Bob Joss wrote an article in The Australian business magazine, ‘The Deal’:

But, of course, there is no one book to read.  Instead, there are important truths that can be distilled from all this literature and from the collective experience of those who have practised, studied or taught leadership.

And it all starts with responsibility.  Leadership is not about power, or fame, or fortune.  At a fundamental level it is about taking responsibility for a group of people and their future direction.  Leadership makes sense only within the context of a group - a business, a team, a school, a hospital, a government or a nation - and its collective purpose.

There are many things books don’t teach you.

“The healthiest part of a donut is the hole.  Unfortunately, you have to eat through the rest of the donut to get there!”

Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman has found, however, that being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things, and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed.

People who make less than $20,000 a year, for example, told Kahneman and his colleagues that they spend more than a third of their time in passive leisure — watching television, for example. Those making more than $100,000 spent less than one-fifth of their time in this way — putting their legs up and relaxing. Rich people spent much more time commuting and engaging in activities that were required as opposed to optional. The richest people spent nearly twice as much time as the poorest people in leisure activities that were active, structured and often stressful — shopping, child care and exercise.

Kahneman and his colleagues argued that many people mistakenly allocate enormous amounts of their time and psychological focus to getting rich because of a mental illusion: When they think about what it would mean to be wealthy, they think about how enjoyable it would be to watch a flat-screen TV set, play lots of sports or get a lot of pampering — our stereotypical beliefs of how the rich spend their time.

I read this Barstool Economics from BallReviews:

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (The poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.” Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!” “Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!” “That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!” “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics University of Georgia

Image via oopsie daisy

“What fits your busy schedule better, exercising one hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?”

The fate of being small.

Uses of Credit Card

• Smoothen out your cash flow

I am not asking you to cash out using the credit card. It is the most stupid move of all unless in a serious situation. Cashing out using your credit card will impose an immediate interest card on the amount you cash out. With interest compounded daily. So DON’T CASH OUT.

Using credit card on groceries shopping or any purchase, you can smoothen your cash flow. It is all because the ability to delay your payment. At the same time, you will be able to keep track of what you have purchased, when is it purchased. All in the statements. If it is cash, no way will you want to keep all the receipts around.

• Ability to earn extra one month of interest

This can only be shown in the long term or any large purchases you make. Let’s say you purchase something pretty expensive, around $1000. If you were to use cash to purchase it, you are forgone the interest gain on the $1000 immediately. However, if credit card were used you are able to delay your payment up to a maximum of a month or longer depends when you make your purchases. You get your purchase, and keeping $1000 in the bank longer for interest. So in real terms, the purchase is actually less than $1000. The bank is happy, you are happy, everyone is happy.

more on uses on credit card. wait for next post!

First, you will need to know the types of surveys that a company will offer you. You can usually find that out the same day you register. Some companies may want you to shop with their advertisers, while others may want only your opinion. Requests to take surveys are emailed to you with a link to click. Depending on how you intended to receive your surveys when you registered, there are additional options to take surveys via the mail or over the phone.

You will also need to decide which surveys will be worth your time and in some cases your money. Now you may be wondering, “Why would I have to pay any thing to take a survey?” Unfortunately, there are companies who disguise themselves as genuinely wanting your opinion when they rather convince you to buy from one of their advertisers. They aren’t interested in giving you any money; instead they hope to take yours. More on that later.

The positives to online survey taking are as follows:

The time it takes to complete most surveys is usually under 15 minutes. However, there are those that will take about 20 to 30 minutes to finish. Depending on the interruptions you have around you, your own patience, and other factors they may take longer to complete. It’s best to take surveys when you aren’t feeling rushed or pressured. Some market research companies will allow you to begin the survey, then come back later when you log into the survey site.

Unlike those surveys of yesteryear where you had to fill out bubbles, write on black lines, or sit in front of someone writing down everything you say, there is usually no writing involved. Yet, there will be times when you may have to type one or two sentences describing how you feel about a product or give a reason as to why you responded a certain way.

Most online surveys are easy to navigate. Many can be completed rather easily with a simple click of a button, you are on to your next page.

One of the great things about survey taking is the opportunity to make a difference. Companies are really concerned about what a consumer thinks about their product. They know that if they release a product out into the marketplace without proper research done, they could literally lose thousands of dollars. When you respond to the company’s survey, always tell the truth and answer questions as best you can. You just don’t know how significant your opinion might be to them and everyone else who buys the product in the future.

There is money to be made when you take surveys it all depends on which company you register. Although the money isn’t much, it may mean a lot to you. This is the main reason why most people take surveys. Companies normally pay between $1-$5; however some will pay more, although rare, it does happen and when it does you will notice that when you click on the link that appears in your email requesting you to take the survey, the quota may be met already. People will not pass up an opportunity to make a $1, so check your email daily and if you can log in often throughout the day, do it.

There is free software you can use for a limited time that will automatically fill out the registration forms for you. Be sure that when you choose to download the software onto your computer it is free of spy ware. Your virus protection software may alert you to any potential threats, so if you see a warning, don’t bother downloading it.

The negatives to online survey taking are as follows:

The money offered by market research companies is usually not enough to make a living. You may register with 50 companies and find that most will not have a paying survey available to send you everyday. Regardless of what anyone tells you, you will not be able to pay your rent taking surveys unless you win one of the sweepstakes offered by the company. Many of the sweepstakes do not have large prizes.

The higher paying surveys can be as long as one hour. If time is a concern for you, you may not want to participate in the longer surveys. Questions may seem redundant. The best advice you may want to consider for lengthy surveys is not to state every product, place, or thing you may own or know about. Most likely the follow-up question will ask you to rate each or compare. Remember the more you divulge, the more questions that will be asked.

The survey screening process is also lengthy at times. You may be asked many questions, only to find out you don’t qualify. It may be a certain age, gender, or race the company may be interested in, don’t be offended. Surveys are always politically correct.

Survey taking may be a problem for someone who can’t stand to look at a computer screen for long or sit. Each company has a different style when creating a survey. Sometimes the font is small and the click through process can be tedious. You may want to start with the shorter surveys first.

Don’t try to complete surveys when you are tired. When you do, answers may be invalid causing you to miss out on a survey that could have potentially made you money.

Website links at some survey sites are broken occasionally, which causes survey takers to miss out on money. This isn’t good when you have a lot of surveys to complete and not a lot of time to complete.
There are some companies that have a payment threshold meaning you will have to take a certain amount of surveys before they send you your payment. Know what that limit is by checking the site’s Facts and Questions section. Don’t expect your $5 to be automatically sent to you either. You will first need to log in to the site to check your balance, and to find out how much money you will be required to make before they send out your payment. Some companies will not send a check out to you until you have reached $50.

Another negative to survey taking are the lack of survey opportunities that pay. Some companies may not send surveys out for weeks at a time. If the company isn’t making money, neither are you. The best way to see if a company is worth joining is look at the website, see how often they pay people, look for any payment limits, and find any fine print that lists contact information.

As mentioned before, there are some companies that simply aren’t offering legitimate surveys. Rather, they are just marketing businesses who have partnered with advertisers to try and get you to buy their offers with the hopes that a free lap top, Ipod or something else “free” will get you to spend and spend a lot. From book club memberships to online tutorial lessons, they want you to complete all kinds of offers. Unfortunately, for the next few months you will be paying for merchandise you really don’t need, nor want. You see most of the advertisers have certain membership requirements you must complete before they are willing to opt you out of their programs. You must also fulfill the requirements of the contract before you will receive a free gift at least that is what the marketing company claims. However, there are numerous complaints from participants that never did receive the laptop, Ipod, camera or any other big-ticket item. Rather, some survey takers were lucky to receive a can of infant formula or a $25 gift card. Remember the companies that offer free gifts to lure you into taking surveys are only interested in you buying their products. The companies that offer “true” survey taking opportunities won’t ask you to buy anything, nor will they ask for credit card information. They will ship anything they want you to try for free.

The best paying surveys can be found by surfing the net and searching an Internet forum. Buying a database of surveys isn’t necessary.

Once you decide that survey taking is for you, get yourself a separate email account. Your mailbox will become filled with junk email.

Survey taking can be a great experience for you when you know what you are doing. Be smart and don’t fall for those free offers and trials, they really aren’t free. Do your research, ask others online what their experiences have been like, and most of all get paid while you are having fun!

Every successful man has a woman behind his back.  It is important to have a good loved one.  She can either motivate you to become a better man, or drag you down.

Those women who just want your money are not worth your time pursuing them.  They are just suitable for getting laid, nothing more.  Paying for their meals, shopping, etc. become a responsibility for many men.  Some men even spend countless hours accompanying their girlfriends doing some meaningless shit (not even sex).  Those times can be used for better purpose.  A girlfriend who doesn’t care your work, but only want you to accompany her without thinking for you and the future, does not deserve to spend your time.

Perhaps you can check out this “Cost of having sex with a Girlfriend Calculator” to check out how much money you spent on your girlfriend unconciously.  There are also calculators available for your wife and women you pick up.