Recently at the gym I met a 24 year old unemployed electrician who has been in and out of work for the last 2 years. We got talking when he asked me about an injury I had. He knew everything about it from top to bottom. The cause, the symptoms and the cure. The level of detail he described was staggering. His knowledge of the human anatomy was very impressive, he put the physio who has been treating me to shame, add to all this that he was a very charismatic and entertaining lad. He had every inspirational quote you could think of on hand. As far as I was concerned he could have sold ice to Eskimos. I asked why he didn’t pursue Fitness as a living. If passion is what you need to succeed then this guy was going to be a sure fire success. His answer was a clear and unequivocal “No thanks, the gym is my church, it’s where I come for solace and peace and I won’t let anything ruin that”. His positivity was infectious to say the least

I thought nothing of this meeting until two days later. I was getting my hair cut next to the exact same gym. The lad cutting my hair was a 26 year old out of work electrician. After sitting on social welfare payments for months he decided he needed to try and do something to change his situation. A friend’s mother ran a course for cutting men’s hair. While on the course he heard the adjoining premises to the gym had been closed for months, after contacting the owners he negotiated the rent down from 1800 to 1200 euro per month. 3 of the rooms on the premises were leased out, one to a beauty therapist, one to a tattoo artist, and the other to a masseuse. They effectively paid the rent. A steady stream of foot traffic from the gym ensured he earned a reasonable wage, enough to take on a fully qualified hairdresser, just as well as his hairdressing skills didn’t match his entrepreneurial skills. He told me he was going to be millionaire before he was 30, and I for one believe him. His drive and energy in relation to his career I found impressive due to the fact he wasn’t that passionate about his career, the driving factor was not to be sitting around idle

So how different are these two guys? For me not that different at all. Both were passionate and driven but just in different areas, they seemed equally happy with their current situations. It lead me to think about how I have handled certain situations in my career, and how I would handle them differently now. Instead of concentrating on my weaknesses, I would have focused more on my successes. In times of struggle it is our ability to lift our game that drives us on to achieve great things. Getting bogged down in all the negative sides of a situation can be a real energy sapper, and a quick fire way to failure. People who move don’t complain. People who don’t move complain. You can’t move very fast if you’re carrying a lot of baggage. It’s easy to get weighed down by the bad stuff, whether it be struggles with your career, your relationship or financial worries, stop looking to the past and take that important step forward. Once you do that you won’t know yourself.

The first step on the road to success is learning what you need to do to define your reality. You cant define it as you would like it to be, it needs be defined as exactly how it is. Once you have done that then you can start on the road of doing something about it. When you face the challenge head on, you will find it’s not as traumatic as you first feared. One of the most important skills I am learning is the ability to remain patient. If you know your purpose in life then count yourself lucky, if you don’t, then remain true to yourself and hold out for the right opportunity, because eventually the ball will bounce the right way for you.