What are Soft Skills?
Now a days due to a vast range of names and categories, people get a lot confused between different terms. But no need to worry I got your back.
To get the basic idea what soft skills are and their definition you can read my introductory article. I have defined the two basic types (hard and soft skills). Click here to read the article.
You Back So Fast.?. :) !
Okay, so, now you know what soft skills are! I want to get in detail in this article.
Soft Skills include so many skills, some of which are:
Don’t Panic!
We are already using half of them.
There are some that we need to improve and some we need to build in ourselves.
Let me clear some stereotype,
Noooooo! Everything CAN be learned in this world. When we are born, we know nothing we learn to talk, walk and other stuff from our surroundings. Same is the case that we develop things, skills, behaviors and even personalities from our surroundings. It means surroundings matter the most.
That is the reason it is said :
You are recognized by the people you sit with!
Hence now you know the first step that you just have to brainwash yourself that you can learn and develop skills (ANY KIND).
2.?You Can Learn At A Specific Age After That You Can Not Learn Stuff Because Then You Are So Old!
Again a Big NO NO!
Nop, our learning ability does not depend on our age specifically. It does decreases with age but the whole game is how you program your brain.
If at the age of 20 you tell your brain you can not do anything then you will not be able to perform even the simplest tasks, vice versa if at the age of 80 you tell your brain you can do anything then you surely can.
Enjoy this short video of granny running at the age of 105. Now what excuse do you have?
looking for motivation from a 107 old granny check out this video
Seeeee!!!!! she DISCOVERD her PASSION for running at the AGE OF 100. If she is passionate enough to embrace her dream so much later in life then how old are you buddy? You can do it even at the age of 500. Okay so you ain't a vampire or are you?
As I always say it is all about your heart and mind! how you train yourself, how you program your brain, you are going to behave in that manner. I will write a separate article on this. Stay Tuned!
Okay back to soft skills. I will explain these soft skills in a little depth here so keep your heads up and mind clear.
They are so many so I am going to break these down in 2 articles. This one contains the first 10 and the remaining will be discussed in the other article.
1.???? Time Management
Ever wondered how some people are managing multiple businesses at a single time. Well, people call it good at being multitasking but in reality those 1% people are really really good at time management.
Multitasking is also like a skill you have to train your brain. Again it comes back to the thing that you can do anything you just have to TRAIN the BRAIN.
Multitasking is actually harmful for brain in the long term. Because it just over burdens the brain rather than helping brain to work efficiently and effectively. It tires out the brain.
But I want to focus on the point that it is what you think it is. Here is an article to help you out for the process.
Gosh should have added the multitasking in the list too, but then my readers would have panicked more, by seeing this much big list!
No worries guys 90% of the stuff is what you already know.
Its just that we writers and researchers just name them to confuse people... Nop, that's not the case I am just being dramatic.
2.???? Adaptability
Okay into another skill!
Well look at you! No I am not being sarcastic or dramatic just look at you, YOU have been adapting to situations all your life. The first day of school, remember that horrifying memory, yes, now, you go to school, college, university, office wherever and whenever without feeling what you felt on the first day! WHY cause now you know the drill.
Yes, I do admit, the first day there is a little bit anxiety, but then, you adapt yourself to it and the place gets into your comfort zone.
See you have this skill. So grab the pen and feel the excitement of cutting out a bullet point through a self-satisfying line.
There are many articles on the research if you are interested in reading one. click here!
Okay, so there must be some of my readers who would not be good in adapting to different situation. Most probably the one those who hate the stuff that goes out of their comfort zone. Yes, people who could not adapt to different changing situations. They hate the thought of change and always stay in their comfort zone.
But, trust me once you get out the comfort zone line, I guarantee you would enjoy the life of change and newness of the world around you. There is so much to discover around you. Even in the air you breath, if you just look into it there is a different galaxy in it. But the sitch is that you make sure to look in the depth, depth of things around you.
A new world is at the other side of the comfort zone.
Your comfort zone is someone elses' fear zone.
There are some people who crave deep connection and I am one of them. There is just so much that you can not get enough of, the point where you think that, now, I have understood the depths of it, hahaha the climax starts.
This is the point where the real path of depth starts and only the daring once chose this one. Others, trust me they leave and unfortunately unable to discover this exciting journey and what I call galaxy.
Okay enough of the chitter chatter! Back to the next point
3.???? Problem Solving
Hehehe, this one is exciting you can not solve the problems until or unless there is someone to create one.
Yes sometimes its people around us and sometimes our brain is there to sit in the chair!
Everything is linked, now let me give you an interesting fact, that our body emits some radiations and vibrations. Some of you must have known this or may be some of you do not have any idea but this concept is very interesting and deep. You attract according to your vibrations that the body is emitting at that time. These vibrations are produced by the thoughts going on in our brain at that time. In other words, we emit different vibrations and radiations at different times according to the thought process of our brain.
Overthinking is the one that creates most of the problems for us. We sabotage our own selves by overthinking, because the end product mainly leads to negative thoughts. Hence attracting negative situations and things.
Wanna know something amazing, we can influence these vibrations that we emit. If you are interested in knowing how to do this then let me know I will make sure to write an in depth article about it. So stay tuned for this one as well.
For Example When you are happy you find joy even in little things around you. Suddenly the wrinkles on the face of a random granny feels more connected to spirit rather than in other conditions you would have not liked sitting with a random granny.
To solve the problems you need wisdom and understanding, and it comes from ExPeRiEnCe and to get that you have to come out of your comfort zone and dare to do the things that you never did before and are afraid to do.
By doing things or listening to other people you get wisdom and experience required to make the right decision and solve the problem or help someone else get out of the situation.
Sometimes what a third party can see can not be seen by the people involved in the situation and vice versa. Sometimes the suggestion given by the third party doesn’t really fit in the situation cause people have very different relations with each other.
Like, let me give you an example, the relation your mother has with your sister or brother is different then the relation she has with you, even though you all are her children and she doesn’t differentiate any of you but still the attachment, the feelings and the experiences would differ.
To be a good problem solver first it is really important to be a quick decision maker because,
the longer you delay the decision,? the harder it gets to make one!
4.????Team Work
Well I know most of you are "the lone wolves!" yay !! this is good but some situations require team work to succeed and it is also the soft skill.
Remember the one time you did not like the person in the group project which was allotted by the teacher. Yes you did not like him/her not because of their personality (or maybe) ?but because of their inability to work with a team.
It is a must learn skill because if you are going to argue or not understand other persons point of view then, the project you are working on will not meet its deadline. So I would recommend you to learn how to work with a team and how to make your point clear to them and in return understand theirs as well.
We all are different human beings with different brains and experiences. If you are going to stay stubborn and not let your brain indulge with new experiences, then you are going to stay where you were 20 30 40 years ago. Bro take the advice and learn to get out of your comfort zone.
I am not bluffing. Let me share my own experience with you! I used to not talk about myself in every social sitting until I understood the importance of branding yourself, and for this you have to have good Nop, rather excellent communication skills.
This brings me to my next point.
5.???? Communication Skills
Puffftttt! This is the most important soft skill you would ever wanna learn cause
Without it you cannot market yourself.
I cannot enforce this enough.
People learn to communicate. Let me tell you there is a difference between talking and communicating (these both are so much different things), another important factor is to understand what other person is saying.
Understanding is the point most people leave out. As it is written
Comprehension is more important than communication.
It is written for a reason! What a person is conveying if it is not understood then the whole reason of communicating dies.
And we have to keep the spirit alive. Don’t We!
Let’s get to the sixth point.
6.???? Leadership
Many people think people are born leaders but according to new research leadership is characterized as a skill. When we talk about skill it means that it is learnable. Leadership is the ability of a person to influence the people around him it can be by words, actions or even by personality itself.
And to learn how to influence people there are a lot of self-help books and if you are not a reader person then you can also switch to podcasts or even audiobooks for help and understanding.
Craig Groeschel: has one of the best YouTube channel and podcast for leadership. Hope you're gonna enjoy it.
Leadership also includes how the way you communicate hence it would be a best option to first learn the communication skill and proceed to leadership skill. If some of you are really good at communicating then let’s just dive in to it. What are you waiting for?
Now you must be wondering that it’s easy to talk then to do. Wait I said I will take you with myself on this journey of self-help so stay with me and have some patience. Without patience and effort nothing great can be achieved. They both go hand in hand. :)
7.??????Creativity
There are some people who are born with a creative thinking but that doesn’t mean you cannot learn it you simply can, by consuming creative stuff and you know you see what you focus on.
There is a famous example that when you want to buy a red car you would start noticing every other car on the road to be red. It’s not that suddenly everyone is buying red cars it’s that they were always there you just started to notice them now.
So apparently what you want and what you focus on will help you pave your way for the goal you are keeping in mind. Being creative is as same, if you absorb the creative content a time will come when you would be able to create your own creative and give stuff your touch.
Creativity is all about giving your touch to already existing thing. To make stuff your own. Like painting, you see there are same colors in the world and people use that same color still all of the paintings are different because every single person give their own touch to the painting using same colors or even techniques. Painting is learned that means first you have to copy the stuff to learn it and then being creative in it to make it your own.
The book steal like an artist by Austin Kleon has the same concept. If you are interested in reading it click here.
8.?????? Critical thinking
Critical thinking is thinking critically hehehe just kidding! In thinking critically you analyze, question, evaluate the things under consideration they can be what you hear read know write or observe and then make the decision.
This is ability to understand and find out the pros and cons of a situation thing or decision you are about to make and after that you proceed accordingly. This is the ability you can either learn or some are really good at it by birth.
Mostly introverts are the people who think critically because they keep on observing and absorbing their surroundings and things, emotions and feelings. People learn to think critically and in this process they learn the disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing and evaluating the information that is given to them or absorbed or understood by them.
Mainly we are doing this from our childhood by asking questions about ourselves and how the world works around us or questioning the stuff that we don’t understand.
What I wanna say is it is also one of those skills that you can cut out from the list without hesitation. But for those who think that they need to learn the art of critical thinking I Gotcha!
You can read this amazing book: Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions by Stephen Brookfield
9.?????? Negotiation Skills
Negotiation skills is a broad term. It also includes many tiny skills to really get to the negotiation point. These tiny skills are also soft skills and can be learned. It includes
Don’t worry as I said before we already know most of the skills. Like we do negotiation in our daily life. Negotiating while shopping, negotiating with parents, negotiating with friends. There are many instances in life we tend to ignore but the main thing is we already have the ability to negotiate.
My Readers if you think you are not good at negotiation you can learn it as well.
The only difference between dreamers and doers is except for the spelling obviously duh, is that the doers learn and do stuff practically and the dreamers only think about it and do not take action.
So if you wanna learn negotiating skills you surely can and there are so many sources through which you can learn. Like reading or listening to self help books or tuning in to a podcast or even hiring a tutor for the learning the skills taking courses.
But let me tell you one thing and that is thinking without action ends up to nothing only brain clutter and disappointments which will then pave your way for future achievements.
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10.?? Networking skills
These are the skills which help you to maintain your social network. These are important skills to have as it helps in learning both in long and short term. It is the ability of an individual to exchange and deliver ideas with other people with same interests or goals as you. These are the skills to keep interpersonal connections.
There are many ways to hone your networking skills, like hosting a party or a dinner or going to dinners and parties. Not the fun once but the actual networking parties and dinners where you find people who have same goal and interests not just to have fun and passing their time.
Well you can also have a fun and enjoyment networking gathering but why not kill two birds with one stone and target the potential people and have fun with them with a touch of learning .
People are called social because they have large networking groups and they know how to deal with multiple people. People with different personalities and interests and broadening your horizon and having knowledge of multiple things.
Someone said to me:
to be professional in one thing rather than learning everything a little bit.
But you know what? As I always say its all about training your brain and if you train your brain to be PROFESSIONAL at multiple things it will be.
Ever thought how some people can speak multiple languages????? So how can someone say that we can not learn multiple things and be good at all of them?
We can, we can walk, talk, play, be an athlete and a A+ student all at the same time so how come we can not learn and be good at multiple things??????HOWWW??
So networking itself is a good skill but it also helps you learn many other soft skills as well like being good at interpersonal skills, communication skills understanding of emotions, and at the same time knowing what to do and make decisions.
All the soft skills are interlinked one way or the other.
At the end of part one of this article I would like you remind you again
You can learn and do multiple things, regardless of age.
Happy Reading! See you in other article, My Readers!