13 Key Skills To Live a Meaningful and Joyful Life the 21st Century (+ Practical Tips To Cultivate Them) [#21]

A revealing conversation with a civil servant sparked many questions.

He shared that in his everyday interactions, he feels that people have become angrier and less patient with him.

Is that a symptom of the exponential change we are going through?

The world is spinning faster and faster. Time is money. We optimize for productivity and efficiency.

Becoming less patient, then, is a natural outcome.

Our attention economy, where algorithms optimize for engagement, evokes emotions that keep us engaged. These emotions are often rage or fear.

Becoming angrier, then, is a natural outcome of that system.

Now we have Artificial Intelligence acting as fuel on this fire, increasing the speed of life, further decreasing patience and increasing anger.

What, then, are the skills we need to cultivate to be able to cope and live meaningful and joyful lives in the 21st century?

Here is what I believe will help you in 2026 and beyond:

#1 Attention

Your attention is at the source of everything.

You can’t learn from your emotions when you don’t pay attention to feel them.

You can’t feel at peace when you are constantly distracted.

You can’t have meaningful connections when you lack the attention to deeply listen to another person.

You won’t produce anything meaningful if you can’t concentrate for more than 5 minutes.

Focus is the currency of the 21st century
- Warren Buffett

One thing to try to cultivate attention this year:
Develop a daily meditation habit. After you wake up, sit upright in bed and set a timer for 10 minutes. Try to concentrate on your breathing and catch yourself every time your mind wanders, and then come back to the breath.

If it’s challenging at first, try a guided meditation course on a mindfulness app like Insight Timer or Headspace.

Once you get the hang of it, you will notice the impact on your daily life. You will catch yourself more easily when you drift away by following your thoughts, and you will be able to come back to the present moment more easily.

By cultivating attention, you will be more present with other beings, feel more at peace, be there for yourself and your emotions, and be able to concentrate better.

#2 Compassion

We can’t solve problems on the same level of consciousness that created them - Albert Einstein

When the world becomes more impatient and angry, compassion is the antidote.

Being angry is often a sign of not feeling heard. So if you listen to someone with compassion, the anger often evaporates.

When someone is behaving badly, you can ask yourself: What made the person this way? It will lead to more compassionate answers than judging reactively.

You can transform anger, pain and sadness into compassion for yourself and others.

In the world of changemaking and systems change, cultivating this inner quality is key.

One thing to try to cultivate compassion this year:
Think about a situation when you felt angry at someone for doing something. Feel into that anger. Now ask yourself what made the person that way. Was it childhood trauma? Is it the stress of the system they are part of? Was it a call to be listened to? Now try to shift that anger to truly feeling sorry for that person without judging them. Watch that anger transform.

#3 Critical Thinking

We need to ask better questions rather than believing the current answers.

Why should we as a species be saved? What does a good life within planetary boundaries look like? Is endless economic growth the answer? Is it really the refugees that are to blame for everything, or is it because we ran into planetary boundaries a long time ago?

Thinking critically in the age of easy populist answers is essential.

Critical thinking also trains the ability to make sense of information.

Questioning where to read news will make us move from reading headlines in our polarizing newsfeeds towards unbiased news.

Various studies estimate that 50%-66% of online content is now AI-generated and optimized for engagement, not important information.

Fake news travels 7x faster online because it is more outrageous and more likely to be engaged with or shared.

It is a good time to opt for a local newspaper again. Paying for your news is a great way to not be a slave to biased news.

I believe critical, independent journalism (that is not reliant on advertising revenue) is essential for a functioning society and democracy. In Germany, I support ​this outlet​ on a monthly basis to get investigative reports with no ads.

If you can afford it, find a similar outlet in your region.

Remember, if you are not paying for a product, you are the product being sold.

One thing to try to cultivate critical thinking this year:
Critical thinking means asking more and better questions. But to ask better questions, you might want to get inspired. ​Watch this 30 min documentary​ to understand the world better and ask better questions about your learning in your local context.

#4 Community-building

For a meaningful live you should focus on connection with the people in the communities you live in.

Online polarization, rage, anger, and speed can be combated with slower, humane conversations.

Giving your attention to the places and people around us will serve you more in the long run than reading another polarized headline. If shit hits the fan, it is local people who help you out.

You will realize that you have much more in common with the people than digital media wants you to believe.

It’s a classic authoritarian playbook. Divide & rule.

People who fear their neighbour look for a strong leader to take care of them.
But people who are connected to their community and feel cared for don’t fall for populist crap.

3 things to try this year to cultivate community:
Introduce yourself to a neighbour and learn their name.
Join a local association that meets offline.
Smile and say hello to the people you meet around your streets (you might even make someones day :-) )

When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence (e.g. communities) in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.” - llya Prigogine

#5 Communication

Many of us need to re-learn how to properly communicate with other humans without a screen.

​Active listening​ and ​non-violent communication​ are keys to a better future rooted in understanding.

We often listen to respond, which creates misunderstanding and the feeling of not being heard.

We can change the world by actively listening.

One thing to try this year to cultivate better communication:
In your conversations, try to listen without judgment or the need to respond.

#6 Collaboration

We need to collaborate across the globe to systemically tackle the crises that are endangering human lives on earth. And then act locally.

There is not one straightforward way to collaborate.

It starts with the relationships to the people you want to collaborate with.

When you identify a topic in your community that you all feel passionate about, you can ideate what potential solutions could work.

Then you set goals and work together towards reaching them, confronting obstacles on the way together as a group.

Simple, but not easy.

One thing to try this year to cultivate better collaboration:
Ask yourself: What are local issues and ways to work on them within your community? What are you doing alone where others could help? What is a good way to organize?

Doing a weekly potluck with friends and neighbours is a great way to build community, practice communication and start collaborations together.

#7 Creativity

Collaboration and creativity go together and enhance each other. We need new solutions or reiterate old solutions to new contexts. Imagination is essential for a better future.

Everything you imagine begins to exist
- Ilse Aigner

If all we can imagine is more economic growth, we will end up in a dystopian future.

One way to train imagination is to get inspired, take in what is useful and add what’s in your head.

I hope some of these skills inspire you, and you can take them and use them in your context.

One thing to try this year to cultivate more creativity:
Sit down with a piece of paper and start dreaming wild. What is the best vision for the future you can come up with? What is one step you can take this year to move towards it? Maybe the ​Solarpunk Movement​ can inspire you here.

#8 Self-knowledge

With ever increasing content overload and advice, it becomes more important to get to know yourself.

“Knowing thyself”, as Socrates postulated, helps you not to get hacked by algorithms.

If you know what is valuable to you, it is easier to stop scrolling and spending more time on what gives you joy.

You are the master of your life. You carry inside of you all the knowledge you need to live a good life. You just need to tap into it.

3 things to try this year to cultivate more self-knowledge:
Journaling, meditation, and asking for feedback are 3 practices that help you cultivate more self-knowledge. ​More on this here​.

#9 Emotional Intelligence

Another key skill that is essential in the 21st century is emotional intelligence.

AI models will be so good at some point that they will be able to manipulate our emotions.

This is already happening in Social Media feeds: depending on what the algorithm deems as our current emotional state, it shows us advertisements with a proposed “solution” to feel better.

Feeling is a superpower. Appreciation and curiosity for emotions can get you through anything. If you really feel through all of our emotions, it improves your mood, relationships, and essentially your life.

What if we were able to feel, name and process our emotions better?

We would be more aware of what we truly need, not what a billion-dollar marketing industry tells us we need.

Our emotions would be less intense, and we would live more joyfully.

One thing to try this year to cultivate emotional intelligence:
Pause before reacting — especially in moments when you feel a strong emotion rising.

Here’s how it works: when something triggers frustration, defensiveness, or anger, take a deliberate pause (even just 3-5 seconds or a few deep breaths) before responding. In that space, simply notice what you’re feeling and ask yourself: “What’s actually happening here? What do I really need right now?”

This creates a gap between stimulus and response where emotional intelligence lives. Instead of being hijacked by the emotion, you become aware of it, which gives you a choice in how to respond. Over time, this practice strengthens your ability to recognize emotional patterns, understand what triggers you, and respond in ways that align with your values rather than just your immediate feelings.

#10 Life-purpose skills

In a society that teaches us that making money is the highest goal, general life-purpose skills are essential. By that I refer to the ability to develop a meaningful philosophy in life, to evaluate what is valuable to you and to live according to that.

It’s harder said than done.

For me, it required a lot of trial and error, and I am still learning.

This skill is highly individual, so I will just offer you 2 exercises that helped me develop my philosophy.

2 things to try this year to develop life-purpose skills:

1. Funeral Speech
Write the speech someone would give at your funeral. Use your imagination. What would a friend, partner, or person from your community say in the face of your passing? What do you want to be remembered for when everything material vanishes?

2. The well-worn path vs. the less-travelled path
Write two letters to your future self.

In one, you describe the well-worn path. The path that most people follow, which offers security and validation. What is life like on that path? How will your future look? What will your job be? How will you feel? What will you say after the journey when you look back on it?

In the other letter, describe the less-travelled path. The path that’s more mysterious and looks like an adventure. What is life like on this path? What places will you see? How will you feel? What will you say after the journey when you look back on it?

Read both letters and see which one speaks more to you. Then start living according to that.

#11 Food Sovereignty

With weather extremes rising and supply chains being disrupted in the future, I think that being able to grow your own food or source it locally is a key skill that will become more relevant with time.

Lack of food sovereignty is what keeps us trapped in a dysfunctional system.

Expect food prices to rise exponentially on average 3% every year from now on and plan for that.

From growing some yourself to joining a local community-supported agriculture initiative and supporting local growers.

#12 Nervous System Regulation

The not-so-obvious but essential skill in 2026 is staying sane in a world that seems to have gone crazy.

An activated sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) breeds anxiety and fear when we need calm and love.

So we need to learn how to regulate the system to stay grounded & joyful.

Some Ideas to try this year to stay calm, peaceful and loving:
Self-care practices such as forest walks, barefoot walking, or spending time with a supportive community and/or partner are proven to lower stress hormones and relax our nervous system.

Breathing practices can help calm our nervous system in the moment, too. I use box breathing when I feel stressed:
4 seconds inhale
4 seconds hold
4 seconds out breath
4 seconds hold
Then repeat this box for 2 minutes.

#13 Humour and active hope

Humour is key to staying resilient. It’s more fun to work with a smile while making the world a better place. :-)

The history is being written as we speak; no one knows the outcome.

With hope, love and joy in our hearts, we are equipped to make the world better than the default that the metacrisis is pushing on us.

One thing to try this year:
Regularly remind yourself what you are grateful for and what gives you hope. Gratitude lets you focus on all the things you have. Hope lets you act despite the future being uncertain.

Recap:

1. Attention
2. Compassion
3. Critical Thinking
4. Community-building
5. Communication
6. Collaboration
7. Creativity
8. Self-Knowledge
9. Emotional intelligence
10. Life-purpose skills
11. Food Sovereignty
12. Nervous system regulation
13. Humour & Active Hope

Choose the one that speaks most to you and start with that.

Of course, there are plenty of other skills to learn. This is just a collection based on everything that I have learned about how the world works. It’s the ones that, for me, contribute the most towards cultivating a meaningful and joyful life in changing times.

Despite all the challenging things happening in the world, I hope you can stay light, laugh as much as you can and notice the good things that life gifts us every day.

I feel deep gratitude for the fact that you are spending your precious lifetime on reading my thoughts online. Feel free to respond; I read every email.

Happy regenerating,

Jonas