How to Maximize Your Life with the Andrew Carnegie Dictum

The Making of the Real Man of Steel

The future looked bleak for the United States of America in 1861.

The first Union soldiers were on the train to Washington D.C.

Sitting amongst them was a 5′ 3″ Scottish-American 26 year old who had just been appointed Superintendent of the Rail and Telegraph Lines.

This was an immense responsibility for Andrew Carnegie.

“Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.” — Andrew Carnegie

Upon arriving to D.C., he immediately got to work by reopening the rail and telegraph lines that had been cut by the rebels.

And as he was freeing a trapped telegraph wire, it snapped off, slashing his cheek, and leaving behind a scar. He later joked he was “the first casualty of the war”.

“There is little success where there is little laughter.” — Andrew Carnegie

North had a railroad advantage over South

Under his organization, the telegraph and rail lines operated efficiently, which significantly assisted in the eventual Union victory.

“Concentrate all your thought and energy upon the performance of your duties.” — Andrew Carnegie

He personally came away from the war with a more in-depth knowledge of the industrial needs of the country and therefore switched his business interests from railroads and telegraphs — to where the real money was — iron.

And then in a few years he went from an iron man to the man of steel.

How to Organize Your Life

After the war, he sat down and wrote a dictum for which he followed his whole life…

The Andrew Carnegie Dictum: To spend the first third of one’s life getting all the education one can. To spend the next third making all the money one can. To spend the last third giving it all away to worthwhile causes.

Step 1 (education): At 14 years old he dropped out of school to work as a railroad telegraph operator to help support his family, and since he was such a hard worker, his employer took him under his wing and gave him an informal education in the loud and volatile railroad business. Then in the evenings Carnegie would continue his informal education by devouring books from a local philanthropist’s personal library.

Step 2 (production): After acquiring an extensive education in the industry from his mentor and the war, he then used his knowledge to build the largest steel empire at a time when steel was king.

Step 3 (philanthropy): After retiring, Carnegie’s net worth was $475 million ($310 billion in modern dollars). By the time of his death in 1919 he had donated most of his wealth with only $25 million left to his fortune, which was then donated in his will.

Dictum Applied to Today

After graduating from school a lot of young people are inevitably faced with the question, “What now?”

If they listen to their parents they should, “Get a real job!”

But if we apply the Andrew Carnegie Dictum to today then I would contend that young people should work as little as possible to build their skills as much as possible.

Of course work to meet your responsibilities, but don’t work to save.

Work to build skills!

“The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.” — Andrew Carnegie

If you build skills then you’ll make so much more money down the road that any money you would have otherwise killed yourself to save now would have looked like pennies.

Ideally you could find a job where you make money AND build skills, but for the vast majority of people this isn’t a possibility because most employers don’t want to hire someone they have to “train on the job.” They want to hire someone who requires the least amount of teaching as possible because they want you to have already learned it.

Most jobs have a learning curve, but after the first 6 months your level of learning flattens out. To the employer this is good thing because it means you’re finally getting the hang of it, but to a young person who wants to be Andrew Carnegie successful someday this is a dangerous zone to be in for too long. You need to either quit or actively take upon yourself more and more responsibilities to continue to expand your skill-set.

One of the pros and cons of our modern times is that more and more young people are still living at home, but 30 is the new 20 because we are living longer a lot longer too. Also who knows what medical innovations lurk beyond the horizon? Maybe we’re all still in the first third of our life.

Ultimately, I think a better society is not one that says, “Get a real job”, but one that says, “Build a skill.” Not one that asks, “What do you do?”, but one that asks, “What can you do?”

A society that tests our metal by forging a fire in the mind so that we can be more productive and philanthropic in the end.