As a student, it can be overwhelming to navigate the various demands of academic life. Not only are you expected to excel in your coursework, but you may also need to balance extracurricular activities, social engagements, and personal responsibilities. In order to succeed, it's essential to develop skills that will help you stay organised, manage your time effectively, and prioritise your goals. In this blog, we'll explore some of the types of skills for students that should be cultivated, and we'll offer practical tips for how you can develop and strengthen these abilities.
Types of Skills for Students
In today's world, having student skills is an invaluable asset, so much so that a few essential skills for students are coined under the term "21st-century skills." 21st-century skills are essentially a broad range of soft skills which are important to surviving in the modern world.
1. Communication
Helpful resources: Books, Podcasts
Benefits: embracing conversations, enhanced trustworthiness, radiating more confidence, solving problems, building longer & stronger relationships, & handling conflict with caution.
When they say, "Communication is the key", you should believe it! Usually, one of the most misunderstood skills for students, communication, is not all about speaking your mind or putting your thoughts into words; it is the overall process of listening, speaking, observing, and empathising with the person. It is one of the most crucial life skills for students. Check out this blog to understand how to be a good listners. But it all boils down to the hows & what ways are possible to master the art of communication skills for students:
Here are some ways on how to communicate effectively:
- Give clarity to your sentences
- Be mindful of your tone
2. Time Management
Helpful resources: Scheduling tools, Youtube
Benefits: less stress, more focus, less procrastination & delivering better work quality
As students, we all fall into the trap of cramming, over-stressing ourselves with end-minute deadlines, juggling tasks, or pulling out an all-nighter before a crucial test. To clearly define time management in simple terms, it is "the ability & art to prioritise tasks & tackling deadlines strategically". It is indeed one of the most important life skills for students after communication. It is truly said that "Time and tide wait for none." Here are some ways to manage your time smoothly:
- Break down large tasks into small, achievable steps
- Be realistic with your tasks
- Try to incorporate schedulers. Go through this article to learn some tips for time management.
3. Organisational Skills
Helpful resources: Book (Mindset)
Benefits: enhanced productivity, efficiency, less chaos and cluttering
The art of living is organisation; everything in our lives is based on the principle of organisation. From a simple process like cooking, where we first organise the ingredients, follow the recipe, and time the process to get a delicious meal or our daily routine, everything is systematised & structured, making our processes smoother. The organisation is plainly "structuring your plan to meet your goal". Here are some ways on how to be organised:
- Students should organise their notes, schedules, assignments, and course materials.
- Make yourself a personalised timetable according to your schedule with timely breaks to stay organised.
4. Creativity
Helpful resources: EdX, Future Learn etc
Benefits: fuel innovation, design alternative solutions, and solve complex problems.
Do you think out of the box? or come up with some new, original ideas that stun the rest? Chances are that you are highly creative. Creativity is when you pop out new & original ideas and interesting perspectives. All the greatest inventions to exist till this day, like the telephone and aeroplane, have turned into eureka moments because creativity has been the first spike to ignite the creation.
Here are some ways on how to be creative:
- Go way out of your comfort zone and experiment with different things
- Start engaging yourself in creative hobbies
- Take up some online study courses to enhance your skills, expand your knowledge, and advance your career.
5. Curiosity
Helpful resources: Books
Benefits: keeps your brain on an active run, showing higher levels of positivity and better psychological well-being
Have you ever heard the quote, "Curiosity killed the cat?" But did you know it is incomplete? The full phrase is as follows: "Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction got it back." this line conveys that curiosity can be scary and lead you to any possible consequences. Still, the risk might be worth it, so keep being curious. Just like the cat's satisfaction restores its vitality, our thirst for knowledge often leads to invaluable discoveries. Lastly, in your professional field, curiosity or the force within your hungry mind will help you come up with better solutions, think out of the box, and help you make better decisions, which is a trait that all organisations look for.
Here are some ways to be curious
- Ask more questions and discover new things
6. Leadership Skills
Helpful resources: podcasts and autobiographies
Benefits: earns trust, builds empathy, and makes a difference in their school
"Follow the leader" is a game we all thoroughly enjoyed playing in which a person would lead, and the rest would follow his actions. Ironically, this simple game offers an analogy to many people's misconceptions about leadership. Many people have become slaves to the idea that leadership is all about exerting authority & being overly influential, but this isn't further from the truth. To put it in a nutshell, "Leadership is an art and science of dealing with people and forming systemic approaches and models."
Here are some ways to be a good leader
- Analyse different leaders in your domain and try to analyse your leadership style. Check out our blog on Great Leaders of the World for inspiration.
- Join student councils and leadership organisations, participate in sports, and take responsibility for group projects.
7. Goal Setting
Helpful resources: Mindmapping, Vision Board
Benefits: gives you a sense of direction & increases your productivity.
Ambition, aspirations, career, motivation, all these words hold power only when it is attached to a goal. Every successful person, project, and enterprise starts with a goal in mind. Setting a goal is the first step to any task. But the tricky part is how. Students can set some short-term and long-term goals for their success. When practising goal setting, consider choosing specific, achievable goals with deadlines and make sure you are realistic about your timeline. Goal setting is one of the early important skills for students.
Here are some ways to set a goal:
- Choose specific, achievable goals with deadlines.
- Use the SMART framework, where the acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound
8. Critical Thinking
Helpful resources: Books (Jeff McLaughlin's How to Think Critically)
Benefits: Polishes research skills, problem-solving abilities, & decision-making; form well-informed opinions.
The great fictional detective "Sherlock Holmes" was known to have impeccable detective skills, but his ability to think critically sets him apart from all the other detectives around the world. In simple words, critical thinking is carefully analysing information, hurdles, & ideas and trying to figure out its essence by asking questions, looking at it through different angles, & deciding what is true and not; in short, seeing every thought of yours through the lens of a detective. It is one of the best skills for students to think thoroughly.
Here are some ways to think critically:
- Be data-driven and opinionated, & find different arguments around the topic.
- Ask a lot of open-ended questions
- Be unbiased while challenging your own biases
9. Problem-Solving
Helpful resources: Sudoku, Chess
Benefits: Strong problem-solving skills for students help them to succeed in many academic areas. Complete assignments, have better strategies to manage work, help you take smarter risks & decisions, and logically counter problems.
We all complain & nag about having problems in our lives, don't we? Whether struggling to cope with academia, finding suitable careers, or maintaining relationships, problems of all shapes and sizes are a part & parcel of everyday life. Here are some ways to solve problems:
- Examine different solutions, act on resolving, & look for learning opportunities.
- Train your mind to be solution-focused.
10. Technology Literacy
Helpful resources: Coursera, Udemy
Benefits: share information, conduct research, and communicate with a global audience.
It is evident that we all live in a global & technologically driven world; we are constantly surrounded and stunned by new technologies every day. In this digital age and era, being in touch with technology is like having two sides to a coin; it has pros and cons, but leveraging technology skillfully will open your horizons. Here are some ways to be technologically literate:
- Start familiarising yourself with basic computer essential skills.
- Learn how to leverage social media.
- Try to integrate a pinch of technology into different faucets like productivity, language learning, writing, learning a skill, etc.
11. Adaptability
Helpful resources: Books (Mindset), Ted Talks
Benefits: Building confidence and being flexible in the face of change gives you a competitive edge in changing environments.
Everyone has the skill to adapt! Adaptability is one such skill that comes innately to humans. With various circumstances, environments, and challenges, history has shown that man has been an ever-changing species that adapts to change quickly. Let it be environmental, cognitive, cultural, or technology, we all have learned to adjust to the power of change, but having it innately isn't enough; you have to nurture this to leverage this god-gifted ability.
Here are some ways to be adaptable:
- Avoid restricting your mind and be open to new ideas
- Try unfamiliar things, tasks, and activities
12. Self-Evaluation
Helpful resources: Journaling
Self-evaluation is one of the most important life skills for students as it helps them to become more self-aware by analysing their progress, failures, strengths, weaknesses, behaviours, values, and morals. As humans, we all are a work in progress. Self-evaluation is not an exercise to lead you to perfection but to move you a step closer to your highest self.
Here are some ways to evaluate yourself:
- Defining your objectives, reflecting on your goals, assessing your strengths, areas of improvement, challenges, etc.
- Make a POA and create new goals.
13. Focus
Helpful resources: Brain Games
Benefits: Efficiency at work, higher concentration levels
"Focus" is one such word that has been seen as a weapon of taunt while growing up, but it is more than that. It is a skill that has volumes of effect on your work and personal life. By cutting down all the fluff, focus, in plain words, is "the ability to concentrate on a given task by not getting distracted". Here are some ways to be focused:
- Eliminate distractions when you are working
- Practising meditation & mindfulness
- Use techniques like Pomodoro techniques, chunking, etc
14. Analytical Reasoning
Helpful resources: Reading case studies and research papers
Benefits: analysing scientific experiments to make predictions
In today's world, assumptions hold no good; the world relies on analytics & data. Let it be a task as small as planning to take a different route to avoid traffic or a big breakthrough like building a global strategy, data has become the new superpower to conquer the world next. To understand and evaluate data and draw conclusions, you will need to start approaching things analytically. Here are some ways to think analytically:
- Dig deeper and search for evidence, facts, opinions, and questions
- Look for similarities in patterns and trends, and try to make correlations between them
- Keep your logic and reasoning in check.
15. Consistency
Helpful resources: Atomic Habits
Benefits: Efficiency, Discipline, Stability
"Consistency is the key to success" is one of the most overused mantras for success, but there is a lot of power and validity in being consistent. Consistency is not only about doing things on a daily or desired frequency but devoting and dedicating yourself to the process even through storms and hurdles. Here are some ways to be consistent:
- Try scheduling and following your routine religiously
- Try to cut through self-doubt & be focused on your goal
- Keep yourself motivated and rewarded when necessary.
Hope you find this information about the best skills for students useful. All of the pointers in the student skills list are in high demand these days and also need these skills for students to thrive in a competitive environment and gain a place in the crowd. Also, go through this article on high-demand skills, which will definitely help you secure a place in some organisations and also visit this page to assure yourself that you have all the skills that recruiters look for! You can also go through our webstory on the ten most in-demand skills to know more.