How To Mitigate Risk When Staying In A Hotel

                                                   Entrance to Hotel Ibis, Reading, England

Introduction

To some people, travelling overseas form part and parcel of office work. Whether a person is a frequent or a first time traveller, he or she is exposed to risks whenever they go for an overseas trip. From time to time, we used to come across reports saying that we should avoid staying in those hotels that are frequented by Westerners. Well, if we have no choice, then we need to do some form of risk assessment and mitigation on our part. We should think of what can go wrong during our stay in the hotel.

Risk assessment and mitigation

            In beefing up security, hotels in certain cities (Istanbul, Manila, Algiers, just to name a few) install metal detector arch or are using hand-held type metal detector to screen hotel guests as well as visitors.

As a safety precaution during your hotel check-in, request for a room that is located not higher than the sixth floor, if possible.  It is easier to escape during an emergency, e.g. fire. Travellers should be security aware that rooms on lower floors provide easy access for burglars or intruders. During check-in, place your luggage in front of you.

            After check-in, carry your own luggage to your room. Women travellers who arrive late at night may want to request a bellboy or porter to carry the luggage direct to the room, with you accompanying him. When you first enter your hotel room, check the room thoroughly (in the bathroom, connecting door, behind the curtain, in the closet, etc.) to ensure that the room is really empty and safe before closing the door.

            To mitigate risks while staying at the hotel, the following do’s and don’ts are useful:

·         check the location of fire exit and staircase, etc. It is useful when you need to move out or evacuate quickly during an emergency, e.g. fire, bomb threat, terrorist attack, earthquake, etc. Remember that the lift is out of service during an emergency.

·         for an extra protection of you and your valuables, consider using a rubber wedge or doorstopper that you usually use at home. 

·         always have a torch light with extra batteries – to be used when electricity supply is cut off. Some hotels provide a torch light, usually placed in the closet.

·         verify callers before opening the door.

·         display “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.

·         check with the hotel if tap water can be used for drinking. In certain countries, you cannot drink the tap water, even after boiling it for it may upset your stomach. Boil the supplied mineral water to make drinks.

·         place your belongings at one or two places only. It is easier to pack them again should you need to move out quickly, e.g. in case of emergency.

·         to avoid hotel theft, keep all belongings under locked when going out from the room.

·         if you have scheduled your meeting in the same hotel where you are staying, it is to your advantage to check the location of the room first at your earliest convenience.

Remember that mitigating risk begins with you.

                                                                      Hotel Ibis, Reading, England

 

How To Stop Worrying

Introduction

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines worry as to keep thinking about unpleasant things that might happen or about problems that you have. Many authors have had mentioned about this subject in their books, some examples are given, as per below.

Napoleon Hill (1883 – 1970), recognized as the all-time American best selling motivational author, once said: “If you are worried or afraid of anything, there is something in your mental attitude that needs correction. Unless you control worry, one day you will discover that it controls you”.  

Jeffrey J. Mayer in this book entitled “Success is a Journey” (1999) wrote that worry is one of the six symptoms of fear. In this case, you feel anxious, you’re uneasy, and you are not sure whether you had made the right decision.

Georgette “Zeta” Galas in her book entitled “How to Break Through Invisible Barriers” (1999), wrote: “When we have a desire and hold on too tight out of fear we may lose it, the end result will surely be anguish. When we know our true selves, worry, doubt and fear will dissolve”.

A good advice on methods of healthy living with regards to worry can be found in the book entitled “The Everything Time Management Book” by Bob Adams (2001). He simply said: “Don’t worry about things that are beyond your control. Let go. Unnecessary worry only creates unnecessary anxiety. You are also likely to adopt an overall feeling of helplessness, which may spill over into your other activities”.

It is worthwhile to mention it here as what was written by Linda R. Dominguez in her book entitled “How to Shine at Work” (2003). She wrote that part of turning problems into opportunities is to recognize that we always have a choice. We can choose to be angry, we can choose to worry, or we can choose to be thoughtful and respond in a way that moves us forward. It is up to us.

             Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment. - Dale Carnegie

To learn how to face worry, the following two worry-related rules adapted from “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, first published by Dale Carnegie in 1944, can be used as evergreen examples.

In the early days, Carnegie made his living by teaching adult classes in night schools in New York. He realized that one of the biggest problems of these adults was worry. He wrote his book by reading what the philosophers of all ages have said about worry. He also read hundreds of biographies, all the way from Confucius to Churchill. According to him, we won’t find anything new in his book, but we will find much that is not generally being applied in our daily life.

Rule #1: When fate hands us a lemon, let’s try to make lemonade.

A lady followed her army husband who was stationed at an Army training camp near Mojave Desert, in California. The husband was ordered out to maneuvers in the desert, and she was in a tiny shack alone.

The heat was unbearable --- 125 degrees in the shade of a cactus. Not a soul to talk to. The wind blew incessantly, and all the food she ate, and the very air she breathed, were filled with sand, sand, sand! She wrote to her father, telling him that she was going home as she couldn’t stand the situation one minute longer.

Her father answered her letter with just two lines --- two lines that completely altered her life:

                        Two men looked out from prison bars,

                        One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.

Her attitude changed after receiving her father’s reply.  She would look for the stars. She even wrote a book under the title Bright Ramparts …she had looked out of her self-created prison and found the stars.

Rule #2: Basic Techniques in Analyzing Worry

This was a story of an insurance man. When he first started selling insurance, he was filled with a boundless enthusiasm and love for his work. Then something happened. He became so discouraged that he despised his work and thought of giving it up. Then on one Saturday morning, he sat down and tried to get at the root of his worries. He began asking himself following questions:

a)    What was the problem?

He was not getting high enough returns for the staggering amount of telephone calls that he made.

b)    What was the cause of the problem?

He did pretty well at selling a prospect, until the moment came for closing a sale. Then the customer would say, “Well, I’ll think it over, Mister. Come and see me again”. The time wasted on these follow-up calls that was causing his depression.

c)    What were all possible solutions?

He checked his record book for the last twelve months and studied the figures carefully. He made an astounding discovery! He discovered that 70% of his sales had been closed at the very first interview! Another 23% of his sales had been closed on the second interview. And another 7% had been closed on those third, fourth, fifth, etc., interviews. He came to the conclusion that he was wasting fully one half of his working day on a part of his business which was responsible for only seven per cent of his sales!

d)    What was the best solution?

He made a quick decision that he would immediately cut all visits beyond the second interview, and spent the extra time building up new prospects.   

Conclusion     

As stated by Bob Adams: “Constant worry leads to complications in life. Talk it out and make yourself believe that worry will not help anything; it will only harm. The fewer worries you have, the simpler life will seem”.

The writer has his own motto: worry less about what others think, say and do.

[NOTE: a longer write-up on the subject can be read by visiting the following link:]

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Kamaruddin_B_Hassan  

8 Elements of Success

The Oxford dictionary defines success as “achievement of desired
end; attainment of wealth, fame or social position; successful thing
or person”. Successful people are individuals who purposely set
bigger goals in their lives, who work progressively towards the
attainment of these goals and who enjoy a dynamic, well-balanced
life in the process.
Following are some elements of success:

·         Goal: Successful people are clear about their goals.
In order to be realistic, your goals should be in line with 
your background and experiences, both present and past, 
your education, health, monetary worth and cash flow.

Goals have to be specific, measurable, achievable and
can be tracked – that is to be achieved within a certain time frame.
Goals should be broken down into smaller plans called objectives.
One must learn to attain an objective before moving on to the next.
To achieve any objectives, you have to plan and prepare for it.

·         Relationship with others: Building relationships is a
key aspect to personal success. People who are truly
successful take time to nurture their relationships with their 
spouses and children. According to Zig Ziglar (1998), 
good family relationships motivate you to higher levels
of success. Success really does begin at home.

·         Attitude: All successful people have positive attitudes. 
Your attitude determines your actions; and your actions 
determine your accomplishments. You may or may not have 
thought about it but what and where you are today 
is the result of your attitude. People with a positive attitude
focus their time and attention on solutions, not problems.
When you have a positive attitude, it’s easier to be persistent.

·         Time management: All of us have an equal amount of time –
24 hours per day.
However, some people manage to get more done and yet have the
extra time to spare! Good time management is not just an issue of
work but it is an issue for life. To spend time is to spend your life;

to waste time is to waste your life.

·         Effectiveness and efficiency: Effectiveness is doing the right
things while efficiency is doing things right. In our working and
personal lives, we waste time both in being ineffective and inefficient.
Learn to eliminate ineffectiveness first, then work on inefficiencies.

·         Follow-up: Jeffrey J. Mayer (1999) in his book Success is a
Journey states that a good follow-up system is also one of the most
important tools you need in order to be successful. With that, a
person is able to spend more time working on the things that are
important instead of the things that keep him or her busy.

·         Under promise and over deliver: Honesty in life is absolutely
essential. People who are dishonest experience stress and have
low self-esteem. The best principle is to “under promise and over
deliver” as stated by Richard Denny (1997) in his book Succeed for
Yourself.

·         Love: When people love their work, they’re often willing to put
in more than the standard eight-hours of work. Denis Waitley (1992)
in his book Timing is Everything says that truly successful
individuals look to contribute, not to receive. Hence, loving what
you do helps but loving every aspect of what you do isn’t necessary.

In summary, the elements of success can be abbreviated into a
positive mnemonic – grateful, (g=goal, r=relationship with others,
a=attitude, t=time management, e=effectiveness & efficiency,
f=follow-up, u=under promise and over deliver, l=love). 

We do not have to go to Harvard, MIT or Cambridge to know that
successful people are certainly grateful people.

Yes I Can!

The poem entitled "Yes I Can!" is very popular among writers / authors and many of them insert this poem in their books.

Looking back nostalgically: Writing For Newspapers

I was one of the forty people - teenagers, middle-aged, homemakers as well as pensioners who attended a 2-day workshop on "Writing For Newspapers". It was held at New Straits Times office in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur on 28 & 29 March 2009.
The session was conducted by Mr. Jahabar Sadiq who is now the CEO/Editor of The Malaysian Insider, an online portal.
I do stronglly believe in the principle that if we want to learn something, then we have to make time and pay for it. Do not just wait and go for free sessions only.
Share your knowledge with the world; write and get published.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

As per my earlier posting, the 1st Internet-related course that I attended was the one conducted by Irfan Khairi in December 2009.

The next one was a convention, named as "Dari Kosong Sampai Jutawan (DKSJ)" (or From Zero To Millionaire). It was conducted on 17 January 2010. Among the famous speakers who shared their knowledge were:
- Datuk Dr Azman Ching,
- Abang ABU,
- Irfan Khairi,
- Billi Lim,
- Chef Li.

Again, when they conducted the "Lucky Draw", I won the first prize - a ticket for two people to attend the next DKSJ2.

The picture above was taken about 9:00 p.m. on that day, as the convention ended about ten minutes later.

Article Marketing As Part of Promoting Your Website

One of the ways in getting free traffic sources for your Internet business is through search engine. However, for a new website, it may take up to about 2 – 3 months.

Article marketing is a great way to get free traffic to a website. According to world-renowned Internet entrepreneur, Derek Gehl, it is not as hard as you might think. I do happen to read about this recently in one of the local newspapers.

He said: “By simply writing a couple of free articles that include a link back to your site and submitting them to the giant article directories like EzineArticles.com, you can start seeing traffic almost overnight”.

I did register with ezinearticles.com on 19 December 2012, and as of 7 January 2013, five of my articles were published by them. 

They give me the link as http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Kamaruddin_B_Hassan 

As you’re involved with Internet business, you may want to do the same, if you’ve not done so. Traffic to your website will certainly go up, based on my experience.

The article writing helps in increasing traffic to my website at

http://www.writing-first-ebook.com