Jim Rohn said, "Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune."
I was a good student. I was very good in academics so much so that I was always one of the top honor students. From kindergarten to elementary to high school. I was a consistent top academic performer. I used to be proud of myself about this achievement I had.
It's true what Robert Kiyosaki said that in the real world, the smartest people are people who make mistakes and learn. In school, the smartest people don’t make mistakes. In school, we are trained not to make mistakes or else we get low grades or worse, fail.
I studied hard so I could pass and move up to the next level then graduate then get a job. Life was simple.
But life, as I found out and keep finding out, is not simple.
School did not teach me basic financial literacy. Tithing or saving or investing was rarely mentioned at school. Most importantly, I have never remembered any teacher mentioning to us about finding our sole purpose in life and laser-focus on it. Instead, one of my teachers in high school, told us that whatever subject we were weak at, that's where we should focus on. So he was saying if you were weak in Math, take up Engineering in college. I was not very good in math, some maths like trigonometry, geometry, arithmetic, basically the whole math world. I loved Algebra though. It was easy for me to navigate those x's and y's. But guess what, I don't remember much anymore and I yet have to find out how I can use those stuff I learned in Algebra in my daily life if I remember any lesson anyway.
So I took up Engineering in College. I was generally a good student. Actually, my class cards showed that I was a smart student. I did what was required of a student. I studied well and hard so I could pass every semester. And I did. I always had mostly high grades in most subject except for one. Guess what, a math subject, the Calculus. I failed in this but I passed it with revenge the second time.
After all the many sleepless nights and piles and piles of projects both in minor and major subjects, I graduated from college, no honors this time but it was good enough because the defining moment was yet to come, the board exams. And what a sweet victory the board exam was! I became a licensed Civil Engineer a few months after I graduated. In our class, I was the only female who passed. My parents were elated. My father even cried when I told him the news. Oh, they went through a lot just to fund my review classes in Cebu.
School is important. However, my parents believed that it was the only way we could have a better life. I think they believed that in fulfilling their duties of providing education to their children, their children would be able to help them in their basic needs and wants. My mother always told us to become professionals so we could have good have good salaries and find good partners in life. Every time she said those words, I also seemed to hear her saying that we should also give back to them. She kept saying she would not ask from as any money as long as we just graduate and find jobs.
Today, I give monthly allowance to my parents. it's part of being an Overseas Filipino I think. It's like sending money to our families has become part of DNA of working Filipinos. Because Filipinos are very compassionate and family-oriented people. And our families seem to look pitiful when we don't send money. Oh, and my mother asks. Gosh!
So I wonder now, if money is so important in our lives, why was it not thoroughly taught in school. Financial literary should have been a basic subject in school as early as kindergarten. It should have been also a regular topic in each family meal instead of talking about what happened to our neighbor or talking about past events eagerly (with emotions) brought up again by my mother. Business ideas should have been discussed in family meals and not some news on TV about a rape victim or robbery. I mean I already heard it in the news, why discuss such terrible things while eating?
“The trouble with school is they give you the answer, then they give you the exam. That’s not life.” This is again from Robert Kiyosaki and how true that is! “In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.”
I'm not saying that school is unimportant. On the contrary, school is very important. But school is not complete. Learning must not stop at school only. There is so much to learn in life so much to discover. Innovation, this was not taught to me at school. I was taught to only follow what is conventional, all the standard operating procedures already there.
How can I have a passive income? How do people develop apps and earn from them? How do I get out of being an employee and just travel the world and do charitable works while not worrying about money because money is flowing to me anyway? How do I homeschool my son so I could guide him and help him hone his core gift and skills while earning online? How do I become and entrepreneur? How do I make money work for me and not the other way around? How I can financially support ministries? How can I serve more my family? How can I earn more? How can I have my own construction firm? How can I have a farm? These are some of the questions I have now. These questions did not arise while I was a student. The only problem I had as a student was how to pass each subject and move up to to the next stage. We were not rich but my parents did not require us to help them. It was there sole responsibility to provide for all our needs or so I thought. Nobody hinted that we children needed to help them maybe by selling food, candies, iced candies, iced water or turon or haluhalo. They said our having good grades was enough help for them.
Someone must correct the system. If not now then soon. Right now what we as individuals can do is to self-study. After school or after work. Read books. Find mentors. All these so we can find our passion, our purpose in life. So we can serve others well. So we can do our mission in life. I believe our sole mission is to love. Love our children. Love our families. Love our partners in life. Love other people. Love God.
What is your core gift? Develop it. Serve with it. Money will follow. It's never too late to hone that one thing that we have, our core gift. Read one book a week or one book a month. Blog once a day or once a week or once a month. Learn a new language every six month. Learn how to code for a year then enhance it more next year or learn a new one in the next. Buy foreclosed properties and sell them. Open a business once a year. Increase income 10,000 Pesos or more per year.
Unschool by learning more and more about how you can serve more and more people.
I was a good student. I was very good in academics so much so that I was always one of the top honor students. From kindergarten to elementary to high school. I was a consistent top academic performer. I used to be proud of myself about this achievement I had.
It's true what Robert Kiyosaki said that in the real world, the smartest people are people who make mistakes and learn. In school, the smartest people don’t make mistakes. In school, we are trained not to make mistakes or else we get low grades or worse, fail.
I studied hard so I could pass and move up to the next level then graduate then get a job. Life was simple.
But life, as I found out and keep finding out, is not simple.
School did not teach me basic financial literacy. Tithing or saving or investing was rarely mentioned at school. Most importantly, I have never remembered any teacher mentioning to us about finding our sole purpose in life and laser-focus on it. Instead, one of my teachers in high school, told us that whatever subject we were weak at, that's where we should focus on. So he was saying if you were weak in Math, take up Engineering in college. I was not very good in math, some maths like trigonometry, geometry, arithmetic, basically the whole math world. I loved Algebra though. It was easy for me to navigate those x's and y's. But guess what, I don't remember much anymore and I yet have to find out how I can use those stuff I learned in Algebra in my daily life if I remember any lesson anyway.
So I took up Engineering in College. I was generally a good student. Actually, my class cards showed that I was a smart student. I did what was required of a student. I studied well and hard so I could pass every semester. And I did. I always had mostly high grades in most subject except for one. Guess what, a math subject, the Calculus. I failed in this but I passed it with revenge the second time.
After all the many sleepless nights and piles and piles of projects both in minor and major subjects, I graduated from college, no honors this time but it was good enough because the defining moment was yet to come, the board exams. And what a sweet victory the board exam was! I became a licensed Civil Engineer a few months after I graduated. In our class, I was the only female who passed. My parents were elated. My father even cried when I told him the news. Oh, they went through a lot just to fund my review classes in Cebu.
School is important. However, my parents believed that it was the only way we could have a better life. I think they believed that in fulfilling their duties of providing education to their children, their children would be able to help them in their basic needs and wants. My mother always told us to become professionals so we could have good have good salaries and find good partners in life. Every time she said those words, I also seemed to hear her saying that we should also give back to them. She kept saying she would not ask from as any money as long as we just graduate and find jobs.
Today, I give monthly allowance to my parents. it's part of being an Overseas Filipino I think. It's like sending money to our families has become part of DNA of working Filipinos. Because Filipinos are very compassionate and family-oriented people. And our families seem to look pitiful when we don't send money. Oh, and my mother asks. Gosh!
So I wonder now, if money is so important in our lives, why was it not thoroughly taught in school. Financial literary should have been a basic subject in school as early as kindergarten. It should have been also a regular topic in each family meal instead of talking about what happened to our neighbor or talking about past events eagerly (with emotions) brought up again by my mother. Business ideas should have been discussed in family meals and not some news on TV about a rape victim or robbery. I mean I already heard it in the news, why discuss such terrible things while eating?
“The trouble with school is they give you the answer, then they give you the exam. That’s not life.” This is again from Robert Kiyosaki and how true that is! “In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.”
I'm not saying that school is unimportant. On the contrary, school is very important. But school is not complete. Learning must not stop at school only. There is so much to learn in life so much to discover. Innovation, this was not taught to me at school. I was taught to only follow what is conventional, all the standard operating procedures already there.
How can I have a passive income? How do people develop apps and earn from them? How do I get out of being an employee and just travel the world and do charitable works while not worrying about money because money is flowing to me anyway? How do I homeschool my son so I could guide him and help him hone his core gift and skills while earning online? How do I become and entrepreneur? How do I make money work for me and not the other way around? How I can financially support ministries? How can I serve more my family? How can I earn more? How can I have my own construction firm? How can I have a farm? These are some of the questions I have now. These questions did not arise while I was a student. The only problem I had as a student was how to pass each subject and move up to to the next stage. We were not rich but my parents did not require us to help them. It was there sole responsibility to provide for all our needs or so I thought. Nobody hinted that we children needed to help them maybe by selling food, candies, iced candies, iced water or turon or haluhalo. They said our having good grades was enough help for them.
Someone must correct the system. If not now then soon. Right now what we as individuals can do is to self-study. After school or after work. Read books. Find mentors. All these so we can find our passion, our purpose in life. So we can serve others well. So we can do our mission in life. I believe our sole mission is to love. Love our children. Love our families. Love our partners in life. Love other people. Love God.
What is your core gift? Develop it. Serve with it. Money will follow. It's never too late to hone that one thing that we have, our core gift. Read one book a week or one book a month. Blog once a day or once a week or once a month. Learn a new language every six month. Learn how to code for a year then enhance it more next year or learn a new one in the next. Buy foreclosed properties and sell them. Open a business once a year. Increase income 10,000 Pesos or more per year.
Unschool by learning more and more about how you can serve more and more people.
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