I’ve been thinking through what my kids are learning these days.
They’ve got a bright future ahead of them but I’m realizing my kids need to be schooled on some skills that I assume my own team at work have and use and some others that they may need in order to thrive.
So I started a list. . .
The Top Essential Skills I’m Realizing My Kids Need In Order To Thrive
(Or alternatively: What they aren’t teaching my kids in the classroom, so I need to include these in my parenting).
- How to Find Things. Advanced Googling techniques: This world is shifting to one that values (or assumes?) accessing knowledge and skills over acquisition / apprenticeship of it.
- How to Work with Teams. Cloud collaboration workflows: GDocs, Dropbox, Drive, Miro, LastPass, etc.
- How to Tap the Power of Publishing: Shift from consumer to creator which includes presentation, digital messaging, and video. Repurpose on purpose. Crowdsourcing is your friend.
- How to Deepen Relationships: Two separate but related concepts: (a) Recognition and (b) Appreciation; engage with purpose online (likes, comments, shares, DMs, give credit, celebrate others’ wins are ll under-leveraged and can be super strategic); engage with purpose offline (Thank you notes – handwritten(!!), be interested in their loves (hobbies, craft, interests), reach out during their hard times, remember them during your good times); find small-to-big ways to help people consistently (which includes family, friends, peers, leaders, influencers, and others).
- How to Build a Tribe: Convene and connect like-minded people around (T.R.I.B.E.)
a Thing, a Role, an Issue (Cause),a Being, or an Event. Community development leverages E = MC² – the power of curating *Experiences* = different Modalities x Connections² (² means you need at least 2 dimensions: 1-on-1 and one-to-many (small, mid, and/or large groups). - How to Stand Out: Self-awareness of strengths; pursue work that builds your superpower(s). Multiply the win in any scenario and go beyond the surface two-dimensional “win-win”. Find the 3x 4x 5x win permutation. It’s always there if you look creatively for it.
- How to Dream Bigger: One of life’s persistent obstacles is your own mind’s ability to create self-limiting beliefs. All humans are amazing at this self-destructive skill. But the superior skill is to figure out that It’s not others that stop you, it’s yourself. What would you choose to do if you could not, will not fail? Have a bias for action. Version One is better than Version None.
- How to Ignore the Critics: See #6 & #7 above.
- How to Become a Leader: Learn the A.R.T. of Engagement. Establish your Authority. Demonstrate your Relevance. Build Trust. Be known for H.U.G.s: Humility, Understanding, and Generosity.
- How to Win: Surround yourself with people better than you. With the same core values as you. Understand Abundance is reality and Scarcity is a myth.
Again, this is an emergent list.
Having just finished writing this out for you, I can already tell I want to evolve the thinking on some of the items, and also add more to the list.
Can you help my thinking on this topic? What’s missing? What should be modified? Thoughts on any of the points above?
This is a great list, thanks for sharing and creating a video about these important life skills. These are all very practical how-tos, if I read it right, they’re all about how to do things.