The amount of information we currently get in one day is more than we have received in the last one hundred years.
With this speed of change, products are getting obsolete the day they get launched and knowledge is obsolete within 2-3 years.
The phrase “the only constant is change” has become cliché. Going into the future, I strongly feel that the only people who will succeed in life are the ones who master three skills that have and shall always remain constant:
- People skills
- Persuasion skills
- Prioritizing skills
Why the Above Three Skills?
1. People Skills
More than business problems, we have people problems. When we take care of our people problems most of the business problems are automatically resolved if we remember these important lessons:
- One thing that we can learn from the character of Martin Luther King is that empathy and truly caring for the well-being of others are essential qualities of leaders.
- We are hired for our skills but fired for our behavior.
- The lower a person is in life, the greater part of his time goes into technical skills, with very less emphasis on building people skills. The higher a person is in life, reverses this.
- We can always buy technology and technicians with money, but the wealthiest person in the world must build and create relationships.
- A courteous person, who is not very sharp in life, will go much further than a sharp, discourteous person.
- Why do you go to a doctor 10 miles away bypassing ten other doctors on the way? Is he the most qualified? Probably not! Something says that I am dealing with a right person. And what is that something? It is the trust factor.
Unfortunately, today’s generation has become very comfortable with technology but they have become uncomfortable with people.
2. Persuasion Skills
This is the ability to influence, convince, negotiate and sell. Some of the most successful people in the world have great persuasion skills.
There is a myth that we need to learn the tactics of selling. Good professionals learn the principles of persuasion not tactics because the principles are based on foundation of integrity whereas tactics are manipulative.
There is another myth that, to succeed, one needs to learn the tricks of the trade. Professionals learn the trade; they leave the tricks to the cheats and crooks.
People always talk about sales as B2B or B2C. But every transaction boils down to P2P: People to People. Bottom line, people like to deal with people they like.
Professionals realize, that in life, results are rewarded, efforts are not. We judge ourselves by our intentions, but the world judges us by our actions.
3. Prioritizing Skills
Prioritizing skills are embedded in our core values. The number of time saving devices we have today is more than any other time in history. Yet, we don’t have time to do the things we need or want to do. Why? Because, we lost our priorities. When we lose our priorities:
- We forget to distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s important. Urgent may or may not be important and the reverse is just as true. But whenever we ignore what’s important, it converts into urgent. Example, health is important. Exercising every day is important but if I skip it one day, it’s not the end of the world. But, if I ignore it long enough, guess what will happen? I could end up in the hospital. It will convert into urgent.
- We forget to distinguish between what’s negotiable and what’s not and what we would stand for and what we would stand against. If we look at the life histories of some of the greatest leaders of the world, we find that they were never neutral on values. They either stood for something or against something. Look at Abraham Lincoln for example – he took a stand against slavery. Look at Martin Luther King for example – he championed the cause of Civil Rights Movement.
- We forget to distinguish between pleasure and happiness in life. Pleasures have always come from outside and they are temporary, whereas happiness has always come from inside and is lasting.
- We forget to distinguish between making money earning money. Making money and earning money are two different things. Unfortunately, most people only want to make money, very few want to earn it.
Remember this life is not a dress rehearsal and the stakes are too high. So, today is the day you need to master these three P’s of success.
