What skills should the noob acquire?

[Neil Schoepp]

I was reading a blog page and the advice given was, to paraphrase, if you can't create a budget and statement of financial condition (balance sheet) for yourself you shouldn't be investing in real estate.........Yet.

So my question to you is: For someone who is completely new to all of this, what is the best first skills they should acquire?

I will start it off with:

A. Create a balance sheet for themselves

B. Create a budget for themselves

C. Learn some of the real estate lingo Glossary ,  Abbreviations

D. Understand the time value of money

E. Understand why leverage isn't a bad word

What say you? What are the first skills one should obtain to get started?