College vs. Trade School
At LaunchBox, we are on a mission to help young people live outside the “box” of traditional thinking, and choose a career/mission that fits them. For many young people, pursuing their mission comes with extra education beyond high school. But what education path is the right path to take?
Here is a great article to help you wade through the pros and cons of either college or a trade school.
Remember, that which ever one you choose, if you choose one, should be based on your mission and ultimate life goal.
Moving from Stuck
The moment I get in a car, as a passenger, I get sleepy. Not sure why, but I just want to take a nap. I think it is the gentle feeling of moving down the road. I think this because the moment we stop for a longer period of time, I am awake. This is especially true when we get stuck in a stopped traffic. Something in my body tells me the situation isn’t normal, and the next thing I know, I am wide awake.
My body doesn’t like being stopped, being stuck.
This is true in many other aspects in my life, especially in my work life. I hate the feeling of being stuck. I can sense my self going into an immediate mode of desperation. I look all over the place for any way out. I just need to move.
When it comes to being stuck at work, I have found these 5 reflections to be very helpful:
Stop and breathe. Sometime we NEED to stop. Our body and mind is trying to tell us that it needs a season of rest to recoup and reassess. This is good.
Talk to peers and managers. Counsel is important. Perhaps there is a reason for our “stuck-ness” that we can’t see but others, who are close to us, see it. Give them permission to speak truth into your life. Everybody has been stuck at times in their life, so hearing their perspective and counsel may be the very thing you need to hear to start moving forward.
Understand the journey. Every road trip we take, journey we embark on, or trip we partake on, has built in times of rest. It may be a quick stop at a gas station to grab fuel or a stop to grab food. If we find ourselves on a multi-day trip, we must take the needed time to stop and sleep or we put ourselves and others in jeopardy as we fit fatigue. It is important to understand that life is a journey. And we must take evaluation of where we are at in the journey. This assessment may bring to light that the reason for our “stuck-ness” is a forced rest because we have an exciting climb or difficult obstacles ahead that will need our full energy.
Calculate the “stuck-ness.” There may be a very good reason you are stuck. Perhaps you have too many assignments on your desk that need to be completed before you can move forward. Sometime it is a class or training that we need to attend in order to start moving. Maybe we don’t have the right tools in our toolbox to move ahead. Whatever the case, assess the situation and evaluate the cause and appropriate actions that need to be implemented to move ahead.
Kick it into gear. When ready, kick your life into gear and just start moving forward. There are times, we notice that our life has slipped into neutral and no matter how hard you push down on the pedal, you won’t move and inch when in neutral. Put your life into the right gear and start moving.
Being stuck can be a good thing, for a moment. This is especially true when we need to rest. But it is vitally important that we don’t stay stuck for a long period of time. Don’t be afraid to move forward, even when you don’t exactly know where the road ahead leads.
What I Wish I Knew When I Graduated High School
The following article was written by Brett Arends about 6 years ago. What he wrote then, holds true today. If you are a current high school student or even a college student, we encourage you to read this article.
You don’t know me, but I was you — about 30 years ago.
There’s a whole bunch of stuff that I wish someone had told me on the day I graduated. It would have been really, really useful.
But nobody did. So I had to learn it the hard way.
I want to save you all the trouble. So if you want to have a much easier time over the next 10 or 20 years, ponder these 25 suggestions.
1. Most of what you’ve just learned in high school is completely useless and you will never use it again. That time spent drawing stamens or reading Edmund Spenser’s “Faerie Queene”? Totally wasted. And you will never use calculus again.
2. Just because you succeeded in high school doesn’t mean you’ll succeed in life. It’s totally different. In a few years nobody will care what team you played on or what your GPA was. Sorry, but you’ve got to start all over again.
3. Don’t confuse your studies with an education. Time spent getting an A-plus in college, as opposed to an A-minus, is probably wasted. But keep learning all your life. Ask questions. Listen to people. Take classes. And keep reading. Always have a good book on hand.
4. Truer words were never said: “Do a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
5. Don’t covet “stuff” and don’t waste money on it. If I had back all the money I spent on junk in my 20s and 30s, I’d be in fat city. Throw something out whenever you buy something new. Clear out your closets every six months and throw out everything you don’t absolutely love.
6. Dress for other people, not for yourself. It’s counter-intuitive, but true: Other people are the ones who have to look at your clothes. It doesn’t matter what colors or styles you happen to like. Find out what looks good on you, then wear that.
7. Potential employers don’t want to hire young people because they don’t know if you’ll turn up on time, dress properly and act professionally around the office. If need be, offer to work for free to show them you can.
8. Most people are brand junkies. That includes most potential employers. So get the best blue-chip company names on your resume that you can.
9. When you are starting out in work and you don’t know anything, at least show the right attitude. You’d be amazed at how far that can get you.
10. Take a Myers-Briggs personality test early on. The sooner you understand your own psychological strengths and weaknesses, the better you can work on them (and with them).
11. Read “Reinventing Your Life,” the classic textbook about cognitive behavioral therapy. Learn about your own cognitive errors, and how they are holding you back.
12. Keep a to-do list every day.
13. Read “The Age of Propaganda” and learn early on just how you’re being manipulated by spin-doctors and marketers.
14. Read “How to Lie With Statistics” and “Say It With Charts” to understand how you can use statistics, and how you can protect yourself when others misuse them.
15. Don’t take a year off before going to college. But do take at least two years between college and grad school, and do a real job.
16. Learn early on about professional project-management, problem-solving and (especially) hypothesis-driven analysis. For example, read “The McKinsey Way” or a research paper. They’re not just for management consultants. These simple techniques will save you a ton of time and pain down the road.
17. Don’t evaluate people on what they say, but on what they do. It always turns out to tell the true story.
18. Never develop a taste for luxuries. Then you’ll never need or miss them. The wise can live better than the greedy on a fraction of the cost.
19. Don’t become a tech junkie. I’ve lost track of how much time I’ve wasted either dealing with tech problems or surfing the web. I wish I’d never had a laptop in grad school. I would have been so much better off taking notes on paper, like a Luddite.
20. Read “The Pyramid Principle.” It’s a terrific guide to structuring your thoughts and written communications, simply and effectively.
21. Three simple rules will explain 99% of human behavior. 1: Most people don’t think. 2: Some people are just jerks. 3: Everyone is selling something.
22. Move to where the jobs are.
23. Stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, in work and in life — but only in stages. Don’t try for too much at once.
24. Never neglect your mental health. Your own happiness should be Job 1. Without it, you’ll struggle at everything else.
25. You won’t actually find out who your friends are until you hit trouble. And then you’ll be surprised.