4 Social Skills You Must Have to Become Successful

I once met an artist who has a certain level of fame in the entertainment industry here in Africa and during our interactions, I noticed that her socialisation skills were a notch higher than every other person I had ever met. Socialising with other people came to her without a second thought and the introverted me envied her a lot. The more I followed her, the more starry-eyed I became! I yearned to be like her and wade in the waters of socialisation with ease so, I decided to ask her how she made her big breakthrough seeing that in her earlier years as an artist, she had issues with her social skills.

However, I began to ignorantly follow her around and I never got to learn the core of honing one's social skills; I became witty where I ought to be apologetic, became a listener when I was supposed to do the talking, waiting my turn when I was supposed to be domineering and in short, I got it all wrong. I grew tired and wanted to hole myself up once again but then, I decided to try for the last time. This time, I took a step further by asking instead of aimlessly following and all I learned from her since then had stayed with me forever…

First of all, she told me that one's ability to communicate or interact with other people by word of mouth, non-verbal means, body language and actions was what socialisation was all about. In her words, she said, "Social skills are not all about smiling with strangers or giving way to familiar people, it's about taking note of how your behaviour affects or improves the person next to you." I also learned that one's level of social engagement is sometimes directly proportional to one's emotional intelligence.

Under her tutelage, I was able to notice four categories of social skills almost everyone in her industry who was doing well had.

1. Survival skills: My biology teacher taught me that every human has a "flight or fight" response in the face of certain circumstances and I had always thought it was only limited to biology but, learning how to improve my social skills helped me to see that there exists a certain type of skill that ensures that we are safe at all times. It includes listening, following directions, prep-talking oneself and rewarding oneself.

The ability to listen and follow directions helps one to go the right way at all times and avoid ditches in all our endeavours. Prep-talking and rewarding oneself keeps one's psychological state healthy as this makes sure that one is not moved no matter what's happening negatively around one.

2. Interpersonal skills: This is the skill used to interact with others effectively. It includes sharing things, asking for permission, joining activities and waiting in line for your turn. Honing one's interpersonal skills not only benefits you in the long run but also places you as an honourable fellow before other people.

3. Problem-solving skills: Problems will always arise as long as humanity exists and only the problem-solver gets to enjoy the best out of life and his sector. The ability to solve arising problems is an important social skill where one can recognise problems and preferable solutions to them effectively. It entails asking for help, apologising and deciding what to do without being lackadaisical. 

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4. Conflict resolution skills: Humans are social animals, therefore, there would always be clashes in interest. Keeping these clashes at the minimum is a crucial skill every leader is entailed to have. A follower who looks forward to becoming a leader someday also inculcates the habit of solving conflicts at their earlier stages without magnifying the problem.

Conflict resolution skills actively involve dealing with teasing, losing or accusations without losing oneself.

After following this artist's words, I began to experience tremendous growth both in my relationship with other people and myself.

Author's note: Hey dear readers, I'm going to be attending the International Model United Nations Conference at the Philippines this November! If you would love to be present too with just a token, you could register and then, you'll stand a chance of meeting your favourite blogger🤭. 

The link for registration is: https://www.internationalmun.org/RegistrationForm.php?mark=QN6777