Human improvements have always been the backbone of inventions that advanced mankind. These were based on both knowledge and skills that we gained from time to time. Never before in the past decades has the topic of skills received as widespread attention and debate as now, with the dominant opinion equating success with upskilling or reskilling – and failure with stagnant skillsets.

The concept of lifelong learning is challenging the old-school maxim of frontloading all education. It is therefore intriguing to understand how people can take their core skills to new areas of work. What is the morphing mantra? How do people reshape their skill sets even when they are out of school? As knowledge and skill become increasingly crucial in human versus machine competition, should we be analyzing how we use old skills to do new tasks? And develop new skills with old abilities? What habit patterns helped successful people embrace skill learning and build it as second nature?