PHDs are a waste of time and money!

[Creepy-male]

Meh I don't really care about any systematized education, I care about the content and mastery one has in their field.

Traditionally PhDs were meant to be a recognition of one's mastery over a certain subject intellectually. Presently I think this is not the case, as it has become to "cut and dry" and systematized. It's more like an assembly line -- any fool can follow the instructions and force themselves through the process.

Although I still think its good to acquire one cheaply and quickly when possible in order to have the credentials to work fluently within the system.

I think the same about a college degree, I'd suggest to anyone to spend the first 2 years in a cheap community college, take classes at a pace you know you can handle to get A's, then transfer to a big university... potentially having a strong foundation from community college, burn through the classes as quick as possible, collect your degree and get out.

This is the most economical method, also don't fall for prestige schools... instead focus on internships and networking as a building block for your career, instead of prestige.

At the time being, I agree. But it's a lot easier to set a strategy than to follow it. I planed to study what I love at a prestigious university, which I technically began doing, but ended up dropping out and going to a low(er) profile college to study something I never wanted and could have sworn I'd never do. I took that step because at the time it seemed like the most practical and future-proof solution given my current circumstances. My inflexibility and resistance towards external pressure (and change) were probably the crucial factors that led to me cutting off my "good" options and having to choose something I don't like.

My point is, you never know where life can take you, and no matter what your current views and plans are, you cannot expect to rely on them forever. What seemed undesired or even unimaginable at one point in your life, can turn to be your every day reality. You may think a PhD is totally not worth the effort, but end up pursuing and gaining great benefit from one. You may think a certain schooling strategy will work flawlessly, just to find out otherwise, etc. I think what's important here is to learn to adapt and make the best of what life throws at you. And I feel very unfortunate to say that I have mostly been failing at that myself.

I don't know, I'm just saying what I said after experiencing it personally and I think its good advice. I could elaborate but this isn't really the place for elaboration, because everyone gets pissssy about it.

I personally know its easier to plan than execute a plan also, but recently I've been investing more effort into the "execution" process of planning. From strategy games and life experience, I've realized one fatal flaw people make is strategizing in too much detail to far ahead. Ideally the further you go out, the more vague and general your goals should be. Over constraining yourself to a particular thing is unwise, because its very typical for people to over fixate on a particular thing they desire and then discover when they arrive there its not what they wanted, it was something more vague and notional and not so earthy or real or something. Think of it like a girlfriend.... every lonely guy wants a girlfriend, then they get one, and they hate it, she annoys them and they like other girls and so forth. People are really after love and connection in that sense and not after the physical thing, they are after the meaning/feeling/whatever. Early in people's developments they make this mistake, over-fixating on objects of desire, maybe a girl you had a crush on or something. But really those people are injecting something from their imagination onto reality that doesn't exist there necessarily.

Anyways I'm saying that to make a point that strategizing in too much detail too far out, is a bit naive. It's better to focus on the next logical step and seeing it as a movement forward imho. The idea is to influence or drive reality to your goals, bring out the realization/manifestation of your imagination, instead of delusionally seeing something there that isn't. In relationships that means working with people to create an ideal relationship, not seeing one there that doesn't exist because it satisfies yourself. The same goes with career or anything else, people have to make their own path. Imho it starts with a notional vision/imagination of something very vague and you build up in small steps and processes, trusting in the process, and adapting and evolving where necessary.

[Park]

Anyways I'm saying that to make a point that strategizing in too much detail too far out, is a bit naive. It's better to focus on the next logical step and seeing it as a movement forward imho. The idea is to influence or drive reality to your goals, bring out the realization/manifestation of your imagination, instead of delusionally seeing something there that isn't. In relationships that means working with people to create an ideal relationship, not seeing one there that doesn't exist because it satisfies yourself. The same goes with career or anything else, people have to make their own path. Imho it starts with a notional vision/imagination of something very vague and you build up in small steps and processes, trusting in the process, and adapting and evolving where necessary.