Education

I'm self-educated: that is, self-taught in multiple disciplines. 

Among other things, my accomplishments and work history speak to my level of competence and proficiency.

So I also have what I believe is a somewhat unique perspective as pertains to learning. In the end, I believe there are really only three levels of learning.

The first level is facts and memorization. This kind of education starts in grade school and can continue through college by the type of teachers who think history is about places and dates. While I don't mean to offend, this is the lowest form of learning and to be honest, beyond the basics, it's not very useful in real life.

The second level of learning is formulas and logic. This level is more applicable in life and helpful to a larger extent. Unfortunately, it's usually theoretical. Why is that unfortunate? Because it's learning based on how things "should be."

And anytime you speak the word “should be,” you are, at some level avoiding reality 

But truly determined learners -- those with "postgraduate degrees" from the University of Hard Knocks -- master the highest level learning: pattern recognition.

I'm not referring to Quantitative Reasoning tests where you look at a series of numbers and decide what the missing one(s) should be. I'm talking about the honest observation of cause and effect in the real world -- real street smarts: seeing patterns, cause and effect in business, in people's actions and attitudes, in real life. 

Frankly, this leap from level 2 to level 3 is not made by most people. It comes largely from abandoning the "should be" way of thinking, discerning how things really work and seeing the world as it "is."

I’ve met a lot of people who are bitter because the "should be" world they imagine and the world they actually live in don't match up. They're bitter because box boys and check-out girls at Wal-Mart are making $8 or $9 an hour when they "should be" making 1$4 to $15. They don't recognize the laws of cause and effect that causes people to get paid commodity wages. 

They don't recognize that the things people are taught in school only train them to be worker drones, cogs in big corporate wheels.

If you want to get ahead, you've got to learn to see the patterns and perceive the causes and effects in life. Develop those skills and you land on top every time.

I'm living proof of it.