What are the top skills that should be taught to
every man, woman, and child who enters our education
system? Here are a few that aren’t taught at all:
1. How to Make People Like You and Network
For a skill that affects every area of your life
(from dating, to family, to work), it’s amazing how
little people know about this. There is great power
in knowing you can reach out to your network
whenever you have a problem to solve, to be able to
reach key influencers at conferences and meetings,
to make an impression on audiences, to project
confidence and trustworthiness, and to make friends
with other successful people.
Required reading:
How to Win Friends & Influence People and
How to Talk to Anyone
2. How to Speed Read and the Power of Audio
Books
Speed reading and speed comprehension is real.
The nominal investment of time it takes to learn
pays off in spades for the rest of your life. The
same goes with audio books. If you spend an hour per
day in the car learning instead of cursing at other
drivers, you will have attended the equivalent of an
entire semester course.
Required reading:
The Psychology of Achievement:
Develop the Top Achiever's Mindset by
Brian Tracy
3. How to Set Goals and Manage Time
Want to know how to get anything done in life?
Our school system doesn’t feel that this is worth
teaching. If you have ever found yourself being busy
all day only to wonder what you accomplished at the
end of it, then you need to learn this.
Required reading:
Getting Things Done: The Art of
Stress-Free Productivity ~ David Allen,
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to
Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
~ Brian Tracy,
No B.S. Time Management for
Entrepreneurs (No B.S. Series) ~
Dan Kennedy
4. How to Read a Financial Statement
Robert Kiyosaki is fond of saying that the rich
teach their children how to read financial
statements and the poor do not. Schools have never
been very good at teaching people how to get rich,
probably in no small part because professors are
generally poor and wouldn’t know how to teach it.
Required reading:
Cash Flow Quadrant ~
Robert T. Kiyosaki, or
this blog article
5. How to Negotiate and Use Contracts
If you want to accomplish anything of
significance you’re going to have to work with other
people. There is a certain art to structuring good
contracts and measuring results. School teaches you
none of this and most people have to learn it from
the school of hard knocks.
Required reading: Donald Trump’s
Trump: The Art of the Deal
6. How to Save and Invest
People are never taught how to build wealth,
which is why the nation is in credit card debt.
Moreover, people are never taught the power of
passive income streams and how to really break free
from the rat race of working 9-to-5. There is a
whole body of literature on this topic which is
never even touched upon in traditional education.
Required reading:
The Richest Man in Babylon
~ George S. Clason,
The Millionaire Next Door
~ Thomas J. Stanley, or Ben Franklin’s
The Way to Wealth
7. How to be Successful in Life
Some people have devoted a lifetime to
understanding what makes people happy and
successful. There are the big three: health, wealth,
and relationships. People need to find what they
really want to do with their life. There is a lot to
learn here!
Required reading:
What to Say When you Talk To
Yourself ,
When I Say No, I Feel Guilty
,
Think and Grow Rich,
The Way of the Superior Man
8. How to Spread an Idea and Basic Marketing
The basics of marketing are something everyone
should understand. Even if you don’t think you’re in
marketing, you’re in marketing. If you have an idea
at work, or want to get a raise, or want to convince
your kids to go see a movie, then there is something
applicable from the marketing world.
Required reading:
The Ultimate Sales Letter,
CopyBlogger,
Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion
