Trained or Educated?

 Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all - Aristotle

Training and instruction is necessary to make a living, education plus the former are necessary to make a life. We need both if we are to survive and thrive in the faced paced world we live in. People with educated hearts dare to live uncommon lives, lives of significance.

1) What happened? In the last century we moved from the classical education to the industrial age training and instruction. We focused on the logic more than the emotion and on the mind more than the heart and people bought into the idea of paying a lot of money to get a degree so later they could by a job and earn enough money to make a living. Logic has its place but it is emotions that take us where we end up in life. We are emotional beings using logic to justify our decisions.

2) Chase a career or a life? What defines you? Amazing how our jobs and professions ended up defining who we are. We were created to be much greater than our jobs. It made sense during the industrial revolution because there was a massive demand for industrial jobs. Good jobs today still require training; however to live a great life we all need an education. Problem is that it is hard to get the proper education in any University because the only true education is a self-education. The information is available, in excess actually. The challenge is to find the right information from the right sources.

3) Thinking is required to find our purpose? Chasing pleasures instead of purpose leads to a life of quiet desperation. The secular teachings steered us in the wrong direction. Why were we created? We were all created for the glory of our Creator. Imagine paying $60,000 for a college degree and having no idea what your purpose in life is. Imagine having instead a one-pager with a written purpose and plans for your life instead of just a diploma.

4) Are we spending too much for instruction and investing too little for a true education. It is important to have a good school counselor and a mentor, a great life coach. Make sure your life coach has the results in life you would like to have, the lifestyle you are looking for.

5) A true education helps us to move away from self-centeredness, helping us to become servants. Service rules in our highly interconnected world. Serving is all about people/soft skills. Heart skills are more necessary than ever.

6) Why move back to the classical education? A classical education is based on historical truths, on time tested principles. Information comes and goes but principles endure.

7) Where can you go to get started to be self-educated? I may be able to help you if you are willing to be different than the crowd, to go against the current. Remember that it is only by being different that we can make a difference. If we do what everyone does we end up getting what they get, and that is not what we need in order to leave a legacy.

Be blessed and be a blessing to others!

Carlos Fontana, President of Phalanx

Co-author of the book Follow to Lead (The 7 Principles to Being a Great Follower)

Author of the book PRICELESS (Sixty-Six Simple Stories of Reflection, Love, and Legacy)