From young, we have always known that the way to get ourselves
“educated” is to go to school. Especially during the current
economic downturn, increasing numbers are turning to schools and
universities to upgrade, reskill, and retool themselves in the hope
of changing profession or getting a better position. Others do it
for the sake of sheltering themselves from the current market doom
and gloom.

Getting back to school for classes require that we set aside time
for lessons, study, projects, group work, examinations and
assignments. Not much of a problem with full-time students but may
be quite a challenge for people who are still working on a
full-time job.

Is it possible to upgrade our knowledge and skills without having
to spend extra time and effort? Even for students studying on a
full-time basis, is it possible to gain more knowledge on specific
areas, and thus getting an “upgrade” without spending extra time?

Think about it this way: What are some of the activities you
undertake each day that will allow you to listen to a book, speech
or seminar?

Here are my suggestions of such activities:

1. Exercising: walking, jogging, cycling (in the gym);
2. Exercising in the gym;
3. Walking from home to the bus-stop or MTR station;
4. Waiting for the bus/MTR;
5. Travelling on the bus/MTR;
6. Eating a meal alone;
7. Driving;
8. Travelling on a ferry;
9. Travelling on a plane;
10. etc.

Let’s say you spend 1.5 hour on travelling to/from work/school each
day. That’s 7.5 hours a week and 30 hours a month. While some
people prefer to sleep during such periods of time, I’d like to
suggest that such times can be better made use of! And since you
must spend such times each day, doing something more productive
during such periods results in upgrading yourself with NO EXTRA
TIME (NET)!

The way to upgrade yourself is simple:

1. Go get yourself an MP3 player (or iPod, iPhone, and many of your
mobile phones have this function).

2. Instead of loading the MP3 player with music and songs, load it
with AUDIOBOOKS (these are books not in the paper format but in the
audio format – i.e. the books are read to you through the MP3). Not
just books, there are also speeches, seminars, magazines, and
journals (like Harvard Business Review) in the MP3 audio format.

3. Listen to the audiobooks during your waiting or commuting time
(i.e. during your No Extra Time).

Many of the books available in the bookstores are available in the
audio format and they are much cheaper than the paper books
themselves.

Typically, an audiobook lasts between 2 hours to 8 hours. So, if
your NET a month is 30 hours, you can easily estimate the number of
(audio)books you can finish “reading” each month!

Now, how’s that for a quick and easy upgrade!