top » talent » ability » list of abilities

175 Abilities List

John Spacey, updated on September 15, 2024

Abilities are talents and character traits that allow you to do things. These can relate to education, professions and personal pursuits such as hobbies or social life. Abilities may require knowledge but more closely tie to cognitive skills, aptitude and practice whereby you have cultivated a talent that is highly usable. The following are common examples of abilities.

Acting	Aesthetics & Style
Analysis	Applying Ethics & Philosophy
Applying Science & Technology	Architecture
Art	Attention Span
Attention to Detail	Body Language
Calculated Risk Taking	Caring for Animals
Charm	Closing Sales
Coaching / Mentoring	Coding
Compassion	Competitive Spirit
Concept Development	Construction & Trades
Convergent Thinking	Cooking / Baking
Coolness	Cooperation
Costume Design	Courage
Crafts	Creative Intuition & Vision
Creative Writing	Critical Thinking
Cultural Capital	Cultural Competence
Dance	Data Analysis
Debate	Decision Making
Delivering to Commitments	Design Thinking
Divergent Thinking	Drawing
Emotional Intelligence	Entrepreneurial Thinking
Establishing Credibility	Establishing Rapport
Ethos (influencing with authority and status)	Etiquette & Manners
Experiment Design	Eye Contact
Facilitation	Fashion Design
Film Making	Financial Analysis
Financial Control	Financial Planning
Fluid Intelligence	Foraging for Opportunity
Forecasts, Estimates & Predictions	Framing Messages
Game Design	Goal Setting
Grit	Hand-eye Coordination
Handling Ambiguity	Handling Conflict
Handling Criticism	Handling Disappointment
Handling Stress	Honesty & Candor
Humility	Humor
Hypothesis Design	Hypothesis Testing
Imagination	Implementing Instructions,Procedures and Processes
Improv	Industrial Design
Information Architecture	Information Design
Inspiring Others	Interior Design
Introspection	Invention
Investigation	Know-how
Language	Leading People
Learning	Logic
Logos (influencing with logic)	Maintenance & Repair
Managing Expectations	Managing People
Managing Processes	Managing Risk
Managing Tension	Managing Time
Mathematics	Measurement & Optimization
Medicine & Health	Meeting Management
Memory	Model Making
Music Composition	Musical Instruments
Navigation	Negotiation
Objection Handling	Objectivity
Openness & Flexibility	Optimism
Organization	Outdoors & Nature
Painting	Pathos (influencing with emotion)
Performance Art	Personal Resilience
Persuasion	Physical Balance & Coordination
Physical Endurance	Physical Strength
Plain Language	Planning
Play	Politeness & Tact
Politics / Office Politics	Powers of Observation
Pragmatism	Problem Solving
Process Design	Professionalism
Prototyping	Public Speaking
Reaction Time	Reasoning
Recreation & Hobbies	Relationship Building
Research	Resourcefulness
Second Languages	Selective Attention
Self-awareness	Self-control
Self-direction	Self-discipline
Showmanship	Singing
Situational Awareness	Social Intelligence
Social Intuition	Socializing
Spatial Reasoning	Sports
Statistics	Storytelling
Strategy	Structural Design
Studying	Systems Thinking
Tactics	Taking on Responsibility
Teaching	Technology Analysis
Technology Architecture & Design	Test Taking
Thinking in First Principles	Tolerance
Troubleshooting	User Experience Design
Using Technology	Verbal Communication
Video Games	Visual Communication
Visual Design	Wit
Written Communication

Convergent thinking is the process of answering questions with well defined solutions such as a math problem.

Divergent thinking is the process of answering open-ended questions such as designing something that has never been designed before.

Cultural competence is the ability to cooperate with people with whom you have little or no shared culture.

Message framing is the art of wording things well.

Managing expectations is the process of clearly communicating what you will and will not deliver. It is common for stakeholders to develop wild assumptions about your work that lead to disappointment.

Managing tension is the process of embracing criticism, creative tension and argument without letting it get out of hand to become overly negative or emotional.

Plain language is the ability to explain things in a way that non-experts can intuitively understand.

Systems thinking is the process of considering the broad end-to-end impact of change to complex systems.

Social Abilities

Talents related to relationship building, cooperative life and navigating social situations. Social abilities are a large area that include valuable and elusive talents such as personal magnetism, leadership and personal presence.

175 Abilities List

Social Abilities

Trending