12.31.2010

A Clean Slate

Would you believe my favorite holiday is New Years Day? I have always felt like the first day of the year is a perfect time for a brand new beginning. No matter how good last year was, or how many challenges I faced last year, I always look forward to starting the New Year with a clean slate.

Practically speaking, you can make any day a clean slate day for the next chapter in your life, and I have done it many times at all different times of the year. But New Years Day is special. I don’t know how else to say it.

So, what about this clean slate? What are you going to do with it? Start school? Finish school? Start a new job? Start a new business? Marry the love of your life? Buy your dream car? OMG, the possibilities are endless!

Whatever you decide to do with your clean slate, make it count. Make it something you can later say with pride, “Yeah, I did that!” The surest way to make it happen is to write it down and don’t give yourself an out. No excuses.

“Do, or do not. There is no try.” --Jedi Master Yoda

Now go take on 2011!!

Peace, out.
 
Check out
Duane’s YouTube Channel

12.27.2010

Mail Trolls and Phone Trolls

First, I will tell you what they are and then I will tell you how to get rid of them.

Mail Trolls are those people who send you mail that you don’t want and you have to spend time shredding it (recommended) or throwing it in the trash. You could blame it on the companies, but companies are run by people, so the people are the trolls. The junk they send you varies, but in this blog, I’m specifically talking about credit card offers.

I used to get 2-3 credit card offers in the mail every day. It is ridiculous how much time and money these trolls spend sending their junk to people. For a few months, I would take an offer from one company and stick it in the prepaid envelope from another company and mail it, and get rid of it that way. It was fun at first but I realized that was wasting even more of my time. LOL So I decided to get rid of the whole mess, once and for all. How did I do it? Read on.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to Opt-Out of this never-ending merry-go-round of junk in your mailbox. Go to this website, https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ and follow the steps to Opt-Out, either for 5 years or permanently. In a couple weeks, you will wonder, “What ever happened to all that junk I used to get in my mailbox?” :)


Phone Trolls are people you don’t know who call you and try to talk you into giving them your money. They are more annoying than mail trolls because you have to deal with them right now instead of once a day when you check your mailbox. And they can call at any time, even several times a day.

I used to play with these people for my own amusement and to entertain the people around me. When I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize, I would answer the phone in a variety of ways, including speaking fake Chinese, pretending to be really angry at the caller, insisting that the caller was actually my friend Tom trying to play a joke on me, asking the caller about his family, how does he like his job, what kind of car does he drive, etc.

You get the point--he was wasting my time so I was wasting his. But eventually I got bored with that game and decided to simplify my life by getting rid of all these calls. How did I do that? Check this out.

The Federal Government has created the National Do Not Call Registry, a free and easy way to eliminate 99% of telemarketing calls to your home phone or your cell phone, or both. Call this number from any phone you want to protect from telemarketers 1-888-382-1222. Within a month, phone trolls will no longer be a problem.

Now go take on the day!

Peace, out. 


Check out Duane’s YouTube Channel

12.07.2010

Poker Secrets

For a four-year period, from 2003 through 2007, I intended to become a professional poker player. I bought dozens of books on how to play poker, how to read your opponents, bluffing, the math of poker, etc. Pretty much the only thing I watched on TV for those four years was poker. I was learning and assimilating and trying to get inside the heads of the world’s leading poker players. I played online poker almost every day for four years. And I played in casinos, small casinos and big casinos every chance I got. But I eventually went a different way. So what made me decide to change my career path after investing so much time in my poker education?

Here are some secrets about poker that I didn't count on. They are very rarely talked about or written about. The first secret is a phenomenon that applies to all types of gambling, and even aggressive investment strategies. I don't know if it has a name, but it goes something like this--

First Secret--
When you lose $500 (or any significant amount), the pain you feel is worse than the joy you feel from winning that same amount of money. If you have an emotional attachment to money (and who doesn't?), you are constantly battling with your emotions. Because no matter how good you are, you are still going to have losing days.

Second Secret--
You can play mathematically perfect poker and still get your butt kicked. This happens for two reasons: First, if you are playing that way, people will eventually figure it out, start bluffing you more, and start folding when you come out betting strong. That's when you need to switch it around to throw them off. But it might be too late by then.


Third Secret--
There is enough luck involved in poker, that you can play world-class poker and still lose some major hands to some schmuck who just got lucky. Now that hurts! All of these things, for me at least, make poker very hard to master. I still love to play, but not as a profession.

Peace, out.
 
Check out
Duane’s YouTube Channel