It is alarming how many students leave their homes without having proper knowledge of their day-to-day activities, as they have always had someone to look after them when they were at home. However, its never too late to learn something new. So if you are also planning to move to a hostel then here are a few life skills that you should learn.

Personal care and basic home skills

• Using basic kitchen appliances

• Washing clothes and learning how to take care of different fabrics like whites, types of denim, woolens, etc.

• Determine which clothes to take to the dry cleaners

• Make a bed as soon as you wake up

• Fold and arrange laundry

• How to properly clean kitchen platforms, tabletops, toilet, shower, bathroom floor, etc.

• Set an alarm and wake yourself up on time

• Get rid of bugs and spiders

Management & Organization Skills

• Creating and maintaining a budget

• Organizing all passwords, accounts and important documents in a safe place

• Learning how and when to pay bills

• Time management

• Basic calculation and how to split bills amongst friends

• Write a check

• Learn to pack smarter

Student-Specific Skills

• Shop smarter for books

• Keep track of your grades

• Keep track of assignments due

• Sign up/register for classes

• Maintain healthy study habits

• Contact professors for help

• Navigate to classes

• Discuss living guidelines with your roommate

• Locate the student section of your university’s web site

• Taking clear, readable notes

• Public speaking

• Seek out extracurricular activities you enjoy

• Create a schedule that works for you

• Maintain a healthy balance between your academic and social lives

• Writing a resume and cover letter

• Professionally formatting your emails

Transportation skills

• Understand Google navigation

• Change a tire

• Booking a cab using an app

• Utilize and navigate public transit

If you have any other skills that you would like to add to the list, comment below and share with the world!

Criticism is a common—but painful—experience. Being criticized may produce fear, shame or anger, and feed into your insecurities. Obviously, not all critics produce these negative experiences, there is a positive criticism that makes you think and helps you grow. To discover it is important to understand what provokes people to criticize, if their reasons are valid or, on the contrary, are only a strategy to reassert their power, complain or humiliate.

 People criticize you because:

• They feel endangered by some of your qualities and use criticism as a defense to try to balance the game. In practice, these people feel inferior, then attack your flaws trying to take you down to their level.

• They like to feel accountable for the situation in every moment and get scared when they feel that are losing control. In such cases, criticizing you return to them, at least in part, the feeling of control, because they believe to tear you down this way and take the control.

• They want to gain something: They criticize you in front of someone else; to make sure they look better, both at work and with friends. In this case they do it because consider you a rival or a competitor.

• They try to draw your attention and approval, but since they’re short of social and emotional skills, fail to do it in an assertive way, so they end up, complaining or whining. In fact, when people think they are skilled in every field, often criticize others to demonstrate what they know and reaffirm their position, looking for admiration.

• They’re project their fears and insecurities: In fact, when people do not admit some of their features and recognize them in the others, they generate in them a deep denial and open the way to criticism.

• They feel frustrated as they have tried to express their needs and opinions in a more assertive way, but you haven’t been paying attention and, then, they discharge all that anger in the criticism.

• They need to feel powerful, even if it means over powering you and to achieve this, they use criticism as a stick with which they hit you.

The way to respond to criticism depends largely on the situation and the reasons that cause it. In fact, there are circumstances where is better not to do it, because reacting to criticism would only serve to further develop the other person and satisfy his/her desire for leadership and control. In these cases it is best to pay no attention to them, because trying to defend ourselves would only lead to a dead end. Hence, if you can, pretend that nothing has happened. When the person who criticizes you is significant for you, it is necessary that you pay attention and let him/her know that you love and esteem him/her, even if you do not agree with that opinion. You can also point out to that person that you respect his/her ideas and efforts, but always asserting your freedom and the right to make your own decisions. Nobody enjoys to be criticized, but it is part of the human experience. Try to find the middle ground between taking too much accountability for other people’s issues and being too defensive.