Dr. Joseph Mercola publishes one of the largest circulation newsletters in the world. It is dedicated to wellness and always contains useful tips. He ranges across education, technology, healthcare and medical insights. Here is one of his most recent articles that I wanted to share with you, in which he writes about 8 skills we all need in life, complete with his reference sources (I have added one!):
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), its 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 and Influence People and How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships.
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 by Brian Tracey
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, Eat That Frog, No B.S. Time Management For Entrepreneurs
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, 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 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, The Millionaire Next Door, 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: Dan Kennedy’s The Ultimate Sales Letter, CopyBlogger, The Psychology of Influence
I agree with all Dr. Mercolas’ tips froe effective life. Let me share some of my thoughts: It is ok to see tools & techniques in strategy books, but I rather prefer not to be too much dependent on those techniques that produce statistical results nearly close to 100. These are facts of the time investigated. According to me, Leadership is about change that involves human beings and the Nature. As we are still discovering these two, the way people will be led is destined to change. Thus, change is a continuous process and will happen as long as we live.
So the question to be asked is: How can this be a +++++ process? According to me the answer is communication! As long as leaders (parents, presidents, bus drivers, teachers, as Lance Secretan mentions in his book of Inspirational Leadership that all of us are in leader position at some point in time) know how to communicate correctly with people, change will occur positively
Learning how to communicate better is I think the greatest need. And once this is learned an important step will have been taken to an effective life. Ali Ferhat Esemen
I agree with you completely. And all human communication should be inspiring. If we can’t say it in an inspiring way, then we should pause, and think it through until we can.
Further, all our communications should be framed through Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfulness, Love and effectiveness – what I have called the CASTLE Principles. See https://www.secretan.com/one
Good Morning!
I am learning how to make my life better moment by moment. At this time we are being challenged to the extreme with our daughter fighting off a benign tumour and a weakened left arm from a biking accident. My husband lost his job Dec. 11, 2009. I have been disabled since 1981 and unable to work since 1999. My son is a busy guy who loves to talk and move all the time. Our lives could be bleak by some standards. I believe in all of the Castle Principles as they are similar to the 7 teachings of First Nations. In my humble awareness I believe that love is the way our world needs to embrace all of our relations.
Long ago I lived on a northern trapline learning how to thrive within a timeless boreal forest on the shores of a clear cold lake. I felt the rhythm of the wild in the pulse beat of my heart. I was taught by many First Nation men about the wisdom of the lakes, rivers and forest. As it turned out I left the Masters in Science because what I had learned was how to authentically love wilderness as an integral connection within the chaos we call life.
I am puzzled as to why I think of the past so often rather than moving forward. I wonder why are so many people suffering at this time. What is it that earth is trying to teach us? Relationships are changing at a rapid pace as are the practices of business as we know it. The industrial age gave us many of the leadership styles we see today in Canada: within Parks Canada, the RCMP, and the Canadian Armed Forces. The information age is inundating us with too much information, too many choices, too much of everything. How do we react? How do we choose wisely where to learn and put in our effective life skills to work for everyone’s benefit?
I suggest that we take a break. Give yourself some free time in the wilderness and feel its flow of life enter you as you become one with everything that is and could be. Breathe. Rest. Seek the gift of giving and receiving generosity among friends, family and strangers. Smile. Be happy.
cindybl
Cindy I could not agree with you more – the Earth – our Mother – is sacred and the most inspiring environment for our souls. See https://secretan.com/staging/leadershipsummit, https://www.secretan.com/caledonconsulting, and https://www.secretan.com/copperconsulting to see how we build this into our work, and how important we consider it to be. Thanks for your comments. Namaste! Lance.