Team building exercises can help relieve stress

Work related stress is a common complaint. The latest figures from the labor force survey (lfs) show that the total number of cases of stress in 2011/12 was 428, 000 (40%) out of a total of 1, 073, 000 for all work-related illnesses. Team building exercises can help combat some of the reasons and symptoms of stress in the workplace.

While a little stress can push people to achieve – too much stress can have damaging and far reaching effects not only on the individual suffering but for the company and other team members.For instance, here are some examples of the impact on a business from work related stress:

• Days off work may be taken.
• The company image can suffer.
• Staff retention and recruitment may be affected.
• Customer satisfaction can be damaged.
• Productivity and performance can suffer – errors may occur.
• Conflict between staff members.

What’s more, there are legal obligations for employers, to minimize the risk of stress-related illness or injury to employees, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Whilst a team building exercise is seen simply as a fun day out of the office by some employees, there are important lessons that can be learned on an away-day hosted by a professional events company, which can help reduce stress.

The benefits of a team building day for a staff member can be:

• Improving problem solving skills.
• Improving communication techniques.
• Developing leadership and managerial skills.
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses.
• Breaking down barriers with colleagues.

Is texting ruining the English language?

" Omg ....isn't it awsum?" ......"Howz lyf" .......... "lol...datz kewl!" 
Ever so often, I have had my associates turn in an assignment, in which the new generation texting language makes an appearance. Although I always remember to mention that these assignments are formal documents and so they should have a very formal tone. 

I have been training people in communication skills for years now and it irks me no end when I have an associate deliver his assignment where the “you “ becomes “u” and the “that” goes ”dat”.

But who can blame them? When they spend endless hours chatting on whatsapp or wechat using this style of writing, isn’t it obvious that this language would quietly find its way into formal documentation. 
I do understand that today’s world of communication is technology driven. It’s a fact that, texting has become the most popular mode of communication today. At work, at meetings, at home, and with friends, texting is making its presence felt almost everywhere.
I am a witness to this ongoing transition. As part of the ILP curriculum, the new entrants to TCS, have to develop a mini project in whichever software language they are getting trained in. These days, I have seen Java project UIs saying “u have been registrd succssfully......!!!!” or a CPP project UI go “do u wnt to proceed furthr?” Whatever happened to the good old vowel sounds? Texting has almost made the vowels obsolete. The sounds that have enabled us throughout the ages to express our emotions and feelings, suddenly find themselves left out. Aren’t we taking a lot of liberty with a language that is known for its refinement. It is almost as if, we have become too lazy to even type our words correctly. And what about the punctuations? “It is just fine to put a few extra exclamations and interrogative marks, they help to create an emphasis”...they say. 

Or is it all a new way to make sense between writing and speaking? Much like the way Phonetics does. Is it a search to write the way we speak? One thing that we all have to agree is that ”English is a funny language”. We never write the way we speak it. At least, the new texting language is doing its bit to make some sense of the written sounds.

On the other hand, it also reminds us that English language is alive and thriving. Probably, this is the way language evolution happens. Every language has been making comprises to suit human needs and requirements, and language changing, in itself, shows the evolution of a society. I am sure that the language we think of as correct English, must have gone through years of similar transformation to be what it is today.

The purpose of any language is to effectively communicate ideas from one to another. And texting enthusiasts argue that our ability to do that is greatly hindered with so much pointless complexity and inconsistency in our language. Hence, simplification is exactly what our language needs and that is what the modified text English is offering us. If we just let go of institutionalized language and let it naturally evolve like it's meant to, we may just have the perfect language in the near future. Probably it would be good to let language evolution take its natural course and grow into something much more effective.

Personally I find it a bit concerning that people are no longer thinking about speaking correctly and that their ability to write correctly is restricted by the limitations of buttons of their phone keypads, or perhaps more significantly, laziness.

So, wat do u say abt dat? Do u think txting is ruinin' d English language... or r v jst bein' overly senstiv 2wrds dis topic?? 

3 Awesome Ways To Painlessly Increase Your Confidence

1. Take risks.

Confidence is a funny thing. You go out and do the thing you’re most terrified of, and the confidence comes afterwards. 

If you always do things as you have always done them of course you won’t feel confident.

2. Know your strengths and weaknesses.

As you learn who you are, you gain confidence in your strengths and also learn your weaknesses.

 For one thing, it can be hard to know which parts of you are you, and which parts are who you think you should be 

A good start is to identify your strengths and weaknesses and then weigh those against what you enjoy. (If you’re great in sales, but you actually can’t stand sales jobs, then it doesn't really matter if you have confidence there. 

3.) Trust your capabilities.

Confidence comes not from knowing you know everything, but from knowing you can handle what comes up. 

No one in the world knows everything. Everyone is good at some things and not so good at others. Don’t weigh your security against what you know or can do; weigh it against your willingness and capacity to learn.

If someone criticizes you, take it is an opportunity to improve. If someone does better than you, see it as an opportunity to learn from them. If you fall short at something, realize you can get closer next time. Don’t worry if you’re not confident in what you can do now—be confident in your potential.