Sometimes in our moments of unexpected meditation we have the most wonderful epiphanies. One of the greatest I ever had was as a recent college graduate who had just gotten married. I don’t know what caused the epiphany more, the fact that I was responsible for providing for another human being, or the fact that I was finally done with school. I felt overwhelmed as I thought about how I had just spent four years in college, yet felt like I still had so much more to learn. I was nervous that due to a lack of knowledge and certain skills I might not be able to find a good job and provide for my wife. And that’s when the epiphany came in all of its glory: Just because I’m done with school, does not mean my education is over.
As I have spent more and more time studying successful entrepreneurs, I have found that most of them share one common belief: being school-taught is good, but being self-taught is better. Some of the greatest entrepreneurs, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, didn’t even finish college. Though they quit on school, they never quit on education. These men spent countless hours learning and honing their skills. I think it’s safe to say that these men dedicated more time and effort to their education than most college students probably do.
In his book Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon says, “School is one thing. Education is another. The two don't always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not; it’s always your job to get yourself an education.” With all of the technology that’s available right at our fingertips, it’s never been easier to educate ourselves. The late author Stephen Covey said, “Education—continuing education, continually honing and expanding the mind—is vital mental renewal. Sometimes that involves the external discipline of the classroom or systemized study programs; more often it does not. Proactive people can figure out many, many ways to educate themselves.”
Many times we are so anxious to see immediate results that we don’t spend enough time educating ourselves. As Covey put it, sometimes we are so focused on sawing down the tree, that we don’t take the time to sharpen our saw. You can’t get very far with a dull saw. A lot of people like to trick themselves into believing that they are too busy to learn outside of school. The truth is that there’s always time to learn. The key is to be proactive about it. Someone who spends an hour a day on Netflix could easily cut that hour down to 30 minutes and spend the rest of the time reading. There are so many opportunities throughout the day to learn, but opportunities are often missed and time is frequently wasted on less important things like social media and TV. Other times people think that their college degree alone will get them their dream job. It’s a sad day when they realize that all of the other applicants of their dream job have college degrees as well. Though if it’s any consolation to them, at least they have one up on Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.
If the old adage “knowledge is power” is true, then we must continue to learn. We must sharpen our saw. No one is going to force us to do it. Like Stephen Covey said, we have to be proactive. We have to be hungry for education. We have to be willing to make sacrifices. If we do not continue to learn, we will not continue to grow. And if we do not continue to grow, how can we expect to accomplish greatness?