125 Skills to Learn | Academic, Creative, Practical & More

Looking for skills to learn to boost your academic or professional career? Or maybe you want to learn skills that sharpen your thinking, unleash your creativity, or simply make your life a little bit easier.

Discover 125 skills to learn in this guide, plus how long it usually takes to master the basics and some tips to get started. Find skills for your academic, professional, and personal life, ranging from using a thesaurus to Python to latte art.

As you learn new skills, let Quillbot’s AI Chat be your helpful assistant. Use it to create a learning plan, find courses or resources, practice what you’ve learned, or get feedback on how you’re progressing.

Skills to learn

These lists contain all types of skills to learn, including skills you can master in a day on a whim and skills you have to dedicate much more time to learning in a structured way. The skills are organized by category:

• Practical life skills
• Civic skills
• Communication skills
• Writing skills
• Cognitive and reasoning skills
• Digital and technical skills
• Career skills
• Financial skills
• Wellness skills
• Survival skills
• Fun skills

Keep in mind that most of these skills overlap across various categories, and skills you learn for one concrete purpose may end up being transferable skills you can apply to other areas of your life. For example, while understanding the structure of your government is a basic civic skill everyone should have, it could also impact your professional life if you go on to study law or politics.

Practical life skills to learn

These practical life skills help prepare you for basic tasks that you’ll probably have to do regularly, or that you might not need to do every day but should be prepared to do if necessary.

• Create a meal plan and grocery list: Plan your meals for the week and list the ingredients you need so that you save time, reduce food waste, manage your grocery budget, and make busy days easier.
• Cook a few simple meals: Prepare some basic dishes (e.g., pasta, rice, fried eggs, and grilled chicken) to make yourself more independent and save money on food.
• Do laundry: Sort clothes, choose appropriate wash cycles, and dry garments correctly to care for your clothes instead of damaging them.
• Basic sewing: Sew on buttons, close small holes, and fix loose seams so you can repair your clothing and extend its life.
• Basic home repairs: Handle minor repairs—like tightening loose screws, unclogging drains, patching holes, and fixing squeaky hinges—to maintain your home and address small problems without always hiring someone.
• Change a tire: Replace a flat tire with a spare or temporary replacement to keep yourself safe and moving when roadside assistance isn’t available.
• Check oil and wiper fluid: Check engine oil levels and top up windshield washer fluid when needed so your vehicle stays in good condition and you notice when it needs attention.
• Put gas in a car: Choose the correct fuel type and refuel a vehicle safely so that you can travel independently and avoid costly fueling mistakes.
• Keep a plant alive: Provide a plant with appropriate light, water, and growing conditions to care for living things, add life to your space, and introduce yourself to gardening.
• Tread water and swim: Stay afloat, move through water, and swim basic strokes to improve your water safety and enjoy aquatic activities.
• Use public transportation: Plan routes, purchase tickets, and navigate bus, train, or metro systems to get around independently without relying on a car.
• Read a paper map: Interpret map symbols, directions, scale, and geographic features so you can navigate without relying on a GPS or your mobile phone.
• Pack a suitcase efficiently: Organize clothes and personal essentials, maximizing space and minimizing unnecessary items, to make travel easier and avoid overpacking.
• Basic first aid: Provide initial care for common injuries (e.g., minor cuts and burns) and recognize emergencies to care for yourself and those around you while waiting for professional medical assistance.
• Use a fire extinguisher: Operate a fire extinguisher effectively to safely respond to small fires.

This table outlines how long it takes, on average, to learn the basics of these skills and offers some tips for how to get started learning them.

Civic skills to learn

Civic skills allow individuals to participate in a democratic society. Some of these skills are practical, like voting and filing taxes, and others are interpersonal, like empathy and debate.

• Vote: Register to vote, research candidates, and cast a ballot to participate in democratic decision-making and influence public policy.
• File taxes: Understand tax obligations, gather documents, and complete a tax return to meet legal requirements, avoid penalties, and claim eligible deductions or credits.
• Understand government structure: Learn how local, regional, and national governments are organized and what each is responsible for so that you understand how decisions are made and which officials or institutions to contact about specific issues.
• Know your rights: Understand your basic legal protections (e.g., the right to remain silent and protection from unlawful searches) and where to find accurate information about them to recognize when your rights may be affected and identify where to seek advice or assistance.
• Understand how libraries work: Find books and other resources, use library catalogs, and access library services to access reliable information, educational resources, and often free digital and technical tools (e.g., computers and sewing machines).
• Assess online sources: Assess a source’s credibility, expertise, evidence, and potential bias so you can distinguish reliable information from misleading claims and make better-informed decisions.
• Spot misinformation: Recognize false or misleading claims, manipulated content, and deceptive headlines to avoid being misled or sharing inaccurate information.
• Evaluate diverse points of view: Consider different perspectives, examine underlying assumptions, and assess competing arguments fairly so you make balanced decisions, challenge your own assumptions, and understand people with backgrounds and experiences that differ from yours.
• Community involvement: Assess your own skill set and interests and find local organizations in which you can participate to help build community, develop your awareness of what’s going on around you, and meet new people.
• Debate: Compose and communicate an argument, support it with evidence, and respond constructively to opposing views.

You can practice the basics of many civic skills in a few hours, like learning about your rights or registering to vote. Others, like filing taxes or practicing empathy, require a greater time investment and/or ongoing skill maintenance.

Communication skills to learn

These communication skills will be useful in all aspects of your life. Apply them to your interpersonal communications, academic presentations, work meetings, and more.

• Organize ideas: Arrange thoughts and information in a logical order before communicating them to make writing, presentations, and problem-solving clearer and easier to follow.
• Be clear and concise: Express ideas directly using precise language and only necessary details so you communicate confidently, reduce the chance of misunderstandings, and help others understand your message quickly.
• Active listening: Give someone your full attention, ask relevant questions, and check your understanding to build trust, strengthen relationships, and prevent misunderstandings.
• Public speaking: Deliver information or ideas to an audience in a structured, engaging way to communicate confidently and authoritatively in meetings, classes, and professional settings.
• Compromise: Find a solution that considers different people’s needs and priorities to resolve disagreements and maintain productive relationships.
• Nonverbal communication: Use and interpret body language, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and tone of voice to communicate more robustly and recognize cues that may add context to spoken words.
• Accept feedback: Listen to both compliments and constructive criticism, consider their value, and use them to grow, improve, and strengthen working relationships.
• Foreign languages: Develop the ability to understand and communicate in another language to expand your travel, educational, career, and social opportunities.
• American sign language (ASL): Learn the signs, grammar, and visual communication used in ASL to foster inclusive communication with deaf people and build awareness of deaf culture.
• Morse code: Communicate letters and numbers using sequences of short and long signals, which can be useful in radio communication, historical contexts, and learning about signaling systems.

How long it takes to learn the basics of these communication skills varies widely based on the individual, their personality, educational background, and social community, so use the benchmarks in the table below as a rough guide.

Writing skills to learn

Developing strong writing skills will help you across every aspect of your life. You might think that the rapid development of AI writing tools means it’s not necessary to learn these skills anymore. But without basic writing skills, using AI is essentially useless, as you can’t write effective prompts, evaluate outputs, or spot AI hallucinations.

• Grammar: Understand the rules that govern sentence structure, parts of speech, verb forms, punctuation, capitalization, and word usage to make your writing clear, accurate, and easy to understand.
• Spelling: Write words correctly and recognize common spelling patterns to communicate professionally and avoid distracting and confusing errors.
• Outline: Organize your main ideas and supporting points before writing to make the writing process easier and to give your writing a clear, logical flow.
• Edit: Revise a draft to improve its clarity, structure, tone, and overall effectiveness to make your writing engaging, concise, and appropriate for the intended audience.
• Proofread: Check a finished draft for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors to catch mistakes before submitting or publishing a piece of writing.
• Comply with a style guide: Apply consistent rules for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, formatting, and citations (e.g., MLA, APA, AP, and Chicago) to keep your documents consistent and meet academic or professional requirements.
• Use a thesaurus: Find synonyms and compare word choices to express ideas more precisely, avoid repetition, and choose words that fit your intended tone.
• Write an email or letter: Structure a message with an appropriate greeting, clear purpose, relevant details, and a suitable closing to communicate your ideas and needs in personal, academic, and professional contexts.
• Structure an essay: Organize an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion around a central argument or idea so readers can follow your reasoning and understand how your evidence supports your main point.
• Cite sources: Credit the sources of information and ideas using a recognized citation format to acknowledge others’ work, help readers verify claims, and support academic integrity.

Cognitive and reasoning skills to learn

Cognitive and reasoning skills refer to how you apply analysis, strategy, and awareness to your life.

• Chess: Learn the rules, strategies, and tactics of this strategy game to train yourself to plan ahead, recognize patterns, and consider the consequences of different moves.
• Speed reading: Use techniques to move through text more quickly while maintaining an appropriate level of comprehension to process large amounts of reading more efficiently when detailed analysis isn’t necessary.
• Appreciate art: Notice formal elements (e.g., line, color, and composition), interpret themes and messages, and check your emotional response to develop critical thinking, visual literacy, and your ability to consider different interpretations.
• Problem-solving: Identify a problem, evaluate possible solutions, and choose an effective course of action so you can overcome challenges, make decisions, and approach unfamiliar situations systematically.
• Identify the main idea: Recognize the central point or message in a text, speech, or discussion to understand information quickly, summarize accurately, and distinguish key points from supporting details.
• Know when to challenge common ideas: Question widely accepted beliefs when evidence or sound reasoning suggests they may be wrong or incomplete so you avoid assumptions, recognize outdated ideas, and make better-informed judgments.
• Interpret statistics: Understand statistical measures, graphs, percentages, averages, and the limitations of data to evaluate research, digest news reports, and make informed decisions based on evidence.
• Recognize bias: Identify how personal beliefs, assumptions, interests, or presentation choices can influence information to evaluate arguments more fairly and recognize when information may present an incomplete or distorted picture.
• Metacognition: Think about and monitor your own thinking, learning, and problem-solving processes to recognize knowledge gaps and biases, choose effective learning strategies, and adjust your approach when something isn’t working.
• Self-reflection: Examine your experiences, choices, emotions, and behavior to understand what you can learn from them to recognize patterns, clarify your values, and make more intentional decisions.

It can take a long time to master many of these skills, and ongoing practice is required to keep most of them honed. However, you can get started learning the basics of each without a lot of external resources or help.

Creative skills to learn

Creative skills are great for disconnecting, having fun, and expressing yourself, but they can also help you think outside the box in your academic and professional life.

• Sketching: Create quick drawings of objects, people, or scenes using lines, shapes, and shading to improve observation, visual expression, and your ability to develop ideas through drawing.
• Painting: Apply paint to a surface to create images, patterns, or abstract compositions to practice self expression, develop visual skills, and experience a relaxing creative outlet.
• Collage: Combine images, paper, text, and other materials to create a new visual composition to encourage experimentation, visual storytelling, and creative reuse of everyday materials.
• Photography: Use composition, lighting, perspective, and timing to capture images to document experiences, communicate ideas visually, and observe your surroundings.
• Ceramics: Shape clay into functional or decorative objects to develop patience and three-dimensional thinking.
• Knitting or crocheting: Use yarn and needles or a hook to create fabric, accessories, and decorative objects to work on patience and coordination while making personalized items or handmade gifts.
• Origami: Fold paper into shapes, figures, and decorative designs without cutting or gluing it to practice spatial reasoning, attention to detail, and fine motor skills.
• Ukulele: Learn basic chords, strumming patterns, and simple songs on a small, four-string instrument to introduce yourself to musical instruments without requiring extensive or expensive equipment.
• Straw singing: Practice creating musical tones by blowing through a drinking straw, often to explore vocal resonance and breath control, for a playful way to experiment with sound and explore aspects of vocal technique.
• Basic dance steps: Practice foundational movements, rhythm, and coordination in a particular style to exercise, build confidence, and enjoy music in a new way.

Most creative skills are highly visual, meaning there’s a wealth of online content that can help you learn and practice them. Look for videos on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok if you want to get started or tackle a specific project.

Digital and technical skills to learn

In today’s digital-first world, these digital and technical skills can put you a step ahead in your academic or professional career. Many of these are great skills for a resume even if you’re not planning on taking a specifically technical role. For example, a content writer with data visualization and HTML experience may stand out more to hiring managers than one without, as they’ll be able to complete work that goes beyond just writing.

• Excel: Use spreadsheets, formulas, functions, and data tools to organize and analyze information, manage budgets, track projects, analyze data, and automate repetitive tasks.
• HTML: Use HyperText Markup Language to structure content on web pages, build a foundation for web development, and understand how websites are built.
• SQL: Use Structured Query Language to retrieve, filter, and organize data stored in relational databases so you can work with large datasets and answer questions using data from databases.
• Python: Learn a versatile programming language used for automation, data analysis, web development, and AI applications so you can automate repetitive tasks, analyze information, and build software or prototypes.
• AI prompt engineering: Write and refine instructions for AI tools to produce more relevant, accurate, and useful responses when using AI for research, writing, brainstorming, and problem-solving.
• Project management: Plan tasks, set goals, allocate resources, track progress, and coordinate people working toward a shared outcome to organize complex work and keep projects on track.
• Data visualization: Present data through charts, graphs, dashboards, and other visual formats to make patterns and trends easier to digest and clearly support data-driven conclusions.
• User experience design: Design digital products around user needs, behaviors, and experiences to create websites and apps that are intuitive, accessible, and easier to use.
• Graphic design: Combine typography, color, images, and layout to communicate ideas clearly and intuitively in marketing materials, presentations, social media content, and other visual content.
• Video editing: Arrange and refine video clips, audio, transitions, and effects to create a finished video so you can produce engaging content for social media, presentations, personal projects, or professional use.

Career skills to learn

These career skills relate to knowledge and practice needed to get and maintain a job.

• Write a resume: Present your work experience, education, skills, and achievements in a clear, professional document to help employers quickly understand your qualifications and decide whether to invite you for an interview.
• Adapt a resume: Tailor your resume to the requirements and keywords of a specific job description to demonstrate why you’re a strong match for a role, highlight your most relevant qualifications, and pass Applicant Tracking System (ATS) screenings.
• Write a cover letter: Write a short, personalized letter explaining your interest in a role and what you can contribute so you can connect your experience to the employer’s needs and show your motivation.
• Prepare for an interview: Practice answering questions, discussing your experience, and asking thoughtful questions about a company or role to communicate your qualifications clearly, demonstrate preparedness, and feel more confident during interviews.
• Negotiate your salary: Discuss compensation and benefits with an employer to reach an agreement that reflects your experience and the role to make sure you secure fair compensation.
• Delegate responsibility: Assign tasks to other people based on their skills, capacity, and responsibilities while providing appropriate guidance to help teams work efficiently, distribute workloads, and give others opportunities to develop their skills.
• Emotional intelligence: Recognize and manage your own emotions while understanding and responding thoughtfully to other people’s feelings to support communication, conflict resolution, teamwork, and overall stronger working relationships.
• Collaboration: Work constructively with others to share ideas, solve problems, and achieve a common goal to help your team combine different strengths, resolve challenges, and produce better results.
• Agility and adaptability: Adjust your approach when priorities, circumstances, or expectations change so you respond well to unexpected challenges, learn new processes, and stay effective in changing workplaces.
• Time management: Plan and prioritize tasks, set realistic deadlines, and use your time effectively so you meet deadlines, avoid unnecessary stress, and balance competing responsibilities.

Financial skills to learn

Financial skills prepare you for handling money in both your personal and professional life.

• Budgeting: Plan how to allocate your income across expenses, savings, and other financial goals to understand where your money goes, control spending, and plan for future expenses.
• Pay bills: Organize and pay recurring expenses (e.g., rent, utilities, subscriptions, and loan payments) on time so you avoid late fees, missed payments, and disruptions to services.
• Save money: Set aside part of your income for emergencies, future purchases, and long-term goals to establish a financial cushion for unexpected costs and work toward important goals without relying on debt.
• Open a bank account: Understand account types, choose a suitable account, and complete the process of opening and managing it so you have a place to receive income, make payments, and keep track of your money.
• Build your credit score: Develop a record of responsible borrowing and repayment so you have better chances of qualifying for certain loans and accessing more favorable terms.
• Understand inflation: Learn how rising prices affect the purchasing power of money over time so you understand changes in living costs, compare prices, and make more informed saving and spending decisions.
• Manage debt: Track what you owe and develop a plan to repay balances while managing interest and fees to reduce borrowing costs, avoid missed payments, and work toward greater financial stability.
• Apply for a loan: Compare borrowing options, understand the terms, and submit an application to assess whether borrowing is appropriate and understand the costs and obligations before committing.
• Invest: Learn how investments such as stocks, bonds, and funds work, including their potential returns and risks so you make informed decisions about growing your money over time.
• Get insurance: Learn how insurance policies protect against specified financial losses in exchange for premiums so you can assess potential risks, compare coverage, and avoid unexpected expenses that could otherwise be difficult to afford.

You can start learning the basics of these financial skills on your own, but always consult an expert before making risky or complex decisions.

Wellness skills to learn

Wellness skills enable you to care for your body, mind, and spirit.

• Hygiene: Maintain personal cleanliness through habits such as handwashing, bathing, dental care, and clean clothing to reduce the spread of germs, reduce the risk of infections, and support overall health and well-being.
• Skincare: Choose suitable products to cleanse, moisturize and protect your skin to maintain the skin barrier, manage dryness, and reduce sun damage.
• Nutrition: Understand how food provides energy and essential nutrients, and how to build a balanced diet so you make informed food choices that support energy levels, growth, and long-term health.
• Stretching: Perform controlled movements that improve or maintain flexibility and range of motion to maintain mobility and make everyday movements more comfortable.
• Yoga: Combine physical postures, movement, breathing techniques, and sometimes meditation or relaxation to improve balance, flexibility, strength, and stress management.
• Weightlifting: Use free weights or resistance machines to build strength and muscular endurance to develop strength, support bone health, and make everyday physical tasks easier.
• Meditation: Practice techniques that train attention and awareness, often by focusing on the breath, sensations, or thoughts so you can manage stress, develop attention, and respond more mindfully to difficult emotions.
• Journaling: Write regularly to record your experiences, organize your thoughts, reflect on your emotions, or track goals to help you clarify your thinking, recognize patterns, and reflect on personal progress.
• Gardening: Grow and care for plants by learning about soil, watering, sunlight, pruning, and seasonal needs to have a practical way to grow plants or food, spend time outdoors, and develop patience and observation skills.
• Set goals: Define what you want to achieve and establish clear, realistic steps and deadlines to work toward it to focus your efforts, track progress, and turn broad ambitions into manageable actions.

Survival skills to learn

Survival skills are useful in moments when basic services are disrupted or you find yourself in an emergency situation.

• Use a compass: Navigate using a magnetic compass to determine direction and follow a route so you can find your way when GPS or mobile service is unavailable.
• Build a fire: Start and maintain a controlled fire using suitable materials and ignition methods to provide warmth and enable you to prepare food.
• CPR: Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), using chest compressions and, when appropriate, rescue breaths to help someone whose heart has stopped to maintain blood circulation until emergency medical services arrive.
• Heimlich maneuver: Recognize severe airway obstruction and perform appropriate first aid, such as back blows and abdominal thrusts when indicated to help clear an obstruction and prevent a life-threatening lack of oxygen.
• Bandage a wound: Apply appropriate dressings and bandages to protect an injury and help control bleeding to protect wounds from contamination and reduce blood loss while you arrange further care.
• Purify water: Make water safer to drink using methods such as boiling, filtration, or suitable disinfection to reduce the risk of waterborne illness when safe drinking water is unavailable.
• Signaling: Use visual, audible, or electronic signals to alert rescuers to your location so it’s easier for emergency responders or other people to find you when you are lost or stranded.
• Find or build a shelter: Identify a safe place to take cover or create basic protection from wind, rain, cold, or heat to reduce exposure to dangerous weather and conserve body heat or energy.
• Use a portable generator: Operate a portable generator according to its safety instructions to provide backup electricity during a power outage so you can power essential equipment when the electricity supply is interrupted.
• Prepare for a crisis: Plan how to respond to emergencies by assembling supplies, identifying evacuation routes, and establishing communication plans so you act more quickly and have resources during events such as severe weather, power outages, or disruptions to essential services.

Fun skills to learn

Sometimes you want to learn something new just for the fun of it. These fun skills can help you express your curiosity and creativity in a new way.

• Rubik’s Cube: Solve a three-dimensional combination puzzle by rotating its colored faces into a uniform pattern to develop pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and problem-solving skills while providing a satisfying challenge.
• Card tricks: Use sleight of hand, misdirection, and simple techniques to create surprising effects with playing cards to build dexterity, concentration, presentation skills, and confidence performing in front of others.
• Juggling: Keep multiple objects, usually balls, in the air by throwing and catching them in a repeating pattern to improve hand-eye coordination, timing, concentration, and persistence.
• Finger whistling: Produce a loud, high-pitched whistle by positioning your fingers and lips to direct airflow so you can get someone’s attention over long distances or in noisy environments.
• Pen spinning: Perform controlled rotations and movements with a pen or specially designed pen-spinning tool using your fingers to develop finger dexterity, coordination, and concentration, and provide a small physical activity to practice during breaks.
• Train a dog: Teach a dog behaviors and cues using consistent communication, rewards, and positive reinforcement to strengthen relationships between dogs and their owners and encourage desirable behaviors.
• Latte art: Pour steamed milk into espresso to create patterns, such as hearts, tulips, and rosettes to develop your precision and presentation skills and make homemade coffee drinks more visually appealing.
• Make cocktails (or mocktails): Combine spirits, mixers, and other ingredients using techniques such as shaking, stirring, and muddling to understand flavor balance and drink preparation and add to your practical hosting skills.
• Lockpicking: Understand how pin-tumbler locks and other mechanisms work, and practice manipulating a lock’s components using appropriate tools to practice mechanical problem-solving and fine motor control and better understand physical security.
• Cryptology: Explore methods for protecting and analyzing information through codes, ciphers, and encryption to work on logical reasoning and introduce concepts behind secure communication and modern cybersecurity.

For these fun skills, there are loads of video tutorials online to help you get started.

How to learn new skills

Learning new skills can be exciting and daunting at the same time. But if you focus a bit on how to learn new skills before actually plunging into learning them, you can do some things to set yourself up for success.

Some tips for learning new skills include:

• Set targets: Decide on a tangible, measurable objective you want to fulfill with respect to the new skill you’re learning. For example, instead of saying you’re going to “learn French,” a more tangible objective might be “be able to introduce myself in French in two weeks’ time.”
• Break the skill down: Break a broad skill into smaller, manageable components. This applies to learning concepts and procedures and applying the skill practically. If you want to learn HTML, for example, you could break the skill down into sub-skills like formatting fonts, creating tables, and adding hyperlinks.
• Start small: Instead of trying to master a new skill immediately through long, intense cram sessions, set up a manageable schedule that lets you work on the skill a bit each day. You might practice your new skill for 15–30 minutes each day so that you keep your momentum and give yourself space between sessions to remember what you’ve learned so far. If you’re learning French, for instance, try to study or speak a bit each day to keep the skill fresh.
• Gather materials before starting: If the skill you’re learning requires equipment or materials, gather the basics before starting. At the beginning, get the bare minimum that allows you to practice the basics of the skill. As you advance and decide if you want to continue practicing the skill, you can always obtain further equipment. For example, if you’re learning how to knit, you might start with a basic pair of needles and some cheap yarn. Then, if you see that you like knitting and want to up your game, you can get additional needles, better yarn, stitch markers, blocking mats, and so on.
• Find a guide: When learning a new skill, find a resource that can guide you as you progress. This may be a course, book, or set of video tutorials. Depending on the skill you’re practicing, decide how important it is to choose a resource from a verified expert. For example, if you’re learning to juggle, any YouTube video may help, but if you’re studying graphic design, you’ll want resources prepared by someone with experience in the field.
• Set up a skill-learning space: Prepare a space where you can practice your new skill without distractions. This might be your desk, your kitchen, or a space outside your home. By having a dedicated space, it makes it easier for you to continue working on your skill without having to think about where to practice.
• Practice active recall: Active recall involves testing yourself on what you’ve learned without looking for the answers. It helps you learn actively instead of passively, which you do when reading and storing information. Active recall techniques include flashcards, blurting, and drawing from memory, and the best one for you depends on the skill you’re learning. If you’re learning the Korean alphabet, flashcards may be perfect, but if you’re learning CPR, it might be better to try writing down everything you can remember. Whichever technique you use, try active recall at the beginning of each practice session to see what you remember about your new skill before continuing further.
• Use spaced repetition: Spaced (or distributed) repetition is commonly used as a study technique for exams, but it can also help you learn new skills on your own. Spaced repetition involves returning to what you’ve learned periodically while expanding the gaps between study sessions. For example, if you’re practicing to improve your spelling, you might make a list of words you often misspell. The day after you make the list, try spelling these words and see how you do. Then, try again after three more days. By spacing out your review sessions, you keep these words fresh in your mind and make sure you don’t forget the correct spellings.

Frequently asked questions about skills to learn

What are some cool skills to learn?

Some cool skills to learn are:

• Solving a Rubik’s Cube
• Juggling
• Finger whistling
• Simple card tricks
• Lockpicking
• Ukelele
• Basic Python scripting
• Origami
• Box breathing
• Making cocktails and mocktails

These cool skills are cool because you can learn the basics relatively quickly, in a few hours to a few days. This means you can acquire a new skill to show off that doesn’t require months of study and practice.

As you learn these cool skills, use Quillbot’s AI Chat to help you find resources, set up a practice schedule, and get feedback on how you’re doing.

What are some skills to learn to make money?

Some skills to learn that can help you make money are:

• Software development
• Data analysis
• Data visualization
• Generative AI prompt engineering
• Digital marketing
• Video editing
• Cybersecurity
• Customer service
• User experience
• Risk management
• Project management

Broadly speaking, these are some high-income skills based on salaries over recent years. To brainstorm more skills to learn to make money, ask Quillbot’s AI Chat to recommend some high-income skills based on your background and career goals.

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