Live Life With No Regrets!

We spend our lives building our reputation and name.

That is what certificates, diplomas and degrees are for.

You could jolly well be disciplined enough to study, memorize and practise some discipline, however, without that piece of paper you can't convince others strongly enough to give you that job or to give you that salary level or persuade people for anything for that matter.

The diploma or degree is a communication tool that sums up a few years of study into a glance.

However, a diploma or degree is not necessary if you have other ways to build up your reputation.

Warren Buffett when he took over Salomon Brothers sweated about the requirement to take a securities exam that all heads of must take. He kept on delaying taking the exam when he was interim CEO of Salomon until he could step down.

A man like Warren Buffett doesn't need to pass an exam for him to influence people and markets. Bill Gates didn't need an MBA to be the CEO of one of the most successful companies in the world. Neither did Steven Spielberg need one in film-making to command the ears of studios (though he did get one a few years back to set a good example. He submitted "Schindler's List" as his student project. I doubt the professors would have failed him. :)

Therefore, your resume is your second degree. It is the second piece of paper--your secondary degree, if you may put it--that you are perpetually adding to. It is the summary of your lifelong learning experience. And in cases, it can be much more powerful than a degree, masters or a Phd.

But is a degree important? I would say so, because it jumpstarts your progress in building your reputation. It compresses your learning and provides a kind of seal of approval. Something like a PSB grade. But if you don't have one, there are other ways to build reputation. We should not look at that piece of paper as the standard of our worth, those who have would be prideful, and those without would look down on themselves. And then go around thinking that just because you don't have a degree you cannot achieve something or because you have one you are entitled to certain rights and salary levels.

Somehow, when you realize your own true worth, you will be able to communicate it in the way you talk, walk, and behave.

Thoughts to ponder:

• It all starts first in life by realizing your own worth, your unique abilities and your strengths--your purpose in life. Then the diplomas, degrees, awards and accolades will come.
• A corruption of this is that the point of it all is "to make money", "to be better than you fellow man".