YOU WILL REGRET THE THINGS IN LIFE YOU DID NOT DO THAN THE ONES THAT YOU DID.
THIS resonated clearly in my mind this year in 2012. I cannot begin to explain how much of an exhilirating ride and roller-coaster of a year it has been SO far and it's only the 4th month in...
For one, I graduated from a Commerce degree in Corporate Finance from UWA. After this point, it's a different feeling of freedom and the pass to pursue what I really wanted to do in life. For me, my major that I studied is not my passion. It was really to get that paper and make my parents happy (sad to say). It wasn't all their fault though, I guess there comes a point in your life after highschool where you're forced to decide WHAT it is exactly you really wanted to do with the REST of your life. Pretty damn daunting.
I just heath science/commerce thinking I wanted to be a Health Economist... it changed when I had to decide majors for my Commerce degree and was tossing up between Finance and Marketing. Marketing was definitely more 'me', but I reasoned myself to do Finance on the pure fact that it was definitely harder to learn Finance outside uni walls compared to marketing, which was more easily accessible in terms of gaining experience.
So I really pursued both. Studying and becoming 'book smart' in Finance while fulfilling my creative, social and marketing aspects through working with an events company. The events stuff kept me sane through my Financial studies to be honest. At the same time, I feel I have added value that I understand the bottom line goals of a firm, and am able to calculate and estimate viable projects or investments in terms of profits/gains so I'm glad I 'forced' myself to finish my degree.
Through my events and being mentored by some of the most amazing people in my life, I identified my passion. I allowed myself to grow, learn, adapt and observe the industry, how to manage people, and how everything/everyone needs to work together like a well oiled machine to create something great.
It wasn't smooth sailing all, you have your ups and downs but perserverance, determiniation, and the unwavering willingness to learn and keep growing pays off in the end.
You may not be able to see the end of the staircase now... but just take that first step.
It's hard to look at the end goal or product now, but I always think if you put in 110% no matter what job, it builds up character, harnesses focus/discipline and teaches you something new which means you're progressing on in life. Always saying 'Yes' and putting your hand up to things works too. Especially when you're young, you work hard for the experience. You never know doing a certain job, learning a certain skill or volunteering for certain events could lead to even greater and better opportunities. The thing is, you will never know, if you never just WENT FOR IT.
There's been so many cases looking back retrospectively that if I had said 'No' to or brushed it off, would never have received some of the most amazing experiences I've had in my life. It's in that short split/second where you decide and make the choice to just DO IT. And I have never looked back or regret any of them.
I'll sign off with a quote that stuck with me from the infamous Bruce Lee:
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do"
