A school is an institution focused on educating its students in all areas of life like academics, career, moral lessons, relationships, Vocational lessons, lifestyles, Health, environments, etc. The teachers in this school stand in as a guide to ensure that the students are taught valuable lessons and skills essential for their life growth. But most times, more attention is being given to the student’s academic and career path above other areas. The learning phase in schools is usually tilted towards preparing the student to choose a career path or engage in skills that will give financial stability, while the skills needed to strive in these areas either get less attention or are not taught at all. In this article, we will be expatiating on valuable skills that you were not taught in school but it is essential for your daily living and careerprogression.

Six Valuable Skills Outside the 4 walls of a Class!

Problem solving

Problem-solving is a skill that requires strategic thinking, analysis, and proper decision-making. It doesn’t usually follow a formula to get answers but requires the use of one’s brain to identify an issue and how to find a solution to it. The pattern for problem-solving in schools rotates between a question and an answer. Students are taught to solve questions based on the steps involved in their curriculum and the answers that befit the questions. What is seen as the right answer is what the teachers say is right or what is being published in their textbooks. However, when it comes to solving life-related problems, 2+2= 4 does not work. What is needed is brainstorming on how 2 and 2 will become 4. Examples of problem-solving can be: Designing a process to validate staff activeness in the workplace for payroll purposes or convincing a client to invest in a company with average annual ROI

Financial sustainability

This involves having a means of income to cover your expenses. It entails budgeting to avoid spending too much, how to plan your spending, how to avoid debt, saving, and getting interest. Good financial sustainability ensures proper planning of finances and how to steady one’s income. These skills are not taught in school. The curriculum focuses on how to balance an account and arrangement of scale of preference. Financial sustainability skills are essential to learn the act of financial discipline and how to steady your source of Income.

Entrepreneurship

 This is an individual ability to run a business, while managing the risk and enjoying the benefits or profits attached. The norms of profession in school are about the white collar jobs or technical jobs. The school system focuses on teaching their students to become lawyers, engineers and other course-related professions, not entrepreneurs. With the high rate of unemployment and the need for a steady source of income, entrepreneurship is a skill that should be learned.

Time Management

The ability to control one’s time and use it effectively is called time management. Not everyone knows how to manage their time. In the school, academic schedules are already put in place for students to follow; they are not taught to schedule their daily activities to fit in with their time. It is basically the same routine over and over again in each session. But with time management, you are able to assign tasks to a certain time in order to cover up a lot of work for the day, prioritize the important work over the less important ones, set boundaries, and focus.

Critical thinking

Our daily living requires thinking outside the box. The ability to think independently, rationally, and clearly are feature of critical thinkers. They ask questions and do not assume or accept an idea without understanding it. They also identify, analyze, and solve a problem in a systematic manner rather than using their instincts or assumptions.

Emotional intelligence

This is a skill that is required in corporate sectors and society. Self-control, self-awareness, empathy, and motivation are all reflections of emotional intelligence. Being aware of your emotions and balancing them in such a way that another person is not affected is emotional intelligence. Everyone is entitled to express their emotions but not everyone knows how to react in the right manner. People who can manage their emotions and not mix them with their professional lives or use them to affect other people’s moods are mostly respected.

All these skills are not necessarily taught by someone. They are skills that can be learned personally if you open your mind to it.