Over 18 and your envelope hasn't matched your dreams? It's OK, there is different way!

My studying experience

Let me start by saying I left school with one pass grade (C) in History.

I enjoyed the subject & really should have got an 'A' based on my course work, but I hated studying (i.e. reading).

I much preferred to live in the moment with the stories being shared in the classroom...creative thinking!

The other subjects I excelled in didn't exist as qualifications then...Drama, Music and Sport.

This meant I couldn't go on to 6th form and was faced with an uncertain future in the world of work.

There was no way my Aunt & Uncle, who I lived with at the time, were going to see me become an Actor or Musician.

I had to earn my keep straight away and anyway, I was too timid at the time to pack my bags and run off to the bright lights of London. (In hindsight, the right decision).

I spent two years at college studying hospitality. It was good fun, but ultimately not what I wanted to do with my life.

My working experience

In hindsight, 'Hospitality' was a strong stepping stone to what was to come.

Leaving college at 18, I persevered with this type of work in various hotels and restaurants, for the next 3 years.

It gave me a steady, if not spectacular income and some much needed early adult life skills.

3 years in hospitality, some of the things I learnt...

• How to build relationships in an adult world.

• The many strands of customer service!

• How to be organised.

• Working under pressure.

• How burnout can affect oneself (60+ hour weeks)

I moved into the world of Music Retail over the next decade, where I learnt, among other things...

• The good, bad and ugly of management.

• Not to give up straight away.

• How to open a new store.

• How to respond when you and your team are being robbed at knife point.

• What strong leadership looks like.

• How to see conflict as resolution rather than something to be feared.

From the mid-nineties onwards, I worked for the John Lewis Partnership, including Waitrose.

My 12 year 'apprenticeship' in the service industry was put to good use, firstly in management roles and latterly in learning & development.

I could list a load of beneficial stuff I discovered in my time with The Partnership.

However, the most important things I learnt about myself were...

Who I am. (My beliefs and values)

What motivates and drives me.

What is important (and what's not!)

I tell you this because...

Unlike me, you don't have to wait to start understanding what really motivates and drives you.

For me, it came later in life and turned out to be Learning & Development, where my 'stage' turned out to be in facilitation and 121 coaching.

I don't regret a single part of my working life, but when I was unsure what I wanted out of life in my late teens and early twenties, I wish I'd had...

A MOTIVATIONAL MAP, to help me make sense of it all!

It's the one thing in my 20 plus year career in Learning & Development which has consistently helped me to consider what I want to do next.

In the first years of my working life, it would have been great to understand what really motivates me.

I could've had VALUABLE INSIGHT around who I am and what I wanted at that time of my life, understanding there is more to me than the grades I didn't get.

A 90 minute MOTIVATIONAL MAP session could open up your life's direction.

It certainly did & does for me. Find out more about MAPS....HERE.