Hallmark Moments Of 2011: December Comes Then Disappears- Faster & Faster Every Year

The heading above is part of the song, I Need A Silent Night by Amy Grant. How true.. December comes then disappears- faster & faster every year!

I started writing this blog way back in 2006. Back then, blogging was just writing and publishing. While that hasn’t changed much, there’s a lot more than just writing and publishing now! Social Media, blog marketing, video, SEO etc takes so much of time and really takes time out of what I love doing, writing! Hopefully, one day, I would be in a position to outsource all the things that I don’t want to do and just concentrate on writing. Until then, it’s a difficult juggle.

Blogging wise, this year has been huge for me. While things were fairly silent on this blog I was concentrating more on my niche blogs. It was difficult because I also have my day job. Like many people, I like to escape from my cubical nation and be my own boss thus gradually laying the foundation now in small micro steps!

Every year, I sort of have something similar to the Oscars, for blog posts. Have a look at the past years.


This year, it's not quite as grand as it used to be :-) but nevertheless I hope you enjoy...

Thank You

Questions, feedback, post ideas, product inquiries etc I've got many emails this year from various readers. Amongst those were some really heart warming emails. People sharing stories, telling me how certain posts I've written have helped them. Reading those emails makes me realize that the effort that goes into this blog is so... worth it!
Thank you very much.. my dear readers.

Whenever I get inspired and have a few minutes to spare, I will keep blogging here. I hope you are still with me and continue to stay subscribed to Enhance Life RSS through the coming year too.

All the best for the year 2012!

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Written on Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 3:29 AM by Shamelle 1 comments  

Proven Tips To Get People To Reply Your Email!

Note: I recently started a new blog and all my spare time has been allocated to writing posts for this new blog. Sorry for the lack of posting here.
If you are looking for some thoughtful, actionable blogging tips with a spoonful of wit check out my other blog, Better Blogging Ways

Anyways, I was inspired to write this post because I overheard a conversation where one person was complaining about not getting replies to his emails. The usual tendency is to think “they are not interested in my email” or “they are ignoring me.”
Often, that’s not necessarily the case. The lack of reply may have nothing to do with you, more so it has to do with them! Yes, it’s not me it’s you! ;-)

Common reasons why people don’t reply email

• Waiting on someone else to get more information and then reply
• Too busy to reply
• Forgetting to reply the mail
• Can’t be bothered to reply
• The mail you sent went to their junk email so didn't get them.
• If there’s more than one person in the email TO line, each person might assume that the other might reply
• Doesn’t know the other person is waiting for a reply

So, it’s important to keep these in mind when writing your email.

Here are some email tips I have used over the last few years to get my emails replied to.

Write a good subject line

Be clear on what the email is about. Depending on the person I am sending the email to, I sometimes add a small tag [need your input] or [Action required] to the subject line. This way even without reading the email message, the person knows that I am waiting for reply.

Write short, scan-able emails!

Imagine if you received hundreds or thousands of emails per day. Everyday…. How would you get over the email overwhelm?
* If possible use one email to convey one message
* Use bullet points, group related details into headings
* Make the email scan-able by highlighting areas that you want the person to read!

Notice what I have done above ;-)

End the email with a question

This way the other person knows that you are waiting for a reply. Here are some examples,
What’s your opinion on this?
Do you think …… ?

If there’s more than one person in the email TO line, add a name of the person you are waiting a reply for.
e.g Mark: Can you confirm this is correct?

Write down a deadline

A deadline creates a sense of urgency, and most people hate to miss deadlines!
e.g I need a reply before … so that I can ….

Remind the person to reply you mail

If all of the above tactics fail to get you a reply, you can politely remind the person to reply to your mail.
Here are a few sentences I use,
* I am waiting for your reply. Please let me know about this when you get a chance.
* I was wondering if you have had a chance to look at the e-mail below yet?
* Quick reminder… I am waiting for your reply

What do you normally say? What’s a good way to remind someone to reply to your email without sounding too annoying?

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Written on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:22 PM by Shamelle 1 comments  

Linchpin: My 3 Favorite Excerpts From the Book

I am an ardent fan of Seth Godin’s books and have read many of his books over the years. So when Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? was released I had high expectations of the book.

The key idea behind Linchpin is that you need to take “ownership” your job, life, and demonstrate the value of what you can offer, by becoming "indispensable".
People will not be indispensable because of power or position, but because of the way they work. Seth terms this as "emotional labor", and what I like to call engagement and passion.
Seth’s compassionate plea is for everyone to “be” an artist – be a Linchpin rather than a cog in the wheel.

I personally found the book to be brilliant and very inspiring; it was really a wake-up call for me. Probably, a wake-up call for most professionals because Seth let's them know that they are heading towards a cliff if they continue “being” who they are!

Here, are a few of my favorite excerpts from the book.

Where Were You When the World Changed?
I grew up in a world where people did what they were told, followed instructions, found a job, made a living, and that was that. Now we live in a world where all the joy and profit have been squeezed out of following
the rules. Outsourcing and automation and the new marketing punish anyone who is merely good, merely obedient, and merely reliable. It doesn't matter if you're a wedding photographer or an insurance broker; there's no longer a clear path to satisfaction in working for the man.

If You Want . . . If you want a job where it's okay to follow the rules, don't be surprised if you get a job where following the rules is all you get to do.
If you want a job where the people who work for you do exactly what they're told, don't be surprised if your boss expects precisely the same thing from you. If you want a job where you don't need to be creative because the company's cost structure is so aggressive that customers just materialize, don't be surprised if the low cost structure costs you your job. If you want a job where you get to do more than follow instructions, don't be surprised if you get asked to do things they never taught you in school. If you want a job where you take intellectual risks all day long, don't be surprised if your insights get you promoted.

You Can't? At the age of four, you were an artist. And at seven, you were a poet. And by the time you were twelve, if you had a lemonade stand, you were an entrepreneur. Of course you can do something that matters. I guess I'm wondering if you want to. There may be a voice in your head that is ready to announce that you can't possibly do what I'm describing. You don't have what it takes; you're not smart enough or trained enough or gifted enough to pull this off. I'd like to ask for a simple clarification. You can't--or you don't want to? I'll accept the second.
It's quite possible that you don't want to. It's possible that making this commitment is too scary or too much work. It's possible that it appears too risky to put yourself on the line and make a commitment to becoming indispensable. A commitment like this raises the bar, and for some people, that might be too high.

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Written on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 11:05 AM by Shamelle 0 comments  

6 Reasons People Are Never Satisfied With What They Have

Reasons People Are Never Satisfied
The local radio station I was tuned into this morning had a short discussion about the reasons people are never satisfied. It went on to reveal that a study has found that the richest people on earth are the most unhappiest!

You and I may not fall into the richest people on earth (ahem..), but still, would you consider yourself satisfied with what you have?

Have you ever wondered why even after you bought some items you have always wanted, soon after you find yourself wanting something else?
Think tank: why are we never satisfied with what we have?

Here are some thoughts from the radio show, along with my own musings....

#1. We are not meant to be satisfied on earth!

Sounds funny don't you think? Or perhaps, a pessimistic comment. I doubt that personal development gurus will agree with this one. Leave a comment, I'd like to know what you think.

#2. Something Out There Is Better Than What We Have

Jim Collins (famous business author), in his newest title, How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, terms this as "The Undisciplined Pursuit of More"

Even if the current condition keeps on improving, the desire to have more continue to grow. Therefore, in order to feel satisfied we got to have everything we currently missing, to the point that there is nothing we can want anymore. Hm.. mathematically possible :-) But is it realistic?

#3. If we can remain satisfied, we would never be motivated to do anything!

I tend to partly agree with this one. If you look at innovations in the past, you'll find a back story where someone was not satisfied with something! I think that the desire for more is what keeps us moving forward. We all need something to strive for. This may not necessarily be monetary; it can be more knowledge, better health, etc.

So basically, if you were truly satisfied with something, its unlikely that you would be motivated to do more?

#4. We are not appreciative of what we already have

What you have right now, could be what someone else may want. (in a literal sense) For example, you may have a loving family etc and there may be someone out that who would think that that's their ideal happiness.

#5. We have high expectations

Sometime ago I wrote a post on, Expectations: Is It A Human Weakness?
It generate some interesting discussions via comments.
Lydia said...
We will always have expectations. It is the prediction of the (often uncertain) future based on what we know and the passed, in order to make ourselves feel more certain in the face of the unknown.
.....
Be clear about what you want, what you expect, the outcome, expect the best, but then know that what ever happens it is always for the best and if it does not work out how we expect at the time, there is a bigger plan in place that we may not yet be able to see that is greater then the picture in our minds.

#6. We are not satisfied because we rarely follow our hearts

It seemed that lot of people tend to take decisions surrounding monitory gains. We don’t stop to do the things we were meant to do, because those things usually don’t produce the amount of money we'd like.

Let's discuss.. what are your thoughts?

Written on Monday, June 20, 2011 at 9:29 PM by Shamelle 5 comments  

How To Overcome Laziness And Do The Things You Need To Do

There have been several occasions where I have thrown my Saturday morning TO DO list out the window, in favor of an extra two hours of sleep! (For someone writing a personal development blog, I am bit embarrassed to admit it)
Given the choice of work and sleeping, I am sure many would prefer the latter. It came as no surprise when one of my friends' recently said, “My hobby is sleeping!”



We all struggle with bouts of laziness and for many of us it is a very frustrating. You know what you “should” be doing, when you are doing something totally irrelevant. But sometimes, we are all tempted by another activity, which might be more enjoyable that what you actually have to do!

Laziness is defined as a demoralizing feeling that often results in a cycle of feelings where we question our ability, our drive, our character and even our place in this world.

Given the things that we have to do in a day, whether work or at home, you will no doubt find a couple of things that you don’t feel like doing. Being lazy is what our unconscious minds would rather being doing anyways!

I personally think that we are all entitled to some level of laziness once in a way! However, the power of laziness cannot be underestimated. If it has too much of an impact on your day to day activities, it can be very destructive and crippling.

So at the end of the day, you somehow need to get around to those annoying little tasks that you feel too lazy to get done!

How To Do Things You Do Not Feel Like Doing

1. Find some sort of leverage to help you get the task done!

You would have noticed that it’s been a while since I last posted on this blog. Believe me, I have been meaning to write for a long time but I never got around to it. It’s not like I don’t want to write or I don’t have ideas to write about. It’s the feeling of, “I can’t be bothered!”
So today, I told myself that I am not going to watch any movie or TV series until I have published a post on EnhanceLife! (Mine was more of a negative “enforcement” but you get my point)

2. Use a simple planning software


I came across a productivity software called The Action Machine (The videos provided were impressive!)
However, I was unable to find a trial version on the website. I usually like to try software before I buy it! Then I saw the 8 week money back guarantee, so I went for it.

The Action Machine really forces me to
1. Decide on a set of tasks to do daily (I usually write it down the night before so that I don’t spend too much time, in the morning trying to figure out what to do today!)
2. Allocate a beginning and end time for each task
3. Get the tasks done!

3. Look at the Consequences of NOT doing what you need to do

Sometimes, thinking of the negative consequence of not doing what you NEED to do can be really beneficial, to get the task started!

4. Get started even for a short time

This is sort of the “trick” my mother used on me when I was a kid, to get me to clean my room! Her initial attempts, “Shamelle, you have to clean the room today” didn’t get her anywhere. After a while she would say, “Just spend 15 minutes and clean your messy table”. So I thought, it would only take 15 minutes and would satisfy my mother, so I’ll get it done. Of course it didn’t stop there, after about a week she would say, “You have too many cloths lying around, you need to sort all the cloths” etc etc. Before I knew it, the room was clean!

5. It all comes down to self-discipline

No one can make you take action; You have to find the motivation within;
It’s you that need to resist the laid back attitude and avoid finding excuses.

You have to take concerted efforts and push yourself to make some sort of progress each day. It saves time in the longer run and possibly a lot of pain later, if you get it done now!.

Written on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 11:08 PM by Shamelle 3 comments  

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