Skills & Abilities - What's The Difference?
Skills and abilities are often used interchangeably in our daily career conversations. As a career coach, however, I would like to point out the difference.
Skills are our ability to do something well. We acquire skills. We learn skills. If I express an interest in becoming a counsellor, then I need to learn the skills of counseling. I would do this by going to school and learning the skills that are required for me to become a counsellor - this is a regulated profession so my first step would be to look at accredited education programs.
If I have an interest in music, let’s say playing the ocarina for instance, after witnessing the numerous tunes from a videogame (The Legend of Zelda). I will need to learn the skill of playing the ocarina.
Skills can be learned or acquired. The time I spend learning, mastering, and practicing the skill will determine not only how good I become at the skill, but my ability to excel at the skill.
Abilities are a set of skills - many of us possess certain abilities or aptitudes. These are innate skills or our natural ability to do something.
For example, in grade 7, I was told to pick a musical instrument and I chose the flute. My friend did the same. We both ended up in the same class, both beginners, both playing the flute. What I witnessed next surprised me. My friend would play the flute as if she had been playing it for years. She was so good that she convinced me to sneak into the advanced class - and so I did. I followed her lead and soon we were both playing in the advanced class. To clarify, she was the one playing in the advanced class while I pretended to play. My friend had a natural ability at learning this instrument whereas I did not. I remember the day I got caught - my instructor asked me to play a solo (and this instructor was known for having a temper). My heart almost jumped out of my chest as I knew I was caught. I thought the best way to handle the situation was to not pretend or lie any further. So I responded with “Ummm…actually I don’t really know how to play”. He smiled and told me that this was not the class for me as he gently escorted me to the beginner class. What did I do? I never played the flute again. I thought I was not good enough. I quit. I misunderstood my friend’s natural ability as a standard for my skill.
We are all guilty of this to some extent. We look around and get carried away in someone’s abilities and aptitudes to convince ourselves that we will never be as good as them. The truth is, I don’t know if you will, and neither do you. Not everyone can become a pilot or an astronaut. We will have limitations that interfere with our ability to acquire a skill - whether those limitations pertain to genotype or phenotype. The only way to truly find out is for you to try and learn the skill. Not just learn it, but practice it. Our ability to excel at the skill will be somewhat dependent upon how many times we put that skill into practice. If we have enough drive or interest in acquiring the skill, then we might succeed in turning the skill into a talent. If we give up because we are too busy gawking at the natural talent of those next to us, and creating delusional expectations, then we will fail.
There is another side to this. Simply because you possess the ability or aptitude, a natural talent at a particular skill will not make you excel at it. It only means you will pick it up much faster, but your ability to excel at it will still depend on how much time you dedicate to practice. I seem to have a natural ability to play the keyboard/piano. I can hear a tune and play it and remember it. I have an ear for music and I love it. This pride caused me to stop practicing the skill and consequently I find myself making absolutely no progress with my ability to play the keyboard ( I am working on this).
The bottom line is this: skills can be learned. To learn them well enough to make a career out of it will depend on our cognitive abilities and our ability to pursue the skill. It will depend on our ability to pick it up, and our determination to excel at it. We might give up due to lack of interest or perhaps if we find it quite challenging and exhausting due to no fault of our own, both resulting in us letting go of that skill. That’s okay. As long as we understand the difference between our natural talents and skills, and we don’t compare our progress to others, we are off to a good start.
Most importantly, for us to truly ascertain if we have a talent or skill, we must always do this: Practice.