I have always considered myself a motivated person. I can thank my parents for that. They always made sure I was working on a project in my childhood free time. When I was older, I motivated myself to do organization projects, plan trips or things with friends, and do my homework. Lately, however, the time when I should be the most motivated--the end of high school--I feel tired. That is why I felt it as a blessing when my dad handed me a copy of A Student’s Guide To Success In The Real World by John R. Jell. This book got my energy bubbling again just in time. It was a wonderful motivator and full of great ideas and thoughts.

From the first page on, I was inspired by the text largely because I could perfectly understand it--none of those huge words unheard of to the average person. I guess that is Jell’s point though--a book targeted to the average person about how to be successful. The other point he was probably making is that people won’t read a book, or do business with, a person they can’t relate to, or worse yet, are unable to communicate with. Besides the simple language, the ideas were extremely organized into t-charts and lists that I had no trouble following. They were stressed once more in the summary at the end of each chapter. Along with the summaries were a list of questions to reflect on and help the reader. An example of his questions would be, “List your goals to have achieved by five years from now, ten years, fifteen years.” Another could be, “On a t-chart, make a list of your ‘likes’ on one side and your ‘dislikes’ on the other. Use these lists to help you decide what to study in college and what job to take in the real world.” Although it wasn’t required, I found myself answering most of his questions, and I plan to refer back to them.

There were eleven chapters in the book, and each divided into sub-headings. One of my favorite chapters was Chapter Two: The Education Cycle. Jell explains the difference between formal and informal learning and explains why both are important. Formal learning, he says, “deals primarily with things we learn in a classroom type of environment” (14). On the other hand, informal learnings are “experiences you learn from your environment through your daily activities”(14). It is very important that a person goes to college, and while in college, become involved in co-curricular activities. Activities help lead people to the social and “people skills” that a book can’t teach (19). The fortunate thing about informal learning is that it can make or break our future, but we are the ones responsible for it. There is no one to blame but ourselves if we can not work with people, and on the other hand, no one to receive credit but us either. We don’t rely on school teachers or college necessarily for street smart skills. At the end of the chapter, I wrote down my five, ten, and fifteen year goals concerning my education, career, and experience. I hope to stick to them or have found something better by the time I look back.

Chapter Five, “Identifying your Likes and Dislikes,” was also very informative. Effective communicators know that a person’s favorite thing to talk about is themselves. That’s probably one reason I like this chapter so much--I could focus on identifying my likes and dislikes. Jell’s advice is to use this information to choose your career. To identify these personal tastes, a person should use SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (53). Jell asks his readers to make a chart with these headings and use the information to narrow down a career of interest. Once there is a range of possibilities, there are three questions to ask: Where am I now? Where do I want to go? How am I going to get there? (57). “One way,” Jell explains, “to help you answer these questions and refine your likes and dislikes is to use SWOT analysis, something corporations consistently use” (57). Any person or company can identify what goals and routes to achieving them would be best according to their SWOT results.

Jell talks about his own life, which is the perfect example of how to live out his advice. He is still young and involved in the work force and therefore knows recent information and shares updated advice. Plus, his tips on interviewing and working with ethics and treating people are timeless. One very good point he makes is that people are the foundation of any business. People run businesses for people--it’s as simple as that (of course, the aim is usually money, but you have to deal with people before you start to see any of that). If a person can make the employers, employees, and consumers happy, the business will be successful as long as the product is marketable. No matter how professional or intelligent a person is, unless they work for themselves in a small room all day, they will need social skills, and the better they are, chances are the more successful that person will be.

Overall, I loved this book. I was so into it that I read it cover to cover before the assigned date and learned much. Not only is Jell a role model of mine, he stresses networking as part of becoming successful! (if he could some day put in a good word for me). The inspiration from this book has already encouraged me to be successful this summer in my job. Although I’m not much interested in business, the skills I learned can apply to any profession. I hope this book becomes a success and teaches people to do the same!