What are skills?
I bet you have no clue… or you would be building them…
Don’t feel stupid, 99% of all people have no idea what skills are. This is one of the secrets that make people stuck in the dead end job they are in… not knowing what skills are, and not knowing what their skills are.
Skills are abilities, true and tried abilities you have used and used them well enough to succeed.
Skill means: you can do something. well enough.
Driving is a skill. Cooking is a skill, Shopping for groceries is a skill.
Changing the channel on the TV is a skill. Programming the VCR is a skill. Attaching a picture to your email is a skill.
Some people have a lot of skills because they do a lot of things.
Other people only have a few skills.
Bill Gates’ skills
- Bill Gates built skills through 10,000 hours of programming. Just read the book of the Outliers…
- More skills than just programming…
One of the skills he built is to get up at 3 am, walk to the computer center, program for three hours, and walk home, go back to sleep, and get up in time to go to school.
It is a skill you need to build and practice to do what you said you would do, to be consistent, to do something not just as a campaign, but do it day in and day out.
Regardless, you do have skills, portable skills, that can help you succeed in life.
I built most of my skills doing extracurricular stuff. I became a seamstress when I didn’t have enough money to buy clothes. I became a carpenter when I wanted to turn my kitchen into a bedroom. I learned to build a house when my mother wanted to build a small house on her vacation plot.
- I learned to iron when, unexpectedly, my hosts in England expected me to iron their clothes.
- I learned to serve food and tea at the same gig.
I have hundreds of skills
I have hundreds of skills, because I come from a culture where work is not a dirty word. I love working. I hate the idea of magically becoming something I am not prepared to become, something I did not work for.
That is the biggest difference between you and a few of my students who are just like me.
Will you allow the cultural bias to rob you of your birthright to live a fulfilling, meaningful life?
Let me know…
Another issue came up today: you think buying capacities from me will give you skills.
Nothing gives skills other than doing. And doing so much that you begin getting the hang of it… Bummer, eh?
It’s like basketball: anyone can go to a basketball court and throw baskets. But playing basketball is a set of about 10 skills, and throwing baskets will not give you those skills… Not even one, not even the throwing a basket skill… Why? Because a game is very different from an empty basketball court, no risk, just throwing baskets.
