have been asked by a few people if they could grab a copy of speech that I gave to bunch of 17 and 18 year old school students today about careers and what they can do with their lives. I didnât want to focus on my career as much as I wanted to impart some advice to the students that I have learnt across the last 10 years since I left school. Feel free to read it and let me know your thoughts.
Hi Everyone,
Well today âŚ. my speech is going to be a little different. When I was asked to speak at this eventâââI think the spec was to focus on career choices and my current and previous employmentâââso Iâll get that out of the way right now.
My name is Tim Davis, Iâm 28 and I run a software company called Fluc that has staff members based in 3 countries. I run the business and do all the design and user-interface work. I have 2 diplomaâs in Financial Services and Technical Analysis, a Bachelor in Commerce, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and 2 Masters degreesâââ1 in Corporate Law and 1 as a Masters of Law (Juris Doctor) specializing in domestic and international Intellectual Property law. Iâm a qualified Trademark Attorney and Certified Financial Technician. Iâm not a lawyerâââinstead I taught myself software coding and itâs what I do now.
Now thatâs out of the wayâââI donât want you to remember any of it. No ⌠for todayâââI want to impart the 3 best pieces of advice that I can possibly think of when looking back over the last 10 years to the moment when I was in your exact shoes.
Soâââ3 pieces of advice and thatâs it for me.
1. Failure is great
I think we live in world today where no one fails any moreâââno âŚ. now days you are âprogressively improvingâ or you are âstill developing your potentialââââand this is because most people fear failure. They shun from it and they resent it. Itâs seen as a âdirtyâ word whichâââthrough some abstract misunderstanding of the English languageâââautomatically infers youâll never be a success.
But this could not be further from the truth.
Personally, I love failure because without itâââI wouldnât be where I am today. For me, it all started when I was a 2nd year University student doing a Chemical Engineering and Microbiology double degreeâââa course which I was certain I was going to love when I was in year 12. I enjoyed chemistry and maths at school and so assumed that this would be the best career path for my life.
But it wasnât until one day when I was called in by a University lecturer who had told me I had received a ânear passâ for the subject of âfluid mechanicsââââagain, the Universities code word for âfailure in a nice wayâ. It basically meant I had failed the subject and they had passed meâââbut I needed to sit down and speak with the lecturer âabout my futureâ.
So off I went and he told me âTim, youâll never succeed in life if you donât try hardâ. With the benefit of hindsight, I honestly think it was at this exact moment that I realized to myselfâââactually you couldnât be more wrong.
The fact of the matter was simpleâââI failedâââeveryone freaked out and couldnât say itâââI was honestly put under the impression that the whole world was going to stop rotating. And if I believed everyone wordsâââI was truly doomed.
But of course I wasnât, the world wasnât going to stop rotating and it wonât in your life timeâs either. Instead, I realized at this exact moment that failure and succeeding in life has nothing to do with trying hardâââit has to do with being absolutely passionate about what you do and I wasnât passionate about âfluid mechanicsâ at all and nor I was passionate chemical engineering or microbiology.
So I realized at this very early age that the testament of a person is not what they do when they fail, itâs the action they take after they fail that truly counts. You can mope around or you can make change in life your and do something about it.
So what did I do ?
I took my ânear passâ. I quit the course the next dayâââenrolled in a completely new one that I was more excited about and Iâve never looked back. Youâll learn that intelligence is a relative metricâââI might be able to write algorithms, interpret law or manage web serversâââbut picking up any sort of power tool usually involves some sort of injury. So donât constantly compare yourself to othersâââsomeone is, and will always be, better at something. Instead, follow and find your passionâââdonât focus on someone elseâs.
So my first lesson to you isâââembrace failure, accept it, learn from it and take action on it and remember throughout your life that your greatest downfall will be not actionâââbut rather continuing along the road of inaction.
2. Be passionate
I write a blog and I posted about this a while back so I thought I would simply paraphrase the post because itâs quite popular. So here goes:
Why do people do what they do ? I am reading a fascinating book at the moment that I encourage everyone to go out and read to really discover what they want to do with their lives. Itâs a book by Carmine Gallo called The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Successâââand itâs a fantastic read. I suggest you definitely check it out. One of the people the book mentions is a person called Bill Stricklandâââwho is the author of Make the Impossible Possible and who has an inspiring story of getting disadvantages kids back on track. After doing a bit more research about Bill, he has a quote that I think is amazing and something that everyone who reads this blog should paste up on their wall.
âPassion is the emotional fuel that drives your vision. Itâs what you hold onto when your ideas are challenged and people turn you down, when you are rejected by experts and the people cloest to you. Itâs the fuel that keeps you going, working hard, giving more than you can possibly give when there is simply no validation of your dream. Passions are irresistible. If youâre paying attention to your life at all, the things you are passionate about wonât leave you alone. Theyâre the ideas, hope and possibilities your mind gravitates to, the things you focus all your time, attention and dreams upon and nothing else but doing these things truly feels right.â
Itâs amazing that the most successful people in lifeâââand increasingly as a function of their successâââare doing what they absolutely love and are passionate about it. Many people live their entire lives in a job they âlikeâ or âthey enjoyâ but never âtruly loveâ. While I completely understand that many people do this for the âsafetyâ of a job and providing for their familyâââunfortunately they are missing the obviousââânobody ever said that doing what you love would be easy. The truth of the matter is that doing what you love is entirely related to how much effort you are willing to put in, how much you want it to succeed and how much you are willing to do anything to ensure that your passion exceeds the odds. Every successful entrepreneur will tell you the same storyâââfrom Bill Gates, to Warren Buffet, to Steve Jobs to Bill Strickland. Money was never the end goalâââsimply being passionate about changing peoples lives and doing something that each of these entrepreneurs absolutely loved is consistently the message. I have read each of these entrepreneurs official and unofficial biographies and itâs always the same outcomeâââdo what you love and youâll always be better off in life.
Passions are infectious. If you show this passionâââothers will want to join you. How you communicate this passion, how you achieve this passion, the story you tell, the goals you want to achieveâââthis is what will draw the best people to you and around you and with you. If you want to be a musician, a professor, a teacher, a social worker, a lawyer, a doctor or any other type of career and you want this more than anything in the worldââânothing will stop you. Itâs been documented and shown over and over throughout time through thousands, if not millions, of people.
So the second lesson I tell you allâââdo what you love, hold on to it, never let it go. Follow it with all your being and if itâs really what you wantââânothing will stop you achieving it now or in 20 years time.
3. Enjoy life, Celebrate everything.
Life is not easy and youâll discover that with time. Nothing is ever handed to you on a silver platter and you have to work, struggle, scrap and fight to achieve anything you want in it. Realize this now, realize it early and accept it.
But through every struggleâââyou have to learn to celebrate every success. Too often people focus on the big things and miss so much that life has given to them. Learn to put things in perspective, learn to put your life in perspective and learn to celebrate your successes no matter how large or small.
For me, this includes everything from the big thingsâââlike celebrating academic and business success to getting engagedâââto even the tiniest of tiny things. For example, I love coffee and not always do you get a great cup of coffee. So when I do, I like to stop and say âthis is a great cup of coffee, I mean itâs really great and thatâs awesomeâ. Or when Iâm driving into nearby shopping centre car parkingâââand find a car park right at the front. I think to myself âwow, I could have been driving around and aroundâââbut Iâm right here up the front. Thatâs awesomeâ.
And although these are funny simple examples, learn to celebrate and embrace every successâââno matter how big or smallâââyouâll live a happier and more enjoyable life and youâll learn the valuable lesson of perspective in everything you do.
Conclusion
So in conclusion, remember these 3 lessons â
- Failure is great. Take action, not inaction.
- Be passionate. Do what you love, hold on to it, never let go of it if itâs what you want. Embrace it. Let it envelope and engulf you.
- Enjoy life, celebrate everything large and small.
So while Years 11 and 12 seem hardâââdonât let them be so hard that you lose sight of life. If you donât achieve what you wantâââdonât think you canât ever do itâââyou can, it just depends on how much you truly want it. If you fail, learn to get up and move on because as you get older youâll realize life waits for nobody. Take action now.
I can tell you this truthfullyâââbecause Iâve lived it, because Iâve failed and I know I will fail again, because I found what I am truly passionate about and because I love and embrace all life has to offerâââno matter how large or small.
You can and should too.
Best of luck in the years ahead.