This subject has always been at the back of my mind for sometime. It’s a balance of how frustrating it can be to see support man-hours consumed against the frustration of customers with unresolved problems that brings it home for me.
The problem lies with the hardness that people have of getting over the emotional turmoil of your issue and allowing yourself to write a concise explanation of the issue you are having.
The ability of a customer to write a highly informational and detailed support query is the difference between hours of frustration versus a extremely quick resolution of an issue to a customer service agent. This is not new. (more…)
I recently came across this project on kickstarter.com. It’s a new product design that will retrofit to your current iPod Nano (the new multi-touch version).
The designer is Scott Wilson who is the co-founder of a design company called Minimal. They design quite a diverse range of products and have offered their services on products such the Xbox Kinect and the Nike Presto Watch. They have worked with amazing brands too like Xbox, Nike, Dell, Microsoft and Apple.
So far they have received backing of over $325,000. That’s pretty amazing, considering their goal was just $15,000. (more…)
I recently attended this years IRISS (Irish Reporting and Information Security Service) conference. First of all let me explain who IRISS are. IRISS are an independent not for profit organization in Ireland. Their main goal is to provide Irish businesses and individuals with information and services to help secure their information and deal with any threats. IRISS was founded in 2008 and deals with quite a heavy workload since it’s launch.
I would recommend any Irish business or individuals to take a look at their website, www.iriss.ie where they will find plenty of information on how to secure their business. They also provide a great email subscription service.
I watched this on recommendation and I now cannot help but recommend it myself. It’s a documentary that will simply make you gasp. It shows the truth about how our raw food is prepared and produced. The method in which our food is produced has changed more in the last 50 years than in the last 10,000 the movie states.
Something that really made me sit up to watch this is
There are now 5 main companies controlling meat production in the USA.
The main purchaser of minced beef in the USA is McDonalds.
You can get a burger in McDonalds now for 99cents. How can they make it this cheap?
Chickens can now be grown in 49 days as a posed to the regular 3 months.
If you do not adhear to how the coperate giants want you to run your farm, they will have you for breakfast.
I haven’t set foot in a McDonald’s since I seen it.
I had a car accident at the beginning of this year. Someone jammed on the breaks in front of me and my tyres squealed. I ended up driving into the back of them. It was a van. The damage was apparent all over the back doors and rear bumper. The guy in the van seemed OK at the time. No one seemed injured.
It was my first accident and I was completely to blame. I shouldn’t have been driving that close to the guy in front of me. I thought that my insurance safety net, the nest egg I had been throwing my vast amounts of premium money into, would save me. This torment would not last long.
However, it’s not the case. The case is still open, nearly 8 months down the line. My insurance company assure me that they are doing everything in their power to ensure a speedy and prompt resolution. It is me that rings them for this information. The only nugget of sanity I have to go on is “The third party’s solicitor is very slow”.
Yet around this corner of new years I am daunted with my insurance renewal. When I ask for a “guestimate” of what I should be expecting I am greeted with”insurance premiums change all the time, we cannot calculate this for you until 30 days prior”.
I am bound by the powers of the underwriters that I shall stay with my current provider. Little to no-one will provide you with the ability to move insurances with an outstanding claim. One I was told change over €4,000 just to do so.
So as I sit and wait for my tails or tails coin toss of an extortionate insurance premium or extortionate insurance premium from another company I urge you, leave a gap between you and the driver in front.
We all know the feeling. I sometimes think I get it worse than others. You have your mind set on doing something yet only 15 minutes later you have come up with 10 different reasons as to why you shouldn’t. Pushing you to drop what it was that you originally passionately wanted to do.
Why does this happen ?
I believe it to be nothing major standing in my way, yet a collection of small things eating away at me. They slowly and eventually cause me to change my mind. I’ve noticed it occurring more often the longer I have before I need to action the “something”. Perhaps I’m thinking about the task to much ?
I’ve decided the following. To proceed with the gut instinct. If I set out to do something, I shall take a mental note of it to one side and NOT persistently think about it until the date of it’s arrival.
If at the end of said tasks it’s enjoyment wasn’t found, I’ll think twice the next time around. At least I gave it a shot.
If you have been reading this blog, you will have noticed that over the past 2 months I’ve been invoking life changes. Life is short and in order to achieve accountable victories I needed to break out of the patterns I was in.
I have stumbled.
I set out some rather ambitious goals without even thinking about them. Then publicized them. For example, I was to run 3 days a week. I was going to read for an hour before bed. I was going to eat healthy. None of these things really happened.
It’s all due to sustainability and lack of focus. I added these regimes to my routine without batting an eyelid. Bah, I’ve given up smoking, this will be no challenge to me! As I wrap on my chest like king kong. Bollocks.
Until know I haven’t sat down, uncluttered everything from my home desk and said “This isn’t sustainable, somethings got to give”.
It all stems from the daily information overload. My mind is constantly fed streams and streams of information. I never get to take a step back. Something is always waiting for your attention. This has to be controlled.
Without the ability to step back and recoup, my focus on obtaining these goals becomes vague and disorientated. Anything that is really worth obtaining takes focus, which this is not permitting me.
Over the next month I’m going to control the information my poor little eyes are given. No twitter bar four 20 minute segments over the day etc. I’ll find out what works for me, but more importantly what’s sustainable!
