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Two Simple Skills for Success in Anything
The more I think about the skills and habits that are most essential to achieving success in any field, the more it comes back to two simple skills we each already possess but often make little use of.
The first is awareness.
Rather than reading more books, listening to more podcasts, and taking more courses, all the information we need is laid out in front of us, waiting to be discovered and applied to our work.
There are likely hundreds if not thousands of people doing similar work to each of us. Many of them are successful at what they’re doing, many are not.
We can learn from both of them if we stop to look.
Once we’ve become aware of the information, examples, and data presented to us, the second skill comes into play: Simply thinking about what we’ve noticed.
We want to be told what is right and what is wrong, what will work and what won’t. We want the best practices, magic bullets, tips, tricks, and strategies to accelerate our ascent to the top.
But those at the top didn’t get there by following hacks. They studied the existing landscape, thought long and hard about it, and started experimenting based on this knowledge.
