Asklemmy

Critical thinking. Not enough people stop and think openly about a given problem, situation, or interaction. If everyone took just a moment or two to take into consideration someone else's perspective, circumstances, or goals, the world would be a lot less divisive.

Learning how to say no. Having personal boundaries.

Cooking

Swimming.

It's easy and it will save your life.

CPR. You may not think about it in your day to day life, but in an emergency it's a very low hanging fruit to save someone's life. If someone is not breathing, chest compressions baby... go to town.

First off, love this question!

Active listening and validating someone's emotions. Relationship skills in general honestly! Like how to adress the core attachment need in a disagreement instead of just the surface issue.

In this economy? Lock picking.

Sewing, by hand or by machine.

Pollution from "fast fashion" is one of the most insidious types of pollution and one of the highest source of microplastics.

Knowing how to sew has allowed me to keep some garments looking new for over 15 years.

I still have a "snakes on a plane" themed hoodie from 2007 that is still going strong, thanks to sewing and proper washing/drying.

Knowing how to separate your clothing for washing is also helpful in this regard, because it also can make clothes last longer. T-shirts can last a decade if they're washed on a delicates cycle and hung out to dry.

I honestly could give a flying fuck if everything I own is out of style, I'm fucking old anyway.

Swimming. It could save your life.

Baking bread. At first, your results will be uneven. (brick like, over baked, underbaked, too much yeast, not enough kneading, etc.) Just don't give up, the first time you get it close to "right", you'll be addicted to home made bread. It's about training your hands and other senses until you don't need a recipe any more.

I wish I’d learned a few useful knots earlier in life. Saves so much time when you know how and which one to use.

The ones I use the most are the square knot, taut line hitch and once a year the truckers hitch for tying down the Christmas tree to the top of the car.

https://scoutlife.org/outdoors/176401/how-to-tie-the-7-basic-scout-knots/

Cooking.

It's shocking to me the number of people I've come across who've no idea how to cook or find it to be too troublesome to do. Moreover, feeding yourself should be the single most primal skill for anyone to have.

I realize there's a lot to unpack here. Some people are taught / learn to cook at a young age while some people have parents who've never cooked for themselves. Personal preference, finances, and scheduling play a huge part. The definitions of "cooking" and "feeding yourself" can vary widely. So, I'm not claiming everyone should know how to make a roast chicken dinner for four with sides and dessert. Although, I do think people should be at a level above boxed mac and cheese and ~~microwaved~~ air-fried chicken nuggets.

Cooking is, in my opinion, shopping for fresh foods and turning them into a meal. It's about your health, your pleasure, and your finances.

Be kind

Taking regular breaks. Whether it's a quick hourly stretch or a longer weekly break, stepping away from your activities can help you avoid burnout and stay on top of your game.
Surprisingly this improved my overall gameplay in competitive games. And I am not exhausted from work anymore.

Cooking

For those in the US: Learn how to file your own taxes. It's really simple for the large majority of people, and usually just consists of copying numbers into boxes off a sheet your employer made for you. After you've done it once, subsequent times you'll probably have it done yourself in less than half an hour.

You can do it for free on a ton of sites unless you make significant income, freetaxusa is typically the most highly recommended one.

Sewing on a button

How to change your vehicle's tire SAFELY.

Basic home maintenance or at the very least troubleshooting and diagnostics when something breaks so you can give the repair tech better info when they arrive.

Basic home cleaning. This one might sound obvious but the number of people I've worked with who've never held a mop before astounds me. Learn to do your own laundry and clean your bathroom and kitchen well and efficiently. Learn what it takes to do a quick clean and a deep clean and do them on a schedule.

NATO alphabet, or any phonetic alphabet for that matter.

It will take you less than an hour to learn it and doesn't need to be perfect, Mark or Mike, your interlocutor will know you mean the letter M

lock picking i guess? its not that hard and useful

Formal Logic. Please, can this be a full k-12 course like English and Math? Just learn to think, analyse, and correlate ideas in ways that are communicable. Learn what the logical fallacies are and how to avoid them. Train a functional bullshit detector. This world would be so much better off if the bulk of the population could understand what a confirmation bias was. As much as I hate to link to a Grammarly blog post, it gives good examples. Obviously all of it needs to be made age appropriate, but we never bother to actually teach people how to think, we just expect them to know and that has not been working out too well.

Sewing. I've saved a lot of shirts putting buttons back on and fixing holes. You can also do your own alterations on clothes but I'm not brave enough to try that yet.

fermenting? to make healthy, cheap, useful, durable and more importantly delicious foods?

Some basic first aid

Even a quick YouTube session on some common cases should help. If you want, getting certified is pretty easy and it looks good on resumes (or at work, you could be the designated person in emergencies)

If someone close to you has an emergency, it's nice to have an idea of what to do while you wait.

On the flip side, I had someone open up about regret from not learning; it was heartbreaking hearing it. Their family member may have died anyways, but they felt like a few extra minutes could have helped the odds, and regretted not knowing what to do

CPR, first aid, basic self defense.

Programming or scripting; usually Python would be enough to reduce the average repetitive workload of office workers by about 20%.

• Install a well anchored level shelf.

• Plaster, sand the holes and repaint when you remove the shelf.

Very basic tools, very easy techniques, yet mind blowing how many people don't know how to do these things.

Learn a dance or two nothing too complicated but being able to bust out a dance at a wedding really impressed everyone.

Changing brake pads. You do it for $50, they do it for $500