keith ferrazzi is the author of best seller book “never eat along” and founder of ferrazzi greenlight. here is a newsletter i received from keith ferrazzi, the topic is how to shine in your current job. here is what he has to say:

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Tip 134 - Five Tips to Bulletproof Your Job Today
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In a recent tip I gave advice to those facing the challenge of a job search in a down market. How about those who have a job but may be nervous about keeping it? People often tell me they know they’re doing a great job, but they’re not sure their bosses or other higher-ups do. Well then, it’s time to show them with a little proactive PR! Remember, personal branding isn’t about telling people how great you are. It’s about reaching out to others in ways that show what you care about and believe in.
With that in mind, I turned to Stephen Viscusi’s Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work, an entire book on how to make your personal brand at work unassailable.
Here’s my list of just a few favorites pulled directly from the book.
Five Tips to Bulletproof Your Job Today

1. Introduce Yourself: “You don’t need to get your name on a billboard to make yourself known to a company bigwig. You just need three things: say your name, assert your connection to her, and share your personal pitch… Follow up with an e-mail or handwritten note, reminding him of your brief meeting and saying how much you enjoyed it.”
2. Volunteer to Lead: “Offering to take the lead shows you have a stomach for risk, the capacity to learn, and the desire for accomplishment that others might not possess.”
3. Be Positive: “In short, positive people are easy to work with and negative people are not. And smart positive people are among the most valuable in the workplace…. You can choose to be positive - and to set off the whole chain of positive influence - simply by indentifying your current worldview and habits and making conscious positive adjustments… All you have to do is smile.”
4. Be A Mentor: “…step up and offer a bit of support that will help newbies feel a connection that will make them want to stay in the game and get with the program… It allows you to plant seeds of influence and support throughout your company and your industry that will grow and become more valuable to you over time… You just need to know the ropes of your workplace and have some experience that would be helpful to someone else… Keep things informal, meet regularly, keep it professional, and keep up the connection.”
5. Improve Your Networking Skills: “Job survival and advancement are about always having a substantial list of professional acquaintances… The most influential and useful are usually those who work in and around your field, but it’s not at all unusual for an outsider to be the most effective person in your network… For every person you collect into your network because she may be helpful to you, you should count on being called onto be a resource for her, too.”

if you are interested in signup for keith’s newsletter, here is the link:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=ExQzS&m=1cDhTUA0VsfMRL&b=wieMaTqFY.b8_AZreeBVxw

today played lots of competitive games at the bellevue table tennis tournament. it was fun event.

first i started the 1700 level group play. i was with raymond and Ian. i played with raymond before and i am always afraid of his left hand play, he has a long pip on this back paddle and when he uses this side i was always confused as i do like play long pip player - the behaviour is totally different than normal and i always forget that and hit the ball like i would normally do, which does not work.

but i first played Ian, someone coming all the way from vancouver, canada. i did not warm up and lost 2 straight games before i started to get into shape and started playing better. the next 3 games are pretty tough, with 2 of the games are close games but i was lucky to win this game.

the next game was with raymond, and i was not confident. eugene was there and watched and couched me while i play and i get better but today is not my day with raymond and he is just too good. i lost 0-3 fast.

the good thing is top 2 of the group advances to the next round and i am #2.

then i played 1550 group, playing two 1290 players. i first played with Ng, and i win the first game easily. i was a bit loose and thought it might be a good time to try out the 6* paddle i borrowed from my colleague. that paddle proves to be not my paddle, and i lost my second game. although i finally won 3-2 but that second game was a turning point that Ng is back to the game, i did not worry losing to him but i did not expect it to be that close.

next i played donna in the group. this time i won 3-0 and left them playing for the 2nd place in the group.

i went on to play second round of 1700, lost to william from canada 1-3. seond round of 1550, beat lucas, and andrew and advanced to the semi-final. i play judy, who is a teen age girl playing very well table tennis today. she is also coming here all the way from canada. it was a hell of a game, and we attracted most of eye bows of the court. i finally lost 2-3 but i feel it is an entertaining game and i dont feel bad to let the teen age girl from canada to win:-)

cooked some lazy guy’s dishes today, simply, quick, yet delicious. really enjoy cooking （although i admit i am a rookie on this), i wish to spend 3 months to get professional training, get a 三级厨师什么的。

红烧大排

红烧大排

可乐鸡翅

可乐鸡翅

还有个素的，炒花菜

炒花菜

来个全景：

man, i have not watched full david letterman show for sometime and i watched his show in full today and what an entertaining show today. for the entire show he was joking around john mccain’s sudden cancellation of the appearance on david letterman show. i saw the news right before the show and saying mccain is cancelling his appearance on the show and letterman has some “comments” on this. man, it was more than comments, he was going wild and keep puring out words on mccain. several highlights:

• if this is going on, god knows when he becomes president, will he suspend his presidency?
• you all know that john mccain is governor palin’s running mate
• all road to white house run through me
• do you think mccain is going back to the show? (paul) not after your comments today
• (to a guest, when the interview ends) i know you are going to the white house to save our nation’s crisis
• hey john, i got a question, you need a ride to the airport?

letterman is not pleased but in turn made a good show out of it. here is a clip from the show: