Lessons Skipped

Image from thecollegefoundingauthority.com

There are plenty of room for improvement for the education system societies have today. Apart from the K-12 transition in the local setting, other countries have taken radical steps in education which has resulted pretty much in topping the charts when it comes to education. Most probably you will find the same contenders over and over again - Singapore, South Korea, Japan among those in Asia and a good part of Europe including Finland and the Netherlands. 

However, individuals frequently fail to distinguish between what learning and education is. A popular quote widely attributed to Mark Twain says, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."  Unsurprisingly, it's not difficult to find people get so amazed to the point that they appear scandalized by the many ideas or things they consider as new but was around for some time, perhaps as old as them, anyway. Ignorance has a price.

Here are 17 Life Lessons They Should Teach in College But Don't. My favorite?

What I wish I knew when I was your age: A group of octogenarians lecture students on their biggest regrets in life.

It would be very interesting to hear it from the people who know the bell's gonna ring anytime soon - because we're inevitably headed there anyway.

Self-Assessment

Image from danutm.wordpress.com

From time to time we should direct a small piece of our consciousness towards assessing where we are heading to and who have we become. Another evaluation we should make is about our actions, including what we have done, what we are doing now and what we have planned for. Are these actions value-building? Would these serve you later on in life? And most importantly, are these steps sustainable?

It is because from what I have seen, too many times it is too late that we realize that we have strayed so far away from who we really are in an attempt to mimic another one or simply live the lifestyle of someone we wish to emulate. In that process, we lose the essence of being ourselves. We give more and more, financing the personality that we have built on a shaky foundation.

On your dying moment, which we will never know until we're face to face with death - can you tell yourself that the life you lived was worth it? 

Now, try assessing yourself and it would be very much useful to make this a daily habit. See the 83 questions successful people ask themselves.

What Would Someone Great Do?

Image from fbcover.todayblogpost.com

Steve Jobs has been one of my hero entrepreneurs for some time already. Although that name might be one of the first ones people would think of when asked who a good leader would be, he certainly would be in the front line if you were to ask about geniuses and luminaries. What I greatly admire is the construction of Apple devices - innovative and foolproof, a great part of which embedded Steve's philosophy.

Apple's tight control over its devices and related products was probably designed to give the user a very simplistic interface which would almost need no explaining while maintaining a sophisticated touch - one that can distinguish an Apple user from another very easily. The corporate giant's stores and products have become a culture in themselves; whenever a product is released, some stores would hit the headlines with people lining up to get their hands on the new releases, and more often than not, these products are testaments proclaiming the Gospel of Jobs so well in the stock market that necessitates jubilation from shareholders. 

I feel compelled to share some of Steve's thoughts while he walked with us. 

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

As far as I could remember, I know that I have two shirts that feature Steve's words. If the quote above could fit stylishly into any shirt, I'd wear it proudly everyday. It's YOLO expanded and explained so clearly. Those words are like carpe diem on steroids. What is lacking is that the fact that we only have one life to live should be shoved into our faces every single morning while we eat that stale looking sandwich for breakfast and ferry ourselves to a life of monotony either at school or at work. As animals empowered with an efficient use of our faculties and senses, we ought to be wise to know that the possibility of getting the same opportunity tomorrow might not exist; we must act decisively but with caution and care. 

Success is Relative

Chart and other data screengrab from MarketWatch.com

Success is relative. It can take on a variety of end results, depending on the subject. Like success, wealth is relative. Material wealth is one of the easiest things to quantify, but is one of the hardest things to let go.

What I propose is this: invest first in the way you think and process your thoughts. In that way, you could tame your desires and instincts so as to make it easier for yourself to reach material abundance. A person not trained to deal with such a prosperous catch will find himself unable to spend and preserve his wealth in a wise manner, and will soon find himself wanting again.

Insofar as the stock market is concerned, success is always relative. First, the stock exchange would probably be earning from the transactions; second, there would be jobs to be filled in creating value through the services provided to facilitate transactions; third, everyone - including the two primary parties, buyer and seller, would always believe that he is on the winning side. The buyer believing that what he would get is a bargain or a fair trade; the seller believing that what he got rid of was only fitting of disposal at such circumstances.

Then we meet the long and shorts; market goes bullish - euphoria and spread the word that it is indeed raging. Market goes bearish - let it bleed, because dripping blood is money flowing to someone shorting.