The 21st Century's Skill For Success... MasterMind Club!
At my first engineering job there was a guy in the next cubicle named Boris, who was a Russian immigrant.
Boris explained to me what it was like to stand in bread lines in the Soviet Union and have virtually zero choices, then come to America and walk into a supermarket and suddenly be assaulted with choices, inundated with options from every direction.
The effect on him was visceral. Physically overpowering. It was so shocking that some of his Russian friends literally got on the plane and went back home, to where the number of choices was manageable once again.
That conversation happened 25 years ago. How many more choices do we have now than then? Certainly 100 times more—probably something like 1000 times more.
1000 times more places to spend or invest your money. 1000 times more businesses you can get into. 1000 times more opportunities to screw up. 1000 times more opportunities to succeed.
How DO you navigate?
Being tech savvy won't help.
College education won't help.
A 500GB Internet connection and dual 30" wraparound widescreen monitors won't help.
Being more motivated won't help.
Getting more visitors to your website won't help.
A bigger email list won't help.
No, all these things will only get you in MORE trouble, faster, unless you have THE number one 21st century success skill.
In the 21st century the #1 success skill—a skill that NOBODY ever seems to talk about—is discernment.
dis·cern·ment (di?-sûrn'm?nt) n. Keenness of insight and judgment.
How do you teach someone discernment?
That's a million dollar question, my friend.
I don't know that anyone can just sit down and teach you to be wise. You can't go to a seminar and acquire this vital 21st century skill in an exciting, star-studded weekend getaway.
The best answer I can give you is, you just have to watch both stupid and smart people thrashing around in the mosh pit of life and begin to tell the difference.
And as you gain in discernment you will:
- Become aware of the distinction and begin thinking about it and noticing it—because vital lessons are literally everywhere in your life, quietly shouting to you to be noticed and absorbed.
- Associate with wise people, and distance yourself from people who always seem to be screwing up their life with bad decisions. You can't fix them anyway.
- Seek and accept sound advice, even when it's uncomfortable, negative or embarrassing.
(The Mastermind Club forum is a prime example. There you can ask just about any question and within minutes get honest, detailed advice from $500-an-hour consultants. Check your ego at the door.)
- Disregard the raucous shouting, the flattery and surface level buzz, and tune into the quiet, calm voice of reason.
Here's another way to crank up the sensitivity of your stupidity radar:
Watch the Jerry Springer show, pen and paper in hand. Write down every mannerism, expression, motive and impulse you observe—and expunge those habits from your life.
Oh, and every business you see advertising on Jerry Springer, make sure you're never in a position to need to patronize. And then don't ever watch Jerry Springer again, or hang out in places like your local laundromat where it's on all the time.
OK, so what's the point?
The point is, stupidity is cheap and plentiful. With stupidity, your options appear to be endlessly open.
Enticing possibilities, immediate, apparent, as though you could just...
Wisdom is scarce and expensive and usually involves up-front commitments.
You decide between the two, every hour of the day.
Choose wisely.
Carpe Diem,
Perry Marshall
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