Issue #2490
- WEALTHY: Why you should keep Priceline on your radar (Christian Hill)
- HEALTHY: How your camera can help you lose weight (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Ann Landers’s single most useful piece of advice for humanity
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Problem or predicament? (Alex Green)
- How to avoid one of the most common mistakes in English (Don Hauptman)
- It’s Good to Know… about getting stuck with wacky user names
- Add “sciolism” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
The Internet Has Become a Profit-Happy Playground for Budding Online Entrepreneurs
From an automatic $800 monthly to $187,296 in one day, for a few hours of work – that’s what is possible with this new Internet formula for success.
Now you can discover how to do the same by setting up automatic income streams that flow to you each and every month. And there’s no limit to how many sources of income you could have.
This new program, called Instant Internet Income, is easy, fast, and flat-out WORKS. Just follow the step-by-step plan for making money online.
One note: It’s guaranteed to do exactly what I say. Click here to learn more and get started today!
The Price Could Be Right to Buy Into This Travel Site
Priceline built its business on the premise that people want to pay a lower price for travel services than what is advertised. The company started by targeting air travelers with good deals on flights. It has since expanded to include hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages.
With William Shatner in a campy role as spokesperson, the company’s commercials are at least memorable and keep it visible. Since peaking in May of this year at around $140 a share, its stock has slid back a bit, to the current $60 range. However, with the major holiday travel season looming on the horizon, I think the fortunes of Priceline could turn soon.
Traveling during the holiday season, unlike the rest of the year, is almost unavoidable, even with airfares climbing. And with shrinking wallets, consumers will employ every resource available to get the cheapest possible fares and accommodations. This leads me to believe that Priceline could see a nice bounce in earnings when it announces first-quarter 2009 results.
Of course, to take advantage of this, you want to buy Priceline well before the earnings announcement. And with the recent pullback in the stock price, you can now get in cheaper than you could have a few months ago. But before you buy, wait until the stock ends its current slide and starts to gain upward momentum again.
[Ed. Note: Keep your money safe during these shaky times by making smart investment choices. Companies with strong fundamentals are best equipped to withstand major market changes. But don't be afraid of fluctuations in the market. These movements can offer you the perfect opportunity to profit.
"If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'"
Ann Landers
The Psychology of Optimal Experience
By Alex Green
We all have troubles. In many ways, they define our lives. But, according to philosopher Abraham Kaplan, we can deal with them more effectively if we recognize them as either problems or predicaments.
The difference? Problems, says Kaplan, can be solved. Predicaments can only be coped with.
If you work in downtown Baltimore, for example, you may be worried about crime. This is a predicament, not a problem. You can install a security system in your car, avoid the worst areas after dark, or arrange a transfer to a different office. But these are coping mechanisms. You are not going to "fix" crime in Baltimore.
A more serious predicament we all face is the occasional death of a loved one. We can spend time grieving with family and friends, join a support group, or take up new activities to keep our minds from becoming preoccupied. But death itself cannot be bargained with.
Fortunately, most of our troubles are not predicaments but problems.
You may worry, for instance, that you haven't saved enough for a comfortable retirement. If so, you have plenty of company. According to the 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 36 percent of workers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings. Another 13 percent have less than $25,000.
Clearly, this is a problem, but one with a straightforward solution. You can make more. You can spend less. Or you can earn a higher return on your investments. (Doing all three isn't bad either.)
Or, you may be one of the millions of Americans who struggle with obesity. If so, it is probably having a detrimental effect on your health, your self-image, and your quality of life. And for some, this is both a problem and a predicament. After all, genetics determine your basic body type. As you learned in fifth-grade health class, you were born an ecotomorph, a mesomorph, or an endomorph. You cannot change this. But anyone can eat better, exercise more, or both. Not easy, but there is a solution.
Why is it important to label the trials you face as either problems or predicaments?
According to John C. Maxwell, author of The Difference Maker, "When people treat a predicament as a problem, they become frustrated, angry, or depressed. They waste energy. They make bad decisions. And when people treat problems as predicaments, they often settle, give up, or see themselves as victims."
Understand this and you've taken the first step toward dealing with your predicaments and solving your problems.
Nielsen Media Research tells us that Americans love reality shows where contestants are put in high-pressure situations and challenged to "win" by using every bit of intelligence, cunning, and resourcefulness they can muster. Why not view your own problems the same way? If you have a boring job, an inattentive spouse, or a looming financial setback, why not use all your smarts, imagination, and creativity to turn the tables?
My guess is that if you were in front of a national television audience - and in danger of being voted off the show - you'd come up with something pretty good, something that would surprise the people around you.
In fact, this is exactly what you should be doing, according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He argues that the quickest way to increase your life satisfaction is to quit seeing your problems as difficulties and start viewing them as enjoyable challenges.
Facing your problems this way requires just two things: a bit of imagination and a positive attitude. The payoff, in turn, can be huge.
Whether you want to start your own business, lose 30 pounds, or get out of debt, you can begin by relishing the challenge. You might surprise yourself, too. Not only by achieving your goals, but by seeing how much satisfaction you get just by moving toward them in a disciplined way.
Think of it as your own reality show. (One that, ironically, actually deals with reality.) The obstacles in front of you give you the opportunity to show the world - and yourself - what you're made of.
So why not attack those obstacles today with a fresh mindset and a new attitude? You have nothing to lose but your troubles.
[Ed. Note: Happiness is well within your reach. Learn how you can make your life richer - in both senses of the word - right here.
And be sure to join Alex Green, Chairman of Investment U and Investment Director of The Oxford Club, as he tackles some of life's more difficult challenges in his free, twice-weekly e-letter Spiritual Wealth. Sign up here.
The Three Magic Words to Building Wealth Online
What are the three most important words for rapidly building enormous wealth online?
Quick, cheap, & easy! Our new Internet program has them all.
You see, the problem with most Internet advice out there is it’s designed for people with big (multi-million dollar) advertising budgets, lots of administrative, legal, and accounting support and an existing marketing base.
But if your company is smaller than $1 million and/or if you don’t have an Internet business yet, then you need something different… something that lets you start off small.
One man I know turned $10 into over $500,000. How’s that for starting small!
Let me show you how you could get a similar Internet income stream running for almost nothing.
- Charlie Byrne
ETR Associate Publisher
Copywriting Expert John Forde on Changing the Channel: "It's Not Often You Get to See Two Hugely Successful Marketers Tag-Team to Lay Down Their Insights Like This."
"Just when everyone tells you we've hit a 'permanent plateau' in what works or doesn't work in marketing, Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby come along to blow those assumptions out of the water. As their book, Changing the Channel, makes clear, we're at the gates of a golden age. Opportunity dead? It's just getting started - with at least these dozen brilliant ways to step across the threshold. It's not often you get to see two hugely successful marketers tag-team to lay down their insights like this. Here, they have. And it was clearly worth the wait."
John Forde
Copywriter and Editor
The Copywriter's Roundtable
[Ed. Note: Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business is the brand-new book by MaryEllen Tribby and Michael Masterson. The book doesn't come out until October 28 - but you can learn more about it and the power of multi-channel marketing at www.ChangingtheChannelBook.com. Keep reading ETR for details on when you can secure your copy.]
Strange Internet Trend for Weight Loss
Nutrition bloggers have a strange habit. They like to take pictures of their meals and post them on their websites. But recent research has found that this might be giving them an unexpected benefit.
A study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, suggests that the “Flash Diet” – having research subjects keep a photographic record of everything they ate – helped them lose weight. By taking photographs of their meals, the subjects were more likely to stick to their diets. Subjects who used food diaries instead were not as successful.
The researchers say that taking the photographs not only helped with calorie counting, but it seems that some subjects were motivated by the guilt of having photographic evidence of their bad choices. And it appears that others were motivated to improve their diets once they realized that the color green (and, therefore, green vegetables) was missing from their photos.
I’ve long believed that keeping food diaries and using sites like Fitday.com are helpful for men and women who want to lose weight. They’re very helpful in preventing overeating and mindless snacking before dinner. But it looks like the Flash Diet – actually taking photos of the food – is even MORE helpful.
All you need to do is snap a quick shot with your phone camera and you’ll get the benefits. If you combine this strategy with social support, you’ll take a huge step toward controlling your overeating. You could, for instance, post the photos to your blog, and post your meals and a link to the photos on a micro-blogging site such as Twitter. You’ll get support from others all over the world that will help you stay on track.
[Ed. Note: Online support can be very helpful when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. Share your weight-loss struggles, diet and exercise techniques, and encouragement for free right here. And for a top-notch fitness program that can help you burn fat and build muscle, check out Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program here.]
The Language Perfectionist: Who, Me?
By Don Hauptman
One of the most frequent misuses is “who” for “whom.” Many people are unable to get it right in everyday speech. But the error is also unforgivably common in major publications that have copy editors and proofreaders on staff.
Here are a few examples, all found in respected newspapers and magazines:
• “On your own, you may not know who you need to contact, while a recruiter has access to the decision makers.”
• “Not only do you have to know who you are talking to, you need to know how they listen.”
• “In China, as in combat, the agonizing choice of deciding who to save – or ignore… .”
Although the mistake is usually the use of “who” where “whom” is correct, as in the above three cases, sometimes it’s the other way around. The writer thinks he’s following the rules but still gets it wrong – a phenomenon called “hypercorrection.” Example: “Cellphones may make it easier for people to reach each other, yet Americans are very guarded about whom they want calling them.” It should be “who.”
Except in occasional tricky cases, it’s not difficult to avoid this error. When the referent is the object of the action, use “whom.” When the subject is the actor, it’s “who.”
Tip: If a preposition such as “to” or “for” is part of the construction, it’s “whom.” If not, “who” is most likely right. After all, no one would ever say “for who the bell tolls.”
The following sentence uses both who and whom correctly: “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is embroiled in a messy fight with a security engineer whom it fired last month – but who it now fears left with information about a secret plan to boost the giant retailer’s lagging stock price.”
This passage also shows us how to avoid a common trap. You might assume that the second use should be “whom.” But the interpolated phrase “it now fears” can be misleading. Grammatically, it could be deleted, making it clear that “who… left with” is correct. When in doubt about “who” versus “whom” in a complicated sentence, try that quick test.
[Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book recently published by AWAI that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.]
It’s Good to Know: Never Be Stuck With a Wacky Username Again
Many websites, from social networking sites to eBay, require you to register before you can get started. But picking out a username that’s not already in use by someone else – and is easy for people to remember – can be tricky.For a one-stop solution, go to UserNameCheck.com. This free service will check a variety of registration sites to see if your desired username is available.
(Source: Lifehacker)
== Highly Recommended ==
Clever Solutions to Life’s Problems in Under 3 Minutes
What if you had an ingenious solution or answer to almost any of life’s little frustrations or major problems? Sound like a dream come true, but almost too good to believe? Maybe it’s time to start believing…
From gossip to liars to lousy credit ratings…to irritating neighbors, IRS audits, and bully bosses…to billing errors, back pain, and out of control in-laws…
We’ve got answers for you – tons of ’em - to these and hundreds more of life’s frustrations. You’ll be amazed at how quick and effective these clever solutions are for almost all of life’s problems. And they are all contained in a FREE book we want to give you.
Just flip through the index, find the page number that deals with that problem, and take a couple of minutes to read the answer. To claim your FREE copy, simply click here.
Word to the Wise: Sciolism
“Sciolism” (SY-uh-liz-um) – from the Latin for “a smatterer” – is superficial knowledge.
Example (as used by Caroline Winterer in The Culture of Classicism): “American classics teachers’ choice… to focus on grammar rather than other aspects of the classical inheritance resulted from their primary pedagogical goals: to mold gentlemen who navigated between sciolism and pedantry, ministers who could intelligently read the Bible, and citizens who were moral and dutiful.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
Similar Articles:
- The Psychology of Optimal Experience – We all have troubles. In many ways, they define our lives. But, according to philosopher Abraham Kap…
- The Price Could Be Right to Buy Into This Travel Site – Priceline built its business on the premise that people want to pay a lower price for travel service…
- Green Tea for Prostate Health – Asian cultures have promoted the many health benefits of green tea for thousands of years. In the l…
- Strange Internet Trend for Weight Loss – Nutrition bloggers have a strange habit. They like to take pictures of their meals and post them on …
- Green Tea May Protect Women From Cancer – Not only is green tea a great source of powerful antioxidants, new research suggests it is one of y…
- Could Green Tea Help You Live Longer? – You may have heard that Japan has the highest percentage of centenarians (people aged 100 or above)…
- It’s Good to Know: It May Not Be “Green” – Think you’re saving the planet by being a careful consumer? Think again. Ninety-nine percent of prod…
Very good: more truth then fiction in this one! I’ve never had any of these problems but know others who have and would recommend it be read by all
Iwas not able to sign up for Alex Green’s “Spiritual Wealth”.
Patrick – Here’s the link to Alex Green’s “Spiritual Wealth” sign-up page: http://www.spiritualwealth.com/siup/signup.html