All the things that interest me

When I was much younger, I would gather together my classmates and read stories out to them. After the story got over, I spent some time in giving my views and opinions on what the story was about and always asked for theirs... this is where I developed my love for debating, elocution and public speaking...  I have won several awards for my debating and public speaking. While I do love to make my point in a debate, I also love the research and discovery that is an integral part of every debate and speaking opportunity...

While on the path of personal discovery and personal betterment, I discovered blogging as a great means to get my message out there to people who are seeking similar ideas. My channel - named Manu Nicholas Jacob - talks about productivity and personal development from the perspective of a high school student. I also discuss tips and tricks on doing better in the SAT, other exams and online courses.

I had founded an online community called Path To 99 Percentile where I put down all the various ideas and tools that have worked for me and showcased them to others who are on a similar path - to self-discovery, to achievement and to all-round success. I posted articles and infographics about personal development, high performance and productivity regularly. I also had guest posts from industry leaders and entrepreneurs from all across the world. 

At Path To 99 Percentile, I had taken on interns - from all around the world - for content creation, video production and marketing. I am happy to say that they have found working for the community and enriching and rewarding experience. It was an equally enriching and rewarding from me to work with a enthusiastic group of people who shared my passions and interests.  

Teamwork is the surefire way to success! I have an active LinkedIn network of over 2000 professionals from all across the world, with whom I share ideas, activities, tips, tricks, articles. I regularly interact with and collaborate with many of my connections. Many of my podcast guests come from my LinkedIn network. 

I have always loved to teach and explain concepts and I am very thankful for all the teaching and training opportunities that I have got. Two of the ones that I loved the most were - one, where I got the opportunity to teach my favorite subjects, math and science, to the students of classes 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of a school for underprivileged children. I also helped the 10th graders to prepare for their final board exams and two, where I trained adults with learning difficulties in the process of video making. 

Due to my early Montessori learning, I have always had the drive to create stuff. Woodworking, paper engineering, Meccano sets...  I even remember getting up at 3 in the morning to work on papier-mache projects as gifts... During the summer of 10th grade, I chanced upon a workshop offering metalworking projects and I jumped at the opportunity... I created a metal dog sculpture out of the material I found at the workshop...  

I have always been fascinated with symmetry and my outlet for that has been drawing fractals. It is an amazing way to explore one's creativity and I have a whole file filled with my various fractal drawings. Not only does it helped me unwind but also to think up new ideas as I let my mind wander while my hands are drawing the lines and curves.

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Gadgets are fun, aren't they? And gadgets that can help you capture beautiful pictures are absolutely the best. I have even won some competitions!

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I have also completed a course on photography where I now have a hold on totally manual photography - making it possible for me to do cool things like getting bright photos even in the evenings...

Read a lot and you are sure to turn to writing... it's inevitable! My love for books and the written word has indeed inspired me to write - for my school magazine, for my blog as well as for Giant Wheel - India's first life values and life skills comic monthly.