How would you feel if many people thought you were the smartest person in history? How might your life be different if you actually were that intelligent? Although we often think of Albert Einstein as one of the smartest people ever, we don’t investigate what it was that made him so. People who speak highly of him often attribute his genius to some mysterious gift. They don’t believe his smarts came from a certain attitude about learning. I believe you can recreate some of his habits to get smarter and find more rewarding work.

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Successful people seem to have unique mixes of ingredients that form their achievements. Social media permitted me to catch up with an old friend recently, and I was absolutely impressed to see what he’s accomplished in his life. He’s worked his way into several executive positions and now leads a “CFO-for-hire” consulting firm, among many other things. Since we went to the same elementary school and had the same teachers up through 3rd grade, this post is an effort to find out where our trajectories diverged. Ken answers a few questions about what role learning played in his success.

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You’re reading this post because you want to experience some of that financial success yourself. That’s how I found Pat Flynn’s blog on how to use the Internet as an income stream. Pat’s different than many Internet marketers because he’s succeeded primarily by promoting a solid, non-Internet marketing product: an architectural exam study course. What’s more, Pat is very open about where his earnings come from, and even discloses his web site traffic statistics to help instruct his readers.

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Right about the time that their youngest child started school, a friend and I stopped by the Jones’ house one Sunday afternoon. A large stack of books stood on the coffee table. Books about business, finance, and entrepreneurship. I asked them who was doing the “light” reading. Kim had decided to start her own business and was reading up on what it would take to make the company successful.

A few years later, Kim’s VeraClean company is doing very well. It’s grown from a few contracts and employees to a budding operation servicing the South Denver (Colorado) area. Fascinated by how it all happened, I asked Kim to share a few thoughts and tips about how/what she learned to create a successful company. My questions and her responses follow:

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How foolish I was to think I could go by a bestselling author’s book signing event at a local Barnes & Noble and ask him a few questions about how he learned his writing skills! When I got there, I saw over 200 people in line for his autograph, +/- about 75 kids. Luckily, I whined to his agent about not having access to him and she forwarded my questions to him the next day via email. I wanted to know specifics about how he learned to write well enough to become a bestselling author. [Read more...]

Do you get inspired to see other people who’ve found their “thing” and developed true expertise? Rachel Clare is a family friend who we’ve watched refine her photography skills from good to great over the last few years. Now she’s making bank and a name for herself. She took the time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions about how she learned these moneymaking skills.

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To: Mailroom Guy

From: Steve @ HigherPayingSkills.com

Re: A Better Job

You know, it was about a year ago that you told me how much you hated your job working in the corporate mailroom. You said, “I have to get outta here. This job’s killing me!” I asked what type of work you wanted to do instead and you didn’t have any idea. [Read more...]

Josh Waitzken mastered chess at an early age and provided the storyline represented in the film, Searching for Bobby Fischer. The stress of stardom disaffected him from the chess world and he pursued martial arts. Waitzken not only earned international chess championships as a child, he also fought to win multiple Tai Chi championships later in life. He identified many consistencies in how he learned world-class chess and how he excelled in martial arts.

He catalogued many of the principles he discovered about his own learning in The Art of Learning. This introspective book shares some approaches to learning which can apply to mastering any discipline. A few of his ideas include:

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With all that’s said about setting clear, specific goals, the fact that many – if not most – successful people took unintended paths to their achievements amazes me. Although their formulas for success differ greatly, persistent and mostly self-directed education is common to all their success stories. It’s mostly what these people learned on-the-street or on-the-job (not in classrooms or in computer courses) that generated success. Learning doesn’t guarantee success without hard work and application, but hard work doesn’t amount to much without knowledge and skill. Reinvention is a common theme of anyone doing well in a down economy. Reinvention is really self re-education.

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Teachers, instructors, faculty, students, kids – how’s your Summer vacation going? Enjoying that time at the beach? In the mountains? On the couch? Don’t let the break pass without investing some of that valuable time. Dedicating just a few hours each week to learning a new skill will give you amazing advantages over those who lounge around all summer.

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