On: The single most important skill in life

Is there such a thing as the single most important skill?

Last Sunday, I crushed my first 10k!

Three months ago, I set a goal to run a 10k in under 55 minutes.

It wasn’t about breaking records; I just wanted to do it and challenge myself a bit.

But this post isn’t about the run itself.

It’s about what happened after I crossed the finish line.

On our way home with my family, the car stopped out of nowhere, right in the middle of the freeway.

I was still riding on the high from the run, and forgot to get gas before leaving.

My wife and daughter were terrified. I was a bit nervous myself.

In that moment, I felt stupid, guilty, and frustrated.

How could I have forgotten to refuel?

But then I pulled myself together, and reassured my family that we’d be alright.

Realistically, I didn’t know if someone wouldn’t ram into our car and hurt us.

However, staying calm was the best course of action at that moment.

Luckily, we had insurance, and roadside assistance came to the rescue.

It took 30 minutes for them to get to us.

We learned a $125 lesson (they charged us $125 for just one gallon of gas-literal definition of a highway robbery lol).

Back to the question I posed at the beginning: what is the single most important skill in life?

If you’re a parent, there are many things you believe you can teach your children to increase their chances of success in life.

You might want to help them learn a second language, as it could open doors to opportunities worldwide.

You might hire coaches and tutors to help them excel in athletics or math, as it could help them get a scholarship for college, and graduate debt-free.

You can teach them basic survival skills (cooking, starting a fire, etc.) that make them more independent & could save their life (just in case, you know, zombies!).

These are all great and valuable skills to have.

But none of them are as important as this: the ability to deal with frustration appropriately.

This isn’t a skill you can teach through traditional lectures or college courses.

It’s a skill you have to model for them:

-How do you handle unexpected large expenses?

-How do you react to constant flight delays?

-What do you do when your restaurant order takes forever?

-How do you navigate a difficult situation with a manager at work?

-How do you respond when your car breaks down unexpectedly?

Your reactions & responses to stressful events are the best way to teach them how to deal with frustrations in a healthy way.

Kids are always watching.

Whether you want it or not, you either teach them good habits and skills, or bad ones.

Learning to deal with frustration effectively is the single most important skill that will contribute most significantly to your kid(s) success and joy in life.

Because life is full of frustrations, and your child will not be exempt from experiencing them.

He will just be ready to deal with them.