This topic started off as an Instagram stories segment and then I realized very quickly how wordy this would be and I’m so glad I’ve decided to put this into writing. Recently I read about skill stacking, but only to realize I’ve been doing this for years. I actually started doing this when I was 16. Going to school and taking courses was great but the most valuable things I taught myself was actually not in school. It was from picking up books, watching videos and actually practicing what I wanted to master. I haven’t read this book, but the strategy some say derives from a Scott Adams book; How To Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big.
Skill stacking: a strategy to build a career. This strategy is to acquire valuable skills.
Skill stacking
Start with combining your skills into a list of roughly 5. Ask yourself what skills will make you more valuable at your current role or that you’ll need for your dream job. The more valuable you are the faster you’ll achieve career success. Exactly when you’ll achieve that success doesn’t matter. Stay focused on the actual skills and staying on track of mastering those skills.
The 5 recommended skills that you should acquire are:
Productivity
Personal effectiveness revolves around productivity. Mastering productivity as a skill will actually help you achieve any other skills. The more productive you are the easier it’ll be for you to master the other skills you need to achieve career success. Also keep in mind productivity differs from person to person and so does the definition of ‘career success’. Stop yourself from comparing your journey to others or your level of being productive vs others.
Communication
Being a good communicator can be very valuable in your career or business. Think about it, if you’re good at communicating promotions, news, important information and the message gets across clearly and concisely, this makes your end goal easier to grasp. You can also work towards this skill by writing more often. Your writing is essentially your thoughts put into words. Some other ways to get better at communication is to be a part of activities that force you to communicate in different ways like improv or toastmasters.
Psychology
I love reading books about psychology. Not the university textbook kind, but the ones that help you understand how people think. Allow you to put yourself in others shoes. You don’t need to be an expert or psychologist, just a basic understanding or enough to understand why people do what they do. Having some knowledge on this will help you respond to certain situations that majority may feel uncomfortable to respond. One of my favourite books is lateral thinking by Edward De Bono. It takes you into some real brain twisting puzzles and gives you a different perspective to think about. This book also teaches you how to switch the way we think. And you start to realize if you are a lateral thinker or know how to switch into that mode. In order to be successful at the work place you need to learn to work well with others. Team work makes the dream work.
Persuasion
The art and science of influencing people in an ethical way. It can be abused by anyone but those who abuse it have a lot to lose once people catch on. This happens a lot in the sales realm of things (sorry) but when I say persuasion, I’m not speaking in that sense. I’m talking about when it’s a win win situation with both parties. When you know that whatever you’re trying to persuade would offer many benefits to the other party. Example, if you know your company that you work for needs a new system in place. Whether it’s hardware or software and in the past you’ve heard it’s been really difficult to get the company to integrate or even agree. Persuading strategically to have them understand the benefits of this integration is what would add value to your career. There are lots of books and workshops you can join to learn how. I don’t have any specific ones to recommend off the top of my head, because it’s been a long time (over a decade) since I last read one. Do a quick search and see what fits best for you.
Personal Finance
This could be a skill that you may or may not have and it’s totally okay to piggy back off of a loved one *cough cough* my husband helps me with this. I do make the effort sometimes to learn what he does to keep our personal finances in the green. Overall, live below your means and don’t spend more than you make. If you absolutely can’t do that then you need to get some side hustles in place. This creates a line of disposable income that you can play with.
