Practical tips on how to actually do the first three 1. Public Speaking Join a ToastMasters, where you will make prepared or impromptu speeches, evaluate othe

Practical tips on how to actually do the first three 1. Public Speaking Join a ToastMasters, where you will make prepared or impromptu speeches, evaluate other's speeches, and generally just learn how to do public speaking. A lot of them will let you sit there and "audit" a few weeks before joining in the more active roles. 2. Writing Write something that requires you to explain your logic flow clearly. Then take it to a friend who's a good writer and/or Enlish major or reads alot. Watch him tear your paper apart and tell you which logical points need to be linked better, or why certain annecdotes are out of place or generally why your thoughts can or cannot be easily followed. Writing isn't enough, you need to be critiqued to see the difference between yourself and Tolkien or other really good writers. If you don't have a friend, read a short story analytically and read as many commentaries on it as you can find. You'll see how well-written pieces are constructed together as carefully as beautiful code: their logic flow is good, the comments are helpful, witty and to the point without being redundant, and every idea (object) or plot device (function) is used on purpose, executed at exactly the right time. You cannot write well until you know how to recognize why good writing is good. 3. Self-management Stop reading HN, or at least use noprocrast. A really good thing I heard from somewhere on the internet is to represent yourself as your own business, even when you don't have one: you don't work for "the man", you work for yourself. Your business is merely in partnership with the company that hired you. They don't own your work, you provide a service for them that they purchase. You represent yourself, you work for yourself, you sell your product/services yourself. In short : you manage yourself.