A skillful person, whether man or woman is attractive to everyone in society. The skillful one commands respect and feels an internal confidence that words cannot describe. It should be every young person’s duty to acquire well developed skills in one or two craft.
Parents today do not feel personally responsible for providing their children with a skill. They delegate this vital duty to schools and universities- a fatal mistake. Not to teach your children a skill is to leave them incapable of feeding themselves. They will be dependent on others for employment and welfare.
Things were different in the past. Families specialized in a craft, and parents saw it as their duty to pass knowledge on to their children. Because parents today have outsourced their educational duty entirely to schools, people have lost touch with how skills are acquired. They believe Universities are gateways to ability, they are not. To revive a forgotten memory, I will discuss how skills are acquired.
Learning is mostly a subconscious process. You do not consciously think I am learning this or that, instead your subconscious learns whatever element it is consistently exposed to.
A man or woman seeking to acquire skills should do the following three things. 1) Select a trade and submerge themsevles in it. 2) Ceaseless repetition with increasing difficulty. 3) Develop their capacity for thoughtful attention. In other words, what is required for the development of any skill are not degrees but attention, repetition, and time.
The first step to developing a skill is to pick a trade. A trade can be a mental skill like programming, or a mechanical ability like carpentry. Once you pick a trade, submerge yourself in it. What do I mean by that? It means changing your environment so that you are constantly exposed to every angle of the element you want to master.
Read books, watch YouTube tutorials, perform small projects, listen to audios on the subject, analyze images, shadow individuals doing the work, etc. If you do this everyday, your powers will grow to a point surprising even to yourself. You will wonder when and where did you even acquire all of these skills. Truth is, your subconscious have done the work for you.
Showing up everyday is half the battle, many people have succeeded in a career with that alone. But you don’t want to be average, your aim is to be a confidently skilled man or woman. How is that achieved? By thought and attention.
High level skill is acquired by attention and thoughtfulness. The more you develop these virtues the more skillful you will become. Learn to be patient, take your time to focus and think about what you do. Again, a great part of acquiring skill is simply focusing your attention and thinking about what you do. Don't worry if you do not understand everything right away, chances are you won’t. The key is to be patient and consistent, and bit by bit, in ways you cannot explain, you will comprehend the complex things gradually and become illumined in your trade.
A man or woman desiring to learn a new skill simply need to pick a trade and show up everyday to learn something new in it. He or she should let no day go by without paying a visit to the chosen craft. Let time be your asset. Second, that person needs to cultivate attention and thoughtfulness. Do things slowly, especially at the beginning. Pay close attention to what you do, and think about what you do. Don't worry about understanding everything, your subconscious will figure it out over time. Stick to this program and you can learn anything your heart desires.
Let us end this article by defining what education is. Education is the art of passing knowledge from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind. A good educator creates useful instincts and eliminates harmful ones. The art of creating subconscious instincts is what I call building a custom mind. If you are interested in learning this powerful art, consider getting my book on Becoming More Intelligent.
