People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts
A wall of silent resentment shuts you off from someone you love….You listen to an argument in which neither party seems to hear the other….Your mind drifts to other matters when people talk to you…. People Skills is a communication-skills handbook that can help you eliminate these and other communication problems. Author Robert Bolton describes the twelve most common communication barriers, showing how these “roadblocks” damage relationships by increasing defensiveness, aggressiveness, or
List Price: $ 14.99
Price: $ 6.96
WD My Passport 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 Black
- Sleek, compact design
- Automatic backup software
- Password protection and hardware encryption
- Data Transfer Rate on USB up to 5 Gbps
- 2-Year Limited Warranty
- Sleek, compact design,Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 3.0)5 Gb/s (Max)
My Passport offers up to 1 TB capacity in an amazingly small enclosure. It features ultra-fast USB 3.0 connectivity; compatibility with USB 2.0; automatic, backup software; and password protection and hardware encryption to help protect your files from unauthorized use.
List Price: $ 159.99
Price: $ 159.99
Good ideas although too verbose,
“People Skills” is a primer on interacting with others. Bolton’s premise is that our communication patterns are inherently faulty and he urges the reader adopt his framework to remedy. He presents – in order – listening skills, assertion skills, conflict-resolution skills, and collaborative problem solving skills, with each building upon the others. He blends keen insight into human nature, concepts of psychology and basic Judeo-Christian values into what appears to be a very effective methodology. The skills seem obvious, but in practice are rarely used, and in fact are rather uncomfortable when trying to start using.
I found Bolton’s framework very valuable and thus far see its application can profoundly improve my own people skills in both a business and parental setting. Unfortunately, like most books of this type, the text is extremely verbose. Bolton possesses a style that is much less dry and wordy than many of his peers – in fact, I find it difficult to finish most of these types of books – but the ideas plus examples could have been distilled down to one-half the length of the 300 pages. The text is also very well referenced and footnoted, but – as a lay reader – I think the constant crediting other psychologists and philosophers confuse and muddy the message. This could be a book that one could return to periodically to refresh their skills, but its length will prevent the less diligent. I found myself taking detailed notes on each chapter for later referral; while a testament to the material, I wish the author had made it easier to digest.
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|Brilliant work,
I have gone through the other reviews and I disagree with the criticism a few of them show. I have so far read over 30 books on people-communications skills and relationships, and I believe this is one of the best. It is unique in its approach, ethical, very easy to read and, more importantly, it works. It absolutely works. I was pleasantly surprised for the results when applying the techniques. It is one of those books you read and re-read. Interacting with others successfully is one of the most difficult, yet rewarding aspects of life. I honestly think this book, if taken seriously, can dramatically improve that interaction. I have only endorsed five books in Amazon.com (Being an avid reader, I have bought and read about 120 during the last three years), and this is one of them.
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|Starts strong, ends weak,
Most books give you 2-3 really good nuggets of insight, hidden in a dry prairie of “heard-it-all-before.” Such is the case with People Skills. Most of the content is obvious – have a pleasant demeanor when listening, reflect what you’ve heard, and so on. Not very insightful.
However I did walk away with a few insights. For instance, as you’re reading this review, you may be thinking “Do I agree with this reviewer?” That’s the first barrier to effective communication. We all have biases, we all filter what we hear to fit our biases, and we need to learn to turn off that filter – at least momentarily – and truly listen to what others are saying, without judging it too quickly. That insight alone made this book a worthwhile read.
There are other insights, supported by interesting research, especially in the early parts of the book. Later parts of the book begin to feel cumbersome, especially the entire section on negotiating conflict, which is based on a multi-step process that can easily be capsized if the person you’re confronting is uncooperative.
Overall – good book, a couple good insights, but over-long and toward the end becomes less practical.
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|An essential storage backup tool in a digital world,
I’m a computer repair technician, and one issue I have all the time with my customers is, the famous, ‘a virus hijacked my computer and those precious pictures are inside’. Yeah, the prom, the honeymoon, or the newborn pictures are usually held without ransom. Most of the time we are dealing with malware of some sort that affects the Windows operating system files, but leaves the data intact. So, before I repair the computer, I rescue the pictures, and any other file they might value. However, not all repair technicians do this, most allege that the files are corrupted, which might be the case, but usually it really means they are too busy to rescue anything, don’t know how to do it, or will not do it unless paid big cash.
For one own’s sakes, the best thing to do is backing up the data before the computer gets infected, or the hard drive fails. For pictures I recommend backing up the original files into data discs, but for faster everyday files backups (music, movies, games, software etc.) is better to use an external hard drive.
The Western Digital My Passport 2 TB is an awesome way to carry large amounts of data in a tiny container, that is always available and secure. I love its dimensions, both physically and in bytes.
Also, the truly fast data transfers done with the USB 3.0 interface save time every day. Speaking of the USB connector, another great feature is that only requires a single USB port for power, while many external hard drives and enclosures, with form factor 2.5″, require two USB ports.
This drive is great not only to keep multimedia files, but also for storing documents in digital form, because it saves space. Besides, in case of an emergency it’s faster to grab it then a folder. I’ve been doing backups using both hard drives and discs, and it has been of great help throughout the years. For example, the last time I moved, the new school district wanted my daughter first vaccines’ records. I knew I have the original card somewhere in a box, but I needed it fast. Then I remembered I scanned the card years ago, and that print-scanned image, which was storage in my daughter’s digital folder, inside my external hard drive, saved me hours of search and quickened her registering process at the new school.
About the WD SmartWare software offered by the manufacturer, I hesitated before going for it, because in the past WD back up software didn’t work well for me. However, when one is dealing with such a big amount of data, doing it manually is a pain, and the alternative of using the backup and restore features included in Microsoft Windows 7, is something I would only do for a complete system image, not for the everyday backup. So, I installed the WD SmartWare software and so far, it’s performing well, it does require time and attention to learn its functionality though. If you decide not to use the WD SmartWare, you can still use the hard drive right out of the box, like any other external hard drive.
Besides reading the user’s manual, I strongly suggest that before plugging in the drive into your computer, you go to the Western Digital My Passport’s support page, and read how to use it.
Because there are a few details to know before starting backing up your data. Among these topics, How to install WD SmartWare from the external drives, How to create a category backup using WD SmartWare, How to backup specific files and folders using WD SmartWare, How to retrieve a backup using WD SmartWare, Setting up security to lock or unlock a WD external drive with WD SmartWare, (videos are provided in some of these), and How to partition and format a WD drive on Windows (7, Vista, XP) and Mac OSX etc., etc.
I can’t post links here, but one can do a search for WD Support / Downloads / My Passport and will find the page where a variety of software that works with the Western Digital My Passport 2 TB, can be downloaded for free.
However, the most important fact of reading Western Digital’s support information for this drive, is to learn how to use it ‘before’ entrusting your valuable data to it. Specially, if you choose to install the WD SmartWare software.
There are very important steps everybody should know while setting up these drives, so it’s clearly stated on the Western Digital’s support pages.
For example, while installing the software, it will ask if you want to apply any security (password & encryption) to the drive. Before setting up the password you must check an, I understand box, certifying that you understood that if you forget the password, the data is unrecoverable. I repeat, and excuse the capitals, but this is crucial, IF YOU FORGET THE PASSWORD, THE DATA IS UNRECOVERABLE.
Since there is no way to retrieve your password if you forget it, please write that password in a secure available location. If you want, it’s possible to change your security…
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The PERFECT External Storage Drive For My Macbook Pro,
Wow. So many mixed reviews here, and like those of you who are pondering over whether it is worth purchasing this Western Digital MY PASSPORT, there may not be a clear answer.
Let me tell you my story.
Recently bought the new Retina Macbook Pro with its 500GB SSD drive. For a person like me who puts a lot of software on my laptop and does quite a bit of movie editing, hard drive space is a premium. So, when figuring out how to handle nearly 200GB of music, I decided it would probably be best to run iTunes off an external drive instead of taking up space on the Macbook.
Again…Wow. Reading these reviews on Amazon was quite unnerving. So many great experiences with this drive followed up by a handful of negative experiences — many talking of total hard drive failure. It’s almost as if you are rolling the dice as to whether you’ll receive a drive that works or doesn’t.
…then there’s the reviews from people who claim they are having problems using this drive on their Mac.
Well, I picked myself out a RED 1TB drive. Thought it was a cool color and didn’t mind paying the premium price for it. In addition, I picked up this fantastic Case Logic QHDC-101 Hard Case on Amazon for $10. It’s the perfect compliment to the red hard drive that fits snuggly inside.
Using the Western Digital MY PASSPORT on a Mac couldn’t be easier than opening the package, plugging the USB cord into the Macbook, and then formatting it using Disk Utilities. From package to format took under 4 minutes.
And for anyone claiming to have a problem using this drive with their Mac, this is all you need to do…
1. Plug in the drive via USB connection
2. Go to APPLICATIONS -> UTILITIES -> DISK UTILITY
3. Click on the hard drive icon located at the very top left sidebar
4. Select the ERASE tab and FORMAT in Max OSX Extended (Journaled). Assign your drive a name if you wish.
That’s it. Easy.
The drive works incredibly fast thanks to its USB 3.0 compatibility, which is backwards-compatible with USB 2.0. The drive is extremely quiet, and I didn’t notice it getting warm.
And, yes, you can run your iTunes off the external drive.
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Smart form-factor. So-So software,
This is my first experience with a Western Digital hard drive. I purchased the 1 TB Passport drive as opposed to others mainly because CNET awarded its Editors’ Choice for the 2 TB model ( which was not available for sale when I placed my order). I am currently using the WD SmartWare (version 1.5.4.5) that comes with loaded the device.
Pros:
Smart form-factor. Very small and sleek for a 1TB drive.
USB powered ( just plug it into your USB port). No need for a power cable or bulky ac adapter. Makes for true portability.
Impressive USB 2.0 speed during my initial back up of 131 GBs worth of files/content.
Automatic file backup feature
One USB cable( supplied)supports both 3.0 and 2.0.
Surprisingly quiet and runs fairly cool too.
Excellent customer support. I called twice and spoke to well trained/professional technicians.
Cons:
WD Smartware software. Surprisingly so-so for this cool little device. Not as intuitive or slick as I had expected or read about. (Am wondering if I would be better off deleting the Smartware software altogether.)
This version of Smartware is not very flexible and doesn’t include a full system backup( system image)feature. I had to install another application to create a system image ( Luckily WD provides a free copy of an application called Acronis for its customers–however I had to call customer service to learn about this application and be told where to find it on their support page.
Automatic backup feature only works while your system is idle.
Based on my overall user experience with this device to date ( only a few days) I am somewhere between a 3.5 and 4.0 rating. If however portability with incredible amounts of storage capacity ( the next model goes up to 2Tbs !)in a pocket size device is your main priority–then I don’t think there is anything else currently on the market that beats this device in that regard.
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