Introduction: How to Find the Time to Develop Life Skills
Time is a finite resource. You invest time to do the things that are important to you. But do you always know what's important to you since you don't know what you don't know. And you know that you should read more and take an online course or two to update your skills to top your game at work and in life. Additionally, reading and taking courses allow you to develop life skills, which are critical if you want to achieve your goals.
But how can you carve more time out of your day when you are already leading an over-scheduled life. The reality is that life is very busy for most people. But how much of that busyness is taking you closer to that big goal that you have in life? And if you are serious about updating and acquiring life skills, you will do what’s necessary. However, this is easier said than done. Everything takes practice and may seem impossible at first.
Years ago, I wanted to work on a non-degree liberal arts education. And for close to a year, every morning, I worked on a course. Six o'clock in the morning until 8:30 am was my professional development time. I learned so much during that uninterrupted time. These days, first thing in the morning after my devotion, I spend time reading books. For me, that's the best time of day to get my professional development done. For me, lifelong learning is a part of who I am. These days, I read more books than I take courses.
What Are Life Skills?
I looked at the Skills You Need website to find a definition for life skills. And this is what I found.
“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. Tying your shoe laces, swimming, driving a car and using a computer are, for most people, useful life skills. Broadly speaking, the term ‘life skills’ is usually used for any of the skills needed to deal well and effectively with the challenges of life.”
It seems to me that many of the skills you need to succeed in life and the same skills you need to succeed at work. The organization lists some skills I refer to as soft skills on it's website, though it says it's not a complete list. And that makes a lot of sense to me. Some skills may become less relevant depending on your stage in life.
List of Life Skills
- Communication and interpersonal skills.
- Decision-making and problem-solving.
- Creative thinking and critical thinking.
- Emotional Intelligence (Self-awareness and empathy, which are two key parts).
- Assertiveness and equanimity, or self-control.
- Resilience and ability to cope with problems.
- Willingness to learn.
The above skills are consistently ranked as skills you need to succeed and thrive in the workplace. And they are often referred to as soft skills and not life skills.
Why Are Life Skills Important?
I extracted the following from the Skills You Need website
“Different life skills will be more or less relevant at different times in your life, for example:
When at school or university, you'll need study skills
When buying a house, negotiation skills may be needed
You'll need to work on your employability skills to get a job
When you have a job, leadership and presentation skills may be useful, along with a whole host of other skills.
When you start a family, time management and organising skills are likely to become important.
There will be times throughout your life when you'll need conflict resolution, stress-management and problem solving skills too.
An important life skill you will need all your life is the ability and willingness to learn.
By learning new skills we increase our understanding of the world around us and equip ourselves with the tools we need to live a more productive and fulfilling life, finding ways to cope with the challenges that life, inevitably, throws at us.
Life skills are not always taught directly, but often learned indirectly through experience and practice.”
Negotiation is a skill that is needed every day, even when you have to convince someone to your way of thinking about an idea you want to implement.
Have you read?
How to Sweet-Talk a Shark by Bill Richardson, Book Summary
In an age where employees have to do more with less resources, they have to know how to manage their time to get priorities done on schedule, while managing the daily stressors of life. Imagine having the ability to solve your own problems without having to constantly solicit help from your boss? Conflict arises in the workplace every day, and knowing how to resolve them effectively places you in good stead with your colleagues.
Look at How You Spend Your Time
Even if you do not possess all of the life skills mentioned above, your ability and willingness to learn will help you to fill the skills gap. You, better than anyone, know which skills you have to update and acquire, so now it’s time to figure out how to find the time to incorporate learning into your day. The first place to start is to keep a time log for a month, or at the very least for two weeks. Doing this enables you to identify time wasters, activities to delegate, and repetitive ones to automate.
Create a simple word processing document with two columns – Time and Activity – writing down the time for each activity for the entire day, including sleep time, and even going to the movies. You want to record every hour of the day. You will be surprised by how much time you waste without realizing or meaning to. Many are surprised by how much time is wasted on social media and checking email all through the day, instead of at specific times.
When you have your time log for at least two weeks, analyze it, you will notice where you can capture time to learn the skills you need to succeed in the workplace. For me, 6:00 – 8:30 am is the time that I allocate for learning. But if you have a family, that may not work for you. I have experimented with different time slots for learning, and that’s the one that works best for me.
During the winter, I sleep more, so learning starts at 7:00 am instead of 6:00 am. You have to find a time that works for your lifestyle, so that you will stick to it. And, do you want to intentionally learn every day, or just during the work week?
These are important questions because you are going to add learning time to your calendar. What gets scheduled gets done. Are you going to learn alone or will you have a learning buddy? I have done both, and I find that the times when I took a course with someone, the discussions were very rich, and expanded my way of thinking. But do not use the lack of a learning buddy to not acquire the life skills and other skills that you need.
Places to Find Courses to Take
OpenCulture: 1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities
23 Killer Sites for Free Online Education Anyone Can Use
The absolute best free online classes for learning something new
I would be remiss, if I didn't add resources that I created. They are not free, but they are inexpensive when you look at what you get.
How would you like to access the best, most useful information I have, that’s better than book summaries? Buy monthly access to the Bookish Note that’s behind my paywall. I group Bookish Notes together by a common theme, turning them into a course. Imagine reading themed Bookish Notes and starting to lay the foundation for a new skill. Please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning.
First published September 23, 2015. I updated it considerably that it could be considered as a new post.
