Life Skill – Develop you to grow in your Career

The term ‘Life Skills’ refers to the skills you need to make the most out of life. Any skill that is useful in your life can be considered a life skill.    

Think of life skills as the building blocks or frameworks that allow students to apply the knowledge they acquire in school to real-world problems and situations. Also referred to as “soft skills” in a professional context, the ability to think abstractly and approach problems from various angles to find practical solutions, and the skill to communicate clearly and effectively are just as important as technical knowledge in a particular field or academic subject.

Most individuals do not think of the need for being aware of ‘SELF”. And most often, we do not pay attention to understanding our strengths and weakness and the opportunities available ahead of us. This sometimes results in low self-esteem, inability to handle pressure at work and in personal lives, eventually ending up in Depression.

Ideally, if these skills are given from school age, the effect will be seen when the individual is ready to take decisions related to their choice of career and accordingly the selection of courses, be it professional or otherwise. Sometimes we are baffled with the indecisive situation and to find answers become a herculean task. In such tricky situations, life skills help to bridge the gap.

WHO has categorized the most important 10 life skills under the broad categories as under:

1). Thinking Skills – This is one of the major parameters of the mental activities by which you use to process information, make connections, make decisions, and create new ideas. This is again bifurcated in subcategories like:

a). Self Awareness – it is the major thinking skill that focuses on a child’s ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values, which influence behaviour. By this skill, they can assess one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism, and a ‘growth mindset’. In short, it is the ability to understand one’s self.

b). Critical Thinking – refers to the ability to exercise careful evaluation or judgment in order to determine the authenticity, accuracy, worth, validity, or value of something. In addition to precise, objective analysis, critical thinking involves synthesis, evaluation, reflection, and reconstruction. And rather than strictly breaking down the information, critical thinking explores other elements that could have an influence on conclusions.

c). Problem Solving – As a child’s brain develops, it is important to push to expand how they see issues and the best ways to solve them. Students need to develop the ability to apply problem-solving skills when faced with issues or problems that are new to them, this also helps them learning ability in them.

d). Decision Making – There is a tremendous need for good decision-maker in today’s world. People are needed who have the ability to make decisions quickly and responsibly and for that, a student needs to have characteristics like a good listener, clear set priorities, open mind, flexible and willing to change, and you have to be realistic to tackle any problem.

e). Creative Thinking – refers to the ability to conceive new and innovative ideas by breaking from established thoughts, theories, rules, and procedures. It involves putting things together in new and imaginative ways. Creative thinking is often referred to as “thinking outside the box”.

2. Social Skills – Social skills or interpersonal skills, is the ability to interact with people through effective listening and communication. This is one of the most important skills that not only kids and children, but also adolescents need to develop. As students serve as predictors of future success, it also becomes necessary to develop social skills among students to develop in, sensible and responsible humans.

3. Emotional Skills – It helps students to manage everyday life successfully. It helps a student to focus, good sense to deal with emotions, help to cope up with stress and make good decisions to become supportive members of their community well beyond school life.

Effective acquisition and application of life skills can influence the way one feels about, themselves and will equally influence the way they perceived by others. It contributes to a perception of self-confidence and self-esteem in a person.