you have to research your potential employer beforehand

…that will give you a very important lead. Get as much information as you can about the business, and also about the potential interviewers (you should research their style and attitude… that’s very important). If you know someone who has previously taken an interview in that company, talk with them about their experiences in the interview. Try to extract pure information, i.e., don’t let them to influence you (specially about the job being impossible or, on the contrary, being too easy).

1. First Approach

Remember that you have to dress with a professional look, according to the nature of the job. You are a professional… thereby each and every aspect of you must communicate that fact. Now, during the interview, take into account that Interviewers will ask questions related to their company, for example, why would you like to work for us? They may ask you about your opinion on the company’s products or history. Typically, this information is available on the company’s website, and by knowing it you demonstrate a genuine interest for the job.

2. Virtues and Limitations

Talk about your virtues, but not excessively. In this regards apply balance and good sense. Answer this question presenting your virtues in the context of the requirements of the job you’re applying to, with a clear and concise language. However, other almost granted question they will do is about your defects, thereby you must also be prepared to answer that. Furthermore, the interviewer may ask about your abilities and limitations: prepare an answer beforehand in order to allow you to present your defects as a new opportunity for keep improving.

3. Expect the Unexpected

You have to be ready for anything… a group interview, a forum about some specific problem of the company, a written exam, and so on. Carry any material you think you may need: think of the interview as your first day of work.

When entering to the interview, greet to your interviewer with a smile. Visual contact must also be direct and firm (but not exceedingly). Remember that, no matter the circumstances, you have to act formally instead of dared or zany (refer to your interviewer using his title… Dr., Mr., Engineer, etc.), unless they demand you to treat them informally (but that’s relatively rare; read point 6. Be on the alert). Listen to your interviewer very carefully. Sometimes the applicants are so focused in the things they want to say that forget what they are really being asked about. No answer is good if it does not truly answer the matter asked about.

4. Language

Be careful about the expressions and style you use to communicate your ideas. Don’t use inadequate, informal or excessively colloquial phrases.

5. Gestures

Be careful with your corporal language too. A firm handshake transmit self-confidence. A good posture also reflects confidence. Don’t act disturbed or nervous. Lean sligthly towards your interviewer in order to show interest in his words.

6. Be on the alert

Expert interviewers know human nature very well. An expert interviewer will quickly create a relaxed and trusting atmosphere for you, in order to expose your real behavior and ideas. However, never forget that he is there evaluating you, so no matter the confidence and comradeship he shows, you must always act as a professional. Novice interviewers, on the contrary, often act very arrogantly… fight off their arrogance by showing yourself relaxed and breezy (never answer the interviewer’s arrogance with more arrogance!).

7. Keep your moral high

Regarding this point, I recommend reading the posts The Winner’s Mind and The 7 Attributes of Leadership.

8. Secrets of a Critical Thinking Interviewer

Finally, good interviewers know how to distinguish good prospects from bad ones. They know that two people with the same job title may differ in at least one of the following ways:

• ability to perform the work
• interest in the work
• experience with similar applications
• experience with similar tools
• experience with similar techniques
• experience with similar working environment
• training
• ability to communicate with others
• ability to share responsibility with others
• management skills

Each of these characteristics can affect an individual’s ability to perform productively. These variations help to explain why one employee can complete a particular chore in a day, whereas another requires a week. The differences can be critical, not only to schedule estimation, but also to the entire success of the company’s projects. An expert interviewer knows that.

I wish you good luck on your interview and hope that you get the job!

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Therefore, she has forfeited happiness, fearing “what might happen.” Albeit she knows that her disease is successfully controlled, “she does not feel the required confidence”… Confidence in who or what? Confidence in her doctors? No. I told her that she did not have confidence in herself. It had nothing to do with diabetes, specifically. She was just doubting her ability to respond to unexpected situations, related or not to her diabetes. Needless to say, very improbable situations. Fear is always the finished product of a lack of self-confidence. Besides, fear is never innocent.

I think that we should not worry about what might happen. It’s fine to review the possibilities, the things that may happen… logically, some results will be better than others. But we must not surrender to fear or worries. Rather than worrying about future possibilities, we should focus on living the present. 90% of those things that worry us do never occur. Concerning about the future is falling prey to anxiety… During such anxiety episodes, we want the future to arrive now, as soon as possible, to live it now… Sometimes living the future now is the only cure we find to our head spinning for the ocean of possibilities and those “things that might happen.” But that is totally wrong.

Time is wise, and shares its wisdom with those who are patient. Things occur, good or bad… things just happen. That should be obvious. And when they happen, we act accordingly. More often than not, we cannot anticipate how such “accordingly acting” should be. An that’s normal. However, problems raise when our minds tend to fall into the trap of believing that by “anticipating” we have a better chance of success once things have occurred. Yes, that’s true, “to anticipate” aids a lot. But… how many variables must we handle in order to our anticipation to be meaningful? Therein lies the problem: the amount of variables involved in our anticipated reasoning. To solve a concrete problem in some specific area (e.g., Physics, Economics, etc.), “to anticipate” can be crucial. In real life, anticipating would also be good… but life has an almost infinite number of variables beyond our reach, and therefore perfectly anticipating a situation makes no sense, and in fact, is unattainable beyond luck’s grounds. We have no control over the future. We must plan, in order to improve our chance of success, but we must also recognize our limits (be humble!): a perfect plan does not amount to a perfect future. Our true option is to live the present… by acting we enforce the bit of control we have over the present.

Finally, I like to think that life is multicolored. And it’s up to us which colors we do choose. Behind every joy there is always a bitterness, and each misfortune encloses some advantage. We select our colors. Again, don’t concern about the future… Let’s act right now! Future will always arrive, no matter our plans… we cannot change that fact. But once future has arrived, let’s act with self-confidence. By acting now, we show and enjoy the colors of our life.

Be happy

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All of her daughters are married, attending their own families. Mrs. Paula sees each of these new families as the result of her self-confidence. She knew she could do it, and now she’s proud of such accomplishment. Now, she is enjoying her grandchildren and 15 bucks a day to spend on fun and relax. She loves reading good books, and every morning she surfs Internet to look for any breaking news. With her 15 bucks she enjoys Margarita’s casinos, visits malls, goes to the beach, or simply buys a few mint candies. Sometimes, she simply spend her nights weaving sweaters for her family members. She holds firmly to a simple moral: live as you want (free!) looking for your own success, but without hurting others.

Starting this week, she’s on vacation to the land of the rising sun. And she seems very excited about her plans in Japan. As in the past, her husband will be her only companion. Enjoy! You both deserve it. And good luck with your Pachinko bidding

Thank you very much, Mrs. Paula

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Wait up. We have known a lot of people who used appearances deliberately, in order to deceive others. Again, that ’s just our sense of appearance struggling against ourselves Those people who like to use appearance to hurt others, are really being devoured by a great void and a huge loneliness. Appearances are their bastion to run away from such pain. They think they will “conquer the world” by acting in that fashion, but they only are losing the fight. And the price to pay is solitude. What a high price. But that’s beside the point. We know that life’s treasures belong to true warriors. And no true warrior hides her shinning armor. Being a warrior means to receive injuries. No success is accomplished without receiving injuries. It’s our scars, our last and first places, our defeats, our victories, the beings we have loved, the places we have visited… the only heritage of eternal time.

Appearance is a term linked to lies. It says how we want other people to see us, covering our true colors. Do we let how other people see us have too much influence on how we see ourselves? Do we live by keeping up appearances? More important, do we think that everyone is betraying us? Remember, balance is crucial.

Manny was the general manager of Lois’ company, and as such, he enjoyed wide decision authority. He was coming along well with his work, he was a model worker… apparently. However, one day the main secretary of the company resigned. She had worked for Lois’ father, who started the company several years ago. Before leaving, she told Lois: “Appearances are often deceiving. Beware.” After that caveat, Lois started to carefully look over the company books and stats. She was shocked. She discovered that Manny was involved in dirty and treacherous agreements with rival companies. Even some books reflected mismatches between the sets of figures. That’s why although we must avoid misjudging others, we have to be equally vigilant to protect ourselves of being framed by others.

Appearance, when established in a human being, tends to grow. Appearance sprouts more appearances in order to subsist. The cost of that growth, of course, is self-confidence. And when masks fall, we discover that behind the mask only a dark void was left. We, as imperfect humans, are also leaned toward misjudging others. First, all the things we perceive about others are heavily affected by our beliefs, fears, prejudices, feelings and experiences. Thereby, we don’t analyze information in its pure form… it’s impossible. We always process information influenced by our mindset, which may easily be a door to deception. And our body’s chemicals also alter our mood and attitude. We don’t see reality as it truly is, but as we want to see it. And appearance is the perfect disguise for everyone attending the party of farce. The summarized moral of the post is this: “beating appearances is a matter of living a balanced life.” When balance crumbles, appearances breathe.

Finally, let’s remember Socrates’ wisdom: The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be.

Live happily.

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Some serious studies demonstrate that people from developed countries are not necessarily the happiest ones. A lot of nationals and residents of such countries manifest to feel unhappier than those of some developing or poorer countries. In this sense, let’s recall the Easterlin paradox, based on a study by professor and economist Richard Easterlin: Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? published in 1974, while he was with the University of Pennsylvania. Basically, the paradox states that economic growth does not necessarily lead to more satisfaction. It’s obvious that people in poor countries become happier once they can afford basic necessities. But the important idea behind Easterlin paradox is that absolute income does not matter as much as relative income does. In other words, how much you make compared with others around you is what really matters. To put it in today’s terms, owning an iPod doesn’t make you happier, because you then want an iPod Touch

Nevertheless, a recent study by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers rebuffs Easterlin paradox. The study suggests that a better income contributes to a happier life. There is an obvious relation between higher incomes and happier people. Economic growth means investments in scientific research that lead to longer, healthier lives. It can also reduce your working hours, which in turn allows spending more time with family and friends, vacations, relax. Does this mean that money buys happiness after all? I doubt so.

Certainly, affluence helps to reach happiness. And we should want to be richer. But it’s your attitude what is really important. I personally know plenty of rich guys, which have enjoyed a top-notch education and access to quality healthcare systems, and which unfortunately are very sullen people. They don’t enjoy a good musical performance, they are not congenial or cheerful. Thereby, they are isolated from most of the world, and are restricted to a very limited (and sometimes envious) circle of friends, which slowly devours their self-confidence. Typically, they evidence worries about the state of their finances. They live in a hurry. Is that happiness? I doubt so.

Conversely, I also know people of regular or lower income, which are frequently smiling. They enjoy their works… they have nice families and plenty of friends. They are not that worried about money and its things. They easily chat with you. And albeit they know sadness, they are optimistic. And they have the mindset to be winners, and to fight for that dream. Are they unhappy? I doubt so.

Finally, I present three germane quotes by the Nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer:

• Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
• I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.
• Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

Bold letters are mine. Pretty clear. Let’s be happy.

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But intelligence has to be applied well. To win or to lose is the result of myriad events, most of which escape our control. And no matter how much importance we concede to time, we cannot control it. Time continues its eternal walk, indifferent to us little humans. However, when we develop and fortify our self-confidence, we understand that time only rules over the external aspect of life. And we get to know the imperishable truth that lies inside us. Our mind awakens. Our interior life does not know about yesterday or tomorrow… about old or young things… Inside us, we only know about the Now. Now that was, is and will be.

Of course we have to know how to manage our external activities well. Time is gold, and we are a duality: external and internal. But the external side cannot conquer the internal one. The wealth of human experience is eternal, free of time effects. Everything good lives inside us… it has not died, it has not vanished, it has not been wasted away. Love is eternal. Live your Time.

“That time is short and it doesn’t return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, and the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, loss, loss unless you devote your heart to its opposition.” – The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams).

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Seeing the list of billonaires, people tend to ask themselves about how did the guys in the list become so wealthy? For some people, such question only triggers envy. Thereafter they release their imaginations, and more often than not, fall prey to bad sense… they initiate a harmful monologue, attributing every member of the wealth rankings with some weird, defaming twist “perhaps he achieved richness by exploiting his workers and other people”, or “perhaps evaded taxes”, and other similarly negative and envious thoughts. Every man has his own quirks and twists. Nevertheless, during the time that the envious person is wasting by unfruitfully thinking of others, the rich people is likely thinking of how to become rich or even richer. And surely even at the expense of them all, because while the losers are filling up their minds with lot of stupidities, the rich guys are thinking about how to convince us to purchase their goods or services; that way, they become even richer.

As aforesaid, to become rich is not an unattainable goal, but we have to realize that it’s not an easy goal either… it’s a difficult goal, indeed. But it frequently happens that we are mentally entrapped in a fake duality: easy vs difficult. This may lead some to sustain the following wrong thesis: “Why should I burden myself with such huge task at this time of my life… perhaps I’m just too old for this.” Conversely, youngsters would say “I have plenty of time for that, and if I’m going to be rich it simply will happen… time will say.” Unfortunately, this situates us in other popular and dangerous frame: to settle for an unambitious life…. that is, to keep a monotonous and routinary life, day by day. That’s not the mind of winners.

In order to be rich, we have to forget about all these poor thoughts, and start enriching our minds right now, no matter what our current age or financial condition is. The only prerequisite is to set the right goals and, little by little, to build the basis of what can be a golden castle. For instance, Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$ 62 billions, and 77 years old, is an American investor, expert in stock markets. I’m sure his goal was not to be the richest person in the world, but to succeed in his work with passion. He followed and improved his masters’ advices and lessons, including his father’s, persevered, and now he has the privilege of topping the list of world’s billonaries.

We also know Hiroshi Yamauchi, 80 years old and former president of Nintendo (he’s still Nintendo’s larger shareholder despite stepping down), and currently is the richest man in Japan. He holds a fortune of about 7.8 US$ billions, in a country relatively small in territorial terms, but relatively big in demographics, culture and passion for work. Perhaps we could think that becoming rich requires a lot of time, and you’d only see the fruits when reaching an advanced age, after spending all your life working. Not necessarily. Age is not a mandatory term in the wealth’s equation: Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is only 24 years old, and already has a net worth of US$ 1.5 billions.

Wealth is like love… any age is good for opening our hearts to love… and any age is good for opening our minds to richness. We could start by reading this entry on the mind of the winners. We only need motivation and perseverance. It’s nice to pursue the goal of monetary, material richness… you will be rich. But those who know how to love nature and mankind are even richer.

So long. Be happy

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Good sense is the primary and the conditio sine qua non of a better and longer life. Thanks to it we are able to avoid wars, conflicts, hunger, and getting into troubles in general. It is only a matter of just applying it. The converse, i.e. a bad sense of life balance, turns us into fragile souls, easy preys for evil, envy, and lies. A lack of good sense provides a fake sensation of power… power which indeed is only a cheap mask for selfishness. A lack of good sense separates us from our family, our friends and from the entire world. Moreover, that fake power may lead to an hyperactivity which ultimately will burn us.

Good sense helps us to be true humans, as it improves our self-confidence. Those of us who act prudently, weighing up risks and outcomes, tend to turn into better parents, better sons, and real forgers of avant-garde societies. As aforesaid, good sense involves a keen sense of management and prudence. But it also requires sensibility: we have to be open and responsive toward others and toward our environment. Insensible beings are not only ignorant about others’ emotions, but they are also blind to their own wounds.

It’s my view that good sense is related to permanent consciousness. We should NOT live a routinary life, doing things the Nike-style: Just do it We have to find pleasure in our activities. We have to be always focused, always concentrated in the task at hand. Every problem and every task must receive its quota of time and attention. Don’t work thinking of anything else, as that leads to poor performance, and a progressive decrease in our quality of life.

Good sense follows the bounds of reason, reigning over natural appetites for the pleasure of senses. No real success can be accomplished and sustained in the face of inability to control oneself. Finally, we have to understand that good sense is the only way toward justice. And only fair people will prevail in happiness. Remember, though, that justice starts with ourselves. Our names may be linked to problems, to difficulties, but never should be associated with unfairness, bad sense or sadness.

Next time we have to cut a flower, let’s remember that good sense means acting with wisdom. Is there anything superior to the wisdom that nature shows in a flower?

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What do we achieve by thinking of ourselves as “supermen” or “wonder women”? Too little, indeed. Trying to act (and even feel) like fiction heroes, in a frantic rush to enjoy something that really is too tiresome to be enjoyed. There is little reward in demanding ourselves the compliment of being perfect, effective, productive, attractive and winsome people who have no real problems at work or at home, and who always ignite the life of the party. Needless to say, there is no reward in working frenetically until our minds and bodies cannot handle it anymore: we would weaken and become sick. But we already know that time is unstoppable: other people would carry on our duties, and someday, we would be simply forgotten. In other words, no matter how much effort and blood we devote to our jobs, we are always dispensable for the furious wheel of businesses.

I’ve worked as a business manager for a long time, and have had the chance to meet a lot of people who burn-out very fast. That’s no surprise as they were but machines for working. Apathy and frustration resulting from prolonged stress and overwork will, sooner or later, lead to health problems. Absolute fatigue is an enemy of health and self-confidence. There are crowds yearning for turning into winners; they pretend series of victories, and are not willing to tolerate any flaws. But the winners’ mindset totally differs of this approach. They are obsessed with a need of self-confidence, wealth, fame and success, beyond any reasonable limit. Albeit they are free to do so, I think that these people are ruining their life: they have not learned to relax, to slow down, and to enjoy the wonderful things life reserves for those with true self-confidence.

What are the questions that motivates our work and related actions? The following are dangerous questions:

• How much have we earned?
• How much have we progressed in relation to other people?
• Are we going to be famous?
• Is it possible to win more money?
• Are we the best already?
• Did we ring up the cash correctly?

The problems is that, when these people reach their mental and physical limits, self-confidence hesitates and weakens because they suddenly discover that they are not absolutely flawless beings… and such reality does not match with their (fake) perfection. Thus, self-confidence is hurt.

Rather, we should be asking ourselves what have we done today? What are we doing right now? Better yet, let’s don’t ask… let’s answer and do the right things that we know should be done. Advance, perhaps slowly, but firmly. None of our steps should reveal fear. Let’s visit and share with our friends. Let’s improve our working, resting and familiar environments. Let’s enjoy our family. Let’s strengthen our ecological practices; by loving all living creatures, we are loving ourselves. Keep your mind young. Follow a healthy lifestyle. Obliterate panic and stress. Listen to your favorite music. Take a walk with the person you like. Breathe. Love.

Finally, we are heroes. Yes, indeed. But heroes in the epic adventure of learning to live well. Brave heroes. But above all, human heroes.

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It’s simple. Follow a “samurai” approach.

Popular imagery depicts samurai as brave, blood-thirsty and ruthless warriors. And partially, they were. However, let’s not forget that the word “samurai” is derived from a Japanese verb (samorau) meaning “to serve”. Therefore, a samurai is a servant, concretely, the servant of a lord. For the “samurai blogger”, such lord is the group of blog’s readers, and his weapon, the katana, is content.

1. The Katana

The soul of a samurai lies in his katana, in a similar fashion to the blog’s soul lying in its content. Content is what determines, in first instance, the profile of the reader-base and visitors. We should write our content in a humble but clever tone.

1. We should offer content of high quality, which readers can understand and harness. For increasing the number of readers the best strategy is to offer original content, things that cannot be found anywhere in the net besides your blog. If people cannot benefit from our articles, why they should keep going to our sites?
2. It’s nonsense to write a post and expect that everybody loves it. Don’t worry too much about being popular. There always are people who will like your writings, and they will turn into loyal readers. And it’s for them, and of course, for us, that we should write. Remember: It’s easier to keep a reader, than it’s to gain a new one.
3. Adopt the mindset of winners.
4. Decide on and respect a lower bound for your posting frequency. For example, if you decide on a weekly posting frequency, your blog should contain at least a new post every week. Readers love to form an idea about when they could find new content on your site. Regularity is a key aspect for blogging. From a pure technological standpoint, we should post as often as possible. This way, crawlers and web indexes would consider our sites as very fresh, regularly updated ones, and will tend to direct more visitors to our blogs. Furthermore, high publishing rates amount to a higher probability of being linked from other sites, which would increase our blog’s rank. But we are no machines. Rushed posts generally exhibit a degraded quality which may scare your readers away. This is even more important if you have already consolidated a good base of readers. Please, post as frequently as you can, but always satisfy this: high-quality content and a publishing rate above or equal to your posting lower-bound frequency.
5. Perhaps we are not very good with composition or choosing the right words. Our texts may be too verbose or too bantam. Don’t worry. Just write, but doing your best effort to communicate your ideas. Time shapes masters, you’ll see.

2. Bushido: Samurai’s Ethical Code

Originality is an important issue. We should strive for creating a different blog. Your blog’s name and headings should have peculiarities that allow users to easily remember them. Please, don’t be affraid of being different: invent new things, or oppose to the status quo with your ideas, methods or design, in a good sense. This will capture the attention of people.

You can think of your blog as a product. Thus, your titles, headings, images, the logo, etc., all should act as branding elements. Pay attention to these, as you want they to stand out (in a positive way, of course.)

3. Learning to Unsheathe the Katana

For a the aspiring samurai, simply learning to unsheathe his sword correctly could take months. Your readers should find your blog’s content as easily as possible. Thereby, a neat design for your blog, and a straightforward presentation of your articles is mandatory. Additionally, we should pay close attention to the following blog usability tips:

1. The link for subscribing to your RSS feed should be clearly visible.
2. Access to your full posts should proceed cleanly.
3. Organize your content into a Categories section. Include a search box. Quick access to the latest blog entries also proves to be useful for visitors.
4. However, don’t oversaturate your blog with widgets and features. These items divert users from your content, and only a few would use them.
5. If technical or specialized terminology is inevitable, you should explain them at full (it depends on your targeted audience, of course.)

4. Don’t be a ronin

In Japanese, the word ronin means “wave man”, a person destined to wander aimlessly forever, like the waves in the sea. The best blog of the blogosphere, if isolated and practically unknown, has a value of zero. In upcoming entries, I’ll discuss this (long) topic at full. For the time being, we should concentrate on:

1. Search Engines: Verify that your blog is optimized for search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) so that your site is able to receive traffic from such sources. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an interesting, long and tricky area, and we will not cover it here.
2. Blog Crawlers: Ping to update services such as Ping-o-matic and Pingoat. You may configure your publishing platform (e.g., WordPress) to perform the ping automatically. Such pings notify popular blogs sites, such as Technorati and Icerocket, of updates in your blog.
3. Social Networks: Try to share and submit your content to social or news networks such as Digg, Facebook, del.icio.us, etc. It’s best if other people (your readers, preferably) submit your content to such sites; submitting your own content and stories may easily lead to your submissions being marked as spam.

5. The Feudal Lord

Finally, your readers are your Feudal Lord. Listen to them. Follow them. A blog cannot be exclusively about what you like… your readers’ preferences should be reflected too. You may achieve a successful status as a blogger, but if you don’t listen to your readers, sooner or later, they will leave and make your blog short lived. Please, don’t isolate your readers. Unlike samurai, you don’t have to do what the Feudal Lord says, but you must not ignore him.

Happy “samurai” blogging.

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