My Greatest Skill

There are many skilled and talented people in the world who are capable of

doing amazing things. Usually what comes to mind when we think “talented” or “skilled”

are things like playing sports, singing, dancing, a 4.0 GPA, being able to solve any math

problem. My skill though isn't dancing, hitting high notes like Mariah Carey, being able to

solve any math problem, but my willingness and drive to self-learn.

I can’t recall when I developed this skill, but I think it can be an effect of my

perfectionist personality because of the fact that I grew up alone as an only child with

immigrant parents who don’t speak english, or because of the extremely harsh teachers

I had in elementary school who only screamed at me and didn't teach me anything. The

first time I remember being this driven to learn was in 1st grade when my teacher tested

the whole class and made every single student name each month of the year, even

though she never actually taught us this subject. I didn’t say anything because

unfortunately I could barely speak English and when I was taught the dates in

kindergarten they completely slipped my mind. She humiliated me along with my

classmates to the point where I wanted to cry, but never took the initiative to teach me

anything. As soon as I came home I decided that I was going to learn the dates and

reclassify. I took my dad's English dictionary and began rewriting the dates over and

over for hours until I learned them and then proceeded to memorize every state in the

U.S.
 Since childhood, the habit to self learn became ingrained in me and became

stronger throughout the years with the advancements in technology and how accessible

it is. Every time I had a question or wanted to do something I felt this impulse to

research and learn the most effective way to do it. It seems very simple and maybe

useless, but it helps me improve and develop other talents. Most people just desire

something, but never take the initiative to learn how to do it and therefore achieve their

goal. I used to be extremely passionate about soccer as a child. Something I really

wanted to do was to juggle the ball with the right form, but at the time I could only do 3

juggles and with terrible form. I began researching on Youtube how to juggle and

watched countless tutorials. I would even slow down the speed to see exactly how his

foot curled when kicking the ball upwards and then consistently practiced for hours

daily. By the end of the year, I was able to do 1,544 juggles with the right technique. I

did the same thing when I wanted to learn card tricks and cardistry which led me to a

huge passion for cards and performing in the 6th grade talent show.

Another aspect I've used this skill for has been money. Two years ago my family

had financial issues so I decided to look up “Ways to make money” which led me to

countless videos and an ad on e-commerce and entrepreneurship. I didn’t buy the

course but I gained a different view on money-making. A few days later I bought books

like Think and Grow Rich and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. After that, I began researching

e-commerce and online businesses. I learned about multiple online business templates

like dropshipping, print on demand, affiliate marketing and even bought a few affordable

courses. I ended up trying print on demand and made $100 that day. The $100 dollars

wasn't really what excited me. My goal at the time was never to gain financial freedom,
but to see if it worked. What actually stirred a feeling in me was the idea that If I was

able to make $100 with no investments as a 15 year old then making $20,000 was

achievable. I gained a new perspective of what was possible and that was the real

reward.

Peter Drucker, an Austrian-American author once said “Knowledge has power. It

controls access to opportunity and advancement”. I never realized how valuable this

skill is until now and it's probably because throughout the years the way I've used this

skill has evolved as I've matured. As a child, I was more inclined to learn fun things like

sports, music, magic tricks, editing, makeup but in the last two years my focus has

completely shifted to other things and that's where I realized how grateful I am for this

skill.