What are life skills?
Life skills are skill we use everyday to live a happy, healthy and successful life. They include skills we have already learnt about such as self-awareness, communication, empathy and stress management. They also include thinking skills such as creative thinking, problem solving and critical thinking.
Select the tabs below to learn about the life skills.
Critical thinking is the process of organising information, evaluating arguments and analysing ideas. It is how we weigh up our options and use out judgement to made decisions.
Improve your critical thinking skills by:
- Considering the possible outcomes and consequences of a decision – both positive and negative – as these will help to determine best decisions
- Researching the topic to gain relevant knowledge that can help inform your decision
- Recognising your biases and questioning your assumptions
- Explaining your solution and why is works – saying it out loud and opening it up for feedback can help you identify flaws in your solution that can be resolved before implementation
Creative thinking is the process of exploring different ways of thinking to generate unique ideas and innovative solutions. It’s ‘thinking outside the box’, being open-minded and the willingness to broaden your perspective.
Improve your creative thinking skills by:
- Maintaining an open mind and refrain from judgement
- Be curious – ask questions and explore new ideas
- Look at things from a different perspective
- Consume a variety of thought-provoking content (e.g. music, movies, art)
- Engage in creative practices such as painting, collage, pottery and dance
Problem solving involves identifying and defining a problem, finding the root cause and contributing factors, brainstorming potential solutions, implementing solutions and evaluating their effectiveness.
Improve your problem solving skills by:
- Practicing
- Discussing your problem solving method with others to better understand your thought process
- Observing how others problem solve, and ask about the techniques they use
- Using the ‘Five Whys’ method by asking ‘why’ a problem exists five times – this will help to get to the root cause and identify contributing factors (e.g. Why am i late to work? Because I’m tired. Why am I tired? Because I go to bed late. etc.)
- Using ‘what if…’ statements to help generate potential solutions. Brainstorm as many as you can – no matter how ridiculous some may seem – then review them to identify the most viable solutions