Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
Mortgage Rates Dropping Like Rocks
“For all your days prepare, / And meet them all alike: / When you are the anvil, bear — / When you are the hammer, strike.” – Edwin Markham (Preparedness, 1918) Mortgage rates are lower than they’ve been in 35 years. Even if you already have a decent rate — say, 6.75 percent — it…
Read MoreAbout Labor Day
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Day, you may be interested to know, has been an official holiday in the United States and Canada since 1894. But though North Americans have been celebrating this occasion for over 100 years,…
Read MoreEat Healthy to Prevent a Stroke
“I dislike helplessness in other people and in myself, and this is by far my greatest fear of illness.” – John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley, 1962) If you know anyone who’s had a stroke, you know how terrible it can be. In seconds, a stroke can leave you physically helpless. You can’t move your limbs.…
Read MoreFour Levels of Learning To Make You a Better Teacher and Student
“However much thou art read in theory, if thou hast no practice thou art ignorant.” – Sa’di (Gulistan, 1258) There are probably a dozen levels of learning. But these four — broadly defined — may help you discover problems in the way you learn (or teach) things now. 1. Telling it The teacher conveys his…
Read MoreOn Being a Good Business Partner
“He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.” – Fables of Bidpai, circa 750) I do business with a lot of very accomplished businesspeople — entrepreneurs and executives who understand how business really works, who are expert in financially valuable skills, and who emphasize sales and marketing as they should. They have learned…
Read MoreAre You Deluding Yourself About Your Chance of Success?
“The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one’s self.” – Nietzsche (The Antichrist, 1888) A study I saw in USA Today a few months ago said that most people rate themselves as “hard” to “very hard” workers. Yet any reference book of statistics will tell you that the average employee puts…
Read MoreThe Most Universal Marketing Strategy In The World
I’ve been writing advertising, editing copywriters, and advising marketing mavens for more than 20 years. During that time, I’ve seen a lot of clever and effective marketing techniques. Most of the best of those have been explained in past ETRs. Those that pertain to direct marketing are contained in the Michael Masterson Accelerated Six-Figure Copywriting Course (www.thewriterslife.com/etrpd). And some…
Read MoreHow To Make Your Team Work
A business is not a team; to make your business work, however, you will have to create teams. Successful coaches — from Pat Riley to Mike Shanahan — agree on certain principles when it comes to teamwork: 1. The team’s goal is everyone’s ultimate goal. 2. The team is more important than the individual. 3. Every job…
Read MoreThe F Word
“Th‘ best thing about a little judicyus swearin‘ is that it keeps th‘ temper.’Twas intended as a compromise between runnin‘ away an’ fightin‘.” – Finley Peter Dunne Perhaps one of the most interesting and colorful words in the English language is the word “fuck.” Just by its sound, it can describe pain, pleasure, love,…
Read MoreDetatch Yourself From Specific Outcomes
“Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves! And without too many regrets, if possible! Those from which the sap has withdrawn. But, good Lord, what beautiful colors!” – Andre Gide (Journals, 1947) In “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,” Deepak Chopra’s Law of Detachment…
Read MoreSet Goals Without Struggling
“A windmill is eternally at work to accomplish one end, although it shifts with every variation of the weathercock, and assumes 10 different positions in a day.” – Charles Caleb Colton (Lacon, 1825) My first reaction to Deepak Chopra’s book, “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,” was something like: “He’s got to be kidding. A…
Read MoreDo More By Doing Less
“He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty.” – Lao Tzu (The Character of Tao, sixth century B.C.) One of the things you learn in Jiu Jitsu (and you can learn everything that is worth learning in Jiu Jitsu) is that when your opponent is holding you down and pressing his weight…
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