All About Gap Years with Lydia Hodgson: Season 1 Episode 16

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Lydia Hodgson is a college opt-out who has a story different from anyone that I know. She took a gap year, backpacking her way across Europe alone.

She joins me today to talk about gap years, traveling, and self-education.

“There’s danger everywhere, so you might as well just go for it.” -Lydia

We cover:

How to plan ahead for a gap year.
Why everyone should take a gap year.
The mindsets you need to complete a successful gap year.
The skills you get from a gap year.
What it’s like to travel abroad.
How to save for a long trip.
The skills you gain from travel.
Why Lydia chose to opt out of college after her year of travel.

Links:

Lydia’s website: lydiahodgson.com
Lydia’s blog post on Why Everyone Should Consider a Gap Year

You are Only Young Once

Everyone puts pressure on the young adult.

Go to college. Nail down your career choice. Get your life together.

While these people mean well, and there is always good advice to be gained from those ahead of you in life, sometimes it’s healthy to take a step away from the traditional ideas and assess your life.

My friend Lydia Hodgson wrote a challenging quote awhile back:

“Do not underestimate the value of your own time, or the value of opportunities other than university.”

This is from her blog post where she encourages young people to take a gap year to simply live and learn without the traditional pressure of school and career.

It’s an interesting thought: consider your time now. You only have one youth. This time is but a drop in a bucket compared to your entire lifespan.

Breathe. It doesn’t all have to be figured out today. You don’t need to plan your entire life now.

Follow your goals, be passionate, but don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of decisions there are today.

It’s surprising how much of life will come to you if you only let it.

The Skill it Takes to be Your Own Teacher with Madison Kanna: Season 1 Episode 15

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This week’s episode features Madison Kanna, a self-taught software developer. She has done a wonderful job documenting her learning process on her blog, madisonkanna.com.

“Find something that you would do even if you wouldn’t get paid for it.” -Madison

Topics Covered:

How Madison got started as an engineer
How she taught herself Javascript
The importance of building projects to show your skills
The value of documenting your work
How Madison used her documented work to land a job
How to overcome a learning curve as a self-educator
Tips for figuring out your own path of learning
Top skills needed for teaching yourself
Madison’s project with her sister Randall Kanna
Why you should document as a beginner, not just when you have mastered a skill
Madison’s favorite ways of documenting work (tutorials, Github, and blogging)
Madison’s tips for learning to code

Links:

Madison’s Journey as a Developer
More information on Non-Zero Days
Why is Teaching Yourself to Code so Hard? (written by Madison)
Neopets (played by Madison and her sisters when they were young)
ConsenSys (the blockchain development program that Madison is currently taking)
Madison’s Youtube channel (where she is documenting the ConsenSys developer program
Deep Work by Cal Newport (recommended by Madison)

Run a Business in High School with Melissa Horst: Season 1 Episode 14

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High school is more than just Algebra and Science. One of the best ways to grow your skills (and give yourself an edge) is to start your own business.

Melissa Horst, one of my childhood friends, has run her own dog raising business all through her high school experience. She joins me today to tell her story, talk about the ups and downs of working with dogs, and give her tips for anyone who wants to consider starting a small business in high school.

She incorporated her love for animals and hands-on learning into a business of her own!

What this episode covers:

How do you stay focused on your education when you are a hands-on learner?
How does a business teach time management?
How can you set your own goals and stick to them without external accountability?
What is a normal day like balancing a business and your education?
How do you stay motivated when you set your own schedule?
What does it take to run a business of your own as a teenager?
What is the benefit of customer service work?

Here is Melissa’s website: https://www.playfulpuppypalace.net/
Check out her business Facebook Page!

The Apprenticeship Advantage

I just got 5 books recommended to me by my boss. They’ll make great reading for the next couple weeks, and I’ll be able to implement the concepts as I work.

It’s a perfect example of the advantage of an apprenticeship over college. If I was studying marketing in school, I might be covering similar content, but I wouldn’t have the advantage of putting the ideas into action right away.

Also, I watched two videos on marketing recommended to my by a coworker. I asked him if he had any resources to send me, and those are the videos he recommended. (They were fabulous.)

In an apprenticeship, you’re expected to grow. It’s ok to not know everything. It’s also the perfect place to ask questions.

I guess the biggest advantage is the fact that there’s a built-in expectation for growth and impact. There’s nothing better than being able to create value as you learn.

Musings: Working Remotely

Working remotely has its benefits. A lot of them, actually. It’s possible to work late into the night if those hours work best for you. If you wish to get up early, you can do so as well.

Being part of a large homeschool family, I can plan my week around a summer activity with my siblings, blocking out time to spend with them.

This week they begged me to go bowling with them. At first, I said no. I thought the quiet house might be nice. But I also had some light research to work on, and a couple projects that took little concentration.

So I decided to see how I’d be able to work outside my safe workspace. I put my computer and a notepad in my case and set up shop at the bowling alley.

It’s quiet from 10 AM- 2 PM during the weekdays in the summer. We had 2 lanes to ourselves, and only two other lanes were in use while we bowled.

I spent most of my time on my projects, but won several games of bowling at the same time. I felt pretty accomplished.

It made for a great social media post.

However, working remotely is not all about the beautiful pictures of doing whatever I want whenever.

It takes a great amount of personal drive to work remotely. I don’t clock in and out like I would if I worked in a traditional office; it’s entirely up to me if I get my job done.

I have to be the one in charge of letting others know what I am getting done. They don’t know unless I show them. If I worked a normal job, anyone could check in on me whenever. Remotely, I have to not only do the work; I have to ship it.

Working remotely means working more hours than normal sometimes. If I have a large project that needs to be done, the fact that I completed my 9-5 makes no difference. All that matters is that my job is getting done.

It’s not all perfect like a social media post. Don’t expect to work remotely and get a free pass to success. Regardless of your job, it takes determination and a lot of hustle to get the work done.

But it’s worth it. And for me, the hard work is what it’s all about.

How Important is Philosophy? Season 1 Episode 13 with T.K. Coleman

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T.K. Coleman is the Education Director of Praxis, where he engages in philosophical dialogue every day with hundreds of young people who are building their own careers and creating unique journeys of self-education. He writes about philosophy extensively on his blog and the Praxis blog, including posts like Productivity begins with Philosophy and Who Needs Philosophy?

(Here’s a great video introducing the concept of Praxis) :

T.K. also hosts several podcasts of his own: http://tkcoleman.com/podcasts/. He’s appeared on the Minimalists and Patterson in Pursuit, and has spoken numerous times at FEE and Voice and Exit.

Today he joins me to talk about the importance of philosophical thinking. Everyone should be a philosopher! That doesn’t necessarily mean that each person should have a philosophy degree. It simply refers to the fact that creative, critical thinking should be a part of any person’s life.

“It is a truth that we do not perceive the world as it is in and of itself; but rather as it is filtered through our perceptual mechanisms.” -T.K.

Here’s what we cover:

What is Philosophy?
Should everybody be a philosopher?
Why is philosophy Important in the “real world” outside of thought experiments?
How are entrepreneurs like philosophers?
Is it better to be positive or to question the negative assumptions that hold you down?
Can a lack of philosophical precision keep us from realizing our potential?
Why do we take negativity at face value, but become skeptics when it comes to positivity?
How much are our self-defeating mindsets weighing us down?
Why do many people scorn the idea of philosophy? Are there merits to their arguments?
What are T.K.’s book recommendations for the young philosopher?
What’s the importance of being wrong and its impact on your critical thinking?
Is there anything wrong with not having a clear answer to every question?
How selfish are you in the learning process and how does that impact conversation?
What is the impact on mainstream compulsory schooling on critical thinking?
Is learning really about “signaling” and “proving”?
How does one develop the ability of selfish learning?
Is life about finding purpose?
How does knowledge of purpose come about?

“Philosophy for me is like love. As long as you do it, I don’t care what you call it.” -T.K.

Book references/ Links:
The Trial and Death of Socrates by Plato
1 John 4:1 (Try the Spirits)
Genesis 32:22-31 (Jacob wrestling with an angel)
Matthew 14: 22-23 (Peter walks on water)
Freedom without Permission by T.K. Coleman and Zachary Slayback
Hebrews 12:1 (Lay aside every weight)
Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes
Proverbs 18:19 (on offense and being wrong)
Raise a Child, not a Cliche (talk by T.K. at Child Unleashed)

Musings: Loving Your Job

There’s something beautiful about not hating the work you do.

So many people complain about their job and wash it away with alcohol over the weekend. They look at the main part of their life as negative and never seek to better it, because “doesn’t everyone hate their job?”

But it’s different when you love the work you do.

The biggest key to loving work is truly appreciating the model and vision of the company you work for. If you don’t agree with the core of what a business is, why are you working for them in the first place? You’ll never be able to throw yourself into your work if you are compromising yourself and your own ideas.

Besides, your job takes up a good majority of your waking hours. Why would you spend that time working at something you can’t wholeheartedly do?

The second aspect of loving your work is being able to impact the world around you. Are you creating value for other people?

If you fall into the hum-drum of a schedule that ‘s always the same, there’s a good chance that you aren’t finding enough value to create around you.

It makes it much easier to love your job if you can see the impact you have. If you don’t see it, change your method of approach and make the conscious choice to make a difference. This difference could be as small as sending a coworker a thank-you note. Do whatever it takes to make a positive impact on someone’s life, and you’ll be surprised how much more you love your job.

Finally, if you know you are creating value and you can embrace your job’s core purpose, sometimes all it takes is finding what you love. Many times people focus so hard on the negativity around them that they forget there are positive aspects to the things they dislike.

If you don’t love your job, find something you do love. (If there isn’t anything, you shouldn’t be doing that job.) Make a list of the things you appreciate, even if they are small. Start focusing on the positive aspect of your work, and you’ll be surprised how much easier it is to love what you do.

It’s not worth hating what you do, because if you can’t do it wholeheartedly, you’re wasting your life.

Self-Education and Success with Matt Cannizzo: Season 1 Episode 12

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Matt Cannizzo is an entrepreneur, a self-educator, and an out-of-the-box thinker. Humility and integrity are two of his core values. He also sets as his goal the people who have created their own definition of success.

Up is the only way to go according to Matt! He weighs in today on what education is, and how that definition comes alive in his life.

Education: “an open environment where you’re free to fail, test ideas in the natural world, and learn by doing.”

Free to fail.

Matt believes that part of successful self-education is intentionally creating an environment where it’s okay to fail. There are hundreds of learning opportunities to be found in failure!

Social Pressure.

One of the biggest hindrances to advancement is the pressure society puts on each individual. When you can distance yourself from what other people think, you are much closer to success than the majority of humanity.

What would you do if no one’s opinion mattered but your own? Whether you put this into action, the question is a good one to ask. How much do you rely on others’ opinions to guide your actions?

Other issues covered:

Due to the increased access to information, a college degree doesn’t signal the same value that it used to.
The power of the world lies at our fingertips: why does this generation not recognize the value of that information?
How the school system influences young adults’ views on information.
Those who succeed the most often fail the most.
Matt’s tips for anyone going into sales (his expertise).

Resources:

This quote by Michael Jordan
Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz: Go For No
Tim Ferris: Four Hour Work Week
Isaac Morehouse and Mitchell Earl: Don’t Do Stuff You Hate
Matt’s Personal Website

How Do I Write My First Blog Post?

So you set up your blog. Its design is perfect. You have the perfect catchy headline. Your About section has nothing to lose.

But now comes the work of setting the precedent for your blog: typing your first post.

Relax. Don’t overthink it. You’ll only make it harder on yourself by trying to plan the perfect post.

Yet it is true that your first post is the determining piece of work for your blog!

Here are some ideas for writing a killer first blog post:

Set you what and why. Who are you and why did you start this blog?
Cast some vision for the blog. What are your goals? What are you hoping to accomplish by writing?
Write about what sets your blog apart from others.
Engage your readers. Write something that makes them want to come back for more of your writing.
Keep it story-oriented. Everybody loves a story because it’s relatable. Tell about what makes you unique.
Talk about your inspiration. Make people come away wanting the world to be a better place.
Be yourself. The best blog post is a personalized piece!
Have fun!