Friday, November 22, 2013

Fwd: What's the Point of Traveling? | Tynan | Life Outside the Box




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: What's the Point of Traveling? | Tynan | Life Outside the Box
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 18:50:07 -0500
From: Tynan <newsletter@tynan.net>
To: stevescott@techacq.com


 
   

What's the Point of Traveling?

[ Ack.. no photo because the boat is really rocking, which wrecks the internet. Sorry]

A few days ago reader "jd" had a great suggestion for a post: what's the point of traveling? Seeing that I'm at the end of a long series of trips, it's seems to me that it's a perfect time for a post like that. Like anything, people travel for a whole host of reasons ranging from relieving stress to escaping the law. I can't speak to all of those reasons, so I'll share my own.

I began really traveling due to panic, which may not have been the best reason to go. I had always thought of myself as the type of person who would travel the world, but at twenty-six, I had gone to only a handful of countries, and had never even been to Europe. Realizing that other people my age were traveling a lot, and I wasn't, I sold everything and left with my friend Todd.

That first trip lasted nine months and fundamentally changed how I thought of travel. I set out in search of adventure and the title of "person who travels", but I got a lot more out of it.

When you stay in your home country, it's easy to completely avoid thinking of life beyond its borders. The way things were in America, I figured, was pretty much the way they were everywhere. Typical vacation travel also reinforces this view, because it hides the grit of every destination and serves up a sanitized version that largely reflects the country from which the vacationers came. In the worst cases, only a small injection of caricatured culture makes its way through the walls of the resort.

Real travel exposes the traveler to the details of life that compose the atmosphere of that country. Through that experience, one can begin to understand what life is actually like for the residents. You learn not only how they think and act differently, but why.

To see life from these different perspectives is to see the world in three dimensions. A contrast is provided against how you've always thought about and done things, which gives you the opportunity to examine those things.

Apart from gaining a deeper subconscious understanding of how the world works, you also learn a lot about yourself through travel. Because you are constantly dealing with new situations that you've never dealt with before, you learn to rely on yourself. Almost everybody learns that they're more capable than they thought they were, and through that process learns that the rest of the world isn't as intimidating as it might seem.

The great thing about traveling is that if you're diligent about it, you can get all of those benefits while still being just about as productive as you were before. The gains come in the background as everyday routines are replaced with novel experiences. A trip to the supermarket takes the same amount of time, but reveals things about the country you're in, and isn't done on autopilot like back home.

These benefits of travel can be found in trips of any length, but are only really forced upon you during long trips. That's why when people begin traveling, I recommend spending a lot of time in each country. A night or two in a city and you can book a hotel, eat in "western style" restaurants, see a tourist site or two, and then head home. If you're somewhere for a month, on the other hand, you'll probably be forced to branch out.

Once you're a more seasoned traveler, you get better at gaining that same perspective during shorter trips. Longer trips still yield more depth, but your travel style will shift away from typical tourist traps and the emotional safety of experiences that mirror home.

Traveling is one of the single most powerful ways to build perspective, confidence, and self-reliance. It's also a lot of fun, and conducive to getting work done at the same time. Motivations will vary from person to person, but to me, those factors make up the point of traveling.

###

Photo is live scorpions on a stick, sold in Beijing. I'll admit that I didn't "live like the locals" enough to eat them.

Back in the US tomorrow, heading to D.C. to see my family for Thanksgiving!

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Fwd: How To Book Cruises For Less Than $30 Per Day | Tynan | Life Outside the Box



   

How To Book Cruises For Less Than $30 Per Day

In the last post, where I wrote about how much I like working from cruise ships, I mentioned that I could share my method for booking really cheap cruises. I'm going to do that here, and share some other relevant cruise tips.

Getting Cheap Cruises

First, start at Cruise Sheet. There used to be a site called Cruise Hot Sheet that had similar information, but it stopped working, so I built Cruise Sheet.

The best cruises to look for are repositioning cruises. They are the most interesting, have the most sea days, and tend to be very inexpensive. In the fall there are a lot of repositioning cruises from Europe to the US, and in the spring those same ships reposition back to Europe.

The key metric is the cost per day. Unless it's an incredibly great cruise that goes somewhere you're dying to go, I would never pay more than $50 per day. Really, you should be looking for cruises under $40 per day, or even under $30 if you don't care about the itinerary.

The best time to book is 1-3 months before the cruise. If you find a great deal before then you can go ahead and book it, but if all you care about is getting a good deal on a good ship going to or from Europe, I'd wait until 60 or fewer days out. Pretty much every season there are a couple transatlantics that drop below $30.

The cruise line isn't all that important. Holland America is my favorite, but all of them are roughly equally suited to remote working. Shop for price and location first (you have to click the Orbitz/CruiseDirect links to see the full itinerary, though I will some day integrate that into Cruise Sheet when I have more time).

Once you have a few cruises that you like, click through to Cruise Compete and request bids. When you do that, put something like, "Looking for lowest CPD, including OBC" in the message box. Cruise Compete will then allow many different cruise agents to bid on your request. CPD and OBC are terms for Cost Per Day and On Board Credit. Including them in your request lets the agent know that you know what you're doing.

Norwegian doesn't allow Cruise Compete, so you have to book through someone else. It's worth shopping around, but Orbitz is often $10-20 below everyone else for some reason.

Many cruise lines limit the agents' ability to discount, so to circumvent that restriction, agents will offer you On Board Credit, which is just cash that they put in your onboard spending account. You will use this on internet and tips, but if you have any left over, you can convert it to cash at the casino.

Except on very rare occasions, booking a room for yourself is the same price as booking a room for two. In other words, you'll pay double the advertised price if you cruise alone. All of the prices listed everywhere, including Cruise Sheet, are assuming double occupancy. However, adding a third or fourth person is occasionally VERY cheap, maybe free or $99 plus taxes. When you add a third or fourth person you sometimes get a slightly bigger room.

You will also have to pay taxes. I'm trying to figure out a good way to show taxes on Cruise Sheet, but the data is not readily available. They vary a lot, but will add 10-50% to the cost of the cruise. I think it depends on which ports you're going to.

You should also expect to pay tips, which are roughly $11 per day. You don't tip anyone other than bartenders while you're on the cruise, so this covers all of the waitstaff, cabin stewards, etc.

Luckily there is one good trick to lower the price of the cruise even more. Almost every line will give you onboard credit if you own 100 shares of their stock. The process is very easy-- just buy the stock, fax or email them the confirmation, and you'll have the money waiting for you when you get on the ship. The two times I've done this, they gave me no confirmation at all that it was successful, but it worked.

The perfect storm occurs when you can find a cruise that doesn't require double occupancy and allows a single person to have a cabin to themselves at the advertised price. This is amazing because then you can get the full shareholder discount instead of splitting it with your roommate. I once booked a 14 day cruise for $399, and got $250 off for being a shareholder.

Other Random Cruise Tips

Never buy the cruise line's shore excursions. You can almost always get the exact same thing for around half price by talking to the touts outside the ship. I never do that, either, though. It's much cheaper (and more fun) to just arrange stuff like motorcycle rentals, scuba gear rentals, etc. through the internet.

A good source for finding things to do is the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. I haven't been disappointed yet. Just randomly walking around a new place is a decent use of a day, too.

The menus in the dining room make it seem like you can only order one thing per section (appetizer, soup, salad, main, dessert). You can actually order unlimited things per section. Back in my more gluttonous days, a friend and I ate 37 plates between the two of us.

The boat will leave without you if you are late.

You don't have to get on the first stop. If you just show up on a later stop, they will let you in. So if you found a great deal but timing or location were an issue, you could still make it work (but would be paying more per day).

The shows are generally terrible, but watch for one-night guest acts. I saw an amazing juggler once, and a couple good magicians.

The dining room is much much better than the buffet, though the difference is usually not as great at breakfast. Some people never go to the dining room, and I don't understand it.

There is a crazy schedule on the last day which will probably dictate that you need to leave at 7am or something crazy. This is not mandatory. I always leave at the tail end of the last period, and am usually the last one off the ship. This is a good way to skip the crowds and get a couple extra hours of sleep.

On the westbound repositioning cruises, particularly transatlantics, you get a lot of twenty-five hour days. It's magical.

###

For people who don't care about cruises: I'm going to stop writing about them now.

For people who think I'm making tons of money promoting Cruise Sheet: I haven't made any money yet.

Photo is from Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Fwd: QLA NEWSLETTER #102 - 15 Keys to Make Your Quantum Leap in 2014 and New QLA Info!

Subject: QLA NEWSLETTER #102 - 15 Keys to Make Your Quantum Leap in 2014 and New QLA Info!
To: Steve Scott <stevescott@techacq.com>



Hi Steve Scott ,
 

HOW CAN YOU PREPARE FOR 2014?

OR DO YOU WANT TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE??

Preparing for 2014, I was doing research and reading my past QLA newsletters. I also reviewed my notes from my many meetings on my 6 week trip around the world! Though I commented in my last newsletter, I found many QLA followers to be lacking in their commitment, I did find a few that were most sincere in their desire to honestly fulfill their dreams! Of course talk is cheap and time will tell! But I will continue to assist those, as I have for the past 20 years! But I will be more discerning in whom I chose!

In fact one of the kids - whose talk was not cheap; who I mentioned in a tweet and a previous newsletter; who drove down from Canada to meet me in central Ohio to take me to dinner, just wrote me:

...... There's about 2 months left in 2013. I want to end the year by making super drastic changes in the way I think.

For example, I will learn about the investment world as much as I can. I've committed to staying in the office 24/7 to fully commit myself - I've slept in the office for the past 3 days. The new office I moved into has showers, so I guess there's really no reason to go home lol!

I enjoy pushing myself to my limits, and want to ramp it up to my breaking limits for the next 2 months.

I want to come out mentally sharper and more grounded in reality by the end of the year
.

WTF! Hell I knew the kid (26) was good when he drove down from Canada! But do you honestly think if I hadn't told him high performance people like Jobs, Gates and myself slept in their offices, etc., he would of ever slept in his office and even driven down  to see me? WTF! Now with this in mind - if you are thinking QLA  - what are you going to do to gear up for 2014? Or will you sit on your fat and, or skinny asses and let 2014 rip you just like always? Are you going to be reactive, or proactive? WHAT POSITIVE ACTIONS ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE?

(WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PROPLE WHO TAKE ASH TRAYS, TOWELS AND BIBLES FROM HOTEL ROOMS? MORE ABOUT THIS CONUMDRUM LATER!)

FREE CONTENT

Funny how I tell all of you to read all the FREE content on my sight and I am the one who reads it often! Hence, I still get great ideas merely refreshing myself with my own material! I get the same results listening to the my Harvard Club Tapes from 1993 and 97 periodically! And I especially like seeing my You Tube material – although I am told many of you feel I am too rough on the listeners! Of course I make no apologies, because that is the real world I deal with and it would be disingenuous to act any different!  In fact, as my wife Sally will tell you, I make myself cry listening to myself! It is great stuff! LOL! As I have said many times – no 1 loves me as much as I love myself! And if you can't really love yourself – you can't love anything you do!

BTW: as I said in a recent tweet and newsletter you should watch the movie - The Devil Wears Prada! Why? Because the main star in the movie is an extremely high performance person! And she is ostensibly tough on her staff and all others she deals with, including her husband! LOL! Strange, but I didn't see any of her actions to be that odd! LOL! The point is if you have never been around anyone like that you have never been exposed to a TRUE HIGH PERFORMANCE person before – one who makes ALL around them responsible and accountable! Hence, I can't in good conscience make excuses for my You Tube exposures, when I know for an absolute fact, those are the fact patterns of most high performance people!

Oh well, at least I am using my QLA site content as it was intended! FREE! Again, I have said countless times high performance people are never satisfied with what they do, or how they do it! Hence, I am ALWAYS endeavouring to improve! How about you? Let's make a bond - TO ATTACK 2014 LIKE WE NEVER DID BEFORE!  Add it to your goals, affirmations and visualizations! Let's use the young guy above as a role model for the new year! Or if you don't want to take that bet – merely UNSUBSCRIBE – and don't ever hold yourself accountable by any high standards again!  I can guarantee it will make your life a lot more simple! Of course then you will have to pay the price of regret later! I suggest you pay the price now and just do it, by getting up off your ass and taking positive acton! If your still with me – please read on!

Below is the QLA Newsletter # 42 from early 2003! It is amazing stuff, because it was so succinct! And I wrote it to kick off the new year over 10 years ago! Of course my message has not changed in more than 20 years, since I began QLA coaching! Hell my message has not changed since the day I graduated from US Army Infantry OCS in June 1967, when I was first deemed a high performance person, by an Act of the United States Congress! To that time, it was by far my most proud moment and to date it still ranks in the top 5! And ostensibly without it, there would be no other 4!

ISSUE #42

10-Feb-2003 From Dan Peña
Executive Coach and Mentor to the High Performer.

Dear Friend and Subscriber,

In the New Year it is a great time to review what works and what doesn't. As I have said countless times, "Don't waste time on things you can't change" and "Insanity is doing things over and over and expecting different results."

In that vain I have re-listed the 15 Keys for Super Success below. Reviewing these main points  will help to re-focus your thoughts and more importantly your actions.

Preparing for Your Quantum Leap
(15 Keys to Super Success)

KEY 1: Super Success is not for everyone!
KEY 2: You cannot become a high-performance person part-time!
KEY 3: You cannot have it all - there is a "Pay Price in Action for Reward"
KEY 4: You must change - do it badly NOW if you have to because perfection = paralysis!
KEY 5: Do not listen to Morons! Conventional wisdom is almost always wrong!
KEY 6: You are who you associate with - model success!
KEY 7: Use Modelling to become Successful:

THREE METHODS OF BECOMING SUCCESSFUL:

1. Trial and Error (takes too long)
2. Over time (Takes too long)
3. Modelling / Copying is only real choice.

KEY 8: Get a Mentor

CHARACTERISTICS OF A MENTOR:


1. Significantly More wealthy than you.
2. Significantly More experienced than you.
3. Older than you.
4. Other common interests besides just business.
5. Geographically desirable - or make yourself available.

KEY 9: You must overcome F.E.A.R. - particularly Fear of Failure and also anxiety - fear's little brother.

FEAR REDUCTION TECHNIQUES:

1. Talk to your Mentor.
2. Know that: "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger".
3. Deliberately place yourself in risky or uncomfortable situations.
Replace FEAR with PASSION

KEY 10: Practice being Super Successful even when you are not - get out of your comfort zone.
KEY 11: Perception is Reality - think and dress for success.
KEY 12: Play to win, do not play "not to lose" - you cannot leap a chasm in 2 bounds!
KEY 13: You must have a dream - think big (Big dreams, big problems, big rewards)

THE FIVE CREDOS FOR SUCCESS:


1. Yesterday's Dreams are Today's Realities.
2. See yours Dreams ahead of time - now!
3. Simulation - practice within when you're without.
4. Act as if you have no limits to your abilities.
5. Do everything with Enthusiasm - (Greek "God within").

KEY 14: You must have PASSION
- Most people do not achieve the success they desire and deserve because they are labouring in a field of endeavour about which they are not passionate.
- FIRST find something you are passionate about, SECOND, start or buy a business based around that.

KEY 15: You must be laser-beam focused on success and take MASSIVE POSITIVE ACTION!

- Another word for "focus" is DISCIPLINE!
- Motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going.

Review these often, along with your goals. As of 2003 I review my goals daily along with various parts of QLA philosophy I want to place additional emphasis on for myself.

(THIS IS STILL TRUE IN LATE 2013 MORE THAN 10 YEARS LATER! HELL AT LEAST I AM CONSISTENT, AS ARE ALL HIGH PERFORMANCE PEOPLE! LOL!)

If today was a test - how would you grade yourself, zero to one hundred? Ask yourself this question when you go to bed each and every day. Keep a monthly score. What is your monthly average - including weekends? I would like forthright feedback in 30 days' time. I will relate the #s back (with no names) and my thoughts.

(VERY FEW GAVE ME FEEDBACK IN 2003! OF COURSE WE ALL KNOW WHY! LOL!)


To Your Quantum Leap,
Daniel S. Peña, Sr

P.S THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN SOME GLITCHES WITH TAKING ALL MY  QLA PRODUCT OFF MY SITE, IT IS ESSENTAILLY COMPLETED NOW! IF YOU KNOW WHAT  PRODUCT YOU WANT, EMAIL MY OFFICE thelmag@guthriecastle.com . BUT  YOU CAN GET MOST OF WHAT I HAVE PRODUCED SINCE THE 90'S ON COUNTLESS TORRENT SIGHTS FOR FREE!  OF COURSE IT IS ALWAYS YOUR CHOICE, BUT ASK YOURSELF – IF THIS IS THE PERSON YOU WANT TO BE? WOULD YOU BE PROUD TO TELL YOUR KIDS AND PARENTS WHAT YOU ARE DOING? OF  COURSE WHEN YOU TELL ME YOU CAN'T REMEMBER WHERE YOU GOT MY QLA MATERIAL – I KNOW WHERE YOU FOUND ME AND QLA! LOL! BTW: MOST OF THE PEOPLE I MET ON THE RECENT 6 WEEK TRIP COULD NOT REMEMBER WHERE THEY HAD FOUND QLA AND DAN PENA! LOL! TO BAD I DIDN'T HAVE A LIE DETECTOR MACHINE FOR MY MEETINGS! LOL!  PERHAPS I AM OLD FASHIONED, BUT I LOOK AT PEOPLE GETTING ANY MATERIAL FROM TORRENT SITES LIKE STEALING BIBLES FROM HOTEL ROOMS! THOUGH QLA AND DAN PENA HAVE BEEN CALLED, THE HOLY GRAIL OF BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR MANY YEARS – I TRULY BELIEVE THOSE THAT HAVE OBTAINED QLA FROM THESE TORRENT SITES, HAVE ALSO ACQUIRED BAD KARMA! AND IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO CLEAN UP YOUR KARMA, I KNOW HOW TO DO THAT AS WELL! LOL! BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO COME TO THE CASTLE SEMINAR TO FIND OUT THE "SECRET" OF REVERSING YOUR BAD KARMA! SERIOSLY, I WAS JUST CALLED, OR NICKNAMED "FINANCIAL MAGICIAN" BY 1 OF THE LEADING MEDIUMS ON THE PLANET! THOUGH I HAVE NEVER LOOKED UPON MYSELF AS SUCH A PERSON - A NUMBER OF THINGS I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED WERE CERTAINLY MAGICAL:

1) $820 INTO $450,000,000 PRE INTERNET (ALMOST $1 BILLION TODAY) IN 8 SHORT YEARS

2) BARRIO TO THE CASTLE PRE INTERNET

3) FIRST PERSON EVER TO TAKE "AN OPTION" TO BUY SOMETHING (NO REAL OWNERSHIP) PUBLIC ON A MAJOR STOCK EXCHANGE

4) TURNED $60,000 INTO $65,000,000 PRE INTERNET ($130 MILLION TODAY) IN ONLY 3 ½ MONTHS

5) DID $50,000,000 IN REVENUE PRE INTERNET FIRST YEAR IN BUSINESS ($100 MILLION TODAY)

6) CREATED ABOUT $25 BILLION IN WEALTH THROUGH MENTORSHIPS

7) MENTORED MIKEY PIZZABOY TO MOVIE PRODUCER  IN 6 YEARS

8) MENTORED MIDDLE MANAGER TO CEO OF GLOBAL 20 COMPANY IN 7 YEARS

9) 1000's OF CEO'S CREATED AND BUSINESSES STARTED ALL OVER PLANET

10) AND THERE ARE MANY OTHERS, SO MAYBE THE HIGH PERFORMANCE MEDIUM IS CORRECT –  BECAUSE I HAVE CERTAINLY BEEN CALLED WORSE THAN "FINANCIAL MAGICIAN" - LOL

P.P.S. THE JAN 10 – 14, 2014 QLA CASTLE SEMINAR IS FILLING UP AT THE 1999 PRICES, AS MENTIONED IN MY LAST NEWSLETTER! THE NEXT CASTLE SEMINAR WILL BE AT 21ST CENTURY PRICES! AGAIN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL QLA CASTLE ATTENDEE SINCE 2010, ROBERT FROM BAVARIA, WILL BE THERE FOR THE 4TH  TIME IN 16 MONTHS! EVEN PEOPLE WHO HAVE OBTAINED THE QLA MATERIAL FROM TORRENT SITES SHOULD BE ABLE TO ASCERTAIN WHY A VERY SMART (ARGUABLLY BRILLIANT) MAN, COMES BACK SO MANY TIMES AND CONTINUES TO PAY! HERE IS HIS 1 MINUTE YOU TUBE LINK, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

 

Testimonial

 

P.P.P.S. HERE IS MY MENTEE MIKEY WHO WENT FROM PIZZA BOY TO MOVIE PRODUCER! HE IS ON THE RED CARPET, BEING INTERVIEWED, AT HIS PREMIER OF "MIKEYBOY" THE MOVIE WHICH WAS TOTALLY SOLD OUT IN NYC! NEXT TO HIM, ALSO A MENTEE, IS JENN I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT ON A FEW OCCASSIONS. I AM ALSO PROUD TO TELL YOU I AM IN THE MOVIE PLAYING, WHAT ELSE, MY SELF! LOL! AND I SAID I WOULD NEVER GO BACK TO THE MOVIE BUSINESS! LOL! AND I THINK YOU WOULD AGREE, JENN AND MIKEY MAKE AN EXTREMELY GOOD LOOKING HIGH PERFORMANCE COUPLE! AND I TAKE GREAT PRIDE TO HAVE COACHED AND MENTORED BOTH OF THEM!

Email:enquiries@guthriecastle.com
Fax: (UK) +44 1241 828605
Telephone: (UK) +44 1241 828691