Day: August 7, 2018

I Received A Phishing Phone Call Today: Beware, My Friends

Carl Setzer

This afternoon my office received a phone call from “800”. I had just finished one project and was reviewing my notes when this popped up. In a good place to deal with random distraction, I opted to grab the call. As the tech-savviest of my office mates, I’m glad I got this one.

Female Robot Voice: “Your Windows license has expired and your account has been compromised…” at which point, I hung up. Now, a malicious part of me thought I should’ve played this up and trolled the phisher, but, no. I do have a ton of real work to do. Stuff that brings money into the company. But I really did want to disturb these creeps.

It’s not the first of these phishing phone calls I’ve received, just the first one like this one. Different verbiage, different delivery mechanism, but, in the end, the same deal.

So, no, this isn’t legit. No, Microsoft isn’t monitoring YOUR computer. Oh, and Windows licenses don’t “expire”. Last but not least, whether it’s a phone call or a pop-up on your browser, your machine probably isn’t compromised. Exception: if the antivirus software YOU installed is telling you this, it might be legit. In that case, along with anything repeatedly popping up on your computer, consult an expert.

I need to remember to “Sharpen My Saw”

Carl Setzer

I tweeted this earlier today:

So, here’s a bit more insight. I’ve known for years the importance of taking care of yourself. What’s called, in Franklin Covey parlanence, Sharpening Your Saw. This analogy states that the lumberjack who never sharpens his saw, doesn’t take care of his tools, slowly loses his effectiveness and, eventually, the tools, the saw in this case, fails.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the busyness of the world, of my modern life. My office is running pretty short-staffed right now. (If you’re interested in working with us, all our open positions have been posted on our Facebook page.) There’s so much to do, it seems indulgent to take some time for one’s self.

Yet, we…well, “I”…need to remember that not taking care of myself means decreasing effectiveness and eventual collapse. I’m not some strange superbeing who is exempt from all the rules that others are bound by.

I spent my morning journaling time considering this. Most of my refresh time has been reflexive. I want to shift to a more deliberate approach. The main reason is to avoid hitting the proverbial wall and THEN trying to figure out how I get more energy. No, I’m going to spend time daily doing things that feed my soul, that rejuvenate me and make me better. Substituting coffee (or worse) only creates a bigger problem down the road.

So, what do you do to recharge your soul? That gives you zip in the morning? I’d love to hear what works for you. I delight in hearing what inspires folks. So, drop me a note below.