The 5 Most Important Skills to Learn in 2026
Learn this to win in the next decade
The world is changing fast.
A few years ago, we didn’t have ChatGPT and Claude. A few decades ago, we didn’t have the internet, Google, and Amazon. We live in the fastest changing time in history. To some, this is scary. To others, this is exciting. Both have a good point.
Some skills become outdated. Others become more valuable every year. In a fast changing world, it’s important to focus on developing skills that will benefit you in the long-term. The good news is that a small number of skills can dramatically improve your career, income, and quality of life. The challenge is knowing which ones are actually worth your time.
There are dozens of useful skills to learn, but I tried my best to compress the list as much as possible. I managed to settle on 5 skills. It’s not an exhaustive list, that’s impossible, but if you learn these 5 skills, you will do very well in the next decade.
Here are the 5 most important skills to learn in 2026.
1. Judgment
In an age of infinite leverage, judgment is the most important skill.
– Naval
Judgment is the ability to make good decisions.
Life is a big decision-making game. Generally speaking, the better your decisions, the better your life. There are always some exceptions of course, but for most people, this is true. That’s why judgment is such a valuable skill.
To make good decisions, you need clarity on what matters to you. If you don’t know what you’re optimizing for, you can’t make good decisions. Even the best pilot in the world can’t make effective decisions if he doesn’t have a clear destination.
Because the purpose of decisions is to bring you closer toward your desired life. Or to improve the world and the lives of other people in whatever way you want.
So decision-making starts with getting clear on your goal.
After that, you need the important information. Without it, you can’t make an informed decision. You need the right information so that you can think strategically about what you should do. Don’t get stuck in the information gathering phase though. Gather the relevant information you need, take a moment to reflect on it, and then pick whatever feels like the right decision to you.
Your gut feeling plays a big part in the decision-making process. If something feels off, it’s because your subconscious mind picked up on something that your conscious mind hasn’t processed yet. The gut decides, the mind rationalizes afterwards.
There’s a saying in business:
“People buy with emotion and justify with logic.”
Decision-making is the same. You collect the information so that your mind can process it. Then you leave it for a bit. Go for a walk. Lift weights. Take a shower. When you come back, you usually know what to do. Your gut decided for you.
If it’s a big decision, the process is similar but different. Take a night to sleep on it. Or maybe even a few days or weeks if it’s a really big decision. Don’t numb your mind with instant gratification activities. Live in silence for a while. Your gut and mind will communicate the right decision to you. But you can’t hear it or feel it if you distract yourself. So be available so that it can reach you. This gets easier over time.
In short: Get clear on what you’re trying to achieve and who you’re trying to become. Then gather the necessary information, give your mind and gut some time to process it, and then make the decision that feels right based on the information and your goals.
2. Self-Control
Self-control is one of the most important skills in the world. It’s also misunderstood.
Most people think that self-control is forcing yourself not to do desirable things. For example, not eating unhealthy food, quitting p*rn and mindless scrolling, and not drinking alcohol or doing drugs. They see self-control as not doing something that feels good. But this is the opposite of what it is.
Self-control isn’t forcing yourself to stop doing things that feel good. It’s realizing that it feels better when you don’t do the things that you think make you feel good. It’s not self-hate and suppression of desires. It’s self-love and setting healthy boundaries.
The things that feel good in the short-term rarely feel good in the long-term. And the things that feel good in the long-term rarely feel good in the short-term. Eating junkfood feels good while you do it, but it rarely feels good after you did it. Running rarely feels good when you do it, but it feels great after you’ve done it.
Self-control is choosing to do what’s good for you in the long-term, even if it feels bad in the short-term. It’s the highest form of self-love.
Its also extremely important in today’s world. Social media, p*rn, gambling, games, junkfood, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and the news are designed to make you addicted to it. If you’re addicted, you keep consuming it, and they keep making money off it. You can’t control this. But you can learn to control yourself.
When I say controlling yourself, I don’t mean that you need to become an optimization robot who always does the optimal habits and activities. I mean being in full control. In this way, you are free to do whatever you want.
Self-control isn’t about always doing the optimal thing. It’s about deciding what’s optimal for you, and then being able to do that. Let’s take dieting as an example.
Eating 100% healthy all of the time is ‘optimal’, but this is not ideal for almost anyone. Self-control is about deciding what’s ideal for you, and then controlling yourself so you can do that.
This can be eating healthy 90%, 80% or even 40% of the time. If that’s what makes you feel best, then that’s what you should do. Self-control is about picking what’s best for you and then doing that. So if you want to eat healthy 80% of the time and eat unhealthy 20% of the time, then you should use self-control to do that.
Self-control isn’t about forcing yourself to stop doing stuff you want to do. It’s about figuring out what you actually want to do and then getting yourself to do that. You’re not controlling yourself to do what you should do, but you’re controlling yourself so you do what you want to do. That’s the key insight.
In short: Self-control isn’t about doing the optimal thing all of the time. It’s about figuring out what you actually want to do and then getting yourself to do that. It’s doing what you said you would do and not doing what you said you wouldn’t do.
3. Writing
Writing is thinking.
When you sit down to write, you force yourself to get clear on what you think. This can be challenging. In our heads, we can get away with gaps in our thinking. But when you sit down to write, you’re forced to clarify your thinking. If there’s a gap in your argument, you instantly notice it. Then you’re forced to improve it to make your argument coherent. This is why writing is makes you a clearer thinker.
Writing is how you connect the dots in your head.
But this isn’t the only thing it does. Writing is also the most important skill for creators.
Every piece of content, salespage, newsletter, email, video script, product outline, podcast, offer, book, and message is based on writing. Writing is the foundation of all content. If you can write well, you can build a massive audience. This lets you earn a good living doing what you love while also helping lots of other people.
Some people will hate on this. If you’re one of them, I recommend taking a look at your beliefs around money. Using writing to sell, or selling in general, isn’t bad. There are some people who abuse it, but you can sell and make money in an ethical way.
Let’s say you’re a dating coach. You’ve been doing cold approaches for 5 years and you now have a fantastic relationship. You have valuable advice that could benefit thousands of people. So now you can write valuable free content that helps people.
While you do this, you build up your audience and reputation. Some people in your audience would like more help from you. So you decide to launch a course or coaching program. You include the very best advice and strategies you have. Some people buy it, go through it, and transform their dating lives. They are much happier and grateful for your help, and you made money while doing so. A big win-win.
That’s what writing allows you to do. It lets you help others on scale while making a good living in the process. People have problems that cause pain. You have information that could help them to solve these problems. Writing is the tool you use to transform the ideas in your head into content and products that help other people to solve their problems so they can improve their lives.
It’s one of the most powerful tools in the world. Learn to use it properly.
In short: Writing helps you to think clearer because it identifies the gaps in your thinking. You can also use it to create valuable content and products that help thousands of people while letting you get paid to do what you enjoy most.
4. Energy Management
Energy management is underrated. We all have a limited amount of energy. So it’s important that we 1) get the most energy out of ourselves and 2) spend it wisely.
To maximize your energy, you need to control your habits, your diet, and your information diet. Your body needs certain habits to restore its energy. There are hundreds of tiny things you can do for this, but it makes more sense to focus on the ones with the highest impact. These habits are sleeping 8 or 9 hours, eating healthy most of the time, exercising, minimizing your cheap dopamine consumption, and taking proper breaks (for example meditating, yoga, and walking in nature). This is how you get the most out of your body.
Then there’s your information diet. We become what we consume. Our diet shapes our body. Our info diet shapes our mind. So it’s important that you curate your information diet carefully.
Carefully select the people you consume content from. You pay them attention, so make sure you get something valuable in return. This can be education, inspiration, or new perspectives and ideas. There are millions of people you can follow, so only follow the ones who actually improve your life.
The same is true in real life. There are people who make your life better or worse. Spend most of your time with the ones who make it better. I don’t mean that they give you stuff. I mean that you genuinely enjoy the time you spend with them.
You can be yourself with them, you can talk about topics that interest you, and you can share what’s on your mind without getting judged. Those are the people who deserve your time. It’s ok if this is only a handful of people. It’s better to have 5 real friends than 100 fake ones. Quality over quantity.
Work is also crucial. If you do work that you hate or that doesn’t align with your character, then this can lead to burnout.
In my experience, burnout doesn’t come from working hard. It comes from doing work that’s out of alignment. The more out of alignment you are, the more energy it takes to do the work. This makes you feel exhausted, and if you keep it up for too long, you start to feel burned out.
That’s why it’s very important to find work that you enjoy doing. It usually takes a few attempts to figure out what this is for you. But when you find it, life becomes a lot more enjoyable.
In short: Don’t spend your time on the habits, activities, and people who drain you. Get clear on what gives you energy, get your habits in order so your body is well-rested, and curate your info diet and circle so it actually improves your life.
5. Emotional Control
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
– Viktor Frankl
The anxiety and depression numbers are higher than they’ve ever been before.
I can’t explain this entire topic in one article. But one of the things that can help with this is learning to control your emotions.
Emotional control isn’t about never feeling anything or suppressing your emotions. It’s about control. So noticing the emotion, taking a moment to pause so you can choose your response, and then deciding how to express the emotion.
Sometimes, this means speaking up or expressing your emotions. Sometimes, this means not saying anything and not expressing the emotion.
People seem to think it’s black or white with emotions. You either suppress them completely like hustle culture tells you or you express them all of the time like woke culture tells you. I think the real answer is more nuanced.
You should process all your emotions. But you shouldn’t express or suppress your emotions all the time. Instead, you start to become very mindful about it. You try to become aware of the gap between stimulus and response. So the event and how you respond to (or interpret) the event. In that gap lies your power to decide.
For example, rain touching your skin is the stimulus. You getting annoyed is your response. It’s a decision you made. You could’ve picked a different response.
You automatically feel sensations. But getting emotional is a choice. And just like with all choices, sometimes it’s the right one and sometimes it’s the wrong one.
The better you can control your emotions, the better your life will be.
This takes practice. Mindfulness meditations are great for this. Simply lay down, close your eyes, and observe your thoughts. When you get distracted or emotional, notice it, and return to the present moment without labelling it. This is how you create space between you and your thoughts and emotions. This makes it easier to spot the space between stimulus (what happens) and perception (how you interpret it).
In short: Emotional control is about learning to become aware of what you feel and finding appropriate ways to deal with it. You don’t suppress or blindly express your emotions, but you become aware of them, you allow yourself to feel them, and then you make the best decision. Your emotions don’t control you, you control them.
These are 5 of the best skills to develop in 2026.
Judgment → knowing what to do
Self-control → actually doing this thing
Writing → thinking and creating content
Energy management → maximizing your energy
Emotional control → processing your emotions effectively
Of course there are more important skills to learn. But if you learn these 5 skills, you will do very well in the next decade.
This post took a week to put together. If it resonated with you, please share it. The more people building these skills, the better the world around us gets.
Thanks and talk to you next week!
Stijn
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Underrated
I gotta agree with Rohit in the comments here. This post is underrated. I wasn't sure what I was gonna read. But judgement and self control alone could've been their own newsletters. Hmmm, maybe I'm ahead of the game and you're already working on a self control newsletter haha