Empowered to Upgrade

Chapter 6: Amplify Your Skillset

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”— Robert Greene

Can you say with confidence the skills you have today will enable you to maintain and continually improve your quality of life? If your answer is no, it's time to focus on skill building. In order to achieve career success, it’s important to focus on amplifying your skills. This means dedicating time and energy to learning new skills and updating your existing ones.

Our skills have an expiration date and it’s shorter than you think. Research says that skills typically last no more than five years and technical skills last no more than two years due to skill obsolescence, which is when professionals lack the current knowledge or skills necessary to maintain effective performance in their current or future positions. It is also reflected in a change in the skills needed within an occupation, industry, or organization. As today’s workforce continues to change, we need to get comfortable with proactively learning new skills and adapting. Effective skill development can reduce underemployment, increase your marketability, and improve your quality of living.