21st Century Skills: Which Is Best?

There is a question that was asked of everyone as a child. And usually the answer he gave himself was full of hope and positivity, like when a lover talks about his loved one. The question takes different forms, but perhaps the most recurrent and also the simplest is: and you … what do you want to do when you grow up? What will you use your skills in?

Very probably few of those who asked us this question believed in the answer we gave. On the other hand, most of those who gained credibility lost it as a short time later they responded differently. In a very different way, actually.

They had gone from writers to astronauts, from presenters to directors or from clowns to hotel receptionists. So  many of them when they were four, five, six or seven years old fell asleep lawyers and woke up doctors,  regardless of what others might think.

The question of others becomes one’s own question

There comes a time when this question is no longer asked by others, but we ourselves begin to succeed… and the answer is not always easy. Either because it is perhaps very evident, but the path is very difficult, or because there is no single answer and it is not structured or because, in reality, we do not find a profession that responds to our vocation. Of course, there are people who have a very clear vision regarding this decision, but reality shows us that they are not the majority.

The  Our parents are not very happy with this instability. Somehow, their faces change, their expressions become serious and the pressure builds. They seem to want to tell us: “you are no longer a child, you cannot continue to take everything as a game! You have already made several attempts. Now you have to decide “definitively”, put a skill into practice and not try to do everything without any logic “.

In the event that we have not made a “final” decision, parents (and others) may begin to think that they have a child in front of them who has no idea what to do in life.  It is not uncommon that sooner or later the person concerned also starts to have this idea and, therefore, stops trying regardless of his ability.

Perhaps it will not, in any case it will avoid straying from the intentions expressed and approved by others. If not, they may receive comments such as: “With all the effort you had to make to finish medical school, are you going to restore furniture now?”

And a paradox is generated  :  over the years people value stability more; however,  in moments when death reminds us that our life has an end, we regret the adventurous character  that sooner or later, somehow, we bury.

People who have many skills …

The people who often change their plans,  they pass from one field to another, many times have been misunderstood and even despised by much of society, which only saw in the specialization the opportunity to progress. In this part of society there were people who had a clear vocation and who specialized in a certain field based on a single skill, but above all people who gave  up their essence, repressing their every impulse to focus on a single goal. .

And when we give up on something, be it a desire, a hope, certain benefits, etc., we become more critical of those who don’t. For example, those who criticize people who copy in an exam the most are usually not those who have not had the opportunity to do so, but those who have had it and have not been able to exploit it. Therefore, even the people who try to get out of a marginal environment are the ones who criticize the most who remain there. Many times, in an unfair and advantageous way.

As a result, people with many abilities (the restless or swinging ones we talked about earlier) end up despising their nature. They punish and despise themselves every time they fail to reach the “regulatory point” that dictates the end of a project. We are talking about precipitated self-esteem, practically under the shoes. Let’s talk about sad people.

Anyway, why? Why can’t someone abandon a project when they understand that they are satisfied with the result they have achieved and do not harm anyone? By any chance we ask a bee to continue standing on the same flower when it has taken all the nectar it needed?

Fortunately, however,  this landscape is changing. People who have participated in many different projects, who have changed many jobs and who possess a wide variety of passions  are increasingly valued. They are because they have three qualities:

• They are able to exploit intersections:  knowing two fields they are able to develop projects or make contributions that specialists could never make. We are talking about people who are passionate about mathematics and football who have made a statistical analysis of what happens on the playing field … or people who are passionate about biology and literature who have made this science more accessible to society through popular books. We are talking about people specialized in robotics and with a clear vocation in the care of people who, thanks to this synergy, have been able to put technology at the service of those who need it most.

• I am able to learn very quickly :  as they have had to change many sectors, they have also had to experience many beginnings. Therefore, they have a lot of experience regarding immersion in the unknown and overcoming that surface tension that arises when we make a change.

• I am able to adapt very quickly. Fast Company magazine defines adaptability as the most important skill for development, to thrive in the 21st century. People with many abilities, therefore, have a great ability to adapt. Always inserting themselves in a field that is not theirs, they are unlikely to find themselves in a space where they are at ease. Somehow, with all these changes they have created strategies to minimize the impact or uncertainty of those changes. Often while other people feel uncomfortable, they move like fish in water.

We do not know for sure if the most important skill to be successful in the century in which we live is the ability to adapt or not, what is evident, however, is the value that companies increasingly attribute to the spirit of initiative.  They are looking for people who know how to do or who are willing to learn. It is certain that specialization continues to have its weight, but the fact of having experience in various fields is also starting to be frowned upon, as they are sources of ideas for the sector of interest and for the development of the company.