Group Details

Introductory Phrase:

To be truly successful in your chosen field of endeavor, you need a true, clear-cut, and concise advantage that no one (or almost no one) else has.

About You:

B.A. in Accounting and Business - N.C. State University B.S. in Physics - N.C. State University M.B.A. - Wake Forest University Currently: For the last 14 years (10 years full time and four years part time), I have managed a successful financial trading company. I trade for myself - mostly options on indexes, stocks, and commodities. I am also a writer for the American Association of Small Newspapers. Previously: 9 years as a Logistics & Traffic Manager for a division of the largest private corporation in the world. 12 years split between being a legislative assistant for a U.S. senator and his political action committee.

Looking for:

Read all of the below. It will tell you whether or not it is me you are looking for. Here is what I am about: • Push till it gives. No exceptions. • Anything worth doing is worth doing all the way. • I am able to put square pegs in round holes, by brute force if necessary. This works only with things, ideas, and processes; never with people. Only honor, respect, sacrifice, integrity, and information work with people. • I have accomplished every major goal I ever set for myself. That said, before I became the person I am now, I hurt a lot of people along the way – in the early years. • Although I may view the vast majority of humanity in a negative way, I do my absolute best to make sure what I send out into the world is very positive. How others treat me is their path; how I react is mine. • Some of the most despicable human behavior ever recorded has been conducted in the name of “I’m only following the law” or “I’m just doing my job.” Be very, very careful with what you think you are following. • Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty means telling the truth. In other words, conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words. In other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. This requires an integrated character, a oneness, primarily with self but also with life. • Humans seem to learn early to seek conflict where there is none. They are too easily and too much offended. It is a difficult thing to overcome; almost impossible. • Be honest. Honest to a fault. Honesty compounds until your word becomes The Word. • You must decide what your highest priorities are and then have the courage, pleasantly, smilingly, and nonapologetically - to say \\\"no\\\" to other things. The way to achieve this is to have a bigger \\\"yes\\\" burning inside you. The enemy of the best is often the good. • There is always choice. We say there is no choice only to comfort ourselves with the decision we have already made. • People exist at different levels of awareness. Let us define awareness. Is awareness like intelligence? No. Intelligence is a measure of how well you function within your level of awareness, meaning your ability to recognize and manipulate patterns. Your intelligence will stay about the same over your life. Awareness is entirely different from intelligence; awareness involves recognizing your delusions for what they are. Most people’s awareness will advance one or two levels in their lifetime. Awareness is about unlearning. It is the recognition that you do not know as much as you thought you knew. Awareness does not come from receiving new information. It comes from rejecting old information. • The mind is a creator, and what you hold there will eventually manifest itself in one way or another. If you hold worry and stress in your mind, they will manifest in your body as tension and pain. If you hold happiness and joy in your mind, they will manifest in your body as good health and energy. This concept is a key to a long, happy life. Our thoughts form the entire universe for each of us, as individuals. So, again – for each of us as individuals, it is thus appropriate to say that while that which you believe is not important, that which I believe is extremely important. • There is nothing to worry about – ever. Yes, of course, such is easy to say but very difficult to accomplish. It is nevertheless worth the effort to master. Either you have control or you do not. If you do, then take control; if you don’t, dismiss it. Do not waste your energy on a useless thing. • Certain people uplift you; others pull you down. Certain people give you strength; others drain your energy. Certain people would give their life for you; others give no thought at all to your well-being. You must choose your friends and your more-than-friends very carefully. Good and great relationships are an endless benefit. Bad relationships can ruin a lifetime. This concept is unfortunately beyond the grasp of most people. • We have created a society in which people find it harder and harder to show one another basic affection. In place of the sense of community and belonging, which we find such a reassuring feature of less wealthy (and generally rural) societies, we find a high degree of loneliness and alienation. Modern industrial society is like a huge self-propelled machine. Instead of human beings in charge, each individual is but a tiny, insignificant component with no choice but to move when the machine moves. What You Need to be Truly Successful • A true understanding of human nature. This will include a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the male and female psyches, and the differences between them. • Develop a cynical attitude about all “facts” and incoming knowledge. “Show me” and “prove it” are worthy and necessary precepts. • An understanding that much, if not most, of the information that comes your way from authority – is flatly wrong. Do you think you have a good textbook understanding of history, politics, and the sciences? If the answer is yes, then what you really have is a good fictional account that is far from reality. Learn to accept this and to expect it. Learn to look deeper and discover the hidden truths for yourself. • To be truly successful in your chosen field of endeavor, you need a true, clear-cut, and concise advantage that no one (or almost no one) else has. For example, in financial trading, a superior money-management strategy, a superior but heretofore unknown technical process for knowing future market direction, or even a superior arsenal of knowledge and tools. These things do in fact exist. • A true understanding of the precepts of logic, and a commitment to using them. Often, nothing more is needed here than a simple college course on logic. Related to this is the necessity to achieve superior writing and reasoning skills. • Somewhere, someone out there has mastered the job / skill / process / advantage that you seek. Right here and right now, one of the most important tasks before you is to find that person and convince him / her to help you. • It is extremely valuable to train the mind to stand apart and examine its own program. That is perhaps the definition and the value of a liberal education – the ability to examine the programs of life against larger questions and purposes and paradigms. Training, without such education, narrows and closes the mind so that the assumptions underlying the training are never examined. This is why it is so valuable to read broadly and to expose yourself to great minds. • Per Aspera ad Astra: Reach for the stars. An attitude. Don\\\'t just try to give the right answers, try to be right. Be better than you need to be; be unreasonably good. • Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure in other areas in life. Can it really? Perhaps it can for a limited time, in some areas. But, can success in your profession compensate for a broken marriage, ruined health, or weakness in personal character? The only answer to this is \\\"no.\\\" Effectiveness, satisfaction, and happiness require balance. • A broad base of knowledge to draw from. Never underestimate the value of knowing a little about a lot of things. • Knowledge of yourself. Do you truly know yourself? Your strengths and weaknesses? What things do you tend to be irrational about? Don’t say “nothing.” We all have such things. What do you need to address in yourself? • The ability to make and execute a superior plan. About everything! Literally hundreds of major studies have conclusively shown that people achieve their goals best when they pursue them armed with a plan. That said, the ability to quickly and successfully adapt to general change and changing conditions – may be the most important competitive advantage in existence. • Always have a Plan B. Always have an exit plan. Not an Absolute Necessity, but it Helps • A particular kind of mentor. Someone who went to hell and back while you were still in diapers. • A good personal support system. It should never be “me against the world.” You need a team. You really never do fully get there alone. • A good personal library. • Development of superior public speaking skills.

Group objective (goal):