Development Skills: Definition, Examples, Types, and How to Build Them

We often hear people building skills to make their lives better. They build skills to have a better personal, career, professional, and social life. But what people miss is that there are skills that help develop these skills. These skills are known as development skills. These skills make skill development easier. Learning a skill is good but how good you are in developing or how fast you can develop these skills is another.

Development skills are the skills a person uses to learn new skills. It is their ability to learn new skills through systems, cognition, skill, and effort. They are mainly divided into three types which are transferrable skills, personal skills, and knowledge-based skills. Examples of development skills are consistency, time-management, and organization skills.

In this blog post, we are going to talk about development skills, examples of development skills, the main types of development skills, and lastly, how we can build these skills. Every single one of them is important so I need to make sure that all the important information will be included. My goal here is for you to fully understand development skills after reading this post.

What are Development Skills?

Development skills are the skills a person uses to progress or develop in skill learning. It is how fast they learn skills. These skills can be personal attributes, functional skills, and knowledge-based. It is a person’s ability to acquire skills through systems, cognition, skills, and effort.

Let’s start by dividing development skills. It comes from two words which are development and skills.

So, it is your skills that help in your development. It is a way for you to improve or develop skills faster.

Basically, development skill is your ability to learn new skills or things.

For example, an example of development skill is time management.

In time management, you learn how to properly save some time in order to do more things.

It is basically doing more things with less time.

With the increase in free time, you can start having time to learn new skills. Plus, with good time management skills, you are able to learn more skills with less time.

Thus, it is a development skill. It is a skill that helps you develop more skills.

That’s why I said that in the introduction that learning skills are good but learning how to acquire skills faster is another.

Development skills help you with that whether it is for your career, relationships, health, and so much more.

The good thing is I’ve actually made a tutorial on building time management skills! In that blog post, you are going to learn the things to avoid in order to be better at time management. Here is the link: How to avoid poor time management

Furthermore, here is my YouTube video explaining time management tips you can do right away to be better at it.

What are the Examples of Development Skills?

Examples of development skills are discipline, time management, organization skills, analytical skills, practicing skills, memory training, and many more. These skills help a person develop skills faster which means that it is a skill that builds more skills.

Now, I am going to give you some examples of development skills. Each of these skills can help you acquire skills more efficiently.

Thus, introducing each one of them is important as it will help you know which of them are you good at and which one are you not good at.

This will help you find the ones that you would need to develop.

1. Consistency or Discipline

One of the skills under the category of personal skill is consistency or discipline.

We would talk about the categories or types of skills later. For now, let’s talk about consistency.

Consistency is a skill you can develop since you learn it by experience.

Consistency makes learning skills easier. For example, learning a few words each day would make you good at a language if you stay consistent for a year.

In my life, I was not a consistent individual when it comes to working and learning. I have big a tendency to jump ships in the middle which became a bad habit since I can’t get things done.

Because of that, through constant failures, I’ve learned the skill of self-discipline and consistency.

Even if I don’t feel like doing things, I would just stay disciplined in working.

I believe that small things that are consistently done over time lead to big results.

That’s why consistency is one of the development skills that you should acquire.

As others always say, “Nothing great is done overnight.”

2. Organization Skills

A life with too much clutter leads to a sad and unproductive life.

Much like Marie Kondo is always saying about tidiness. Tidiness is very important if you want to be happier.

This is also true with productivity.

It is much easier to work in environments that are clutter-free. That’s why you’ll see a lot of productivity desk setups on social media.

The truth is, these desks are really helpful since they are well organized.

That’s also why you’ll always see how people organize everything for productivity including their things and even computer files.

Being organized just makes you more productive which makes you do more with less time.

This makes you acquire skills faster in a shorter amount of time making it a development skill.

3. Analytical Skills

People who are analytical tend to learn skills fast.

The reason is that they can divide complicated things into smaller pieces of information they can learn to learn.

For example, when I was starting to make YouTube videos, learning how to edit videos, photos, speaking on camera, and scriptwriting are very hard to do.

But as I analyze some things, I found out that video and photo editing can be learned at the same time since they are using the same color correction.

In speaking on camera, I just learned it by practicing a lot. Right now, even if I’m a stutterer, my speaking skills have significantly improved.

If I just took making videos as one skill, then I would be completely overwhelmed. But dividing them into steps to make it easier made me a better content creator week by week.

4. Reflection Skills

Reflection skills are very important if you want to stay on course.

For example, since I always jump ship in the middle of a project, I make sure that I am always working on my actual goals.

That’s why I keep a journal to make sure that my most important task for today is related to my work.

Furthermore, in skills development, you can use this skill to have a complete understanding of your skill level.

Reflection just gives you feedback on what are you currently good at, and what you’re currently bad at.

It helps us know which area do we need to improve.

For example, a few weeks back, I found via journaling that I am really bad at speaking at the camera and I have long outros which are not good since it wastes the precious time of my viewers.

So in my next videos, I tried to cut off a lot of things in my intro and outro. In fact, my outro is now only composed of 2 words.

This makes the viewer experience so much better and I couldn’t have improved my speaking skills if I don’t know how to reflect.

For a tutorial on how to reflect on your day, I’ve made a complete tutorial where you are going to learn everything there is about reflection. Here is the link: How to reflect on your day | A complete guide with examples

I even made sure that the reflection session will only take 5 minutes and 15 minutes tops. That’s reflection, productivity, and efficiency combined in one blog post.

5. Practicing Skills

So people always say that experience is the best teacher.

In all honesty, yes it is.

That’s why how you practice the things you learn is very important.

For example, when I learn something new about making my blog posts better, I make sure to try it out on my next blog post.

Practicing is very important as application helps us understand by doing.

So practicing is a skill. You need to have a system where you will give yourself some time to practice what you’ve learned.

For example, when I was studying Mandarin, I looked for a language exchange partner online which helped me practice the vocabulary I learned. Right now, I am a conversation-level Mandarin speaker.

This saved me a lot of time studying useless vocabulary as I will always hear native speakers, how they speak, and the words they are currently using.

6. Passion

When we talk about passion, people always think of it as a trait.

The thing is, passion is learnable and you get it by experience.

When you ask people why are they passionate about something, there is always something deep.

Maybe they learned to love by doing it, or by seeing the people they look up to do it.

No matter the case, passion is one of the best ways to stay consistent.

If you are passionate about developing a skill, it will be easier to stay motivated and learn new things no matter how complicated it may be.

7. Patience

Patience is your ability to resist things. It is your ability to seek a better future and forego what seems good now.

For example, because I graduated with honors when I was in college, it might be easier for me to just apply and get a job.

But I took a different route.

I started making my site and now, I am building my channel on YouTube.

If I am not patient enough, then I would just go with the flow after college. But I want something different. That’s why I am patient enough to wait.

If you are interested in my story, then here is a video where I explained what happened to me and why I felt left behind.

8. Independence

No matter how good your teachers are, the amount of things you are going to learn is dependent on you.

While it is true that bad teachers lead to poor education, that is only a small part of the equation.

The majority of the puzzle is within the student. Are they independent enough to study on their own? Are they independent enough to learn from others? Are they independent enough to practice what they’ve learned?

That’s why you need to be independent and it also applies to life skills.

Even if you’re following a course, you should learn how to self-study.

That’s also what separates honor students from average students. Most honor students just have the initiative to study independently.

Most also study in advance to make sure that they are going to make the most of the lectures.

That is independence.

9. Result Oriented

Result-oriented means that you are always seeking results.

For example, learning about writing is different from looking for your improvement in writing.

As a blogger, one of my metrics for results is that my viewer’s time on the page is increasing.

This means that because you are staying longer on my website, it means that my writing is engaging enough.

That’s also true with learning how to code. If you are result-oriented, you are going to look for ways to learn to apply what you’ve learned.

Basically, it is finding a way to see your results. That is the main characteristic of a result-oriented person.

10. Time Management Skills

I talked about this earlier.

Time management is the skill you have in order to achieve more with less time.

This means that you can free up more time to learn new skills or even save time while learning skills.

Perhaps, it is one of the easiest skills to learn since it is very specific and you can try the tips right away.

That’s why I encourage you to read the blog post I’ve made about Time management later.

Furthermore, you can even check my YouTube channel because I upload videos about personal development 2 to 3 times a week. Here is the link: My YouTube Channel

11. Note Taking

Note-taking is a skill you can learn through tutorials.

It helps you learn more by writing things down.

That’s why when I was a lecturer, I make sure that my students are taking notes while on lectures.

Note-taking helps recall information after the lecture which is really helpful for learning new skills.

12. Memory Training

Memory training is the ability to memorize more things in less time.

You will see this in memory champions where they trained their memory so much that it looks very unreal.

But the thing here is that if you have a good memory, you can retain more information faster making it faster and easier to acquire new skills.

Now, let’s go to the 3 main types of skills.

What are the Types of Development Skills?

Development skills can be divided into three main categories or types which are transferrable skills, personal skills, and knowledge-based skills. Transferrable skills are skills that are used to perform tasks and in this case, to develop skills. Personal skills are based on the person’s characteristics and knowledge-based skills are the skills a person develops through education.

In all honesty, almost all kinds of skills like personal skills, development skills, professional skills, hard skills, and soft skills can be classified into these three types.

Learning about these three types of skills is important especially if you want to be a self-help consultant or work in human resource services in the future.

It is also a good piece of information to know if you just want to make yourself better.

1. Transferrable Skills

Transferrable skills are the skills that we use to perform tasks. These are usually verbs or action words.

An example of a transferrable skill is organization skills which we have learned earlier.

It is a skill that you do. It is an action word or a verb.

You organize things in order to be more productive.

Another example is analytical skills which we also discussed earlier. You also do it by analyzing things.

2. Personal Skills

Personal skills are the skills that a person has. It may be their trait, characteristics, and personality.

Its difference with transferrable skills is that it is not usually an action word.

An example of personal skill listed above is independence.

You are just independent because it is in your character. It is by no means an action word.

Another is passion. You are just passionate about what you do. It doesn’t mean that you are doing something.

These are just tied to your personality.

3. Knowledge-based Skills

Knowledge-based skills are the skills you can acquire through learning courses, reading books, and gathering information.

There are many examples of knowledge-based skills such as coding, teaching, writing, and so much more.

When it comes to development skills, knowledge-based skills are time-management, note-taking, and memory training.

These are skills you can learn by reading books, watching courses, and many more.

They are the skills that the majority is focusing on when building skills but in all honesty, the other two types are also important.

How to build Development Skills?

Development skills are developed by practicing what has been learned, getting feedbacks, taking some courses, staying curious, finding role models, and keeping track of improvements. Like other types of skills, development skills can be developed through sheer experience, effort, and consistency.

In this section, I am going to give you some things you can do right now in order for you to build your development skills.

Each of these tips will build your development skills which will also make learning other skills faster.

1. Find Role Models that You Admire Greatly

You can build development skills by finding a role model.

For example, there are people on the internet who are really good at productivity and developing skills.

You can check how they do things and try doing them yourself.

Find what works for you, and stay consistent in learning from the people you look up to.

2. Always Stay Curious and Have a Beginner Mindset

What prevents people from developing new skills is that most have a fixed mindset.

Rather than having a fixed mindset, try having some growth mindset which I talked about in one of my videos.

The thing is that learning is our responsibility. If we aren’t learning, chances are, it’s our fault.

But having curiosity and a beginner mindset helps solve things.

Curiosity helps us learn faster and better. It is one of the core fundamentals of development skills.

If you are interested in learning more about the fix and growth mindset, you may check this video.

3. Read Personal Development Books

There are lots of books about personal development online.

On every topic, you can definitely find a book you can read.

Reading helps us gather the information we can use in order to be better in every aspect of our life including our skills.

If you don’t know what books to read, then check out my recommended tools below as I give you some recommendations on the books that helped me a lot.

4. Take Some Courses About Skills Development

Courses are the video form of books. You can also learn a lot from courses.

But make sure to get courses that come from real successful people.

Courses also make learning faster since you will see how people do things such as when learning how to code, or how to do some basic bookkeeping.

It just makes learning faster compared to just learning by doing.

Although learning by doing is also a good way to learn since learnings from experience sticks for a very long time.

5. Practice the Things You’ve Learned

As I said, learning by doing speeds up the learning process.

Watching a course about coding is different from watching it while also doing them.

Practicing helps improve all our skills including development skills.

For example, if you are learning how to take notes, then make sure to always take notes.

If you are learning how to reflect, then try reflecting for a few minutes every day.

This builds your development fast as long as you’re consistent.

6. Ask for Some Feedback on the People You Trust

People will see your improvements and sometimes, they see things we don’t notice.

For example, in my old videos, I say the word “actually” a lot. Someone pointed that out to me so I tried to reduce it on my next videos.

But remember to ask for feedback from people you trust only.

Be careful since others might be giving you the advice to pull you down. I saw that happen numerous times.

7. Schedule Your Skills Development Routine

As I said, consistency is important in skills development.

That’s why scheduling should always be part of your routine.

Schedule a time each day to build your skills. This makes sure that you do it.

No need to have a detailed schedule. You should just have the main goal every day.

Although putting it in detail works better.

8. Clear Your Mind by Meditating

It is hard to learn new skills if your brain is filled up with worrying, doubts, and many more.

I was a victim of this that’s why I placed it in the article.

Try to calm your mind. Take some rhythmic breath to calm your brain.

Once your brain is calm, you can instantly see improvements in your speed in learning.

In short, always try to focus on your task because it boosts productivity.

9. Record Your Improvements

If you can remember, I talked about reflection skills earlier.

Recording your improvements makes sure that you are constantly on track with your goals.

Some overlook this but this is a great tool especially if you always ask yourself what have you been doing these past few months.

By keeping records, you can be sure that you see your improvements which makes you motivated to continue improving your development skills.

Only the things I love.

ongjason.com is reader-supported. When you buy through links on the site, I earn an affiliate commission.

If you’re following me, you’ll know that I believe it is essential to have some tools, whether it’s for personal development or lifestyle in general.

So, here are the things I love.

YouTube

If you want to learn things for free, I recommend watching my YouTube Channel. Click the Button Below to go straight into my Channel. 🙂

Okay, let me first explain my Channel.

I believe that I really can’t explain everything too well on my blog. That’s why I created a YouTube Channel so I can easily explain a lot of things. Plus, I believe that Video Sharing is the future.

Recommended Books

The next thing is books. Books are, for me, one of the cheapest ways to get invaluable information. We can learn personal development, finance, career, relationships, and many more from books.

Here, I will be listing my favorite books in different categories.

  1. For Beginners7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey – Personal development has a lot of concepts and ideas to learn. Thus it can be really hard for beginners to know where to start. Thus, I recommend this book since all the basic concepts of personal development are here(except finance, check what I recommended for that)
  2. ProductivityThe One Thing by Gary Keller – This book teaches us the power of focusing on one thing which is the ultimate source of productivity. The concepts taught are what I am using to constantly publish YouTube videos while maintaining this website.
  3. Busy?Make Time by Jack Knapp – This book teaches us how to make time for the things we love. The concept is really simple but I think that makes it a book worth reading.
  4. HealthLifespan by Dr.Sinclair – This Book teaches about the latest scientific research on lifespan. In his book, he has shared numerous things he is doing to slow down his aging process. This can be as easy as eating less which he recommends.
  5. FinanceThe Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason – Perhaps one of the first books I’ve read about Finance, this book for me is the best if we are talking about learning basic finance such as basic saving and investing. The concepts are very simple but effective.

Audiobooks

Take this advice as a grain of salt.

I don’t recommend buying Audiobooks one by one. I mean, audiobooks can be quickly finished by listening while working out or doing some mindless tasks.

So here is to save you some money. Just go for a monthly subscription to Audible. I believe that you will save a lot of money with that plus, they usually give freebies to anyone starting.

My Audiobook Recommendation will always be the same as my book recommendations, but I personally like The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. I like how she is so casual while reading her book.

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