Because soft skills are often described as personality traits, it might seem like we’re talking about something a person is born with. In fact, some people are actually more inclined to use certain soft skills more than other people are. But soft skills are not innate. They’re learned or, at least, they can be developed.
DEVELOPING THE SKILLS …
We develop soft skills in the same way we develop hard skills – with practice. One way to build or sharpen a soft skill is to learn it from others. Spend time with people who are good at those soft skills which seem to be most challenging to you. To get the most from your efforts, practice your soft skills in an environment where the risk of failure is low and the chance of success is greatest.
Success breeds success!
GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK …
There’s good news that should encourage you. You don’t have to be a born networker or a naturally empathetic person to succeed wildly in life. You can learn the basics quickly and easily. And you can build these skills with practice throughout your career. So give yourself a break!
You can do this, and you don’t have to do it overnight! Give yourself permission to master the soft skills throughout your career. But don’t wait that long to get started, however! Start today. Do it now! Remember that all good things start with a decision that’s followed by an action step and then more action steps until you reach your goals.
EXAMPLES OF SOFT SKILLS …
So the last thing we want to do with this short article is to give you some examples of what you will actually be learning when you tackle soft skills. Below is a list of some of the common soft skills. By no means is this an exhaustive list, but it does serve to get the conversation started in an important way.
We talk about these and other soft skills in a course we’re scheduled to publish this Fall (2019) with the GCDF Institute. Here are the examples:
- Communication
- Professionalism
- Empathy
- Networking
- Self-confidence
- Problem-solving
FOLLOW THESE ARTICLES …
Keep up with this series of soft skills articles. Stay in the information loop so you know how to use soft skills and how to help others use them too. Be sure to FOLLOW these articles by clicking on the “FOLLOW” button to the right of this article too.
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