I was not born with this knowledge, nor did any sort of (government) schooling give me what I needed. I had to learn it though podcasts and books, the occasional website and very importantly people who had already figured this shit out already. I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to start learning. Its not easy or sexy, but its not hard or impossible either. Just stop scrolling InstaTimeWasteTockBook for 20min before you go to bed and read. Forgo the regular music on the drive into work (if you are not already working from home) or at the gym or whatever and crush though a few podcasts.
Learning this is just like any other muscle. Its not easy at first, but as you work at it, it gets easier. My personal target is one book, 20 podcasts and 8 news letters a month. I fall short sometimes, but I try to make it up.
Its said that “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. I am not fully on board with this, but I can be honest with myself and know that I need to be around smarter and more successful people to grow. Depending on your situation, finding those people can be VERY hard. The next best thing is to read about or listen to them. All of the podcasts listed have great hosts, but the true value is in the interviews with people who, even if you don’t want to do the same thing, can give you valuable insight.
There are 3 main places I get most of my mainline info:
Books
Podcasts
Newsletters – Coming soon…
Disclaimer:
I would like to add that I don’t trust anyone fully. Nor the books / podcasts / newsletters / ect that any one person produces. I read everything and try to file it all away mentally as a possibility. If a topic or thought comes up again from another unrelated resource then maybe there is something there and I should research to see what’s bullshit and what’s good data. As for mental models / ways of thinking, we can’t have to many ways to view problems as it gives us more ways of thinking of possible solutions.