How to beat the system

'Mr Geller,' requested my bank manager in an unexpected telephone call, 'I wonder if you would be kind enough to drop into my office for a chat. Say three o'clock tomorrow?' Why did he want to see me? I couldn't figure it out because I had just requested a bank overdraft and was told that approval would only be a formality. Had I inadvertently drawn more money than was agreed? I was quite puzzled and a little worried as to why I should be requested to appear in person at the bank. I had only recently opened the account after my first big television appearance in England and although at that time I was not rich, I had sufficient funds owing to me to cover loans and overdraft facilities.
At the appointed hour I was ushered into the manager's office, a large room with wood panelling and soft leather chairs in the financial heart of London. The manager, conservatively dressed in a pin-striped suit, bespectacled, and a little overweight, eyed me with some uncertainty. I did not say a word but looked at him firmly in the eye which seemed to unsettle him slightly. 'I'd like to talk to you about finances and your overdraft,' he began, 'but first let me explain a few things. You're in a position where you meet beautiful women, you appear on television, and you are hosted around the world. We bank managers lead a very sober existence. We sit here all day enclosed by four wooden walls, running our eyes over client accounts. Rarely do we get the chance to have such an exciting life as you must lead. For the sake of some of my staff downstairs who have to work in the vaults, would you mind bending a few spoons?'
'But what about my overdraft?' I inquired. 'Oh, don't worry about that,' he responded. 'Now, how about some tricks, eh? I've told the girls downstairs that you were coming and said if you were prepared to show. . . ' It did not require a genius to realise what the cunning manager was up to. He only wanted me there to raise his own standing among his staff, and in particular with the pretty secretaries working for him. Well, if I was going to be used like this I might as well get my pound of flesh I thought. 'I'll be happy to do it,' I replied, 'but let's get the business over and done with first. I know I asked your bank for an agreed overdraft facility but actually that won't be enough. I'll need double.' Just at this point, the secretaries walked in for my 'spoon bending performance' and before the manager could use their arrival as an excuse to fob me off, I insisted we finish discussing my finances.
There was nothing he could do. Not wishing to appear mean or hesitant in front of his staff, he immediately agreed to my demands and we got on with the social aspects of my bank visit, which, after all, was why he brought me there in the first place.
I tell you this true story because it is important to understand that everyone is human, even bankers. And like everyone else they have their weaknesses. The manager had used his position to get me into the bank. He was totally in control of the situation until the secretaries walked into his room. At that point he was sitting at his large leather-topped desk 'holding court' with someone he thought would elevate his own status. Had I not asked for anything he would have tried to continue in his dominant role.
My demand threw him temporarily off balance and the only way for him to have retrieved his position in front of the secretaries was to appear generous and accede to my wishes. I had in fact turned the tables on him. He could not possibly have refused my request without a massive loss of face. Both the timing and the demand were perfect.
I often wonder why so many people I speak to are afraid of their bank managers. Let me tell you, unless they are bullying aggressive types - and even then sometimes - they are probably more scared of you than you are of them! Treat the bank manager as your equal. That does not imply that you show him disrespect. You can still be courteous and pleasant without demeaning yourself. Learn to play a clever game using PSI and body language to get your own way. If you want a loan, don't go cap in hand to the bank manager. Don't feel that you are a second-rate citizen just because you need money. Most successful people have huge overdrafts. Go in there with the attitude that you are doing him a favour. By giving you an overdraft the bank is making money which helps to keep it in business and employ staff. You are doing everybody a favour by borrowing. You are the customer and the bank should be nice to you.
Like anybody else in life, the bank is likely to turn nasty or be mean to you when it feels threatened. It feels this threat when it considers, rightly or wrongly, that you are not going to pay back the money you owe. There are ways of overcoming misunderstandings and these can be summed up with one word 'COMMUNICATION.' Keep in touch with your bank manager. Tell him what's happening. Don't wait for that offensive letter. Take the initiative and write first. Unless you tell him about your problems he won't know what's happening and may think the worst.
Reinforce the bank manager's trust in you by fulfilling your promises. If you have told him you will put money in by a certain date, then do so, even if you have to borrow from elsewhere. If you cannot borrow the money, then write to him and explain why it will be impossible to deposit the funds as you promised. It doesn't take a great effort to do this but I can assure you it will really pay dividends! The bank manager will respect you as a person who is in control of the situation and as his estimation goes up, so will his willingness to allow you increased loans and overdrafts.
Invite your bank manager to lunch and charm him with your positive PSI personality. Talk to him about investments and banking, a subject he should know a lot about and therefore feel confident in discussing. This will also make him feel important. Find out about his other interests like sport or photography and discuss his favourite topics. Psych yourself to send out positive vibes. Use telepathy to tell him you like him and urge him to like you. Invite him to call you by your first name and he should respond accordingly. Once you establish a friendly relationship he will do all in his power to accommodate your requests. The benefits a good lunch with your bank manager will bring you, will by far outweigh the cost of the meal. Next time you are in the bank and he passes by, make sure you greet him by his first name in front of his staff. They will give you better service in future and think twice before sending you unfriendly letters of demand.
The short cut route to success
Have you ever driven down a twin lane highway and found one of the lanes traffic logged while the other is almost empty of cars, even though there is no compulsory turn off at the end? I have on many occasions and never cease to marvel at the patience of the British public. I put this down to the queueing mentality. Europeans seem obsessed with queueing and 'ownership' of spaces which they feel are rightly theirs through custom or usage. In the early morning rush hour, the main arterial roads are usually blocked whereas the back streets are relatively traffic-free. Drive to a local village or town and you will find cars parked on the outskirts when there is plenty of room available right in the centre. People who are positive thinkers and believe in their PSI power will experiment with the back routes and search for the short cuts. You won't find positive thinkers at the end of the queue. Nor will you find them particularly bothered about entering another person's 'space.' And just as the positive driver searches for short cuts and back routes in heavy traffic, you can do the same in the office promotion stakes and in your business activities. But before we go further into that, let me tell you about 'space' ownership. It is important to understand how much it means to some people who draw invisible boundaries.
A psychoanalyst friend of mine owns a beautiful fifteenth century farmhouse on the borders of Kent and Surrey about forty-five kilometers south of London. He spends weekends there but during the week he lives in central London. At one stage of his career he tried commuting, which involved taking the train from the village of Edenbridge to Victoria Station, London. After the second or third day, he was standing on the platform at Edenbridge awaiting the train when a well-dressed man approached him and asked him to move away from the spot he occupied. Not believing his ears, the psychoanalyst politely but firmly asked the man why he was making this request.
The man's reply put an instant and premature end to my friend's commuting. 'I don't want you to stand there,' the man petulantly told my friend. 'I have been standing on that spot waiting for the train over a period of twenty years. It is my spot and nobody else is allowed to stand there. Everyone knows that! Now would you please move.' Space restrictions also applied inside the carriage on that particular train. If anyone dared sit in a seat normally used by a 'regular' the offender would be met with icy stares from other commuters. The man's actions told a lot about his character. He was conservative in his ways, a man of habit, petty-minded, and a stickler for rules and red tape. By 'reading' him correctly and treating him in a manner which would not threaten his ordinary and boring existence, you could turn him into a useful ally who would not let you down.
Are you an innovator or do you follow rules? Try this next quiz and see how you shape up. Answer the questions with either 'Yes,' 'Not sure,' or 'No.'
1. Do people compliment you on your sense of initiative?
2. Do you believe in the principle that rules are there to be obeyed?
3. Are you the creative type?
4. Do you tend to seek solutions along tried and tested lines?
5. Do you find yourself often challenging rules?
6. Are you more concerned with resolving problems than finding them?
7. Do you have little respect for past customs?
8. Are you capable of accurate and detailed work?
9. Are you confident that your ideas will usually work in practice?
10. Do you prefer to work with colleagues who never 'rock the boat'?
11. Do other people regard you as the impractical type?
12. Would you be happy working for a bureaucracy?
13. Are you always looking to delegate routine tasks?
14. Do you consider yourself to be the predictable type?
15. Do you think you have more 'flair' than your colleagues?
Scoring: First of all, give yourself 2 points for each 'Yes' answer, 1 point for 'Not sure' and 0 points for 'No.' Then add up your scores for odd and even numbered items separately. If you score more highly for the odd numbered items, then you are the innovative type. You tend to judge each case on its merits, to work from first principles, and avoid tedium and drudgery. You find it exciting to look for new solutions and you are always questioning rules and conventions. You are letting your PSI power take over in unknown situations and allowing positive feelings to win the day.
If you score more highly for the even numbered items, then you are a follower. You find life easier when there is a set routine to follow, and a standard way of doing things. You keep your energy for doing things along tried and tested paths. You cannot see the point of doing things differently just for the sake of it. From your point of view, traditional customs have a lot of sense behind them. You will use your PSI-FORCE effectively and cautiously but you are unlikely to take astral rides into the unknown.
Beat your boss
Everybody has it in them to outsmart their boss. Whether you are a young typist or secretary in your first job or a lowly paid tea boy or a budding executive, PSI power can be used to make you a winner. You can start climbing the ladder to success and outwit your boss at the same time! Here's how you do it.
Using PSI power and meditation and relaxation techniques already discussed, picture in your mind the office you work in or the job you do and think of the key individuals with whom you are involved. Stand apart from yourself and be the impartial onlooker who is assessing you and your colleagues. Now go over recent events in the office and list all your strong and weak points as well as making a summary of relationships among the staff, including yours. Be hard on yourself. Decide what role you play in your work situation and then determine what role you would like to play. Now turn the tables on yourself. Imagine you are the boss and see if the picture changes. In your imaginary role as the boss what do you think of you the employee? How do you see yourself and your prospects? Play as many role reversals as possible to give yourself the widest scope for self-analysis.
Next, begin analysing your boss. This may take several days or even a few weeks but it will be worth it in the end. Learn everything there is to know about him or her until you reach a stage where you can use mental telepathy to send images and receive them. Test yourself thoroughly. Once you reckon you know your boss, try and predict how he or she would react in given situations. Psych yourself to think like the boss thinks. Only by putting yourself on the same mental level will you be able to communicate telepathically. Once you have achieved this, let the boss know how you would react in response to a problem or situation before your boss has had time to think about it. If you were right and make a habit of this, you will soon be noticed not only by the boss but by other executive staff. The boss is always right!
At this stage, you can start planning some coups that neither the boss nor your colleagues will ever realise were intentional. Plan ahead and act on information you know will be reaching the boss and on which he or she will have to make a decision. Your chief will be dumbfounded when you inform him or her that the matter has already been taken care of in the correct manner. Make sure the board of directors knows what you have done. A lot of bosses take the credit for everything their junior executives or employees do. It's also a good idea to get friendly with the boss's secretary without making it too obvious. Good secretaries can be ideal links for getting through to the boss. They generally know their boss better than anybody else does.
The slave driver: If your boss is a slave driver who is only using your good services without giving you credit or offering improvement, you have several options for dealing with the situation. If you don't like the job and you think your chances of promotion are nil, start looking for another job without breaking your back to fulfill unreasonable demands. The worst thing you can do is allow yourself to become stressed and anxious as a result of the executive's behaviour.
If you want to stay in the job because you like it and think you may be promoted, use everything you have learned about the boss to bring about a desired change in attitude. If, for example, your boss has a sense of humour, you could suggest he or she gives you the office key. Such a request will obviously require an explanation, at which point in time you will have your chance to explain that, unless you stay at the office all night, there will be no hope of finishing your work to the high standard you are used to giving.
Explain to the boss that you value your pride in your job and that you want to give one hundred per cent of your efforts to ensure things are done properly. He or she will have to agree with this. Then tell the boss that if a proper job is required you will not be able to guarantee it because of the unreasonable work load. Explain that a second rate job could cost the company a lot of money and clients. This is an argument that cannot be ignored because you have introduced an anxiety factor - fear of losing money or business. Make sure you have all the right answers up your sleeve to any objections that may be put up. Another factor which could influence the boss is the timing of your approach. Make sure the boss is in a relaxed and happy mood and open to suggestion. Make the approach at a time you think is most suitable. It might be after a good lunch or you could try early in the morning or after work and explain to the boss that you did not want to encroach on work time to sort out this problem. You could soon have your boss eating out of your hand!
The human machine: If your boss treats you as though you are part of the office furniture or an extension of the word processor, you must quickly point out the very big mistake your chief is making. Being regarded as a robot does very little for one's self-esteem but you can overcome this obstacle. You are not a robot but a human and therefore you can think and scheme and psych your way out of situations of this nature. The most effective way of doing this is by being so efficient at your work that your absence will immediately be noticed. Build up goodwill with other colleagues and executives so that they appreciate your valuable services. Make yourself indispensable for certain tasks and then when everyone, including the boss, is dependent on you, tell him what you think of the way you are being treated and explain that you might look elsewhere for another job which wants human beings. The threat of losing a good employee will not be taken lightly, especially if you are badly needed at this moment of time.
Don't be frightened to say 'No,' to your boss; be polite but be firm. Machines can't say 'No' but humans can, and if he or she imposes impossible tasks on you, refuse and explain why you have refused. You will be more respected for your refusal than if you had accepted ridiculous demands and failed to carry them out.
Once you have mastered an office or job skill, don't be content with continuing in the same job. Learn other skills to give yourself the opportunity of advancement into more responsible positions. Don't be frightened to take on different jobs just because you haven't learned them. Everyone has to make mistakes in the learning process. You will get more respect for trying and offering to extend yourself. And once you have mastered different skills you will be able to argue with the boss that the company is throwing away money by having you do mundane jobs when a person of your skill could be doing something far more productive and profitable.
The Romeo boss: Don't be victimised by the Romeo boss. If he doesn't own the company you are working for, he is walking on thin ice by taking liberties with you. He knows that but he doesn't think you know it. If his superiors get to hear of it he could be in trouble but it is in your interests to cool his ardour with the least possible damage to your own career. If you are married or live with someone, tell him how happy you are and what a wonderful man your husband or boyfriend is. Let him know that there is nobody who could replace your partner.
If you are not married or do not have a steady boyfriend, be honest with your boss. Tell him you are sorry but that you don't fancy him in the least. Assure him that if you did fancy him, you would be only too happy to accept his generous advances. If he persists, ask him if there is something wrong with his wife. Suggest to him that you could discuss his problem with his wife. Alternatively, ask him how he would feel if his wife or girlfriend was molested by her male colleagues. If he persists then you must act in a more positive manner. Tell him that the next time he puts a hand out of place you will have to report him because you can't do your job properly.
Take the initiative: You can psych your way to the top by building up your own image without the help of your boss or colleagues. I have had personal experience of this but must warn you that it could backfire if you are not careful. Nevertheless, the example I will give you illustrates how the principle works. A young cousin of mine was given a job by a large retail shopping empire during his university holidays. The store manager had taken an interest in him and hoped he would remain working for the chain rather than continuing his studies. My cousin had no intention of staying there however and thought he would play a managerial game. After all, he considered he had nothing to lose.
He was put into the cosmetics section where the department boss decided to teach him the trade from scratch. He was asked to stack soaps and cosmetics on the shelves as well as serving customers. My cousin found this too demeaning and instead walked around the store with his hands behind his back pretending to be the boss. He was immediately singled out for promotion by the other staff who, while despising him for not doing the mundane work, grudgingly admired him for acting like the boss and considered he had leadership qualities as a result. And despite complaints by his department boss, the store's manager offered him a permanent position with assurances of quick promotion. What my cousin had done was to psych his immediate boss with his positive, if somewhat cheeky approach. The boss did not know how to react to the situation and other workers accepted the role my cousin had created for himself.
The great divide: Status within an office can be a very carefully conceived plan of one-upmanship by an ambitious boss to give as much importance as the budget will allow him or her to get away with. The status-conscious boss will want to separate himself or herself as far as humanly possible from the rest of the staff. Further offices housing personal secretaries will also be created to provide an obstacle course preventing easy access to the boss. The main office will be plushly decorated and have a large desk which will dwarf the visitor. Don't be made to feel inferior with this kind of boss. Your PSI power is far more reliable and capable of giving you the upper hand than a piece of furniture which the boss is relying on to help build an image.
Walk into the office as if you own it. When you are offered a small chair in front of the desk, take a seat on the sofa and establish your own presence by acting the equal. Don't be frightened by the artificial trappings of importance.
Study your office design and use the knowledge to your advantage. If the office is open-plan, establish the location of the employees who are held in highest esteem by the boss. Try and place yourself next to them. Alternatively, if you are in a very large building with lots of space, try and arrange an office for yourself thereby creating an executive image. By acting important your collegues and bosses will eventually believe you are!
Winning at work:
1. Don't stay somewhere where you are not appreciated.
2. Don't be frightened to say 'No.'
3. Teach yourself every aspect of your particular job and then learn new skills. Make yourself indispensable at what you do.
4. Be positive with your boss. Behave as if you are an equal.
5. Don't get involved in arguments. Make your point and give reasons. Don't give excuses.
6. Don't be frightened of making decisions. No matter at what level you are, take the initiative.
7. Don't be a slave to your job. Do it well and efficiently but don't let it undermine your social and family life.
8. Listen to what colleagues and bosses have to say before committing yourself too readily.
9. If you find your work too stressful, change jobs or insist on having breaks which will improve your performance.
10. Don't take on extra work because you find it difficult to refuse.
11. Don't get bored in your job. If you are bored, look around for a new job or ask your boss if you can do other tasks.
12. Do the PSI meditation and relaxation exercises and study your colleagues and boss.
13. Devise a goal and then set about achieving it.
14. Don't be bullied by your boss. Form a plan of action which will get him off your back. This is best done by learning all his strengths and weaknesses.
15. Establish good relationships with your fellow workers. Treat work like a game. Use PSI power to help you discover your colleagues' inner selves and then play to win. Use your knowledge of communication and image building. You could soon be the boss!