Are you celebrating Idul Fitri now?

When is Lebaran anyway?
Whenever you want to celebrate it, have a Happy Idul Fitri. Hope your Ramadhan was insightful.

Present yourself

You're bound to be in a spot to present ideas to others someday.
I read this book on Steve Jobs' presentation skills. It highlights 9 elements of great presentation:

1. Headline
2. Passion Statement
3. Three Key Messages
4. Metaphors And Analogies
5. Demonstrations
6. Partners
7. Customer Evidence And Third-Party Endorsements
8. Video Clips
9. Flip Charts, Props, And Show-And-Tell

Sure, you can't use it universally and literally, tweak it to your needs. Some of the points concerning stories, analogies and passion remind me of Seth Godin. I guess it's all about making your audience as passionate as you are. 

Just throw it (hiccup) away!

Little Indira had a hiccup just now. Not unusual. It's just that now that he's more assertive and articulative, he had a new reaction to it.
Everytime he had the hiccup, he would gesture throwing something out of his mouth and yell "Buang aja," or "Just throw it away". He was angry, and his shortened tolerance just gave way to more hiccup and more yelling. G and I were too busy laughing, but I remembered something and quickly caught him on tape (well, not tape per se, nobody uses tape these days; I recorded it) and sent the video to some witness to ensure a mighty humiliation in the future :D (poor kid).
After it went away, I quickly looked it up. Do you know there are 250 cures for hiccup? I will never look at hiccup the same way again.

Spending time commuting

I don't have the necessary ability to be able to commute anymore, that's why I always have the profound respect to commuters. It's the waiting that I can't understand, but that's just me.

Here are some of the things that you can do while waiting:

1. Wall yourself with a pair of headphones. When your sorrounding is barely acceptable and you just can't wait to get there. Watch your bag, though.
2. A good read. If you like to read, you can easily be flown elsewhere. It doesn't have to be a book, it can be your favorite RSS reader or ebook reader. I don't really understand fiction, but RSS can waste hours for me. You can be reading just about anything very seriously, so it's easy to spend many time. If you're using a screen instead of a paper, be mindful or the contrast ratio.
3. Hum. No, you don't have to start a tune, dance with a suddenly sorrounding mob and run around in the rain. You can still have that in your head though, but keep your feet and those around you dry.
4. Games. You can even be entertaining to those around you.
5. Photo crazy. There's Picplz, MyTubo or Instagram. It's easier to take pictures and there are many filters to choose. Go crazy.

 

Which?

The next time you hear/read someone says something like "Sometimes.." or "Somewhere..", make sure to ask, "When?" or "Where?" and push them to be specific. It's easy to appear wise when you're vague. Probe them to be concise, "What exactly do you mean?"

Tulisan yang Menarik

Tulisan yang menarik tidak hanya bergantung pada informasi yang kita berikan, tapi juga cara kita menyampaikan informasi tersebut.

Dalam keseharian, mungkin kita kerap punya waktu yang sempit untuk menulis mengenai hal tertentu. Saya belum menemukan tips yang dapat digunakan untuk semua jenis tulisan, tapi tips di bawah ini dapat digunakan untuk berbagai macam tulisan.

1. Judul yang menarik perhatian
2. Pilihlah kata-kata yang tidak terlalu rumit dan teknikal, dengan demikian akan lebih banyak lagi orang yang dapat memahami tulisan tersebut
3. Gunakan kalimat yang pendek dan sederhana. Informasi yang menarik adalah informasi yang dapat dimengerti dengan mudah