Mr Bakhressa employs
hundreds of gradute and a score of University Professors and Drs both from
within and outside Tanzania…doesn't this strike you as odd? In my naïve mindset
I assumed that if I succeed in school I will 'automatically' succeed in life. I
grossly underestimated the value of
informal education—school of life where the tuition fees are extremely
high.
In my informal research I have come to a conclusion that there are five reasons as to why top graders in
school are not top earners in real life. I have listed them below, not an any particular
order:
1. Life is not fair
Most top graders will play
fair, after all life has been nothing but fair to them; excellent grades in
school and warm feelings from teachers/tutors have given them false sense of
security towards harsh reality of life. Meanwhile their counterparts will approach
life fearlessly and with aggression knowing that whatever they intend to
acquire must be 'taken, won over' not simply handed in silver platter, they
have learnt how to survive by being 'shrewd', not necessarily rough and unfair.
2. Time ahead
Top graders spend over half
of their chronological life in 'formal education' and the remainder of their
life in some kind of research and idealism in academics. Their counterpart
start early in life on 'informal education' getting education on 'street
wisdom'. By the time I graduated with honours from University, my Friend
Abdallah, who didn't go to secondary school, has been on 'Street University'
for 10yrs, no wonder I am one of his tenants in one of his houses.
3. Attitude towards risk
Top graders will run risk
analysis on an opportunity, apply logic and reason; they will call their fellow
top graders who are 'experts' on that particular venture for their opinion and
refer to past data on similar ventures then and only then based on these
premise make a decision and most often late if ever. Meanwhile, their
counterpart top earners will perform a reasonable due diligence on the same
venture, which is usually a practical approach in trying to understand what can
go wrong and what they can do to limit their loss should the venture go south
then dive in; they will waste no time on hypotheticals and theoretical
possibilities and bla blaas.
4. Gutsy Spirit
Top graders will hide their
fear of loosing the little they have when opportunity shows up by saying they
are being cautious and careful on whom and what they invest in; in most cases
this will be nothing but lack of 'guts' to act. Their counterpart top earners
will have more or less same fears but they have one fine quality, 'guts'. Guts
is acting in spite of fear not in absence of fear, it is the spirit to dare
when everyone is folding their hands. Top earners realize early in life that
'if you have to get what others don't gat, you have to be prepared to do what
others don't do'. It is of no surprise to find that most new ventures, areas of
opportunity in new places, are captured by the so called average Joes in school
and school drop outs.
5. Nothing to Loose
Do not play down or
under-estimate what a person with nothing to loose will and can do. Top
graders, well they are 'top graders', they have their dignity and 'persona' to
loose should a venture they attempted go south hence they would want to make
sure 200% that they have crossed all T's and dotted all I's before they even
think of venturing into an opportunity. Meanwhile their counterpart top earners
start off with nothing to loose 'but their chains of poverty', to them
uncrossed T and undotted I is still a T and an I hence they waste no time on
them…no wonders 90% of top graders work for top earners—most of whom never
graduated from high school.
Now that we've seen the top
five reasons why top graders are not top earners in real life, a million dollar
question is…can you convert a top grader to be a top earner? Well, the answer
is YES but only if they accept to be baptized
in fire so that their minds are
'renewed' to think differently. You see, it all in the mindset—paradigm, the pattern of thinking…top grader thinks of
avoiding risks, top earner thinks of knowing and managing risks; top
grader sees problems in every opportunity, top earner sees opportunity
in every problem. Top grader is looking for security (employment)
while top earner is looking for financial freedom (innovate, create
ideas and own business in form of shares and stocks), top earners see employment as bondage and restrictive
whilst top graders see employment as opportunity for steady and assured income.
Now you know the reasons,
you decide!!!
NOTE: I do not want to be misunderstood here, I do not
undermine the value of formal education; if I did, I will be making the same
mistake top graders make when they underestimate the value of informal
education. I believe, to succeed in any undertaking in life, you need to have
both the skill of a banker and a gamblerJ i.e. the learned and the streetwise!
//Tim J Kyara
Teacher/ePastor/Engineer
Teacher
of the Word www.light2mypath.blogspot.com
Clean Humour 2 Health www.laughin2health.blogspot.com
Financial
Freedom Fighter www.timkyara.blogspot.com-->
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