If You Want to be Rich and Happy, Don’t Go to School Summary - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: What Is Financial Security?

1.      Security will forever elude those of us who follow the rules we learned in school – be good, do as you are told, don’t make mistakes, etc. All these rules do little more than stop the learning and personal development process. In today’s rapidly changing world true security can only be found in ourselves and in our ability to admit what we don’t know, learn, and thus grow from any situation.

2.      The truth is that staying in situations which are unsatisfying only increases our sense of insecurity. We begin to feel there is no other choice but to sell our souls in the name of security (i.e., stick to the job).

3.      Our security has to come from trust in ourselves, not from externals like the right college degree, working for a company that offers good benefits, or even working in the government where nobody get fired.

4.      Each time I take a risk, make a mistake, learn what went wrong and correct it, my security increases because my wealth (i.e., knowledge) increases.

5.      Change is now so rapid, owning in part to the fastest-changing technology in the history of humanity, that job security itself has become obsolete. This is why one must be generalist first, a specialist second.

6.      The generalist has the skills to build a new way of life, to create alternatives instead of being trapped in co-dependent relationships with companies which themselves are addicted to false security and resistance to change.

7.      Preparation into the future can no longer mean preparation for a specific job. The world is changing so quickly that even in a specialized field such as medicine, law or economics, a person must expect to be restrained at least four times during his or her lifetime.

8.      To be a generalist means always to stay open and alert to change. It is found in our constant and continuous preparation of ourselves to meet the constant changes in the world around us. Success is a journey, not a destination. The generalist is one that never ceases to grow. 

Chapter 9: Who Says Women Are The Weaker Sex?