Life Planning Skills

Life planning skills help young people achieve their personal best in life by inspiring them to pursue healthy and productive behaviours. The life planning skills training promotes responsibility and good character amongst young people.

The aim of the life skills is to help young people learn how to maintain their bodies, grow as individuals, work well with others, make logical decisions, protect themselves when they have to, and achieve their goals in life. Thus, the life planning skills help youth stay healthy physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally.

The life planning skills are categorized into three main areas:

Skills of Knowing and Living with Ourselves
Self-Awareness
This skill enables us to understand and appreciate our strengths and weaknesses.

Self-Esteem
Individuals who have high self-esteem and thereby are aware of their worth feel competent and confident, respect others, and exhibit productive behaviours, and have a sense of responsibility.

Coping with Emotions
In order to cope with emotions, we need to recognize them so that we are in a position to address their effects.

Coping with Stress
It is an important skill to recognize stress, including its causes and effects, and to know how to deal with it.

Skills of Knowing and Living with Others
Interpersonal Relationships
Young people need to know how to appropriately relate to and interact with people.

Friendship Formation
Friendship is important because friends help us to build our lives by sharing activities, hopes, fears, and aspirations. We should look for friends who can promote positive behaviour.

Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.

Peer Pressure Resistance
Peer pressure resistance means rejecting or refusing to accept peers' values, beliefs, and practices if they are unacceptable, dangerous, or risky.

Negotiation
During negotiation we can be assertive and still be respectful but we have to keep possible risks or threats in mind, as we try to uphold or build a mutual understanding and agreement.

Non-Violent Conflict Resolution
Conflict in this context refers to a disagreement or clash of two or more interests that can lead to violence. Non-violent conflict resolution skills are necessary so conflicts do not become violent and destructive.

Effective Communication
Effective communication is a skill that enables us to effectively pass on or receive messages. It requires us to be good listeners, and to be articulate and clear when communicating with others.

Assertiveness
Assertiveness means being able to take the relevant and necessary steps to achieve what we want, and cause others to recognize our rights without being aggressive.

The Skills of Making Effective Decisions
Critical Thinking
Expectations from society interact with young people’s own aspirations and ambitions and constantly require them to make choices. Youth need to be able to critically analyse their environment and the multiple messages that bombard them.

Creative Thinking
Creative thinking is important because we are continually placed in unexpected or unfamiliar situations where creativity is required to make an appropriate response.

Decision Making
It is important to weigh the consequences before making a decision and have a framework for working through these choices and decisions.

Problem Solving
Problem solving is a skill that enables us to recognize problems and find ways to meet our needs and avoid conflicts and dangers.