Simple banking

Few months ago I lost my ATM/debit debit card. I promptly called my bank and was put on hold because "all operators were busy serving customers". After some waiting and patience I finally got my card blocked. The operator asked me to make a new call to order my new card due to bank "policy".

After going through the call center hell again (including authenticating myself with personal information and getting transferred a couple of times), the operator told me that she could not forward my request and I had to visit the bank branch where I had opened my account. When I insisted she told me that my account was marked "high risk" and she could not take any request on phone.

I could not go to my bank partly due to work and partly due to laziness. Now a funny thing happened. I started living without my debit card but just a bit more financially organized. I just had to think a bit more in advance about my expected expenses and used my good old cheque book to draw money from a branch near my home.

Last week I went to my branch and got my debit cards permanently deleted from my account.

Perceived convenience and actual convenience are two different things. What do you think?

What your doctor dislikes

A quote from Seth Godin's recent blog post, What the industry wants:

Doctors don't like prescribing lifestyle changes or natural cures, because many patients demand a scrip and it's easily defended and it comes with a sales rep.

Why would a doctor prescribe something which is going to cure you in the long run? This will kill his practice. Like all of us he needs to make money. On the other hand this practice costs us money on unnecessary diagnostic tests and weakens our immune system with over-medication. One suggestion is to pay doctors to ignore the patients.

Next time you have to visit your doctor, ask him to recommend something other than the magic pill he always prescribes.

Using fear as a marketing tool

I have been using Life Bouy soap all my life. Few days ago I saw the company's "public service message" on how to avoid swine flu. This was a half page ad on the front page of the Daily Jang, Lahore edition. Here are the recommendations:

Wash your hands every time you:

1. sneeze.
2. cook.
3. touch anything (door nob, furniture, computers etc.)
4. shake hand.

Even as a loyal consumer, I was disgusted. This company is trying its best to induce fear into us to make us all psychotic. For what? Just to sell more soap bars.

My immediate thought was what about the transfer of virus through air when you or someone sneezes? No, you can't stop the virus spreading. You have to make your immune system strong.

You do need to wash hands but not as madly as this ad asks you. And not with soap every time.

This news item (swine flu scare was a "false pandemic") confirms what I and many people were thinking:

A LEADING health expert says the swine flu scare was a "false pandemic" led by drugs companies that stood to make billions from vaccines. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claims major firms organised a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organisation to declare a pandemic. He believes it is "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century" — and has called for an inquiry.

Here is my recipe to avoid swine flu (or any other flu):

1. Exercise daily and possibly twice a day.
2. Eat simple and healthy food (vegetables, fruit, very little meat) and avoid processed food.
3. Avoid medicines whenever possible. Let your immune system get stronger.
4. Move carefully in extreme weather.
5. And of course keep your environment clean but you don't need to wash your hands after every 10 minutes.

... because no company is going to promote this public service message with big advertisements in national newspapers.

My 2010 resolution

Like everybody else I would like to begin 2010 with a resolution. Here it goes:

Be a really good father and husband. Always be optimistic. Make friends. Take care of people and environment. Contribute to society. Excel in whatever I do. Look for opportunities. Keep learning.

The funny thing is that you (or perhaps everybody) can say the same words for your own 2010 resolution. Just like corporate mission statements or quotable quotes, this resolution achieves only one thing; makes you feel good for few moments. Why? Because it is too general and too vague. There is no action plan or target which will force you to take concrete steps or make you feel ashamed at the end of the year. (Who knows you were pessimistic the whole year or ignored the opportunities etc.)

Here goes the revised one:

1. The number one thing I would do this year is more and better writing on my blog. I just don't want to fill my blog. I want to write something which I enjoy and you enjoy. (Reading and experimenting is a pre-requisite for writing. I shall be doing more of both these things as well)
   
2. Teaching Edward de Bono's lateral thinking skills. Possibly start an online training website based upon de Bono's work.
3. Do more product based business and be less dependent on customized services to my clients. (I run a small IT consulting business in the field of accounting/erp/crm to put food on the table)
4. Start at least one new Internet-based business which requires only few hours work each week. Start making some money from this new business before the end of the year.
5. Talking of money, I am making good enough money right now. Though I would love to make millions, I would still be happy if I can maintain the current earnings level throughout the year with same or less amount of effort and achieve the other goals.

I know expressing my plans might make me less likely to achieve but I wanted to clear up my mind and put some social pressure on me as well. I shall come back with a report next year.

Make yourself great

From Be Nice:

I don't care how good you are at programming, finding bugs, whatever. If you're rude, or if you speak poorly to people who don't understand your... quirks.... you will wind up being shunted to the side. No one wants to work with someone who makes them feel beat down all the time, or someone who they simply can't understand, or someone whose reaction to every issue is to start wailing about the end of the world.

and

Being very good at what you do makes you just that: very good. Being very good and being nice: that makes you great.

Read full blog post here.

An iPhone killer?

Nexus one, the Google phone is finally here powered by, Android, Google's open source mobile operating system. The best part is that it is officially available unlocked. See interactive demo here.

How to Make Million Dollars

Internet is full of such advice. Fortunately this one is different and from a qualified person, Marshal Brain. He is famous for his website, How Stuff Works. He frankly relates his own experiences on the path to a millionaire. Read here.