Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of setting specific goals and mastering a few top in-demand skills, rather than trying to acquire and apply all of them at once.

Abstract

The article highlights the hype surrounding in-demand skills and the pressure to acquire them. It suggests that these skills are essential, but they are a means to an end and not the end itself. The goals one intends to achieve should dictate which skills are most relevant to apply. The article advises against acquiring too many skills without a clear purpose, as it could lead to under-utilization or misapplication of those skills. It also warns that trends and cycles can render the best in-demand skills less potent over time. The article concludes by reassuring readers that they are not far adrift, as many of these skills are innate human characteristics that can be developed through self-reflection.

Opinions

The author believes that it is important to have a clear purpose for acquiring in-demand skills.
The author suggests that it is better to master a few top skills than to acquire many without a clear purpose.
The author warns that trends and cycles can render the best in-demand skills less potent over time.
The author reassures readers that many of these skills are innate human characteristics that can be developed through self-reflection.

You’re Loaded With the Coolest In-Demand Skills. Now What?

Attention, everyone.

Experts have written article after article on the latest in-demand skills.

Even more posts have predicted which of these skills would shape the future of work — and life as we know it. And it’s easy to feel left out if you’re not up to snuff on some of these skills.

While we must all get better at where we fall short — and it’s nice to have people remind us once in a while — people take things a step too far by making these so-called in-demand skills the be-all and end-all of life.

But that’s not always accurate.

These future-focused skills are essential, but what happens after you’ve loaded up on as many as you can find?

First, fix your goalposts

The goals you intend to score will dictate which skills are most relevant to apply. And to make the most of these skills, you must find the specific goals you want to achieve with these skills.

Or, at least once you have these skills, learn how you’ll use them.

It’s okay to invest in as many of these skills for everyday life, but if these skills won’t amount to much, there’s no point acquiring them, considering some of them could involve heavy investments.

Where I live, I see many people, way too many folks highly skilled in several disciplines but under-using — even not applying — these skills in any meaningful way.

I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume maybe the time hasn’t come. Or the conditions aren’t ripe.

But whatever the reason, packing the latest, most in-demand skills and choosing not to use them to solve problems doesn’t speak well of these people. Nor does it bode well for society.

They’re a means to an end, an end that varies from person to person, organization to organization.

Settle on the few top ones you can truly master

You may see another article listing 15 or 20 in-demand skills and wonder whether you’re far behind because you can only spot a few at work in your life.

While it’d be nice to master the many dozen in-demand skills, it’s almost impossible to apply all of them.

You can only use a few of those skills at a time. It’s just human nature. See it like the 80–20 principle. In some instances, you’ll only need empathy and communication. Or at least those are what will make the biggest impacts.

In other cases, you’ll need emotional intelligence and creativity. Or some different mix. But you’ll hardly have to apply all 20 at a goal if you can remember them all and where to put them.

Calculate how long until they’re out of demand

Life runs on trends and cycles. It doesn’t take long before the tables turn, rendering the best in-demand skills less potent.

And that’s one reason I want people to tone down on the hype around the skills of the future, the highly sought-after skills that will supposedly replace what we’ve known throughout our adult lives.

Yes, it’s great to listen to trends and stock up on what’s working. But it’s wrong for proponents to remain silent on the fact these skills can lose relevance in a few years.

Everything is going to be alright

Even if you’re not fully loaded with all the latest in-demand skills that will march us into the brave new future, don’t worry. The future won’t leave you behind. Most importantly, you’re not all that far adrift.

Many of these skills are innate human characteristics, and you probably have traces already in you.

Communication, empathy, creativity, and teamwork have been with us since we were infants. That we weren’t taught to build on them — or at least because they took a back seat — doesn’t mean they’re entirely new concepts available to only a rarified few.

Because we haven’t faced dire challenges that required us to dig deep into those reserves, many of us think these skills are entirely new concepts manufactured in some cutting-edge research lab. But that’s hardly the case.

For most of us, all we need is to do a thorough self-reflection, and we’ll find practical ways we’ve applied these soft skills in several aspects of our lives.

And that could give you some comfort amidst all the hype that’ll make you feel like you’re lost in life without some of these skills.

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