Where do you fit into the spinning roulette wheel of knowledge? Are you re-educating yourself to keep up, or even to catch a lead on the learning curve of life? Or are you just hanging onto what you already know, hoping to ride it out?

So, maybe you are smart. You’re smart but very impatient. Maybe your friends say, higher education is a waste of your time. You want to get out there and make money, buy things, have your own place. So you aren’t going to invest time and money into improving your chances in life, by going to college.

Or maybe you feel the opposite— you aren’t smart enough. You don’t have the brainpower to learn more. You feel too much doubt. You aren’t cut out for higher education. Maybe your friends and parents didn’t go past high school, so why should you attempt it? You’re defeating yourself, walking into a dead-end. Think ahead!

Think of your mind as a video game. At grade school level your mind is primitive, basic, like an ancient Nintendo. By high school, you’re learning to game, but you’re still about at the Game Boy level. In college, you open up X-Box mentality, and maybe Wii, and that’s only the beginning, the games keep evolving. That’s when real learning can begin. All the rest, the grade and high school classes, were just a warm-up. To quit now would be a crime against your own possibilities.

If you want to always be ruled by others, forget higher education, and be under the control of strangers the way that the virtual video heroes are controlled by you. They have no choices. You rule their world. Theirs is the fate of those who have no control over their own lives.

Removing your limits has no downside. Why accept barriers to a better future, a new life that you yourself can create? Your intelligence alone can only take you so far. Refine it, make it as powerful as you can, shape it and educate it, and let it shine.

When your education is limited, your vision is cut short. If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

Education opens your mind to possibility. Your choices in life become greatly expanded. As you enlarge your knowledge, your personal power enlarges. You gain the insights needed to make choices that, without that knowledge, won’t ever be offered to you.
This recent US Government earnings chart, “Education Pays”, is brutally clear in it’s comparison of incomes and education…

A Comparison of Education and Incomes

Think of your children, when and if you have them. What influence will you have on them? Will you have the knowledge to teach them, to help them move forward in life, to inspire them, to buy them the things they need to achieve, to build them into the best people they can ever possibly be?

Each of our minds is like a safe in a bank. What will you store there? Will the life tools of economical and social survival be there when you so desperately need them? And you will.
Think of life as a time line. Time versus effort. Your time will pass, whether you improve your life or not. Where do you want to be in one year, two years, five years? You will be older, but will you be wiser? Wealthier? More secure? Or will you be just be older, still stuck with the insecurity of being whom you were, what you could do, in a narrowing economy, in a shrinking workplace?
Sit down and write a list. Be truthful.

Ask yourself this— “What time and effort am I willing to invest, what are my goals, how hard am I willing to try, to brighten my horizons with knowledge— to learn, to work toward an education-empowered future? And what is the alternative, if I am too shy, too insecure, to shape and create my future, to make it happen?”

Welcome to GRAD2B. Here, together, we will explore every aspect of educational potential. We will delve into all the treasures of higher education, it’s institutions, career choices, incomes, lifestyles. With opinions and interviews, with true life examples, and ongoing news, and analysis of emerging trends, GRAD2B will be your own personal guide to knowledge opportunity.

Education can be defined as the transfer of civilization, from one generation to the next. The way the world will look, will be, will operate, is in our charge, during our turn at life, during our time on earth. Past generations had their chance, our parents and grandparents in turn. One day our children will have their turn. But now, its up to us. We are here, now, we are the future.

Our world today is unnerved by an earthquake of chances. But this is nothing new. Every generation has its own unique challenges. In times of instability, unexpected changes come at a dizzying speed. And what happens? Those who make the changes are the people who learned how to think. They are the educated people who are able to base their decisions upon knowledge. They have a depth of understanding, through education. And they do what their education showed them how to do.

And for those whose job is gone, whose work has been made obsolete, there is a second chance. Education is that chance. It is never too late to be what you might become!

But, you say, I can’t? That’s not me? Well, how do you know what you are, who you are? Where is your limit? Who made you less than you might make yourself?

No one can learn what they think they already know. Complacency is a trap. If you don’t know, you don’t know. The only way to learn to think, is to learn— and then you may realize what you once did not know.

In grade school, and even in high school, we were pursued by knowledge. Teachers were pressured under heavy state and federal guidelines to educate us. Educators worked hard to try to force you to learn, but only up to a certain very minimal level. That time is over.

Now it is we— we, who must pursue knowledge, if you are to liberate ourselves.

Free yourself from lack of knowledge, for lack of knowledge is lack of choices. You, and only you, can earn the power of choice, by working toward the power of knowledge. Now it’s time to truly make the choices of an adult— you must be your own leader.

To continue to grow, direct your own efforts to free yourself from a very narrow future. Send yourself on a quest for higher education. Get the degree that empowers you to seek a better life, more earnings, more security, higher self-esteem, and a better future for your children and loved ones.

The wonderful truth is this— knowledge is waiting for you, offering itself to you, in hundreds, thousands, of educational institutions. Knowledge awaits you with open arms. Why would you not grab as much as you can hold?

Will you be a follower, with little understanding of the forces that determine your life choices? Or will you take charge and learn? The shape of the coming world is in your hands. Will you have the knowledge to share in its creation? Empower yourself!

So, I salute you— you, the seekers, education-hungry dreamers, who will take charge, step up, and shape productive lives in the new world.

“GRAD2B” is dedicated to your future!

Our level of education is the leverage, small or large, by which we make those changes. Our will is why is gets done.

Our personal world can be small, or large. You and I create our own worlds, and we decide the scope, the depth, the reach of our lives. The key to all of that is knowledge. Through education, comes knowledge, then through living, and experience, utilizing the knowledge to our advantage.

But first comes the need for knowledge. For knowledge is power. Power to control your own life. Power to earn more, power to en joy more options, more freedom, more awareness, power to express yourself in a fuller more fruitful life.

There’s an old saying, “Money can’t solve your problems.” A friend of mine says, “Maybe money doesn’t solve all your problems, but money sire does solve all your money problems!”

To live the largest life possible, maximize your lifetime effort. Education is like a magnifying glass. Increasing your knowledge brings the whole world closer.

More money means more choice in how you spend your time. More money means more security. More money means— more choice. And choice is freedom!

Let’s take a quick look at someone about to graduate from high school. You’re 18, say. You’ve found this job paying more than minimum wage. You want to start your own life, you can’t wait. Going to college would hold you back. Okay, let’s say you take that fork in the road.

If you go to work right now, at $10 dollars an hour, way above minimum wage, at a job you’ve found, 40 hours a week, you’ll be making $20,000 per year. Wow! Sounds pretty good. And if you go to college, and don’t work part-time, you’re making zero. Four years of zero. Sounds bad. So, why go to college?

Because… you want the larger life. Because, you are looking ahead.

Because, after graduation, you’ll quickly make up for all those 4 years of earning that $10 an hour. You’ll catch up in the first year or two. Your income will keep rising lover the years, because you are educated, because companies must compete for your talent and knowledge. The high school grad, however, is locked in a low income trap.

Now, multiply by the number of years that a person typically earns income. See what I mean? The lifetime difference— between an earner without a college degree, and a professional with a college education— is on average counted in the many millions of dollars.

This government chart couldn’t be more clear—

Without higher education, you’re trapped in the minimum wage box. Instead of an educated person, climbing the salary ladder of a professional. Your work will be more gratifying. Your family will have more. Your children will enjoy advantages that boost them in life. And you will move on to hire others, manage others, instead of always being the one who is hired, managed, controlled. Because you made the education investment, in yourself.

Of course, the possession of wealth in itself doesn’t ensure joy of living. But it’s for sure that lack of wealth is a crushing weight on the life of anyone. Think ahead. Don’t settle for short-term goals. Building a life free of fear is a goal worth sacrifice. Educate yourself, educate your income, educate your future.

Learn, and control your life, with an increasing depth of knowledge. And live the larger life!