5 Life Skills Everyone Should Know

(It’s never too late to learn them)

No matter what age or what level of education, there are a handful of everyday life skills that every person should learn. As adults, people assume that we know how to handle the challenges that life will put in our way.

In Scouts, the motto is “Be Prepared,” and while we can’t always be prepared for everything, we can start to prepare by making sure we know these 5 life skills:

Skill #1: How to Change a Tire

I know — not everyone has a car, and if we do and get a flat tire, we can always call a car service or tow truck.

However, knowing how to change a tire is more than just being prepared for oneself. It is a skill that allows you to be more comfortable with helping others by knowing the basics of the car.

Changing a tire involves knowing how to take the lug nut off without hurting oneself, how to use a jack, and also how to put lug nuts back on so the tire is straight. While it isn’t hard, you may be surprised at how many people do not know (or are not confident) how to change a tire.

Here is a short YouTube video that is really good at breaking down the steps (not my own video):

Personal Note: Over the years, I have had 5 occasions to change my tire because of a flat. In addition, I have rotated my own tires, taken the tires off to check the brake pads, etc. I have also helped other people change their tires at least a handful of times. It’s a handy skill.

Skill #2: How to Sew a Button

Maybe you’re the type of person who buys new shirts, pants, or skirts every few months. However, I would bet that most of us have experienced a time when a button came loose or fell off, and then we needed to sew the button back on.

This is not a hard skill at all; however, there are tricks to it. I’ve seen many people who after sewing the button have this huge bulge of thread or who even after sewing the button, have it too loose.

Here is a good YouTube video to help you:

Personal Note: Loose and missing buttons have happened to me too often. I was lucky that I learned basic sewing in a Home Economics class. I can sew my own buttons and even leave a travel sewing kit in my work office drawer.

One time, at a conference I was attending in Corpus Christi (Texas), my pants button popped off. I asked the hotel reception if they had a sewing kit. They offered to sew it for me for $10 or to give me a sewing kit for free. I chose the sewing kit, but their offer to do it for a fee told me many people choose to have someone else do it.

Skill #3: How to Read (Follow) a Recipe

I know many people today who eat takeout all the time. However, for the most part, that’s not healthy, nor money saving. Cooking for yourself is important and making something from a cookbook is a skill.

Here again, I must thank both my Home Economics and Nutrition teachers. Both of them covered the basics of how to read and follow a recipe.

Interestingly, this skill is much more than just for cooking. Recipes are a form of instruction manual, so if you can follow a recipe, you can use those same skills to follow a mechanics book and change the transmission fluid in your car or put a piece of IKEA furniture together.

Here is an informative YouTube video that can help you understand the history and basics of recipe reading:

Personal Note: I can’t call myself a great cook. My wife is a great cook. She can whip up a meal “on the fly.” Me? I follow a recipe. However, because I can cook by reading recipes, I have been able to cook some interesting Indian, Persian, American Colonial, and other dishes for my wife. She still wishes I would do it more often, so I guess that’s a good sign that I can follow a recipe pretty well!

Skill #4: How to Read a Map

Before GPS devices and built-in Google Maps on our phones, we relied on maps. Today, it’s hard to find maps at convenience stores.

However, this is a crucial skill not only for adults, for children. In fact, studies show that learning how to read maps helps develop our spatial skills and facilitates the creation of our internal mental maps.

Here is a Video from Trucker Dave (who best to learn map reading than a commercial driver!):

Personal Note: In 1992, my roommate and I decided to drive my grandparents’ car down from northern Illinois to the southern tip of Texas. No GPS at the time. We bought 5 maps: Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. We never got lost and we were able to stop at Cahokia and Spiro Mounds to visit the archaeological sites.

In 1995, my best man and I drove from southern Texas to the gulf coast of Mexico and then inland to Mexico City. Along the way, we stopped at two major archaeological sites too (El Tajín and Cacaxtla). We never got lost either. Why? We both knew how to use maps.

Skill #5: How to Tell Which Direction is North

Sometimes you just need to know which direction you are going or need to go. For that, you don’t need a map so long as it is daylight and not Noontime.

You can use the position of the Sun because we know that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the West. Therefore, once you locate the Sun’s position and you know whether it is morning or afternoon, you can figure out the cardinal directions.

Here is a short YouTube video that explains that:

Personal Note: Of all, this is probably the simplest skill, but one that I use all the time.

Whenever I am in an unknown city, I can just look up and know the general direction to go until I recognize other landmarks. This skill can also help when you get detoured because of construction. So, even without a GPS or a compass, you can find your way around just by knowing the Sun’s position.

Final Thoughts

When I was a Scout I learned skills such as following instructions, map reading, and basic orienteering. Other skills were learned in different classes, but mostly, I learned by necessity.

The problem was, I didn’t know what would be necessary or useful until it suddenly was needed.

That’s why I hope mentioning these first four skills will be helpful to you. You can always practice each of these skills (even changing a tire) before you actually need to do any of them in a hurry. That way, once you must perform the skill, you’ve already had practice.

There are many other great and useful skills that are helpful to know, and maybe, I’ll write about a few more if people find these interesting and useful.

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