4 ways to upskill yourself outside the classroom

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that the future of work is no longer a distant scenario: it is here and now. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025, as adoption of technology increases. It also sheds light on newly emerging skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility.

In response, companies across the board are consciously looking for ways to navigate the new normal with solutions stemming from collaborative problem solving and creative thinking. In a way, the pandemic has made it evidently clear that upskilling and reskilling is now a matter of survival and growth. More importantly, identifying the right combination of hard and soft skills that will allow you to thrive, will be imperative.

Currently, corporations are spending copious amounts of time and money to reskill their employees to bring them up to speed with the demands of the ever-evolving industry. But what if I tell you, it is never too early to think about ways to upskill yourself even as early as high school?

Undoubtedly, schooling does provide you with the most basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. In other terms, classes can be described as net practice while life can be equated with a World Cup match characterized by high stakes. At Beyond 8, we find that learners are far more prepared for real life when they are given the choice to determine the skills they want to learn to bolster their passions. We also believe that learning can happen anywhere: there is a whole world outside the classroom that is replete with opportunities for greater learning and upskilling for people of all ages. Let us take a tour of 4 ways you can upskill outside the bounds of your classroom.

• Experiential learning: John Dewey, an impactful American educational reformer, stated in 1897 that learnings that come to pass outside the school are a form of experiential learning. In popular terms, experiential learning is the process of learning through reflection on doing. The fact that education is the direct derivative of civilized existence of human species - is strong enough to justify field-based learning. A jaunt taken for not only educational purposes but any other aim in mind - can serve as a formidable learning experience. Look around yourself, each movement has a thing or two to teach. That’s exactly how Newton discovered gravity and Archimedes nailed the law of buoyancy. Most likely, you may also say ‘Eureka!’
• Ed-tech: Online universities and courses are seeing a growing acceptance in mainstream education, more so during school closures. Companies such as Coursera, Yuanfudao, and Udemy are offering a spate of relevant courses on both hard and soft skills that one may not want to miss out on. Courses on emerging critical topics such as automation technology, REDD+, and sustainable investments are just a couple of clicks away. With the vast proliferation of the WWW, learning has become unbounded and limitless - one can learn from anywhere, anytime.
• Sporting: Learning is a lot more interesting with sports, for most learners at least! Sports teach - rather train - an individual to develop highly-needed, highly-scarce emotional intelligence. These include what to do when under pressure, how to react to someone’s crummy behavior, when to slow down or to speed up, leadership, communication, and numerous other human skills.
• Good Habits: Yes, these are what the elderlies insist upon! While it may sound rather simple on paper, it takes a great deal of commitment to maintain on a daily basis. The truth of the matter is that some of the most crucial life skills we will develop will need to stand on a strong foundation of good ol’ good habits! Quite simply, these include good nutrition, sleep and hygiene on the physical front. On the other hand, it means cultivating social skills, etiquette and mutual respect for all.

Conclusion

In the quest to upskill, it is important to understand the dynamics of demand and supply and consider those that are relevant to the contemporary world. Regardless of which path you pursue in your life, be sure to find the balance between basic technology skills and human skills.

In the words of Peter Drucker, the only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will be obsolete over time.

Which skills are you interested in learning outside your classroom? If you enjoyed this post, check out our earlier post on how far knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) can get you in your career.

Cover Image via: Recruitment