What Are Essential Non-Tech Skills Everyone Should Master?

In **Cal Newport**'s book "_**So Good They Can't Ignore You**. Why **skills** trump passion in the quest for work you love_", he describes the need to acquire/accumulate "valuable skills" and "career capital" ***`before`*** we _can_ find work we _love_ doing.

Cal makes a _compelling_ evidence-based case why _most_ people _fail_ at "following their passion" or "doing what they love". People _fail_ to find work they love, or to make a _living_ doing that work, because they fail to develop the _skills_ necessary to make their output _valuable_ to the world.
i.e. _if you don't have the skills, you won't pay the bills!_

[](https://youtu.be/99v9-4uk9ZQ)

+ So Good Book (8 hours): https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/1455509124
+ Visual Summary (8 mins): https://youtu.be/DFjTD8v7xuw
+ Talks at Google (40 mins): https://youtu.be/qwOdU02SE0w

That got us thinking: what are highly useful (_and valuable_) skills that _anyone_ can learn/master
that do _not_ require writing _any_ **`code`** which will help people find work they _love_ doing?

What are the "core" non-technical skills that _everyone_ should master regardless of what they do for a living? What are skills that if mastered have a _significant_ impact on your life in both the short, medium and _long_ term? Here are the "Top Ten" that come to _my_ mind:

+ [ ] ***Focus*** - being able to focus your attention on **_one_ thing** at time without requiring external stimulus. This might sound "_simple_" but it's _surprisingly_ rare!
Further Reading:
+ [ ] https://jamesclear.com/multitasking-myth

+ [ ] ***Listening*** - if you are unable to _listen_ to what someone else is saying you have [fallen at the first hurdle](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fall+at+the+first+hurdle). This is _related_ to **Focus**; you cannot have listening skills without focus.
> _Obviously_ this is only relevant to people who are not hearing-impaired. 👂

+ [ ] ***Empathy*** - _understanding_ how someone `else` is feeling and being aware that their emotional state is almost _certainly_ not _identical_ to your own. Studying "***emotional intelligence***" is one of the best time-investments you can make, _especially_ if you already have other types of intelligence and are struggling to _understand_ why people don't "_like_" you!

+ [ ] **Reading** - being able to read is a pretty fundamental skill to "modern life"; we take it for [_granite_](https://youtu.be/iXVJfRZTbyQ?t=15) that _everyone_ knows how to read, or that people are _effective_ at reading.
+ [ ] **What _should_ I read**? Knowing _what_ to read and _when_ to read it and what _not_ to read. e.g: don't read mass-media news first thing in the morning, it will prime you for _negative bias_. Read something that moves you towards your goal or furthers your mission.
+ [ ] **_Speed_ Reading**! How to rapidly process large blocks of text to _efficiently_ extract the information you _need_ without getting stuck reading hundreds of pages of irrelevant filler. Any "knowledge" work requires reading. From _email_ to _technical manuals_, _everyone_ needs to have the ability to "scan" through blocks of text and find the _specific sentence_ they are searching for.

+ [ ] **Writing** - writing on _paper_ is an _essential_ skill that few people focus on developing after they are _forced_ to write prescriptive and uninteresting essays/reports in school. Developing writing skills is relevant to almost _any_ work/job/career and it's _especially_ important to Entrepreneurs/Freelancers. If you want to achieve _anything_ in life, write about it!
Examples:
+ [tesla.com/en_GB/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me](https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me)
+ https://seths.blog/top-100
+ [paulgraham.com/articles.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html)
> "_Writing is nature's way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is_." ~ [Dick Guindon](https://github.com/nelsonic/nelsonic.github.io/issues/521#issuecomment-436649498)

+ [ ] **Spelling** good spelling can be the difference between getting hired. I've _seen_ hiring managers/HR people _reject_ a CV because it had a spelling error on it. Their reasoning being that if the person does not have sufficient attention-to-detail in presenting _themself_, they are not going to be a good representative of the company ***and/or*** they won't be _excellent_ at doing their job.
A good "side effect" of lots of reading is that spelling is just pattern recognition, the more you practice reading and writing, the better you get and eventually spelling is like _breathing_.
But don't take it for granted! If you have had issues with spelling, find reading material you _enjoy_ and set aside the time to _read it_! If you need a "short term fix" for your spelling, consider Grammarly. But remember that tools like Grammarly are a "band aid" treating the symptom not addressing the ailment; you are _way_ better off putting in the work to develop the skills than trying to "shortcut" this!
> Personal note: Trust me, as a dyslexic, I know exactly what it's like to consistently miss-read and miss-spell words for all of my school life. It was _torture_! It was _all_ "stick" and no "carrot" in school! I'm _not_ suggesting that I now spell _every_ word perfectly, but since I started consistently reading, I have _largely_ overcome my spelling "disability". 📚+ 🤓+ ✍️ = ⭐️✅

+ [ ] **Touch Typing**! If you do _anything_ with a computer, being able to type _fast_ and _accurately_, is the difference between
this has been _explicitly_ mentioned in the "start-here" README.md for the past few years: [https://github.com/dwyl/start-here#touch-typing](https://github.com/dwyl/start-here/tree/afcf6751ac05da0b296915231bdb20cee5525653#touch-typing)
Touch-typing is one of the most _valuable_ skills a "knowledge worker" can have! It _multiplies_ your output because if you can _type_ as fast as you _think_ there is no "bottleneck" in communicating!
And yet, I still walk around _our_ office and see people two-finger typing and looking at their keyboards!

+ [ ] **Arithmetic** - I _often_ see people reaching for a _calculator_ to do _simple_ arithmetic. 😕
Or when discussing number for an idea, the look of _panic_ on their faces when they cannot multiply two numbers in their head. e.g: 32 x 256 ... (_8192 ..._) Being able to calculate this in _less_ time than it takes to (pull out a phone and) type the numbers into an App, is _fundamental_ to success in _life_. I'm not suggesting that it's _impossible_ to be "successful" without proficiency arithmetic. I'm _sure_ you can think of _examples_ of where people are "_successful_" _without_ knowing "math". But, trust me, I can show you _way_ more examples of people who, having _mastered_ the "basic" math skills have transformed their lives from poverty to _property_! Even if "_material wealth_" is not your focus/goal, having _food_ to eat _probably is_; and that is the _origin_ of Arithmetic! The modern systems of counting were _developed_ to count crops so that people could be fed. If you like food, learn Math!

+ [ ] **Memory** - practicing memory techniques is _incredibly_ valuable. Most people don't realise how much they rely on their memory to get _anything_ done. You just need to sit with a person who has a defective short-term memory (_either because of a neurological issue or simply lack of practice_) to realise how debilitating it is to _not_ have good working memory. _All_ memory techniques can be _learned_ and skills can be practiced. If people are _not_ doing the _daily_ practice, _why_ not? Is it because they don't realise that Memory == Intelligence? If you _want_ to be "_smarter_", pick up a book on Memory! If you want to _dramatically_ improve your cognitive abilities, read _all_ the books on Memory! (_we have the 10 best ones in dwyl's library! if you are remote and want to read a specific book, just show your interest!_)

+ [ ] **Reasoning** - how to think about something without being trapped by logical fallacies, influenced by special interested or led astray by charismatic (_manipulative_) people with negative agendas!

What are _other_ skills _you_ think people should `master` that make them more effective in _life_?