1. Learning Strategies

In school, I was taught one learning strategy. I sat in my seat, shut my mouth and listened to subjects I had little or no interest in. It is a great way to learn if you want to be a slave or a burger flipper. Little did I know at the time, there are actually tons of other ways to absorb and engage with information.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming, for one is a series of learning strategies that blow that traditional style of learning out of the water. If you want to learn how to learn better, check out NLP.

Learning should be fun, and when you have the right strategy, it definitely is.

2. Meditation

Discovering meditation as a tool for studying my mind was a major breakthrough when I was young. Up till then my perspective had been largely shaped by unconscious patterning from culture. With meditation, I took charge of my mind. The simple practice has been the most significant tool I have ever found for learning about myself.

If you want to learn how, check out my article called How to Meditate. I even included a ten minute audio file to serve as a timer.

3. Healthy diet

If people had access to the information and tools to help them improve their diets, they would do it. The problem is that as a society we aren’t educated on how to make that happen. No one wants to suffer from things like heartburn, fatigue, high blood pressure and obesity. With a proper education in diet and health, those problems and many more would virtually disappear. I learned about diet from personal experimentation and trips to the public library. But now there is so much more information out there within easy grasp. We just have to know where to look.

One book that helped me develop a healthier diet is The Food Revolution, by John Robbins. When I first read it and applied a bit of what I learned, I noticed a massive positive impact on my health. It’s a really great book.

4. Time Management

I remember getting a day-planner when I was young. I never used it. In fact, I don’t remember anyone who used theirs. I kind of knew what it was supposed to be for, but I wasn’t shown the reason why planning would make my life better. Lately, I have begun to get clear and plan my life. I’ve realized that by optimizing my schedule, I can get more time to do the things I love. That gave me the leverage I needed to learn this important skill.

Tony Robbins’ RPM (Rapid Planning Method) is a fantastic system for making the most out of your time. It is based on the simple idea that instead of making a to-do list and going through it one by one, you chunk or group tasks based on similar intent. This works well because a lot of the inefficiency of a to-do list comes from the fact that everything is organized in a linear fashion. Our brains are not linear. We need a system that is more like how we think, and RPM is pretty darn close.

5. Self-Promotion

Because we are almost constantly looking for work, self-promotion is one of the most important skills a person can learn to succeed in the world today.

The job of the 20th century was simple. You got into a secure company, had occasional performance assessments and moved up the ladder one year at a time. Our present day world is nothing like that, though. The average person has multiple jobs and even careers in their life. Training for the present work environment is absent from the education system. You really have to look for it, but information is out there.

The best place to learn about self-promotion is from books, employment courses and good ole fashioned failure. Here are some books that have been really helpful for me:

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
The E-Myth Revisited – Michael E. Gerber
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

If you want to experience real success in life, you need the right tools. That’s why it’s so important to find someone who’s successful, and find out what they do. All the tools that I’ve talked about here came from people who were masters in their fields. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Build your success on top of the successes of others.