A better world vision or two: Newsletters Subscribe Icons & Innovators Warren Buffett Says What Separates the Doers From the Duds Boils Down to 1 Simple ChoiceThe most critical investment lies within ourselves. By Marcel Schwantes, Inc. contributing editor and founder, Leadership From the Core@MarcelSchwantes Warren Buffett. Photo: Getty Images Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and one of the wealthiest people in the world, has attributed a significant part of his success to a simple yet powerful choice: investing in oneself. Here's what he shared with Good Morning America years back: Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents. As entrepreneurs and business leaders, we often focus on external opportunities and investments, but Buffett's timeless advice reminds us that the most critical investment lies within ourselves. Following Buffett's advice can lead to a lot of great things, like knowledge attainment in your specific field, personal and professional growth, leadership skills, and ultimately whatever will help you get better at your trade and pave the way to your success. Here are a few useful and practical ways you can heed Buffett's advice starting today: 1. Invest in continuous learning Buffett's philosophy revolves around the idea that knowledge is the ultimate asset. He famously spends a considerable part of his day reading, learning, and staying informed about various industries and markets. You can apply this principle to your business by embracing continuous learning and staying updated on industry trends. Investing time in learning equips you to make more informed decisions, spot new opportunities, and adapt to a rapidly changing business landscape. 2. Invest in your self-improvement Investing in yourself is not limited to gaining knowledge; it also involves building self-confidence and continuously improving your skills. As entrepreneurs, our journey is often filled with challenges, risks, and uncertainty. By investing in our personal growth, we develop the self-confidence, boldness, and resilience to face these obstacles head-on and overcome them when we experience setbacks. 3. Invest in knowing your strengths In business, identifying and leveraging your strengths is critical because understanding your unique capabilities can help you focus on areas where you excel. There's also a flip side to this: You must have the self-awareness to know what tasks to take on and what tasks that fall outside your expertise to delegate to others who can handle them better, thus optimizing your time and efforts. 4. Invest in a supportive network Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial for your success. Buffett is big on emphasizing the value of seeking out mentors, partners, and friends who inspire and challenge you. This means building a network of like-minded peers and colleagues, industry experts, and experienced mentors who can offer valuable insights and guidance. A supportive network can provide a fresh perspective, innovative ideas, and collaborative opportunities that drive your business forward. 5. Invest in doing work that you love The biggest lesson on improving yourself stands the test of time and is especially apropos in the age of quiet quitting: Do what you love. Buffett once said: I get to work in a job that I love, but I have always worked at a job that I loved. I loved it just as much when I thought it was a big deal to make $1,000. I urge you to work in jobs that you love. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don't like because you think it will look good on your résumé. Doing what you love means putting an end to working in dead-end jobs with little pay and no purpose that gets you up in the morning. While Buffett's comment, you may object, is easy to remark when you're a billionaire many times over, quite truthfully, Buffett was already doing what he loves long before he became successful. While there are certain risks involved in chasing work or a career you love, consider the payoffs of this investment. When you love what you do, it just doesn't feel like work. Doing what you love is a major contributor to true happiness in life. It will pay endless emotional dividends.

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Supporting Antifa in an educational context would amplify the anti-democratic nature of ideological capture to a dangerous degree. Antifa's core characteristics Antifa is a loose, decentralized far-left militant movement that explicitly rejects liberal democracy in favor of direct action, deplatforming, and sometimes violence to combat perceived fascism. It opposes free speech for opponents, views institutions (including schools) as tools for revolutionary change, and often aligns with anarchist or accelerationist tactics. Open support for it goes beyond standard left politics into endorsing extra-legal methods.Why educator or institutional support crosses a line Undermines the rule of law — Public schools are state institutions bound by democratic norms (elections, due process, free expression under the First Amendment). Teachers or curricula that fantasize, romanticize, excuse, or promote Antifa-style tactics (property destruction, no-platforming, "by any means necessary") teach contempt for democratic mechanisms. This is especially toxic for youth, who are still forming civic habits. Heightens indoctrination risk — In captured systems (e.g., activist factions within unions like Oakland Education Association), materials that frame Antifa sympathetically as heroic resisters fit the pattern of one-sided narratives. We've seen unauthorized "teach-ins" and "liberatory education" pushes in Oakland and similar districts that critics argue veer into political activism rather than balanced analysis. Glorifying militant groups adds an endorsement of violence to ideological skew. rethinkingschools.org Disproportionate harm — For less-educated or captive audiences (K-12 students), this normalizes extremism. It can desensitize youth to political violence, chill dissent in classrooms, and erode trust in democratic institutions. Post-2020 riots and campus disruptions showed real-world spillover. Anti-democratic double standard — Democracy allows debate over ideas, even radical ones. But state-funded educators actively supporting a movement that rejects debate itself (via doxxing, riots, or "punch a Nazi" rhetoric that expands "Nazi" to include mainstream conservatives) is viewpoint discrimination with state power behind it. It's the opposite of pluralism. Reality checkNot every progressive educator supports Antifa—many explicitly reject its violence. Direct endorsements in official curricula are rare and often opposed by districts when publicized. However, tolerance or soft-pedaling in activist teacher circles, reading lists that lionize radical left figures, or failure to condemn Antifa-linked tactics does occur in highly polarized blue-city environments and feeds the capture critique.This would make the problem not just bias, but incitement against democratic norms. Reforms emphasizing classical civics, viewpoint balance, and strict political neutrality in K-12 become even more urgent. Public education should prepare citizens for democracy, not recruit for its rejection..