The Church – A Call to Action
posted by Josiah Garber on February 1, 2010
in Church, Personal Development
Yesterday I heard a friend’s encouragement to spend less time talking and more taking action. This a difficult charge, but an important one. It is not easy to put our words into action, but words without action are rather empty.
I think this is a call, to all who would profess to follow Christ. Following Christ isn’t only discerning what to do, we must take the next step and do it
So I put forth this challenge to focus on taking action. I am accepting my own challenge and I hope you will too!
Seven Huge Financial Mistakes I Made During My College Career
posted by Josiah Garber on January 19, 2010
in Personal Development
by Trent of thesimpledollar.com
Here, then, are the seven biggest financial mis-steps of my college career. I sincerely hope that you don’t make the same ones.
1. Going in the door without a clue.
When I went to college, I not only had no idea what I wanted to study, but I had absolutely no idea what the experience would be like. The end result? I wasted a lot of time in classes that I didn’t really need. I spent time blindly involved in activities and social events that never really clicked with me. I built at least three distinctly different groups of friends during my college years – and watched them all dissolve in a blink. I failed to really get involved with anything interesting until very near the end of my college years.
What I should have done More than anything, I wish I had spent my junior and senior year in high school doing some real soul searching to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I also wish I had asked everyone I knew that had attended college for advice on the experience just so I knew what things people consistently found valuable. I didn’t do either of these things.
2. Extending my stay for two extra years.
After four years, I had actually managed to complete a degree within the years covered by my scholarship. Sounds like a perfect time to start a second one, huh? I spent two more years in school – paying out of pocket via student loans – earning a second degree.
What I should have done Again, if I had properly explored my interests early on, I would have had a much better idea as to what I should have studied in college. Similarly, I should have ignored any and all advice relating to what major you should or shouldn’t have if you want to earn a good income. Earning a good income relies much more on building diverse and marketable skills, not what you majored in – what’s actually important is that you completed a degree and learned some generally useful skills along the way.
3. Failing to take advantage of all of the non-classroom opportunities.
I spent much of my extracurricular time in college wasting time. I played piles of video games, hung out with a lot of people that I barely saw again after college, watched piles of awful movies, and thoroughly explored the outer boundaries of wasting time. While “downtime” is a healthy thing in reasonable amounts, I certainly burned through more than my fair share of it.
What I should have done I don’t entirely regret all of the time I spent involved in such frivolous activities – some total leisure time is good for everyone’s mind. However, I should have spent at least some of that time involved in activities that were simultaneously fun and also enriching in some fashion, such as seeking out interesting organizations to participate in or getting involved with volunteer projects or actually building some connections and friendships with people on some version of my own career path. I didn’t do any of that, and it was a profound misuse of my time and also of my financial investment in school.
4. Signing up for a credit card – then using it with reckless abandon.
During my second year of college, I signed up for a credit card at one of those little booths that credit card companies like to stick up on college campuses. I don’t remember exactly why I signed up – it probably seemed like a good idea at the moment and I likely got a free t-shirt out of the deal. The real problem came later – I decided to start using it a little. And, rather quickly, a little turned into a lot. By the time I left school, I had thousands in built-up credit card debt.
What I should have done Signing up for the card wouldn’t have been a huge mistake if I had a plan in place for using it. I should have simply used the card to pay for textbooks each semester, then lived off of my stipend and the money I made from a part-time job. That way, I could have built up my credit in a positive fashion and not left college with a bunch of needless consumer debt that required me to keep writing fat payment checks for years.
Real-World Flops That Prove Failure is a Key Ingredient of Creativity
posted by Josiah Garber on January 17, 2010
in Fun, Personal Development
by Glen of LiveDev.net
One of the key ingredients of creativity and innovation is failure. In order to be creative, people have to be willing to take risks and–to use the analogy of a painter–use bright and bold colors instead of creating dull, bland, and “safe” paintings. If you want to discover inspired ideas you have to accept that you’re going to encounter more than a few that won’t work.
Below you’ll find stories from Disney, a business book written in manga, Silicon Valley, and a Stanford University classroom which illustrate the importance of failure for creative success.
Stop and Reflect – Advice For a New Year
posted by Josiah Garber on January 14, 2010
in Personal Development
As I begin 2010 I am reminded of the importance of reflection. We live in a culture of doing. Reflection and rest are often viewed as a waste of time or lazyness. We must recapture the value of reflection.
As you start the new year it may be important to consider thinking and reflection as a valuable part of your work. Do you have a big project to get done? Or perhaps you are confused about what paths to take in this new year. Take some time to reflect.
Consider taking a time of reflection at the beginning of your day to consider what you want to accomplish and what is important to you. It is also helpful to periodically take longer times of reflection about your goals and direction in life.
Though easily forgotten, the work of thinking and reflection are important keys to your success.
College 401: Tips for Advanced Students
posted by Josiah Garber on January 12, 2010
in Personal Development
by Dustin Wax of Lifehack.org
It’s hard to believe, but the Spring semester is upon many of us already – I have colleagues who are already 3 days into the semester, and my own classes start back in just a few days. Outside the US, students are still working on their Fall terms, but they’ll be starting Spring soon enough, too.
At the beginning of the school year, I posted a list of tips for first-year students; with the new semester getting underway, I want to turn my attention to upper-division students, the third- and fourth-year students who have gotten their “sea legs” and begun the advanced coursework that will make up their majors.
If you’re a junior or senior, by now you should have mastered basic stuff like citing references correctly, using evidence to support a thesis, and taking effective notes in class. That was “general education”; the work you’ll be doing over the next year or two is intended to immerse you intensely in the ideas, findings, and ways of looking at the world that make up a particular academic discipline.
Success in upper-division courses depends not so much on your mastery of basic skills or even of the material in your courses, but on what you can make of that material using those skills. While you’re not expected to make significant contributions to the disciplinary body of knowledge – that’s what graduate school, and graduate research, is for – you are expected to be able to apply what is already understood in the discipline to the world you live in.
While to some degree your approach to these years will be dictated by your plans after graduation – do you plan to continue studying in grad school? Or maybe you want to get into the workforce right away? Or teach? – the following tips should apply regardless of your future plans. Even if, as many others in your place are, you don’t have a clue what your future plans are.
Continue to the 8 Tips for Advanced Students
Don’t Sell Out! You Were Born For a Reason
posted by Josiah Garber on December 15, 2009
in Personal Development
by glen of Mr. Self Development
Everything that exists has a purpose. My computer has a purpose, my shoes have a purpose, my watch has a purpose, if I had a dog, he or she would have a purpose, and most importantly, you have a purpose.
You showed up on this planet for a reason. Maybe you showed up to sing, or to dance, or to teach, or to write, or to entertain, or to act, or to talk, or to cook, or to paint, or any other thing, but you showed up for a reason. There’s a purpose that you came here to fulfill. Don’t “sell out!”
In other words, don’t settle for a life of doing a mundane job that you’re not passionate about. You only live once, you must live your life to the fullest; you must die empty.
Don’t buy into the thinking that it’s too hard to become a singer or whatever else you’re passionate about. It’s exactly that thinking that will make it appear like an impossible task, and your perception will become your reality.
Yes, it will take work; you and I both know that anything worth achieving is going to take a ton of work, but we also know that it will be worth it in the end.
Everyone is born a diamond in the rough; we just need to be uncovered. The truth is, if anyone else can succeed in this world, so can you. No one is any better than you.
So don’t sell out! No matter how long it takes, I don’t care if it takes the next 45 years; you owe it to your creator and to yourself to live out your intended purpose.
You will never be truly happy until you’re doing what you were created to do. Yes, you may be able to settle and push your feelings of dissatisfaction to the side, but there’s nothing like the exhilaration of doing what you love and watching others benefit from it. Even if you never make a dime from it…the joy of doing what you love is priceless.
Don’t “sell out” because you’re afraid of how much work it will take
Ron Paul’s Investment Advice – New Orleans Investment Conference 2009
posted by Josiah Garber on November 16, 2009
in Economics, Personal Development
Graduate school for unemployed college students
posted by Josiah Garber on September 6, 2009
in Personal Development
by Seth Godin
Fewer college grads have jobs than at any other time in recent memory—a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers annual student survey said that 20 percent of 2009 college graduates who applied for a job actually have one. So, what should the unfortunate 80% do?
How about a post-graduate year doing some combination of the following (not just one, how about all):
* Spend twenty hours a week running a project for a non-profit.
* Teach yourself Java, HTML, Flash, PHP and SQL. Not a little, but mastery. [Clarification: I know you can't become a master programmer of all these in a year. I used the word mastery to distinguish it from 'familiarity' which is what you get from one of those Dummies type books. I would hope you could write code that solves problems, works and is reasonably clear, not that you can program well enough to work for Joel Spolsky. Sorry if I ruffled feathers.]
* Volunteer to coach or assistant coach a kids sports team.
* Start, run and grow an online community.
* Give a speech a week to local organizations.
* Write a regular newsletter or blog about an industry you care about.
* Learn a foreign language fluently.
* Write three detailed business plans for projects in the industry you care about.
* Self-publish a book.
* Run a marathon.
Beats law school.
If you wake up every morning at 6, give up TV and treat this list like a job, you’ll have no trouble accomplishing everything on it. Everything! When you do, what happens to your job prospects?
Open letter to recent college graduates
posted by Josiah Garber on September 5, 2009
in Personal Development
by on June 12, 2009
Congratulations! Making it through four or five years of college requires concentration, stamina and discipline and you should feel very proud of yourself. I am proud of you.
I imagine you have been getting looks of pity from friends and relatives since you are graduating in one of the bleakest economic climates since the Great Depression.
Here is the good news: there is no need to worry.
Living with constraints and challenges is one of the best learning opportunities you will ever get. By succeeding in a tough economy, you will be much better prepared for life than peers who graduate with offer letters waived under their noses the moment they cross the stage to collect their diploma. Constraints breed creativity. Creativity is the single most useful skill you will ever develop.
Here is my advice to you, based on thirteen years working in and studying career development, learning, human behavior and performance inside and outside of corporations:
1. There is no perfect job.
I am so sorry if you agonized over choosing a major. It must have been really hard to decide the subject matter to specialize in that would prepare you for a fruitful career. So here is the good and bad news. Bad news: you may not work in a field that has anything to do with your major. Good news: just as there is no perfect major, there is no perfect job. As soon as you settle in to the perfect situation, it will change, your manager will leave, your company will be acquired, or you will be promoted and everything you loved about your job will change. A much better way to view your career is by observing the kind of work that interests you. Which activities energize you? What kind of people bring out the best in you? If you view your interests and and skills as ingredients searching for a recipe instead of searching for the perfect job, you will be much happier over the course of your life.
2. You are always self-employed, no matter your tax designation.
The job market today is radically different than that of your parent’s generation. No job is guaranteed, and no company can promise stability. So the best way to create long-term income security is to manage your career at all times as if you were self-employed. If you take a job as an employee, do not ever put your career in the hands of a manager or mentor. Always be looking around for ways to make yourself valuable to the company, and your company’s customers. Always stay connected to the job market at large. If you work for yourself, never close the door on work as an employee, since if you run into a rough patch, you may need to be your own venture capitalist for awhile until things straighten out in your own business. There is no inherent stability in working for a company and no inherent glamor in working for yourself. Both are viable ways to make a living.
Email out of control?
posted by Josiah Garber on July 25, 2009
in Personal Development
This video will show you how to use your email effectively. It’s worth the hour of time. Believe me: this has totally changed the way I look at email. It has jumpstarted my entire system of organization, inspired me to implement the GTD system and saved me a ton of time. Enjoy.
