Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Get Inspired - 4 Make Mistakes



Life is about making mistakes; don’t be afraid to make a mistake twice. Nobody learns anything by doing it once; people learn things by having that scenario occur over and over again.

Have you ever learnt the lyrics to a song just by listening to it once? But when you listen to the same song a couple more times, you find yourself subconsciously singing the song. You have to repeat things over and over again until you internalize that lesson. And the same thing goes for mistakes; you’re going to have to make the same mistake many times over to learn from it.

You are not going to learn from your mistakes the first time, you are going to have to make them a couple times, but make them quickly and then eventually own those mistakes and stop making them, and move on to new ones.

You should be comfortable making mistakes, embrace making mistakes, make mistakes as quickly as possible, just enough times to never repeat them anymore and then move on to new mistakes.
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing” – George Bernard Shaw

“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.” – Tallulah Bankhead
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Here are good points to note from my previous articles

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck.

Good ideas are ten a penny; everyone will have thought of them and the opportunities they raise – Mark Zuckerberg.


“You have to share the vision… When you get [people] to march in the same direction, you can really move mountains together.” - Carl Henric Svanberg


“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” – Mark Twain


“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”


Ideas do not make differences in business; execution does. The way you act upon your idea is all that counts. History doesn’t remember people who thought of really amazing ideas. History remembers people who did great things because they acted on ideas and visions they had.

It’s those who manage to convert abstractions into concrete solutions that can truly call themselves entrepreneurs. Stop thinking too much and start doing enough.







Get Inspired - #3 You Should be Uncomfortable



A lot of us have day dream about living a fabulous and wealthy life style. But we do nothing to make that dream a reality. One reason why we do not take actions is because of the effort required.
To stand out and break out of the pack, we need to differentiate ourselves and do things most people aren’t willing to do so we can enjoy the benefits in the future that most people might not enjoy.

Growth is accompanied by uncomfortability. Uncomfortability is what leads to growth. To grow and be the best at what you do, you need to step out of your comfort zone because that’s where the magic happens. It’s true that when you step outside your comfort zone; things will start to seem harder, but not impossible, you’ll have to practice more, you’ll begin to sleep less, you’ll begin to face bigger challenges and complex problems. But to every problem there is a solution. Challenges are fun; any competition I have to face so that I can move closer to achieving my goal is a fun competition and it is worth participating.

Most of us when we do things and practice things, we do what we are good at, and we get incrementally better at things we are already good at. What we don’t do is push ourselves in new and meaningful ways. If we want to be the best at things we do we need to step out of our comfort zone and practice in ways nobody else will so we can be the best.
A good example I’ll like to use is the anime character: Naruto – If you watch this series you’ll know what I mean. Naruto never gives up. He never says never. He doesn’t shy away from problems because they are too tough. He is willing to push himself to the limit and do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. It is because of this reason he stands out from everybody else.

Nobody achieves any great thing in life by just repeating the same thing over and over again. When you try to solve a problem but cannot. Be flexible about your solutions, think outside the box, step out of your comfort zone and watch the magic happen.

Don’t shy away from challenges or problem because of the effort required to overcome them. Take the bull by the horn; be flexible about your solutions. Never give up. If something doesn’t work, try again with a different approach. Make yourself uncomfortable – that’s how you stand out from everybody else.

“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”

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Get Inspired - #2 Should I tell people about my ideas or not?


One problem most people face when they think of a brilliant idea or set a goal is; whether they should tell people about their goals and ideas or should they keep it to themselves until they achieved their goal or idea.
Being realistic, there are two things that people are going to tell you about how to set goals.

In the first camp; some people are going to say “Hey, when you’ve got a goal or an idea, don’t tell anybody. Keep your ideas secret, don’t tell people your goals, they are going to steal your ideas, they are going to shit in your goals, they are going to tell you,  you can’t be successful at it.” And yes that’s going to happen. It will.

But then, there is this other camp which is when you have an idea, a business idea, what you want to do with your life; Share it with lots of people.
The reason why you should share it with lots of people is because you are going to get good feedback and ideas.

But there’s another reason why it’s really important to share it with other people once you’ve made a decision about what you are going to do. And that is because you create a mental contract. You now have social pressure on you to go through that thing you said you were going to do. And if you are a person with any integrity whatsoever and you tell all these people in your life, I’m going to do this. And you don’t do it; you are going to look and feel really stupid.

I’ll recommend that when you conceive an idea and you think it’s really great, you should tell someone. Don’t be scared of what might happen, tell someone, tell people, get good feedback and start taking action towards achieving your goals and ideas immediately.

“You have to share the vision… When you get [people] to march in the same direction, you can really move mountains together.” - Carl Henric Svanberg

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Get Inspired - #1 Stop Killing Your Ideas

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck.
We generate new ideas every day, good ones and bad ones. But how exactly do we use them? When inspiration strikes what do you do? Do you act on it or do you just leave it as it is ‘an idea in your head’.
If you have an idea in your head and you are totally convinced that the idea will work (and no lives will be lost), you should totally go ahead and do it. What good is an idea when it’s only in your head?

98% of the things we can think of today have already been thought of and 96% of those things have already been achieved. This doesn’t mean you should not act on your idea because it already exists. Act on your ideas, look at what the other person is doing and try to make yours better.

Take a look at Facebook; there were social networking web sites before Facebook. What about ITunes; Napster was the most popular mp3 download and share website before it. But one of the things these products have in common is that they are unique and different. Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs had an idea, they examined their market and saw lots of competitors so they refined their ideas and made their products unique and better.

Ideas do not make differences in business; execution does. The way you act upon your idea is all that counts. History doesn’t remember people who thought of really amazing ideas. History remembers people who did great things because they acted on ideas and visions they had.

When you think of an idea to solve a problem and you are convinced the idea is a good one and will bring you money, act on that idea. Nobody gets paid for finding problems; people get paid for coming up with good solutions.
Don’t be discouraged about how foolish your ideas sound. Just go ahead and do it.

Take a look at Walt Disney;  if a friend comes up to you and says “Hey pal, I have this idea: I want to create a land of puppets named after me where people from all over the world can come and have fun with them. But first I need a billion dollars as start-up capital”. You would probably think the guy is crazy and say “Okay. Good luck with that”. But that’s the thing about ideas. In business they don’t make a difference, it’s the way you go about acting on that idea that matters. This is the reason why you’ll see a business failing and yet there’s another business that does the same thing succeeding.

So don’t let the big ones get away. Because it’s those who manage to convert abstractions into concrete solutions that can truly call themselves entrepreneurs. Stop thinking too much and start doing enough.

Good ideas are ten a penny; everyone will have thought of them and the opportunities they raise – Mark Zuckerberg.

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Sunday, 3 June 2012

How to be More Productive at Work and Limitless outside Work.



In the movie Limitless, the fictional character Eddie Maura is introduced to a wonderful pill called NZT (a clear pill). With a single tablet daily, what he could do was limitless. He learnt to play the piano in three days, Math became very easy, he learnt other languages really fast and he could remember all he had ever seen or hear. Overnight he became a master communicator, mathematician, a wealthy and powerful businessman. I’m sure when most of us watched the movie, we might have thought; “Only if this drug exists, I will take it”.
One thing is sure; you don’t have to take NZT to be limitless. By following these few steps you too can be  more productive and limitless in whatever you do. I’m not saying that after you follow these steps you’ll become limitless instantly and start working and reading like crazy; No you won’t but in a few months to several years depending upon your learning style and aptitude for personal development, you could become surprisingly close to Eddie Maura by focusing on improvements in some areas of your life. Get ready to hack your reality and become limitless.
Mastery of Communication Skills


Communication skills are huge factors of our success, whether it’s in business or relationships. Yet we spend little time developing them. Excellent communicators consistently end up in places of high authority and power. A good example is U.S President Barack Obama – this man can convince you to buy something you will never use. Yet in the movies it’s because of Eddie’s communication skills that open lots of doors for him. A few things you can start doing today are:
·        Improve on your listening skills
·        Smile more often.
·        Remember peoples name and call them by their name at least 3 times during communication.
·        Study a book that focuses on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).
·        Practice topic depth escalation and magnanimous conversation stealing.

Influence Abilities
Anyone seeking a limitless lifestyle will need to develop very sharp influence skills. You can get anything you want in the world if only you know how to ask. Again find a book that teaches on Neuro-linguistic Programming and read it. Also you should learn these things:
·        Embedded commands.
·        Negotiating skills.
·        Rapport building
·        Playing the young and ambitious card.
Also remember to use peoples name more frequently during conversations, about 3-5 minutes or a often as you can without it being obvious you are name pumping. Using someone name while talking to the person captures their attention and increases the chances of them going with what you are suggestion.

Be more social. Make new friends
At every opportunity, try to move out of your comfort zone and whatever happens when you do, make sure you “Go with the flow”. Try to do things you’ve never done.
Move around, interact, be socially free and authentic; realize people don’t really care about what you do. Increase your self-confidence; the more confident you become, the less you care so much what other people may think.
Smile more often. Be interested, open and curious, you can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Focus on what you can control.

Knowledge and Skill acquisition
Limitless individuals have an internalized understanding of information equity and knowledgeable about a wide variety of fascinating topics. At the same time though they are able to subtly guide a conversation towards topics that they have a mastery of. A Limitless individual wouldn’t waste their time taking irrelevant classes; they would consume information and acquire knowledge in the more efficient ways like listening to audio books, podcasts, video tutorials and documentary films. Practice skill leverage; as opposed becoming a professional student who is always filling their head with new skills, learn the skill of leveraging the skills and strengths of others to accomplish your goals. Increase your ability to learn.

Dress sharp
In the beginning of the movie limitless, Eddie look poor and wretched, his clothes were not fitted, his hair wasn’t well groomed and to top it, he was a smoker. While on NZT; Eddie looked sharp, well dressed and groomed. So you too should make sure you look good at all times if you want to influence people. Nobody wants to take orders from a wretched person. One thing you should never forget is: Dress the way you want to feel and not the way you feel. This is true especially if you want to make an impression. Don’t underestimate the empowering effect (especially for men) on your own mindset and over other people of dressing well. Regardless of how non-judgmental people claim to be the, way we dress when we meet people makes a big difference. People in suits and uniforms will always be figures of authority and command respect. Swag is for boys while Class is for men.

Cognitive Ability Development and Improved Memory
In the movie limitless there’s a part where Eddie Maura says “Everything I’ve ever heard, read or seen was now organized and available; here it is, here you go. You cannot be a limitless individual if you keep forgetting things. In Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich he lists memory improvement as one of the things that helps contribute to a person’s success in life. An individual seeking a Limitless memory would want to focus on the following:
      Visual based associations: It’s said that association is the basis of memory; memory experts utilize visual association techniques heavily to improve recall abilities.
      The ability to remember names & details about people.
      Spend time playing memory and cognition games.

Cognition is the logical, reasoning faculty of the mind. This is the domain of mathematics and pattern recognition. The most important thing to understand is that your brain is like any other muscle in your body; it gets more powerful as you exercise it. Have you ever wondered why you keep repeating the same patterns in life?  It’s because our brains prefers to process new situations using existing synaptic patters (formed by your past experiences). If you want to experience new things in life you need to give you brain practice by building new synaptic patterns. Some ways to sharpen the brain include:
•      Try new things. If you are right-handed, start using your left hand to control your mouse and brush your teeth, if you are left-handed, start using your right hand to brush your teeth and control your mouse.
•      Be a content creator instead of a content consumer.
•      Do some logic puzzles.
•      Learn a new language. Language acquisition challenges and causes cognitive development on a variety of conscious and unconscious levels. When you start learning a new language practice talking to yourself in your mind in that language.

Stress Management and Enhanced Situational Awareness
Mismanagement or excessive amounts of stress will definitely prevent you from living a limitless life. Stress is defined as the measure of change occurring in your life at any given time. Things like a new job, moving, breaking up with a partner, not enough sleep etc. Make sure you are spending time daily on healthy stress management activities:
      Working out.
      Eating complete meals (Balanced diet).
      Physical contact with other people (Massage).
      Relaxation time and sleep.

On NZT Eddie has a Jason Bourne situational awareness for diffusing and resolving dangerous situations. Here’s some real life ways to increase situation awareness:
      Survival and fire arms training courses
      Martial arts training
      Sensory acuity exercises

When watching a movie put the volume on mute and try to diffuse what the characters are saying.


Well There you have it folks, I hope you learnt something don’t forget to follow me on twitter @hobyner. Thank you.

Sunday, 27 May 2012

The Avengers - Earths Mightiest Box Office Money Makers



We've all seen the avengers, well if you haven‘t seen it then you should do so today. “The movie is awesome” - that’s what anybody who has seen it would say, but why? Was it because of the actors, the concept behind the movie, the fact that the movie was over hyped or is it because we all love watching superheroes fighting. What is it that made the avengers so good and how on earth did the movie manage to make over a billion dollars within a month; which I can proudly say no big Nigerian bank can make in 3 months. 

Why? What? How? When? Where?

Okay, I don’t have an answer to any of the questions posed, but here’s what I think. The movie was awesome.

The Avengers is now the new king of the opening weekend. The movie grossed an unprecedented $200.3 million in its Friday-Sunday box-office debut.
The film easily bested the opening-weekend performances of the Marvel Studios movies whose hero-stars were assembled for The AvengersIron Man ($99 million) and Iron Man 2 ($128 million); Thor ($66 million); and, Captain America ($65 million).

It blew away even the superhero-record $158.4 million posted by The Dark Knight, and raised the bar considerably for the Batman franchise's upcoming adventure, The Dark Knight Rises, due out July 20.



The Avengers made money the old-fashioned way: Everybody bought tickets.

The opening-weekend audience was evenly split between the young (under age 25) and the older (over age 25), polling data showed. It was watched by women (40 percent) almost as much as men. It worked as a date-night movie (55 percent of ticket-buyers were part of couples), and a family movie (24 percent were part of a family group). 

And then there was perhaps the quaintest thing of all: People went to see it in 3-D. 

The budget of the movie was $220 million but presently the movie has made around  $1,295,272,000 (over a $billion).

Finally; who does not love Shawarma?




Follow on twitter @Hobyner

Sunday, 20 May 2012

How To Hijack A Domain Name



In this post you will know how domain names are hacked and how they can be protected. The act of hacking domain names is known as ‘Domain Hijacking’. Here’s what domain hijacking is all about.

Domain hijacking is a process by which Internet Domain Names are stolen from its legitimate owners. This is also known as domain theft. Below you’ll see how the domain names operate and how they get associated with a particular website.

The operation of domain name is as follows

Any website let’s say hiptv.com has two parts – 1.The domain name(hiptv.com) and the web hosting server where the files of the website are actually hosted and stored. In reality, the domain name and the web server are two different parts and they must be integrated before a website can operate successfully. The integration of a domain name with the web hosting server is done like this:

1. After registering a new domain name, we get a control panel(cPanel) where we can have full control of the domain.

2. From this domain cPanel, we point our domain name to the web server where the website’s files are actually hosted.

An example:

Michael registers a new domain ‘xyz.com’ from ‘X domain Registration Company’. He also buys a hosting plan from ‘Y hosting company’. He uploads all of his files (.HTML, .PHP, CSS etc.) to his web server (at Y). From the domain control panel (of X) he configures his domain name “xyz.com” to point to his web server (of Y). Now whenever an Internet user types “xyz.com”, the domain name “xyz.com” is resolved to the target web server and the website is displayed - This is how a website actually works.

What happens when a domain is hijacked?

Now let’s see what happens when a domain name is hijacked. To hijack a domain name you just need to get access to the domain cPanel and point the domain name to another web server other than the legitimate one. So to hijack a domain you need not gain access to the target web server.

For example, a hacker gets access to the domain cPanel of “xyz.com”. The hacker re-configures the domain name to point it to some other web server (Z). Now whenever an Internet user tries to access “xyz.com” he is taken to the hacker’s website (Z) and not to Michael’s original website (Y).

In this case the domain name (xyz.com) is said to be hijacked.



How the domain names are hijacked

To hijack a domain name, it’s necessary to gain access to the domain control panel of the target domain. To do this you need the following;

1. The domain registrar name for the target domain.

2. The administrative email address associated with the target domain.

All these information can be gotten by accessing the WHOIS data of the target domain. To get access the WHOIS data, go to whois.domaintools.com, enter the target domain name and click on Lookup. Once the WHOIS data is loaded scroll down and you’ll see WHOIS Record. Under this you’ll get the ‘Administrative contact email address’.

To get the domain registrar name, search for something that looks like this under the WHOIS Record. ‘Registration Service Provided By ABC Company’. Here ABC Company is the domain registrar. In case if you don’t find this, then scroll up and you’ll see ICANN Registrar under the “Registry Data”. In this case, the ICANN registrar is the actual domain registrar.

The administrative email address associated with the domain is the backdoor to hijack the domain name. It is the key to unlock the domain control panel. So to take full control of the domain, the hacker will hack the administrative email associated with it.

Once the hacker has full control of this email account, he will visit the domain registrar’s website and click on forgot password in the login page. There he will be asked to enter either the domain name or the administrative email address to initiate the password reset process. Once this is done all the details to reset the password will be sent to the administrative email address. Since the hacker has the access to this email account he can easily reset the password of domain control panel. After resetting the password, he logs into the control panel with the new password and from there he can hijack the domain within minutes.

How to protect the domain name from being hijacked




The best way to protect the domain name is to protect the administrative email account associated with the domain. If you loose control of this email account, you loose control of your domain.
Another best way to protect your domain is to go for private domain registration. When you register a domain name using the private registration option, all your personal details such as your name, address, phone and administrative email address are hidden from the public. So when a hacker performs a WHOIS lookup for you domain name, he will not be able to find your name, phone and administrative email address. So the private registration provides an extra security and protects your privacy.
Private domain registration costs a bit extra but is really worth for its advantages. Every domain registrar provides an option to go for private registration, so when you purchase a new domain make sure that you select the private registration option.
From my experience the best email service provider you should use is Google Mail. This is because Google has double protection for its users accounts and it alerts you every time someone tries to access your account from a foreign location. Also Google lets you use your phone to get back access to your phone if it’s been hijacked.