Oli Gibson

The way others think has always been of huge interest to me. Understanding the way other peoples brains work and what they may be thinking has always appeared to be the key to success in my eyes and now I think it time to start to share this knowledge with you.

As always when searching for answers they come from the places you least expect. In this case I was speaking with my life coach about ways in which to persuade others to come to my own point of view and she brought up the theory of persuasion. She said that no matter how persuasive or convincing an argument I felt I was making it may be totally unconvincing to someone who thinks differently to me.

This theory is pretty simple but it stood out to me straight away. I had never thought of this before (which makes me think I cannot be the only one) and started to question her on the theory. She told me there were four different types of thinkers and I have explained how they differ below.

Visual - Visual thinkers think in images. they find it easiest to draw out their thoughts in pictures or diagrams and respond best to visual stimulus.

Audible – Audible thinkers, as expected, think in sound. They often talk through situations in their heads and respond best to audible explanations or arguments.

Logical – I am a logical thinker so this is probably the thought process I am most qualified to speak about. Logical thinkers weigh up the pros and cons of any situation in their heads and generally come to the most rational outcome. They rarely rush into decisions and generally give balanced arguments based on facts.

Emotional – Probably the most unpredictable of the thought processes, emotional thinkers are guided by their feelings rather than the facts of a situation. They are more inclined to make rash decisions but that doesn’t mean these decisions won’t be right. Emotional thinkers can also often make decisions very quickly because they’re initial feelings usual rule their thoughts.

So Why Is Any Of This Important?

By working out what sort of thinker someone else is and adapting your approach to suit them you can either explain, argue or just simply interact with that person more successfully. This may not seem that powerful but think back to the last time you failed to pursued someone to come around to your way of thinking, maybe you just weren’t arguing in a way that made sense to them.

Take that idea to the next level. Imagine trying to persuade your boss that your new idea deserves to be given a go or that someone should buy your car. These are times when you may need to use every tool in your arsenal to get the other person to think the same as you and to achieve that you may have to do just the opposite and think like them.

How To Apply the Theory of Persuasion

The most important and probably the most obvious thing to remember is this isn’t full proof, not expect to be able to work out how everyone you meet thinks but in my experience I find I get it pretty right 70-80% of the time. (I’ve had practice) It is also worth noting that people don’t necessarily think in only one way often they mix a couple of the different types.

That said don’t let that thought stop you trying to use this theory to your upmost advantage. You need to start in the obvious place and try to work out how they think. Obviously if you have know the person for a while it is a lot easier but if not asking selective questions can really open the doors and give you full access to their mind.

For example a question as simple as “what did you think off …………?” can reveal much about people thinking. An emotionally driven person will almost certainly answer this question instantly and use ‘extreme’ language to describe their opinions. (they very rarely think something is ‘OK’ it is either amazing or horrible not in the middle) In contrast a logical thinker will likely pause as they consider their answer and are much more likely to fall somewhere between good and bad.

Spotting the visual and audible thinkers may be even easier, the way they dress can be a give away (visuals are generally better dressed) but not as much as the way they present their ideas. A visual thinker will often reach for a pen and paper to help show their thoughts diagrammatically. Its this body language you need to tune into to spot how people think best and remember its the small things that are the giveaways.

Now you think you know how the other person thinks it is simply a case of adjusting the way you interact with them to maximise their understanding of you. If I talk to a visual thinker I try to draw things or write stuff down. If they think emotionally I try to throw my logical ideas out the window for a moment and pitch them a feeling. This all takes practice and you’ll generally find it easiest to interact with people who think the same as yourself but eventually you will find adapting your thinking easier and easier.

*Money laundering is illegal in almost every country in the world. I do not condone the act of laundering money or the activities that result in money needing to be laundered. The knowledge I have brought together here is from wide reading on the subject and I is meant to be consumed for pure interest in the subject. That said it is an interesting!*

Have you ever seen a business that never seems to have any customers and doesn’t seem to be making any money but is still there month on month? I have seen many but one stands out to me. Let me tell you about the lemonade stand in Hungery.

I visited Hungery in September 2008 to race at the Olympic Hopes International Kayak Championships. The hotel the team was staying in was on the outskirts of the town of Szeged and just of the motorway. As you can imagine it wasn’t the most picturesque place in the world and the weather for September was cold with rain clouds threatening most days. From my window I could see the main road and was amused to see everyday the lemonade stall that opened for business there. Every morning when I woke it’s owners were setting up for the day and every evening I saw them leave but never once did I see a customer.

I never did find out much about that lemonade stand that interested me so much but one thing I did discover from talking to some people around the hotel was that the stall consistently took around $500 a day and was open all year round. How can a lemonade stall next to a motorway take $500 a day when it has no customers you ask? My answer, it must be a location for money laundering.

What is Money Laundering?

Lets go back to the beginning. Money laundering is the act of taking dirty money (generally from criminal activity) and ‘cleaning it’ to make it appear like it came from a legitimate source so that the authorities cannot seize the money. Money laundering is the achilles heal for organised crime. Finding a way to get their ill-gotten gains into banks without detection is probably the hardest part of the process for a number of reasons. Banks have to report any large cash deposits of to the serious crime organisation and because most organised criminals deal solely in cash because it is untraceable it becomes almost impossible to get the money into a bank with out someone noticing. It is important to remember that we are not talking about small amounts of cash that could be spent without passing through a bank. Try buying anything worth over £1000 with cash and you will almost certainly set alarm bells ringing in the serious organised crime agency these days as it is assumed you would pay by credit card.

Money laundering is infinitely complex and the rules of the game are always changing but let me explain the basic principle of money laudering.

Placement – The launderer inserts the dirty money into a legitimate financial institution. This is often in the form of cash deposits. The deposits must be kept relatively small, no more than $10,000 otherwise they will almost certainly be reported.

Layering – Layering involves sending the money through various financial transactions to change its form and make it difficult to follow. Layering may consist of several bank-to-bank transfers, wire transfers between different accounts in different names in different countries, making deposits and withdrawals to continually vary the amount of money in the accounts, changing the money’s currency, and purchasing high-value items (boats, houses, cars etc) to change the form of the money. This is the most complex step in any laundering scheme, and it’s all about making the original dirty money as hard to trace as possible.

Integration – At the integration stage, the money re-enters the mainstream economy in legitimate-looking form — it appears to come from a legal transaction. At this point, the criminal can use the money without getting caught.

There are many ways to actually launder money using the above structure, here are a few that are known to the authorities. There are probably many more that are simply not known about yet.

Smurfing

Smurfing or structuring deposits is probably the most simple way to launder money it entails breaking up large amounts of money into smaller, less-suspicious amounts. Generally these amounts must be smaller than $10,000 otherwise they are reported. The money is then deposited into one or more bank accounts either by multiple people (smurfs) or by a single person over an extended period of time.

Shell Companies

These are fake companies that exist for no other reason than to launder money. They take in dirty money as “payment” for supposed goods or services but actually provide no goods or services; they simply create the appearance of legitimate transactions through fake invoices and balance sheets. My example of the lemonade stand would be considered a shell company though it did have a public face to make it look more legitimate.

Off Shore Banking

Money launderers often send money through various “offshore accounts” in countries that have bank secrecy laws, meaning that for all intents and purposes, these countries allow anonymous banking. A complex scheme can involve hundreds of bank transfers to and from offshore banks. Examples of these countries include Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Bahamas.

Legitimate Business Investment

Launderers sometimes place dirty money in otherwise legitimate businesses to clean it. They may use large businesses like brokerage firms or casinos that deal in so much money it’s easy for the dirty stuff to blend in, or they may use small, cash-intensive businesses like bars, strip clubs or check-cashing stores. These businesses may be “front companies” that actually do provide a good or service but whose real purpose is to clean the launderer’s money. This method typically works in one of two ways: The launderer can combine his dirty money with the company’s clean revenues — in this case, the company reports higher revenues from its legitimate business than it’s really earning; or the launderer can simply hide his dirty money in the company’s legitimate bank accounts in the hopes that authorities won’t compare the bank balance to the company’s financial statements.

It’s worth noting as well that most schemes involve using a number of these methods to properly cover the tracks and the real source of the money.

So there you have it the dummies guide to money laundering, I hope it was interesting and informative. If you’d like to see what the authorities are doing to combat money laundering click here or for some money laundering case studies click here.

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” – Abraham Lincoln

Through the last few posts here I have talked about goal setting and my tips to create better goals or achieve your dreams. By reading the posts I have already written (below) you will have the tools you’ll need to set goals that really work, so now I think it is time to show you what can be achieved by using these techniques and why you should use them.

Past Posts in the Series

• An Introduction and Thinking Smart
• Five Tricks to Achieve Goal Setting Nirvana
• Dreamlining

How Tim Ferriss Achieved it All

Tim Ferriss is a remarkable character who has achieved a remarkable amount in his 29 years. Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Reporter even went as far to say “Tim Ferriss has packed more into his 29 years than Steve Jobs has in his 51″. Thats clearly no mean feat! Here’s some of the things Tim has achieved.

• Guest Lecturer at Princetown University
• First American in history to hold a world record in Tango
• Speaker of 6 languages
• National Chinese Kickboxing champion
• MTV break dancer
• Actor in Chinese hit TV series (Human Cargo)

To go with this Tim has also traveled the world extensively, run a successful business (BrainQuicken) in the US and is now an established angel investor.

So how do you pack all this into 30 years and more to the point how do you keep focused enough to achieve all this?

Well Tim has used all the techniques I have detailed in the last few posts but he is a particular fan of dreamlining. He believes the more unrealistic the goals you set the more likely it is you will push to try and achieve it.

Admittedly not everyone wants to be like Tim but he is probably the best example for me to show what can be achieved with proper goal setting. Setting goals is a technique that needs to be learned in itself and once mastered it is amazing what can be achieved, look at Tim!

This now concludes The Goal Setting Guide. I will hopefully add to it from time to time but I now feel that there is a great guide out there to help you set goals that really make the most of your potential. While this is the end of this short series, it doesn’t have to be the end of my advise on goal setting. You can always email me with any questions you have – oli@oligibson.com – or you can find me on twitter – @oligibson.

Hi Everyone, this is just a quick post to let you all know that my new iPhone app is now available in the app store! If you want one tool to let you keep up with my blog and everything else I’m up to the iPhone app is for you.

You can view my blog, my twitter stream and all my youtube videos right there on your phone and it’s all live updating. So please check it out here. Also if you like the app I’d really appriciate it if you could write a review on the iTunes store.

Lastly thanks to all of you for supporting me and reading the blog, it means so much that you take the time to see what I have to say!

I was introduced to the idea of dreamlining by Tim Ferriss when I read his anecdote about the fat man in the red BMW convertible (an example of what he could be like if he continued to follow his career path)

Could you really stand to be in the same position as your boss in 15-20 years time? A symbol of mediocrity with a 3 bedroom house in suburbia, 2.4 children and a small family saloon. Stuck in your middle management job and going no where. Trust me that idea scares the hell out of me. This is why I became a lifestyle designer and why I remind myself everyday to never “accept reality”. This is why I use dreamlining.

Strictly speaking dreamlining is not goal setting. It differs in a few ways…

1. The goals shift from wants to defined steps
2. The goals MUST be unrealistic to be effective
3. It focuses on activities that fill the vacuum created when work is removed or reduced should you wish (who doesn’t!)

I am going to help you do what you never thought possible. What you dreamed of when you were young but as you grew up realised was ‘not possible’. I am going to help you dreamline. It’s not going to be easy but it will be worthwhile. To start with I recommend you download my dreamlining template and my expenses calculation form to help you out.

What Would You Do if You Couldn’t Fail?

Imagine if you were the smartest person in the world. Think how much you’d do now knowing you couldn’t fail.

Create two timelines, one for six months and one for twelve (there is a template here) and list up to five things you dream of for the following categories…

Having – Including but not limited to material wants eg. cars, houses etc.
Being – Eg. being a great cook, fluent in a language or a world champion.
Doing – Eg. Visiting Australia, racing motorbikes or running the marathon.

If you have difficulty identifying what you want in some categories, as some will consider what you hate or fear and write down the opposite. Make sure you don’t limit yourself or worry about how you will achieve these dreams. For now it doesn’t matter. It’s also important not to fool yourself. I love cars and dream of owning an Aston Martin so I put it down rather than putting down removing aids from Africa out of guilt. It doesn’t matter what you want as-long as it is what you really want. Be it fame, fortune or prestige get it all down.

If your still drawing a blank consider the following questions…

• What would you do day to day if you had £50 million in the bank.
• What would make you most excited to wake up tomorrow morning.

What are the Four Dreams that Would Change it All?

On both the six and twelve month timeline highlight the four dreams that are most interesting, exciting and would make the most difference to your life.

Discover How Much Your Dreams Cost and Your Target Monthly Income (TMI)

If financeable, how much does it cost per month to achieve your dreams. (eg rent, mortgage, monthly payments etc) If you start to think of income and expenses as monthly cash-flow instead of grand totals you’ll likely find things often cost a lot less than expected. For example my dream of owning an Aston Martin. A brand new Aston Martin V8 Vantage normally costs £90,341 but I can drive one away for as little as £1,542 a month.

So let us calculate your Target Monthly Income (TMI) to help you achieve your dreams. Firstly find the total for each of the rows counting only the four selected dreams. It doesn’t matter if some of these rows total zero. Next add your total monthly expenses x 1.3 (30% buffer for savings and unexpected costs) This grand total is your TMI target. Your calculation should look like the following.

Column A + Column B + Column C + (1.3 x Monthly Expenses) = TMI

You could take this further and divide your TMI by 30 to get you Target Daily Income to give yourself a goal for the day.

If all this seems a little complicated please look at my examples here. You can also use the templates to do your own dreamlining. I find dreamlining particularly useful to give targets and show that dreams are easier to achieve than first expected. I hope it can help you in the same way. As usual please leave comments or email me if you have any questions on dreamlining and it’s best practices – oli@oligibson.com