How's Your 'FULL CIRCLE' Moments?

 

How's Your 'FULL CIRCLE' Moments? For most of us, life events would prompt us to evaluate our life journey within a specific context.   And that context could be our family life, our career path, a romantic relationship OR any number of human dynamics that we experience in our daily lives.  At the end of the day, it is our own perspective that defines the context and its impact upon us.  Over and over again, it's been said that every so often, we need to take stock of WHERE we are, WHAT we are doing and see IF it aligns with our true intent.  Alas, many of us would seem oblivious of our respective  'FULL CIRCLE' Moments until that AHA Moment BUT the question, HOW does that AHA Moment pop up???

YES YES yow, you might ask HOW and WHEN will those AHA Moments pop-up?  Simply put, IF and WHEN you exclaim 'AHA', be conscious about it because WHO knows that's your 'FULL CIRCLE' Moment.  That moment itself could be full of promise, of a hope NOT previously seen on the horizon.  It is a moment WHEN, after a lot of struggle, you stand atop the hill and raise your arms in victory, knowing the commitment it took to get there.  And it could be a reality that provides us with the tools to survive, NO matter how difficult OR inconvenient to our daily lives.  That is WHY it is imperative to stand upon that hill and raise those arms because it matters you battled through💚💛💜

WHY else does it matter?  It matters because you finally found the courage to stay the course OR you could have just literally walked away, whew.  And it matters because you finally learned WHY decisions were made.  It matters in lifting your arms because you finally understand WHERE you stand in life, with yourself at the very core of things.  In brief, it is a life returned to you, nothing less💧💧💧

Of all obvious things we can say, WHEN we are given OR blessed to have all the tools to come FULL CIRCLE, we should be able to appreciate WHERE we came from.  Hold on for a 'sec'.  That MOMENT of APPRECIATION is so precious, so vital in our journey in life.  I've known people on a first-hand basis and up close WHOSE level of appreciation is next to NIL, next to KEINER, next to NADA.  BUT NOT to question them because that's their life BUT I'm worried about them because if being appreciative is NOT within you, WHAT will make you appreciate in the future?  That is a huge miss we can make because after all the trials and tribulations we could have gone through, pulling the brakes to be appreciative will go a long way in our daily life💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  You could still have a thousand iterations of your FULL CIRCLE Moments and NEVER miss it out.  LIKE if you were struggling in a big chunk of your life until, one day, you come back to your very roots in the countryside.  By then, you can humbly admit your SUCCESS.  During those FULL CIRCLE Moments, relish it, enjoy it while taking stock of things as to HOW far you have gone in life😀😀😀

Keep It Simple S____ [KISS]

 

Almost everyday OR every week so in our life, we meet people, strangers, old friends, new-found friends, some of WHOM would be [sometimes] instrumental in bringing out the BEST in us and splash a palette of colors in an otherwise black-and-white life.  WHO we are and WHAT we become is and will NEVER be a one-man effort.  Everyone in our lives WOULD hold various levels and slices of stakes in turning us into the person we are.  Their thoughts, their outlook in life and their passion would burn beyond their own lives, in fact.  Instead, they would leave pieces of themselves in us just as we do in them📗📙📘

True, we are all the people we've met and all the people we've lost.  We are all the people WHO are still in our lives and all the people WHO either left OR simply passed by, enough to be a part of our life.  True, it's kind of a tragedy that love DOESN'T reign every time.  BUT it's a bigger tragedy WHEN we erase people from our lives and pretend like they DON'T exist anymore.  We've actually heard that we're supposed to let someone go totally.  THAT we'll never heal if they're still around.  Heck, I even remember myself sometime in the past, muttering THAT WHEN something has ran its full course, it's time for us to LET IT GO.  BUT I've realized that letting go DOESN'T always mean forgetting a person OR erasing them because we CAN'T❎❎❎

To borrow ALBERT EINSTEIN's one-liner, LIFE IS LIKE RIDING A BICYCLE.  TO KEEP YOUR BALANCE, YOU MUST KEEP MOVING.  Let's face it.  It is heartbreaking to leave OR to be left.  The aching feeling WHEN you learn that your love was unrequited love OR that a shared moment with another person could NOT amount to anything more, leaves you feeling so empty and numb.  Quite strange but surely this did happen to many of us in the past.  LIKE one second you're heads OVER heels with them as they sit across the dinner table.  NEXT thing you knew, you're wondering IF that was the last moment you shared with them.  If this was all there was to it???

IF there is a recurring assumption that resonates across us through the years, it is that we tend to assume that the natural course of action WHEN you reject someone is to leave their life.  And unfortunately the expected way of handling rejection is to NOT have them in our lives.  In the end, we let go of the people WHO deeply care about us because we think we are supposed to.  In these times WHERE social media seems to lord it all over us, we end up UNFOLLOWING and even keep our accounts private😌😌😌

Our takeaway:  Oh Oh Oh, partly, MAYBE, just MAYBE, that helps us to move on?  MAYBE, that is HOW we want to grieve their loss.  MAYBE, that is the only way we know to heal.  And that seems okay.  BUT we CAN'T and just CAN'T keep losing people WHO care so deeply about us just because they are NO longer interested in us.   As one poem goes, STRENGTH IS HOLDING ON TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING.  And as that very old cliche goes, let us NOT BURN BRIDGES because we'll never know, one day we will cross paths especially at the unlikeliest times and circumstances.  YES dude, WHATEVER it takes, keep people in your life, albeit the distance, albeit the disconnects because sometimes, WHAT goes out goes around and may even resurface.  WHO knows, ignoring those huge surprises may be the worst misstep we can take.  Dude, let's KEEP IT SIMPLE, S_____???

That 'CONTROL FREAK' Malaise

 

Way beyond any debate, we humans long to feel in control although I'm sure my statement could lead to heckles here and there.  BUT the very existence of the term 'CONTROL FREAK' itself indicates our need for CONTROL WHICH sometimes can go too way far.  BUT psychologists insists that humans naturally want to feel that they're steering their own ship [YES, I agree, for a big chunk in my life, I also thought along those lines].  The scientific explanation here is that human beings have that deep-seated desire for certainty and CONTROL.  NOT to be defensive, some studies even showed that sense of autonomy seems to be the #1 contributor to happiness📗📙📘

YES, perhaps we should NOT be surprised then that some measures of our mental health seem to be heading in the wrong direction these years.  BUT given the fact that this world we live in looks unlikely to grow less crazy anytime soon, does that mean we're doomed to be miserable until our lives feel more controllable?  According to recent researches, WHILE we may NOT always be able to CONTROL events, we certainly can CONTROL our reaction to them.  It's HOW we contain the UNCONTROLLABLES💥💥💥

YES dude, there is a world of difference in our own happiness despite all the UNCONTROLLABLES that would pop-up in our lives, here and there.  A common scenario across all cultures in fact is that clash of personalities [WHICH I personally witnessed multiple times in the past].  At the end of the day, the hands-down winner in those 'clash of titans' is that cool and level-headed fellow WHO managed to handle and contain things, deftly handling the situation instead of it turning from bad to worse.  NOT a tough act to follow💚💛💜

Experts counsel us that there are two kinds of CONTROL, namely, that primary CONTROL WHICH happens WHEN we can actually CONTROL events and the secondary CONTROL and that's WHEN we DON'T and simply CAN'T CONTROL events BUT here's the huge BUT.  BUT we can CONTROL HOW we think about and respond to them.  We then exercise secondary CONTROL WHENEVER we reframe a failure as a learning experience.  Unsurprisingly, in multiple clinical studies, people love to have primary CONTROL of events BUT they also showed that secondary CONTROL can go a long way to promote feelings of both moment-to-moment happiness in life✅✅✅

Our takeaway:  A key lesson I learnt over and over again is the undeniable fact that we can always CONTROL HOW we tell our story and if this sounds familiar to you, that may be because it is far from similar results.  The thing is, IF and WHEN we CAN'T steer events, we can always steer HOW we think about them, looking and anticipating even for unexpected positives, ways we've grown.  Ouch, that CONTROL FREAK malaise😡😡😡

That PYGMALION Effect!

 

Our piece today is NOT about psychology BUT we'd like to sneak a bit into their world if only to dissect more That PYGMALION Effect!  For alignment, PYGMALION Effect is described HOW expectations about someone's performance can unconsciously influence one's behavior and ultimately may lead to the fulfillment of those expectations.  Heard of the optimists WHO never get daunted no matter HOW steep are the mountain slopes one has to climb???

HOW many times have we heard of that persistent 'LOTHARIO' who woos the very apple of his eyes, never slowing down OR worst never pulling the brakes.  WHY?  Likely it's because he is optimistic enough that eventually he will win over that 'girl of his life'.  Of course, in reality, there are narratives that do flop BUT they are more outliers.  Simply out, the PYGMALION Effect refers to that psychological phenomenon WHERE higher expectations would normally lead to an improved performance OR positive outcome and results of a specific pursuit.  In our daily life, in school as an example, essentially, WHEN teachers OR leaders expect more of others, they will likely perform better😊😊😊

Commonly known as the ROSENTHAL Effect, WHEN we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur.  In effect, it is that positive form of self-fulfilling prophecy WHEREIN the objects [the targeted individuals] of projections internalize the optimistic labels they receive and succeed to conform to those labels💧💧💧

In a way, this implies the sanguine expectations on a leader's part could lead to an improved performance by his followers.  This reinforces more the significant roles of leaders, hence, that old cliche "FOLLOW THE LEADER' because essentially, WHEN we 'toe the line' and heeding the advice and guidance of our leaders, there is a greater likelihood for us to succeed rather than fail in WHATEVER pursuit we are involved💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  If we need to be the crusader and advocate of that PYGMALION Effect, let's go for it, be it in our own households, at the workplace OR at the business settings.  That way, we can pitch-in and spread our positive influence to serve as that catalyst and motivator to encourage people to work out for their BEST results, BEST outcomes, and BEST achievements.  WHETHER you get credited IF and WHEN credit is due is NOT even a talking point here because this all boils down on our respective responsibilities to be the 'unseen' motivator for people to perform and even 'outperform' themselves beyond expectations.  That is a fear in the cap money CAN'T buy.  Let's go for that PYGMALION Effect dude!!!

Rightfully, Is OVERTHINKING Perfectly Right?

 

Rightfully, OVERTHINKING is perfectly right, right?  YES, we all get too deep in our head about things and we'll all found ourselves stuck in the never-ending spiral of "WHAT IF's" that come and go with life.  WHAT IF I can't actually afford that?  WHAT IF they DON'T like me?  WHAT IF the change will make things worse?  True, we will never run out of all those WHAT IFs because that's the vicious cycle constantly waiting to jump on us💥💥💥

The BIG ASK now is:  HOW DO WE KNOW IF WE'RE OVERTHINKING?  Psychologists did an analogy of OVERTHINKING and problem-solving and while there are commonalities, the experts tell us that they remain distinct.  While problem-solving is WHEN you ask questions with the intent of finding an answer OR a solution, OVERTHINKING is WHEN you dwell on possibilities and pitfalls without any real intent of solving a problem.  For all we know, a problem OR even a potential one may NOT even exist💦💦💦

OVERTHINKING is also being compared with self-reflection BUT again, experts insist that the two are distinct because self-reflection is an internally inquisitive process rooted in a higher purpose, WHETHER that's to grow as a person OR gain a new perspective.  And in case you're obsessing over something you DON'T like about yourself that you either CAN'T change OR have NO intention of improving, that is NOT self-reflection.  Instead, that becomes OVERTHINKING.  Sharing below the experts' cheat sheet to discern it:

• Dwelling on past events OR situations
• Second-guessing decisions you ALREADY made
• REPLAYING your mistakes in your mind
• Getting fixated on things you just CAN'T control
• Running your list while trying to sleep

So, HOW does OVERTHINKING affect us?  Experts tell us that it can affect HOW we experience and engage with the world around us, preventing us from making important decisions and keeping us from enjoying the PRESENT moment and instead draining us out of the energy we need to handle daily stressors.  And WHETHER we are fixating on the past OR catastrophizing about the future, thought patterns that are destructive can take its toll on us❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  The harsh BUT truthful advice from experts is that ruminating on stressful events can, over time, lead to anxiety and depression and from a medical health standpoint, anxiety can affect our ability to cope with everyday stressors and depression results in sadness, loneliness and even feelings of emptiness, NOT to forget the physical symptoms that come along with it like, fatigue, headache, nausea, amongst others.  WHAT TO DO then?  Let's NOT sweat the small stuff & instead combine critical thinking with instinct while setting a decision deadline.  In a nutshell, let us take action on stuff we can control and let go of things we really CAN'T because Rightfully, OVERTHINKING IS NOT PERFECTLY RIGHT, dude😌😌😌

The Meteoric Rise Of Alex Eala

 

Sharing EN TOTO from Azat.TV datelined 09.23.2025:  ALEXANDRA EALA's METEORIC RISE:  HOW A FILIPINO TENNIS STAR SHATTERED WTA RANKINGS IN 2025.  Indeed, in the world of professional tennis, WHAT matters most is the WTA rankings as it is reflective of the RISEs and FALLs in the very competitive world of global tennis.  And WHILE there is still more than three months left for 2025, the Philippines' ALEX EALA has already erased a lot of doubts with regard her potentials based on her stratospheric rise in the WTA rankings, rising all the way to No. 56 as of September 2025📗📙📘

And IF the media headlines she grabbed with her sterling performances in 2025, ALEX EALA was even unexpectedly thrusts into the NBA world WHEN no less than the NBA's superstarts [Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant] all got looped in various socia media messagings.  To date, ALEX EALA deserves all the attention given the below:

• Climbing 80 places in the WTA Rankings for 2025
• Miami Open wins over Ostapenko, Keys and Swiatek
• Winning her first WTA title at Mexico Guadalajara Open
• And as we speak now, even defeating Aliona Falei & Mei Yamaguchi in the ongoing Jingshan Tournament

YES, ALEX EALA's astonishing leap of 80 places in the 2025 WTA Rankings is more than just statistics.  Instead, it is a sheer chronicle of grit, setbacks, and ultimately triumph.  NOT too far back, in January 2025, ALEX EALA had a WTA rank of No. 138, way outside of the peripheries of the elite echelons of global tennis.  WHILE her early outings DIDN'T quite ignite excitement, it was thought that it was all calm before another unforgettable storm.  NOT until March rewrote the script WHEN @Miami Open, ALEX EALA was NOT just a participant but a disruptor💥💥💥

With a boldness that belied her low WTA ranking then, ALEX EALA dispatched Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys, then stunned the tennis world by toppling World No. 2 Iga Swiatek.  Suddenly, ALEX EALA was no longer that perennial underdog.  She was now the STORY.  Her run to the semifinals marked the first time a Filipina ever reached that stage at a WTA 1000 event, catapulting her from No. 140 to No. 75, all in two weeks, whoaaah!!!  Suddenly, the doors to the Top 100 swung open, and with them, new expectations and responsibilities💧💧💧

Our takeaway:  Drawing parallelisms to our own life narratives, our journeys are peppered with SETBACKS and COMEBACKS [if we want to] and let's face it, regardless WHETHER we're referring to competitive sports OR our daily life, no COMEBACK or ascent is without the hardest turbulence ever and it all boils down to the very person to break new ground and perhaps shatter his/her personal records with more WINs.  p.s. As we speak now, she is in a very tight semi-finals game with New Zealand's Lulu Sun 😀😀😀

Smelling Blood In The Water

 

As we are all aware of, life is NEVER a bed of roses.  There will always be antagonists, foes, adversaries, nemesis, name it.  For clarity, we are NOT insinuating that we be aggressive in our life WHEN it comes to conflicts but having said that, it is in our best interest for us to develop that ability to SMELL BLOOD in the water.  For alignment, this means scenarios WHERE we are at risk, in danger or in peril from the hands of an opposing party.  For further clarity, we're NOT referring to purely physical acts BUT instead, most of possible conflicts in life are far from physical BUT instead, such conflicts could be verbal, mental OR worse, for some WHO piggy-back on the power of social media to turn a mountain out of a molehill [WHICH is regrettable]📘📙📗

So, you might wonder, WHY do we need to be sharp enough to SMELL BLOOD IN THE WATER.  Plain and simple, much as we cannot be unconditionally shielded from any risk in life, at the very least, we need to be a step ahead in terms of monitoring a situation that can quickly turn from bad to worse.  BUT as they say, if we're a step ahead of things, we may possibly nip things in the bud.  That's WHEN we take a unilateral step ahead📌📌📌

As an analogy, let's swing over to social media WHERE, after many years in your FB, you know well enough your 'FB FRIENDS', especially those WHO tend to be easily triggered in arguments and conflicts that quickly escalate into full-blown ones.  WHAT IF you had a 'run in' with one FB FRIEND WHO carries that 'notoriety' of someone WHO does NOT back off from conflicts BUT instead, still goes full throttle.  We've heard of horror stories WHERE one of the protagonists uses social media to peddle half-truths and even concocted versions of a story.  SO HOW [after you SMELL BLOOD IN THE WATER], WHAT NEXT?  One immediate option is to watch out your FB and as a proactive measure, you may want to distance yourself from that person for now, at least via social media💥💥💥

WHAT IF you have this laid back outlook wherein you would just shrug off things even IF you did SMELL BLOOD IN THE WATER?  That's a double-edged sword hanging over you by then because either you, you are at risk.  IF you turn a blind eye, you might be perceived as a pushover, a weakling at that, WHO could be 'bulldozed' even randomly.  IF you take a proactive approach, just be ready for a 'fallout'❗❗❗

Our takeaway:  Once you're threading a very thin line WHERE the margin of error is very low, take a step back momentarily and reassess comprehensively the situation.  WHERE your assumptions seem to be more speculative, weigh-in and validate the probability of your assumption being correct.  Either way, it pays that we hone and sharpen our ability to SMELL BLOOD IN THE WATER😡😡😡

Need HELP [Ask For It!]

 

We could have all the dexterity our hands and extremities can facilitate BUT it's undeniable that from time to time, every one of us needs a HELPING HAND, one way OR the other.  BUT what's quite puzzling is WHAT I witnessed through the years. WHILE many really have managed well those situations WHEN they are in need of HELP, many times I did bear witness [first hand at that] some WHO need HELP BUT will hardly lift a finger!!!

If we have been part of those professional lectures and speeches, OR have read books OR watched movies, you'll notice that the one too many acknowledgments are always a healthy portion of those things.  WHAT explains those many acknowledgments?  Experts advise us that no one achieves greatness all by himself.  Because as humans, we depend on each other to learn and grow [and sometimes, to even survive specific challenging situations].  And numerous researches show that helping others actually make us feel good.  And I can attest to that.  Very recently, WHEN we invited our trusted handymand and his wife for a good meal in one of the best local restaurants and even had them go to the supermarket and go on a shopping spree😁😁😁

So, you might challenge me, if this is the case, HOW come it is so difficult for some people to ask for HELP?  For most people, even thinking of asking for HELP can chew away at their confidence.  And to complicate matters, spice it off with EGO and PRIDE, WHICH frankly become misplaced ones WHEN you are in dire need of HELP.  Surprisingly, it makes us start to question our abilities, and sometimes it even tends to paralyze us with anxiety.  The fact is that none of us can go through the journey of life all alone, by just our own self.  YES YES yowwww, NO ONE achieves that greatness all alone by himself📗📙📘

Again, this is one gap that is NOT so obviously missing from all our schoolings and studies, that is, learning HOW to ask for HELP, and almost more importantly accepting the fact that HELP is perhaps one of the greatest skills we can develop.  SO HOW?  HOW can we ask for HELP and actually get the HELP we need?  I have two shortest words here.  Be CONCISE and SPECIFIC.  This all comes down to clear communication.  NO need to over-explain WHICH only overwhelms and confuses us more❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  I've seen and heard this.  Some people WHO need help end up either blurting out one too many words without hitting the bullseye OR hardly saying any word.  WHY CAN'T we simply describe WHAT the task is, WHY it matters and HOW the person you're asking can contribute and HELP.  Key here is to be specific as possible as the other person needs to know exactly WHAT it is they will need to do and they can also accurately judge HOW much time and energy the task will take.  YES, we all need HELP at some points in life and NO ONE jumps out of their seat in excitement to help those WHO apologize for asking.  YES dude, NOTHING WRONG TO ASK FOR HELP [if need be]😡😡😡

The Randomness of Life

 

For the longest time, I can take pride that I evolved through the years parallel to PLANNING and PLANNING.  Anything RANDOM was farthest from my mind, if at all.  YET, my realization like NOT so long ago, six years ago to be precise, is that we should be living life as it is, inclusive of everything that's RANDOM because contrary to our misconceptions, life is more RANDOM than planned, regardless your being a planner📗📙📘

Please DON'T get me wrong as I am NOT contradicting myself because all along, I always preach for PLANNING and PLANNING no less.  BUT let me qualify things here.  PLANNING is NOT inclusive.  Once you step out of your home and regardless WHETHER you will drive OR you're commuting, almost everything right outside your doorstep becomes random.  True, you planned to leave home way past the traffic peak hours OR you purposely waited for that heavy downpour to weaken BUT the bottom line here is that WHILE we are taught and reared to PLAN and PLAN, more importantly, handling and managing the random things in life would matter as much as PLANNING💥💥💥

NOT too long ago, I plotted my plans in that typical 'WBS' [Work Breakdown Structure] discipline with inter-dependencies and critical paths identified up front.  YET, along the way, I realized that I just CAN'T cover the whole nine yards because rather than striving for a thorough and perfect order of things, UNCERTAINTY creeps and that's WHEN we will realize those things in life WHICH are way beyond our control.  BUT so as NOT to scare you, WHILE we will bluntly preach that we need to embrace UNCERTAINTY, let's coaxed things in a subtle way by articulating that we need to embrace change, and letting go of any UNCERTAINTY that comes our way❎❎❎

WHICH means, once we can focus our personal actions MORE on the 'CONTROLLABLES', we can then navigate WHATEVER unexpected that surfaces and along the way, build up that resilience in the face of the 'insurmountable', if any.   And once we become more humble, less competitive [without being laidback and lazy] and more compassionate [without neglecting ourselves either], researches showed that we can likely find our 'happiness levels' and life quality can even steeply improve😊😊😊

Our takeaway:  Frankly, our brain abhors RANDOMNESS and instead it seeks patterns and craves control BUT RANDOM processes are fundamental in nature and are ubiquitous even in our everyday lives [YET most people seem NOT to understand them OR think much about them.  If you heard about that spine-tingling narrative of United Airlines flight attendant Elise O'Kane WHO was supposed to be in that ill-fated Flight UA 175 which rammed through the World Trade Center's North Tower BUT due to their computer system's glitch, she was WRONGLY assigned to another flight.  After retiring from UA, she trained to be a nurse because she admitted she wanted to 'GIVE BACK AND FULFILL' herself in life.  Just another testament of life's RANDOMNESS🙏🙏🙏

DON'T Miss Out That 'LOCKING' Feature!

 

Statistical data of phishing scams continue to go up unabatedly.  As per Channelnewsasia, last December alone in Singapore, at least 103 people got duped of at least US$ 122,000 after they fell prey to phishing scams involving the impersonation of banks through spoofed SMS's.  Another 750 victims did fall prey to Android malware scams first half of this .  For now, DON'T Miss Out That 'LOCKING' Feature📙📘

With scammers being many steps ahead of even the best regulators and technology experts, the least we can do is to leverage on the security functions offered by our bankers and one feature very often missed out [I'll call it 'IGNORED'] by many of us is that 'LOCK' security feature.  As every LOCKING feature is unique across banks, we won't get into specifics BUT simply put, IF you invoked that 'LOCK' feature, you are "ALMOST" guaranteed that your account is safe [take note that it's "ALMOST"!@#$?]

Just the other day, I was paying with my credit card a few items we bought in a local store but the transaction failed with the message 'CONTACT BANK' only for me to realize that I had to UNLOCK my account before that payment transaction.  BUT hold on, awhile ago, I stated that once your account is LOCKED, the security of your account is 'ALMOST' guaranteed secure BUT NOT 100% secure enough.  WHY?  Because with scammers gaining access to banking credentials and one-time passwords [OTPs] through their deceptive ways, our bank account [and that's our smartphone as well] can be literally 'TAKEN OVER', whew!@#$?

There's this misconception that FIXED DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS like Time Deposits are safe and sound?  While those accounts could have fixed maturities, we should NOT forget that that kind of account can be prematurely withdrawn!@#$?  WHAT IF that guilt-less scammer breaches your account login and proceeds to your FIXED DEPOSIT ACCOUNT and initiates a premature withdrawal [and NOT an account closure so as NOT to raise the highest levels of alarms]?  WHILE that breach is not a one-step transaction, once the scammer passes through the login validation + OTP, that's it, you're TOAST by then!@#$? 

Our takeaway:  Please consider choosing a banking service provider WHO offers the services of either a 'PRIVATE BANKER' [PB] or a 'RELATIONSHIP MANAGER' [RM] because with that service support structure, you can be assured that your PB or RM will personally reach out to you IF and WHEN your banker will 'SMELL BLOOD IN THE WATER'.  As your bank is your next layer of defense and protection from those unscrupulous scammers, please be curious to inquire if your prospective banker offers PB or RM services.  Bottomline is, please always keep your devices a.k.a. smartphone 100% physically and digitally secure because that's your FIRST LINE of DEFENSE!!!