We all invest in our hard practical skills systematically. How many of us invest in our emotional and happiness “soft skills” systematically?

August 28, 2018 Off By Maurice

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

 

It’s hardly rocket science that if we practice the piano we are going to get a better outcome in piano playing.

 

It’s also not difficult to understand that if we are motivated to make better cakes, we have to do something about it: such as finding the recipes, may be find a teacher, and make sure we have access to a functioning oven, check out the suitable ingredients,……………….

 

It’s generally well accepted that if we want better health, we need to eat the appropriate food, take good rest, exercise appropriately, …………..

 

Or at least we know that we need to be more conscious in what we do in order to improve the odds of us getting the result we want.

 

We can appreciate that we do have an important role to play in improving our piano playing and cake making skills, as well as our health……and generally we will not argue with the following:

 

To get better at something like piano or making cakes, or for that matter anything we sort of assume it’s “practical”, we all agree that it helps to:

 

  1. Check out who is good at it, and ask to be taught
  2. Hang out with people who are good at it
  3. Learn the theory
  4. Practice, and keep correcting course when we realise we have made a mistake (like playing the wrong note in music),
  5. and keep getting better, one step at a time

 

So when it is to do with our “emotions” and other less obvious “soft skills”, say happiness for example, we sort of become lazy and either feel guilty about it, or blame someone else, or in denial.

 

I am curious, what if we treat everything we want to get good (including happiness, relationships, public speaking, leadership,……….) at and take the same steps:

 

  1. Check out who is good at it, and ask to be taught
  2. Hang out with people who are good at it
  3. Learn the theory
  4. Practice, and keep correcting course when we realise we have made a mistake (like playing the wrong note in music),
  5. and keep getting better, one step at a time

 

Would we be able to invite in more causes for better results?