Skills & knowledge

The first step is to look at your skill set through the lens of situations that actually arise. Can I get myself to where I need to be — outside the city, under stress, when something goes wrong? Can I communicate in a foreign language well enough to handle a basic practical situation? Do I have at least one skill I could offer as a service to others if needed? Can I independently handle basic dealings with authorities, a bank or an insurance company? Can I fix something at home, cook a meal, set something up, without immediately having to call someone?

The next step is deciding what has the greatest practical value for you. Not everything makes sense for everyone. For some people a driving licence is key — because it opens up work outside the city, access to family, the option to use a cottage or another form of base. For others it is a foreign language — because it opens the job market, access to information or the option to live somewhere else for a time. For others still it may be a specific practical or technical hands-on skill that can be applied in many ways. For some, an entrepreneurial background matters — being able to organise work, offer it, negotiate terms. In certain professional roles or life situations, specific licences may also be part of the toolkit.

The point is not to collect as many certificates as possible, but to expand your usefulness. It is helpful to ask: what would help me most if my conditions changed? What would open a new part of the world for me — geographically, professionally, practically? And to start precisely there, even if it means a small step: signing up for driving lessons, reviving a language, joining a course in a specific practical skill, shadowing someone who runs their own business, or asking to have an unfamiliar area explained.

At the same time, it is necessary to maintain what you already have. A language that is not used gets rusty. Driving that is not practiced turns into fear of getting behind the wheel. A practical skill that has not been used in years often fails in a critical moment. It is therefore worth deliberately creating opportunities to use your skills outside a safe, familiar context: conducting a meeting in a foreign language, driving somewhere new on your own, fixing a small thing at home, handling something you would normally leave to others.

Building this dimension is a long-term process. It is best done in periods when there is no crisis — when you still have time, energy and space to try new things. When conditions change rapidly, you work with what you have. That is precisely why it makes sense to build skills and knowledge in advance, even when they are not strictly necessary yet.