Life Skills: 25 Before 25

I was thinking about my progress throughout this thing called “life” and realized that there are a lot of skills I’ve acquired that are either second nature or taken for granted.  How did I even acquire these skills? So I then thought about what skills I thought would be absolutely essential for a fully frontal lobe developed “adult” human.  If I were to pick 25 skills that were essential for survival, what would they be.  I created this list as a stream of consciousness…. in other words it’s a working list.  I also have general assumptions about knowledge acquired by each of us, up to the age of 25.  I understand that some of the “skills” I have listed are also experiences, but I think experiences become or feed into skills, so they made the list.  

If there is a skill I missed, please feel free to add it in the comments! I’d love to know of any essentials that were glossed over, taken for granted or forgotten.  Here’s my list:

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1. Changing a tire
   
2. Eye-contact and a firm handshake
   
3. Basic self defense or karate
   
4. Web development skills and the ability to build a basic landing page
   
5. Fluency in at least one language
   
6. Ability to read music or play one instrument well
   
7. Coping with defeat
   
8. Emotional intelligence
   
9. Balancing a budget
   
10. Investing in the stock market
    
11. Entrepreneurial skills
    
12. Customer service or service industry experience
    
13. Grocery shopping
    
14. Laundry and other household chores
    
15. Hostess etiquette
    
16. Meditation or prayer
    
17. Interview and post interview etiquette
    
18. Networking, business card swapping and resume editing
    
19. Following a recipe or building instructions for IKEA-like furniture
    
20. Bargain hunting & product review interpretation
    
21. General hygiene and personal cleanliness
    
22. Ending friendships or bad relationships
    
23. Saying no to superiors
    
24. Personal accountability and intrinsic motivation
    
25. Cutting grass, yard work and gardening