ProcrastiN8 Skills They Don’t Teach You In School & You Can Learn from the Couch

Schools waste a lot of time teaching, or indoctrinating you more accurately stated, with a lot of pointless lessons.


Today I want to cover some topics that should be covered at at school but aren’t and that you can skip class and  learn from the comforts of the couch instead.

And I hear you all saying:
“But Nate, my school taught “blah blah blah blah blah”. 

Well great, good for your school. Your school is unique and offers an uncommon course in the American education system by and large. Congratulations!

This article is focused on what the education system in general fails to teach students, but absolutely should. Also we’re focused on grades up to high school and even college (depending on your major). Yes, there are *some* exceptions. Get over it.

For the most part , the education system sucks and doesn’t teach you basic life skills.

Kids grow up knowing the structure of a cell but not how to pay their taxes.

That’s why you have to be a procrastinator and skip these classes in order to learn actual useful shit.

There is plenty of material out there available for FREE to learn from and you don’t have to sit in a boring classroom or wake up at the ass crack of dawn to learn it.

You can wake up at 1 o clock in the afternoon and not have to worry about being late for class.

It’s a lot more important to learn the things on this list, then say complex math formulas you probably won’t use unless you’re an engineer.

Drop out of school then spend the day on the couch in your pjs, browsing your phone or laptop to learn these life skills.

Now luckily for you, I cover most of these topics here on the ProcrastiN8r (as a total lazy non-expert) on both the blog and podcast and you can even have pudding if you don’t eat your meat. I’ll also provide some of my suggested materials as well.













1. Personal Finance


Money, money, money MONEY!

Money keeps the world running. You basically need money to exist. Your food, your clothes (optional), your house.

Despite how the exchange of money being such an important, every day thing, we never get any sort of money math problems in class, unless it involves a weird little anecdote with something about apples or donuts

The only money “math problems” people may come across is when you’re dealing with *real money problems* and wind up deep in debt or not able to ever retire.

We never learn about taxes, loans, investments, credit, budgeting, or even retirement savings, despite how prevelant money is in our everyday lives.

Knowing how to handle money, at least on a basic level, is actually very easy and one of the laziest ways to build wealth.


You basically just let it sit there and the money earns itself. It’s the reason the rich get richer. Money makes more money.

And that’s probably why they don’t want to teach you how to use it properly.

I went through 16 years of education and didn’t know a damned thing about retirement funds or investing in the stock market or heck, even how to go apartment or real estate hunting.

There are a ton of financial podcasts that taught me more about how to deal with money in 3 days of listening than 16 years of education in a non-finance degree.

Ric Edelman, Radical Personal Finance, Stacking Benjamins, and Listen Money Matters are all solid ones to listen to, providing good insight and entertainment all in one package.

I’d rather listen to a podcast than a class hall lecture any day.

Even Dave Ramsey is worth a listen for beginners. (Okay, that’s totally my guilty pleasure.)













2. Programming

In a  world with automation growing, VR entering gaming, and AI taking over earth.

We don’t learn basic level programming in school.

We still learn goddamn Roman Numerals though. Oh thank god for that.

Like alright, chief, it’s been centuries. I think it’s V much about time to X the good ole Roman Numerals. 

I mean what the hell?

Should we learn hieroglyphics too? 

Oh and cursive writing, also a requirement, which is becoming obsolete thanks to keyboards and touch screens

Yet, again, there’s not even the most basic 101 course in most schools for Computer Programming. Again, some exceptions exist I’m sure.

Luckily, you can learn this shit from the couch.There’s tons of video tutorials on YouTube for Programming. Andy Sterkowitz's channel is great.


You can basically get a whole course for FREE


There’s even an RPG  you can learn programming with called Code Combat. Gamification of elarning programming. OH YEAH!


Game Maker Studio is also a cool software that lets you build your own games using a simplified programming language and is a good way to learn the basics


And any skill that can be learned and practiced 100% sitting down in front of computer is procrastin8r approved.













3. Survival

Now in a world where people are glued to the screens of their smartphones, everything from cars to toasters are becoming automated, it’s important to have less technological dependency

I mean, ya gotta be prepared for the zombie apocalypse right? Or at least prevent the rise of machines.


That’s where Wilderness Survival comes in.

Schools should teach us how to do things WITHOUT technology, using the basic tools for survival.

Do things the HARD way. Go camping and live in the great outdoors.  It’ll put things in perspective and make you realize “Oh shit, life is actually already pretty lazy”. Your bed will feel ten times more comfortable than it did before several nights spent in a sleeping bag in a tent.



Basic First Aid goes hand in hand with survival here.

They’ll teach you the entire calendar of the 1800s but not how to handle even minor injuries.

You should know how to deal with bleeding, create basic splint sand perform CPR

Really not that hard to do and could potentially save someone’s life. Plus every team is looking for a healer, amirite?

You could fall off the couch and die, otherwise, if you don’t know basic first aid.













4. Communication


It’s no wonder why people are “living in their own worlds” and not talking to one another.

We’re not taught how to communicate effectively, or even at all.

Reading Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People once does more at teaching strong communication than years of textbooks do at school.

Schools don’t teach…

How to share your ideas

How to express your emotions without lashing out.

How to disagree with authority. 

Instead you’re just taught to sit down and shut up. Listen to authority without question. 

You’re taught to submit. “Discipline” they call it, which is a euphemism for training you to be a docile sheep.

You’re certainly not taught Leadership. Leadership is basically a fancy way of saying “I’m too lazy to do my own work, so I get other people to do it for me”

And they want you to be a hardworking slave.

You’re not even taught how to properly perform public speaking but are expected to give presentations for a grade.

It’s totally bizarre.

It’s no wonder the divorce rate is so high and families are broken, people never learn how to build meaningful relationships with their family, friends, or even romantic partners, which communication classes could cover.

Communication is a problem in society but no one wants to talk about it.












5.  Confidence


This is more of a broad category of skills that we aren’t taught in school but it all comes down to a single feat: the ability to not give a fuck (aka confidence)

Confidence is of course the natural skill of a procrastin8r, remaining cool, calm, and level headed at all times. It’s a matter of taking it easy and doing what you want, without worry.

Having a high level of confidence, a high level of not giving af allows you to 

- have solid Emotional Control 
- manage your Stress
- Handle failure (and say Mistakes are Meh)
- Take criticism
- avoid Drama
- Avoid giving Unnecessary Apologies

School, if anything tries to make you feel insecure by throwing a giant F on your paper, and they don’t even teach you how to deal with the F in that  failure.

Do your own thing and don’t feel guilty about it. 

Just keep it real and let it roll like leaves off a sloth’s back. have self reliant nature and do your own lazy thing rather than try to live up to obligations of others.














6. How to actually fucking LEARN


School is not a place of learning; it's a place of indoctrination. We’re not taught how to learn, explore, and problem solve.

We’re not taught how to think critically and analyze and apply knowledge to real world solutions. 

We’re only taught how to regurgitate information and pass exams. It’s a numbers game, not a knowledge adventure and that limits your intellectual potential.

It’s a dull and boring way to utilize your brain and really limits what you’re capable of.

You can honestly learn more problem-solving skills from playing games like Zelda, Resident Evil, or God of War than any classroom.

So just sit at home and play video games instead, especially a good adventure or RPG game with puzzles.












7. Online Marketing


People practically live on the Internet. Social Media has changed the way we communicate entirely.

 Online Marketing is the way to attract customers and like-minded people to your brand, product, or service. It is an essential, yet easy way to grow a business, yet isn’t taught in schools.

If you’re ever going to have any sort of business or blog online (or even try to enter the job market personally), you’re going to need some solid online marketing skills.

Gone are the days of traditional marketing.

Gone are the days of trying to create eye-catching billboards, especially when automated cars become commonplace and people aren’t even looking out the windows of their cars.

Gone are the days of funny or catchy commercials, especially when most people stream their content anyway or use ad blocker to skip ads.

Online marketing  is quintessential for any sort of modern day business.

And if you decide they hey, maybe you want to enter the job market...

Online marketing is not only important for your own business or blog, but also for your own personal branding.

You need to be able to effectively market yourself to potential employers.

We’re not taught how to use social media *properly* and take advantage of all the tools there are at our disposal.

Wendy's charming sass, for example, is beloved all over the Internet, but is truly just an online marketing gimmick.

Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income and Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Portfield are awesome resources in learning how to get your brand out there with very little effort.

Otherwise, you can probably learn more about online marketing by browsing juicy memes than from showing up to class.











8. Time management (Procrastination with Purpose)

We’re given a huge ass work load in school, but aren’t taught the time management skills to deal with it.

Procrastination is a vital tool in tackling large work loads. It’s better to “put off” some things rather than try and force yourself to

We’re handed a slew of homework and  just told to get it done. Period. No guideline on how to go about doing it without burning out.

Time Management is just a euphemism for Procrastinating with Purpose and being able to slack off things that don’t matter in order to focus on things that do.















You’re better off practicing and learning any one (or all) of these skills than goi ng to class any day.

All in all, school is a big waste of time, and fails to properly prepare children for the real world. They grow up not knowing “how to adult”. It’s the procrastinators who get Cs at best that end up becoming more successful. Drop out or do just enough to get by.

Definitely don’t worry about scoring straight As.

All that says is that you have Intellectual Bulimia and are able to throw back up whatever you consume

Be a real learner and sit at home learning useful things rather than impractical shit that you’ll probably forget about anyway.



Take it easy,


N8