Honestly, I believe don't specific individual skills matter that much, so whatever aligns with your happiness and curiosity. I think it's more important to focus on the skills that make everyone else's lives better, so: understanding how we all feel and react differently and making your work and communication as accessible to others as possible.
Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
31–40 of 277 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#32Finding and choosing a spouse. Possibly the thing that affects you the most and rarely taught.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#33I volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and learned how to tile a floor. I imagine if you do it consistently you can learn a lot of things.
>if you do it consistently
That's a problem with a lot of home-related tasks. You often do them slowly and poorly the first time around and then you don't have an occasion to do them again for another decade or two.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#34Get to know yourself & be humble.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#35How to manage yourself when tragedy inevitably strikes How to take advantage of people... that way they are less likely to be taken advantage of Restraint enough that, though they know how, they don’t take advantage of others How to look for sense of self satisfaction within yourself rather than in the approval of others Not really a skill, but a habit of intense exercise at least 30m a day. Running and swimming are…
> How to manage yourself when tragedy inevitably strikes
This is a place where, in my opinion, religion is seriously overlooked in modern culture.
The times when my religious upbringing have been most useful to me have all been in the face tragedy.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#36Basic car maintenance skills. Changing a tire, adding oil, checking levels for power steering and coolant, knowing when tires need replacing, etc.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#37Learn how to make habits and replace habits.
Learn how to take smaller steps.
Learn how to balance.
Learn how to focus.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#38How to actually listen to other people.
Yep. Probably in part due to a negative and emotional upbringing, I have needed all of my adult life to learn that listening is a foundation skill.
The few great leaders I have known were each great listeners in their own ways, and capable of making decisions based on what they hear without, it seems to me, concern for "ego."
To me, this seems like a superpower.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#39If you're in an environment where cycling's viable, I'd rank that alongside or even above driving (it can be cheaper, healthier, more sustainable, consumes less parking space at home and in the community, produces less pollution, and generally provides easier self-maintenance options)
I think it's hard as an adult. I never learned as a child (grew up on a very narrow and winding country road) and I did kinda/sorta teach myself as an adult but I never gained the confidence to ride on roads with traffic.
>even above driving
And I have trouble agreeing for most people. Many need cars on a day-to-day basis and even if owning a car doesn't make sense for some people even in the US, being able to rent one and go someplace on the weekend or for a trip opens up a lot of possibilities for many. I wouldn't even have been able to do my first job if I couldn't drive.
Re: Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?
#40Learning how to cook would be fairly near the top of my list. More specifically learning how to cook a few dishes well (ideally ones that you like).
If one is looking for silver linings in the current situation, I saw some McKinsey data the other week suggesting that doing more home cooking is one of the pandemic behaviors that is likely to last longer term.