In this issue
	Shirl's Trip to Shanghai Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow! Sell yourself in your CV! Shirley's A-Z of ......... Last but not least ...

Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow!

Time is the great equalizer of all mankind. It has taken away the best and the worst of us without regard for either. The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today. Today is yesterday's tomorrow. The question is - what did we do with its opportunity? All too often we will waste tomorrow as we wasted yesterday, and as we are wasting today. All that could have been accomplished can easily elude us, despite our intentions, until we inevitably discover that the things that might have been have slipped from our embrace a single, unused day at a time. Each of us must pause frequently to remind ourselves that the clock is ticking. The same clock that began to tick from the moment we drew our first breath will also someday cease. Time is the great equalizer of all mankind. It has taken away the best and the worst of us without regard for either. Time offers opportunity but demands a sense of urgency. When the game of life is finally over, there is no second chance to correct our errors. The clock that is ticking away the moments of our lives does not care about winners and losers. It does not care about who succeeds or who fails. It does not care about excuses, fairness or equality. The only essential issue is how we played the game. Regardless of a person's current age, there is a sense of urgency that should drive them into action now - this very moment. We should be constantly aware of the value of each and every moment of our lives - moments that seem so insignificant that their loss often goes unnoticed. We still have all the time we need. We still have lots of chances - lots of opportunities - lots of years to show what we can do. For most of us, there will be a tomorrow, a next week, a next month, and a next year. But unless we develop a sense of urgency, those brief windows of time will be sadly wasted, as were the weeks and months and years before them. There isn't an endless supply! So as you think of your dreams and goals of your future tomorrow, begin today to take those very important first steps to making them all come to life. This article was reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher. For further information about Jim Rohn please visit his website www.jimrohn.com.

Sell yourself in your CV!

People often ask me how to go about writing their CV, so this month I thought I would give you some advice about just that. CV stands for curriculum vitae, which is Latin for 'the course of one's life'. A CV is a brief description of your personal details, work history and education. Most employers will ask you to send in your CV before they will consider giving you an interview. Therefore, it is important that you try to make your CV stand out from all the others that land on the potential employer's desk. Employers may receive 200 CVs for one job but they might only interview 10 people. If you want to be one of the 10, your CV must stand out immediately - so you have to learn how to sell yourself. You may not have the best qualifications or employment history, but if your CV is well organised and well presented you are more likely to get that interview. Other people might have better qualifications but if their CV is poorly presented the employer won't be bothered to read it. Remember, your CV represents you, so if it is badly organised an employer will assume you are badly organised too! Want to learn more about how to put together a winning CV, and how to get that interview? Check out the Plain English Guide to CVs. Learn more about the Plain English Guide »

Shirley's A-Z of .........

In my business writing workshop I am often asked similar questions about the use of English in today's business writing. What we must remember is that, as with most things, the English language changes all the time. What used to be acceptable is now old-fashioned, and similarly some things that were once unacceptable seem to be OK today. Is there any wonder it's so easy to become confused?! Starting in this issue of Shirley Says, I'm going to produce my A-Z of Bloopers and Blunders, Common Errors and Clichés. So let's start at the very beginning .... with the letter (yes, that's the letter) A: Above-mentioned This is one of those old-fashioned phrases made up by our great-grandfathers to refer to whatever was in the subject heading or in the paragraph(s) above. This phrase should not be used in our 21st Century business writing. Instead of Thank you for registering for the above-mentioned workshop. say Thank you for registering for this workshop. If whatever is above is plural, then use these instead of this. But never 'above', 'above-mentioned' or 'above-captioned'. Alphabet So many people use the word alphabet wrongly. It is not correct to say There are 7 alphabets in my name. This is wrong. There are 7 letters in my name - Shirley. There is only one alphabet in the English language - abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - and there are 26 letters in the alphabet. Mind you, I thought one of my workshop participants had a very funny answer, when he said "No Shirley, there are 24 letters in the alphabet - ET went home!" Nice one! As per This is a simple cliché that is old-fashioned and overworked. We should not use 'per' in our writing. Insead of As per your request ... say As you requested As per our agreement ... say As we agreed As per your instructions ... say As you instructed As per our telecon ... As discussed Attached/enclosed herewith please find Why do you need herewith - if it's not herewith, where the heck is it? Get rid of it! Also get rid of Please find - it's passive and impersonal. Use the remaining words in any of these ways: I enclose / I attach I am enclosing / I am attaching I have enclosed / I have attached Enclosed is / Attached is What do you want me to include in this A-Z? Please let me know what questions you would like me to answer in this A-Z by writing to me at news@shirleytaylor.com. Read more about some other common errors »

Last but not least ...

June was a very busy month for me, with in-house business writing workshops for Prudential, Asia Pacific Breweries, Chevron Oronite and Maybank Singapore, plus Bosch Rexroth in Shanghai, as well as 2 public workshops in Singapore, and the 2-day conference in Shanghai too. In this photo are 3 lovely girls from Maybank Singapore showing off the books they won in my Bingo game! July is looking busy too, but I am looking forward to a much-needed short break in my paradise island, Rawa. I'll tell you more about that next month! Enjoy your July, and see you again soon. I hope you've enjoyed this issue of Shirley Says. If you have any ideas about what you would like me to include in future issues, please write to me at news@shirleytaylor.com. PS: You may reprint this e-newsletter or forward it to your customers and colleagues. However please keep this copyright and contact information intact: Copyright Shirley Taylor 2004. Shirley Taylor is author of several popular books on effective communication and business writing. She lives in Singapore and works as an international trainer, seminar leader, professional writer and conference speaker.