Hello Everyone,

I hope that you're all doing well. We're just a bit over 100 days from the end of the Year. I hope this email gives you some advice to take the most of it.

I've done my best to keep it short - and give you somethings to think about.

Lacking A Skill?

Two of the most important lessons I've learned over the past year revolve around skills.

First, there are a ton of things we don't realise are skills. Any time that we haven't reached a goal or slam into a seemingly unbeatable obstacle, we're suffering from a gap in our skills.

But it extends beyond that. Everything from sleep to communication are made up of skills that we can acquire.

Second, regardless of the level we start at, we can increase our skill level by an exponential amount.

Learning and skill acquisition - funny enough are skills in themselves that we can develop... by learning and acquiring more skills.

It's a cycle of compounding that's just going to make you and your life better.

On Critics and Snipers.

On the topic of skill development, I have been working on improving my memory. It's a perfect example of something most people think of as fixed. In reality if you have a poor memory, it's a sign of an underdeveloped skill.

As part of my memory improvement program, I've been memorising poems and speeches to develop my memory capacity. One of my favourites, and the first I memorised, is the "Man In The Arena" by Theodore Roosevelt.

In his speech, he warns us to ignore the opinions of those sitting in the stands and casting judgement. We would do well to remember this - as we are all bound to encounter "critics" whenever we try to do ambitious things.

We should remember, that the critics we encounter are not happy people. As David Schwartz writes in The Magic of Thinking Big, the critics - who he calls "snipers - are "psychologically sick". It's not the happy people who throw stones at those striving to do better - only the insecure and envious.

The Most Important Skill in History.

Ancient Philosophers and Modern Motivational thinkers remind us all of one simple truth: Our mind is the only thing we have complete control over.

This means the way that you face adversity, the thoughts you have about yourself, your control over your emotions, and your ability to think - are all capable of improvement.

Mastering our own mind is a skill. It's the one I'm trying the best to improve at the moment. I've got some upcoming writing on the OODA loop and controlling your mentality - but for now, understand that you control your mind.

The greater control you have over it, the greater results you can expect and get form life.

Zachariah 2.0 - Update.

I'm three weeks into the plan and I've been enjoying the benefits.

I'll have a Milestone post coming out this week - sharing the best things I've learned and taken away so far. I've gotten through seven books as part of the challenge and implementing them have caused some key changes so far.

This week I've been looking to experiment a bit and learn things that amplify my odds of success.

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That's it for this week.

I hope you've picked something up that helps you in your most important task - to live well.

Until next week,

Zachariah.