I can’t put enough focus on the value of education and good decision-making that’s accompanied by a lifelong learning mindset as ways to reduce stress and anxiety. Too many in our society are on auto-pilot, going through the motions of life. Life is happening to them. Self-reliance developed through learning and education coupled with better decision making skills is the path to making things happen in your life and taking control of your narratives and outcomes.

There are many “top skills for the future,” but communication, influence, and professional presence routinely populate top ten lists that are prevalent in academic circles and the business press. I view it as my duty to prepare my students for the real world of work. If they enter the job market without being objectively terrified to use their voice, render an opinion, and act as a positive force for change and growth, I will have done my job.

To illustrate how this course will be different, on the first day of class, we’ll be discussing the concept of the accidental manager, and the importance of aligning one’s personal purpose with a chosen vocation. We’ll have a group discussion on several concepts that are essential to building resilience and a healthy relationship with work. Those concepts are self love, curiosity, courage, compassion, gratitude, agility, situational awareness, and self-awareness, just to name a few.

Hopefully we can all agree that living in a more educated society is better than living in one that is less educated. Does everyone need to go to college? The answer is an emphatic “no.” Should everyone commit to continued learning and growth throughout their lifetimes? Absolutely. Limited educational backgrounds lead to more fixed mindsets and societal participants who are unsympathetic toward groups that don’t look or think the way they do. They are also more easily swayed by group-think and the psychology of crowds.

There is only one way: forward (which, by the way, is the motto of my home state of Wisconsin) and together. We cannot move forward if we’re so polarized and fixed in our thinking that the act of “listening” to the other side amounts to canned, party-approved responses that paint political opponents and our neighbors as “enemies” and “evil.”