Today we’d love to ask you two questions.
The first one is for fun. The second one is more serious.
First: if you could have any skill or knowledge, what would it be?
Anything goes here, as long as it’s humanly possible. No superpowers. If you think x-ray vision might be humanly possible, that’s fine, but please explain why in your answer 
Next: what specific skills or knowledge are you working to gain right now?
List up to three if you’re working on multiple things at once.
Then, here’s a follow-up question (and something for you to ponder):
If your answers to question #1 and #2 are the same, congrats on “walking the walk.” Do you think your sights are set high enough?
If your answers are different, why aren’t you working towards what you answered in question #1?
Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to hear your answers.
Also, if you answer the questions, please share this post with a friend or on Twitter or Facebook. We’d love to get as many answers to this question as possible with your help.
Thanks,
-Corbett
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I’ll go
If I could have any skill, it would be the ability to be happy, content and joyful in any moment or situation. OK, if I could have another, it would be infinite motivation and energy.
If I could have any knowledge, it would be complete self-awareness. Self-awareness is key to everything else you want to accomplish in life.
Skills I’m working toward: becoming as effective as I can be at helping others gain new skills and make positive changes in their lives.
To get better at the skill I’m actively pursuing, I definitely need the motivation, energy and self-awareness I mentioned before. Honestly, I haven’t been working directly toward those things and am now wondering if I should.
What about you?
Hey Corbett,
You may not feel like you’re directly working towards things that will give you infinite motivation and energy, but since we know you ARE helping others make positive changes in their lives, by default you are helping yourself! You can’t possibly spend time inspiring others to create “epic sh*t” without that motivation rubbing off on yourself in a big way!
Put another way, “we cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own” (Ben Sweetland).
And if you really want to skyrocket your motivation and energy, I think Scott Dinsmore of Live Your Legend nailed it with his blog post last week on the connection between fitness and motivation.
http://liveyourlegend.net/productivity-guide-how-richard-branson-does-so-much-the-power-of-fitness/
Happy self-improving
If could have any skill, it would be motivational speaking. I think motivational speakers are the cause of a lot of great things in this world whether they receive credit or not. I love to motivate people and I love to speak… I want to be an expert in verbal motivation.
As for working to gain skills, motivation (overall) is what I am working on right now. I just implemented the speaking part of it in January. Though I am a college junior, I just took my first speech class. I registered a domain name about 6 months ago that will be the beginnings of my motivational speaking. To gain more skills in this area, well, all I can do is speak. I am going to start out on camera and then I hope to hit a few local schools. I won’t lie, I am terrified. I really want to do it, though.
Nice name & spelling=) Keep up the good work Sean! I was scared to speak in front of large groups for golf clinics and presentations but with time it is like riding a bike!
Good Luck!
Thanks, Sean! (That was weird to say lol)
I spent 9 years in the US Army and spoke in front of people hundreds of times. For some reason, though, it feels different now that I am out and trying to speak to civilians!
Thanks for the encouragement!
Hi Sean,
Curious… has the subject/topic of your speaking changed? Ie. when you were speaking to folks in the military, was it motivation speaking you were doing? Or was it army skill/strategy related?
I ask because quite often I find it’s not just the comfort level of being in front of people that matters, it’s also confidence and experience with your subject matter.
In other words, if you are newer to the field of verbal motivation as you called it, once you feel more confident with the subject of motivation, I suspect your public speaking on the matter will rock just like your speaking in your Army days!!
You’re 100% right, Michelle.
When I spoke in front of people in the Army, not only was is mainly on strategy and training, but I would speak on the same things over and over again… after years of being on the receiving end of those very same speeches. So, confidence must have played a big role because I knew the material well.
Now that I think about it, when I first started speaking in front of others in the military, confidence was lower and I felt the same way then as I do now.
Great observation!
Hi Corbett,
I’ve been following this blog since the start, and I’m loving it! Thank you for all the work you’ve put into it.
My top skill would probably be incredible social adeptness, or to be immensely musical.
I’m currently practising three main skills:
- learning piano (to pursue my love of music and wish to realize the tunes going on in my head)
- my people skills (as documented in my new blog socialpirate.org, which I started along with the MDBP, which helps with my writing too)
- business skills, as I left school last year and have recently started providing online marketing services for businesses in my area
It’s quite a balancing act to make sure I keep up with everything at once, but I’m using the ‘don’t break the chain’ method to make sure I at least make some progress with my goals each day, keeping the momentum up, y’know.
Hope this data helps you in some way
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Benedict for answering, and thanks for reading since the beginning here. Glad to have you!
If I could have any skill, I’d choose the ability to do graphic design. I do have plans to learn some things, but it doesn’t come naturally for me and I don’t think I’ll ever be wonderful. Which is okay, because I have talents in other areas. I just hate paying someone to do all my graphic work!
I’m working on improving my writing skills (always) and learning more back-end skills so I can make my site look and perform better. I do a lot of reading and practicing on a test site, and I’m talking to some people who do both things well to get ideas for moving forward.
Skill/knowledge? I hear all this talk about “systems,” and having “systems in place”–would love to learn more about what that is and means.
Right now I am working on mindset issues that have stalled my progress, both personally and professionally.
Thanks for asking!
Mary Anne, hit the nail on the head for me.
I feel that if I could realize everything through systems I could figure out how to do anything in life. Not to mention how to help others with similar goals! I hear lots of talk of systems and want to know how to implement them
If I could have any skill it would be how to be confident in every situation in life.
What I’m working on a myriad of things right now: learning to write better, learning photoshop, learning coding, learning about business, and trying to finish my Ph.D.
These are different skills, but I think they’re related as well. Having a certain proficiency at multiple skills bring an associated confidence with it. I’m also working on practicing confidence and assertiveness in almost every encounter I have.
my turn
1st answer:
The Skill I want to learn the most is flying, hahaha I know, sounds like a super power but it is not like that, but actually to learn base jump in a wing suit, yo go towards the highest mountain possible, jump off it and start flying using a wingsuit, the reason why I want to do that is because I consider it to be the like the top of being free, to do that you need a lot of money to travel and to buy wingsuits (they’re damn expensive), free time to learn how to fly, and the healthy and fit body to be able to maneuver the suit, so if you have those 3, then I think you are pretty free of everything
2nd answer:
Every day I’m working out, learning new things in health to lose all my extra weight and putting everything into practice so I can get fit and healthy as soon as possible, and also I’m learning how to create online freedom businesses and taking action every day to get better at it so one day, hopefully this year, I can be free and do all the crazy stuff I want
1. I would like to have the insight and wisdom to know how I can truly and uniquely serve people to the absolute best of my abilities – how I can help the most people and make the most impact by providing genuine value with my other skills I’ve developed. What more could you want to know?
2. I’m teaching myself everything I can get my hands on. Specifically I’m focused on learning:
A. How to start a business that truly makes an impact.
B. Nutrition & fitness, and other personal development areas (I’m a personal trainer – although I hate the limitations that title implies)
I will say straight up that I don’t think my sights are set high enough. That’s why my answer to #1 is knowing how I can make more of an impact on more people.
if you could have any skill or knowledge, what would it be?
If I could have any skill or knowledge it would be to have the ability to focus and persist. At times I lose focus on what I’m looking to achieve. When the going gets tough and more challenging tasks come up. When the initial lust over a project fades and motivation isn’t there are much as it used to be.
what specific skills or knowledge are you working to gain right now?
1. Minimalism. Not only applying it towards my physical possessions but also to my goals.
2. Public speaking. Joined a local Toastmasters group. In fact, giving my first speech this upcoming Monday!
3. Real Estate Investing. This is my side hustle at the moment. Have been learning for a little while, finally applying all that knowledge and looking to flip my first property within the next month or so.
Do you think your sights are set high enough?
I don’t think so, personally I believe I could be doing much more and work on less hobbies or projects.
__________
Great site btw, it’s great to acknowledge that one doesn’t have to “know-it-all” to be considered an expert. But knowing what you don’t know definitely helps.
Ricardo – I’m a fan of minimalism too. I like how you’re applying it to your goals as well.
If I could have any skill, it would have to be problem solving, as it’s one of the most important meta-skills.
At the moment, I’m moving into a new career: embedded systems development, which is requiring me to learn a LOT, including C programming, Assembly programming, and electronics. I’m also trying to learn Japanese, but my studies of the writing systems have stalled due to boredom.
Skill I wish I had: Better decision making process starting with clarity.
Knowledge I’m working on: Being aware of how staying open to all things can help bring clarity. Not to let small things interfere with clear thinking.
Are my sights set high enough? Yes. Staying open after years of being guarded is really tough. It’s a very high goal indeed, but worth pursuing even if I can only achieve it most of the time.
Ah great one.
If I had one skill wish, it would be sailing!
)
It’s high on my list. I want to sail around the world in a couple years (well, maybe half would suffice
Another skill would be HTML, CSS, PHP…as well as shooting documentaries and Final Cut Pro and generally be more intuitive as a graphic designer.
I’d also like to be a better photographer.
And a tech diver (diving down to +100 metres).
And a fiction writer.
I’d like to be fluent in Bahasa Indonesian, Spanish and Mandarin.
Yeah, that’s about it for now. But I know there is more…
My specific skill would be computer programming. I already dabble with a number of languages, but I would like to be really good, especially with PHP and the inner workings of WordPress. Databases are so cool…
I am currently sharpening my skills in Javascript (via CodeAcademy.com), blogging on a personal and business site, building my business, and exploring the nearly unlimited depths that is WordPress.
I realized recently that I have a passion for creating and really like utilizing programming to express that passion. I eventually would like to do some iPhone programming, but PHP is my current goal.
If I could have any skill or knowledge it would be to be an effective leader. Leaders make a difference and I always strive to make a difference.
I seek to master the skills and knowledge of servitude. A servant leader is the best leader and my team and my clients are those I seek to serve.
1. If I could have any skill it would be increasing my memory capacity. If I don’t write things down right away, I often forget ideas, names, quality information. It forces me to stay organized which can be difficult at times due to craziness of life with two children under the age of 3 and trying to manage life and business.
2. I’m working on increasing my knowledge on writing a Blog that Matters thanks to Corbett’s course and impacting athletes & organizations I’m passionate about in a positive way. I am excited to create a business around our sports performance blog that gives back to these organizations.
I want to leave a legacy of helping people, especially children succeed in their sport and life by providing the tools and knowledge to overcome obstacles in their lives that are keeping them from reaching their potential.
1. Speaking Multiple Languages. World travel is much richer and more interesting when you can mix it up with the locals. Also, when you’ve mastered a second language, learning to dabble in others becomes even easier. My wife speaks four languages well (2 fluently). Americans have potential but don’t start learning early enough like in Europe and other regions. This is partly my excuse…
2. I’m learning social media and working on Hungarian.
1. Develop marketable gis skills. I love maps, have taken some intro classes, and think it might be work I could do while wandering.
2. I have inherited a macbook, it has Grass loaded, and I’ve requested a teaching guide through ILL ($100 book!). Saturdays I plan to spend at library with mac using free wireless for dataset downloads and other internet resources, and learning/exploring off-line after day job during the week.