How to become smarter in a world where we want to leave an idiot

When the “emergency” news release interrupts humorous programs, I understand that we are being manipulated. When, after many years of preparation for the exams, no one looks at their results, I understand that our brains are powdered. When thousands of graduates get up at the labor office, I understand that something needs to be changed.

Education

Exams

Their exaggerated importance absorbs schoolchildren. They are nervous, give up hobbies, because they sincerely believe that several exams will determine the future life. It was also with me. I stopped writing and was engaged only in solving tests. In your youth, just believe that you inspire everything around, including the media. In your youth, it is so easy to believe that all games are over and it is time to suffer.
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Higher education

After school we are given to understand that this is only the beginning of suffering. People we never want to be like teach students to be successful. They say “urgently”, “necessarily” and we obey because we believe that this is the way to succeed, because this way has inspired us and our parents for decades.

MBA

Business courses have ceased to be a guarantee of success. The founders of one of the most famous business schools in Russia recognize that the main value of these courses is new contacts. An MBA course costs hundreds of thousands. Wouldn't it be wiser to spend this money on the best business conferences?

A year and a half ago, at the conference, I met entrepreneur and investor Sergey Belousov. Half a year ago Radislav Gandapas and Pavel Kuryanov.

Self-education

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes awakened an interest in intelligence. Many began to read, and this is good. But in order to seem smarter, most people lock themselves up on the Internet and subscribe to blogs such as life hacker and public posts for smart people. Young people feel busy, but remain in the same place where they were before.

What to do with it?

1. No need to give up the hobbies of youth. The well-to-do people often recall how they were very good at doing any activities as a child. They think they would be equally happy if they were more serious about them. This is true, I asked.

2. From the age of 18, I began to attend conferences and believe that it was this step that helped me develop much faster than my peers. My main activity is design. I first met him at the UX-Wednesday conference at the Mail.Ru Group office. At such events, you find yourself around professionals, from whom you charge with enthusiasm. It evaporates quickly, but after being in this atmosphere for several times, something inside you changes.

3. Remove social applications. networks from the phone. I did it for a long time and did not regret it. If I need, I will use the browser. In 99% of cases, nothing interesting happens there.

mass media

Politics are never useful to the vast majority of the population, although they love to talk about it so much. We do not understand this, but they are trying to convince us of the opposite and make it even more stupid.

Vkontakte, YouTube, Layfhaker groups ... are by and large useless not because they present useless content. No, it is quite the opposite. They just take so much time to spend on useful things. The huge flow of information overshadows its own opinion and what remains after that?

The star instagram lives only within the phone screen, while the personality lives in the real world. Instagram “therock” has almost 70 million subscribers, not because Scala posts interesting photos. Not. And because he has an interesting life in which social. the network acts as a keyhole, in which the others look.

TV is dying. Why watch what you show, and with advertising? I'm not talking about online piracy. An interesting show or a football match? You are welcome. All major channels have online broadcast.

What to do with it?

1. Filter news. Do not consume everything. I limited myself to business. Select what is important to you.

2. Use SelfControl, which restricts access to selected sites. Activate it at work.

3. Exit social. networks in the browser on the computer. Even out of habit, going to a popular site, you remember that you should not do this.

4. But! Use social. networks to promote a personal brand. Choose several channels, decide on a personal message and do not forget that you live in the real world.

Job

At the age of 18, I dreamed of working in a large IT company. Now, I understand that I was wrong. Bureaucracy, the inability to influence the product does not contribute to rapid growth. At the start, it is better to choose a small company in which the volume of work will grow every day, just like your professional level. As soon as you become a professional, you can move to the top companies in a leading position and influence the product. If you want it.

We all believed that work was the exchange of hours of life for money. Formally, this is true, but there is one more thing. Working 80 hours a week, your salary does not rise, whereas by paying a third-party project a few hours a day, you can get financial and personal freedom.

We were convinced that the career growth process is not fast. Most simply did not try to come up and reasonably ask for a promotion. Most did not try to take on the responsibilities of an entrepreneur and make the product better.

At first we were told that working in a stable company was beneficial. A little later, entrepreneurs were praised. We are confused, torn, and all because in the world, there is no 1 and 0, that is, good and evil, good and bad. There is only your personal path and it is only in your power to make it right.

What to do with it?

1. Money does not determine success. If you do not spend part of the earnings on development, you are slowing down progress. By development, I mean not only reading books. Quality of life, comfort and environment influence the development no less.

2. To be better, you need to do more. More than you entrust to the company, or more than competitors do.

What is the result

Having got rid of the mental husk, we gain an opinion. People who change the world, have an opinion and personal vision, which denies the impossibility and recognizes only the pursuit of goals.

Happy end

Thousands of people use the SmartProgress goal achievement service every day. Nice to know that people began to think about the future. Users set goals for writing a book, creating a business. Not everyone shoots, but the support of the same ambitious users of the service creates a positive mental attitude and the belief that everything is possible.