The third of my three core focus questions is: What’s the one skill you could learn that would have the most impact on moving towards your what and why?
I stole this question from Rich Dad, Poor Dad author, Robert Kiyosaki.
Best SELLING Author
In one of his other books, Kiyosaki tells the story of meeting a phenomenal author struggling to sell books. She was lamenting her lack of success when he suggested she take a sales training course.
She was indignant at the idea and told him why in no uncertain terms (angrily). He went on to explain (or tried to) that even though she could write circles around him, he was a best-selling author and the only reason was his ability to sell.
What makes this story particularly impactful is that Kiyosaki had hated sales people too. HATED them. But he knew that if he was going to succeed in his chosen career (entrepreneurship), he needed to be able to sell well. So he had taken a job with IBM straight out of the military because they offered the best sales training on the planet at the time. Once he became a top salesman and had the awards to prove it, he left the company to learn something else.
In the book, Kiyosaki went on to explain his belief that we are always one skill away from significant progress towards our goals. I believe he’s right.
Learn
So I encourage you to consider this question for yourself in your present circumstances. Once you figure out what skill would help you the most, go learn it through:
- Books: Visit you library or local bookstore and find a book on the subject. And generally speaking, look in the business section, not the music section.
- Mentors: Get around people with the skill and ask them for help.
- Colleges: Check out the regular or Adult Education course offerings of local colleges and universities
- Seminars: Scan the papers for 1, 2 or more day seminars offered by those same colleges, the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club or any number of other groups that serve young professionals or entrepreneurs.
- Training Organizations: Many cities have training organizations like Dale Carnegie or New Horizons that offer short, en-depth training on a variety of subjects.
A Job
Yes, get a job IF it will teach you this skill. Not only will you learn, but you’ll get paid while you do.
No matter how you learn this skill, make it a point to learn it so you can confidently move yourself forward.
