Early Days...

I grew up as the youngest of 3 children. My eldest sister graduated high school with top marks, went to university, completed 4 years and was deemed a "qualified" teacher. My brother, the middle sibling, graduated high school with top marks, went to university, completed 4 years and he too was termed a "qualified" teacher. My mother, who was also a teacher,  had been working at the same school since the day she was handed a piece of paper stating that she too was "qualified" to do so. Therefore, due to the fact that I was constantly surrounded by people that ate, slept and breathed teaching- it was engrained in me that I would conform and take the same path.

So I slaved away at school achieving near perfect grades and being tremendously disappointed if I achieved anything less than top of the class. It was a rare event that this would occur as all my life, like many others I'm sure, I had essentially been promised that if I worked hard to get good grades I could achieve anything I dreamt of. I wish I realised at the time how much of a complete and utter fallacy this really was.

I graduated high school with an O.P. that allowed me to enter into any university course I chose. Given that by this time, my 2 older siblings had tried their hand at teaching and been so unhappy in doing so, that they had signed up for another 4 years in a different uni course- I figured maybe it would be best for me to take a year to evaluate what I really wanted to do. So I became a flight attendant. I won't go into detail about how degrading this job can be- but if you wish to be treated as if you have a single digit IQ- this is the job for you!

The one positive to come out of this experience was that whilst waitressing at one of Virgin Blue's lavish parties, I was assigned to look after Richard Branson's table. It had been a long day of waiting on the wealthy and wishing the shoe was on the other foot when I realised- there was absolutely no reason why it couldn't be! This man was a picture of prosperity- I knew I wanted in.

I decided to go to uni...

I wanted my own business but at that point I lacked the knowledge required to achieve this. Like many others keen for the same information I enrolled in uni. Little did I know that this would be the biggest waste of time to date! Given I had signed up for business majoring in finance, one would assume that after 3 years and close to $20,000 tuition I'd be taught every detail necessary for creating an empire of my own. Never assume! At the end of the day I was being taught about business from an employee, and didn't learn much more than irrelevant algebraic calculations. I learnt to memorise about 5 textbooks per semester, yet couldn't tell you the first thing about personal investments.  Not only was I angered that I had wasted time enrolling in a course that deceptively made me believe I would be taught to live the life I wanted, but I couldn't live with the fact that so many others had been conned into the same scenario.

Then I dropped out...

Just like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and many more- I thought I'd cut my losses and drop out before I wasted anymore time. This is when my life began to change drastically. I'm not advising that anyone drop out of uni to stay in bed all day; simply to employ a little bit of self direction and motivation. My time since uni has been spent attending seminars, reading books and studying some of the most brilliant minds in the world. One of Tony Robbins' most popular teachings states that to become successful, you must mirror the characteristics of those who have already achieved success.  I have devoted much of my time to studying the best in fields such as foreign exchange, public speaking, NLP and wealth creation and am overwhelmed with the incredible results thus far. It is amazing what can be achieved with some simple actions and a change in mindset. A few years ago whilst waiting on Richard Branson I assumed I'd be retiring in my 60's along with a depressingly large majority of the population- not my early 20's! This has instilled in me a burning desire to teach and prove to others (especially today's youth), that it is not your education, but your mindset that determines your journey.

Click here to learn how you can follow suit...