Martes, Oktubre 21, 2008

BURN OUT!

“A state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations.”

“A state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause, way of life, or relationship that failed to produce the expected reward.”

Common Symptoms:

what burnout is, the symptoms of burnout are much as you would expect them to be. Physical symptoms can include physical fatigue, frequent illness and sleep problems.

Emotional symptoms include disillusionment with the job; the loss of a sense of meaning and cynicism towards our organizations or clients; feelings of helplessness; frustration of efforts and a lack of power to change events; strong feelings of anger against the people we hold responsible for the situation; and feelings of depression and isolation.

Behavioral symptoms can include increasing detachment from co-workers, increased absenteeism, an increased harshness in dealing with our teams, marked reduction in our commitment to our work, and increased alcohol consumption. These symptoms reflect exhaustion and a loss of satisfaction with work.



Burnout happens when people who have previously been highly committed to a job lose all interest and motivation. Sadly, this can spell the end of a successful career.

It mainly strikes highly-committed, passionate, hard working and successful people – and it therefore holds a special fear for those who care passionately about their careers and about the work they do.

Anyone can become exhausted. What is so poignant about burnout is that it mainly strikes people who are highly committed to their work: You can only "burn out" if you have been "alight" in the first place. While exhaustion can be overcome with rest, a core part of burnout is a deep sense of disillusionment, and is not experienced by people who can take a more cynical view of their work.

Exhaustion and long-term stress contribute to burnout, but they are not the most destructive parts of it. The real damage of burnout comes from the sense of deep disillusionment that lies at its heart.

Being proactive, energetic, committed people, it is likely that we respond to obstacles like these by increasing our commitment and hard work. However, in these circumstances it is possible that these efforts may have little or no impact on the situation.

This can be where burnout begins to set in. As we get less satisfaction from our jobs, the downsides of these jobs become more troublesome. As we get more tired, we have less energy to give. If our organizations fail to support us, we can get increasingly disenchanted with them. We become increasingly disillusioned.


Here are some advices that might help:

1. Take care of yourself.

If you're run down, you'll burn out faster. Make sure you get enough sleep, eat right, exercise and de-stress on a regular basis.

2. Make the time to do nothing!

We all need to take time to relax, refresh and replenish. Don't keep pushing yourself. Keep regular business hours and take breaks during your work day. Make sure to schedule in time off and vacations on a regular basis. You'll come back with a fresh outlook and perspective

3. Get back in touch with the things you value.

Is your work fulfilling and meaningful for you? If not, check in with your values. What's missing? Where are you compromising? What needs to be eliminated? What are you merely tolerating? Re-assess and re-adjust your priorities as needed. If you work for yourself, you're in control. Make the choices you want to make by honoring what's important for you.

4. Think out of the box and challenge yourself consistently.

If work has become a chore or you're in a rut, try spicing things up a bit! Find innovative ways to do mundane tasks, create new products or services to add to your offering, improve performance, or tweak what you do best and make it even better.

5. Establish realistic expectations for what you can and cannot accomplish.

If you find that you're driving yourself or your employees too hard it may be time to let go of unrealistic expectations and readjust. Shorten your to-do list, give yourself some slack when needed and know when to let up on yourself and others.

6. Learn how to communicate clearly.Resolve conflicts, don't run from them.

Let people know what you expect from them, and ask them what they expect from you. Be clear and concise with what you say, and how you say it. Listen closely to the people around you, it will teach them to listen closely to you.

7. Manage your time.Poor time management is another thing we do that leads to burnout.

Set regular business hours. Make appointments with yourself to get things done - and keep them! Being on time counts, show up promptly for appointments and expect others to do the same.

8. Stop blaming yourself or others.

If you're playing the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate your attitude. Blaming yourself or others for things that have gone wrong doesn't help. What does? Learn from your experiences and make changes to ensure that you get the results you want the next time.

9. Value yourself by establishing boundaries and limits.

Learn how to do it in a way that clear and consistent. Don't give away too much of your time. Let people know your policies and procedures. Be upfront with what's acceptable and what's not. Learn how to say no.

10. Deal with your emotions.

Keeping your feelings inside usually leads to trouble. If you are feeling any kind of negative emotion, don't deny it. Instead, learn how to acknowledge your feelings, be up front with them; and deal with the underlying causes.

11. Laugh, smile and enjoy the ride!

Life is too short to worry and be serious all the time. Find ways to make your work fun and enjoyable.

12. Don't feel embarrassed to ask for help.

Everybody needs a little help once in a while. You can't do everything yourself. Don't be afraid to ask friends or associates for help.

Lunes, Oktubre 20, 2008

Common Job Interview Questions

Q. Tell me about yourself. A. This is the dreaded, classic, open-ended interview question and likely to be among the first. It's your chance to introduce your qualifications, good work habits, etc. Keep it mostly work and career related.

Q. Why do you want to leave your current job? (Why did you leave your last job?) A. Be careful with this. Avoid trashing other employers and making statements like, "I need more money." Instead, make generic statements such as, "It's a career move."

Q. What are your strengths? A. Point out your positive attributes related to the job.

Q. What are your weaknesses? A. Everybody has weaknesses, but don't spend too much time on this one and keep it work related. Along with a minor weakness or two, try to point out a couple of weaknesses that the interviewer might see as strengths, such as sometimes being a little too meticulous about the quality of your work. (Avoid saying "I work too hard." It's a predictable, common answer.) For every weakness, offer a strength that compensates for it.

Q. Which adjectives would you use to describe yourself? A. Answer with positive, work-oriented adjectives, such as conscientious, hard-working, honest and courteous, plus a brief description or example of why each fits you well.

Q. What do you know about our company? A. To answer this one, research the company before you interview.

Q. Why do you want to work for us? A. Same as above. Research the company before you interview. Avoid the predictable, such as, "Because it's a great company." Say why you think it's a great company.

Q. Why should I hire you? A. Point out your positive attributes related to the job, and the good job you've done in the past. Include any compliments you've received from management.

Q. What past accomplishments gave you satisfaction? A. Briefly describe one to three work projects that made you proud or earned you pats on the back, promotions, raises, etc. Focus more on achievement than reward.

Q. What makes you want to work hard? A. Naturally, material rewards such as perks, salary and benefits come into play. But again, focus more on achievement and the satisfaction you derive from it.

Q. What type of work environment do you like best? A. Tailor your answer to the job. For example, if in doing your job you're required to lock the lab doors and work alone, then indicate that you enjoy being a team player when needed, but also enjoy working independently. If you're required to attend regular project planning and status meetings, then indicate that you're a strong team player and like being part of a team.

Q. Why do you want this job? A. To help you answer this and related questions, study the job ad in advance. But a job ad alone may not be enough, so it's okay to ask questions about the job while you're answering. Say what attracts you to the job. Avoid the obvious and meaningless, such as, "I need a job."

Q. How do you handle pressure and stress? A. This is sort of a double whammy, because you're likely already stressed from the interview and the interviewer can see if you're handling it well or not. Everybody feels stress, but the degree varies. Saying that you whine to your shrink, kick your dog or slam down a fifth of Jack Daniels are not good answers. Exercising, relaxing with a good book, socializing with friends or turning stress into productive energy are more along the lines of the "correct" answers.

Q. Explain how you overcame a major obstacle. A. The interviewer is likely looking for a particular example of your problem-solving skills and the pride you show for solving it.

Q. Where do you see yourself five (ten or fifteen) years from now? A. Explain your career-advancement goals that are in line with the job for which you are interviewing. Your interviewer is likely more interested in how he, she or the company will benefit from you achieving your goals than what you'll get from it, but it goes hand in hand to a large degree. It's not a good idea to tell your potential new boss that you'll be going after his or her job, but it's okay to mention that you'd like to earn a senior or management position.

Q. What qualifies you for this job? A. Tout your skills, experience, education and other qualifications, especially those that match the job description
well. Avoid just regurgitating your resume. Explain why.

Q. Why did you choose your college major? A. The interviewer is likely fishing to see if you are interested in your field of work or just doing a job to get paid. Explain why you like it. Besides your personal interests, include some rock-solid business reasons that show you have vision and business sense.


Good Luck! :)

Miyerkules, Oktubre 15, 2008

How to get rid of so7.exe / x3.exe virus

As for some people who don't know, Any file that install and excute itself without your permission is a virus.


so7.exe and x3.exe virus are Trojan viruses that copies itself onto your computer and will run in the background everytime you log online. Though I don't know what exactly what's it doing there in your background but the common symptom is that both ( or maybe one of them ) will appear on your screen and would blink a split second.


Here's how you can get rid of that crap manually:


close all open programs (keep this instructions open of course)


Ctrl + Alt+ Delete (Task Manager)


Stop the so7.exe running process (if seen)


Now you can go to C:\documents&settings\username\
and delete any file with so7.exe, x3.exe, db6.exe.


Then Go to Start> Run> Type in MSCONFIG > enter


In the "Start Up" tab, uncheck the so7.exe to prevent it to copy itself next bootup time.

Don't forget to "empty" your recycle bin before quitting.

Now here's the final step:


Go to Start> Run> REGEDIT> enter


In the registry page, press CTRL+F and find so7.exe, x3.exe, db6.exe (one at a time of course) and delete entry containing any of them.


Now you can restart.


Have a wonderful trojan-free day!

Task Manager Disabled - quick solution

My task manager has a "task manager has been disabled by the administrator" message. How did this happen and how can I correct this?

So, how did this happen?

As we'll see in a moment, there are settings you can access as an administrator that would allow you to disable and enable Task Manager in this way.
You didn't do that, you say?

Then a virus probably did.

Disabling Task Manager is one way viruses try to make it harder for you to deal with their infections. Before proceeding any further, you should run a complete and up-to-date anti-virus scan of your machine. It's possible, perhaps even likely, that you've been infected.
Once you come back virus-free, you can proceed with the fix.
If you have Windows XP Pro, there's a nifty user interface to directly edit the setting you want to repair. Click Start, then click Run and type in gpedit.msc

Once in the Group Policy Editor, expand in turn:

User Configuration
Administrative Templates
System
Ctrl+Alt+Del Options

Double click on Remove Task Manager to change its setting
It should be enough to click on Not Configured and then OK and Task Manager is available once again.
--------------------------------
If you don't have Windows XP Pro, then you'll need to edit the registry manually.
Click Start, then click Run, type in regedit, and click on OK.

Expand these registry keys in turn:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
System

Right Click on the DisableTaskMgr item. Click on Delete, confirm that you want to delete, and Task Manager should be available once again.

How to remove "TAGA LIPA ARE" virus on your browser

Here are some easy steps to remove that mothafuckin' "TAGA LIPA ARE" virus (affected mine as well) on your browser.

1. Run Task Manager
Windows XP(Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
or CTRL + ALT + DEL
then look for the "processes" tab,
Look for the process with the name "Wscript" and end process all of it.
2. On windows Explorer Select TOOLS -> Folder Options


in VIEW tab under "hidden files and folders" select
show hidden files and folders
next, uncheck hide protected operating system files


3. Browse all your disk and drives C:\Windows or C:\Winnt
( don't double click it or "wscript" will run again)
look for "autorun.inf" and "FS6519.dll.vbs"
then delete the 2 files
be sure that no more wscript running in your task bar.


4. Lastly, (for the final step)
click start and select run, type "regedit"
press ctrl+F
search "taga lipa are"
i think it will appear 3 times, duouble click it then replace it
with "Microsoft Internet Explorer"
then exit .
thats it!!
restart ur PC and it will be ok..


Have a wonderful Trojan-Free Day! :)

Does your PC runs irritatibly slow?

Before undertaking any system changes, be sure that the basic maintenance chores are done. Also be sure that you know how to get back where you started in case changes don't work out. As a reminder here are the things that need to be done regularly:

Run up-to-date anti-virus
Run up-to-date anti-spyware
Empty “temp” files
Empty Recycle Bin
Run chkdsk and disk defragmenter
Back up your system

Windows XP loads pretty fast but there are some ways to hurry it up a bit. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff you read isn't too useful. Here are a few of the common suggestions.

A study has shown that cutting down on the number of fonts being loaded will speed things up. If you have many hundreds of fonts, you might consider removing some.

There is a lot of discussion of configuring "Prefetch" and the related subject "boot defrag". The average PC user can ignore these subjects since Windows XP basically takes care of this area on its own. However, forget the often-mentioned idea of regularly deleting the contents of the \Windows\Prefetch\ folder. In fact, deleting Prefetch will initially slow down the boot until the folder is rebuilt.

The Start menu in Windows XP contains an entry, My Recent Documents, where a list of all the recent documents that you have opened or used is kept. This provides a quick way to reopen any document. After a while the list can get quite long and it has the effect of slowing the bootup process. What isn't obvious is that the list of files that can be accessed from the My Recent Documents entry in the Start may be only the tip of the iceberg. The folder, %USERPROFILE%\Recent, where the entries are stored may have many more. This folder should be cleaned regularly. This can be done manually or automatically every time you log off. To make the cleanup automatic you can edit the Registry.

In the Registry editor Regedit, navigate to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a DWORD value named ClearRecentDocsOnExit and give it a data value of 1.

Shortcut entries for “My Recent Documents” will still be collected during a login session but will then be cleared at logoff.

Speed up your internet speed by 20%

Apparently many people want to disable QoS for many reasons (i.e) to Speed up Internet Connection. THIS IS WRONG.

Some of us may find that after installing Windows XP, the Internet connection gets slower. A possible reason for this is the QoS (Quality of Service) installed. This service reserves 20 per cent of the bandwidth for itself, even with QoS disabled. In order to remove this reserved quota, you will have to make sure you are logged on as Administrator. Go to Start > Run and type gpedit.msc.

Expand to:
local computer policy/administrative templates/network.

Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in the left window and in the right window, double-click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting. On the settings tab check the "enabled" item and change the "bandwidth limit" to read 0. After doing this, you should immediately notice a boost in your Internet connection speed.

You also need to verify that QOS packet scheduler is enabled in your network connection properties done by going to control panel > network connections > right click on your connection > properties > check mark for QOS.