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Whether for personal or professional growth, working on developing new skills is always a good idea, be it communication and other soft skills or sewing, for that matter. But not all people are equally interested in developing a certain skill set, even if they know how beneficial it could be.

Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed the advantages of learning certain skills after one user started a thread about it – they asked fellow netizens what is a skill that the whole world would benefit from if everyone mastered it. Redditors’ answers covered all sorts of soft and hard skills, so if you’re curious to learn which ones they believed to be the most useful on a global scale, scroll down to find them on the list below and make sure to upvote the ones you agree with the most.

Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with Dr. John Corlett, a professor in the Faculty of Health and Community Studies at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, who was kind enough to share what he considers to be the skill that the world would benefit from the most if all were to master it.

#3

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Learning when to shut the f*** up.

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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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#4

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Listening! - Listening to understand, and not just to reply.

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#5

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Picking up after yourself.

BottleTemple , Marta Ortigosa / Pexels Report

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JuniorCJ82
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMFG, yeeeeesssss!!!!!!!! Have you ever seen those horror beach shots after some festival or whatever?!?! Disgusting!!!!!!!!

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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.

#6

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Making someone feel valued as a person.

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.

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Kristy Marion
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is empathy 101. The ability to step into someone else’s shoes and see a situation from their eyes. An ability slowly being lost in the world of me, me, me.

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#7

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Kindness.

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Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We need a culture of kindness and charity, not "I've got mine, f--- you." Also, we need to show how kindness can come back to benefit you, like Androcles and the lion.

DC
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The culture that exploits kindness to a degree that it downright abuses and punishes kindness, is what we need to rid ourselves of.

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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.

#9

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills How has nobody mentioned patience yet?

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Adam Zad
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Patience is the most difficult virtue to learn, because you need it in order to learn it.

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#10

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Swimming/treading water- would save tens of thousands of lives each year.

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Cee Cee
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Starfish - flat on your back arms out. Recommended by RNLI and life guards here in the UK.

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#11

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Admit if you're wrong.

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cerinamroth
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But not with a little smiley face on a post-it. That doesn't come across as sincere.

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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.

#12

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Using a blinker.

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Zaach
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Arizona 'it ain't none of your business where I am goin'

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#13

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Common sense and being rational.

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keyboardtek
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some people, especially those with an excess of testosterone and between the ages of 14 and 25, just have to do stupid risky things.

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#14

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Processing emotions without projecting them onto others.

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Ashlie Ann
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Write down your emotions. When you're finished, either tear up the paper, or safely burn it. It's a technique that a lot of therapists use.

“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.”

#15

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills De-escalation.

Imagine everyone being able to stay calm and level headed while resolving disputes.

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#16

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills I think manners, so underrated in our society.

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Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tell me about it! I've seen people who are supposed to be refined and civilized but have table manners that would gag an orc.

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#17

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills This…

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” - Blaise Pascal.

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#18

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Not taking things personally. Very few things in life are personal.

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G Bono
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've come to realize most things are inconveniences and not problems. Now when I start to get annoyed, I pause and ask myself if its an inconvenience or a problem. Not having a charged phone is an inconvenience. Its a problem if I need it to report an emergency or be notified of one. I define a problem as something that will be remembered or affected 6+ months later. For everything else will probably be forgotten within minutes or hours and isn't worth getting upset over

#19

Leaving people the f**k alone.

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#20

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Effective communication.

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Sergio Bicerra
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So many posts on Redit would be solved in five minutes if people act like adults and just ask questions, mostly "Why did you say/did X?" I had a gf who tought me this (by example) to ask before escalating, when I said or did something stupid. 95% of the times it was misscomunication or concepts about life.

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#22

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Keeping it in their pants.

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Adam Jeff
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

...until invited to get it out. Nothing wrong with swinging it around anywhere you want so long as it's consensual.

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#23

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Civility.

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Geoffrey Scott
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is for you MAGA folks, just 'cause I disagree does not mean I have no right to an opinion. You will find we agree on most things, it's the details that need addressing...civilly.

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#24

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Being nice to each other.

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Geoffrey Scott
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Especially being civil to those who you do not like/don't like you.

#25

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills If everyone driving knew how to drive it would be awesome. If we add driving defensively and courteously then it would make a huge difference.

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Sergio Bicerra
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I haven't driven for about 25 years cause traffic is insane, never got my license, and still now what the written and psychological test answers are. Can't tell how many people i've seen that shouldn't be behind a 2 ton bullet.

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#28

1. Empathy
2. Kindness
3. Gratitude
4. Effective Communication Skills
5. Genuineness (is that a word).

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#29

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Not to get too woo woo, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet, so: meditation.

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07000
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dunno why people are down voting keyboardtek for stating facts? https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acps.13225 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10503307.2021.1933646

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#30

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Gardening.

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#31

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Pausing and thinking before responding.

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Arthur Waite
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find that while I'm pausing and thinking, someone else is jumping in with their opinion and the conversation just walks away from me.

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#32

Recognizing misinformation.

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#33

Cooking.

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#34

Being honest.

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Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In most circumstances. Occasionally it is OK to tell a white lie. Occasionally.

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#36

Compassion.

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#37

Learning not to externalize costs but be responsible for the effects of your own actions.

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Geoffrey Scott
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always, when faced with a negative result, ask "what effect did I have on this?"

#38

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills "How to bullseye womp rats in a T-16"

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ॐBoyGanesh
Community Member
1 month ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s instinctive if one has high level of Midi-chloriana.

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#39

People Think The World Would Be A Better Place If We All Mastered These 30 Crucial Skills Focused attention on command.

It's the number one under valued commodity.

Focused human attention gives us everything we value in society and it's the solution to all of our problems if implemented at scale.

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Jill Rhodry
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, the neurospicey community's been trying to figure this one out for quite a while now.

#40

Unlearning hate.

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ZuriLovesYou
Community Member
1 month ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Personally, I think it's okay to hate. It's an emotion just like love is. You just have to make sure you don't let that hate consume you.

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#41

Media literacy.

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#42

Perspective.

Someone already said Empathy which is a similar skill, but more broadly, perspective for relating circumstances in both logical and emotional ways.

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G Bono
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wisdom doesn't come with age, but perspective (hopefully) does.

#43

Calisthenics. There’d certainly be no obesity and a severe drop in health problems. Also exercise does wonders for mental health so that would certainly be on the decrease. Also exercise helps you think better, so people may get a little smarter.

Common sense and critical thinking are my #2 and #3.

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Lila Allen
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know someone who is obese and regularly runs marathons and considers sprouted wheat a snack. Not every person who is overweight doesn't exercise. I walk 4-5 miles a day, eat 1600 or fewer calories and am significantly overweight. I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis

#44

Being able to self sooth,.

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#45

Knowing what neurosis is and the types, knowing what psychosis is and the types. Being able to read the signs of both and understanding there is more beyond. These two will do for the desired effect.

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