Tucked into the back of the book cases along with some old college books was a copy of the 1991 book Life 101 by John-Roger and Peter McWilliams. It's a book I've read a few times and skimmed many times and it contains a paradigm of life as a classroom. I think there are a lot of good ideas for the business savvy among us in this book as well.
For starters, Life 101 makes the argument that Life is a classroom and you are the teacher. You are the one that must decide what to learn from each of your experiences. Did that marketing approach work? What's the best way to encourage referrals? Try new things, the authors argue. Making mistakes and being uncomfortable are the only ways to grow and to learn.
Active Rain is a tremendous source of new information and new ideas. We get great ideas here and then we screw up our courage and try them. Sometimes they work and we learn something. Sometimes they don't work, and we learn something then also.
Another point made often in Life 101 is that you can have ANYthing you want but you can't have EVERYthing you want. In other words, you have to prioritize. Whatever you work for, you can have if you plan for it and focus on it. You might need to give up other things in order to accomplish that on thing that is most important to you.
The final lesson I learned in Life 101 is the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. The authors say, "Efficiency is getting the job done right. Effectiveness is getting the right job done." For example, you could be very efficient at attending office meetings, ordering business cards, and calling clients. But to be really effective, you need to be selling houses.
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