Don’t Just Learn How to Do It, Become the Person That Can Do It

Have you ever tried to learn to do new things, but failed? That’s perfectly normal, I have also failed a lot until I have figured out a little secret:

In order to succeed, it is not enough to learn to do that thing, you need to become the person that is able to do it.

Let’s take, for example, public speaking. You can learn your speech very well and practice it and you may even have a little success in the short term. But to become an awesome speaker, you need to become the person capable of speaking in from of a crowd.

This means that you need to work your diction, increase your self-confidence, build a positive mindset, and practice a lot. Becoming the person that can speak in public will help you with all your speeches, not with the only one you are practicing for.

In the last 2–3 years, I focused a lot on developing my skills. I tried to gain new skills, read a lot of nonfiction books, and took part in different workshops.

Below is a list of universal skills that will help you become a better person and get you closer to doing what you want.

Discover yourself (1)

One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to discover your current level, so you can find out what you can train. The harder you evaluate yourself, the better you can become.

Learn how to listen (2)

Seriously, a key skill is to learn how to listen to others. You don’t need just to listen, but also to assimilate and judge all the information, to provide a good answer, and to communicate well.

Boost your communication skills (3)

It’s mandatory to know how to communicate well. If you are capable of listening then you are already halfway. You can learn a few communication tactics and use them to your advantage, but the most important thing is to feel the conversation partner, to connect with him.

Develop a positive mindset (4)

To succeed at difficult things, you need a positive and optimistic mindset. Don’t ever think of things that you can’t do, just make a strategy to be able to do those things. There is a quote reading that successful people are the ones capable of seeing the invisible.

Work, work, work (5)

To become better at something, you really should work towards your goal. Most of the unsuccessful people give up too early and this way, they don’t achieve what they desire. The working process is hard, but you cannot earn great things without it.

Let’s say you want to become a good painter. The new Picasso, or whatever painter you like. The skills written above are still required:

• You need to know yourself, to define an adequate painting style.
• You need a positive mindset and to trust in the work you do.
• You need to communicate well with others and to express and promote your art.
• You need to work a lot, to learn how to paint well.

What I am trying to highlight in this article is that all the successful people have their “social skills” very developed. Before having success, you need to invest in yourself, to become the person capable of succeeding. After that, learning the technical part of the work it’s easy, it’s just learning and practicing.