5 critical skillsets college won’t actively teach you
The idea about going to college for many would be to gain enough theoretical, sometimes practical skills about a field of interest. Only a handful are really in it just to be in it (perhaps like I was).
Still, regardless of where in the world you attend college, or what your area of interest might be, there are five (5) critical skills you must add to your skillsets that you actively won’t learn in a college classroom.
These skillsets can be learnt while in college, and although the current structure of college education (particularly in Nigeria) doesn’t actively incorporate this into the learning syllabus, if at all anywhere in the world. Still, these skills are important and you’ll be better off developing them while in college
Skill 1: Time management skills;
This particularly is the foundation to succeed in college. Understanding your priorities and managing your time efficiently. Without this primary sense of direction on how to spend time and how to properly decide what tasks are important and what tasks can be delegated to perhaps another person, or another time, you will struggle with everything — in college and outside the college.
Suggested read: 5 ways to properly manage your time in college.
Skill 2: Collaborative/Soft skills;
Generally, with college projects and assignments, you’ll be required to work alongside a team ranging in capacity and you should pay more attention to this.
Truth be told, you won’t always work with great people, and some projects will turn out to be absolute burners due to a team members inefficiency. Still, it is important to understand how to manoeuvre such situations and deliver on expected assignments. This skill would prove useful outside college because people out there are nothing compared to your folks in college.
Skill 3. Money management/Financial skill;
Personal finance, money management are essential because college won’t teach you anything about money!
You essentially have to figure this one out on your own. How to make money, how to keep it, how to spend it, how to invest it, how to do taxes, how to run a project with someone else’s money, and I’ll readily admit it can be overwhelming and with the reality of most college students actually being broke — or like Khalid observed in his music “Young, dumb and broke” there truthfully is no better time to learn about money than while you don’t have lots of it.
Skill 4: Initiative skills;
This is really what we pay to go learn in college. How to be problem solvers, but again the current structure (in Nigeria) doesn’t actively support this.
You’ll probably be loaded with a lot of theoretical information about events that occurred centuries before you, and you’ll almost never consider problems that are in your vicinity.
Initiative skills can be learnt by simply letting yourself experience more of the environment around you either physically or virtually and asking questions about things you don’t understand. This would inevitably take you on a different adventure that you possibly wouldn’t have expected.
Look more. Ask questions and think about possible solutions regardless of how impossible it seems.
Skill 5: Intuitive skill;
There really is no one way to nurturing the skill of intuition i.e. knowing when to follow your gut instincts over “rules”.
This skill in truth comes with experience and again it possibly is the most difficult skill to develop, but a few things can aid you outside your personal experience of mistakes and f**kups and that’s simply knowing more.
Oh yes! Vague indeed. What’s knowing more all about?
Read more books outside school books, attend events that interest you and sometimes don’t but gives a level of insight than what you currently have. Listen to more and different genres of music (trust me on this one) and ultimately do more! Just do. Although be sure to think too.
Conclusion.
There’s more to learn about yourself that’ll possibly last a lifetime, but in a world that’s ever-evolving in its needs and diversity, some pillars will always remain relevant and these skills are only a little piece to help you stay on top of everything.
Until next time. Be safe!
