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How to Learn More in Less Time
One of the main obstacles I have found in my life and others, is time. The other is not having the knowledge or the know how to do something. When those two things comprise against the solution to your problem, the odds go against you quickly. I have heard many say, "I just don't have time to learn _______________"(Fill in the blank).These 2 reasons, alongside money, are probably in the top 3 for what makes someone achieve or not. So if you could learn how to beat the learning curve and the time it took to get you there, wouldn't it make sense to do so? Below are some ideas and free resources that could help you along your quest for knowledge.
I have personally implemented these ideas into my own life and noticed that it made significant changes to overcome the issues listed above.
Ask
Find individuals that can help you attain knowledge. Have at least one question they can answer to help you move forward. If you picked one person a day, at the end of the year you would know 365 bits of information. If you are asking the question, you should probably at least get one tidbit of information beneficial to you. We live in a society that encourages us to act as if we already know, regardless, if we really know or not. That does not make for a stable environment to ask questions, but go against the status quo and do it anyway.
Being humble and honest with individuals and groups when it comes to your lack of knowledge pays off. It is human nature for the other person to instantly start trying to show you how much they know, so they start telling you, when you make it clear that you lack the knowledge. It is not so much that the other person is willing to help, versus the fact that they want to show you how much they know. Funny how that works...isn't it? Hehe.
Find groups of people in a quest for the same knowledge as you. Make up points of connections, and exchange ideas. Teamwork pays off.
Speed read
This is a super power that Warren Buffet and Bill Gates both specifically said they would love to have. You can check the video out here .
Take a test right here that will show you your speed reading skills currently. In addition, I have added some resources to further supplement the ability to speed read.
Audio books
If you don't like to read, use audio books. They are more common now than ever.
Here is a list of the top audio book websites as of July 2013.
Find a mentor
It makes sense to find others that already know the answers to your questions. Who better to help you than someone that is an expert already. Even as little as 10 minutes in their presence, could take months, if not years, off of your learning curve. They stand out in their field. If you cannot get them one on one, hunt down their websites and products.
Take time to learn how you learn
To learn faster, having a plan on how to learn is a great start. Many of us were taught to learn by repetition but after reading this free E-book by Scott H. Young, you might just think that there are more effective ways to learn . Reading this really provoked my thought when it came to how I was learning.
You can watch Scott talking about the MIT challenge by clicking down below:
Mind Maps are another great way to change up your learning skills. The concept is taking things and grouping them so they will make sense later. It is believed that our brains don't have a problem storing the information, it is having an organized process for retrieval, that is the main problem.
What would be 2 key things you would try to learn, providing that you had the resources to do so?
Provide Your Feedback below
16 Proven Methods to Develop Your Niche
We all want a niche. We want something that people can associate us with when our name is mentioned in a conversation. A niche is a situation or activity specially suited to a person's interests, talents, or nature.
A niche, simplified, is the unanswered questions between you and your overall purpose. The definition alone can present many questions to help us find our niche. There is some form of niche for everything we think of. So why can't everyone find their niche? Let's find out. Let's take the three characteristics of the definition and break them into action steps.
Interests
Fill in the
Blank:
Sometimes the
answer could already be there. Is there anything that you are interested in? Is
there anything you would be interested in learning to do? Is there anything
that you are interested enough in to do for free? If a future career is your
goal, you will be doing it for free for a little while.
Carry a
notepad:
Always have
something to take notes with at all times. Maybe something will grab your
interest or you have questions about it. About once every few days, maybe sit
down and review the notes. If you have a mobile device, you can download great
apps for note taking that have voice recognition. You can usually send these notes directly to
your email as well. This can be to your advantage if you are on the go.
Do your
research:
Try to find people
in your area that already pursue some of your potential interests. Take them
out to lunch. Let them know ahead of time that your intent is to ask them some
questions, so they will be ready for it. If they don't have time for lunch, ask
them if you can shoot them an email. This email should be no more than 3 short questions
about what they do, what it took to get there, and the pros and cons of it.
Sometimes if you see a lot of cons in something, that will eliminate the
interest immediately, making the overall decision much easier.
Talents
Write a resume to yourself:
When you look for a job, you would do this. So why not when you are trying to assess what to do with your life. At this current point and time, what would you hire you to do? What are your past jobs? What were the skills you acquired in order to do those jobs? Cross reference the skills and see if any complement the other. Pair your skills into groups. Sometimes groups versus a long list of unrelated words can help speed up the decision process. Break those groups into sub-groups notating what you are currently good at, and what you need to work on, and what you hope to become good at.Quit trying to be yourself:
Don't just be yourself. Aim to find things that add extensions to yourself. It is possible to be who you are, while adding some skills along the way.
Be open
minded:
Sometimes we find one thing we are good at,
and then we do that one thing because it is comfortable, giving no regard to
the fact that we probably have much more to offer. Sometimes new talents
are developed by being pushed into unknown territory. Don't let opportunity get blinded by current desires.
There will be things you need to do, and particularly don't want to, in order
to progress. When this happens, take advantage and try to learn from it.
It is possible you may learn a new talent, or how your existing talent can be
applicable to areas you never imagined. What challenges you?
Sit back and think what challenges you have faced, and how you have overcame them. Odds are others have had these same challenges, and they are waiting for an answer. It is easy to view developing talents for the taking, but develop them for giving as well.Are you dangerous?
Do you have enough knowledge at something to be considered dangerous. If so, maybe you should expand on the knowledge to further complement what you want to achieve.Ask others:
Having a talent
that you want recognized by others, requires them to recognize it. If you
really want to know what others see in you, ASK. This can be scary, but quite
informative. Don't be afraid. It will surprise you what others see as your
talents. It might even make you consider working harder towards something they
viewed, that you had never seen. If the answers don't align with how you think
you should be viewed, ask them why they don't see in you what you figured they
would.
Robert Michael Fried, best-selling author of Igniting Your True Purpose and Passion, said “the risk is right when it will help you close the disparity or gap between who you are and where you want to go. When your outside view of the world reflects your inner voice, you are well on your way to taking the right risk.” Sometimes we miss those qualities we need to master that will have us perceived as we desire.
Robert Michael Fried, best-selling author of Igniting Your True Purpose and Passion, said “the risk is right when it will help you close the disparity or gap between who you are and where you want to go. When your outside view of the world reflects your inner voice, you are well on your way to taking the right risk.” Sometimes we miss those qualities we need to master that will have us perceived as we desire.
Nature
Ask
yourself:
It is easy to get
derailed by other's opinion. The amazing thing is that the most important
opinion of all rarely affects us: It is our own opinion. How do you feel about
yourself? What do you feel like you are good at? What is the reason you could see yourself
going for the ideas you have had for so long? These are creating vision and
confidence , because when you try something new, you will need both. In case you missed my post, the Prime Objective, here is a link to it that furthers dwells into the key motivators.
Know
Yourself:
If someone is
asked what 3 things they like best about their role model, they can tell you
instantly. Are you able to answer that question as quickly about yourself ? The role model knows how to describe themselves. They had to
figure it out in order to get where they are today. Love it when people call you Names:
As bad as we hate to admit it, when someone calls us a name or describes us, it is usually current with our persona at the given time. This does not have to only be in negative situations, but positive ones as well. Take heed when someone calls you names, it just might help you answer some questions.
Here are some things you can implement while on your journey:
Get serious:
Have an ideal time
frame in mind for when you want to make
that big decision. The sooner you figure it out, the sooner you are on your
way.
Defy All
Logic:
If you have
figured out what you want to do, you have done enough thinking already. Many
times in life we don't jump on those golden opportunities because we give logic
time to kick in. Despite what we desire to achieve, logic starts telling us all
the reasons why we shouldn't. Sometimes if we just got started, despite the
logic, the decision would already have been made.
Be the same, but be different:
In
anything, there will be competition. Don't get hung up in the fact that
someone else has already thought of your idea. To
become a frontrunner, it takes a unique combination of talents to make a person
stand out in their niche. Being the best at something that already
exists, is a way to add to your niche.
Look towards the future:
What about now? Concentrate on the now with
your actions, but make sure these current actions will be beneficial to your
future. In the future, will it be discovered that your skill set is needed? Is
it needed now, and will it stand the test of time?
Sir Ken Robinson, author of Finding Your Element: How To Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life had
some interesting insights into what it takes to develop talents. He thinks a
lot of it is about opportunity. He says, "Human resources are
like the earth’s natural resources: they’re often buried beneath the surface
and you have to make an effort to discover them."
Here are some
of his latest TED talks:
The Prime Objective: The Ordered Steps to Success? or Not?
In 2005, when Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were asked what
superpower they wished they had, can you guess what they said? They jokingly
said extended lifetime, and they agreed that eliminating the competition would
not be too interesting. They finally agreed that they wished they had the
ability to speed read. If they were asked this same question today, would their
answer be the same? So why would they, with all of this money, still have to
read constantly? To Learn. When making money,
it is still important to continuously improve the skills necessary to
stay competitive.
So wouldn't it be
a good idea to stop and ask ourselves our prime objective for pursuing the
goals in our lives? Is it money? Is it learning? Focusing on learning gives you a greater
potential for success. Success has the potential to bring you money.
Shifting your focus initially to the learning side has many
benefits long term:
·
Learning can help you avoid mistakes later on.
If you cannot avoid the mistakes, you might have a better sense of how to
handle them with certain skill sets. This could make a difference in the amount
of money you earn or lose. This could be the difference between quitting and
moving forward. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck in one
place, with no idea how to proceed.
·
Realize the importance of the basics: Getting
expert knowledge, without understanding the basics, usually hampers your
ability to instantly apply the information. Without understanding the basics,
it can be more likely to discount expert information. It serves great to have
an understanding of why courses of actions are being taken. Not knowing the
basics can be a stumbling block in anything pursued, and can be quite time
consuming and frustrating.
·
If you have already learned the basics of something,
it cuts your learning curve: You have already put yourself ahead of the game by
learning the basics. Imagine trying to walk into a software development firm,
write some software, and had seldom practiced beforehand. Imagine yourself as
the CEO of a company with no prior business knowledge. People already know
there would not be much sense in attempting these given scenarios. It is a no brainer that
the more someone knows in advance, the more likely their chance of success when
the test comes.
·
If your learning curve has been drastically cut
already, you have a much better chance of being a frontrunner in delivering
this new found information to others: Today we have so many diverse terminologies
and acronyms out there, learning these things alone can be a series of long, daunting
study sessions. If you can be that person to cut the learning curve with a
quickness, great for you and great for them.
·
Once you have the basics, things get more
difficult: Usually after the initial knowledge, learning the advanced
information tends to be a slower process. There is more thought and decision
involved in conjunction with learning. This can take enormous amounts of time,
making it all the more important to have the basics mastered before others. That
being said, once you are over the hump and have become savvy with your new
found knowledge, certain things that required thought and decisions become
seamless, almost like a natural reflex.
Now The Money
Part:
·
Information is king these days. Information
travels fast. Being a frontrunner of new information presents the ability to
make more money, if you can deliver the information to others first. Imagine
trying to charge hundreds of dollars on teaching web design. People would not
be flocking to your seminar. Odds are they already know someone with enough of
the abilities to get them started.
·
Last but not least, in the beginning and all the
way to the end, have fun with it. If things don't go great in the first
attempt, tackle it again. Most people have difficulty having fun trying to
learn something that can make them money. They might attempt to learn, but if
they despise it, it is questionable if they will carry on through. As human
nature dictates, we want it and want it now. Once that feeling comes in, stress
and pressure tend to follow.
All Eyes, All Ears, But No Attention?
Last week I posted
on something near and dear to all of our hearts, Building Our Audience. Wanting
to be noticed is part of our DNA. Your motivation could be financial. You just
might want to make new friends. So what do you do when you feel like you have
done everything humanly possible to get attention? Are you questioning if you are invisible? Do
you feel misunderstood? You have read,
listened, and watched but you still just cannot get anyone to give you
attention in return.
Here are some key things to consider:
·
Most people do not find you or your products as
awesome as you do. Hard to believe, isn't it?
·
Everyone will NEVER see you or your product as
important as you do. Unfortunately, sad but true. Everything is not for
everybody.
·
Why should they? You should never even walk into
forming a relationship expecting an equal amount of passion from the other
person initially.
·
Do they trust you? Do they even like you? Pretty
much sums it up.
·
What is your level of momentum going in? In
business or relationships it is much easier if someone has a positive
pre-defined feeling beforehand. It is easier to get friends if people have
already been told you are worthy. It is definitely much easier to gain in
business with prior credibility.
·
If you people won't buy into you, they won't buy
from you.
·
I shouldn't have to sell, should I? In business
or relationships, when trying to obtain attention, you are trying to present
the validity of your request. That is selling.
·
Take the display down: Just showing your
opportunity off is not enough. There has to be action. If you want to be
someone's friend, would you just go stand beside them with a sign in your hand,
without ever saying a word. With opportunities, your display will be overlooked
if it has no description behind it.
·
Become an artist: Have you painted a good
picture of the specifics of why you or the opportunity you present would
benefit the person? What kind of qualities do you offer to make your
opportunity or friendship worthwhile?
·
Are you hitting them up for favors, before you
offered one? Have you asked them if they needed anything? Going up and asking
people for a favor out of the blue is ludicrous these days. People need
incentives in business and friendships. What better way to get someone 's
attention than to offer something first.
·
What have you done for them lately? Do it first,
no excuses. People love it when you do stuff for them. Will they appreciate it,
probably not at first, but they will love it. This will erase the question
before it becomes an issue. It is also good because if you done something for
them, and they don't buy in, they don't feel like it was a total waste of their
time.
·
Are you honestly putting it out there? Never put
your opportunities out there without going in for the kill 100%. Not displaying
the ability to ask wholeheartedly shows you are hesitant in your intent. Having
a lack of intent when offering anything, will put the other person in question.
It exudes confidence when you deliver with intensity. If you are not confident,
do you really expect them to be when making their decision? Imagine walking up
to someone, asking them to be your friend, and telling them that you think you
might be worthy. Uhhh...crickets are chirping now I am sure.
·
Did you hear what they said? What you say is
valuable. What they say can be double as valuable. Listen to what they have to
say. Listen to how they reply when asked a question. Let them ask questions.
You will be able to fill in the blanks if you listen. In friends and business,
listening is essential. If you don't take an interest in others, they won't
take too much interest in you.
·
Did you do your homework? In person, or on
social media, you should really take at least a few minutes to research your
future prospect. If you want to be someone's friend, doesn't it make sense to
find out what they enjoy? Doesn't it
make sense to see if you share common interests? Find out what they like? It is
easier to fill their need if you know the answer to this ahead of time. This
applies to business as well.
·
Have you really did everything possible? Usually
when we take a hard deep look, we have not totally exhausted our resources. We
are just exhausted with the methods we are currently using.
·
Have you tried a different approach? It never
hurts to try a new way of doing something. Trying it does not mean it has to
become the new way. Maybe think out of the box.
Approach things the total opposite of how you have in the past. Modify
some of your responses to things you usually expect the other person to ask.
·
Sometimes it is the little things: Sometimes you
will come to find out that some minor tweaking is all that is necessary. It
only takes a little wrong to counteract the right.
Going for anything in life, is not just an
action, but a state of mind. It is one of the grandest tests of mental
endurance known today. Seek and you shall find what you are looking for. The
next time you feel like you feel like you have done everything possible, step
back and ask yourself these questions. If you know someone else with this
problem, ask them these questions. It might be simple enough, and it is. Not
taking simple steps can make life complicated. You are awesome, the world just
does not know it yet. It is time to show off the superstar in you!
Getting Real Part 5
About month number nine, I woke up one morning. I was reaching to get something and was astonished. My fingers raised. I had no previous signs of recovery. I did not know much about crying tears of joy until then. That was one of the moments in my life where I felt "thankful" in more than just saying it aloud. I had the scars for life but not the permanent disability that had been haunting me every day. And, to be quite honest, the scars did not end up being too bad. They say in life that you don't know what you got until it's gone. I think it is even more challenging to lose it, realize what you had, and fight with everything to get it back.
Despite my efforts to improve the situation, I still call this a miracle. I could have just accepted what the doctors told me, but I am glad I did not. Even though all of this time I had felt discouraged, I had realized that I believed in myself stronger than ever before. I felt this was a new beginning and could not wait to see what was next.
And, of course, you know I had to schedule an appointment to display the miracle. I somehow believe I was not the only one who gained hope that day. I think the doctors and therapists learned something as well. I would like to believe that at least one of those people walked away with a clear vision of what happens when someone refuses to give up. I know I had talked to many people along the way that were told they were disabled, but did more than fully physically capable people do. This is one reason I have a hard time swallowing the word "can't" from someone to this day. Life happens, and usually not at the most convenient times. It takes life happening, sometimes, to create positive changes. It creates those positives in the darkest of our days. The most important result is making it through to the other side.
Sometimes when the authorities give you an opinion, you still have to take your ability and desire, and use those things to dictate the outcome. The doctors were supposed to be authorities in this matter. The authorities based their opinions only with usual outcomes and results. They wrote me off due to natural prediction. The authorities in this matter, never took into consideration, the type of person I was. An educated diagnosis is still an opinion. Educated diagnosis is taught to stay within the realm of pure logic. It does not explore the realm of the impossible. Without those doctors, I would not have made the progress I made, and I can see based on their education why they would have predicted those results. However, I do think today that is why I refuse to let anyone (authority or not) predict my end result. Their opinions can continuously circle me, but not define me. They cannot dictate my direction or the impact I will try to make. Life is too short and if you believe you can do something, who has the right to make you believe otherwise?
Building Your Audience
We have all had
that moment. The moment where we wish we were well known and did not feel like
another face in the crowd. For some people it is a brief thought. For others,
they spend their life yearning to fulfill this desire. We all desire to build an
audience. Just that one chance to be on the main stage. Well, I have good news.
Don't worry. One way or the other, we will all stand out at one time or another
and build an audience with a quickness.
But what do you do
when you have a "moment"? That
awkward moment where you stand out in an undesirable way. The moment
when you said or did something so out of character that later on you could not
believe it was you that actually did it. Things like saying something hurtful
without realizing the situation first, maybe messing up in a big business
meeting, or dropping your food on the floor in front of everyone. Now how many
of us have done that one? Worst of all, word spreads fast and then everyone
knows. Almost everyone deals with these moments, actually we all do. The ones who
won't admit it are...you guessed it...liars. I have been on both ends of this
scenario, probably more times than I would like to admit.
You go home that
night still full of embarrassment,
wondering how you could have done that thing. You toss and turn in the
bed wondering how everyone is going to react to you tomorrow. You might even
have a nightmare about the experience.
You wake up the next morning dreading the day ahead. You go in the
bathroom and look in the mirror in disgust. You still cannot believe what
happened. You feel emotions such as embarrassment, guilt, and maybe even shame.
You just want to crawl back in the bed. But wait a minute, don't do that. There
is some good news for you.
I learned a few
things that made those feelings go away before you have to sleep on it that
night. So here goes:
1.) Just deal with it: Get on the phone or the computer.
Make sure you contact some of the people that saw or heard about the encounter,
and just let them get it out of their system. Let them get a laugh, and be
done. If it happened to make anyone mad, contact them and bring it up
immediately. Let them yell at you and be done with it. It is going to happen
sooner or later, so just deal with it.
2.) Make a big joke before they do: I am not the biggest fan
of poking fun at myself, but for some it does wonders. I have seen some people
repeatedly joke about one of those moments to the extent they break new ground
with people they never knew before. It brings out the person's sense of humor
so much that people just love being around their new found personality. I have
seen people walk up to someone they did not know and ask, "Do you remember
that time I (fill in the blank)? Now that is leveraging a bad situation. They
took a situation that should have made them clam up, and used it as icebreakers
to engage in conversations. They used their own misfortune to create
commonality between other people.
3.) Know You are Not Alone: If you decided to make everyone
that had one of those moments join your club, everyone would be a member.
Everyone will have one of those moments eventually. Usually the ones making the
jokes (or getting mad) have already had a moment like this. Realize that now
they are just on the other end of the joke.
Despite the way it
made you feel, no one could have done that moment as well as you did. It could
not be rehearsed or duplicated. Most
importantly, don't sweat it. Don't go to bed at night with a feeling of regret.
Confront it. If you are ever going to be successful at anything, you better
learn this quality fast. Moments can stop you, especially when you make a
bigger deal about it than anyone else. We all have those moments. The moments
when we feel like everyone is staring at us after what we did. No one usually
cares enough to make more than one comment about it anyways, so loosen up. Even
though you are in the spotlight now, you will lurk back into the crowd before
you know it. You will probably have another moment later on with a brand new
audience.
Don't
let those moments make you freeze. Don't let those moments define your
character. Strangely enough, if you face the music with this, it usually makes
people inquisitive on why you handled it this way. It will intrigue them how
you could have done such a thing, and still be exuding with confidence. Moments
like these can be a real growing experience for us if we learn how to embrace
the opportunity. Like it or not, life is going to deal us these moments. We can
take them a lot easier than leaving them.
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