Best Advice for Success? Build An Unrelenting Passion For Questioning Then Drop Out of College
Posted: Monday, June 08, 2009
by Jeff Brown
Inner Projection
Why do so many fall into the "I gotta go to college" matrix? If every high school student is taught to think this way, then our children are in grave danger. First of all, few and far between are ready for the rigors of academia upon first attending. The academic abyss between high school and college (never mind the emotional / social / responsibility change) is expansive and growing. The number of first-time attendees who register and don't graduate is staggering. Worse yet, they've all been told or influenced to think college is the end-all and cure-all and any other way to job or career is "inferior" thinking. College is by far not the end-all and cure-all it's put out to be nor is it without its own problems and shortcomings.
There is so much wrong here that I could fill volumes, but for now, I'll just give you the head lines.
It is the rare student, few and fare between, who has the level of curiosity and inquisitiveness that is essential in this day n age of the entrepreneur. Since the average new workforce employee will have at least 3 to 5 career changes in a lifetime (some experts say as many as 10), you can no longer afford to consider yourself an employee, especially an employee of any one company. You as a modern day worker (or as I like to call it, a new-world global worker) must see yourself as an entrepreneur who is constantly building skills, knowledge, and attitudes to work toward greater success and career stability. If you don't do this then your long-term work life is toast.
Considering that job stability is a thing of the past because of downsizing, outsourcing, and the overall rapid economic change, along with the death of pensions and social security, it is more than ever vital to be ahead of the pack. You have to keep your knowledge, skills, and attitudes sharp and updated to ensure that you'll not only keep your job but when the time is right that you'll get the next job or move up.
No longer can you sit and just "ride it out" to retirement. That is a thing of the past. Even relying too much on college for the end all and cure all is dangerous thinking and sets you up for the inevitable fall. To cite some examples of those who've been uber-successful with little to no help from college will hopefully get you thinking along the proper line of thought.
Leonardo de Vinci, a polymath (skilled in engineering, art, science, etc.) built his understanding through personal, extensive observation and analysis and little formal schooling.
Albert Einstein had some college but to come up with the creative he thought outside the box, doing most of his thinking while working at a patent office.
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense (the most read booklet of its time and critical to building revolutionary sentiment) had this to say about creative thought: " As to the learning that any person gains from school education, it serves only like a small capital, to put him in the way of beginning learning for himself afterward. Every person of learning is finally his own teacher, the reason for which is, that principles cannot be impressed upon the memory; their place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so lasting as when they begin by conception"
Benjamin Franklin, another polymath, studied and observed like Da Vinci to produce some of the most important and influential writings and inventions known to mankind and why he, even though not a holder of any major office during the revolutionary era, is the best know man of his time.
Alan Greenspan, a premier chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and an extremely high achiever, developed a heightened curiosity. He labeled himself a "sponge for information." In his autobiography, he speaks of billionaire Suleiman Olayan who began as a truck driver for the Arabian American Oil Company then sold water to businesses, diversified into construction, insurance, and eventually bought stock in JPMorgan, Chase Manhattan, Mellon, Bankers Trust, and four of five other big names. He too, like Greenspan, was a sponge for information.
I have personally heard of the super successful who spends most of his spare time reading and studying to maintain an edge. You may not want to be super successful or a CEO, but in this day of the entrepreneur, you can't get lazy and stagnant. The change coming at you at breakneck speed demands you keep your head in the game, and this requires a constant updating of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
If you don't build a curiosity for something, a passion, an interest in something that doesn't go beyond the normal, you will more than likely not achieve the success you desire, for working just for a paycheck gets old faster than you think. And in this day 'n age, that thinking won't help you hold onto a job anyway. But if you don't achieve success, you will never reap the joy and level of satisfaction that is unspeakable or that which we were all designed for but few achieve; the experience is unimaginable and a beauty that only the fortunate will behold.
Stop listening to failed high school and college counselors who've been out of the loop for years if not decades and have little to no understanding of what real life success is or what it takes to achieve (one told Dan Kennedy, a uber-successful marketing guru he should be a social worker; another told a famous movie director to consider another field). Stop listening to uninformed friends, family, and acquaintances and find out what you really need to do to not only achieve but to find uber-happiness and the joy in life you require and deserve.
- "Required" classes are arbitrary and vary from college to college
- Curriculums are assigned with little explanation as to anticipated outcomes and practical application
- Curriculums are assigned with little to no research into match with student's real skills, attitudes, abilities
- Colleges supply knowledge and overlook that of building critical, real life skills and attitudes
- Colleges rarely directly address self-control, accountability, work ethic, focus, discipline on and on
- Academics mainly work to theory with students very rarely put in real world situations
- Learning occurs best by doing not by sitting and listening with little chance for application
- Students very rarely are encouraged to do the required self-exploration to determine strengths
- Students very rarely are encouraged to address destructive personal weaknesses & shortcomings
- The average student will no longer use his / her degree within 5 to 10 years
- Even Harvard is not the end-all and cure-all to success: 5% of one graduating class made more than the other 95% combined due to missing critical knowledge, skills, and attitudes
- Colleges don't teach students how to deal with failure
- Colleges don't teach students how to deal with people: peers and fellow employees
- Colleges don't teach students how to do more than is required to obtain success
- Colleges don't teach students how to work from the mindset of an entrepreneur but rather to outdated models of job maintenance and retention philosophies or none at all
It is the rare student, few and fare between, who has the level of curiosity and inquisitiveness that is essential in this day n age of the entrepreneur. Since the average new workforce employee will have at least 3 to 5 career changes in a lifetime (some experts say as many as 10), you can no longer afford to consider yourself an employee, especially an employee of any one company. You as a modern day worker (or as I like to call it, a new-world global worker) must see yourself as an entrepreneur who is constantly building skills, knowledge, and attitudes to work toward greater success and career stability. If you don't do this then your long-term work life is toast.
Considering that job stability is a thing of the past because of downsizing, outsourcing, and the overall rapid economic change, along with the death of pensions and social security, it is more than ever vital to be ahead of the pack. You have to keep your knowledge, skills, and attitudes sharp and updated to ensure that you'll not only keep your job but when the time is right that you'll get the next job or move up.
No longer can you sit and just "ride it out" to retirement. That is a thing of the past. Even relying too much on college for the end all and cure all is dangerous thinking and sets you up for the inevitable fall. To cite some examples of those who've been uber-successful with little to no help from college will hopefully get you thinking along the proper line of thought.
Leonardo de Vinci, a polymath (skilled in engineering, art, science, etc.) built his understanding through personal, extensive observation and analysis and little formal schooling.
Albert Einstein had some college but to come up with the creative he thought outside the box, doing most of his thinking while working at a patent office.
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense (the most read booklet of its time and critical to building revolutionary sentiment) had this to say about creative thought: " As to the learning that any person gains from school education, it serves only like a small capital, to put him in the way of beginning learning for himself afterward. Every person of learning is finally his own teacher, the reason for which is, that principles cannot be impressed upon the memory; their place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so lasting as when they begin by conception"
Benjamin Franklin, another polymath, studied and observed like Da Vinci to produce some of the most important and influential writings and inventions known to mankind and why he, even though not a holder of any major office during the revolutionary era, is the best know man of his time.
Alan Greenspan, a premier chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and an extremely high achiever, developed a heightened curiosity. He labeled himself a "sponge for information." In his autobiography, he speaks of billionaire Suleiman Olayan who began as a truck driver for the Arabian American Oil Company then sold water to businesses, diversified into construction, insurance, and eventually bought stock in JPMorgan, Chase Manhattan, Mellon, Bankers Trust, and four of five other big names. He too, like Greenspan, was a sponge for information.
I have personally heard of the super successful who spends most of his spare time reading and studying to maintain an edge. You may not want to be super successful or a CEO, but in this day of the entrepreneur, you can't get lazy and stagnant. The change coming at you at breakneck speed demands you keep your head in the game, and this requires a constant updating of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
If you don't build a curiosity for something, a passion, an interest in something that doesn't go beyond the normal, you will more than likely not achieve the success you desire, for working just for a paycheck gets old faster than you think. And in this day 'n age, that thinking won't help you hold onto a job anyway. But if you don't achieve success, you will never reap the joy and level of satisfaction that is unspeakable or that which we were all designed for but few achieve; the experience is unimaginable and a beauty that only the fortunate will behold.
Stop listening to failed high school and college counselors who've been out of the loop for years if not decades and have little to no understanding of what real life success is or what it takes to achieve (one told Dan Kennedy, a uber-successful marketing guru he should be a social worker; another told a famous movie director to consider another field). Stop listening to uninformed friends, family, and acquaintances and find out what you really need to do to not only achieve but to find uber-happiness and the joy in life you require and deserve.
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)"Stop listening to uninformed friends, family, and acquaintances and find out what you really need to do to not only achieve but to find uber-happiness and the joy in life you require and deserve." Again, your words are wisdom... Surely it puts me in the thinking of JOB. Thanks Jeff for keeping my spirit turning.Dr. Rucker,
Once again, thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to read and comment.
Hi Jeff.Excellent article. Excellent advice. Where were you when I started College. Oh wait! Maybe you were still in grade school. :)Seriously, though, everyone should read this. I'm constantly curious. I love the wealth of information available online and in books. It's just that the things I get curious about don't seem to benefit me financially. :) Oh, and my degree is in biology and I spent most of my life working in retail. Currently I find making jewelry, horses and writing taking up most of my time and not necessarily in that order. But I'm curious about everything. Any ideas about how I can make money with that? :)Thanks for your thoughts and well done,DianneDianne,
Often times its the underlying belief system regarding success, marketing and positioning that determine success more than one's field of choice. I personally know of two people who were working everyday jobs making good money who gave up the boring life to excel and exceed the imaginations of many. And it's amazing what imagination, creativity, and hope of success can do. These two men are making large dollars doing what they love. One has a mustard company (can check him out at mustardweb dot com) and having too much fun making too much money. Another, of all things, has a super successful web site teaching people how to make scrap books.
One big factor in success is positioning oneself through doing the different. Case in point, one lawyer was looking to expand his business, so what did he do? He advertised on soap cakes in men's restroom urinals. When a certain amount of pressure was applied (you know what I mean), a recording played advertising his wares.
Another woman wanted to get a sales job at Colgate. She was told, sorry no jobs available. Then she got creative. She took her resume to a t-shirt printer, had it put on a t-shirt, rolled it up into a Colgate toothpaste box, sent it to the director of sales, got the interview, got the job.
So whether you love making jewelry, breeding or riding horses or writing, if there's a creative (brave enough to seek difference and utilize it to one's advantage), hope encrusted will there's a way.If you've decided your job/goal in life is to inspire people to be all that they can be, well you shall surely succeed.Thanks,DianneDianne,
Thanks for the encouragement. I once heard a successful person say that unless you're seeking to achieve in all things then you've missed the point of living. Amen.
I have had two different directors of Respiratory Therapy tell me that "seniority and experience don't mean" a thing. Years on the job are nothing, at least in the medical world.That's interesting. So they feel someone who's just started can do as good a job as someone with 10 years experience? Hmmmmm . . .Yes they do, and at a much lower rate of pay- fodder for an article in the works. Could cost me my career.Ah, you hit the nail in the head. Their motivation is to cut costs.
But I say, write that article, then you can open up that dog kennel you always wanted (that's actually what my uncle did; he was a respiratory therapist--where he met his wife--quit his job and now owns the largest dog kennel in Connecticut).
I got the sense that the author disapproved of "college for college sake" :)There was a slight bias towards equating "success" with "money." Some of us went to college exactly for the reasons the author called out as problems. To each his own!However, I completely agree that universities and colleges do not teach enough (perhaps any) entrepreneurship or practical life and work skills. 95% of it is abstract...got to balance things more to the side of practical application.Yes, not enough of the practical taught, that's for sure. Thanks for stopping by. College certainly has its good points, but the deception that it "prepares" the student and is the end-all and cure-all for success is a problem. And it certainly doesn't prepare the students for the rigors of success, nor does it prepare the student to handle the current financial burdens from work years to retirement, for 95% who retire today, even, rely on family, friends, govt. and poorly paid jobs to survive. A sad state of affairs indeed.
it is really good to stop listening to friends and find out the best for yourself. gooooooood work DR ruckerAppreciate the praise. Thanks.
Unfortunately, all of the education and experience in the world won't help climb The Ladder unless you know the right people. Sad, it is, and yet no one seems to talk about it since it's a given.Well done, Jeff.Yeah, Mike, just a portion of the critical knowledge, skills, attitudes needed to succeed in life. Thanks for reading / writing.
Jeff,As they say here in my neighborhood: "Real Talk!" You have some very positive points in this write, until I had to flag it as a favorite. Thanks Jeff for all you do and share with us here on the Warp!Ronyae,
Thanks for stopping to read and comment. And yes, much more "real" talk is needed in this world. Thanks again.
Hi Jeff.Very interesting, insightful, informative article. It is true what you said. I have to start thinking very seriously(and soon)seeing myself as an entrepreneur and not as an employee. (I think my work life is already a toast. LOL) Great advice.Best regards,NenitaNenita,
Thanks for taking the time to read.
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