If I look back at what I learned at school, I learned a bunch of things that really give me nothing right now, because I didn't learn about taxes, I didn't learn about money. More often than not, all of the stuff we learn in school is very, very general and not necessarily useful for later on in life. The reality is that school didn't teach us a lot of things we really needed to know later in life. That's where I come in…
With all of that in mind, I ask myself: Is it useful to go to school? Or could it be made more useful? Because there are a bunch of business and life skills I taught myself or learned through books and gurus.
What are those 6 secrets to success that school didn't teach you? I’ll share them with you today.
What are my 6 secrets to success that school didn't teach you?
1. Focus on your Zone of Genius
Do you often feel like you’ve lost yourself a tiny bit? Or are you constantly tired? Then you might not be working in your zone of genius. Your ZOG is the place where you flourish as an entrepreneur; the tasks that light your soul on fire.
Basically, it’s what you’re best at and what you love to do most. What a lot of entrepreneurs do though is spend time on becoming better at the things they’re not as good at. And you do that because school didn't teach us to focus our energy on the things we're good at. Instead, they taught you to improve on your weaknesses.
But in business, I teach you the exact opposite: get better at what you’re already good at and outsource the things you don’t like or aren’t as good at.
2. Set boundaries
At school, you have to do everything you’re told:
- Sit down
- Be quiet
- Color between the lines
- Don’t make any mistakes
You’re not allowed to say ‘Hey, I’ve had enough’. When you go home at the end of the day with 5 assignments due the next day, you’re not able to tell your teachers ‘this is too much’. Nope, you’re expected to suck it up and do the work.
In life, I urge you to set some boundaries and respect them because if you don’t, you’ll burn out and that’ll do no one any good. Not you, not your business and certainly not your happiness.
And honestly? This ‘no boundaries’ trait is probably what turned you into such a people pleaser. Maybe start pleasing yourself once in a while — pun intended.
The next secret is directly linked to this one, namely: asking for help.
3. Ask for help
Asking questions or asking for help in school, at least in my experience, seemed like a limited offer. ‘Ask your questions now, because in the next phase (high school, college) you won’t be able to ask these questions anymore.’
However, you should always be able to ask for help. It’s not something to be ashamed about.
You’re allowed to be loud, you’re allowed to take up space. Don’t be scared of admitting you were wrong or that you’re not able to do it all — you’re just human. As a high achiever, I get that you struggle with asking for help but if you want to actually be able to grow and go somewhere with your business; asking for help will be paramount.
4. Money Learnings
As a child at school, they don’t teach you about taxes. They don’t teach you anything about money — which honestly? It’s a disgrace because in our future lives, money will be a big component.
Filling out your tax reports, for example, is something all of us need to do and yet, we never get taught this at school.
They do teach us about mathematical formulas that we’ll never use again and that make absolutely no sense but the stuff we’ll actually need later in life never gets brought up.
My question to society is: why? Who made these decisions and why haven’t they changed yet?
5. Take Risks
Taking risks is frowned upon because why would you take a risk? Well, for the great potential outcome of course. Contrary to popular belief; taking risks doesn’t always end tragically. It pays off from time to time.
But we’re taught to stay small and to play it safe; how boring is that? Like saving your money; don’t make crazy expenses. Don’t take huge leaps of faith.
For example: there’s a bunch of people I’ve met throughout my life that wanted to become an entrepreneur but they just didn’t dare because it was too much of a risk. Staying an employee on payroll doesn’t come without its risks either; but it’s baked into our society that that’s the safer option.
Do you think people like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates never took any risks? Of course, they did, otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are today.
I say: dare to bet on yourself because you’re allowed to believe in yourself.
6. Manage Your Energy
Last but not least: we don’t get taught to follow our own rhythm and that’s where we, as people and entrepreneurs, lose a lot of our energy.
Are you most productive when you work from home? Or with meeting free days? Then implement those kind of days. The best life as an entrepreneur is freedom-based.
Have the freedom to figure out your own rhythm and to then live by it.
These 6 secrets are part of the foundation of why my team and I are building a business school for any and all entrepreneurs. Our goal is to encourage you to be loud, proud and to make the impact you want to make without a shred a shame or hesitation.
Obviously, we would love to welcome you. Our business school is still in development right now; sign up through fastforwardamy.com/schoolwaitlist to be kept up to date about all the decisions we make, such as the name, the launch date, the available courses, etc.
PS Are you thinking, after reading this article, that you’d love some actual coaching from me and my team? Then it’s your lucky day because I’m hosting my Business Summer School again this year.
I hosted it last year and more than 3000 people attended. We talked about mindset, taking fast action, creating a profitable product suite, marketing, launching and basically all of the good stuff.
Do you feel like joining? Go take a look at fastforwardamy.com/bus and register for my Business Summer School of 2023!
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