Day 27: Problem(s) You Have or Had In the Past

There are many problems that I've had in the past.  Overcoming them is a tireless task.  This blog, for one, was one of the hardest things to get started and then continue on a daily routine.  When I first started blogging back in 2005 or so, I just regurgitated Bill Simmons articles and random thoughts on Sports.  I'd do so much rambling that it was just boring as hell to read.

But I've learned to cope with some of the problems I've had and continue to have:

Problem #1: Keeping Routine

Since starting this blog and using the continuous reminders on my cell phone, I've managed to complete 2 30-day challenges that I didn't really have any faith in completing.  I know it's only 60 days, but that's more than saying you're going to lose weight for a New Years Resolution and then just sit at home during every month after January.  I'm proud of myself for at least moving forward with this kind of routine, as menial as it sounds.  Solution: This blog

Problem #2: Speaking Up When I Have the Chance

Whether it's been at the dinner table, in a classroom, in a sport's game, or at work, I'm known for staying quiet when I should be speaking up.  I don't know if it's me being passive or my inability to act, but speaking up is something I wish I did more of.  My Mom always told me to raise my hand more often in class because most of my teachers didn't know how smart I was until I did it more often.  I think there was some point during my education that the more I raised my hand, the more I'd get questions wrong thus I would shy away from participating in class.

This has carried over into my adult and professional life.  I shy away from asking my boss questions, and future employers questions.  I shy away from talking to most women I don't know.  I know that if I feel like I'm being talked at instead of being talked to, I won't even bother with responses.  If people don't understand that last sentence, they may be the kind of person that talks at someone and doesn't even know it.  Solution: None yet.

Problem #3: Starting Too Many Things Without Finishing One

This might just be a problem of me wanting to lead too many lives.  Like taking a bite of a bunch of different foods, but never finishing just one.  It's lead down a long road of emptiness.  I feel I always need to have tried something, but I can't say that I've finished something.  It sucks.  I've started several screenplays, but have never finished anyone of them.  I've started writing other stories, but I've never finished them.  I don't know how, but my real life, family and friends seem to be getting in the way of the life I want.  Solution: None.

Day 20: How Important Education Is...

Education.  How important is it to me?

Well, to be honest, not that important.  Why?  Well let me explain.

There are too many successful people who have made boatloads of money without going to college.  Lebron James, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, Josh Hamilton, Leo Messi, Kevin Garnett, Sidney Crosby, Maria Sharapova, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter, Pete Rose, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Pele, Wayne Gretzky, and Muhammad Ali all didn't attend college.  Think about that.  I didn't even mention the other tennis players and golf players who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars NOT sitting in a college lecture hall for 4 years.  Those names are also only Athletes.

Want more proof?  Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Lilliane Bettencourt of L'Oreal, Ingvar Kamprad of  IKEA, and Christy Walton of Wal-Mart.  You can't look at this list and tell me that higher education will amount to vast wealth and success in the real world.

Now, what will amount to success in the real world is the aspect of hard work.  Every single one of those people figured out that they were good at something that didn't require an education and went out and got wealthy doing that one thing they were good at.

I certainly feel that educating oneself on certain things is a necessity.  But I don't know to what point we should stop educating people and teaching them certain skills that are no longer taught in a classroom.  Sewing, cooking, wood shop, metal shop, car maintenance, electro-tech and other very useful classes that are taught in classrooms are still done today.  It's just that we can't use test scores to validate the success of the students that take those courses.

In season 4 of the Wire, one of the police officers becomes a teacher and picks up on the fact that school districts can boost the test scores if they "juke the stats" :

It's this kind of politics in the education system that I do not like.  The warping of test scores so that districts can get more money.  This above all else is the worst part of the education system.  It's no longer about the finished product anymore.