Priorities: Your Life Compass

 

Every time-management seminar that you will attend teaches the importance of prioritizing your tasks. Task A is the most important, so plan to do it first. Task B is second in importance, so do it next, etc. Unfortunately, many of these time-management techniques get you so involved in managing the mundane tasks of life, that this is what we focus on. We are stuck in "the thick of thin things" to quote Dr. Stephen R. Covey.

The truth is, no amount of simple task prioritizing will help you achieve your dreams until you first determine the highest priorities of your life, then get those priorities to find their way into your daily tasks and the daily prioritizing process.

The key to successful life management is to pick your priorities. We all juggle a number of balls in the air at all times. We might call them work, family, health, friends, spirit, or education. And we try to get through life without dropping any of the balls. But, many of us never take the time to truly identify what the important balls are for us, and to decide how much we value each. Until we do this, we can never truly prioritize anything else. Here's how you do it . . .

1. Write out a brief statement that describes each of the balls that you try to keep in the air. We'll call them life-priorities. What is it? Why is it important to you? What would you like to accomplish in each area? Be sure to take the time to write this out!! Thinking it through in your mind might be easier, but it loses effectiveness if you do not write it down. Include a brief description of each life-priority, an explanation of why each is important to you, and a list of major objectives that you would like to accomplish for each.

2. Once you have written something about each life-priority, prioritize them. Choose which life-priority is the most important to you, second, third, etc. This is a critical step because, what happens when work and family events collide? If you know where each life-priority stands in relative importance to the others, it will help you to make appropriate decisions in the moment of choice. This doesn't mean that if you prioritize family over work, for example, you will always prioritize family events over work events. This depends on the relative importance of each task in that category. But, it does give you direction when making these important decisions.

3. Make sure each daily "to do" list includes not just the mundane, urgent tasks that constantly fill our lists. Be sure to add tasks that will help you accomplish a major objective for each life-priority. Make a point of adding at least one important task for each life-priority each week.

4. When planning your daily tasks, use your life-priorities as a compass that gives you direction. Determine which task is most important at any given moment, by measuring them against the priorities that you have written. Then do it!

5. Review your life-priority compass each week to be sure you are on track. Remember, what gets your attention, gets you. If you take the time to review and focus on your highest priorities each week, they will naturally point your life in that direction.

6. Dump the guilt. If you have decided to do something based on your life-priority compass, you have earned the right to stuff the guilt. Many people go through life feeling guilty. When they are at home, they feel guilty about not spending more time at the office. When they are at the office, the feel guilty that they are not at home with their family. Guilt, guilt, guilt. Using a life-priority compass takes away the guilt and leaves you free to use your emotions in more constructive ways.

I challenge you to develop your own life-priority compass that will become a scale by which you can measure everything you do. It will help you achieve more while giving you more peace of mind.

By Bill Mansell

Published 02/18/2009

HPS s’offre le français ACP Qualife

 

Les appétits de HPS se co nfirment à l’international. L’acquisition de la société française ACPQualife permettra d’accroître les positions de l’entreprise de monétique sur le marché européen, l’une de ses priorités du moment.

C’est la première opération concrète de HPS dans le cadre de sa politique de croissance externe. Le chiffre d’affaires réalisé en Europe en 2009 est passé à 26% contre 10% l’année précédente. Aujourd’hui, l’objectif affiché est donc de consolider la position dans cette région. L’opération sera conclue en partie par un apport en cash représentant 40% du capital de ACPQualife. La seconde est une augmentation de capital de près de 37 millions de DH réservés aux actionnaires de la société française. ACPQualife est l’union de deux entités ACP et Qualife qui opèrent dans différents segments. La première est spécialisée dans l’intégration de solutions notamment dans la monétique, mais également l’édition de logiciels. Qualife assure la qualification des logiciels et leur test. Ce rapprochement viendra en support aux activités de HPS Europe. Selon Brahim Berrada, directeur financier de HPS, «cette opération nous permettra de renforcer notre offre d’intégration de solutions notamment. Le rapprochement devrait nous permettre de capitaliser sur l’expertise de ACPQualife afin de réduire les délais de développement». L’entreprise de monétique devrait capitaliser sur la forte présence de ACPQualife sur les marchés financiers. Celle-ci servira de base pour le développement du produit Powercard de HPS en Europe ainsi que le développement du logiciel Vision. D’ailleurs, la diversification de l’offre est l’un des principaux axes stratégiques de l’opérateur, ce qui rend plus pertinent l’acquisition de ACPQualife. La prise de contrôle de cette dernière devrait s’accompagner à court et à moyen terme d’autres acquisitions. «Nous avons certaines sociétés dans le viseur en ce moment», révèle Brahim Berrada. Côté Bourse, le marché est assez réactif face aux orientations stratégiques de la société. Depuis janvier, le cours HPS s’est apprécié de plus de 47%, atteignant un plus haut de 946 DH.

 

Mots clés Google : HPS, ACP Qualife

One Droid X killer feature the iPhone 4 lacks

 

The iPhone 4 is racking up the superlatives and sales numbers, but the Motorola Droid X is coming, packing one killer feature the iPhone lacks.

Verizon will offer the Motorola Droid X with the 3G hotspot feature.

(Credit: Verizon)

Let me begin with a caveat: The Droid X is still untested in the field, so we won't know until after July 15 whether it harbors any serious user issues. That said, it already has me drooling over its impressive feature set and design.

Though the 4.3-inch display (in the case of already-small smartphone displays, bigger is better), the Flash 10.1 support, DLNA streaming, and the Texas Instruments 1GHz ARM processor are nice, the icing on the cake is the built-in Wi-Fi hotspot--or what Verizon calls the 3G Mobile Hotspot.

I've always been surprised at how many technologically savvy laptop toters still tether themselves to Starbucks or scurry around, seeking out the local Wi-Fi hotspot when on the road. Or worse, rely on the invariably abysmal Wi-Fi provided at conferences--and often at airports.

I began using laptop 3G on a regular basis a few years back with an HP 2510p ultraportable business notebook, which integrated the Verizon EVDO-A silicon inside the laptop. To me, putting 3G in a laptop was a godsend. It allowed me to work almost anywhere, anytime.

Eventually I moved to Verizon's MiFi mobile hotspot because I purchased an Apple MacBook Air (Apple doesn't offer any laptops with built-in 3G, which I have lamented in the past). But beyond the Apple issue, MiFi also has a serious upside: It frees you from being tied to one laptop--as current 3G contracts do when 3G is built into the laptop--because MiFi supports up to five devices.

Now the Droid X proposes to do MiFi one better. Instead of carrying around both a MiFi and a 3G smartphone, you have it all in one nice, attractive package. And, like MiFI, it supports up to five devices. Presuming that Motorola and Verizon have implemented this feature relatively well, it makes an already attractive Droid X almost irresistible, even with the extra $20 monthly fee tacked on for a 2GB data plan, as Verizon has stated. (Note that this is cheaper than most 3G data plans.)

After all, this is what true integration is all about. Taking something that was previously a discrete, external device (like a camera) and bringing it inside. And in spite of the media's round-the-clock laserlike focus on the iPhone 4 (which, admittedly, I participate in), I will be taking a good, long look at the Droid X.

 

Utilities try to get smarter about selling smart grid

 

WASHINGTON--It's probably not news to their customers, but utility company executives are now realizing that they're not great at marketing.

For years, the smart grid has been touted by policymakers, tech companies, and utilities as a way to make the grid more reliable, efficient, and cleaner. But for the most part, surveys show that consumers are still struggling to understand how a digital grid and two-way smart meters matter to them.

Having seen the backlash from smart meter installations in California, utilities are now acutely aware of how important it is to convey the benefits of new grid technologies, according to executives at the Kema Utility of the Future conference here on Thursday.

In many discussions, speakers said consumers need to come along for the years-long ride of adding new technology to the grid. To get consumers involved, utilities need to shift from treating them like a monolithic block of ratepayers to customers they want to retain.

"The relationship with homeowners is just beginning," Michael Morris, the CEO of utility AEP, said during a panel discussion. "There is no sex appeal to (playing) around with an electricity meter as there is streaming a baseball game on their iPhone or iPad, so we need to be a bit respectful of what that relationship is."

Utility customers in the U.S. expect reliable service and power when needed. But going forward, consumers will want better ways to manage and reduce their energy use for economic reasons, said Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers.

Although electricity prices have dropped significantly in the past two years because of the recession, the pressure on prices is upward given the worldwide demand on energy resources and growing electricity use in general. Helping consumers manage those price increases with efficiency measures is in the interest of utilities, too, since customers will feel more in control, Rogers said.

But just installing smart meters without a good informational and marketing campaign is a mistake, particularly if it's seen as taking choice away from consumers, he said.

"To make smart meters work, you have to follow up quickly with an audit and provide a suite of products that provide some benefit and make clear this isn't a 'Mother knows best' world. You can choose," Rogers said. "That reduces the chance of blowback."

Not about technology
Many of the features promised by smart-grid advocates can be done with existing technologies, but they do require participation from customers, as well as customer education. So rather than rush headlong into the smart grid, some companies are treading lightly and slowing.

Michigan utility Consumers Energy this month will roll out two programs geared at cutting back electricity usage in homes and in both cases, it's using relatively old technology to get it done.

"The intent is not to figure out if the technology works, it's more about the customer marketing message," said Stephen Hirsch, the manager of demand response programs at Consumers Energy. "The biggest barrier was the suspicion on the part of the customer as to why we are doing this. There seems to be a problem with the consumer understanding our business model."

A model of the smart grid, where energy flows in two directions and consumers have more control.

(Credit: EPRI)

In one demand-response program in the Grand Rapids area, the utility will reduce load on the grid during about 10 hot summer days a year by remotely controlling consumers' air conditioners. A signal sent over the utility's existing network will shift central air conditioners from running at 100 percent to 50 percent for four hours in the afternoon, which will result in a one- or two-degree temperature increase, Hirsh explained.

In exchange for shedding load during a time of stress on the grid, the customer gets a rebate. The benefit for the utility is that it does not have to purchase expensive electricity, which is often made with polluting "peaking plants," or have to build new transmission lines to meet peak demand. Cutting the utility's energy accrues to the consumer as it lowers its operating costs, Hirsh said.

Most consumers say they are willing to use a smart device, such as a smart meter, appliance, or thermostat, if it will help them better manage their energy, according to a recent poll by General Electric. And the combined impact of thousands of efficiency events can mean avoiding the construction of new power plants and power lines.

But for these products and programs to work, it has to be simple and easy to use for customers, and there need to be variable pricing that reflects the cost of energy on the wholesale market.

"We've got to make it simple so that it's programmable and you just set it once," said Terry Boston, the CEO of grid operator PJM. "We have to see how well the customer can interface with the grid and how their use patterns can impact the grid."

Finding what works
Emerging smart-grid technologies pave the way for people to have more control over their energy, letting a person, for example, use a smart phone to monitor electricity or turn on the air conditioning just before getting home.

How quickly the utility providers can adapt their businesses to deliver that sort of capability is a big question, said David O'Brien, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service.

Photos: GE's smart grid kitchen of the future

"For a 100 years, utilities have been responsible for running the grid on our behalf. I've seen reticence to go into this very dynamic environment where customers are making thousands of choice on how to use electricity based on information," O'Brien said.

New technologies, such as smart meters, home energy dashboards, or microgrids with community storage, are also expensive and can be difficult to get regulators to sign off on. Baltimore Gas & Electric was shocked this week when the Maryland regulators rejected a smart-grid investment proposal because it did not demonstrate enough benefit.

In the meantime, utilities are experimenting with smart-grid programs, which received a boost from billions of dollar in stimulus spending. Beyond what the technology can do, utilities are eager to see how consumers react to a life where using energy means more than writing a check for a monthly bill.

Municipal utility Chattanooga Electric Power plans to let consumers view their electricity usage on a TV using IPTV, said David Wade, the executive vice president and chief operating officer.

"One of challenges is to understand how to implement software to provide options to customers where they don't have to sacrifice comfort and convenience and help them manage energy costs," he said.

Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin.

 

Fresh Blagues - Les Fonctionnaires

 

Let's start fun

Blague 1
Il existe deux types de douaniers : les manuels et les intellectuels. Les manuels font signe de passer avec la main, les intellectuels font signe avec la tête.

Blague 2
L'inspecteur du ministère de l'Education demande à un postulant qui désire devenir maître d'école : Pouvez-vous me donner trois raisons qui vous motivent à devenir instituteur ?
Le candidat répond : Décembre, Juillet et Août.

Blague 3 Quelle est la différence entre un fonctionnaire et un chômeur ? Le chômeur a déjà travaillé lui.

Blague 4  Vous savez pourquoi les fonctionnaires font leurs manifs en défilant de République à la Bastille à Paris ?
Parce que c'est en descente.

Blague 5  Les fonctionnaires sont un peu comme les livres d'une bibliothèque. Ce sont les plus hautes places qui servent le moins.

Blague 6 Vous savez ce qu'est le jeu des fonctionnaires le lundi matin ? Le premier qui bouge a perdu. Il est 8h00.

Blague 7 Une Renault 5 des ponts et chaussées s'arrête sur une petite route de campagne suivie de peu par une fourgonnette cinq hommes descendent du fourgon et l'un d'eux s'adresse au chef dans la R5 :
- Chef on a oublié de prendre les pelles.
- Vous faites chier les gars. Attendez, je téléphone au dépôt. Le chef prend son combiné dans la voiture :
- Allo Marcel. Dis donc, il te reste des pelles au dépôt.
- Oui, répond le gars à l'autre bout du fil, il t'en faut combien ? Alors le chef se retourne vers le fourgon :
- Combien vous êtes ?
- Cinq ! Répondent les autres.
- Cinq reprend le chef au téléphone.
- OK, lui dit le gars du dépôt, tu les auras cet après midi.
- OK. Salut. Et il raccroche. Le chef se tourne a nouveau vers les gars :
- C'est bon on aura cinq pelles cet après midi.
- Ben chef qu'est ce qu'on fait en attendant ?
- Je ne sais pas moi. Appuyez-vous sur autre chose.

Blague 8

Dans une cour de récréation, trois gamins discutent :
Le premier dit : Oui moi mon papa, il est l'homme le plus rapide au monde.
Les autres : Ah bon !!!
Le premier : Ben oui, il fait Paris-Lyon en 2 heures.
Les autres : Eh !!
Le premier : Eh oui, il est conducteur de TGV.
Les autres : Ah bon. Silence et réflexion.
Le deuxième : Eh bien, moi mon papa il est l'homme le + rapide.
Les autres : n'importe quoi.
Le deuxième : mais non, mon papa il fait Paris-New York en 2 heures.
Les autres : tu déconnes hé hé.
Le deuxième : ben non, il est pilote de concorde hé hé. Silence.
Et le troisième qui ne se sent pas bien : Eh bien, moi mon papa il est plus rapide que vos papas.
Les autres : non, non ce n'est pas possible, que fait ton papa ???
Le troisième : Eh bien, mon papa est fonctionnaire, il termine son boulot à 5 heures, et à quatre heures il est déjà à la maison.
Blague 9
- Dis, Toto, il fait quoi comme boulot ton papa ?
- Fonctionnaire.
- Et ta maman ?
- Ben elle fait rien non plus...

Blague 10 Savez-vous pourquoi, au milieu des couloirs des bâtiments administratifs, il y a une ligne blanche ?
Pour que ceux qui arrivent en retard ne gênent pas ceux qui partent en avance.

Blague 11 Pendant une importante réunion du gouvernement, un ministre se penche vers un autre ministre et lui glisse à l'oreille :
- Dites moi, vous avez combien de fonctionnaires qui travaillent sous vos ordres ? Et l'autre répond :
- Oh ! Disons un sur dix...

Blague 12

C'est une société qui cherche un comptable. Elle passe une annonce et trois candidats se présentent. Le recruteur fait entrer le premier candidat. C'est un homme, à l'air austère.
- Bonjour Monsieur. Nous allons nous permettre de tester vos capacités, pour voir si vous avez le bon profil. Une place de comptable, c'est sérieux. Pouvez-vous compter jusqu'à dix ?
- Mais, bien sûr: Une deux, Une deux, Une deux....
- Ouh là là, c'est pas terrible. Que faisiez-vous avant ?
- J'étais adjudant dans l'armée de terre.
- Écoutez, on vous écrira.
La deuxième personne entre à son tour. C'est une femme, un peu niaise.
- Bonjour. Je vais vous demander de compter jusqu'à dix.
- Facile : Un trois cinq sept neuf...
- Dites donc, c'est pas fameux. Qu'est ce que vous faisiez avant ?
- Pervenche, mais je suis toujours restée sur les côtés impairs.
- Eh bien on vous écrira.
Le recruteur commence à être un peu tendu. Il fait entrer le dernier candidat.
- Bonjour Monsieur. Êtes vous capable de compter jusqu'à dix ?
- Sans problème : Un deux trois quatre cinq six sept huit neuf et dix.
- Formidable ! (j'en tiens un) Vous avez l'air du comptable idéal. Et... vous pouvez continuer ?
- Oui : Valet, Dame, Roi...
- Aie aie aie, ça se gâte, qu'est ce que vous faisiez avant ?
- Employé des postes !

Blague 13 Un postier avec une poupée sur le doigt (il a un panaris) entre dans un bar pour déposer le courrier du jour. Au fond du bar, il aperçoit une lueur rouge qui émane de derrière un paravent. Étonné, il demande au barman :
- Qu'est-ce que c'est que cette lumière rouge et ces paravents au fond du bar ? Le barman lui répond :
- C'est un ami à moi qui travaille là-bas ; c'est un guérisseur. Il fait partir des maladies pour lesquelles la médecine traditionnelle est impuissante !
- Oh... Eh bien tu lui paieras un verre de ma part ! répond le postier. Là-dessus, un maçon entre en boitant dans le bar car il a une patte folle. Lui aussi demande :
- Que se passe-t-il ici ? Le postier lui répond :
- C'est un guérisseur qui officie là-bas derrière. Il guérit même ce qui ne se guérit pas ! Le maçon dit au barman de lui payer une chope de bière sur son compte. Un peu plus tard, un routier entre dans le bar en marchant sur des œufs ; comme tout le monde le regarde interrogatif, il explique que ses hémorroïdes lui mettent les fesses en feu, puis il demande ce qui se passe au fond du bar. Le barman lui explique ce qui se passe. Alors le routier lui dit :
- Mets-lui une bière sur mon compte alors. Un quart d'heure plus tard, le guérisseur s'apprête à quitter le bar. Il passe près du maçon et dit :
- Je te remercie pour la bière. Je vois que tu as une jambe qui ne va pas très fort... et il applique ses mains sur la jambe du gars. Une minute plus tard, le maçon est en train se sauter à pieds joints et de courir partout dans le bar sans boiter ! Incroyable !
Juste après, le guérisseur passe près du chauffeur routier. Il applique ses mains sur les hanches du routier... et en quelques secondes, le feu qui lui brûlait le derrière s'éteint ! Finalement, le guérisseur arrive au niveau du postier qui s'enfuit en courant et sort du bar comme un coureur de 100 mètres. Le guérisseur lui crie :
- Qu'est-ce qu'il y a mon gars ? Reviens, je peux guérir n'importe lequel de tes maux !
- Justement ! C'est pour ça que je me casse ! braille le postier, "Moi je veux être invalide à 100 % !"

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First Look: Next-Gen Anti-Aircraft Missile Jammer

 

A new device, called Boldstroke, is the solution to a problem the Army does not want to have: the threat of advanced shoulder-fired missiles to American helicopters. Here are the details.

BAE Systems' anti-aircraft jammer system.

There's a laser-guided antiaircraft missile jammer sitting on the table of the conference room in the office of Popular Mechanics. It comes in a medium-size box, weighing in at about 30 pounds, topped with a clear hemisphere housing a prominent mirror mounted on a 360-degree gimbal. Peering inside the dome, a viewer can see a network of other mirrors that bounce light from a laser housed below, directing the beam to the main lens affixed to the gimbal. This prototype is the only one in the world, and this is the first time its inventors, BAE Systems, have brought it out of the lab for a journalist to paw over.
The device, called Boldstroke, is the solution to a problem the Army does not want to have. The threat of advanced shoulder-fired missiles to American helicopters is a nightmare, one that hearkens to the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, where U.S. supplied Stinger missiles downed an estimated 250 Russian helicopters over two years. Shoulder-fired missiles with infrared tracking can rightfully take their place next to improvised explosive devices, sniper rifles and car bombs as gold-standard tools of asymmetric warfare.
Insurgents in Iraq have used SA-7s, shoulder-fired missiles tipped with infrared homing devices, against U.S. and British aircraft. But there are more sophisticated threats out there, like the SA-16, which has a sensitive seeker that adds ultraviolet tracking to IR seekers in order to ignore flares that aircraft fire to spoof the missiles. The SA-16 is available on the black market.
In 2008, something happened that triggered an increase in helo protection, and the Army commissioned BAE to fast-track a system that uses lasers to blind the seekers in infrared missiles. Exactly what prompted the request, called a Quick Reaction Contract, is classified. But it's not a leap to assume that intelligence reports or an actual attack set the wheels in motion. By the end of 2009 BAE delivered its first Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasure (ATRICM) to the Army for use on its CH-47 Chinooks. ATRICM fires a pencil-thin multiband laser at frequencies that blind IR seekers scanning for targets in those same frequencies. The Pentagon recently confirmed to Aviation Week that the defensive system thwarted an IR missile attack on a Chinook, and BAE officials tell PM that the attack occurred within weeks of weeks of ATIRM's arrival in Iraq. The Army is on track to outfit its fleet of Chinooks in Iraq and Afghanistan with the protective system by the end of the year.
Helicopters are a deciding factor in both Iraq and Afghanistan—more so in Afghanistan, where roads are lacking and helos are used for resupply as well as combat missions. The crucial rotorcraft that ferries troops and supplies is the Chinook, but they depend on massive engines to haul their heavy loads. Those engines produce a lot of heat, enough to attract the attention of even modest missile seekers. “There is a huge IR signature from Chinooks,” says Ernest Keirstead, the director of BAE's Boldstroke program.
That brings us back to the prototype on the conference-room table. BAE has created Boldstroke to improve on ATIRCM. It's lighter, has fewer moving optical parts and uses mirrors instead of a physical “light pipe” to shoot its laser. Instead of three boxes, the entire unit is housed in one box. A helicopter with a Boldstroke system mounted on either side of the helicopter would have 360 degrees of protection. And the 360 gimbaled mirror is an improvement on the two-axis steering of the currently deployed ATIRCM.
The Boldstroke rollout is coinciding as simple, unguided rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) continue to take their toll on helicopters during takeoff and landing. In early June a NATO helicopter was felled by a pair of RPGs, killing four soldiers. It is not the first such successful attack. BAE officials say they have dedicated money in-house to investigating how to modify current detection systems that could warn pilots of the approach of an RPG. The key, again, is heat from the rocket, which could be tracked by BAE's existing thermal sensors. Instead of a laser countermeasure, the system could warn pilot where the missile is coming from and allow for some evasive action.
BAE has sunk $70 million over the last three years on upgrading its lab and production infrastructure at its Nashua, N.H., facilities. They are betting—with good reason—that more work will come their way as IR missile threats proliferate. That could mean deploying similar systems on commercial airplanes as well as a wider variety of military aircraft.