How to Manage Tasks Effectively

Managing your tasks effectively requires following a step-by-step process to get your tasks completed on time. Here's how:

Create and Organize Tasks

Start listing and documenting all the tasks that need to be done. Use a to-do list, spreadsheet or TASKPAD. The goal is to get everything out of your head and into a system. This step is crucial for visualizing your workload and planning your next moves.

What is a TO-DO List?
A TO-DO list typically includes task description, due date, priority, status and monetary values, if any. All those critical fields are in facts, provided for in TASKPAD.

Task Status in TASKPAD

Plan. Task that needs to be perform later.

Work in Progress. Your current task that is actively being work on.

Completed. Task that is done but waiting a closure. E.g. waiting for a review, confirmation or acceptance by a third-party.

Closed. Task that is satisfactorily done and accepted.

Reopen. Opps, task that was closed but need to be revisited due to additional request, error, oversight or in worst case scenarios, unacceptable quality.

Set Priority and Deadlines

Once you have your tasks listed, it's time to prioritize. Not all tasks are created equal. Some need immediate attention, while others can wait. Assign deadlines to each task based on their priority (the urgency or importance of this task). This helps you focus on what matters most and ensures you meet critical deadlines.

Priority in TASKPAD

Low. A task that you can afford to sit on for a while.

Medium. A routine task that you have planned or assigned in a timely manner.

High. Focus on it. An urgent task that needs to be completed soonest possible otherwise there will be a potential negative consequences if not completed on time.

Critical. Obviously this is super urgent, die die must do.

>> Read Pareto Principle

Why so urgent?
Most tasks become urgent due to procrastination (read: What type of Procrastinator are you?) or wrongly prioritized or poorly planned (e.g. last minutes assignment from superior).

Manage Task Dependencies and Resources

Sometimes, certain tasks depend on each other. One task might need to be completed before another can start. Identifying these dependencies early on prevents delays and keeps the project moving smoothly. Similarly, allocating the right resources, be it time, tools, or people, ensure that tasks are completed efficiently.

Collaborate and Communicate with Team Members

Effective communication is the secret to task management. Regular check-ins and updates ensure everyone knows what's happening and what's expected of them. You can use collaboration tools to share updates, ask questions, and provide feedback. Those collaboration features are in fact available in TASKPAD. The aim is to create a cohesive team working toward the same goal.

The above is a snapshot of TASKPAD showing commentary among collaborators on a Task.

Are you a supervisor?
If you're a user of TASKPAD, login regularly to view your subordinates' tasks and follow-up with their task status. Give feedback should there be no progress. Maintain a milestone that everyone should accomplished a task at certain period. Have a brainstorming session to resolve hiccup and blockers.

Track and Analyze Task Performance

Finally, you need to monitor task progress. Tracking performance helps you identify what's working and what's not. You can use analytics to understand bottlenecks and make data-driven decisions.

If you're a user of TASKPAD, view your own calendar, and see what you have accomplished.

Those steps mentioned earlier can help you transform your approach to task management and boost your team's productivity.

As your company or team grows, the tasks also become more numerous and complex. Hence, finding and using the right tool for task management becomes crucial at this point. Try TASKPAD, today.


Boosting Team Productivity and Efficiency

Imagine your team operating at peak efficiency, with each member knowing exactly what to do and when. TASKPAD can makes this a reality by providing clear instructions, priorities, and deadlines. By eliminating guesswork and streamlining processes, your team can focus on what they do best: driving results and growth.

If only the above happen, we could have more happy hours and GO PLACES !



Recommend reading:
Task Management Software Improves Prioritization
Timesheet, And What it Means for Company and Employees Success

Pareto Principle or the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, suggests that in many situations, roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. This principle can be applied to various aspects of life and work, from business and productivity to personal relationships and even health.

Here's a breakdown of the concept and its applications:

What it means:

The 80/20 rule isn't a strict mathematical formula, but rather a general guideline that highlights an uneven distribution of resources, effort, or impact.

It suggests that focusing your energy on the most impactful 20% of activities will yield the greatest results.

For example, 80% of your sales might come from 20% of your customers, or 80% of your work output might be generated by 20% of your work hours.

Examples of application:

Business:

Identifying the most profitable products or services, focusing on the top 20% of customers, or streamlining the most frequently used features of a product.

Productivity:

Prioritizing tasks that will have the biggest impact on your goals, or identifying time-wasting activities to eliminate.

Personal Life:

Focusing on building stronger relationships with the people who bring you the most joy and support, or decluttering your space by focusing on the items you actually use.

Healthcare:

In the US, the 80/20 rule (also known as Medical Loss Ratio or MLR) generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of premiums on healthcare costs and quality improvements.

How to use the 80/20 rule:

Identify your goals: Determine what you want to achieve in a specific area.

Analyze your inputs: Examine the activities, resources, or factors that contribute to your goals.

Identify the vital few: Pinpoint the 20% of inputs that are producing the majority (80%) of your results.

Focus your efforts: Prioritize and allocate your time, energy, and resources to the vital few inputs.

Adjust as needed: Continuously evaluate and refine your approach based on your results

Datapuri Financial System - 2020 Performance

The result is out. In 2020, our Datapuri Financial System helped customers to process RM217.43 million invoice amount (revenue). Our customers consist of different segments, namely: Logistics, Construction, Agriculture, Information Technology and Oil & Gas.

Similarly, in 2019, our Datapuri Financial System helped to process RM223.72 million invoice amount. Obviously, our customers suffered approximately RM6.29 million in reduction of revenue, no thanks to the prevailing Corona Virus pandemic.

2021 will be another challenging year for most of us. As for Pasti Nyala, we are expecting lower sales too, as most companies try to conserve their cash reserve or in the process of cost-cutting.

For Small and Medium Enterprises who required an affordable system to manage their account and finances, contact us for more information on our Datapuri Financial System. 

 

Construction Accounting vs Regular Accounting

Regular Accounting focuses on the company-wide measurements of the profitability and loss, which the Profit and Loss will show the total revenue and the expenses. Meanwhile, Construction Accounting focuses on the crucial piece of information that is allocated to a specific job, which is called Job Cost, mainly consists of materials at the warehouse, labor, subcontracts, and other expenses incurred for jobs - Direct Expense.

In Construction Accounting, the Job Cost is necessary to analyze performance on other levels, instead of just from the Regular Accounting perspective. Job Cost can be further broken down into different Cost Code when necessary.

As part of the Job Cost, there will be an Estimate Costs provided for each Cost Code of a job, which to helps in measuring the progress, measuring performance and production, and give the historical data for future estimation.

In general, Regular Accounting is measuring a company/department performance; however, the Construction Accounting is measuring a job, group of jobs, or a particular Cost Code.

Regular Accounting is dealing with all aspects of revenue and costs, including overhead and admin costs; however, Construction Accounting is dealing more with Direct Costs.

Regular Accounting usually reports in an accounting period (monthly, quarterly, or yearly); however, Construction Accounting will reports on job-to-date in addition to specific periods per job, which can cross over multiple financial/fiscal periods. An example being a construction project that needs a few years to complete such as high-rise buildings, bridges, etc. 

Construction Accounting is generally built upon  Regular Accounting, which shares the same basic financial reporting for the operating and growing a business and preparing the annual company tax returns and allows the management to make business decisions. 

On top of it, Construction Accounting adds many complex layers of reporting mechanisms to show the contractor where their best customers are within the market segmentation boundaries.

Additional reporting needed for Construction Accounting are Job Costing Report, Job Profitability Report, Earned Value Report, Work-in-Progress Report, Estimate vs Actual Report, Payment Application, etc.

In order to provide a reliable Construction Accounting Reporting, various Accounting Method that will be used are Cash, Accrual, Completed Contract, and Percentage of Completion, which needs to records on-time invoicing, and on-time expenses records for a specific job in the bookkeeping, so that it only able to provide the management with the actual progress of the job, job costing, and job profitability.

Are you looking for an Accounting System for your construction company? We have a solution for you. Contact Us.

By SYH. 

ICT End of Life (EOL) Equipment

Nothing lasts forever, especially technology. As much as you love your gadget, all good things must come to an end. As much as a company needs to minimize hardware replacement costs, it is inevitable to spend sooner or later. That brings us to a crunching question: How long do they last?

As a company, struggling with machines well past their prime negatively impacts your bottom line. And although there is nothing wrong with keeping older computers, it's important to beware of the fact that all ICT hardware has an expiry date (End of Life).

An average lifespan of a desktop computer (PC) is around 5-7 years. While many computers can remain operational several years after their projected lifespan; the accumulation of files, software, and updates takes a toll on the hardware. This is when degradation comes in, too many background processes/applications running puts pressure on the CPU, which leads to overheating. Under most circumstances, the computer's cooling unit mitigates this, but over time it can suck in dust, clog up vents, and limit air circulation. The excess heat produced will then wear out internal components and affect overall performance.

Laptops are not as sturdier as desktops, not to mentioned rough handling, hence, the average usage is 3-4 years.

Smaller (and more easily damaged or misplaced) mobile devices are short-lived compared to desktop. Average usage for smaller mobile devices: 2-3 years.

While the hardware may still work beyond the recommended lifespan, this common "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" preception could lead to reliability and security issues down the road, especially if firmware or operating systems are no longer updated to patch security vulnerabilities.

What is the typical lifespan of ICT assets?

Typical lifespans can vary and will depend on how well your assets were deployed (environment and usage factors) and maintained throughout their lifetime. Below are some general guidelines for an ICT End of Life (Equipment) refresh/replacement.

 

• Workstation/PC/Desktop: 5-7 years
• Laptop: 3-4 years
• Mobile Devices (Smartphone/Tablet): 2-3 years
• Servers: 7 years
• Network Equipment: 7 years
• Printer: 7 years
• UPS: 5-7 years
• Fiberoptic cables: 15-20 years
• Standard software: 3 years
• Customized Software: 10years

When is the time for a hardware refresh?

Performance Issues. New applications with more complex features put stress on aging hardware, resulting in performance problems and system lag. Performance issues typically lead to decreased productivity from frustrated users

Sunset Products. As hardware manufacturers and software providers sunset/discontinue products, they will no longer support or upgrades for them. Operation without this support can cause vulnerability and security risks.

Cost factors

The easiest way to determine whether you should replace your computer is by weighing the costs. One good rule of thumb is if the cost to maintain existing hardware reaches 66% of the price of a new computer, you should opt for a new one.

And while it may seem wise to use an old computer until its dies, that's often not the case. Eventually, processors will give out and the replacement part will not be available, this could cause downtime for your workers.

High-end vs budget-friendly: What type of devices are organizations buying?

For mission-critical servers that power important services employees and customers rely on, company should invest in new, higher-end hardware. But for everything else, company can have a slight preference for new, budget-friendly devices over new, higher-end devices.

ICT EOL Refresh Policy

Company should also have an ICT EOL Refresh Policy to establish and define a Refresh policy for all equipment used in the company. This is intended to provide a balance between optimum use and on-going maintenance costs to enable staff to use the latest software with ease, without impeding the productivity and efficiency of their department. The purpose of the policy is to minimize risk(s) from (but not limited to):

• The vulnerability of out-dated or obsolete hardware and software systems to external and internal attacks.
• Inadequate security and authentication functions for obsolete systems.
• Unavailability of security fixes and vulnerability patches for obsolete systems (e.g Windows 96, Windows XP).
• The lack of technical support and defensive measures available to obsolete systems (e.g 4GL, DOS).

Future-proof your ICT Infrastructure

Wide Area Network with older CAT cables may need to be replaced with fiberoptics. WIFI may need to be replaced with 5G cellular coverage. Off-site backup may need to be complemented with cloud backup. Supporting environmental devices such UPS may need to be replaced with Smart-UPS, air-cond and lighting may need to be replaced with energy-saving units.

Disposal of EOL equipment

Instead of sending the EOL equipment to the landfill, you may want to dispose of it properly as e-waste where certain parts can be scraped or recycled safely. If EOL equipment is still functioning, it can also be donated to the needy. 

However, regardless of the EOL Server/Desktop/Laptops are to be disposed or donated, the company data/files in the hard-drive must be removed to protect the company data breaches. EOL equipment should be donated with new hard-drive, while the old hard-drive must be destroyed properly.

#jangkahayatasetICT

Task Management Software Improves Prioritization

When running a company, department, or an individual team, it is of the utmost importance to motivate your employees in order to obtain the best results and ensure everyone is completing their tasks. As such, properly managing tasks becomes imperative since workers will have to conduct assignments that show real results. One way for supervisors to simplify this process is by implementing task management software in their department.

Pasti Nyala has a few tools but not fully utilized. Members need constant reminding and this can be quite tiring. I'm aware that reminding someone else is part of managing people. But some subordinates are just not cooperating. No doubt they are listening, but the end result or the improvement is just now showing.


In order for anyone to succeed in their job, they will need to have the focus and the drive to get their tasks done. Google for some articles on how to focus on work productivity and how to help subordinates improve concentration and productivity so that they have enough focus to bring results for the team and the company. 

Moving Away from Email Management toward Task Management Software

Often, managers have attempted to track the tasks their team members are working on through email. Using email to manage how workers are doing on their assignments may not be as beneficial. First, you need to wait until someone responds to the emails you send. Second, your workers are unlikely to provide all the information you need through an email.

Essentially, you’ll never be able to track the time spent on work among your employees or the workflow and revisions that take place by merely using emails or even face-to-face meetings. You will gain much more data by implementing task management software.

Incorporating a task management tool in your company can help you as the supervisor track the time spent on work and better manage workflow. This will give you more peace of mind since you’ll be able to see data more clearly and ensure your team is meeting deadlines. Essentially, task management software can bring better results for your company. Below are some of the main benefits of using task management software.

The Major Benefits of Task Management Software

1. Allows You to Stick to a Schedule

By utilizing task management software, you’ll be able to set up a schedule for your team members so that everyone knows when their tasks are due and when major deadlines are coming up. This is especially helpful when you’re working on different projects across many team members.

2. Improves Task Delegation

As a manager, you’ll be able to more easily delegate assignments through the use of task management software. This type of tool can help you utilize comments to discuss which individuals will complete certain tasks and what deadlines your team members can reach.

Some of the biggest difficulties with task management include failing to make appropriate business decisions and team members not completing what was asked of them, especially when a project is complex. Luckily, task management software is able to simplify the delegation of assignments, communication between team members, and general business decision-making.

3. Simplifies Remote Work

With the use of task management tools, you’ll be able to much more easily manage projects when you have employees working in different locations or even separate cities. If your workers need to spend the day at home and complete their projects that way, you’ll be able to track the time they spend working with the right tools.

4. Helps Schedule Meetings and Calls

Mobile phone applications and task management tools can also help you more easily message workers to schedule meetings and set up Skype or video calls when others are located remotely.

5. Simplifies Tracking the Quality of Work and Performance

With the use of project management tools, you’ll be able to more clearly track the quality of assignments received and the performance of your team members. You’ll be able to check the number of revisions an assignment goes through and help your employees improve the quality of their projects.

Prioritizing Tasks to Simplify Work among Your Team

According to an article from Inc.com, President Dwight D. Eisenhower utilized a very effective organizational chart for prioritizing tasks according to which tasks are important and which ones are urgent.

Essentially, there are four specific levels that tasks can fall into. These four levels are:

Urgent and Important
Urgent and Not Important
Important and Not Urgent
Not Urgent and Not Important

At Pasti Nyala, we called this Work Priority Quadrants or WPQ.

All assignments should be completed in a top-down manner after positioning them in the organizational chart. Urgent, important things need to be completed as soon as possible while urgent and not important tasks are more minor but are still time sensitive. Important but not urgent tasks don’t need to be completed right away but are important to work on long-term. The last items that workers should complete are the ones that are not important and not urgent.

By incorporating this process in your own life and using the organizational chart to prioritize tasks among your team members, you’ll find that more goals will be met and fewer projects will fall behind.

Instead of focusing on distractions, your team will be able to concentrate on more long-term projects. Stack methodology can be used to better organize and prioritize when team members have a number of different projects to complete and various day-to-day tasks.

The manager will need to prioritize all of the assignments according to importance and urgency, which will allow workers to complete multiple parts of different projects within the same week. Stack methodology will help managers better understand deadlines, revisions, and cost of delivery. Task management software can also help you delegate and prioritize projects across your team.

The above basically gives you better insights on Task Management and I would like to relate Pasti Nyala's TASKPAD to it.

TASKPAD can help you improve productivity among your team members by helping them prioritize certain tasks and more easily meet deadlines. You’ll be able to more quickly delegate tasks using TASKPAD function and comment sections to assign projects and discuss errors or revisions/updates.

Recommend reading:
Timesheet, And What it Means for Company and Employees Success

Timesheet, And What it Means for Company and Employees Success

It’s a common enough occurrence at any company — a task is assigned, a reasonable deadline is set, but in the end, so much work still needs to be done. The problem is simple: Time management, or to be more accurate, a lack of it.

Granted, there are also a lot of factors that need to be considered with every task, and it would be unreasonable to expect everything to go according to plan. Anyone who’s been working for a while knows that many times, management and the people who actually do the work aren’t always on the same page. 

Sometimes clients can’t seem to make up their minds, and thus keep changing demands, even on the deadline itself, but still expect work to be done on time. Sometimes one or both of the parties involved don’t fully realize the scope of what’s needed in order for the task to see completion. Every job is different, every job is subjected to its own circumstances that either see it done early or on time, or see it delayed significantly.

That being said, one cannot ignore the importance of having proper time management in the workplace. And not just for rank-and-file, EVERYONE in the organization needs to learn to manage their time properly. And not just for big tasks — even something as mundane and boring as going through emails — the time you allot to do anything at work should be subject to a disciplined and efficient system. “Time is gold,” as the saying goes — trite and overused that adage might be, the truth behind it is no less accurate. Especially for a business, time is a resource that needs to be utilized in the best way possible.


Why time management matters

Many employees will likely agree that in most organizations, things can happen in a frenzy. The pace is often fast, and it can be hard to keep up. That means not a lot of thought is likely given to time management; which is ironic, since proper time management can go a long way into making things easier, more efficient, and more effective. And for organizations, better time management all around means better productivity all around — without damaging or compromising quality. In fact, better time management will likely result not only in better productivity, but superior output as well.

At PastiNyala however, we tend to be carried away with the relaxing work culture. Ample time was given, yet a task can drag on. This needs to be improved. Perhaps secondment of staff to other offices for them to experience the work frenzy and be inside the pressure cooker. 

An article from Recruiter says that companies should invest in time management training for employees. “Employees who lack time management skills often fall behind on their work. Deadlines whoosh past. They become demotivated, unproductive, and even unhealthy,” the article reads. The employee timesheet is not treated with respect and is underutilized — people tend to lean towards absenteeism, and management is a poor grasp of not only it’s employees, but how a project or task is progressing (and how it SHOULD BE progressing). HINT: this is where the TPU, leads and seniors are supposed to help and play their role to monitor and guide.

Recommend reading: Secrets for mastering Time Management | What type of Procrastinator are you?

In addition, a lack of time management among employees can lead to that kind of mindset and attitude becoming a part of the company’s culture. Employees are more likely to be burnt out, unmotivated, and lacking in creativity. In turn, supervisors, managers and executives are more stressed out. Again, this spells disaster for any company aiming to become successful.

Improving time management also means things are done more efficiently — for an organization in particular, this could likely mean less expense on resources and whatnot, since more is done with less effort. This also leads to better decision-making by the powers-that-be since everyone has a better grasp of things. Delayed tasks can also result in delayed decisions, which have the potential of significantly affecting the organization in a negative way. Lost time can never be recovered, but creating more time means being able to tap into other opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to you due to time constraints.

Did I not mentioned this before? Creating more time means, do things faster so you'll finish earlier with surplus time. Don't waste time so that you can move on. If you are not busy means you can be more involved, learn and grow.  

Better time management leads not only to a better workplace and a better and more successful company, it also by extension improves the quality of life of all involved. Remember those horror stories from people who bring their work home with them? Better time management means people are more likely to enjoy their lives outside of work because everything is planned better. They know how and when tasks will likely be completed, they are more aware of the boundaries between work and their personal lives. This kind of positive effect returns back to the organization tenfold, as a culture of better time management creates an upbeat and uplifting environment at work, since everyone is happy and much more motivated to work, contribute, and stay in a particular company.

3 key pointers on to manage time better

Fortunately, improving time management isn’t rocket science. It’s more about discipline and changing mindsets. It’s about creating a culture that values time, one where an employee timesheet is something more than just in and out timestamps. Better time management can be learned, taught, and institutionalized. As long as you really want it to happen, and you’re committed to seeing things through, better time management is more than just possible, it’s inevitable.

1. Keeping focus
A lot of times, the problems of time management are problems of focus. A lot of times, people get distracted from what they need to do. Employees, staff, and even executives can be put off track by other things in the workplace. Excessive internet surfing to Facebook or social media, Manga, YouTube, personal Whatsapps, online chatting, Mobile Games or even Shopee, just makes it worst.  

So it’s important for senior executives to take it upon themselves to create and promote a culture of focus. Just imagine a graphic design team, for example. They have certain deliverables that have to be submitted at a certain time, assigned by Department A and Department B, and Senior Manager A. The head of Department C, however, along with Senior Manager B, have their own tasks they want to assign, and they expect it to be completed in the same time frame as that of the other departments’. The problem here is that no one is on the same page. Everyone wants their tasks done and completed immediately. The team suffers because they don’t know what to do first, and they suddenly have an unreasonable turnover time for their tasks. Focus is letting people work at a reasonable pace and with tasks that don’t conflict with each other.

2. Avoid overwhelming people with initiatives
Related to the previous point, it’s important that organizations know how to pick their battles. Initiatives are all good and well, but if it means overloading employees, it’s just not worth it. Nothing really significant will ever come out of it, anyway. Good time management is also about setting priorities, and creating a pace of work where people can not only have sufficient time to think, create and fulfil their tasks, but also time to take a breather and catch their breath before their next obligations. Remember that overwhelmed employees work more poorly, and will be unable to properly focus because they have too much things on their minds.

This kind of overload of initiatives also means that people will be more likely to cut corners just to see deadlines met. Poor and low-quality output essentially defeats the purpose of the initiative, since even if it is successfully implemented, the benefits it is supposed to bring will not be maximized. And poor planning and poor time management being the foundations of these initiatives mean that you’ll find yourself putting out more fires and more troubleshooting down the road. It’s just not worth it.

3. Create a backup plan
Part of time management entails giving people room to breathe. And room to live their lives. This means creating backup systems and policies in case of emergencies. This also means people will be less distracted when the unexpected happens. In addition, having a backup plan means that in case of emergencies, there’s less stress on the organization as a whole (as opposed to having people running around like headless chickens) because there are already protocols in place to help deal with the situation. Issues are solved faster and more efficiently, so everyone returns to regular programming sooner rather than later.

The employee timesheet is more important than you think

Many managers and supervisors underestimate the power and potential of the employee timesheet. More than just a ledger of attendance, timesheets can be an essential tool in creating and monitoring how time is used in the organization. 

Moving forward, if I could have more support (or indication that timesheet can improve your work productivity or an agreement that timesheet is a useful tool), I could invest more time to improve TASKPAD TimeSheet to allows users to have a better and more solid grasp of how time is being spent in the workplace. You can view how much time is being spent on Project A, B, C, and so on. The new function can be effective since it makes the simultaneous oversight of multiple teams and projects much easier (thus time is also saved), and team/project leads are always on top of things. 

How To Support Local Businesses In The New Normal After COVID-19

With the onset of COVID-19, all businesses are severely affected. Non-essential businesses are forced to cease their operation. Almost every company bled with fixed overhead but plummeted productivity.

After COVID-19 there will be a NEW NORMAL of doing businesses. There will be fewer customers interacting with you face to face. Your shop will receive fewer visits. Your training program will no longer able to accept mass participants. Your restaurant will no longer be able to host large number of diners. The hotel will receive fewer international tourists. Cinema cannot be a full house anymore. And the list goes on. All this is due to the Social Distancing to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Back to the local front. Social Distancing will definitely affect the local SMEs especially those rely on human interaction. Below are 6 Ways To Support Local Businesses While Social Distancing.

SHOP ONLINE OR BY PHONE
Since most businesses can no longer rely on foot traffic to be successful, many are changing the structure of their stores. Retailers and boutiques are turning to social media to highlight their products, so like and follow their pages to stay updated. Send them a direct message or give them a call to see how you can make a purchase. They’ll be excited to hear your voice. Restaurants are shifting to carry-out or delivery services, so give them a call or check their website for menu availability.

PURCHASE GIFT CARDS
Even if you don’t need something right away, purchase a gift card now so you can treat yourself when this is all over – you’ll have earned it. Keep local businesses that you utilize frequently throughout the year in mind when deciding on gift card purchases – salons, restaurants, gyms, and retailers are all great options.

ORDER CARRY-OUT, CURBSIDE PICKUP, OR DELIVERY
Many local restaurants have worked hard to shift their menu and operations to carry-out and delivery. When you grab your food, don’t forget to tip!

ENGAGE ON SOCIAL
A lot of businesses are shifting their communication strategy to social media. This is the quickest and most efficient way for them to reach a large portion of their audience and their staff organically. Let them know you’re there by engaging with their posts. Have something in mind you’d like to see from them? Tell them. They’re listening.

FOLLOW THER PAGE, SIGN UP FOR BLOG & E-NEWSLETTER UPDATES
You might just learn something new. You might make new friends. As businesses make the shift to social media and mass communication, you can expect to see more tutorials, demonstrations, and informative information.

TELL YOUR PEERS
Much like online reviews, peer to peer reviews is a great way to keep local businesses top of mind right now (and always!). Order delivery and tell your friends about your great experience – share a photo on your Instagram story and tag the restaurant. Get expert styling tips for free via Facetime from your favorite boutique – share the details on Facebook! Did your hairstylist save you from cutting your own bangs – you better give them a shout out!

Encourage friends and loved ones to support local businesses by sharing these ideas on your social media.

Use #SupportLocal

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dengan bermulanya COVID-19, semua perniagaan terjejas teruk. Perniagaan yang tidak penting terpaksa berhenti beroperasi. Hampir setiap syarikat mengalami overhead tetap tetapi produktiviti merosot.

Selepas COVID-19 akan ada NORMAL BARU untuk menjalankan perniagaan. Akan ada kekurangan pelanggan yang berinteraksi dengan anda secara bersemuka. Kedai anda akan menerima sedikit lawatan. Program latihan anda tidak lagi dapat menerima peserta secara besar-besaran. Restoran anda tidak lagi dapat menampung sejumlah besar pengunjung. Hotel akan menerima kurang pelancong antarabangsa. Pawagam tidak boleh penuh lagi. Dan senarai itu berterusan. Semua ini disebabkan oleh Jarak Sosial untuk meminimumkan risiko penularan COVID-19.

Kembali ke arena tempatan. Jarak Sosial pasti akan mempengaruhi SMEs tempatan terutama yang bergantung pada interaksi manusia. Berikut adalah 6 Cara Untuk Menyokong Perniagaan Tempatan Semasa Menjauhkan Sosial

KEDAI ONLINE
Oleh kerana kebanyakan perniagaan tidak lagi bergantung pada lalu lintas penjalan kaki untuk berjaya, banyak yang mengubah struktur kedai mereka. Peruncit dan butik beralih ke media sosial untuk menonjolkan produk mereka, jadi ikuti halaman mereka untuk mendapat informasi yang terkini. Hantarkan mesej terus kepada mereka atau hubungi mereka untuk melihat bagaimana anda dapat melakukan pembelian. Mereka akan teruja mendengar suara anda. Restoran beralih ke perkhidmatan pelaksanaan atau penghantaran, jadi hubungi mereka atau periksa laman web mereka untuk ketersediaan menu.

KAD HADIAH MEMBELI
Walaupun anda tidak memerlukan sesuatu dengan segera, beli kad hadiah sekarang supaya anda dapat memanjakan diri anda apabila ini selesai. Ingatlah perniagaan tempatan yang sering anda gunakan sepanjang tahun ketika memutuskan pembelian kad hadiah - salon, restoran, gimnasium dan peruncit semuanya adalah pilihan hebat.

PENGAMBILAN ATAU PENGHANTARAN
Banyak restoran tempatan telah bekerja keras untuk mengalihkan menu dan operasi mereka untuk melaksanakan dan penghantaran. Apabila anda mengambil makanan, jangan lupa memberi petua!

MENYERTAI SOSIAL
Banyak perniagaan mengalihkan strategi komunikasi mereka ke media sosial. Ini adalah cara tercepat dan paling berkesan bagi mereka untuk menjangkau sebahagian besar penonton secara organik. Beritahu mereka bahawa anda berada di sana dengan terlibat dengan siaran mereka. Ada sesuatu yang anda mahu lihat dari mereka? Beritahu mereka. Mereka mendengar.

IKUTI HALAMAN MEREKA, DAFTAR UNTUK KEMASKINI BLOG & E-NEWSLETTER
Anda mungkin belajar sesuatu yang baru. Anda mungkin mendapat rakan baru. Semasa perniagaan beralih ke media sosial dan komunikasi massa, anda dapat melihat lebih banyak tutorial, demonstrasi, dan maklumat yang tepat.

HEBOHKAN
Seperti ulasan dalam talian, ulasan rakan sebaya adalah kaedah terbaik untuk memastikan perniagaan tempatan sentiasa diingat sekarang (dan selalu!). Pesan penghantaran dan beritahu rakan anda tentang pengalaman hebat anda - kongsi foto di kisah Instagram anda dan tandakan restoran. Dapatkan petua gaya pakar secara percuma melalui Facetime dari butik kegemaran anda - kongsi perinciannya di Facebook! Adakah penata rambut anda menyelamatkan anda dari memotong poni anda sendiri - lebih baik anda menjerit!

Galakkan rakan dan orang tersayang untuk menyokong perniagaan tempatan dengan berkongsi idea ini di media sosial anda.

Gunakan #SupportLocal

10 Ways to secure Zoom

It was widely reported that popular Zoom was not secured to use. Zoom has released its patches to secure its software. Having said that, you can take additional measures to secure yourself while using Zoom.

1. Use a Unique ID for Large or Public Zoom Calls

When you schedule a Zoom meeting, look for the Meeting ID options and choose to Generate Automatically. Doing so plugs up one of the biggest holes that Zoom-bombers can exploit.

2. Require a Meeting Password

One way to protect the meeting is to require a password. You can give the password out only to those who have replied and seem credible. To password-protect a meeting, start by scheduling a meeting and checking the box next to Require a meeting password.

3. Create a Waiting Room

When participants log into the call, they see a Waiting Room screen, the host, lets them in. You can let people in all at once or one at a time, which means if you see names you don’t recognize in the Waiting Room, you don’t have let them in at all.

4. Only the Hosts Should Share Their Screen

Make sure your settings indicate that the only people allowed to share their screens are hosts. You can enable this setting in advance as well as during a call.

5. Create an Invite-Only Meeting

Only people who can join the call are those you invited, and they must sign in using the same email address you used to invite them.

6. Lock a Meeting Once It Starts

While the meeting is running, navigate to the bottom of the screen and click Manage Participants. The Participants panel will open. At the bottom, choose More > Lock Meeting.

7. Kick Someone Out or Put Them on Hold

During the call, go to the participants' panel on the right. Hover over the name of the person you want to boot and when options appear, choose Remove.

8. Disable Someone’s Camera

f someone is being rude or inappropriate on video, the host can open the Participants panel and click on the video camera icon next to the person’s name.

9. Prevent Animated GIFs and Other Files in the Chat

In the chat area of a Zoom meeting, participants can share files, including images and animated GIFs – if you let them.

10. Disable Private Chat

Open Setting in the Zoom web app (it’s not in the desktop app). On the left side, go to Personal > Settings. Then click In Meeting (Basic). Scroll until you see Private chat. When the button is gray, it’s disabled.

Coronavirus and Toilet Paper

Everyone take a breath... you don’t need more toilet paper! That won’t help with the Coronavirus BUT HERES SOME INFORMATION THAT WILL! 👇

✔️  82,000 People are sick with Coronavirus at the moment, of which 77,000 are in China.
This means that if you are not in or haven't recently visited China, this should eliminate 94% of your concern.

🧪  If you do contract Coronavirus, this still is not a cause for panic because:
81% of the Cases are MILD
14% of the Cases are MODERATE
Only 5% of the Cases are CRITICAL

😉  Which means that even if you do get the virus, you are most likely to recover from it.

🙄  Some have said, “but this is worse than SARS!”. SARS had a fatality rate of 10% while COVID-19 has a fatality rate of 3.4%

👍 Moreover, looking at the ages of those who are dying of this virus, the death rate for the people UNDER 50 years of age is only 0.2%

💰 This means that if you are under 50 years of age and don't live in China - you are more likely to win the lottery (which has a 1 in 45,000,000 chance)

📚  Let’s take one of the worst days so far, the 10th of February, when 108 people in CHINA died of Coronavirus.

🗺  On the same day:
👉  26,283 people died of Cancer
👉  24,641 people died of Heart Disease
👉  4,300 people died of Diabetes
👉  Suicide took 28 times more lives than the virus did.

🦟  Mosquitoes kill 2,740 people every day,
👨  HUMANS kill 1,300 fellow humans every day,
🐍  Snakes kill 137 people every day,
🦈  Sharks kill 2 people a year.

🚨  Let’s tackle problems that matter! Like in Australia one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner. Or our worsening economy, increasing unemployment rate, etc.

~ by Janine Ryan

Ways to activate your immunity

Immunity is the best doctor, and it can be activated in 8 simple ways. Immunity is the strongest divine doctor in our body.

Whenever it is cold, children and the elderly with poor immunity are susceptible to colds. Are you the group with poor immunity?

What we need to do is to improve our immunity, and it is not easy to get infected even in the face of flu.

Zhou Chunling, vice chairman of the Nutrition and Food Safety Branch of the Chinese Society of Geriatrics, gave 8 simple ways to improve immunity to help you keep the disease out of the door.

1. Get enough sleep:
When the seasons change, diseases such as urticaria and shingles caused by high work stress and lack of sleep are prone to occur, and it is necessary to ensure adequate sleep.

Adequate sleep should ensure physical recovery and energy when waking up. Generally, adults sleep for 7-8 hours a day, and the elderly must not be less than 6 hours.


2. Yogurt Breakfast:
A study by the American Health Association found that yogurt can reduce "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein LDL) levels and reduce the risk of urinary tract infections by 47%.

The probiotics contained in some yogurts can greatly improve the body's immunity and disease resistance.


3. Eat more garlic:
A study by the University of Maryland Medical Center found that eating garlic not only helps improve immunity, but also helps prevent heart diseases.  However, patients with gastrointestinal disorders should eat less.

However, allicin is volatile when heated, and it is recommended to mash it and leave it for 10 to 15 minutes before eating, so that allicin and allicinase interact with each other to improve nutritional value.


4. Drink honey water, ginger water, lemonade often:
Studies have shown that the antioxidants in honey are boosters for improving immunity; ginger is a natural analgesic and antidote, which has a certain anti-infective effect; lemon is rich in vitamin C and has antioxidant properties.

Foods rich in antioxidants and vitamin C can protect the body from free radicals and damage from harmful molecules, and promote a healthy immune system.



5. Enjoy afternoon tea time:
After 3 or 4 pm, the human energy begins to decline. At this time, drinking a cup of afternoon tea or coffee and eating snacks can not only replenish calories, but also relieve fatigue after continuous work. Through self-regulation, keep your immune system healthy.


6. Exercise every week:
A report from the National Library of Medicine shows that exercise can help "wash" lung bacteria and improve the immune system's ability to detect disease.

Modern people have a lot of work pressure, but if their physical foundation is normal, they can only exercise for 30 to 60 minutes every Friday.


7. Sun exposure:
By maintaining high levels of vitamin D in your body, you can better prevent problems such as sore throat, common cold, and stuffy nose.

Generally, the ultraviolet rays are low in the sun at 10 am and 4 pm, which can avoid harm to the skin, and the time of each exposure can be no more than half an hour.



8. Keep smiling:
Stanford University researchers found that laughter can increase the number of antibodies and immune cells in blood and saliva, relieve fatigue, and is a good medicine to improve immunity.

In your life, you need to have more positive thoughts, divert your attention through exercise, reading, chatting with friends, etc., and reduce stress.

Reasons employee neglect your learning system

Encouraging employees to learn new skillset or improving their current skillsets can be an uphill battle sometimes. You may have spent a great deal of effort to come out with a Learning and Development module (either computerize or manual), but employees have a lackluster attitude in using it.

And there are a number of reasons, such as:

1. Are they excited about it

Ideally, it shouldn't be just about employee requesting for training with subsequent approvals. It's often that someone in the middle of their career sees learning as something they "have" to do. Their superior must also block out the training time to avoid scheduling conflicts, makes a note on the employee's record of new skill levels or certification.

Learning is like going for a hike. To keep yourself motivated and energized, you should think of the next hill -- not the entire length of the trail. After that hill, you can take a break, look back at your accomplishment, have a sip of water, and then look ahead at the next hill. Approaching learning, in the same way, can make it feel less intimidating,


2. Poor contents

In large organizations or fast-paced industry such as IT (where technology change very fast), it's easy for the content of your Learning module to lag behind requirements. You may invest in a library of training material for all occasions with the risk of too generalized, hard to find content or too generic to really have the desired impact.

One solution is to structure the content differently. The bite-sized approach order topics, principles, techniques, information into individual chunks, effectively mini-training sessions that last minutes rather than hours. It's more focused, it also makes bespoke training courses easier to construct, assembling them from only the necessary content, avoiding all extraneous information.

3. Learning culture

A learning organization encourages continuous and collaborative learning at all levels, taking a long-term perspective, with the aim of becoming or remaining highly competitive in its market.

Financial crises, job uncertainty, even political turmoil, all have an impact on the workforce and workplace behaviors. For some time, it's possible we've been adopting more of a bunker mentality - just get the next job done. Understandable, but it doesn't encourage long-term thinking and planning and development is all about the future - preparing for the job that must be done tomorrow.

worldly.airship.gallows

worldly.airship.gallows

That's the 3 words to pin-point our exact Pasti Nyala office location. The words are generated from their Mobile Apps that give the 3 unique words for 3 x 3 meter squares.

To decode it, search our coordinates using their site at https://what3words.com/

A rarely used App in normal circumstances but extremely life-saving when you are lost but without Internet or GPS coverage. It's a technical mystery to me on how exactly they transmit the signal without online coverage.

Install the apps on your phone, just in case.

Praise makes you feel good, Critique makes you better

Taking criticism can be a difficult thing. At some point in your personal life or working life, you will encounter a customer, a user, superior, colleague or audience member – maybe even an online reviewer or a social network friend – who wants to tell you how to do things better.

It can be hard to deal with; after all, nobody likes to be told they're wrong. Some resist to change for the betterment.  But it's not all bad news because sometimes you can use criticism to give you a competitive edge.

Criticism is a form of communication
If someone has a criticism it means they want to give you feedback on what you're doing for them – that means an opportunity to learn more about the person who you're working for and how to convert them into a satisfied customer or audience member. Take a moment to think before you respond to what they're saying – in business, working with someone who is patient and able to receive and act on criticism means both parties can work towards a better outcome. It's the result that matters. For a business, it might mean getting to know what your paying customer actually wants.

Feedback helps make your product stronger
If you always think you're right but don't get feedback from anyone else, how do you know for sure that what you're doing is any good? Whether you're selling or performing, whether it's a product or service, listening and acting on those honest views will tell you precisely what's good and what can be done better. Use that information to change your performance, service, exhibition or event – sometimes it will make for uncomfortable listening but it can make your product or work stronger as a result.

It forces you to think about how you work
Constructive criticism can guide you away from bad practices and towards good ones. Try to be objective and look at what you're providing as though it's not yours. This can be particularly difficult when you're deeply involved in a particular work but, if you can take a step back, you might see how to improve your way of working and avoid any negative outcomes down the road. Did you need a more specific brief? Was there something you missed in the early stages of the project? Is the performance deadline too unrealistic? Ask if you are not sure.

The right kind of criticism can give you an advantage
Think about it: if you can get a customer to tell you – and just you – how to give them the perfect product or service, that's information you've got that no one else has. That puts you at an advantage over anyone else in your sector and can be used again in the future to get things right, even faster. Find ways to squeeze that information from your client or audience and get them to tell you what they really want.

Don't take it personally
Don't take it personally if someone doesn't immediately like your work. Even if you feel you're being criticised unfairly, don't retaliate with an extreme knee-jerk reaction or else you can irreparably damage your prospect of working with that client or audience and can even harm your reputation as well.

There will be occasions when you feel the criticism is personal and, now and then, you'll be right. People are fallible and it's important to remember to not be offended by someone's remarks. However, a good professional is able to take criticism on board and not respond as though it's a personal attack. They are also able to make it work to their advantage or, if all else fails, politely conclude the partnership and leave with their reputation intact.

Resistance to change

Why does the management want us to implement those new standard operating procedures? Aren't our current procedures okay? Is there really a need to carry out the changes recommended by our consultants or senior management? It's so troublesome, why can't we just do it the way that we've always been doing it? Have you ever overheard such conversations in your office pantry or one of your Whatsapp group chat?

These are early signs of resistance to change in your organization, in your department, or in your team. Resistance is a natural reaction when team members are asked to change (I'll call "to improve"). For that matter, most of us feel uneasy and even threatened when asked to make changes. We're by nature creatures of habit and simply hate to step out of our comfort zones. Change is uncomfortable and most people are reluctant to embrace it, regardless of the environment.

A call to change also doesn't mean the boss specifically tell you so. He could be giving criticism. He could be giving you a cold shoulder. That is his sign for a request for you to improve, to buck up. 

Making a change requires a leap of faith: it's moving in the direction of the unknown (to you at least). Taking that leap of faith is risky, and people usually will take active steps of faith toward the unknown only if they truly believe - and more importantly, feel - that the risk of standing still is greater than the risks of moving in a new direction. Don't be a sitting duck, they said.

Change requires new ways of thinking and doing things. People generally have trouble developing a vision of what life will be like on the other side of a change, as they've not been there before. So naturally, they tend to cling to the known rather than embrace the unknown. 

Certain people resist change because they fear they lack the competence or confidence or knowledge to change.

There is also a fear many of us will seldom admit. But sometimes, certain changes introduced by organizations necessitate changes in skills and knowledge (and sometimes attitude), and some people will feel that they won't be able to make the transition very well. They don't think they can do it individually or collectively. However, in the corporate world, to survive the organization must be ready to execute changes in order to stay ahead of the competition. The user of Information Technology including the consumers (that is the general public) are also not spared, they are forced to adapt and change their lifestyle due to advancement of technology. Those advancements introduced innovation and a new way of doing things. We as the consumer has no choice but to change as well.

In today's fast-paced workplace, it's quite common for team members to feel overloaded and overwhelmed, thus resistant to change. They may prefer the status quo. There is also a sign that the younger generation of the workforce would prefer to do their thing their own way. Subtlely they are expecting the organization to do things their ways.

Resistance to change can take many forms and good managers must develop the knack of identifying signs of resistance fairly early into any change, and take appropriate corrective actions.

Signs of resistance to change:
- Complaining, directly or indirectly. Complaining is contagious and can often be disruptive and counter-productive.
- Defiance. They'll ignore it, they'll say it detrimental to their work. For example, a company may implement different procedures or changes in work methods but those who are most resistant may continue operating the same way. Old habit dies hard.
- Missing meetings.
- Missing deadlines. Certain employees may use the change as an excuse to miss deadlines in their assigned task. This happens in Pasti Nyala too.
- Excuses. Instead of a new way of doing thing, employees give excuses like "it's not working", "I forgot", "customer says so" and reverting to the old way of doing things.
- Tardiness. Frequent leave, time-off, absenteeism, and lateness. A simple sign of employee not willing to comply with a new change in working hours, for example.

For Pasti Nyala members,
- Have the Courage to act (change).
- 10 Things that require ZERO talent
- Creating Innovative Solution to a Problem


For the Pasti Nyala TPU, please read How to deal with Resistance to Change. A quick summary to deal with resistance:
- close supervision, i.e getting the people involved in the change to participate in making it.
- understand the true nature of resistance.
- improve attitudes.
- emphasizing new standards of performance.
- encouraging them to think in different ways.

Related articles
- To grow, you need to move out from your comfort zone