The Most Important Skill To Learn In The Next 10 Years

27 Feb 2025 #misc

It isn’t writing, marketing, or social media.

With the possible threat of AI, there’s something else we must learn to future-proof ourselves.

This time, Devon Eriksen sat down to talk to Dan Koe. Devon is a software engineer turned author. But he considers himself a libertarian. Devon wrote Theft of Fire, a sci-fi book.

Here are 10 lessons I learned from watching that conversation:

1. Only slaves did one thing

In ancient Rome, only slaves were meant to do a single job for life.

Free-thinking men were supposed to learn on their own and do multiple things. We’re free-thinking men. We don’t have to do the same thing for life. Gone are the days when we have the same job for 40 or 50 years.

2. The most important skill to learn is agency

Agency is “the tendency to initiate action to achieve your goals.” Agency makes you willing to take risks and become resilient to failure.

3. Agency is a skill we can learn

To learn agency:

• Start something new,
• Learn as you go, and
• Give yourself permission to suck.

4. The biggest risk to your agency is your limiting beliefs

We are our biggest haters with our self-talk: I can’t, I don’t know, and I don’t have.

5. We don’t need permission to create

We don’t need large TV networks, publishers, or media companies. The Internet has created a world without permission. We only need an internet connection and the desire to start.

6. Ask what is the purpose behind what you do

OK, purpose is a big word. Let’s say goal. Ask what you want to take out from what you do. What is your goal?

• Be creative?
• Make a living?
• Connect with interesting people?

7. Don’t whine. Create something interesting instead

Stop blaming the Algorithm. Stop waiting to be lucky. Stop waiting for someone to choose you from the crowd.

Instead, show your work. Create something interesting to attract smart people because smart people have more money.

8. Money is a sign of f*cks given

Money is a by-product of your personal development and your ideas. The more people care about you and your work, the more money you’ll make.

“If you say ‘I don’t want a lot of money’ what you’re saying is ‘I don’t want a lot of people to give a f* about me’”

9. Don’t become a tool

You’re a tool when you only do one thing, like slaves in ancient Rome. Still remember #1? You’re also a tool when you attach your identity and self worth to that one thing.

That’s why AI threatens many jobs: when a faster and better tool appears it replaces slower and worse tools. Don’t be a slow and worse tool. Well, don’t be a tool at all.

10. Building an audience online is about being trust-worthy

“If you’re on the internet and that’s how you make your money, your product is you. Your ability to be interesting. Your ability to be informative. Your ability to be entertaining. Your ability to make something where people spend some time paying attention to it and they walk away saying ‘I liked that’.”

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This was a liberating conversation for me. For a long time, I struggled to find my one thing. Doing one thing was scary to me. One day at a past job, in a moment of clarity, I wondered “Am I supposed to do this until the day I die?” Arrggg! Thanks, but no thanks.

But, like free-thinking men in ancient times, we’re free to learn. We’re free to choose our own goals. We’re free to do many things. We’re free to create.