I think everyone should get an education. But at the same time, I’ve known many people who have succeeded without one. In fact—while I value education—I think it’s a complete farce. Education will not make you successful, even though that’s what it promises. It won’t even always teach you what you need to know in life.
True, if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or scientist, an education is a must. It’s vital to your career. And you will learn valuable information that will help you in your career.
But my job (I’m still not sure what I do)… There’s no degree for that. My brother’s job—leading adventure expedition/conferences—there’s no degree for that. Unfortunately, that doesn’t keep people from saying you need an education to succeed at life.
Here’s the problem: We are not all built to function the same. Think of a body. You have arms, teeth, legs, pinky toes, and even your bum. If each of those body parts functioned the same way, you’d have a problem. You certainly don’t want your teeth to function like your bum. You don’t want your arms to function like your pinky toes. Imagine if we had to listen to people with our tongues…there would be some sloppy conversations.
Unfortunately, many in life treat everyone as if they were arms. They only see one function in life, so they tell everyone they have to function as an arm functions. Curl weights. Over and over and over again. But that exercise doesn’t work for other body parts.
You might be an arm. There’s nothing wrong with being an arm. Be the best arm you can be.
But if you’re a tongue (are you meant to speak to people?), you function differently. If you’re ears (a counselor?), you function differently. If you’re eyes (a visionary?), you function differently.
Don’t get forced into the patterns of other arms. You are unique. You have a unique function. Find your purpose and go for it.
Education is great. But it isn’t the only thing you need. And it may not even be vital for your purpose.
