Learning any skill can be beneficial, even if you end up not using it that much later in life. Take piano lessons, for instance; if you started practicing as a child, but gave it up the second you became a teenager, you might not be able to play a single piece by the time you reach adulthood, but the exercise your brain got from learning to master it does not become undone.
Covering the benefits of learning a new skill, the Office of Continuing Education at CCSU (Central Connecticut State University) pointed out that such an activity can positively alter one’s brain chemistry, as practicing a new skill tends to make the myelin—the white matter in our brain—more dense, which helps people learn even better.
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Another way learning new skills affects our brain is making it easier to learn things faster over time. That is because practicing something new stimulates the neurons in our brain, this way creating more neural pathways, which electrical impulses travel across as we try to process new information. The more pathways that are formed, according to the CCSU, the faster impulses can travel.
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So that front desk worker who is struggling, because it's a holiday weekend, and they're swamped, and there's no extra help, and they're looking more than a little panicked, but they're holding it together and still being professional:
When it's my turn in line I say, "Hey, how's it going?" it snaps them out of whatever mindset they were in the middle of. "Looks a little crazy here today. Long day?" and they'll open up a bit. It literally gives them a minute to catch their breath, and be a human again, rather than an over-worked service.
I might even ask them if they have plans for the holiday weekend, or what they are going to do to unwind after the day. Anything. Be friendly.
The goal there is to get a smile. They might not say thank you, but you can see it in their eyes.
It matters. We're all here doing our thing, but we can also treat our fellow people decently along the way.
Other benefits of working on your skill set, according to the aforementioned source, include being able to make connections between different fields, becoming a more interesting human being, having the tools to fight boredom (which we try to do every day here at Bored Panda), being able to adapt better to change, and even staving off dementia.
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It’s pretty clear that learning new skills has numerous benefits, from positively affecting our brain to making us a more interesting person. In addition to that, we get to enjoy the benefits of the thing we mastered itself, be it knitting a sweater or knowing how to fix a computer.
In a world where we can choose to learn basically any skill there is, some might prove more advantageous than others, especially on a global level. In an interview with Bored Panda, Dr. John Corlett of the Faculty of Health and Community Studies at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, shared that, in his opinion, one of the skills that people all over the world could really benefit from is empathy.
“Empathy is not usually thought of as a skill but more as seeing and feeling the world with the eyes—and hearts—of others. But it is the skill in shortest supply in a loud, divided, and self-centered world,” he said.
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“As for the skill, or collection of skills, that would make the world a better place if more people mastered them, critical thinking—the ability to identify misinformation and disinformation for what it is and to see the fraudsters and bullies for who they are—would be at the top of my list,” Prof. Corlett continued.
“What is to be gained by building our empathic and critical thinking skills? You can save the world. So, why not try? It is not just something we should do. It is who we should BE, every day, with everyone. By all means learn to play the piano. But make time to learn how to play with others, too.”
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Imagine everyone being able to stay calm and level headed while resolving disputes.
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“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” - Blaise Pascal.
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