Degrees wont take care of you. Nothing will.

I find myself often stuck in defensive discussion’s with friends and friends of friends. Discussions about degrees. The funny part is they are not often discussions about education or learning, they are discussions about degrees. Is the “degree” worth it. Is debt worth it? Will I be ruined without a “degree.” They don’t usually get anywhere, most likely because all parties involved have no actual idea what the future holds, its just speculative defensiveness. We are being defensive of the futures we think we might have. Its strange. I am super guilty of it.

I sometimes read books front to back, but more often I have 6 on the go that I read a page here and there and pull what I like.. (awful, I know) I read a page from Seth Godins “LinchPin, It spoke of the “Take Care of You Bargain.”

The Take Care of You Bargain speaks to the idea that the world is full of various kinds of factories, factories that produce and crank out products, movies and websites, It talks about how these factories always need workers, The quote that stuck out to me is this:

“If you learn how to be one of these workers, if you pay attention in school, follow instructions, show up on time, and try hard. We will take care of you. You wont have to be brilliant or creative or take big risks. We will pay you a lot of money, give you health insurance, and offer you job security. We will cherish you, or at the very least, take care of you.”

What strikes me is the idea of being taken care of. I think that this idea is why some folks get degrees. We are terrified, and we want to be taken care of. We want to put our time in for 3–4 years in exchange for being taken care of for the next 30–40 years. I want that, and thats why I am so nervous at the fact that I do not have a degree, and how I take refuge in authors who convince me that the degree is losing its value. I want to make the “right move” and be taken care of. Thats honest.

There is a lot of subtle buzz out there about how the “Take Care of You Bargain” is falling apart. That we have been told this by a generation that actually meant it, a generation whom that actually worked for! That there is more and more baristas with a bachelor degree , and many underpaid people with amazing minds and masters degrees, I have met them.

“If you are deliberately trying to create a future that feels safe, you will willfully ignore the future that is likely.” 
― Seth Godin,

I think that this is the problem, we have bought into the idea that our future can be safe. The discussions I have with friends are not about degrees or not, its about safety, and the myth that we think we can do (or don’t do) anything and be safe. Our futures aren’t safe… Damn…

So what do we do? I was given advice once from an older friend. It was huge for me. Its this:

“Work at it, Get really good at something, get so good that someone will have to pay you to do it”

I love this quote for a ton of reasons, I love it because it puts responsibility back into our hands, it reminds us of the reality that the only safety there is in your future is what YOU can bring to the table. If you need university to get good at something, say being a doctor or a teacher. Do it! If you do not need a degree for what you want to get good at, thats okay too.

No one is going to take care of us if we make the right move when we are 20, 25, or 35. The business world wants innovation, the medical world wants progression, social work wants wise desicions, film wants the envelope to be pushed, education wants patient communicators, they all have something in common.

And that’s this.

What the world wants is people doing things that they are actually good at, and that have worked really hard to get good at. Thats all that is rewarded. So if you are not in school, you better be working really hard at getting good at something. If you are in your 3rd year of you undergrad, you better be using this gift of education and time to get damn good at something, not just to feel safe.

None of us are safe, none of us know what our futures hold. But we all got things that we can be really good at!

-Caleb