Hello Alexer and welcome back. We all know the education system is outdated for the most part. Having a degree now isn’t as impactful as it used to be. But why exactly is that? What skills are you missing out on?
In this article, you’ll dive deep into 15 crucial skills school doesn’t teach you. Welcome to Alux. If you don’t feel like reading the article here’s the video version:
1
How to learn
One of the major reasons the education system is flawed is because it gives you what to learn but doesn’t teach you how. Your knowledge material is filtered by whoever decides the school curriculum and you’re stuck with that.
Even more, nobody actually teaches you how to learn. They just tell you to memorize on your own and they call the day off. That’s why so many people find it difficult to acquire new skills after school.
They just don’t know how to do it. They have no idea how they’ll be able to manage all the work.For most, education stops when they leave college. And since the curriculum is rarely updated to reflect the current times, they get stuck in a mentality that no longer works.
2
How to manage your resources.
You have a plethora of resources at your disposal. From your time and energy to your connections and money. The better you are at managing these resources, the better your chances of turning your dream ideal life into reality.
You’d think that such an important skill should be mandatory in any type of school.
But so far we haven’t seen this happening anywhere.
3
How to put it into practice.
There are a lot of people who are book smart but fail to put anything into practice. You know how some things are supposed to work but you don’t know how to make them actually work. So you don’t have any experience if you are freshly graduated from college. You can’t say “I have 4 years of experience from college” to an interviewer. They’ll laugh in your face and decline your application for an internship that requires 20 years of experience.
The school doesn’t really teach you how to actually do things in the real world. And when it does, it’s shallow and at a surface level. You have to figure that out for yourself.
4
How to wing it
Ok, sometimes school involuntarily teaches you how to wing it when your due date is in 3 hours and you haven’t done anything yet. Winging it means being confident enough in your skills and achieving a decent outcome without knowing exactly what you are doing.
It’s like jumping off a cliff and figuring out how the parachute works on your way down. In the real world, this translates to keeping your cool in stressful situations where you don’t have all the variables.
everyone had to figure out a lot of things as you did them, and you have a running joke here at Alux that we’re masters at winging it
5
How to trust the process
This may be our favorite point from this list. Not everything is sunshine and butterflies at the game of life. Even more so when you’re trying to make anything worth mentioning. You will find yourself in situations where things don’t look so bright. It’s a rough patch. If you were to judge your chances of success based on the situation you are currently in, it doesn’t look so hot. This is when trusting the process becomes so crucial. You are smart and you know there is no straight line to success.
It looks more like this So when you are on a short descending trajectory, it’s important to zoom out and look at the whole thing. As long as you constantly add +1 to whatever you’re doing, the process will take care of itself.
He recently heard a quote that works here perfectly:“If it takes longer than you want, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Trust the process”
6
How to quit
In school, if you quit, you’ve branded a loser. You are being punished for your decision that something is not for you. They can even force you to waste an entire year of your life because of that.
Contrary to popular belief, if you start something, you are not obligated to finish it. If you start reading a book and you find it poorly written halfway through it, toss it aside. If you start a project and you realise you are not yet capable of finishing it, drop it.
This “winners never quit” saying is not exactly true. Plenty of winners quit often. You see, you can quit as many times as you want, as long as you keep playing the game. You only have to win once.
7
How to collaborate
Let’s face it, in the history of school projects, there was never a case where everyone had equal input. Most of the time, there is someone doing 80% of the work while the rest are piggy baking.
Even more so, at exams, if you’re trying to collaborate and get caught, you immediately fail.
This is the opposite of how real life works. The world thrives on people collaborating with each other in creating something bigger than themselves.
Heck, your whole survival as a human species is based on people gathering in tribes and collaborating with each other for food and safety. So why is this skill not only not taught, but punished in school, is beyond the thoughts.
8
How to find alternative solutions
There are multiple ways to say the same thing and there are multiple ways of getting the same outcome. But school teaches you there is only one. And it’s exactly how the teacher said it. Say anything else, and even if you are right, you’re wrong. This voids you of any kind of critical thinking. It forces you into a habit of waiting for someone to tell you what’s the right answer, instead of finding it yourself.
9
How the life subscription works
In the current world, you need to pay a life subscription in order to keep staying alive and well. That comes in the form of taxes, inflation, credits, pension plans, bureaucracy, and so on.
If you don’t learn how to deal with them, you get kicked out of the life plan. It’s a pretty important skill to have. Yet it’s something you’ll have to learn on your own.
10
How to deal with mental/psychological problems.
More than 25% of students in the US are on some kind of prescription drug. But the point that is made in these kinds of problems are not usually addressed in school. No one is teaching you how to deal with anxiety or any other problem that affects your mood and behavior.
So when you get older, you treat these problems like something that naturally comes with life… but just because these issues are common doesn’t mean they’re normal. Some conditions absolutely need to be treated with medications – however, many others can be managed without.
It’s worth talking to a therapist or psychiatrist to see if you can beef up your repertoire of healthy coping mechanisms for your stress and anxiety instead of assuming medication is your only option. And, on a similar note….
11
Meditation
It isbelieved that any kind of mental awareness practice is extremely beneficial.
And it’s not just us. Peopledon’t have to sell it to you. You know how impactful meditation is.It greatly improves your focus and emotional intelligence.
It’s also the main tool that can increase your self awareness, something a lot of people need nowadays. 4 in 5 successful people use some kind of meditation to improve their lives.
But it’s not something school will ever teach you.
12
How to stand your ground
The classroom’s environment is based on authority and obedience. You sit where you’re told and do what you’re asked to. You have little say in anything. It teaches you to keep your head down and go unnoticed.And this translates later your life to you waiting for other people to tell you what to do.
13
How to deal with chaos and unpredictability.
For the most part, school is organised and easy. It’s designed around the lowest common denominator. In other words, it’s structured to appeal to the largest number of people.Everyone gets a participation trophy for just being there. So when real life hits with all its chaos and unpredictability, you feel lost. There’s no bell ring to let you know you need to take a break. No one is giving you homework to do. You’re all alone if you need to figure everything out from ground 0.
14
How to measure the right metrics.
Grades are bullshit and they don’t mean anything. It’s an arbitrary filter that doesn’t hold any value in the real world. In school, everybody cares about your grades. And then you go into real life and suddenly nobody cares about your grades anymore. You are thought to optimize your life around a single metric that has no value outside the school system.
15
How to negotiate
So many people are afraid of conflicts because school teaches you to do what you are told. You don’t learn to negotiate a better deal for yourself. Even more so, you think it’s immoral to even try to negotiate. You think only annoying salespeople take part in such a devious act.
But negotiating is not about forcing others to comply. It’s about finding a common ground of mutual value. Your lack of negotiating skills turns into a fear of conflict, which turns into obedience and mediocrity.
And finally, as a thank you to those who always stick until the end, here is a bonus point.
16
How to find your own path.
School narrows your horizont in presenting you with vague career choices when you finish.
It doesn’t teach you how to fine tune your skills and forge your own way.
And since school forces you into a template future, you feel out of place when you try something new.
Hope you learned something valuable today, Aluxers!
