Do It Today: Overcome Procrastination, Improve Productivity, and Achieve More Meaningful Things

Work On Universal Skills
While you’re figuring everything out, don’t waste your time
watching hours of TV, drinking booze, or eating junk
food. Spend your time usefully.
Learn skills you can always rely on. Need some inspiration?
Here are a few skills that I’m constantly working on:

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1. Self-Discipline: Get better at ignoring the
negative voice in your head. Get out of your bed.
Go to the gym. Don’t listen to “I don’t want to.”
2. Personal Effectiveness: Learn how to maximize
the results you can get during the 16–18 hours
you’re awake. Get more done — effectively.
3. Communication: We think we’re all master
communicators. But the truth is that we suck.
Communication is both art and science. And our
ability to work with others depends on it.
4. Negotiation: You negotiate all the time. With your
spouse, kids, parents, teachers, friends, co-workers,
managers, etc. Learn to get the best deal for all
parties.
5. Persuasion: Learn how to get what you want in an
ethical way.
6. Physical Strength & Stamina: Getting stronger
is a skill. Pull your own weight. It’s something every
human should be able to do.
7. Flexibility: Sitting all day long behind your
computer or in your car turns you into a stiff being.
Learn how to stretch your hips, lower back,
hamstrings, and calves — the most common weak
points of desk workers.
That’s enough to keep you busy for a lifetime if you want to
do it well. Pick a skill that excites you. Get better at it. Then,
pick another. And keep on repeating that process. Soon
enough, you’ll know what you want. And if you don’t, it’s not
the end of the world. There’s still plenty to learn.

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