Year 2010

Earnings Available for Common Stockholders

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In summary, to calculate earnings available for common stockholders, we need to subtract cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and interest, tax and preferred stock dividends from sales revenue.

To calculate these earnings available, we need to understand the format of the income statement.

Income Statement Format

Sales revenue

LESS: Cost of goods sold

= Gross profit

LESS: Operating expenses

= EBIT (earnings before interest and tax/operating profit)

LESS: Interest

= Net profit before tax

LESS: Taxes

= Net profit after tax

LESS: Preferred stock dividends

= Earnings available for common stockholders

Therefore, to calculate earnings available for common stockholders, all we need to do is to subtract cost of goods sold, operating expenses, interest, tax and preferred stock dividends from the sale revenue.

Knowing the the earnings available for common stockholders is very important. Among other uses, it allows us to do the following:

1 – It allows you to calculate EPS:

Calculating EPS allows us to understand how much dollars were earned on each outstanding share of common stock.

2 – It also allows you to calculate the net profit margin ratio:

Net Profit Margin ratio = Earnings Available for Common Stockholders / Sales.

Net profit margin ratio measures how much of each sales dollar remains after all costs are deducted. In other words it measures how successful the firm is in terms of its earnings on sales.

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Calculating net profit after tax

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In summary, to calculate net profit after tax, we need to subtract cost of goods sold, operating expenses, interest and tax from the sales revenue.

To make this calculation, we need to understand the format of the income statement.

Income Statement Format

Sales revenue

LESS: Cost of goods sold

= Gross profit

LESS: Operating expenses

= EBIT (earnings before interest and tax/operating profit)

LESS: Interest

= Net profit before tax

LESS: Taxes

= Net profit after tax

LESS: Preferred stock dividends

= Earnings available for common stockholders

Therefore, to calculate net profit after tax, all we need to do is to subtract cost of goods sold, operating expenses, taxes and interest from sales revenue.

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Calculating net profit before tax

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In summary, to calculate net profit before tax, we need to subtract cost of goods sold, operating expenses and interest from sales revenue. We need to understand the format of the income statement.

Income Statement Format

Sales revenue

LESS: Cost of goods sold

= Gross profit

LESS: Operating expenses

= EBIT (earnings before interest and tax/operating profit)

LESS: Interest

= Net profit before tax

LESS: Taxes

= Net profit after tax

LESS: Preferred stock dividends

= Earnings available for common stockholders

Therefore, to calculate net profit before tax, all we need to do is to subtract cost of goods sold, operating expenses and interest from sales revenue.

Blogbschool.com is powered by www.firmsconsulting.com. Firmsconsulting is a training company that finds and nurtures tomorrow’s leaders in business, government and academia via bespoke online training to develop one’s executive presence, critical thinking abilities, high performance skill-set, and strategy, operations and implementation capabilities. Learn more at www.firmsconsulting.com.

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How to calculate EBIT (Operating Profit)?

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In summary, to calculate EBIT, we need to subtract the costs of goods sold and operating expenses from sales revenue.

To determine EBIT (operating profit), we firstly need to understand the format of the income statement.

Income Statement Format

Sales revenue

LESS: Cost of goods sold

= Gross profit

LESS: Operating expenses

= EBIT (earnings before interest and tax/operating profit)

LESS: Interest

= Net profit before tax

LESS: Taxes

= Net profit after tax

LESS: Preferred stock dividends

= Earnings available for common stockholders

Therefore, to determine EBIT, all we need to do is to subtract the cost of goods sold and operating expenses from sales revenue.

Other uses for EBIT

1 – Calculate the Operating Profit Margin Ratio = Operating profit (EBIT) / Sales The operating profit margin measures how much of each sales dollar remains after all costs except for interest, tax and preferred dividends are deducted. In other words it measures how efficient the business manages its operations or how efficiently the firm manages its income statement (keeping a healthy balance between sales and costs).

2 – Calculate the Times Interest Earned Ratio = EBIT/Interest

The times interest earned ratio (Interest Coverage Ratio) measures the ability of the enterprise to meet its financial obligations (interest payments on debt that come due).

Blogbschool.com is powered by www.firmsconsulting.com. Firmsconsulting is a training company that finds and nurtures tomorrow’s leaders in business, government and academia via bespoke online training to develop one’s executive presence, critical thinking abilities, high performance skill-set, and strategy, operations and implementation capabilities. Learn more at www.firmsconsulting.com.

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Calculating gross profit

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Calculating gross profit is simple and straightforward. In summary, we need to subtract cost of goods sold from the sales revenue.

Whilst making this calculation, we need to have a good understanding of the format of the Income Statement, as shown below. More details can be found in the format of the income statement section.

Income Statement Format

Sales revenue

 

LESS: Cost of goods sold

= Gross profit

LESS: Operating expenses

= EBIT (earnings before interest and tax/operating profit)

LESS: Interest

= Net profit before tax

LESS: Taxes

= Net profit after tax

LESS: Preferred stock dividends

= Earnings available for common stockholders

Therefore, all we need to do is to subtract cost of goods sold from the sale revenue. But how do we find the cost of goods sold? To calculate the cost of goods sold, we need to take the following steps:

Cost of goods sold =

Opening inventory

ADD: Purchases

LESS: Closing inventory

Gross profit allows us, among other things, to calculate the Gross Profit Margin Ratio , which is:

Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit / Sales GPMR measures how much of each sales dollar is remaining after costs of goods are deducted. In other words it measures the relative cost of goods sold.

Income Statement Format

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Familiarity with the income statement format is important for anyone who wants to succeed in business studies and a business career. You need to be familiar with the format to the point of being able to write down the format from memory.

The income statement, which is also referred to as profit and loss statement (P&L), is one of the most important financial statements. Other important financial statements include the balance sheet, cash flow statement and statement of changes in equity.

A good way to compare the income statement, balance sheet (financial position statement) and cash-flow statement is to think of a river leading to a dam. The income statement and a cash-flow statement record the movement of money over a specific period of time. It is similar to recording the volume flowing down a river over specific period. The balance sheet (financial position statement) is the dam. Everything collects there.

The income statement calculates if the business generated a profit or incurred loss during a specified financial period. In other words, it shows profitability of the organization over a certain period.

If profit was generated during then the bottom line of the statement will be a net profit after taxes, which is also called the net income. The general format is presented below.

General income statement format

Sales revenue

LESS: Cost of goods sold*

= Gross profit

LESS: Operating expenses

= EBIT (earnings before interest and tax/operating profit)

LESS: Interest

= Net profit before tax

LESS: Taxes

= Net profit after tax

LESS: Preferred stock dividends

= Earnings available for common stockholders

To calculate Cost of goods sold, one needs to follow the steps:

Opening inventory

Add: Purchases

Less: Closing inventory

= Cost of goods sold

Common business phrases…remember these for your interviews

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It is useful, and in some situations will prove to be important, to know business phrases and specific terms which are commonly used. The exact meaning of such words and phrases is not always intuitively obvious, especially for non native speakers, such as me. There are many, many phrases used in business. I have listed the most common phrases here.

“USE IT OR LOSE IT” mentality:

Can refer to management in the organization trying to use up surplus in the budget to make sure that the budget does not shrink in the next year.

“GIVE LIP SERVICE”

Is a business phrase used when someone talks about something passionately but they do not actually do anything about it.

“NECESSARY EVIL”

Refers to something troublesome but necessary. For example, in business, inventory is often referred to as a “necessary evil”. Many organizations have to hold inventory so that they have goods available for the convenience of customers. This makes inventory “necessary”. It is “evil” because money has to be investment in inventory and such money does not earn any return. Therefore, organizations try to minimize the amount of funds tied up in inventory while still avoiding stock outs (being out of stock) and keeping up with scheduled production. This is generally called Inventory Management.

“A BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND”

Someone or a company who is very successful, influential and powerful but exists in a very small market or region. This is a very common business phrase and was made popular in Hollywood movies about organized crime.

“HAVING SKIN IN THE GAME”

Usually refers to entrepreneurs having their own money invested and therefore, when they are also taking the risk. The term is generally used when someone is asking for support and has also invested in the venture. Therefore they will also lose something should the venture or initiative fail.

“CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES”

Refers to an inability to see the big picture due to only focusing on the small details. This is another very, very popular business phrase

“PASS-THE-BUCK”

Attitude means someone is trying to pass responsibility to another party. For example, blaming someone else for the loss, so one does not have to cover the cost.

“EXAMINED WITH A FINE-TOOTH COMB”

Means examine something properly and diligently.

“THE TONE AT THE TOP”

Refers to the attitudes of the leadership team regarding business ethics and corporate governance. It refers to the ethical atmosphere in the workplace. This is a less common business phrase. It is most popular in the US, Canada and the UK.

“INFORMATION SUPERWAY” (as coined by Al Gore)

Refers to the Web. It is used to indicate that the Web allows internet users to “travel” in search of information and that all other internet users also “travel” in the same direction (in search of information). This is similar to a motor highway. The Web is situated on top of the internet and allows internet users to share information on the internet by using a URL, which refers to the Uniform Resource Locator. The Web originated from work done by developers Robert Gailiau and Tim Berners-Lee in the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva in 1989. Internet refers to the entire infrastructure which allows otherwise incompatible individual computers to communicate with each other, regardless of where they are located. Basically, the internet refers to all computers, telephone or cable lines and network cables that make it possible for any computer to communicate with any other computer, as long as they are connected to the internet.

“BELOW THE RADAR”

Refers to something not being easily detectable. For example, an enterprise may try to operate “below the radar” by making every effort to not draw attention to its existence. This business phrase was taken from the military who mainly used radar to watch for approaching enemy aircraft.

“TYRANNY OF THE URGENT”

Refers to a situation when an individual has, what seems to be, an endless list of very urgent tasks. Such tasks are usually of a low priority. It often refers to activity rather than achievement. Such tasks can take up all day and at the end of the day one may feel that nothing was accomplished. This phrase may also refer to time when one has to make decisions which are less than ideal due to lack of time available to make such decisions.

“TULE OF THUMB”

Is a guideline regarding proper actions based on what is rational and based on past experience. Such guidelines are generally a rough approximation of what is the right thing to do.

“GROWTH TRAP”

For a business this may have several meanings:

One of them is in the area of finance. In the Jeremy Siegel’s book “The Future for Investors”, he refers to a “growth trap” to argue that growth of the company should not be an acceptable reason to regard certain shares as a good investment. The reason for this is the expected growth of the company is already built into the price of shares. Therefore, the only way an investor can obtain above-average returns is if the company grows faster than was anticipated when price of shares was determined. This is easy to understand with the example of the Gordon model which is used for the valuation of shares.

In the field of entrepreneurship, however, the “growth trap” refers to a situation whereby due to rapid growth, a business’s cash flow situation is deteriorating because additional financing is required prior to cash being generated from additional sales.

This growth problem is further exacerbated due to the difficulty of obtaining external financing. Businesses may need additional financing to hire more personnel to handle increased sales and to buy extra inventory and raw materials. Therefore, the situation may occur where a rapidly growing businesses is profitable but has cash flow problems. “Creative Destruction” was developed by the distinguished Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter in his landmark book “Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy” published in 1942.

Schumpeter used the phrase “Creative Destruction” to describe the “process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.” Schumpeter further states that “This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live in.”

Schumpeter argued that capitalism exists in the state of “creative destruction” where innovation leads to new companies replacing old ones. He viewed entrepreneurship as a catalyst for growth of the economy. In short, this phrase refers to something new replacing (destroying) something older. It has become a very commonly used buzzword.

“BUZZWORD”

Is a word that is very popular and buzzing around hallways, corridors, newpapers etc. “Social networking” recently became a buzzword with the rise of Facebook and Twitter. This is probably the most popular and common of all business phrases.

“THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX”

The generation of ideas which are not ordinary and not confined to common thinking patterns. This is probably the second most popular and common of all business phrases.

“BIG PICTURE”

Means seeing the overall objective and purpose of the task rather than just being obsessive and noticing the details. This is probably the third most popular and common of all business phrases.

“BUILD A BETTER MOUSETRAP AND THE WORLD WILL BEAT A PATH TO YOUR DOOR”

This sentence is in fact paraphrased. The actual sentence was “If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods”.

This was later paraphrased as “If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbour, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.”. And later it was again paraphrased as “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door”.

The original sentence is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson in the late nineteenth century. The paraphrased quote implies that innovation is self-promotional. In other words, if one builds a better product then the world will find the ways to acquire such an improved new invention.

In reality, promotion of a very innovative and useful product is still required to educate and inform customers about a new product or service (new “mousetrap”) and how customers can buy a new product or service (how customers can find the “door”).

Moreover, the perception of customers often plays a more significant role than the actual superiority of the product. This, again, brings the importance of promotion to the surface.

Interestingly, according to the book “Build a Better Mousetrap” by Kassinger & Ruth, mousetraps are the “most frequently invented device in U.S. history”. It is interesting to know whether this has anything to do with the famous quote above.

“LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONALITY”

Someone whose image, perception amongst peers, influence or reputation is much greater than his actual accomplishments and track-record.

“IN-HOUSE”

Activity conducted internally (inside an organization). For example, a business can create an “in-house” newsletter. Businesses also can create advertising “in-house” instead of engaging an advertising agency to do such work.

“ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION”

When one party has a superior level of specific knowledge compared to another party. However, the other party could greatly benefit from knowing such specific information. For example, asymmetric information can refer to the chance that management knows more about the current real performance of the firm and future growth projections than outside investors. “BOOTSTRAPPING”

Generally means something is accomplished due to one’s own initiative and without external help. In entrepreneurship, a bootstrapping or bootstrap financing, means an entrepreneur uses his or her initiative to find capital or use capital more efficiently to survive. It includes minimization of the company’s investments and refers to such situations as leasing instead of buying, adapting just-in-time inventory system, operating a business from home, obtaining free publicity instead of paying for advertising and using other free resources as much as possible.

Other examples of bootstrap financing include factoring and trade credit. Factoring means a business sells its accounts receivable to factor or another financial institution at a discount rate. Factor refers to the financial institution whose business is to purchase accounts receivable from other companies. Trade credit refers to situations when suppliers provide their products and services on credit. Suppliers usually extend interest free credit for 30, 60 or 90 days.

“CHAIN OF COMMAND”

Is an orderly line of authority within the organization or organization’s reporting structure. It is a term taken from the military. An organizational chart illustrates the chain of command. It shows who reports to whom. For example, it shows the CEO reports to the board of directors and not the other way around. The chain of command is important to maintain clear lines of authority and responsibility.

“NETIQUETTE”

Is the proper etiquette in writing and dealing with emails. This phrase, along with “buzzword”, are probably the newest business phrases.

“SPAN OF CONTROL”

Is sometimes also called span of management. It refers to how many subordinates report to a supervisor within the organizational hierarchy. The more people report to one manager the larger the span of control.

Experts suggest that, on average, one manager’s span of control cannot be larger than six to eight people. However, in practice, span of control is affected by many factors. Such factors include personality of the manager and workers, type of work to be supervised and whether the tasks that need to be supervised are similar or different, the health state of the manager and competency level of the supervisor and subordinates.

Span of control is also affected by geographical location of the subordinates. If all subordinates are in the same area than it is easier to supervise them compared to a situation when subordinates are dispersed over different geographical locations.

Over the last few years spans of control in organizations were increasing largely due to developments in information technology and the flattening of organizational structure.

The concept of span of control is especially important for small businesses. Many entrepreneurs allow too wide a span of control by trying to supervise too many employees. This takes away their time that could have been spent on growing the business. As a result, too wide a span of control in a small business may slow down the growth of the business.

“SILO MENTALITY”

Occurs when certain departments/groups of individuals within the business do not want to share knowledge or information with other areas of the business and other individuals. Such mindset leads to inefficiency and creates risks for the business.

“ORGANIZATIONAL GRAPEVINE”

Is the informal and unsupervised communication within an organization. It allows to rapidly disseminate information throughout the organization.

“COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE”

Is a term developed by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School and refers to advantage enjoyed by a company which results in the company with a competitive advantage being able to earn above-average returns compared to the rest of the industry.

Competitive advantage can be divided into comparative advantage and differential advantage. Comparative advantage refers to cost advantage. Enterprises which enjoy comparative advantage can produce a product or service at a lower price than its competitors. This allows the enterprise to charge lower prices or to enjoy a higher profit margin. Differential advantage means a product or service of the enterprise with differential advantage is different from products and services of competitors.

Sustainable competitive advantage refers to a type of competitive advantage which is too costly or too difficult for competitors to imitate. The more sustainable the competitive advantage the more difficult it is for competitors to emulate it. However, competitors will eventually find the way to reduce the effect or to completely neutralize the competitive advantage. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to constantly search for new ways to obtain a competitive advantage over competitors.

“WHEN YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL”

Means not planning is really the process of setting yourself up to fail.

“A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH”

Means it is better to appreciate and work with what you definitely own or have, then to hope for something bigger and better that you do not have and may never obtain.

“RISK AND REWARD GO HAND IN HAND”

Means the when you take on risk; you have the potential to generate greater rewards. The two cannot be separated and opposite is also true; not taking on risk means you have a lower chance of generating returns.

“PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT”

Means the more you practice doing something the better you will be at it. If you continue this, then at some point you will be perfect at this task

“NEVER BUY A CAR THAT WAS PRODUCED ON A FRIDAY OR MONDAY”

Means that employees do not do their best work on these two days. I have only heard this business phrase 4 times in my whole life, but it did appear during an important meeting, so I thought it wise to include it.

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10 ways to reduce anxiety and stress levels

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High Anxiety (album)

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Below you will find 10 ways to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your personal and professional life. Anxiety and stress are loyal companions of anyone who works in the business world. Today you have to make a special effort to reduce anxiety and stress levels to protect your health and to enhance your performance.

We have tried all these techniques and know they work. So this is based on research as well as our own experiences.

The 10 techniques presented below can significantly help to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life:

1 – Solution-focused attitude

One of the best ways to reduce anxiety is to have a solution-focused attitude. In other words, it is essential to be focused on the solution rather than the problem. For example, let’s use my own real-life example when our luggage was lost by the airline and delivered only 1 month later. Moreover, when the luggage finally arrived, it was visible that all the bags were damaged beyond repair.

Getting really angry at this point is pointless since it already happened. Moreover, I could not learn anything from this situation since I had done everything right and it was completely out of my control. I did not panic or complain. Such negative emotions spill over and could increase my anxiety and stress levels. I needed to find ways to reduce anxiety and stress levels, not increase them.

I immediately adopted a solution-focused attitude, to reduce anxiety levels. The problem was clear – it is unfair that my luggage was damaged and I had to bear the cost. What could I do to correct it? A solution that I accepted was to send a formal letter of complaint to the airline and try to have them compensate me for the loss incurred.

Using this example, the steps to follow in adopting a solution-focused attitude to reduce anxiety levels can be summarized as follows:

1) Try to learn from the situation (if possible) to ensure that it does not happen again in the future.

2) Accept that it is a sunk cost (you cannot change it, it is in the past).

3) Focus on solving the problem. What can you do right now to improve this situation? Come up with a number of actions, don’t just stop at one (This is only appropriate for important problems. Insignificant problems do not deserve a large time investment and any good-enough-solution will be acceptable). Sometimes, as you continue brainstorming, you may come up with even better ideas than your original ideas.

4) If you struggle to find an appropriate solution, consider asking others for advice on what could be done to solve this problem (if relevant). You can ask your family, relatives, colleagues or post your question on Internet forums. Other people are likely have experienced the same problem and can share their lessons with you.

2 – Always forgive everybody and for anything

You need to do it for yourself. You need to do it to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life. It does not mean that you will trust this person again, especially if this individual have not changed and does not deserve to be given another chance. You need to forgive so you do not carry a huge load with you and do not continue damaging your health.

If you will not make an effort to forgive everybody for everything than it will negatively affect your life by creating anger and unhappiness due to past events. To live up to your real potential and be truly effective as well as successful in your career, you need to ensure that you do not carry around this baggage.

Make this effort and it will greatly help you to reduce anxiety in your life.

3 – Responsibly live in the “now”

Eliminate worries about past events and things in the future that you cannot control. Yesterday ended last night. Tomorrow may never come. It most likely will come but there are no guarantees. Today is all you have for certain.

4 – Anticipate and prepare

Think of ways to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life prior to unpleasant events occurring. Some stressful situations can be easily anticipated based on experience and general knowledge.

For example, the end of a work project is usually the most stressful time because the team often has to work late nights and weekends to deliver the document before the deadline. As a project manager or, even as a team member, you may prepare for such a situation by working harder at the beginning and setting internal deadlines (which occur before the external deadline) to ensure the deliverable is ready without any significant stress placed on the team or yourself.

You can talk to your co-workers about how to structure the project and plan better to reduce anxiety and stress levels by reducing the “crunch period”, and hence, reducing anxiety and stress levels on the team.

Another example is preparation for university examinations. Students know that examination preparation periods are highly stressful. Therefore, one can start working a little bit harder and much earlier to reduce anxiety and stress levels during the examination period.

5 – Delegate

Certain tasks can be delegated. Delegation makes your “to do list” shorter and helps to reduce anxiety and stress levels in one’s work and personal life. Delegation also allows lower level employees an opportunity to grow. Therefore, if done correctly, it is mutually beneficial.

If you do not have yet anyone reporting to you then delegation is still possible. In such a case, the task can be delegated to someone at the same level, usually with approval of your superior.

However, it is important to remember that delegation must be mutually beneficial. When delegating, it is important to delegate some authority together with responsibility. What this means is that you need to delegate the task together with the authority to make decisions to achieve the task. Only such delegation brings real value to both parties. If responsibility is delegated, but every minor decision about the task must still be made by you, than your time will not be freed and the other party will also not benefit from the exercise.

You may actually create more work by having to double-check everything. Your stress level is also likely to go up. And the lower level employee will not gain the true developmental benefits that delegation can offer. Moreover, his/her stress level is also likely to go up.

So, to reduce anxiety and the stress levels of all parties concerned, the next time you try to delegate – remember to delegate the appropriate amount of authority together with responsibility.

6 – Eliminate tasks

To reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life, some tasks can be completely eliminated. In other words, some tasks can be left undone. It is very important to eliminate unnecessary tasks, which do not bring any value or which bring value that is not worth the investment of your time and effort.

Eliminating such tasks generally does not have any tangible disadvantages but saves time for more important tasks. An example of such tasks could be reading junk email, carefully reading and replying to every email you are cc’d on, attending every “let’s go out for drinks” event with friends and handling tasks which are not your responsibility (such tasks should be redirected).

7- Learn to see the good in things

Learn to see the good side of any situation. In other words, try to see the glass half full rather than half empty. For example, if you were asked to present to an important client with only 24 hours notice, you can try to remind yourself that you were asked because you are a valuable part of the team and seen as a capable individual who is able to deliver at such short notice.

Moreover, after a successful presentation, you will further strengthen your reputation with your superiors because everyone will know the short deadline that you were presented with and how you still managed to prepare well and impress the client. Remembering that this is an opportunity to enhance your career growth will help to reduce anxiety and will allow you to focus 100% on the task to make sure you can take advantage of this opportunity.

8 – Use support you may have

Learn to use your support group to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life. If you are in the middle of a very stressful situation at work, it may be very helpful to speak about it with somebody who cares about you and will have your best interests at heart. Just sharing your experience may help you to reduce anxiety and stress levels.

9 – Breathing correctly is important

Learn to breathe deeply and slowly in stressful situations. This will help you to reduce anxiety and stress levels and will facilitate more clear thinking and better decision-making. When breathing deeply, mental clarity improves due to increased oxygen intake. One breathing exercise that you can use follows:

Breath in – count slowly 1,2,3,4 (mentally)

Hold – count slowly 1,2,3,4 (mentally)

Breath out- count slowly 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (mentally)

Repeat 5 times. Try it now – you will see the difference.

10 – Establish a stress-management routine

It is also helpful to establish a routine that you could follow to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life. For most people, the daily activities are often similar. We follow certain more or less similar patterns during the workdays and undertake similar activities during the weekends.

You can think about the most efficient and pleasant way to do activities that you repeatedly do and try to use the new routine to reduce anxiety and stress levels in your life.

For example, if it feels that you never have enough time in the day to complete all your work and you know that your most productive time is in the morning (which is common), than try to block out your time in the mornings from all distractions and focus uninterruptedly on the most difficult work at that time. Make it a routine and try to ensure that others work around it (as long as it is professional and feasible to make such a request). This way you can complete your work on time, which will help you reduce anxiety and stress levels.

If you want to be truly successful then you have to accept that you will be in stressful situations. You cannot avoid it. Business is tough.

Therefore, to reduce anxiety and stress levels, you need to develop or adapt techniques to effectively manage anxiety and stress. The points above are techniques that are a good start in selecting your own arsenal of tricks that you can use to strengthen yourself.

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Healthy Food and Superior Performance

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Fresh vegetables are important components of a...

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Healthy food choices essential to achieve your study and career goals. To perform at your best, you need to make healthy food choices.

A healthy diet allows your body to feel at its best and to perform at its full potential.

The following healthy food choices and diet preferences will help you achieve better performance:

FRUITS and Vegetables

Fruits and Vegetables significantly contribute to healthy diet. Eat at least 4-5 fresh fruits and vegetables a day (some sources advise 70% of your daily diet should be fruits and vegetables). Someone even said, “If you want to stay alive – eat food that is alive”.

Moreover, you need to have a variety of vegetables and fruits. Some experts suggest eating a “rainbow” of fruits and vegetables each week. This refers to the fact that your diet, over the week, needs to incorporate fruits and vegetables of all colors of the rainbow.

Organic food

Try to eat organic food when possible. This will allow you to stay away from hormones, antibiotics or sprays added to traditional food, as well as from genetically modified food.

Clean Water

Drink a sufficient amount of clean water (at least 3-5 glasses a day). The rest of the water you need will come from fruits and vegetables.

Supplements

Take in supplements, but in limited doses. Ginkgo biloba and omega 3 are popular supplements for improving brain functionality. Multivitamin and mineral supplements are also important. Supplements fill in the gaps in your nutrition and contribute to good diet.

No heavy food after 6pm

Try not to eat heavy food after 6pm. It is more appropriate to have light snacks such as a yogurt or a fruit. Heavy food can disrupt your sleep patterns and significantly contribute to an extra weight problem. Therefore, it pays off to have it as a rule to not have heavy food after 6pm and especially not after 8pm.

Green tea, red wine and dark chocolate

According to research conducted by Harvard professors, green tea is very healthy and considered to be one of the 3 healthiest foods when it comes to longevity. The other two are red wine and dark chocolate.

Red wine has well known benefits but the alcohol in it is harmful for one’s health. Dark chocolate, according to the same research, apparently can decrease the possibility of a heart attack.

Avoid processed food

It is important to avoid processed food as much as possible. As one food expert recommended, – “if it is made from the plant – eat it, if it is made in the plant – don’t eat it”. Processed food should be avoided when possible.

Nuts

Raw nuts are very healthy and nutritious. Raw almonds and walnuts are especially highly recommended. Make sure to avoid roasted, honey coated or heavily salted nuts. These are all bad for you and the oil in nuts converts to a heavy saturated fat when nuts are roasted.

Semi-healthy treats

One needs to select a diet that is manageable and sustainable. This refers to a diet that still allows one to feel happy and satisfied with one’s food choices.

Therefore, some creativity may be required in building a healthy diet. Granola bars can be used as a substitute for sugary sweets. Organic popcorn with olive oil is another good light snack that provides fiber.

Probiotic yogurt is yet another option. By using your preferences and by being creative, you can find a healthy or semi-healthy treats for yourself that will allow you to overall healthy diet.

What you really do not want is to occasionally eat healthy but unsatisfactory food and at other times eat really unhealthy food to compensate for it. It is best to find a diet which consists of healthy food and semi-healthy food, and which is sustainable.

You can feel how differently your body reacts to healthy food choices. You can also feel the negative reaction of your body to poor food choices. One indication that you can use as to whether or not you are following a healthy diet is to see how energetic you feel. Above all, use your judgment and listen to your body.

Making healthy food choices is not as hard as it seems. Once you make an effort for 21 days or so to make healthy food choices, you will start forming a new habit and it will become increasingly easier to maintain healthy diet to fuel your success.

Writing Effective Emails

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The ability to write effective emails is an essential skill. This skill will be required throughout your business career. It is required when applying for a job, throughout each day of your employment and up until your letter of resignation and good-bye emails are sent out. In other words, without the ability to write effective emails, you could enter a company at a disadvantage and leave at a disadvantage.

Being able to write effective emails which are concise and professional is a “must” for successful business career.

The way you write creates Brand “You”

In our day and age, the way you write emails comprises a large part of your communication with the outside world and contributes significantly to the way people see you. In other words, it is part of your personal style. Every time you send an email at the office, people form an image of you. This image is negative, positive or neutral.

Writing effective emails is one of the ways you market yourself and your skills. It has been the case where previously ignored employees rise in their employers’ eyes based on the power of one well-timed and insightful email. While not all emails present the opportunity for such career shifts, every email you send should be building the image you want to project and should be creating the right corridor chatter about you.

Example

Given the numerous priorities your colleagues face, an effective email should achieve its objective in the shortest possible time and with the least distraction to people. One way to do this is to be as explicit in the subject line as possible.

For example, if you want to see if a report is ready for the General Motor’s Efficiency project, some people will write “Project” or “General Motors Project” in the subject line. This is time consuming for a number of reasons.

Since the purpose of the email is unclear, your colleagues need to open it to read it. This takes time, especially if there are bandwidth problems at the office, they have older laptops, you have attachments in the email or if they are reading it on their Blackberry. It is much more effective to write the purpose of the email in the subject line.

Here are some examples:

1 – Will the General Motors Efficiency Report be ready by 5pm on Tuesday?

2 – Do you need any more help on the General Motors Report?

3 – Let me know if you can meet the GM Report Deadline? Not Urgent

Look at the examples above. They are specific. The recipient can quickly decide if he needs or wants to respond. The third example is even better. You are asking a question, but telling the recipient to respond when they have time. Colleagues appreciate this and see you as a person of action who values their time.

Here is an example of an effective email:

***

SUBJECT:

Feedback needed on GM Efficiency Project Extension, Deadline by 4pm today!

BODY:

Colleagues,

We are unable to include the financing numbers by the agreed deadline period. Given the importance of the numbers to the client, I am proposing I contact the client and move the deadline back by 48 hours. I have until 5pm today to do this. Is everyone in agreement?

These are reasons why the numbers are important and why we are unable to verify them in time for inclusion:

1 – The client cannot make a financing decision without the financing calculations.

2 – All other proposals will have the financing numbers.

3 – The client has stressed that we must include the financing numbers, even if we postpone the delivery of the proposal.

4 – We cannot finalize the financing numbers since marketing is unable to secure the market projection numbers from Reuters.

5 – Reuters can only get the numbers to us tomorrow due to a server problem on their side. We then need to check them before including them.

6 – There are no other available sources for the market projection numbers.

Given the above, I propose I will contact the client by 5pm to ask for a 48 hours extension. I will state the problem and request the extension only when Reuters can guarantee the new delivery time.

Best Regards,

Sylvia

***

Did you notice the following?

This is a very powerful way of writing a professional email.

1 – The subject is clear. Your colleagues can decide if and when they need to respond. They can understand the email without opening and scrolling through the text.

2 – The very first sentence summarizes the email perfectly. You state the problem. You list the solution and timing. You state exactly who is accountable for each step. There is no confusion. Again, this is a perfect summary and your colleagues can then read the details should they wish to.

3 – Notice the details are listed as succinct points. It is very difficult to read dense long paragraphs. Write for your audience and write clearly.

4 – Notice point six clearly states where the problem lies. You need to be effective at stating why something is changing without laying any blame. State it as a matter-of-fact (if it is) and be tactful about it especially if the delay was caused by a co-worker. If you are not clear why the delay occurred, state so and outline the steps you will take to determine the cause of the problem.

5 – Place enough facts in the email for the recipients to make a decision. This way there are no to-and-from emails which create an annoying email trail. Write just enough details for the recipients to understand the reasons for the change but not so much that there are unnecessary details.

The style you use in writing an effective email can differ, but always write clearly and concisely consider. This will show you are a person of action.

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