5 meta-skills to supercharge every aspect of your life

Just because the future of work lies in automation doesn't mean that the human element will be taken out of the equation.

• Social intelligence is going to be an even more important skill than before — with technology outperforming our more analytical talents, individuals with more empathy and other uniquely human gifts are going to bring the most value to the table.
• Feeling doesn't just refer to interpersonal skills; it also covers qualities like intuition, or the ability to arrive at a conclusion without relying on conscious reasoning.

Computers are fantastic are addressing individual problems, but they don't do so well at addressing the big picture.

This meta-skill captures humanity's ability to strategize, to understand how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, and to escape biases.

Innovation, creativity, generative talent — these skills will always be in high demand.

• Once rigorous, linear work is outsourced to machines, the less precise and more fanciful talents of the human mind will become the primary characteristic that employers look for.

Neumeier characterizes this meta-skill as primarily being related to design and design thinking.

• Design thinking is a generative approach to solving problems. In other words, you create answers, you don't find answers.
• Making overlaps with dreaming to a certain extent, but its key distinction lies in the prototyping and testing of generated solutions.
• Rather than seeking safety and assurance in pre-existing answers, talented makers are unafraid of the messy process of producing an original solution.

Neumeier describes this as the "opposable thumb" of meta-skills. Learning how to learn enables you to improve every skill in your life.

• Constant learning is a fact of life.
• This doesn't have to be laborious — not only does learning lead to greater value, but learning itself can be an intrinsically rewarding activity.
• Becoming better at this skill doesn't mean that you have to learn a subject like mathematics, for example, if you hate it.
• Rather, talented learners find the subjects that bring them joy and dive into them.

These five meta-skills inform nearly every talent and capacity that we exercise in our daily lives.

• Moreover, they aren't going to be automated anytime soon.
• As rapidly as technology is advancing, it's still a far cry from the curious abilities that millions of years of evolution have gifted us with.
• Taking advantage of these natural and uniquely human skills is the best way to stay relevant in the changing world.