Life is all about adaptation and learning. Evolution is real, though not in the sense of evolving from monkey to human.
As a matter of fact people spend all their valuable lives going
to colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning (spending a
fortune in the process), to accumulate knowledge and skills they will never use
in real life simply because they’re not sure what will work and what wont.
So they proceed and obtain excellent degree certificates from
prestigious universities to show their potential employers because they were
told, “go to school, study hard, pass with good grades so you can get a good,
secure job in a big company”.
Sounds familiar?
Well if it does, let’s delve deeper…
Ever wondered why there’s more demand for higher education today
than at any other period in the history of mankind although there are very few jobs?
Guess what? Well, exactly what I said before – people are
conditioned by the messages they continue to receive since their childhood – “go
to school, study hard, pass with good grades so you can get a good, secure job
in a big company…”.
Well, our minds are actually divided into two parts – one
part (the conscious mind) collects random information from what you hear, see,
get into contact with, interact with and think about on a daily basis. It then
filters the information and decides which information should be passed over to
the other part of the mind (the subconscious mind) and what should be discarded.
Notice that we’re not talking about the brain – the container
that stores the mind.
– Does this make any sense?
Don’t worry. Nobody understands exactly how this works but
most studies indicate that this is what happens. Finally most information
(almost 90%) is stored in the subconscious mind for future retrieval and use.
Perhaps an example might help. We can think of the conscious
mind as the visible part of an iceberg. The visible part of the iceberg comprises
only 10% of the iceberg. What people don’t see (the remaining 90% of the iceberg)
is actually underwater. This represents the subconscious part of the mind. Messages
are collected by our conscious minds and transmitted to our subconscious minds,
which represents the long-term and sometimes, permanent part of the mind.
Shockingly, your course of life is largely determined by your
subconscious mind.
So, where do
these messages come from?
They come from our upbringing, our social and cultural environment,
from our parents, relatives, teachers, peers, movies, TV shows, and today, the
Internet.
Well there’s nothing wrong about “going to school, studying
hard and passing with good grades to secure a good job with a big company”
except what they don’t tell you is that there are no secure jobs any more. The real
problem is that this conditions people’s minds which causes them to spend all
their lives chasing what does not exist any more. Eventually, people get confined
to a life of frustration, misery, slavery and debt working all their lives for
a boss they hate. This phenomenon is known as the “rat race”.
How can
someone escape the rat race?
Well, it takes time, effort and determination to unlearn all
the wrong information you’ve been fed with since childhood in order to create
room for new information which will eventually lead you towards transformation.
There are some adjustments that must be made, but most of them
must be made in the mind. This means making a complete mind shift.
Why is it
necessary to adjust your thinking?
Because the world doesn’t care very much about what you know.
All they care about are their own problems.
Consider
this example:
Someone suffering from a toothache in America wouldn’t pay
any attention even if you informed them that an earthquake has just occurred in
China and has killed 200,000 people. All they would most likely care about is
their painful tooth. That’s just how the world operates…
To ensure survival in today’s world and in future I’ve spent
some time researching human needs and I’ve come to the conclusion that we all
need to be armed with true survival skills.
Therefore I have compiled a list of 10 important life skills
(which you probably didn’t know about), which can help you survive in 2018 and
beyond.
1)
Selling
Skills
The number one skill on this list is selling. You don’t
require a college degree to sell but you will definitely earn a good pay if you
know how to sell.
2)
Marketing
Skills
Selling and marketing are twin skills – they go hand in hand.
Companies pour in millions of dollars in marketing and you will definitely find
yourself on the receiving end of the dollars if you have good marketing skills.
3)
Persuasion
skills
Persuasion is not exactly the same as marketing or selling
although most people confuse the two. Persuasion is all about psychology, and
you can communicate it either verbally or in print. You will definitely live
like a king if you have cutting-edge persuasion skills.
4)
Negotiation
skills
Selling is about striking a deal but negotiation is the
ability to strike a good deal. Business is all about profit and a good deal
means you don’t end up making a finance loss. Good negotiators make millions of
dollars in profit for themselves and for the companies they work for.
5)
People
skills
People skills are about the most valuable skills one can
have. According to Dale Carnegie, bestselling author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), Charles M. Schwartz
was paid a salary of 1 million dollars per year for his innovative ways of
dealing with his staff when he was president of Bethlehem Steel, a conglomerate
owned or controlled by Andrew Carnegie.
6)
IT skills
There are 3 top technical skills that control the world today
– managing people, managing money and managing machines. This includes the
ability to program and manipulate computers in sophisticated and innovative
ways.
7)
Money
(Finance) skills
There’s nothing much to say about here for babies begin to
know about money even before they’re born. Money controls the economy and if
you learn the skills about you can manage money for anyone (including
yourself).
8)
Leadership
skills
Leadership skills are perhaps the most sought after skills in
today’s world. These are related to people skills but they’re not exactly the
same (shocked?). Humans tend to behave in a more organized manner when they
have a leader. Humans need a leader in order to achieve a common goal or
purpose as a group, community, tribe or a nation. People follow the leader
because they trust him/her. In some cases leadership is believed to be acquired
from birth, but studies are showing that this is not actually the case. As with
all the other life skills, leadership is learned through interaction and
appreciation of other people, care and practice.
9)
Project
management skills
Project management is not actually about computers although that’s
where we see it applied the most. Most projects do not even require computers.
Project management is about thinking through world problems and coming up with
solutions within time, quality and budget.
Project management is both a science and an art and has been
used by humans since the early civilizations. Many historical landmarks such as
the great Egyptian pyramids or the famous waterways of Ancient Rome are a
result of successful projects well executed.
10)
Entrepreneurship
skills
Many universities in the world now incorporate entrepreneurship
as part of their business or standalone curriculum but this was not always the
case. Entrepreneurship (not to be confused with business study) is the ability
to solve the world’s problems. Less than 5% of the world’s population belong to
this group including Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Sergey Brin
& Larry Page (Google), Mark Zuckerberg
(Facebook), Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Richard Branson (The
Virgin Group), Jack Ma (Alibaba) and many others.
But entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be achieved at such a
large scale. Entrepreneurship skills can be acquired and applied at your local
village. Many entrepreneurs had little or no school education. Others dropped
out of school.
Notice that although you may go to university to study these
skills, it’s not really necessary. People will not necessarily ask you which
university you went to as long as you can deliver goods or services and they
can clearly see your work.
Notice also that most of these skills are not new. In fact
most of them have been around since the cradle of mankind.
Ancient Egyptians have been known to use these same skills to
build the great pyramids. And they didn’t even learn them in universities
because there were no universities then.
But there
were no IT skills then, one may argue…
Well, let me shock you…
Ancient Egyptians used advanced, numerical mechanical devices
to measure the dimensions and cut the huge stones which they then laid in place
with astonishing precision to build the great pyramids, considered one of the
seven (or 8) wonders of the world.