The Personal MBA

I am adding a new blog to my list of blogs that I follow. The site is called The Personal MBA. Go to the site and read the manifesto. It's very cool and I think it will strike a chord in a lot of the people who read my blog.

I am a big proponent of education, especially education you are interested in. Growing up I would say I was an average student. I am not exaggerating when I say I do not remember even taking tests in high school. I can remember taking the SAT's and that is about it. I was much more focused on hockey, jamming in my band Mask of Sanity, and chasing girls. I always just kind of showed up, did my homework, tried to keep myself sane in class by joking around and managed to get fairly good grades. It wasn't until I got to college that I actually got interested in educating myself.

Not withstanding all the benefits of formal education, I have really become intent on furthering my personal education. Sometimes I feel as though I have actually learned more since I graduated college than when I was there. Nothing replaces my college education and the foundation it set for my capability to continue learning on my own. However I feel as though I have learned so much through reading books, watching/learning from TV, scouring the Internet for knowledge, and viewing my everyday life through a learning lens, that I place at least equal importance on the value of personal growth and education.

It comes as no surprise that when I stumbled across The Personal MBA I was stoked and ready to begin the journey. I am always blanking when I go to the library or to Borders. Eventually I just end up picking books based more on their marketing than on a suggestion or the actual content. I think this list will help me focus my reading on quality, tested books while actually branching out from some of the business books I have been gravitating towards. I have read some of these great books already but I am honestly going to try and complete the personal MBA suggested reading list in its entirety again. I also watched an interview online at Think Different TV with, coincidentally, the founder of the Personal MBA where he discusses with Ben Casnocha the benefits of taking notes or jotting down concepts. I have never been good at this but they suggested using a 3 X 5 notecard as a bookmark that doubles as notes. I might give it a try.

My advice is to check out the site. At the very least check out a book, any book, and keep learning!