Kids are back to school, but aren't we are ALL students?I know I've said it here before, but Fall has always been my favorite time of year. The days get more crisp and cool, the leaves in my part of the country change, football season is upon us and kids head back to the classroom.I enjoy watching my kids return to school and all that goes along with it (the new shoes, the new backpacks, the pencil boxes full of unused erasers and unsharpened pencils) -- in some ways, whether it be 5th grade, senior year in high school or midway through college, each Fall I find myself being transported back to that same point in my own life that aligned with where my kids are at the time.It's funny because there was a time when I thought that all of this ended on the last day I attended an academic institution. I guess I figured that most of the learning stopped when I walked across that stage, got that diploma and flipped that tassel. I assumed people took what they had studied, their ambition and their talent and, just like that, we were in the real Game of Life. Sure, I understood that with experience I could learn new things along the way, but I believed it would just happen when it happened. I could passively await the knowledge to be dropped on me. In recent years I have come to understand how naive and wrong this was.I was reminded of this during a call this week.I was talking to a colleague and we were discussing why he had an ice pack on his arm (one of the benefits of video conference). This guy is ex-military, fit and athletic, early to mid thirties. He mentioned that since he was in the service he had enjoyed jujitsu and goes to a nearby gym regularly to spar sometimes before work. While he had learned some basic techniques early on, he said he usually just lets his athletic skills and instincts take over during sparring and does pretty well.On this particular day, for the first time, he got his butt handed to him by someone smaller and less athletically inclined, but more skilled than him. He was embarrassed (and obviously in pain). But he said this also was a "light bulb" moment: if he really liked the sport and wanted to avoid future injury, he realized that maybe he should rely less on his athletic talent and make a commitment to learn proper advanced techniques. I know I have kind of talked about this topic here in past preambles, but this story coupled with the beginning of school seemed to resonate with me this week. It really doesn't matter how many diplomas you have, how many jujitsu matches you have won, how much money you have in your bank account or even the title you put on your LinkedIn profile. It's something either no one ever told me or I was just too arrogant to truly hear: school is not just for kids. School is in session EVERY SINGLE DAY, whether you are in an academic institution or not, and the smartest people know that we are ALL students.That means you cannot rely on simple talent or what has "always" worked for you in the past. If you truly want to be successful at something, you have to be willing to be a proactive, lifelong student.To embrace this concept takes emotional intelligence. It takes humility. It takes discipline to put your ego aside and understand that you can't possibly know everything. It takes work!But if you take the time to do all of those things, the knowledge gets dropped more regularly -- and you can have some say as to when you get it.....Friends, most weeks the articles are pretty good. This week, I can tell that, if you have the time, they are all worth reading. And just think, I have not asked any of you to tattoo the FOD logo on yourself -- you can count on getting this newsletter free for life without even having to do that!Have a great one everyone -- and remember Ryder Cup is on for you golf fans!XOXODave