10 Life Skills Worth Learning

by Adam Kidan

1. Time ManagementThis is one of the most highly-valued skills by employers. While there’s no surefire way to effectively manage your time, it’s important for you to find a system that works for you and stick to it. You need to figure out what you need to do, and then make sure that you’re capable of completing all of the necessary tasks on schedule.

2. Empathy

While you can be the most brilliant and disciplined person in the world, if you don’t care for or empathize with other people, then you’re not much better than a sociopath. While it’s unfortunately been disregarded by modern business, empathy is a fundamental human ability, allowing us to become great sales and service people. Empathy in the form of team spirit also motivates people to try harder and drives employees to push beyond their own apathy. !

3. Mastering Your SleepThere are so many bizarre prescribed sleep hacks out there, many of them contradictory, that keeping track of them all can be difficult. But regardless of which one you choose, establishing a ritual will help you have restful nights. Across the board, studies show that being consistent with your sleep schedule will make it easier to fall asleep and wake up, as well as help promote better sleep in general. !

4. Positive Self-Talk

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what other people think of you, but what you think of yourself certainly does, and it takes a lot of time to build that level of confidence to believe in yourself when nobody else does. On the other side of that coin is negative self-talk, which studies have shown slowly chips away at your confidence.

5. ConsistencyWhether you’re trying a new exercise routine, studying for the SATs or working on an important project, consistency is vital to maintaining any sort of success. When people reach the top, they tend to stop working hard. Although to maintain that top position, they need to stay consistent. Take, for example, various tech companies that have once held a dominant hold of the market, and then stopped updating, only to be overtaken by the underdog.

6. Ask For Help

Knowing when you need help and then ask for is surprisingly difficult to learn, since nobody wants to be seen as incompetent or weak. However a recent study by Harvard Business School has suggested that doing so actually makes you look more capable, since when you ask people for advice, you validate their intelligence or expertise, which will make you more likely to win them over.

7. Shut UpKeeping your mouth shut when you’re annoyed can be extremely difficult, but it’s a very valuable skill to learn. When we get angry or annoyed, we tend to blurt out whatever comes to mind, which we later end up regretting.

8. ListeningThis ties in nicely with previous item. Most people in the workplace are so overwhelmed with things they need to do, that we can only tolerate so much information before we can’t keep listening. One great tip for active listening is to repeat back what you heard to the other person, which helps keep everybody on the same page. !

9. Mind Your Business

Tempting as it may be, sticking your nose into other peoples’ work isn’t helpful, and tends to waste both time and resources. Even if you think you’re the last “righteous person standing”, and might think you have some two or four cents worth hearing, it’s none of your business, and what you say will do little but annoy other people.

10. Master Your ThoughtsIf you want to do and accomplish what you want to, then you need to consciously direct your thinking toward that goal. We are the product of our past experience, so that all of our thinking is the result of this. However, the past doesn’t always equal the future.