Educate yourself

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

Napoleon Hill

Too many people think that being educated can be achieved by attending school and college and collecting diplomas and degrees.

Education is something that happens inside your head, it is something that you have to actively work on. You have to educate yourself! education is not something you can recieve by sitting in big rooms with hundreds of people and by memorizing facts that are considered worth knowing.

Instead of teaching kids what to think, schools should focus more on teaching children how to think and they should be shown the beauty of experience and leaning.

The current system fails way too many people. Those people memorize all the required material for years, get their degree but have not learned a little bit.

Ask a student about his first finals. He won’t know a thing, because he learned for those finals, but not for himself. He did not want to understand the content, he wanted to pass the tests. Now ask some selfmade working person about any topic related to their work and they will talk endless hours about it. Our school system makes it possible for people to pass without having learned anything but being good at memorizing.

So do yourself a favor and concentrate on education in your spare time. Go to the library, use the internet, read about the things you are passionate about and try out a lot. Educate yourself and do not rely on your college or your school. Those degrees will matter on your CV at most but personally your biggest gain out of your college time will be friends and a good time, but certainly not a  profound education.

/phil

Problem?

Problems are only opportunities with thorns on them.

Hugh Miller

/phil

It’s about your vision

Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.

Tony Hsieh

As long as money is your primary goal, you will always lag far behind. 

You will always be in need of more money and you won’t find satisfaction. On top of that: As long as money is your primary goal, you won’t focus on your core strenghts necessarily, instead you will try to make a quick buck.

You should focus on your core interests, on those things that make you feel happy, that make you feel satisfied, that make you feel proud. You should get good at those interests and find out how to make money out of them.

Once you have settled for a general direction, work on your dreams and work on your passion, because it will generate more money (and in a better way) than any other honest job could ever do.

Maybe it takes time. Maybe you have to live several years in relative poverty in order to pursue your personal dreams, but it will pay off. Living with a small income for some years in order to spend the rest of your life doing what you love and making a living with it is more than worth the effort.

As long as you focus on your core abilities and interests, you will be fine. Everything else will only work for a short amount of time or under great pressure.

/phil

Complete destruction

For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth it would look like complete destruciton.

Cynthia Occelli

/phil

Be forgiving

Don’t be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn’t do what you do, or think as you think. There was a time when you didn’t know what you do today.

Malcom X

/phil

Stay true to yourself

In order to stay sane, you sometimes have to be a little selfish. You do not have to commit to the rest of your life today. It’s not a crime to change your mind. You just have to stay true to yourself.

Artie (Warehouse 13)

/phil

Be a good one!

Whatever you are, be a good one.

Abraham Lincoln

/phil

Selfimprovement

It is far more useful to be aware of a single shortcoming in ourselves than it is to be aware of a thousand in someone else.

Dalai Lama

/phil

Conquering the shadows

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

Maori Proverb

/phil

Keep on partying!

Today I want to share some wise words from Andrew W. K. with you.

After being asked

Hi Andrew.
I’m dating a guy who refuses to give up on his dreams of rock stardom. While it’s admirable in a way, I need a little bit more stability if we’re going to make this work. How can I gently break this to him?

he replied

Don’t you dare say anything to him about giving up his dream.

You’re not the right person for him.

Never ask someone to give up on their dream just so you can feel more stable. It’s his choice and his choice alone, no matter how ridiculous his dreams may seem to you, or to society, or even to himself.

Dreams make humans into self-realized individuals. Your only responsibility is to love everything about him, including his dreams. The idea of “making this work” sounds more like a way to make his life more boring and predictable. At worst, it’s a genuine sadistic desire to control someone else because your own life feels out of control – or a cruel need to dominate and break someone’s spirit for the sake of your own peace of mind.

Look for stability and peace of mind inside yourself, and not in your relationships or in controlling the dreams of others.

Do what you want, never let down, and keep on partying.

Andrew W.K.

Well, if that is not an awesome response! (She might disagree though)

/phil