How To Win In A Losing Game

We all are asked at some time in our lives, what do you want to be? My dream was to be a secret agent. Why? Well because of the gadgets, cars, girls, guns, boats and planes. Jet setting off to the worlds exotic places. Ah, I can smell the salt air feel the sun on my face hear the birds and see coconut trees on the beach. Then there is the night life, the casinos with the starlets and the tuxedos with bow ties and the dapper savoir-faire attitude about the whole island mystic.

 What is my point and why am I rambling on? Here it is. Why don't they ask what kind of lifestyle do you want to have. The reason is this. They don't have a way to direct you to that lifestyle. We live in a world that teaches us to go to school, get into debt and find a good job with benefits. How is that possible in a world where the rules have changed but the status quo has not. Here is what I mean.  The industrial age that was has been replaced by the information age. The jobs in factories that the education system was created for mostly exists in foreign countries where the bottom line is about cheap labor to create more profit. Remember what Ross Perot said about the sucking sound?

 Don't get me wrong, we want a traditional education in some circumstances. I want the best surgeons working on me in case of my health or the best lawyers pleading my case. I'm not bashing traditional education in all circumstances. Other than that, a self directed education makes more sense in the information age. Self directed! "Whats that"? you may ask. Author Oliver DeMille describes in his book A Thomas Jefferson Education  the traditional method of education before the industrial age. He lists the 7 Keys of Great Teaching:

1. Classics, Not Textbooks
2. Mentors, Not Professors
3. Inspire, Not Require
4. Structure Time, Not Content
5. Simplicity, Not Complexity
6. Quality, Not Conformity
7. You, Not Them

How is it that the universities have a massive profit margin yet the prices keep going up? The largest is the University of Phoenix, which is owned by the Apollo Group, a publicly traded company. In 2010 nearly half a million students were enrolled in its degree programs.

 As the sector has grown, so has the criticism. This culminated in a report published by a Senate committee. It found that for-profit colleges received $32 billion from the US government in student aid in the 2009-10 academic year. They also charge far higher tuition fees than comparable state universities. Yet they spend much less per student on instruction.

 What this all means is that the students who ultimately pay these businesses for education start out their young lives in debt. But that's not really the rub. The jobs that they are being taught to do they will rarely get into. That is still not the rub. Most of them think if they go back to school and get more education in the field they already can't get a job in will give them an edge in the market place. All the while delivering pizza or working in some other thankless job with their BA degree and massive student loan debt.

 The old days of getting a job for 20-30 years and retiring is gone. The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer is currently 4.6 years, according to an Economic News Release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What this means is that even with all that education, the diplomas won't  give us job security. There is going to be gaps in our working career, but that doesn't stop the demand for payment on the school debt.

 Does this mean doom and gloom? No is the answer. Remember that secret agent I wanted to be? My mind was overwhelmed as a child with the thought of the secret agent occupation and the vision of that lifestyle. Now that I have a few more candles on my cake, I may no longer want to be the secret agent, but I have never given up on that lifestyle as my dream.  Never giving up on your DREAM, that is the key.Find someone that has the lifestyle you desire, and do what they did. You will get the results they have. Robert Kiyosaki Author of  Business of the 21st Century said the only way to get ahead is with a home based business. The tax laws are created for business owners. It's not how much you make, its how much you keep that counts. Our future economy will be driven by Entrepreneurs.

 I hope I've given you some food for thought. If you really want to dig into some ideas on how to change the direction your going then here is a good start. The Next Millionaires by Paul Zane Pilzer. Ask yourself if I don't change something where will I be five years from now? Matthew 7:7 seek and you shall find.