Day 502. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the numbers of tasks we need to do in a given day. I have learned three things to deliver results. Three simple activities to undertake to deliver what needs to deliver:

1. Plan it. If it’s not planned, it cannot be measured. If it cannot be measured, it does not exist. Take 15 minutes every day to plan your day, listing the tasks that you need to undertake and deliver.
2. Walk the plan. Planning is nothing without execution. Once it’s planned, stick to the plan. If a tasks requires more time that what you initially expect, allocate more time now, or plan it the next day. There’s no silver bullet here, but this needs to be planned again.
3. Inspect the plan. Every evening, inspect what you have done. Unfinished tasks need to be replanned for the next days. Congratulate yourself on a job well done for the one you have delivered. Learn from what you have done and from what you could have done differently.

If you create the discipline of doing those three simple things (remember thought that it’s not because it is simple that is easy), your level of achievement will jump forward big time. Enjoy!

Day 501 – Bertrand, a friend and colleague of mine, sent me a short while ago the map of Africa, displayed on the right here. If you think China or India or the USA is big, Africa is even bigger, it’s actually bigger than the sum of the three. It takes more than 8 hours to fly from Nairobi, on the East, to Dakar, on the West, with a direct flight. Much longer than to fly from New York to Los Angeles for instance.

This size gives a hint on the people who live on the continent. As it’s obvious there are differences between a New Yorker and a San Franciscan, there are even bigger differences between a Senegalese, a Nigerian and a Kenyan for instance. Even inside a single country, there are differences between people. Therefore, thinking Africa is a country and thinking all black people are alike is damn wrong.

Africa is an extraordinary diverse continent, both in terms of landscape and people. Looking at Africa as a single identity is a mistake, although there is an African culture and there are ties between all those people and culture. There’s a quote from Kwame Nkrumah, first Prime Minister of Ghana, an influential advocate of Pan Africanism and a founding member of the Organization of African Unity, that I particularly like : « I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me. » To understand this, you need to visit Africa, but not one country, many, to understand that Africa is diverse and Africa is unique.

It is said Africa is the future. I cannot predict what the future is. However, having visited a lot of countries in Africa and having still a lot to visit, I can say one thing: Africa is changing fast, very, very fast, and today is the best day to go there and discover a world on its own, diverse and unique.

Day 500 – The number is big. 500 days ago I started writing a daily blog posts on ideas that came through my mind on any topic from sea salt to public speaking. I wrote on the learnings of the first 365 days. I took a break trying to start other writing projects. Then I came back, skipping some days, taking a blog diet also. And two things are kind of funny and interesting:

1. When I do not write my daily post, I feel guilty (for the readers who expect it as I discovered recently)
2. When I do not write my daily post, too many ideas are coming to me and I do not have a way to channel them and keep them alive

So, I think I am cursed (positively) in writing my daily post, sometimes with a little delay, sometimes programming it to be posted automatically, sometimes longer, and sometimes shorter. Anyhow, I would love to hear from you. What topics are you interested in, what you would you read, what does inspire you. Let me know and we have another 500 days until post 1,000!

I generally do not comment news, as it’s not the purpose of this blog and I believe news is news and should not influence our personal actions beyond what we can influence to alleviate pain of suffering people or to make a positive contribution to the world that surrounds us. However, this article on Paul Jorion’s blog caught my attention. Although it’s in French, you can use Microsoft or Google Translator to get the text in English (I could not make the direct link to work… weird, since it’s a WordPress blog).

However, the article caught my attention because it talks about marketing and planning. Not from a nice organization of course, but because this nasty and dangerous organization use good marketing and leverage sound leadership, they’re having the results they expect, and this is what should scare us on one side and that should make us good on the other side because we can fight marketing with marketing to get positive results that undermine their results.

So the questions that need to be answered (and are in the article) are the following:

• What: What is the goal of Daech and Al-Qaeda? Establishing a caliphate. What they are succeeding to do in Iraq and Syria so far (the famous « Islamic State »).
• Who: Who do they need to do that? As many people as possible to join their new caliphate.
• Where: in Europe, where there’s a lot of Muslims among the low income population, who more often than not, suffer from xenophobia, and are easier to be convinced that their place is not in Europe that will never completely tolerate them but with Daech and Al-Qaeda in fundamentalism.
• How: by targeting liberal intellectuals, Jews and traitors, meaning Muslims who are serving the pagans and unfaithful to Allah.

By targeting Charlie Hebdo, they were not killing anti-Muslim people, no, they were targeting the French society in its entirety, to create hostility against the Jihad and overall against Muslims. Therefore, they wanted to create a sentiment of likability with those who are rejected by society and who could see a way to become somebody in the new world that jihadists are building.

By building walls and accepting their rules of the game, we are reinforcing them. What needs to be done (easier said than done, but everybody can start at their own pace) is to understand our neighbors and built a society that accept differences, or actually a society that builds on differences, to create a unique melting pot. Many people (Muslims or not) push for a reform of Islam, and I really think all politicians across the globe should listen and take action. The battle is not over yet, but if we do not change the rules of it, it will be a lost occasion to accelerate a much needed change of era for peace and good.

The world is filled with naysayers and day dreamers. The firsts criticize everything and the latter invent a fictive world in their mind. Both are delusional because they do nothing to change what they see or invent. Philosophy is useless until it’s translated into tangible actions. Even small actions have effects, even tiny effect can last and create tidal waves. The question is in the end is not if your ideas are good or bad, it’s if you want to act upon them. If you don’t then it’s a waste of time and energy.

It has been 24 days I have not published anything on this blog, although traffic has continued, slowly, and steadily. It has been 24 days of holidays, of increased workload, of many personal projects to pursue and of setting up a new machine dedicated to blogging and wrting. This is the new Surface Pro 3 I am now using for starting against blogging. I am now restarting my daily post and will make it evolve in the coming days before leaving to the US mid-July for the company meeting, but we still have slightly over two months.

The least to say is that tons of things have changed in the last 24 days and will change in the next two months or so, but I will not give you any hints of the forthcoming changes, they will come in due time. For the time being, I have set aside some articles I will publish over the coming days and will continue focusing on four topics I am passoniate about: personal excellence, public speaking, technology for growth and positive thinking.

The crisis that started eight years ago, that inspired this blog, has not settled and if some countries seem better than others, the biggest threat that faces everybody is the colossal debt that has been created. However, the more I am reading about the debt crises and its effect, the more confused I am, so better ignore it if you cannot act upon it. The only positive aspect of it is interest rates are low, so it’s an incredible time to invest with other’s money. What I wrote in Le Matinal four years ago (Chaque crise est une opportunité) is still very valid and opportunities are everywhere for everybody. As Microsoft used to say: where do you want to go today? What do you want to do? Decide and go!

Have a great day!

Color, during the Holi festival, celebrates the victory of good over evil. Bright colors make people smile and can make you look healthier (although there are no scientific proofs that colors can heal you). One thing for sure is people dressed with colorful garments look more cheerful that people dressed in black or dull colors. Colors have different meanings in different cultures and we should pay attention to this. However, in nature, you will find all sorts of colors, some subtle and faint, some bright and glowing. As my old friend Bernard, who believed in the power of colors on our mood, was saying: « when I need to dress conservatively for professional obvious reasons, I always make sure my underwear is colorful ». This memory makes me smile. But it’s so true and obvious. Bright colors drive bright mood.

How many bright colors are you wearing today?

When you tweet you gain some followers and lost some, it may mean something to you, but it’s noise.

When your health device facebooks the numbers of miles you ran this morning, it’s good for you, but it’s noise.

When you say hello world on social networks, it’s polite, but it’s noise.

When you send a selfie without any other form of message, you may be beautiful, but it’s noise.

Do not get upset if I unfollow you, but I’d rather enjoy the silence that being disturbed by noise!