We all agree that education is broken, its something we all slip into conversation every now and then, but why do we all agree on something and no one does anything about it? Rather silly if you ask me.
In Seth Godin’s words:
1. Make your online passwords an uplifting or encouraging phrase.
The answers simple, social objects. Read more
As I step up onto my soap box, disgusted with the way some folks are running their business, I look to the future of our world where we support the companies who are growing our community and we avoid like the plague businesses just out to make money.
Pandora’s Promise is the story of Nuclear energy. It’s from the perspective of people that came from the Anti-Nuclear fight. Scientists that were very much against anything to do with Nuclear power kept learning more and more about the industry. They learned so much that they finally changed their stance on it.
True wisdom is taking a topic you have had a strong stance on, and upon the discovery of new facts, change your strong opinion.
People with a vested interest in one side of an argument should rarely be trusted. Therein lies the problem, “where do you find people that you can trust their opinion on such a major issue as Nuclear power?”. This doesn’t just go for the Nuclear industry, this goes for every industry. So when someone completely changes their opinion 180 degrees take note, they should be the ones you hear out.
I had no idea how bad the record industry was until I watched this documentary. It’s eye opening to say the least. Personally I found myself looking up to Jared Leto, the lead singer and mastermind behind the band 30 Seconds to Mars. The struggle he and the band go through. The utter disregard for people and jobs within the recording industry.
This is just one industry that has been displaced. It will happen to more if not every industry. Do you have the courage that Jared Leto had to fight for what was right? What war are you going to fight in your industry? Who is going to be the record execs in your industry that are going to try to wipe you clean off the earth? Ok maybe a little hyperbole, but we haven’t really seen the impact of what the internet will do to every business model. Prepare for war.
This one hits a little closer to home. Teaching at Sask Poly Tech and being the president of the University of Regina Alumni Association I can see the Ivory Tower even in the institutions in Saskatchewan. In whatever you do in the connected world, the juice better be worth the squeeze. Whatever takes up your time, whatever you’re spending money on, it better be worth it.
If the cost of post secondary school out paces the value of what you are capable of once you are out, post secondary school will become obsolete. Sorry let me correct myself, post secondary school as we know it will become obsolete. Last year I took my first online course from the University of France on Coursera. The class was truly a great experience. The professor was engaging (even with a strong French accent), he loved the topic (What managers can learn from Philosophers), and any concept I wanted to go back over I just started the video over again (every week you’re sent 5 videos as your weekly lecture, they’re).
In the future you will learn whatever it is you want to learn from whoever teaches it the best in the world. Do you really want to learn consumer behaviour from a professor in Regina or do you want to learn it from the best marketing professor Stanford has? I don’t know about you but I’ll take the Ivey League schools education thank you. And yes the online education world isn’t perfect but if you are an institution and you aren’t experimenting on how to make it work online, I would be worried.
1. I remind 8 year olds trying out Volleyball for the first time this very lesson.
Remember, you just need to stay in the game longer than everyone else and you’ll be the default winner. Keep treading water, keep above the water line. Another day alive is another day closer to your goal.
2. In Richard Branson’s “The Virgin Way” he tells a brilliant little story about the Bumblebee. For decades scientists have been stumped by the Bumblebee. When you take into account the size of the body compared to the size of the wing span, the Bumblebee on all accounts should NOT be able to fly. It is a scientific impossibility. Then Branson’s goes on to say that up until this very day, not one scientist has ever been able to explain that to a Bumblebee.
Don’t listen to people who use the word impossible. They live a shallow life and will never reap the rewards of amazing breakthroughs, innovative new ideas and groundbreaking discoveries. To the future on-word we march, into the crazy unknown.
When you say I’m too busy you’re making an excuse. You’re prioritizing in your mind, you’re telling yourself you couldn’t possibly do one more thing. It’d be too much, you couldn’t handle doing any more.
You’re telling yourself a story to justify how busy you are. It’s a defense mechanism of the lizard brain to protect our primal self from the uncertain outcome of whatever it is you’re too busy to do.
99% of the time this is not a good thing. Making excuses to do less is not going to help you get ahead in life. But we all do it. Have you ever said no to going out when a friend asked because you were too busy? Have you said no to a special volunteer project at work because you were too busy? Do you not get involved, help, volunteer, draw, sing, play guitar, write or dance anymore because you’re too busy?
Sorry to burst your bubble but everyone is busy, you’re not special. I’m not saying I’m immune, I’m saying this is something we all need to desperately work on, our success depends upon it.
The only difference between really successful people (who weren’t just lucky) and regular people is that successful people have figured out a way to do more. They work harder than the rest. They regularly commit to things beyond their capabilities. They stretch their personal boundaries enough to be out of their comfort zone a lot, that’s where the major learning lies.
On the contrary what if you weren’t too busy? What if you started trying to say yes more? (it worked out well for Jim Carrey) What if you started doing things more efficiently to give yourself more time*? What if you committed to something beyond what you think you’re capable of? What if you made a goal to not say “I’m too busy” anymore?
The easiest way to help yourself is by helping other people.
The next time someone asks you to do, join, or be a part of something and you want to say “I’m too busy” ask yourself if you really are too busy.
* – In an 8 hour day performing 8 tasks within that day, at a rate of 10% faster than usual(8 hours=480 minutes 480×10%=48 minutes). You’d have an extra 48 minutes in your day to do whatever you want with.
