Keeping A Running Balance: Fill & Download for Free

A2A.Public Speaking.I am putting this one at the top, because this is one skill 9 out of 10 engineers lack. I do too. I get the heebie jeebies every time I face an audience. Admit that some of us might never have to face a similar situation, but, it's always great to know how to go up to a group of strangers and make them actually listen to you. Public speaking skills can help you in other places too. These skills include the ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger, the art of negotiation and manipulation, the secrets of bargaining, arguing and debating.Time management.Yes. We are good at this one already. Just keep practicing. Although, I must remind you that "time management" does not always include dividing your study hours between subjects before the night of the examination. No. Time management should also include the skills on how to divide your weekend between your girlfriends. Oh, who am I kidding. We are engineers here. We had rather divide it between Battlefield 4 and Far Cry 4.Money management.Don't you hate it when you have too much month left at the end of your money? For those of us with a steady but fixed influx of cash from our parents, this is not a new phenomena. We are the "king of the world" during the first few weeks, and then we literally have to cut down on the lunch and dinner in order to afford the weekend party. The same thing will continue after you get a job. Only this time, you will be throwing away your own money. It's really important to learn how to save and spend, and not the other way around.Presentation Skills.LaTeX or our dear old PowerPoint, you should always know how to make a pitch. Facts, figures, databases, analysis, conclusions. A good presenter knows it all. He will coerce you into selling your company when you come to buy his. Again, your public speaking skills come in handy, but, this time, you have visual aids to your rescue. Learn how to make catchy, yet informative slides that contain just the right balance of data and whitespace, while using all available resources.Internet Searching.I have said it before, I will say it again. Stop typing Google.com on the Chrome search bar. Stop putting in queries like "My laptop hot, what do?". Know which is the correct download link. Keep a rough estimate of what actually can be found free on the internet and what cannot. Learn to uncheck the boxes that install tons of other software on your computer. I mean, you don't have to be a freaking wizard with the internet. But, don't come running to computer science guy every time you want to download a PDF. No offense to other branches, but, even you know, how some people use the internet.Formal Writing.Chivalry is not dead, mon frere, and neither is the skill to write a formal, decent letter. Cover letters for jobs, SOP (Mission statement) are just some of the well known instances where formal writing skills come in handy. Formal writing skills make you sound educated, polite and couth. You can notice the manifestation of those skills even with certain Quora answers, comments and personal messages.Public Appearance.Okay, okay. I am not saying you need to stop eating in the nearby stalls with your friends. All I am saying is, if the event is a Black tie, you'd better know what you should wear and how you should act. Relax, tutorials are available all over the internet. Maybe, you won't need this now. But, imagine when your boss asks you and your family out to a fancy dinner to discuss that promotion, and you don't know how to use the knife and the fork. That's awfully embarrassing.Computers.Again. No genius required. No magnificent coding skills required. However, the way the world is going, you would probably want to learn some basic things about computers while you still can. Learn how to install a program, or a game. Illegally downloaded games often contain missing DLLs and other cracks. Learn how to find a YouTube tutorial and fix the problem. Basic coding skills might also help in the long run. Troubleshooting when your computer doesn't start, or your internet connection is down are things you should know.Freelancing.Now, this is not a mandate skill, but, it gives you a feel of employed life. Finishing a given job within the deadline proposed, debugging your work, adhering to the end-user's unusual and quirky demands, suggesting possible improvements, and working under an authority. These are some things you better get used to. Plus, freelance jobs offer you money. So, now you have some other variable you need to adjust. Here comes the money management skills that we discussed earlier.I am not adding the basic skills like Cooking, and Survival training because they have already been taken care of in other answers. Besides, those are skills, every person should know, engineer or not. The above skills are more suited and practically necessary for engineers. I am also not adding the basic academics like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. They are already a part of the course.

Jump into the deep end of the pool and experience what it is like to be a businessman.You could do anything, but a service-oriented enterprise would likely be the least risky.Raise capital, if you need money for supplies or equipment. You could approach your parents, family or family friends and experience what it is like to ask for money. Of course, you should give them a reason to 'invest' in your company, and make a written promise to either repay the loan or share in the company's profits.Go out and buy supplies that you need to run your business.Go to the bank and set up a checking account (you may or may not need your parents' assistance to do this) and learn how to manage your money, keep a check register, balance a checkbook, set up a budget, etc.Start hustling and learn what it is like to drum up business starting from nothing. You may have go door to door, promote yourself in social media, hand out flyers at the local mall or supermarket, but these efforts will teach you about marketing and salesmanship.At 16, your skills may be limited, but your imagination is not. Think of what you're either good at or are capable of doing. It could be anything from giving guitar lessons to walking dogs to mowing lawns or washing windows for residential or commercial properties. Don't be too proud that a certain type job is 'beneath you'.Practically speaking, this is just an exercise in gaining experience. Whether you make a lot of money, a little money or no money is irrelevant. The idea here is to gain experience and to learn from your missteps (which you will inevitably make).The best of luck to you. I hope these ideas give you some motivation and direction.

Every time I repeat this rant it becomes popular.I'll never run out of people for whom this is a big discovery.Get this; let it sink:Every single good habit will help you to get ahead in life.And its impact will be significant.It's not a theory. It's not a feel-good charm. It's not a wishful thinking. It's reality.The reality looks like that:(The Slight Edge chart)What Is a GOOD Habit?According to a definition a habit is:a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.Good and bad habits are settled and regular. The difference between them is that good habits are painful (or merely troublesome) in the moment, but they provide compounded benefits later on.The bad habits are pleasurable (at least in some capacity) in the moment, but they compound into a disaster with time.Exercising is very painful in the moment. Who likes to feel like puking their guts? Yikes! However, if you exercise regularly, you’ll reap multiple benefits down the road. You will be healthier, you’ll have more energy on a daily basis, you’ll be stronger and your productivity will increase.And exercise is a keystone habit that spawns more good habits for a fraction of usual effort.Eating a donut is veeeeery pleasurable in the moment. Sugars makes you feel soooo well.But if it's your habit, you will regret it later. You will gain pounds, your back will start to ache, you will lead a more sedentary lifestyle and your health will deteriorate (all from my own experience).Good habits examples1. Write.Writing clarifies your thoughts like nothing else. Publish anything and you get instant credibility; people look up to you just because you made the effort and put something together and showed it to the world. Your writing may be a huge part of your legacy.2. Practice Gratitude.Yes, I mean "practice;" make it a habit. Gratitude rewires human brains into positivity and it was determined without a grain of doubt that when your brain is positive everything in your life is better.Scientists measured all kinds of metrics involving health, relationships, longevity, school grades, chances of receiving a promotion, fitness performance, bank account balance and they found out that everything was better when subjects' brains had positive attitude.The easiest way? Keep a gratitude journal: How a One-minute Action Changed My Life Completely3. Save Money.It's not impressive to earn a million bucks if you don't keep at least a chunk of that money. Wealthy people say that you cannot save your way out of poverty, but they are wrong.People with the scarcity mindset are organically incapable of earning more, so it's not the fact that you saved $1 that will take you out of poverty, it's what it does to your money mindset.4. Read.Read regularly, preferably every single day. Nothing changes your worldview and thinking process like reading; you literally allow other people to sneak into your mind and tinker with it.In moderation, every kind of reading, even reading pulp fiction, is beneficial because it broadens your vocabulary, and vocabulary is the gate to learning.5. Track Your Sleep.Nowadays we are terrible with sleep management and most of the population is simply constantly sleep-deprived.Keep a record of your 'to bed' and 'wake up' times. Become aware of how much and how well you sleep and what it does to your performance.6. Meditate.Meditation seems to have infinite number of benefits. These start with lowering blood pressure and ending with increased mental focus.It is very easy to start and practice; if you can keep your 2-minute gratitude sessions for 11 days, your chances for forming a long-term meditation habit increase to 90%.You can do it everywhere and at anytime.7. Pray.“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim RohnWhen you pray, you invite a divine entity into your 5-person circle. People who don't pray are instantly outclassed.8. Exercise.The real benefit is that regular exercises create a keystone habit. After you’ve trained literally for years, you won’t want to abandon this discipline. Over time it will compound into an impulse for progress.Six years after going back to my pushups I finally decided to get serious about my weight. I changed my diet. I lost several pounds.My years-long exercise discipline taught me the value of perseverance on a truly gut level. When I read The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, the book that argues that perseverance is a foundation of any results and can catapult you to a great level of success, the message immediately clicked in my head.Despite the fact I hadn’t pursued any personal development for 16 years, I decided to try Jeff’s approach.The rest is history. I found my purpose, my reasons to live. I developed dozens of good habits. I rebuilt my life.Getting Ahead in LifeNo matter which good habit you practice you will reap significant benefits of this activitiy.There is no way you won't. This is how the world functions.Habits compounds with time. After a year you reap some benefits, after 10 years you reap benefits not 10, but 100 or more times better.If your body will be stronger and healthier, if your mind will be more flexible and quick, if your spirit will be more peaceful and joyful, if your relationships will be richer and numerous, if you gain more knowledge and skills, then your life will be better. It's as simple as that.Good habits get you ahead in life.Every good habit, no matter how small, improves your life.