Life skills, continued...

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Examiner article

4.   Employability Skills, job skills to be hired and maintain work, ability to get to work, understanding of how to get work, skills for resume creation, understanding of appropriate dress code, ability to interview successfully, timeliness of work and arrival/departure timing, reliability to be counted on, comprehension of when to ask questions, initiative to take on new responsibilities, ability to supervise, customer service skills, sales skills, self promotions skills, good communication skills, leadership ability and strategic planning skills.

5.   Friendship/Intimacy Skills, investing in others, getting to know others, connecting emotionally, connecting intimately, ability to initiate and reciprocate dating roles, meeting commitments, understanding lifelong responsibilities and supporting others.

6.   Learning/Education Skills, reading, writing and arithmetic, comprehension, good written and verbal communication, analytical skills, memory retention, motivation to learn, research know how, note=taking ability, organizational skills, technological skills and mentoring ability.

7.   Life Planning Skills, ability to prioritize, goal-setting skills and planning.

8.   Self Management Skills, understanding and management of physical, mental and spiritual health, self care during illness, follow through, temper management, humanitarian efforts, forgiveness, ability to process emotions, ownership of good values, faith, loyalty, balance, understanding of respect for self and others, and ultimately knowing of a higher power and need of prayer.

Usually with maturity and experience life skills are developed. When you do wrong and you realize it, you learn to do better next time.

The younger you are, the more likely you’ll mess up because you haven’t gained the life skills to fully access your decisions prior to the action. Although, many adults continue to make the same bad decisions because he or she has not taken responsibility for their self and without ownership of one’s actions, you do not learn the lesson.

Mudrashram.com communicates, “Digging Your Self Out of the Rut and Moving Forward with Your Life…

Now that you know what needs work, you can begin today. Identify which of these skills you need to learn and start to acquire them. Here some ideas:

Environmental Skills - (now you understand why your parents kept giving you chores that you resented and hated—it was to prepare you to function independently) find a friend who knows how to do these tasks and ask them for advice. Ask or pay a friend to do them, and watch him or her so you can learn how to do it. Assist your parents, friends or relatives with cleaning and other environmental tasks with an aim to learn how to do them. Read books in the library on how to clean, how to cook, and how to do basic repairs. Additional information is available on these topics on the Internet. You can also volunteer or do paid work with a carpenter, electrician, plumber or auto mechanic to learn some of these skills.

Financial Skills - take classes on economics, the law, accounting, and personal financial planning. Read books on these subjects and go to seminars. Consult with an attorney, lawyer, accountant, stockbroker, or personal financial planner as is appropriate for your situation to help make sound financial and legal decisions. Study business administration in college.

Social/Civic Skills - take a Social Skills training course (Job Corps has this—if you're 16 to 24, you can learn these skills), an assertiveness training course, or human development courses at college. Associate with people who are polite, have good manners, and speak in a respectful and civil way (you may find this will rub off on you and that you can act this way too if you wish). Read books on etiquette. Educate yourself about community and political issues by watching the news. Volunteer in your community. Get involved in your political party, register to vote, and attend community forums.

Employability Skills - Enroll in vocational classes while you are in high school or college to learn skills that will help you get and find a job. There are programs available from your school district, your local Work Source Center, and Federal programs like Job Corps that will help train you for a career and will teach you many of the employability skills. You can also enroll in private vocational training programs. If you have been disabled, you can obtain assistance from your State Vocational Rehabilitation Department. Obtain a job, or a volunteer or intern position to gain valuable work experience. You may be able to learn to drive through your school district, or you can pay for private lessons.

Friendship/Intimacy Skills - you can learn to develop many of these skills by finding a mentor, someone who can model for you how to be a compassionate, considerate, and caring human being. A mentor can be a relative, a wise friend, a co-worker, a teacher, or someone who is a member of your religious faith. You may need counseling or psychotherapy to undo some of the wreckage of your own past, but even deep scars can heal, and you can begin to retrace your way. People can find guidance in this area from self-help groups, and there are recovery groups to assist you if your friendship/intimacy skills have been warped by an addiction. There are also good books on this topic. Your school or college counselor has resources in this area, too.

Learning/Education Skills - Here your school or college counselor has many resources. If you have problems learning a subject, your school can develop a special program for you to help you succeed in this learning skill. There are many good resources available through your library on how to study, and also on-line on the Internet. Make friends with a good student and study with them—you'll learn a lot on how to be a better, more successful student.

Life Planning Skills - You can learn to set goals and plans. There are resource materials available from your school counselor and at your public library. There are private programs that teach life planning skills, like Success Motivation Institute. You can also learn about goal setting and planning on-line on the Internet. You can learn how to do a personal inventory like this one and begin to make changes in areas you want to improve.

Self-Management Skills - This is also an area where a good mentor is invaluable and indispensable. You can obtain counseling or therapy to help you work out issues with anger, grief, resentment, and dysfunctional styles of relating to others. You can learn about caring for your health, diet, and exercise. You can learn how to relax and calm yourself—there are tapes available. There are programs to teach you how to cope with stress. There are yoga and meditation groups, and classes available through your religious organization that teach ways for you to control your reaction to stressful life events.”