There’s always a better way to get things done. Recently I discovered an app called Finish, “the to-do list for procrastrinators.”

The tool is great and has become popular. Of course, apps happen all the time in Silicon Valley, except Finish was created by Ryan Orbuch, a high school student in Colorado. Ryan was the youngest entrepreneur in Brad Feld’s TechStars startup accelerator.

Ryan won’t need to go to college because he was given a platform to develop his talents. Most high schools don’t offer a path for talented students like Ryan. If you grew up in Texas like me, you would have wasted time taking courses like “Texas History.” Fortunately, I ended up in a good place after plowing through college and challenging jobs. Sometimes I wish I had known then what I know now.

High schools are slowly nurturing their talent pool which would otherwise get wasted. They can unleash creativity by equipping students with entrepreneurial education (http://build.org/) or providing access to top-flight professionals(http://www.genesysworks.org/bayarea/).  There is a knowing- doing gap in our high school and college systems which could put America behind for decades. Yet this not exclusively an American problem. It is a global pandemic. Most kids are fully capable of carving a future for themselves. There’s alot of nonsense being taught in schools and colleges which infuse generic skills that can be replaced quickly. Instead, we must ensure that children develop a non-stop drive for learning and a capacity for leadership that keeps them ahead of the curve. The worst case scenario is mis-Education and poverty leading to violence and endless wars. Most of the world is in the red zone.

I’ve become a fan and supporter of nonprofits like Build.org.  If you are in the education field, think about entrepreneurship and developing future leaders like Ryan Orbuch.

“My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had — everyday I’m learning something new.”
– Richard Branson