What They Don’t Teach You In School

What They Don’t Teach You In School
Posted By admin on March 27, 2007
Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, hasdedicated much of his life to studying what makesmillionaires successful. His research has revealed somevery unique insight into the mindset of the wealthy.
For example, he found that millionaires contributed theirsuccess to having strong social skills, having good mentors,developing persistence, having a supportive spouse, andworking in a career that they love to be the biggestfactors of success.
Having a high GPA in school was listed as one of the leastcontributing factors of their success. So while it may opensome doors, education is not what enables you to arrive atyour final destination.
As said by motivational speaker, Jim Rohn:
“A formal education will make you a living. Self-educationwill make you rich.”
With that said, we must question the true value of college.Is it really worth it? Well, I’ll leave that question forlater.
For now, I’d like to explore areas where are schools havefailed us. Yes, there are indeed some very simple factorsthat contribute strongly to your success. Unfortunately,they’re not being taught in the schools.
The first one is the concept of failure.
In school, kid’s learn that “failure” is a negative term.However, it is nothing of the sort. There has never been asingle successful person who hasn’t failed numerous times ontheir journey to success.
In fact, the most successful people in life are those whohave failed the most.
Edison ‘failed’ more than ten thousand times before hesucceeded in creating the light bulb. As said by ThomasEdison: “I have not failed 10,000 times. I havesuccessfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Here is my favorite failure story….
In 1832 he lost his job and was defeated for state legislature.In 1833 he failed in business.In 1835 his sweetheart died.In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.In 1843 he was defeated for nomination for Congress.In 1848 he lost renomination.In 1849 he was rejected for land officer.In 1854 he was defeated for U.S. Senate.In 1856 he was defeated for nomination for Vice President.In 1858 he was again defeated for U.S. Senate.In 1860 he was elected President: Mr. Abraham Lincoln.
My motto is: fail as quickly as possible.
Our world is changing. We are living in a global economy.You are no longer only competing against people living inthe United States. Because of the power of technology,we are now competing at a global level.
We are competing for jobs with those living in Japan, China,and India. These three countries are gaining incredibleeconomic power and are developing an excellent educationsystem.
You may be surprised to hear the many jobs that arecurrently being outsourced. It’s not just the factoryjobs and the call centers. Not at all….
All sorts of computer programming jobs are being outsourcedto India. The computer and technology field has literallybeen transformed by the extremely talented programmers inIndia.
Accounting is another major industry that is beginning to beoutsourced.
Here’s a fact that may surprise you though. Not only arecompanies sending jobs abroad, but they are also seeing a100 percent increase in productivity. The people in othercountries are working 100 times harder for the opportunityto have a job that we take for granted.
People in China and India are starving for your job. And inour new global economy, they can have it.
Most of American students who graduate from college feelentitled to a job. In India there are millions of eageryoung students fighting for relatively few jobs. If wedon’t continue to improve our skills, we’ll be sittingon the sidelines.
So, what’s the key to staying competitive?
You must learn to learn. The world is changing at anincredible pace. Almost everything you learn incollege will be outdated in a minimum of 5 years.That is, of course, unless you major in history.
You must keep up with the changes taking place inyour particular vocation to stay ahead of the curve.
Too many people believe that graduation is the end of theirlearning journey, when in reality it is only the beginning.We must be on a lifelong journey of learning, whether it befrom books, seminars, night classes, or home study courses.
What else is missing from our schools?
Finance!!!!
About 65 percent of college students who graduated in the2003-2004 school did so with lingering debts to pay off.
This doesn’t count the number of young people in debt due tocredit cards and it certainly doesn’t help that they havethese shiny plastic cards being sent to them almost weekly.How can they resist? Well, many don’t.
After they take the plunge, they are hit with high interestrates and hidden fees. The credit card companies know thatyoung students are not educated in the world of personalfinance and they have made them their number one target.
Our young people are not being taught how to invest andspend their money wisely. Success in life is often not inhow much money you make, but rather how you spend your money.
This is what we must teach students. This is a cornerstoneto living a successful life. However, instead students arelearning who won the War of 1812 and how to conjugate verbs.All good things to learn I’m sure but not of much use in thereal world.
Let’s teach them instead about investing in a Roth IRAaccount, a 401k, or the incredible value of compound interest.
Let’s teach our students the success principles thatactually make a difference in the real world.
Let’s teach them to be leaders.
Schools, for the most part, teach us to be good followers.They teach us how to follow directions and color inside thelines. Private schools, however, are often developing leaders.They are developing the students who will lead all of thosegood followers. Private schools are teaching their kids aboutthe importance of public speaking and how to be creative.
They don’t get a picture to color, they’re simply given a blanksheet of paper to let their minds wander on.
So, if you want to become a leader, you’re most likely going tohave to develop those skills outside of the classroom. Youcertainly won’t learn them in a textbook.
However, you can learn one of the greatest leadership skillsof all in an organization called Toastmasters. This is a club that can be found in cities across North Americathat teach people how to improve their public speaking andleadership skills.
And as you can probably imagine, public speaking is one ofthe most important qualities you must have as a leader. Youmust be able to motivate your employees, brief your superiors,and ultimately “sell yourself”.
If it were up to me, I would make public speaking a requiredclass in schools across the nation. Unfortunately, theyhaven’t asked me for my opinion yet.
One of the greatet lessons missing from our schoolsis goal setting.
Only three percent of people commit their goals to paper.These are the same people who find the greatest success inlife.
It has been said that just by writing your goal down youwill triple your results. By assigning a timeframe to yourgoal, you will then quintuple your commitment to the goaland the likelihood of achieving it.
Without a goal and a plan, we will never achieve all that wetruly want for our lives.
Every one of us has 168 hours a week to live our life to thefullest. However, if we examine our lives closely, most ofus will find that we have 30-40 hours during the week thatwe are wasting with television, the computer, and a numberof other distractions.
So many people go through life content with just beingaverage. They go through life just trying to get by. Theygo to work, come home, cook dinner, take care of the kids,and then go to bed in exhaustion.
Too many of us are running a rat race. We don’t know how toslow down and enjoy the moment.
However, when we live with goals, life becomes an adventure.Our life develops focus, meaning, and purpose. Without setgoals, we end up wherever life happens to take us, which isnever at a destination of our choosing.
Goals guide and direct our lives. They give us focus. Theygive us hope. And in the end, goals help us to reach a newlevel in life.
So, let’s teach our kids to make big goals. Let’s teach our kidsthe greatest keys to success. And then, if we have time, let’steach them who won the War of 1812.
The last thing that schools do not teach is how to figureout what you really want in life.
And to tell the truth, they could never teach you whatcareer endeavor is best for you anyway. This is a personaljourney that must be explored in the solitude of one’s mind.
However, our school years are the very best time to find outwhat we really want out of life. It is then that we have timeto truly figure out what it is we want to do with our lives.
Unfortunately, far too many people never take the time to dothis. If you have been in the workforce for any time at all,then you have met these types of people. They are the oneswho spend the whole week just looking forward to the weekend.Maybe you’re even one of those people yourself.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with getting a job thatpays the bills. The danger comes when you fall into aroutine, when you don’t have a plan, passion, or goal toshoot for.
It is then that the future looks very bleak for you.
Let’s not get stuck waiting for the weekend. Let’s find whatwe truly love to do in life and make it our vocation.
As said by Steve Jobs,
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true foryour work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going tofill a large part of your life, and the only way to be trulysatisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And theonly way to do great work is to love what you do.”
The most successful people in life are doing work which theylike best. It is very hard to succeed at something you hate.On the other hand, it’s hard not to succeed when working atsomething you love.
Everyone has a definite purpose and a vision for their lifethat could enrich the lives of others. The key is tuninginto that purpose.
There is some one thing that you can do better than anyoneelse in the world could do it. Search until you find outwhat this particular line of endeavor is, make it theobject of your definite chief aim and commit your life toachieving it. In your search for the work for which you arebest fitted, it will be well if you bear in mind the factthat you will most likely attain the greatest success byfinding out what work you like best, for it is a well knownfact that a person generally best succeeds in the particularline of endeavor into which he or she can throw their wholeheart and soul.
A definite purpose is something that you must create foryourself. No one else will create it for you and it will notcreate itself. Therefore, let’s spend our school yearsexploring what we truly want out of life while we don’t haveto worry about the bills, the job, the kids, and the weekendthat never seems to come.
When we find work that we truly love to do, it is then thatwe can live a life full of passion and purpose.
I believe that Christian D. Larson said it best:
“When you work simply for yourself or for your own personalgain your mind will seldom rise above the limitations ofthe undeveloped personal life;
but when you are inspired by some great purpose, someextraordinary project, all your thoughts break bounds; yourmind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands inevery direction;
and you find yourself in a new world, a great world, awonderful world; dormant powers, faculties and talentsbecome alive,
and you discover yourself to be a larger man by far than youever dreamed yourself to be.”
– Christian D. Larson, Business Psychology, 1912
Education serves many wonderful purposes. I am a bigbeliever in education. However, I’m smart enough toknow that learning doesn’t stop at graduation.
I’m smart enough to know that today’s technology hasprovided us with unlimited learning opportunities. Asinhabitors of the 21st century, we have a world of knowledgeat our fingertips.
I still know that the most important lessons in life are notfound in a textbook.
Although the knowledge you learn in school is important, it’snot anything you couldn’t learn in a book. The overall experienceof college and the four-year commitment are of much greater value.
In the end, your success is still up to you.
And that, is what they don’t teach you in school…