Most people naturally fit into one of two catagories either book-smart or street-smart.  The street-smart bunch are often very people-smart – in other words they can connect with people instantly, have lots of friends, finds tons of opportunities through social networking etc.

I myself was always book-smart growing up.  I could learn anything on my own, through research and reading.  However interacting with others always made me a little nervous.  Social situations where I had to introduce myself to new people always left me stressed out.

I would meet many street-smart or socially intelligent people.  I would notice that they have super slick social skills yet their life isn’t going anywhere.  Often they lazy and just tried to use others for their own benefit.  Additionally they had a tough time getting organized or showing up on time.  So while I envied their social skills, I often didn’t envy the rest of their lifestyle.

After learning more about success and life in general I had an important realization.  I realized that success usually requires both, being book-smart and people-smart.  Since I had the book-smarts down, I started working on my people skills, and my social skills.

At first this was very uncomfortable.  For example I signed up for an “improv comedy” class and had to perform on stage in front of others which made me extremely nervous.  However as I started getting better social skills something pretty interesting happened.

I found that through my social network, I was getting a lot more opportunities for succes in life.  And since I had the book-smarts to back it up, success started becoming easier and easier whether it was in increasing my income, building more satisfying relationships or have a more fun lifestyle in general.