The must-have, last but not the least, micro-skills. The final pieces to mastery.

The importance of skills development, whether for personal enjoyment or career advancement, cannot be overstated. Enhancing your skills has limitless benefits, whether you aim to add to your hobbies or increase your earning potential.

However, when considering skills mastery for career and personal development, it's common to think of high-level skills that require significant time and financial investment.

These are often technical or specialised skills. However, there are also valuable soft skills you can work towards mastering, which can be easily integrated into your existing lifestyle without needing to create extra time for them.

Here, I have compiled five soft skills that I consider pivotal for thriving in the world's current status quo, especially for young professionals.

Speed reading and understanding

The myriad of information we are presented with daily demands a modern solution for speed reading and understanding.

Fun fact — a scientific study shows that we are bombarded by the equivalent of 174 newspapers of data a day.

To put this into context, I usually compare myself, educated to a master's degree level, to my mother, who did not complete secondary school. In practice, I assume that if it takes her ten minutes to complete a text, it should take me three minutes. The objective is to be 70 per cent faster or at least 50 per cent faster than her, depending on the material's content.

Furthermore, if, in that one read, she has grasped 50 to 70 per cent understanding of it. Then, in my case, I should be able to grasp 80 to 100 per cent understanding above hers.

I train myself for this by practising active speed reading and understanding. If an online piece's estimated reading time is 5 minutes (I always considered it average reading time), I aim to complete it in two or three minutes less than the estimated reading time. Then, I test myself for how much information I understood in one read.

It is also advisable to read a variety of materials to gain a broad understanding of writing styles and fields.

Five minutes attention span

In another article of mine posted on Medium, I discussed extensively how the new modern way information is presented to us may have contributed to the problem of fragmented attention or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

As a point of reference, TikTok has 15-second user video sharing, while X (formerly known as Twitter) offers users to post "tweets," initially limited to 140 characters, now extended to 280, with 140-second audio/video limits.

A decade ago, we shifted our attention to work every three minutes. Now, according to researcher Manoush Zomorodi, we do it every 45 seconds, all day long. Her findings further state that the average person in a first-world country, according to her research, checks email 74 times a day and switches tasks on their computer 566 times a day.

While the limited-short content these platforms provide forces us to have fragmented attention, in contrast, they equip creators to be concise, creative content creators.

Nevertheless, I think we owe it to ourselves to work individually on our attention span, even if it means targeting engagement on anything: listening to a friend, family, or colleague, watching a video, or reading for five minutes without losing focus.

Picking clues and cues

This is another topic I have extensively discussed in another article, 'You Can Never Go Wrong Chasing Cues and Clues.'

Paying attention to subtle cues and clues is critical for sound decision-making and personal growth. By learning to recognise these patterns from within and from past experiences, we gain clarity in insights, particularly in pivotal moments.

External guidance from friends and mentors is invaluable, but the ultimate insight lies within ourselves. Mastering the ability to read these cues, whether in careers, relationships, or personal growth, can align us with the opportunities and people best suited for us, helping us cultivate a life of purpose and passion.

The personal sense of fashion mastery

Minding your style, choosing clothes that look good on you, choosing a colour combination, and paying attention to how you wish to appear to people (what message you want to send) are all as crucial as any other soft skills, even though they seem less mentioned.

Not only does it add to our confidence, but we all know how dressing nicely makes us feel good and boosts our self-esteem.

Personal opinion here, too: while creating the right impressions is essential, as a general rule, it is desirable for your workplace dress to say nothing about you—other than perhaps that your clothes fit you.

This is because the way you dress forms an immediate, strong impression of who you are—so it makes more sense for you to be dressed conservatively. If you agree with me that you can tell a lot about people by what they’re wearing, it’s safe to assume they can tell the same things about you.

I wrote more about creating adequate work impressions here, 'Must Do’s Within First Month At A New Job.'

Be intentional with maturity.

Being intentional with maturity is another way of saying taking responsibility for your actions, choices, and consequences.

It also means focusing on your journey and celebrating your unique path. However, it is important to note that maturity is not a destination but a continuous growth, learning and self-awareness process.

A book recommendation - Maturity: Responsibility Being on (Insights for a New Way of Living) By Osho.

Many thanks for reading my perspective and giving feedback.

My fervent wish is for the personal growth of everyone and the success of all young professionals who put their hearts and souls into finding their purpose in life.

Copyright ? Ekene Moses, 2024. All Rights Reserved.

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