The NeceMoon Album | Chapter 1: Strategy And Tactics
Author: Necemon Yai
Date: 2018-04-23T23:00:00+00:00
Description: The NeceMoon Album Technologies and Strategies to Keep Moving Forward By Necemon Yai Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics Featuring Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Karen Kakou, Monty Oum, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
Publisher: Evasium

The NeceMoon Album

Technologies and Strategies to Keep Moving Forward

By Necemon Yai

First edition

Published by Evasium ®

April 2018

London, UK

TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com

The contents of this file are protected under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

License
This file is free to distribute and give away to as many people as you would like.
I only ask that you do not sell it or publish the content onto any website.
If you use any quotes from this document, give me credit and link to the original file.
If you write a book and I quote you, I will give you credit and links too.

© Necemon Yai
necemon@gmail.com
www.necemonyai.com

All Rights Reserved.

Version 1.0.7.235

To the ones I lost, to the ones I got back

For each one that gets lost, ten get laid back

Table of Contents

Introduction      5

For All Practical Purposes      8

Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics      9

Words to Live By (by Monty Oum)      10

Monty Oum or the Bruce Lee of Digital Arts      11

The 5 Most Terrific Motivation Tips (From Monty Oum The Artistic Genius)      16

Losing Your Arm (by Jean-Patrick Ehouman)      18

On reading books and self-education: My Essentials      20

On reading books and self-education, My Essentials (Part 2)      23

Becoming Your Own Boss: 7 Lessons Learned On The Spot (by Yehni Djidji)      31

[Interview] In The Bubble of Yehni Djidji: "I offer educational entertainment and life-changing experiences to children"      33

What will you do in life?      35

11 Personality Traits Of Successful Entrepreneurs (by Jean-Patrick Ehouman)      36

5 Team Management Insights From Sebastian Marshall      39

5 Attitudes Without Which You Will Have Trouble Reaching Your Goals (by Jean-Patrick Ehouman)      40

Just think about it: 50 ideas to live by      42

Breaking Through Pebble : from Mediocrity to Excellence (by Karen Kakou)      47

[Interview] In The Bubble Of Karen Kakou: "my parents never knew their ways to successful careers, I had to figure everything out by myself"      51

10 Business And Management Skills To Own And Be Productive (by Vanessa Lecosson)      53

Final Reminder      56

Conclusion      57

Share The Album with Your Mates      58

Introduction

About The NeceMoon Album: what is this all about?

The NeceMoon™ is a Blog about Technology and Strategy. The Album is The Best-Of, a compilation of the most popular articles on The NeceMoon™.

The main objective of The NeceMoon™ is to share tips and insights on a sensible range of topics, in order to let others learn from my mistakes and successes, and hopefully to make things easier for the next person.
The main objective of The Album is to promote an optimal access to that content. The Blog format does not always do justice to techno-strategic content. Originally, Blogs were designed in a journalistic spirit and are more suitable to chronological events and (more or less trivial) discussions around daily news. Even if the usefulness and the importance of an analysis persist in time, it becomes almost impossible to find and difficult to consult, as more articles keep stacking.
That is why the best articles have been cherry-picked, reviewed and arranged in a logical order that better matches the layout of a book. The Album is free of charge.

The NeceMoon™ can be accessed from NeceMoon.com (or necemonyai.com/blog)
The NeceMoon™ Album can be downloaded in various file formats, in full from TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com (or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/The-Album.aspx). The available formats are PDF, EPUB, MOBI/AZW3/KF8 (Amazon Kindle) and MP3. Furthermore, the various chapters and volumes can be downloaded independently/separately, according to your interests.

About the Author: who is Necemon Yai?

I am a Software Development Engineer extensively involved in Microsoft .NET technologies. Full time developer. Part time digital artist, strategist, essayist and entreprenerd. I majored in computer science from NIIT, Christ University and Swansea University (Master of Engineering, Computing).
At the time of publishing this, I have worked for a Europe leading E-Commerce company, a major UK financial group, the General Electric global corporation and a few tech start-ups that you probably never heard of.
Over the past decade or so, I have been running The NeceMoon blog, where I describe my experiences, my observations and my reflexions. I mostly talk about Technology and Strategy. Here I share my most popular articles.

About the Contributors: who is in your War Council?

I invited the best writers in my network to include some contributions in this book, especially some of their most relevant insights in terms of Technology and Strategy. These top authors are, Ahou The African Chick, Antoine Mian, Cyriac Gbogou, Darren Mart, Edith Brou, Holty Sow, Israel Yoroba, Jean Luc Houedanou, Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Karen Kakou, Monty Oum, Nanda Seye, Nnenna Nwakanma, Olivier Madiba, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji.
Along with their respective writings, you can find links to their own web pages. In addition, most of these contributors introduce themselves and provide you with some tactics in our exclusive interviews that you will also find in this book.

About You, Dear Reader: who is this book for? What’s in for you?

In The Album, there are 9 chapters organised in 2 volumes. Each chapter deals with a specific topic. You don’t have to read everything. If you are interested (to one extend or another) in one or more of these topics, you would possibly appreciate the related chapter(s):

Volume 1: Moon Light (softcore)
Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics
Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation
Chapter 3: Corporate Worlds and Emerging Markets
Chapter 4: Quick Wins, Tricks and Tips
Chapter 5: Transition - Extra Thoughts and Sharp Fantasy

Volume 2: Full Moon (hardcore)
Chapter 6: Software Development and Engineering
Chapter 7: C# .NET Programming
Chapter 8: Epic Prototypes, Classic Projects, Historic Genre
Chapter 9: Research and Case Studies

If you want to, you can download and read only the chapter(s) and volume(s) that you are interested in. Several file formats are available on TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/blog/page/The-Album.aspx)
All the Web links in this document are working, feel very welcome to click on them.

For All Practical Purposes

The NeceMoon Album, Chapter 1

This document contains the Chapter 1 of The Album: “Strategy and Tactics”. If you care, 8 other chapters are also available. Depending on your interests, you may download, (re-)read or share any of the various chapters and volumes independently/separately. The PDF, EPUB, MOBI/AZW3/KF8 (Amazon Kindle) and MP3 formats are available.

To get them, just click on any of the links you like below or go to TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/The-Album.aspx)

The NeceMoon Album (complete)

Volume 1: Moon Light (softcore)

Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics

Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation

Chapter 3: Corporate Worlds and Emerging Markets

Chapter 4: Quick Wins, Tricks and Tips

Chapter 5: Transition - Extra Thoughts and Sharp Fantasy

Volume 2: Full Moon (hardcore)

Chapter 6: Software Development and Engineering

Chapter 7: C# .NET Programming

Chapter 8: Epic Prototypes, Classic Projects, Historic Genre

Chapter 9: Research and Case Studies

The Album is available in French as well at Album.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/L-Album.aspx)

Chapter 1

Strategy and Tactics

Strategy and Tactics

Featuring Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Karen Kakou, Monty Oum,
Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji

Words to Live By

By Monty Oum

I continually hope that someday I'll get a chance to pass on everything I've learned. There hardly seems a moment considering living by my words only means having absolutely no time to say them. So at least I can take a moment in slight to utter in passing.

Never let anyone tell you that something is impossible.

I lived by that when it sparked in me the possibility of achieving something despite everyone telling me it being impossible otherwise. People have always told me it's impossible, that it's been tried. If you know what I'm talking about then you’re already on your way. What I will say to you, ignore those who've been defeated by what they call "experience." Keep going and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I know this might sound familiar even, never give up etc. But it's how I live my life even currently as there still are more "experienced" people who will criticize that I'm doing it wrong. It's the human spirit that will keep us alive. This rings true to the events of my life, when I started Haloid. I didn't do it because I wanted to get a job in games, or that I wanted to become famous, or what have you. I did it because I knew it could be done, and that the road to finishing it was imperfect and difficult. What finishing it yielded me was only more steps on the path to pushing forward in what I believed in.

My life lacks much, I'm broke, my car is in horrible shape, my apartment is a mess, I spend 3 days in a row at the office regularly and sleep on the couch only when I need to. I'm helplessly antisocial. I see my girlfriend 3 times a year.

I come from an impoverished family of Cambodian civil war refugees. It’s been a long journey between being so incredibly poor that I didn't have paper to draw on when I was little, to where I am now. It wouldn't have happened if I didn't dive headfirst and take a risk, and continually risk it all to keep going forward... Heh, success? They thought it was impossible.

What is the greatest reward for living in such difficulty?

I hope you see it someday too, because the world looks very different, when you're pushing yourself every second you've got.

Monty Oum or the Bruce Lee of Digital Arts

By Necemon

There are some people who are willing to sacrifice almost everything, including their time, resources, sometimes even their social life, their sleep and some "normal" pleasures of life. All of that, in order to work hard and focus on their vocation, to improve things or try and make their world a slightly better place. Your grandparents had a word for that: Saints. Today we refer to them as Entreprenerds.

We lost one of the top soldiers. An Internet Legend and amazing artist has left us. Monty Oum was an American digital artist known for his crossover fighting videos such as Dead Fantasy and RWBY. He was, among other things, a self-taught 3D animator, whose education was mostly observational.

Most geeks first became aware of Oum after he released the crazy fighting mashup Haloid, using characters from the video games Halo and Metroid. A part time dreamer production:

The video caused a buzz in the gaming industry, and Monty joined Namco Bandai, where he worked on the video game Afro Samurai. He was also responsible for some of the most awesome Web Animation around, most of which relied on Rule of Cool. Millions of people enjoyed his web series "RWBY" (Ruby - Red White Black Yellow).

He chose being Awesome as a career and beyond his artistic skills, he was the man who never slowed down, who always wanted his life to be efficient, quick and as productive as possible. In the industry, Mister Oum’s dedication was legendary. Monty Oum, also known as the Bruce Lee of Digital Arts, was just one of those people that was ferocious about the need to create, thus that great combination: an amazing creative ability and the drive to put it to use. Monty was the personification of motivation and determination.

Can you match this resolve? If so, then you will Succeed.

Personally, I have been following his work since the Road. I admired him for working so hard and being so passionate about what he created.

So much potential, but gone by age 33, following a sudden allergic reaction. That's the kind of stories that remind us how transient, fleeting and ephemeral life is. Sometimes we work extensively, getting into (large) projects... But everything may collapse all of sudden, due to a small accident, a simple medical error or some allergy coming out of nowhere...

Philosophically, it's a pretty important concept: to stay aware of the end which is inevitable. Living in the Borderlands at times, if not all the time. Here, "Borderlands" is a reference to the Bushido concept of meditating on your own death: realising that you will die at some point, and living your life accepting that. Bushido (the way of the warrior) is the code of moral principles that Japanese samurais had to observe and that inspired the code of honor of disciplines such as aikido, judo, jujitsu and karate. But in its purest form, Bushido requires the respect of danger and death from its practitioners, so that they can effectively assess and deal with the present moment in relation to their own death.

To this extent, we could have concluded with the cliché stating that life is short and that we must enjoy every moment. The problem is that there is some complexity in the proposition "enjoying the moment", given the widely divergent interpretations. What is a chore for some people can be a real pleasure for others. And vice versa, which is a distraction for some may be boring for others. The main thing is to do what you love. Have you ever been so intensely absorbed in a creative activity, so that when you get disconnected, you feel that getting back to it would be more exciting than proceeding with "normal" distractions? Some of us execute like crazy because there is no alternative.
Workaholic? Please. That’s sounds like something lazy people would say. When you are emotionally engaged by passion or for a cause, you tend to explore ambitious perspectives without regret, no matter what might happen next.

A lot of life lessons could be learned from this man, but the most important is probably how indomitable the human spirit is. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams is something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.

Monty Oum may have left us, but he leaves behind many great works and inspiration.

The 5 Most Terrific Motivation Tips (From Monty Oum The Artistic Genius)

By Necemon

Monty Oum was the Bruce Lee of Digital Arts. That was the man who never slowed down, who always wanted his artistic life to be efficient, quick and as productive as possible. He was literally a personification of motivation and determination, here are some of his best lines:

Time stops for no one and I have no time to stop.

*****

If you are looking to surpass your current self, then be prepared to sacrifice part of who you are and don't look back.

*****

Which software to use? It's not the tools you use, it's how you use them. I guess the best tip for beginners would be to really just start and do it. Keep moving forward...

*****

The World looks very different, when you push yourself every second you've got.

*****

Can you match my resolve? If so then you will Succeed. I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams is something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.

Losing Your Arm

By Jean-Patrick Ehouman

One of the hidden differences between outstanding Success Stories and the average Joe stories, lies in a huge sacrifice. This is also referred to as "losing an arm". This is indeed about some irreversible loss and the pain endured at the time of execution would be unbearable for most of us.

You will not find a single person who has accomplished a monumental work without giving up something generally considered very precious. In many cases, they decided to "lose an arm" in order to make their dreams come true. They ultimately accepted a physical or emotional pain that most of us would not have accepted. Sometimes they put up with it over several years.

When a teenager decides to become a sports professional or a music/movie star, he makes the implicit decision to "set aside" certain teenage distractions in order to reach his goal. You may have heard of Tiger Wood's long hours of training as a child. Encouraged by his parents, whatever the weather, he agreed to train on Sundays (days off for his competitors). Some may find it strange or insane to play golf in the rain, but that was not the case for the Wood family. Others may say that it is useless to rehearse Rap lyrics 15 hours a day without leaving home for several weeks. That was not the opinion of best-selling musician Jay-Z when he was still a teenager. For ordinary people, it would sound even more awkward to try the same chemical or mechanical experiment more than a thousand times, with only a minor modification in the process at each test iteration. That would be without taking into account the drive of Thomas Edison who indulged in it with pleasure during most of his life.

Achievement therefore has a price that only committed individuals can assess, understand and accept. At any moment in life, a woman can decide to do something remarkable. Open the Guiness Book of Records and you will see things as incredible as the people who accomplished them.

Only you can decide to "lose your arm" to achieve a dream. Whether it be notoriety, money, charisma, you will never reach the highest level without sacrificing something precious. A coach, a mentor, a teacher cannot do much for you in that respect, his contribution could not go beyond a permanent reminder of your commitment.

The good news is that very few people are willing to put aside what they view as precious. This gives you the opportunity to go further than others without worrying about real competition. Since at some point, it will be necessary to "lose an arm", and at that point, almost everyone drops out. If you agree to proceed, there is no reason why you would not reach the top.

On reading books and self-education: My Essentials

By Necemon, 2012

There is a lot of great skills you get from school/university lectures, no doubt. But on the other hand, for some specific and practical "super powers" you want to acquire or enhance, you have no other choice but teach yourself. The potential reasons are legion. That could happen by mere interest or if you want to deepen your knowledge in one of your subjects. Or maybe for the sake of personal projects, say learning some essential life skill they don’t teach you in class. So yes, when college doesn't prepare you for life battles, you have to coach yourself.

Anyway, I am not here to complain about any education system. I am writing this post because I would like to share the best and most useful books I went through, as I have been reading a lot lately. I read on a variety of fields and for each of them I am suggesting the top books (according to my humble opinion).

Here we go:

Productivity and Organisation

Being productive implies being effective, deliver what you promise, go from talk to action: in short, being real.  It's not always straightforward to be so concrete. It takes some will power and some organisation. It's a vital skill to have so that your dreams don't remain just dreams. So that your dreams come true:

Getting Things Done (by David Allen): Probably the best book on organisation. It teaches you how to free your mind, how to manage all your "stuff" and how to make efficient choices about your projects.

How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought You Think (by Lion kimbro): As the title suggests, this book is about how to make a complete map of everything you think for as long as you like. If you do the things described in this book, your thoughts will be clearer to you than they have ever been before. You will see things you have never seen before. It may feel like, for the first time in your life, you really have a clear idea of what kind of thoughts are going through your mind.

Marketing and Business

Learning about marketing is important, even for software developers. Actually, it's important no matter what you want to do in life, whether you want to run a business or work for an existing company. It helps you understand people and deal with them.

Foundations of Marketing (By Jobber and Fahy): That book would be a great way to start off, assuming you don't know anything about marketing. It's easy to understand and it teaches the basic concepts through concrete examples.

Influence : The Psychology of Persuasion (by Robert Cialdini): This book discusses the weapons of influence from a psychological point of view. Among other things, it explains the main factors that cause one person to say yes to another person, as well as real life examples.

Breakthrough Advertising (by Eugene Schwartz): Basically about copywriting (or how to sell with a few written words). What makes this one excellent is, it teaches how to identify the desires of the customers and write headlines and ads that trigger a reaction, as they present solutions to their needs.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich (by Ramit Sethi): Not just another boring finance book. Not only is this book informative, it is fun and includes practical tips that would help you master your finances and possibly make more money.

User eXperience

UX is basically the way users feel about your product or service. It highlights valuable aspects of human-computer interaction. Whatever you build, UX is not a choice. This stuff matters, it affects the success (or failure) of your product. Bad design and bad experience happen.

Mobile Interaction Design (by Matt Jones): this book reveals how mobiles have the potential to be key building blocks in this new digitally augmented world, and how careful innovations in that field could change the world, bringing pleasure and helping businesses.

Press On (by Harold Thimbleby): Provides many ways of thinking clearly about the design of interactive devices and about interaction programming. The emphasis throughout is on making better interfaces.

Digital Arts

Simply put, digital arts are computer-aided artistic works. For this selection, I focus on visual arts.

How To Cheat In Photoshop (by Steve Caplin): A goldmine of practical and useful tips, tricks and step-by-step walkthroughs introducing you to the art of creating photo-realistic montages.

Digital Character Painting Using Photoshop (by Don Seegmiller): a complete book on digital illustration and painting. It covers such theoretical topics as how to get ideas and how to get them out so that others may see them. Then it deals with artistic fundamentals that will help you take your ideas to the next step, drawing and painting. Finally, it provides a series of tutorials that show how to handle different issues when you draw and paint.

Online Games

Yes, as a virtual worlds enthusiast, I had to come up with that selection too :-)

Networking and Online Games : Understanding and Engineering Multiplayer Internet Games / Multiplayer Game Programming : those 2 books would teach you the history of online gaming as well as the basic concepts and some technical aspects to be considered.

Developing online games, an insider's guide (by Mulligan and Patrovsky): This one provides insight into designing, developing and managing online games. This is where you learn from the top two online game developers through the real-world successes and mistakes not known to others. There are Case studies from 10+ industry leaders.

Designing Virtual Worlds (by Richard Bartle): while the previous book discusses broadly online games development, this one focus on virtual worlds. This is a book for people who design virtual worlds. Because of this, it's also a book for people who implement, operate, study, or play virtual worlds. Because of this, it's also a book for people interested in entertainment, education, creativity, art, society, culture, philosophy, space, architecture, psychology, identity, language, economics, government, theology, drama, literature, or cognition. Virtual worlds are of the future. If you want to create or understand that future, this is the book for you.

C# Web Programming

We are getting very specific here. There are lots of technology/programming books out there, but I am going to focus here on what I know best: C#.NET Web development.

ASP.NET 3.5 For Dummies (by Ken Cox): if you want to start off quickly and just begin to create your own websites/web apps within days, this is the book to pick. For an immediate immersion in ASP.NET and the Visual Web Developer environment.

Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform (by Andrew Troelsen): Well, now that you have made a few apps, as you move forward and it gets confusing at times, you realise that this .NET Framework is really wide. This is the book that give you an overall view on the technology from the philosophy of .NET through the core C# programming constructs, the advanced C# programming constructs and web and desktop user interfaces, among other things. It even goes through more obscure concepts such as shared assemblies, delegates, late binding, workflow foundation, COM interoperability, etc. In short, a very complete book.

ASP.NET 3.5 Social Network (by Andrew Siemers): after you grab the key concepts and play around with the technology through a few projects, maybe you would want to launch an actual product, something that people could use. The way to go about that is probably to see how experts do it, for instance, how they build discussion boards, membership systems or blogs. Better yet, this book will teach you how to build a complete ASP.NET social network from start to finish.

Building a Web 2.0 Portal with ASP.NET 3.5 (by Omar Zabir): This one is definitely the pièce de résistance. This book not only teaches how to build a State-of-the-Art Ajax website using ASP.NET, LINQ, advanced ajax concepts, Windows WorkFlow and other cutting-edge Microsoft technologies; it also shows how to solve real life production challenges such as deployment, hosting, performance optimisation, scalability, caching, security, monitoring, etc.

That's it for now...

On reading books and self-education, My Essentials (Part 2)

By Necemon, 2015

A couple of years back I shared my reading list and wrote about the books I found most interesting. But then, after that, I have been reading some more over the past few months, here are my recent favorites:

1. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - by LessWrong

A "parallel universe" Harry Potter fiction written by Eliezer Yudkowsky (A.K.A. LessWrong), an AI researcher, writer and decision theorist at the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The fan fiction story illustrates topics in cognitive science and rationality, recasting the original story in an attempt to explain Harry's wizardry through the scientific method.

Petunia Evans has married an Oxford biochemistry professor and young genius Harry grows up fascinated by science and technology. When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results.  With magic now seemingly a proven reality, Harry now takes his place at Hogwarts, armed with Enlightenment ideals and the experimental spirit.

The text contains many clues: obvious clues, not-so-obvious clues and truly obscure hints. This is a rationalist story; its mysteries are solvable, and meant to be solved. All science mentioned is real science.

The fanfiction is known for possibly being the most reviewed Harry Potter fanfiction, with over 20,000 reviews on Fanfiction.net as of July, 2013.

Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, and no one owns the methods of rationality.

2. Influencer (The power to change anything) - by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

Leading is hard. And the only thing harder than leading a team towards a common vision – provided you are able to unite it in the first place – is leading a team through change. Change is harder.

There is no magic formula for managing change, but the book "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything"provides a great framework.

The authors first point out what does not work: talking. You can’t explain logically to people why they must change their behaviors and expect anything to happen. Peoples' behaviors are tuned to what they believe is in their best self interests. Unless you can change that belief, you have little chance of changing their behaviors.

Influence is about changing hearts, minds, and behavior to produce meaningful, sustainable results.

In short, don’t waste time on how to create change until you’ve clarified what you want, why you want it, and when you want it. The book explains how to clarifying measurable results, find vital behaviors, and use a strategic, varied approach to influence individuals and groups.

3. The Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self - by Alex Lickerman

A book about how to surmount the challenges that life throws our way. It’s a powerful book that helps you cultivate your inner strength to face hard times with a fearless heart. It’s more than a book. It’s a set of tools for life.

The tools in this book help you stand strong when tested.  The key, according to Dr. Lickerman, is turning adversity into wisdom.  It’s that wisdom that helps you develop your resilience and achieve indestructible peace.

It’s also a beautiful blend of ancient wisdom and modern science, offering a set of guidelines not for solving problems but for establishing a life state that makes all problems solvable, and dramatically increase your ability to withstand adversity.

It doesn't just happen automatically, and it takes practice. Extraordinary people may be born, but they can also be made.

4. Who is pulling your strings? (how to break the cycle of manipulation and regain control) - by Harriet Braiker

In "Who's Pulling Your Strings?", Dr. Harriet B. Braiker exposes the most common methods of manipulators, and with the help of self-assessment quizzes, action plans, and how-to exercises, she helps you recognize, end and avoid the manipulative cycle (for good) through lots of straight-forward techniques.

5. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment - by Ekhart Tolle

A guide stressing the importance of living in the present moment and avoiding thoughts of the past or future. The author writes that an individual should be aware of their "present moment" instead of losing themselves in worry and anxiety about the past or future.

According to the book, only the present moment is important, and both an individual's past and future is created by their thoughts. The author maintains that people's insistence that they have control of their life is an illusion that only brings pain. The book also describes methods of relaxation and meditation to aid readers in anchoring themselves in the present. These suggestions include slowing down life by avoiding multi-tasking, spending time in nature, and letting go of worries about the future.

Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide you.

6. I was blind but now I see - by James Altucher

James Altucher is one of my favorite bloggers. In this book he attempts two things. First, he tries to create some awareness about a wide variety of issues that we tend to take for granted/as normal without actually considering why, using clear cut arguments and mentioning alternatives to make his points.

Secondly, the author describes how to deal with the awareness and to get the confidence/strength to do things in your own way. Funny, brutally honest and thought-provoking.

7. Shut up, stop whining and get a life - by Larry Winget

This is not your typical self-help book. This book won't make you feel good about yourself and that's a good thing. If you are hoping to improve yourself with a bunch of feel-good mantras, then this book is NOT for you. But if you are ready to get up and really change your life, then Larry Winget is your man. Larry (A.K.A. the Pitbull of Personal Development) is direct, caustic, and controversial. His tough-love approach boils success down to a simple formula: your life failures are your own freaking fault, and if you shut up, stop whining, and take action, your life will get better.

8. The 50th Law - by 50 Cent and Robert Greene

Pop culture and hip hop icon 50 Cent joins forces with Robert Greene, bestselling author, to write collaboratively a bible for success in life and work based on a single principle: fear nothing.

They came up with The 50th Law, a New York Times bestselling book on strategy and fearlessness.

The book is a semi-autobiographical account detailing 50 Cent's rise as both a young urban hustler and as an up-and-coming musician with lessons and anecdotes from historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Sun Tzu, Socrates, Napoleon, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin.

9. The Millionnaire Mind - by Thomas Stanley

The Millionaire Mind draws from the author's research of America's affluent to examine the ideas, beliefs and practices of the segment of the financial elite that use little or no consumer credit.

The book analyzes the common environmental and lifestyle factors that preceded and resulted in this researched segment's ability to accumulate wealth, by exploring the attitudes and skills that enabled these millionaires to build and maintain their fortunes.

10. How to live on 24 hours a day - by Arnold Bennett

Time is a very funny thing; everyone gets the same amount per day. No one receives either more or less than you receive. It's not possible to go the store and buy time. But time is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is possible; without it, nothing is possible.

The author states that time is the most precious of commodities. He said that many books have been written on how to live on a certain amount of money each day, but he adds that the old adage "time is money" understates the matter, as time can often produce money, but money cannot produce more time. Time is extremely limited, and Bennett urged others to make the best of the time remaining in their lives.

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day offers practical advice on how one might live (as opposed to just existing) within the confines of 24 hours a day. A classic piece on self improvement teaching you to live to the fullest.

11. The Power of Habit (Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business) - by Charles Duhigg

Habits can save us or ruin us in a thousand ways; in fact, these "automatic responses" affect every arena of our lives.

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg explores the science behind habit creation and reformation. He takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.

At its core, The Power of Habit contains a sensible argument: The key is understanding how habits work.

12. On Writing, a Memoir of the Craft - by Stephen King

On Writing is part biography and part how-to. Stephen King (world best-selling author of contemporary horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy) writes about his childhood and young adulthood, relating stories that made him the writer he has become. Stephen King then moves into the mechanics of writing, offering advice and insight into a successful career that has worked so well for him but remains distant for thousands of others.

13. Principles - by Ray Dalio

Principles is like a modern day meditation guide aimed at personal, professional and career development.

Ray Dalio, self-made multi-billionaire, details the purpose and importance of having principles in general, his most fundamental life principles that apply to everything he does, and his management principles.

14. Introduction to Metaphysics - by Henri Bergson

A thought provoking essay about the concept of reality by Henri Bergson. For Bergson, reality occurs not in a series of discrete states but as a process similar to that described by process philosophy or the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Reality is fluid and cannot be completely understood through reductionistic analysis, which he said "implies that we go around an object", gaining knowledge from various perspectives which are relative. Instead, reality can be grasped absolutely only through intuition, which Bergson expressed as "entering into" the object.

This is a difficult book but his ideas about time and the value of immediate experience are definitely worthwhile.

That's it.

Becoming Your Own Boss: 7 Lessons Learned On The Spot

By Yehni Djidji

A few months ago, I left my job in order to become my own boss. Well, that's what I thought. But I could learn a few lessons from this experience that I would like to share.

1. Fun working

When you do a job you love, it turns out that you do not really work. You have fun while learning and making money.

2. Varied activities, balanced intellect

I no longer need to mechanically repeat the same gestures, or to work on the same project all day long. I can help someone start a magazine while working on a movie script, writing articles for a radio and tweaking a short story. Of course, it's important to be very organized. I'm still looking for the secret.

3. Guaranteed savings

Some people have a salary that seems huge but they spend most of it on transportation, communication and food in the workplace. If you work at home, you won't spend any money on transport except for value-added appointments and you will simply eat the homemade meal of the day... if you are disciplined. Additionally, the informal side of the start-up activity saves you a lot of taxes. You have to make the most of this phase, and save as much as possible, and formalize the activity quickly because there are opportunities that you cannot seize when you are not legally constituted.

4. Master of your time and space

You can arrange your schedules to be available for your family while carrying out your activities. You do not have to worry about rush-hour traffic anymore and waste precious time wondering if the slowdown is due to an accident or to the movements of an official convoy. At home, in a restaurant, at the beach, you can work everywhere. I do not advise people to work exclusively from home and I will explain why a little further.

5. Did you say "No More Boss"?

If you thought you could actually become your own boss, think again. Your customers are your new bosses. Some will even make you regret leaving your job. Each of them has their demands, their constraints, their inappropriate language sometimes. But this will allow you to discover some other sides of entrepreneurial life.

6. Be aware and beware of weight gain

In order to work from home you have to be disciplined. Otherwise, you will be tempted to gulp the fridge contents by snacking excessively. True story.

7. Knowing how to set limits

You must be able to explain to the family that staying in front of a computer does not mean that you are sitting idle. They must comprehend that you may be in the house without being available. Otherwise you will be involved in a parade of servants coming to request various things that they normally handle well when you are not around. And yet, that does not even take the children into account. I cannot work with my son around. He will knock on the door of my room until I open it. For those with children who are still too young to understand that you may need some quiet time, it may be better to go out.

[Interview] In The Bubble of Yehni Djidji: "I offer educational entertainment and life-changing experiences to children"

1. Quick (but effective) introduction of the personage and her achievements?

I am Rosine Kakou Ano. Graduated in Communication, Marketing and Management. I have been operating under the pseudonym "Yehni Djidji" since 2008, which was the year when I launched my blog. I am the founder of a literary agency called Livresque that helps those who wish to publish a book throughout the process, organises events about literature and offers educational entertainment to children.

2. What are the values that better define you?

Piety: the fear of God is the hallmark of men of value. This gives them integrity, loyalty and honesty.
Responsibility: It comes along with maturity and allows to respect and completely fulfill the commitments made to others and to oneself. It is a quality that lots of people are sorely lacking.
Empathy and liberality: To love one's neighbor, to be able to put oneself in their shoes, to understand their burden and help them to relieve themselves.

3. What are your main goals in life?

Books helped me to strengthen myself and to launch my career. Therefore, I am actively striving to put them back at the heart of habitudes so that the maximum of people can enjoy their benefits. Additionally, our continent has great stories and I like to participate in relating them to the world through increasingly varied formats.

4. What tools and techniques do you use to accomplish things efficiently?

I am an Internet addict who tries to moderate her indulgence, even though it is difficult, since it's also my work environment. My favorite gadgets are my computer and my phone.

5. Any recommendations for your juniors?

I recommend my coloring book with traditional outfits drawings for children aged 3 to 6, and why not more if there's a fit. There's no maximum age for coloring. I also encourage them to commit to appreciating books, not just as learning tools, but as daily companions too. That would be a life-changing experience.

6. What is the best way to contact you?

The best way to contact me is by email (yehnidjidji@gmail.com), and then through social networks.

What will you do in life?

By Necemon

This goes to those who haven't decided yet what they are going to do in life.

It's important to start thinking about it now, no matter how old you are. You better start early because it takes time, effort and dedication to improve one's skills and to reach goals. The earlier you start, the more time you have to mess up (and you will probably mess up on the way).

To decide about what to do, there are basically 3 things you need to consider:

- what you love, what you are passionate about.

- what your talents are, what you are naturally good at, but the skills you acquired on the way matter too.

- what value you can create, what you can do that people will pay you for.

Now, it's generally easy to come up with what you love most. However, I noticed that many people have issues combining that with their strengths and the value they can create. If that's also your case, you can try the following.

Let's consider your phone book. In that, you got a friend for pretty much anything. When your computer is screwed up, you know which friend to call. When you feel depressed, there is that one friend, you call to cheer you up. When you want to hang out in town, you also know whom to contact. Well, we can come up with many similar examples, but the point is, you are also a contact to your friends. So ask yourself, what is it that they contact you to help them for? That may gave you a clue of what you are good at and how you can help others.

Wishing you all the best,

Necemon

11 Personality Traits Of Successful Entrepreneurs

By Jean-Patrick Ehouman

I spend a good deal of my time trying to understand what is unusual about successful start-ups founders and product creators, that is, what is special about their way of doing things. Hence we can infer some attitudes and "design patterns" that are often found among these people. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of traits that I have noticed in these people. Of course, some entrepreneurs succeed without these traits.

Curiosity

They read a lot and do not hesitate to ask questions for things that may seem trivial at first. They have a thirst for knowledge. They want to understand what could have led to a given success or failure. They are also constantly looking for things that will motivate and retain their best employees.

The ability to collaborate

Those who know how to delegate and build strong relationships with their employees are more likely to come up with solutions or products that meet the real needs of their customers.

Spending as little as possible

When it comes to successful entrepreneurs, as the saying goes: "an entrepreneurial adventure should tends to create money and not to lose it". That is why they always look for ways to avoid digging into their pockets whenever possible. By choosing goods exchanges over purchases for example, they always find ingenious means to acquire the resources they need without having to reduce their funds.

Fulfilment

Doing something that they love and that makes them happy is essential for these entrepreneurs. They like to have total control of their income. They also derive enormous satisfaction from the fact that they create value-added products, services and/or concepts.

Planning maniacs

From their perspective, everything must be planned. Whether it be short-term actions or those to be implemented in the medium and long term, they take the time to write a plan with a fairly high level of detail. This allows them to have an effective guideline and to be able to adjust their strategy at any time through daily monitoring.

Power users (for those who have access to technology)

The best entrepreneurs do not hesitate to invest in high quality websites while taking the time to set up internal management and communication tools. They are keen to spend on boosting those core assets.

Giving back to the community

In addition to their commercial activities, successful entrepreneurs often act in favor of the community. They are involved in charity work or they simply initiate projects to help others.

Man of Action

They try to differentiate themselves from their competitors at all times by being proactive and taking the lead. They take risks that the average Joe would consider insane. Also, they do not view mistakes as a fatality. On the contrary, they use those lessons to set up new strategies and therefore to increase their chances of succeeding at their next attempts.

Hyper motivated

Finally, successful entrepreneurs are people with extraordinary motivation. When it looks like they are hitting rock bottom, they surprisingly bounce back and come up with new ideas that they implement with tremendous determination and unshakeable confidence.

A constant and objective self-evaluation

They remain honest with themselves even when it comes to self-assessment. So they make every effort to correct their imperfections. They are always willing to challenge themselves and their unproven tactics. For example, if an employee fails to complete a task, they would assume that it is mainly because they picked the wrong man for the job.

They manage to make the most of the competencies in their network, they keep learning relevant "best practices" and "design patterns" from their competitors and colleagues.

5 Team Management Insights From Sebastian Marshall

By Necemon

There are already tons of good insights available on Sebastian's website. However, having a one-to-one discussion with him was very useful to discuss specific challenges relevant to some ongoing projects. Through that conversation, Sebastian gave concrete, actionable pieces of advice on project management, recruitment and teamwork:

1. It's better, faster and cheaper to work with people who are already motivated instead of investing in motivating people who are not. The key is to find people that are passionate about the project field(s).

2. For a given field, a good way to find passion-driven individuals is to connect with relevant lecturers, tutors and other educators. Those field experts are likely to mentor interested juniors looking to earn experience through projects/internships.

3. With respect to the people working with you, don't give them an abstract description of the project. Be specific in your explanation with a detailed description and ideally have something concrete already working to show.

4. Don’t give them an abstract definition of their mission either. Have very specific tasks for them to do.

5. Time estimates, milestones and regular catch-ups help to keep the project on a good track.

5 Attitudes Without Which You Will Have Trouble Reaching Your Goals

By Jean-Patrick Ehouman

You probably made resolutions at the beginning of the year. Whether you have achieved your goals or not, there is no need to feel sorry for yourself. You still have time to comply with these resolutions. But you would still have trouble getting there if you don't adopt the appropriate mindsets. In my view, these are 5 attitudes that remain paramount when it comes to raising to the next level:

1. Staying honest with yourself

To acquire a know-how, a skill, a recognition, etc., it takes time and a lot of practice. At first, you will have to acknowledge that you do not know much about how things work. As long as you don't accept the fact that you do not have the required abilities (yet), you will keep an invalid perception of reality. Don't be fooled by the flattering comments or the admiring amateurs. Get closer to knowledgeable people who are way ahead of you and who are willing to mentor you.

2. Starting with the basics

Competition generally tends to highlight different levels of proficiency, and each level has its specific features. Those of the lowest level remain the most important ones, as they constitute the basis of your skills. You will need to take the time to master these basics.

3. Asking questions

There is no such thing as a dumb question. The best approach is to record the answers on the medium of your choice. However, I can assure you that your brain is not the place where you should record them. You must have a (paper or electronic) notebook where you will mark everything that will be useful for your evolution. This will ensure that you won't need to ask the same questions several times. Asking the same question twice to the same person is like giving them a motive to stop answering your questions. It would be unfortunate to lose people who have agreed to mentor you.

4. Accepting criticism

This will always bring you back to point 1. Only by accepting criticism will you be able to identify your weak points in order to overcome them.

5. Working hard, paying attention to details

If you only believe in innate ability, you are doomed. I don't know much about academic studies relating to human abilities, however my field experience strengthens my conviction that the most important factor for success is hard work. And in order to move forward through work, you need to pay close attention to details.

Just think about it: 50 ideas to live by

By Necemon

1. Just Keep Moving Forward.

2. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple & Smart) and H.U.G. (Have Utilitarian Goals)

3. The best way to meet opportunities is probably to start by being an opportunity yourself.

4. The best way to reach your goals is to help those you need to reach theirs.

5. Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going.

6. Yesterday you said tomorrow. Just do it.

7. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

8. There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

9. This is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain.

10. The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle. The harder you are on yourself, the easier life will be on you.

11. Fake it until you make it.

12. It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

13. The World looks very different, when you push yourself every second you've got.

14. If you are looking to surpass your current self, then be prepared to sacrifice part of who you are and don't look back.

15. That which is important is rarely urgent, and that which is urgent is rarely important.

16. Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

17. A journey of a thousand miles just starts with one step.

18. The difference between theory and practice is smaller in theory than in practice.

19. Those who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.

20. No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress. You’re still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.

21. A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for

22. Your Dream is not what you see in sleep, it's the thing which doesn't let you sleep.

23. There's no traffic jam when going the extra mile

24. Vague Plans Provoke Vague Results. You have to name it before you can claim it.

25. When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

26. If you're going through hell, keep going.

27. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care about them.

28. To be realistic is to find rational ways for wonderful achievements

29. If you want to look successful, maybe you should actually become successful. Nothing looks more successful than success.

30. You're basically unstoppable if you've got the right model and you execute like crazy.

31. Life remains the same until the pain of remaining the same becomes greater than the pain of change.

32. Extreme Programming is based on 5 core values : Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage and Respect.

33. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. When everything is alright, you feel invincible, that's when things get dangerous. Everything is alright... Until it's not.

34. You are not lost, you are locationally challenged.

35. Plan your work and work your plan.

36. The way out is through.

37. Murphy's Law

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong (at the worst possible time)

Most ideas look great on paper. But by the time events go from A all the way through the alphabet to Z, you see who rules when it comes to getting something from the theoretical stage to the practical stage: it's Murphy's Law.

No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. Hope for the best, be ready for the worst.

38. Pareto's Law : for many events, about 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

39. Information is difference that makes a difference.

40. The guy who is controlling his emotions is going to win.

41. If you don't write your own rules, someone else will. And the results won't be pleasant.

42. Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

43. Hesitation is always easy, rarely useful.

44. First, just start. Start somewhere. Start anywhere. Start with SomeOne. Start with AnyOne. Start with no one. Start with Something. Start with Anything. Start with Nothing. Just start.

45. Worrying is a waste of time; it doesn't change anything, it just messes with your mind and steals your happiness.

46. Time stops for no one and I have no time to stop.

47. Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

48. The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

49. When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. When you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.

50. All of us can certainly afford to know more than we already do. Information has never been more abundant or more easily accessible.

Breaking Through Pebble: from Mediocrity to Excellence

By Karen Kakou

How Do You Shift from a Restricted Mindset to Thinking Excellence for Greater Success?

In this briefing, I share a few tactics from my personal experience of exiting the realm of mediocrity to a mindset of excellence that leads me toward success. I also discuss some observations and principles that have been helpful in acquiring knowledge and acting on it.

1. Being aware that greater opportunity is available to you and you are permitted to own it.

In my last year of high school, I remember being invited to "Laureat", a government merit event where the political leaders were rewarding the students who earned the highest grades during a sort of award reception. I received my award in "facultative subjects", subjects like music and secondary languages. I was never aware of such program. But when receiving my award, I just felt that, if only I knew, I would have studied with a specific mission and who knows what the results might have been? Maybe I would have gotten an award each year in some other relevant subjects! Or maybe not... I was a Queen of Overthinking. I used to think too much to the point of getting overwhelmed by the little things because I also wanted things to be so perfect. I quickly learned that no one will know what I have in mind, what I can offer if I do not present it at all, because no one can read my mind or see through me for my potential. Others can only observe my actions and my results, so I need to get out and do it, then refine it as I go with the input I get.

2. Once aware of your chance, it takes discipline to seize it.

Many have ideas, know the direction to get to where they dream of being, but very few act on it. It  is not easy. It takes discipline. The best way to get it done is to get started with it. I love to tell myself these two things, I have them written everywhere in my house: "Do it!" and "Do it anyways". "Do it!" forces me out of bed, go to the gym, get things started especially when I hate the idea of doing it. "Do it anyways" gets me to get things started and follow up until completion, even when I am in doubt.

So, for me, the number one thing that contributed to my success in reaching the best version of myself has definitely been discipline. That is, doing the right thing at the right time, remaining consistent and persistent through it, paying attention to detail, planning and doing anything that keeps you in an orderly, preparative state of mind to recognize the opportunities that will lead you to success. I came from a rough background in which the best future people could have dreamed for me was the hope I someday find a good husband who will treat me right. But the little girl I was already had bigger dreams, bigger ideas for her future than the usual expectations. I wanted to be successful, I wanted my work to have an impact on society, I wanted to feel fulfilled and feel like I leveraged every bit of my potential. But I had to figure out how to get there for myself as I did not have a model to look up to, someone to guide me, nor the financial means to facilitate the process. Discipline has been the key attribute that took me from an impoverished environment and mindset, where the best future that was laid out for me was to potentially become just a good wife and to be grateful to have enough to eat, to now be self-fulfilled. Today with discipline, I was able to leverage my intellectual talent and have the career I knew I could, I was also able to improve my perspective on life heading toward being the person I know I can be, and have it all which I set my mind to in a way that is balanced.

One main discipline skill for me has been planning. I would write out my objectives, what I felt I needed to get accomplished that would lead me to success someday, and then break it down to the day-to-day tasks to do. Living on a schedule, pushed me to get into action because I wanted to check the boxes, it brought clarity into what opportunity is available to me, and helped me seek for more. If it wasn’t for the discipline of planning, I would not have been able to go to school, earn good grades, while working many jobs to sustain, and staying alert to what was happening around me to advance my career, given all the work restrictions applied to a foreign student in the USA. I planned for everything, today planning has become like a part of me and it helped me multitask/swich-task and be prepared, which led me to the management role I currently hold.

Two tools I use to remain organized and disciplined are a planner and Microsoft OneNote:

- I use the Franklin Covey planner but I would recommend you use any planner that works for you. It’s important to write down what you would like to achieve, then break it down to smaller objectives and plan your daily activities accordingly. Writing down your objectives is the best way to measure your productivity level, improve and possibly address anything that may be holding you back.

- Then I use OneNote to stay more organized, to classify and retain everything that is important to me. And we are talking about the list of books I am writing, my career planning, my economic budget, my recipes etc. I see it as a very big planner that has unlimited pages, you can write down and plan whatever you would like. As an example, I inserted below a screenshot of my OneNote Files to give you an overview of what could be done with that tool but you should explore it for yourself, it is pretty awesome.

3. Continuous Improvement: getting in Kaizen Mode

Getting things done is not a one-off task. You have to keep doing things and doing them better; thus you need to continually improve.

Kaizen is the Japanese word for continuous improvement. In business, Kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and processes. To me, the Kaizen process applies in every aspect of life. When you can define what you want, put your plans into action and are disciplined through the process, you can analyze your progress and keep on learning new and better ways to achieve your objectives. Adopting this mentality will give you a greater sense of control on what happens to you.

My biggest tools to continually improve has been reading, listening to podcasts and audio books while driving, interacting with individuals who seek growth as well and keep on educating myself. For instance, soon after finishing my Industrial Engineering degree, I started a data analysis course online. But another big aspect of continuous improvement is that your only competition is the measure of your own capacity. When you are focused on getting better and being the greatest you can be, you do not have the time to compare yourself to others if not only but to learn from their ways. In continuous improvement, the focus is your growth and your attention should be on the process that will eventually lead to result. This eliminates unnecessary pressure that could stop you from getting into action. I remember feeling at times pressured by the external ‘noises’ to settle for less and not try to achieve as much ambition as I intended to because they seemed unrealistic. When I wanted to be an Engineer, they advised to be grateful if I can get an assistant job somewhere which can enable me to pay for my bills. When I wanted to pursue a higher education abroad, they laughed. But because I was fixated on my growth and not the immediate result, I kept on pushing through which allowed for my increased in knowledge which resulted in increase in opportunities.

4. The Road to Success may be a lonely road. Get ready to cope.

You may hear a lot about the inventors and geniuses that were very depressive individuals, and you may wonder why when they seem to have figured out everything there is to know. That is because continually focusing solely on yours books, your invention, your computer could isolate yourself from the rest of the world. It's also worth keeping in mind that few people act on their ideas, work on growth and achieve self-actualization. Therefore the crowd whom a committed person could relate to and connect with is generally quite limited. That state of seclusion can be hard on the mind. In order to succeed while maintaining a healthy balance, it helps to join or interact with (groups of) like-minded individuals, and to assist them occasionally with your skills or knowledge. While in school, I was involved in a lot of professional organizations and clubs, I became the president of some of them, which helped me build good networks. Later, these networks opened opportunities such as being a commencement speaker at the university, becoming a recruitment partner with a school, being the face of many campaigns and publications, etc. Networking doesn't have to be a waste of time or a distraction.

I hope this note comes as a reinforcement towards the path you envision for yourself.

[Interview] In The Bubble Of Karen Kakou: "my parents never knew their ways to successful careers, I had to figure everything out by myself"

1. Quick (but effective) introduction of the personage and her achievements?

I am Karen A. Kakou. I am an Industrial Engineering graduate from the University of Wisconsin in the USA. Currently I work as a Manager in a renowned food manufacturing company, where I get to apply my analytical, continuous improvement and people management skills on a daily basis. My strength throughout my career has been to always seek the next thing to learn. I am a hungry for anything books and new knowledge. With my background - my mom never gone to college, my father barely knowing the ways around for a successful career, and no one to guide me in general, I had to figure everything out for myself. This may be the reason why I have always been thirsty for more to learn. This helped me in defying what the expected future for me was - a passable future, to strive for a more excellent future in which I live up to my potential. Today I could not be any happier because I am living the path of what was meant for me, and I never settled.

2. What are your main goals in life?

To be the best of me. Although it’s a very abstract response, it is what one must seek. Saying I want to become the Manager of so and so as a main goal is limiting. Once you reach that goal, what’s next?! Hence, my main goal in life is to live up to my greatest potential. In doing so, I know I have the potential to become a CEO of a company someday, I also have the potential to live happy and healthy, so I am going to work toward being in that position and living that life. It’s a holistic approach and a vision that incite continuous growth.

3. What tools and techniques do you use to accomplish things efficiently?

My favorite tool is Microsoft OneNote. It saved my life! Everything for me is organization. I know I can get a lot done but if I do not plan well and prioritize, nothing will be done and I could get overwhelmed. OneNote helps me be very organized. It is my brain poured out on a screen page- I have written down my books draft, my objectives, my investment planning, my entrepreneurial ideas, even my grocery list. All is well classified and locked with a password.

4. Any recommendations for your juniors?

You got to check my website karenkakou.com, of course (lol). I share everything I have learned throughout my life’s journey, which I think would be a great source of inspiration and motivation for anyone who strive to be great. Then you got to keep reading and learning from the greatest.  A few reads I would recommend are as follow: Malcom Gladwell’s books, any books of Napoleon Hill, any major CEOs biography such as Elon Musk, Jeffrey Bezos, Steve Jobs’. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "In, But Not Of" are some other great ones. I also like to listen to the Tim Ferriss podcast as well as watch videos from Mindvalley Academy.

5. What is the best way to contact you?

You can contact me through my website: karenkakou.com
Or by email: kkakouwebsite@gmail.com

10 Business And Management Skills To Own And Be Productive

By Vanessa Lecosson

Management skills tend to play a very important part in business.

It is thanks to these skills that company directors can assign, assess and stay aware of the work completed by their teams.

They decide, implement actions and take control of each situation. Their skills and roles should necessarily match their career ambitions.

In this article, I suggest 10 skills in Business and Management to own in order to be productive and to be considered as a good Manager.

1. Define your top priorities

Listing your daily tasks can be a pretty effective way to improve your productivity. Focus on what's important by regularly marking and sorting the tasks that are more valuable than others.

It is essential to assess which tasks should be completed first.

2. Manage time as required

Starting early is one of the secrets that business leaders use to accomplish multiple tasks in the day. They focus on the "now" and avoid postponing.

Another thing about good managers is that they understand the importance of short, effective breaks.

3. Know when to say "no" and when to say "yes"

What makes people say "yes" instead of "no" is the fear of losing an opportunity. In some cases, they say "yes" just to avoid seeming rude, so that they could be viewed as caring individuals.

Everyone has priorities in life. There is no harm in saying "no" to things you do not want to do or things that you are not interested in.

4. Always start with the end in mind

Get into the habit of having a clear picture of the goals you want to achieve within a day, a week, a month, etc. You must have a plan before you commit to any project or task.

This will keep you motivated and focused on the most important parts.

Effective and timely strategies can lead to successful achievement of goals. It is important that you keep in mind that nothing will come to you unless you start making things happen. One action always leads to another. And it is the consistent succession of actions that lead to results.

5. Keep learning and improving

Knowledge is drawn from everywhere. It is not only learned in the classroom, but is acquired through personal experiences as well.

One of the secrets used by many business leaders and business men and women is that they are constantly looking for hobbies that will allow them to learn/discover something new.

They are open to exploration and to those things that will allow them to grow mentally, physically and intellectually.

6. The efficient allocation of resources

In business vocabulary, the allocation of resources is an economics concept which relates to the use of scarce resources, particularly the factors of production (labor, capital, raw materials) to satisfy the population's consumption needs in the short and long term. Resource management is used to get timely results and to optimize day-to-day productivity.

7. Use the right tools to stay productive

Appropriate tools will allow you to improve your productivity level and maximize your efficiency in the job. Mobile phones, although often criticized, can obviously be very important tools for communicating with team members, co-workers, etc.

Some tools such as emails, conversation groups on some social networks (public/private) can help to fill the gaps related to communication within a company.

With the rise of new communication technologies, productivity applications are very useful and a powerful help for businesses. Mastering them will not only help you keep track of your agenda, but also increase your level of productivity.

8. Living in The “Now”

Business leaders renowned for their productivity focus on things they have yet to achieve. But they always take breaks to enjoy life and the present moment.

9. Dealing with the unexpected

Unforeseen events may spring from nowhere, at any moment and surprise anyone. Business leaders and managers are always prepared for the worst. And that's why they are always ready to respond quickly to any situation.

10. Staying organised

Just like beauty, organization skills come from within. They will take root in you before outsiders may notice. Organized people know how to keep things in order. They are often in the habit of taking notes and making lists.

Final Reminder

Chapter 1

Before we conclude, I just thought I would remind you that this document contains the Chapter 1 of the Album, and that 8 other chapters are also available. You may download, (re-)read or share any of the various chapters and volumes independently/separately, depending on your interests. The PDF, EPUB, MOBI/AZW3/KF8 (Amazon Kindle) and MP3 formats are available.

To get them, just click on any of the links you like below or go to TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/The-Album.aspx)

The NeceMoon Album (complete)

Volume 1: Moon Light (softcore)

Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics

Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation

Chapter 3: Corporate Worlds and Emerging Markets

Chapter 4: Quick Wins, Tricks and Tips

Chapter 5: Transition - Extra Thoughts and Sharp Fantasy

Volume 2: Full Moon (hardcore)

Chapter 6: Software Development and Engineering

Chapter 7: C# .NET Programming

Chapter 8: Epic Prototypes, Classic Projects, Historic Genre

Chapter 9: Research and Case Studies

The Album is available in French as well at Album.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/L-Album.aspx)

Conclusion

This is Good Bye. However, we can stay in touch. Feel very welcome to add me on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. If you also have any tools and tactics that help you achieve things efficiently, I would like you to tell me about that. My email address is necemon@gmail.com. You are more than welcome to write to me and report any possible mistake in this document, or to suggest any improvement, or to tell me about your favourite parts. However, if you don’t like The Album, don’t bother writing to me.

Anyways, I wish you all the best for your ongoing and next projects. Thank you for reading. And many thanks to Wikipedia, MSDN, IconFinder and FreeDigitalPhotos for the clarifications and the graphic resources. Special thanks to the Evasium Team. Thanks to all those who contributed, thank you Ahou The African Chick, Antoine Mian, Cyriac Gbogou, Darren Mart, Edith Brou, Holty Sow, Israel Yoroba, Jean Luc Houedanou, Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Karen Kakou, Nanda Seye, Nnenna Nwakanma, Olivier Madiba, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji.
Thank you Monty Oum, rest in peace.

Share The Album with Your Mates

Just click on any relevant icon below. It only takes a couple of seconds and it’s free for everyone.
Alternatively, you can share this link on any social media website or email it to your contacts that would benefit from reading it: http://TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com