Career lessons

The speaker discusses three key lessons about careers for 18-16 year olds. The first lesson is that mistakes can be beneficial if you learn from them and don't let them define you. The second lesson is to learn from others, but apply it to your own situation instead of imitating them. The third lesson is to define success on your own terms, not based on others' opinions or material possessions. The speaker emphasizes the importance of service and making a difference in defining success, rather than focusing solely on money. Hello, Jeremy Deter and welcome to the Creative Change Insight for 8th of February 2023, Career Lessons. Last week I was invited to talk to penultimate year students at our local college about careers, although my career, if you can call it that, has been anything but a straight line. So the head of careers suggested I find three key lessons that would resonate with 18-16 year olds about to head out into the world. Easier said than done, I thought, so in the end I settled on these three. Your mistakes are your greatest asset. At age 22 I made a gross error of judgement, which led to my public humiliation and years of living in fear and anxiety. Later, I made a complete mess of my finances and ended up with no income or assets and significant debts when I was supposed to be advising clients about their money. However, I told my audience my biggest mistake was not dealing with my mistakes and in the first instance letting them ruin my life for two decades. My lesson was simple, deal with your mistakes. Shame in particular is more significant in your mind's eye than in the eyes of others and the sooner you deal with it, the quicker you can get back to making a difference and find meaning and purpose in your lives. Learn from others. I told my audience how I had evolved from a financial salesman to a financial advisor, financial planner, a life planner and finally a life coach. The critical lessons on the journey was always to take the opportunity to learn about new directions and skills from a mentor, coach, author, speaker or a wise friend. However, I suggested to my audience that applying what they learned to their specific situation is also essential. In other words, they should learn from others but don't imitate them. Define what success means to you. I told Tricia a story which she writes about in Enough. Tricia worked so hard to achieve what others deemed a success that she attempted to take her own life when it all got too much. However, she recovered and redefined what success means to her in her terms, not those of her peers. As a result, Tricia now runs her own accountancy business in the States, dedicated to providing her staff and clients with the opportunity to define and achieve what they see as enough, while others told her. I also mentioned a couple in their 50s who sought advice. Their problem, they said, was that all they had to show for years of struggle was, quote, toys and bling, unquote. So, my third lesson to my 16-year-old audience was to define success in their terms and not those of others. From my experience, I told them defining success in terms of money does not work. Instead, I suggested they express their success in terms of their service and the difference they can make to others.