Because they have decided
to pride themselves in a degree and failed to think better than a man who does
not have even a certificate to his name.
Degree holders spend their time liking articles on social media
but never have any care in the world to implement what they like. Poverty
starts from the mind, a mind that just likes things but never to implement
those things.
If you want to progress, throw away that degree and start
thinking better than someone without a degree. Be prepared to get your hands
dirty and work like an ox for your business. Your hard work will pay off.
SCHOOL rewards people
for their memory. LIFE rewards people for their creativity and ability to solve
problems.
School rewards caution, life rewards daring. School hails those who live by the rules, life exalts those who break the rules and set new ones.
Being top of your class does not necessarily guarantee
that you would be at the top of life. The world is filled with poor graduates,
but rich opportunists.
Kevin Ngo said: “If
you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you are
eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you
don’t want.”
Your certificates and
degrees are meant to help you garner the experience and expertise needed to
fulfill your dreams; they are not your destination.
I have watched
pitiably many graduates with degrees and certificates languishing in poverty
looking for jobs that don’t exist, while people with keen eyes for
opportunities reach the pinnacle of success in the most unlikeliest of ways.
Do you have a
graduate or degree holder around you that is poor? I bet you have, as they are
everywhere.
I have a very painful
truth to dish out to graduates out there: Your degree or certificate is not the
cure to poverty; the cure to poverty is your ability to see and seize
opportunities.
There are seven reasons why degree holders are poor.
1) They Don’t Think Beyond Their Certificates.
Albert Einstein said:
“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to
think.” Have you ever heard of the creativity term, “think outside the box?”
One of the major
reasons why most graduates are poor is simply because they cannot see and think
beyond their certificates. I have seen engineering graduates work as bankers.
I have seen medical
doctors with great skills in web and graphic designs. I have seen lawyers that
are very dexterous with finances. The list is endless.
The basic truth of
life is that the skills needed to be much sought after and become more
successful in life are not really found within the walls of the classrooms.
Your certificate is
just a proof that you are teachable; it does not suggest what you are totally
capable of doing.
You are full of
possibilities when you think beyond your degrees and certificates.
2) They Prioritize Their Certificates More Than Their
Gifts And Talents.
I have often advised
some of my mentees never to leave their gifts dormant, while pursuing and
hunting for jobs with their certificates. There must be a complementary balance
in the pursuit of your passion and the search for jobs.
Everybody is gifted for
something, but the winning edge comes from our ability to work on our gifts and
bless the world with it. The very best way to develop yourself is in the
direction of your natural talents and interest.
To live a fulfilled
and impactful life, we need to work harder on our gift than our job. We need to
discover our gift, develop it and sell it. Don’t bury your talent with your
certificates.
3) Their Certificates Prepare Them For A World That No
Longer Exist.
It has been found
that most of the skills taught in schools are becoming obsolete in the present
world. The world has changed a lot and so are people’s needs.
It was in Dubai some
few years ago a conference organised by the British Council, with the theme,
‘Education Fit For The Future: Planning For A Changing World.’
It is poignant to
know that the present form of education does not prepare students for the
future. Graduates are becoming endangered species in the face of a changing
world.
Our archaic methods
and approaches of learning are preparing graduates for a world that no longer
exist, as we are churning out degree holders every year with certificates that
have face value, but no intrinsic worth.
Most institutions are
filled up with lecturers and pseudo-educators with lecture notes, methods and
approaches that have lost relevance in a changing world.
4) They Know Less About Themselves But More About
Things.
Certificates and
degrees don’t reveal people to themselves; they at most measure our IQ
(Intelligent Quotient).
I have often told people that there is no recovery
without discovery. A poor man is simply someone that has not discovered
himself.
The more you discover
yourself, the more you realise the treasures hidden deep within you.
We carry inside
ourselves latent treasures that can only be unveiled through self-discovery.
5) Certificates And Degrees Can Kill Initiatives.
Degrees and
certificates can close up your minds to ideas, while initiatives open it up.
If you are not
careful, your degrees and certificates can close up your mind. The purpose of
education is to keep your mind perpetually opened towards limitless
possibilities.
Fred Smith saw an
opportunity for overnight delivery of anything anywhere in the United States
(US) and ultra-fast delivery anywhere in the world, and FedEx was born.
It will be
interesting to know that Fred Smith got a grade “C” in a Yale economics class
for an idea that the professor belittled as unworkable.
Smith’s company
became the first American business to make over $10billion in annual profit.
Beginning with just
186 packages delivered the first night, FedEx now delivers in over 200
countries using over 6,030 aircraft, 46,000 vehicles and 141,000 employees.
6) Degrees And Certificates Position You To Look For
Jobs And Not For Opportunities.
Our certificates and
degrees prepare graduates to look for jobs and not open their eyes to
life-changing opportunities.
You are not poor
because you don’t have a job; you are poor because you are not seeing and
seizing opportunities.
Being POOR is simply
Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly. What keeps people ahead in life is not
their education or degrees; it is simply the opportunity that they seized.
Jobs may be scarce,
but not opportunities. As long as there is a problem to be solved, there will
always be opportunities.
It is a waste of our
education, exposure and experiences if after we graduate from school, all we
think about is searching for job.
An enlightened and
educated mind should be able to see and seize opportunities.
7) Certificates And Degrees Prepare People To Look For
Security And Not To Take Risks.
We must be willing to
make mistakes and take breakthrough risks. Taking risks and learning from
mistakes help us in knowing what works and what do not.
When Thomas Edison
was being questioned by a mischievous journalist on how he felt for having
failed for 999 times before getting the idea of the light bulb, his response
stunned the whole world when he confidently said: “I have not failed 999 times;
I have only learnt 999 ways of how not to make a light bulb.”
Many graduates and
degree holders are becoming progressively poor because the skills required in
the modern world to get rich are not taught in schools and institutions.
By 2025, we would
lose over five million jobs to automation. That means that future jobs would
look vastly different by the time many people graduate from the university.
Future jobs would
involve knowledge creation and innovation, and people that are only equipped
with skills found in the classroom would be a misfit in an ever-changing world.
Skills like critical
thinking, creativity, people’s skill, stem skills (for example, coding),
complex problem-solving skills, etc are central to living a more comprehensive
and productive life.
My candid advice to
graduates and students in institutions of higher learning is to think wide,
deep and outside the box.
Take volunteer jobs
and don’t be afraid to navigate fields that are different from your field of
learning.
Your future career
would require you to pull information from many different fields to come up
with creative solutions to future problems.
Start by reading as
much as you can about anything and everything that interests you.
Once you get to
college, consider double majoring or minoring in completely different fields.
Trust me, it would pay off in the long run.
Don’t limit yourself
to the classroom; do something practical. Take a leadership position.
Start a business and
fail, that is, a better entrepreneurship. Contest an election and lose.
It would teach you
something political science would not teach you. Attend a seminar, read books
outside the scope of your course.
Think less of
becoming an excellent student, but think more of becoming an excellent person.
Don’t make the classroom your world, but make the world your
classroom. Step forward and try something extra. Invest in something you
believe in
“If somebody offers you an amazing
opportunity, but you are not sure you can do it, say yes- then learn how to do
it later!”- Richard Branson
By: Gbenga Adebambo
MAKING EXTRA MONEY IS EASY. CHECK THIS OUT..
No comments:
Post a Comment