The 10 Worst Days For Driving

Regardless of where you live, what you do or how old you are, this survey is worth a read!

Sunday is the least common day for car accidents and the most dangerous day to be on the road is Friday, 18 January.

After analysing 1.8 million claims received over the past 15 years, a leading insurer has identified the days when accidents are most likely to occur.

Historically, more accidents happen on 18 January than any other date in the year, while Friday is the most common day of the week for crashes. Unsurprisingly, the date with the least reported incidents is 29 February.

'Long week'
According to the research, the next safest dates are 25 and 26 December, when the roads tend to be very quiet. For the same reason, the report highlights Sunday as the days of the week when accidents are least likely to occur, followed by Saturday. The vast majority of problems happen on weekdays when the roads are busier.

TEN WORST DAYS FOR DRIVING
1. 18 January
2. 20 December
3. 27 October
4. 22 March
5. 20 July
6. 1 October
7. 21 October
8. 1 November
9. 15 December
10. 20 October

It's not surprising to see that the worst day of the week for accidents is a Friday: people are tired after a long week at work and can easily get caught up thinking about their weekend plans instead of the road ahead.

It is less clear, however, why there was such a concentration of incidents on 18 January: it could be that people have a lot on their mind as they haven't been paid for a while, the bills are coming in, and the fun of the festive period is a long and distant memory.

How did you fare on 29 February this year, given that 2008 is a leap year?

How To Have The Perfect Life

You already have everything you need to create a wonderful life for yourself. You know everything you need to know to be your own best friend, a gentle guide, a teacher and a helper to yourself so you can be truly happy and fulfilled. You can learn how to become your own psychotherapist for life, and how to resolve the difficulties that stand between you and personal joy.

Be Honest With Yourself
The starting point of becoming your own best friend is for you to be perfectly honest with yourself and your relationships. Refuse to practice self-delusion or hope for the best. For example, when something is making you unhappy, for any reason, the situation will tend to get worse rather than better. So avoid the temptation to engage in denial, to pretend that nothing is wrong, to wish and hope and pray that, whatever it is, it will go away and you won't have to do anything. The fact is that it probably will get worse before it gets better and that ultimately you will need to face the situation and do something about it.

Deal With Your Problem at a Higher Level
There's an old saying that you can't solve a problem on the level that you meet it. This means that wrestling with a persistent problem is often fruitless and frustrating. For example, if two people who are in a relationship together are constantly fighting and negotiating and looking for some way to resolve their difficulties, they may be attempting to solve the problem on the wrong level. Dealing with the problem on a higher level, those people would ask the question, "In terms of being happy, is this the right relationship for us in the first place?"

Find the Right Job For You
Many people work very hard and experience considerable frustration trying to do a particular job. However, in terms of their own happiness, the right answer might be to do something else, or to do what they're doing in a different place, or to do it with different people-or all three.

Here are a few questions for you to answer in this arena of happiness. Write them down at the top of a sheet of paper, and then write as many answers to each one as you possibly can.

What Would It Take?
The first question is: "What would it take for me to be perfectly happy?"
Write down every single thing that you can imagine would be in your life if you were perfectly happy at this very moment. Write down things such as health, happiness, prosperity, loving relationships, inner peace, travel, car, clothes, homes, money, and so on. Let your mind run freely. Imagine that you have no limitations at all.

What is Holding You Back?
The second question is a little tougher. Write down at the top of a page this question: "In what situations in my life, and with whom, am I not perfectly happy?" Force yourself to think about every part of your day, from morning to night, and write down every element that makes you unhappy or dissatisfied in any way. Remember, proper diagnosis is half the cure. Identifying the unsatisfactory situations is the first step to resolving them.

Determine Your Happiest Moment
The third question will give you some important guidelines. Write down at the top of a sheet of paper these words: "In looking over my life, where and when have I been the happiest? Where was I, with whom was I, and what was I doing?"Decide What to DoOnce you have the answers to those questions, think about what you can do, starting immediately, to begin creating the kind of life that you dream of. It may take you a week, a month, or a year, but that doesn't matter.

Every single thing you do that moves you closer to your ideal vision will be rewarding in itself. You'll become a more positive and optimistic person. You'll feel more confident and more in charge of your life, and you'll achieve true peace of mind.

Action Exercises
Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, examine your business and personal relationships carefully. Is there any situation you wouldn't get into again if you had it to do over?

Second, make a list of every single thing in your life that would make you happy and then think about what you could do to begin achieving them.

Third, allow yourself to dream and fantasize about your ideal life, what it would look like and feel like, and then do something every day to make it a reality.

Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world today. His fast-moving talks and seminars on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that people can immediately apply to get better results in every area. For more information, please go to www.briantracy.com

SYDNEY Events: Catch Them If You Can

Australian Chamber Orchestra
February 9th-March 19th 2008
In a busy 2008 schedule that will include trips to Europe and Asia, the Australian Chamber Orchestra comes to Sydney as the city wakes up after the summer holidays. Australia’s leading chamber-music ensemble kicks off the year with two programmes at the Sydney Opera House and the City Recital Hall under the direction of Richard Tognetti, the lead violinist.
The first features Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 19” played by Melvyn Tan, a British pianist, and “Strung Out”, a piece for strings by Roger Smalley, a British-born composer from Western Australia. The second programme has works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, with Katie Noonan, a renowned Australian vocalist, performing English songs ranging from the 17th century to the Beatles.

City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney. Tel: +61 (02) 8256 2222. For programme details, see the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s website.

Open-air Cinema
Until February 16th 2008
Sydney has two outdoor cinemas running this summer, both of which are worth visiting as much for their atmosphere as for the films. The most popular is the Open Air Cinema at Mrs Macquarie’s Point, facing Sydney Harbour off the Royal Botanic Gardens. The programme mixes recent releases (such as “Michael Clayton” and “Atonement”) with previews of forthcoming features (“The Savages” and “3.10 to Yuma”). Web pre-sales have sold out, but about 50 tickets are held for sale at the gate each day from 6.30pm; it is worth joining the queue. There is a bar with drinks and good food on the premises.

You should have better luck booking ahead for the Moonlight Cinema in Centennial Park. Here you'll find a less ritzy location with a more adventurous programme, including a repertoire of classics (“2001: A Space Odyssy”, “Thelma and Louise” and “Casablanca”, among others). Bring a picnic. This cinema closes on March 9th.

Films at both cinemas start at sunset, around 8.30pm. See the Open Air Cinema's website, and the Moonlight Cinema's website.

Opera Australia Summer Season
December 31st 2007-March 29th 2008
Opera Australia, the country’s leading opera company, kicks off its summer season with a New Year’s Eve concert of selections from its repertoire. Consider splashing out on dinner beforehand or a party in the foyer afterwards, and expect excellent views of midnight fireworks over Sydney Harbour. The season closes with a rare performance of “The Pilgrim’s Progress”, conducted by Richard Hickox, the company’s music director, to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the opera’s composer.

In between, there are new productions of Bizet’s “Carmen”, directed by Francesca Zambello, and Richard Strauss’s “Arabella”. For something a little different, take a picnic and a cushion to the Domain on February 2nd for the free, open-air performance of Puccini’s “La bohème”.
Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney. Tel: +61 (02) 9250 7111. Box office: +61 (02) 9318 8200. See Opera Australia's website.

Sydney Festival
January 5th-26th 2008
In January many Sydneysiders escape the city for their summer holidays. But the Sydney Festival provides a good reason to stay. This year Fergus Linehan, the director since 2004, has added an opening night party of music and dance, which will wend through the central streets. Other highlights include appearances by Brian Wilson (co-founder of the Beach Boys), the National Theatre of Scotland and Spain's Compania Nacional de Danza.

After its sell-out debut in 2006, the Spiegeltent—a travelling tent—returns to Hyde Park to host risqué performances by La Clique, a cabaret and vaudeville company. The festival has two big open-air concerts in the Domain, both of them free. January 12th sees a jazz evening featuring the Spanish Harlem Orchestra of New York conducted by Oscar Hernandez. On the 19th the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer, performs an ensemble of classical and contemporary works. Arrive with a picnic a few hours before the 8pm starting time, as the best spots on the grass are snapped up quickly.

For programme details and bookings, see the Sydney Festival website. Telephone bookings: +61 (02) 1300 888 412.

Sidney Nolan: A New Retrospective
private collection (c) The Trustees of the Sidney Nolan Trust photograph Jenni Carter
Until February 3rd 2008

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) is probably Australia’s most internationally renowned artist. Unashamedly modern in his approach, he drew his inspiration from the ancient landscapes of the outback. At a time when many dismissed it as harsh and barren, Mr Nolan saw this landscape as “the real Australia: old, dignified and coherent”. Starting with his earliest abstract works from the 1930s, and finishing with a spray-painted self-portrait completed in 1986, this exhibition of 117 works spans Mr Nolan’s visits to Antarctica, Africa and China.

Its essence, though, is the series of images for which he remains famous: of Burke and Wills, two ill-fated 19th-century explorers, and Ned Kelly, an outlaw whose gang was pursued by Mr Nolan’s grandfather, a policeman. They were the characters, he once said, whose stories helped him to interpret the outback. And do not miss the epic “Riverbend” series, depicting the Goulburn river in Victoria, where Mr Nolan spent part of his childhood. The exhibition is the centrepiece of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’s summer season.

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, Sydney. Tel: +61 (0)2 9225 1744. Open: daily, 10am-5pm. Admission: A$12. See also the gallery's website.

Tough Men, Hard Times: Policing the Depression
Courtesy of Michael Cannon
Until February 10th 2008

This fascinating exhibition explores the political conflicts that rocked Sydney during the Great Depression. By 1932, more than one-third of Australia's workforce was unemployed; violent clashes erupted in Sydney between police and members of the Unemployed Workers Union, a communist-backed body. The New Guard, a paramilitary group with quasi-fascist leanings, attracted about 40,000 members in response to its claims that a Soviet-backed working-class uprising was imminent.

The exhibition presents the story of the 1930s by examining Sydney's police at the time. The force infiltrated both sides, and even uncovered an alleged New Guard plot to overthrow the government of New South Wales. The archival newspaper and film images of Depression-era Sydney are riveting, and provide a sobering contrast to the booming city of today.

Justice and Police Museum, Cnr Phillip St/Albert St, Circular Quay, Sydney. Tel: +61 (02) 9252 1144. Admission: A$8. Open: Sat-Sun 10am-5pm. See the museum's website.

The Photographs of August Sander
November 17th 2007-February 3rd 2008

There could hardly be a stronger contrast to the vibrant colours of Sidney Nolan's paintings than this concurrent exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). It contains 155 photographs by August Sander, a German who documented life in the early 20th century using the faces of farmers, artisans and families around Cologne, where he lived.

The portraits tend to be austere and posed rather than spontaneous, and most predate the 1930s. The Nazi authorities’ disapproval of the social realism in Sander’s approach had a chilling effect on his output afterwards. The exhibition is drawn from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which boasts the largest collection of Sander photographs outside Germany.

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, Sydney. Tel: +61 (0)2 9225 1744. Open: daily, 10am-5pm. Admission: free. See also the gallery's website.

Convict Hulks: Life on the Prison Ships
SJ Jones collection, State Library of Victoria
Success, a convict hulk, at Hobart (c.1894)
Until July 26th 2009

This revealing exhibition charts the human stories behind Britain’s policy of using hulks, or old and unseaworthy ships, as floating prisons in the 18th and 19th centuries. The system, pioneered in London as a solution for Britain’s overflowing prisons, was farmed out to colonies such as New South Wales, Tasmania, Gibraltar and Bermuda. Most of the displays here concentrate on Bermuda, which between 1824 and 1863 received some 9,000 convicts, 2,000 of whom died in captivity. Look out for objects recovered by divers in 1982 from the Dromedary, a sunken convict hulk. They include pipes, rings and gaming boards that convicts made from bone, shell and metal to sell in exchange for tobacco, alcohol and food. The exhibition fits comfortably in the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, which sits in Sydney’s most historic convict building.

Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Queens Square, Macquarie St, Sydney. Tel: +61 (02) 8239 2311. Open: daily 9.30am-5pm. See also the museum's website.

Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au

Taming the Lion: 100 Secret Strategies for Investing Success - by Richard Farleigh

BOOK REVIEW

A former economist and a chess player, Richard Farleigh saw investment and trading as a form of gambling. But gradually he came to believe that market prices are predictable and recognised the many opportunities the markets could offer.

In Taming the Lion, Farleigh shares the unconventional philosophies he has developed over the years. The book will take you through the 100 strategies Farleigh has developed to enable consistent success in the markets.

rrp: $29.95
ISBN: 978 0 731404 63 6

Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au

No Act: Keeping the Cirque de Soleil Show on the Road

If the logistics of mounting Cirque du Soleil’s signature big tent productions seem daunting, so is the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to keep entertainers and other employees properly insured and protected.


That task continues to grow as the privately held Montreal entertainment enterprise adds to its eight touring troupes, five resident shows and related projects.



Coordinating benefits for Cirque du Soleil can be as complicated as the somersaults performed by acrobats in the troupe’s giant spinning German Wheel act.

How can an employer provide health insurance for workers who travel 100 percent of the time? How should it calculate risk for employees whose daily routines include fireworks, martial arts and hanging from ropes 50 feet off the ground?

It’s all in a day’s work for Hélène Thibault, a senior benefits manager for the avant-garde circus. Her background as an accredited actuary makes her especially well suited to the job. It’s not the usual career path for actuaries, the highly trained professionals who use math, statistics and finance theory to calculate the business impacts of risk. But it’s one Thibault, 30, enjoys. It brings imagination to a profession that’s typically black and white.

"Cirque du Soleil is a creative company, so working in benefits can’t be that straightforward," she says. "We need to be creative and adapt to everything the company is doing. We always work in the gray areas."


On the road
In her role as senior benefits manager, Thibault is responsible for planning health care coverage for a majority of Cirque du Soleil’s approximately 4,000 employees. She is one of 70 employees on Cirque du Soleil’s HR team in Montreal, and her charges include 1,600 employees in Montreal and 1,000 permanent expatriates—the performing artists and support personnel who travel continuously around the world. Thibault and her team of four assistants were also responsible for developing and financing a health insurance plan for Cirque du Soleil employees in Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, where the company stages permanent shows at hotels. A stateside HR staff administers it, however.

With such a diverse global workforce, one-size-fits-all benefits are out of the question. Expats pose particular problems because they change addresses—and often countries—every six to eight weeks. One of the first things Thibault did after joining Cirque du Soleil in October 2006 was reorganize the company’s health insurance coverage. Until then, the company had used one carrier for its U.S. employees and a second for everyone else. But the setup caused problems.

For a venture as risky as a circus, Cirque du Soleil’s accident rate isn’t out of the norm, Thibault says. "For sure we have some accidents. Things happen, but probably not as much as people think," she says.

In one such case in mid-November 2007, two performers in the circus’ Zumanity show at the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas were hurt during an aerial performance and taken to a local hospital. One performer was released the next day and the other was still being treated for undisclosed injuries two weeks later. At the time, a spokeswoman said all company emergency procedures had been followed.

Cirque du Soleil’s workers’ comp program is partially self-insured. Each year, Thibault uses historical claims data and other factors to calculate how much the company will pay per workers’ comp claim, a number the company doesn’t disclose. Anything over that amount is covered by outside workers’ comp insurance, also from Cigna.

Cirque du Soleil hasn’t encountered a major disaster, but there have been scares. When Hurricane Katrina devastated Biloxi, Mississippi, in fall 2005, Cirque du Soleil was in the final stages of prepping for a six-month show that was to open there the following February. In a short time, the company came up with a Plan B and sent the show to South America instead, Thibault says.

In the event that a show can’t go on, the circus carries cancellation insurance. Since joining the company, Thibault has also begun planning for other catastrophes. For example, she has used computer models to calculate how many days of work the company’s employees would miss in the event of a worldwide outbreak of the flu or another pandemic. "I don’t think anyone else in the HR department could have built that," she says.

When Writing is Wrong

Studies now show there is a glaring deficiency in reading and writing among new entrants in the workforce, and that is troubling employers who are being forced to invest in additional training—or simply look for skilled workers offshore—for one of the most fundamental job skills in the 21st century economy.

Studies are showing that today’s workforce is “woefully ill-prepared” for the demands of the workplace.

The decline in reading and writing skills has demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications. Workers who cannot read and write well earn less and have higher unemployment rates. Employers, meanwhile, must spend more time and money on what is considered a basic skill.

Even among recent graduates, new employees are frequently unable to write effectie business communication, read analytically or solve problems.

It’s nice that they are reading e-mails and reading comics, but if they can’t turn it into a communication tool, that is where the breakdown happens on the employer side.

Literacy levels today are similar to those in 1970, but the economy has changed drastically since then. Workers today need to be able to read and analyze complex, often very technical material, like manuals for car mechanics, to succeed in most jobs.

Jobs that don’t have much in the way of skills have moved out of the country or are not living-wage jobs. That means even jobs that are considered low skill, require workers to read at a reasonably high level.

Schools are not demanding students to read what the workforce is demanding them to read and the problems come down to basic errors in grammar, spelling and tone that can nonetheless be disastrous for a company and its image.

If you can’t make sure an e-mail is grammatically correct, what else are you cutting corners on? Companies invest millions of dollars in their image and it can be undone in a matter of minutes by one sloppy e-mail.

Christine Watson christine@marquetteturner.com.au

Ease Yourself Into 2008

Christmas and new year celebrations have come and gone, as have the decorations, family, and hopefully any hang-overs!

Now it’s time to get back into it, and it wouldn't be so surprising if there's more than a few people out there who are not exactly jumping out of bed in the mornings to hurry off to work, after seeing what a good couple of days or weeks off feels like!

Here are our tips to ease yourself back into work life, if you’re feeling a little less than enthused.

Be measured

If you spent a lazy week on a beach in Queensland, jumped on a plane, and were at work bright and early the next morning, no wonder you’re feeling a little worse for wear! Or, if you just had to go to every late night party on offer over the Christmas break, and then expected to be able to turn your body clock around in the blink of an eye, I’m sure you had another think coming!

Recognise that you over-indulged and lived completely differently from normal – hey, it’s called a holiday! – and take your time getting back into your everyday life. Perhaps try to keep your working hours shorter for the first week. Ultimately, however, don't punish or expect too much from yourself.

Engage yourself.

Find a project that you can get into straight away. Something a little bit exciting or different from your normal work routine. If you have something to work on, and an end result to look forward to, it can make taking your mind off other things a lot easier.

See the lessons.

It's hardly surprising if you rediscovered how nice it is to enjoy taking time off. Let this be a lesson for you. In your first spare five minutes, sit down with your diary and work out when you’re going to take your next real break. Let’s face it – if you wait too long before planning your next holiday, you’ll lose interest and just not do it at all!

And, most of all, remember that being at work is what enables you to afford to take holidays in the first place! So, get set for a fantastic 2008, put everything into your work, and most importantly ensure that you aim for balance.

Simon Turner simon@marquetteturner.com.au

How To Make & Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

Maybe you are among the many Australians who still welcome the New Year with resolutions to improve their lives.

But are you one of the still fewer people who actually manage to keep their resolutions?

Why are New Year’s resolutions so easy to make and so very difficult – for most of us – to keep? “The problem is that most resolutions are about changing behavior through discipline, but discipline can’t solve the problem if you don’t address the root cause of the behavior you want to change,” says life-change expert Janice Lindgren.

“The only way to truly change behavior is to change what you want, and our wants are buried deep within our psyches and rooted in our past.”

Although Australian's seem to be abandoning the tradition of New Year’s resolutions – surveys indicate that less than 45 percent of adults will make resolutions this year – “there is real value in creating a plan, and committing to it, to effect change in your life,” she says.

So what do you need to know in order to succeed with your New Year’s resolutions – and your efforts to improve your life throughout the year? “There’s no one silver bullet that works for everyone,” Lindgren says, “but there are things you should know, and things you can do, that will increase your potential for success.”

Marquette Turner has compiled 5 empowering points to help you stick to your resolutions next year:

1. Do write down your goals or resolutions.

By writing them down, you’ll feel like you are making a contract with yourself. Writing out your thoughts can also help you focus on what you really want to accomplish in the coming year.

2. Don’t overdo it with too many goals at once or with unrealistic resolutions.

“The concept that you have to be better, be harder on yourself or get tough is merely a boot-camp quick fix,” says Lindgren.

Keep your plans simple, specific and manageable or you might find yourself overwhelmed – and more likely to give up. For example, rather than resolving to “eat better” in 2008, refine your goal to “have a salad for lunch at least three times a week.” Instead of “exercise more,” try “walk for 30 minutes four times a week.”

3. Do explore the root of the behavior you want to change.

“The question isn’t whether you’re overeating, not getting enough exercise or sleep, or drinking too much,” Lindgren says. “The question is why are you doing those things? What is the underlying trigger for this behavior?”

Different people have different triggers. Often, our triggers stem from unmet needs or traumas of childhood experience. “What creates change is identifying current triggers and becoming aware of the catalytic events from our past and releasing the underlying emotional energy we carry around those events,” she adds.

4. Do view change as a positive thing.

It’s not unusual or even unreasonable to be cautious of change, but you’ll never be able to achieve your New Year’s resolutions – or any other life-altering goal – if you view change as an enemy. “Growth is nothing more than directed change,” Lindgren says.

5. Don’t go it alone.

If you feel you need help to really achieve your life-changing goals, find friends to keep each other in check.

Good Luck! Simon Turner, Marquette Turner