Soft Skills

Soft skills are the most important skills in today's world. In the competitive race of keeping ahead of others, these skills make the difference. The technical knowledge, the subject know-how may be the same, but people with soft skills are able to forge ahead in every arena of their life - be it work life, social life or personal life. Let us know about a few of the soft skills.

LISTENING
The secret of happiness lies in listening carefully and effectively. But more often than not we tend to fail in this very important activity. Our lack of the ability to listen properly gives rise to so many problems in our life. Listening is more important than talking. Since we were given two ears and one mouth, it might be that we were intended to listen twice as much as we speak. When we listen carefully as to what the other person is saying, then much of our misunderstanding will simply vanish. And always listen with an open mind - the difference between you and me is only one of hearing; where you hear a door close, I hear it open. A closed mind will not allow proper listening - leading it to be ineffective.

COMMUNICATING
How do we make our communication effective?

" People will forget what you said
people will forget what you did
but people will never forget
how you made them feel"

To put it this way we can say that communication is what/how we feel after we forget what exactly was said or how exactly it was said. The essence is communicate as a total human being.

It is a wrong notion that the louder I speak, the more impact I will make. The more noise a man or a motor makes, the less power there is available. The other person is the most important in the process of communication.

The SIX most important words:
"I ADMIT I MADE A MISTAKE"
The FIVE most important words:
"YOU DID A GOOD JOB"
The FOUR most important words:
"WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?"
The THREE most important words:
"IF YOU PLEASE"
The TWO most important words:
"THANK YOU"
The ONE most important word:
"WE"
The LEAST important word:
"I"
(c- Think Inc/Pramod Batra)

THINKING
One can travel the fastest in her mind than by any other means and the medium of travel in mind is our thinking. We think and we can go anywhere in a jiffy in our mind. We think and we can do anything. Thinking is the most important thing. "I think, therefore I am". Without thinking, we don't have existence. Our thinking - the way we think and express ourselves contributes most to our personality. My thinking defines who I am.

Everything generates in our mind, in our thinking. Everything revolves round our thought only. That's why it is said:
Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
watch your words, they become your actions.
Watch your actions, they become your habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your thinking.

That's why we can add a fourth one to the Famous Three Monkeys:
See no evil. Hear no evil. Talk no evil.
----------- THINK NO EVIL.

PROBLEM SOLVING
Most of our life goes in solving problems - problems that we face in our personal, academic, emotional, career and social life. Some of the problems we are able to solve, but most of the time we find ourselves turning to others for solution. The trick lies in understanding the problem. It is sometimes better to a sk a few questions rather than looking for the answers always. This will help in getting to know the problem at the first place. The realization of the problem is half the solution. "It isn't that she can't see the solution; it's that she can't see the problem."

Most problems are really the absence of ideas. Planning is most important thing. If we do something without planning, problems crop up. Unplanned activity leads to problems and failure. "People don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan". Proper and careful planning will take care of most of our problems.

The third thing is that face the problem directly without any fear and with confidence. When a problem comes, don't say that, " O God ! I have a big problem; but say, O problem ! I have a big God, Good morning !"

TAKING INITIATIVE
It is I who is responsible for my progress. The proverb is that you can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink. Similarly the initiative has to be taken by me. The secret lies in "doing". The more work we do the more rewards we earn. The boatman ferries the passengers to and fro so many times. The more he goes, the more he gets. And if he doesn't go, he doesn't get. It's that simple. This is the key to success everywhere - be it in business, social life or personal life. I have to take the initiative, I have to do it - whether it is for improving my self confidence, for stress reduction or for my prosperity.

It takes the 'action', ' the work to succeed in life, to get what we desire in our life. Luck has a limited role to play here. If you want to be lucky, don't passively wait for it to happen; take the action, take the initiative, go and meet luck halfway and you'll have success. Opportunities are waiting for you, but you have to go and seize the opportunities.