Flynn - How to be better at almost everything: learn anything quickly, stack your skills, dominate

Praise for How to Be Better at Almost Everything

There is a moment, early in the book, where Pat discusses freedom. This insight stopped me in my tracks: it is a nuanced point that we should discuss at table with our family, from the podiums of the classroom, and from the pulpits at church. Yes, Pat includes to-do lists and discussions from Aristotle, Aquinas, and C. S. Lewis, but I like his forceful argument for appreciating and embracing generalism that springs from an understanding of freedom. This book is an easy read and a must-read. So much of this book is easily adopted into ones life and I will be saying a small prayer/mantra each time I enter my home, hoping everyone will read this book.

Dan John, author of Never Let Go

As a business owner in the competitive market of martial arts and fitness studios, understanding and applying the principles behind generalism has been a game changer for the health and growth of my business. What Pat presents in this book represents a paradigm shift in the way we all should be approaching our businesses and lives. Its not about killing yourself trying to be the best. Its about putting the puzzle pieces together, getting better at what you need to get better at, and offering something valuable and unique to the marketplace. This book is the ultimate handbook on how to do just that.

Som Sikdar, CEO of Dragon Gym Martial Arts and Fitness

When I first read How to Get Better at Almost Everything, I felt both excited and sad: excited that I woke up to how effective generalismskill stackingcan be to make myself more marketable; and sad that I lived my entire life believing that specialization was the key to success. This book is a great life lesson in how to achieve your goals by learning to be good at multiple skills instead of killing yourself trying to master one.

Jon Reed, president of YourOnlineVideoCoach.com

This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information about personal business development. Neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services by publishing this book. If any such assistance is required, the services of a qualified professional should be sought. The author and publisher will not be responsible for any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a result of the use and application of any information contained in this book.

Copyright 2019 by Pat Flynn

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Flynn, Pat (Online business consultant), author.

Title: How to be better at almost everything : learn anything quickly, stack your skills, dominate / Pat Flynn.

Description: Dallas, TX : BenBella Books, Inc., [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018039499 (print) | LCCN 2018048816 (ebook) | ISBN 9781946885692 (electronic) | ISBN 9781946885418 (trade cloth :alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Expertise. | Ability.

Classification: LCC BF378.E94 (ebook) | LCC BF378.E94 F734 2019 (print) | DDC 153.9dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018039499

Editing by Leah Wilson, Hayley Lerner, and Scott Calamar

Copyediting by Jennifer Greenstein

Proofreading by Kimberly Broderick and Greg Teague

Text design and composition by Silver Feather Design

Cover design by Ty Nowicki

Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

Distributed to the trade by Two Rivers Distribution, an Ingram brand www.tworiversdistribution.com

Special discounts for bulk sales (minimum of 25 copies) are available. Please contact .

This book is dedicated to my grandfather, John Jones, and my grandmother, Jacqueline Jonesaka D-Dop and D-Dom.

CONTENTS

Y ou dont have to be the best in the world to get ahead. You dont need to be number one to see the limelight, strike it rich, or find meaning in life. You only need to be good or greator at least fairly competentat a few things and then combine those things to foster that uttermost creative quality within yourself. Specializationa goal that has been instilled into most of us from an early ageis a snare that has entrapped people for long enough. This book is about to put an end to that.

I dont intend to teach you, step-by-step, some new way of starting a business. I want to teach you, one step at a time, a new way of learning and acquiring skills that you can use (if you so choose) to start a business, and thus give you a much better chance of not finding but creating success. People can take businesses away from you, and so can a bad economy. But no one can rob you of skills, unless they rob you of life, which just wouldnt be very nice. You dont need to be born with special DNA for this book to work. You only need to be willing to learn.

If youre looking for a mega-inspirational story, you wont find that in much of what Im about to tell you. But if youd like to read about a person who came to earth without any special inborn ability, someone who overcame a lifelong battle with neuroses and went on to acquire skills anyway, someone who turned sharply away from the conventional trajectory in life toward building a line of successful businessesbecoming a writer, a musician, a black belt, a B-level fitness celebrity, and a whole lot of other seemingly unrelated but pretty cool things that all merged dynamically into one anotherthen youll probably want to read this.

This book is about generalism. Our goal is to become better than most people at most things, even if we arent the best at any one skill. Why do we want to do this? Well, the first thing I would say is that, at the very least, being a generalist makes you a lot less boring to be around. To be great at many things is, frankly, a quality that very few people have. Most people are somewhat OK at one or two things and then either completely incompetent or downright terrible at everything else; they typically cant even do simple things like keeping a houseplant alive. Not that I would know myself how difficult that is, since the only plant I ever owned was stolen by my college roommate, who thought it was marijuana of some kindonly the joke was on him because thats not what it was. It was just a totally regular plant that my mom got me. And I knew my roommate was the person who stole it because one day it just magically appeared on his side of the room. Would you look at that? I thought. I wonder whats going on here. So I said, Yo, dude, did you steal my plant or what? Then he told me to relax, so I was like, Whatever man, that plant isnt what you think. And then I got over it. Because thats how life is: you get over things. Lesson number one.