Is self education on the rise? Is it necessary for young people to educate themselves outside of the school system?

My Son’s Fiance, just sent me a link to an article her Sister wrote in collaboration with a couple of her journalism classmates. Their story, MakerCulture: Edupunks of the world unite!, is all about the growing trend to self education.

“The word is EduPunk and it sums up the need for educational reform — reform that, to some extent, has already begun.” “What does that mean? It means people are coming up with their own ways of educating themselves. Ways that don’t include conventional tools, but rather new devices”

Self learning, and what I perceive as a failure of the educational system, has been close to my heart since high school. I can honestly say that I largely educated myself. I took the onus upon myself because the school system as it was in my day, could not address my particular areas of interest and aptitude, early enough in the process.

High school for me then, was a boring and unnecessarily long-winded preamble. I got so fed up with it that I quit 3 months prior to graduation.

The trouble with my self education though, was that I was a troubled young man. I was troubled because I didn’t feel welcomed or nourished in the school system. That feeling of alienation seriously hampered my efforts. As I look back I see that I could have, and should have, done things differently, but at the time, it was what it was.

Gifted but flawed

I was seriously at odds with the educational system, and especially with the principal and vice-principal of my high school. In their eyes I was a perhaps-gifted, but-definitely-flawed student. They suspected that I might have some intelligence, albeit of an unusual sort, but since my aptitudes seemed to be outside of, beyond, or at odds with the curriculum, they neatly brushed me aside. Despite repeated attempts to articulate how I felt and how they could improve the situation for students like myself, I was completely ignored–until the school administered IQ tests.

Suddenly everyone seemed to have an interest in me as if that number magically changed me somehow. The test results were supposed to be kept private, and I preferred that. I had zero interest in knowing my score. The academically elite students though were quick to let me know that I had achieved, not just a decent score, but high enough to inspire them to intervene in my seemingly dysfunctional life.

Several of the brightest students stopped me in the hallways or on the street just to let me know that I had no idea of how smart I was; that I was wasting my life; that I could be doing so much more. I recall one student who was so upset that he stopped me on the way to school and shouted at me for misusing what he called a valuable resource of mind and talent. I angrily replied that I did not need an number from an IQ test to tell me how smart I am, or a school system geared to mediocrity to tell me how to express that intelligence.

Of course, they were right: I WAS wasting my time, and I was angry about it.

I was angry that it took an IQ score to be noticed and valued. I was angry that this new-found recognition came so late in the game. And I was angry that there was no system in place to probe a student’s individual and creative potential.

If that student wasn’t on the group-think page, they were psychologically and academically banished. Perhaps it has changed now; I am speaking of my experience in the 60′s. I don’t know, but I suspect that the drive to maintain a comfortable and exclusive middle road of mediocrity is alive and well in the human psyche, and in the school system.

Students who can offer deep value to society are too often excluded from the usual categories of commercially accepted aptitudes, simply because they are somewhat different. They are bright stars with nowhere to shine. What can be sadder than that?

Is it the school’s fault? Is the student to blame? I’d say it is a bit of each. Ultimately, life is our own responsibility, but it would be much easier for students to excel if the school system was geared to recognize and encourage a student’s individual directions and aptitudes–especially when they appear to be uninterested.

Educational reform is calling

So I am totally in favor of self-education, and it isn’t just about saving the cost of tuition, or convenience. It is simply because, sometimes, the only way to advance is to take matters into your own hands.

Educating yourself though can easily become unstructured and unproductive. It might work well for a university-level student, but what happens to the grade-school or junior-high student who finds himself in an educational vacuum?

There are countless children and older students who, as I experienced, do not fit into the categories served by the educational system. They may be few in numbers relative to the whole. They may be different; a bit odd and not easily understood. But they offer a potential value to society that is leveraged up by their difference, and they can only make good on their promise if they are recognized, inspired, and challenged.

If a school system cannot meet the needs of its students; if students are so hungry for learning that they seek it elsewhere the moment they are old enough to do so, and if this desire for self education is becoming a growing trend as the article states–then perhaps the whole system should be rebuilt from the ground up.

An educational system that sets its sights on average and fails to encourage the exceptional, is unacceptable. Perhaps the EduPunk movement will catalyze some needed change.

What do you think?

Young entrepreneurs have a huge potential advantage over older more seasoned business people.

“What?” you say? “We all know that experience is the best teacher, and experience comes with time and age.”

But experience can also teach us to fear; to play it safe by tried and proven methods. Experience can condition us to miss the moment. Instead of being consciously aware of our circumstance and its potential, we file our experience in the, “seen this, done that” category.

This lack of awareness can be fatal. If we take the moment for granted, we take ourselves for granted as well. We lose touch with the essence of our creativity and personal genius — our fuel for true success in business and in life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

“So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the pith of a man’s genius contracts itself to a very few hours”

Turning the clock back

Those few hours are most evident in youth. Youth has not yet had time to consider the world routine. In youth we can access our creative genius; our personal way of seeing, and creatively using circumstance to express ourselves.

Creative individualism, coupled with the self-belief of youth, will transform the most stressful times into positive energy and opportunities for growth.

Thank goodness for the lack of experience in young entrepreneurs. Without the road map garnered from decades of personal experience, they instead rely on their self-belief and innovation; qualities the business world desperately needs.

It is not easy being a young entrepreneur. There is a lack of respect and credibility from the older business community and from financial institutions, a lack of respect from older employees, and a lack of funds to launch the business.

Overcoming these obstacles in a healthy way requires individuality, fire, and creativity; youthful qualities that are accessible to all of us.

Yes, contrary to common belief, the clock can be turned back to recapture our youth — our youthful qualities that is. The wisdom lines are less optional. Those we must keep, and hopefully we earn them.

So what can the young entrepreneur do to capitalize on his or her greatest asset and what can the rest of us do to revitalize it?

Start with a strong commitment to personal development, and then add the following six ingredients:

Self Knowledge

Make sure you know who you are before you venture into a business or career. Ensure the business matches your aptitudes and personality. You have to be able to become passionate about what you do to succeed and react positively to stress. If you are already in a business that is less than ideal and it is not practical to change, then infuse more of your character into what you do and how you do it.

Self Belief

Once you have decided on who you are, believe in yourself. Self-belief empowers you despite all criticism, to put yourself on the line and to bring your visions into physical form. It is your entrance ticket to partake in life at its fullest.

Awareness

Take yourself off automatic, and look with fresh eyes at the world around you every moment of the day. The world is far richer than we allow ourselves to see. Extend this awareness to how your body feels; relax; breathe deeply, and see how the world transforms.

Creativity and Imagination

These are the cornerstones of your personal genius. Cultivate them with care at every opportunity. Enjoy using them; they are your means to create your business just as you want it — not as tradition or common opinion dictate.

Courage

You must develop the courage to put the foregoing into action. One of the biggest fears to overcome is the fear of failure. Put failure into perspective. So-called failure is just a refinement process; use it repeatedly if necessary to change and evolve your business direction and ideas.

Personal Growth

Recognize that if you have put the previous five ideas into action, your business is an extension of yourself. You grow as a person as your business grows. Instead of a route to an untimely demise, your business will become your route to self-actualization.

Let’s celebrate our youth. Get in touch with that youthful spark of creative genius within you, and let it shine as vision and innovation, in business and in life.

To quote Emerson once more…

“The true romance which the world exists to realize will be the transformation of genius into practical power.”

Over to you now…?

Sunny in Miami Fl writes:

I’m a true believer in the power of intention, work to keep myself centered in these trying times and strive to be a agent for peace and positivity in my little corner of the world.My question – how do I stay sane and centered and positive when I’ve been unemployed for 6 months and seriously risk losing everything that I’ve worked for? I really don’t want to be homeless and it’s a real possibility. I’ve looked everywhere for work and nothing nothing has come yet inside or outside areas that I qualify for.

thank you

Dear Sunny in Miami

Being unemployed triggers survival instincts and primal fears.

By genetic design, your fear sees joblessness and possible homelessness as a threat to survival. The purpose of this fear is to motivate you to take immediate action which creates the solution.

But we are human, and we humans are complex enough to thwart even the most entrenched biological imperative.

When we were hunter-gatherers, our fear and action modes enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. They worked well together when life’s decisions were simpler. Not any more though. Modern society demands a far greater dynamic range of coping skills to live effectively.

We put ourselves through daily ordeals that our forefathers could never have imagined.

Yes, technology reduces our physical labor, but the infrastructure that supports that convenience taxes us, psychologically and emotionally, more than any hardship it has mitigated.

Today is the most challenging time in human history for the average person trying to survive and prosper.

I suppose it has always been like that; life challenges each generation more than the last. That is how our species progresses. But the primitive part of our brain that worked so well for our ancestors is not programmed to deal with the nebulous challenges we now face.

Hunter-gatherers in your situation would have just kept looking for what they needed. When they found it they either ate it or built their home out of it — they didn’t have to submit a resume or ask for permission to consume it or use it.

You are on that very same hunt as your ancestors were, but your instincts are thrown by all this asking for permission and applying for survival stuff. That was never part of the genetic contract.

Because you can’t just seize and claim what you find on your job hunt, you are short-circuiting your action mode, and your fear of losing everything is creating a feeling of impotence and hopelessness. When action is blocked, your fear becomes destructive instead of motivating.

Action is King when unemployed

Understanding this relationship between fear and action helps, because it tells you why you feel you have reached a stalemate in your job search. It also explains why fear and action are no longer working together. And it helps because it tells you that you can eliminate this stalemate you feel, and the impending disaster you fear, by taking massive action.

Action is always the main solver of problems. Though you don’t state in your letter just what actions you have taken, I am guessing that you have taken quite a bit of action in your job search.

The question is: is the direction and quantity of possible actions, limited?

Your dominant fear would have you believe that they are, and that you have already reached that limit. But in this world, actions are infinite. In your case, you can take action on several fronts.

First, let’s look closer at your letter.

Self-examination determines the order of action

Your letter shows that you are normally a well-balanced person who values positivity and mutual support. Your only question is how you can stay sane and centered when your job hunt is going so poorly, and you risk losing everything.

It might help to examine the order of the points you made in your letter. Sometimes, the order in which we say things implies the order of importance of those things.

Your first sentence describes your normally positive perspective. Your second sentence implies that you feel your balance slipping away because of your inability to find a job. Your third sentence describes your dread of being homeless as a result. And your forth and last sentence describes the effort you have put into your job search, and it also acts as a justification for feeling the way you do.

We can then break your four sentences down into four points in descending order of importance to you.

1. Your self image and identity.
2. Your fear of losing your grip on your self image.
3. Your fear that the worst may happen as a result.
4. The actions you have taken to find employment and their lack of effectiveness.

The above order implies that fear has risen beyond its ability to mobilize an equally powerful positive action.

In your letter, you speak of action in the past tense, and you place it at the end of the order of importance. When the complexity of a task and the emotional drama of the possible outcomes stop action, fear will rise like this and create an imbalance.

How do we create balance when there is an imbalance?

Well, Your automobile runs on a mixture of fuel and air to provide combustion and forward power. If there is too much air and not enough fuel the engine will run too lean, causing internal damage and poor performance. To remedy this, we could increase the fuel to balance the mixture.

The same applies in your search for employment. Fear has overwhelmed your action mode to the point where your fear is now destructive rather than motivating. So if you have too much fear, what can you do? You can increase the action. More action will balance your fear, and your fear will become a positive motivator again.

Here then are some suggestions on five major action fronts:

Staying sane and centered while unemployed

Since you put this first in your letter, we’ll place it first in this list of five action fronts.

• Make efforts to understand how fear and action work together. Measure your particular mixture of fear and action to determine how you can achieve a productive balance.
• Develop a support group by communicating with friends, family, and former coworkers. Don’t try to go through this alone. Always have people at the ready that you can talk to when you feel fearful.
• Take time out to recharge yourself. Feeling guilty about taking time to enjoy yourself is destructive. Creative time out will charge up your battery for productive action.
• Seek the advice of an employment counselor to help clarify your employment goals and aptitudes. A good employment counselor can also help you deal with the stress of finding employment in a tight market.
• If you have certain habits or practices that normally help you remain relaxed and balanced, now is not the time to shelve them. Now is the time to really use them. Maybe you are a runner, you practice Tai Chi or Yoga, or perhaps you enjoy photography. Whatever it is that you do, make sure that you get out and do it. It will help keep you sane and balanced.

Network to find work

• Broadcast your job search message. Get in touch with every person you know and tell them about your situation. Let them know what you are looking for. Ask them for their help in finding employment. You don’t know what they know or who they know. When you ask for help, it conveys to people that you value them. Most people will readily appreciate and respond to that. They will be glad to help if they can.
• Contact former coworkers. They know your qualifications and they know the industry. They may know of positions available that you haven’t run across.

Make some noise about your job hunt

• Be bold and rock the boat a bit. Campaign for yourself. By your letter, it sounds like the job market in your city is tight. If that is true, then many people are experiencing the same problems and fears. Is there a story there that can attract public attention? I think so. Many people are seriously concerned about the economy.
• Find out who the editors are that handle the business pages of your local newspapers. Write them, call them, or visit them. Tell them your story. It may become their story as well. The results might surprise you
• Contact radio and television stations. Offer to be a talk show guest on one of their programs. Be part of the solution for this nightmare that so many hardworking people like you are going through. It might just make good airtime for the stations, and if you handle yourself well, it will be fabulous exposure for you — for free.

Hunt and stalk your next job

• Forget about asking for a job. Stalk your next job by ignoring the want ads, and instead, targeting companies that you would like to work with. Hunt them down, research them, and approach them on your own terms rather than on theirs. The article Is Your Job a Highway to Personal Development or Despair speaks more about this.
• Develop a massive action plan to target these businesses. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t currently looking for help. If you would really like to work for them, and if you have value to add to their operation, then convince them of that.
• Stick to a weekly schedule on what actions you are taking on this target list. No matter how you feel, take the actions. Keep it logical. Keep it organized. Keep it going.

Be creative about alternate means of survival

Lastly, and probably least important, are fill-in measures to shore things up, just in case. Some ideas are:

• List your marketable skills. Can you create a part-time temporary business using them? Can you obtain contracts to do work that you are skilled in?
• Can you offer to take some of the workload off a corporation to complete in your home office? Many corporations outsource work to private contractors. Sometimes it only needs a well-placed and well-timed suggestion. What problem can you solve for a company, as a private contractor?
• Have you fully researched any available government financial aid programs that you can tap into to help if the need arises? You’ve paid for these programs through your tax dollars. Use them if you have to
• Research also for programs that can help you apply your skills in another industry through specialized retraining. If the market has turned down on your industry, as has happened to many industries in North America, perhaps it is time to refocus your talents more productively. Government programs can help you through that process.
• Take in a boarder. Consider renting out a suite in your home to a temporary tenant. This may be a disagreeable option to many, but it beats losing your home to the bank. The extra income can help pay the bills and buy you time. With a little reorganization of your home, some free advertising, and networking, you should be able to line up a dependable rental income.

Massive and creative action will always lead to the right solution

Because action is the primary building block in this world, unremitting action will always produce results. When action stops, production stops, and when building stops, what is already there begins to deteriorate.

Constant massive and creative action will always bring about positive resolutions to any problem, because the nature of this action is positive. It is forward driving.

Whenever you find yourself overwhelmed by fear-based thinking; when you speak of action in the past tense, then it is time to get that natural fear working for you again by balancing it with more action.

Your letter was very brief, so I hope that I have covered enough here to give you some things to work with. There are thousands of people in similar situations, and they feel similar fears. There is nothing worse than to feel hopeless or powerless.

If nothing else, please accept this one sentiment: Action creates hope and power, and fear should be a positive motivator. Adjust the mix of each to supercharge your search for employment.

Over to you now…

Customer relationship management directly impacts your happiness and job satisfaction. It is not just about the influence of effective communication skills on your employer’s business or your commissions.

Few things are more important than being happy where you spend a large portion of your time, and the bulk of your focused energy. Communication problems at work erode your quality of life, along with your job satisfaction.

If you work in a customer service business, then you’ve heard the familiar negative refrain about how picky, angry, or demanding customers are. Well, that can’t be much fun. But is it true?

Two things are certain. First, 75% of employees complain about customer attitudes, and secondly, they are wrong. It simply is not true.

From decades of experience in high volume, high stress operations, I can honestly say that 99% of my experiences with customers have been not just positive — but pleasurable. The kicker is, it is also purposeful. I intend it to be that way.

Can you imagine how this can improve your happiness and job satisfaction?

What are the barriers to effective communication?

Now, assume for a moment that I am right about this. Why then would such a large percentage of customer service people feel the way they do? If you find yourself feeling this way at work, I am sure you are not imagining it. Why do you feel that way? Is the average customer — meaning the average person — actually rude, selfish, and demanding? If that is true then we are all in serious trouble.

Instead, could you be experiencing some fundamental barriers to effective communication?

If customers come in with a bad attitude, well, that’s a barrier to effective communication right there isn’t it? Let’s remember though, that customers often come in with a justifiably cautious attitude that can easily turn into a negative one.

What’s the solution? How do you become happier at work through customer relationship management?

The answer is, to take charge of all your conversations by approaching customer relationship management, from a perspective of nonverbal communication.

What does that mean and how does it affect job satisfaction?

Nonverbal communication: you get what you expect

Let’s not get into all the body language cues, mirroring techniques, and all the other nonverbal communication methods they teach you in sales seminars.

Nonverbal communication for our purpose is about intent. It is all about what you expect from your dealings with customers, and what you expect is under your control. If you expect only the best from people, then that is what you will invite to the conversation.

If you decide that you will only relate to the better side of everyone you meet, everyday, then the only other thing you need to do is to offer that up with your attitude.

It is like holding a door open to a more pleasurable space. If your demeanor is that inviting space, then regardless of your customer’s previous attitude, they will walk through that door. Why? Because everyone wants to feel better.

All this may sound naive to you. You might be thinking that it isn’t that easy; that customer relations can’t be transformed into a pleasurable experience just by intending it. I understand if that’s what you feel. But all the objections in the world can’t change the truth. People immediately respond to someone who is genuinely positive, and who holds a door open for them to feel the same.

How customer relationship management can make you a happier person

It really doesn’t matter what type of job you have. Employment is always based on relationship; if not to customers, then to coworkers, and even down to your relationship to solitary tasks.

You cannot escape from relationship at work, so why not make it work for you by intending the best, and expecting the best, from every one of these relationships?

You have two choices presented to you every time you engage in communication with a customer or coworker: you can either allow their attitude to dictate the course of your communication. And in that case, you will either have a good, bad, or indifferent experience. You certainly won’t be in control. Or, you can decide to be open only to a rewarding experience.

You can engage this person in a positive way by genuinely caring about why they came to see you in the first place — even if that reason was to complain about a problem. In return, that person will become open and positive to you.

The greatest sales technique of them all is actually caring about people. I mean genuinely caring about them, and then using your skills to help them achieve what they desire.

It is as simple as that, and that simple truth about sales can bring you happiness and job satisfaction.

At the end of the day, if you leave work knowing that you have genuinely cared about, connected with, and helped people, then you will feel good about yourself.

If you practice this, the next time you hear that negative refrain about the short-tempered customers, you will say to yourself, “how curious. I seem to be having a totally different experience.”

You really do get what you expect from people, and people are everywhere in the workplace. Use this fact to your advantage and create more happiness and job satisfaction for yourself. You deserve at least that.

Your work experience is largely under your control if you remember that this quiet brand of customer relationship management equals job satisfaction.

Over to you now…

Do you get so immersed in your work, that you lose the big picture and miss the obvious?

Well, sometimes the obvious just isn’t that interesting — but how your job influences your personal development is one obvious fact you can’t afford to miss. Rest assured that no one else will. Your career is your quickest and most powerful route to self actualization or self denigration.

Why? Because you spend 55% or more of your mental energy and creative focus on the job.

We mostly think in terms of time when we consider how much of our lives we give up for our career or employment, so it might be tempting to think that you only give 25% of yourself to your work. And that may be true if time were the only factor, but…

How much do you really give to your job?

You are awake for only 112 hours per week. You work 40 hrs of that 112 (probably more). Those 40 hours then, represent 36% of your total available hours.

We are not talking about time spent though; we are talking about how much mental energy and creative focus you burn up. If you are typical, you use twice as much of that resource per hour, when at work, as compared to your personal time.

Instead of spending 25% of your total time at work, or 36% of your waking hours on the job, you actually spend 55% of your total consciousness, energy, and creative focus, at your workplace.

Many of you spend much more, but even 55% is a huge chunk of the best that is in you. And it begs the question…

How does your career affect your personal life?

You might be fortunate. Maybe your job makes you a better, happier person. That is the goal. But what if your job drains you? What if it robs you of self-esteem and personal power?

At best, the majority of people get little or zero net gain in terms of personal growth from their employment.

How would it feel instead, if you could use the bulk of your clearest, most creative energy, to advance your personal development? What would it take to think of your employment as an income producing, self-guided, self-actualization workshop?

Use your career to grow as a person

Here are few thoughts toward using your employment as a vehicle for your personal development. You can think of many more, so please share them in the comments, but for starters…

• It is not always about doing what you love — but doing what you do — in a way that you love.
• Cultivate integrity at every turn. When you offer less than this to others, you damage yourself.
• Two-legged challenges are personal invitations to grow. Remember that your job is really about relationship with people (including you), through tasks, concepts, hierarchies, products, etc. Connect the dots and learn to spot where the relationship is failing. What part do you, or can you, play in that?
• Take your positive persona home with you. Many people learn to relate remarkably well with others when on the job. Be that person for your family also. It can operate the other way around as well.
• Practice communicating what you want in a way that serves everyone. Make a point of letting your bosses know what you desire, what role you see yourself playing, and how it benefits all. This builds personal power.
• Own your actions and be accountable for everything you say and do. Ownership and accountability lessons abound in the workplace. Take full advantage.
• Think in terms of the benefit to people that your employer’s product or service provides. Rather than the numbers, prioritize this benefit. The product and the revenue follow. It is always about people.
• Is it time for a change? Sometimes the best way to grow through your present employment is to recognize when you have grown out of it.

Find a new job that will empower your personal growth

Some companies just don’t care about corporate citizenship or positive product benefits. Their mission is to make money through product sales, regardless of the benefit or damage their products bring.

There are thousands of good companies though, who contribute to society in a positive or necessary way. They offer genuine benefits through their products, and money in this case is — the measure, not the substance –- of their success. If they carry that philosophy into their employee relations, it’s a bonus for you.

Here are some thoughts then on making a good career change or finding a better job. Be sure to add yours in the comments section.

• Examine your aptitudes and skills carefully. Trace them back to their source, instead of remaining fixed on how you have habitually applied them. Be creative around how you could use them differently. What is your heart and intuition telling you?
• Ignore the help wanted ads unless you are in a rush. When you apply for an advertised position, the company controls the process. By approaching them first, you establish an equal and respected communication. That there is no lineup behind you is also a good thing.
• Research an employer as you would a personal development workshop. What do they offer? What is their mission statement? Is who they are a match for who you are? Do you feel you can make a positive contribution to the group? Will joining them challenge you enough? Do they actively encourage creative input? What does your gut say?
• Do not give your power away to any person or company. You are not asking for a job — you are creatively presenting a proposal to a company you feel will be exciting to team up with.
• Seek out companies you would like to work with. Know the names and background of their key people. What would it be like to work there and where would you fit within their organization?
• Money is secondary. Your primary goal is to develop happiness and genuine satisfaction, by rising to challenges that interest you. Income flows more freely from this anyway.
• Hold out for the right position with the right firm if possible. You could otherwise be caught in a money trap doing something you despise. It’s tough to leave a position, even a soul-destroying one, if you are making a bundle of money doing it. Don’t go there.
• Be good to yourself by raising the bar. Honor yourself and take action toward what you know in your heart you should be doing.

You give so much of yourself to your employment. Make sure that it gives back to you also, and know that it is in your control to ensure that happens.

Every time you enter your workplace, remind yourself that you are there for grander reasons than doing a job for a paycheck. Use every circumstance you encounter, to grow, and to become more creatively engaged.

Seeing your work in this light will add immeasurably to your personal life. It will also advance your career. The quality of your work will improve, and your attitude will be a positive influence on coworkers — and higher management.

On a larger scale, if we all made a good effort in these regards, we will change the nature of employment, the social conscience of employers, and ultimately we will change the world. The greatest power for positive world change is in the hands of business, because business harnesses and employs the bulk of the world’s creative energy. Remember — 55% of it. Let’s use it to our advantage.

Please encourage others by sending a link to friends and coworkers (or use the Print command in your browser for a neatly formatted print version).

Over to you now.