Learn Something New: 101 New Skills to Learn Starting Today (Part-1)

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Learn Something New: 101 New Skills to Learn Starting Today
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Want to do something cool in 2020?

One of the best ways to leverage your spare time in the upcoming year is to learn a new skill.

Just think about the most successful people in the world. Those who consistently succeed are those who are best at learning new skills.


Successful people make the commitment to dedicate their spare time in the pursuit of learning (instead of vegging out in front of the television.) And they stick to their promise of learning.

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With that in mind, there are countless things you can learn in your spare time. This list puts a number to that list and shares with you 101 valuable things to learn that will improve your life — both personally and professionally.

With this list it will not be difficult to find those new skills to learn, it will be difficult narrowing down your list of what you want to learn.

In the following article, we will cover 101 new skills you can learn (with an hour of dedicated time each day) that can dramatically improve your personal and professional life.

And if you'd like a few resources that can teach you all the skills on this page, then I recommend checking out these platforms to learn any skill.

Masterclass (Learn from the best world's best experts. You can read the review of it here.)
Skillshare (You can read the review of it here.)
Udemy (You can read the review of it here.)
Coursera (You can read the review of it here.)
Let's get to the new skills to start learning today!

What You Will Learn [show]

Don't Have Enough Time to Read the Entire Post?
This post is pretty lengthy. So, if you don't have time to read it, then we've simplified this list into a list of courses, each teaching a great skill you can master for the upcoming year. Here are the favorites that other readers love...


Resource   What's it about?
Become a SuperLearner
Learn Speed Reading & Boost Memory

Learn faster & more effectively by harnessing the skills of the world's fastest readers & memory record-holders.
Babbel
Speak a new language with confidence

An app that simplifies the way you learn a new foreign language
Ted's Woodworking   16,000 woodworking plans and projects with videos
Pianoforall   The ingenious way to learn piano and keyboard... in months.
The Ultimate Drawing Course
Beginner to Advanced

Learn the #1 most important building block of all art
Complete Guitar System
Beginner to Advanced

All-in-one Guitar Course With a Proven Step-by-step Learning System
Photography Masterclass
Your Complete Guide to Photography

The Greatest Online Professional Photography Class: How to Take & Sell Photos for Beginners & Advanced Photographers
Humor Writing
How to Think, Write, Speak, and Be Funnier!

Great for Writing & Public Speaking: Learn the Techniques Professional Humorists Use to Create Consistently Funny Comedy
The Platform's Biggest & Most Popular Photoshop Course   My Biggest Photoshop Course – Become an expert in Photoshop with no experience or prior knowledge – Anyone can do it
Ninja Writing
The Four Levels Of Writing Mastery

Turn Your Business Writing, Blogs, Books & Essays Into Masterpieces
Master Planning
Plan Your Day, Week, Month, Quarter & Year

5-in-1 Course Bundle: Get the Ultimate System for Planning Your Week, Month, Quarter and Year in 60 Minutes Each
General Skills to Learn (The FUN and USEFUL Skills)
The "general skills" are a mixed bag. They do not fall into any specific category of life skills to learn. These are the type of skills we often think of when we want to learn something new, but never invest the time and effort involved to actually learn them.


New skills to learn can be useful, fun, and are often great at making a "well-rounded" person. Who wouldn't like to be able to play guitar, fix a car, cook a 5-star meal, grow a lush garden, and be able to protect yourself with martial arts?


Check out this new skills to learn list and find out which great skills to learn. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

1. Speed Reading
How much more work could you accomplish if you were able to complete all of your required reading in one-third of the time? Or even half the time?

Speed reading is basically learning to understand the fundamental principles of the human visual system, allowing you to eliminate inefficiencies in your reading and increase the speed at which you read while also improving your retention.


Even slight improvements in reading time can save a lot of time long term. And many people report massive gains in reading speeds after building the speed reading skill.


Resource: Become a Super Learner

Also, if you'd like a quick primer on speed reading, Tim Ferriss has a quick video that teaches a few basics of the process.



2. Speak a New Language
You've probably heard this before...

Learning a new foreign language can provide a number of amazing results in your life.

You can use language learning to:

Travel to fun places and actually speak to locals
Challenge yourself to learn something fun
Advance your career opportunities
Now, the challenge with learning a new language has always been how to find the time and what learning platform to use. Well, this app can simplify your attempts at learning a language.


3. Basic Home Repairs
I am no expert at-home repairs, but I would argue that most people should be learning the basics of keeping their own home in tip-top shape.

One of the best reasons to learn how to do basic home repairs is because having someone come out to do them for you is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. There are several resources online to help walk you through some basic home repairs, such as DIY Pete and Home Made Modern.


You can also learn how to do some specific projects with DIY Homestead Projects and even Home Depot.

And if you want a simple resource to learn how to do a variety of DIY projects, then be sure to check out Ted's Woodworking course.

4. Learn How to Draw
Drawing is actually a basic skill that we were all born with. While we have to be taught to read and write, people are actually born with the natural ability to draw.

Drawing is essential for human survival because it is a form of communication that everyone can understand, no matter what language you speak. Toddlers begin drawing before they start to read or write and continue to do it throughout life.

Take a drawing course that will have you drawing like a professional in no time at all, and perfect your skill and express your creativity with drawing.

Resource: Ultimate Drawing Course Beginner to Advanced

5. Basic Car Repairs
Car repairs can drain your wallet quickly, but there are a lot of repairs that you can actually do yourself if you take the time to learn new skills. Even if you don't have technical skills, you can still do things like changing your oil, fixing fuel filters, and changing alternators. This can help save you time and money.

Check out this video channel and this video channel to get started on learning how to do some of your own basic car repairs. It can also help you learn a bit more about problem-solving.

6. Organize and Declutter Your Home
Have you heard of the Kon Mari Method of decluttering? It is currently the hottest and most popular method of home decluttering.

The Kon Mari Method was created by Marie Kondo, who owns a business in Tokyo, where she teaches her method to help people turn their homes into peaceful and inspiring spaces. It starts with discarding things that you do not need in your home anymore and then organizing what is left. Having a clean home will help you de-stress your life and live in a place that is free from clutter.

The class linked below is actually taught by Marie Kondo herself. Even if you have read her popular book, this organization training will show (in video format) many of her cleaning methods that are difficult to follow in the book. (Like her folding method)

Resource #1: Learn Home Organization from MARIE KONDO

Resource #2: 15 Books on Organizing, Decluttering, and Simplifying Your Life

And here's a talk that Marie Kondo did at Google where she talks about her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" and the many benefits that come when you declutter your life.



7. Master Photoshop
Everyone should know some Photoshop basics. Learning Photoshop is an important tool if you want to work in graphic or web design or even just use it at home for your own pictures. Because it is such a valued skill, it is great to be able to add to a resume as well.


It is also important to learn Photoshop if you work in a hands-on marketing role. For example, if you create flyers, email newsletters, or brochures, knowing Photoshop will help you optimize your creations and retouch your images. Photoshop actually offers some resources to get you started.

But if you want a bit more "hands-on" training. The course linked below gives over 30 hours of video training that will make you a Photoshop expert.

Resource: Master Photoshop Skills

8. Play the Guitar
Can learning to play the guitar change your well-being?

Research actually shows that the brains of guitar players work slightly differently than those of everyone else. The process and art of learning to play the chords on a guitar and read sheet music can open up new neural pathways and rewire the brain in a positive way that can lead to cognitive benefits.

If guitar playing has always been a dream, or if you are looking for a skill to build from scratch, check out this guitar training course, made for beginners, but taught by experts. It removes many barriers from learning the guitar. You will find yourself playing recognizable tunes in hours, rather than months.

Resource: Complete Guitar System: Learn guitar easily.

9. Photography
A criticism that is often heard today is that people spend too much time taking pictures of their experiences instead of living them. However, the photographs play an important role in allowing people to hold on to memories and show the rest of the world a peek into their lives while also telling a story.

Everyone should learn some photography because it provides several benefits. It is a fun hobby and can help you grow as a person by cultivating creativity. (Check out this list of other creative hobbies to take up!)

In the photography masterclass linked below, you can learn a complete guide to photography with 15 hours of training. It will teach you everything from understanding how your camera works to what gear you will need. It will also give you tips for selling your photographs.

Resource: Master Photography Skill

And if you want a quick overview of the photography basics, this video tutorial covers specific elements like ISO settings, aperture, and shutter speed.



10. Gardening: How to Grow Anything
Maybe you've tried to grow things in your garden before, but your previous results made this seem like it was not a skill you could master.

However, if you learn how to grow your own flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits, you can save a lot of money and have a beautiful yard to look at. Also, eating food straight from your garden is the healthiest way to get the nutrients that your body needs.

Here is a helpful video on growing your own greens to create your own healthy salads. This video will walk you through a garden tour in Southern California. Finally, take a look at this video to learn more about organic gardening.


11. Learn to Cook Like a PRO
While it is certainly one thing to be able to create a four-course meal at the last minute, it is another to be able to at least make a decent pasta dinner, a nice pot of soup, and a winning batch of chocolate chip cookies without the help from a box. Having the skill of cooking well will help you out for your entire life.

First, you will be able to know what is going into your food and therefore what is going into your body. You can control how much fat and salt goes into your dishes to create a healthy diet for yourself and your family. Also, you can impress your friends and family when you have them over for dinner, even if you just make something simple.

Lastly, you will save a lot of money eating at home versus eating at a restaurant. You can make enough food at home to have leftovers for lunch the next day and even to freeze meals for a future dinner.

To get started, try this online service that helps you plan meals based on your dietary preferences, your cooking style, the number of people in your family, and the grocery stores you frequent. In addition to giving you a weekly meal plan, it also provides a detailed grocery list.

Other resources: Essential Cooking Skills | Healthy Cooking Fundamentals | Cook Real Food: How to Make Simple Plant-Based Meals | Interactive Thai Cooking Class

12. Learn Piano
Learning to play a musical instrument, often a piano or guitar is on many people's bucket list. The problem with learning these instruments is the perceived high barrier to learning the new skills of playing these instruments.


Many people have tried traditional methods of learning these skills and been turned off by the slow going of plodding through the basics and learning to play "exciting" tunes like "row, row, row your boat.

The Pianoforall course is different. It starts you in with the basics and the foundations but as you learn them by playing exciting modern piano songs. With this method of learning, you will love learning how to play the piano and will want to show off your skills after only a handful of hours of lessons and practice.

Resource: Find out more about what (and how) this top-rated online piano training can help you learn to play the piano easily.

13. Learn Basic Self-Defense
Nothing feels better than being confident that you can take care of yourself, whether it is mentally, financially, or physically. Being able to physically protect yourself in all situations is a reassurance that can only be gained through self-defense classes. While many people automatically think about women and children when they think about self-defense, it is really a skill for everyone.

The key is to find your favorite martial art and learn some basic self-defense skills from a class.

14. Make Your Own Furniture and Decorations
If you are like me, woodworking seems like a dream. I remember my grandfather making fancy wooden home decorations. I remember my dad building a deck to our home when I was a young boy. But everything I have tried has turned out to be a big mess. I think the woodworking gene skipped a generation with me. It is a skill I don't seem to have.

This is why I am so intrigued by this woodworking course. It breaks the process down into simple steps and offers many detailed plans. It makes major woodworking projects seem so easy that even someone like me with zero woodworking skill might have a chance of success.

Resource: See some of the amazing things you can make with woodworking.


15. Master Tai Chi
Learning Tai Chi is great for your body and your mind. This practice can help alleviate natural health conditions that come along with aging and encourage people of all ages to relax and let go of nervous tension. The main benefit of Tai Chi is its ability to mitigate the effects of stress.

Learning Tai Chi imparts the six principles of flow and imparts grace and flow to the practitioner.

Find out more about this healthy form of exercise that reduces stress, builds confidence, imparts grace and strength, helps you live longer and helps your mind reach a state of clarity.

Resource: Mastering Tai Chi

Also, if you want to learn the basics of Tai Chi, here is a great free 45+ minute video to help you learn the skill of Tai Chi from Dr. Paul Lim.



16.  Perform Basic Dance Moves (For Guys)
Guys, how embarrassing is it to go out to a club and try to impress some ladies and then find yourself completely unconfident and timid on the dance floor?

I have been there.

Trying to do some fancy moves – but only looking like a spastic monkey. Or even worse, sitting on the sidelines, afraid to embarrass me.

You do not need to be a master dancer to go out and meet people and have fun. But having a few good moves in your back pocket will go a long way toward helping your confidence. That is why I think basic dance moves can be an important skill to learn.

To get started, here's a funny (but helpful) video on how to not dance like a dork.

Resource: Learn some basic dance moves

17. Become a Reader
This is one skill I would say is the most important of all the skills on this list. When you read, even if it is just fiction, you learn and expand your worldview. You visit places you may never see and learn about skills you might otherwise never take the time to learn.

Get in the habit of reading through things. Articles, blurbs, drafts, books, and volumes of material are all worthy of your time.

How good quality the information is directly proportional to how informative what you read is. Reading comic books, for instance, is worthwhile, but not as good as reading a good non-fiction text on a subject you are interested in.

My personal rule. Read one nonfiction book for learning for every fiction book I read for fun. And if you want a quick way to digest lots of books, try this app that provides detailed book summaries that only takes 10 minutes of your time.

Resource: 200+ Best Self Help Books (or How to Never Run Out of Good Things to Read)

18. Change a Flat Tire
Flat tires are either silly inconveniences or serious issues. The difference between the two is often in the ability to fix them quickly.

Even with improvements in tire technology and "run flat" tires, everyone gets a flat tire from time-to-time. And, of course, Murphy's Law will make sure those flat tires come at the most inconvenient time possible.

Don't rely on a car service to fix your change your flat tires. It is a very easy process and keeps you from being reliant on others.

Plus learning the skill of changing your own flat tires may save you a few dollars in expenses.

Resource: How To Change A Flat Tire

Prefer a visual walkthrough?

Here is a quick video that shows the basics of changing a flat tire.



19. Gain the Skill of Humor
You're trapped on a desert island with two people. One is annoying, and one is funny. Just about everyone would prefer to be stuck with the guy with a good sense of humor while leaving the annoying one back at camp.

The ability to be humorous is rooted in the ability to recognize absurdity, chance, circumstance, tonality, language choice, and emphasis. These are all powerful skills independently, but together, they form the basis of humor.

When you are able to use humor effectively in writing, speech, and socially, you will find yourself a sought after commodity, like the last hamburger stand before you get to an all-vegan community.

Resource #1: How to think, write, speak and be funnier

Resource #2: 15 Hilarious Ways To Be Funny

20. Jump-start a Dead Battery
Someone on this planet, at this very second, has a dead battery. What's worse is that they probably don't even have jumper cables. A dead battery is not as easy to fix as a flat tire because it inherently requires another person. (Unless you have one of the new battery powerpack jumper cables.)

But what if the other person only has the battery to offer? Or doesn't really know how to set up the cables either? Will you be ready to affix the cables, go through the motions and get your car up and running? Or will you be left at the roadside?

This is another simple skill that every single adult should know.

And here's a quick video tutorial on how to jump start a car.

Resource: How to Jump Start a Car – The Complete Guide



21. Learn to Start a Fire (Anywhere)
When you are in the wilderness, one of the most important resources is fire. You need fire to purify water. You need it for warmth. You need it to scare off wild animals.

Most people think that starting a fire from scratch is a difficult skill to learn — something to daunt survivalists with years of learning experience.

Well, most people would be wrong. Starting a fire from scratch is painfully simple. With nothing more than friction, airflow, kindling, and a mass to hold the flame.

One tool that can simplify this process is this FREE Everstryke Waterproof firestarter.

Resource: 9 Ways To Start a Fire Without Matches

And here is a video that has fourteen ideas for starting a fire without matches.



22. Survive A MAJOR Crisis
Starting a fire without matches is probably about the limit of my personal "woodsman" skills. (and I am admittedly slow at making fire).

I know I am woefully unprepared for any sort of major worldwide crisis. But like with most things, there is training I can take to get the training I need in case the unthinkable happens.

I am an optimist. I don't like to think about, and generally don't believe, any doom-and-gloom prophecies of the world (as we know it) coming to an end due to currency crisis, war, chemical/nuclear/biological attacks, unnatural weather phenomenon or any other disaster situations. But the fact remains that there are many nasty ways the world could change for the worst in minutes.

I don't think it will ever happen. But it would be nice to have some understanding of what to do and how to help my family to survive if the unthinkable and unbelievable ever happened.

Resources: Basic Survival Concepts | Emergency Life Support | Personal Emergency Planning (Coronavirus – COVID-19 Edition)

23. Sewing, Stitching and Patching
Learning to sew, stitch, and patch is an excellent skill because it is as diverse as it is useful. While it's been typically considered feminine, there's nothing feminine about saving an expensive pair of pants from destruction.

The short course below will teach you the basic skills of sewing, using sewing machines and even a few advanced techniques to set you toward the next level of sewing.

Resource: Sewing 101

24. Meet and Attract a Perfect Life Partner
Most people want to find love at some point in their lives.

However, it can sometimes seem impossible to find that perfect soulmate. They are out there, but you have to be able to have the confidence and social skills to be attractive to them when you first meet them.

If you are shy or have some doubts with your self-confidence, but it is important to learn how to overcome these things if you want to be able to put yourself out there and meet someone special. Learning how to meet and attract a perfect life partner is important for many people in the quest to live a fulfilling life.

If shyness or social anxiety hold you back from meeting that "perfect someone," the training below will be a surefire, "must-have."

or social anxiety hold you back from meeting that "perfect someone," the training below will be a surefire, "must-have."

Resource #1: Simple Steps to Overcome Shyness & Cure Social Anxiety

Resource #2: 35 Places to Meet New People

Resource #3: 371 Deep Questions to Ask to Know Someone Deeply

25. Perform the Heimlich Maneuver
You're in the middle of a crowded restaurant, and a man is choking on his dinosaur chicken nugget. Not only is he embarrassed to be eating chicken dinosaurs, but he might also die.

His only hope is that someone knows the Heimlich around him. The technique is simple, and anyone can learn it with a little bit of care and research.

This is a skill that every single adult should not only know but have practiced it until it is second nature. Learning this skill just might save a life.

Resource: Choking: First Aid

And here's a quick video that shows the basics of performing the Heimlich maneuver.



26. Perform CPR
CPR is another skill that every adult should not only learn but have practiced many times. The time to learn this skill is not when it is your child or father needing CPR but in your own free time.

CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is the simple art of knowing how to jump-start someone's heart and lungs with a little bit of your own air and chest compressions. This is an absolute must-have skill in emergency situations, and it's one of the first things that professional emergency medical transporters are taught.

It is also an easy skill to learn, but the potential payback is immense. Learning this new skill could easily keep a loved one alive until the first responders arrive.

Resource: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): First aid

Mental Skills
All the skills to learn are not fun things like learning to play guitar, speed cup stacking, or learning a new foreign language. Some of them are far more useful skills than that.

For example, you are learning how to learn. When you learn the intricacies of how to learn, every skill or bit of knowledge learned thereafter just a little bit more quickly and easily, due to the fact that you fully understand the process of learning new skills.

Many of the mental skills to learn are like this. They build on essential skills that will help you learn more, do more, achieve more or generally succeed in life.

Want to learn how to improve your learning? Check out my book: Novice to Expert

Learn something new every day with this list of best skills to learn Mental Skills. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment
27. Ask the Right Questions
The first and most significant mental skill any human being can learn in their lives is knowing how to ask the right questions. Many people seek answers for questions they have never even asked. When we ask ourselves the right question, we cut away any chance of wasting our precious time seeking that which is not what we truly need.

A great way to develop this skill is to constantly ask yourself the following:

What is the best question I could ask myself?
How do I get what I want?
Resource: How to Ask Better Questions

28. Find What Interests You and/or Your Passions
It's a shameful thing to start a conversation if you're not truly interested anything. You deny all of your listeners your better self. Likewise, it's a shameful thing not to act, work, and behave in ways that genuinely interest you. It won't be the real you if you don't really care.

This is why it is important to truly care about your work, relationships, success, your future, and the rest of the laundry list. Find things in life that hold your attention and that you ENJOY doing.

"Having passion" for the things you do may be a bit trite... but it is true. If you really get behind the things you do, then keeping up the learning process for new skills will not be a chore, but something that you actively pursue.

Resource #1: Find Your Life Purpose

Resource #2: Discover Your Passion

Resource #3: 5 Steps to Discover Your Life Purpose

29. Utilize Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the ability to chances of success and understanding by using a higher level of thought. Critical thinking is a mass mix of separate skills that all come together to form thought processes that lead to better results.

Critical thinking is a magnificent tool for achieving higher success, and you can easily improve your results in life by simply being aware of what it's like to think critically.

30. The Skill of Mindful Living
Mindfulness is one of the more important mental skills you can create.

I consider mindfulness a "mental" skill, but it touches on many aspects of our lives. It decreases stress, helps reduce suffering from many pains and illness, and can help us feel healthier, happier, and fitter due to the mind-body-spirit connection it fosters.

In short, mindfulness means paying extreme attention to the things you do. Since our world is a busy place and it is hard to be 100% mindful about all things 24/7/364. Mindfulness is usually broken down into specific activities where you pay extreme attention to what is going at specific times, such as "mindful eating." (If you'd like to learn more about it, then here are 71 mindfulness exercises.)

This is the perfect example of mindfulness as a whole. When you eat mindfully, you do so slowly. You savor the taste and the flavors. Try to discern what ingredients which were used in the cooking process while reflecting on both the heat of the food on your tongue and the crispy "feel" of the food.

Want to learn more details about mindfulness and how you can become more mindful? Why not check out some books I have written with my writing partner Barrie Davenport.

Resources: Our Mindfulness Books and Journal

Declutter Your Mind

10-Minute Mindfulness

Mindful Relationship Habits

The Mindfulness Journal

31. Be Comfortable With Change
If your life sucks, it's pretty obvious that you're going to want it to change. Likewise, if it's amazing, you're going to want it to either stay the same or get more amazing.

Both of these scenarios present the potential for change. Why fear it if you're going to want it for the rest of your life potentially?

Change. Specifically, habit change is right in my wheelhouse. I have written dozens of article about how to make a positive change in your life by changing your habits.

There are many ways to go about changing your habits. Some will have extra steps than the skill resource below. Other may have some additional steps. But at its core, all effective change boils down to following the 8 steps below.

Resource: How to Form a New Habit (In 8 Steps)

32. Find and Remove Useless or BAD Habits
If we define useless here as having zero or worse of an impact on your goals, then simply cutting these things away would have dramatic results. Stop reading silly information you don't really care about if there's something you already know is better that you could be reading.

Stop watching TV that contributes nothing to you, and you will suddenly find yourself with far more time on your hands for your own success.

Not sure what constitutes a bad habit, that you might want to change? Check out this bad habit list. And take a moment to think about changing out some of these bad habits for their better counterparts from this list of good habits.

Resource: How to Break a Bad Habit (without the Cravings)

33. Develop Confidence
Someone asked me how I can take risks so calmly and comfortably. My answer was, "I'm kind of amazing." The only problem I have with that sentence is that I told them "kind of."

Now let me be clear. I do not have a superhuman ego. I rarely brag about accomplishments and spend far more time encouraging others than I do talking about myself. I am actually a bit of an introvert.

But it is important to project confidence. Adding qualifiers to statement like "kind of" shows a lack of confidence. It basically means, "if you don't think I am awesome; I was just kidding."

Confidence is in recognizing your own strengths and living, breathing, and speaking them. Confident people can have weak moments, but confidence is never weak.

Resource #1: Self-Confidence – 11 Habits to Nurture to Get It

Resource #2: 20 Affirmations for Confidence and Self-Esteem

34. Think Positive
Life can be tough. Bad things happen to us all the time. Sometimes a bad past haunts us every day. It is easy to fill your mind with negative thoughts, but it is essential not to do this.

Positive thinking is a skill. It is something you need to work at intentionally to improve. Learning the skill of positivity is certainly worth the time invested.

When you have a positive mindset, you can take control of the way that you feel, behave and move forward, but you first need to start thinking in those positive, productive ways that provide energy rather than draining it.

Resource:100 Positive-Thinking Exercises That Will Make Any Patient Healthier & Happier

35. Improve your Memory Skill
If you love quotes, poems, lyrics, or excerpts, you need to be able to memorize them. While it's great to be able to repeat them to others, we cannot remember everything that crosses us.

By learning to remember the significant words we cross, we become better at instilling them within ourselves. If it's important enough to remember, it's probably important enough to embody.

If you are a student, learning to have a sharp memory is even more important. Being able to memorize large amounts of classwork will keep you churning ahead of your peers.

Remember: a good memory is not something you are "born with" unless you are one of the 1 in a million who is born with a truly eidetic memory. For the rest of us, memory is more like a muscle. It is built through work, repetition, and training. It is a skill that needs to be fostered, trained, and built.

Check out some of the best memory exercises below to learn more about building a powerful memory skill.

Resource 1: Free book that helps you retain information 3x faster than your current rate.

Resource 2: Memory Tips & Tricks

And iff you'd like to learn simple ways to improve your memory, here is a video that covers the good habits that will immediately improve your recall. 



36. Maintain Self-Awareness
Most people get trapped in their own plans, goals, memories, and ideas. Life happens around them without them being aware. As John Lennon said, "Life happens while we are busy making other plans."

The self-awareness skill is about keeping one foot in the present and truly understanding what is going on in your life even as you reach for the stars of the future.

This may sound easy. But it really is not.

What is self-awareness?

Being present to everything that's happening as it happens with no need to judge or analyze it. Embodying what it means to experience life, and awareness will come.

Resource: Activities to Build Self Awareness

37. Skill of Focus
Focus is another meta-skill that influences many other mental skills. The ability to fully focus your mind on a single topic is essential for getting the most creativity and productivity out of your time.

If your mind is jumbled with other thoughts or busy trying to multitask your ability to focus greatly suffers. Like many mental and physical activities, focus can be increased and improved with effort.

Think your skills with focus are good? Try the White Bear Experiment. Try to go 5 minutes working on other things and NOT have the thought of white bears cross your mind.

Resource: 10 Mindful Habits to Build the Power of Focus

38. Improve Your Research Skills
When you seek the information here in this list of skills to learn, remember that one source can only give you what it has to offer rather than what's truly available. Be sure to seek more information, even if you think you have all the answers because one little epiphany could change everything.

To get started, we suggest checking out one of the 15 note-taking apps that we review on this page.

Resource: How to Research Effectively

39. Rewire your Brain
Neuroplasticity is the ability to rewire your brain. You can increase IQ, recall, reading speed, cognition by using ideas from this new brain science. The idea behind these activities is to create new information pathways. These new pathways will often help you learn like a child would, quickly and with an ease few adults possess.

The science behind neuroplasticity is new and constantly growing. With the skill of neuroplasticity when you learn something new, you are actively forging new pathways in your brain for learning that will help make learning future skills a bit easier.

Resource: Rewire your brain & Unleash your Inner Genius

40. Build the Deliberate Practice Habit
Think about basketball. You have two guys practicing. Both spend one-hour practicing. The first guy is running around doing a bit of everything. He does some jump shots. He practices dribbling. He chases after balls as they get away from him. He is not focused on his practice; he tries to do everything.

Now, guy number two is focused. He uses deliberate practice. He spends his hour practicing shooting from the key. He has a coach with him to catch his missed shots, gives advice on improving his shots, and make sure there is little or no downtime.

The laser focus on a particular type of shot means guy number two's practice will be FAR more effective than the same amount of practice time as the first guy.

This is the power of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is a habit. Once you learn to practice deliberately, everything you practice in life becomes easier to learn because you know how to build your skills the right way.

Resource: How to Use Deliberate Practice to Master any Skill

41. Think Logically
Many people encounter a problem and immediately react with an emotional, erratic train of thoughts. They panic, worry, fear, or generally become overwhelmed by negative emotion.

Logic is mathematical; it is the process of finding appropriate answers. Remember that the appropriate answers are what matters, not what you are feeling in times of trouble.

Resource: Mental Models: How Intelligent People Solve Unsolvable Problems

To learn more, here is an interesting, hour-long primer with Shane Parrish on how to build a toolbox of mental models.



Money Skills
(Side note: One of the simplest ways to build your money skills is to join over 1 million others and start your day with the latest news from Wall St. to Silicon Valley. This newsletter is a 5-minute read that's informative, witty, and FREE!)

Everyone likes to have money. They may not have a need to be rich, but it is certainly nice not to scramble to find creative ways to pay your bills.

However, money and finances are certain skills, and unfortunately, they are skills that most people have not learned.

There are skills in frugal living, budgeting, personal finances, debt management and reduction, saving, investing, and more...

If you want to learn a new skill, and you don't know the skills of finance these would be a great place to start. They can help you make more money, spend less, keep more of what you make and even save money for an investment, property, or a future, "something special." (For more on this, check out the article on 26 better money habits.)

Learn the best things to learn online including #money skills. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

42. Creating a Personal Budget
You need to start early to set yourself up for financial success in the future. If you spend beyond your means, you are setting yourself up to accrue debt and develop a poor credit score. Budgets are a lot easier with some good software to back it up.

I recommend you check out Mint to help you to create a personal budget that is reasonable for your income and lifestyle. MINT is a great system that links together many essential services that will help you create (and manage) your budget.

If you are clueless as to what a budget is, how to make one that works and how to manage a budget once you have one, I recommend you check out this class on basic budgeting below.

Resource: Personal Budgeting

43. Make Purchases and Get Cash Back
One of the big problems in our credit-heavy society is all the little fees you pay. You pay to get money out of an ATM. You sometimes pay a small fee to HAVE a credit card. You pay huge fees if you are late with payments. And, of course, you pay interest on your purchases.

It can be nice to turn that around by getting cashback from your purchases. One of the best ways to make and save money is to have an app do it for you automatically on purchases that you make every day anyway.

To get started, we recommend the M1 cashback card, which also helps you make smart investing decisions.

Resource #2: Review of the Digit Money-Saving App

44. Track Receipts
Tracking receipts is one of the keys to keeping a good budget. These days you don't need to keep every document on hand. You simply need some system to store you receipt documents.

I take pictures of all my receipts with my phone and store them on Evernote for when/if I need them.

(Learn how to Master Evernote.)

But there are even simpler methods. Using software like Neat allows you to track your receipts and documents. The software extracts the key information from your receipts and integrates it with accounting and business software to help simplify how you work. This will help you keep your finances organized.

To use this, it is best to have a NeatReceipts Mobile Document scanner so you can scan in all of your purchases as you make them. The software will then organize them for you.

45. How to Repair Credit
If you do find yourself in a financial pitfall, you will need to restore your credit to be able to make large purchases in the future such as a home or a car.

It is important to learn how to repair your credit in case you find yourself in a situation where you don't have the credit you need to buy something that is important.

The simple answer to repairing credit is to make deals on defaulted loans, getting that huge minus off your credit record and then making payments larger than the minimums to pay down debt quickly.

But these are the broad strokes. There are a lot of little things that can be done to improve your credit. Check out the resource below for more bad credit busting tips.

Resource:Credit Repair (The Total Guide to a Great Credit Score)

46. Apply for Loans and Credit Cards
Some people are too scared or lazy to apply for loans and credit cards. Using money that isn't yours can be extremely powerful, both for better and worse. But you can never enter the territory of trying if you never even applied.

You DO need credit cards to build your credit rating. The important thing to learn is that you don't need to build a balance. If you only buy what you can afford, and pay it off almost immediately, you get all of the good parts of a credit card, with none of the negatives.

But if credit is still a major issue or fear, there is still the option of secured credit cards, though.

Resource 1: M1 Financing that has offers better rates than many traditional banks and lending institutions.

Resource 2: I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

47. Manage Your Debt
If you learn something new every day, I wish more people would learn the skill of managing debt. This simple skill can help get you out of mountainous debt and get you to the point where your money goes to buy YOU things. Not pay off interest to corporate fat-cats.

After you owe money, remember that managing your debt is a simple matter of making timely payments and paying in a way that pays off the debt in the fastest way that's reasonable.

In other words, don't use your rent money to pay off your debt, but it might also help to brew coffee at home sometimes and put that extra money towards your debts.

One of the best skills to learn in relation to managing your debt is the skill of frugal living. Making those simple day-to-day choices that save you small amounts but can add up to real debt reducing amounts.

Resource: Best Books on Frugal Living and Reducing Debt

48. How to Save, Spend and Invest
Spending money is the art of using your money as you see fit to improve your current situation.

Saving money is the art of cutting back and resisting the urge to spend for the sake of your future situation. Investing money is the art of spending money on future gains.

All of these arts are essential financial skills to learn. But the most dangerous can be investing. Investing has an incredible upside. It can make money on top of your money, and hopefully, at some point, lead to independent wealth or comfortable retirement.

But there is also risk involved, and it is important to understand the risk vs. reward of investments.

Resource 1: M1 Finance that offers a completely free investing platform.

Resource 2: Best Books on Investing

49. Weighing Risk and Reward
With all decisions come risk and reward. Some situations are riskier while others are more rewarding. The trick to making these decisions is to consider all potential risks alongside all potential rewards and try to figure out whether or not the choice is really worth the risk.

Resource: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

50. Save Money
Part of managing your money is learning how to save it. It is important to live within your means and keep some money aside for when you might need it in the future. You don't want to have to always take out a line of credit when an emergency comes up, so having a healthy savings account is a great way to have a safety net.

Saving money is a skill. Check out the link below for some tips to help you save more of what you earn.

Resource : 17 Best Money-Saving Apps

For the remaining 51 Skills Details please read (Part-2)

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Article Source: P-Interest