The Mercury

7 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Failure

2011-11-23T15:28:00.001+05:30

The fear of failure is perhaps the strongest force holding people below their potential. In a world full of uncertainty, a delicate economy, and countless misfortunes that could happen to anyone, it’s easy to see why most people are inclined to play it safe.

But playing it safe has risk as well. If you never dare to fail your success will have a low ceiling. Most people underestimate their merit and ability to recover from failure, leading them to pass up valuable opportunities. The ability to fail big and fail often has been a mark of the spectacularly successful throughout history.

The following strategies will help you put risk and reward in perspective so you can overcome the fear of failure.

1. Consider the cost of missed opportunities – The biggest risk that people fail to consider is the benefit they lose by avoiding high risk/high reward opportunities. In his guide to career planning, Netscape founder Marc Andreesen compares a well managed career to a diversified portfolio. The ideal career contains a wide range of job opportunities (some risky, some safe) that combine to form a relatively safe career with a high potential for growth. Taking high risk opportunities is essential because they offer the greatest reward:

The issue is that without taking risk, you can’t exploit any opportunities. You can live a quiet and reasonably happy life, but you are unlikely to create something new, and you are unlikely to make your mark on the world.

2. Research the alternatives – The unknown is a major source of fear. When you don’t know what you’re dealing with, potential consequences seem far worse than they actually are. Take the power out fear by understanding it. Research all the potential outcomes (both good and bad) so you genuinely understand the risk of failure and benefits of success. Analyzing these outcomes will help you see through the fear of failure and make a logical decision.

3. Put the worst-case scenario in perspective – One of the most powerful questions posed by Tim Ferriss in the 4-Hour Workweek is: If you chase your dreams and fall flat on your face, worst-case scenario, how long will it take you to recover? The answer is probably less than you expect. How hard would it really be to find another job? Chances are you could recover completely in a few months. Is the fear of a few rough months strong enough to keep you in a mediocre situation indefinitely?

4. Understand the benefits of failure – As Emerson said, life is a series of experiments, the more you make the better. Each failure is a trial in an experiment and an opportunity for growth. Even if a failure costs you financially, the educational benefits can far outweigh the loss. Working for a startup instead of a big company is considered risky, but according Paul Graham, “Managers at big companies prefer to hire someone who’d tried to start a startup and failed over someone who’d spent the same time working at a big company.” Maybe that experience at a big company isn’t as safe or as valuable as you think?

5. Make a contingency plan – Another way to overcome the fear of failure is to reduce the downside. Hedge your risk by creating a contingency plan. Even if your first option fails, you can maintain the status quo with a solid backup plan. Daring to fail doesn’t mean you have to risk losing it all. If you manage risk intelligently, you can capture the benefits of high risk opportunities while leaving yourself a safety net.

6. Take action – The best way to reduce fear and build confidence is taking action. As soon as you do, you’ll begin accumulating experience and knowledge. Everything is hardest the first time. It’s like jumping off a cliff into a lake — after you do it once, you see that the water is safe and each time afterwards is easy. Start off with small steps and build up your confidence until the fear of failure is manageable.

7. Burn the boats - When ancient Greek armies traveled across the sea to do battle, the first thing they would do after landing was to burn the boats, leaving them stranded. With no way to make it home besides victory, the resolve of the soldiers was strengthened. When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to follow through.

If you have a goal, but are afraid to commit, force yourself into action by burning the boats. Register for an exam in advance if you want to go back to school. Set a deadline to move to a new city without signing a lease. Fear of failure disappears when you realize it can’t save you.

2011-11-22T15:47:00.001+05:30

My Seminar On Common Network Attacks

Network Attacks

Without security measures and controls in place, your data might be subjected to an attack. Some attacks are passive, meaning information is monitored; others are active, meaning the information is altered with intent to corrupt or destroy the data or the network itself.
Your networks and data are vulnerable to any of the following types of attacks if you do not have a security plan in place.

Eavesdropping

In general, the majority of network communications occur in an unsecured or "cleartext" format, which allows an attacker who has gained access to data paths in your network to "listen in" or interpret (read) the traffic. When an attacker is eavesdropping on your communications, it is referred to as sniffing or snooping. The ability of an eavesdropper to monitor the network is generally the biggest security problem that administrators face in an enterprise. Without strong encryption services that are based on cryptography, your data can be read by others as it traverses the network.

Data Modification

After an attacker has read your data, the next logical step is to alter it. An attacker can modify the data in the packet without the knowledge of the sender or receiver. Even if you do not require confidentiality for all communications, you do not want any of your messages to be modified in transit. For example, if you are exchanging purchase requisitions, you do not want the items, amounts, or billing information to be modified.

Identity Spoofing (IP Address Spoofing)

Most networks and operating systems use the IP address of a computer to identify a valid entity. In certain cases, it is possible for an IP address to be falsely assumed— identity spoofing. An attacker might also use special programs to construct IP packets that appear to originate from valid addresses inside the corporate intranet.
After gaining access to the network with a valid IP address, the attacker can modify, reroute, or delete your data. The attacker can also conduct other types of attacks, as described in the following sections.

Password-Based Attacks

A common denominator of most operating system and network security plans is password-based access control. This means your access rights to a computer and network resources are determined by who you are, that is, your user name and your password.
Older applications do not always protect identity information as it is passed through the network for validation. This might allow an eavesdropper to gain access to the network by posing as a valid user.
When an attacker finds a valid user account, the attacker has the same rights as the real user. Therefore, if the user has administrator-level rights, the attacker also can create accounts for subsequent access at a later time.
After gaining access to your network with a valid account, an attacker can do any of the following:

Obtain lists of valid user and computer names and network information.
Modify server and network configurations, including access controls and routing tables.
Modify, reroute, or delete your data.

Denial-of-Service Attack

Unlike a password-based attack, the denial-of-service attack prevents normal use of your computer or network by valid users.
After gaining access to your network, the attacker can do any of the following:

Randomize the attention of your internal Information Systems staff so that they do not see the intrusion immediately, which allows the attacker to make more attacks during the diversion.
Send invalid data to applications or network services, which causes abnormal termination or behavior of the applications or services.
Flood a computer or the entire network with traffic until a shutdown occurs because of the overload.
Block traffic, which results in a loss of access to network resources by authorized users.

Man-in-the-Middle Attack

As the name indicates, a man-in-the-middle attack occurs when someone between you and the person with whom you are communicating is actively monitoring, capturing, and controlling your communication transparently. For example, the attacker can re-route a data exchange. When computers are communicating at low levels of the network layer, the computers might not be able to determine with whom they are exchanging data.
Man-in-the-middle attacks are like someone assuming your identity in order to read your message. The person on the other end might believe it is you because the attacker might be actively replying as you to keep the exchange going and gain more information. This attack is capable of the same damage as an application-layer attack, described later in this section.

Compromised-Key Attack

A key is a secret code or number necessary to interpret secured information. Although obtaining a key is a difficult and resource-intensive process for an attacker, it is possible. After an attacker obtains a key, that key is referred to as a compromised key.
An attacker uses the compromised key to gain access to a secured communication without the sender or receiver being aware of the attack.With the compromised key, the attacker can decrypt or modify data, and try to use the compromised key to compute additional keys, which might allow the attacker access to other secured communications.

Sniffer Attack

A sniffer is an application or device that can read, monitor, and capture network data exchanges and read network packets. If the packets are not encrypted, a sniffer provides a full view of the data inside the packet. Even encapsulated (tunneled) packets can be broken open and read unless they are encrypted and the attacker does not have access to the key.
Using a sniffer, an attacker can do any of the following:

Analyze your network and gain information to eventually cause your network to crash or to become corrupted.
Read your communications.

Application-Layer Attack

An application-layer attack targets application servers by deliberately causing a fault in a server's operating system or applications. This results in the attacker gaining the ability to bypass normal access controls. The attacker takes advantage of this situation, gaining control of your application, system, or network, and can do any of the following:

Read, add, delete, or modify your data or operating system.
Introduce a virus program that uses your computers and software applications to copy viruses throughout your network.
Introduce a sniffer program to analyze your network and gain information that can eventually be used to crash or to corrupt your systems and network.
Abnormally terminate your data applications or operating systems.
Disable other security controls to enable future attacks.

Ashok J Lingam Mahipaul

Hear To Heart Connection

2011-11-22T15:20:00.000+05:30

Three Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

The master of interpersonal-relations had this to say:

Principle 1: Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
Principle 2: Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Principle 3: Arouse and fill a need.

Principle 1:

Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. Why?

When dealing with people, we’re not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion; creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.
As much as we thirst for approval, we dread condemnation. (Hans Seyle)
Wrongdoers blame everybody but themselves. The person we’re going to condemn and correct will probably justify him or herself, and condemn us in return.

(Ouch! I hope I haven’t made more enemies than I already know … oh well, live and learn. There’s always a fine line between kissing up and standing up for what one believes. Oh no!! Is my fragile ego getting defensive?!)

Principle 2:

Give honest and sincere appreciation.

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
Ways to bring out the best in people are appreciation and encouragement. Criticisms from superiors kill employees’ ambitions. I never criticize anyone. I lavish them with approval and praise. (Charles Schwab)
The difference between appreciation and flattery? One is sincere; the other, insincere. One comes from the heart out; the other, from the teeth out. One is selfish; the other, unselfish. One is universally admired; the other, universally condemned.
Try leaving a friendly trail and little sparks of gratitude on your daily trips. You’ll be surprised how they will set small flames of friendship that will become rose beacons in your life!

(Yes, flattery is not a way to gain friendship. Even I can smell the B.S. a mile away!)

Principle 3:

Arouse and fill a need.

The world is full of self-seeking manipulators. Service-oriented individuals are rare and have an enormous advantage — little competition. “People who can put themselves in others’ shoes, who can understand the working of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for them” (Owen D. Young — a prominent corporate lawyer)
Strive for a win-win situation. Each party should gain from the opportunity.

(Arouse and fill a need — I can’t think of a good example so I’ll share Dale Carnegie’s.)
Andrew Carnegie’s sister-in-law was worried sick over her two sons at Yale. The boys simply neglected to write home. Andrew Carnegie wrote his nephews a chatty letter, mentioning casually in a postscript that he was sending each one a five-dollar bill. Obviously, he didn’t enclose the bill …
Guess what?! Back came letters thanking “Dear Uncle Andrew” for his kind note and … You can finish the rest.
(Arouse and fill the need — delayed gratification, of course! Appreciation is much greater!)

In a successful relationship comprise:

Acceptance
Honesty and sincerity
Appreciation and encouragement
Find and fill the need

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

2011-11-22T14:47:00.000+05:30

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

Don't criticize, condemn or complain.

Give honest and sincere appreciation.

Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Ashok J Lingam Mahipaul

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