10 Skills You Need to Succeed at almost Anything.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-skills-you-need-to-succeed-at-almost-anything.html

by azharcs • 18 years ago

30 24 18 years ago

lifehack.org

omouse• 18 years ago

No more lists please. Especially ones that re-iterate what has been said before and on many other websites.

kirse• 18 years ago

Give me 5 good reasons why HN shouldn't have any more lists.

ajross2• 18 years ago

If you can't come up with those yourself, you're doing it wrong.

[edit: folks, if you're going to mod down a joke, at least tell me why it isn't funny...]

xlnt• 18 years ago

Lists are for authors who can't figure out what's important and emphasize it. It's just a long, monotone drawl that abdicates some thinking.

froo• 18 years ago

1) Lists are a staple of Digg, and the quality of overall submissions has gone down on Digg, while the number of lists in general is on the rise. There may be a correlation here... lets not find out

2) See point 1

C) According to the following (silly) patent by Channel Intelligence (oxymoron?), it is a list that is stored in a database on a computer - you might be increasing PG's liability - http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT6917941

100) 0111001101100101011001010010000001110000011011110110100101101110011101000010000000110001

v) Lists in general are less well thought out than an article yet are more readable. Combined, I think this takes away from the "stickiness" of an article, because I can quickly skim through it, get the point of an list and move on - with that information barely registering.

volida• 18 years ago

you know it's impossible everybody to know what everyone has read.

re-iterate, the principle of learning

Chocobean3• 18 years ago

Oh mouse, I see where you're coming from as most "list articles" lack value and insight worth of HN, but I disagree with you that a ban on their genre is the solution.

Y'see, lists aren't inherently bad in and of themselves. If essays (like pg essays) are programs, list articles are like pseudo-code: they're bite-sized tidbits that give you an outline of what the author thinks the major points of his writing is about.

The problem with lists is usually two-fold:

If the list lists trivial and common-sense ideas without telling you why or how that works, it has very little value. This type work best as an element inside of an essay or as supporting arguments for another single central idea.

On the other hand the list items are non-trivial, the list format works against a full fleshing out of the non-trivial idea : the readers' focus is diluted by the other points and the points each get so long that the whole article is essentially a series of essays, boring the reader to tears.

Lists are powerful; use with caution.

graywh• 18 years ago

I'm waiting on someone to comment with a "listified" version of one of pg's essays. I'd do it if I had more time.

redorb• 18 years ago

I just think a article where 8 out of 10 would've been guessed by this community adds little value.

Chocobean3• 18 years ago

Practical tips on how to actually do the first three

1. Public Speaking

Join a ToastMasters, where you will make prepared or impromptu speeches, evaluate other's speeches, and generally just learn how to do public speaking. A lot of them will let you sit there and "audit" a few weeks before joining in the more active roles.

2. Writing

Write something that requires you to explain your logic flow clearly. Then take it to a friend who's a good writer and/or Enlish major or reads alot. Watch him tear your paper apart and tell you which logical points need to be linked better, or why certain annecdotes are out of place or generally why your thoughts can or cannot be easily followed. Writing isn't enough, you need to be critiqued to see the difference between yourself and Tolkien or other really good writers. If you don't have a friend, read a short story analytically and read as many commentaries on it as you can find. You'll see how well-written pieces are constructed together as carefully as beautiful code: their logic flow is good, the comments are helpful, witty and to the point without being redundant, and every idea (object) or plot device (function) is used on purpose, executed at exactly the right time. You cannot write well until you know how to recognize why good writing is good.

3. Self-management

Stop reading HN, or at least use noprocrast. A really good thing I heard from somewhere on the internet is to represent yourself as your own business, even when you don't have one: you don't work for "the man", you work for yourself. Your business is merely in partnership with the company that hired you. They don't own your work, you provide a service for them that they purchase. You represent yourself, you work for yourself, you sell your product/services yourself. In short : you manage yourself.

kirubakaran2• 18 years ago

This is very interesting. If possible, please write more.

Chocobean3• 18 years ago

(^-^'' on the internet it's impossible to tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Actually, I stopped because I have no idea how one would go about doing non-tcpip Networking without feeling like a shallow hypocrite who makes friends to use friends. If I'm motivated enough to find out how people do it and how introverts/nerds learn to do it, I'll probably write about it sometime and submit it everywhere like the attention whore that i am...)

josefresco• 18 years ago

What "Bo/Staff Skills" didn't make the list?

mojuba• 18 years ago

If you feel you learned something new from this post, then you will never succeed at almost anything.

10 Skills You Need to Succeed at almost Anything.

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