Recent news stories point to improved job prospects and increased pay to go with them. This is encouraging if you have the credentials (read: degree and/or certification) your prospective employer is looking for, but what if you don’t?

At a recent convention I attended, I heard a keynote speech that inspired this post. I’ll share more of what I learned from that talk in Part 2, but first I want to encourage you to become an entrepreneur. Instead of waiting for someone to hire you, why not start your own company and be the boss?

Let’s be clear: I’m not suggesting that you pull a Costanza and make up a Vandelay Industries. Nor am I talking about falling into the trap of turk work and setting yourself up for obsolescence. Instead, I mean that you should develop a product or service and the plan for delivering it — and then you should deliver it as profitably as you can.

Make your own luck

Let’s talk about the upsides, starting with creating your own momentum and your own luck. Now before you think there’s this mystical force our there called Luck that runs parallel to God, let me clarify. What people call luck is actually the meeting of preparation and attention. When you’ve done the homework and acquired and/or mastered the knowledge of your marketplace, you’ll harness the positive power of confirmation bias. As I’ve written before, when you drive an old Volvo, you start to see them everywhere.

When you’ve developed expertise in your chosen market, you’ll see opportunities everywhere. Then, if you’re confident and diligent, you’ll pursue the more promising opportunities. And if your preparation includes the cultivation of some selling skills, you’ll close some business. Then people will consider you lucky.

One man from my hometown used to like to say that the harder he worked the luckier he got. I got it back then, and I still remember it. I also appreciate the saying attributed to Thomas Edison that goes like this: Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Be your own boss

Becoming an entrepreneur has another huge upside: you are your own boss. Unless you’re also highly self-motivated, that’s also the downside. Every day, you’re going to have to summon your motivation, your desire to get things done or they won’t get done.

By the way, this is the same skill you need to manage your career, as I discussed in this post.

But… It takes money

Yes, it’s true that you have to have some money to get started, but not as much as you may think. For most entrepreneurial enterprises, you aren’t going to need your own skyscraper and helipad — at least, not at first. Some people with landscaping businesses started with not much more than a lawnmower and a willingness to sweat. Other people have figured out how to open online stores on a shoestring budget. Web domains are very inexpensive — and there are lots of free tutorials that can help you design your website and launch your business.

Chris Guillebeau wrote a book called The 100-Dollar Startup. You may find just the idea you need there.

Be prepared to learn

There are lessons everywhere, many are free. There are online publications, podcasts, and webinars devoted to entrepreneurship. There are books on management and leadership in your public library (you do have a library card, right?). And there are local entrepreneurs who want to share what they know. But reading and discussing aren’t the only sources of lessons.

In the kicker above, I said you should expect to fail. This is because you will likely fail in your first attempts at entrepreneurship. Many times. Failure can bruise your ego, but it is also a rich mine of hard-won knowledge.

This is one reason why silicon valley types talk about failing faster. This means you should embrace the probability and learn to shrug off the sting of failure in order to acquire the lessons that will come through the failure and keep going. Author, speaker, and success coach Michael Hyatt says it this way: “In my world there is no failure — only learning.”

Success comes from good judgment…

I know I’ve quoted him before, but Arthur Jones, the eccentric creator of Nautilus Fitness equipment used to say, “Success in life comes from good judgment. Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.” I hope you see that to make your way in the world and provide for yourself and your household, you will have to endure some seasons of suck. Don’t let it throw you — you’re learning.

Congratulations, You’re a Technician

One lesson that arrived for me fairly recently was in Michael Gerber’s book Beyond the e-Myth. Gerber says that if your enterprise can’t function without your hand on it, you’re not an entrepreneur — you’re a technician. He prescribes the creation of methods and systems that will enable you to delegate the functions of and to increase the scale of your business.

A business has products and is a product

The last bit is important because in addition to having products, a business is a product in itself. If you’re truly an entrepreneur, you’ll enjoy the thrill of the launch, but become bored with the operations side of things. In that case, you’re going to have operators who can implement your systems, or you’re going to need to find a buyer who’ll operate what you’ve built. You can make money either way, but the key is to work on your business instead of just working in it..

Coming up

We’ll talk about insights I gained from that keynote address.

So how about you? What’s preventing you from becoming an entrepreneur? What do you have to lose? Add your comments below.

Note: I have linked to a couple of books on Amazon. I do not receive any compensation for doing so — these are two books I have bought and read and I am comfortable recommending them.

In honor of Veterans Day, a heartfelt word of thanks to all of you who have served or are serving in America’s armed forces.  Thank you for your willingness to train, to suffer hardship, to experience separation from your loved ones, and to put your life at risk for your countrymen.

My late father-in-law was a veteran of World War II,  He was one of four brothers, all of whom were drafted away from their family farm in rural Tennessee.

After completing his training, he became a Technical Sergeant in the Army Air Corps — the precursor to the US Air Force.   His responsibilities included making in-flight repairs and serving as a waist gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber in the European theater, as part of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.

Like many men of his generation, he rarely talked about his experiences during the war, downplaying the danger and his role.  “It was late in the war by the time I got over there,” he always said.   Once when my grandmother asked if he had ever been to Germany, he gave a slight smile and said, “No, but I’ve been over it.”

Following the war, he returned to the farm for a while before enrolling in Tennessee Tech on the GI Bill.  Following his graduation from college, he earned a doctorate in agronomy and genetics from the University of Wisconsin.

With his PhD, he took a position as a research agronomist with the US Department of Agriculture and was assigned to a research station at a large state university.  He worked there the rest of his career, developing numerous soybean cultivars that fed millions and teaching graduate students from around the world.

As distinguished as his career was, he was also a devoted husband and father, raising my wife and her siblings in a godly household.

Over the past dozen years or so, we have seen popular sentiment regarding military service return to an appropriate level of respect and gratitude.  This is as it should be.

At the same time, I hear and read some people saying that the US is no longer worthy of such devotion or service.  I am not here to argue for or against — especially not with those who have served.  On this occasion, however, I want to commend those who, like my father-in-law, saw their duty, did it and came home to build an exemplary life.  This is still a county that produces such men.  That is worth preserving.

So how about you?   What lessons did you learn from your own military service, or that of your friends or family members?  How are you using that wisdom to be your best?  Add your comments below.

“Find something, found something, or fund something.” – Bob Shank

Recent news stories point to improved job prospects and increased pay to go with them. This is encouraging if you have the credentials (read: degree and/or certification) your prospective employer is looking for, but what if you don’t?

At a recent convention I attended, I heard a keynote speech that inspired this post. I’ll share more of what I learned from that talk in Part 2, but first I want to encourage you to become an entrepreneur. Instead of waiting for someone to hire you, why not start your own company and be the boss?

Let’s be clear: I’m not suggesting that you pull a Costanza and make up a Vandelay Industries. Nor am I talking about falling into the trap of turk work and setting yourself up for obsolescence. Instead, I mean that you should develop a product or service and the plan for delivering it — and then you should deliver it as profitably as you can.

When you drive one, you see them everywhere!

Make your own luck

Let’s talk about the upsides, starting with creating your own momentum and your own luck. Now before you think there’s this mystical force our there called Luck that runs parallel to God, let me clarify. What people call luck is actually the meeting of preparation and attention. When you’ve done the homework and acquired and/or mastered the knowledge of your marketplace, you’ll harness the positive power of confirmation bias. As I’ve written before, when you drive an old Volvo, you start to see them everywhere.

When you’ve developed expertise in your chosen market, you’ll see opportunities everywhere. Then, if you’re confident and diligent, you’ll pursue the more promising opportunities. And if your preparation includes the cultivation of some selling skills, you’ll close some business. Then people will consider you lucky.

One man from my hometown used to like to say that the harder he worked the luckier he got. I got it back then, and I still remember it. I also appreciate the saying attributed to Thomas Edison that goes like this: Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Be your own boss

Becoming an entrepreneur has another huge upside: you are your own boss. Unless you’re also highly self-motivated, that’s also the downside. Every day, you’re going to have to summon your motivation, your desire to get things done or they won’t get done.

By the way, this is the same skill you need to manage your career, as I discussed in this post.

But… It takes money

Yes, it’s true that you have to have some money to get started, but not as much as you may think. For most entrepreneurial enterprises, you aren’t going to need your own skyscraper and helipad — at least, not at first. Some people with landscaping businesses started with not much more than a lawnmower and a willingness to sweat. Other people have figured out how to open online stores on a shoestring budget. Web domains are very inexpensive — and there are lots of free tutorials that can help you design your website and launch your business.

Chris Guillebeau wrote a book called The 100-Dollar Startup. You may find just the idea you need there.

Be prepared to learn

There are lessons everywhere, many are free. There are online publications, podcasts, and webinars devoted to entrepreneurship. There are books on management and leadership in your public library (you do have a library card, right?). And there are local entrepreneurs who want to share what they know. But reading and discussing aren’t the only sources of lessons.

In the kicker above, I said you should expect to fail. This is because you will likely fail in your first attempts at entrepreneurship. Many times. Failure can bruise your ego, but it is also a rich mine of hard-won knowledge.

This is one reason why silicon valley types talk about failing faster. This means you should embrace the probability and learn to shrug off the sting of failure in order to acquire the lessons that will come through the failure and keep going. Author, speaker, and success coach Michael Hyatt says it this way: “In my world there is no failure — only learning.”

Success comes from good judgment…

I know I’ve quoted him before, but Arthur Jones, the eccentric creator of Nautilus Fitness equipment used to say, “Success in life comes from good judgment. Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.” I hope you see that to make your way in the world and provide for yourself and your household, you will have to endure some seasons of suck. Don’t let it throw you — you’re learning.

Congratulations, You’re a Technician

One lesson that arrived for me fairly recently was in Michael Gerber’s book Beyond the e-Myth. Gerber says that if your enterprise can’t function without your hand on it, you’re not an entrepreneur — you’re a technician. He prescribes the creation of methods and systems that will enable you to delegate the functions of and to increase the scale of your business.

A business has products and is a product

The last bit is important because in addition to having products, a business is a product in itself. If you’re truly an entrepreneur, you’ll enjoy the thrill of the launch, but become bored with the operations side of things. In that case, you’re going to have operators who can implement your systems, or you’re going to need to find a buyer who’ll operate what you’ve built. You can make money either way, but the key is to work on your business instead of just working in it..

Coming up

We’ll talk about insights I gained from that keynote address.

So how about you? What’s preventing you from becoming an entrepreneur? What do you have to lose? Add your comments below.

Note: I have linked to a couple of books on Amazon. I do not receive any compensation for doing so — these are two books I have bought and read and I am comfortable recommending them.

“When we are out of sympathy with the young then I think our work in this world is over.” – George McDonald

Recently, I ran into a former colleague and her high school aged son. As we caught up, I asked the young man about his plans following high school. He replied: “College, of course!” He’s an intelligent fellow with intelligent parents so I’m not surprised. What was pleasantly surprising was that he’s seriously thinking about taking a path we’ve discussed here before — taking his first two years at the local technical college before transferring as a junior to a state university. Since he’s thinking about a career in healthcare, this is a sound plan.

The changing nature of work

As the end of 2015 approached, I read many articles predicting the future technologies that will affect our lives this year and beyond. Some are amusing. Some are alarming. Some seem beneficial, and some are hard to categorize. The fact is that due to technology, economics, politics, and demographics the kind of work we do and how we do that work will change. The question is, what can a man do today to be prepared for the likely changes?

Working hard or hardly working?
Photo by Joseph Booth

Seek education

One of the ways you can avoid poverty is to stay in school. According to 2012 data (the most recent I could find), high school graduates earn a median income (that is, the middle of the range of incomes) of just over $29,000 per year. Add a two-year Associates Degree, and the median income increases to nearly $38,000/year. The median income for a bachelor’s degree is over $50,000/year. Not only does having a degree lead to higher earnings, unemployment among those with a bachelor’s degree remained low throughout the worst of the great recession.

Now for the disclaimer: A degree is not like a lucky charm. You have to work to earn it, and once you have the job, you have to deliver a consistent return to your employer that is greater than your pay. To do this, not all degrees are created equal.

STEM the tide of unemployment

Degrees in the STEM fields — that is, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics — will put you in demand. The US lags behind in educational attainment in science and math, and this is creating problems for companies that will hire you if you have what it takes. If you’re suited to it, I recommend pursuing a two or four-year degree in a STEM-related discipline. Hint: These majors don’t usually end in the word “studies.”

As you consider your formal education, think first about the career you want as it fits within your life’s purpose. Then investigate the educational prerequisites for that career, and evaluate how your interests and your giftedness line up with these fields of study. Then pursue a degree with the best fit. You’ll fare better this way than if you pursue a course of study based on the starting salaries of holders of a given degree. Yes, getting paid is important. And earning enough to recoup the cost of your education is also important, but life is about more than what you earn.

But also seek wisdom

While STEM degrees are needed in our increasingly technologically saturated marketplace, and the STEM departments in most institutes of higher learning are blessedly free of the corruption of political correctness, you must also make time to cultivate the architecture of your soul. No doubt there is wonder in the periodic table, and grandeur in the laws of physics, but you owe it to yourself to read the great works of western civilization under the leadership of a wise and honest instructor.

So I strongly recommend that you also study literature, language, history, philosophy, and the arts. Read Aristotle, Homer, and the Bible. In doing this you will, to paraphrase novelist Tom Robbins, furnish your mind like a comfortable living room instead of like an office cubicle. This will also make it possible for you to think more broadly and insightfully about the work you do and to understand the times in which you live — a valuable thing when technologies rise and fall within a short span (remember Blockbuster video?) leaving the less flexible stranded as they struggle to adjust.

Professor Gelernter explains it

Yale computer science professor David Gelernter wrote an essay recently for the Wall Street Journal titled “Machines That Can Think and Feel” in which he explained why artificial intelligence was not close to replicating human consciousness. The reason was not that computer scientists lack the skill or desire to do so, it was simply because they are currently focusing solely on the logical and computational functions that our brains can perform, while ignoring the emotional component entirely. His critique of this approach is that it is like “trying to get to California (so to speak) without ever leaving I-95.”

I would add that an emphasis on STEM disciplines that excludes the arts and humanities, faith and values would seem to be an attempt to make men more like their robotic counterparts — the same error, only in the oncoming lane. And as C.S. Lewis said, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”

Avoid turk work

Note the lower-case “T” indicating I’m not referring to a nationality. Turk work is anything that can ultimately be replaced by automation. These are often pay-by-the-piece tasks that pay very little for each repetition. If you want to see an example of this, click here to see Amazon’s Mechanical Turk job board. Similarly disappointing (in my opinion) experiences are available through gig economy staples such as fiverr.com or taskrabbit.com. As I’ve written before, we should all be looking for work that exists at the apex of our purpose, passion, and potential.

For the time being, driving for one of the ride-sharing companies, such as Uber or Lyft, may provide some income, but once self-driving taxis take off, that work will also go the way of the video store. Over the road truck drivers are similarly vulnerable, by the way, as are the sign twirlers outside the tax preparation offices.

But by all means work

I know several men in my age bracket who are changing or have changed jobs. The decisions aren’t always easy, as at least one friend is having to uproot his family to start over in a new city and state. However, this move is wise as it will provide a better income and a more humane work environment. Another young man I know has taken on seasonal work as a laborer while he pursues an additional certification. I’m betting on him to come out of this ordeal stronger. If you have the choice between working and not working, work. You’ll gain credibility if your next boss sees you have a bias toward action.

Rise above the gig economy like a boss

Changes in health care and tax law have dried up full-time employment opportunities for a lot of you. Some of you are having to stitch together two or more 20-hour-a-week part-time jobs to pay the bills. The hard part is these jobs under 30 hours don’t come with health insurance. If you’re in this situation, working as a contractor, you may want to consider forming your own personal services company. One young man I know did this and was able to increase his income significantly, as his client pays the contract rate he charges. You can file an LLC in many states for as little as a couple hundred dollars. If you’re stuck in gigland, you might want to consider it.

Here’s how I’m doing it

For my part, I earned a degree in Spanish from a liberal arts college, took a sales job out of college and worked for a couple of years before going to graduate school in an applied science (STEM), which led to my working in the textile industry from graduation to the present. I also formed a general partnership with my wife to manage and operate the band we own. And, as you’ve no doubt noticed, I blog. The things I’m doing are the fruit of getting an education, going to work, delivering results, and continuing to learn. You can do these things and more — just stay aware that the market will continue to change and be ready to change with it.

So how about you? How are you preparing for the work environment of tomorrow? Add our comments below.

Update: Just this week two news articles brought this post to mind:

1. Artificial intelligence advances have resulted in machines that can beat professionals at poker. Machines’ increasing abilities to “reason” and solve complex problems will, over time, even begin to absorb what today is regarded as knowledge work.
2. Uber X is fielding driverless cars in Arizona. While the technology is not perfect (yet) the company has a human copilot in every car just in case. As these systems become more reliable, and the legal liabilities get sorted out, expect to see fewer opportunities for gig employment as a driver.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
    profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” – Proverbs 27:6 (ESV)

The story I’m about to tell you is true. While I am not particularly proud of certain aspects of this story, I think it has a happy enough ending, as well as a useful moral, so I’m willing to live with the discomfort. If you are a student or you are launching your working life, I hope my telling you this story will help you find the motivation to do your best work now.

When I graduated college back in the last century, it was late in May. When I received my diploma, I had not yet secured that all important J-O-B, despite interviews and even some call backs from some well-known companies still in business today. Through contacting friends of friends, I eventually landed an entry-level sales job with a textile machinery manufacturer in a nearby small city. It was more exciting than frightening — and even though I knew absolutely nothing about textile machinery, I had sold everything from Christmas cards to cogs to clothing while I was growing up. How hard could it be?

Want treasure later? Hit the books today.
(Photo by Glen Noble)

After college, the real education begins

Through the grapevine,  I knew that many of my classmates were working in the big city, and that their starting salaries were about 20% higher than mine. I didn’t care, because I had a degree, a job, a car (a ’69 VW Beetle with a fuel leak) and my own apartment. The first lessons were hard ones. “Real” life as an adult doesn’t operate by the rules that govern campus life, and the range of appropriate self-expression in the workplace is more narrow and well-defined. (I’m telling you this so you’ll have a clue when you get there.)

On top of the cultural lessons, there were the business lessons. Companies don’t simply “have” money. If they are selling products and services, they have some coming in, but if the amount coming in isn’t greater than the sum of expenses, they won’t be in business long. For this reason, a company can’t simply decide to pay its employees more, nor does a company always have the option of raising prices. Usually, a company’s best path out of trouble is to increase sales while reducing expenses. If the former doesn’t happen, people who aren’t the owners or related to the owners will find their hours curtailed or their positions eliminated to accomplish the latter. I have never forgotten this — and I want you to know and understand it.

Then there were the personal lessons. I had a vague idea about how the whole paying bills thing worked, so I dove into it headlong. I was never late on my student loans, my car payment, or my rent, but without a budget, I often found myself with month left over at the end of the money. Oh, and early on I didn’t understand that I was supposed to have the electricity switched over from the apartment complex to me, so I did come home from work one evening to find I had no power.

So, there I was — a single man in a small town with no friends nearby and nearly no experience in a tough industry.  The one grace of that first year was that my company expected me to be on the road making sales calls during the week. As long as I was doing that, I had food to supplement my meager groceries and I received mileage reimbursement to cover the wear and tear on the new car I bought. Still, it was tough.

Connecting the dots

I recall being at home in my shabby apartment one evening, eating barbecued Spam. (And if you only know that word as another name for junk email, click here. In certain parts of Polynesia it’s considered a delicacy.) I thought to myself, “This sucks.” I remembered the interviews with the big-name companies where the recruiters told me they were looking for the top 10% of the class, the captain of the football team and the president of the fraternity – in other words, not me. I also thought back over the squandered opportunities to study longer, dig deeper and learn more. At the time, I didn’t see how excelling in the classroom would correlate to my standard of living so soon after graduation.

Cue the flashback

And I thought back to that afternoon late in my senior year. The college had posted the list of inductees into Phi Beta Kappa — the premier academic honor society —  and I didn’t make the cut. I don’t mind telling you, I wasn’t anywhere close. I knew this. At lunch, a fraternity brother a year behind me expressed surprise that I wasn’t on the list. I thought he was mocking me. He assured me he wasn’t. I laughed ruefully and we dropped it.

Later that afternoon I swung by to see my major adviser and told him the story. Offhandedly, I said how unlikely it would have been for me to receive such an honor. What he said has stuck with me ever since:

“You could have been Phi Beta Kappa. Why not? Your problem is not with your head; it’s with your (posterior). If you only knew how frustrating it is to read a better paper from you than any others I get and to know that you haven’t done the reading, the WORK. The only reason you aren’t Phi Beta Kappa is YOU.”

I was mortified and felt sick to my stomach. For one thing, I admired my professor a great deal (I still do) and wanted his approval. I didn’t expect such an endorsement of capability to come wrapped in such a thermonuclear truth-bomb. But alone, months later over my plate of spam, I saw that he was right. I had no plans to go to graduate school — and certainly no money for it — but I remember saying out loud, “If I ever go back to school, I’m going to work so hard…”

I guess I was praying after all

A short time later, my employer sent me to meet with a textile research institute to talk to them about our product line and the philosophy behind our approach. I had two names to ask for — the first was out of town, but the second one agreed to meet with me.

We spent two-and-a-half hours with him asking me questions and me answering them. As our meeting wound down, he asked where I had learned about textiles and textile processing. “On the job, ” I said. He asked if I had graduated college and what sort of grades I had made. I told the truth. To my surprise, he asked if I had ever thought about graduate school. I told him I had, but that I couldn’t afford it.

He told me that every student at the institute was there on a graduate fellowship that covered tuition, books and fees, and that the fellowship included a stipend. As a result the program was very competitive. He said based on our discussion that he wanted to encourage me to apply. If I’d do that, he said he could guarantee I’d be invited for an interview. And if I conducted myself in the interview the way I had in our meeting, he was over 90% sure I’d be accepted. It was a miracle.

How did it turn out?

I’ve gone on too long already, but to sum up: I did apply, I did get an interview and I did receive a fellowship. And yes I worked so hard. I was a much better student in graduate school than I was in college. And I had three offers from top-notch companies. You can learn from my experience. Do the work now. It will pay off.

So how about you? What steps are you taking now to work for your future? Add your comments below.

“Shock the monkey” – Peter Gabriel

Here’s a video post where I tell the story of my worst day at work. Oh, in the ensuing years, I’ve been through awful situations — including having my job eliminated — but this one was uniquely tough, as I hope you’ll understand. The good news is it was brief!

There are lots of challenges in a man’s life here in the current year, but these contain opportunities to learn and grow.

So how about you? Are you looking for opportunities amid your trials? Add your comment below.

“When we are out of sympathy with the young then I think our work in this world is over.” – George McDonald

Recently, I ran into a former colleague and her high school aged son. As we caught up, I asked the young man about his plans following high school. He replied: “College, of course!” He’s an intelligent fellow with intelligent parents so I’m not surprised. What was pleasantly surprising was that he’s seriously thinking about taking a path we’ve discussed here before — taking his first two years at the local technical college before transferring as a junior to a state university. Since he’s thinking about a career in healthcare, this is a sound plan.

The changing nature of work

As the end of 2015 approached, I read many articles predicting the future technologies that will affect our lives this year and beyond. Some are amusing. Some are alarming. Some seem beneficial, and some are hard to categorize. The fact is that due to technology, economics, politics, and demographics the kind of work we do and how we do that work will change. The question is, what can a man do today to be prepared for the likely changes?

Working hard or hardly working?
Photo by Joseph Booth

Seek education

One of the ways you can avoid poverty is to stay in school. According to 2012 data (the most recent I could find), high school graduates earn a median income (that is, the middle of the range of incomes) of just over $29,000 per year. Add a two-year Associates Degree, and the median income increases to nearly $38,000/year. The median income for a bachelor’s degree is over $50,000/year. Not only does having a degree lead to higher earnings, unemployment among those with a bachelor’s degree remained low throughout the worst of the great recession.

Now for the disclaimer: A degree is not like a lucky charm. You have to work to earn it, and once you have the job, you have to deliver a consistent return to your employer that is greater than your pay. To do this, not all degrees are created equal.

STEM the tide of unemployment

Degrees in the STEM fields — that is, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics — will put you in demand. The US lags behind in educational attainment in science and math, and this is creating problems for companies that will hire you if you have what it takes. If you’re suited to it, I recommend pursuing a two or four-year degree in a STEM-related discipline. Hint: These majors don’t usually end in the word “studies.”

As you consider your formal education, think first about the career you want as it fits within your life’s purpose. Then investigate the educational prerequisites for that career, and evaluate how your interests and your giftedness line up with these fields of study. Then pursue a degree with the best fit. You’ll fare better this way than if you pursue a course of study based on the starting salaries of holders of a given degree. Yes, getting paid is important. And earning enough to recoup the cost of your education is also important, but life is about more than what you earn.

But also seek wisdom

While STEM degrees are needed in our increasingly technologically saturated marketplace, and the STEM departments in most institutes of higher learning are blessedly free of the corruption of political correctness, you must also make time to cultivate the architecture of your soul. No doubt there is wonder in the periodic table, and grandeur in the laws of physics, but you owe it to yourself to read the great works of western civilization under the leadership of a wise and honest instructor.

So I strongly recommend that you also study literature, language, history, philosophy, and the arts. Read Aristotle, Homer, and the Bible. In doing this you will, to paraphrase novelist Tom Robbins, furnish your mind like a comfortable living room instead of like an office cubicle. This will also make it possible for you to think more broadly and insightfully about the work you do and to understand the times in which you live — a valuable thing when technologies rise and fall within a short span (remember Blockbuster video?) leaving the less flexible stranded as they struggle to adjust.

Professor Gelernter explains it

Yale computer science professor David Gelernter wrote an essay recently for the Wall Street Journal titled “Machines That Can Think and Feel” in which he explained why artificial intelligence was not close to replicating human consciousness. The reason was not that computer scientists lack the skill or desire to do so, it was simply because they are currently focusing solely on the logical and computational functions that our brains can perform, while ignoring the emotional component entirely. His critique of this approach is that it is like “trying to get to California (so to speak) without ever leaving I-95.”

I would add that an emphasis on STEM disciplines that excludes the arts and humanities, faith and values would seem to be an attempt to make men more like their robotic counterparts — the same error, only in the oncoming lane. And as C.S. Lewis said, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”

Avoid turk work

Note the lower-case “T” indicating I’m not referring to a nationality. Turk work is anything that can ultimately be replaced by automation. These are often pay-by-the-piece tasks that pay very little for each repetition. If you want to see an example of this, click here to see Amazon’s Mechanical Turk job board. Similarly disappointing (in my opinion) experiences are available through gig economy staples such as fiverr.com or taskrabbit.com. As I’ve written before, we should all be looking for work that exists at the apex of our purpose, passion, and potential.

For the time being, driving for one of the ride-sharing companies, such as Uber or Lyft, may provide some income, but once self-driving taxis take off, that work will also go the way of the video store. Over the road truck drivers are similarly vulnerable, by the way, as are the sign twirlers outside the tax preparation offices.

But by all means work

I know several men in my age bracket who are changing or have changed jobs. The decisions aren’t always easy, as at least one friend is having to uproot his family to start over in a new city and state. However, this move is wise as it will provide a better income and a more humane work environment. Another young man I know has taken on seasonal work as a laborer while he pursues an additional certification. I’m betting on him to come out of this ordeal stronger. If you have the choice between working and not working, work. You’ll gain credibility if your next boss sees you have a bias toward action.

Rise above the gig economy like a boss

Changes in health care and tax law have dried up full-time employment opportunities for a lot of you. Some of you are having to stitch together two or more 20-hour-a-week part-time jobs to pay the bills. The hard part is these jobs under 30 hours don’t come with health insurance. If you’re in this situation, working as a contractor, you may want to consider forming your own personal services company. One young man I know did this and was able to increase his income significantly, as his client pays the contract rate he charges. You can file an LLC in many states for as little as a couple hundred dollars. If you’re stuck in gigland, you might want to consider it.

Here’s how I’m doing it

For my part, I earned a degree in Spanish from a liberal arts college, took a sales job out of college and worked for a couple of years before going to graduate school in an applied science (STEM), which led to my working in the textile industry from graduation to the present. I also formed a general partnership with my wife to manage and operate the band we own. And, as you’ve no doubt noticed, I blog. The things I’m doing are the fruit of getting an education, going to work, delivering results, and continuing to learn. You can do these things and more — just stay aware that the market will continue to change and be ready to change with it.

So how about you? How are you preparing for the work environment of tomorrow? Add our comments below.

“No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice.” – C.S. Lewis from The Magician’s Nephew

In a recent post, we discussed the need to distinguish between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. As it happens from time to time, I hit “Publish” only to find some additional notes on the subject — you could call this what I wish I’d said about wisdom, or what else I should have said about wisdom. You can send me your votes via email if you like.

Walk with the wise and go to the head of the class

So here’s the recap: there are more data — more facts — and more domains of knowledge than ever in history. In so many ways, this is a good thing. Just take medicine as one example. If you’re born prematurely,  diagnosed with a dread disease, or wounded in battle, there’s never been a better time to be alive. Survival rates for certain types of cancer, preemies, and combat wounded are increasing with increased knowledge.

Conversely, our expanded capabilities often enable us to drive faster than our moral headlights. Our technological prowess enables us to do amazing things but it also distracts us and dulls our impulse to ask whether those are things one ought to do.

Build a wall

If you lived in a flood prone area, you’d need to ensure that your property wouldn’t be inundated the next time the river rose. One way you could address this would be by creating a barrier between you and the potential flood. You see temporary walls made of sandbags for just such a purpose. If your moral faculties are in danger of being sundered because of the flood of new information, you can establish a levee for your mind. Here are a few ideas to get your started:

Go on a data diet – No more FOMO for you. Try to pre-screen and be more discerning about what you feed your mind and your spirit. Positive psychologists — yes, there really are such people — say that it’s a bad idea to watch TV news before going to bed. This is because their unofficial motto is, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Given that the entire point of television is to get you to watch and act on the sponsors’ ads, it’s no wonder it’s called television programming — you’re being groomed to respond to the sales pitches. Less really can be more.

Go to bed – You’ll integrate what’s important and eliminate what’s not if you build in adequate time for rest. In a future post, I’ll give you some of what I’ve learned from my years in the mattress industry about sleep and why you don’t just love it — you need it.

Start a news fast  – A famous evangelist once said a Christian should go through life with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.  He meant that we should be present in the world and attentive to the needs around us — hearing and doing what the word of God says. This was the antidote to the church’s being “so Heavenly minded that it’s no earthly good.”

I stand by that idea, but you have to recognize that journalists seem to get paid by the column inch (that is, by how many words they write). And many if not most present their opinions disguised as objective journalism. If you want to know what’s going on without having to slog through the sea of gray, skip straight to the opinion pages and read the editorials and op eds. You’ll get a summary of the major issues and hear the arguments for and against. Much easier to make up your own mind — and opinion presented as such isn’t pretending to be unbiased.

Use speed reading – I took a course many years ago, and I recommend the multi-pass approach to help you gain familiarity with a lot of material and then decide what’s worth the investment of your valuable time. The instructor taught us that each successive pass was like a different more of transportation. High-level skimming was akin to flying over the territory in a helicopter. The next, more detailed pass was like riding through town on a double-decker bus. The next level of engagement was like riding through on a bicycle, while the highest level of detailed reading was like walking

Defrag your mental hard drive – Develop the spiritual discipline of solitude and contemplation. Yes, many faith traditions teach meditation in one form or another, but this isn’t so much about emptying the mind, as it is about allowing it to be filled with the Right Stuff. Be still and quiet and process it all.

Develop a biblical worldview – We’ve discussed this before. Viewing the foundational questions of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration through the lens of Scripture will help you understand and evaluate how new knowledge rates according to a transcendent moral scale. Even better, you’ll be able to articulate for your children and your friends how and why you get there.

Cultivate friendships with wise people – It’s been a while since I last encouraged you to find a mentor. Find a mentor.

Understand that wisdom takes time — more like a lifetime — to acquire. It isn’t something you can download. As King Solomon taught, “He who walks with the wise will become wise.” Note that he didn’t say, “He who stands next to the wise in line at Starbucks will become wise.” It’s a transfer that takes place in the context of relationships.

If God has already placed you in proximity to wise people, understand that this is another way he is showing love to you. And if you are not hanging with wise people, ask God for new friends.

I believe that all truth is God’s property. Genuine Wisdom has to be true in order to be wisdom. Therefore Wisdom is God’s property — His to give to whomever He chooses. But God is generous and will give wisdom to anyone who asks.

So how about you? In what ways are you seeking wisdom? Add your comments below.

NOTE: I’m going to do my part to help lighten the information load. Starting this week, I’m revising my publishing schedule to one post per week. Of course, if events demand it, or if I feel inspired, I will reserve the right to post more frequently. In the meantime, please subscribe by providing your email address in the popup or at the top of the page, and I’ll send you a weekly recap every Saturday. I’m going to revise the email format to provide more opportunities to weigh in on more topics. Thanks for reading — please don’t stop.

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” – Eppie Lederer (a/k/a Ann Landers)

Reader — and good friend — Jeff sent an email following Tuesday’s post. As a side note, he has noted that he often agrees with my conclusions, even though he differs with the path I used to reach them. Here’s a the relevant excerpt from his email (used with permission, BTW):

Drink from the fount of knowledge

I did, again (!) have the weird experience of being the amen corner for most of it while taking specific exception with a point you made along the way. In this case it was your assertion that the ROI on higher ed is questionable. I know what you mean—that it’s more expensive than it used to be, with less guarantee of paying off. That’s true. But the key to clearly seeing the return on higher ed is to ask the “compared to what” question in a different way. If it’s longitudinal, now compared to then, point taken.

But I’ve read, thought, and written about this topic a lot, and am convinced that the more relevant question to apply is, sticking with present reality: how much advantage is there in a BA compared to stopping with less than a BA? And it’s not even close. Chances of achieving a middle-class life or better plummet without a BA. With a BA, people make hundreds of thousands more dollars in their careers, are much less likely to be unemployed, are more likely to like their work, and are more likely to have successful marriages, successful children, longer and healthier lives, and to give  back through some sort of service. Correlation isn’t causation, and there surely are hidden variables here, but the evidence is overwhelming that better life outcomes are overwhelmingly associated with a 4-year college degree. And the gap is actually growing.

From an NPR story today:

ttp://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/09/459087477/the-tipping-point-most-americans-no-longer-are-middle-class

In other words, the U.S. economy has been growing, and we all have been getting wealthier. But people who have the biggest incomes have been pulling away from the pack in a trend that shows no sign of slowing. Those upper-class households are increasingly likely to be headed by a married couple with higher educations, the data show.

“Those Americans without a college degree stand out as experiencing a substantial loss in economic status,” Pew concluded.

The Pew study is the latest showing lost momentum for the middle class. For example, in August, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce released a study showing that high-paying jobs are proliferating, but not middle-income jobs.

The Georgetown report concluded that the U.S. economy now has about 1 million more jobs that rank in the top third of income-generating occupations. But the middle third jobs have not yet recovered from the recession — that category is still showing 900,000 fewer jobs, compared with pre-recession levels.

The Georgetown study’s key finding was this: Since the recession ended, “almost all good jobs have gone to college graduates. Out of the 2.9 million good jobs created since the recovery, 2.8 million have been filled by workers with at least a bachelor’s degree.’

So, that’s my ‘I agree, except for …’ commentary this time around.”

I realize now that I could have said the short-term return on investment is questionable, but Jeff wouldn’t have sent such a great email. I pointed to the uncertain job market for recent college graduates as emblematic of the headwind young men are facing as they seek to establish themselves.

But let me concede that Jeff’s point is absolutely correct — over the course of their working lives, those who earn bachelor’s degrees will generally out-earn those with less than a bachelor’s degree. And since I have both a bachelor’s and a master’s, I want to clarify that I am in favor of education — as much as you can get, of as high a quality as you can get. However, I think there are some things a young man should consider before he jumps straight into college.

Academics

Do you enjoy classroom learning, and do you generally see your efforts paying off in acquired knowledge and good grades? Do your SAT/ACT scores suggest you have an aptitude for college-level work? You need to be in the affirmative on both questions. You may have a genius IQ, but if you are a kinesthetic learner, you may find the hours of required reading less than a good fit for you. Seek to match what you’re made for with what the school is good at.

Finances

Do you have a sound plan for financing your education? Mom and Dad may be able to pay cash for your tuition and fees. If so, that’s great. Many more students choose a top-tier school in another state and borrow exorbitantly to finance it. Still others work while knocking out their first two years at the local community college, eventually transferring to a four-year college or university to complete their degree.  And others serve in the military or work full-time while saving to attend college a few years after high school. Choosing a school based on its value instead of its cost will help you minimize borrowing. And zero is the best amount to borrow.

Temperament

Do you have a sure enough sense of your identity and your values to avoid agreeing with the most recent lecture you’ve heard? A good part of college life is the opportunity to read and consider points of view vastly different from one’s own. At the same time, many students find themselves under pressure to adopt a given professor’s pet ideology. Gaining the wisdom and maturity to see this effort for what it is, and to resist it while remaining cordial is not an exercise for rookies.

There is nothing wrong with taking a year or more between high school and college to become better prepared. As I’ve written before, the two years I paid rent between college and graduate school made me a much better student.

You also need wisdom and maturity to avoid the common pitfalls of college life that originate in overindulging. Many of your classmates will be on their own for the first time in their lives. The process of discovering and applying appropriate limits for oneself is essential to growing up — and it can be painful to watch.

Plan? What plan?

Do you know what you want to study? Most state schools want you to declare a major before you set foot on campus. Other liberal arts colleges insist that you defer this decision until late in your second year. Pre-med students received a waiver, though. Given the investment of time and money required to pursue a degree, you need to know what you’re trying to do.

Now let me appear to contradict myself: Another great benefit of college is the opportunity to study subjects that are new to you. In my case, I arrived on campus at the beginning of my freshman year certain I wanted to major in political science. That lasted as long as the first term and my first political science class. The next term, I took a studio art class. I loved it! When I met my dad for lunch one day, I told him I was thinking of majoring in art. He asked, “What would you do with a degree in art?” I didn’t have an answer, so I got even with him — I majored in Spanish!

Does my major matter?

There are a couple of ways to answer this. First, it matters that you love it enough to continue to work at it and complete the subject mastery required to graduate. Second, it may not matter as much later. A majority of college graduates work in fields unrelated to their college major.  But be careful here: some grads are underemployed, while others, like me, established connections between my major and larger life goals. For me, the process of learning languages prepared me to think in terms of systems and approach any unfamiliar subject and learn its vocabulary, grammar and syntax.

This is important and probably deserves its own follow-up post: a lot of jobs that exist now won’t exist 20 years from now. And there will be jobs 20 years from now that only a time traveler could predict. The world will likely always need engineers, doctors, nurses, and lawyers — but even these professions will change in light of currently unforeseeable developments. A quality education can help you become and remain agile through whatever changes come.

Why a college degree ultimately pays more

Quite simply, if you major in a serious subject in an accredited school, completing your degree will provide you with access to full-time salaried employment and better options for advancement for the rest of your life. Why is this? I’ll give Jeff the last word. As he wrote in a follow up email: “In my mind, employers see a BA as the best evidence (short of actually knowing someone) that (a) the person knows how to learn and (b) has enough stick-to-itiveness to complete an ambitious, multi-year goal. And in most cases, that’s going to be pretty spot on. That’s why I’ve told my kids that I don’t care what they study. Just prove to the world that you can learn and that you can follow through, and you’ll probably do pretty well at something, whether it’s what you majored in or not.”

So how about you? What’s your stewardship strategy for the gift of intelligence and aptitude? Add your comment below.