The reason for college is the diploma. The piece of paper that signals to employers that your are competent enough to get through a few years of lectures, courses, and final exams. It’s been a signal for hundreds of years, and, up until the last few decades, was a good signal of one’s capabilities. With more and more people getting through college, the piece of paper carries less weight and it signals less about you. However, there’s still hope. We all have one thing that signals our abilities, even better than a diploma, and that signal is pride.
Pride as Habit
Highly successful people have a trait in common, they take pride in their work, and pay attention to every last detail. Steve Jobs used to require Macs to have beautiful hardware designs even though the consumer was never going to see it. He’s quirky, sure, but it’s that quirk that made Steve Jobs who he was, and made Apple what it is.
Pride as Signal
Taking pride, and paying attention to every detail, is one of the things that make successful people successful. It also signals to others that you are capable of doing solid work.
Say, for instance, you want to become a bartender at a restaurant, but you’re told they don’t have a position for bartenders. Instead of pouting and giving up, you apply for a waiting position instead. While working, you realize the trash is rarely emptied on time, which leads to complaining bartenders. On top of your other job duties you start emptying the trash for your bartending co-workers. You become known as the waiter who takes out the trash. You build the signal, by going above and beyond, and paying attention to details. Even though it supposedly wasn’t open, six months later you get hired for the bartending job.
This is a lesson in the pride signal. By taking pride in your work, you are showing others that you are capable. On top of that you are forming a successful habit. Because you can handle a small task to the best of your ability, the signal says you probably take pride in other aspects of life, like keeping a clean kitchen at home. Taking pride in your work may be the best thing you can do for yourself and your career. Not only are you developing a habit of success, but you are developing a signal to others that you’re more than capable to get each and every job done.
Further Reading
If you want further reading on the education signal then check out these thought leaders in the education community. You can check out Bryan Caplan here and Isaac Morehouse’s blog posts about signaling here,