The Displaced African » Product reviews

Displaced African Review: Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Mwangi — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:04:17 +0000

This is day 2 of My 4 Hour Work Week Journey

Now, below I will mention 4 things I liked about the book, the 4 hour work week and won’t talk about any negatives because I’m sure those will become self-evident as I work through the book over the coming days. That, and I don’t want to psyche myself out too early in my 4 hour work week journey.

4 Things I Love About the Four Hour Workweek

1) He is Empirical: To name a book ” 4 hour workweek” screams:

Hyperbole! Hype!B.S. !

So when I began to read about Tim, I expected his writing and his work to sound like a circus director or a car salesman: a lot of sales talk with very little substance to back it up.

Boy was I pleasantly surprised. If I could summarize one of Tim’s oh-my-goodness-that’s-genius-approaches-to-life-it-would-be:

Test your assumptions

Don’t automatically assume the limitations placed upon you by society, your background or yourself are true. Instead, conduct small tests and see what happens. As a result of Tim doing this, a lot of what’s in the four hour workweek isn’t an abstract manual but rather:

2) A Fascinating True Story: I want to do a lot of great, oddball things with my life before I die. I think I have found a person with an equally quirky spirit in Timothy Ferriss.

The man has, and is, revolutionizing the Western approach to work. He is the Chinese National Kickboxing Champion. He has won international tango competitions. He is a break dancer. He has been on television in Hong Kong. He has done all this while running a multinational company.

He didn’t accept what others took as the norm or limitations. He lifestyle supersedes any limits society might have imposed on him and this is part of the reason that I’m so drawn to him. It’s also the reason that:

3) He Has Backup from Heavy Hitters: I became a fan of Tim when I heard an interview he did with my blogging go-to-mentor Yaro Starak.

Among his mentors are the man who has sold 130 million books worldwide, Jack Canfield. He has been invited to give talks to everyone including the numero uno themselves, Google-check out the video at the very top of the article.

He isn’t some marginal rebel who is hated by the greats in society. His work appeals to a broad spectrum of folks from lone contractors to CEOs of Fortune 500s. Lord knows I’m African and authority figures influence me big time.
Finally I like the fact that:

4) He Teaches Us How to Separate Hours from Income: Now many Africana will tell you that this idea is simply preposterous. I watched my folks clock in 8-12 hour days 6 days a week and that’s the only way that folks can make a living right?

When I interviewed David Kobia and he spoke about the way his mother couldn’t understand how he could not be working in an office and could be doing all his work online.

I think I kinda went through the very same thing when this idea was presented by Jay Abraham, Yaro Starak and Tim Ferriss that your income didn’t have to be linked to the hours you work but rather the value you provide. Now however, I have embraced that this in fact possible: Me likes and I want a piece of that.

Anyway, someone left me a comment saying that I should do more posts where I present the options available for immigrants in regards to economic stability and prosperity.

So here goes: the trial continues. I have spoken to a few of you who are trying and living out alternatives to the bread and butter mill that is the 9 to 5. Together let’s build a library full of options that future immigrants can use to thrive in so far as the dollar is concerned.

I’m rambling now, but I ramble because I’m excited. Anyway either:

i) Click here to buy a copy of the 4 hour work week from Amazon.com

ii) Pay a visit to his blog and learn a little more about the man and his great book.

And enjoy the rest of your day or night,

Mwangi

Displaced African Review: You Deserve to Feel Good by “Coach” Caroline Jalango

Mwangi — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:04:23 +0000

You know your blog is doing alright when you ask a reader to send you a copy of their book to review and they do it for free. I’ll say it once, I’ll say it many times: Thanks Carol for sending me your book, I really appreciate that.

I have decided that I will write this review in the following style:

a) Brief description of the book

b) Things I loved about the book

c) Critiques of the Work

d) Say a huge thanks to Carol again

e) Log off and go and watch some soul flicks

f) Leave you with information on where you can pick up the book and/or learn more about Coach Carol

You Deserve to Feel Good: How to Ensure that You Do by Caroline Jalango

This book’s title gives you a pretty clear indication of what the book is about. It is written by Caroline, an ex-lawyer turned life coach /motivational guru, who also happens to be an African immigrant living in the US. The book gives you practical, immediately applicable tools that you can use to turn frowns upside down, drab into fad, depression into elation, melancholy into gay foly, sadness into….you get the point.

In short, if you need a book that will teach you, wherever you are, how to immediately get yourself into a powerful, self-confident, self-believing and assertive state, this book is for you.

What I Loved About the Book

1) Caroline’s Voice: I can pretty much write the whole article about Carol’s writing voice. I have spoken briefly with Carol via email and the same voice from that email is what I find in this book: exuberant, encouraging, motivational and unwaveringly committed to moving you to action and to a better place in your life.

This book makes you want to sit with Carol, especially on those downer days, because you know just five minutes with her will give you the boost you need to get up and get on with it.

2) The Sub-Categories: If you need help dealing with negative people, refer to Chapter 10.Need to bounce back from failure? Read the next Chapter. Feel like you don’t value yourself? Chapter 6 is all you need. This book can pretty much meet you at whichever internal negative situation you’re at and move you to a much better place.

3) Quick read: Because of Carol’s exuberant voice, this is a very quick read that doesn’t dabble or beat about the bush. You want to feel good now? She will get you from zero to hero quicker than a

poem-that-choses-to-list-all-the-problems-for-hours-before-listing
just-one-solution-in-the-last-line.

4) Small Editing Things That Make Me Smile: The cover graphics are great and she uses lists a lot. If you read blogs as much as I do, then you can appreciate when someone uses the always-so-easy-to-digest list format and mixes that with great graphics that make the book easy on the eye.

Critiques

1) The Book is for Women: I am a man. Just a a quick request to all the fellas out there: More personal development stuff, biographies and autobiographies (especially on TV. Where’s our Oprah? Please don’t say Jimmy Kimmel) for men, centered around the masculine existence. Has nothing to do with the book, but it had to be said.

2) Not Specific: I would have loved to have known how Carol’s uniqueness, an ex-lawyer who started her own business or her experiences as an African living overseas, have impacted on her thinking, her decisions and the quality of her life.

I don’t think I have ever read anything that speaks to the experiences described above and how to overcome them or leverage them to success. A much more specific personal development book is definitely needed in the already over-saturated personal development field.

3) Audio Version or Course: I think with a voice like Carol’s she should definitely not have restricted this book to the two dimensional page. Instead, in my humble opinion, Carol should have made this either an audio and/or video course (example would be a 30 day course ala Tony Robbins) or a 3 day/6 day/4day seminar with the book as a guide for the seminar.

I may be wrong, considering I have never ever met Carol in person, but me thinks that such exuberance shouldn’t be left to the imagination but should be ‘tangible’ either through the tone of her voice or the way she uses her body.

Therein are my two cents regarding what in truth is a pretty phenomenal experience, the FIRST TIME I ever read a personal development book written by my fellow African. So in conclusion let me thank Carol for making me my own custom made affiliate link to her site.

Make sure you check out the book by clicking on this link

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

Displaced African Review: Skype

Mwangi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:04:38 +0000

NB: Unless otherwise specified, the $ sign refers to Australian dollars and not American dollars. To check out exchange rates please check out this website.

If I were to write this article without any rules it would basically be one long drool-fest over Skype.

Therefore

I decided I would create some rules. This article will consist of:

a) 5 great things about Skype

b) 5 not-so-great things about Skype

c) My overall verdict of Skype

d) A score out of 100% on the Displaced African scale

e) How to immediately get started using Skype

First of all: What is Skype?

Skype, in a nutshell is a service that allows you to make phone calls, from your computer or certain mobile phones, over the Internet. In addition to that, Skype also has services that allow one to:

a) Send instant messages and chat.

b) Send smses to phones.

c) Make video calls over the Internet.

One of the key distinguishing features of Skype is that users of Skype can have phone conversations with each other over the Skype network for free. Skype also offers competitive rates to call any country in the world.

I hope this is enough information to get a good grasp of what Skype is. If not then either:

a) Download Skype (it’s free) and play around with it. Maybe call me up for free on Skype; my username is masmilele.

b) Contact me or leave a comment and let me know what you don’t understand

c) Go to Google and learn a bit more about Skpe.

5 Great things About Skype

1) A lot of people use it: Even before you begin using Skype there are already 270 million people using it. If 100s of million of people all over the world, including myself and my family, are using Skype there must be a reason: It works!

2) Convenience: Skype is the only internet telephone service that also has a mobile phone component through a partnership with mobile phone provider 3. This means you can make free Skype-Skype calls from anywhere: the house, the bus, the porcelain throne room…..etc etc.

3) Cheap: It is $0.03 A MINUTE to call UK and US. Half of all the phone calls I ever need to make for less than the cost of….the cost of….nothing is as cheap as $0.03 in Australia. Calling Kenya (where the other half of Skype calls go) is about the same as calling using a phone card ($0.27), BUT I get all the added benefits that Skype brings to my life. To check out Skype rates check out the Skype website.

4) Topping up credit is easy: I use a debit card and this debit card is already linked to a paypal account (the same paypal account through which you can donate to the Displaced African by clicking on the ‘Make a Donation’ button on the right, wink ). This Paypal account is automatically linked to my Skype service. This means that all I need to do to top up my Skype credit (can either buy $16 or $40) is click one button and within seconds I have credit.

Contrast that with (brace for it) having to get out of the house, get in the car, go to the milk bar that’s closed, decide to go to the one further down the road, get there to find the only phone card is gone and eventually get a phone card three days later when you have even forgotten why you wanted a phone card in the first place.

Not good, me thinks!

5) Free calling: My cousin lives in Ireland and back in the day when I would call his cellphone and spend hours spewing weird diatribes about the world, the phone bill used to rack up quite some frequent flier miles. Fortunately now he uses Skype on his mobile phone and so all I need to do is get on my computer grab my headset and we can have a free conversation for hours complete with file sharing and discussions-that-were-formerly-known-as-diatribes.

Bonus: Has extra features that allow you to:

a) Record calls and save them as mp3s ( e.g. if you want to have your own podcast or radio show)

b) Have conference calls and group chats

c) Send free smses and instant messages to other Skype users.

d) Send smses to regular phones (which means you type faster because you are using a keyboard-though some people on the phone, you would think they are Bruce Lee)

5 Not So Great Things About Skype

1) You can’t use Skypeout on mobile phones: When you connect to Skype using a 3 Skypephone, ALL phone calls made -including international-outside of the Skype network are through the 3 network. This basically means that you can’t use Skype’s cheap rates when you are using 3 Skype phones. Instead you have to rely on 3 having great rates. This reduces the flexibility of international calls from your mobile phone.

2) The person using Skype must have access to the Internet: This pretty much restricts my grandmother and a lot of my extended family from getting in contact with me at Skype prices.

3) You can’t buy credit in cash: If there was a machine that could allow you to buy things on Amazon, ebay and Skype using cash I would use it. Sometimes you don’t have money in your account but you have cash at hand. This makes buying Skype credit less accessible.

4) Not all my friends and family know about it and use it: Only a few members of my family know about Skype. I would love to be able to make free Skype-Skype calls to all my friends and families (and readers). Hence the reason I am writing this article…So what are you waiting for? Get with it, and add me to your Skype phone book.

5) Using Headphones and Earphones May Cause Deafness: Use of Skype (especially over the computer) means that I use my headphones quite a bit. Apparently there are experts who say using headphones so much may cause hearing loss. Though this phenomena is predominantly associated with Ipods and loud music, I believe the same principles may apply for prolonged headphone use over Skype.

My overall verdict: The best way to make international calls and stay in contact with your friends who regularly use the Internet. A long way away from being perfect especially in terms of making the convenience of Skype universally accessible. On a selfish note, they could definitely reduce their prices on calls to Kenya.

The Displaced African score: 75/100

How to Get Started Using Skype

You can begin using Skype now by clicking on this link which will take you to the Skype website where you can download Skype for free and begin chatting with the other 270 million Skype users for free (don’t forget to add me to your Skype contact book, my Skype name is: masmilele)

I really enjoyed writing this review and I hope it was of some use to you. If you would like to see more reviews of this nature, or you have products you would like me to review, then leave a comment below or contact me.

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

7 Movie Classics

Mwangi — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:04:24 +0000

1) Pursuit of Happyness and John Q

I loved both these movies for exactly the same reason. I kept thinking,

“What would I have done if that was my child?”

And both times, I agreed with what the main characters did. A couple of tears were shed over these two movies. Wonderful protagonists

2) Soul Flicks

Anything that involves:

Beautiful, black women and;

Confident, respectable and so-smooth-it’s-ridiculous African American men and I’m there.

The only movie I would add here that is a bit out place would be Guess Whose Coming to Dinner. That movie may be decades old but Sydney Portier’s portrayal of a black man caught up in the prejudices of a mixed race engagement had an excess of class and maturity.

3) Good Will Hunting

Movies such as Good Will Hunting are basically excuses for men to get emotional. I just loved the fact that Matt Damon could jump from being a crude rebel to an absolute genius at the drop of a hat: paradoxes and contradictions like that always make me happy.

Robin Williams is also an absolutely phenomenal actor and human being. Great story.

4) Moolaade

A movie that took me way way back. Though it’s set in modern times, it’s set in a rural West African village that still has old school superstitions and customs, including female circumcision. The movie hooked me in with the story and was quite easy to understand in spite of how foreign the customs were.

The ending struck me as ‘pandering to Western sensibilities’ but still…….great movie. The West and Southern Africans are definitely kicking butt in regards to making great African films.

5) Make it Plain

I have already spoken about how much I am a fan of Malcolm X. This documentary, which you can also watch for free here, delves into his life, his past and his psychology. If you are sitting on the fence in regards to Malcolm X right now, after watching this movie you’ll definitely have an opinion on him.

I just love Malcolm!

6) The Other Boleyn Girl

This is in cinemas now. If you don’t know the history of the English colonial barbarians, watch this movie. If you do know it, watch it, if for no other reason to notice all of the inaccuracies and still be in for a helluva ride. It has more twists and turns than a game of twister with a contortionist.

It’s story line is so convoluted and full of outlandish deception and deceit that it was actually appropriate for me to scream in the middle of the movie, “Don’t do it!” A movie that was definitely a pleasant surprise.

7) Shrek

I think I will forever stop reading movie reviews and just go to the cinema and see what happens. Just like the Boleyn girl, I knew nothing about Shrek when I went to watch it in the cinema many years ago. I laughed and I was completely hooked by the movie’s blend of childish fantasy with adult contemporary humor.

Moral of the story: Don’t watch trailers or read reviews, let the movies speak for themselves.

So what movies have had an impact on your world? Leave a comment and let me know and maybe you can pick up a couple of the above movies this weekend and tell me what you think.

May the Magic of Movies Come Alive in Your Life,

Mwangi