Michael Neely's Blog

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When My Education Really Began

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A lot of the ideas that I will be revealing did not originate with me. I would love to take credit for them, but I have had many influences. It would have been a great tragedy to say that when I graduated school, that my education ended and I never read another book (there are people out there like that, you know).

I have always been a little ashamed of the fact that I never completed my college degree after I got out of the Navy, but for whatever reasons (or excuses), I didn’t. There were some people in my past that thought that a college degree is first, foremost and defines all of the success in life that anyone will have. That notion is great…if you’re about 22 years old and have just finished final exams.

Notice that I haven’t said “an education.” People go to college, study hard (or not), graduate and the common misnomer is that they are thoroughly educated. They have reading, writing and ‘rithmetic skills out the wazoo, so therefore, they are thoroughly educated. There is nothing wrong with this and it has worked for a great many people…for a while. College doesn’t and can’t give you an education. College gives you a degree (if you earn it).

According to Merriam-Webster, the word “educate” has a few of definitions. These are the two definitions that I am referring to:

1 a : to provide schooling for b : to train by formal instruction and supervised practice especially in a skill, trade, or profession
2 a : to develop mentally, morally, or aesthetically especially by instruction b : to provide with information : inform

The first definition is first because it is the most popularly used definition and the most popular context of the word. It is the classic definition of “go to school and get an education.” The second definition is what you do with your mind AFTER you get out of school. It’s the second definition that is the key to this thought.

My education began when I decided to read a book my teachers in school didn’t require me to read. The first book I remember reading under these circumstances was “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville. I read it in about two days when I was in the third grade. I had always had a love for the sea and stories about sailing ships. I continued reading about these sorts of things until I was in high school. In high school, I studied at Indian Springs School, just outside Birmingham, AL, for one year. I learned one pivotal skill there…how to teach myself. After one semester at Florida State University (where I learned virtually nothing new), I found myself in the Navy. I was “educated” in nuclear power plant operation. This worked great for me when I was near a nuclear power plant. When I left the Navy and decided that I would not pursue a career as a nuclear operator, this “education” was suddenly obsolete.

I started a business with my life’s savings and failed. I knew nothing about business, except business owners were the highest paid people in the company and I wanted to be the highest paid person in the company.

I found myself in retail sales as an assistant manager in a jewelry store and then as a manager of my own jewelry store with the same company. I didn’t know much of anything about my trade and I was consistently one of the top salespeople in the company. Again, since I had some “business success” under my belt managing someone else’s business, I thought I was thoroughly educated. I started my second business and failed…again. I thought I knew enough to start my own business, but I didn’t…apparently.

My education really began (as it applies to the world of business) when I started putting together my library. It was in the early 1990’s and I joined a business book club, where they send you a book you don’t want, you send it back and buy a book that you do want. After a while they quit sending me books and I bought a business book of my choosing every month. I had amassed a great deal of knowledge in business and sales. I lost that library after I moved to south Florida and got in the habit of losing everything I had about every nine months.

My library now is becoming a source in inspiration for me and my future successes. It contains authors like Donald Trump, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Robert Kiyosaki, Denis Waitley, Dr. Joe Vitale, Jeff Olsen and more. It has some of the greatest knowledge that business has ever put together and I am still a great student of my own library. I try to learn something new everyday and usually do. I cannot give myself a better present than a great education.

If you want better things out of your life, put something new into your mind. Turn off TV. Read a book. Invest in yourself and your future. Read a book that can change your life and improve who you are.

After all, success is not something you pursue, it’s something you become.

I’m just sayin’…

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Preaching is the one thing that this blog is not intended to be. I am in no way suggesting that I am better than anyone else or that I have all the answers. There are other answers out there to the same questions that you may have.

The purpose of this blog is to identify some choices that we all have as human beings. I illustrate some stories and events that have happened in my life and reveal the lessons learned on my part. I will also edify some concepts and ideas that I am intergrating into my life to create positive change and to live the best life possible. If it sounds like I am preaching in anyway, I am most likely preaching to myself (unless it’s on a topic like “The Benefits of Having a Belt that Holds Your Pants Up”).

By the same token, I will not cater to the “overly sensitive.” If there is a portion of this blog that offends you, chances are that you are offended about 50 times a day by all sorts of things…and that’s your problem to deal with, not mine.

Have a nice day and let’s get started…

MBN

The Importance of Personal Development

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I came to the conclusion that I had screwed up my life many years ago. Then I did it again…and again…and again. So where does one begin “un-screwing up” life and not repeating the process of “screwing up” one’s life?

I had determined that I wanted to get my undergraduate degree in business and go on to get my MBA while I was attending Florida State University. It was not “in the cards,” and I joined the Navy in January 1986. I graduated from the U.S. Navy’s nuclear training pipeline and became a real-life nuclear mechanical operator in the fleet. It was insanely hard work. After I got out of the Navy, I had already proven (at least to myself) that I was just as smart (if not smarter) than other people with college degrees. I did not pursue my degree after receiving my Honorable Discharge. After all, I was already “smart enough.”

I went into business for myself immediately after getting out of the Navy. I didn’t realize that I could fail. I had what I thought was plenty of money from investing when I was in the Navy. I had a string of successes that indicated to me that I had the “Midas touch.” I fell flat on my face after about 3 months. I quickly came to the realization that I had no idea what I was doing. I got a job as a manager in a jewelry store chain and was promoted to manager in about 7 months. I understood the basics of running a business. I was somewhat successful again and I thought I had the “Midas touch” again.

Then, another business oportunity found me and I went for it. Someone had told me about a book called Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I read it and applied the reading to my life the best I could…and nothing happened. I saw the book as a mystical sort of thing. Just think about wealth and wealth would come…kind of like praying for wealth and my prayers would be answered. Nothing happened. I asked my mentor at the time what the problem was. He told me that I wasn’t successsful in my chosen business because I hadn’t paid the price of success yet. I asked him what that price was. He replied that I would have to determine that myself. A few months later, I quit my job and failed again…this time with disastrous results. I again blamed it on what I didn’t know.

I became a big fan of reading books and improving who I was mentally. After all, the people I admired the most at the time were all “self-made” entrepreneurs. Along with my initial successful business experience as a retail manager, I had begun investing in building a great personal library, reading Success magazine and learning as much as I could in business. I joined a business book club and once or twice a month I would recieve books like The Portable MBA series. I didn’t realize I was investing in myself.

Now, my personal development library is quite large. Some of the authors that are in my library include Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Farber, Denis Waitley, Sun Tzu, Miyomato Musashi, Dr. Joe Vitale and more. I have read almost all of the books in my library. Some had a great effect on me and my results and some didn’t. Some kept me awake at night and some didn’t. Some changed my life and some didn’t. I’ll return to a book I had read or an audio that I had listened to and learn something I hadn’t noticed before. That book or recording that didn’t change my life a year ago is all of the sudden having a profound effect after a year.

That last sentence sums up what I think is the importance of having a personal development library. The object is to improve my life, to get a little better everyday. Some people want to make the world a better place and I think that’s great. However, I have noticed that the people who are most effective at making their world a better place have begun with improving themselves and adding one more better person to the world.