It’s that time of year. If you have small kids you are putting them in school. For many, last June was the time when high school was over and they graduated. The feeling of freedom and the song, “School’s Out for the Summer” by Alice Cooper just comes to mind as I think of my own high school graduation many years ago.
You see, those who were so excited to get out of high school or those who graduated college had a feeling of school being out forever. And now it’s back to school time again.
This week, with our shorter workweek, I wanted to focus on how school is not really out. Last week in my visit to Las Vegas I met this wonderful man whom I had coffee with several days. He is a man in his 70s who has such a great outlook on life and he shared with me his wonderful rules of math.
He shared the idea that life is broken down into three parts of 25 years each. The first 25 years we learn all the basic stuff. You go to school to learn all those things that our youngsters are learning again starting this month. He shared how through school and life in those years, we learn and maybe find a mate. We may have our first alcoholic drink; we may travel and see things in our world for the first time.
Then he shared the idea of the next 25 years, the section both my wife and I are in. These are the years that we learn how to really make it in this world. We learn skills, we learn how to market, we learn business. For everyone, these 25 years are different as we all learn different things in these years that are more unique to us individually. Right now those who are graduating college are about to enter this part of learning in life.
Then, he said, there is the last section of learning. He talked about the idea of how we get to use that wisdom to create the world we want to see. It is from the age of 50 to 75 and on that you see most of those who are considered great leaders, and most of the world’s wealthiest people are in this age range.
I want you to think of these things this week, as I work to bring you a theme of life learning and back to school. You see, just because you have reached something, or you have completed at part of schooling does not mean you are finished learning.
When we feel we know it all and stop the learning process, that is when we become a non-useful part of this world. I mention that because the very people who inspired this week’s theme have stopped learning. I myself took a strong look at this while on the road over the past two weeks, and realize how people who have come to me with great wisdom could not do a simple thing like send an email. They could not come up with a system to teach the very wisdom they learned, by getting it written to teach others.
So, it’s back to school — not just for our kids, but for us, too. Just like those many students who will enter a college this year they will leave their home for the first time and live many miles from everything they ever knew, to learn. So you must take yourself from the comfort of the world you think and learn. Are you ready for back to school?
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Become a lifelong student of life and become a RockStar in your world.
