A dropout with a doctorate

Hello guys! I just had to share this story with you. I believe it can motivate us to reach our goals and teach us that determination is powerful. This story comes from GIANT an organization I follow because they teach very good leadership principles.

The Dropout with a Doctorate

From GiANT Impact

A class clown who devoted more time to sports than studies, Bill Cosby flunked the 10th grade and dropped out of high school to join the Navy. While rehabbing injured Korean War servicemen as a physical therapist, Cosby took note of the ethic of personal growth in his fellow navy men. In addition to fulfilling their duties as naval officers, many of his peers were also taking high school and college courses via correspondence.

As Cosby watched his friends struggle with schoolwork that he had no trouble comprehending, he came to two realizations. First, he had above-average intelligence. Second, he was committing a «mental sin» by wasting his intellectual talent. Resolved to make use of his smarts, Cosby enrolled in a distance-learning high school program and gained his diploma.

With a high school degree in hand, Bill Cosby hoped to attend college after his four-year stint with the navy ended. His application impressed Temple University, and he gained admittance. Thanks to his exceptional athleticism (Cosby could run a 10.2 second, 100-yard dash), he was awarded a track and field scholarship.

Although his tuition was paid for, Cosby took a job as a bartender to pay for his room and board. His wit and humor connected with customers who demanded to hear more of his jokes. As word spread about the comical bartender, Cosby began receiving opportunities to entertain audiences as a paid comedian.

As his popularity grew, Cosby faced a choice: should he stay in school or pursue a career in comedy? He agonized over the choice, but decided to dropout of school for the second time in his life. He quickly attained fame, lining up performances across America in major cities, appearing on The Tonight Show, and recording a comedy album.

Bill Cosby’s reputation jumped another level after he was cast in the espionage adventure, I Spy. As the show’s co-star, he captured three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Yet for Cosby, fame was never the endgame. While he enjoyed making people laugh, he felt motivated by a deeper responsibility. In particular, he was burdened by the plight of children who were poorly educated. In trying to figure out how he could contribute to education in America, Cosby felt the need to increase his understanding of how kids learn. So, as a celebrity in his mid-30s, Bill Cosby went back to school.

Despite not having completed his undergraduate studies, the University of Massachusetts admitted Cosby based on the merit of his career accomplishments. Over the course of the 1970s, Bill Cosby earned his masters degree and doctorate in education. Armed with newfound knowledge Cosby leveraged his talent like never before. He starred in the educational programs Children’s Theater (NBC) and Electric Company (PBS), hosted Picture Pages and Wake Up (CBS) and then, in the 1980s, produced and acted in one of the all-time great sitcoms, The Cosby Show.

As The Cosby Show made its run, Cosby expanded his repertoire by developing his skills as an author. His comical yet poignant writing led to successful books on fatherhood, marriage, and childhood. Now in the twilight of his career, Cosby remains active, lobbying for educational reform and raising funds for educational charities.

Summary

The life story of Bill Cosby attests to the power of personal growth. Having neglected education early in life, in his twenties, Cosby dedicated himself to developing his potential. Getting his high school degree put him back on track in life. Then, even after achieving stardom, Cosby felt compelled to sharpen his mind by going back to college. He didn’t rest on his success but kept pushing himself to grow. Later in life, he continued learning-gaining competence as a producer and author.

How does contemplating Bill Cosby’s life impact you? Have you made a commitment to personal growth? Do you have a system to aid you in continual learning?

Stop saying I can’t! Start saying How can I ?

When it comes to reaching goals, many of us struggle to accomplish them. We struggle because of our lack of time management, lack of discipline, and because there’s a phrase a lot of us use that kills hope and this phrase is «I Can’t». This phrase is the main reason why so many people don’t accomplish goals. Many of us come up with great ideas but fail to bring them to reality because our success is being held hostage by the phrase «I can’t».

Thomas Edison‘s teachers said he was «too stupid to learn anything.» He was fired from his first two jobs for being «non-productive.» As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, «How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?» Edison replied, «I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.» Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded. Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was «sub-normal,» and one of his teachers described him as «mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.» He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein had reasons to say «I can’t». But they had an attitude that we need to adopt, the «How can I? attitude» The phrase » How can I?» makes the brain start thinking of ways of how to accomplish that specific goal. The «How can I» attitude keeps that goal alive and approachable, it makes you see resources, hear suggestions, accept ideas, it makes your brain look for that something that you need to accomplish that goal. The «I can’t» attitude does the opposite, it stops the brain from working on that idea, on other options to take, or resources to find.

As a society that wants everything the easy way, we want an easy answer for everything. Sometimes it is easy just to say «I can’t» to a goal, because saying «how can I» will involve effort, work, and sacrifice. Let’s stop saying «I can’t» and start saying «How can I» and when we do that, we are going to find ourselves to be accomplished people.

Phil. 4:13 I can do ALL things, through Christ who strengthens me

REACHING YOUR GOAL

This weekend I was meditating on a bible verse where Paul teaches us three ingredients to reach our goals and would like to share them with you.  The bible verse is in Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

1. Forgetting the Past

The first quality that a person that reaches their goals is that the forget the past.  The apostle Paul’s life is full of bad experiences in his effort to reach his goal. He had the goal of preaching the gospel.  In his effort to reach this, he suffered a lot of things that I’ve never experienced and to be honest would never like to experience; some of this bad experiences are: emprisoment, stoned, whipped, and being lost at sea.  Through all these experiences his goal continued to be same, he just forgot what was behind and kept on preaching.

What are the bad experiences of your past that are stopping you from reaching your goal? maybe you feel that you don’t come from the ideal family, or your level of education is not how you would like; or maybe you are struggling with desilution, guilt, sadness, failure, frustration, but when we put aside the bad experiences of the past, our mind will start to focus on the second ingredient:

2. Look to what is ahead

To focus our mind and our eyes in the future that God has for us will serve us as motivation to walk and reach all those blessings prepared for us.  To see towards the future fills us with strength and courage.  We can see this in another part of the bible where Caleb a man of 85 years of age felt the strength of a man half his age. Where did his strength came from? His strength came from having his sight set in his future.  When Caleb was 40 years of age he received a promise, that he would live in a land of freedom, milk and honey. This goal he had renewed his strength day after day, year after year, Almost the whole generation of Israel that fled Egipt did not make it to the promised land.  This generation had something in particular, that always was remembering their days of slavery. This attitude made them complain with Moses that they were better in Egypt because there they had food and water. In my opinion this made the difference between Caleb and the rest of Israel; Caleb always had his eyes fixed in the future that God had for him, and the rest of israel had their eyes fixed in the Past.

We have to do what Paul tells us, «Straining toward what is ahead». Our eyes, our strength, our whole being has to be focused on what’s ahead.  Even though your goal might seem very far, step by step with patience and letting God be our strength you will get to where you want to be.

3. Press on

I’ve met people that say that their past is the bottom of the ocean floor, that they know God has a wonderful plan for them; but when I pay attention to their lives I realize that they are stuck in a sea of conformity.  A lot of people read the bible, listen to preachings sunday after sunday, go to conferences where they receive a direct word from God about their ministry, calling, or a specific request they have and go back home happy saying «God talked to me» and that’s it!

The third ingredient to reach our goals is to press on. What I want to say with this is that we need to forget our past, we need to see the future and press on, in other words do something about reaching your goal.  Caleb saw his promised land but he had to fight for it.  There was another nation living in the land God gave him. What I live about this story is that Caleb did not cross his arms and saw other people enjoying the blessing that God had intended for him.  Caleb had to fight and take what was his

I want to encourage you to fight for your goal, for that promise God has given you. Don’t do nothing about a word your received from God, take that word and fight with the weapons God has given you make that goal a reality.