Dale Carnegie: Even in such technical lines as engineering, about 15% of one's financial success is due to one's technical knowledge and about 85% is due to skill in human engineering, to personality and the ability to lead people.

This quote shows that interpersonal skills are extremely important in our road to success. In order to make it easier to understand, I will show you a very simple fact.

Nobody is good at all aspects and have all the resources. Therefore, we need to build up a very good social network, to improve each other’s resources.

Since interpersonal skills are extremely important, today I hope to exchange ideas with you about interpersonal skills. Everybody is welcome to write down their ways to expand their social network.

Here are my ideas about expanding social network.

Two key points of a perfect social network

First, wide

First, with many important and excellent people (including celebrities)

1^st Gather

1. Try to voice our excellent opinion in public, such as classes, blogs and so on.
2. Reading! More and more writers today leave their email addresses and blogs in their books in the hope to make friends and exchange ideas with their readers.
3. Expand our interpersonal network among our classmates, colleges, neighbors, and people of same interest.

2^nd Build up Relationship

1. Be active and learn to make friends with strangers.
2. If we want to make friends with excellent people, we have to collect their information beforehand, when we see them, we just have to greet to them in the way we greet to our old friends. We should also show our truthful respect to them.

3^rd Maintain

1. Send our friends a greeting mail three or four days after we make friends with them. 
2. Email our friends a festival card, our recent status, and news every festival to maintain our relationship and let our friends know our recent situation.
3. Be helpful to our friends when they need our help. We will get their help in return, when we need their help
4. Set up a file to manage our network of excellent and important people (remember to add and drop every year.) and the contact of all the people we know.

The first photo is retrieved from http://www.geocities.ws/kelvinkar/idiom.html.

You can read my other posts here. http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

Warren Buffett(second richest person in the world):

Every one should cultivate at least eight good habits in their life?

Active mindset
 

Work efficiently

Smile

Constant learning

Self-control

Insist on exercising

Humble

Etc

I think habits are extremely powerful. Good habits can change our life dramatically, but bad habits can ruin our life. For examples, if we insist on changing our life for 0.2% every day, we would have changed our life for 200% easily within 100 days. The other example can be given is that if we keep the habit of burning the midnight oil, car accident may happen on us, because of lacking concentration while driving.

Then, which habits should we cultivate?

 
Since these eight habits are from warren Buffett, we can confirm that these eight habits are very valuable and worth us to spend time cultivating them. Therefore, I think we can start from cultivating these eight habits and then more.

If you have all these eight habits, congratulations. However, it is too early for you to be happy now. Please “plant” all these eight habits into your every brain cell deeply in your whole life time and cultivate more good habits. Then, do the same thing to those newly-cultivated habits.

If don’t, please do not feel frustrated, and keep it up.

At the end, can you tell us which habits in the list you have?

You are see my other posts here.

http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

One of the reasons to cook by ourselves is because we want to be healthier and save money. Because of these reasons, I started cooking after started studying in university. I found that cooking is really great knowledge.

I think that discussion is important for us to improve our cooking skills. Any one is welcome to write down their questions about cooking here or answer other people’s questions, or even just share their knowledge here.

 
My sharing:

Vegetables and fruit today are sprayed with too much pesticide. Organic fruit and vegetables are too expensive. If you cannot afford to buy organic vegetables and fruit, but you do not want to take in too much pesticide, you can take the advice from “Lucus Cooking Dictionary”.

1. Try cilantro. Because of its special smell, there will be fewer pests attacking it. Therefore, farmers normally seldom spray pesticide on it. It is suitable to eat without cooking. It is also one of the vegetables that contain the most Vitamin C.

 
2. Underground vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, yams, pumpkin. Because they are underground, farmers usually do not spray pesticide on them.

3. Peel off the skins of fruit and vegetables, such as tomatoes, apples, and so on, because there is too much pesticide on their skins.

 
4. Wash vegetables with running water.

 
5. Besides brushing teeth, we can also use teeth brush to brush the skin of uneven vegetables and fruit, such as bitter gourd.

 
6. Plant by yourselves. If you plant vegetables by yourselves, you can have a chance to exercise. Research shows that people who are closer to nature have better mental and physical health.


My Questions:

 
1. I cook with only rice cooker, without using any oil. To tell the truth, I cook any things including vegetables, fish, and eggs by simply boiling them and normally eat only the food without drinking the soup. My question is that how to make the soup delicious without using any MSG. I need fast recipe, which does not take too much time?
(the more answers, the merrier.)
My first answer:
Boiling tomatoes to make the soup has a great sour flavor.


2. Last time, I bought a fish from shopping centre. While I bought it, I really did not see any problems with the fish. After cooking, I found that the fish is extremely smelly. The fish is bad already. Can you tell me how to tell whether the fish is fresh?

3. How many minutes does it take to boil small squid with a rice cooker?

You can see my other posts here

http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

I think most of the people who decide to see this post are people who know that it is extremely important for us to know our strong points and weak points.

However, I still feel like talking a bit about it. I hope you won’t get angry for my nagging.
Making a right decision about where we want to spend our time to make our life successful is important.

If we focus on what we are good at to reach our life-long targets, it will be the same like flying to our destination. It is much faster.

If we try to reach our target by spending most of our time on our weak points, it will be the same like walking to our destination. It is much slower. Maybe, we will never reach the destination. Who knows? However, it is important for us to correct our weak points.

Then, how to understand our strong points and weak points better? I know that you are keen on knowing the methods. Please be cool down I will tell you what I learn from the books of one of my favorite writers, Kazuyo Katsuma.

First, you can try to analyze yourselves by using SWOT (as picture below), MBTI, and Strength Finder. MBTI? It is actually a test. You can get it by googling it. I think the result is quite useful, but I think it can only be used as a reference, as it is still just a test, no matter how prestigious it is. Then, what is Strength Finder? I have never tried it, as in order to do this test, we need to buy its book. I believe the book it is quite expensive. Therefore, I cannot give you any suggestion. Sorry! Sorry! Can you forgive me?

I think no matter how good the tests and SWOT are. We must still need to experience as many things as possible to understand ourselves better. While I was still very young I always thought that I liked studying very difficult subjects, as I thought I liked to study crazily. However, with the studying experiences in science class for 4 years and my working experiences, I found out that I would be very sad if I needed to study all days every day.

Wow! It takes time to experience many things. How to fasten the process? I think the two methods below can be used to fasten the process.

Try to collect other people’s opinion on us. Through this process, we will be able to discover our strong points and weak points. However, you should remember that other people’s opinion is just a way to judge ourselves but not principles, because other people’s opinion contains some casual and irresponsible information. You should also try your best to keep the ability to judge yourself objectively. For example, if we want to know our writing ability, we can write blogs, as if we write blogs we will know our writing quality by reading our readers’ comments.

The last by not least, write your own history. I think it is quite the same like writing diaries. If we write our history, we can discover our strong points and weak points by using our previous successful and failing experiences. Ha! Ha! I think you can prepare tissue first, before you want to recall your failing experiences.

I hope they do help to make you understand yourselves better.

At the end, can you give me a hand? I hope you can tell me my weak points and strong points on writing. You just tell me your opinion. I accept both good and bad comments. I think you can see my sincere face?

I do not have enough knowledge about copyright. Can anyone of you tell me if my writing contradicts copyright law.

You can see my other posts here.
Lucusstyle.blogspot.com

My knees were injured last few years ago. I feel quite uncomfortable while walking or standing for a long time. Because of this, I can feel a little bit how an old man feels, while they are walking or exercising. Therefore, I am aware of the importance of keeping our bodies healthy and vital. If we lose vitality and health, our lives will become dull.

If you observe, you can see most of the old people find it difficult to walk fast, climb up or down ladders. Many old people even become a pot of medicine while they are getting old. Some of them need to take up a large amount of medicine fees, or even suffer from horrible treatment, such as, something like putting a tube from nose to stomach.

However, at the same time, I see some yogis can do difficult postures even they are more 80 years old.

I think this is because they eat healthy food, practice yoga, and have healthy lifestyle.

I believe that if we take care of our health, we can also be healthy and vital until we are old.

That is why I write a lot of posts about healthy lifestyle.

Today, I want to ask all of you to sit up straight.

In Chinese medicine and yoga, we take care of sitting posture very much. Let me tell you some reasons. First, proper organ alignment and placement allow organ to work effectively. Second, reduce pain in joints from walking and running. Third, prevent from back problems. Back pains are one of the most suffering healthy problems.

According to a book, entitled photoreading, sitting up straight can increase oxygen in our brain. It can also keep our brain alert. It means we can learn faster.

A yoga book says that sitting up straight can improve digestion.

Since sitting up straight can give you so many benefits, without spending your time and money. Why don’t you give it a try?

You can see my other posts here.
http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

            Because of long school holidays, I had time to relax myself in the park near by my house today. I found it very nice to take in fresh air, walk on the pebbles, practice abdominal breath, meditate, clap, imagine, see green plants, and etc without think of time in the park.

            Some people tend to enjoy their holidays by watching movies or etc. To me, enjoying healthy meals, exercising are also good relaxing ways, as healthy activities make me feel energetic, comfortable, and satisfied, but in order to get the maximum enjoyment in our life, we need to manage our time better and arrange the most types of activities in our life.

             I think it is very important for me to arrange at least one activity in my life which is beneficial to my spirit and body health every day. Why do I think it is important? I think healthy spirit and body are essential to realize dreams.

You can also enjoy my other posts here.

http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

We usually hope to live in a healthier and more positive way, but it is usually very hard for us to change our lifestyle. Therefore, I hope to do some easy homework with you this week to reach this goal. I hope through this homework. We can eliminate chemicals, pollutants, emotional pressure, and bad emotions from our bodies. At the same time, become more and more healthy physically and mentally.

Body Homework: (Day1)
1.Drink more than 1800cc of water everyday, but
do not drink cold water. I advise you to drink a
glass of warm water after waking up and a glass
of water every two hours.
Spiritual Homework: (Day1)
1.Smile, remember to keep smiling today.

Body Homework: (Day2)
1.Try to eat more vegetables and fruit. if you usually do
so, you can try to eat vegetables of different colors.
Spiritual Homework: (Day 2)
1.Be brave to say “sorry” for any mistakes we make

even small ones. If we do so, we will feel less

stressed or frustrated, because we have apologized.

Body Homework: (Day3)
1.Try not to eat highly-processed food, as
they are usually added some chemicals. The
another reason is that they are usually
cooked for a long time, so there is less
nutrition.
Spiritual Homework: (Day3)
1.List out 10 people and things that we hate
and try to think of any solutions to deal with
the problems.

Body Homework: (Day4)
1.Make our bodies more flexible by
moving more, as we usually stay in front
of the computers and does not move at
all for a long time.
Spiritual Homework: (Day4)
1.Be patient to your family members. A lot
of people give vent to their family
members, or say some hurting words to them.

Some of them even show impatient to their parents’

concerning words. This is really a very hurting

behavior to them. Please remember to be patient

to them. Remember when you are in trouble, they

will the people who support you until the last minute.

Body Homework: (Day5)
1.Do hot foot bath before we sleep,
it does help to kick up our metabolism.
Spiritual Homework: (Day5)
1.Try to organize our photos well and
see them. No matter that are good
or bad memories, we should learn to
face them but not avoid them or
complain our life, as time passing.

Body Homework: (Day6)
1.Try to do some exercise.
Spiritual Homework: (Day6)
1.Try to e-mails or call our friends,

who we have not contacted them for

a long time, because of jobs, studying,

or misunderstanding.

Body Homework: (Day7)
1.Try to plant some plants in our room.

(Remember: Some plants are not suitable to be planted

in door, as they may take in oxygen, but some plants are

okay. The plant shown in the picture is okay to be planted

in door.)
Spiritual homework: (Day7)
1.Start writing dairies. Do not make
Yourselves stressed by requiring
yourselves to write every day, just
write down what you want to write.

You can see my other posts here.

http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

I hope this will become a part of your life after these 7 days.

Hi! It is me, Lucus again. Today, I want to share with you about how to become luckier. What? Erm…we are not God. How is it possible for us to make ourselves luckier? Yes! It is not just possible. It is also very simple. If you want to make it, you just have to read this essay from the start to the end without jumping.

Lucky person1: Izaak

(who left me a very great impression and made me feel like helping him in return)
I have a friend, Izaak who I made friends with him four months ago. I seldom see him. I usually just see him one or two in a week. Sometimes, I even do not see him for a whole week, but he left me a very great impression. I will help him, if I can help him. Why? Now let me tell you why by telling you three things that I saw him do. First, one day we went to school together. When we almost reached a door, he walked faster and opened the door and held it for me. Second, sometimes, we need to sign something before we leave our class. He always just sits in his chair and sign only until all the other students have signed it. I think it is because he is civilized and want to let other people do first. Third, one day, I went back to my hometown for a national Examination (SPM). Then I asked him to help me print and summit my assignment to my lecturer. He asked me a lot of questions then. How was your examination? Do you want to print it in colored form or black-and-while form? Can you send me your signature? After he saw my assignment, he tells me a lot of the problems in my assignment and even spent time changing a lot of things for me. When I told my friend all these things, they all said he was very thoughtful, it meant that he actually gave a lot of people good impressions.

Lucky person 2: a hawker
(who made me feel like eating steamboat in her stall)
There are three hawkers, who sell the same thing, which is steamboat in the night market near by my campus, but I only feel like eating steamboat in a particular hawker’s stall. She does not sell things cheaper, but I always want to eat steamboat in her stall. Why? Let me share my first experiences eating over there with you. One day, I ate steamboat in her stall. The hawker, she discovered the plastic bags and other rubbish on my hands and threw them for me. While I was waiting for my food, she kept introduce me the other types of food for me. She even taught me how to choose jelly fish. After my food was done, she even cooled them down for me. She passed all the relevant sauces for me while I was eating. She even passed me a tissue paper, after I ate. Her service really impressed me so much. My friend, who stayed beside me, also has good impression on her service.

Lucky person3: Lucus
(who learns a lot of valuable things without spending extra time and money)
I think if the same things happened on the other people, there would only be a few people who were lucky enough to learn some valuable knowledge from them.

When there are more good things happen on one person it means that he is luckier. Yes! It means that if you can make more good things happen on you, you will become luckier.

The first person made me feel like helping him in return and left me a very great impression, the second person made me feel like buying food from him. The third person learns a lot of valuable things without spending extra time and money.

How do the three people make themselves lucky? The answer is much simpler than you think. They are just more thoughtful than the other people. They just take care of details and trifles that other people do not take care of.

Some of you may ask how to be thoughtful? Here are my opinions about how to make ourselves more thoughtful.

Step1: Always pursuit a better self.
Step2: Always obverse details and think about how to make good use of them.
Step3: Always apply the knowledge we learn. Remember to improve it if necessary

Step1+2: If we pursuit a better self, we will think and observe details and trifles happens around us. For an example, I observe my friends. Then, I find out the ways of showing thoughtfulness to other people.
Step3: I try to apply the ways he shows thoughtfulness and improve it if necessary

Sharing

Thank you so much for spending time reading this essay. I hope it does help you become luckier.

Now, I want to hear your opinion about my opinion and how do you show your thoughtfulness to other people.

Let me give you one example.

I always thank my friends in Facebook, if they help me, go out with me, or even study together with me. Then, they are more people feel like helping me.

 
You can see my other posts here.
http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com

Hey! Every English Club's fans. It's me Lucus again. Today, I hope to share with you some time management skills.

I hope that you can write down your opinion on my ideas and your ideas about time management here, so that we can exchange our ideas, improve our English, and learn together.

Thank you so much.

Here are my articles about how to manage our time better.
1. Super time management skills increase your efficiency for 10 times (http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com/2010/11/super-time-management-skills-increase.html)
2. Figures increase your efficiency for 10 times (http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com/2010/11/figures-increase-your-efficiency-for-10.html)

Here are my other ten ideas about how to improve our efficiency.
1. Multi-tasking- Listen to English sound clips, while doing housework.
2. Dairy- keep writing dairy, so that you will not forget to do important things.
3. Combining (kill two birds with one stone)-It is very important for us to improve ourselves by studying and relax ourselves. Why don’t we make reading as our hobby and relax ourselves by reading?
4. Make good use of time fragment- bring along a vocabulary book and memorize it while lining up or waiting.
5. Reduce time wastage1- Arrange things in order. It can reduce time wasting on finding things.
6. Reduce time wastage2- If you are going to take public transport for about 2 hours, you can wake up two hours earlier and start working. Then, you can make good use of the time spending on public transport by sleeping.
7. Ensure productivity1-Set up some standards to ensure that we spend enough time on something. For example, I require myself to write 10 blog posts a month and listen to English sound clips for 15 hours every month.
8. Ensure productivity2- Make things more interesting. If the things you are going to do are more interesting, you will be able to concentrate better while doing them. For example, I combine writing practice with blogging to make writing practice more interesting.
9. Choose the right thing to do- For example; relax by swimming or listening to English songs, instead of eating midnight snack. If you relax by swimming, then you can spend less time on exercising.
10. Always think of new time-saving ideas- For example, I thought of a time-saving idea last month which is to cook less oily food, in order to save time on washing and make myself healthier.


Related articles:
Very common mistake makes our life miserable (http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com/2010/12/very-common-mistake-makes-our-life.html)
Three steps to make good use of your notebook (http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com/2010/11/three-steps-to-make-good-use-of-your.html) 
How to learn English with full of fun?
(http://lucusstyle.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-learn-english-with-full-of-fun.html)

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