Beware of SCAMS !!! - Part I

Beware of SCAMS !!! - Part I

How time flies.  Our lives are coasting from one phase to another, and we're all adjusting with the times.  So does these SCAMS.  Prior to the pandemic, it's all about phishing, identity theft and the like.  But when this pandemic blew up right in our faces, let's relook at the domino effect.  Because of pandemic, we are facing a new round of crisis and challenges and who can blame people because obviously, they got to face these challenges head on.  With thousands retrenched from their jobs, people need jobs.  People need $$$.  And parallel with the virus threat, what abounds are the ripple effects of pandemic.  With travel restrictions, people figure out how to travel.  And now, what's our flavor of the month ?  It's vaccines vaccines vaccines.

Let's not discuss anything technical.  Let's go back to basics, the mother of all scams start off with a phone call.  In the developed countries [even in Singapore], incoming calls are NOT free, so even way back 20 years ago when life in Singapore was much simpler, 99% of Singaporeans will not [NO WAY] accept an incoming call coming from a number not in his/her phonebook.  But in some Third World countries where the 

incoming call is toll-free, PRONTO, people will ACCEPT such calls.  And your guess is as good as mine, Step1 leads to Step2 till Step99. But again, we need to be forewarned that for such calls, there is a 95% chance that such caller is a fraudster, a scammer.  You might shrug off this warning by blurting that you got nothing to lose when you ACCEPT such call.  REALLY?  SURELY?    And here are the 'trapping moves' that may trap you into that fraud call:

• Caller PRETENDS the call is from an organization you know.  That could be a bank [where your payroll is credited], that could be Social Security [SSS], Health Services [PhilHealth], etc.  BTW, it could be from Netflix [because many of us did subscribe to it since this pandemic struck us].
• Caller CONCOCTS a story that you got payables now overdue and he's representing the lawyer of the collection agency.  OR, the caller can frighten you that a family member is in an emergency and he/she's in the ER etc

• Caller COERCES you.  Imagine if you are a contract worker in Dubai and the caller warns that you will be deported due to THIS and THAT.  Will you remain cool and relaxed when coerced that way ?
• Caller is aware that many companies [even your company] are hosting company events virtually and prizes and giveaways are given away.  So here comes this caller telling you that you received this much GIFTAWAY credits now about to be credited to you but there is a service fee you need to settle first.

Now, for the 'flavors of the month', this pandemic caused thousands to be jobless.  So here you are, desperately accessing JOB SITES left and right.  Challenge is, how do you sift the valid versus the fraud sites ?

Now, with this pandemic, 'ADD to CART' is happening everywhere.  You need to be sharp to detect which is a valid site vs a fraud site.

Now, here comes TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS.  And as you are so desperate to travel back to your province, the friend of a friend of another friends gives you a number to call to help you in the TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS.  What could happen next ?

Oh, I love this scam.  In most Third World countries, almost every family has a family member working in Dubai or elsewhere.  And here comes this text message advising you of an INCOMING DELIVERY.  Here's the catch:  you got to settle the miscellaneous charges so they can deliver that package over to you.  Whew !  This is a real fishing ground !  Oh c'mon, this is getting interesting, isn't it ?  So, allow me to park for now and come back in my Part II piece.  Folks, TO BE FOREWARNED is to be FOREARMED.❗❗❗

When Intentions DON'T Match Results

 When Intentions DON'T Match Results

Happy Sunday Morning ! Deja vu, that feeling, that situation which could have happened in the past and it repeats itself all over again.  Sounds familiar ?  Absolutely because we all went through this dilemma wherein we have lofty intentions, laid out in good faith and sometimes framed with all the optimistic and positivity we want to shape up eventually, which is laudable.  But how often our intentions DIDN'T match the outcome, the results ?  Personally, that happened in my life for the Nth time over and over again, until it gradually tapered off.

And when things don't end up as we envisioned, we could end up in that pensive and often frustrating mood and mode, trying to come to grips with reality, recalling where, when and how did things go wrong, how things went astray.  And that throws a monkey wrench to all our grandiose plans which sometimes have been resonated to our immediate family, our loved ones, which is fine.  BUT, when things go awry, that frustration sinks in not just to you, to us but to our loved ones, our immediate family, right ?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American philosopher way back the 19th century can be best quoted: 'WHAT YOU DO SPEAKS SO LOUD THAT I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU SAY'.  Simply put, the intentions DON'T get reflected in the results, the outcome.  If the gap is marginal at most, then we shouldn't make a mountain of a molehill BUT if there's a huge gap between the plan versus the end-result, it becomes imperative to trigger a genuine 'back to the drawing board' approach and even some soul-searching if the ramifications are/were seriously impacting you or even your family.  Unfortunately, when you hit that 'concrete wall', that could even put into question your own credibility.  The next time around, who'll buy-in your intentions, your grandiose plans ?  No one may be biting by then.  In straight terms, your stakeholders may even express their lose of confidence in you.  Regardless whether this situation happens at home or at your work environment, the realization will be that nothing works like it should unless all of the parts are no different.  If you have to crack the whip [on you], so be it.  If you need to raise the roof, DON'T dilly-dally for long.  It will be bad optics to talk about goals if it ends up as a lip service.

At that point, you DON'T even have to reserve judgment.  You DON'T want to sink at the bottom of Hudson River, right ?  And DON'T waste time taking that concrete move to rectify things because you might be misconstrued as having a big lie of what is the truth.  Too bad but you have to face the music because by then, you can't be everyone's cup of gourmet coffee NOT UNTIL you turn things around and get your ride to be steamrolling again [not as a train-wreck by that time].

If you're in a total mess, nothing is lost even if your credibility could have been dented by then.  If we're hoping you to get tired, we fervently hope that you do get tired of getting your ass kicked.  Going back to the drawing board may be a tough pill to swallow but what gives, if that is the only option left for you, besides quitting.  And more importantly, you gotta remain focused with your intentions so that you can head back to the right 

side of things.  And if you're on the receiving end of the ball [of opportunities], remember that every passer needs a target and that target has to finish.  Anything less than that becomes unacceptable.  And figure out if unknowingly, intent filters suddenly surfaced from within your intents because likely, that could be the culprit [of you going astray].  In his piece @ 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2016/04/13/to-change-the-world-good-intentions-are-not-enough/?sh=4df46203a4ab, Devin Thorpe espouses that 'good intentions are NOT enough'.  And with brevity, he rattles off the TO-DO List:  DO YOUR HOMEWORK, MEASUREMENT IMPROVES IMPACT and EXCELLENT EXECUTION is REQUIRED. 

If we need role models, we gotta replicate how the US Airways pilot deftly handled the emergency landing at the Hudson River or historically, we have to replicate how the ship captains thread their way traversing Panama Canal.  There is just NO room for error.  In the Health and Wellness piece @ https://www.jrni.co/blog/why-setting-daily-intentions-matter-and-how-can-it-change-your-life#:~:text=As%20mentioned%2C%20one%20of%20the,and%20be%20productive%20is%20key., we should be enamored to that mindset of setting daily intentions because that matters much.  And as part of your post-mortem, allow yourself to reassess things.  Figure out your misses and rectify such.  Thereafter, execution must be carried out with just NO ROOM for ERROR.  The second time around, you gotta make it work, dude ❗❗❗

Have You Cratered Yet ?

 Have You Cratered Yet ?

This piece is not about Elon Musk's SpaceX Project.  It's more about us, ourselves.  Have you felt you have cratered ?  Hitting rock bottom ?  It's never incorrect to admit it.  On the other hand, you gotta pat yourself for that awareness because unless that awareness creeps in, very likely you'll go down the drain because that inhibits you from getting back on the right track.  And regardless who you are, everyone of us have cratered at some points in our lives, AND THAT's FINE, that's the way life goes.

No such thing as perfect drivers, expert drivers.  You could be driving for decades and decades but skidding does happen.  More so in life.  The more imperative need is to be able to handle that skid.  And that requires deftly handling the situation during those moments of turmoil and pressure where a tragic end is what you can see in your viewfinder.  Kathy Caprino shares with us @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/05/10/six-ways-to-take-back-control-of-your-life/?sh=4cb9ddd05099 how to regain control of life.

Ground rule is that once you're into that skid, continue to steer into it but be in control of the direction.  In practical terms, if you're in a downward slope, continue in that path but steering things without 'hitting a wall' or 'turning turtle'.  It's all 'damage control', trying to soften the impact which may be worse if you left things unchecked.  Listen to Liz Bentley as she shares her practical guides @ https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/3-ways-boost-your-mood-regain-control-during-stressful-time-ncna1190116.  GET MOVING, START DOING, GET into CREATIVITY.  As per Bentley's sharing, scientists have discovered that when we become CREATIVE, our brains release those mood-boosting hormones [dopamine and serotonin].  REMEMBER:  'your mood and mindset are one of the few things we can control in our lives'.

Your tire's thread shouldn't be overlooked [more so in life] because a key element in life is once you start to lose grip, that traction.  Losing that grip is one of the first tell-tale signs that you're about to lose control of things [and that's what we dread most].  Once you start losing control, you will be on a uphill climb and that climb could be too steep and damn treacherous because one mis-step will see you spiraling down faster that you thought.  

C'mon, don't get me wrong.  No one wants to be busy.  Who wants anyway.  But what we mean with getting "BUSY" is not to be in that idle, inactive and listless state.  At the other end of the spectrum, we don't want to get into that 'helter skelter' game either.  Being 'BUSY' enough should give justice for your life.

This blog from Perfect Scotland seems perfect @ https://www.perfectscotland.com/busy-people/10-tips-for-when-you-feel-life-is-spiralling-out-of-control/ as it shares TEN [10] tips and guess what's topping the tips ?  "GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA", whew !  And it sums up the TEN tips by recapping that 'if you want change in your life, go make it happen, you are the only one who can'.  Just REGAIN CONTROL of your LIFE.

With this Covid pandemic still all over us, Megan Finnerty shares with us how to regain control of our life @ https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2020/04/16/how-feel-more-control-your-life-during-coronavirus-pandemic/5144201002/.  This is all that matters.  When your energy is almost zapped, when your fuel tank is emptying soon, you got to recoup and refill things out because that will be your 'last hurrah' if you may.  If and when your very lifeline, your business or your career is on the line, Glenn Llopis shares the 5 oft forgotten resources to help you jump start things to get back on track.  Just do it, do it dude.❗❗❗

Bring That Ball Into the Cup

Bring That Ball Into the Cup

We all have goals but as in tons of soccer games, how often did the game end scoreless at 0-0 ?  For a post mortem of such a scoreless game, it can reflect the defensive quality of the opposing teams, the stingy defense they put up across.  But at the end of the day, games just can't go on scoreless.  Someone has to score after all.

And when you're out there in the playing field, you may be Lebron James in the NBA but what one analyst expressed in awe about this GOAT player ?  It is his awe that when out there court, he instead of playing basketball, he plays more often than someone waiting on the wings. Bhavna Dalal clearly spelled out why we have to execute things either in a strategic or tactical reason.

Sun Tzu, the noted Chinese military strategist said: 'Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.  Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.  In layman's terms, strategic plans influence tactical plans whereas a tactical plan answers 'how do we achieve our strategic plan'.  

The challenge is that, that path from a problem towards a solution is never a straight path.  In fact, it is a conflagration of options that run through a circuitous path, of which, all except one path will lead you farther from the solution or worse, it will lead you to nowhere.  If we go to Quora @ https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-strategic-and-tactical-goal, strategic is for the long-term whereas tactical is the short-term approach to help zero-in on that strategic plan.  

Can I swing you over if I pitch that the great NBA superstar Lebron James plays chess when he's on court ?  Seriously, he's one damn woodpusher even when playing the hoops.  When he brings the ball to the front court, he slows down and looks all over the place, ensuring that his pieces are at the right place at the right time.   And that before he either throws a wild lob pass or he cuts and drives straight into the cup.

But never get lost in the maze because you got to be damn focused on your goal, that of hitting the bullseye and not just somewhere on the periphery.  Are you more into riding the bandwagon ?  or sitting on the fences ?  Then I'm sorry, you're doomed to [likely] fails because those are NOT the hallmarks of success.  It takes a stern fortitude and no less than that, dude.✅✅✅
 

Sometimes, it stings like alcohol on a fresh cut..

Sometimes, it stings like alcohol on a fresh cut...

Ouch, we've been through it over and over again, when your only recourse left is to pour alcohol over a fresh cut.  Not because you liked it but it's because that's your only option left.  Such is life as well.  Often times, we gotta swallow a tough pill to take, dump away our ego and go through the agony you gotta endure if you're in a NO-WIN situation, leaving you with nothing but one last option.

Here's the thing.  Life is never easy.  We were not born just to walk along the park, have our cake and eat it too.  You can born with a golden spoon like the Trumps but trust me, even the Trump scions will go through the gauntlet, you'll have your fair share of ordeals.  You could be the commoner or someone from the lowest caste in the Indian culture but nothing sets him apart from the Trumps, Fords and Rockefellers.

And if we were to re-live our lives all over again, of late, I realized that ideally, framing the right philosophy can lead you towards the track that may have less intersections, lesser road crossings, situations which often befuddle us till we end up deciding on the wrong turn.  At hindsight, if at our first cry as a new-born, had we been told that we will be sent to the barren deserts and search for water and oil under the scorching sun, we would have become battle-hardened when we finally face the toughest ordeals in life.

To quote Horace the great Roman poet, 'rule your mind or it will rule you'.  And frankly, our own minds is multi-sided, multi-faceted.  As you reckon to make a decision, one side pulls you towards the left and the other side pulls you the other direction.  And it's your call by then.

And that's our unseen foe, that foe from deep within us. Think of it, if one side entices you to sell off for a short-term gain but which may lead you towards a losing long-term proposition ?  What if one side tempts you to throw under the bus the people closest to you ? Thing is, you don't distribute sound bites to create a reaction, right ?  And if you have to start from the bottom of the barrel, and scrape that bottom all over again, so be it, even if that's akin to alcohol getting poured on that fresh cut.  At the end of the day, you 

don't want to get stuck in mediocrity.  Neither would you want your ass to get kicked and kicked harder and harder, right ?  Nor do you want to be that perennial whipping boy, wallowing in grief and pain ?  Here's the deal, why can't you believe enough in yourself by surprising everyone when you go waltzing your way to your own narrative, that success story yet to be told ? And dude, if people are hardly giving you a puncher's chance, thats a helluva opportunity for you to pull a rabbit from nowhere and prove all the naysayers that, all along, they were and are still damn wrong.  You'll have the last laugh, dude, and you deserve that ! ✅✅✅

Turning Around that 'MESS'

Turning Around that 'MESS'

Life may not be always what it is but often, it's in the optics, the messaging piece, the way we create the ripple effects that even shape things up. Be it at home or at work, your workmates or even your family members can pick things up not from what you speak but instead by the ramifications of what you really end up doing.  In life, there is just no room for double-speak but you dare breach the threshold of things, even aberrations will become visible on the surface.

Never underestimate the ability of people to see things because it's all in the 'optics'.  People have one too many viewfinders to know the 'real score', too many channels to drill-down and and get the least distorted picture.  But in case you fall to this trap, the reality of that mess therein can't be ignored.  Take it from https://www.98point6.com/getting-back-on-track-with-healthy-habits-when-it-seems-life-is-derailing-you/.

Diane Passage assures us @ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-signs-your-life-is-a-mess-and-how-to-fix-it-fast_b_7991022 that regardless of the mess one may be embroiled in, there is still a way out but before putting the cart ahead of the horse, you need to know that you're in a mess.  How ?  Do you have that negative attitude ? Do you feel that 'burn out' ?  Either your home or desk is literally a mess ?  You've got health issues ?  You don't get that focus you need to.

Bleak horizons ?  That streak of light will eventually sneak but if you want to hasten that second of life, you've gotta dump off everything that's loathsome and detestable.  Else, if you remain stubborn to recycle your chameleon-like persona, poor you, you might end up in the murky and stagnant 'dead waters'.

Jane Fonda, the very respected American actress and political activist can be best quoted: "It's never too late to start over, never too late to be happy".  And to ride on a much older cliche, 'success stories do not have timelines and deadlines,  But as a word of caution, that vicious cycle CAN'T go on forever.  You gotta stomp your foot down and shape up. ✅

Is Your Run 'UNEVEN' ?

Is Your Run 'UNEVEN' ?

Uneven runs and inconsistencies in life are part and parcel of the harsh realities we need to live with BUT here's the big BUT.  That can't just go on forever, just can't and shouldn't.  Yet, more often, we take things in stride and console ourselves that this is part of life.  But can we live a tattered life, riddled with rough patches and inconsistencies ? And how long and how far will that bring us forward from hereon ?

Peggy Noonan, the primary speechwriter of the late Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said it all that 'PART OF COURAGE IS SIMPLE CONSISTENCY'.  And at hindsight, we need to challenge ourselves as to how much effort is needed for us to exert to come up with the CONSISTENCY we deserve in life ?  And @ https://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dowdenb/misc/inconsistency.htm of the California State University [Sacramento], the in-depth paper shares with us that inconsistency is at the very crux of logic.  And unless we gather to have that gumption and 'courage' to correct our inconsistency, there's nowhere you can go.

What exactly is the doctor's order where we're inconsistent ?  Why can't we summon RECENCY BIAS and challenge ourselves if whatever is most recent in us did make things better for us, for our lives ?  Unless and until you become very dissecting, you may falsely believe that everything will be fine, that there is nothing to correct, nothing to rectify.

Joseph Folkman shares us @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2019/10/17/your-inconsistency-is-more-noticeable-than-you-think/?sh=736891e3d507 the CONSISTENCY INDEX summarized as follows:  Be a GOOD EXAMPLE, DON'T DOUBLE-SPEAK, KEEP UP TO YOUR PROMISES, STICK TO YOUR COMMITMENTS and TAKE THE EXTRA MILE, if need be. 

AND, can we dump off that cinema mindset wherein the most recent episode is at the top of our memory recall, such that, things get muddled and distorted because we tend to gloss over the positives and look the other way around for the flies in the ointment. How to stay consistent ?  Take it from Jill Brown @ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269718 wherein, in 3 foundational tenets [START by SEGMENTING, LEVERAGE on the POWER of SYSTEMS and HOLDING [yourself] ACCOUNTABLE, she wants us to be fully locked-in so that we remain focused on our goals to realize the dreams we  got.✅

In Life, Do You Perform Your Tasks in PARALLEL ? Or SERIALLY ?

In Life, Do You Perform Your Tasks in PARALLEL ?  Or SERIALLY ?

In life, how do you go about with your tasks ?  SERIALLY like the caboose and the freight trains ?  Or in parallel like the multi-processing environments in technology.  I don't intend to initiate a crash course in project management but having gone through project management through the years, that's the constant question that stomps the project manager right from Day-1.  Problem is, from Day-1 when the newborn baby was heard with that loud cry, we got oriented that doing thinks serially and sequentially is the way to go.

One misconception we need to rectify is this flawed understanding that parallel task management versus serial/sequential task management is better left for project managers and not for small business owners, students or even freelance workers.  This is a serious gap that needs to be corrected because our lives revolve around tasks.  You can run your own business but you still got tasks at hand.  You can be a student in the academe but surely you got in your hands enough To-Do tasks.

But unless you are working in a factory process that needs to be serially executed, performing tasks in parallel mode is always part of the equation.  Amanda Kreuser does a very good pitch @ https://www.inc.com/amanda-pressner-kreuser/run-your-personal-life-like-a-project-manager.html wherein she pitches that we need to run our personal life like a project manager [and we don't need to get trained as project managers].  As she admitted, prior to this pandemic, 'most evenings flew by in a flurry of activities...It felt like a million things were happening but almost nothing was getting done'.  As a realization, she decided to replicate the basic project management strategies she has been successfully performing at work.  Lo and behold, she admitted she 'almost immediately felt the impact'.  

Think about it, that typical factory environment where every single task has to be performed serially, sequentially.  That was not because it was their preference but rather, that's the process that needs to be followed in the factory.  Swing over to your life, please DON'T replicate that serial process unless that is warranted.

On the other hand, you don't have to be in a semi-conductor or automated environment for you to pursue tasks in parallel mode.  It all boils down to the situation at hand and, as always, the most basic question is this: which tasks can I perform with NO dependencies whereas which tasks I can't perform yet because of dependencies ?  Look back in your lives, isn't it so frustrating that some tasks that could have been done a month ago or weeks ago have now become URGENT tasks because you kept procrastinating and postponing performing it because you are in 'SERIAL Mode' ?

Erich Dierdorff said it all that time management is about more than just life hacks @ https://hbr.org/2020/01/time-management-is-about-more-than-life-hacks.  And Erich highlights the 3 A's for your time management to end up more likely in success than failure:  AWARENESS that time is a limited resource.  ARRANGEMENT which by itself means PLAN PLAN PLAN and ADAPTATION which translates to monitoring your activities.  Let's get onboard on this, folks.✅✅✅