sow.

2. Consistently communicate urgency
3. Create action that is relentlessly aimed at winning
     Make sure your actions are exceptionally alert, and focused on success. Show some progress each and every day, and constantly purge low value-added activities.
4. Bring the outside in
5. Find opportunity in crisis
6. Deal with the urgency-killers

Beware of complacency, fear, and a false sense of urgency

Why Software Is Eating The World? - MARC ANDREESSEN

Nice blog by Marc Andreessen about the rise of Software industry in every business.
Click here

Important notes:

Many people in the U.S. and around the world lack the education and skills required to participate in the great new companies coming out of the software revolution.
This is a tragedy since every company I work with is absolutely starved for talent.
Qualified software engineers, managers, marketers and salespeople in Silicon Valley can rack up dozens of high-paying, high-upside job offers any time they want, while national unemployment and underemployment is sky high.
This problem is even worse than it looks because many workers in existing industries will be stranded on the wrong side of software-based disruption and may never be able to work in their fields again.
There's no way through this problem other than education, and we have a long way to go.

When to look for Management roles? How long you can program?

Refer the page
http://improvingsoftware.com/2009/05/19/programmers-before-you-turn-40-get-a-plan-b/

here the suggestion is to have a plan B after we reach 40 years of age.

In the below a old research fellow tells his opinion about his programming
http://lemire.me/blog/archives/2011/06/06/why-i-still-program/

How many hours we should sleep ?

Read this nice article about sleep.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/golden-slumbers/201210/increase-longevity-seven-hours-sleep

Highlights
1) To be healthier & for longevity in life, we should sleep more than 5 & 1/2 hours and less than 7 hours. Ideal sleep time is 7 hours
2) What we should do if sleep doesn't come within a half hour of lying awake in bed ?
     Leave the bedroom and do something relaxing in another room. Use the bedroom for sleeping and sex only.

Speed reading tips

Wanna improve your reading speed ?
Here are the tips
http://www.mindtools.com/speedrd.html

Highlights

Breaking poor Reading Habits
1) Sub-Vocalization
2) Reading word-by-word
3) Inefficient Eye Motion
4) Regression
5) Poor Concentration
6) Approaching Reading Linearly

Self learning

I liked this talk from Shimon Schocken: The self-organizing computer course

Some tips for self learning
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/6-steps-to-effective-self-learning/