7 Habits to Master the Art of Winning against the Odds

Success in life is determined by your ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
~ Winston Churchill

Have you had days when you woke up staring at the ceiling with a mind void of purpose to begin the day? Have you felt that you needed a jolt of motivation to ignite your passion? I have. I had those days when defeatist thoughts held my brain hostage by counting all the “bad things” that took wind out of my motivation and perseverance. It’s like kicking yourself in the rear when you’re already down.

When you’re down, it seems impossible at times to ever win the game of life. Your thoughts gravitate rapidly towards the abyss of despair and pessimism. Seemingly even a nice, sunny day makes you feel lost in the never ending tunnel of darkness. You pronounce that it’s over and tag yourself a loser. All of these happen between your two ears.

The real reality is starkly different than the “reality” that you’ve created in your mind. What you’ve created is a reality based on the mental conditioning that exists in your brain by interacting with your friends, family members and even the media. The real reality is that if you think hard, if you don’t cave into those defeatist thoughts, if you never lose focus of what inspires you in the first place - there’s always a lifeline to latch on to and pull yourself up from the odds.

What Causes the Slump?

When we feel a slump, there are three factors contributing to foments this downward spiral in our mind. Once we understand these factors and develop an awareness towards them, we can start looking up and push ourselves out of the abyss of despair.

• Our perceived result ~ Anything we do in life has to deliver a fulfilling, achievable result in terms of financial or spiritual reward that we seek from this effort.
• Our thoughts ~ Our desire to seek this reward is tied to our self imposed limitation by a factor called time.
• Our environment ~ This includes our family members, friends and others who influence our thoughts.

The nexus between our expectations and the time is one of the lethal combinations to spark the flame of slump in our mind. When I wanted to purchase my first hotel, I had to trudge along many bumps on the road. I’ve stumbled upon some shiny truth about the slump that I felt and also found the ways to overcome that slump. At first after waiting for many days, I was told by the seller that he had no interest in selling the hotel to me at that time. His grudging voice on the phone indicated a harsh reality. I started thinking, “Why is he doing this to me?”. Then more thoughts rushed in, “I better give up. If he is so harsh, he may already have a buyer. It’s a waste of time.” - This was the fake reality that I’d created in my own mind. I’d been cornered by the defeatist thoughts for the mental chatter that made me believe that I ought to give up. Months later, I received a call from the same seller. When I met the gentleman and spent few hours with him, I was appalled to think how wrong I was in creating a fake reality about one of the nicest man I ever met in my life. When I look back, my perceived result of buying a hotel with a time line that I had in mind was a creation of my own thoughts. What I learned from this experience is that the result that we seek always comes - sometimes earlier than what we allow ourselves and sometimes later than what we allow ourselves. The variance of time plays a major role in our slump. The art of winning against odds lies in learning an important axiom of life - We can control what we seek. We cannot control the time it takes to achieve what we seek.

Habits to Win against the odds

1. Learn to accept responsibility for your actions. ~

Finger pointing is one of the most repugnant of all character flaws. With illusive self-image, we tend to live in denial to admit that the desired outcome has not arrived at the time limit we imposed on our efforts. That’s all there is. It’s a misalignment of our perception of time it takes to achieve a desired result that throws us into this dismal behavior. Learn to admit that what you’ve set your mind to achieve has not happened or delayed for some things that were not known to you. Make a steadfast commitment to learn from the experience and revise the time to achieve your set goal.

I can help take someone from failure to success but I can’t take them from excuses to success because if you’re making excuses you haven’t yet realized where the real problem lies.
~ John Maxwell

2. Admit your mistakes. ~

Another character ding is not admitting a mistake in the face of adversity. Adversity is nothing more than a perception flaw of what we wanted against what we reap after exerting our efforts. If you are wrong, admit it. That’s the first step towards building our own conscience. It also helps us receive support from others to try harder by creating a positive self image of transparency. If you don’t allow mistakes in your life, success may always be in exile. The road to success is built with the asphalt of mistakes.

3. Develop mental toughness. ~

Your mental toughness is a gauge of your ability to persist in the face of adversity. Developing mental toughness allows you to remain poised when the going gets tough. After finishing my graduate studies in Mechanical engineering, I had to wait four long months to get an interview. The job was for a machinist. I was determined to be a machinist. I was the only machinist on the floor with a master’s degree. It didn’t bother me. Later on, I was promoted to be an engineer and in less than a year, I was the lead engineer in the same group. Many of my friends never found a job in early 90’s. What I learned from this experience is that it took a while for me to get a job but I succeeded with the poise and determination to get the job I wanted in the end. No one is born with the inherent character of mental toughness. It can be learned and you must learn it to win against the odds.

4. One goal at a time. ~

Whenever I have tried to accomplish many goals by juggling to allocate time to several goals, I’ve found myself exhausted at the end of the day with the feeling of lack of accomplishment. This negative influence has worked like a chain of reaction by causing more stress and misery on the following day and so on. Life is good when we make it simple. Untangle the web of conflicting goals and start working at one goal at a time. You’ll be amazed at the boost in your energy level and a new found passion as a result.

5. Develop your inner self. ~

We do many things in life to glorify outer existence that is a mean to show off to others. Building a strong body, possessing a nice home, possessing a nice car and so on - These are the goals for our ego. I’m not against it but I’m also amazed by many who ignore their inner self in a vain search of happiness from this ego nurturing goals. Do you meditate everyday? Or do you perform yoga? Or do you spend solo time to reflect on your inner strengths and weaknesses? All of these build your character. I personally have benefited immensely by spending thirty minutes to meditate daily. It has built my character, faith and resolve to persist in the face of adversity. Try any of these activities and see the result for yourself.

6. Focus on what you can control. ~

Our impulsive thoughts always tend to waste our life-energy by focusing on things that we cannot control. For example, when I wanted to buy my first hotel, I made an offer and I was rejected. The seller was not ready to sell for some personal reasons. This was beyond my control. I started to think, “Why is he doing this to me?” I drowned myself in the ocean of self-pity for the reasons that I didn’t know, and even if I did, I had no control over them. My reaction should have been - “What thoughts, habits and actions can I change to get the result I wanted?” Dwell more on what you can do rather than what you cannot. It’s not the circumstances that cause us to react in a certain way, it’s rather a certain way we choose to react to the circumstances that matters most to win against the odds.

7. Never stop learning. ~

Learning is a life long process. When time get tough, we tend to close all the doors leading to our enlightenment. Leave the doors of knowledge open. Try to learn new skills, try to read daily, try to listen to the motivational or a personal development tapes to feed positivity to your mind. All of these can make you a better person with the attitude, self-esteem and the skill to master the art of winning against the odds.

When everything seems to be at its gloomiest, remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.

Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments.
~ Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

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Top 10 Modern Life Survival Skills

Avoid everyday problems and modern mini-calamities by arming yourself with the right know-how before you head out into the world. Locking yourself out of your apartment, losing your car in the Gargantu-Mart lot, standing lost on a city street corner—you can overcome almost any day-to-day disaster with some clever thinking and a bit of knowledge. We've compiled some of our favorite tricks that can make any Average Joe/Jane feel like a regular commando at work, at home, or on the go. Hit the link for a list of our top 10 non-computer modern life survival skills. Photo by *clarity*.

10. De-fuzz your sweater or coat at the last minute.

Cat hair and couch lint—it all gets stuck to you, and it can all make you look a lot less presentable, especially when you've got that big presentation to the Higher Ups in 10 minutes. If you're at the office, head to the supply closet to grab an extra FedEx airbill pouch and turn it inside out to create an instant, sticky, de-linting glove. At home, de-pill your sweater or coat with an old disposable razor. Photo by Walraven.

9. Get into and out of tricky conversations.

Cocktail parties, family gatherings, and supermarket lines—they're all full of conversations you have to escape from, or pretend you're interested in. Make the pretending less painful by exiting gracefully, forcing yourself to absorb information, and avoid being a bore yourself. You'll have to practice a bit before putting these techniques to use, but that's what pets and roommates are for.

8. Tell time without a watch.

Deny it all you want, but there will be moments in life when neither a watch nor a cell phone, nor even a bank with a big digital street clock, will be handy, and you'll want a rough estimate of what time it is. To prepare for such rustic (or post-apocalyptic) moments, check out wikiHow's guide to telling time without a clock. The two main methods involve dividing the sky into fractions or using your fist size to measure the horizon, and, like using the sun as a compass, both require thinking a bit about Daylight Saving Time and your general location in the world. And both give you a pretty great feeling of independence when you pull them off. Photo by rileyroxx.

7. Recover from a late night.

One too many pints, or spending the wee hours on the net or other obsessions, and the whole world will know your pain the next day. Unless, that is, you fight back against your body's delayed punishment. Clear up puffy, dark under-eyes with fridge-cooled spoons, and get back your focus and drive with some pre- and post-drink hangover remedies—namely a ginseng regimen, a carb-and-vitamin schedule, and the advice of our tavern-savvy readers. Temporary cures, for sure, but they're pretty essential when needed.

6. Boost your night vision.

Finding one's way through the dark has been a true survival skill for ninjas, stealthy travelers, soldiers, and many other adventurers. Even if you only need to find your way to the fridge at 2AM, you can put their time-tested advice to work using blogger Sam Noyoun's tips for improving natural night vision. Any or all of them—getting down low to better scope an object, covering one eye to retain light sensitivity, using your cell phone's camera instead of your eyes—will help you navigate a dark path or find your cell phone. To, uh, call command ops and relay target positioning, of course.

5. Read body language to tell if someone's lying.

The best liars can beat even the most sophisticated detection gear, but your average "My aunt in Wyoming died" teller gives off more than one telltale sign. Learn to listen for pitch, speed, eye contact frequency, verbal tics and other signs with tips from Monster.com's Marty Nemko and eHow. If you're a corporate denizen, this is one skill you really can't live without. Photo by celesteh.

4. Predict the weather (without a forecast).

The "official" forecasts and weather reports you can get on your phone or laptop aren't always perfect, and you don't need a meteorology degree to beat them. Take a look at the clouds, while also keeping your nose open for telltale smells. You can also watch animal behavior and follow other signs to get that ultra-cool old-man-with-a-trick-knee mystique going.

3. Know your direction without a compass.

When navigating unfamiliar territory, directions like "Head South on Franklin Street" aren't terribly helpful. Using a non-digital wristwatch, or just a mental image of one, you can find your way with Wired's hour hand/sun position method. For more rural direction-finding without a watch, try wikiHow's methods for finding true North. Either way, you're never really lost when you've got your wits.

2. Use your head to amplify your car alarm remote's signal.

Ever notice how putting your hand on your clock radio tends to clarify and boost the signal? You can use that same body-as-extended-antenna trick to locate your car in a stuffed parking lot. Hold your remote opening fob against your skull, hit the alarm (or beep-beep locking button), and you'll locate your vehicle from farther away.

1. Pick a lock.

Lock picking is one of those rare skills that give you serious cool cred and come in really, really useful at the right moments. With a little study, you can grab a piece of that respect and come to the rescue of friends, neighbors, and your own forgetful self. Here's a guide to the basics, and a guide to making your own vibrating pick to ease the learning curve. Forgotten the combination to your locker? Here's how to crack the Master Lock code. If you're feeling a serious secret agent kick (and it's a pretty sad lock you're facing), you can always open a door with a credit card.

What ninja-like skills impress your friends whenever you get to break them out? What clever tricks are you waiting to pass on to your kids (or apprentice)? We want to hear about them, so drop a line in the comments.

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Sales of gas-saving gadgets rise with gas prices

NEW YORK (AP) -- With fuel prices soaring, sales of products designed to boost gas mileage are also rising -- even though the government says they're not worth the money.

The Vortec Cyclone, which fits inside a car's air intake hose, aims to improve an engine's air flow.

The products range from devices that fit inside an engine's air intake valve to fuel additives. Their makers claim they boost mileage by helping gasoline burn more efficiently.

"The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has tested hundreds of these products," said Laura DeMartino, a Federal Trade Commission attorney.

"Even for the few that worked, the gas savings was so small it didn't justify the price."

But that's not discouraging people from searching for ways to eke extra mileage out of their vehicles when gas prices are hovering above $4 a gallon nationally.

"Our sales have probably close to doubled," over the past year, said Dan Baxley, founding partner of Automotive Research Laboratory LLC, which makes the Vortec Cyclone, a device designed to boost gas mileage by improving an engine's air flow.

The $40 device fits inside a car's air intake hose, where it, "creates a swirling mass like a tornado," Baxley said. That creates a finer gas-air mix than normal, which burns more efficiently.

Some Vortec Cyclone users have claimed a benefit of as much as 6 miles per gallon, though most see an improvement of 1 to 2 mpg, Baxley said.

Kevin Shaw, vice president of development at The Coffee Beanery, has tested it on four of his company's vehicles. The coffee chain found that it improved the performance of two of his service vans by 2 miles per gallon, while one passenger car's fuel efficiency rose by 1 mile per gallon. The fourth car saw no improvement, but Shaw said three out of four is enough to convince him that the device is well worth the money.

"I have nine on order right now," said Shaw, who believes the devices will save his company at least $1,400 a year per vehicle in fuel expenses.

Like other companies that sell gas-mileage-improvement products, Baxley is used to skepticism.

He says his company's tests prove that the Vortec Cyclone improves gas mileage, and Automotive Research Laboratory backs its product up with a money-back guarantee. Returns run only around 5 percent of sales, he said.

Automotive Research Laboratory has never received a complaint from the FTC, which declined to comment on specific products.

National Fuelsaver Corp., which makes Platinum Gas Saver, can improve fuel mileage by 22 percent, said company owner and technical director Joel Robinson. The product, which the company started selling nearly 30 years ago, injects a small amount of platinum into a vehicle's air intake system.

The platinum molecules boost the amount of fuel burned by the engine, company press materials say. The remainder is expelled as vapor and burned off by the catalytic converter.

Robinson said he has been contacted by the FTC and some state attorneys general. But he's been able to defend his product thanks to his victory in an early 1980s lawsuit brought by the U.S. Post Office, which said he was trying to obtain money through the mail by making false claims.

"They all thought we were frauds until I sent them the judge's decision," Robinson said.

Robinson produced data that, he says, show Platinum Gas Saver works. But he also notes that -- aside from his product -- there is merit to the FTC's warnings.

"Except for ours, I think there's a lot of truth to it," Robinson said. "The problem in selling this product is that in the last 10 years there have been 10,000 phony fuel savers."

Platinum Gas Saver costs $150 for a 30,000 mile supply. Robinson declined to disclose annual sales.

Another company, Magnetizer Industrial Technologies Inc., has stopped selling a $150 gas-savings device to the general public, citing high costs to fulfill individual orders and the general skepticism that surrounds any kind of magnetic gas savings device.

"There is a technology here that can benefit," said Ron Kita, director of research, but "there has been a lot of negative press."

Magnetizer's magnets work by changing naturally formed chemical associations, "into a single, potentiated molecular state," which burns more efficiently, the company's Web site explains. The company still sells the system to fleet operators as an emissions reduction device.

The government's advice to people looking to save on gas: Drive the speed limit, use cruise control, combine errands and remove excess weight from the trunk.

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