“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn

The best way of climbing the ladder of success is by outgrowing the situation that we are presently holding. A person’s worth leaves clues and these clues don’t go unnoticed. Sooner or later, we gravitate to our level of competence.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not crowded at the top. There is plenty of room available just waiting for someone ready to fill the positions. The problem is not the lack of room; it’s the lack of people ready to fill the shoes that need to be filled.

Until we are ready to accept that belief, our chances of climbing the stairs of corporate or entrepreneurial success are considerably affected. No real progress is possible until a situation has been correctly assessed and established.

The problem is that we tend to follow the Pollyanna principle also called, “Positivity bias.” That principle says that, when doing a self-evaluation, we have a tendency to focus on our strong points instead of doing an inclusive survey of our real competences. In other words, we may not be as good as we think that we are.

In today’s fast paced world, being good at what we do is not good enough to rise in the corporate hierarchy. We are expected to be good; that’s what we get paid for. Being excellent will not do it either. Being excellent only means that we are filling our present place. It’s no reason to be promoted or to see an increase in our entrepreneurial revenues.

To be noticed, to be invited to fill a higher and more rewarding position, we must be outstanding. That is where the money is. That’s where the train that leads to the top starts. That’s where we get the wings that will allow us to soar above the crowd and reach the rarified air of the mountaintop of success.

Jim Rohn said it best, “Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.” It is by working every day to improve ourselves that we can acquire the competence to become outstanding and in doing so, become a magnet for opportunities and advancement.

The self-education that Jim Rohn talks about is not restricted to our area of expertise. It also encompasses the entire gamut of the disciplines covered in the self-improvement world. It’s about life’s philosophy, character building, communication and relationships along with the multitude of subjects being covered in the self-help movement.

Self-education is about personal growth in all its facets. It’s about learning how to make finer distinctions and about taking wiser decisions. It’s about better self-control and about leadership abilities. In one word, it about becoming a better and more complete person. Smarter and wiser.

Greater success is the natural result of inner growth and self-actualization. Just as the tree depends on quality soil to reach maximal growth, success depends on the abundance of the intellect to bloom and flourish.

Make no mistake about it. There is plenty of room for advancement in the corporate world and plenty of room for growth in the entrepreneurial world. What is needed is not more room it is more qualified candidates.

There are plenty of opportunities out there just waiting for those who have the courage and wherewithal to spend some time every day on self-improvement. Victory belongs to those who have earned it – not to those waiting for some lucky star that won’t ever show up.

The graduate of 2020, will face a very different world to the graduate of 2009. Just like graduates in history faced new challenges, and new boundaries.

How can our current education encourage graduates that face the future, adjust to it and thrive from it?. 1. Self- Education

Thomas Edison was home schooled, his Teacher thought he was “Stupid,” so he dropped out of traditional education, and his mother taught him. This did not stop Thomas Edison from inventing the Light bulb or the Telephone. Self-Education is imperative in today’s age. An age where the internet is a cheap, and innovative option to a printed school book and examinations based on theory.

Traditional education often covers the basics, but to go beyond the basics, we have to self-educate ourselves. Something far easier now, then in the days Thomas Edison went to school, or before we went online. We can learn “additional” skills from our own sources, that give us a plus which can allow us to excel in our work, seek opportunities and expand these opportunities. Something in an age of global competition, and less secure employment, could be the difference between earning a living, and barely surviving.

Sources are readily available for self-educators. Joining a Library, gives you access to free books, free ebooks are readily available on the internet. Languages could be learnt from friends whose main language is different to ours. Clubs, voluntary organizations and even just plain observing, educate us in ways a school book cannot. Ways that will not cost a fortune, but can like Thomas Edison, help us achieve the impossible and move forward in a World, were many people stop educating themselves. Life is a journey into knowledge, and learning to apply this knowledge could be the difference between thriving and surviving in tomorrow’s new economy.

Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works — short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse — exemplify the American imagination at its most creative.

Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and most beloved books, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, FAHRENHEIT 451 and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, are masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime. His timeless, constant appeal to audiences young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic authors of the 20th Century — and the 21st.

For most people, it is easy to learn to read faster. Your reading rate is often just a matter of habit. But to begin, you may need to try to change some habits and try these tips:

1. Pay attention when you read and read as if it really matters. Most people read in the same way that they watch television, i.e. in an inattentive, passive way. Reading takes effort and you must make the effort. A wise teacher once told me that you can learn anything if you do three things:

PAY ATTENTION

PAY ATTENTION and

PAY ATTENTION.

There are some simple methods that you can use to pay better attention and get more out of your textbook reading time. Different authors call it different things, but many researchers say that you will improve your comprehension if you somehow “preview” the passage before you actually sit down and read every word.

To do a preview you:

• take 30 to 60 seconds.
• look over the title of the chapter.
• look at all the headings, subheadings and marked, italic or dark print.
• look at any pictures or illustrations, charts or graphs.
• quickly skim over the passage, reading the first and last paragraph and glancing at the first sentence of every other paragraph.
• close the book and ask yourself:
• —What is the main idea?
• —What kind of writing is it?
• —What is the author’s purpose?

You might not think that you could possibly answer these questions with so little exposure to the material, but if you do the preview correctly, you should have some very good general ideas. If you have a general idea of what the passage is about before you really read it, you will be able to understand and remember the passage better.

When you finally get to the point where you are actually slowly reading the passage, read in a “questioning” manner -as if you were seaching for something. It sometimes helps if you take the heading or title of a chapter and turn it into a question.

For example, if the heading of a section in the text is “The Causes of the Civil War”, take that title and switch it into a question like: “What are the causes of the Civil War?”. Now you have a goal; something to look for; something to find out. When you are goal-oriented, you are more likely to reach the goal. At least you’ll remember one thing about the text which you have just read.

2. Stop talking to yourself when you read. People talk to themselves in 2 ways, by:

• vocalizing, which is the actual moving of your lips as you read, and
• subvocalizing, which is talking to yourself in your head as you silently read.

Both of these will slow you down to the point in which you find that you can’t read any faster than you can speak. Speech is a relatively slow activity; for most, the average speed is about 250 WPM (words per minute).

Reading should be an activity which involves only the eyes and the brain. Vocalization ties reading to actual speaking. Try to think of reading as if you were looking at a landscape, a panorama of ideas, rather than looking at the rocks at your feet.

3. Read in thought groups. Studies have shown that when we read, our eyes must make small stops along the line. Poor readers make many, many more fixations (eyestops) than good readers. Not only does this slow you down, but it inhibits comprehension because meaning is easier to pull from groups of words rather than from individual words or even single letters. Try to read in phrases of three or four words, especially in complete clauses and prepositional phrases. Your mind may internalize them as if the whole phrase is like one big meaning-rich word.

4. Don’t keep re-reading the same phrases. Poor readers habitually read and re-read the same phrase over and over again. This habit of making “regressions” doubles or triples reading time and often does not result in better comprehension. A single careful, attentive reading may not be enough for full comprehension, but is often more effective than constant regressions in the middle of a reading. It is best to work on paying closer attention the first time through. Do a preview first before the careful reading and try the tips I mentioned above. You’ll remember better without the rereading.

5. Vary your reading rate to suit the difficulty and type of writing of the text. Poor readers always read at the same slow rate. An efficient reader speeds up for easier material and slows down for the hard. Some things were not meant to be read quickly at all. Legal material and very difficult text should be read slowly. Easier material and magazines and newspapers can be read quickly. Poetry and plays were meant to be performed, and if not acted out, then at least, spoken out loud orally. This obviously will conflict with good speed reading method which forbids vocalization. Religious writings and scripture were originally written to be recited and listened to by an audience which was likely to be intelligent, but illiterate. The “fun” of poetry, plays, or prayer is not really experienced if you “speed read” the text.