“The coffee gets cold. The minutes run out. The holiday ends.”

Then you realise that the submission deadline never got postponed. Summer blew by in an instant, and your assignments remain unfinished. It is on your desk, untouched and free of intellectual prose. Quite a nightmare, isn’t it? You almost wish that you had invested more time writing a better essay so that your teacher could award you a higher grade. You almost wish you had studied your weighty textbook chapters than whiled away your time watching Netflix shows. Your guilt is immense, but redemption doesn’t equate.

This sense of inadequacy is like a “rat in a wheel” scenario where we keep looking for ‘jugaad’ or a fancy ‘hack’ to steer us back on the right path. However, we forget that these hacks have their limitations and that we cannot use them indefinitely.

So, to prevent falling into such a crisis, here are some skills you can imbibe to thrive and make most of your student life:

1. Creative Thinking:

Being creative is not as tough as it seems, and it is not an attribute reserved for artists and writers. Everyone can be creative in their way. As a student, creative thinking reins in independent learning. Students learn mind mapping skills and learn to brainstorm the topics taught at school. One can improve the relevance of the topics taught at school if one knows how to connect the principles of a certain subject with the core understandings of other subjects. This interconnected web of knowledge will help students better understand the concepts being taught to them. Not only do students learn how to think with different perspectives, but it also grants them a knack for being rational in their thoughts and opinions.

2. Time Management:

One must be mindful of how and where they spend time throughout the day. Often we spend days to hand in hand, spinning in ruts of procrastination without being productive. So, prioritizing our tasks and accomplishing them within the time we assign saves us a lot of last-minute workloads. In a professional setup, punctuality and dynamic organization of your tasks are greatly appreciated to the extent of improving your chances for promotion. Thus, there is more reason to learn time management and organizational task skills at a younger age.

3. Communicational Skills :

Communication plays an essential role as one climbs the ladder of maturity. When you are at school, you are responsible for the words you speak to your parents, teachers, and friends. In college, the responsibility inches closer towards learning how to communicate formally, considering that you will soon enter the professional world. Decorum and formal speech, behavior, and body language become increasingly vital when one is giving an interview or is an intern, or is working as a professional. It helps to prevent futile misunderstandings and corruption of the work environment.

4. Self Management Skills:

The ability to conduct yourself without letting your emotions and feelings obstruct your work is self-management. Being able to remain calm in moments of anger and not sound irritated when one is annoyed by a friend’s interruption are all attributes of managing one’s state of mind. If one is conscious of their behavior, they are likely to remain more focused on their goals. The attribute of self-regulation is beneficial as it fosters trust in the individual. It also provides greater scope for social adaptability and better stress management. Therefore, a student is less likely to be influenced by peer pressure and stress that academic institutions unload on them.

5. Taking Initiative and Problem Solving Skills:

We admire people who are passionate about what they do. People who think a step ahead and offer assistance before being asked are often appreciated by all. Taking such initiatives will help you create an amiable reputation for yourself, be it in your school, college, or elsewhere in the professional world. Being able to use critical and rational thinking will help you overcome problems that one faces frequently. We all prefer people who offer us solutions over those who whine and complain, don’t we?. This makes problem-solving skills and the drive to take initiative imperative in our lives.

So, there you go. These were the top five skills I think a student must possess. Now, remember, it’s never too late to learn, so go and invest time in mastering these skills to make the most of your adolescence. Adios.

Written by Aastha Raisurana