The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn Now to Thrive Before 2020
By: Danny Forest
Tags: Self Improvement, Inspiration, Productivity, Education, Life Lessons

Skill #2: You gotta learn to be aware of your goddamn actions!

Apologies for the blasphemy, but how many times must you hear it before you do it? I’m telling you. Other writers are telling you. Youtubers are telling you. Your freaking heroes are telling you!

Yet here you are, sitting on your ass and not raising your self-awareness!

The repetition above is intentional. Trust me, it will help you let it sink into your subconscious. Years ago I was following Tai Lopez’s 67 steps. At the time, for me, that was groundbreaking. I learned this morning that my friend Ayodeji Awosika also started with the 67 steps. Look where he is today!

While many complained that he just kept babbling and repeating the same thing over and over, it worked. Those who followed through let it sink into their brains.

Speaking of which, here’s what you should let sink into your brain if you want to thrive before 2020: what went right, what went wrong, and how can you improve. Every. Single. Day. You gotta honestly reflect on how well you’re doing towards what you strive for.

Have my actions today led me to bring the fight forward towards a better Education for all?

Yes? No? What did? What didn’t? How can I do better tomorrow? Repeat weekly and monthly.

Now, of course, you need the father of all weapons at your side: knowing your why. Without it, you’re spoon-carving a mine you could dynamite.

That all sounds easy but it isn’t. If you can answer in less than a combined eight hours of reflection on your first journaling session, you’re likely not thinking deep enough. I repeat, it isn’t easy and it shouldn’t be. Ask yourself “why?”. Not once or twice, but up to seven layers deep!

You know what we’re all good at? Lying to ourselves. We say that things are going well when everything is going south. The reality is too hard for us to handle, so we ignore it. We don’t think and we certainly don’t talk about it.

Stop lying to yourself. It may feel good at the moment, but it won’t in the long run. Dare to ask yourself the hard question. Dare to be aware that not everything is perfect. Accept it. Change your self-talk from “I can’t” to “How can I…”.

When you truly become self-aware, “I can’t” doesn’t exist anymore. “I don’t want to” becomes a possibility. Once you know how you can do something, choosing not to do it isn’t cowardly, it’s smart.

“Don’t wish it was easier wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge wish for more wisdom.” — Jim Rohn

How to learn to be self-aware

Get into the habit of putting actions in your calendar. That’s the first step towards knowing where your time is spent and where you have actual free time. In your daily planning, always leave room for important but not urgent tasks. From 5am to 9:00am, I exclusively do things that are not considered my main job. I write, go to the gym and practice 3 skills.

Do daily, weekly, and monthly planning. Every Friday or Saturday, I plan my activities for the next week. As mentioned above, that gives clarity on where my time is spent on my productive activities and hobbies. But everything is not set in stone. Every evening, after work, I review my priorities for the next day and move things around as needed. And every end of the month, I write down my goals, both professionally and personally, for the next month. I try to be as specific as possible. How much mass do I want to put on? How much money do I want to make? How many new followers do I want to have? When you have goals you firmly believe in and you review them at least once every week, you align your plans with your actions.

Drop negativity. Try to drop negative words from your vocabulary: no, not, bad, etc. Here’s a full list:https://www.enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/negativewords.shtml. When you think and talk positively, you act positively. When you are in a positive mindset, you are more open to other perspectives. When you are more open to other perspectives, you are more receptive to change. It’s fundamental and not too hard if you practice this on a daily basis. If you catch yourself thinking or saying something negative, simply stop yourself and re-phrase.

Set time aside for important but not urgent tasks. Much like above, it’s important to set blocks of time daily (or close to that) where you can focus on yourself. A time where you focus on things you’ve always wanted to do but never do because “urgent” stuff takes all your time. Take that time to learn languages, other skills, read, journal, work out, explore your city, etc.