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How to Write Stanford’s “Excited About Learning” Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Johnathan Patin-Sauls and Vinay Bhaskara in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Choosing an idea vs. an experience, learning for the sake of learning, learning as a means to other ends, be specific.

Stanford University’s first essay prompt asks you to respond to the following:

“ The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (100-250 words)”

For this short answer question, your response is limited to a maximum of 250 words. In this article, we will discuss considerations for choosing to write about an idea or experience, ways to demonstrate a love or enthusiasm for learning, and why you should be as specific. For more information and guidance on writing the application essays for Stanford University, check out our post on how to write the Stanford University essays .

Regardless of if you choose either an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning as a topic, there are a few considerations for each.

Most people gravitate towards writing about an idea. One challenge that arises with an idea-focused essay is that applicants who are passionate about an idea often become hyper focused on explaining the idea but neglect to connect this idea to who they are as a person and why this idea excites them.

When writing about an experience, it is important to strike a balance between describing the experience and analyzing the impact of the experience on you, your goals, and your commitment to learning.

This essay question allows you to expand on your joy for learning and your genuine curiosity. Stanford is searching for students who are naturally curious and enjoy the process of learning and educating themselves. For example, a compelling essay could begin with a riveting story of getting lost while hiking the Appalachian Trail and describing how this experience led to a lifelong passion for studying primitive forms of navigation.

There is a strong tendency among applicants to write about formal academic coursework, however, the most compelling essays will subvert expectations by taking the concept of learning beyond the classroom and demonstrating how learning manifests itself in unique contexts in your life.

If you’re someone for whom learning is a means to other ends, it is important that you convey a sense of genuine enthusiasm and purpose beyond, “I want to go to X school because it will help me get Y job for Z purpose.” You may be motivated to attend college to obtain a certain position and make a comfortable income, however these answers are not necessarily what admissions officers are looking for. Instead, it can be helpful to relate an idea or experience to something more personal to you.

Academic & Professional Trajectory

Consider relating the idea or experience you choose to a major, degree program, research initiative, or professor that interests you at Stanford. Then go beyond the academic context to explain how the idea or experience ties into your future career.

For instance, if you are interested in the concept of universal health care, then you might describe your interest in applying to public health programs with faculty that specialize in national health care systems. You might then describe your long term career aspirations to work in the United States Senate on crafting and passing health care policy.

Personal Values & Experiences

Another way to tie the ideas in this essay back to a more personal topic is to discuss how the idea or experience informs who you are, how you treat others, or how you experience the world around you.

You could also focus on an idea or experience that has challenged, frustrated, or even offended you, thereby reinforcing and further justifying the values you hold and your worldview.

Community Building & Social Connectedness

You may also explore how this idea or experience connects you to a particular community by helping you understand, build, and support members of the community. Stanford is looking to find students who will be engaged members of the student body and carry out the community’s core mission, values, and projects, so this essay can be an opportunity to highlight how you would contribute to Stanford.

Be specific in your choice of idea or the way in which you describe an experience. For example, a response that focuses on the joys of learning philosophy is too broad to be particularly memorable or impactful. However, the mind-body problem looking at the debate concerning the relationship between thought and consciousness is a specific philosophical idea that lends itself to a rich discussion.

The Best Way to Learn New Things

Categories: Philosophy of Education

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Published: Sep 5, 2023

Words: 682 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

The power of curiosity, active engagement and practical application, diversified learning methods, continuous feedback and iteration, lifelong learning as a mindset.

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Importance of Learning: Essay Intro Examples and Tips

Table of Contents

Learning is a continuous process. It doesn’t just stop at school. There’s a broad selection of learning topics that you can write about for your essay. You can talk about E-learning, Key Concepts of Learning, and so on. Regardless of the topic you’ve been assigned to write on, it’s essential to do some thorough research. And to start your essay right, you will need a winning learning essay introduction.

You need to make your essay introduction informative while still being interesting. This is why we’ve gathered the best intro examples and writing tips you can use. Check them out and start winning those essays!

A wall sign in the shape of a pencil that says

Writing Tips for a Great Learning Essay Introduction

Keep it interesting.

Your learning essay introduction can make or break your essay. There are many ways you can keep it interesting and professional. Here are just some ideas to hook your reader in.

Include a surprising fact that conveys something about the problem to be addressed in the paper.
Find an interesting quote that summarizes your arguments well.
Put your readers in a different situation using rhetorical questions to make them think about your topic in a new way.
Start with an anecdote or story to get your readers emotionally engaged.

Present statistical data

Do your research and gather concrete statistical data you can cite in your intro. Not only does this make your essay look more credible, but it also serves as proof to strengthen your argument.

Be mindful of your intro length.

An intro that’s too long might overwhelm your readers. But an introduction that’s too short won’t be able to introduce and elaborate on your work fully. A good rule of thumb in determining the proper intro length is that it should be 10% of the overall length of your essay. If your essay is 2000 words long, your intro should be approximately 200 words long.

8 Introduction Examples for Learning Essays

Example 1: the benefits of online learning.

Your life is a continuous learning process, and you never stop learning. Whenever you attend school, you will learn new things every day. But learning is not just limited to students. No matter how old you are, you can learn new things.

Online learning is an excellent way for people of all ages to learn new things. There are many online courses available that can help you learn new skills. Online learning can help you accomplish your goals, whether learning about a new topic or improving your existing skills. It’s also convenient and flexible, so you can study at your own pace. With its many benefits, online learning is becoming more popular every year.

Example 2: The Importance of Learning

Learning provides us with new knowledge that will significantly impact our well-being. As an individual, learning new skills and techniques can help you have an intelligent conversation with others. If a person has learned the necessary business skills, they would be a great asset to a company. After college students learn all the educational knowledge, they can move forward in their lives to be better and bigger. Learning can provide many benefits for individuals, but they must seek it out passionately. One cannot expect to learn a new skill or technique every day.

Example 3: Learning Process

It is helpful to try something new instead of doing the same thing every single day. When people experience new things and learn new material, they are learning. Many people do not realize it, but we are learning something new every day. Learning causes a permanent change in behavior or knowledge that comes from experience. It can also be adaptive and flexible to meet life’s demands. There’s nothing as important as the process of learning. Learning transforms and engages one’s brain. When people are introduced to new things, their thinking and ideas can change forever.

Example 4: How Learning Changes Us

Learning is a continuous process that is constantly changing for me. Through it, I feel better than I did the day before. Learning has enabled me to discover myself as an individual and discover my strengths and weaknesses. I continue to become better every day.

Example 5: The Introduction To E-Learning

E-learning is a recognized educational practice that supports a flexible model of knowledge access. It enables education and training to serve a numerically larger audience than traditional methods can adequately support. Teachers are still necessary for students and always will be, but the fact that e-learning is now widespread can revolutionize education. E-learning can be changed, modified, and adapted to changing student needs. Distances are no longer an obstacle to someone studying. However, some e-learning methods require some initiation/training to familiarize themselves.

Example 6: Benefits of Mastering English

Language has become critical to understanding technology and information in this age of globalization. If you can’t master a foreign language, it becomes very challenging to communicate with people worldwide. Multifarious and multicultural societies have their own languages. Therefore, worldwide interaction and communication must be supported by one global language. English is that one global language. A good grasp of English is beneficial since it gives us many opportunities for success.

Example 7: E-Learning is The Future

Most e-learning programs have grown exponentially in recent years. Online courses offer students a convenient and flexible way to learn, resulting in increased conversions among students of all ages. There is no doubt that e-learning is the future of education. A traditional classroom learning method will always be necessary. But the fast-growing online network provides valuable resources to educate people from all walks of life. The flexibility of e-learning also allows people to study at their own pace and in their own time. More and more people are turning to e-learning to further their education.

Example 8: Online Learning for Workers

In today’s increasingly competitive job market, workers must constantly refresh their skills and knowledge. Traditional schools and colleges are not always possible for busy adults to balance work and family obligations. But thanks to the internet, access to quality educational resources has become easier. You can now learn new skills and knowledge online without leaving your office. They are an ideal solution for busy professionals. With so many online learning portals now available, there is no excuse for learning new skills or improving your existing skill set.

Wrapping Up

Writing a learning essay introduction can seem daunting at first, but with the proper research and these tips, it will become much more manageable.

Remember, your introduction is the first impression your viewers will have of your essay , so it’s the perfect place to grab their attention. Get them excited about what your essay has to offer.

Importance of Learning: Essay Intro Examples and Tips

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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Writing an Informative Essay

Informative essays engage readers with new, interesting, and often surprising facts and details about a subject. Informative essays are educational; readers expect to learn something new from them. In fact, much of the reading and writing done in college and the workplace is informative. From textbooks to reports to tutorials like this one, informative writing imparts important and useful information about a topic.

This tutorial refers to the sample informative outline and final essay written by fictional student Paige Turner.

Reasons to Write Informatively

Your purpose for writing and the audience for whom you are writing will impact the depth and breadth of information you provide, but all informative writing aims to present a subject without opinions or bias. Some common reasons to write informatively are to

report findings that an audience would find interesting,
present facts that an audience would find useful, and
communicate information about a person, place, event, issue, or change that would improve an audience’s understanding.

Characteristics of Informative Essays

Informative essays present factual information and do not attempt to sway readers’ opinions about it. Other types of academic and workplace writing do try to influence readers’ opinions:

Expository essays aim to expose a truth about an issue in order to influence how readers view the issue.
Persuasive essays aim to influence readers’ opinions, so they will adopt a particular position or take a certain course of action.

Expository and persuasive essays make “arguments.” The only argument an informative essay makes is that something exists, did exist, is happening, or has happened, and the point of the essay is not to convince readers of this but to tell them about it.

Informative essays seek to enlighten and educate readers, so they can make their own educated opinions and decisions about what to think and how to act.

Strategies for Writing Informatively

Informative essays provide useful information such as facts, examples, and evidence from research in order to help readers understand a topic or see it more clearly. While informative writing does not aim to appeal emotionally to readers in order to change their opinions or behaviors, informative writing should still be engaging to read. Factual information is not necessarily dry or boring. Sometimes facts can be more alarming than fiction!

Writers use various strategies to engage and educate readers. Some strategies include

introducing the topic with an alarming fact or arresting image;
asserting what is true or so about the subject in a clear thesis statement;
organizing the paragraphs logically by grouping related information;
unifying each paragraph with a topic sentence and controlling idea;
developing cohesive paragraphs with transition sentences;
using precise language and terminology appropriate for the topic, purpose, and audience; and
concluding with a final idea or example that captures the essay’s purpose and leaves a lasting impression.

Five Steps for Getting Started

1. Brainstorm and choose a topic.

Sample topic : The opioid epidemic in the United States.
The opiod epidemic or even opiod addiction would would be considered too broad for a single essay, so the next steps aim to narrow this topic down.

2. Next, write a question about the topic that you would like to answer through research.

Sample question : What major events caused the opioid crisis in the United States?
This question aims to narrow the topic down to causes of the epidemic in the US.

3. Now go to the Purdue Global Library to find the answers to your research question.

As you begin reading and collecting sources, write down the themes that emerge as common answers. Later, in step four, use the most common answers (or the ones you are most interested in writing and discussing) to construct a thesis statement.

Sample answers: aggressive marketing, loopholes in prescription drug provider programs, and economic downturn.

4. Next, provide purpose to your paper by creating a thesis statement.

The thesis attempts to frame your research question. The sample thesis below incorporates three of the more common answers for the research question from step two: What caused the opioid crisis in the United States?

Thesis Statement : Aggressive marketing, loopholes in prescription drug provider programs, and economic downturn contributed to the current opioid crisis in the United States.
Writing Tip : For additional help with thesis statements, please visit our Writing a Thesis Statement article. For help with writing in 3rd person, see our article on Formal Vs. Informal Writing .

5. Now follow each numbered step in the “Suggested Outline Format and Sample” below.

Sample answers have been provided for “I. Introduction” and “II. First Cause.” A complete sample outline can be seen here. A complete sample informative essay can be seen here.

Suggested Outline Format and Sample

I. INTRODUCTION

A. First provide a topic sentence that introduces the main topic: Sample topic sentence : There is a current prescription pain medication addiction and abuse epidemic possibly caused by an excessive over prescription of these medications.

B. Now provide a couple sentences with evidence to support the main topic: Sample sentence one with evidence to support the main topic : According to Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in testimony before the 115th Congress, “In 2016, over 11 million Americans misused prescription opioids … and 2.1 million had an opioid use disorder due to prescription opioids” (Federal Efforts to Combat the Opioid Crisis, 2017, p. 2).

C. Sample sentence two with evidence to support the main topic : Volkow indicated “more than 300,000 Americans have died of an opioid overdose” since 2013 (Federal Efforts to Combat the Opioid Crisis, 2017, p.2).

D. Sample sentence three with evidence to support the main topic : According to Perez-Pena (2017), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 25,000 people in the United States died in 2015 from overdosing on opioids Fentanyl, Oxycodone, and Hydrocodone.

E. Toward the end of the introduction, include your thesis statement written in the 3rd-person point-of-view: Sample thesis statement : Potential solutions to the growing opioid epidemic may be illuminated by examining how opioid addiction is triggered through aggressive pharmaceutical marketing, how opioid addiction manifests among prescribed patients, and how economic downturns play a role in the increase of opioid addiction.

F. Write down the library sources you can use in this introductory paragraph to help support the main topic.

Federal Efforts to Combat the Opioid Crisis, 2017
Perez-Pena, 2017
Writing Tip : For more help writing an introduction, please refer to this article on introductions and conclusions .

II. FIRST CAUSE

A. First provide a topic sentence that introduces the first cause of the opioid epidemic: Sample topic sentence that introduces the first cause : One issue that helped contribute to the opioid epidemic is aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

B. Now provide sentences with evidence to support the first cause: Sample sentence one with evidence that supports the first cause : Perez-Pena (2017) concluded that while the healthcare industry was attempting to effectively and efficiently treat patients with chronic pain, pharmaceutical companies were providing funding to prominent doctors, medical societies, and patient advocacy groups in order to win support for a particular drug’s adoption and usage.

C. Sample sentence two with evidence to support the first cause : In fact, pharmaceutical companies continue to spend millions on promotional activities and materials that deny or trivialize any risks of opioid use while at the same time overstating each drug’s benefit (Perez-Pina, 2017).

D. Next, add more information or provide concluding or transitional sentences that foreshadows the upcoming second cause: Sample concluding and transitional sentence that foreshadow the second cause : Although aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies played a large role in opioid addiction, patients are to blame too, as many take advantage of holes in the healthcare provider system in order to remedy their addiction.

E. Write down the library sources you can use in this body paragraph to help support the first cause:

Writing Tip : For more assistance working with sources, please visit the Using Sources page here.

III. SECOND CAUSE

A. First provide a topic sentence that introduces the second cause.

B. Now provide sentences with evidence to support the second cause.

C. Next, add more information or provide concluding or transitional sentences that foreshadows the upcoming third cause.

D. Write down the library sources you can use in this body paragraph to help support the second cause:

Writing Tip : Listen to Writing Powerful Sentences for information and features of effective writing.

IV. THIRD CAUSE

A. First provide a topic sentence that introduces the third cause.

B. Now provide sentences with evidence to support the third cause.

C. Next, add more information or provide a concluding sentence or two.

D. Write down the library sources you can use in this body paragraph to help support the third cause:

V. CONCLUSION: Summary of key points and evidence discussed.

Writing Tip : For more help writing a conclusion, refer to this podcast on endings .
Writing Tip : Have a question? Leave a comment below or Purdue Global students, click here to access the Purdue Global Writing Center tutoring platform and available staff.
Writing Tip : Ready to have someone look at your paper? Purdue Global students, click here to submit your assignment for feedback through our video paper review service.

See a Sample Informative Essay Outline here .

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dang bro i got an A

Having faith with all this mentioned, that i will pass my english class at a college. Thank you for posting.

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College admissions

Course: college admissions > unit 4.

Writing a strong college admissions essay
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Pose a question the reader wants answered, don't focus exclusively on the past, experiment with the unexpected, don't summarize, want to join the conversation.

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How to Write an Essay about Why You Want to Do Something

If you’re exploring ways to pen down an essay on why you want to do something, you’ve come to the right tutorial! Writing an essay about your motivations can be an excellent opportunity to express your goals, passions, and aspirations.

In this tutorial, I’ll guide you on how to craft such an essay in five easy steps. We’ll also work through a sample essay to illustrate how these steps work in practice.

Ready? Let’s start!

Step 1. Plan the word count for your essay’s paragraphs.

This is a crucial first step that simplifies your essay writing process. Knowing exactly how many words each paragraph will consist of can make the writing process smoother and quicker.

Remember, an essay typically includes these three parts:

The introductory paragraph
Three body paragraphs
The concluding paragraph

For example, if you want a 300-word essay, you can distribute 300 words across five paragraphs thus:

That’s all you need for your essay — five juicy paragraphs.

Step 2. Define your main goal and supporting reasons.

Firstly, you need to identify the goal or the ‘something’ you want to do. Consider why you want to do it and what motivates you to achieve this goal. This will be your essay’s thesis.

For instance, let’s say you want to travel the world. What drives you to do this? Is it the desire to learn about different cultures, to experience new environments, or to push your boundaries and personal growth?

For our sample essay, we’ll use this as our thesis: “I am eager to travel the world to broaden my cultural understanding, experience diverse environments, and foster personal growth.”

Now, let me introduce the Power of Three – the easiest way to break one big argument into smaller, more manageable ones.

We’ll utilize the Power of Three to divide our main goal into three supporting reasons:

Broadening my cultural understanding is a key motivation.
I want to experience different environments.
Traveling fosters personal growth.

With our thesis and supporting reasons in place, let’s proceed to the next step!

Step 3. Write the introductory paragraph.

To write an introductory paragraph , follow the diagram below:

Start with an opening sentence that briefly sets the context of your essay. Then, state your thesis and the three supporting points.

For instance:

Introductory Paragraph

“Many people are driven by unique aspirations and desires. My foremost aspiration is to travel the world, driven by my thirst for cultural understanding, the allure of diverse environments, and the opportunity for personal growth. Broadening my cultural understanding will allow me to appreciate global diversity. Experiencing diverse environments will open my mind to new perspectives, while traveling inherently promises personal growth through exposure to various challenges and experiences.”

Notice that the introductory paragraph moves from the general to the specific, commencing with an introduction, followed by the thesis and three supporting reasons.

Step 4. Write the body paragraphs.

Our essay will have three body paragraphs – each corresponding to one of the three supporting points.

The body paragraphs will expound on the three supporting reasons. Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that briefly summarizes the paragraph’s content, then explain and exemplify your point. Let’s write our body paragraphs.

Paragraph 1

“Broadening my cultural understanding is a key motivation for my desire to travel. Immersing myself in various cultures will enhance my appreciation for diversity. It will enable me to understand different societal norms, customs, and traditions. For instance, experiencing the communal way of living in an African village or participating in a Japanese tea ceremony can significantly enrich my cultural understanding.”

Paragraph 2

“My desire to experience diverse environments is another driving force. Different environments, from bustling cities to tranquil natural landscapes, offer unique experiences and perspectives. Walking along the bustling streets of New York, hiking in the Amazon rainforest, or watching the Northern Lights in Norway are experiences that can profoundly impact my understanding of the world.”

Paragraph 3

“Lastly, I believe traveling fosters personal growth. Traveling often involves overcoming unexpected challenges and navigating unfamiliar territories, which promotes problem-solving skills and resilience. It’s through such experiences that I can grow as an individual. For instance, dealing with a language barrier in a foreign country can enhance my communication skills and patience.”

Each body paragraph follows a structure of a topic sentence, explanation, and example. Now, onto the final step.

Step 5. Write the concluding paragraph.

A tried and true method for writing a concluding paragraph is to paraphrase the points made in the introductory paragraph. Remember, no copying and pasting! Instead, refer to your introductory paragraph and restate it in different words.

Here’s how we can conclude our sample essay:

“Each person has unique desires and ambitions. My dream is to travel the world, motivated by my quest for cultural understanding, the desire to experience diverse environments, and the pursuit of personal growth. Understanding different cultures will allow me to appreciate global diversity, while exploring various environments will broaden my perspective. Meanwhile, the personal growth achieved through travel will help me navigate future challenges and experiences more effectively.”

And voila! You’ve successfully written your essay!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Now go write your essay about why you want to do something!

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

Learning a new skill can be hard. Here's how to set yourself up for success

Rommel Wood

Andee Tagle

This is one of my favorite questions to ask people: What was the last thing you taught yourself how to do?

I (Rommel) like it because the answers are usually less about the actual skill and more about the motivation behind learning it. It's a question I leaned on a lot when I was booking contestants on the NPR game show Ask Me Another .

But I don't really get to ask it anymore. Maybe it's because I'm in my 30s and I'm not meeting as many new people these days. The pandemic might also be a factor. Plus, Ask Me Anothe r recently ended, and it got me thinking about my time on the show and "the question" that so often cracked people open in a really interesting way.

Having a hobby is good for you. Here's how to find one

A Knitter, A Rock Climber And A Mixologist Teach Us How To Find A Hobby

So I reached out to some former contestants to see if they remembered their answers. Sam Cappoli learned how to drive a car with a manual transmission, AKA "a stick." Amy Paull was training herself to do a pull-up. Cappoli's motivation was to finally learn how to do something his mom tried to teach him as a teenager. Paull's motivation was to gain strength so she could become a better escape room teammate. But there is more to both of their stories. Sam realized that he couldn't learn how to drive from just watching a few youtube videos and a shoulder condition made Amy re-evaluate her goal of pullup dominance.

Explore Life Kit

This story comes from Life Kit , NPR's family of podcasts to help make life better — covering everything from exercise to raising kids to making friends. For more, sign up for the newsletter and follow @NPRLifeKit on Twitter

It can be incredibly gratifying to harness mastery of a skill. But, why is learning new things so hard?

Maybe it's because we need to rethink how we go about learning. Here are some tips! Figure out what it is that you want to learn. Then...

Set yourself up for success

In addition to asking former Ask Me Another contestants "the question" I also turned to my 3-year-old daughter and asked her what was the last thing she learned how to do? She was quick to tell me she can turn on the lights all by herself. After a couple of years of attempts, she is now tall enough to reach a switch and has mastered the fine motor skills it takes to grip a switch and flip it on and off. It's a skill relevant to her but also to everyone — we just don't necessarily think of it as a skill anymore.

Rachel Wu is an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. She studies how we learn over the course of our lives. Wu says it's easier for kids and babies to learn new things because their whole lives are centered on learning. Babies are incredibly open-minded. They want to learn everything because everything is relevant to them.

Sewing your own clothes can be empowering. Here's how to get started

Wu says we can learn from that by asking, "is the thing I'm trying to learn relevant to my life?" Next, find yourself an instructor — someone who is really good at breaking up the things you want to learn in approachable ways.

Then, give yourself a realistic timeline to learn something new. Using babies as an example — we don't expect newborns to be able to communicate the second they are born. It often takes a baby at least a year to start accumulating a pen of recognizable words in their vocabulary. Give yourself the same amount of time to learn something as you'd give a child to learn it too.

Keep tinkering with the challenge at hand

If you're struggling to stay motivated, or feel like you're hitting a wall in your progress, stop and adjust your process. Play around with your method by introducing a new path to learning.

Take Wu, for example. She's learning how to speak German. She takes classes on the campus where she works, but she also started watching one of her favorite TV shows, The Nanny, dubbed in German and slowed down to 50%.

" The Nann y was nice because it teaches you more everyday language, and phrases that you would encounter on a daily basis," Wu says.

Yes, you can lift weights! Here's how to overcome gym intimidation and start training

She uses this handy trick with Pixar films and with listening to German audiobooks for kids.

Tinkering is part of it but so is accepting that you'll need to be open to possibly starting over.

Shots - Health News

Feeling artsy here's how making art helps your brain.

Take Nell Painter. Painter is a retired professor at Princeton. She wrote a book called, Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over . When she was in her 60s she earned a bachelor's degree and an MFA in painting. She says an exercise she learned during an early art class really helped her adjust her relationship with her work and mistakes.

She would draw and draw, look at the model, and draw some more trying to get it right, Painter says. Then the teacher would come and tell her to "rub it out and draw it again, 10 inches to the right." Once again, Painter would draw and work to get it right, and then the teacher would say rub it out and draw it 10% smaller.

"The lesson is you can rub out your work," Painter says. "It doesn't all have to be a [masterpiece.] It doesn't all have to be right, and it doesn't all have to be saved. ... You can rub that sucker out."

Don't be afraid to make mistakes

We don't like making mistakes. But when you're learning something, mistakes are an important part of the process.

Manu Kapur is a professor of learning sciences and higher education at ETH in Zurich Switzerland, where he writes and teaches about the benefits of renormalizing failure and the idea of productive failure. He says the struggle to let yourself make mistakes is really hard.

A Field Guide for Fledgling Birders

"It's a constant effort to tell yourself that 'This is something I do not know. I cannot possibly expect myself to get it immediately,'" Kapur says. "when I'm struggling, I just need to tell myself that this is exactly the right zone to be in and then to do it again and again and again. And until such time, you just become comfortable with being uncomfortable because you're learning something."

So, if you're worried it's too late to start that new language class or the fear of failure has stopped you from picking up that instrument, this is your sign to put your caution aside and just get started. Failure will likely be a part of the process, and that's okay. It's the trying — and the learning — that counts most.

The audio portion of this episode was produced by Andee Tagle, with engineering support from Stuart Rushfield.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected]. Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.

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Life Kit: Life Skills

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 177 college essay examples for 11 schools + expert analysis.

College Admissions , College Essays

The personal statement might just be the hardest part of your college application. Mostly this is because it has the least guidance and is the most open-ended. One way to understand what colleges are looking for when they ask you to write an essay is to check out the essays of students who already got in—college essays that actually worked. After all, they must be among the most successful of this weird literary genre.

In this article, I'll go through general guidelines for what makes great college essays great. I've also compiled an enormous list of 100+ actual sample college essays from 11 different schools. Finally, I'll break down two of these published college essay examples and explain why and how they work. With links to 177 full essays and essay excerpts , this article is a great resource for learning how to craft your own personal college admissions essay!

What Excellent College Essays Have in Common

Even though in many ways these sample college essays are very different from one other, they do share some traits you should try to emulate as you write your own essay.

Visible Signs of Planning

Building out from a narrow, concrete focus. You'll see a similar structure in many of the essays. The author starts with a very detailed story of an event or description of a person or place. After this sense-heavy imagery, the essay expands out to make a broader point about the author, and connects this very memorable experience to the author's present situation, state of mind, newfound understanding, or maturity level.

Knowing how to tell a story. Some of the experiences in these essays are one-of-a-kind. But most deal with the stuff of everyday life. What sets them apart is the way the author approaches the topic: analyzing it for drama and humor, for its moving qualities, for what it says about the author's world, and for how it connects to the author's emotional life.

Stellar Execution

A killer first sentence. You've heard it before, and you'll hear it again: you have to suck the reader in, and the best place to do that is the first sentence. Great first sentences are punchy. They are like cliffhangers, setting up an exciting scene or an unusual situation with an unclear conclusion, in order to make the reader want to know more. Don't take my word for it—check out these 22 first sentences from Stanford applicants and tell me you don't want to read the rest of those essays to find out what happens!

A lively, individual voice. Writing is for readers. In this case, your reader is an admissions officer who has read thousands of essays before yours and will read thousands after. Your goal? Don't bore your reader. Use interesting descriptions, stay away from clichés, include your own offbeat observations—anything that makes this essay sounds like you and not like anyone else.

Technical correctness. No spelling mistakes, no grammar weirdness, no syntax issues, no punctuation snafus—each of these sample college essays has been formatted and proofread perfectly. If this kind of exactness is not your strong suit, you're in luck! All colleges advise applicants to have their essays looked over several times by parents, teachers, mentors, and anyone else who can spot a comma splice. Your essay must be your own work, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting help polishing it.

And if you need more guidance, connect with PrepScholar's expert admissions consultants . These expert writers know exactly what college admissions committees look for in an admissions essay and chan help you craft an essay that boosts your chances of getting into your dream school.

Check out PrepScholar's Essay Editing and Coaching progra m for more details!

Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar.

Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges.

Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now :

Links to Full College Essay Examples

Some colleges publish a selection of their favorite accepted college essays that worked, and I've put together a selection of over 100 of these.

Common App Essay Samples

Please note that some of these college essay examples may be responding to prompts that are no longer in use. The current Common App prompts are as follows:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? 4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you? 5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Now, let's get to the good stuff: the list of 177 college essay examples responding to current and past Common App essay prompts.

Connecticut college.

12 Common Application essays from the classes of 2022-2025

Hamilton College

7 Common Application essays from the class of 2026
7 Common Application essays from the class of 2022
7 Common Application essays from the class of 2018
8 Common Application essays from the class of 2012
8 Common Application essays from the class of 2007

Johns Hopkins

These essays are answers to past prompts from either the Common Application or the Coalition Application (which Johns Hopkins used to accept).

1 Common Application or Coalition Application essay from the class of 2026
6 Common Application or Coalition Application essays from the class of 2025
6 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2024
6 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2023
7 Common Application of Universal Application essays from the class of 2022
5 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2021
7 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2020

Essay Examples Published by Other Websites

2 Common Application essays ( 1st essay , 2nd essay ) from applicants admitted to Columbia

Other Sample College Essays

Here is a collection of essays that are college-specific.

Babson College

4 essays (and 1 video response) on "Why Babson" from the class of 2020

Emory University

5 essay examples ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) from the class of 2020 along with analysis from Emory admissions staff on why the essays were exceptional
5 more recent essay examples ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) along with analysis from Emory admissions staff on what made these essays stand out

University of Georgia

1 “strong essay” sample from 2019
1 “strong essay” sample from 2018
10 Harvard essays from 2023
10 Harvard essays from 2022
10 Harvard essays from 2021
10 Harvard essays from 2020
10 Harvard essays from 2019
10 Harvard essays from 2018
6 essays from admitted MIT students

Smith College

6 "best gift" essays from the class of 2018

Books of College Essays

If you're looking for even more sample college essays, consider purchasing a college essay book. The best of these include dozens of essays that worked and feedback from real admissions officers.

College Essays That Made a Difference —This detailed guide from Princeton Review includes not only successful essays, but also interviews with admissions officers and full student profiles.

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson—A must for anyone aspiring to Harvard .

50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays and 50 Successful Stanford Application Essays by Gen and Kelly Tanabe—For essays from other top schools, check out this venerated series, which is regularly updated with new essays.

Heavenly Essays by Janine W. Robinson—This collection from the popular blogger behind Essay Hell includes a wider range of schools, as well as helpful tips on honing your own essay.

Analyzing Great Common App Essays That Worked

I've picked two essays from the examples collected above to examine in more depth so that you can see exactly what makes a successful college essay work. Full credit for these essays goes to the original authors and the schools that published them.

Example 1: "Breaking Into Cars," by Stephen, Johns Hopkins Class of '19 (Common App Essay, 636 words long)

I had never broken into a car before.

We were in Laredo, having just finished our first day at a Habitat for Humanity work site. The Hotchkiss volunteers had already left, off to enjoy some Texas BBQ, leaving me behind with the college kids to clean up. Not until we were stranded did we realize we were locked out of the van.

Someone picked a coat hanger out of the dumpster, handed it to me, and took a few steps back.

"Can you do that thing with a coat hanger to unlock it?"

"Why me?" I thought.

More out of amusement than optimism, I gave it a try. I slid the hanger into the window's seal like I'd seen on crime shows, and spent a few minutes jiggling the apparatus around the inside of the frame. Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation.

My upbringing has numbed me to unpredictability and chaos. With a family of seven, my home was loud, messy, and spottily supervised. My siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing—all meant my house was functioning normally. My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed. "The water's on fire! Clear a hole!" he shouted, tossing me in the lake without warning. While I'm still unconvinced about that particular lesson's practicality, my Dad's overarching message is unequivocally true: much of life is unexpected, and you have to deal with the twists and turns.

Living in my family, days rarely unfolded as planned. A bit overlooked, a little pushed around, I learned to roll with reality, negotiate a quick deal, and give the improbable a try. I don't sweat the small stuff, and I definitely don't expect perfect fairness. So what if our dining room table only has six chairs for seven people? Someone learns the importance of punctuality every night.

But more than punctuality and a special affinity for musical chairs, my family life has taught me to thrive in situations over which I have no power. Growing up, I never controlled my older siblings, but I learned how to thwart their attempts to control me. I forged alliances, and realigned them as necessary. Sometimes, I was the poor, defenseless little brother; sometimes I was the omniscient elder. Different things to different people, as the situation demanded. I learned to adapt.

Back then, these techniques were merely reactions undertaken to ensure my survival. But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: "How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?"

The question caught me off guard, much like the question posed to me in Laredo. Then, I realized I knew the answer. I knew why the coat hanger had been handed to me.

Growing up as the middle child in my family, I was a vital participant in a thing I did not govern, in the company of people I did not choose. It's family. It's society. And often, it's chaos. You participate by letting go of the small stuff, not expecting order and perfection, and facing the unexpected with confidence, optimism, and preparedness. My family experience taught me to face a serendipitous world with confidence.

What Makes This Essay Tick?

It's very helpful to take writing apart in order to see just how it accomplishes its objectives. Stephen's essay is very effective. Let's find out why!

An Opening Line That Draws You In

In just eight words, we get: scene-setting (he is standing next to a car about to break in), the idea of crossing a boundary (he is maybe about to do an illegal thing for the first time), and a cliffhanger (we are thinking: is he going to get caught? Is he headed for a life of crime? Is he about to be scared straight?).

Great, Detailed Opening Story

It's the details that really make this small experience come alive. Notice how whenever he can, Stephen uses a more specific, descriptive word in place of a more generic one. The volunteers aren't going to get food or dinner; they're going for "Texas BBQ." The coat hanger comes from "a dumpster." Stephen doesn't just move the coat hanger—he "jiggles" it.

Details also help us visualize the emotions of the people in the scene. The person who hands Stephen the coat hanger isn't just uncomfortable or nervous; he "takes a few steps back"—a description of movement that conveys feelings. Finally, the detail of actual speech makes the scene pop. Instead of writing that the other guy asked him to unlock the van, Stephen has the guy actually say his own words in a way that sounds like a teenager talking.

Turning a Specific Incident Into a Deeper Insight

Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation.

Stephen makes the locked car experience a meaningful illustration of how he has learned to be resourceful and ready for anything, and he also makes this turn from the specific to the broad through an elegant play on the two meanings of the word "click."

Using Concrete Examples When Making Abstract Claims

"Unpredictability and chaos" are very abstract, not easily visualized concepts. They could also mean any number of things—violence, abandonment, poverty, mental instability. By instantly following up with highly finite and unambiguous illustrations like "family of seven" and "siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing," Stephen grounds the abstraction in something that is easy to picture: a large, noisy family.

Using Small Bits of Humor and Casual Word Choice

My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed.

Obviously, knowing how to clean burning oil is not high on the list of things every 9-year-old needs to know. To emphasize this, Stephen uses sarcasm by bringing up a situation that is clearly over-the-top: "in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed."

The humor also feels relaxed. Part of this is because he introduces it with the colloquial phrase "you know," so it sounds like he is talking to us in person. This approach also diffuses the potential discomfort of the reader with his father's strictness—since he is making jokes about it, clearly he is OK. Notice, though, that this doesn't occur very much in the essay. This helps keep the tone meaningful and serious rather than flippant.

An Ending That Stretches the Insight Into the Future

But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: "How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?"

The ending of the essay reveals that Stephen's life has been one long preparation for the future. He has emerged from chaos and his dad's approach to parenting as a person who can thrive in a world that he can't control.

This connection of past experience to current maturity and self-knowledge is a key element in all successful personal essays. Colleges are very much looking for mature, self-aware applicants. These are the qualities of successful college students, who will be able to navigate the independence college classes require and the responsibility and quasi-adulthood of college life.

What Could This Essay Do Even Better?

Even the best essays aren't perfect, and even the world's greatest writers will tell you that writing is never "finished"—just "due." So what would we tweak in this essay if we could?

Replace some of the clichéd language. Stephen uses handy phrases like "twists and turns" and "don't sweat the small stuff" as a kind of shorthand for explaining his relationship to chaos and unpredictability. But using too many of these ready-made expressions runs the risk of clouding out your own voice and replacing it with something expected and boring.

Use another example from recent life. Stephen's first example (breaking into the van in Laredo) is a great illustration of being resourceful in an unexpected situation. But his essay also emphasizes that he "learned to adapt" by being "different things to different people." It would be great to see how this plays out outside his family, either in the situation in Laredo or another context.

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Example 2: By Renner Kwittken, Tufts Class of '23 (Common App Essay, 645 words long)

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver. I saw it in my favorite book, Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go," and for some reason, I was absolutely obsessed with the idea of driving a giant pickle. Much to the discontent of my younger sister, I insisted that my parents read us that book as many nights as possible so we could find goldbug, a small little golden bug, on every page. I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon.

Then I discovered a real goldbug: gold nanoparticles that can reprogram macrophages to assist in killing tumors, produce clear images of them without sacrificing the subject, and heat them to obliteration.

Suddenly the destination of my pickle was clear.

I quickly became enveloped by the world of nanomedicine; I scoured articles about liposomes, polymeric micelles, dendrimers, targeting ligands, and self-assembling nanoparticles, all conquering cancer in some exotic way. Completely absorbed, I set out to find a mentor to dive even deeper into these topics. After several rejections, I was immensely grateful to receive an invitation to work alongside Dr. Sangeeta Ray at Johns Hopkins.

In the lab, Dr. Ray encouraged a great amount of autonomy to design and implement my own procedures. I chose to attack a problem that affects the entire field of nanomedicine: nanoparticles consistently fail to translate from animal studies into clinical trials. Jumping off recent literature, I set out to see if a pre-dose of a common chemotherapeutic could enhance nanoparticle delivery in aggressive prostate cancer, creating three novel constructs based on three different linear polymers, each using fluorescent dye (although no gold, sorry goldbug!). Though using radioactive isotopes like Gallium and Yttrium would have been incredible, as a 17-year-old, I unfortunately wasn't allowed in the same room as these radioactive materials (even though I took a Geiger counter to a pair of shoes and found them to be slightly dangerous).

I hadn't expected my hypothesis to work, as the research project would have ideally been led across two full years. Yet while there are still many optimizations and revisions to be done, I was thrilled to find -- with completely new nanoparticles that may one day mean future trials will use particles with the initials "RK-1" -- thatcyclophosphamide did indeed increase nanoparticle delivery to the tumor in a statistically significant way.

A secondary, unexpected research project was living alone in Baltimore, a new city to me, surrounded by people much older than I. Even with moving frequently between hotels, AirBnB's, and students' apartments, I strangely reveled in the freedom I had to enjoy my surroundings and form new friendships with graduate school students from the lab. We explored The Inner Harbor at night, attended a concert together one weekend, and even got to watch the Orioles lose (to nobody's surprise). Ironically, it's through these new friendships I discovered something unexpected: what I truly love is sharing research. Whether in a presentation or in a casual conversation, making others interested in science is perhaps more exciting to me than the research itself. This solidified a new pursuit to angle my love for writing towards illuminating science in ways people can understand, adding value to a society that can certainly benefit from more scientific literacy.

It seems fitting that my goals are still transforming: in Scarry's book, there is not just one goldbug, there is one on every page. With each new experience, I'm learning that it isn't the goldbug itself, but rather the act of searching for the goldbugs that will encourage, shape, and refine my ever-evolving passions. Regardless of the goldbug I seek -- I know my pickle truck has just begun its journey.

Renner takes a somewhat different approach than Stephen, but their essay is just as detailed and engaging. Let's go through some of the strengths of this essay.

One Clear Governing Metaphor

This essay is ultimately about two things: Renner’s dreams and future career goals, and Renner’s philosophy on goal-setting and achieving one’s dreams.

But instead of listing off all the amazing things they’ve done to pursue their dream of working in nanomedicine, Renner tells a powerful, unique story instead. To set up the narrative, Renner opens the essay by connecting their experiences with goal-setting and dream-chasing all the way back to a memorable childhood experience:

This lighthearted–but relevant!--story about the moment when Renner first developed a passion for a specific career (“finding the goldbug”) provides an anchor point for the rest of the essay. As Renner pivots to describing their current dreams and goals–working in nanomedicine–the metaphor of “finding the goldbug” is reflected in Renner’s experiments, rejections, and new discoveries.

Though Renner tells multiple stories about their quest to “find the goldbug,” or, in other words, pursue their passion, each story is connected by a unifying theme; namely, that as we search and grow over time, our goals will transform…and that’s okay! By the end of the essay, Renner uses the metaphor of “finding the goldbug” to reiterate the relevance of the opening story:

While the earlier parts of the essay convey Renner’s core message by showing, the final, concluding paragraph sums up Renner’s insights by telling. By briefly and clearly stating the relevance of the goldbug metaphor to their own philosophy on goals and dreams, Renner demonstrates their creativity, insight, and eagerness to grow and evolve as the journey continues into college.

An Engaging, Individual Voice

This essay uses many techniques that make Renner sound genuine and make the reader feel like we already know them.

Technique #1: humor. Notice Renner's gentle and relaxed humor that lightly mocks their younger self's grand ambitions (this is different from the more sarcastic kind of humor used by Stephen in the first essay—you could never mistake one writer for the other).

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver.

I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon.

Renner gives a great example of how to use humor to your advantage in college essays. You don’t want to come off as too self-deprecating or sarcastic, but telling a lightheartedly humorous story about your younger self that also showcases how you’ve grown and changed over time can set the right tone for your entire essay.

Technique #2: intentional, eye-catching structure. The second technique is the way Renner uses a unique structure to bolster the tone and themes of their essay . The structure of your essay can have a major impact on how your ideas come across…so it’s important to give it just as much thought as the content of your essay!

For instance, Renner does a great job of using one-line paragraphs to create dramatic emphasis and to make clear transitions from one phase of the story to the next:

Suddenly the destination of my pickle car was clear.

Not only does the one-liner above signal that Renner is moving into a new phase of the narrative (their nanoparticle research experiences), it also tells the reader that this is a big moment in Renner’s story. It’s clear that Renner made a major discovery that changed the course of their goal pursuit and dream-chasing. Through structure, Renner conveys excitement and entices the reader to keep pushing forward to the next part of the story.

Technique #3: playing with syntax. The third technique is to use sentences of varying length, syntax, and structure. Most of the essay's written in standard English and uses grammatically correct sentences. However, at key moments, Renner emphasizes that the reader needs to sit up and pay attention by switching to short, colloquial, differently punctuated, and sometimes fragmented sentences.

Even with moving frequently between hotels, AirBnB's, and students' apartments, I strangely reveled in the freedom I had to enjoy my surroundings and form new friendships with graduate school students from the lab. We explored The Inner Harbor at night, attended a concert together one weekend, and even got to watch the Orioles lose (to nobody's surprise). Ironically, it's through these new friendships I discovered something unexpected: what I truly love is sharing research.

In the examples above, Renner switches adeptly between long, flowing sentences and quippy, telegraphic ones. At the same time, Renner uses these different sentence lengths intentionally. As they describe their experiences in new places, they use longer sentences to immerse the reader in the sights, smells, and sounds of those experiences. And when it’s time to get a big, key idea across, Renner switches to a short, punchy sentence to stop the reader in their tracks.

The varying syntax and sentence lengths pull the reader into the narrative and set up crucial “aha” moments when it’s most important…which is a surefire way to make any college essay stand out.

Renner's essay is very strong, but there are still a few little things that could be improved.

Connecting the research experiences to the theme of “finding the goldbug.” The essay begins and ends with Renner’s connection to the idea of “finding the goldbug.” And while this metaphor is deftly tied into the essay’s intro and conclusion, it isn’t entirely clear what Renner’s big findings were during the research experiences that are described in the middle of the essay. It would be great to add a sentence or two stating what Renner’s big takeaways (or “goldbugs”) were from these experiences, which add more cohesion to the essay as a whole.

Give more details about discovering the world of nanomedicine. It makes sense that Renner wants to get into the details of their big research experiences as quickly as possible. After all, these are the details that show Renner’s dedication to nanomedicine! But a smoother transition from the opening pickle car/goldbug story to Renner’s “real goldbug” of nanoparticles would help the reader understand why nanoparticles became Renner’s goldbug. Finding out why Renner is so motivated to study nanomedicine–and perhaps what put them on to this field of study–would help readers fully understand why Renner chose this path in the first place.

4 Essential Tips for Writing Your Own Essay

How can you use this discussion to better your own college essay? Here are some suggestions for ways to use this resource effectively.

#1: Get Help From the Experts

Getting your college applications together takes a lot of work and can be pretty intimidatin g. Essays are even more important than ever now that admissions processes are changing and schools are going test-optional and removing diversity standards thanks to new Supreme Court rulings . If you want certified expert help that really makes a difference, get started with PrepScholar’s Essay Editing and Coaching program. Our program can help you put together an incredible essay from idea to completion so that your application stands out from the crowd. We've helped students get into the best colleges in the United States, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. If you're ready to take the next step and boost your odds of getting into your dream school, connect with our experts today .

#2: Read Other Essays to Get Ideas for Your Own

As you go through the essays we've compiled for you above, ask yourself the following questions:

Can you explain to yourself (or someone else!) why the opening sentence works well?
Look for the essay's detailed personal anecdote. What senses is the author describing? Can you easily picture the scene in your mind's eye?
Find the place where this anecdote bridges into a larger insight about the author. How does the essay connect the two? How does the anecdote work as an example of the author's characteristic, trait, or skill?
Check out the essay's tone. If it's funny, can you find the places where the humor comes from? If it's sad and moving, can you find the imagery and description of feelings that make you moved? If it's serious, can you see how word choice adds to this tone?

Make a note whenever you find an essay or part of an essay that you think was particularly well-written, and think about what you like about it . Is it funny? Does it help you really get to know the writer? Does it show what makes the writer unique? Once you have your list, keep it next to you while writing your essay to remind yourself to try and use those same techniques in your own essay.

#3: Find Your "A-Ha!" Moment

All of these essays rely on connecting with the reader through a heartfelt, highly descriptive scene from the author's life. It can either be very dramatic (did you survive a plane crash?) or it can be completely mundane (did you finally beat your dad at Scrabble?). Either way, it should be personal and revealing about you, your personality, and the way you are now that you are entering the adult world.

Check out essays by authors like John Jeremiah Sullivan , Leslie Jamison , Hanif Abdurraqib , and Esmé Weijun Wang to get more examples of how to craft a compelling personal narrative.

#4: Start Early, Revise Often

Let me level with you: the best writing isn't writing at all. It's rewriting. And in order to have time to rewrite, you have to start way before the application deadline. My advice is to write your first draft at least two months before your applications are due.

Let it sit for a few days untouched. Then come back to it with fresh eyes and think critically about what you've written. What's extra? What's missing? What is in the wrong place? What doesn't make sense? Don't be afraid to take it apart and rearrange sections. Do this several times over, and your essay will be much better for it!

For more editing tips, check out a style guide like Dreyer's English or Eats, Shoots & Leaves .

What's Next?

Still not sure which colleges you want to apply to? Our experts will show you how to make a college list that will help you choose a college that's right for you.

Interested in learning more about college essays? Check out our detailed breakdown of exactly how personal statements work in an application , some suggestions on what to avoid when writing your essay , and our guide to writing about your extracurricular activities .

Working on the rest of your application? Read what admissions officers wish applicants knew before applying .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The recommendations in this post are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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101 New Skills: Learn Something New in 2024

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Want to do something cool in 2024?

One of the best ways to leverage your spare time in the upcoming year is to learn a new skill.

Just think about the most successful people in the world. Those who consistently succeed are those who are best at learning new skills.

Successful people make the commitment to dedicate their spare time in the pursuit of learning ( instead of vegging out in front of the television .) And they stick to their promise of learning.

With that in mind, there are countless things you can learn in your spare time. This list puts a number to that list and shares with you 101 valuable things to learn that will improve your life — both personally and professionally.

With this list it will not be difficult to find those new skills to learn , it will be difficult narrowing down your list of what you want to learn.

In the following article, we will cover 101 new skills you can learn (with an hour of dedicated time each day) that can dramatically improve your personal and professional life.

And if you'd like a few resources that can teach you all the skills on this page, then I recommend checking out these platforms to learn any skill.

Masterclass (Learn from the best world's best experts. You can read the review of it here .)
Skillshare (You can read the review of it here .)
Udemy (You can read the review of it here .)
Coursera (You can read the review of it here .)

Let's get to the new skills to start learning today!

Table of Contents

Don't Have Enough Time to Read the Entire Post?

This post is pretty lengthy. So, if you don't have time to read it, then we've simplified this list into a list of courses, each teaching a great skill you can master for the upcoming year. Here are the favorites that other readers love…

General Skills to Learn (The FUN and USEFUL Skills)

The “general skills” are a mixed bag. They do not fall into any specific category of life skills to learn. These are the type of skills we often think of when we want to learn something new , but never invest the time and effort involved to actually learn them. ( Here are some life skills worksheets to help you learn faster. )

New skills to learn can be useful, fun, and are often great at making a “well-rounded” person. Who wouldn’t like to be able to play guitar, fix a car, cook a 5-star meal, grow a lush garden, and be able to protect yourself with martial arts?

Check out this new skills to learn list and find out which great skills to learn. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

1. Speak a New Language

You've probably heard this before…

Learning a new foreign language can provide a number of amazing results in your life.

You can use language learning to:

Travel to fun places and actually speak to locals
Challenge yourself to learn something fun
Advance your career opportunities

Now, the challenge with learning a new language has always been how to find the time and what learning platform to use. Well, this app can simplify your attempts at learning a language .

2. Speed Reading

How much more work could you accomplish if you were able to complete all of your required reading in one-third of the time? Or even half the time?

Speed reading is basically learning to understand the fundamental principles of the human visual system, allowing you to eliminate inefficiencies in your reading and increase the speed at which you read while also improving your retention.

Even slight improvements in reading time can save a lot of time long term. And many people report massive gains in reading speeds after building the speed reading skill.

Resource: Become a Super Learner

Also, if you'd like a quick primer on speed reading, Tim Ferriss has a quick video that teaches a few basics of the process.

3. Basic Home Repairs

I am no expert at-home repairs, but I would argue that most people should be learning the basics of keeping their own home in tip-top shape.

One of the best reasons to learn how to do basic home repairs is because having someone come out to do them for you is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. There are several resources online to help walk you through some basic home repairs, such as DIY Pete and Home Made Modern .

You can also learn how to do some specific projects with DIY Homestead Projects and even Home Depot .

And if you want a simple resource to learn how to do a variety of DIY projects, then be sure to check out Ted's Woodworking course.

4. Learn How to Draw

Drawing is actually a basic skill that we were all born with. While we have to be taught to read and write, people are actually born with the natural ability to draw.

Drawing is essential for human survival because it is a form of communication that everyone can understand, no matter what language you speak. Toddlers begin drawing before they start to read or write and continue to do it throughout life.

Take a drawing course that will have you drawing like a professional in no time at all, and perfect your skill and express your creativity with drawing.

Resource: Ultimate Drawing Course Beginner to Advanced

5. Basic Car Repairs

Car repairs can drain your wallet quickly, but there are a lot of repairs that you can actually do yourself if you take the time to learn new skills. Even if you don't have technical skills, you can still do things like changing your oil, fixing fuel filters, and changing alternators. This can help save you time and money.

Check out this video channel and this video channel to get started on learning how to do some of your own basic car repairs. It can also help you learn a bit more about problem-solving.

6. Organize and Declutter Your Home

Have you heard of the Kon Mari Method of decluttering? It is currently the hottest and most popular method of home decluttering.

The Kon Mari Method was created by Marie Kondo, who owns a business in Tokyo, where she teaches her method to help people turn their homes into peaceful and inspiring spaces. It starts with discarding things that you do not need in your home anymore and then organizing what is left. Having a clean home will help you de-stress your life and live in a place that is free from clutter.

The class linked below is actually taught by Marie Kondo herself. Even if you have read her popular book, this organization training will show (in video format) many of her cleaning methods that are difficult to follow in the book . (Like her folding method)

Resource #1: How to Declutter and Organize Any Space

Resource #2: 15 Books on Organizing, Decluttering, and Simplifying Your Life

And here's a talk that Marie Kondo did at Google where she talks about her book “ The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up ” and the many benefits that come when you declutter your life.

7. Master Photoshop

Everyone should know some Photoshop basics. Learning Photoshop is an important tool if you want to work in graphic or web design or even just use it at home for your own pictures. Because it is such a valued skill, it is great to be able to add to a resume as well.

It is also important to learn Photoshop if you work in a hands-on marketing role. For example, if you create flyers, email newsletters, or brochures, knowing Photoshop will help you optimize your creations and retouch your images. Photoshop actually offers some resources to get you started.

But if you want a bit more “hands-on” training. The course linked below gives over three hours of video training that will help you master the Photoshop basics.

Resource: Beginner's Guide to Adobe Photoshop

8. Play the Guitar

Can learning to play the guitar change your well-being?

Research actually shows that the brains of guitar players work slightly differently than those of everyone else. The process and art of learning to play the chords on a guitar and read sheet music can open up new neural pathways and rewire the brain in a positive way that can lead to cognitive benefits.

If guitar playing has always been a dream, or if you are looking for a skill to build from scratch, check out this guitar training course, made for beginners, but taught by experts. It removes many barriers from learning the guitar. You will find yourself playing recognizable tunes in hours, rather than months.

Resource: Beginner Guitar Lessons

9. Photography

A criticism that is often heard today is that people spend too much time taking pictures of their experiences instead of living them. However, the photographs play an important role in allowing people to hold on to memories and show the rest of the world a peek into their lives while also telling a story.

Everyone should learn some photography because it provides several benefits. It is a fun hobby and can help you grow as a person by cultivating creativity. ( Check out this list of other creative hobbies to take up! )

In the photography masterclass linked below, you can learn a complete guide to photography with 15 hours of training. It will teach you everything from understanding how your camera works to what gear you will need. It will also give you tips for selling your photographs.

Resource: Master Photography Skill

And if you want a quick overview of the photography basics, this video tutorial covers specific elements like ISO settings, aperture, and shutter speed.

10. Gardening: How to Grow Anything

Maybe you've tried to grow things in your garden before, but your previous results made this seem like it was not a skill you could master.

However, if you learn how to grow your own flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits, you can save a lot of money and have a beautiful yard to look at. Also, eating food straight from your garden is the healthiest way to get the nutrients that your body needs.

Here is a helpful video on growing your own greens to create your own healthy salads. This video will walk you through a garden tour in Southern California. Finally, take a look at this video to learn more about organic gardening.

11. Learn to Cook Like a PRO

While it is certainly one thing to be able to create a four-course meal at the last minute, it is another to be able to at least make a decent pasta dinner, a nice pot of soup, and a winning batch of chocolate chip cookies without the help from a box. Having the skill of cooking well will help you out for your entire life.

First, you will be able to know what is going into your food and therefore what is going into your body. You can control how much fat and salt goes into your dishes to create a healthy diet for yourself and your family. Also, you can impress your friends and family when you have them over for dinner, even if you just make something simple.

Lastly, you will save a lot of money eating at home versus eating at a restaurant. You can make enough food at home to have leftovers for lunch the next day and even to freeze meals for a future dinner .

To get started, try this online service that helps you plan meals based on your dietary preferences, your cooking style, the number of people in your family, and the grocery stores you frequent. In addition to giving you a weekly meal plan, it also provides a detailed grocery list .

Other Resources: Creative Cooking: Simple Sauces | Kitchen Confidence | Think Like a Chef

12. Learn Piano

Learning to play a musical instrument, often a piano or guitar is on many people’s bucket list. The problem with learning these instruments is the perceived high barrier to learning the new skills of playing these instruments.

Many people have tried traditional methods of learning these skills and been turned off by the slow going of plodding through the basics and learning to play “exciting” tunes like “row, row, row your boat.

The Piano for All course is different . It starts you in with the basics and the foundations but as you learn them by playing exciting modern piano songs. With this method of learning, you will love learning how to play the piano and will want to show off your skills after only a handful of hours of lessons and practice.

Resource: Find out more about what (and how) this top-rated online piano training can help you learn to play the piano easily.

13. Learn Basic Self-Defense

Nothing feels better than being confident that you can take care of yourself, whether it is mentally, financially, or physically. Being able to physically protect yourself in all situations is a reassurance that can only be gained through self-defense classes. While many people automatically think about women and children when they think about self-defense, it is really a skill for everyone.

The key is to find your favorite martial art and learn some basic self-defense skills from a class.

And if practicing martial arts isn’t something you can do at this time, then perhaps investing in a 9mm pistol and going to the range to practice would be best. Just don’t forget to have the proper hearing protection .

14. Make Your Own Furniture and Decorations

If you are like me, woodworking seems like a dream. I remember my grandfather making fancy wooden home decorations. I remember my dad building a deck to our home when I was a young boy. But everything I have tried has turned out to be a big mess. I think the woodworking gene skipped a generation with me. It is a skill I don’t seem to have.

This is why I am so intrigued by this woodworking course. It breaks the process down into simple steps and offers many detailed plans. It makes major woodworking projects seem so easy that even someone like me with zero woodworking skill might have a chance of success.

Resource: See some of the amazing things you can make with woodworking.

15. Master Tai Chi

Learning Tai Chi is great for your body and your mind. This practice can help alleviate natural health conditions that come along with aging and encourage people of all ages to relax and let go of nervous tension. The main benefit of Tai Chi is its ability to mitigate the effects of stress.

Learning Tai Chi imparts the six principles of flow and imparts grace and flow to the practitioner.

Find out more about this healthy form of exercise that reduces stress, builds confidence, imparts grace and strength, helps you live longer and helps your mind reach a state of clarity.

Resource: Introduction to Tai Chi Flows with Heng Ni

Also, if you want to learn the basics of Tai Chi, here is a great free 45+ minute video to help you learn the skill of Tai Chi from Dr. Paul Lim.

16. Perform Basic Dance Moves (For Guys)

Guys, how embarrassing is it to go out to a club and try to impress some ladies and then find yourself completely unconfident and timid on the dance floor?

I have been there.

Trying to do some fancy moves – but only looking like a spastic monkey. Or even worse, sitting on the sidelines, afraid to embarrass me.

You do not need to be a master dancer to go out and meet people and have fun. But having a few good moves in your back pocket will go a long way toward helping your confidence. That is why I think basic dance moves can be an important skill to learn.

To get started, here's a funny (but helpful) video on how to not dance like a dork.

Resource: A Beginners Guide to Hip Hop Dance Moves

17. Become a Reader

This is one skill I would say is the most important of all the skills on this list . When you read, even if it is just fiction, you learn and expand your worldview. You visit places you may never see and learn about skills you might otherwise never take the time to learn.

Get in the habit of reading through things. Articles, blurbs, drafts, books, and volumes of material are all worthy of your time.

How good quality the information is directly proportional to how informative what you read is. Reading comic books, for instance, is worthwhile, but not as good as reading a good non-fiction text on a subject you are interested in.

My personal rule. Read one nonfiction book for learning for every fiction book I read for fun. And if you want a quick way to digest lots of books, try this app that provides detailed book summaries that only takes 10 minutes of your time .

Resource: 200+ Best Self Help Books (or How to Never Run Out of Good Things to Read)

18. Change a Flat Tire

Flat tires are either silly inconveniences or serious issues. The difference between the two is often in the ability to fix them quickly.

Even with improvements in tire technology and “run flat” tires, everyone gets a flat tire from time-to-time. And, of course, Murphy's Law will make sure those flat tires come at the most inconvenient time possible.

Don’t rely on a car service to fix your change your flat tires. It is a very easy process and keeps you from being reliant on others.

Plus learning the skill of changing your own flat tires may save you a few dollars in expenses.

Resource: How To Change A Flat Tire

Prefer a visual walkthrough?

Here is a quick video that shows the basics of changing a flat tire.

19. Gain the Skill of Humor

You're trapped on a desert island with two people. One is annoying, and one is funny. Just about everyone would prefer to be stuck with the guy with a good sense of humor while leaving the annoying one back at camp.

The ability to be humorous is rooted in the ability to recognize absurdity, chance, circumstance, tonality, language choice, and emphasis. These are all powerful skills independently, but together, they form the basis of humor.

When you are able to use humor effectively in writing, speech, and socially, you will find yourself a sought after commodity, like the last hamburger stand before you get to an all-vegan community.

Resource #1: Humor Writing: Write Funny for the Internet

Resource #2: 15 Hilarious Ways To Be Funny

20. Jump-start a Dead Battery

Someone on this planet, at this very second, has a dead battery. What's worse is that they probably don't even have jumper cables. A dead battery is not as easy to fix as a flat tire because it inherently requires another person. (Unless you have one of the new battery powerpack jumper cables .)

But what if the other person only has the battery to offer? Or doesn't really know how to set up the cables either? Will you be ready to affix the cables, go through the motions and get your car up and running? Or will you be left at the roadside?

This is another simple skill that every single adult should know.

And here's a quick video tutorial on how to jump start a car.

Resource: How to Jump Start a Car – The Complete Guide

21. Learn to Start a Fire (Anywhere)

When you are in the wilderness, one of the most important resources is fire. You need fire to purify water. You need it for warmth. You need it to scare off wild animals.

Most people think that starting a fire from scratch is a difficult skill to learn — something to daunt survivalists with years of learning experience.

Well, most people would be wrong. Starting a fire from scratch is painfully simple. With nothing more than friction, airflow, kindling, and a mass to hold the flame.

One tool that can simplify this process is this FREE Everstryke Waterproof firestarter.

Resource: 9 Ways To Start a Fire Without Matches

And here is a video that has fourteen ideas for starting a fire without matches.

22. Survive A MAJOR Crisis

Starting a fire without matches is probably about the limit of my personal “woodsman” skills. (and I am admittedly slow at making fire).

I know I am woefully unprepared for any sort of major worldwide crisis. But like with most things, there is training I can take to get the training I need in case the unthinkable happens.

I am an optimist. I don’t like to think about, and generally don’t believe, any doom-and-gloom prophecies of the world (as we know it) coming to an end due to currency crisis, war, chemical/nuclear/biological attacks, unnatural weather phenomenon or any other disaster situations. But the fact remains that there are many nasty ways the world could change for the worst in minutes.

I don’t think it will ever happen. But it would be nice to have some understanding of what to do and how to help my family to survive if the unthinkable and unbelievable ever happened.

Resources: Survival Guide: Fundamental Skills | CPR, AED & First Aid

23. Sewing, Stitching and Patching

Learning to sew, stitch, and patch is an excellent skill because it is as diverse as it is useful. While it's been typically considered feminine, there's nothing feminine about saving an expensive pair of pants from destruction.

The short course below will teach you the basic skills of sewing, using sewing machines and even a few advanced techniques to set you toward the next level of sewing.

Resource s: Sewing Basics: Make Your Own Clothing | Hand Sewing Basics

24. Meet and Attract a Perfect Life Partner

Most people want to find love at some point in their lives.

However, it can sometimes seem impossible to find that perfect soulmate. They are out there, but you have to be able to have the confidence and social skills to be attractive to them when you first meet them.

If you are shy or have some doubts with your self-confidence, but it is important to learn how to overcome these things if you want to be able to put yourself out there and meet someone special. Learning how to meet and attract a perfect life partner is important for many people in the quest to live a fulfilling life.

If shyness or social anxiety hold you back from meeting that “perfect someone,” the training below will be a surefire, “must-have.”

or social anxiety hold you back from meeting that “perfect someone,” the training below will be a surefire, “must-have.”

Resource #1: Simple Steps to Overcome Shyness & Cure Social Anxiety

Resource #2 : 35 Places to Meet New People

Resource #3 : 371 Deep Questions to Ask to Know Someone Deeply

25. Perform the Heimlich Maneuver

You're in the middle of a crowded restaurant, and a man is choking on his dinosaur chicken nugget. Not only is he embarrassed to be eating chicken dinosaurs, but he might also die.

His only hope is that someone knows the Heimlich around him. The technique is simple, and anyone can learn it with a little bit of care and research.

This is a skill that every single adult should not only know but have practiced it until it is second nature. Learning this skill just might save a life.

Resource: Choking: First Aid

And here's a quick video that shows the basics of performing the Heimlich maneuver.

26. Perform CPR

CPR is another skill that every adult should not only learn but have practiced many times. The time to learn this skill is not when it is your child or father needing CPR but in your own free time.

CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is the simple art of knowing how to jump-start someone's heart and lungs with a little bit of your own air and chest compressions. This is an absolute must-have skill in emergency situations, and it's one of the first things that professional emergency medical transporters are taught.

It is also an easy skill to learn, but the potential payback is immense. Learning this new skill could easily keep a loved one alive until the first responders arrive.

Resource: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): First aid

Mental Skills

All the skills to learn are not fun things like learning to play guitar, speed cup stacking, or learning a new foreign language. Some of them are far more useful skills than that.

For example, you are learning how to learn . When you learn the intricacies of how to learn, every skill or bit of knowledge learned thereafter just a little bit more quickly and easily, due to the fact that you fully understand the process of learning new skills.

Many of the mental skills to learn are like this. They build on essential skills that will help you learn more, do more, achieve more or generally succeed in life.

Want to learn how to improve your learning? Check out my book: Novice to Expert

Learn something new every day with this list of best skills to learn Mental Skills. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

27. Ask the Right Questions

The first and most significant mental skill any human being can learn in their lives is knowing how to ask the right questions. Many people seek answers for questions they have never even asked. When we ask ourselves the right question, we cut away any chance of wasting our precious time seeking that which is not what we truly need.

A great way to develop this skill is to constantly ask yourself the following:

What is the best question I could ask myself?
How do I get what I want?

Resource: How to Ask Better Questions

28. Find What Interests You and/or Your Passions

It's a shameful thing to start a conversation if you're not truly interested anything. You deny all of your listeners your better self. Likewise, it's a shameful thing not to act, work, and behave in ways that genuinely interest you. It won't be the real you if you don't really care.

This is why it is important to truly care about your work, relationships, success, your future, and the rest of the laundry list. Find things in life that hold your attention and that you ENJOY doing.

“Having passion” for the things you do may be a bit trite… but it is true. If you really get behind the things you do, then keeping up the learning process for new skills will not be a chore, but something that you actively pursue.

Resource #1: Double Your Confidence & Discover Your Life’s Purpose

Resource #2: Discover Your Passion

Resource #3: 5 Steps to Discover Your Life Purpose

29. Utilize Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to chances of success and understanding by using a higher level of thought. Critical thinking is a mass mix of separate skills that all come together to form thought processes that lead to better results.

Critical thinking is a magnificent tool for achieving higher success, and you can easily improve your results in life by simply being aware of what it's like to think critically.

30. The Skill of Mindful Living

Mindfulness is one of the more important mental skills you can create .

I consider mindfulness a “mental” skill, but it touches on many aspects of our lives. It decreases stress, helps reduce suffering from many pains and illness, and can help us feel healthier, happier, and fitter due to the mind-body-spirit connection it fosters.

In short, mindfulness means paying extreme attention to the things you do. Since our world is a busy place and it is hard to be 100% mindful about all things 24/7/364. Mindfulness is usually broken down into specific activities where you pay extreme attention to what is going at specific times, such as “mindful eating.” (If you'd like to learn more about it, then here are 71 mindfulness exercises .)

This is the perfect example of mindfulness as a whole. When you eat mindfully, you do so slowly. You savor the taste and the flavors. Try to discern what ingredients which were used in the cooking process while reflecting on both the heat of the food on your tongue and the crispy “feel” of the food.

Want to learn more details about mindfulness and how you can become more mindful? Why not check out some books I have written with my writing partner Barrie Davenport.

Resources: Our Mindfulness Books and Journal

31. Be Comfortable With Change

If your life sucks, it's pretty obvious that you're going to want it to change. Likewise, if it's amazing, you're going to want it to either stay the same or get more amazing.

Both of these scenarios present the potential for change. Why fear it if you're going to want it for the rest of your life potentially?

Change. Specifically, habit change is right in my wheelhouse. I have written dozens of article about how to make a positive change in your life by changing your habits.

There are many ways to go about changing your habits. Some will have extra steps than the skill resource below. Other may have some additional steps. But at its core, all effective change boils down to following the 8 steps below.

Resource: How to Form a New Habit (In 8 Steps)

32. Find and Remove Useless or BAD Habits

If we define useless here as having zero or worse of an impact on your goals, then simply cutting these things away would have dramatic results. Stop reading silly information you don't really care about if there's something you already know is better that you could be reading.

Stop watching TV that contributes nothing to you, and you will suddenly find yourself with far more time on your hands for your own success.

Not sure what constitutes a bad habit, that you might want to change? Check out this bad habit list . And take a moment to think about changing out some of these bad habits for their better counterparts from this list of good habits .

Resource: How to Break a Bad Habit (without the Cravings)

33. Develop Confidence

Someone asked me how I can take risks so calmly and comfortably. My answer was, “I'm kind of amazing.” The only problem I have with that sentence is that I told them “kind of.”

Now let me be clear. I do not have a superhuman ego. I rarely brag about accomplishments and spend far more time encouraging others than I do talking about myself. I am actually a bit of an introvert.

But it is important to project confidence . Adding qualifiers to statement like “kind of” shows a lack of confidence. It basically means, “if you don’t think I am awesome; I was just kidding.”

Confidence is in recognizing your own strengths and living, breathing, and speaking them. Confident people can have weak moments, but confidence is never weak.

Resource #1: Self-Confidence – 11 Habits to Nurture to Get It

Resource #2: 20 Affirmations for Confidence and Self-Esteem

34. Think Positive

Life can be tough. Bad things happen to us all the time. Sometimes a bad past haunts us every day. It is easy to fill your mind with negative thoughts, but it is essential not to do this.

Positive thinking is a skill. It is something you need to work at intentionally to improve. Learning the skill of positivity is certainly worth the time invested.

When you have a positive mindset, you can take control of the way that you feel, behave and move forward, but you first need to start thinking in those positive, productive ways that provide energy rather than draining it.

Resource: 100 Positive-Thinking Exercises That Will Make Any Patient Healthier & Happier

35. Improve your Memory Skill

If you love quotes, poems, lyrics, or excerpts, you need to be able to memorize them. While it's great to be able to repeat them to others, we cannot remember everything that crosses us.

By learning to remember the significant words we cross, we become better at instilling them within ourselves. If it's important enough to remember, it's probably important enough to embody.

If you are a student, learning to have a sharp memory is even more important. Being able to memorize large amounts of classwork will keep you churning ahead of your peers.

Remember: a good memory is not something you are “born with” unless you are one of the 1 in a million who is born with a truly eidetic memory. For the rest of us, memory is more like a muscle. It is built through work, repetition, and training. It is a skill that needs to be fostered, trained, and built.

Check out some of the best memory exercises below to learn more about building a powerful memory skill.

Resource 1: Free book that helps you retain information 3x faster than your current rate .

Resource 2: Memory Tips & Tricks

And iff you'd like to learn simple ways to improve your memory, here is a video that covers the good habits that will immediately improve your recall.

36. Maintain Self-Awareness

Most people get trapped in their own plans, goals, memories, and ideas. Life happens around them without them being aware. As John Lennon said, “Life happens while we are busy making other plans.”

The self-awareness skill is about keeping one foot in the present and truly understanding what is going on in your life even as you reach for the stars of the future.

This may sound easy. But it really is not.

What is self-awareness?

Being present to everything that's happening as it happens with no need to judge or analyze it. Embodying what it means to experience life, and awareness will come.

Resource: Activities to Build Self Awareness

37. Skill of Focus

Focus is another meta-skill that influences many other mental skills. The ability to fully focus your mind on a single topic is essential for getting the most creativity and productivity out of your time.

If your mind is jumbled with other thoughts or busy trying to multitask your ability to focus greatly suffers. Like many mental and physical activities, focus can be increased and improved with effort .

Think your skills with focus are good? Try the White Bear Experiment. Try to go 5 minutes working on other things and NOT have the thought of white bears cross your mind.

Resource: 10 Mindful Habits to Build the Power of Focus

38. Improve Your Research Skills

When you seek the information here in this list of skills to learn, remember that one source can only give you what it has to offer rather than what's truly available. Be sure to seek more information, even if you think you have all the answers because one little epiphany could change everything.

To get started, we suggest checking out one of the 15 note-taking apps that we review on this page.

Resource: How to Research Effectively

39. Rewire your Brain

Neuroplasticity is the ability to rewire your brain. You can increase IQ, recall, reading speed, cognition by using ideas from this new brain science. The idea behind these activities is to create new information pathways. These new pathways will often help you learn like a child would, quickly and with an ease few adults possess.

The science behind neuroplasticity is new and constantly growing. With the skill of neuroplasticity when you learn something new, you are actively forging new pathways in your brain for learning that will help make learning future skills a bit easier.

Resource: I Am In Control: CBT, Mindfulness and Neuroplasticity

40. Build the Deliberate Practice Habit

Think about basketball. You have two guys practicing. Both spend one-hour practicing. The first guy is running around doing a bit of everything. He does some jump shots. He practices dribbling. He chases after balls as they get away from him. He is not focused on his practice; he tries to do everything.

Now, guy number two is focused. He uses deliberate practice. He spends his hour practicing shooting from the key. He has a coach with him to catch his missed shots, gives advice on improving his shots, and make sure there is little or no downtime.

The laser focus on a particular type of shot means guy number two's practice will be FAR more effective than the same amount of practice time as the first guy.

This is the power of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is a habit. Once you learn to practice deliberately, everything you practice in life becomes easier to learn because you know how to build your skills the right way.

Resource: How to Use Deliberate Practice to Master any Skill

41. Think Logically

Many people encounter a problem and immediately react with an emotional, erratic train of thoughts. They panic, worry, fear, or generally become overwhelmed by negative emotion.

Logic is mathematical; it is the process of finding appropriate answers. Remember that the appropriate answers are what matters, not what you are feeling in times of trouble.

Resource: Mental Models: How Intelligent People Solve Unsolvable Problems

To learn more, here is an interesting, hour-long primer with Shane Parrish on how to build a toolbox of mental models.

Money Skills

(Side note: One of the simplest ways to build your money skills is to join over 1 million others and start your day with the latest news from Wall St. to Silicon Valley. This newsletter is a 5-minute read that's informative, witty, and FREE! )

Everyone likes to have money. They may not have a need to be rich, but it is certainly nice not to scramble to find creative ways to pay your bills.

However, money and finances are certain skills, and unfortunately, they are skills that most people have not learned.

There are skills in frugal living, budgeting, personal finances, debt management and reduction, saving, investing, and more…

If you want to learn a new skill , and you don't know the skills of finance these would be a great place to start. They can help you make more money, spend less, keep more of what you make and even save money for an investment, property, or a future, “something special.” (For more on this, check out the article on 26 better money habits .)

Learn the best things to learn online including #money skills. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

42. Creating a Personal Budget

You need to start early to set yourself up for financial success in the future. If you spend beyond your means, you are setting yourself up to accrue debt and develop a poor credit score. Budgets are a lot easier with some good software to back it up.

I recommend you check out Mint to help you to create a personal budget that is reasonable for your income and lifestyle. MINT is a great system that links together many essential services that will help you create (and manage) your budget.

If you are clueless as to what a budget is, how to make one that works and how to manage a budget once you have one, I recommend you check out this class on basic budgeting below.

Resource: Learn How to Budget! Personal Budgeting Made Easy in 16 minutes!

43. Make Purchases and Get Cash Back

One of the big problems in our credit-heavy society is all the little fees you pay. You pay to get money out of an ATM. You sometimes pay a small fee to HAVE a credit card. You pay huge fees if you are late with payments. And, of course, you pay interest on your purchases.

It can be nice to turn that around by getting cashback from your purchases. One of the best ways to make and save money is to have an app do it for you automatically on purchases that you make every day anyway.

To get started, we recommend the M1 cashback card, which also helps you make smart investing decisions .

Resource #2: Review of the Digit Money-Saving App

44. Track Receipts

Tracking receipts is one of the keys to keeping a good budget. These days you don’t need to keep every document on hand. You simply need some system to store you receipt documents.

I take pictures of all my receipts with my phone and store them on Evernote for when/if I need them.

(Learn how to Master Evernote .)

But there are even simpler methods. Using software like Neat allows you to track your receipts and documents. The software extracts the key information from your receipts and integrates it with accounting and business software to help simplify how you work. This will help you keep your finances organized.

To use this, it is best to have a NeatReceipts Mobile Document scanner so you can scan in all of your purchases as you make them. The software will then organize them for you.

45. How to Repair Credit

If you do find yourself in a financial pitfall, you will need to restore your credit to be able to make large purchases in the future such as a home or a car.

It is important to learn how to repair your credit in case you find yourself in a situation where you don't have the credit you need to buy something that is important.

The simple answer to repairing credit is to make deals on defaulted loans, getting that huge minus off your credit record and then making payments larger than the minimums to pay down debt quickly.

But these are the broad strokes. There are a lot of little things that can be done to improve your credit. Check out the resource below for more bad credit busting tips.

Resource: Credit Repair 101: Raise Your Credit Score FAST!

46. Apply for Loans and Credit Cards

Some people are too scared or lazy to apply for loans and credit cards. Using money that isn't yours can be extremely powerful, both for better and worse. But you can never enter the territory of trying if you never even applied.

You DO need credit cards to build your credit rating. The important thing to learn is that you don't need to build a balance. If you only buy what you can afford, and pay it off almost immediately, you get all of the good parts of a credit card, with none of the negatives.

But if credit is still a major issue or fear, there is still the option of secured credit cards, though.

Resource 1: M1 Financing that has offers better rates than many traditional banks and lending institutions .

Resource 2: I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

47. Manage Your Debt

If you learn something new every day, I wish more people would learn the skill of managing debt. This simple skill can help get you out of mountainous debt and get you to the point where your money goes to buy YOU things. Not pay off interest to corporate fat-cats.

After you owe money, remember that managing your debt is a simple matter of making timely payments and paying in a way that pays off the debt in the fastest way that's reasonable.

In other words, don't use your rent money to pay off your debt, but it might also help to brew coffee at home sometimes and put that extra money towards your debts.

One of the best skills to learn in relation to managing your debt is the skill of frugal living. Making those simple day-to-day choices that save you small amounts but can add up to real debt reducing amounts.

Resource: Best Books on Frugal Living and Reducing Debt

48. How to Save, Spend and Invest

Spending money is the art of using your money as you see fit to improve your current situation.

Saving money is the art of cutting back and resisting the urge to spend for the sake of your future situation. Investing money is the art of spending money on future gains .

All of these arts are essential financial skills to learn . But the most dangerous can be investing. Investing has an incredible upside. It can make money on top of your money, and hopefully, at some point, lead to independent wealth or comfortable retirement.

But there is also risk involved, and it is important to understand the risk vs. reward of investments.

Resource 1: M1 Finance that offers a completely free investing platform .

Resource 2: Best Books on Investing

49. Weighing Risk and Reward

With all decisions come risk and reward. Some situations are riskier while others are more rewarding. The trick to making these decisions is to consider all potential risks alongside all potential rewards and try to figure out whether or not the choice is really worth the risk.

Resource: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

50. Save Money

Part of managing your money is learning how to save it. It is important to live within your means and keep some money aside for when you might need it in the future. You don't want to have to always take out a line of credit when an emergency comes up, so having a healthy savings account is a great way to have a safety net.

Saving money is a skill. Check out the link below for some tips to help you save more of what you earn.

Resource : 17 Best Money-Saving Apps

51. Conserve Utilities

Sure, it may be easy to walk out of a room and forget to turn the light off. However, making an effort to turn off your lights and appliances when they are not being used in your home, office, or apartment can help save you a significant amount of money when it comes to your monthly utility bill.

You might be surprised how many people do not conserve utilities and by how much can be saved by being diligent with this specific skill.

And, of course, as an added benefit being good about not wasting gas and electric is a nice positive for the environment.

There are a few extra things you can do each day to really benefit from this and get the most out of your efforts:

Make sure that you turn off all of the lights whenever you leave a room.
Turn off your electronics when you are not using them. While many electronics will automatically go into a “standby” mode if they are not used for a certain amount of time, this still uses some electricity.
If the weather is nice outside, open up your windows and use fans around the house to circulate the air and cool down in the summertime. This will help you save money by only using the air conditioning on days that are oppressively hot.
Open up your blinds and shades in the winter to allow sunlight in and warm up your home. Warming your home naturally with the sun will keep you from spending additional money on heating.
When you are cooking, match your pot size to the size of your burner. If you use a small pot or pan on a large burner, you are expending additional energy to get the same result.
Use the smallest pot or appliance that you need. If you are heating up one chicken breast, don't preheat your entire oven. Rather, heat up your small convection oven, or consider cooking it in a pan.
Wash your clothes in cold water. You will achieve the same results as washing in warm water, but you will save about 40 cents per a load of laundry.
If you are going out of town, turn off the water heater. It only takes an hour for a water heater to reheat the water in your house and turning it off saves quite a bit of energy while you are gone.
Don't leave your electronics on the charger once they are fully charged. This wastes energy and can possibly harm your batteries.

Resource: One tool that can help you save money on utilities is Trim , which is an app that negotiates on your behalf better rates with your providers of cable, Internet, phone and helps you get rid of unwanted services .

52. Stock Investing Skill

Whether you've inherited some money or you're saving money every month, you might be wondering about how you should invest your money to make it work for you. Learning how to invest your money is actually easier than a lot of people assume it is.

You do not need to be an experienced trader to be successful in the stock market and in fact, it is often best to not move your money around very often.

While you may have heard that the best time to begin your investments is ten years ago, but the next best time is today . In other words, it's never too late to get started with investing. So take your time to learn about the stock market, bonds, mutual funds, and trades. But once you learn the basics, you should challenge yourself to take that first step.

Resources: Investing Masterclass | How Not To Suck At Investing: Understanding Stocks Part 1 and Part 2

53. Property Investing Skill

Property investing is not a “get rich quick” scheme. But having real estate education will give you a solid foundation to a long-lasting business. There are a lot of possibilities that come along with investing in real estate and getting a step-by-step guide to analyzing, investing, selling, and flipping real estate can be very beneficial to you in the long run.

One of the best resources for this is the Bigger Pockets brand, which includes books, in-depth blog posts, and an active forum for you to talk with other people who are investing in real estate to learn from their mistakes and their successes.

You don't need to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to learn about the real estate business. Just do a little research to see what part of real estate interests you the most and go from there. Below are links to some of the best property investment books — the same ones I used to research before buying my first two investment properties.

Resource: 16 Best Property Investment Books

54. Invest Money (the Easy way)

Okay. This one is more of a hack than a skill. One easy way to invest your money is to use a service like Acorns . Here, all of the purchases you make are rounded up to the next dollar, and the change is sent to your savings account. For example, if you buy a cup of coffee that is $4.50, you will pay $5, and 50 cents will go directly into your savings.

Making purchases with whole dollar amounts also makes tracking your money easier, and the money that is put into your savings account will add up quickly. You will likely not notice the change slowly coming out of your checking account, but it can be invested quickly.

Health & Fitness Skills

Of all the skills to learn , developing your knowledge of health and fitness principles should be a major priority.

Many people want to learn about business, money, and relationships skills. They want to meet people, enjoy their lives, have success, and achieve their dreams of achievement.

However, if you skip on health and fitness skills, in the long term it will come back to haunt you.

These are the skills that keep you alive longer. They are the skills that build a health reservoir, so you are going strong when you reach 60, rather than breaking down like some other peers.

These skills to learn are potential lifesavers and should be approached with that level of importance and reverence.

So, let's learn something new from health & fitness.

Find out what are the best skills to learn for the future including new skills to learn in Health & Fitness. #learn #learning #education #purpose #healthyliving #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

55. Breathing/Deep Breathing Skill

Learning how to breathe properly can make you happier and healthier. It is a key to meditation and mindfulness, and also has a huge positive impact on your body, health, and life.

Deep Breathing can help lower your blood pressure , boost your immune system, relax your mind, reduce stress, and even improve your sleep.

During difficult times, it's especially useful to know how to practice deep breathing to keep yourself calm. Just a few minutes of deep conscious breathing can positively affect one's state of mind.

Oxygen is a catalyst for our bodies that's so important, we take breaths constantly and hardly even notice. We need a constant supply, or we will lose consciousness in short order.

With that said, it's important to remember to breath in deeply. It should feel good to let the air in, almost like a reverse hug from the inside. The exhale should be calm and comfortable.

The effects can be felt immediately. Develop this skill and powerful breathing will become second nature. It's important to remember that you won't become perfect at breathing better overnight, but it's well worth the wait to develop.

Resources: Relaxation Breathing Meditation | Breathing Relaxation: A Simple Easy Way to Reduce Stress

56. Swimming Skill

Swimming is an amazing skill because it's half recreation and half survival. The ability to swim produces nearly the most health benefits of any form of exercise.

There are a few other good reasons to learn to swim.

First off swimming is the most complete exercise in the world. It exercises just about all the muscles in your body.

Second is that it is no “impact” exercise. In most forms of aerobic exercise, constant movement means constant impact with the ground. Swimming on the other hand, is easy on the joints and muscles.

Finally, due to the last reason, swimming and water exercise are the perfect “rehabilitation” exercise for any time when you get injured in your primary sport or exercise.

At these times a passable ability to swim could be an important plus.

Ideally, you should be prepared to swim in the ocean for a few hours while you wait for rescue, but swimming from the middle of a lake is a decent secondary goal. Start small.

Resource: Learn Swimming Fundamentals

Yoga is a mixture of physical exercise, breathing control, and meditation that has both physical and mental health benefits. Yoga is one of the most popular complementary and alternative medicine therapies to traditional medical care, and its effectiveness is supported by a plethora of evidence.

If you are new to yoga, chances are you can get some great beginner-level instruction at your local gym. If you are too shy, you may want to try a video-based Yoga class .

Resource: Yoga Burn , which provides a natural way to lose weight and build a fun exercise habit at the same time.

Resource #2 : Grokker which has a wide-range of classes about Yoga ( Read the review here ).

58. Get Good Sleep

Sleep is one of the key health factors few people think about. When you don’t get enough sleep, both your body and mind suffer. Your thinking is unclear. You make bad decisions. Your stress and anxiety increase leading to a whole host of possible medical issues.

While one bad night's sleep is not likely to kill you, the cumulative effect of months of poor sleeping certainly could lead to some mistake or health issue that actually could kill you.

Yes, poor sleep is nothing to joke about. In this extensive sleep tips post , I covered just about every single method you can use to get better sleep. If none of these methods works, you may seriously want to consider consulting your doctor because it is highly possible you have sleep apnea or another sleeping disorder.

Sleep Apnea is a condition where you actually stop breathing at times during the night. This leads to very restless sleep because you rarely reach the “deep sleep” stage that truly nourishes your body.

Resource #1: 17 Healthy Ways to Fall Asleep Faster

Resource #2: 28 Sleep Gadgets to Improve Your Sleep

59. Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy uses aromatic plants and plant materials (often the pressed plant's oils) to create a sense of both psychological and physical well-being.

Aromatherapists are experts who understand the exact blends, amounts, mixtures, and application methods to achieve desired effects for their clients.

Most aromatherapy is done through smell. Using essential oil diffusers to spread the aromatic and healing oils into the air around the client, but aromatherapy also includes topical application, massage, and water immersion as methods of application.

Aromatherapy not only includes the simple skills of using these relaxing and wonderful smelling oils to get your own personal spa experience, but you can learn the process of making your own collection of spa materials from aromatherapy.

Learning aromatherapy can teach you to make:

Homemade Soap
Spa quality bath bombs
Body Butter
Essential Oils
Specialized essential oil mixes
Soothing creams
Exfoliating body scrubs
Moisturizing body lotions

Basically, any aromatic fragrance products that any spa enthusiast would be proud to use.

Resource: Handcrafter’s Companion (making spa-quality products for fun & profit)

60. Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated and drinking enough water are keys to health and fitness. Just like getting a good night’s sleep. Poor hydration can have effects that are both far-reaching and often go undetected.

Water is an important aspect of personal responsibility . There are children in third-world countries that literally beg on street corners for water, and yet there are so many people who take their unending access to water for granted.

When you are properly hydrated, your urine should be clear and colorless. This often means 64 ounces of water in a single day. But can mean quite a bit more if you exercise or if you live or work in a hot/ humid area.

Learn exactly what hydration is and feels like. Seek to stay properly hydrated at all times, as it is life-changing to go from being under-hydrated to constantly hydrated.

Resource: The Ultimate Guide on How to Increase Daily Water Intake

61. Mental Health: Get Your Mind Right for Health

Good health is not all about “picking things up” and “putting things down.” It is not all about eating right, living a healthy lifestyle, and being aerobically fit. It is all of those things but more. Being healthy also includes your state of mind.

Someone who is fit, eats well and exercises may still have a lot of issues if they are constantly depressed, anxious, and stressed.

We don’t need to live in some false state of nirvana and happiness. But it is important from a healthy mental health perspective to try to put your “best foot forward” mental health-wise when you can.

This means trying to be happy. Having an overall optimistic viewpoint. And being positive. Check out some of the books linked below to get a better grasp on positive thinking, happiness and how to can get your mind in a better place for improved health.

Resource: 18 Best Books on Happiness

62. Mastering the Mind-Body Connection

Having a mind-body connection means that you are able to learn to use your mind to positively influence some of your physical responses, which can help you manage anxiety and decrease stress and even help you to get rid of physical ailments.

The idea of a mind-body connection and a truly scientific connection was first introduced by Dr. John Sarno in his book Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection . In this book, Sarno, an expert in back pain relief, pointed out how many of his back pain sufferers were having their conditions created by or exacerbated by stress, and how sometimes mindfulness techniques and meditation were better for relieving their pain than dangerous spinal surgery.

This idea has been taken by others and expanded outside the realm of back pain. Whether the effects are psychosomatic or show true body healing via mental health techniques is a question that could be debated. Using your “mind” as a cure is certainly not an answer to every medical problem. But there are certain aspects of healthy living like back pain that can be helped by understanding the potential healing powers of a strong mind-body connection.

63. Massage Therapy

Most people enjoy a good massage. If we could give ourselves relaxing massages, the world would certainly be a much nicer place.

Learning a little bit of the skills of a professional massage therapist is not going to directly give you more massages. But if you give a good massage, there are many people who would be glad to reciprocate with a return massage after getting a dose of your healing hands.

Resource: Give A Great Chair Massage

Resource #2: Six Benefits of Using a Foam Roller

64. Efficient Walking

Walking is another key to fitness and health. Yes, there are many exercises that are more energetic, calorie-burning, and muscle building.

But walking is and will always be a good baseline. When you get injured from any other sport, walking will always be a way to recuperate. When you get older, and fitness gets difficult, walking becomes a great source of activity.

Walking is low impact. It moves most muscles, groups. It is easy to do, and one of the only places where multitasking is not suboptimal. Walking gives you the time and energy for creative thoughts while also helping you to pad any other daily fitness.

In fact, as a marathon runner, I still find time to incorporate a few long walks into my weekly routine. I think walking is essential to keeping fit and healthy and can easily be used as an addition to existing routines.

Resources: Learn Everything About the Walking Exercise Habit

65. Eat Like You Respect Yourself

Most people eat like they're hungry and have a taste in mind. Few eat as though they respect themselves.

Does that person eating their second combo meal of the day truly respect their body?

Does that fourth soda really contribute to self-worth?

Simple self-respect goes the furthest when it comes to eating healthy.

Resource: Healthy Eating Ultimate Guide

66. Understand Portion Sizes Without a Need to Measure

This is a key to healthy eating. Many people have no idea how much it is “too much.” So, they either starve themselves by living off of celery, and the lime in their water or they think they are eating reasonable amounts but eating much more than they believe.

Part of these problems stems from the supersizing of the world. Plates used to be 8-9 inches. They now average 12 inches and are growing. Going out to eat you once got the proper amount of food. Now you get handed a plated topped with such generous portions it is impossible to finish it alone.

Here are your proper portion sizes. These sizes represent 1 serving of each item. Some balancing in your mind needs to go on. If your apple is extra-large, you need to realize you have had 1 ½ serving and not just a single serving. You should have these portion measurements stuck in your brain.

Piece of cheese. NO bigger than your index finger
Apple: No bigger than your closed fist
Dry cereal: no bigger than a closed fist
Canned Peaches: No bigger than a fist
Milk: No bigger than a fist
Salad: No bigger than two closed fists side-by-side
Protein: Meat, Nuts, Pork, Chicken” No bigger than a deck of playing cards
Bread: No bigger than your hand
Peanut butter: Spoonful no bigger than your thumb
Noodles, Rice, Oatmeal: NO bigger than the palm of your hand

The above gives you a good idea of what portion sizes really are; probably a little less “per portion” than you thought. Eat the proper portions, and there is little reason you shouldn’t be able to eat ANY food. As long as you are recognizing how much you are actually consuming.

To make this process a little bit easier, you can use some of the portion control plates linked below to make the process of eating right a little bit easier.

Resource: Learn about Portion Control Plates to help you get a handle on proper portion sizes.

67. Relax Effectively

You're going to be doing a lot of work once you absorb the skills on this list. Some of the skills are easy. But some quite difficult.

Time for rest, recuperation, and recovery is going to be essential. For many, this skill may seem amazingly simple: just sit around and do little (or nothing). However, for “go-getters” and “type “A” personalities,” effective relaxing may seem as difficult as swimming for someone who has never been in the water over their waist.

Quality rest is as good as quality work time. When you need a break, take one. Never let your work damage you so much that you have to stop working.

Resource: The Importance of Rest

68. Relieve Stress

They call stress the silent killer because it is easy to miss the day-to-day damage stress does to your body. By the time you notice these cumulative damages, it may be too late.

Stress matters. If you are constantly stressed, you need to either find a way to reduce your amount of daily stress or find better ways of dealing with your stress. Or even better, do both.

Resource: Dealing with Stress: 19 Proven Ways to Relieve Your Stress

69. Maintain Proper Posture

The human body is a delicate system that can be easily ruined by constant, uneven balance under the forces of gravity. Muscles fuse, spines contort, and tendons tear. Maintaining proper posture and alignment allows you to experience less fatigue and there is far less strain being put on your ligaments and muscles.

Learning good posture is the first step you can take in a positive direction toward better postural habits to help your spine.

Resource: Complete Stretching: 30+ Stretches For Flexibility & Posture

70. Fully Understand Nutrition

Once again, this skill is one of the true keys to health.

It only makes sense. After all, you are what you eat. If you live off of potato chips, pizza, and cola, you can expect your body to react negatively. However, if you follow some nutrition rules, you will be far healthier and likely live years longer.

Understanding nutrition means understanding everything that goes into your body and how your body processes these foods — understanding how dieting for weight-loss works, what it means to eat healthily. How to plan meals, and understanding fat loss, carbs, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and the basics of how our immune system works.

Resource: Nutrition Made Easy

71. Experiment with a Paleo Diet

First of all, paleo is not for everyone.

I am not going to make a statement that if you are not doing Paleo, you are not healthy. (Although some Paleo aficionados would make that statement for me).

Paleo is a healthy living and healthy eating option. It is not the only option, but it is a worthwhile option to consider if you want to change up your lifestyle.

In case you are one of the few people who has never heard of the paleo diet. In a nutshell, it means eating like our hunter-gatherer forefathers. Typically, the paleo diet includes meat, vegetables, fruits, roots, and nuts while avoiding or strictly limiting any food that is processed, such as dairy, sugars, oils, salt, legumes, grains, coffee, or alcohol.

Resource: The Paleo Diet Walkthrough

72. Staying Fit as You Age

As you age, it becomes more difficult to stay fit. First, all your old abuses come back. If you had not treated your body like a temple when you were younger, your body may begin to revolt as you get older.

Consider it payback for health sins of the past.

Then your genetics plays its part. Genetics may be good to you, or you may throw snake-eyes and have genetics make it more difficult to stay healthy as you age.

Either way, staying healthy as you age presents its own unique series of problems, challenges, and accomplishments to overcome.

An important point to remember about building this skill is that it becomes more difficult the longer you wait.

If you start in your 20s, building the skill of staying fit as you age is easy. But if you start to worry about building this skill when you hit 60, you have a much tougher path to fitness.

Resource: Staying Fit as You Age

73. Stretch

Stretching can be one of the most overlooked skills leading to a healthy lifestyle. Specifically, when you are young, and your muscles and bones feel loose and limber most of the time, people may think they don’t need to stretch.

Unfortunately, lack of stretching leads directly to injury, tears, sprains, and ultimately, the loss of flexibility. It is important to start stretching young and begin to build flexibility and good posture into your healthy routine as early as possible.

Resource: Hyperbolic stretching training for men and for women .

74. Efficient and Safe Running

I have been a consistent runner for nearly 30 years now (except for times of injury). So, I may (admittedly)be a bit biased when I discuss the virtues of running. (To learn more, we have a new website that focuses on running for beginners .)

Along with walking, running is one of the best overall forms of exercise to stay fit. It helps tone your muscles, keeps weight off, makes you aerobically, “fit” and even gives you free time to think creatively and work through problems.

But with running often comes injuries. Learn to get the most from your running. Learn good technique and learn how to minimize injuries with this training. If you are going to run, it is important to learn to do so in a way that minimizes damage and maximizes the many positive aspects of running.

Resources: The Easiest Running Approach – Couch to 21km & 11 Vision Board Ideas & Examples for Athletes

75. Practice Self-Care

Despite what some of my fellow Gen. X ers might think. Self-care is not some pampered ideal created by spoiled Millennials.

No, self-care is an important skill.

Self-care has been an important part of health and fitness for thousands of years. (They have found Aromatherapy recipes in ancient Egypt). It makes a huge difference in our health and well-being — specifically mental health.

Practicing self-care 24/7/365 is certainly indulgent. But everyone needs to take some time for themselves for rest, recovery, and recuperation, and that is what self-care is all about.

Resource: 275 Self-Care Ideas and Activities

Communication Skills

Our list of new things to learn keeps going on. Up next are communication skills.

These are useful things to learn in two major places: business and personal life. In both of these places, it becomes important to share your thoughts and learn new things like public speaking.

Without learning some good communication skills and breaking down barriers that hold you back from communicating your thoughts, it may become difficult to get ahead in your chosen profession and find new friends and/or relationships.

Learning new things including useful Communication skills and other best skills to learn for jobs. #learn #learning #education #purpose #productivity #success #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

76. Write Professional Emails

It is important always to present yourself in a professional manner when meeting with colleagues or clients, communication, and professionalism through email also matters.

Learning how to write emails correctly can spare you some embarrassment in the professional world. Professional emails are a bit of an art form and certainly not meant to contain a lot of shorthand “IM Speak & emoticons.”

Email is such a common form of professional communication that can make or break your reputation as an expert in your field, Even more importantly, your professionalism in your writing will have a big impact on your career path and success, as this may become one of the best ways to network within your field.

Resource: Writing Professional Emails and Memos

77. Write a Professional Resume

Your resume gives potential future employers a very quick snapshot of why you are a better fit for their company than the next guy walking through the door. That is why this skill is so darn important.

An incredibly well-written resume is worth its weight in gold because it will get you that better job, with the better benefits and greater opportunity.

In our culture of constant distractions, your resume will not hold anyone's attention for very long, so you have to know how to make it effective and efficient to capture an employer's attention.

Learning how to write a professional resume is likely to be your first step to landing an interview for a job that you are well-suited to do.

But the sad truth is that most resumes do not even make it to the decision-maker. They are screened out of the process due to resume “issues.”

These bad resumes may:

Contain too little information
Contain too much of the wrong information
Do not show the applicants core strengths
Not properly formatted
Don’t “guide the eye” through the resume reading process
Contain information that does not apply to that specific job
Do not “sell” you (or your skills and experience) to the hiring manager

A few simple improvements in your resume writing skills make it far more likely to get it to seem (and approved) by the decision-makers.

Resource #1: Recruiter Reveals CV (Resume) Writing Formula

Resource #2: If you don't have time to work on your resume, here is a done-for-you service that can write a professional resume, cover letter, and follow up letters for your interviews .

78. Write with Pizazz

Let’s face it. Most writing is boring; specifically, in the context of a work/ business environment.

Deathly dull writing makes everything written simply fade into the background, like the constant drone from a bee buzzing around the room.

Being able to put a little bit of flair or personality into your writing is a big deal. It is essential if you make your living writing and can give you a big boost over your peers if writing is only part of your job description.

Whether you are writing for business, blogs, books, essays or to create a masterpiece that people notice, putting flair, pizazz, and style into your writing will get it noticed. Find out more in the guide below.

Resource #1: The Writer's Toolkit

Resource #2: James Patterson Teaches Writing

Resource #3: 6 SMART Goals Examples for Improving Your Writing Skills

79. Learn to Offer Value to Others

The best default psychology for a success story is to have something to offer that people want. It needs to be valuable, and you need to be the one giving it out. You need to communicate the value of what you're doing to others so that they may understand it.

That's all it takes to be someone that people seek. Once you understand what it means to offer value, you can start to orient your behavior around creating and developing aspects of yourself that are truly valuable to yourself and others.

Resource: Give and You Will Receive

80. Be Personable

One of the biggest benefits of becoming a unique individual is that you can now speak with others very directly and in a way, they can't find elsewhere. That's being personable, and it's invaluable; there is a priceless process in becoming a priceless person.

One of the key components of that, though, is how you relate to others. What better way is there to relate to an individual than individually?

Resource: The Conversational Power of History, Philosophy, and Metaphor (HPM )

81. Be Able to Keep Your Message Brief

One of the keys to effective communication is the ability to keep your message brief.

In business (and in life) time is money. If you have a moment with a high powered executive, you need to be prepared to present your case in as succinct a manner as possible, but also have the facts and knowledge to expand your message as much as desired depending upon response.

Elevator speeches are a perfect example of that. They do not NEED to take place in an elevator, but any spiel should not last longer than the handful of seconds it takes to go up a few floors.

As a “training” method for this communication skill, why not try to do what my dad did for my brother and me as kids. He had a 10 words or less rule where you had to explain what you wanted in less than 10 words.

When you try this on complicated topics, it helps you build the ability to come up with succinct responses. Add a few details back in… and you have your perfect “elevator” speeches.

Resource: How to Give an Elevator Pitch (with Examples)

82. How to Write an Effective Speech (from Page to Stage)

Speech writing is very different from other forms of writing. It is as much about entertaining as it is about informing. To be effective, you need to create a pace that is unique to speeches.

Speech writing is not a skill everyone needs. Certainly not “all the time,” but most of us will need to give a handful of speeches in our lives. (business, wedding, events, etc.)

Honing a speech writing skill will, therefore, help you both personally and professionally, depending on how much need your career and life presents you to use your communication skill.

Resources: How to Outline and Write Your First Speech | Intro to Public Speaking

83. How to Speak to an Audience

Of course, writing a killer speech is only part of the equation. Many people can write a killer speech that could leave people laughing and informed, but do not have the speech-making skills to present a great speech. While other people can go up on stage, with no speech, and deliver a well-received speech.

The main difference between these two is practice. To be at ease in front of groups of people, you need to have spoken in front of other people before.

If you aren't prepared to speak in front of 1,000 people at this very second, how can you expect to be someone that 1,000 people look up to? Great habits lead to greatness, and greatness attracts attention. Imagine being someone incredible and ruining the speech with nervousness, shaking hands, and stuttered words.

Resource: A Quiet Person's Guide To Effective Public Speaking

84. Conversation Confidence Skill

Some people have no problem with this skill. They seem destined to talk to others and always seem to leave a wonderful impression.

Truth time: that is not me. I have always been a bit of a shy introvert. Being reserved and sometimes struggling to make even basic conversation with strangers.

“But Steve,” you might ask, “I have heard you on podcasts. How could you do those if you were not a good conversationalist?”

Well, the answer to that is simple: practice, willpower, and work.

I am not “naturally” good at talking to strangers, but like any other skill, you can improve with some time, effort and that “deliberate practice” skill we mentioned a bit earlier.

If you want to improve your confidence in conversations, the best thing you can force yourself to engage strangers in conversation. There will certainly be a few awkward moments, but as you gain your conversation confidence, these moments will become less-and-less frequent.

If you want a shortcut to building your confidence in conversations, check out the guide linked below.

Resource: Conversation Confidence

85. Learn to Network

Networking is another of the communication skills that are not natural to me at all. It takes a certain mindset to be great at making friends quickly and connecting with others.

This just isn’t me. But that is why I hold this skill in such high regard. It is a skill I am working hard to improve, bit by bit.

In the long term, your network of business contacts are going to be one of the most powerful tools for your success. I already have gotten some great ideas in the Kindle publishing, blogging, and writing fields from people I have in my network. These burgeoning friendships have made and/or saved me tens of thousands of ideas.

You may be an introvert and not inclined to put effort into meeting strangers and building friendships via networking, but the long term positive benefits are impossible to ignore.

Resource: How to Connect with Others! (Networking Strategies that Work!)

Business Skills

The list of useful skills to learn has to be topped by business skills. These skills improve your performance. They get you your promotions and generally help you to get your job and do it better.

86. Question Conventional Wisdom

Okay, this one is more of a mindset than a skill, but it is worth mentioning.

In business and life, you will often be told some things “can’t be done.” You will be given examples of past failures and shown clearly why some things cannot and will not ever work.

While there is something to learn from the wisdom of past generations, it is also important to question the truth of these ideas.

87. Develop Business Relationships

This is similar to the “networking” skill we just talked about in communication skill # 85. However, this is more focused on just the work environment.

Business relationships are not just the people you network with but all work interactions.

Here are some of the essential business relationships that will help you go above and beyond any peers or competition at work:

Find a mentor
Mentor someone else
Join a professional “mastermind” group
Build networking skills
Discover what your boss really wants
Learn how to DO your boss's job. And why this is important

If you want to increase any of these skills, check out the networking book I wrote with my writing partner Rebecca Livermore, linked below.

Resource: T he Daily Entrepreneur: 33 Success Habits for Small Business Owners, Freelancers and Aspiring 9-to-5 Escape Artists by S.J. Scott

88. Mastering Organization

Organization is a productivity and time-saving skill. Being good at business organization can be just as important as being as good as Marie Kondo at home organization and decluttering.

It can often be important to store paperwork around your office, for instance, and being able to find any file, folder or piece of paperwork quickly and easily relies on having a good organizational skill in place.

The lesson linked below is literally everything you might ever need to know about office organization. It is a soup-to-nuts course covering physically decluttering your office and also the main element s of digitally decluttering your office.

12 hours of training spread over 84 different classes means you will learn everything you need to know about business and office organization.

Resource: How to Organize your Life and Work | 5 Day Organization Challenge

89. Planning: Plan Your Day, Week, Month, Quarter & Year

Hard work is important. But it will be trumped by effective planning every single time.

Good planning takes into account contingencies, emergencies, and setbacks. Good planning can be boiled down to a single page while also having detailed instructions of what is to come and how to do it.

Plans will also be available in varying details over time (5 years, yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily plans are all common, and when used and written properly, helpful in completing necessary tasks.

Resource: Master Planning: Plan Your Day, Week, Month, Quarter & Year

90. Managing Employees

Not only is it difficult to find a great employee, but it is also hard to keep them around. Hiring, managing, and firing employees can easily make or break a business. It seems that companies are all competing for the best workers who enable the company to achieve its strategic goals.

This course explores the importance of hiring employees who are in line with the company's overall strategy. It also goes over how to manage employees so they will stay with the company for the long term and reduce the turnover rate.

Resource: Recruiting, Hiring, and Onboarding Employees

91. How to Hire and Manage VIRTUAL Teams

Working remotely is a very common thing to do these days. With everyone's access to the internet and smartphones, there sometimes is no need to add the additional cost of a large brick and mortar office to business. However, you have to know how to hire and manage employees and keep them on track without having the ability to look over their shoulder.

My personal experience with hiring virtual staff has been through the link below. I love this service and highly recommend it to help find oversea virtual staff.

Resource: Virtual Staff Finder

92. Inbox Zero

It is easy for email to get out of control. The time involved to keep your email emptied may seem prohibitive unless you have a good system.

If you are a GMAIL user, I recommend the course linked below to help keep your inbox clean and clear without spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with emails.

Resource: Gmail Zero Inbox

93. Business Skills Fundamentals

Everyone wants to know what it takes to be successful in business, and especially how to achieve the kind of success that steadily increases rather than goes through peaks and valleys.

Having critical business skills comes down to having a solid knowledge of the fundamentals of business, along with what other successful companies are doing right.

Resource: Critical Business Skills for Success (Audiobook) by The Great Courses

94. Accounting and Bookkeeping Basics

While accounting and bookkeeping may not be your job, you should still be familiar with some basics. This way, you will be able to check the work of other people and make sure that the bookkeeping is being done correctly for your company.

Unless, of course, accounting or bookkeeping is your job… in which case the basics should seem very simplistic for you.

Resource: Accounting: The Ultimate Guide to Accounting for Beginners – Learn the Basic Accounting Principles by Greg Shields

95. How to Influence Others

The ability to influence other people is a fundamental skill that all effective leaders have to master. Without the ability to influence other people, you are not likely to be able to make your vision become a reality because you won't have anyone helping you.

You have to have the ability to capture the minds and energy of other people to achieve the things in life that you want to achieve.

Effective leaders go beyond commanding and actually inspire, persuade, and encourage others. Leaders are able to tap into the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a group and lead individuals toward a common goal.

Resource: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

96. How to Get the Most From What You Do

The first step to getting the most from what you do is envisioning what you want to accomplish. What do you want out of life? Maybe you want to do satisfying work that allows you to help other people. Maybe you want to find a fulfilling relationship that makes you happy. Maybe you want to get in shape so you can run a marathon. No matter what you are doing, you have to learn how to get the most from it.

To do this, you have to find internal motivation to do what you are doing. Learn to enjoy the process rather than race to the results and learn from your mistakes. Talk to other people who have succeeded in your quest to learn about what they have already been through.

Resource: The Psychology of Performance: How to Be Your Best in Life (Audiobook) by The Great Courses

97. Art of Negotiating

In life, everything is negotiable. Your salary. What you do at your job. How much your business pays for services.

Okay, the counter guy at 7-11 might not negotiate on the price of milk, but most major and important parts of life are open to some form of negotiating. But how good are your negotiating skills?

We don’t have an open barter system in our economy so most negotiating may seem like backroom deals, but they are really a part of the fabric of our society.

If your negotiating skills are lacking, it is important that you take a bit of time and get them up to speed. Just the hiring/firing form of negotiation makes this bit of effort worthwhile.

Resource: Negotiation and Conflict Management

98. Stay Sharp

Keeping your skills active is the ultimate way to stay sharp. Anytime you walk away from something; you move further away from being able to do it at your best unless away time was sincerely needed. Keep at what you care about, or you will be about as useful to achieving your goals as a dull saw is to wood.

99. End Procrastination

Procrastination is the #1 business and life killer. We all procrastinate from time-to-time, but if procrastination actually keeps you from accomplishing important business or personal life tasks, then this quickly becomes something that you MUST address.

If you want more info on why people procrastinate see these causes of procrastination . If you are looking for some quick-fix ideas on how to stop your procrastination tendencies, see some methods for overcoming procrastination .

But if you want to end procrastination once and forever, check out the link below, which I think of as the ultimate guide to fighting procrastination.

Resource #1: How to Stop Procrastinating: A Simple Guide to Mastering Difficult Tasks and Breaking the Procrastination Habit by S.J. Scott

Resource #2 : Seven Best TED Talks on Overcoming Procrastination

100. Goal-Setting Skills

Finally, we come to goal setting. It is important to have reachable goals that are lofty enough to stretch your abilities yet still very achievable. A lot goes into the planning, implementation, and execution of goals.

If you are unsure about types of goals , how to create reasonable goals, or how to actually stick to your goals until you accomplish them, you may wish to invest some time in the goal building skill.

The course below is designed for life coaches. It teaches how to reach your personal goals, of course, but has a full bag of hacks & tips for helping others reach their own personal & professional goals.

Resource: Master CONFIDENCE & GOAL SETTING from a World Record Holder

101. Essential Business Online TOOLS Skills

The final collection of skills is some highly useful training on specific PC software.

Anyone who has a job that is mainly “at the computer” will find all of these software programs familiar. They (or their generic equivalents) are the industry standards of work and productivity tools.

Rather than offer one lone overarching course that might take 100 hours to complete, why not look at the tabbed entry below to find the best training to suit your specific needs.

Resources: International Open Academy Courses

Excel Training

The course covers an overview of all tools and functions, useful beginner tips and tricks, intermediate formulas and techniques, and how to export your data as charts.

Microsoft Word Training

Knowing how to effectively utilize Word, the world’s most widely used word processor can benefit anyone. From resumes to reports, or flyers and invitations, knowing how to navigate Word is truly beneficial.

Microsoft Office Training

This course will introduce you to the three main programs in Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

PowerPoint gives you the tools to create attractive and dynamic presentations. The course covers the basics – editing and creating slides – and then progresses to creating complete professional-looking slideshows that include text, graphics, and video.

WordPress and Blog Building

This course will provide you with a comprehensive guide to starting your blog, and choosing your niche, making your blog popular and monetizing it.

In Closing…

These are just 101 new skills to learn that can add value to your life.

Odds are, I will add more to this list in the next few months.

But as we close things out, try to imagine what you would be like if you were able to develop some of these skills in your life.

If you can just add one or two skills from this list, then that would be a better use of your time than wasting your time watching T.V. or playing that latest game on your phone.

So, my advice is simple:

Pick one of the skills mentioned in this list and make that commitment to work on it for the next month . Even if you spend only 30 minutes a day on this activity, you will have added something valuable to your life in just a few short weeks. You can even create a 30-day challenge to dedicate yourself to mastering this new skill.

Finally, if you'd like a simple resource that can teach you all the skills on this page, then I recommend checking out the thousands of courses that are available on this self-education platform.

Like this post?

Then please share your thoughts on new things to learn in the comments below.

I arbitrarily ended this list at 101 skills, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of skills that you can build. So, please share your personal favorite skills to this list to give our readers more ideas.

Also, the success of this post depends upon spreading the message of this post. If you enjoyed the post, then please spread the word by sharing this new skills post on your favorite social media (like Pinterest)!

101 New Skills: Learn Something New Everyday

18 thoughts on “101 New Skills: Learn Something New in 2024”

A comprehensive, common-sense layout of 88 habits and thought patterns. Thanks.

Thanks to inspire me

And Why not you add a cup Sport? The sport of unstacking and restacking paper cups..

Thanks Grahame. Yeah, this is a BIG article. (Took weeks to research & write it) So certainly bookmark away!!!

Thank you so much Scott, You have provided great insight hot to utilize our time more productive instead of wasting our time by watching TV or playing mobile or PC games.

Appreciate your efforts and contribution

Thanks so much! This is exactly what I need to better my life. Getting ready to share everywhere. I have most of your ebooks and want to get the jounal. I really appreciate the additional resources,You Rock!!

Thanks Krista! Appreciate the nice comment! Hope it helps and you pick up a cool skill… let me know.

I would like to say, “learn to play guitar” because it is just so darn cool. But in reality I think the top three are: improving mindfulness, improving my “home repair” skills (pretty awful) and swimming. What are your top 3?

Thanks, hope you like them. With those huge discounts hard to avoid getting a few. (I did too! :))

thank you! really enjoyed reading all of your ideas. Have decided to start with declutter, while it seems daunting the though of all of my clothes lying in one place will be an absolute eye opener, imagine the money spent. Will be back to peruse the list again and again.

Thanks. Glad you like the list, and excellent choice to start with. A clutter free environment is so good to help inspire you to do more..

Thank you Scott! This should be required reading and incorporated into the education of our kids! The best resource I’ve seen on living a happy and successful life. I will be going through these a little at a time beginning with goal setting. I also plan on teaching them slowly to my 6 year old grandson.

Thanks Diane! Glad you liked it. I appreciate the kinds words!

This is immensely helpful. Thank you. I am so excited to develop at least a few of these skills.

hello, this is a big list to new things done in life. good ideas. thank you for this article.

The brain scans showed that mindfulness meditation coaching increased the practical connectivity of the members’ resting default mode network in areas essential to consideration and executive management, namely the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex Contributors who received the comfort training didn’t present these brain modifications.

Learning something new is always an exciting endeavour to commence. The problem is that most of us get wrapped up in busy distractions throughout the day so that we can never find the time to learn the new skill we want.

Great article and skills!!!

The only thing I would add is my personal secret…

Do the hardest thing first! If it was meant to fail, you do it nonetheless.

Because life is only once, everything easy is what it is.

When you go to the hardest task, the hardest thing, the thing that makes you worried, the thing that stresses you out, you learn. You fail, you fail and fail again… Its not that you want to succeed, its that you want to grow from your failures, with each and every dying day.

Comments are closed.

What Made Me Learn Something about Myself Essay

There is not one single recipe for how to learn more about yourself. People’s reactions to different events and insights that they gain from them are profoundly individual. For me, the experience that helped me to understand myself better was traveling solo for the first time in my life. This essay showcases how taking a trip by myself has taught me that I can be comfortable with who I am.

Statistics suggest that solo traveling is becoming more commonplace than ever. In 2020, one-quarter of all travelers were considering traveling alone (“70+ Solo Travel Statistics & Trends”). The trend is on the rise: between 2018 and 2019, there was a 42 increase in the number of people taking solo trips (Karantzavelou). 15% of solo travelers are looking for a personal challenge and a confidence boost, which was my motivation (Karantzavelou). Yet, despite how normalized and even popular going somewhere alone is becoming, I still was not aware of what would await me during my trip.

Probably, the biggest lesson that I had to learn was how to be alone without being lonely. I still remember my excitement when walking down the airstair and breathing in the hot and humid air. Everything in me was longing for adventure, and I already imagined myself surrounded by a diverse group of international friends, taking me everywhere and happily showing me around. This enthusiasm faltered in the next three days as I ran headfirst into the language barrier with the local population. As much as people were friendly to me, it never went beyond small talk. I longed for human connection and was already regretting not convincing a friend to tag along.

However, soon, I realized that I risk spending the entire trip sullen and dissatisfied if I do not reframe this situation. At a small, inviting coffee shop, hidden somewhere in an inn between historical buildings, I had an honest conversation with myself – for the first time in quite a long time. Apparently, I was waiting for someone to entertain me and make this getaway worthwhile. At the same time, I was not at ease with my own self and was rushing to hide from my thoughts in something or someone.

That day was a turning point for me and ushered plenty of positive changes in my life. Traveling solo has given me the freedom to decide when to wake up, where to go, what to eat, and how to spend my evenings. I became more attuned to my natural rhythms and discovered, much to my surprise, how much I enjoyed waking up early. Furthermore, the experience made me learn more about my natural pace and how slowing down and being in the moment could be incredibly gratifying. Yet, the strangest thing of all was that being alone for some time helped me to connect with friends and family more healthily. I felt resourceful and empowered and could share my joy for life with them.

The hectic rhythm of our everyday life does not always allow us to take a moment for self-reflection. Yet, self-knowledge is essential as a good relationship with oneself determines one’s quality of life, ability to connect with others, mental and physical health. The experience that allowed me to enrich the said self-knowledge was traveling solo. It exposed how dependent I was on other people to make me happy. By the end of the trip, I learned to feel comfortable in my skin and be my own friend.

Works Cited

“70+ Solo Travel Statistics & Trends.” The Wandering RV. 2020, Web.

Karantzavelou, Vicky. “Solo travel soars in popularity: 42% increase in bookings since 2015.” Travel Daily News. Web.

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Concepts of Self-Knowledge
Addressing Ambivalence Using Change Talk
Theory Sessions: Reflection on Loss and Bereavement
Aspects of the Conflict Management
History of Walpole Inn in America
Inspection of the Inn's Building and Its Compound
Memory, Thinking, and Intelligence
Siddhartha’s Monomyth: Journey to Self-Knowledge
Causes and Effects of Waking up Late for Work
Talent: The Concept of “Talent” and the Themes It Reflects
Self-Handicapping, Self-Esteem, and Self-Compassion
Marketing an Indie Film Using Critical and Creative Thinking
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Self-Analysis and Personality Tests

Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

How to Write an Effective Essay

Writing an essay for college admission gives you a chance to use your authentic voice and show your personality. It's an excellent opportunity to personalize your application beyond your academic credentials, and a well-written essay can have a positive influence come decision time.

Want to know how to draft an essay for your college application ? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing.

Tips for Essay Writing

A typical college application essay, also known as a personal statement, is 400-600 words. Although that may seem short, writing about yourself can be challenging. It's not something you want to rush or put off at the last moment. Think of it as a critical piece of the application process. Follow these tips to write an impactful essay that can work in your favor.

1. Start Early.

Few people write well under pressure. Try to complete your first draft a few weeks before you have to turn it in. Many advisers recommend starting as early as the summer before your senior year in high school. That way, you have ample time to think about the prompt and craft the best personal statement possible.

You don't have to work on your essay every day, but you'll want to give yourself time to revise and edit. You may discover that you want to change your topic or think of a better way to frame it. Either way, the sooner you start, the better.

2. Understand the Prompt and Instructions.

Before you begin the writing process, take time to understand what the college wants from you. The worst thing you can do is skim through the instructions and submit a piece that doesn't even fit the bare minimum requirements or address the essay topic. Look at the prompt, consider the required word count, and note any unique details each school wants.

3. Create a Strong Opener.

Students seeking help for their application essays often have trouble getting things started. It's a challenging writing process. Finding the right words to start can be the hardest part.

Spending more time working on your opener is always a good idea. The opening sentence sets the stage for the rest of your piece. The introductory paragraph is what piques the interest of the reader, and it can immediately set your essay apart from the others.

4. Stay on Topic.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep to the essay topic. If you're applying to 10 or more colleges, it's easy to veer off course with so many application essays.

A common mistake many students make is trying to fit previously written essays into the mold of another college's requirements. This seems like a time-saving way to avoid writing new pieces entirely, but it often backfires. The result is usually a final piece that's generic, unfocused, or confusing. Always write a new essay for every application, no matter how long it takes.

5. Think About Your Response.

Don't try to guess what the admissions officials want to read. Your essay will be easier to write─and more exciting to read─if you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your subject. Here’s an example: If all your friends are writing application essays about covid-19, it may be a good idea to avoid that topic, unless during the pandemic you had a vivid, life-changing experience you're burning to share. Whatever topic you choose, avoid canned responses. Be creative.

6. Focus on You.

Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application.

7. Stay True to Your Voice.

Use your usual vocabulary. Avoid fancy language you wouldn't use in real life. Imagine yourself reading this essay aloud to a classroom full of people who have never met you. Keep a confident tone. Be wary of words and phrases that undercut that tone.

8. Be Specific and Factual.

Capitalize on real-life experiences. Your essay may give you the time and space to explain why a particular achievement meant so much to you. But resist the urge to exaggerate and embellish. Admissions counselors read thousands of essays each year. They can easily spot a fake.

9. Edit and Proofread.

When you finish the final draft, run it through the spell checker on your computer. Then don’t read your essay for a few days. You'll be more apt to spot typos and awkward grammar when you reread it. After that, ask a teacher, parent, or college student (preferably an English or communications major) to give it a quick read. While you're at it, double-check your word count.

Writing essays for college admission can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. A well-crafted essay could be the deciding factor─in your favor. Keep these tips in mind, and you'll have no problem creating memorable pieces for every application.

What is the format of a college application essay?

Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next. Read the instructions and prompt for more guidance.

Most online applications will include a text box for your essay. If you're attaching it as a document, however, be sure to use a standard, 12-point font and use 1.5-spaced or double-spaced lines, unless the application specifies different font and spacing.

How do you start an essay?

The goal here is to use an attention grabber. Think of it as a way to reel the reader in and interest an admissions officer in what you have to say. There's no trick on how to start a college application essay. The best way you can approach this task is to flex your creative muscles and think outside the box.

You can start with openers such as relevant quotes, exciting anecdotes, or questions. Either way, the first sentence should be unique and intrigue the reader.

What should an essay include?

Every application essay you write should include details about yourself and past experiences. It's another opportunity to make yourself look like a fantastic applicant. Leverage your experiences. Tell a riveting story that fulfills the prompt.

What shouldn’t be included in an essay?

When writing a college application essay, it's usually best to avoid overly personal details and controversial topics. Although these topics might make for an intriguing essay, they can be tricky to express well. If you’re unsure if a topic is appropriate for your essay, check with your school counselor. An essay for college admission shouldn't include a list of achievements or academic accolades either. Your essay isn’t meant to be a rehashing of information the admissions panel can find elsewhere in your application.

How can you make your essay personal and interesting?

The best way to make your essay interesting is to write about something genuinely important to you. That could be an experience that changed your life or a valuable lesson that had an enormous impact on you. Whatever the case, speak from the heart, and be honest.

Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

100 Writing Practice Lessons & Exercises

by Joe Bunting | 50 comments

Want to become a better writer? Perhaps you want to write novels, or maybe you just want to get better grades in your essay writing assignments , or maybe you'd like to start a popular blog .

If you want to write better, you need practice. But what does a writing practice actually look like? In this post, I'm going to give you everything you need to kick off your writing practice and become a better writer faster.

100 Top Writing Practice Lessons and Exercises

What Is Writing Practice?

Writing practice is a method of becoming a better writer that usually involves reading lessons about the writing process, using writing prompts, doing creative writing exercises , or finishing writing pieces, like essays, short stories , novels , or books . The best writing practice is deliberate, timed, and involves feedback.

How Do You Practice Writing?

This was the question I had when I first started The Write Practice in 2011. I knew how to practice a sport and how to practice playing an instrument. But for some reason, even after studying it in college, I wasn't sure how to practice writing.

I set out to create the best writing practice I could. The Write Practice is the result.

I found that the best writing practice has three aspects:

Deliberate . Writing whatever you feel like may be cathartic, but it's not an effective way to become a better writer or build your writing skills. You'll get better faster by practicing a specific technique or aspect of the writing process each time you sit down to write.

This is why we have a new lesson about the writing process each day on The Write Practice, followed by a practice prompt at the end so you can put what you learned to use immediately.

Timed . It's no secret writers struggle with focus. There are just too many interesting distractions—Facebook, email, Kim Kardashian's Instagram feed (just kidding about that last one, sort of)—and writing is just too hard sometimes.

Setting a timer, even for just fifteen minutes, is an easy and effective way to stay focused on what's important.

This is why in our writing practice prompt at the end of each post we have a time limit, usually with a link to an online tool egg timer , so you can focus on deliberate practice without getting distracted.

Feedback . Getting feedback is one of the requirements to deliberately practice writing or any other craft. Feedback can look like listening to the reactions of your readers or asking for constructive criticism from editors and other writers.

This is why we ask you to post your writing practice after each lesson, so that you can get feedback from other writers in The Write Practice community. It's also why we set up The Write Practice Pro community , to provide critique groups for writers to get feedback on each finished piece of writing.

Our 100+ Best Creative Writing Practice Exercises and Lessons

Now that you know how we practice writing at The Write Practice, here are our best writing practice lessons to jumpstart your writing skills with some daily writing exercises, for beginner writers to even the most expert writers:

All-Time, Top 10 Writing Lessons and Exercises

These ten posts are our most viewed articles to boost your writing practice:

1. What is Plot? The 6 Elements of Plot and How to Use Them . Great stories use similar elements in wildly different ways to build page-turning stories. Click here to read what they are and learn how to start using them !

2. Top 100 Short Story Ideas . Here are over a hundred writing prompts in a variety of genres. If you need ideas for your next story, check this out!

3. How To Use Neither, Nor, Or, and Nor Correctly . Even good writers struggle figuring out when to use neither/nor and either/or. In this post, our copy-queen Liz Bureman settles the confusion once and for all. Click to continue to the writing exercise

4. Ten Secrets To Write Better Stories . How does Pixar manage to create such great stories, year after year? And how do you write a good story? In this post, I distill everything I've learned about how to write a good story into ten tips. Click to continue to the writing exercise

5. 35 Questions To Ask Your Characters From Marcel Proust . To get to know my characters better, I use a list of questions known as the Proust Questionnaire, made famous by French author, Marcel Proust. Click to continue to the writing exercise

6. How a Scene List Can Change Your Novel-Writing Life . Creating a scene list changed my novel-writing life, and doing the same will change yours too. Includes examples of the scene lists from famous authors. Click to continue to the writing exercise

7. Why You Need to be Using the Oxford Comma . Most people I've met have no idea what the Oxford comma is, but it's probably something that you have used frequently in your writing. Click to continue to the writing exercise

8. Six Surprising Ways to Write Better Interview Questions. The interview is the most-used tool in a journalist's bag. But that doesn't mean novelists, bloggers, and even students can't and don't interview people. Here's how to conduct a great interview. Click to continue to the writing exercise

9. Why You Should Try Writing in Second Person . You've probably used first person and third person point-of-view already. But what about second person? This post explains three reasons why you should try writing from this point-of-view. Click to continue to the writing exercise

10. The Secret to Show, Don't Tell . You've heard the classic writing rule, “Show. Don't Tell.” Every writing blog ever has talked about it, and for good reason. Showing, for some reason, is really difficult. Click to continue to the writing exercise.

12 Exercises and Lessons To Become a Better Writer

How do you become a better writer? These posts share our best advice:

Want to Be a Better Writer? Cut These 7 Words
What I Mean When I Say I Am A Writer
How to Become a Writer: 3 Simple Steps
72% of Writers Struggle With THIS
7 Lies About Becoming a Writer That You Probably Believe
10 Questions to Find Your Unique Writing Voice
The Best Writing Book I’ve Ever Read
The Best Way to Become a Better Writer
The Creative Writer’s Toolkit: 6 Tools You Can’t Write Without
Should You Write More or Write Better: Quantity vs Quality
How to Become a Better Writer in One, Simple Step
11 Writing Tips That Will Change Your Life

6 Lessons and Exercises from Great Writers

If you want to be a writer, learn from the great writers who have gone before you:

23 Essential Quotes from Ernest Hemingway About Writing
29 Quotes that Explain How to Become a Better Writer
10 Lessons Dr. Seuss Can Teach Writers
10 Writing Tips from Ursula Le Guin
Once Upon a Time: Pixar Prompt
All the Pretty Words: Writing In the Style of Cormac McCarthy

12 Genre and Format Specific Writing Lessons and Exercises

Here are our best writing lessons for specific types of writing, including essays, screenplays, memoir, short stories, children's books, and humor writing:

Writing an Essay? Here Are 10 Effective Tips
How To Write a Screenplay: The 5 Step Process
How to Write a Great Memoir: a Complete Guide
How to Write a Short Story from Start to Finish
How to Write a Thriller Novel
How to Write a Children's Book
How to Write a Love Story
How to Write a Coming of Age Story or Book
How to Write an Adventure Book
5 Key Elements for Successful Short Stories
4 Tips to Write a Novel That Will Be Adapted Into a Movie
Humor Writing for People Who Aren’t Funny

14 Characterization Lessons and Exercises

Good characters are the foundation of good fiction. Here are our best lessons to create better characters:

Character Development: How to Create Characters Audiences Will Love
Writing Villains: 9 Evil Examples of the Villain Archetype
How NOT to Introduce a New Character
The Strongest Form of Characterization
The Most Important Character Archetype
How Do You Build A Strong Character In Your Writing?
75+ Antihero Examples and How to Use Them
How to Explore Your Characters’ Motivations
8 Tips for Naming Characters
The Protagonist: How to Center Your Story
Heroes vs. Anti-Heroes: Which Is Right For Your Story?
The Weakest Form of Characterization
How to Write With an Accent
How To Create a Character Sketch Using Scrivener

15 Grammar Lessons and Exercises

I talk to so many writers, some of whom are published authors, who struggle with grammar. Here are our best writing lessons on grammar:

Is It Okay To End A Sentence With A Preposition?
Contractions List: When To Use and When To Avoid
Good vs. Well
Connotation vs. Denotation
Per Se vs. Per Say
When You SHOULD Use Passive Voice
When Do You Use “Quotation Marks”
Polysyndeton and Asyndeton: Definition and Examples
The Case Against Twilight
Affect Versus Effect
Stop Saying “Literally”
What Is a Comma Splice? And Why Do Editors Hate Them?
Intra vs. Inter: Why No One Plays Intermural Sports
Alright and Alot: Words That Are Not Words
The Poor, Misunderstood Semicolon

4 Journalism Lessons and Exercises

Want to be a journalist? Or even use techniques from journalism to improve your novel, essay, or screenplay? Here are our best writing lessons on journalism:

Six Ways to Ask Better Questions In Interviews
How Should You Interview Someone? Over Email? In Person?
What If They Don’t Want to Talk to You?
Eleven Habits of a Highly Effective Interviewers

16 Plot and Structure Lessons and Exercises

Want to write a good story? Our top plot and structure lessons will help:

The Ten Types of Story and How to Master Them
Points of a Story: 6 Plot Points Every Story Needs
How to Shape a Story: The 6 Arcs
7 Keys To Write the Perfect First Line of a Novel
The Secret to Creating Conflict
4 Tips to Avoid Having Your Short Story Rejected by a Literary Magazine
7 Steps to Creating Suspense
5 Elements of Storytelling
3 Important Rules for Writing Endings
A Writer’s Cheatsheet to Plot and Structure
Overcoming the Monster
How to Satisfy Your Reader With a Great Ending
Pow! Boom! Ka-Pow! 5 Tips to Write Fight Scenes
The Dramatic Question and Suspense in Fiction
How to Write a Memorable Beginning and Ending
How to Write the Perfect First Page

6 Lessons and Exercises to Beat Writer's Block

Writer's block is real, and it can completely derail your writing. Here are six lessons to get writing again:

How To Write Whether You Feel Like it Or Not
This Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life
When You Should Be Writing But Can't…
What to do When Your Word Count is Too Low
7 Tricks to Write More with Less Willpower
When You Don’t Know What to Write, Write About Your Insecurities

7 Literary Technique Lessons and Exercises

These writing and storytelling techniques will teach you a few tricks of the trade you may not have discovered before:

3 Tips to “Show, Don’t Tell” Emotions and Moods
3 Reasons to Write Stream of Consciousness Narrative
16 Observations About Real Dialogue
Intertextuality As A Literary Device
Why You Should Use Symbolism In Your Writing
6 Ways to Evoke Emotion in Poetry and Prose
3 Tips To Write Modern Allegorical Novels
Symbol vs. Motif: What’s the Difference

3 Inspirational Writing Lessons and Exercises

Need some inspiration? Here are three of our most inspiring posts:

Why We Write: Four Reasons
You Must Remember Every Scar
17 Reasons to Write Something NOW

3 Publishing Blogging Lessons and Exercises

If you want to get published, these three lessons will help:

The Secret to Writing On Your Blog Every Day
How to Publish Your Book and Sell Your First 1,000 Copies
How to Get Published in Literary Magazines

11 Writing Prompts

Need inspiration or just a kick in the pants to write. Try one of our top writing prompts :

Grandfathers [writing prompt]
Out of Place [writing prompt]
Sleepless [writing prompt]
Longing [writing prompt]
Write About Yourself [writing prompt]
3 Reasons You Should Write Ghost Stories
Road Trip [writing prompt]
Morning [writing prompt]
The Beach [writing prompt]
Fall [writing prompt]
How to Use Six-Word Stories As Writing Prompts

Is It Time To Begin Your Writing Practice?

It's clear that if you want to become a writer, you need to practice writing. We've created a proven process to practice your writing at The Write Practice, but even if you don't join our community, I hope you'll start practicing in some way today.

Personally, I waited far too long to start practicing and it set my writing back years.

How about you? Do you think practicing writing is important? Let me know in the comments section .

Choose one of the writing practice posts above. Then, read the lesson and participate in the writing exercise, posting your work in the Pro Practice Workshop . And if you post, please give feedback to your fellow writers who also posted their practices.

Have fun and happy practicing!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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Describe a Time When you Learned Something New- IELTS Cue Card

Updated On Jan 23, 2024

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Describe a Time When you Learned Something New- IELTS Cue Card

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In the IELTS Speaking section, one of the most common question types is the Cue Card Speaking prompt. The IELTS Cue Card topics will prompt you to formulate a response and speak on the given topic. To attempt this question, you must narrow down the essential questions on the given topic to answer within the given time. Consider the sample Cue Card below. Study the types of questions that have been formulated based on the cue card and how to go about with your response:

Describe a time when you learned something new.

You should say:

What you learn
When this happened
When it was? Who taught you?
And describe how you felt.

Sample Answer 1

Trying out new things is always an invigorating experience. With the dawning of each day come an infinite number of possibilities to explore and learn things one is unfamiliar with. As for me, I am always curious to learn new things and expand my repertoire of knowledge. In this regard, I would like to talk about the time I learned something new.

Being a passionate artist, I decided to take up Art as a subject during my final years of school. As part of the curriculum, we had to learn to do textile-based work and I selected batik. Batik is an ancient, traditional form of wax-resist dyeing done to create interesting patterns on various textiles. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia and now is popular all over the world.

Under my art teacher’s guidance, I started the process by creating a draft of the design I wanted to dye onto a cloth. I then sketched it out on a thin white cotton cloth. Once the design was done, I melted beeswax over a stove and started applying the liquefied wax using a paintbrush to cover areas of my design that I wanted to remain white. Then, I started preparing to dye it. Once I was satisfied, I shook off the excess water and hung it out to dry.A few days later, I covered the areas I wanted to remain red on my design with beeswax and prepared for my final round of dyeing. When I was happy with the richness of the colour and was sure it had covered my design well, I took out the cloth and let it dry. As it dried, I scrubbed out the wax using lemon, hot water, and a scrubber.

Learning to do batik printing was an interesting experience for me. It was unlike anything I had ever done before and was quite a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Nevertheless, the results were incredibly worth it and I was thoroughly overjoyed at having learned to do something as unique and wonderful as batik printing. Preserving traditional forms of art and craft is always important and I am glad I got the opportunity to learn the traditional printing technique and play a role in preserving its rich legacy.

Sample Answer 2

I believe that every day of our lives is a moment to learn something new. It can be something minuscule, like making our first cup of tea, or something life-changing like learning how to drive a car. Being a reclusive person, interacting with someone has never been my forte until I stepped into the adult world. I realized that unless I work on communication skills, I cannot flourish in any sphere. So, I decided to learn public speaking. Today, I am going to share my experience of the time I gradually mastered the skill of public speaking.

During my school days, my parents and teachers used to push me to speak up. But, unfortunately, all their efforts failed as I mostly kept to myself and talked with some very close friends. So, when I decided to move to another city for further education, my parents talked me out about the importance of public speaking in professional and personal life.

Therefore, I used the days between the exam and the result declaration to search online public speaking classes as I had limited time due to my college preparation. Consequently, I joined one of the courses offered by Coursera. Initially, the expert helped me overcome my hesitation of speaking through different activities like preparing and presenting PPTs. Gradually, I overcame the fear and got the confidence to communicate freely with others. During the course of the sessions, I learned about various great public speakers, mastered voice modulation , and it relaxed my body language.

Now, I can proudly say that I am a transformed person. Although I still have limited friends, I can express myself among strangers and other professionals adroitly . As we all know that words have the power to inform, persuade, educate, and even entertain, I have finally become adept in public speaking, making me a self-assured person.

Meaning: extremely small; tiny Eg: Ants are minuscule but hard-working creatures.

Meaning: something that a person can do well; a strong ability Eg: Rashika’s forte is storytelling.

Talk (someone) out

Meaning: to discuss something such as a problem or plan completely in order to find a solution or an agreement Eg: His parents talked him out of moving to a different country.

Meaning: a change in the style, loudness, etc. of something such as your voice in order to achieve an effect or express an emotion Eg: If you master proper voice modulation, you can be a good orator.

Meaning: in a way that is very skilful Eg: Our manager dodged the disastrous decision adroitly.

Start Preparing for IELTS: Get Your 10-Day Study Plan Today!

Janice Thompson

Soon after graduating with a Master’s in Literature from Southern Arkansas University, she joined an institute as an English language trainer. She has had innumerous student interactions and has produced a couple of research papers on English language teaching. She soon found that non-native speakers struggled to meet the English language requirements set by foreign universities. It was when she decided to jump ship into IELTS training. From then on, she has been mentoring IELTS aspirants. She joined IELTSMaterial about a year ago, and her contributions have been exceptional. Her essay ideas and vocabulary have taken many students to a band 9.

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Should college essays touch on race? Some feel the affirmative action ruling leaves them no choice

Collin Binkley, Annie Ma And Noreen Nasir

Associated Press

Hillary Amofa listens to others member of the Lincoln Park High School step team after school Friday, March 8, 2024, in Chicago. When she started writing her college essay, Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. She wrote about being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana, about growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. She described hardship and struggle. Then she deleted it all. "I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping," said the 18 year-old senior, "And I'm just like, this doesn't really say anything about me as a person." (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

CHICAGO – When she started writing her college essay, Hillary Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. About being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana and growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. About hardship and struggle.

Then she deleted it all.

KSAT 12 Nightbeat : Mar 26, 2024

Culebra road set for major upgrades to improve safety, reduce flooding, neighbor mistakenly enters wrong home with his own house key and beats 79-year-old man, deputies say, learn more about the power of supplements at life time, ksat news at 6 p.m. : mar 26, 2024.

Read our research on: Abortion | Podcasts | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

Americans’ use of chatgpt is ticking up, but few trust its election information.

It’s been more than a year since ChatGPT’s public debut set the tech world abuzz . And Americans’ use of the chatbot is ticking up: 23% of U.S. adults say they have ever used it, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February, up from 18% in July 2023.

The February survey also asked Americans about several ways they might use ChatGPT, including for workplace tasks, for learning and for fun. While growing shares of Americans are using the chatbot for these purposes, the public is more wary than not of what the chatbot might tell them about the 2024 U.S. presidential election. About four-in-ten adults have not too much or no trust in the election information that comes from ChatGPT. By comparison, just 2% have a great deal or quite a bit of trust.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ use of ChatGPT and their attitudes about the chatbot. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,133 U.S. adults from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11, 2024.

Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way, nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

Below we’ll look more closely at:

Which U.S. adults have used ChatGPT
How Americans are using it
How much Americans trust ChatGPT’s election information

Who has used ChatGPT?

A line chart showing that chatGPT use has ticked up since July, particularly among younger adults.

Most Americans still haven’t used the chatbot, despite the uptick since our July 2023 survey on this topic . But some groups remain far more likely to have used it than others.

Differences by age

Adults under 30 stand out: 43% of these young adults have used ChatGPT, up 10 percentage points since last summer. Use of the chatbot is also up slightly among those ages 30 to 49 and 50 to 64. Still, these groups remain less likely than their younger peers to have used the technology. Just 6% of Americans 65 and up have used ChatGPT.

Differences by education

Highly educated adults are most likely to have used ChatGPT: 37% of those with a postgraduate or other advanced degree have done so, up 8 points since July 2023. This group is more likely to have used ChatGPT than those with a bachelor’s degree only (29%), some college experience (23%) or a high school diploma or less (12%).

How have Americans used ChatGPT?

Since March 2023, we’ve also tracked three potential reasons Americans might use ChatGPT: for work, to learn something new or for entertainment.

Line charts showing that the share of employed Americans who have used ChatGPT for work has risen by double digits in the past year.

The share of employed Americans who have used ChatGPT on the job increased from 8% in March 2023 to 20% in February 2024, including an 8-point increase since July.

Turning to U.S. adults overall, about one-in-five have used ChatGPT to learn something new (17%) or for entertainment (17%). These shares have increased from about one-in-ten in March 2023.

Line charts showing that about a third of employed Americans under 30 have now used ChatGPT for work.

Use of ChatGPT for work, learning or entertainment has largely risen across age groups over the past year. Still, there are striking differences between these groups (those 18 to 29, 30 to 49, and 50 and older).

For example, about three-in-ten employed adults under 30 (31%) say they have used it for tasks at work – up 19 points from a year ago, with much of that increase happening since July. These younger workers are more likely than their older peers to have used ChatGPT in this way.

Adults under 30 also stand out in using the chatbot for learning. And when it comes to entertainment, those under 50 are more likely than older adults to use ChatGPT for this purpose.

A third of employed Americans with a postgraduate degree have used ChatGPT for work, compared with smaller shares of workers who have a bachelor’s degree only (25%), some college (19%) or a high school diploma or less (8%).

Those shares have each roughly tripled since March 2023 for workers with a postgraduate degree, bachelor’s degree or some college. Among workers with a high school diploma or less, use is statistically unchanged from a year ago.

Using ChatGPT for other purposes also varies by education level, though the patterns are slightly different. For example, a quarter each of postgraduate and bachelor’s degree-holders have used ChatGPT for learning, compared with 16% of those with some college experience and 11% of those with a high school diploma or less education. Each of these shares is up from a year ago.

ChatGPT and the 2024 presidential election

With more people using ChatGPT, we also wanted to understand whether Americans trust the information they get from it, particularly in the context of U.S. politics.

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that about 4 in 10 Americans don’t trust information about the election that comes from ChatGPT.

About four-in-ten Americans (38%) don’t trust the information that comes from ChatGPT about the 2024 U.S. presidential election – that is, they say they have not too much trust (18%) or no trust at all (20%).

A mere 2% have a great deal or quite a bit of trust, while 10% have some trust.

Another 15% aren’t sure, while 34% have not heard of ChatGPT.

Distrust far outweighs trust regardless of political party. About four-in-ten Republicans and Democrats alike (including those who lean toward each party) have not too much or no trust at all in ChatGPT’s election information.

Notably, however, very few Americans have actually used the chatbot to find information about the presidential election: Just 2% of adults say they have done so, including 2% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 1% of Republicans and GOP leaners.

These survey findings come amid growing national attention on chatbots and misinformation. Several tech companies have recently pledged to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence – including chatbots – in this year’s election. But recent reports suggest chatbots themselves may provide misleading answers to election-related questions .

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey its methodology .

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I Hope You All Feel Terrible Now

How the internet—and Stephen Colbert—hounded Kate Middleton into revealing her diagnosis

Updated at 4:04 p.m ET on March 22, 2024

For many years, the most-complained-about cover of the British satirical magazine Private Eye was the one it published in the week after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. At the time, many people in Britain were loudly revolted by the tabloid newspapers that had hounded Diana after her divorce from Charles, and by the paparazzi whose quest for profitable pictures of the princess ended in an underpass in Paris.

Under the headline “Media to Blame,” the Eye cover carried a photograph of a crowd outside Buckingham Palace, with three speech bubbles. The first was: “The papers are a disgrace.” The next two said: “Yeah, I couldn’t get one anywhere” and “Borrow mine, it’s got a picture of the car.” People were furious. Sacks of angry, defensive mail arrived for days afterward, and several outlets withdrew the magazine from sale. (I am an Eye contributor, and these events have passed into office legend.) But with the benefit of hindsight, the implication was accurate: Intruding on the private lives of the royals is close to a British tradition. We Britons might have the occasional fit of remorse, but that doesn’t stop us. And now, because of the internet, everyone else can join in too.

Read: Just asking questions about Kate Middleton

That cover instantly sprang to mind when, earlier today, the current Princess of Wales announced that she has cancer. In a video recorded on Wednesday in Windsor, the former Kate Middleton outlined her diagnosis in order to put an end to weeks of speculation, largely incubated online but amplified and echoed by mainstream media outlets, about the state of her health and marriage.

Kate has effectively been bullied into this statement, because the alternative—a wildfire of gossip and conspiracy theories—was worse. So please, let’s not immediately switch into maudlin recriminations about how this happened. It happened because people felt they had the right to know Kate’s private medical information. The culprits may include three staff members at the London hospital that treated her, who have been accused of accessing her medical records, perhaps driven by the same curiosity that has lit up my WhatsApp inbox for weeks. Everyone hates the tabloid papers, until they become them.

In her statement, Kate said that after her abdominal surgery earlier in the year, which the press was told at the time was “planned”—a word designed to minimize its seriousness—later tests revealed an unspecified cancer. She is now undergoing “preventative chemotherapy,” but has not revealed the progression of the disease, or her exact prognosis. “I am well,” she said, promising that she is getting stronger every day. “I hope you will understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment.”

This news will surely make many people feel bad. The massive online guessing game about the reasons for Kate’s invisibility seems far less fun now. Stephen Colbert’s “spilling the tea” monologue , which declared open season on the princess’s marriage, should probably be quietly interred somewhere. The sad simplicity of today’s statement, filmed on a bench with Kate in casual jeans and a striped sweater, certainly gave me pause. She mentioned the difficulty of having to “process” the news, as well as explaining her condition to her three young children in terms they could understand. The reference to the importance of “having William by my side” was pointed, given how much of the speculation has gleefully dwelt on the possibility that she was leaving him or vice versa.

Read: The eternal scrutiny of Kate Middleton

However, the statement also reveals that the online commentators who suggested that the royal household was keeping something from the public weren’t entirely wrong. Kate’s condition was described as noncancerous when her break from public life was announced in late January . The updated diagnosis appears to have been delivered in February, around the time her husband, Prince William, abruptly pulled out of speaking at a memorial service for the former king of Greece. Today’s statement represents a failure of Kensington Palace to control the narrative: first, by publishing a photograph of Kate and her children that was so obviously edited that photo agencies retracted it, and second, by giving its implicit permission for the publication of a grainy video of the couple shopping in Windsor over the weekend. Neither of those decisions quenched the inferno raging online—in fact, they fed it.

Some will say that Kate has finally done what she should have done much earlier: directly address the rumors in an official video, rather than drip-feed images that raised more questions than they answered. King Charles III has taken a different approach to his own (also unspecified) cancer, allowing footage to be filmed of him working from home. But then again, Kate has cancer at 42, is having chemo, and has three young children. Do you really have it in you to grade her media strategy and find it wanting?

Ironically, Britain’s tabloid papers have shown remarkable restraint; as I wrote earlier this month , they declined to publish the first paparazzi pictures of Kate taken after her withdrawal from public life. They have weighted their decisions toward respect and dignity—more so than the Meghan stans, royal tea-spillers, and KateGate theorists, who have generated such an unstoppable wave of interest in this story that its final destination was a woman with cancer being forced to reveal her diagnosis. If you ever wanted proof that the “mainstream media” are less powerful than ever before, this video of Kate Middleton sitting on a bench is it.

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Guest Essay

There Is Something Putin Can’t Control

An illustration of a topless Vladimir Putin riding a giant cat. The cat is smoking and holds a bottle of vodka in each hand.

By Joy Neumeyer

Ms. Neumeyer is a journalist and historian of Russia and Eastern Europe.

According to “The Master and Margarita,” Mikhail Bulgakov’s celebrated novel about the devil’s visit to Stalinist Moscow, “manuscripts don’t burn.” This famous phrase became a shorthand for art’s supposed ability to triumph over repression. Today, Bulgakov’s formula is being put to the test once again in Russia, where a new film adaptation of the book has caused a scandal.

“The Master and Margarita” captured the surreal atmosphere of dark forces and mysterious disappearances in the 1930s Soviet Union. Firmly in the national canon, the book would seem to be safe for cinematic treatment. But the movie’s director is an American citizen who opposes the war in Ukraine, and its winking allusions to the cruelties of life under dictatorship resonate a little too uncannily among Russian audiences, who are flocking to see it.

In response, self-declared patriots have called for the film to be banned and for its director to be prosecuted. They’ve aimed much of their ire at the Ministry of Culture and the state film fund, which cosponsored the film’s production before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the invasion’s wake, President Vladimir Putin has made sweeping attempts to restrict creative expression. Writers, visual artists and performers who’ve spoken out against the war have variously been shunned, labeled “foreign agents” and imprisoned.

But as “The Master and Margarita” shows — after decades of suppression and censorship, the book helped liberate readers’ imaginations and provide a touchstone for the reforming Soviet intelligentsia — power never totally succeeds in shaping art to its ends. Ahead of a presidential election expected to extend his tenure by six more years, Mr. Putin appears politically impregnable. Yet try all he might, he can’t control culture.

The Kremlin does not operate by force alone. Pro-war Z culture, named after the letter written on Russian tanks, is touted on television and promoted across the country, with the promise of cash prizes, contracts and publicity for those who participate . Z poems and songs relentlessly invoke the Soviet Union’s fight against the Nazis in World War II. According to the nationalist writer Alexander Prokhanov, the war in Ukraine has fueled a new “Russian avant-garde.” Its dubious fruits are on display in “ Walking Into the Fire ,” a rock opera based on Mr. Prokhanov’s poems whose stars croon about defending the motherland atop real tanks.

The Ministry of Culture, for its part, offers funding for films on approved topics , including “the degradation of Europe” and “Russia’s peacekeeping mission.” In the state-backed 2023 movie “ The Witness ,” a Belgian violin player in Kyiv is tortured by Ukrainian soldiers, who coerce him into playing the Nazi Air Force anthem near a portrait of Adolf Hitler. Subtlety is not a must.

For artists, cooperation with the state doesn’t necessarily require creating new material that parrots the Kremlin. In a scheme investigated by the independent Russian outlet Meduza, the administration offers blacklisted musicians and actors the chance to atone for their sins by making an appearance at the front or supporting a children’s charity in Russian-occupied territories. The pop star Philipp Kirkorov, for example, after apologizing for his attendance at the infamous “ almost naked ” party that angered conservatives, sang some of his greatest hits for wounded soldiers in the Donbas.

Yet even as repression has worsened, some writers and artists who remain in Russia continue to question Mr. Putin’s version of reality. Many of them are women who reject Z culture’s aggressive masculinity and subvert its clichés. In “ W Is for War ,” the poet Natalia Beskhlebnaia tries to explain the concept of war to her 3-year-old son. In another poem , which plays on similarities between Russian idioms associated with war and pregnancy, she observes how the invasion has seeped into every facet of life — even a “placenta still hot in the arms of a midwife.”

Ms. Beskhlebnaia’s verses appear in the Resistance and Opposition Arts Review , a digital collection of poetry, essays, music and visual art that is published outside Russia but has readers and contributors within it, who reach the site through a VPN. Other writers publish on taboo topics with the help of allegory. One novelist whose books are sold in stores in Russia — and who asked not to be named to avoid reprisals — addresses family and state violence, including the impact of mobilization , through folklore motifs.

For much of Mr. Putin’s rule, it was fashionable for educated Russians to stay out of politics. Now artists are reckoning with the shameful feeling that they did not realize what was happening in time or do enough to stop it, while also trying not to run afoul of laws that forbid dissent. For her series “ Birch People ,” Yanina Boldyreva, a Novosibirsk-based artist, staged unsettling photographs of a civilization whose members grew so passive that they entered a vegetative state. Ms. Boldyreva told me that her work, which she shows online and at private exhibitions, tries “to understand how we ended up where we are and how to react in order to change something.”

So far Z culture, despite the state’s attempts to bankroll and promote it, has not been especially successful. “The Witness” received withering reviews , while most Z pop videos have been watched far fewer times than an antiwar rap by the star Oxxxymiron, who left the country after the invasion.

Though many Z cultural artifacts indulge in bombastic flag-waving, others are ambiguous. The rapper Husky, who was once seen as something of an opposition figure, disappointed some of his fans by staying in Russia and appearing to endorse the war. Yet his rap song “ God of War ,” in which a soldier dreams about being blown apart by a drone, lacks any hint of heroic struggle. The song’s chorus sounds like teeth chattering in fear.

Bulgakov understood the fraught balance between following one’s vision and adapting to ideological constraints. He secretly wrote his great anti-authoritarian novel during Stalin’s terror. In the late 1930s, however, while he was finishing “The Master and Margarita,” Bulgakov wrote a play about the youthful Stalin that depicted him as a romantic rebel. This concession to official taste raised the tempting prospect that his other theatrical works might be performed again. But the production was canceled, leaving Bulgakov bereft and in poor health. He died months later.

Mr. Putin, with his perpetually extended rule and historical obsessions, has tried to turn back the clock. Z culture reflects this retrospective gaze. Mr. Putin’s strongest supporters are over 55, and his approval is weakest among those who grew up after the Soviet collapse. These younger cohorts, who’ve crowded into cinemas to see “The Master and Margarita,” are leading the creative effort to imagine a country where the future is not the past and evil no longer masquerades as good. They sense a revelation that Bulgakov did not live to see: Though culture may buttress a dictator, it can also break power’s spell.

Joy Neumeyer ( @JoyNeumeyer ) is a journalist, historian of Russia and Eastern Europe and the author of the forthcoming book “A Survivor’s Education: Women, Violence and the Stories We Don’t Tell.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , X and Threads .

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The four main types of essay | Quick guide with examples

The Four Main Types of Essay | Quick Guide with Examples

Published on September 4, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. There are many different types of essay, but they are often defined in four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays.

Argumentative and expository essays are focused on conveying information and making clear points, while narrative and descriptive essays are about exercising creativity and writing in an interesting way. At university level, argumentative essays are the most common type.

In high school and college, you will also often have to write textual analysis essays, which test your skills in close reading and interpretation.

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Argumentative essays, expository essays, narrative essays, descriptive essays, textual analysis essays, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about types of essays.

An argumentative essay presents an extended, evidence-based argument. It requires a strong thesis statement —a clearly defined stance on your topic. Your aim is to convince the reader of your thesis using evidence (such as quotations ) and analysis.

Argumentative essays test your ability to research and present your own position on a topic. This is the most common type of essay at college level—most papers you write will involve some kind of argumentation.

The essay is divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion:

The introduction provides your topic and thesis statement
The body presents your evidence and arguments
The conclusion summarizes your argument and emphasizes its importance

The example below is a paragraph from the body of an argumentative essay about the effects of the internet on education. Mouse over it to learn more.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

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An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a topic. It doesn’t require an original argument, just a balanced and well-organized view of the topic.

Expository essays test your familiarity with a topic and your ability to organize and convey information. They are commonly assigned at high school or in exam questions at college level.

The introduction of an expository essay states your topic and provides some general background, the body presents the details, and the conclusion summarizes the information presented.

A typical body paragraph from an expository essay about the invention of the printing press is shown below. Mouse over it to learn more.

The invention of the printing press in 1440 changed this situation dramatically. Johannes Gutenberg, who had worked as a goldsmith, used his knowledge of metals in the design of the press. He made his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, whose durability allowed for the reliable production of high-quality books. This new technology allowed texts to be reproduced and disseminated on a much larger scale than was previously possible. The Gutenberg Bible appeared in the 1450s, and a large number of printing presses sprang up across the continent in the following decades. Gutenberg’s invention rapidly transformed cultural production in Europe; among other things, it would lead to the Protestant Reformation.

A narrative essay is one that tells a story. This is usually a story about a personal experience you had, but it may also be an imaginative exploration of something you have not experienced.

Narrative essays test your ability to build up a narrative in an engaging, well-structured way. They are much more personal and creative than other kinds of academic writing . Writing a personal statement for an application requires the same skills as a narrative essay.

A narrative essay isn’t strictly divided into introduction, body, and conclusion, but it should still begin by setting up the narrative and finish by expressing the point of the story—what you learned from your experience, or why it made an impression on you.

Mouse over the example below, a short narrative essay responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” to explore its structure.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

A descriptive essay provides a detailed sensory description of something. Like narrative essays, they allow you to be more creative than most academic writing, but they are more tightly focused than narrative essays. You might describe a specific place or object, rather than telling a whole story.

Descriptive essays test your ability to use language creatively, making striking word choices to convey a memorable picture of what you’re describing.

A descriptive essay can be quite loosely structured, though it should usually begin by introducing the object of your description and end by drawing an overall picture of it. The important thing is to use careful word choices and figurative language to create an original description of your object.

Mouse over the example below, a response to the prompt “Describe a place you love to spend time in,” to learn more about descriptive essays.

On Sunday afternoons I like to spend my time in the garden behind my house. The garden is narrow but long, a corridor of green extending from the back of the house, and I sit on a lawn chair at the far end to read and relax. I am in my small peaceful paradise: the shade of the tree, the feel of the grass on my feet, the gentle activity of the fish in the pond beside me.

My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above. From his perch he can watch over his little kingdom and keep an eye on the neighbours. He does this until the barking of next door’s dog scares him from his post and he bolts for the cat flap to govern from the safety of the kitchen.

With that, I am left alone with the fish, whose whole world is the pond by my feet. The fish explore the pond every day as if for the first time, prodding and inspecting every stone. I sometimes feel the same about sitting here in the garden; I know the place better than anyone, but whenever I return I still feel compelled to pay attention to all its details and novelties—a new bird perched in the tree, the growth of the grass, and the movement of the insects it shelters…

Sitting out in the garden, I feel serene. I feel at home. And yet I always feel there is more to discover. The bounds of my garden may be small, but there is a whole world contained within it, and it is one I will never get tired of inhabiting.

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Though every essay type tests your writing skills, some essays also test your ability to read carefully and critically. In a textual analysis essay, you don’t just present information on a topic, but closely analyze a text to explain how it achieves certain effects.

Rhetorical analysis

A rhetorical analysis looks at a persuasive text (e.g. a speech, an essay, a political cartoon) in terms of the rhetorical devices it uses, and evaluates their effectiveness.

The goal is not to state whether you agree with the author’s argument but to look at how they have constructed it.

The introduction of a rhetorical analysis presents the text, some background information, and your thesis statement; the body comprises the analysis itself; and the conclusion wraps up your analysis of the text, emphasizing its relevance to broader concerns.

The example below is from a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech . Mouse over it to learn more.

King’s speech is infused with prophetic language throughout. Even before the famous “dream” part of the speech, King’s language consistently strikes a prophetic tone. He refers to the Lincoln Memorial as a “hallowed spot” and speaks of rising “from the dark and desolate valley of segregation” to “make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” The assumption of this prophetic voice constitutes the text’s strongest ethical appeal; after linking himself with political figures like Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, King’s ethos adopts a distinctly religious tone, recalling Biblical prophets and preachers of change from across history. This adds significant force to his words; standing before an audience of hundreds of thousands, he states not just what the future should be, but what it will be: “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” This warning is almost apocalyptic in tone, though it concludes with the positive image of the “bright day of justice.” The power of King’s rhetoric thus stems not only from the pathos of his vision of a brighter future, but from the ethos of the prophetic voice he adopts in expressing this vision.

Literary analysis

A literary analysis essay presents a close reading of a work of literature—e.g. a poem or novel—to explore the choices made by the author and how they help to convey the text’s theme. It is not simply a book report or a review, but an in-depth interpretation of the text.

Literary analysis looks at things like setting, characters, themes, and figurative language. The goal is to closely analyze what the author conveys and how.

The introduction of a literary analysis essay presents the text and background, and provides your thesis statement; the body consists of close readings of the text with quotations and analysis in support of your argument; and the conclusion emphasizes what your approach tells us about the text.

Mouse over the example below, the introduction to a literary analysis essay on Frankenstein , to learn more.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Post hoc fallacy
Appeal to authority fallacy
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Sunk cost fallacy

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At high school and in composition classes at university, you’ll often be told to write a specific type of essay , but you might also just be given prompts.

Look for keywords in these prompts that suggest a certain approach: The word “explain” suggests you should write an expository essay , while the word “describe” implies a descriptive essay . An argumentative essay might be prompted with the word “assess” or “argue.”

The vast majority of essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Almost all academic writing involves building up an argument, though other types of essay might be assigned in composition classes.

Essays can present arguments about all kinds of different topics. For example:

In a literary analysis essay, you might make an argument for a specific interpretation of a text
In a history essay, you might present an argument for the importance of a particular event
In a politics essay, you might argue for the validity of a certain political theory

An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

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By The Learning Network. Jan. 19, 2023. This week we asked students, " What motivates you to learn? " The question was inspired by an Opinion essay by Jonathan Malesic called " The Key to ...
What Made Me Learn Something about Myself Essay
People's reactions to different events and insights that they gain from them are profoundly individual. For me, the experience that helped me to understand myself better was traveling solo for the first time in my life. This essay showcases how taking a trip by myself has taught me that I can be comfortable with who I am.
Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay
Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application. 7.
How to Structure an Essay
The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go. A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a ...
100 Writing Practice Lessons & Exercises
Writing practice is a method of becoming a better writer that usually involves reading lessons about the writing process, using writing prompts, doing creative writing exercises, or finishing writing pieces, like essays, short stories, novels, or books. The best writing practice is deliberate, timed, and involves feedback.
Describe a Time When you Learned Something New- IELTS Cue Card
Sample Answer 2. I believe that every day of our lives is a moment to learn something new. It can be something minuscule, like making our first cup of tea, or something life-changing like learning how to drive a car.Being a reclusive person, interacting with someone has never been my forte until I stepped into the adult world.I realized that unless I work on communication skills, I cannot ...
IELTS Essay # 1381
The ability to communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and pool resources is honed through experiences in group learning. In conclusion, learning in a group setting offers multifaceted benefits that extend beyond the acquisition of knowledge. The diversity of perspectives, collaborative skills, and critical thinking abilities cultivated ...
Should college essays touch on race? Some feel the affirmative action
A RULING PROMPTS PIVOTS ON ESSAY TOPICS . Like many students, Max Decker of Portland, Oregon, had drafted a college essay on one topic, only to change direction after the Supreme Court ruling in June.
Opinion
The Best Way to Find Out if We Can Cool the Planet. Dr. Freeman is the executive director of CarbonPlan, a climate research nonprofit. A few years ago, the idea of deliberately blocking the sun to ...
Americans increasingly using ChatGPT, but few trust its 2024 election
Turning to U.S. adults overall, about one-in-five have used ChatGPT to learn something new (17%) or for entertainment (17%). These shares have increased from about one-in-ten in March 2023. Differences by age. Use of ChatGPT for work, learning or entertainment has largely risen across age groups over the past year.
International Conference on Conceptual Modeling ER 2024 Opens Call for
March 25, 2024—The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) will host the 43rd International Conference on Conceptual Modeling from October 28-31 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference, also called ER 2024 after its original focus on the entity-relationship model, is accepting submissions for papers through May 19 and workshop proposals through April 5.
How to Write About Yourself in a College Essay
Mention your extracurricular activities or awards in passing, not outright, to avoid sounding like you're bragging from a resume. Bad example. I am the captain of my varsity football team. Good example. I peel off my varsity basketball uniform and jump into the shower to wash away my sweat, exhaustion, and anxiety.
I Hope You All Feel Terrible Now
The first was: "The papers are a disgrace." The next two said: "Yeah, I couldn't get one anywhere" and "Borrow mine, it's got a picture of the car." People were furious.
There Is Something Putin Can't Control
Ahead of a presidential election expected to extend his tenure by six more years, Mr. Putin appears politically impregnable. Yet try all he might, he can't control culture. The Kremlin does not ...
The Four Main Types of Essay
Mouse over it to learn more. Argumentative essay example paragraph. ... A descriptive essay provides a detailed sensory description of something. Like narrative essays, they allow you to be more creative than most academic writing, but they are more tightly focused than narrative essays. You might describe a specific place or object, rather ...