Everything Is Connected This reference book for life helps make everything you read and do, work better. It shows you how to acquire the most basic life comprehension and transformation skills—connecting one thing with another. And then adding more and more pieces of the puzzle together, using them in ever new ways, as you understand and use the process. Learning how to learn is transformational in personal, professional life. It impacts your work and home life regardless of your age, profession, geographic location, or social status. The 10 Lessons provide direct applications to everyday life. You can begin at the beginning or you can turn to the sections and lessons that first draw your interest…and then move on to others as you begin to understand the process. Many other books and experts connect the dots for you as they deliver their advice. But there is limited understanding of how to apply it to your own life. This guide show you HOW to do for yourself and apply every facet to YOUR work and life. Take the journey. Unlock the mystery of how to learn. Discover and put the pieces of your puzzle together. This process will create opportunity for you to get even more out of every aspect of your life.

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

PARENTING NEVER ENDS. From the founders of the #1 site for parents of teens and young adults comes an essential guide for building strong relationships with your teens and preparing them to successfully launch into adulthood The high school and college years: an extended roller coaster of academics, friends, first loves, first break-ups, driver’s ed, jobs, and everything in between. Kids are constantly changing and how we parent them must change, too. But how do we stay close as a family as our lives move apart? Enter the co-founders of Grown and Flown, Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington. In the midst of guiding their own kids through this transition, they launched what has become the largest website and online community for parents of fifteen to twenty-five year olds. Now they’ve compiled new takeaways and fresh insights from all that they’ve learned into this handy, must-have guide. Grown and Flown is a one-stop resource for parenting teenagers, leading up to—and through—high school and those first years of independence. It covers everything from the monumental (how to let your kids go) to the mundane (how to shop for a dorm room). Organized by topic—such as academics, anxiety and mental health, college life—it features a combination of stories, advice from professionals, and practical sidebars. Consider this your parenting lifeline: an easy-to-use manual that offers support and perspective. Grown and Flown is required reading for anyone looking to raise an adult with whom you have an enduring, profound connection.

While access to schooling has expanded around the world, many countries have not realised the hoped-for improvements in economic and social well-being. Access to education by itself is an incomplete goal for development; many students leave the education system without basic proficiency in literacy and numeracy. As the world coalesces around new sustainable development targets towards 2030, the focus in education is shifting towards access and quality. Using projections based on data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international student assessments, this report offers a glimpse of the stunning economic and social benefits that all countries, regardless of their national wealth, stand to gain if they ensure that every child not only has access to education but, through that education, acquires at least the baseline level of skills needed to participate fully in society.

An indispensable guide to dealing with challenging, childish boss behavior and building a great career, with laugh- out-loud humor built in. Based on extensive interviews among workers, managers and psychologists, Tame Your Terrible Office TyrantTM draws hilarious but true parallels between toddlers and managers. When under stress, both often have trouble moderating their power, or lose the ability to think rationally. Traits in common include tantrum-throwing, demanding, stubborn, moody, fickle, self-centered, needy and whiny behavior. BADD (Boss Attention Deficit Disorder) is discussed as part of “Short Attention Spans.” There are 20 chapter traits in all, divided into “Bratty” and “Little Lost Lamb” categories, for easy reference, including real anecdotes and many useful tips. When bad bosses run amok in companies, nobody wins. This book shows readers how to build positive relationships with even the most out-of-control boss, and still thrive in your job. The key to success lies in dealing with a Terrible Office Tyrant (or TOTTM) much like a parent deals with a troublesome toddler. With true stories and time-tested solutions, this is the perfect guide managing a boss stuck in his Terrible Twos. Taylor takes you behind all the bossy blustering, so that you can focus on getting ahead – and achieve career excellence. Savvy top management will also gain insight on what not to do with their team. They know that Terrible Office Tyrant (TOT) managers may not be in plain sight (they don’t leave juice stains on the hallway carpet!) But they do wreak havoc on the bottom line. A special section helps senior management and Human Resource departments mitigate TOT behavior for a more productive workplace.

Master the fundamentals, hone your business instincts, and save a fortune in tuition. The consensus is clear: MBA programs are a waste of time and money. Even the elite schools offer outdated assembly-line educations about profit-and-loss statements and PowerPoint presentations. After two years poring over sanitized case studies, students are shuffled off into middle management to find out how business really works. Josh Kaufman has made a business out of distilling the core principles of business and delivering them quickly and concisely to people at all stages of their careers. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. In The Personal MBA, he shares the essentials of sales, marketing, negotiation, strategy, and much more. True leaders aren't made by business schools-they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to succeed. Read this book and in one week you will learn the principles it takes most people a lifetime to master.