If you can get the training I knew someone who was a massage therapist and what got me is its the one skill where you don’t really need anything to ply the trade. Like a massage table and oils or whatnot are pretty much expected but again not strictly needed. Also you can take one phlubotomy class at a community college or such and be assured to get work that is over minimum wage. Granted you got to be able to handle the work. I can’t stand blood myself.

Learn a trade of some sort. Mechanic, HVAC, electrical, plumbing are all skills you will use your whole life. Working on your own home/vehicle can be very rewarding in itself not to mention money saved by turning your own wrenches. It’s also a decent way to make a living while you figure out what your really passionate about.

Try learning a musical instrument. Hit a pawn shop and get a cheap guitar or whatever your interested in and learn how to play. It’s a great creative outlet, and can lead you to some music you normally wouldn’t listen to.

Read a book. Any book. Seriously reading is great for your brain.

Learn a language. Duolinguo kinda sucks but it’s free and it gets your brain working.

I’ve literally gotten jobs because of my homelabbing. Being able to talk about how I run services and why I enjoy them has helped more than most of my professional work

The basics of investing. Open a Roth IRA (or the closest equivalent if you’re not in the US) and then try to max it out every year. Learning how to manage money for the long term now will save you a whole lot of hassle down the road.

If you end up owning a home (or have parents that own one and won’t be able to manage in their old age), general home maintenance and repair skills can save a fuck ton of money. Things like learning how to do drywall repair or replacement, fixing pipe leaks, or framing (if you’re feeling a little extra) can go a long way. I learned electrical as well, but I’m hesitant to recommend this one unless you know what you’re doing (you can burn down your house, or worse, die).

I did a bathroom remodel that would have cost a fortune to have contractors come in, as it required drywall, plumbing, and electrical. Labor costs have skyrocked in my area, it probably would’ve cost me over $15k if I hired out. In the end, I probably paid a few thousand dollars along with a large portion of my hairline.

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How to do home maintenance, drywall, basic plumbing, electrical, and basic carpentry.

Brakes, learn how to do the brakes on a car, bonus you learn to change a tire

These things will save you a bunch of money and you will feel less helpless when stuff goes wrong.

Gardening, hiking, camping and hunting (if you believe the whole society is about to collapse)
Sewing and mending clothes (if you believe you won’t be able to buy new clothes very often)

Seconding cooking for sure. You have to eat, so you might as well find a way to enjoy it, save money, and stay healthy in the process.

Repairing things. Electronics, clothes, furniture, it doesn’t matter what, but try to learn how to repair stuff. It eventually encourages you to buy less, but higher quality items. Also everyone likes if you fix their favorite thing.

Organizing people. This isnt often treated as a skill, but it really is. You’ll find over time that in your group of friends, someone is always the person to try to put together the next activity. Try to be that person. That’s super useful in all parts of life. Keep in mind that people will end up being lazy and expecting you to keep doing the work, but try not to take it personally.

1. Learn skills to survive without electricity or internet. Gardening, navigating, hunting, cooking, etc.

2. Learn to fix both a car and a house as much was possible.

3. Become a DIYer

In that order. The goal is to become completely self sufficient.

Mediating, as in managing interactions between people who refuse to understand each other (or you for that matter). Being able to talk your way around, de-escalate, and just in general “make everyone happy enough” is going to both be super AI-proof but also make the journeys of you and those close to you much safer on this planet.

I believe it is a skill that can be learned. It’s not really taught anywhere directly though.

If you’re more technically inclined, whatever practical skills you need to live without money. Food, shelter, water, and energy related. If you can confidently and cheaply fix whatever necessity there’s broken in a house, you’ll be valued.

Don’t learn skills that require complex equipment that you don’t own and control yourself, because that equipment can be taken away from you at any time. Eg: most forms of AI usage

what are you interested in? what do you find that you always end up doing, when youre alone? what do you think about? creative things? have any ideas about solutions to problems you find?

here is a random list of skills that ive developed since around that age:

• cooking (working restaurants of various types and doing Food Not Bombs direct action stuff)

• naturopathic medicine and herbal remedies (studied and worked with/for a family business that produced, marketed, and sold homeopathic/naturopathic medicines, tinctures, etc.

• sustainable residential construction (started with learning building Earthships, moved to high-end custom carpentry, to conventional remodelling and construction)

• Trail building and forestry (spent 2 years doing forest thinning for wildfire management and trail building on the Continental Divide)

• edible landscaping/local agriculture (Nashville Foodscapes designed and implemented landscaping that used native plants and fruit bearing and edible plants as beautiful landscaping)

• Music and art (im self taught musician and artist using various medium. woodwork, pen and ink, graphic design)

• IT, software development, systems building (self taught and AI assisted projects building production apps for various business ideas, building tools to help me in my day to day, etc.)

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science Information Technology (I need the peice of paper that says im worth 100k salary)

Just do shit, dont think so hard. Follow your heart. If theres something youre interested in, go seek it out and immerse yourself. Then see where it takes you.

Ive travelled the world and USA building Earthships, met people from all over the world doing different things and the broader your experiences are the more oppurtunities you will find.

Vibe coding.

If you’re on your own, you must know a level of self-repair and maintenance. Especially if you somehow become a home-owner, you’re going to need to know some things or you’re going to be spending an lot on specialists who could overcharge you.

You have to have some passions, everyone does. If you know what they are and wish to excel or make careers out of them, then go try college to do so.

If you live in a region that snows seasonally then I’d say knitting. It can be a very therapeutic activity and when my wife wears her own knits she’s never cold. Knitted gear can also make great gifts and if you’re good enough it can earn some money on Etsy.

a trade