I’m thinking about this question lately: what is the most important skill we need to have? What kind of skill do we need most in this kind of world? To answer it, I guess we need to see what the main characteristic of our world is.
What words will you use to describe this world? For me, there are two words which come to my mind: change and speed. The world is changing and it is changing at increasing speed.
Since we are now living in that kind of world, I once thought that the most important skill is the ability to learn quickly. Of course it contains truth: to be able to keep up with this world we need to learn quickly. This way we can quickly adapt to new changes whenever they occur.
But later I thought that the ability to learn quickly alone is not enough. The world is changing so fast that even those who can learn quickly may not be able to keep up. There’s one more thing required: the ability to choose what to learn. This way we won’t waste our time learning something which is not useful. We learn only those things which are the most effective for us. The number of new things to learn is huge that choosing which one to learn becomes increasingly difficult. Mastering the art of choosing what to learn is valuable because it will save our time - not to say our entire career.
So to summarize, I think this is the most important skill we need to have: the ability to choose what to learn and to learn them quickly. If we master this skill, we will be ready to face whatever new waves coming in our way.
If you have other thoughts about what you think is the most important skill, feel free to share them in the comments.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
6 23. February 2007, 8:13 pm o'clock |
Thanks Sania. Yes, “the ability to choose what to learn” is something we should learn on its own. Ideally we should have it before “learning them quickly”. Sadly, there are very few resources about it compared to “learning them quickly”.
Comment by Sania Wyatt
5 22. February 2007, 10:17 pm o'clock |
The ability to learn what to choose is an ability that needs to be learn on its own. So conceptually we must first master the ability to choose and from that we go on to become adept at learning quickly. Interesting idea and great blog post. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Sania
Comment by Donald Latumahina
4 7. February 2007, 9:29 pm o'clock |
Yes Ashish, we won’t survive if we do not update ourselves. I think learning is one way for us to update ourselves.
Comment by Ashish Mohta
3 5. February 2007, 8:44 pm o'clock |
For me its change and upgrading.You cant survive without being updated for new things.And Speed will depend on the environment.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
2 4. February 2007, 10:32 pm o'clock |
Thanks ggw … I agree with you, the Internet is a giant playground for the mind. It is orders of magnitude bigger than any other mind playground in human history.
In fact, I believe that this era will have special spot in human history. It is in this the era that thoughts and ideas from the whole world can be exchanged like never before.
Comment by ggwfung
1 3. February 2007, 7:48 am o'clock |
it’s identifying the information sources most relevant to us. You are right.
In a way, the internet is a giant playground for the mind. It doesn’t really matter what our physical characteristics are like, it’s our thoughts and ideas.
Nice article, and highly relevant to a fast changing world.
ggw