THE UNDERLYING TRUTH

Successful People Use Common Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:34:00 +0000

Like everyone else I've spent some time thinking about why some people are so successful in life. And what factors in success that are under more personal control than others.

Successful people might be intelligent. Or have had a socially well connected upbringings. Or be naturally energetic and open and positive.

But a lot of the factors that make some people more successful at almost anything in life are very much under their control. And much can be improved in anyone’s life by learning from the people that have gone before us.

Here are some of the thoughts on success that I´ve come up with from reading/watching documentaries throughout the years about people such as Michael Jordan, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford. The following factors of success are just a few and I'm quite sure there are a lot more.

They make decisions and take action
Right or wrong action, they take it. Either way it’s always better than making no decisions and taking no action at all. As Franklin Roosevelt said:

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

They do things even when they don´t feel like it
I think this is a pretty huge factor. A lot of us back down when we don´t want to do something, even though it may eventually bring us to a wonderful experience or goal. Successful people may not always like doing some of the things they have to do. But they do them anyway. And in the longer run that makes all the difference.
They do the most productive thing right now
Instead of trapping themselves in doing productive but not so important tasks or projects they realise what’s most important and do that. And after they´re done with that they do what´s most important again. Instead of just doing a lot of things, they think and plan before they act and try to focus as much as possible of their thoughts and actions on those few very important things.
They do one thing at a time
Many of them don´t seem to multi-task. Some reasons for avoiding that may be that it creates internal confusion, wastes time and spreads the multi-tasker too thinly. Instead, they do one thing and focus on that until it is done. Then they do the next thing until it is done. Focusing 100% on one task at a time will get it done quicker and better.
They have a positive attitude
A negative attitude can be very damaging and limiting to one´s life. A positive one can open new doors every day. It can open your mind to new ideas and input and create or sustain great relationships. It helps you through the hard times as a successful person often sees an opportunity within what others would merely see as a problem.
They have redefined failure
While a lot of people see failure as a way to rationalizing the feeling of wanting to giving up or as a sign that it´s actually time to do something else successful people tend to see it more as useful feedback. They may not like to fail, but they don´t fear it – or at least they have little fear of it - and they know that if they fail they´ve been there before and they can start over again and succeed. This is of course a very useful belief and keeps successful people going while the rest have already given up.
They don´t let fear hold them back
They overcome fear and slay that dragon whenever they face it. Or they may have defined or redefined reality so that fear is substantially decreased or even gone in some areas of their life.
They have found a purpose in life
They are internally driven rather than externally driven. They do what they have a burning desire to do rather than conforming to what others think they should do. Even if what the others think may be positive and successful stuff.

The Michael Jordans, the Edisons and the Stephen Kings have figured out what they want to do in life and are doing it (or did it).

The purpose, I think, is largely why they can keep on going and be motivated while others may tire or just go and do something else that they find more purposeful. The successes love their purpose and when they aligned with it then it seems to push them forward with enthusiasm and energy through life.

They don´t get distracted
When others get too caught up in everyday life to do what they really want to do the successes don´t. They can really focus on actually doing what´s important and what needs to be done. Again, this seems to go back to having a purpose and more clear sense of direction in life.

They value their time highly and plan it out well

A lot of people don´t value their time that much. Successful people have a purpose in life and therefore they do. They have so much they want and an inner urge to do it and therefore need to plan well to use their days effectively.

They have got awesome communication-skills
So very much of what we do in life has to do with other people.

They have an open mind and are willing to learn
Successful people take the time to study and learn – and often seem to really like doing it - what is necessary to improve their skills. They are open to thoughts, suggestions, solutions, new information and change rather than thinking they already know everything, that there is not much more to learn and that everything should be as it has always been.

What to focus on?
Now, what factors are the most important ones, where should one focus the energy? I am currently focusing on improving my ability to take action, doing what I may not feel like doing and doing the most productive thing right now. To me it seems like these three factors are very important and since they are pretty interconnected they are easy to combine.

I think what you should focus on varies a lot. And it’s up to everyone to figure that out for themselves. But if you´re anything like me you probably already know what areas you need to work on.

MORE FAMILIES LOSING THEIR HOME

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:19:00 +0000

STRUGGLING homeowners in Sydney's west are having their properties repossessed in record numbers as rich Harbourside postcodes enjoy surging real estate prices.

The cruel reality of Sydney's two-tier economy is revealed in detail in Supreme Court documents identifying the location of thousands of repossessions by banks and financial institutions over the past 15 months.

The top suburbs where homes have been snatched are all in Sydney's economically embattled suburbs where property prices are continuing to slide.

Bankstown had the highest number of repossessions in NSW with 73 properties.

The suburb with the next highest number of repossessions was Merrylands (63), then Fairfield (53), Auburn (54), Guildford (50), Blacktown (48) Granville (43), Prestons (41) and Greystanes (40).

The Supreme Court figures, obtained under Freedom of Information, break down by suburb and town the Writs of Possession Orders by the Sheriff's Office.

A bank or financial institution must obtain a Writ of Possession from the Supreme Court before selling a property to cover their losses.

The figures include all homes and investment properties plus commercial property.

In 2006, 5363 Writs of Possession were issued – a record that is up 10 per cent on the 4873 the year before. In 2004, there were 3061.

The high numbers of repossessions in Sydney's west and southwest compare to just two in Mosman and three in Vaucluse over the same period.

The repossessions can be revealed as the latest Sydney real estate market analysis shows home prices in Sydney's southwest went backwards 5.7 per cent in the 12 months to March 30.

In the Canterbury-Bankstown area they tumbled 4.9 per cent and in Sydney's west prices barely moved, rising just 0.6 per cent.

But – in clear evidence of two very different Sydneys emerging – Australian Property Monitors found market conditions on the up in city's eastern half.

In the lower North Shore prices surged by 9.2 per cent over the past year, growth not seen since the boom period of the early 2000s.

The Australian Property Monitors report also show the the Inner West to be bouyant with 6.1 per cent growth, City and east up 3.4 per cent and the Northern Beaches up 7.1 per cent.

Investigations by The Daily Telegraph show several mortgagee properties are on the market in Bankstown at this moment – all bargains.

Among them, a two-bedroom unit at Meredith St was purchased in June 2003 for $320,000. Its expected to fetch just $220,000 at auction.

One person whose home has been repossessed is Turkish migrant Ali Ozcan, 41, who purchased a modest fibro home at Granville for $365,000 in February last year.

The home is back on the market as a mortgagee sale with predictions of a selling price of $330,000.

After a couple of repayments he was struck down by a serious bout of depression, landing him in Westmead Hospital for three months. Coupled with this, his marriage broke down.

On February 21 this year, he received a legal letter from Henry Davis Yorke, acting for Westpac, notifying him the back was commencing Writ of Possession proceedings.

"It's a very good house. If I get my house back then my wife will move back," Mr Ozcan said.

Selling agent Moustafa Dalik still hopes Mr Ozcan can refinance with another lender to rescue his home.

Elders Bankstown principal Joseph Mouwad, who estimated he has handled 40 mortgagee sales in the past year, said many of the repossessions were units bought for investment.

"There was a big push for people to invest making use of negative gearing when the boom was in full swing," he said.

Westpac spokesman David Lording said his bank managed mortgage defaulters according to strict guidelines set down by the Banking Ombudsman and the Uniform Credit Code.

"You certainly wouldn't lose your house if you miss a repayment. It's a process that takes many months," he said.

Have you ever thought about creating wealth from the Stock Market?

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By Kelvin Bissett and Angela Saurine

Internet Thieves are Phishing

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:16:00 +0000

How To Keep From Getting Hooked

The sharks are circling and they have their eyes on you! Thieves who go phishing for you are sneaky and unscrupulous... but they are very, very good at what they do.

You open an email message from your bank requesting that you update your information for their computer records. The email looks legitimate, the bank's logo and information is all there. You click on the link in the email and it opens a page that you recognize as your bank's web site. You enter your user name and password and complete the submission by entering the information that the bank wants to verify. When you close the site it gives you the normal thank you information and you are done.

You have just been caught by someone phishing!

You gave them all of the information that they need to go to your bank account and transfer your money to where ever they please.

What happened? The link in the email took you to a site designed with one purpose... to get you to believe you are somewhere safe so you will reveal secure information. The page looks exactly like your bank, your stock account, your credit card company, your PayPal account, or any site that handles secure transactions. The phony site may even have links back to the real site so you are really fooled!

If they're so good, what can you do to protect yourself? Simple. Don't click on any link in an email from a bank or financial institution.

If you get a message from your bank --- go to the normal log in page. If the request is genuine, there will be a link on the real site for you to follow. Financial institutions warn their customers to ALWAYS use the main log in page to transact ANY business or change any information. Never give your account number and password out in response to an email or phone call.

Like most Internet scams, these phishing expeditions can be easily avoided if you know about them. If you do any financial transactions online, never enter the site through an email link. You can use your normal entry page with confidence that you are not giving your identity to a thief.

A bit more difficult to detect are the scam web sites that pretend to be financial sites. Some offer loans or credit cards at fantastic interest rates, others will offer to clear your credit or handle your portfolio. You need to register for the service by giving them personal information. STOP!

If it sounds like a good deal, do a search for their name and see if there are any discussions about them. You may find that others who are focused on this have identified this as a scam. Call the company and verify that they are really in business. Check before you give information or money to anyone.

The Internet is a good place to do business. If you shop in the mall, you have to be aware of scammers selling you designer knockoffs, bait and switch sales or thieves who earn a living by stealing your wallet. With online financial transactions you need to watch out for the same scammers in their online versions.

Thieves have been around as long as history has been recorded. The only difference with online crooks is that they have come up with some new disguises to fool their victims.

Before you give any identifying information to someone you don't know... find out who they are and make sure that they are who they claim to be.

If a stranger walked up to you on the street and promised to get you a good rate on a credit card if you just gave them your wallet... would you? Think of a strange Web site as someone you don't know and think before you reveal anything that they may use to steal from you - or worse - to steal your identity.

Connections Between House and Holmes

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:57:00 +0000

For anyone who thinks we are reading too much into a connection between Sherlock Holmes and Gregory House that was never intended, the creator of "House" (David Shore) gave an interview for an article in Zap2It by Kate O'Hare in January 2005 that said:

"...Anytime one says 'puzzle' and 'brilliant deduction' in the same sentence, one can't help but think of the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson. And indeed, Holmes -- and the real-life physician that inspired him, Dr. Joseph Bell -- were very much inspirations for 'House.'"
...Shore also hopes to draw more parallels to Holmes by drawing House's best, and likely only, friend, oncologist Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), into the Watson role.
"We're looking for Wilson to step up in that regard, as House's everyman, leaning over his shoulder and going, 'How'd you do that?' And more important, 'Why'd you do that?'...."
— "labyrinth" posted a link to this article in the Television Without Pity House Forum

Sherlock Holmes

Can deduce a great deal from just looking at a person.
Holmes' creator based the character on a doctor.
His name sounds like "Homes"
Sherlock Holmes fought deadly criminals
Used cocaine to escape boredom
Holmes calls even his best friend by his last name
Arrogant. Said humility would be a lie
Read the agony columns in the paper
Languid and lazy when not on a case.
His closest friend had problems with a wound in his leg (although initially, the wound was in his shoulder)
Music is very important to Holmes and he plays the violin.
Aloof, although less so with his only friend and roommate.
Sherlock Holmes lives at 221B Baker St.

Gregory House, MD

Can deduce and diagnose a great deal just from looking at a person.
His name is another word for "Home"
Fights deadly germs, diseases and other medical problems.
Uses Vicodin for pain in his leg. And maybe for boredom.
House calls all his associates by their last names
Greg House is extremely arrogant.
Watches soaps, plays video games, etc.
Lazy until he is forced to look into something that intrigues him.
Has a medical problem in his leg.
Music is very important to House and he plays the piano.
Keeps everyone except Wilson at a distance.
In #207 "Hunting" we discover House lives at 221B — we see the number as House and Wilson leave in the morning (but we don't know the street). See a screen caption of the address clearly visible behind Wilson as he leaves House's home.

Quotes Holmes says about Himself

"I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully."

"I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather — that is, when the fit is on me, for I can be spry enough at times."

**Information is taken from House Website click HERE

BOILER-ROOMS ALIVE AND WELL

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:11:00 +0000

The premise of financial scams is human greed and although gullible customers get fleeced of small fortunes, many boiler rooms are not nearly as greedy as the investors they con

The three watches on the man's wrist were all set to different time zones. One gave the time in New Zealand, the second in South Africa and the third in New York. On the table in front of him were three mobile phones, one for each group of customers in each of the three countries, who all thought they were calling him locally. He was actually in Taiwan.

The man with the watches, a Briton known as "Mr Big," showed a second man sitting opposite him a fax he had just received, the contents of which left little to the imagination. "It basically said: `I'm going to come over there and I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill all your family unless I get my money back. I've spent this much money with you.' It was really horrible," says the second man, who gives his name as Barry Stephens.

"Let me show you something," Mr Big continued. He picked up one of the phones, dialled the number on the fax and checked his watches.

"Mr So-and-so, I've just got your fax this morning," Stephens quoted Mr Big as saying. Once the torrent of invective at the other end of the line had subsided, Mr Big reportedly continued: "Look, sir, we're a brokerage company. We can't guarantee you're going to make money.

"Stocks go up and down. You're a man of the world, you know that. But what I can tell you is that I have another opportunity here... "

According to Stephens, "The conversation ended with the man agreeing to send another US$20,000 after he had just sent him a fax saying he was going to kill him."

The incident he describes is a snapshot of the world of boiler rooms, where members of the public send complete strangers who claim to be stockbrokers vast sums on the promise of making massive and rapid returns.

More than 75 percent of investors end up losing all their money. Despite gaining worldwide publicity in 2000 with the release of the Hollywood blockbuster Boiler Room, starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck, thousands of people continue to get conned every year.

Stephens, who claims he was "intimately involved" in Mr Big's brokerage for several years, approached The Guardian after hearing that a suspected boiler room was shut down in Cambodia last week. He claims he wants to expose for the first time the full details of how boiler rooms have fleeced tens of thousands of people all over the world in the past decade, to help prevent others from a similar fate.

Out of fear for his safety -- one man who allegedly double-crossed a former boiler-room partner was gunned down in his BMW in Bangkok last year -- Stephens has asked that his real name not be used.

The premise on which all boiler rooms operate is human greed, he says.

"People think they're going to turn US$10,000 into US$100,000 by doing nothing. They don't think, it's too good to be true. They don't stop to think, if it's so great why are you telling me about it? Why am I so special?" he said.

Stephens says the operation he witnessed succeeded through an elaborate web of deception, fraud and highly refined, high-pressure telephone sales tactics in which most people didn't realize they had been snared until it was too late.

The "sting" would begin with a harmless call from a sweet-sounding, usually female, voice known as a "qualifier." She (or he) would ask if the company's database records were still accurate and offer a free subscription to a company newsletter, says Stephens.

The target would receive this glossy newsletter for several weeks. It was usually up to 24 pages long and contained a selection of business news. Among the genuine features, it would contain one article, often very small, about a company developing a new product or process. This company would have been bought by the boiler room, and listed on the NASDAQ, where the requirements are much less stringent than the New York or London stock exchanges. The boiler room would then start to inflate the share price.

"But before they do that -- say when the price is US$2 a share -- a broker would come to you and say, `Look, I represent [the boiler room],'" Stephens says. "We have some inside information, a bit naughty, shouldn't tell you, but this stock is going to go through the roof in the next two weeks." Among techniques used to convince male waverers were arguments such as: "Who wears the trousers in your family? Do you make the decisions, or your wife?"

These callers are known as "openers." Some victims would send the money straight away but those who didn't would receive a call a couple of weeks later from their "opener," who would point out that the money had not been sent but the stock had continued to climb -- because the boiler room had continued to manipulate it.

He, or she -- Stephens says women "brokers" are usually much more successful -- might offer to backdate the transaction so the investor could "buy" at the original price. With an offer like this, coupled with a little research showing that the stock had indeed performed as claimed, most people were hooked.

"But that's the last they hear about it," Stephens says. "They don't get any stock certificates, they don't get anything. So these people will eventually call back. They'll watch the NASDAQ and see the stock price go down because no stocks were ever bought, the money just went into the back account and that was it. Thank you very much."

Some people who call back in a panic are put through to a "cooler." Their task is to cool down the customer before putting them through to a "loader." Their job is to persuade the anxious investor that the share price has fallen because the company has encountered a hitch but that everything is on track, and it would actually be better to buy more stock while it is cheap rather than sell.

Others who call are just given the run around; told that their original "opener" is no longer at the company. "Eventually, 90 percent just go to sleep," Stephens says. "In other words, they just get fed up and write off the money."

Those who don't give up and start making threats are connected to the best "coolers." Sometimes the brokers will then try and fob off the investor by saying that there are no buyers at present and they should call back.

"The most threatening people were allowed to get some, or all, of their money back, though," Stephens says. "But the coolers were only ever allowed to return the money of 25 percent of the people who demanded their money back."

When too many people started complaining the company would just shut down and reopen under a different name, often less than 24 hours later. Mr Big's boiler room went through several incarnations before he was caught. He is now in prison. Police found a dozen passports in his possession when he was arrested.

The final category of boiler-room employee are the "sloppers." They come into the picture when a firm closes and changes its name. A slopper will call up a worried investor and say he has heard about his or her plight and wants to help recover their money. In order to do this there will be a fee, depending on the size of the original investment.

The irony is, says Stephens, that, relatively speaking, many boiler rooms are not nearly as greedy as the investors they con. He thinks about US$2 million his boiler room raked in each month went on expenses. He saw one monthly phone bill for US$450,000 that was about two inches thick, and he knows that tens of thousands of pounds went into making the company and its operations appear genuine.

"If you went to the company you would have sat down with a broker, sat down with a manager and you would have been convinced this was genuine. They would have bombarded you with pedigrees and testimonials.

"Meanwhile, in the same building, there's the boiler room. They're all in shorts -- some guys are standing on their heads doing yoga, taking the piss, bouncing baseballs off walls and catching them while talking on headsets.

"They have all the objections on the wall, pasted up. Anything anyone might say, below it is the stock answer in order to get by."

Most of the people involved were Jekyll and Hyde characters, Stephens says. On the phone they appeared the epitome of decorum, the reality was different. "These are the dregs of the earth, drug addicts, wasters, used-car salesmen," he says. "If you met them in person you wouldn't buy a box of matches from them. You wouldn't talk to them at a bar. But over the phone they've got it."

Victims corroborate Stephens's claims. In 1997 and 1998, an Australian named Lance (he is too embarrassed to allow his surname to be printed) was persuaded by a broker to part with more than ?8,000 (US$12,923) to buy shares in two companies allegedly on the cusp of greatness.

"No pressure was put on me," he says. "They just went for the soft sell and I bought 1,000 shares of each."

He received share certificates but has no idea whether they are genuine. Three months later, when the shares started losing value rapidly, he tried to sell, but the broker had ceased operations and its accounts had been passed on to a second broker. Lance said this firm was initially just as convincing as the first.

"They even sent round a representative but as soon as I pressed them they, too, dropped away," he said.

Two years later, in August 2000, Lance was suddenly contacted by a third broker.

He convinced Lance to send him the share certificates so he could sell them to people wanting to negatively gear their stock portfolios for tax purposes by buying the worthless stock and selling blue-chip shares in return.

"I gave up when [the broker] insisted I buy the blue-chip shares first," he said. "It's stupid to do it once, it's insane to do it again."

Article By John Aglionby THE GUARDIAN , LONDON - Jul 26, 2003

Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:35:00 +0000

Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur

(1859-1930) (Note: the family name is Conan Doyle, not simply Doyle.)

Knighted for his defense of Britain's activities in South Africa, Conan Doyle was the creator of the famous fictional detective character, Sherlock Holmes.

Following the death of his son Kingsley in wartime, Sir Arthur became a firm believer in, and supporter of, spirit mediums. He was also a bit of a snob, and it was one reason for his credulity. Post-Victorian society, of which he was a leading product, had cataloged people according to class. Therefore, when he was confronted with the Cottingley fairies photos taken by two young girls, he reasoned that two adolescent females “from the artisan class” could not possibly deceive an aristocrat such as himself, and he convinced himself that the photos were genuine. That, for him, settled the matter. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not accustomed to being told that he was wrong.

His easy acceptance of such matters as fairies brings into question his declared faith in spirit mediums, especially because his endorsement was very instrumental in bringing legitimacy to their claims, and to spiritualism as a religion.

The uneasy friendship between Sir Arthur and magician Harry Houdini, and their serious mutual respect, was strained when the writer ascribed to Houdini genuine psychic powers. It seemed inconceivable to him that the magician could do what he did without resort to genuine miracles. Houdini knew quite well that what he did was simple conjuring, that any person could thereby be fooled, and was astonished that Sir Arthur could not recognize or admit that fact.

Sir Arthur traveled abroad preaching the claims of spiritualism, showing incredibly naive lantern slides of supposed miracles, including those of the Cottingley fairies. He faithfully continued to support spiritualism and all of its followers until his death in 1930, four years following that of Houdini.

Hotel Bill Riddle

noreply@blogger.com (zonejes) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:39:00 +0000

This is one of my favourite riddles, simple but fun, email me with your answer.

The Hotel Bill

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room.

The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1.

So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29.

Where is the remaining dollar?

Click HERE to submit your answer.