25 Fast Skills That Can Improve Your Quality Of Life, According to Netizens

Anything in life becomes easier to tackle with practice. So if we want to improve the quality of our lives, it makes sense that we might need to acquire a few key skills to support that goal.

Redditors online who’ve come to the same realisation are sharing the quickest skills you can learn in a few weeks to a month that can genuinely improve your life. We’ve gone through their suggestions to find the top picks, according to netizens, that helped people the most in the shortest time, and we’ve shared them in the gallery below.

#1

You could become decently skilled at cooking in a month if you tunnel focus. From there you can take control of your health, finances and if you get really good, it can help your dating and [intimate] life.

#2

Reading books. I’ve just gotten back into it and I feel with every book I read, I learn something new, either about myself or about life or I just feel a sense of accomplishment!

#3

Correctly brushing and flossing your teeth. Remember kids, only floss the teeth you want to keep.

#4

Socratic journaling. Took me about a month to learn how to regulate my thoughts when dealing with anxiety. The best thing I could do for my mental health and it’s free.

#5

Kicking the doomscrolling habit…!

A few months ago I deleted all those doomscrolling social media apps (I’m lucky I don’t get the urge to doomscroll on Reddit) after a long period of setting screen time limits, ignoring my screen time limits, setting them harsher etc. Just delete it!

I suddenly have heaps more time in my life to do the things I really want to do— and importantly, the motivation to do them!!! It’s really positively impacted my critical thinking skills, my impulse control, my productivity etc.

Yeah, I’m no longer up to date with the ‘trend of the day’ but the ability to form my own opinions about things has been very refreshing.

#6

Researching information and sources.

So much [nonsense] is fed to society that knowing what is a good source and good information is critical to making good decisions.

People make decisions every day so this is huge in the long run.

#7

Sewing.

ghostwillows:

This! Mending clothes is the most useful for everyday and it costs almost nothing to start and modern clothes are constructed terribly.

#8

Stretching every day. Spend 10-30 minutes a day stretching and some basic yoga moves, your flexibility will improve so much. Also get yourself a foam roller, my back and legs has never felt so good.

#9

Learning how to communicate clearly and confidently. In just a few weeks, you can improve how you explain ideas, set boundaries, and express yourself. It helps in interviews, relationships, negotiations, and even daily conversations. People often underestimate how powerful good communication really is.

#10

Yoga. Since learning yoga, I’ve fallen in love with exercise, and it’s changed my habit of procrastinating on exercise. I feel a great sense of accomplishment every time I master a new yoga pose. And consistent exercise has definitely made my body better; I no longer get out of breath after climbing just a few flights of stairs like before.

#11

First Aid.

It would change someone elses life far more compared to your own. But that someone could be a friend or relative making it life-changing for yourself as well.

#12

Saying “no” without over-explaining or feeling guilty.

#13

Swimming. Pretty much the number 1 skill to prevent an accident.

#14

If you work in a large company – Excel. Or some sort of data Visualization software.

People will think you’re a genius.

#15

You could get an amateur (ham) radio license in a few weeks of study and be able to communicate with people all around the world. Not to mention become more capable of surviving major disruptive situations and crises. In major emergencies access to communication is everything.

#16

Self Control. It’s way easier than you think. You start with delayed gratification. You can have the things you desire, but when you want them you have to set an arbitrary time frame that you have to wait to get them. Start with absurdly easy time frames, like 5 minutes. Keep extending the delayed gratification until you feel like you have better control over your impulses. It happens surprisingly fast and will start bleeding into everything you do. Suddenly, you will find yourself rationally navigating even the most impulsive situations.

#17

I estimate most people could become financially literate in 100 hours of efficient study: understand the basics of budgeting, saving/investing, banking, insurance, taxation…with potential cost savings of many thousands of dollars in the course of their lives.

#18

Working out regularly.

It’s a lifetime journey of learning, but it only takes a few weeks to start feeling comfortable in the gym & get over the worst soreness from starting weight lifting.

Someday, if you’re lucky, you will be old. Working out regularly can be the difference between being in an assisted living or living independently. (Also being strong is ridiculously fun).

#19

Strategic thinking, i.e. prioritizing the right thing. It changed my life. I used to be busy but doing the wrong things. Now I am pickier on what to invest my time in.

#20

Learning to mind your business is very rewarding. You may think I’m joking but I’m telling you when you mind your business half the stress goes away.

#21

Emotional regulation. Most adults are toddlers with bills. Learning to pause before reacting is life-changing.

#22

Practicing not eating mindlessly+snacking unhealthily. It [is a pain] for the first few days due to carb + sugar withdrawal, but your body adapts quickly and will feel much better.

#23

Managing suffering (anxiety/depression, otherwise)

I know it takes a lifetime to feel better, recover from trauma, etc…but learning the skills to deal with these feelings and then implement them doesn’t take long to accomplish…the fruits of the labor itself tho takes years, but is something life-changing (speaking from personal experience, as a trauma survivor myself).

#24

Heimlich manoeuver. I saved a kid in class one day. He was turning purple. It was so surprising how hard I had to do it to make the piece of candy come flying out of his mouth.

#25

Mending. I like the look of repaired items.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.