101 Things Every Person Needs to Know How to Do This list is a good start. But there's a LOT they left out. Off the top of my head: - how to do laundry - how to speak in a public setting - how to weld (in a very basic sense) - how to cook multiple dishes from multiple food cultures (i.e. italian, mexican, american, etc.) Focus: Add to this list. Alt. Focus: Anything on this list, or posted in this thread that you disagree with? Why? If it's purportedly something you "need to know," how do you get around it?
Knowing how to code and how to build a website will never be as important as this guy thinks. Knowing how to code would be/is a great skill, but you can definitely get by in the world without knowing how to use a computer, and let alone how to program one. Building a website??? Why? My company's website is a direct result of "that guy in the art department knows how have him do it" without having a professional do it. You can have a decent website if you do it yourself but probably a much better one if you have people who actually do it for a living build it for you. And, then you spend your time actually running your business.
Over half of those are so fundamentally stupid they suppose a person inefficient in them are incomplete? I'd like to prison fuck whoever made this list. Travel hack? You should never use the word travel hack. You should not get your advice from a queefy article. You should try very hard to be happy, but if you're not it's nobody's fucking business but your own. If you tell someone else how to live, especially via an article that could have been written by Gwenyth Paltrow, you should be fucked to death by rhino dicks.
Everyone should know how to properly (and safely) handle a firearm. Before someone goes "Hurr durrr but 'm not a gun crazy rightwinger!" Get over yourself. You might come across one some day that's loaded with the safety off. Maybe you're at a relatives house and there's one out. Maybe you find one randomly by chance. Whatever the circumstance, knowing how to handle and disarm one will keep you safe.
- I agree with lifting your own weight, for men. You should also know how to properly lift (bend at the knees). It's not only an extremely useful "tool," but being able to do so generally means that you are in some kind of decent physical shape. - More like "You should know how to properly prevent yourself from being physically harmed." If someone is legitimately attacking you, don't just punch them in the face -- it's gonna hurt you as much as it hurts you. Punch to throat, knee to groin, upward palm hit to nose. It's not a cheap shot if it saves your life. Disable them and then fucking RUN. Escape is the best defense to an attack. That should be one of the rules. - if you ride a bike, you gotta know how to fix a flat with a patch kit. If they have kids, and they ride bikes, fixing flats yourself will save you uncountable time and money. It's a really obscure "rule," but it does make sense. Kind of like the "sewing" thing. - Singing or musical instrument. I wish this was revised to "you should have an appreciation for music." Not just a 'I like whatevers on the radio lol!!!' thing, but I mean a legitimate understanding and appreciation for more than just the current generation's worth of auto-tuned non-sense. That could come in the form if making it yourself, or collecting it, or even enjoying multiple genres. In my opinion, a lot more history is told through music than was ever printed in textbooks.
Well, that explains it. Also, this part, from the author bio, explains a lot: So basically, she's pimping out learning code, entrepreneurship, and public speaking to help boost the companies she works with. One assumes the rest were contributed by her facebook friends, and judging by all the repetition, weren't chosen very carefully. I think I just won #9:
The sad thing is, I actually think that an article (or book) on "essential life skills" without all the biased bullshit would be incredible. Everything from how to shrink a too-large shirt to how to properly finger-fuck a woman with the 'home hither' motion on the g-spot (you mean it exists?). Obviously that list was fb crowd-sourced bullshit. But hopefully this thread won't be.
One of the things on the list is knowing how to write professionally, fuck that. As long as you can communicate thats the only thing you have to be able to do. I'd add to the list, be able to fuck competently. That entire list annoys me, its mostly frivolous bullshit. Cook an egg well? I guess thats totally necessary to know how to do. So long as I don't get salmonella from my eggs I'm pretty happy.
What I hate about these lists is how 'survival in the wilderness' heavy they are. For the average person, you are never going to be in a situation where you'll need these skills on the list. And furthermore, if you are in a situation where you need these skills, there are a shitload more that you're going to need. Like being an infectious disease expert, because that's what's going to kill millions if the apocalypse comes. It's fucking ludicrous. Like by virtue of this list you'll survive in a nuclear winter or some shit. Here's VI List of Life Skills: 1) Learn to make lots of money. You learn this one, you don't need any others. You'll just pay others to do them for you. End of list.
Well, I'll give it a try. Speak another language. I know this was in the list, but it's a good one. Maybe this is just me, but speaking a second language to the point that you can meet new people and have conversations and befriend them in a language not your own is, well, one of my favourite things. I can't do it for very long - after a few days I start missing English - but seeing as I'm used to other people speaking with me in their second language, it really makes me think of things from their perspective and how challenging it is for them to go about their whole lives in a second language. You have an entirely different personality in a second language. You can't tell the same jokes, you can't use the same idiosyncrasies, all those familiar little subtleties of language that you're used to are entirely gone. Even how people respond to you is entirely different. It's wild. Be well-spoken. Aside from making you sound smart, I've noticed that while my peers might all talk like a bunch of valley girls (and, in one case, Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys), the people who have been promoted are all very well spoken. This isn't a coincidence. Be able to function while sleep-deprived. If you're somebody's boss, know how to be a leader, not just a manager or supervisor. Be able to motivate other people, rather than just telling them what to do. Be able to do it by strength of character and force of personality, not by pulling rank or by fear and intimidation. Know how to handle yourself while drinking. Similarly, know when to stop drinking. Be able to push yourself physically. This will mean different things to different people; I run and bike a lot, but don't do much strength training. You should be able to turn off that part of your brain telling you to stop when you need to go. As a caveat, you can't rely on yourself to really push yourself when you need to if you don't practice it. Most of the skills that have served me well I picked up while travelling, particularly, travelling alone. Not to say that there aren't other ways to acquire them. But the ability to quickly pack enough things to last you a few days without forgetting anything important is a valuable one. I've also, through making bad bookings, found myself in strange cities very late at night and suddenly without a place to sleep. Or had to improvise my way around to get where I needed to go. Reacting with composure and getting shit done without panicking is what got me through. Sometimes I'd react so calmly that people were kind of concerned. This goes back to the parts about sleep deprivation and pushing yourself physically. Often I would have to do these things while jet-lagged and hungry. And travelling alone isn't for everyone, but I highly advise it to anyone who can do it. Lately, I've been thinking about what a "good thinker" is, and how that's different from being smart or intelligent. There are plenty of smart and intelligent people who carry hammers and view all problems as nails - they might be really talented at using a hammer, or they might have an endless catalogue system of the infinite variations on the nail, but they're still just swinging a hammer and hitting nails. A good thinker knows when to put the hammer down. Anyone who's worked in a bureaucratic kind of organization knows what I mean.
Change a tire. And flip an egg without breaking the yolk. Don't you serve hard eggs to anybody, butterfingers. Do you simply want to watch the world burn?
This list sucks beyond belief. I can do some of the things I'm going to slam, but her list is horrible. To be fair, these usually are. No, it's not going to become synonymous with being illiterate. Not now, not in any foreseeable future. The vast majority of people won't know how to code 20 years from now just like today and they don't need to know how. Again, pointless unless it's how you earn your living, or some other special circumstances. How high was this chick when she wrote this? I'll make my eggs however I damn well please. And people eat raw eggs all the time. If you get seriously ill from under cooked eggs you suck at life. Unless you're an MMA all star you're not going to win a fight against multiple assailants. Also, if they really have it in for you they'll probably have weapons. Just get the fuck out of there. I did start with Chinese, but that's because I lived there. Seriously, I'm so sick of people repeating this. Unless you are going to use it on a regular basis learning a new language isn't worth the effort. If I had stayed in Minnesota my whole life I wouldn't have bothered. Granted this is better than a lot of stuff on the list, but learning a language just because is a stupid reason. Really? Why the hell is this something everyone should know? What the fuck is the point if you plan on never getting a manual transmission car? This is a hobby, this should not be a general requirement. Ok, this isn't outright wrong or anything, but I just can't believe someone would actually put this on a list. So I can suck as much as you? No thanks. As for my own opinion - what village idiot said. Aside from that learn what you need to get by and what you enjoy doing. I think it's worth it to learn a few basic car and home repair stuff just so you don't waste money, but if you're not poor it's far from essential.
What? Are you being sarcastic? Why would I need to accomplish these goals? Are you frightened your daughter will be taken by ruthless Albanian human traffickers and only you and your ninja prowess can save her? I don't walk into bars acting like I am an MMA tough guy, nor do I go seek trouble in a similar fashion requiring these skills. The odds of me being mugged by The Warriors are almost as good as me being struck by lightning. More so I am physically incapable of doing this crap 100% anyway. Guess I'm fucked.
You know how to defend against multiple attackers? Jury-rig your body to have the Tim Burton batmobile shields cover you when attacked. Otherwise you're getting blind-sided, knocked out, pulverized and left for dead. Period. The chance of it happening to you, Joe Average, added to the chance of defending yourself successfully is laughable to say the least. You run, that's your defense. You aren't beating three or more without them eventually getting the upper hand, real life does non mimic The Raid: Redemption.
Anyone else notice how this is just a list spewing off stuff and doesn't actually TELL YOU how to DO it? Why is that? Answer is that she (the author) has no fucking idea how to do it. Most of that list is complete crap. That whole list is just like slacktivism: it accomplishes and teaches nothing, except wasting your time reading it. VI's post is spot on.
As a woman, I believe you should know at least some self defense. I don't mean being an MMA warrior, but be situationally aware and know where to strike. This has helped me a couple of times. The odds may not be high that a predator/asshole may try to harm you, but I still like to be prepared for the worst. I want to go out fighting if I'm going out. Know how to cook. My roommate can't even make mac and cheese, she goes to Noodles and Co to buy it! Not only is it an incredible waste of money, it's reliant on something that may not be there tomorrow (the world COULD end tomorrow). I agree with the speaking well point. It can make a profound difference in how others perceive you.