Learning is a natural and continuous process which keeps happening in our conscious and sub-conscious minds. For every learning, whether we recognise it or not, whether we can quantify it or not, but it certainly does give a direction to our future courses of action. During the process of these learning, knowingly or unknowingly we keep adding new skill sets or keep honing existing skills in our everyday activities. The skills we possess can fall into different categories depending upon their characteristics. Broadly speaking we can differentiate them as follows-

Skills which are related to a specific domain and are technical in nature- These are hard skills which help us to perform specific assignments, which require expertise on particular skill sets. These skills are mostly non-transferable in nature and have a chance to become obsolete over the time.

Then we have skills which help us across domains- These are generic in nature and remain essential throughout. These soft skills are expected to be a part of our knowledge base irrespective of our work domain. These skills remain relevant over a very long period of time and always act as a support.

The entire spectrum of soft skill covers a huge range of attributes which make us more productive, more sorted and a better person. These soft skills are resources which are going to benefit us in every phase of our lives. A few of them are listed below: -

Communication Skills- We need to interact with people on daily basis, and how we do it surely decides a lot about the impression we leave on others. In professional world we need to pitch our ideas to others, we need to convince people or usual socialisation with colleagues. A good communication skill will always showcase a better version of us in front of others. It indeed reflects on the career growth chart.

Teamwork- Results are seldom attributed to the efforts of an individual, rather it is an output of collective efforts. A team player is preferred over individual player in most of the work environments. The ability to understand your co-workers, aligning your contribution with others and always looking at a larger picture are some the qualities which are considered essential in today’s world.

Time Management- Juggling between professional and personal lives, being bogged down with strict deadlines and pressure of multitasking are the few things which most of us are facing in our lives. We always strive to strike a balance and try to bring things in our control. The ability to do it every time is the skill; we all must have in this twenty first century. We need to set our priorities straight and allocate our time accordingly.

Creativity- Coming up with new and innovative ideas is appreciated a lot and many times thinking out of the box becomes the need of the hour. In our professional life we keep coming against problems which are unique in nature and it do require solutions which were never thought of before. It is highly desirable that one should know how to react while charting through unknown territory and coming out of it victorious.

Leadership Skills- Leadership requires a concoction of qualities in an individual. A leader guides the team, protects their interests and keep an empathetic view towards their team members. Leaders do require to keep their team united while solving problems. Conflicts must be avoided to the extent possible and work should happen in a result-oriented way. Leaders keep a bird eye view over the entire thing and ensure smooth delivery of result. So, this skill is amalgamation of a lot of other skills.

Gaining these soft skills can bring a lot of changes in one’s personality. One can have greater self-confidence, negotiation skills, adaptability and overall a better reputation. If we are aiming for a clutter free mind, a sorted personal and professional life, and want to feel the inner peace, these soft skills are certainly going to help us a lot.