7 Skills one should learn during the lockdown.

We all were extremely busy and were cribbing about not having time. We prayed to give us time and then God answered our prayers, suddenly we have all the time we wanted. Now its up to us if we can waste this time in binge-watching or investing that time to learn something new or use it productively. One of the most productive things you could do is to learn one skillset.

The idea is that when this phase of uncertainty and fear due to pandemic is over, which will certainly get over and we all will catch speed again however there will be lot of change in every aspect.

There will be a new normal. 

Almost all the professionals will be affected by the way we look at skills after this. What will make you stronger when you come out of this pandemic (lockdown) is some of the skills that you should learn. These skills not only will make you able to compete in the changing world but also will make you happy.

My recommendation is based on the following four criteria. Let me explain. 

• The skillset that has an impact in your immediate life. I will be talking on the skillset that will help you immediately use, ones you learn during this period. One does not have to wait for years to implement the skills that you will acquire.
• One which you can learn in a few weeks or a month's time does not have to take years to learn. Such skill you can binge learn.
• Skills that you can learn from the comfort of your own home, no need to move out of your home. One can use a computer, smartphone, read about it, or watch the video or take online classes like Udemy, etc.
• One can learn at any pace, everyone has a pace of learning so I am going to talk about those skills that one can learn at one’s own pace.

The 7 Skills! 

These skills are not necessarily to be learned all at go. You can choose one or two skills that you should choose to learn and act upon it. 

1.    Project Management/Collaboration.

Companies will need project managers who can coordinate, monitor, and manage projects across the platform, locations, and teams. Tools like Slack, Jira, asana, basecamp, and other project management tools will be in demand. Having a proficient knowledge over one of such tools will help a lot. Methodologies like Scrum and agile will be implemented across the organization. Having an understanding of these methodologies will enable to collaborate with the team remotely. Does not matter if you are running a company, employed or self-employed you will need this skill the most from now onwards.

2.    Closing :

With this crisis, the business will look at having inside sales and remote sales teams, therefore, the ability to close business over the phone, video call, zoom or google meet calls will be much in need. Closing will be one of the new demand skill, the business will need people who can close, who can generate revenue for the business house. When things are normal, all businesses will need revenue, and revenue will come from closing. Closing, Closing, and Closing! 

3.    Digital Marketing.

Businesses will be more motivated to sell online, online business will be new normal. The business will ask how to market a business online. Salespeople or feet on street salespeople will be not welcomed. Inbound and digital marketing will be in more demand. Every small business will try to run online stores. Whether you are an entrepreneur, business owner, job seeker, student, or profession this skill will be very important for you. This includes social media marketing as well. Even if you don’t want to make digital marketing as your career but having digital marketing knowledge will create a wild card entry for you or provide an advantage in your career.

4.    Coding Skill.

Coders, software developers, programmers will always be in demand and like people earlier used to say learn a foreign language like French or German, etc. I suggest learning some basic coding like PHP, CSS, HTML, etc. after the pandemic people will try to automate many things, the coronavirus actually will force industry laggers to adopt the technology. Computer language will be like learning another language for all. Soon someone will be asked to have 3rd language as one of the 4th generation computer languages. We already have a second language as another social language. For those who are already coding, they need to know the higher framework and learn other latest languages, frameworks, server configurations. The buzz is like AI, Machine learning, quantum computing, IoT, blockchain, data science, etc.  (Deep Technology)

5.    Copywriting and writing skills.

When I came across this word for the first time I was confused. I didn't know what it actually meant. But today I feel this will be the most powerful profession of tomorrow. Every Instagram, every YouTube, every Facebook, or every email you see needs a copywriter. Content marketing will be extremely important. The copywriter will be in demand for every marketing. Business houses will need someone to write that content, that social media post, or the email. The beauty of copywriter is that they have nothing to do with writing they have to do with selling or closing, that’s why we call them ‘closing in print’. Copywriting is a learnable skill. Trust me if you master copywriting you won’t have to worry about money again in your life. Its income on demand! We at Bookingjini also need copywriters urgently!

Well for many of you who don’t know what is copywriting:

it’s the ability to use written words to persuade someone to take action. 

Simply put as Copywriting is “Closing in Print”

6.    Gratitude skills.

This is one my personal favorite, our creator, and has given us all the various things in our life including our life itself. Every day we wake up in the morning to live another day with a feeling of gratitude for so many people supporting in our growth. Though gratitude is the simplest thing to say it’s the most difficult thing to practice daily. Developing gratitude skills will keep you happy and content and allow us to stay in abundance rather in scarcity. This crisis will go! However, there may be a bigger crisis in the future. Gratitude and compassion will help us cope with every challenging situation in life. (Reading: The Secret ) I was astonished to find so many courses on Gratitude.

7.    Meditation Skills.

I learned my first meditation skill when I was in school, that was transcendental meditation. The most important thing that meditation helped me with is greater clarity of thought process and focus. Besides I personally gained on having a greater Sense of Self-Awareness, Reduce Stress and Anxiety, Emotional Intelligence. One can learn meditation from YouTube and blogs, however, I will strongly recommend learning from one of the teachers from any spiritual center like Art of living or Isha foundation. These days they run online classes also. I was surprised to find meditation classes in Udemy too. 

I have learned and practice almost 5 types of meditation from various teachers, I must confess that they all give the same result if practiced sincerely along with breathing exercises and a bit of yoga. The time ahead will be difficult and will bring in mental pressure, we all will be anxious about our future.

The first five skills are for your career, business, and wealth, whereas the last two are for your happiness. Balance is important in the future.

There are though many other skills you can learn, however, these 7 skills are need of the hour master some of these in 1-5 and both in 6 &7.

I wish you a happy and blissful career ahead! Happy learning.