While graduating from college can allow you to enter an occupation where you can earn a competitive salary, you need more than just a degree to get ahead in today’s world. While a college education can provide you with many things, the one thing that it often does not provide is life skills.
Life skills are defined as skills which can provide you with a better perspective on life, skills which can allow you to maintain a higher awareness of both yourself and the world around you. In this article, I will be going over eight life skills which can get you far in today’s world.
Before going through the eight life skills that you will need to have in order to succeed in practical world, let us first elaborate on the definition of "life skills." To some, this term may sound fairly vague, but it is essential to achieve real success in life.
First, a number of studies have shown that the typical human being only uses a small portion of their brain capacity on a daily basis, but much of our potential as human beings remains dormant. However, you can unlock the other side of your mind by always working hard to reach your full potential.
While college gives you the knowledge which is part of the formula, there are other things that a college education can’t give you. Below are eight life skills which are critical:
First Four Critical Life Skills
1. Respect for Yourself – If you do not have respect for yourself, then nothing else matters. Having respect for yourself means that you can view yourself from a number of different angles, and by viewing yourself in these different angles, you will be capable of having a greater awareness of who you are, and you will also be able to become the person you want to be. When you can take a step back and understand how you cause certain events to occur in your life, you will have the ability to control your life at will.
2. Having a Full Attention Span – We live in a day and age where it is hard to concentrate and focus our attention on one thing. If you can develop the ability to put your entire being into anything you’re doing, you will become skilled at everything you do, and you will enjoy the beauty of every moment. Not only will your business relationships improve, but so will your personal relationships as well.
3. Concentration – Concentration and the attention span could be thought of as siblings. To succeed in today’s world, you must learn how to concentrate on the things that matter to you.
Yes, this is easier said than done, since we all have a multitude of distractions, but learning the art of concentration can allow you to succeed in business, academia, or in any other field you choose to enter. To become skilled at concentrating, you must be able to practice, and practice a lot.
4. Memory – Our brains are more powerful than any super computer on the planet, and yet, most of us fail to harness the full potential of our creative capabilities. Our memory is one of the most importact functions or our brains.
The ability to recall important information, as well as committing information to memory, is an important skill that most colleges fail to teach their students.
Four Additional Life Skills that They Won’t Teach You in School
5. Listening – For many of us, the ability to listen has become almost a lost art. We live in a society today were it seems like everyone wants you to listen to them, but few want to listen to you. We all know how frustrating this can be, but being able to listen to others can give you a great deal of power, since people will feel comfortable confiding in you. The first step in becoming a good listener is to listen to your inner being. If you’re a good listener, you will be an excellent spouse, employee, business partner, and parent.
6. Imagination – This is a key life skill which separates the ordinary person from the extraordinary. Graduating from college "will not" give you this skill, no matter how high your GPA is.
Imagination is a skill which allows you to think in new ways, to come up with fresh ideas or to combine two or more distinct ideas which allows you to create entirely new concepts. There is not a single discovery in history of any significance that was made by someone who didn’t use their imagination.
7. Reasoning – Reasoning is connected to the ability to enhance the memory, as well as imagination. Reasoning is directly connected to discernment. If you can learn from any experience, you will immensely develop this skill.
8. Intuition – Intuition is the ability to grasp the truth. A person who is intuitive can draw upon their previous experiences and knowledge in order to solve complex problems. A person who is intuitive also has the ability to make sound decisions.
