I recently changed jobs.
I know that a lot of people around their mid-twenties are already coming up to their “forever” career. Some have spent 4-8 years in post-secondary waiting out until they’re free to take on a career and begin to pay off some of that 6-figure student loan debt. I, myself, chose a different route. Rather than succeeding through education, I decided to pick up on what I was good at and take advantage of it.
Funny enough, I chose to do that before I knew what I was good at.
A little backstory for you;
I knew quickly into high school that I was more intelligent than many of my high school foes. I knew that I could succeed without that good ole’ Dogwood. So I dropped out. You can imagine my Mom was fucking thrilled. At 16, I was working full-time and working towards a highschool graduation through other sources. Eventually, I realized that it didn’t matter if you actually had your Dogwood, all that mattered was if you wrote it on your 1-2 page resume stating “Graduated 2012”. So here we are. 24 years old, 3 semesters of University under my belt, a previous Assistant General Manager of a large restaurant corporation, and still no Dogwood certificate. At least not officially. (Don’t tell my bosses).
I thought that I’d become successful at a young age. I suppose to some, I was at my previous position as a young AGM of a busy restaurant. If you ask me, I am only just beginning. You see, sometimes there isn’t such a need for a degree. It certainly helps you attain a job that you are striving for, but even the few millennials with degrees nowadays struggle to find their “forever” career. So you seek something different, and find something you’re good at. Then, even when you think you have it all and you’re headed straight down the success highway, you fall hard on your ass back through the winding mountains, only to find yourself back at rock bottom beginning again at a new so-called “career”.
In my time after leaving post-secondary to discover what I wanted as a career, I learnt a few things…
1. You don’t need to graduate to be successful. You can go to university at the age of 19 regardless. N’or do you need to graduate university. You simply just need to be the best.
2. The best: The best at what? Well, simple answer is this: Be the best at what you are best at
3. Networking and finding the right mentors is EVERYTHING. In my time as an AGM and as a server/manager today, I am finding frequent opportunities by establishing new connections simply through the type of people that come into my restaurant. You simply just need to talk to people. The right people.
Now…I’m not going to lie to you. My life has been hell a few times and again. It even is right now.BUT, the bright side is… Well… I’m still working on that.
I suppose through all of this bullshit, I’m trying to portray the idea that if you aren’t absolutely, positively, mind-blowingly happy going through the motions of education, (and if you aren’t a big stupid idiot) that maybe, just maybe, you could work your ass off and actually become something bigger than what you could have done had you followed what everyone else is doing.
I may not be the greatest example, n’or am I willing to surf the internet long enough to give you any. But somewhere in my dream reality that I think about in my few seconds of spare time between my thousand jobs that I have to maintain a semi-shit but liveable standard of living… (Joking, sort of) I can see myself genuinely, absolutely, positively, sure-as-hell succeeding in my future endeavours. Why? Because I’m willing to work for it, I have the mindset and I have tapered my skills to allow me to gain the respect from the same very well-off and successful individuals that were once the broke losers that I am today.
Sue me if you think otherwise.
As if you’ll find any money anyways.
Neesh Media 