Here below is my list. To my point of view, these are all what one is required to learn if he is to expected to succeed. You can start to do these right now, no matter which grade are you in, or however old you are. Apparently, I'm going to write more on these, but please take them as abeginning. Follow my suggestions and learn by yourself. As an educator, I suppose, I can try to teach these to my kids.

1. How to Predict the Result

One of the most frequnent embarrassment is that"I haven't ever thought of...". Yes, most people are not very good at predicting the result, neither has the school  ever considered how to help them improve this ability.

The prediction of result partly relies on science, partly on mathematics, and partly on an ability of predicting. In aggregate, it is an ability of building mental model. we use such kind of ability to imagine things that will happen next: "What if...?"

The danger of this situation consists in that you have focused your attention on "what you would like  to happen", but not "what will happen". For instance, when you are about to jump over a ditch, you may imagine youself landing on the other side, which doed good. Imagination can help you make a successful jump. Nevertheless, you also need to predict the situation that if you did not make it, what would happen then? Have you ever thought of the result of falling down from the height of 40 meters?

This is where mathematics and science work. You need to compare the situation in front of you and your past experience, and work out the possibilities of different results. For example, you are going to jump over a ditch of 5 meters long, and you should ask yourself: "How many times have I successfully jumped over a ditch of 5 meters long? How many times have I failed?" If you don't know the answer, then you can have a try on the flat ground and you will be able to have adequate understanding of the yourself.

People seldom think in advance. But when you are at school, you should take every oppotunity to ask yourself "What will happen next?" ,  look into the interaction between you and the surrounding situation and environment and predict what the result will be. Write dowm you prediction or blog it. Through practising, you will become an expert of predicting results.

As time goes by, it will be more and more interesting. You may start to realise the model, common phenomenon, and something that can help you predict the result. For instance, something drops and breaks the glass. When being violated, people will get angry. Hot things will cool down. Dogs sometimes bite. Buses or trains sometimes arrive late. These common phenomena are usually called "common sense", which can prevent you from making wrong, or sometimes harmful result predictions.

2. How to Read

You may find it awkward. Here I'm not talking about "words cognitive ability" in the traditional sense. What I mean is how to read words and then to "comprehend" thoroughly what they stand for ( It also applys in sound and image fields, but first  laying a foundation in the words field, even not able to, can also pass on to other fields in a relatively easy way).

Four main forms of writing are: description, argumentation, exposition and definition. You can learn how to distinguish these different writing styles by learning to observe the "signs" and key words.

Next, you need to learn how sentenses are organised so as to these writing styles. For instance, an argumentation is made up of two parts, presupposition and conclusion. Conclusion is the viewpoint that the author is trying to prove, which must be manifested by a iconic conjunction ( like "therefore", "so", "thereby", etc).

There are large numbers of articles full of useless words, only to distract your attention by making the  faulse image of a knowledgable author, or only for the purpose of filliing up more space. It is an important ability for an author to  steer clear of subordinate details and undistracted direct into what he really want to express.

Though your school has never taught you these, go and find  primers on informal logic ( these books may be called "critical thinking" or some other names of this sort). Find out the writing form and conjunctions of argumentation ( generally, these books will not contain the other three writing styles), and practise finding out these conjunctions in articles and the teacher's words in class. You can focus on one conjunction a day, and observe how it's used in reality.

3. How to Distinguish Fiction and Fact

I have written a lot on this topic in other places, undoubtedly, this field is immensely ignored by school. Sometimes I wondered if this is because teachers feel that their students must absorb the knowledge non-selectively. If the students ask about every thing, the teacher may say that they've never learned.

The first thing of learning is asking about everything you are told, everything you read and that you watch on the TV. Don't accept fully what you are told. Ask constantly: how can you prove it true? what's the evidence that make you think that is wrong?

I have written several articles that may be helpful for your understanding, including my "Introduction of Logical Fallacy" and " How to Evaluate the Web". These theories are generally appled for. For example, when your boss tell you something, you can do the same test by using the theories in the articles. You may be amazed to find that so many of  your boss's words are untrue.

Find yourself a piece of information ( a special column in the newspaper, a blog post, a lecture paper) to analyse carefully each sentense, each word and ask yourself what you're expected to believe, and how you're expected to feel. Then ask yourself whether you have enough reason to believe and feel this way and whether you are controlled by others.

4. How to Empathize

The overwhelming majority of people are living in the world of themselves, which has nothing wrong most of the time. However, we at least should realise that there exist many others in this world, who are also living in the world of themselves. This can prevents you from thinking mistakenly that everyone else is just like you. More importantly, it will make others a source of amazing knowledge and insight to you.

Part of this course includes seeing things from others' view. For instance, a person who lives in a different place from you. They may not see things as you do, or they may see something you can't. Such  kind of cognitive transition may change the things they believe. It's of great importance to be able to realise this.

Well, what's more incisive is that you need to imagine others' feeling, which means you must create a model of someone else's thought and sensation, and then put yourself into the model. The best way to do this is to imagine you were him/her and put yourself in the very situation of his/hers. Perhaps, the best way to learn how to put yourself in others' shoes is to study drama. ( Speaking of drama, I don't mean studying Shakespeare, but how to act in a play.)  It's a pity that this part is not one of core courses in school. Therefore, you have to learn subjects like religion and psychology to settle for the second best. However, many schools don't actually offer such courses. So, you have to at least spend some time playing various RPGs, acting as different people with different beliefs and motives.

When sympathizing, you will understand and find the way to help you step over the wstrangement between you and others. For instance, to be polite and considerate means more to you now, since you can feel the hurt others feel when they're treated rudely. Equally, to be honest is more important, because you start to realise how obvious your lies are, and how irritating it is when treated as a fool that can be easily taken in. 

Sympathization is not a kind of business deal, nor the application of techiques in interpersonal relationships like "Golden Rule" ( PS: "Do unto others as you would be done by.” from Bible.) It is the real feeling when you feel just like others. And you get to know them through your synchronous spiritual state. You are well-mannered because you feel bad when treated rudely; you treat others honestly because you feel offended when lied to.

You need to learn how to get this feeling. Once you get it, you will realise how meaningless your life was without it.

5. How to be Creative

Everyone is creative. If you look into your own life, you will find you have been creative in many places. Man is endowed with a natural creativity, which is just the way our brains work. Through practicing, this kind of ability can be very strong.

The key to strengthen creativity is to understand the way it works. Sometimes people think a creative idea comes out from nothing. But in fact, creativity is the result of practicing your knowlege in some way skillfully and tactfully.

Real innovation almost always exists in the reflection upon something. For instance, this article of mine is the response to another article with the same theme as I thought I had not talked thoroughly and clearly. Innovation may also occur in the response to a certain problem: how to save a cat, how to jump over a ditch, and how to hang the clothes. Therefore, in order to be creative, the first thing to do is to learn how to find the problem to be settled, the thing to be reflected upon, and the need to be met. This requires practice. Whenever you encounter a problem or a need, try to write it down or blog it.

Moreover, the occurance of innovation also relies on the interlace of spheres of knowledge and sometimes comprehensive application of knowledge. When you see a ditch in reality, think about how you jumped over it in online games. Or, when you need the acid liquor to clean the batteries, think about how you got rid of your redundant gastric acid.

In other words, creativity is usually realised by metaphor, that is to say, you need to learn how to find what current situation and other things you know have in common. This is what people called "think beyond the matter". You need to jump out of specific matters. Specific technique mentioned here is "pattern recognition", which is rather difficult to learn and requires very much practice, which makes creativity so hard.

But "pattern recognition" is learnable. It is what you do when you say a song is like another, and when you take a picture of flowers and fishing boats. Art is an activity of finding models from various things. This is why you should spare some time everyday to art this year, no matter it is music, photography, videography, stretching, oil painting of poetry.

6. How to Communicate Clearly

The first step to communicate clearly is to know what you want to say, then choose some easy tools to speak them out. Perhaps the most difficult part is getting to know what you really want to say. However, spending time to make sure you know what you want to say is more important than writing a pile of materials to express it.

Knowing what to say is usually a structural issue. Professional writers adopt a small group of common standard structure. For instance, some authors like articles( even a whole book!) containing a series of main points, just like this article. Another kind of structure, frequently called“pyramid style", is often adopted by journalists. The whole story is usually introduced in the first paragraph with every paragraph below offering more and more subodinate details.

In the extensional organization, the author is arguing, explaining, describing and defining, sometimes the mixing of them. Each of them has a different structure. Take argumentation for example, there must be a conclusion, which is the main point the author expects you to believe. The conclusion is supported by a group of presuppositions. It is a group of "relative words" that link the presuppositions and the conclusion. Such as the word"therefore", which stands for concluding.

To learn how to write clearly has something to do with the learning of tools ang the practice of them. Maybe the best method to learn organizing an article is to learn how to make a speech with the help of notes, which will force you to choose a clear organization( one that you can remember!), and ensure that they are practiced frankly and clearly. Later, I will write more on this topic. Now, you can refer to Keith Spicer's book Arrangement.

Plus, master professional writing techiques. Learn about the organization of arguement, exposition, descriptin and definition. Learn to use relative words to help readers get familiar with those article structures. Get a good knowledge of basic grammar, avoiding confusion in your sentenses. You can find information about these on the internet.

Then, keep practicing writing every day. A good way is to join a newspaper founded by students or volunteers, writing for a certain group within a limited period, together with a team, which will stimulate you to write faster. It's very useful, because it is much faster to write clearly than to write verbosely and confusingly. If there's not a ready newspaper, found one, or open a news blog.

7. Learn How to Learn

Your brain is made up by billions of interlinked nerve cells. Learning is essentially realizing the link of groups of nerve cells. No matter you are studying mathematics or watching the sky, nerve cells  are interlinking. Therefore, your brain is keeping learning. The difference lies in how you learn.

When you are learning, you're trying to build a conneted model in your brain to link the nerve cells and to strengthen the links. This can be done by repeating groups of behavious and experiences. Learning is a process of constant practicing and repeating.

So, to learn anything, from"2+2=4" to quantum mechanical theory, you need to repeat again and again, in order to develop the links among nerve cells. Sometimes people learn through repeatedly reading aloud. This kind of mechanical learning was very common not long ago. It's not bad to take notes when listening to others' conversations, because you hear them once, then repeat once when you take them down.

Think about how to learn to throw a baseball. Someone is able to explain any details of this action, and you are able to understand all of them. But before you can skillfully master it, you still need to throw the baseball thousands of times. You must strengthen the links among your nerve cells as that of your muscles. 

Some people think that learning is just memorizing some facts. Sometimes it's so. But learning is more like recognizing than memorizing. Since you are trying to build a network of nerve cells, you'd better learn about a linked integral instead of unlinked parts, because the linked integral you learn in a field possesses the same model with the one already known in another field. Learning in one field becomes more important in the cognitive model.

Sometimes the models we use are rather artificialized, just like that in "every good boy deserves fudge". In other cases, what's more useful is that the model is related to such things like natural rules, logic, mathematical theories, historical trends and how things work as an integral. Painting often help us find the model, that is why the mind map and conceptual graph are so popular.

As a matter of fact, you should regard the learning of mathematic, history, science and machinery as the learning of the prototypes, which also means that you are required to learn from the basic models through the acknowledgements time and again. When you study these subjects, you should ask“ What's the model?" instead of just"What's the fact?", in which way can you actually find it easier to learn them.

To learn how to learn is the same with learning other things, which requires practicing. You need to learn something every single day, to learn a random word in the dictionary or an random entry in the Wikipedia. As you are learning these, don't learn them separately, but to find the model: Whether can it apply for some model you've already known? Whether is it any of the types you've ever seen? Inset these words or concepts into the already-known knowledge in some ways, such as writing a blog post containing them, or paint a picture to explain them.

You should think about how to learn and what to learn all the time. Remember, you've been always learning, which means that you need to inquire: What are you learning when you are watching TV, shopping, driving and playing baseball? Which model is beiing created? Which model is being strengthened? How can you take this process under control?

8. How to keep fit

From reality, keeping fit contain two important factors: 1) avoiding explosure to diseases and zymoid to the minimal; 2) nursing carfully our organ and body.

To avoid explosure to disease and zymoid to the minimal is mainly a problem of cleaning and arranging. A easy thing such as putting methanol into the garage instead of the wardrobe in the kitchen, can reduce the danger of accidental intoxication to the minimal. Keeping the surface of cookers clean and stewing foof thoroughly can reduce the rate of getting infected by viruses. Wasing hands frequently can stop the spread of human contaminated germs and diseases.

It is for reasons of this sort that some of the hotspots in education concern about how to warn people of avoiding explosure to diseases and germs. If you contact with someone else, you will probably promote the spread of diseases, so, wear an exposure suit. If possible, avoid behaviors like drinking beverage, eating fatty food, smoking and taking drugs, which are typically easy to bring in germs.

Keeping personal body fit may be more important, because the main threats to our health usually relate to the decrease of the body progressing. Learn how to ensure proper nutrition and physical exercise and practice more. Even if you don't mean to be a healthy partisan(who would like to be like that?), it's undoubtedly useful to know which food and whichh behavior is good for health. Develop a habit of eating healthy food and taking beneficial exercise.

Exercise positively in certain way every day. Riding to work or school, walking a mile, as a sport or exercise. Plus, keep eating at least one meal of beneficial food everyday( such as that includes protein and mineral), like meat, vegetable, or rice, fruits and so on. If your school don't provide proper amount of exercise or nutrition, ask for them! If you are sick or hungry, you cannot learn anything any way. Otherwise, try to make a substitute plan and find a work at noon.

Last but not least: you'll never need to prove the importance of protect your life and health. If you don't want to do it because you think it is unsafe, then you have the right to refuse doing that. Result, any result is better than compromising.

 9. How to be More Valuable

The whole society may be said to be colluding to make you feel bad and even cynical, but it may not be totally wrong. Advertisers make you feel so bad that you will buy their products. Statesmen make you feel so helpless that you will depend on their policies and plans. Even your friends and acquaintances will try to make you feel suspicious about yourself so that they can get some advantages to compete with you.

You can possess all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if you can't be convinced that you are capable to use them, they are of no use. Just like owning a Lamborghin car without driving license, it stops on the traffic lane shining. Unless you can start it, you will not get any value.

To make youself more valuable partly is a matter of personal development and partly a matter of choice. In order to be more valuable, you need to feel that you are worthy of this value. In fact, you are, but the way to help you ensure this is to realise some goal, learn some skills, or win some credit. In order to be more valuable, you also must tell yourself " I am of great value!".

This is very important. How we treat ourselves, like other things, needs learning. If someone tell you time and again that you are of no use, and if you pays no reaction, you will gradually believe that you are of no use. Because it will cause the formation of nerve links of " you are of no use". However ,if you repeat believing it, and repeat telling yourself that " I am of value!", then you will totally believe what you keep telling yourself.

What exactly make you valuable? It has many representitives. For example, it is a kind of faith: you are good enough so as to have an attitude, a voice and a saying that proves that your contribution works. It can be a kind of view: you are capable. You can learn new things and be creative. Your personal well-being doesn't depend on a certain person or organization. You can depend on yourself, and determine your way of life all by yourself.

All of these are your rights. But you are not born with them. You must fight for them through your personal effort and self-confidence( no matter what they say).

You are not taught of this in any course at school, which even may try to destroy your self-effort and self-respect. You should keep aweared of this, so you must take the responsible for your personal value.

Do like this every single day: tell yourself that you are smart, you are cool and you are strong; you are great and you can be whatever you want to. In the morning, speak it out loud--if necessary, you can speak them out when taking shower. Do it! Then, take these qualities into practice. Doing crosswords can make you smarter. Dress out your own style to make yourself cooler. Do something that you tell yourself to do , so as to make youself stronger. Doing good makes you better.

10. How to Live a Meaningful Life

This may be the most difficult to learn among all, and the least to be taught of.

As a matter of fact, living a meaningful life is a combination of several things. In a sense, it means your contribution to some goals or objectives, but it also refers to the appreciation and dedication here and now. Last, it makes you realise your position in this world. Creating your own meaning of life is up to you.

Many a people spend their whole life without knowing what they are living for. They have been chasing all the way after money, fame or power, no matter whether they can realise these goals or not at last. They all find life empty and meaningless, because they mix up process and the result---the pursuit of money, fame and power are onlly for the purpose to do something worthwhile.

What is worthwhile to do? It up to you. I choose to sacrifice my life to help others get education. While others choose to cure diseases, explore the space, worship the God, build up a family, design cars, or to attain enlightenment.

If you stll cannot decide what worth you doing, some others will make the decision for you. At a time, you will realise that you havenot done anything worth doing. Therefore, today, please spare some time to think about what exactly worth doing. You can change your mind tomorrow, but at least you will have started to lead yourself to somewhere.

The second is what is called "live in the present", which is a prospective to control your one's own thoughts. Your thoughts can not give you power. What makes sense is the present. If you think of something, like hope, failure, fear and so on, these thoughts won't harm you. It depends on yourself to determine how much you trust them.

The other side of this question is: what you are doing now is what you want to do most. You may be thinking:" Impossible! I'd rather be on the Malibu beach now!" However, if you really want to go to Malibu beach, you should have been there. The reason why you didn't go there is that you chose other things more prior in your life: your family, your job and your country.

Once you have realise that you are capable to choose what to do, you will recognize that you are ready to take the result, which means, the result, even it's bad, is a kind of choice to a large extent.

This understanding is very revolutionary. Think about it. To a reader, what real counts is what I most want to do is to write this article to you---Yes, for you to read. More amazingly, as an author, I know one thing you would like to do most, even prior to going to Malibu beach, that is reading your own words, which inspires me to write down something meaningful, which will endow me with my meaning of life.