Man oh man! You know I'd like to think I'm smarter than the average bear, but sometimes I amaze myself with my lack of common sense and good judgment.

You know the emails circulating about helping those poor souls (tongue in cheek) "hide" their money overseas? You know the ones I mean, they come addressed to you from the Prime Minister of This and That country, all desperate to sneak their cash out of the country before the roof falls in... promising you the moon if you'll only "help" them.

All scams of course, we all know that, but...

Well, DUH!

I must get 10 of these a week. I KNOW what they are, even when they change the subject line - my esp is going ballistic - my finger hovers over the delete without opening key - and STILL 10 times out of 10, I'll click that little puppy open, just to be sure.

You know why I open it? I open it on the remote and totally unlikely chance that it WILL be someone I know, truly needing my help.

I swear... Now who's kidding who?

Okay, so maybe the "desperate" appeal works - too often. But, tell me, would YOU be willing to play such a con line over and over AND hope to walk away with your integrity intake? I think not. I certainly hope not.

Recently I read and published Sam Knight's latest article entitled, "What's The Matter People and Why Aren't They Reading My Ads!" I laughed myself blue in the face, she just writes so well! And, in my smug little way, I sat there confident that no one was "getting to me" in such a fashion.

And then, what, just two hours later, I'm clicking open the very next "Dear Sir or Madam, please help me!" letter.

Unbelievable (shaking head at oneself).

Integrity, truth in advertising, taking the high road, call it what you want, but you and I both know it is the only true road to success.

The redeeming factor to all this? Study the subject lines in your own inbox. Figure out what really ticks you off and what actually prods you to open those emails and use them to your best advantage.

All the while maintaining a much higher level of professionalism, of course.

To your success!