Qualification Or Passion?

I remember a few years ago, this girl who worked at her aunty’s restaurant nearby always came and talked with me. That time, I was only started working. So the experience of picking a career was still new and revolutionary to me. I told her , what led me to this job is not my qualification. It’s my passion.

She was so surprised to know that I had a qualification that can make me pick much safer career like A Teacher, and I went and pick something else, which is risky and less of a security. I saw that look in her face. She was a bit startled. Maybe she never imagined that someone could be so bold. All maybe she thought it was rare. So yesterday, she came again to my place. And she told me she currently was having a hard time. She was still without stable career. Her application to work with the government was never succeeded. She told me stopped renewing her application. She said, “Not that I gave up, but I think the job with the government won’t suit me. I’m a type of person who likes to be active and explore many things, instead of doing the same job over and over again.” Then she continued, “ Remember what you told me back then? I kept saying it to people, about your story. That you could have been an English teacher, but you did not. You picked your passion. Because if you do what you like, you will never get tired of doing the job. You will feel happy all the time. And that’s what life’s all about. You remember that right?”

I went, “Whattttt?! You actually remembered? I laughed at the part when she referred me as “the could have been English Teacher”, I didn’t actually said that. I only said the part where I could end up be teaching Science and Maths in English, since that was what most of my teacher friends do. Okay now back to her. I appreciate that she took the inspiration from me.

But judging from her situation, she came to kind of a dead end. Cos she tried what she liked, which was in family business of selling foods, but the were a few changes in her market that made it hard for the business to survive. I’m sure she tried her best. She made the effort, I’m sure. But I’m not sure about attitudes. I’m afraid that she was lacking in that. I remember some time ago she told me that she wanted to do some extra work that I might need help in. And it would earn her some money. And then when the time came, she gave a lot of excuses or she never picked up the phone at all. I sensed that there was sthing wrong with her way of doing things.

You could be having the most perfect dream to achieve in your life. You could learn the best way of achieving them. You could have the courage and determination. But these aren’t enough. So be careful about it. You can’t simply adapt a concept that works for others, thinking that it would simply work for you too. Cos there are just some essense that need to go with that, before the recipe turns out perfectly. I’m not Donald Trump. I haven’t achieved anywhere yet. But in this one and at this level,at least I know the kind of attitudes you should NOT have to succeed. Just like I might never be like Donald Trump. Although his achievement is so great, but there are just things that he has that I don’t. The way of thinking, I don’t always agree with him when I watched his show The Apprentice. But then this was the show that first inspired me in my career now. Since I know that I could not adapt everything the way Donald does it, at least I figured out my own way of doing it. At least my passion is so big that I would not mind to discipline, to put full commitment, to put in effort, to keep my integrity – and the basic thing is, you must AT LEAST know how to keep your word. If you fail, show the effort to make up for it. If you are all talks, and not serious, love to play with excuses, seriously…you need attitude makeover first. Then continue seeking for that dream. IT’S POSSIBLE. But IT’S NOT SIMPLE. Only the strong will survive.

But Once you do survive…the REWARD is a truly blessed, well spent life. It’s WORTH IT. NOW go ahead and do something!! Good luck and God bless!!