Even though we’re halfway through the year, it’s not too late to make it your goal to learn a new skill by the end of the year. Here are 10 useful skills to choose from that all adults should try to learn this year.

#1: Written Communication

Most people are aware of how important verbal communication is, and written communication is just as important. You don’t have to get a degree in English or take creative writing courses, but you should be able to write a cover letter for a job application and send an email to your boss.

#2: Public Speaking

Traditionally, public speaking involved standing before a crowd at a podium, but today it includes video calls. In addition to just being able to speak in front of a (usually) large group of people, public speaking also means you’re able to vocalize your thoughts clearly and compellingly.

#3: Networking

In business, networking is the process of making professional connections and building these new relationships. When networking, people exchange ideas and other information with others in their career field, and this can be done online or in person with LinkedIn being the most popular networking platform online. Both entry-level workers and professionals can widen their circle of like-minded individuals to find new job opportunities and keep up with the latest trends in their field. 

#4: Money Management

Proper money management can start with learning how to create and stick to a budget. This will help you put your money towards your needs (i.e., monthly bills, paying off debt, buying food, etc.) first, as well as helping you save. This will also allow you to make large purchases in the future, such as buying a car or house.

Along with properly managing your money, you should also learn the basics of investing to make your money work for you. Investing isn’t as hard as it may seem, but you do have to do a lot of research if you want to do it correctly— and you’ll want to. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of money to get started.

#5: Logic and Reasoning

Using logic and reasoning doesn’t mean that you’re void of all emotion, but logical thinking does mean that you use reason to analyze a situation to come up with a potential solution. This means gathering all information available and assessing the facts. You can build your logical thinking skills in many ways— some you may not think to contribute to logical thinking— such as:

• Asking questions
• Drawing, painting, writing, and other creative outlets
• Learning new skills
• Socializing with others

#6: First Aid

Gaining Online CPR Certification as part of first aid training is accessible for almost anyone and is an extremely valuable skill to have. If a person is unconscious, some people will try their hand at CPR, even if they’ve never been trained. While most experts say that this is better than no CPR at all, it’s still a good idea to become CPR certified on websites like protrainings.com so that you know the proper way to perform CPR on adults, children, and infants. Other basic first aid skills include:

• Heimlich maneuver
• Setting a splint
• Treating a burn

#7: Design

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to learn the basic principles of design, and these basic principles can help you design better-looking presentations for work or simply better posts for social media.

#8: Cooking and Growing Your Own Food (Gardening)

Being able to cook and grow your own food can save you a lot of money over time. Both are also underrated skills, as it’s very easy to go out to eat— or have any kind of food delivered to your front door. Cooking and gardening also offer more options for healthier eating, which is beneficial to your physical health, and they’re also relaxing activities that can help boost mental health.

#9: Basics of Business

These days more and more people are wanting to become entrepreneurs, but a lot of people don’t understand the basics of business. This is necessary if you want to start and run a successful business one day. Even if you don’t want to be a business owner, you likely work for a business and understanding how a business works can help you work more effectively with others in the organization.

#10: Another Language

Most people are aware of how useful it is to learn another language, especially if you love traveling abroad. Learning the language of the country you’re traveling to can help break language barriers. The new language you learn doesn’t have to be foreign— you can even learn American Sign Language (ASL) to be able to communicate with the hearing impaired.

Choose one or more of the useful skills to learn this year, and continue to choose a new skill each year after this one. None of these skills are likely to become irrelevant anytime soon.