What is the most valuable skill a person can have for their

I think communication is the most important skill in life.

>>16541411
At the very most basic level, survival skills like hunting, fire making, and crafting shelter are essential to life.

However, in civilized society, possessing a strong work ethic is what gives you what you need to survive: money

>>16541411
The top two:

1. Inhaling
2. Exhaling

Probably making money, in terms of pure universal usefulness.

>>16541411

discipline

it enables productivity and breeds freedom

writing lisp
dont listen to the other plebs
they dont know what matters

Being able to spill.

1: a method to defend himself, his family and his community
2: a method to generate an income

how you go about those 2 things is myriad

learning

Acting. Nothing is more useful than knowing how to lie convincingly.

The most important thing is to be different from others. Do something better than anyone else in the world that's useful to others (even if what you do best has a very tiny niche). Being able to do something that 100 million other people can do, while potentially important, is likely not nearly as valuable as having a skill that is unique. Of course, certain unique skills will have more value than others. But it is hard to know which skills will and will not have long-term value since the world will change. One easy way to create a unique skill is to combine two seemingly unrelated skills into one skill. Being the best computer scientist in the world is really hard. Being the person who knows the most about dolphins is really hard. But being the person who best knows about the intersection of software and dolphins is accomplishable. You might end up writing the best software that tracks dolphins. Or you might use your knowledge of how dolphins communicate over long distances to change the way humans communicate.

>>16541532
>defending his family and community
>Thinks its 1950

Being able to leach off your parents into your 30s and have them pay for all you steam downloads is the most valuable skill you need.

>>16541541

My entire family is adept at this. My father is a serial liar and an asshole, but I've watched him convince a man with a PHD in Physics that he also holds one (my dad has a degree in Political Science, lol..) Unfortunately, he's practically senile at this point so everyone sees through him.

My sister makes a 6 figure salary selling things (at a hedge fund). Why? She's also a master actor and adept at bullshitting and making it seem like she knows a lot about things she is clueless about (she's just as lazy as I am).

One of my cousins is also an actress. She's lesser known, but makes a good life from it.

Me? I have this skill too, but I'm not a gorgeous woman like my sister. My dad ended up a loser; he spent all day behind the computer all his life and leached off of high earning women while he stayed at home and was an autist. Apparently, he used to be a gorgeous man.

For fucks sake, I hope I'll be fine. My brother is my dad, but younger. I hope to god I can end up like my sister and make something out of my life and this "acting" skill that we have.

In short, selling is the best and most important ability to have. Selling = acting.

>>16541514
>>16541543
I agree with this.
>>16541561
>>16541561
Don´t you think that what made your dad´s life miserable is being a serial liar and asshole, as you say?

A 'poker face' and assessing or sizing up people the moment you meet. People underestimate sway in social situations and being in control of words means being in control of herds.

>>16541411
Knowing when to pull out.

>>16541577
Sorry I am not used to the term poker face, could you describe it? thx!

>>16541574

His life was a living hell as a child, so of course he made mine the same way.

He sincerely just gets enjoyment out of making other people miserable. I know how that sounds, like I'm being sensational, but it's the truth. I do too, to a lesser degree (thus, I'm on 4chan). So does my brother, my sister... everyone.

What made his life shit is that he's a lazy asshole and decided it's easier to lie about shit than actually do things. Also, he was a total pushover with women and let them dominate his life. He was well on his way in academia (he got a job teaching at UCLA at one point, when he was 22), but thanks to some woman, he left LA and ever since he has not had a career.

So, he is miserable because he let women control him and ruin his life. He lies. He is a narcissist. He's just a shitty person in general, but honestly, but he's likely one of the most intelligent people you'll ever meet.

Yep, I'm saying that; he's close to genius level. My brother (who is my dad, basically), has the same gift, but all of the flaws. Many people I've met that knew him when he was young say things like "that man could have been president, or done something amazing with his life and changed the world..", but of course, he didn't; he's too fucking lazy. My grandfather was also a senator and was going to be elected as prime minister in Iran (he was winning), but he was assassinated (thus my dad's traumatic childhood). My sister and I ARE NOT intelligent like that, though. I am not humble bragging here. I'm not smart like him. All I have is the "acting" ability,

One thing my sister and I learned from all of this is that "hard work > intelligence". While you definitely need to be intelligent to succeed at life, you can never do it without hard work.

>>16541411
chill

Self control
Willing to work hard
Knowing how your own body and mind works in a way to be the most efficient
Communication

>>16541588
>>16541588
Well, you sure got some interesting stories there.

You know what to do... Work hard, and don´t let your brother repeat the same mistakes...

I don´t think you need to have a lying skill, but you need to act cold, chill and try to get your emotions on check so not everybody can read you at first glance.

>>16541411
Not copying questions from Quora.

>>16541586

It comes from the card game 'poker', where it is foolish to display emotion or give any indication of your true emotional status based upon the cards or 'hand' you're dealt.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy laughing with friends and being silly, but knowing when to buckle down and be stern is a skill. Not everyone is your friend or has your back in this world. Don't display your 'hand' and try to get them to reveal theirs first if you're unsure about them.

>>16541612

Yep, and here's the kicker; I met my sister for the first time last year. My entire life has been a crazy fucking whirlwind.

My dad told me about my grandfather being a senator when I was a kid, but I never believed him because he was a senile, lying asshole and would tell me he shot 2 cops with one bullet in a pistol while jumping out of an airplane after.

It wasn't until I met my sister, and was introduced to the rest of my family, that I'm learning all this crazy fucking shit; the stuff that's true. So, yeah, my life has been pretty insane; especially in this last year.

I can't help my brother because like my dad, he believes he is the smartest person on the planet and will not listen to anyone at all. I've sacrificed a year of my life and over 5k of my own money WHILE paying for my own college (my dad was poor, big surprise!) to let my brother live with me and try to get him to do something with his life; it just made things worse. I know my approach wasn't optimal, but I have to lead by example, not by opening my big mouth (which you can pretty clearly see is big from my long winded posts).

Lying is an important skill, though; it's all part of the "acting" skill. However, you must think about ethics too, and when it is okay to lie. I hate liars with every fiber of my being thanks to my dad, but I admit I have lied to people at times for reasons I can't even explain myself (to make myself look better... like my dad does).

cont. (with more interesting stuff)

The most valuable thing for you to realise about that question is that there are a variety of skills which have little technical overlap, but depend upon each other entirely.

Good communication skills and strong work ethic might not have a lot in common but if you have one without the other you're going to have a bad time finding a job, if you get a job you won't climb very far.

A few I use regularly are:

1 - Good communication skills, that includes listening as well as conveying information. I volunteer for a suicide/crisis hotline so I'm a little better acquainted with this than most. The difference between okay communication and good, practiced communication is phenomenal, it's a seriously valuable skill.

2 - A healthy realisation that it's perfectly acceptable, and completely necessary, to be wrong sometimes. Schools grade you through tests, exams, quizzes, and other shit. All of these work on the basis that it's not okay to get the wrong answer. Unfortunately everybody - with no exception - is wrong about a whole pile of stuff all the time. When you believe being wrong is a bad thing, you avoid admitting that you're wrong, which can lead to you refusing to accept that you're wrong, which ends badly a lot of the time.

3 - The ability to calm yourself down if you feel yourself losing your temper/panicking. If you're angry/anxious over a long period of time, it's not quite that simple (anybody with anxiety or depression can testify to that), but if you can learn to just let something go in the moment and keep your cool in situations where it might even be reasonable to blow your top, you often find yourself the only person in a stressful situation who is able to think clearly.

I can continue if anybody is finding this useful.

>>16541626
cont.
I was once told I am a master at masking my emotions, and displaying emotions I'm not actually feeling. This was by my brother, and knows me better than anyone; so I respect his opinion a lot. The key to "acting" and selling is not what you SAY, it's how you make people FEEL and HOW you say something! It's fucking key.

If you want to manipulate people (manipulation has a negative connotation; remember that you can positively manipulate someone too) and make them like you, or admire you, or anything else, you need to make them feel how you want them to feel. So, with that; emotions and feelings are infectious, like a disease that spreads through one touch. If you walk around with a smile on your face all the fucking time, and make jokes, laugh, and be positive, people will catch that disease too and will sub consciously imitate that. The same goes for someone being a depressing asshole; it makes everyone else around you one too. What about "awkward" conversations? You make that shit awkward by feeling that emotion and sub consciously displaying it.

Read a book about body language; it will change your life forever.

If you learn how to manipulate your body language, it can have a much more profound effect than even learning to speak well can. Reading body language can also tell you a lot more about what a person is feeling and thinking than anything else can, by far. People sub consciously display how they feel with their body... so imagine if you knew how to manipulate that and make it seem like you're confident and in control, when you're not? It's things like this that can make or break your entire life; learn about it.

I used to sit on the toilet during lunch at high school because I was such an anxious mess. Now, I'm a fucking WAITER! What changed my life completely was reading thousands upon thousands of pages of books on body language and social interaction. Read one book. It will change you if you can think analytically.

>>16541631
Yes continue pls.

>>16541411
>Actually learning from your mistakes and improving yourself everyday

>>16541411
Never stopping or limiting your self-growth.

>>16541631
4 - Conscious consideration of ideas. Remember what I said earlier?
>everybody - with no exception - is wrong about a whole pile of stuff all the time
People don't just keep their wrong stuff to themselves, they don't know it's wrong. They go around spreading it as if it's fact because they don't know any better.

If you can get yourself into the habit of stopping and thinking about something a person is describing to you, specifically looking for inconsistencies or contradictions, you save yourself from believing wrong things. Be especially careful of things which provoke an emotional response, a lot of bullshit is dressed up in emotion.

5 - Forgiveness. Getting into some Zen Buddhist holier-than-thou stuff here, but I'm dead serious. You bump into assholes all the time, right? Some guy cuts you off, he's an asshole; some woman rolls her eyes at you after you apologise for getting in her way, she's an asshole.
The problem with moral absolutism like that is that you're ignoring the fact that those people have literally an entire other life, and have gone through however many hours of shit you have no idea about before that brief momentary encounter with you. You know precisely squat about most of the people you encounter, and probably even a lot of the people you know well. Once you realise that, getting mad at petty or trivial stuff becomes just that - petty and trivial.

6 - Concentration and mindfulness. Speaking of Buddhism, part of the Buddhist pillars (or whatever they're called) makes the distinction between concentration and mindfulness. Concentration is the ability to focus your attention on something, while mindfulness is the ability to realise when your concentration has slipped and re-focusing it again. This is tricky because it's a skill you have to practice, and it's a skill that most people don't want to practice because if your concentration has slipped it's likely because you're now focusing on something way more interesting.

>>16541634
Thanks for the advice! I am really happy about your change, I never tought of manipulation that way.

I am a very emotional person and I let my feelings get the worst of me and I don´t think I want people to see that part of me a lot.

Do you recommend any book?

>>16541411
Nowadays, charisma can get you anywhere