Impact of Self Development

Growing up, I'm not sure if I had ever finished a book in my life. I had no desire to sit in a classroom…ever. I was stubborn and had an awful attention span. My grades reflected this and the folks that were supposed to support me as a student had written me off many years prior. I was not what one would consider "studious" and at times was flat out lazy.

You see, I grew up in my Dad's automotive repair shop and took pride in having thick skin. Suffering any form of flesh wound was considered a badge of honor and lead into some of the best stories you could hear. Reading books was for nerds and I didn't really have time for that.

That was until I randomly wondered into a Barnes and Noble one day. The most amazing thing happened that day as I realized that there was an entire section devoted to cars. I grew up in racing and was able to find some classic Steve Smith books on oval track geometry. For some reason, I was just eating these books up and couldn't get enough of them. It was then that I realized that I didn't hate reading, it was that my education truly didn't fit who I was as a person. I realized that I needed to really have passion about what I was reading about to retain any of it. Some people retain everything they read and I had tried to live up to that standard but it just wasn't me…and it almost cost me big time.

 This translated extremely well for me as I entered the business world. I started to figure out that I really enjoyed reading about how businesses worked and started reading biographies of business and sports legends. The people that I read about showed me that you can have a variety of different backgrounds and can still be wildly successful (and this drives me to show others this as well).

I don't have a whole lot of formal education but started to eat books up. A former boss and a great mentor of mine had a very similar background to me and began to explain how books had a huge impact on him as well. It was huge for me as I finally felt that I had somebody with a similar background to me to look up to (and he's done VERY well for himself since I left his company). I can't thank him enough for laying this groundwork for me.

Since then, reading has had an enormous impact on my life and career development. I've got a huge library in my home office. I advanced past the stage that I thought I'd ever reach by my late 20s and had started to leap into uncharted territory by my early 30s. Not a humble brag but more of a surprise to myself that I hadn't died by that point due to the idiotic stuff I had consistently done. Alcohol and fast cars are rarely the key to success and I had a bunch of exposure to both at a young age.

 After I figured out that reading great material was a life changer, I put a lot of effort into it. I was able to attend a seminar with a wonderful author and speaker by the name of John Spence, who said that "only one half of one percent of college graduates continue to read after they graduate". He also mentioned that if you read one book per month, you'd be ahead of 99% of College Graduates. As somebody that didn't possess a Bachelors Degree, I had always had a chip on my shoulder. This stuck with me in a big way that I could gain a huge competitive advantage for a low cost or effort. 

I'm happy to report that I continue to read very aggressively and always keep that goal in mind to drive me. There may be folks with more formal education and I commend every one of you for that as I think that is an extremely great accomplishment. You worked your tail off to get what you have. With that being said, you better be working even harder because there are uneducated people like me working at 11:18 PM on Black Friday wanting to kick your ass.

To conclude, continued education doesn't have to be what everybody else wants. I'm all for figuring out what your strengths are and 10xing them. Formal education wants you to be well rounded but I'll take my strengths and put them up against a "well rounded individual" any day of the week.

Regardless of education, I hope you work your tail off and enjoy the fruits that come along with it. I'd love to hear your stories of transition into a life of continued education below. It doesn't have to be lack of education as your driving factor either…I know a ton of people who have great degrees but found out they got them to satisfy somebody else who have transitioned into crazy success as well.

We just love to hear the stories of those of you working harder than everybody else as I think you'll stick out clearly in the future.

Cheers!

Jay