Learning can make you sexy... (for both men and women)
Ambitious young people often ask me if they should return to school to get a degree, usually in business training. This may not sound like fun or be sexy, but maybe it is.
But first...
I tell them that there are a lot of factors that go into such a decision. They need to consider not only the cost of tuition and lodging. They also need to run the numbers on the opportunity cost of what they could be learning or doing during that time they will need to take away to be earning their credentials. They need to take a hard-nosed assessment at whether they are willing to put in all of those thankless hours in deep study and whether the market place is putting a high enough premium on their specialization to justify the time spent away from the world of work.
Whether or not a specific degree is in the cards, however, I always tell them the same bit of advice: they must commit themselves to lifelong learning. You will always have an insurmountable advantage over others if you are committed to continually learning more about your work and what drives you.
A lot of us pay lip service to this notion, but it can be very hard to carry out in real life, especially with the demands on our time of our careers and family. But, if you want to meet great people and "be sexy," being able to carry an intelligent conversation could be the key. There are many types of continued learning that can do that for you.
When is the last time that you read a non-fiction book that you didn’t have to? When is the last time you watched a documentary instead of half-watching a game you don’t even care about the outcome of? If you can answer affirmatively – great! But for many of us, it is easy to grow complacent or to assume that we have already learned everything that we need to know.
Our accomplishments and the fancy degrees hanging on the walls may send us the message that we have cracked the books enough and need to concentrate on our daily work. But not taking the time to step back and consider the broader context of the world we live in – not just our tiny slice of industry or niche expertise – we are missing out on a lot of opportunities that we should be thinking about.
But when you are in a crowd or at a party, who is it that will often draw the most attention? The guys or gals that have some current affairs knowledge with educated opinions.
You may say that you are too busy to spend time with musty old books when there are deals to close. Well - are you busier than Bill Gates? He makes time to stay up to date on his self-education.
You may consider this to not be a fair comparison. And you may not think of Bill Gates as "sexy" - but, that misses the point.
Bill Gates has just about all of the wealth in the world that one can imagine – not to mention a world-class staff to delegate to. Regardless, it is surely a time intensive drain to run a globally dominant software company - and later to lead a campaign to eradicate poverty and disease around the world The man is surely among the busiest men on the planet, with huge stakes hanging over how he chooses to spend his precious focus. (It has been estimated, by the way, that it would be a waste of Gates’s time to bend over to pick up a $100 bill lying on the ground, given the value on every second of his time. If you ask me, he should still pick it up unless he is in a tremendous hurry to get somewhere.)
Twice each and every year, no matter what else is going on with his business, the Seattle tech magnate famously takes what he calls a “Think Week”. It’s a chunk of time he holds sacred in which he holes up in a cottage with nothing but research papers and books taking the long view toward where technology is headed – and the possibilities for where Microsoft should be headed.
No phone calls, no meetings, no interruptions for “emergencies” that will have faded from memory by the next day. Nothing but copious reading, until Gates’ eyes are practically bleeding.
You may not have the luxury of setting aside as much time as Gates to take the long view, but it is certainly worth carving out blocks of time when you can take a step back to consider the state of your industry and where the world is headed. There are plenty of resources and strategies you can take advantage of to help you keep learning and ensure that your education is an ongoing strategic component of your wealth plan.
- Take Advantage Of Local Free Resources:
There are a wealth of business books you can acquire free of charge at your local library. If the knowledge alone is what you are seeking, more than credentials or networking opportunities, it is very likely worth your while to spend more time browsing the stacks and educating yourself rather than plunging yourself into debt to pick up a degree.
- Check Out The Options Online:
One of the newest major developments that could disrupt the education field forever is the emergence of MOOCs – Massive Online Open Classes. These offerings allow students to sit in on trainings and lectures from world-class institutions without paying a dime. Innovations such as this recognize that the world has shifted and many students can’t justify the prohibitively high cost of even auditing just a few courses from many institutions. By pooling resources and content online, students now have a greater chance to learn the skills and context they need – from renowned schools like Harvard and MIT, to boot - without burning a hole into their wallet.
- Always Be Reading:
Gates is not alone in his zeal for books. One of the single consistent traits that you will find among the very successful is a love of reading and books. In their precious downtime, there is a reason why high achievers snap off the television set and instead make time to settle in with a good book. There is something more permanent and lasting in books that endures with greater power than the hot story of the day that bounces around on the internet, only to be forgotten almost instantaneously. If you can’t seem to find the time to settle in with a book, try to find some alternative strategies, like listening to books on tape during your commute into work everyday. There are a lot of spare moments throughout your day that you very likely could be making better use of. Instead of allowing your thoughts to be dictated by pop music or talk radio, commit to using your daily commute as another chance to continue feeding your mind and bettering yourself.
- Paint Outside The Lines:
Don’t fall into the trap of just brushing up on your area of expertise or your specific business area. The way to avoid tunnel vision is to be widely educated and read in areas beyond your narrow slice of the market. Don’t think of education as just a means to be better at your job, but a chance to be a more rounded, worldly person. You might dread the idea of cracking open a novel or book on history, but you could be surprised at what new ideas you will generate if you venture outside of your comfort zone a bit.
I say, continued learning increases your "sexy" factor. Sure, if you're the "model-type" people will look your way already. But when you have intelligence, you have a whole new level of sexy.
And, by continuing to learn, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
When’s the last time you took time to reflect on where you are headed? Do you have any rituals in place to help you block out distractions and focus on staying up to date on the larger vision of where the world is heading? Have you taken advantage of any educational resources that you would recommend to others?
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