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What if I told you that you can get an edge above 95% of people in terms of knowledge and intellect?

A certain percentage of people read and study outside of their day jobs and a certain percentage don’t. That leaves us with a small percentage doing things differently from these two groups of people.

This small group consists of people reading and studying outside of their day jobs, for free!

They don’t buy their resources. Instead, they source for high quality material to use for add on to their knowledge and upgrade their skillsets.

Here’s what they use.

NLB Resources

Our national library has a plethora of free resources available for learning new things that can add tremendous value to our existing knowledge and skillsets.

Of course, traditional hardcopy books are one of these resources. But that’s not hack-worthy enough to be discussed in detail here.

E-Books

If the library is too far for you to head down and borrow books, you can consider using their e-book service where they offer many e-books and newsletters for you to download and read anytime and anywhere.

Just download the app Libby and link it to your NLB account.

You can find out more how to set it up here.

Credits: NLB

I usually like to read the weekly releases of The Economist and New Scientist there.

Also, they have virtually the entire collection of the ‘For Dummies’ series there. (Trust me, these are certainly more for knowledge-hungry people than the dummies you are thinking about. I highly recommend it.)

Physical Book Reservation

If you still prefer reading physical copies of books but the book you want is in a library too far from you, you can make use of NLB’s reservation system.

Essentially, they can bring the book(s) you want to the library nearest to you, albeit requiring you to pay a small fee of $1.57 per reservation.

Credits: NLB

When the book(s) have arrived, the NLB app will send you a push notification and all you have to do is to head down to the library you selected.

You will find these reservation collection lockers there. Follow the instructions on the screen and you can collect your books just like that.

I find it too easy and convenient to believe this system actually exists. Make sure to use this to its fullest potential!

SPH Newspapers

Did you know you can read newspapers for free using the NLB app on your phones or straight off the NLB website?

Just sign into your account here and you’ll be able to access these newspapers for free.

Newspapers are a great way to give your brain a wake-up call in the morning during your commute to work. It kills three birds with one stone:

1. You are productive during your commute.
2. It gives your brain the morning workout it needs to function.
3. You keep yourself updated with local and world affairs.

Udemy Business

This one really packs a punch.

NLB offers Udemy courses for free! Well, not all of them, but those that matter.

The difference between Udemy Business and Udemy.com is that Udemy Business is subscription based and it offers courses that are curated by Udemy’s own curation team while all courses are available in Udemy.com but must be purchased individually.

The courses offered in Udemy Business are mostly in line with market demand, have high learner satisfaction (good ratings) that are conducted by reputable instructors. That means they have already done the work sieving out the bad apples for you.

NLB has already taken care of the subscription. All you have to do is put in the time to learn.

From my experience, the courses offered in Udemy Business are more than enough to satisfy the curious learner or those who wish to upgrade their professional skillsets.

Although the courses do not give you a professional certification, many courses are actually in-depth enough for you to go on and take one after completing a few.

You can also find courses on productivity toolsets such as Excel automations which can come in very handy for work.

You can access Udemy Business using your NLB account here.

Get exclusive information from connections

‘Your network is your net worth.’

You probably heard this phrase for the umpteenth time. Even though it’s true, it is pointless if you don’t extract value from your network even though you are working hard at growing it.

You can be acquainted with everyone in the room. But if you are not actively getting exclusive information from them, you are not leveraging your network to its fullest potential.

Leveraging is the key here, and your network is one of the most ultimate sources to leverage from.

That’s because your ROI is close to infinity if you use your network to gain information you do not have now.

If you don’t monetise the time and effort used to build your network, the value you extract out of your network comes at zero monetary cost.

Treat your network like a marketplace for you to trade and share information. It’s a win-win situation for everybody and you will be surprised how much you learn from others as much as they are learning from you.

Also, learn how to ask the right questions to the right people. Questions are important as they are the key to getting information you need.

And all of this information, advice and guidance you are getting is free-of-charge, you just need to put in the effort and time to grow your network and maintain existing connections.

Your network can churn out exclusive information for you like an income source, putting you a step above many others. After all, knowledge is the modern world’s currency right?

Summing up,

You can use NLB’s resources and leverage on your own network of people to become smarter for free.

By using resources that have no monetary cost, your ROI from the knowledge and skillsets gained is way above others doing the same thing but paying for their books and courses.

However these are just resources. You might have a lot of it, but if you don’t put in the hard work and effort to extract value from them, then no ground is gained.

Did you take away something new from this article? Check out more of such articles on personal finance for Singaporeans on my blog, The Coloured Paper!