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Technology has changed the long commute for many Americans. In the past, it was necessary to go to an office or a job site in order to have all of the information available to you to get that particular job completed. Now, with so many things from computers, iPhone screen, iPod parts, mobile phones, and office equipment being so portable, many jobs can be done from home or from just about anywhere. Some jobs have also become almost nonexistent because of the technology advances as well, which allows people to just do it on their own. This article will talk about some of the jobs that you could do from anywhere and also the jobs that have fallen by the wayside as the technology advanced.

Anyone who does freelance type of work can do get that job done from any location and live wherever they want to live. This would apply to freelance writers who may be able to live way out in the country and communicate with their publishers via fax, phone and email and do their work sitting in a barn if they want to. Other freelance type of jobs would include: photography where they can send their digital prints on the computer or even independent consultants of some type.

Many real estate agents now only have a home office to do most of their work and when it is time to do a closing they go to the head office or the title company to use their conference room. Having to go into an office, for many seems silly especially when they are usually out and about showing properties to clients. With the help of a laptop and a blackberry phone they will be easily accessible and available whether they are at home or out showing homes. This saves the company money because they do not have to have office space for their realtors and it saves the realtors commuting time as well.

Many people in sales also do not feel the need to have an office to do their job and can do it from the comfort of their home. This is especially true for those people that do all of their marketing and selling of items online or by their own website. As long as they have internet access, they are available to communicate with customers and to take orders and answer questions. In fact, some people have a hard time breaking away from their jobs because it has become so easy to do them anywhere. This can usually be seen on vacations where a person is sitting by a resort pool typing away on their laptop or on their blackberry.

One example of a job that has been greatly reduced by technology is a travel agent. Now, many people choose to research and book their own travel plans online without any assistance of a travel agent. The easy access to do this on websites as well as the fees being charged by travel agents has almost wiped out that profession entirely.

We have already suggested a few books that would help you prepare for the chemistry part of Section III. We have also told you why it is important to have textbooks and use them liberally. Now, in our next episode we will tell you the importance of having a Biology guide with you for your GAMSAT preps.

There has been speculations about how important Biology is in GAMSAT. I mean GAMSAT questions are reasoning based, isn’t it? All the information is given right there, so why do we at all study biology?
First: Good question.

Second: Let’s answer this with an example. Say you’ve been asked a set of questions about the heart rate and pulse rate. All data is given right there. You need to understand and analyse the data and choose the right option. Sounds easy enough.

But you get only about 90 seconds to answer one question (110 questions in 170 minutes… you do the math!). Would you get enough time to remember what are the things you should have in mind to understand what the question actually requires? Probably not!

That is why we say, Non-science aspirants have a better chance to get an interview call since they don’t take this for granted. They study from scratch. So, a word of advice for science aspirants: Study like how non-science students would study.

Now that I have made my point clear of why we should get a Biology textbook, let’s proceed with what could be looked at from the heaps of books lying in the bookshop. Here, we are trying to help you choose the right needle from the haystack.

Biology

Biology by Campbell et al. is the book where you will get the basic knowledge. Try getting the latest edition of the book as science is always evolving. Now you know what Nobel Laureates are doing? Increasing the pages of the book of course!!

Other books that you can have a look at are Knox et al. Biology: An Australian Focus and Biological Science by Scott Freeman. The later though has too much information. If you know how to get info you need, from huge books, then pick it up, or else, let them stay at the shelf!

Till now, all we’ve talked about is general biology. The thrust topics in GAMSAT in this subject is in physiology and biochemistry. Here are some books that would help you with those specific topics.

First things first… don’t be scared seeing “physiology” in the last paragraph. Surely you will be studying all about physiology in the 4 years you spend in the medical school. But before that you will need to know a little of this topic before the med-school can put in more into your frontal lobe.

To study that “little’ of physiology, we will recommend you to get hold of the most basic and simple Schaum’s Outlines Anatomy & Physiology. It will give you a concise information with better explanations than many other books. And in our opinion this will be all that you will need for Physiology in Biology for GAMSAT.

Coming to biochemistry… There are 2 books which you can take a look at. Before I tell you the names, a word… Library. Remember the following books when you visit that.

1. Lehninger’s principles of biochemistry – BRILLIANT book (from personal experience). It’s huge, but you will know more just browsing around the book.
2. Biochemistry by Garrett & Grisham – I’ve heard it’s a fantastic book.

That’s all for Biology from my desk here.

“I’ll never get a BlackBerry…”

Riding in an elevator the other day, I overheard this conversation:

First guy: “Wow, is that the new BlackBerry?”

Second guy: “Yes, I love it.”

First guy: “I’ll never get one of those things. If I do, I’ll never stop doing email.”

Herein lies the issue. For some reason, we have changed our work patterns to believe that email communication is the most important and highest priority for focusing our time. It is as though we have all become customer service representatives whose sole job is to respond to email communication.

Many information age workers treat their daily routines as though the best way to accomplish their goals is to process emails quickly. This of course is simply busy work. Sampling has shown that less than 20% of all email volume is actually actionable. 80% is noise.

Setting aside the obvious problem of being busy but not effective, (effective being accomplishing work that will help you achieve your goals), being hyper-responsive sets an unreasonable expectation for those who interact with you. For example, take this out of office notice from a very senior corporate officer: “I’ll be away from my computer for the next two hours. I’ll respond to your email when I return.”

I could not believe that I was reading this message. This executive is training everyone around her that she is hyper-responsive to email communication. Surely corporate America has not turned all of us into customer service representatives via the email tool?

You may be thinking, “What’s wrong with this approach — leaders are supposed to be responsive.” Yes, that is true, but they are also supposed to be proactive and deliberate in their actions — not reactive. Allowing email traffic to dictate your focus and the use of your time is a highly reactive state and, frankly, does not bode well for proactive leadership.

The man who is afraid of a BlackBerry actually has a different issue to wrestle with: his personal responsibility to make good choices with the use of his time and energy in order to accomplish his goals. To blame the technology is an excuse to not be accountable for your own actions.

Here is the solution:

Accept that you are responsible for how you spend your time and your energy Know that you have the power to choose when to engage with technology Set limits around accessing technology — for email I recommend three visits a day, early morning, noon, and late afternoon Turn off the devices when you are with people — give people a higher priority than technology Focus on one thing at a time

Technology has been good for our country and economy. It can be very good for your life, if used properly. The key is to use technology to serve you, not the other way around. This requires you to make deliberate choices of when to engage with technology so that it aids in your accomplishment of what is most important in your life. You own it, it does not own you.