| Little secrets can be useful. An example is | | | | international airfare." The cheapest from |
| knowing that hotel mattresses are less worn | | | | Traverse City, Michigan (where I lived at the |
| and more comfortable on the side away from | | | | time) to Quito, Ecuador, was $1720. Out of |
| the phone. Or knowing that listening to | | | | curiosity, I checked Miami to Quito: only |
| Mozart's sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. | | | | $404. Traverse City to Miami: $299. $703 |
| 448 for ten minutes can raise your IQ 9 | | | | total! Book two separate flights and save |
| points.They can also be just interesting. Did | | | | more than $1000! The discount sites aren't |
| you know that the furthest point from the | | | | set up to check in this way for you, so you |
| center of the earth isn't Everest, but the | | | | have to do this on your own.- If you have |
| top of Mount Chimborazo, in Ecuador (due to | | | | good credit, you don't have to pay annual |
| the bulge in the planet near the equator)? | | | | fees on credit cards. Call and ask for the |
| Here are some little secrets that are a | | | | fee to be removed. I first did this years |
| little of both.- Find money in bibles. Hotel | | | | ago. On three out of four cards, they dropped |
| owners report that visitors tuck money in the | | | | the fee. For the fourth, I dropped the card. |
| bedside bible, and forget to take it with | | | | In fact the threat of closing the account is |
| them. Check those bibles!- Find treasure in | | | | what got the fees dropped on the others. |
| hotel rooms. Treasure hunters have found that | | | | There are many of these little secrets that |
| businessmen take off and hide their wedding | | | | credit card companies don't want you to |
| rings in hotel rooms, before they head to the | | | | know.- An energy transfer motivation secret. |
| bars. They sometimes forget them when they | | | | Talk about anything you're passionate about, |
| check out. Where would you hide something? | | | | and then transfer the energy created to what |
| There may already be something there.- Reduce | | | | you need to work on. If talking politics gets |
| debt with a letter. In a truly tough | | | | you going, for example, do that, and then |
| situation, write a nice letter to creditors, | | | | work on your goal. It's even more effective |
| asking them if they would accept 30% (or 50%, | | | | if you can connect the two in your mind. If |
| or whatever) of your balance as payment in | | | | making money is your goal, for example, you |
| full, if you can raise the cash before filing | | | | could tell yourself, "With more money, I can |
| bankruptcy. They know they'll get nothing if | | | | find ways to change things politically."- In |
| you file. I have seen more than one person | | | | a book of little health secrets I read that |
| eliminate a large chunk of their debt in this | | | | tee tree oil might remove a growth I'd had |
| way. A lawyer or "representative" can write | | | | for ten years on my nose. I applied a drop to |
| it for you, and they may pay more attention.- | | | | the lump each day. In six weeks, the lump was |
| To always have something interesting to say, | | | | gone. Coincidence? I don't think so. I later |
| train yourself to look at things from other | | | | had a larger growth on my neck. |
| perspectives. What would the Buddha say about | | | | Unfortunately, for several years, I couldn't |
| this? How would a Martian view it? What's the | | | | remember what I had used the first time. When |
| opposite perspective? The point is to see | | | | I finally found my old notes, I used tea tree |
| what interesting ideas result. Do this until | | | | oil again, and the lump was gone in about six |
| it's a habit, and you'll always have | | | | weeks. There are reasons that doctors don't |
| something interesting to add to a | | | | tell us these little secrets.Steve Gillman |
| conversation.- Book two flights to save big | | | | has been hunting down obscure knowledge and |
| bucks. When I was going to Ecuador, I checked | | | | useful secrets for years. |
| several websites that claimed "cheap | | | | |