Little things matter: How a skill I learned many years ago is opening doors for me.

Little things matter: How a skill I learned many years ago is opening doors for me.

Learning a skill is so important that it is difficult to describe all its benefits.

I learned plain surface printing and cutting of tensiles in my 12th year. By then I was still in junior class 2. Our teacher then organised a class for us and demanded that participants pay a certain amount of money for the training. The amount was so small that I could afford to buy snacks. I was interested and decided to use my snack money to pay for the training.

Moreover, my distance was far so I had to stay back after school and attend the training. Most of my friends didn't find that necessary so at the close of school, they will all leave me behind. At the end of two weeks, we were done with the training, and I decided to practice what I learned with immediate effect.

It will interest you to note that I didn't go for the training in order to make money from it or to earn a living from it, but I was fascinated by all the artworks. As of then, I usually make friends with artists and anyone who paints. As young as I was, I began to print on the walls of our house, on plain surfaces and on clothes. With paints, cardboard, a razor, a ruler, and an eraser, I could achieve whatever I set my mind to achieve.

I was so good at it that my dad asked me to write on his car and I did that perfectly. Everything ended when I was admitted into the university and decided to study something else. University killed my passion and changed my perspective on life. With great hope and aspirations that after school I will get a better job offer. It's getting to be a decade now, and I have not got what to do with my certificate.

I was not properly guided. I did not have anyone to put me through on the right thing to do at the right time with regard to my university education.

Meanwhile, the skill I learned many years ago is still with me, and I am making money from it daily. It's the skill that is putting food on my table right now.

The point is, no matter how insignificant a skill might be, just learn it because it might be what will put food on your table in the future. Many people despise learning a skill; they prefer to go to school with the hope of getting a white-collar job, but at the end of the course, they later realise that the jobs are no longer available. They become frustrated and idle in life, and soon poverty sets in.

If I had continued in my printing skills, today I would have upskilled and become a professional with different printing machines and equipment, and also, I would have built an industry and impacted my society positively through training and social responsibilities.

Little things matter.