When we hear or think of Life Skills, we generally tend to focus only on emotional development, or personality development of an individual, ignoring other important aspects that do exist under the umbrella of “Life Skills’.

There are a lot of things that your school would have taught you in those ten-twelve years of mandatory attendance, and there would have been even more that your university or college would have taught you, or is, at the moment, teaching you.

But these institutions have a fixed curriculum, and there is only so much that they could assist you with.

There are certain things our schools and colleges do not teach us, but that does not mean that these things are negligible. Sometimes it’s entirely our responsibility to learn some skills- emotional, mental, intellectual or other, with the aim of making ourselves well-equipped to handle whatever life throws at us.

As part of this article, my attempt is to make people aware of the various important skills we need to be well acquainted with, either through self-learning, or through the assistance of others.

HANDLING MONEY

With the changing trends it is now very common even for a 10-year old to receive monthly pocket money from her/his parents, and the pocket money eventually increases annually or maybe every six months.

By the time we reach our late teens, we start getting a proper amount every month for our personal expenses.

Personal experience has made me realise that even though we learn counting, money denominations, addition subtraction and profit loss, we still fail to learn the art of handling money. I can say with complete factuality that almost all of us have been in situations (more than once) when we’ve run out of money just halfway into the month.

Hence, it is always good to know some technique of handling your money.

You could take your pocket money in bits and pieces, some amount every week maybe, so that you don’t face any shortage during the month.

Or one could separate some amount as “savings”, which, eventually, develops into a very profitable habit (trust me, I know!).
Some people also make daily accounts of any considerable transactions they made during the day because it gives them an idea of how much they’ve spent, and how much they can still spend.

There is not one sole technique of handling money. Different people have different ways. You could try someone else’s or invent your own!

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ELECTION

The right to vote is not just an ordinary right that the legislators thought of and put in the constitution. It was highly debated upon, and was extremely hard to achieve during the initial years.

We all attain our voting rights at the age of 18 because by that age we know how the government works, how elections work, what we’re supposed to do at the EVM and things like that.

However, is that enough?

My school taught me what a government is supposed to do. But it didn’t teach me what the government was actually doing. My school taught me that the opposition had a role to play. But it didn’t teach me how accurately the opposition did actually play its role.

We take this privilege very lightly, more like an obligation than a duty. What happens in most of the cases is that we end up voting for the party our family is supporting. Does this happen in your household, too? If yes, imagine this happening in 100 other households across the country, and imagine the number of votes cast just out of influence.

With the kind of transparency available to us these days, it is very easy to monitor the doings of the ruling party as well as the opposition.

We are capacitated enough to find out, observe, and then decide whom to vote and why.

SURVIVING WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY

While technology is a boon to mankind, we cannot ignore the fact that technology has basically made us it’s slaves. We do nothing without it, isn’t it?

A few weeks back an academician was telling me the ongoing proposition about discarding notebooks in schools altogether, and the use of tablets. This is a big step towards advancement, but is this without any negative effects?

It makes me embarrassed to admit that if I had to make a project relying solely on text books or paper notes, I would literally decide to give up a few times before the submission.

Or if I decided to make a hand-made birthday card for a close friend, I would pull out my hair in disappointment and frustration.
We have often faced the question: What three things would you take with you if you knew you were going to be stranded on an island.

Well, what three things?

I am sure they’d be very technologically advanced things.

How many of us would still be able to make fire out of stones, or survive in an island on leaves, stones, raw fruits, wood and some sand?
It’s not just about a stranded island, but about your daily life. You never know what you have to face in life when. There might come a point where technology won’t be available for assistance. What then?

Think about all the moments during childhood when there used to be power cuts (WITHOUT generators and invertors!) and let me know in your comments how useful you think the skill of surviving without technology really is!

HOME REPAIR

I think we are probably the only country who has handymen available for everything, be it a broken nail or a leaking pipeline! This actually makes us too reliant on people around us.

Some say this happened because we needed to increase the employment so we have people working in almost any field. For instance, when we go to the parking in the malls today, we have people who press the button for us and hand us our parking slips, when we can very well do that by just lowering the window and stretching the hand!

The point is not the kind of labour available to us, but that we must be in practice of some labour ourselves!

Basic knowledge of home repair is a must for every person, especially girls living alone who don’t always feel safe calling a repairman.
Painting a wall, fixing a broken tap or lash, changing a bulb, replacing a wire are some very small but very essential things we must all know of.

MANAGING TAXES

This is one of the many things we are obligated to do as citizens of the country we belong to. Pay taxes- monthly, annually, and basically on any and every purchase.

But what makes a person a completely aware citizen is a complete knowledge of what tax has to be paid when and how.
Our schools need to teach us how to pay taxes, how to calculate the amount due, how to save for taxes and more information related to this.

However, since our schools don’t teach us all of this, it is up to us to learn these things- either from our parents or other sources.

CAR REPAIR

I think most of you will agree that this skill is very basic, but very essential in nature. Changing tyres, changing the cool-ent of the AC, fixing minor problems relating to the engine and other minor stuff HAS to be known to everybody driving a vehicle- be it a boy or a girl.

BANKING

We all would like limitless credit cards, already paid for debit cards and a bank balance as long as our phone number.

How hard is it to manage the bank account, the credit and the debit?

We learn basics about the bank, the credit card and the debit card but when the time comes for us to manage it all together; we often end up messing it up. It is vital for us to learn the advantages AND disadvantages of using a credit card (frequently or occasionally) before we start using one. Credit cards often come with the added curse of indebtedness, which I am sure no one would like to be friends with!

Banking systems, loans, fixed deposits, bonds, shares and other things are things we all indulge in, without any exceptions. However, it is important to have complete knowledge of these things

BODY LANGUAGE AND WAY OF TALKING

This is the last thing on my list, but this is definitely not the last of the skills we should all be good at.

Our institutions may or may not teach us how to talk or how to present ourselves. That is not our concern.
Our concerns are to watch more, observe more and learn more about how people present themselves. Taking fictional TV/movie characters as examples, random commuters as examples, or our friends and relatives as examples, we can always learn the do’s and don’ts’s of an appropriate body language and an appropriate way of presenting oneself.

Nowadays so many personality development classes are conducted at almost every nook and corner along with endless tutorial videos that are available to us.

These skills not only help us in our everyday life, but especially help us during job interviews. We learn what to answer and how to answer. The way we stand and conduct ourselves says a lot more about us than the attached degrees in our resume!

So, the next time you think you have nothing to do, just remember, you have a plethora of skills to work on!
As I end the list, I welcome endless suggestions on any other skill you might think of and would want me to include in this list.

Click here for government certification in Life Skills

The post Seven Important Life Skills.. appeared first on Vskills Blog.

I am a salesman and this is what I think.
I work for a big and reputed company. But my work is not easy. It is not limited to standing in AC showrooms and performing an act of show and tell.
Sometimes, I get the privilege of an air conditioned atmosphere, but at other times, I’m asked to roam around, door to door, showing and telling about my products, and how people could benefit from them.
At other times, I am also asked to call people up and advertise, just somehow convince them to take up my policy, or my mobile plan, or even my lottery ticket!
I have a scheduled target to fulfill. Sometimes, it takes hours and hours of persuasion, sometimes it all happens in less than one minute.

I don’t always get to interact with sweet people. I’m not always faced with bad people. It’s like a mixed bag- while some people listen to you patiently, others just snap at you while some others ignore you altogether.
I’ve had a hard life, but this hard life has given me two traits- Patience and Perseverance.
I’ve a hard life, yes, but I’m not writing this to complain. In fact, I’m writing this as a motivation, as a teaching to my fellow salespersons, on how to enhance your skill/expertise in the field.
Through an experience gained over the years, I now present to you a list of some traits for you to adapt, for the benefit of your own self, and that of your customers:
• Good Listening Skills:
With the kind of modern technology we have, there has also developed within our customers a desire for something different, and something personalized. Wide choices have been made available to people, and they now have increasing demands.
As a salesman, I have now realized that it is the most important to be a good and patient listener. You HAVE to have the ability to listen to what exactly it is that your customer demands out of your products, and more importantly, the kind of things he/she DOES NOT want. Trust me; some attention towards these two things will make your work a whole lot easier. I know this can be a very hard thing to do because, as dictated by the human nature, customers are never too sure of what they want, and their demands fluctuate with the kinds of things they see around, but since customer satisfaction remains our primary aim, it is important to have an open mind, and open ears to their demands!
Your job does not end when you show a customer something and he/she likes it. There still remains a HUGE TIME FRAME between when a customer likes something and when he/she agrees to buy that product. You will face endless questions, my friend. But remember, all of this comes imbibed in your job profile. The one who is spending the money has all the right to clear his/her queries, doubts and issues, and you, as the salesperson, have the duty to listen to and attend to all the questions of your customer.
Taxing, yes. Avoidable, no.
• Patience:
“Bhaiya yeh dikhana” and “Bhaiya woh dikhana” never truly ends, and us salespersons cannot agree more. I know how it feels to take out just that last item when you’ve already shown them 50 items before that. Yes, I feel you, mate. But that is what actually tests your skills as a salesperson. Your patience.
Along with being a good listener, it is also important to be a patient person. Our job description implicitly states that no matter how tired we are or how frustrated we get, we still have to put on a smile on our face and convince our customer to buy that last product.
Customers have a very indecisive mind, and they will take the entire world’s suggestions before settling on one thing. This is where we need to display our patience the most.
As a salesman who has been assigned the department of technologies, his woes are, indeed, endless. He requires an extra presence of patience because as a part of his job he will have to give endless demos, explaining the whole functioning mechanism and process again and again, repeatedly. But you can’t do this with a tired countenance or an angry voice. Remember, you’ve been chosen for this because you have patience. Don’t lose that trait.
A lot of people outside the sales department think that these two qualities mark the end of the traits we need to possess. But this is not it!
While these two qualities are probably the most important qualities, there are still other traits that one working in the sales department has to adapt to.
Read on, you fellow sales persons!
• Good Communication Skills:
Selling of a product works entirely on how well are you able to convince the customer. You HAVE to communicate with your customer effectively, in a way that he, too, looks at the product the way you do- something advantageous, something you want to sell and something he wants to buy.
As part of a good communication skill, you have to explicitly firm and clear about the uses of the product, the special features it flaunts, and most importantly, your presentation of the product should make the product seem tempting to the onlooker.
When I had my first job as a salesperson, I wasn’t a very effective communicator. However, with more practice and experience, this skill, too, enhanced. It shall happen for all of you too!
• Positive Attitude:
Just because someone did not like the first thing you showed them does not imply that he/she won’t like the second or the third or the fourth or even the last thing you show them. As a salesperson, it is very important for you to maintain a positive attitude throughout the show and tell process. This positive attitude also requires you to be perseverant towards the entire selling process.
Giving up is not a choice for you!
• Ego Drive:
Seems like a new and different term, isn’t it?
Ego drive is the measurement of how far you can recover after being put down or rejected. How high do you think should your ego drive, as a salesperson, be? Pretty high, I’m assuming? If you plan on staying in the profession and excelling in it, you must not, and I really mean you CAN NOT let one rejection or one disappointed customer disappoint and demotivate you.
There will be hundreds of chances and hundreds of customers.
Cheer up, my friend!
• Honest and Sincere Approach:
This is also probably one of the most important characteristics I will bring to light. Our profession gives us a certain power- of selling whatever we want to the customer. We have a target to fulfil, and hence we have a big incentive. That incentive might sometimes make us dishonest and sell people wrong or defected things. However, as ethics in our field have always suggested, and still do suggest, we should not hide any detrimental truth about the product, or should not exaggerate any imaginary quality about it. Being a sincere salesman will help you establish a good relationship with the customer- something that is good for you as well as for your company.
• Knowledge:
This is very self- explanatory, I believe. To be effective and convincing enough, you must have complete knowledge of whatever product it is that you are aiming to sell.
• Decent Personality:
To give out a positive vibe and to leave behind a good impression, you should always be decently and properly dressed, and should make yourself seem approachable to your customers so that they can be open with you about their demands.
• Energetic Attitude:
As salesmen, we are never allowed to be sullen or lazy. We’ve to always be at our toes, and seem just as enthusiastic as we were when our day started. It is easier to gain people’s attention when you have an entertaining and enthusiastic attitude.

Note: All the tricks mentioned above are, indeed, tried and tested, and are certified to succeed. You can thank me later.

Regards,
A fellow salesman.

Click here for government certification in Life Skills

The post 7 Must Have skills to be come a Great Salesman appeared first on Vskills Blog.

First date, first job interview, first public appearance, first big social gathering, first meeting with your would-be in-laws or basically a first meeting with absolutely anybody would leave us in jitters in all kinds. Deciding your wardrobe seems like the hardest question ever, and you always wonder what could be the plausible topic of conversation you could pick up.
The problem doesn’t end with the end of the meeting; instead, it starts with the meeting. After you bid farewell, you begin to wonder what impression you managed to leave on the other person, if they liked you well or not, if they would form a positive opinion about you and such things.

As the popular saying goes, “First Impression is the Last Impression”, it is, indeed, the first impression that counts the most.
While there’s no legit proof that first impression accounts for everything, there is, however, some truth behind the fact that people form an image of you by the kind of first impression you leave on them. It’s fairly simple actually- you meet them for the first time, they meet you for the first time, they will believe what you show them and eventually that picture would settle in their mind.
How, then, can you paint a rosy picture, or in other words, create a fine first impression?

Be on time

The first and foremost effort that anybody needs to make to create a good impression, in general, is to be punctual and on time. We’ve gotten into a very bad habit of being “fashionably late” to every gathering, that too very conveniently. However, as fashionable as this may seem, this does not account for good etiquette at all.
A person who cannot be punctual and on time cannot be relied upon by anyone- this is precisely the kind of impression being late casts upon people.

So the first step is to always be on time. Just in case you are unable to show up on time, etiquettes demand that you inform that person about your delay, well in advance.

Be confident

Yes, I know preaching about confidence during first meetings is easier said than done. But this is an important requirement.

Projecting yourself as a confident person makes you appear to be a very self-assured person. Walking and talking confidently, confident gestures, confident body language makes the other person automatically more comfortable in talking to you.

Focus on others

When you talk to someone, be it for the first or for the fifteenth time, it is very importance to give them due attention and due importance. Talking about your-self all the time does not create a suitable impression. It makes you sound narcissistic and arrogant. Let’s not forget the pride that will come along!
Keep in mind that it is equally important to patiently listen to the view of other people and as a well-mannered person, you are supposed to wait for the other person to express their argument before you counter-argue.

Two key elements: Politeness and Smile

A polite behaviour leaves a very lasting, very fine impression on everyone you talk to. If you were feeling nervous about your job interview, would it not leave you relaxed if your interviewer was a cheerful, pleasant person with a smile on his face? It would automatically release your anxiety and would reduce the impending tension in the air.
When you talk with a smile on your place, it automatically makes your argument appear less negative (even if, in actuality, it is negative in content) and makes you seem open to different perspectives.

Moreover, it makes the other person feel more comfortable in your company. It is important to remember that if you are meeting a person for the first time, that person, too, is meeting you for the first time. You should also try to make the other person feel comfortable and calm.

Dress appropriately

To leave a good, long lasting impression on somebody, it is important to dress according to the occasion. Being over-dressed or under dressed is not generally acceptable. Too flashy attire is also a big no, too.

It has also been a well-established fact that when looking to impress people, it is important to foremost be comfortable with yourself, therefore, it is important to dress in what you would feel comfortable in.

Avoid too much perfume or cologne

This is an important point to remember, but this is also something we are most likely to forget.
Application of too much perfume or too much cologne makes you seem pretentious and self-insecure.

Avoid bragging about yourself

Modesty is a good skill to possess. Just as important it is to not brag about yourself, it is also appreciable to not defame anybody in the process of creating your fine impression.

Gather all relevant information before hand:

When you are going to an event of professionals, for a job interview or to a gathering where you seek to converse with and impress some specific personality, it is always a good idea to conduct due research on the relevant topic on which you could hold a prim and proper conversation, without getting your facts wrong!

Don’t stop complimenting

This is probably the oldest trick in the book. Never, and I mean never cease complimenting people, it will always make them happy, and will put you in their good books, definitely! However, it is important to maintain the very faint distinction that always exists between complimenting someone and buttering someone!

There are never a limited number of do’s and don’ts’s on how to create a first impression. Your list probably won’t even be halfway through, whereas this one has come to an end. It is always a good time to learn, especially from all the other people who converse with you. Observe their behaviour, and know what to adapt and what to avoid!

Click here for government certification in Life Skills

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Meera is a 19-year old girl. She has a sleek expensive looking phone but is constantly frustrated with the “low storage” error flashing on her home screen. She sighs and deletes a couple of dictionary-related apps, so that she could make space to maintain her social networking apps.
Meera is now 21, and her schedule largely involves college and then social networking till the moment she sleeps. She is so used to Facebook that her home page is the first thing she checks in the morning, and the last thing she checks in the night.
Even the time she spends in the washroom, her phone accompanies her, browsing and double clicking on Instagram pictures. She entertains herself during the obstinate traffic by tweeting hilariously about the traffic.
Meera is a fictional character.

But, is Meera really a fictional character?
Is Meera not living in all of us, in varying intensities?
Aren’t we all equally involved (if not addicted) in the social media and it’s different platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and lately, also, the infamous dating app Tinder.
Cyber crimes, hacking, bullying, addiction, plagiarism and the like are all very conventional, explicit threat that the social media oh so graciously is known for.
But what about those implicit, unconventional, very less noticeable gradual threats that come creeping out, slowly and steadily, from the smallest loopholes of the social media?

Are we really aware of the following things (things which only appear minute) that the social media is doing to us?

• Social Media is hampering our creativity:
I remember when I was a kid, I had one of those broadband connections which would disconnect automatically whenever there would be an incoming call on the landline. The internet fares were so high that we would get barely fifteen minutes on the internet, and I would use that time to surf through the Disney Channel website. Once those fifteen minutes would be over, I would go back to either sketching different objects in my house or writing poems on those very objects! Now that I’ve grown up, my day is spent in college. Even in college, I, along with majority of my class, are either facebooking or snapchatting during lectures, thanks to the college wifi. At home, it’s the same routine.
We’re all becoming so used to the social media that we’ve almost forgotten how to do what we always loved to do. We spend all our creativity in hashtags and emoticons.
Modern times have made lives busy as it is, and in these busy lives, instead of doing things that would actually make us grow as a person, things that would give us genuine satisfaction, we divert to things that are only momentary and very superficial.
Amongst us, there are many singers, artists, musicians, painters, writers, sportspersons, but what have we been doing lately? Liking, commenting, judging, tweeting and reposting posts from other singers, artists, musicians, painters, writers and sportspersons.
Social Media is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere, anytime soon. But this time and age, this phase of your life will. Keep that phone aside, and follow your passion.

• Social Media is making us Unsocial:
Does this sound strange to you? How can something that is meant for us to socialise be making us unsocial?
Well, here’s how:
Our actual, real and genuine interactions with people have become very limited. We have large whatsapp groups, we comment on people’s pictures from years back and we fire up a post with our opinions within minutes, but when it comes to going to social gatherings, we’re least interested. We find it hard to compliment people in person, we find it hard to have a small civil conversation with them face to face.
In recent days, some pages on Facebook are famous for posts that make us very socially aware, and we, like good Facebookers, share them or comment them, helping the good Samaritan in gaining due popularity.
But do we do so in real life?
We share loads of inspiring stories about acid attack victims, but how many of us would actually go and speak to them if we see them in the same bus or the same metro?
Our interactions are only limited to social media these days. What we know of our relatives and what they know of us is also through our recent Facebook check-ins. While this is surely a very economical way of staying connected and updated, this is also leading us into isolation and is driving us away from social etiquettes, manners, the art of confrontations, improvement of our body language and the techniques of creating first impressions.

• Social Media is turning us into attention seekers:
Yes, another implicit evil that social media is driving us towards is that it is turning us into very attention seeking people, that too, without our knowledge.
Anything that we ( at least most of us) post on these platforms, we do so with the hopes of gaining a lot of likes, comments, praises and reposts. Do we post about how our parents cook for us every day? No, right? Then why do we post about that one day when we fed a street dog?
With the recent budding trend of Snapchat, we’ve all known someone who will make it a point to send you a picture of whatever he/she is eating, be it at a roadside vender or at some five star hotel (beware: if you don’t know someone like that, you COULD be someone like that!). Is that not seeking attention of the world towards what you’re eating so that they could judge you on the basis of it? You’re cool enough to have roadside food in times of cafes and restaurants, or you’re sophisticated and rich enough to afford five star hotels…
Am I right or am I right?

• Social Media is Changing/Shaping Our Opinions:
While this may not sound like a serious threat at the surface of it, it comes off as more dangerous when you really think about it.
Ask yourself, how do you judge a picture of yourself? You post it on one of these platforms, and following the number of likes and comments, you decide if it’s a good picture or a bad picture, if your dress is a good one or not and so forth.
Are you not then, shaping your own opinion about your own self based on the likes/dislikes of people?
When you log on to Facebook and you see posts of people, either their photographs or their check ins or something else entirely, do you not judge them based on that?
This Personality Shaming (as I would like to call it) has gone so far that people post false information/updates on their social media just to create a fine impression.
They will post check-ins at all kinds of places just so they could portray to the world how ‘cool’ and ‘experimental’ they are with places around the city.
I am not saying that each of you reading this does this. But, I am definitely saying that each of you reading this forms opinions about people (opinions as small as a grain or as big as hills) based on what they post on their pages.

These might seem like very small things when we read them somewhere. We all would probably think, “Blah! I am sure I am not the only one. Cmon, who doesn’t do all this? How does it matter?” but what is important to know is that these small things, which only appear small at the surface, become very deep rooted over time, and make us start living pretentious lives, so much so that we’re hardly able to differentiate between a real reality and that of a virtual kind.

We’re all sailing in the same boat, my friend. All we need is a realisation to withdraw ourselves from such deep involvement into Social Media.
Ending on this note, I would like to request all the readers to like/comment/share/repost
(YES! PLEASE NOTE THAT PUN).

Click here for government certification in Media

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NEVER STOP LEARNING, BECAUSE LIFE NEVER STOPS TEACHING

Learning things is a weird process, don’t you think?
When we’re infants, we learn how to stand just like that one fine day. We learn to talk just like that too. And then one day we’re eating food on our own. While these things we learn just like that, there are other things that take us a lot of practice to learn- like writing, riding a bicycle, learning the math tables, drawing and the like.

But, is learning limited only to our school and university? Does it have a scope beyond that? Of course it does.
Learning begins on our first day on earth, and goes on till our last day. It never stops. Every day brings with itself something new for us to learn, and in order to grow completely, in accordance with our potential, it is very important for us to keep learning from different sources.

I believe that there exists no person who has realized his/her full potential already. I believe that no matter what all one is able to accomplish, there is still something left for that person to learn. The world’s richest person might have all riches in the world, but he could be lacking patience. He learnt the art of money making, but not the virtue of patience.
The fastest runner conditioned and endured and learnt perseverance, but he might be the most selfish person you could ever come across.
The fine food that you enjoy at your favorite restaurant might be made by an excellent cook, but he could be able to only speak broken English. He learnt the art of gourmet, but he still has English to learn.

No matter what you achieve, or what position you savor in life, I guarantee you, you will never run out of things to learn.
When you stop learning from your surroundings, from other people, from movies, from internet, from books and from your experiences, it’d mean that you give up on yourself, that you accept your growth as it is, without working any further on it. However, this is not the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to keep learning, and keep growing in the process.
The person sitting next to you in the bus or the metro might teach you something about some game in his phone.
The girl sitting next to you in class, by chance, might just make you learn the art of a good and neat handwriting.
Our parents are the epitome of selflessness, and are capable of teaching us the values of sacrifice and selflessness.
Your dog, whom you pet and pamper endlessly is fully capable of teaching you obedience and loyalty.
Your favorite actor can teach you the art of speaking.
All failures in your life are capable of teaching you the art of acceptance, and the art of perseverance.
Your teacher, yes- the one who’s lectures you find very boring to pay attention to- might just be able to teach you great oratory skills.
The staff in your school/college- associating with whom is somehow ‘below our standard’- could teach us some valuable lessons in hard work and modesty by their inspiring life stories.
Our partners in life can teach us a lot about patience. They’re capable of teaching us a lot about our own selves.

Life will never lack any opportunities to teach us something new. We will never grow too old to learn a new skill. My parents, having almost touched 50 years of age, are now learning Facebook and YouTube shortcuts from my sibling and me.
My grandmother, having lived more than 80 years of her life, still tries to learn English, as much as she can comprehend, every day without fail.”
My grandfather is too enthusiastic to learn how to operate our modern age touch screen phones.

Want to learn a new language? Enroll yourself.
Want to bake more? Look for recipes and try.
Want to learn how to swim? Don’t think too much, buy a costume, spot a pool and enroll yourself.
You think you have a good voice? Try your hand at singing.
Liked drawing as a kid? You sure could take some drawing classes.

Don’t think what the world would think of you.
Learn. Grow. Learn some more.

Click here for government certification in Life Skills

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Today, while sitting in class I was thinking about a topic for my next post- just a thought process as to what life skill could I talk about next when it dawned on me that in all of my 6 posts so far, I had given little, or maybe no importance at all to what life skills are, and what is their importance in life, if any.
And therefore, I decided to dedicate this post to an introduction to Life Skills.

Life Skills are skills that help us get through the different challenges and difficulties that life throws at us. They prepare us to deal with the expected as well as the unexpected.
Life skills are not just mere skills or lessons to learn. But, they are some habits that we need to develop.
Things ranging from patience to perseverance and attitude to zeal are all a part of this broad spectrum known as Life Skills.
Knowing how to respect other people is a life skill, how to be social is a life skill, being a responsible citizen is a life skill, coping with loss is a life skill, behaving well with your colleagues is a life skill and even petting your dog well is a life skill!

Some people might point out that life skills are in our nature, and are, therefore, intrinsic to us. However, some people say that these skills develop over time.
I don’t agree completely, or completely disagree with either of the view.
I believe, personally, that we’re born with some traits, and we learn some as we live along.
Intrinsic traits, or the traits we’re born with may include patience, or maybe a stronger resolve. Traits that we develop eventually include confidence, a sense of responsibility, a sense of gratitude and the like.

Acquiring these traits and using them in our daily life is not a task undertaken in just an hour or a day. It is a gradual process, a process some may refer to as Socialization, too.
This process unfolds at a lot of different levels, starting right from our childhood.
The first and foremost role in this is played by our parents and our immediate family, the only people we spend time with during our infancy. Then, as we move on to school, college, and then to the outer world, we learn more skills which we incorporate into our life.
Our peers, friends, classmates, colleagues and even random people who we have no direct relation with, play some role in developing these life skills. In fact, I really do think that even fiction and fictional characters act as some sort of an inspiration for us.
We get inspired by our favorite characters, and try to adopt the same traits as them.
For instance, seeing a friend act very patient with someone who is slow at understanding simple things can give us the incentive to be more patient, or working in the office with colleagues can teach us co-operation and team work.

But, despite all of this, the sad reality is that we live in a world based on a very hedonist model. People only think about their pleasure, and the different ways to attain this pleasure.
They rarely think about their over all development as an individual, or about their role in the society.
Why then, are these life skills so important?

All of us can study and get into a good college after school. But, is it simple to stay alone in college? A friend is not a want or a desire, but a need for every individual. And to maintain a friendship, one requires to possess certain level of understanding and selflessness- two basic life skills.
Who is to say that once we’re settled in life, we won’t face a grave loss? Who is to say that our business will always be upward sloping on the graph, or that our loved ones will stay with us forever? There are certain things in life that we can’t avoid, certain losses that we can’t stop, and we need a strong resolve to cope up with them. Coping up- again a basic life skill.
A good degree, a high paying job, a huge house and an equally business-like marriage- how does this sound? So many people, despite being very successful professionally, fail at maintaining a conjugal relationship, only because they don’t find it important enough to develop skills or traits such as understanding, compromise, gratitude, and the like.

On yet another level, life skills don’t only include skills related to the human emotions.
They also include basic skills like how to hold a proper conversation- this skill, particularly, is very important to secure for oneself a respectable place in society. Social etiquette define you in just under one minute.

Other life skills may include clear speech, determination, high confidence level (mind you, confidence, not overconfidence), an out of the box thinking, a considerate attitude and etc.
They are all important not to earn money, but to maintain relations which will help you to earn money, which, after all, is the ultimate goal of 95% of the world population these days (Yours too. Am I right, or am I right dear reader?)

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Life does not always run the way we want it to. It does not always flow in the current we are used to swimming in. It does not always abide by our terms and conditions. This is where the concept of adjustment comes in.

We might have often heard our parents call us or somebody else a very adjusting person. But what does it really mean to be an adjusting person? Who is, after all, this ‘adjusting person’?
A person is an adjusting person when she/he adjusts with life in all kinds of circumstances.
Dealing gracefully with a situation you have no control on is the highest form of adjustment.

I understand that this larger view of adjustment might seem very ambiguous and so I will use examples from our daily life to put across my point more clearly.

-All of us with siblings have been in situations where we have had to deal with typical sibling things even we least wanted to. Sharing clothes and other possessions, sharing a bedroom with them, babysitting them or taking them along for hangouts are some things we have all been through- younger and older siblings alike. Doing all of this without a fuss is an example of being able to adjust.

– When planning out family dinners, it is not always possible to go to the restaurant that you like, or have the cuisine you prefer. Other people’s choice has to be taken into consideration. That, again, is a very important form of adjustment.

-Growing up with older siblings, I had to be a victim of a lot of cancelled vacation plans because of my sister’s exams. I accepted the cancellations without a fuss but I knew that sometime in the future, she would make the same adjustment for me.

-Our parents are the epitome of adjustment. They make all sorts of adjustments to ensure a comfortable life for us. Unlike us, they don’t even think twice before making such adjustments.

Our readers might brush these examples off as being very minute instances of sacrifice. But the fact of life remains that it is only when we can make these adjustments without any regrets or second thoughts can we prepare ourselves to make larger adjustments in life, be it at home or in the workplace.
After citing these every day examples, I realized that I forgot to include, among all of this, the importance of adjustment.

Since the beginning of time, we’ve heard about the “Survival of the Fittest” theory. What does it mean to survive and what does it mean to be the fittest?
Survival is living through life, while fittest is someone who is more adamantly ready to adapt to any situation is order to survive. Does adjustment not mean the same thing too- surviving under all kinds of circumstances?
This world is a roller coaster, a maze. You are not always where you wish to be, but you are somewhere, and in order to get through you have to adjust that somewhere.
Adjusting doesn’t have to be with situations, always. Sometimes you need to adjust with people, too.
In office, we need to adjust with our colleagues and our higher officials.
At home, we need to adjust with members of our family who might not share the same preferences like us.
After marriage, we need to adjust with our in-laws.
At a more larger level, while out in the public, we have to adjust with the society and the people.
I say people, because it is extremely important to adjust with them.
Life is certainly unpredictable. Problems do not provide you with a warning before arriving in your life. They just come up, suddenly. Under compromised circumstances, is it but natural for us to expect other people to adjust with us. Is it not, then, a social expectation that we, too, should adjust with other people?

However, it is very important to always remember that adjusting does not always mean submitting to other people. There is a thin line between adjusting with people and letting them have their way always. At some point, we need to plant our feet firm and maintain our stance.

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“I get up at 7 o clock in the morning and leave for office by 9 o clock.  I leave the office by 8:30 pm at night. I then come home, have food and retire to bed. On weekends, I’m running here and there, completing all errands which are otherwise impossible to complete on weekdays. I don’t even remember when was the last time I spent time with myself.”

“I go to college at about 8:30 in the morning and I come back by 4 pm. I then rest or go for a workout. After coming back home, I focus on college curricular or on some internship that I am a part of. That’s how my day ends. On weekends, I’m either out shopping or I make an effort to catch up with my school friends. I think I do spend time with myself this way, don’t I?”

“I am a house wife and I spend my entire day running here and there, doing one thing or the other. My day starts at 6 am in the morning, in the kitchen, preparing lunch boxes and breakfast platters, and it ends at night, in the kitchen, serving good hot dinner. The weekends are just the same, maybe even more hectic, since everyone is at home and there are constant demands at every hour. ‘Me’ time? I’ve even forgotten what that is.”

These three distinct schedules sum up the day of an ordinary individual an ordinary working person, an ordinary youth and an ordinary house wife.
We’re all earning well, we’re all socially educated, well learned and etc. We live in good houses, come from well to do families, and know everything there is to know about social behavior.
We remain on our best behavior when we are in public, hence, we know how to spend time with other people.
But, do we know how to spend time with ourselves?

Life is a race, or so we all think. Most of us are only aiming at getting through life, somehow. Anyhow.
But in all of this chaos and mayhem that we call our life, we’ve forgotten one very important requirement: Staying content in one’s own company.
Lets give this a practical note. It must have happened many a times that an old friend or relative must have called you up and asked you to meet up just to catch up for old time’s sake. But your other commitments did not allow you to meet up with them. You were busy and so you couldn’t spend time with them.
Similarly, many a times this must have happened to you too. People would have been busy and you were left alone, in your company.
First and foremost, we all need to acknowledge the fact that the world does not function based on how we would like it to function.
Only our lives run according to us, not the lives of others. So, it is bound to happen that people will not have time for us, no matter how much they want to be with us. And we need to accept that.
Everyone has things they have to do, commitments they have to fulfill, and so it is not possible to socialize every single time.

What’s to be done when you’re left in your own company?
There is so much you could do. Remember when you were younger, and you liked to sketch? You could pick up that hobby again.
Or you could read. Reading NEVER gets old.
Get your creative side out again, start drawing, painting, sketching, singing, dancing, or any other activity that you had once been interested in.

Internet is such a useful platform, google up some new recipes and try them at home.

Every city has some secret, unexplored, magnificent places. Go explore your city, find new people to talk to, and new places to eat at.

Catch up on all of your lost sleep.

Spend time with your family, especially your grandparents. Get those wrinkled faces to smile once more, at the thought of their grandchildren once again spending time with them,

Join a gym, yoga or aerobics center, and give your body all that it deserves.

Start being comfortable in your own skin. Start being happy in your own company because, in life, there will be many moments and many days when you will be left on your own.

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Gratitude is a small 9-letter word, but there is a magnanimous meaning hidden behind this word.
The dictionary describes ‘gratitude’ as a feeling of appreciation or thanks.

We often say thank you as a robotic response, as something we’re now habitual to say. But do we really realize the meaning, the emotion and the importance of this word?

A lot of people do a lot of things for us, at home and at the work place.
Our servants at home, our peons at our work place; our siblings at home, our colleagues at our work place; our mothers at home and our bosses at our work place- they all help us in so many different ways.
Is it not important then, to acknowledge these efforts?

How often have we acted in a positive way towards the sweepers and janitors in office? How often did we say ‘thank you’ to them for any small task they did for us?
These people, doing menial jobs, hardly ever receive any word of appreciation from us. We treat them like they’re nothing but mere machines doing work.
Rather, they’re treated as being so inferior, often at the receiving end of rude or insulting treatment.
Under such circumstances, how happy would a single ‘thank you’ make them feel, have you ever realized?
One small smile, one small word could brighten up their entire day.

Not only these menial workers, but everyone in office deserves this gratitude from us. Not only does this put forward us n a positive light, but also brightens up the other person’s day.
We all feel worthy and proud of ourselves when someone tells us that we helped them in a certain way, and that they’re grateful to us. So why can we all not take a small step to make everyone feel this way?
Moreover, our colleagues will continue to help us at different occasions if they know that we realize their efforts and value the little things they do for us. It would definitely help in building a cordial relationship with them.

This feeling of appreciation must not only exist at your place of work, but at home too.
Most of us are either working or students who spend most of our day out of home, and by the time we come home, food is served to us in our rooms, our house is already cleaned, our clothes washed and ironed, and all our other work done.
How often is it that we thank our mothers for all that they do for us? Or our other family members for that matter?
Sometimes, it’s not enough to say thank you. Sometimes, we need to do things to show them we care.
Cooking breakfast for our family, spending time with them on holidays, keeping in mind all little things they do- all of these things carry more weight-age than mere words.

Everyone who helps us has the right to know that we appreciate their efforts. As fellow human beings capable of feeling things, it is our responsibility to tell people we care about them, that the things they do for us brighten our lives.

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Sometimes in life all of us face a dilemma. Sometimes it’s hard to choose between the right and the wrong- you know what the right thing to do is, but you find it hard to say ‘no’ to the wrong thing.
Sometimes, it’s hard to refuse a friend or family of a small favor. And just sometimes people are too gullible to say no.

What does it mean to say no?
Everyone says that we’ve to leave our comfort zone one day or the other, that we need to come out of the nutshell. But does that mean saying yes to everything and everybody?

We could beginning by citing a very common example- you have a friend who has a very notorious reputation of not returning back a borrowed book. He asks you to lend you one. You’re too good a friend to say no. But is this a wise choice, knowing he has a past history of refusing to adhere to the deal?
Does it always have to be books? Couldn’t it be bigger things, like money, or jewelry or other valuable stuff? This is where we need to learn to say no.

Moving on to bigger things- we all know what peer pressure is. And we all know what peer pressure means today. We want to be liked by everyone, and we go beyond limits to make that happen.
We all want to fit in, and we do things we don’t like just so we could be the part of the ‘group’.
We try things we haven’t tried before alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and the like.
We think if we say no, we won’t be part of the clique anymore, or they’ll make fun of us, or we’ll be termed cowards.
While it is true that it is important to go over and beyond our comfort zone to achieve growth, it is also important to know what our limits are, when to say no and when to be firm about it.

Let us now consider the worst case scenario, the biggest of all the three issues- a girl dates a boy, he claims to be in love with her, and, for convenience, let us assume that he genuinely does love her, and vice versa. One fine day, however, in the spur of the moment, he asks the girl for some inappropriate pictures of her- pictures not meant for anybody in the world. The girl gives in because she loves him, and is scared that he might break up with her.
But is her self respect, her dignity and her pride more important than the relationship?
Girls, you need to know when to firmly say no.
Guys, you need to know that it is a no when she says so.

They say life demands you to be your own hero. Say no, and be the hero of your life.
They say we are responsible for our safety. Yes we are, say no and save yourself from bad influences.
They say it’s our life, we make the decisions. That is what i say too- Don’t say yes because he/she is your friend. Don’t say yes because you want to fit in. Don’t say yes for keeping the love.
Say no because you know it is the right thing to do!

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