The Essential Life and Career Skills That You Should Master
Do you feel that you have little control over a situation? Maybe you feel anxious about the future of your career? Or probably worried you might be laid off before you even pay your mortgage?
This might make you feel more and more frustrated which poisons your mind that you will never be successful or be wealthier. These feelings trap you and keep you away from doing what you need to do to unleash your greatest potential.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
In This Post:
- What are life skills
- What are the essential life and career skills that anyone should master
- How adults develop skills for life and examples
Several moons ago, I self-sabotaged. Destroying and undermining my self-worth. I don’t even notice that this destructive behavior is harming me.
I was exhausted working as a cog in a machine that keeps me going nowhere.
And with my definite sense of job uncertainty and frustration, I could not see what my future would look like. And out of curiosity and desperation, I stumbled upon the true cause of why burnout professional mommies (like me) fear most about losing their job.
It was the kind of pain that I quickly labeled myself “paranoid”.
In 2012, I left my highly successful job as an ex-pat executive and started to check opportunities after opportunities on how to end my job and money uncertainties.
Climbing down the corporate ladder was simply the turning point of my inner peace.
Quitting my job is not my response to any bad experience with a terrible boss. It was a mixture of my body and mind exhaustion that kept me awake at night in the land of the hungry ghosts.
- Will my current job be there for me forever?
- How to pay my mortgage?
- How can I send my kids to school?
- Who will gonna take care of my medical bills in old age?
All of these creates anxiety attack.
Why? Because uncertainty equals danger.
What are life skills?
W I K E P E D I A D E F I N I T I O N: Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life.
The 3 essential life and career skills that anyone should master
1. MONEY SKILLS:
Maybe two jobs are not enough to pay the bills. Maybe an unexpected emergency situation put you into debt and can’t find a way to come up with the money.
Without committing effort and time to develop your money skills, your financial decisions, actions, and life choices can lead to a lifetime of struggle because money skills are one of the most important life skills you can master to live a healthy, happy, and secure life.
Money matters because it is one critical component of anyone’s well-being.
There’s a saying…
"Money is a good servant, but a bad master"
If you have money, it will serve you and work for you really well. But if you owe money, that money will control you in an unpleasant way because debt, in itself, absolutely is a form of slavery.
Proverbs 22:7. It states, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.”
You may also want to read my other articles about money matters:
How much money do you need to retire comfortably
How to make a budget – the 40/10/50 rule
5 top reasons why you need to manage your finances in 2022
2. PROBLEM-SOLVING LIFE SKILLS:
Are you feeling helpless that your misery doesn’t go away? At work and in life, problems can come into a battalion that can take a toll on our well-being that’s why we end up feeling frustrated, stressed, or maybe even depressed and hopeless.
Problem-solving life skills can help you to keep calm and use logic to find some good solutions. We all encounter problems on a daily basis – unpleasant medical results, job laid off, divorce, business closure, losing a house, etc. Take responsibility for your problem, take a deep breath, and weigh your best options without being emotional. With this in mind, face any problem head-on and use the problem for you to grow and get better.
3. DECISION-MAKING LIFE SKILLS:
Do I need to buy a new car or do I continue to commute? Are you thinking to start a business or continue to work?
Decision-making is a priceless life skill because our existence in this world is played out by the choices we make. Our destiny never happens by chance, every split second is a choice. Success or failure in our life, personal, professional, at work, or at home are the results of the actions we made based upon our decisions.
How adults develop skills for life and examples
Imagine if you don’t have the money skills, the problem-solving, and decision-making basic life skills? How do you think you can handle all the uncertainties life throws your way?
Let’s face it, we all face difficulties in life, and sometimes it is hard to be a grownup to make sure we’re learning the appropriate skills for life that we need for ourselves and for our family.
Skills for life that changed my life - My REAL life examples
MONEY SKILLS:
Money plays a huge part in my life because I know how to live on nothing. I was NOT born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I used to borrow my lifestyle from credit card debts because money management is totally out of my vocabulary until it hit me.
Once you develop and put your discipline to manage your money well and treat your finances like an Inc. – money skills can help you decide when to stop working and be out of debt for good! Also, for all the travels inside this website, we plan and pay for it. No free rides from any tour operators and no free hotel stay from any of my hotel reviews.
Here are my 8 money management tactics for how I paid off my debt in 2 years.
DECISION-MAKING SKILLS:
My husband and I used to work in the same company for 16 years. We quit our full-time job at the same time. This is the second biggest decision we have ever made in our lifetime of discovering the unknown. Giving up two monthly paychecks is NOT a joke, but without making a decision at that particular point in time who would have known that after 22 years we are dropping our daughter off to New York for college.
Understand that decision-making sometimes requires a magnificent level of uncertainty with respect to the outcome or result.
Few reasons why I want to improve my life skills and be my own boss to organize my entire life:
- Securing my future. Will my current job be there for me forever? Of course not. I can do nothing and become a lame duck, or I can create a different path.
- Retire comfortably. I don’t want to rely on social security during my golden years. Life expectancies are also increasing and social security alone (probably) won’t cover my healthcare bills.
- Prioritizing my family. No pursuit of any dream or career can come at the expense of my family. My family is vital for my happiness as well as my primary motivator. For me, a happy family works well to attract any good fortune.
Final thoughts
There’s no degree requirement to learn the essential life and career skills to improve your life (and your family) for the better.
But being aware of life skills isn’t enough. You need to find the right methods and passionately implement them to achieve Comfort, Fulfillment, and Freedom.
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About Jeng Cua
After borrowing her lifestyle living paycheck to paycheck, this work from anywhere mom wouldn’t let anything stop her from chasing her dreams. Now, Jeng has achieved more than she ever imagined. Her mission is pretty simple – to help you love your life and family using her four distinct life systems.