continued from How Are You Educated? Part I…

It occurred to me that the difference between Kim, with her two Masters and Doctorate, and Jane, with a high school diploma, was not their intelligence; both of them are very educated.  Rather, the difference lies in what Kim and Jane chose to study.  The difference is in what each of them are educated in.  You see, while Kim was spending years earning her Masters in the Sciences, Jane was investing years Mastering the Money Game.  While Kim was learning how to get all of her work done on time, Jane was learning how to have other people get all of her work done on time.  Do you see the difference?

Institutional Education vs. Self Education.

Kim excelled in institutional education, which consist of our elementary and high schools, colleges and universities.  She invested years of study to get her Master’s and Doctorate.  We are all very familiar with institutional education, for better or for worse.  It’s the path we’ve all been taught to follow, and with good reason.  It is now more necessary than ever that we all excel in institutional education.

Jane excelled in self education, which is structured around life experience, trial and error, and self study.  And, in her case, she invested years of study to learn how to master money and build a business.  However, self education is much more unfamiliar to most of us.  Most of us have not been taught to follow this course of study.  However, if we don’t add this to our life’s curriculum immediately then our future will be severely damaged.

I’m not critical of the Kims or the Janes of the world.  I take the opportunity to learn from them and challenge my own beliefs and perspectives.

The fact is we need to excel in both institutional and self education. Those of us who invest the energy to do this will be rewarded very handsomely, and be able to impact our society incredibly.   Once you begin to invest in your self education you will witness a sharp increase in your awareness and ability to influence.

How are you educated?

With varying degrees, all of us are institutionally educated.  But to what degree would you say you are self educated?

My conversation with Kim made me wonder about these things.  I ask myself, how much energy have I invested in my institutional education?  How does that compare to what I have invested in my self education?  How can we make sure that we place our intelligence in the areas that matter most?

What do you think?