Skills are gained throughout our lives, from people, media, classes and daily life experience. There are basic skills that everyone needs such as social skills, home keeping skills and money management skills. There are also skills that are gained to succeed in a career or hobby. Useful skills are defined by type. It is very useful for me to learn how to make 8 stitch cables when knitting a hat. That skill is kind of worthless in any type of employment situation.
The most important thing about gaining useful skills is that these skills open new doors and avenues that might have been unattainable previously. With these new skills, you will be more productive in your daily life, and become more valuable to others. Also, you will be able to share these skills with those that you care most for.
This is a topic that is near and dear to the hearts of my readers, researchers, and website visitors. So much so that one of them were kind enough to share their own personal opinions. I don’t claim to be the best interviewer in the world, but I do promise some good, raw, and honest answers from normal people like you and me. I do my best to NOT filter these answers, except for the bad words and hateful speech.
With that little blurb out of the way, let’s dive right into the juicy bits of (potentially) life-changing insights.
Current Topic: Gaining Useful Skills
‘R’ = Richard N. Stephenson (me!) ‘I’ = Interviewee (anonymous by request unless otherwise noted)
[This interview is inspired and fueled by research done for my book: Staying Motivated at Work.]
R: To you, what are some of the biggest benefits usually associated with this topic?
I: Gaining useful skills can help you become successful in life. The more things that you can do independently, the less you have to depend on other people and therefore you can accomplish your goals quicker. A useful skill could be anything from scrambling an egg to changing the oil in your vehicle. A useful skill does not have to be a complex task, just something that saves you from being constantly dependent on those around you.
R: How could this subject help you or someone you know change your life for the better?
I: Gaining and knowing useful skills is pretty much a must in the world we live in today. With the economy and the issues with our government in order to survive and provide obtaining useful skills is the only way to keep your head above water and not drown in the economy downfall. There are tons of companies that can provide new hires with the skills needed to make it today, without the long term education.
R: Please tell me about your own experience with this topic and how it helped someone be better.
I: A person who gains useful skills can become a better person because the skills can give them a sense of pride, and work ethic. Additionally, if you learn how to do new things, like new job skills, that could turn into a new job. A new job could lead to new perspectives, and new life experiences that will make the person better, more diverse, and wider-thinking. Useful skills can make a person depend on themselves rather than others, and that is better.
R: Who out there is a good example of using this subject to the fullest?
I: A child who is trying to learn about the world is best at gaining useful skills. From walking to crawling, the child eagerly learns to control their body for their benefit. It is the developmental nature of children who learns mostly with play that benefits with gaining useful skills.
R: Provide us with an example of what kind of person is better of never talking about this subject ever again.
I: Someone who is clinically depressed is probably not going to be motivated enough to gain useful skills any time soon. It’s unfortunate, but due to chemical imbalances, they typically aren’t motivated enough to go out and do the things they used to enjoy. Although I believe it would be really beneficial for someone like this to go out and do something to build skill, the chances of it are extremely unlikely.
R: How could the average person plan to bring this topic into the stuff they do on a daily basis?
I: I often gain useful skills by means of incorporating hobbies into my life. I wanted to learn about locksmithing, so I ordered a set of cheap lockpicks and played with locks and picks and keys while watching TV at night. Audio books are also really great.
I always am listening to audio books at the gym or when I am getting ready for bed. There are companies like ‘The Teaching Company’ who make great audio books by high level professors on certain topics. I’ve gone through about a hundred of them and have gained lots of useful skills.
R: What parts of the daily routine are best for making this subject more useful?
I: The most appropriate time to make gaining useful skills part of your life is when you need the skills to help you accomplish a goal. Gaining useful skills is better if you gain the skills early, so that you can use the skills for longer in your life. If you see your lack of skills standing in your way, it’s a time to gain skills. However, you need to be careful that you still meet your responsibilities, and not become a lifelong student that depends on others.
R: Are there any times when you think it is a bad idea to bring this topic into our lives?
I: I don’t even want to think about gaining useful skills at this time because my best friend has just had an accident and is in a coma. To work on making my life better while she is just struggling to live seems wrong. I will spend my time trying to do what I can for her and wait to improve things for myself until a more appropriate time.
R: Can you tell me where folks out there should plan to bring this idea into their lives?
I: Useful skills start when you are a child. Sadly if nobody teaches a child skills they will struggle growing up. When I was a preschool teacher I saw which children worked at home with their parents and which didn’t.
R: Where is this subject considered inappropriate for practice or use, in your opinion?
I: Work is probably one of the worst places to gain useful skills if it’s not work related. This could end up being a conflict of interest, which is grounds to lose your job over. You also don’t want to be caught doing something non-work related at work as this could also prove to be grounds for being fired. Unless it pertains specifically to work, leaving skill building to your free time.
R: Who do you think could use some help with this subject?
I: The employment commission in the local town or city can provide schools for technical and vocational training. Vocational and technical schools provide useful skills and are accredited organizations. Also online schools can be helpful for those disciplined for online education.
R: What special tricks, tactics, or strategies could you recommend for us today?
I: Attend technical schools where one can get immediate employment once a skill or trade has been mastered. The trade schools are not like college and universities that seek to place long term learning of a skill set that is sometimes immeasurable. Technical or trade schools provide useful skills and immediate employment which is the goal of the mostly unemployed.
R: Give the readers an example of the biggest pitfall for this topic.
I: Gaining useful skills is important to bettering yourself because it enables you to do work for yourself which is important when it comes to trying to achieve a self-sufficient lifestyle. It is important that when you are learning or teaching yourself these skills that you listen to the details and think a lot before you act because the devil is in the details and one minor fault can ruin an entire job.
For example, when building a cabinet it is important to constantly make measurements and re-measure again before you cut so that you know the angles you are making will fit together perfectly, or else the entire cabinet may need to be remade. I have done this so I know from experience.
R: Describe a good idea for bringing this topic into our lives today.
I: Many jobs offer professional development opportunities. A lot of people try to avoid this, but I think that gaining useful skills in any job is a great thing. Plan to take part in the next opportunity that arises. You may find it boring, but in the long run, additional skills are marketable skills.
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Thank you for reading this personal journey into becoming a better person and having a better future ahead of you. I hope you enjoyed this interview conversation and found golden nuggets you can immediately apply to your daily life.
If you want to get more productivity (and fulfillment!) out of your work, career, and life through being more motivated, then check out Staying Motivated at Work.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments, or personal life-changing wisdom below.