10 Things You Should Know How to do ...

1. Build a Fire

If you don’t camp out and you’re not planning to get cast in the 27th season of Survivor, you may wonder why building a fire is listed as one of the things you should know how to do. Well it may not be any time soon, but you may end up in a situation where you need fire! Being able to build a fire and keep it going can be the difference between life and death! Fire provides heat, light, and comfort. It can be used as a signal for help, cooking food or boiling water! If you don’t already know how, learn to build a fire!

2. Use a Search Engine Effectively

Whether you use Google, Yahoo, or Bing, you may not be able to find what you’re looking for if you don’t know how to use it effectively. Learn to use words and quotations to broaden or narrow your search! For example, when I type ‘ways to flirt’ into Google without quotations around the phase, I get about 21,500,000 results, but when I put quotations around it, I get 948,000 results. That’s a huge difference!!

3. Manage Time

You should know how to manage time and prioritize, because otherwise, you’re more likely to waste time and be unproductive! If you want to get things done, you have to learn ways manage and organize your schedule!

4. Speed Read

Speed-reading is important because it takes absolutely too much time to read everything word for word. Imagine really reading all of the terms and agreement forms you claim you've read slowly and word for word! That would take FOREVER! It’s still necessary to read those important forms, that’s why you should learn how to speed read!

5. Remember Names

Most people have trouble remembering names, but just because it’s a common problem, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook! Remembering names is one of the most important things you should know how to do! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone for the 10th time and forgotten his or her name! Aside from being embarrassing, it’s not very polite to keep forgetting someone’s name!

6. Swim

So many people neglect learning how to swim because they’re afraid of drowning, but if you take safety measures and learn the basics of swimming, drowning can be prevented. Swimming is not only useful for survival, it’s also great exercise! What are you waiting for? It won’t hurt to take a couple of swimming classes!

7. Sew a Button on a Shirt

Would you rather take a few minutes learning how to sew on a button or spend another $27.95 for a new shirt? Sewing on a button is easy and a lot less expensive than buying a new shirt, so why not learn?

8. Hold a Baby

You’re going to have to hold a baby at some point in your life, and if you don’t know how, you could possibly injure the baby! Ask family members for guidance, so the next time someone asks you to hold a baby, you’re ready!

9. Jump Start a Car

You don’t have to have a hooptie for your car battery to die! If you’ve ever forgotten to turn off your headlights, you really need to know how to jump-start a car so you and your friends aren’t stranded somewhere unfamiliar! Who knows when your battery will die or when you'll have the opportunity to help a nice stranger?

10. Cook

You don’t have to be a 5 star chef, but you at least have to know how to cook one meal! What if you can’t eat out, or you don’t have someone to make meals for you? You’ll have to cook something!

Most useful skills don’t come naturally, so it’s important to take the time to learn them before you’re ever in a situation that requires that skill. I hope you identified some of the things you should know how to do, and you’ve resolved to seek out more information. What are some other useful skills you think everyone should have?