While driving this morning, I heard an interesting story on NPR about food chains running something called, “secret menus”. You have to ask for it though. It’s not visible. It on a card, and you can even ask to have it uploaded to your smartphone. For example, one can walk into Panera Bread, ask for the secret menu and receive a list of healthier items to choose from. Apparently there are other food chains doing this. Not sure if it’s true, but there’s a rumor McDonalds has something called the “Monster Mac” – it’s eight patties. Yikes! I really hope that’s a rumor.
Here’s a link to the NPR transcript. The audio should be available after 9am today.
I’m goal oriented. I set goals for everything in my life because I’m able to measure the success or progress of the goals I put in front of me. In other words, it moves me forward so I get the results I want – for myself and the people in my life. For example, every January I run in the ING Miami marathon. I run the full marathon every year as a motivator, as way to influence vital behaviors that contribute to lasting exercise, diet and nutrition. That’s all.
Identify weak behaviors you want to improve (in this case, you want to eat better and exercise regularly) by finding influencers to improve those behaviors. Here are some of the influencers that work for me:
Choosing an event (marathon, 5K, spinning class – the goal and influencer)
Training for the event (I schedule and measure my progress every day)
Complete the event (I complete my goal based on my own perceived vision or how I visualize my end result)
Everything we do starts with making a choice. We are responsible for where we are in our lives based on the choices we have made up to this point, and it’s all in our control for the most part. I realize certain, unfortunate health conditions or unstoppable forces outside of our control can impede us from accomplishing certain things, but for the most part nobody else should be held responsible for our current state but us. Physically speaking.
Find a positive influencer – a personal trainer, a running coach or group such as Team in Training, which is an excellent way to stay influenced and on track. All we have to do is find ways to influence ourselves to greatness. Buying a new pair of running shoes is another big influencer for me as is purchasing a new heart rate monitor and some cool, new exercise clothes. There’s are some suggestions for how we can influence vital behaviors to promote exercise and good health in our lives.
I completed 1 full Ironman, 3 half Iromans and 8 marathons in my life because I simply chose to. I was influenced by the challenge and how I might stand out from everyone else by setting an example. Challenges are what influence me in all aspects of my life. I’m easily influenced by my own perceived outcomes, vision or how I visualize my end result to be.
I know you can do this. Start visualizing where you want to be. You can have the life you want. You just need to make a choice and never give up on yourself.
I remember my first Defcon show, one of the most popular and elite hacker conventions on the planet. It was more than ten years ago. At that time, Defcon was not the glamour and hype it has become today. It was small, raw and intimate and everyone pretty much knew everyone else; either from previous shows or IRC (Internet Relay Chat).
Today, Defcon is flooded with more talent and diversity than ever before. It has matured into a mainstream “Geektropolis” and media and government agencies want in. This video is a perfect example of the two converged. It centers around Defcon 19 and the value Defcon can provide to anyone interested in recruiting the best of the best to protect their most prized assets – information and infrastructure.
I’m currently using two goal setting tools that I really like. The first is called “GoalsOnTrack.com” and the second is “GoalEnforcer”.
I use GoalsOnTrack for work and personal goal setting (sub-goals, tasks, calendar, etc.), and I use GoalEnforcer for mind mapping. Mind mapping is a process used to break large goals into smaller, more manageable goals. It comes in at a price of about $30.00 for the standard version; the version I’m using.
I use GoalsOnTrack.com for daily goal setting. There’s a $65.00 a year fee attached to its use; and it’s all in the cloud. You can sync with iCal so you have a way of keeping track of your goals on your mobile device, but the only downside is if you don’t have an Internet connection you can’t access GoalsOnTrack.
There are a number of goal setting and time management tools available. There are some for the mobile platform, but I haven’t been able to find anything comprehensive from the Android Market or the App Store. If you find something please share.
One of my personal goals in life is to play guitar with Eric Clapton by September 14, 2016. Even if it’s just for 15 minutes.
Here’s why I chose this as a goal for myself:
September 14th was the day I put this goal into action
Guitar is one of my passions
Eric Clapton is one of my favorite musicians
It’s exciting and it takes me out of my comfort zone
I could have made my goal learn how to play “Stairway to Heaven” but I didn’t, because; (1) it’s not exciting enough for me, and; (2) it doesn’t take me out of my comfort zone as a musician. And that’s where we want to be all the time.
Why is this important?
When we choose goals that really excite us and take us out of our comfort zone, we set ourselves up for new opportunities – new lessons to be learned, new relationships to be made, new ideas to cultivate and ponder, and a new sense of direction we didn’t have before.
Here are 5 steps you can take that will take you out of your comfort zone, and help you put into action the necessary steps that will produce the results you want from your life:
Make a list of things that excite you the most. For example, playing guitar with Eric Clapton is a very exciting goal for me. More exciting than learning how to play “Stairway to Heaven”. You need to find out what excites YOU. Maybe you want that director position that just opened up in your company or you want to make $10,000,000.00 dollars.
Make them your goals. You might even find that some of your new goals fit into different areas of your life such as health, fitness, finance, relationships, work, etc. If so, great, because now you’ll live a more balanced life as a result of this exercise.
Write down all the steps you must complete to accomplish your goals. For example, I need to learn how to read music, play faster, build accuracy, play live, continue taking lessons, practice, etc.
Give all your goals specific completion dates. I gave myself 5 years (September 14, 2016 to be exact) to prepare for my moment with Eric Clapton.
Read your goal list daily, and as you read your list, picture what your life looks like when you achieve your goals. I’m on stage with Eric Clapton, sitting in a chair next to him with my guitar, the stage is dimly lit, etc.
Keep your goals with you – on your computer, your phone, tablet or day planner. Read your goals over and over to yourself at least two to three times a day until they become second nature. Eventually, your goals will become part of you, and the actions you take will be those that support your mission.
It’s important for us to be in touch with the things we’re most passionate about in our lives. They shouldn’t be ignored. Because the things we are most passionate about, the things that really excite us also define us. When we make a decision to take action on the things that excite us the most, they give us a greater sense of purpose, meaning and fulfillment. When I listen to Eric Clapton’s music or pick up my guitar to play, it has a much deeper meaning for me than ever before.
Believe in yourself and create the life you want by doing what excites you the most. I wish you all the success in the world.
This weekend, I installed and tested 1Password by AgileBits. Very simply, this is a great tool for anyone who’s been writing down their passwords because they can’t remember them. I know a lot of people who write down their passwords and store them in plain text files and spreadsheets unencrypted. 1Password takes care of it all and you can install it on Mac, Windows, iPhones, iPad’s and Android devices.
An Opportunity to Reduce Risk at a Good Price
If you stop writing down passwords where people can discover them; that’s a positive step forward in reducing the risk. In security we are always looking for ways to reduce risk and reduce it cost-effectively whereby, the price to protect something (in this case our passwords) does not exceed the value of what we are trying to protect (bank account information, our health care information, our privacy, our credit card information, etc.). In other words, I can justify the need and cost for having a tool like 1Password. It’s only $20, and for $20 I can reduce the risk of someone gaining access to my online bank account, which could lead to financial losses and fraud.
One Small Downside After all, this isn’t a perfect world. There’s no such thing as “one hundred percent protection”. There are always vectors (a way in) to steal something. This brings me to an IMPORTANT PIECE OF AWARENESS:
1Password requires us to know “one password” to all the other passwords we want to protect and use with 1Password. This means, we must never, ever write down or share that password. Not ever. I recommend that you come up with a long passphrase you can remember for the one master password. Here’s an example passphrase one might use. Keep in mind, this passphrase might work for me, but not for you:
Th1sOldM4nh3Pl@ys0n3!
You’ll have to create something you will remember. Make sure it’s complex but at the same time easy to remember. I know it may sound contradictory to what I’m trying to get across, but you just need remember one password/passphrase. Not 10, 20 or 30. It’s a fine balance between ease of use and security. I know you can do it!
Just watch the video and decide for yourself. Let me know what you think or let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!
This is also a good tool for someone like myself who is an expert in the field of information technology and security. I used to use a password management tool called KeePass, and although KeePass was a good step in the right direction, 1Password takes it further by automating the login process. I’m switching to 1Password. And no, I’m not being paid to say that.
1Password also has a tool called ‘Knox’, which is used to encrypt our files too.
“It is said that quality cannot be directly checked in the product; it must be planned right from the beginning. Thus, software quality must be planned into the project right from the initiation state, engineered into the products of the software development project, and be monitored by assessing not only individual segments of the project or single data products but also by evaluating the interactions and interrelationships between them. Quality goals must be clearly defined, effectively monitored, and rigorously enforced. The Project must focus on the quality issues of the project from the outset, ensuring that quality criteria are consistent with defined requirements. Throughout software development, the management of quality must be an overriding concern of all project personnel. Quality must be planned into the project structure, constantly evaluated, and corrections applied when deficiencies are identified.”.
If we replaced the word “quality” with the word “security” in the paragraph above it would still make sense. You see, quality and security are interrelated, whereby security is a value-add component of software quality assurance in my opinion. If we took security out of the equation, our products would offer less value to our customers because we’d overlook important security principals like confidentiality, integrity and availability. This would mean a number of risks for our customers when they go to use our products. It would also mean our products would not be able to compete successfully for market share, and so in turn; we might go out of business. Not a good idea.
So, when you begin planning quality at the beginning of your next software development project; plan security at the beginning as well. And when you think about software quality, think about security as a component adding more value for your business and your customers.
While driving this morning, I heard an interesting story on NPR about food chains running something called, “secret menus”. You have to ask for it though. It’s not visible. It on a card, and you can even ask to have it uploaded to your smartphone. For example, one can walk into Panera Bread, ask for the secret menu and receive a list of healthier items to choose from. Apparently there are other food chains doing this. Not sure if it’s true, but there’s a rumor McDonalds has something called the “Monster Mac” – it’s eight patties. Yikes! I really hope that’s a rumor.
