Doing the laundry. Making a budget. Sending an email.
Your day-to-day requires many essential life skills, from caring for your body to excelling at work.
It's common to feel like you have some weaknesses in your life skills. And sometimes, you don't know there's a gap in your skillset until you're in a crisis.
Basic life skills give you the tools you need to navigate the challenges of life. No matter your age or life stage, you can always add new soft skills to your toolbox and improve the real-world ones you already have. The more you know, the more inner resources you’ll have to adapt to life’s surprises.
What are life skills?
Life skills are the competencies you need to thrive in life, whether that’s completing day-to-day tasks or navigating major life changes. These are the skills that let you adapt in the workplace, your personal relationships, and your personal development.
Successfully managing everyday tasks boosts your self-confidence and self-reliance in your personal and professional life, which in turn increases your feeling of control as you pursue your goals.
Specific examples of life skills range from critical thinking and problem-solving to self-awareness and self-compassion.
Importance of life skills
Having strong life skills equips you to face any challenge. Adapting isn’t easy, but it’s easier when you’re confident and capable of tackling adversity head-on.
Experts group life skills into three categories: communication, coping, and decision-making. Each includes essential tools for everyone to make decisions and operate as functional members of society.
Communication skills
Expressing yourself clearly and understanding what others are trying to tell you is at the heart of every successful interaction. Without effective communication, you can’t work in a team, maintain a relationship, or set boundaries.
Some types of communication skills include:
1. Verbal and written communication: Finding the words to express your needs helps others understand and respond positively, whether you’re having a conversation or writing a letter. Effective communication can reinforce emotional bonds and clarify everyone’s needs.
2. Emotional expression: Emotions are often at the core of misunderstandings. Identifying and communicating how you feel is the first step toward working through a problem and helping others understand your perspective.
3. Active listening: Go beyond nodding along during conversations — search for the meaning and intent behind the words. Active listening lets the person you’re talking to know that you want to hear what they have to say.
4. Nonverbal communication: Communication goes beyond words. Understanding subtle body language cues helps you recognize others’ emotions and avoid miscommunication.
Coping skills
Recognizing and managing your emotions sets you on the right path to controlling your life. With stronger coping mechanisms, you can better recover from setbacks, set goals, and develop a sense of security.
These skills include:
1. Self-esteem: Knowing you’re worthy of love and respect is intrinsic to reaching your goals. Self-acceptance assures you that you can cope with setbacks and learn from your mistakes.
2. Self-awareness: When you’re aware of the effects of your choices, you can cope and plan for future outcomes. Understanding your motivations, strengths, and weaknesses helps you navigate challenges in a way that benefits you.
3. Self-discipline: Discipline helps you stay focused on your goals, which is important when you go through setbacks. It’s easier to get back on track when you avoid distractions and follow a clear pathway.
Decision-making skills
Finding the right path in life is about making informed decisions, defining your goals, and visualizing the potential outcomes of your choices.
Decision-making skills include:
1. Problem-solving: From your career to family life, knowing how to evaluate a problem and find a solution improves time management and saves energy.
2. Critical thinking: Everyone has a point of view, but only a few know how to evaluate the evidence and draw conclusions. Critical thinking skills let you keep an open mind without accepting every opinion you encounter.
3. Asking for help: Knowing when to ask for input from trusted friends and mentors can keep you from developing tunnel vision. They may have the experience or insight you need to make your best decision.
7 life skills everyone should have
Not every life skill is essential, but they can make day-to-day living easier. And regardless of your industry or lifestyle, these seven skills will improve your outlook and outcomes in many situations.
1. Critical thinking
Critical thinking includes everything from examining news articles to noticing where you’ve made a mistake.
Learning how to read between the lines and weigh complex issues is essential to navigating modern life. Asking the right questions helps you develop creative solutions to problems, whether you’re leading a team or considering your own dilemmas.
EXAMPLE: You’re a manager leading a project with six of your team members, and one of them falls ill. Now your team is down one person and facing the same deadline as before.
You take the time to examine each employee’s last performance review to decide the most effective way to split the extra tasks. Analyzing their skills ensures team members will be happier with and better at their new responsibilities, keeping morale high and the deadline within reach.
2. Technology skills
Tech skills are about more than just unsending emails or flipping your phone camera around.
They include the tools, programs, and processes that we use every day in both work and play, like digital calendars, computer backups, and online research. Navigating computers, software, and the internet helps organize your life.
EXAMPLE: You use the same password for all of your online accounts, but one day you get hacked. To avoid future security breaches, you learn how to use a password manager and have a unique, hard-to-crack password for each account.
3. Confidence
Sometimes, acknowledging your positive qualities is hard. But the most confident people started somewhere. Confidence affects many parts of daily life, including work, social situations, and internal conflict, which is why it’s so important to build.
Recognize your own worth and learn how to receive feedback without taking things personally.
EXAMPLE: Your supervisor at work mentions there’s a new, slightly senior position opening up. You meet the minimum requirements but know that other applicants may be more experienced than you.
You apply anyway because you know you’re capable of doing the job and highlight your other skills during the interview, explaining how eager you are to learn.
4. Empathy
Different people react in different ways, and that doesn’t mean you can’t relate to them. Viewing situations from others’ perspectives helps you find solutions, overcome conflict, and manage teams effectively. Empathy fosters a trusting and positive vibe, even in hard situations.
EXAMPLE: Your co-worker is late with deliverables for the third time in a row. Instead of getting frustrated, you ask them if there’s anything going on and whether they need extra accommodations to help them meet their targets.
5. Communication
Communication is the bedrock of all relationships. It helps people get on the same page and let others know what they need. Knowing how to communicate verbally and digitally — and understanding nonverbal communication cues — builds solid connections and shares all kinds of information.
EXAMPLE: Giving feedback is an art form, and knowing when to give constructive criticism is just as important as what you say. When a coworker makes a mistake, reach out to them with empathy and provide actionable feedback.
Let them know you’re there for a conversation, not just to tell them they’ve done something wrong. Learning how to be direct and honest without being harsh or rude proves your compassion and desire for your team to improve.
6. Creativity
Unique thinking is the key to innovation, no matter what industry you work for (or what you want to accomplish in your personal life). Allowing room for creativity can help you look at situations differently and find novel solutions to recurring issues.
EXAMPLE: Whether you’re in-office or working remotely, your office set-up affects your productivity. Designing a bright space will better engage your mind and improve your mindset.
In the office, you’ll have an easier time walking over to a colleague’s desk with a question in an open, engaging space. And at home, an inspiring and calming environment will make you excited to sit down and work.
7. Adaptability
Change is one of life’s only constants, making adaptability skills essential — whether things go wrong or right. By nurturing a flexible mindset, you’ll cope with last-minute changes gracefully. Be open to new ideas and situations. Sometimes, they might be even better than the original plan.
EXAMPLE: You’re two weeks into working with a client, and they suddenly change their mind about what they want. Reviewing your work up until this point, you see that you can repurpose and integrate some of it to reach the updated outcomes.
You adapt and present high-quality work despite the changes and find the new process less strenuous for both teams.
How to improve your life skills
When it comes to life skills, there’s always something new to learn or improve upon. Here are a few practices to help you keep an open mind and continue growing:
1. Be curious
In life, there will always be things you don’t know. It’s up to you to spot the gaps and ask questions to fill them. Ask questions to the people around you, even people you don’t agree with. Always be open to learning something new.
2. Find mentors
Seeking guidance from people who inspire you will help you not only follow in their footsteps, but create your own path. Spend your time with people who support and motivate you to improve.
A mentor-mentee relationship helps your professional life as well as your personal.
3. Look inward
Practice self-reflection to evaluate and identify the areas of your life that need extra attention.
Learn how to start journaling or schedule chats with friends to work through your emotions and note things that could change to improve your life. Try spotting one or two things you want to improve every week and notice how they get better as you become more aware.
4. Seek learning opportunities
Growth doesn’t just happen — you have to find it for yourself. Pursuing your interests develops new skills and keeps you motivated. Take a class or find a group with similar interests as you.
Your life skills education is ongoing, and there’s always more to learn, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
Put those skills to use
Whether you’re just entering adulthood or nearing your older years, new challenges will come your way. With the most important life skills at your fingertips, you’ll meet them with self-confidence and even enthusiasm.
It’s hard to know what life will throw at you next. But with a strong set of skills to fall back on, you’re ready for anything.
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