Category Archives: Skills

PROMPT: Business

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If you could start a new business right now, what would it be?

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A “Human Skills for Humans School” that teaches all the important competencies that have been left out of an educational system that is 75% about making the workers of yesterday and 25% about making citizens, but which doesn’t care a whit about building emotional intelligence, self-confidence, natural setting problem solving, movement skills, creativity, primitive living, combat skills for a robot apocalypse, etc. Those worker bee skills are already starting to show their obsolescence and are very likely to continue to do so at an accelerating rate.

The bad news is that AGI and robots are sure to do almost all productive tasks better than humans by the end of the century. The good news is that we have plenty of room to be grow as a species.

PROMPT: Hobby

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Share a hobby you’ve picked up recently — what got you into it?

Knitting paracord. I needed to turn a thin piece of cord into a thick piece of cord. True story.

PROMPT: Skill

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a skill you consider basic, that most people don’t actually know how to do?
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Checking AI’s work / answers.

PROMPT: Instantly

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Daily writing prompt
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?
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What would be the fun in that? It’s the journey that makes skill development enjoyable and interesting. I’m not interested in downloadable skills. (I’ll leave them to the robots.)

PROMPT: Hardest Personal Goal

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What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?

Levitation. I’ve failed time and again.

PROMPT: Favorite Artists

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Daily writing prompt
Who are your favorite artists?
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Those who cross boundaries. William Blake with painting and poetry. Yue Fei with martial and poetic arts. Rabindranath Tagore with music and poetry. Da Vinci with painting and sculpture. Weird Al with accordion music and comedy.

PROMPT: Skill

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What skill would you like to learn?

FREEDIVING.

PROMPT: Secret Skill

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?
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Mind control. I can control my mind with my mind.

[NOTE: I’m not sure what “secret” has to do with it. Anything one blabs across the internet is — by definition — not a secret. Though the skill I mention takes place in a purely subjective realm, so — in that sense — might remain unknown to the general public.]

PROMPT: Failure

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Daily writing prompt
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?
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If one fails and one tries again, one will make course corrections. Keep repeating that cycle, and one is bound to home in on success.

Psychologically, I think juggling is a fantastic skill to practice because one must fail a million times and keep going. Furthermore, one must learn to choose failure over a spastic success (and condition that behavior in on the fly.) By this I mean, one must learn to let the ball drop rather than lunging to make a frantic catch, because if you are always making wild reaches, you’ll never achieve a smooth, natural rhythm. In other words, a catch that keeps the ball in the air for one or two more throws is not truly a success if it trains a wobbly, unsustainable movement pattern. More generally, one must redefine what constitutes success or failure at a fundamental level.

PROMPT: Good At

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Daily writing prompt
Share five things you’re good at.
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1.) Changing my mind. This wouldn’t be noteworthy except that there seems to be a stigma attached to adults changing their minds about a thing (even in the face of new, better, or first -time information.) It’s considered “wishy-washy.”

2.) Learning. I love learning and I devote a lot of time to it. Beyond youth, a skill for it requires a capacity for what Shunryu Suzuki called “beginner’s mind” — a state a lot of people seem to run from, rather than toward.

3.) Adopting another’s point of view. Truth be told, I wouldn’t really say I’m good at this, but the bar is quite low.

4.) Operating my body.

5.) Going the places that scare me.

NOTE: I thought I was better at humility, but the fact that I’m willing to answer the question speaks to the contrary.