The most underrated life skill

What’s the most underrated life skill?

For me, it is communication.

Being a nurse, I have seen first-hand just how important good communication is. It can reassure someone who is scared, prevent misunderstandings, build trust and, sometimes, make a huge difference to someone’s care.

However, communication is not just a nursing skill.

It is an everyday life skill and one I think we are becoming surprisingly bad at.

You don’t have to work in a hospital setting to notice this. Basic customer service can sometimes feel like a lost art. A simple hello, thank you, I’m sorry, or let me see how I can help can completely change someone’s experience.

Good communication isn’t about having the perfect words. It’s about listening, being clear, showing respect and remembering there’s another person on the other side of the conversation.

Taking a moment to actually communicate with someone properly costs very little and more often than not, those few extra seconds can make all the difference.

The amount of times I walk into a store and make a purchase, only to be shocked at how little communication or customer service there is. Even making a purchase, quite often the credit card machine is placed in front of you without any words, not even how much your purchase is. Sometimes I have to ask how much am I paying!

Let’s bring back good communication, this is a skill that has to be taught, as it doesn’t come easily to everyone. Perhaps communication isn’t underrated because it’s unimportant, maybe it’s underrated because we forget just how powerful it can be.