Underrated skills that could impact our life
Learning is a lifelong process and upgrading our skills is vital to make the best of work, hobbies, relationships and more. Skills are not just courses we take up, degrees we get or titles that we earn.
Sometimes the most important skills are the most underrated ones. These underrated skills form the basis for the bigger ones. Here are a few:
The ability to listen
Most of the time we listen to respond and not just hear a person out with an unbiased mind. Listening is a skill that works wonders in every area of life. Really listening makes us a better learner, a better friend, a better person. It shows that we care. The ability to listen, understand and communicate with people even when we disagree with their opinions is a very important skill that we overlook. Some of the most successful people are the ones who are comfortable setting aside preconceived notions, are willing to accept that they may not know everything and are ok with unlearning to relearn.
Simplifying things
Instead of looking at tasks and problems as a huge mountain we have to climb (with terrible weather), we must try to break things down to manageable parts. These smaller parts are no longer a problem that cannot be solved. This will help us stay away from stress and definitely not procrastinate. Learning to simplify concepts, problems and daily life will make the whole process less daunting for us and others.
Saying no to what is not important
Throughout our day we pack our schedule with a ton of things and struggle to say no to even things we don’t want. In the process we miss out doing things we actually should be doing. How do we begin the day? Do we have a list that divides tasks based on the order of importance? That very important PPT you need to finish but are postponing leaves a nagging thought in your head. What if you finished that first and then get to the smaller tasks, the ones that you can take your time with? You’ll have more time to schedule in things you love to do- maybe more time with family, or finally visit the resort you were planning to. Having a plan for the day helps us understand what is really important, what can be put off for after the important tasks are completed and what can be completely avoided. Practicing this on a micro level will eventually get us into the habit of applying it to bigger life decisions as well.
Looking at the bigger picture
Oftentimes our decisions are based in the spur of the moment, without really looking at consequences. We wonder why things go wrong because we fail to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
Looking at the bigger picture is beneficial in two ways:
- When you’re lost and wondering where you’re headed, if you’ve achieved or doing enough. At this time when we take a moment to look at our past self and what we’ve turned into, we will see our progress and express gratitude for it.
- When we seem to be making many wrong decisions, are overwhelmed all the time, are unclear about what our goal is, looking at the bigger picture helps us in planning and course correction.
Either way a bird’s eye view of things is a reality check that is helpful and needed every now and then. Wrapping up, here are 8 tips from Seneca on mastering ourselves.
World Youth Skills Day is observed annually with a particular theme set by the United Nations and the theme of the year 2022 is: “Learning and skills for life, work, and sustainable development”. What other skills would you add to this list? Do you think these life skills must be a part of school and college curriculum?
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