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How many times have you heard the statement 'knowledge is power'? How many times have you been told 'you have to go to college to get a good job'? If that is the case, why aren't the smartest people the richest or most powerful? Why don't Mensa members fill all the highest slots in the government and run all the big companies? Why have some of the richest people in history been folks of moderate intelligence and sometimes much less than moderate education? Is the connection between knowledge and success just a bunch of hogwash?

In a word, NO, but unfortunately our teachers left something out.

Over and over we have heard statistics that college graduates earn X percent more money a year than non-college graduates. We have also been told repeatedly that if 'you don't have a good education, you'll never get a good job and you'll be a loser all your life'.

What most people have taken from that, is that if you get a great education and hold high degrees, you will automatically make much more money and be much more successful in life. Sound's logical. But that's WRONG. So what is the secret ingredient that makes all these confusing elements make sense?

The only successes in life are the people who have a focused objective and are willing to take action!

What does that mean for education? Simply that it is a tool you use on the way to your goal. With objective and action, you will get there faster with the right tools, the right sort of education (be it institutional or self-taught) that pertains to your objective. But if you don't have an objective, or if you procrastinate and don't take action, all the education in the world is no more useful than a shed full of expensive tools covered in dust. It's not the tool the gets the job done, it's the using it.

A person with moderate intelligence and no education can still succeed if they have the 2 key elements of objective and action. It will just take them longer and take more effort than if they also had the knowledge tool. But they would still succeed!

So what does that mean for us? Well it doesn't mean abandon learning, but it does mean reprioritizing your efforts. If you spend all your day stocking your brain, but there is no focus to it, you are wasting your time. Stop and pour yourself a cup of tea and ask yourself what your objective is. What is your primary goal? Not just any old sounds-good-when-you-tell-your-spouse kind of goal, but the objective that stirs you inside and makes you sit on the edge of your chair in eagerness! If you don't have one, than finding one needs to be at the TOP of your priority list, your most important activity, up there with eating and sleeping. You must find your passion!

Once you have your objective, then you need to figure out how to get there so you can start taking action TODAY. Don't tell yourself 'oh well, I'll go get another degree or read 20 more books and call that taking action.' Most likely, it is just another form of procrastination! Figure out what steps you can do NOW, while you are learning whatever you need.

1. Have an objective, a clear targeted quantifiable laser beam objective!

2. Take action constantly toward your goal. Don't put it off until tomorrow, don't come up with reasons why you can't. Find a way you can and do it NOW!

Once you have these two things engraved on your brain, guiding all your thoughts and influencing every action you take, then everything else will fall into place and you will be able to use the tools you have, see clearly what tools you need, and travel constantly forward toward success.