LBU INSIDER

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Out with the old, in with the new!

It's interesting to see how different people around the world celebrate New Year. Some cultures may celebrate New Year at a different time because they use a different calendar. Others celebrate it with traditional ceremonies, but for many, it is celebrated at evening parties, where they dance, eat, drink, and watch or light fireworks. Generally speaking, though, New Year is a much celebrated occasion around the world because it marks hope and good things to come.

One phrase stands out during New Year celebration, and it's the idiom, "out with the old, in with the new," which literally means MOVE FORWARD. But in order to move forward, we need to learn how to purge, to remove or let go of one thing, or many things, with the expectation of gaining something else. This does not only apply to physical objects, but can also apply to relationships, mindsets, and even time itself. The question we should ask ourselves is, what are we willing to let go this year, in order to receive something better or far more greater?

Here are some ideas you can do something differently this year, instead of writing your New Year's resolution:

  • Create a Bucket List for the New Year filled with all the things you want to be, do and experience before turning a year older.

  • Follow a Monthly 30-Day Challenge consisting of small goals along with a specific action that you'll be taking each day to achieve the goal.

  • Take a Yearly Challenge like Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook) who gives himself a personal challenge for the year. One year his challenge was to learn Mandarin. Another year, he set the challenge of not eating any meat he hadn't killed himself.

  • Create a List of Things to Look Forward To. Like planning a great vacation, or a friend is getting married, or there's a workshop you're really looking forward to attending.

  • Decide What to Track or Measure like keeping a time or food log, tracking money spending, or weight.

  • Decide on One-Word for the Year that will guide you through out the year. One word gives you clarity and focus.

  • Reboot an Area of Your Life that has gone completely off course and you wish you could just hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and start all over again. These can include weight gain, debts, or disillusioned with your work.

  • Take a Life Audit by grading yourself in each of your life areas - relationships, work, finances, health, and so on.

  • Take On a 365-Day Project by picking on something you are going to do every single day of the New Year. This can include taking photographs to post on your instagram, writing words, wake up at the same time each day, or read a short story.

Hope these ideas can break the monotony of your New Year's resolution, and actually succeed in what you decide to accomplish this year.

Let's peek into how people in other parts of the earth celebrates the New Year

A Message From Our CEO



Happy New Year Team LBU!


Thank you all for a great year together, in spite of the challenging times we faced! Every single one of you stepped up and kicked ass through this pandemic and how lucky we were to have been able to not just survive, but to THRIVE!! Thank you Team LBU!!


Have a fabulous New Year Team and let’s look forward to a SWEET 2021 together! ;-)


Much Love...

Jeff

LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES

Implementation of our New Project Management Tool


As we aim to stay efficient and organize, we have recently launched a new project management tool which is probably not new to many of you. ASANA is an intuitive tool and fairly easy to use that helps us stay organized and most of all, reclaim our precious time by being efficient.


Image courtesy of ASANA.com

Now, with ASANA, our staff can easily communicate in one space, avoiding the trawling through our email inboxes just to retrieve one piece of information. With ASANA, it's visibly laid out neatly, allows us to attach every information and detail about the particular project in one single central 'virtual' folder, which makes tracking easy. Not only can we communicate tasks but we can also converse within projects, as well as within teams. It is a sure way to keep track of everything!

Besides being able to break down tasks (Today, Upcoming, Later), use lists or boards, track progress, one awesome feature is the ability to copy a task into multiple projects. Yes, I'm sure many of you have experienced that there are just some tasks that are repeatedly done in more than one project. An example of this is creating invoices. This task can be placed into two different project, and when you update the task in one project, it can automatically update in the other project as well.

The success of this project management tool is in our hands. Let's make the most use of it, as we look forward to future enhancement in our systems which will allow us to do greater things.

Shout out to our EA to VP Raul Melendez, for running the orientation and training of ASANA!

Another Avenue of Communicating

Today's world is fast-paced and we find ourselves in the middle of an era where competition never sleeps. It is absolutely essential to use tools to gain a competitive advantage by adapting to a better way of collaborating and effectively communicating. This is why we have recently piloted the use of an online communication platform called SLACK, so we can 'effectively' and 'efficiently' use it to bridge the gap in our communication. I say 'effectively' and 'efficiently' because just like any tool, when abused, can actually hinder productivity and derail our goals.

A quick introduction to our recently piloted messaging app - SLACK (Searchable Log of All Communications and Knowledge) is a messaging app designed originally for Stewart Butterfield, a Canadian billionaire businessman as an internal tool during the development of an online game. Slack was launched in August 2013. Butterfield also founded Flickr.

Our goal is to get our entire team to collaborate and work on projects seamlessly by having the ability to easily send messages and share files. Since the world is being afflicted by a global pandemic, more and more people are forced to work remotely and speed up the trends in this unconventional way of collaboration. This sudden shift means additional pressure for our teams to stay aligned, feel connected and get our work and projects done much faster.

Remember these 7 Tips to Use Slack Effectively (by Franz Vitulli)

  1. Understand the difference between teams and channels.

  2. Slack is not the right place for important discussions.

  3. Use slack asynchronously. (be responsible for your own down time - set a Do Not Disturb when you're offline, not working, or in-the-zone. It's your responsibility to deal with the message when you're ready.)

  4. Always prefer public channels over private and 1-1 communication.

  5. Do a routine decluttering.

  6. Kill slack when you need to focus.

  7. Use slack themes.

A few of our January Projects!

PARTIES & CELEBRATIONS

COVID-19 Vaccine

Vaccinations are underway across New Jersey.


New Jersey will roll out COVID-19 vaccines in a phased approach to all adults who live, work, or are being educated in the State. Within six months, New Jersey aims to vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population.



Pre-Register for the Vaccine

Who Is Eligible For Vaccination

How To Get Vaccinated If You Are Eligible


Click the image to route you to NJ Covid19 Information Hub