Life Skills and their importance

Blink and you miss. That is how things are today. Everything happens in a matter of a couple of seconds. It clearly implies that the world around us is evolving and getting smarter, quicker and sharper day by day. And when the world evolves, the most superior species on Earth too have to evolve. We live in a social environment where it requires us to interact with people and be able to cope with life’s challenges. Under such circumstances it is important that apart from the formal education that we acquire, we also need certain life skills to bring out the best within. What are these life skills ? Read on.

Life skills are the abilities that one derives through practise that helps to develop positive behavior and deal effectively with the problems and challenges in life. It helps individuals to balance their knowledge, attitude and skill to help them develop their behavior. Therefore Life Skills.

Life Skill is not a definition or a book which can be read and considered as a ‘been there done that’. It comprises of certain essential skills which helps one understand his strengths and weaknesses which consequently help to explore the opportunities available, weigh the pros and cons and make rational decisions in solving problems as they arise. The skills are as follows :

I.     Critical Thinking/Decision Making/ Problem Solving: The most common mistake that most of us do is that we don’t think twice before taking any decision. What happens ultimately is that we have to repent for it in the future (under worst circumstances). Looking at the good side and also the bad side of things before making any decision is equally important. Looking at a problem from different perspectives not only helps us asses the problem in a better way and its influence, it helps to improve upon our decision making skills.

II.            Communication: Considered to be the most important skill. Communication can be verbal or non-verbal. How would you feel when you cannot express something to the audience? The main objective of communication is to pass on the message effectively. Communication skills require some practice and cannot be learnt/improved within a short span. It also includes active listening, and the ability to express feelings and give feedback.

III.          Creative Thinking : In simple words thinking out of the box. The ability to think of new ideas and think of doing things in new and different ways.

IV.          Developing Interpersonal Relationships : There has to be a shift from ‘me’ to ‘us’ and to do that, we need to develop our interpersonal relationships. An interpersonal relation is an association between two or more people. The relationship can be within the family, in the society, workplace or any other sort of commitment. Interpersonal Relationships can be built through trust and honesty, loyalty and faith, confidence and confidentiality.

V.           Empathy : Empathy, which is the ability to listen and understand others’ needs, is also a key interpersonal skill. In other words, the ability to identify and understand what another person is thinking and feeling and to accurately communicate what you have understood through a response that makes the other person feel that you have understood them. It is important that we understand what the other person is feeling and act accordingly.

VI.          Self Awareness : Having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment. If you are wondering why this is important, Self Awareness helps in mastering your focus, your attention, your emotions, reactions, personality and behavior, to determine where you go in life. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in any situation. Now, what is it that you sense, think, feel, want and wish to do next. As you begin to explore more about yourself, you tend to make changes in the interpretations and thoughts in your mind.

VII.        Coping with stress and feelings : Stress is an individual’s perception and assessment of the environment. Stress occurs when there is a lot of pressure and we are not able to cope with it. Basically there are three types of stress i.e. Eustress (positive stress), Distress (negative) and Understress (negative).  And the only way to cope with it is to calm down, organize yourself and seek support. Feelings on the other hand deal with your emotions and how you respond to various situations in life. For example, you may be angry but you do not wish to express it. It is always advisable to not overact or underact to any situation.

Life skills should not only address knowledge and attitude change, but, more importantly, behavior change. Traditional "information-based" approaches are generally not sufficient to yield changes in attitudes and behaviors. For example, a lecture on “safe behavior” will not necessarily lead to the practice of safe behavior. Individuals learn best which they can associate with their experience and practice.