BY MARGARET THATCHEREducation is one key to a good job. In today’s job market what you know determines what you earn. The more knowledgeable you are, the more opportunities. Let’s say that you were to find yourself one day with nothing to do. For example, you are sitting watching TV and the thought crosses your mind, "This is incredibly boring—there must be something better to do. You can do many things, on your own, without anybody else’s assistance, to drastically improve your value in the job market. In deed, the very best way to start is to look toward something that you would really enjoy doing. If you like movies then learn how to make movies. I mean that literally. Go buy yourself a video camera and start shooting movies. Organize some friends and write a script and then make a movie. You may suddenly find that it is a lot harder than it looks to make it "feel right.” Then you are forced to start reading books on making good movies and see what you can discover. Also learn about the equipment you need to use to do editing and special effects. Then start talking to people who make movies or television shows. Go get a job down at a local TV station (volunteer if necessary) and start talking to people there. Or simply take a tour and meet a few people. If you really want to make movies, you will find this to be the most fun and interesting thing you have ever done in your life, and with time you will learn all of the skills necessary to make a good movie. The point is, find something you like and go learn how to do it. Start small. Read books. Talk to people. Learn the basics and then refine your skills. Eventually, if you keep at it, you will become highly skilled at what you are doing and you will love doing it. Another example would be an idea of starting to write computer games. You will find that you have to buy a compiler and learn a programming language, so go do it. Start talking to other programmers and see what they think. Don’t know any programmers? Go meet some. Don’t know where to meet other programmers? Go ask your math teacher. [Teenagers are masters of the creative excuse—simply blast the excuses away by doing something to solve the problem!] Just get out there and start teaching yourself the skills necessary to create a computer game. Go to a good technical bookstore and buy some books. Search the web and see what you can find there. Read and post messages on programming news groups. Then try to create a game of your own. You will find it is not as easy as it looks. So learn more and more. . Soon you will know all of the skills required creating good computer games and you will suddenly be extremely valuable in the job market. If you like paintings then go buy yourself a blank canvas and some paint at an art supply store and start painting and so on.