One year ago the reality of a decision I made in January 2010 was upon me. I woke up on a Monday morning for the first time in five years without a radio show to think about. It was also the first time in three and a half years that I wasn’t woken by a 4.30am alarm.
I had decided to take a leap of faith and leave a safe secure position in the hope of attaining my dream job. I made this decision in the middle of a recession and with a fiancé to support who is at university without any income of her own.
At the time everyone I spoke to thought I was mad. The implication of taking a leap of faith can, depending on the context, carry positive or negative connotations, as some feel it is a virtue to be able to believe in something without evidence while others feel it is foolishness. It is a hotly contested theological and philosophical concept.
The week before I told my bosses at Rock FM that I wasn’t going to renew my contract I was in a school in Preston speaking in front of a bunch of students who were about to embark on their GCSE final exams. I do this a lot and often speak of my own experiences and stories from people in the world that I admire in the hope of inspiring the next generation to do something unthinkable with their own lives.
I remember referring to the world of sport and one particular sports star. A man that in his own words says “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that’s why I succeed!”
That man is Michael Jordan.
We only ever remember that he was a six-time NBA champion or he was named MVP on 5 separate occasions or that he averaged 30 points per game. Nobody remembers (or cares) about the number of times he failed, just what he achieved. He left this legacy behind because he was brave enough to keep trying.
I know to achieve what you really want is hard. You are going to come across more downs than ups on the path to success.
When you get a moment go and look at a game of snakes and ladders. This is a game that originates in India and was designed to teach children about the ups and downs of life. There are double the amount of snakes on the board to that of the of ladders. If you ‘give up’ when you hit a snake trust me you won’t reach square 100. If you dust yourself off and go again, you eventually will.
Professionally, the last year has been the hardest of my life. I can think now of at least two separate occasions when I was ready to ‘give up’ and settle for second best. I was offered alternatives to my dream job which I know many of my contemporaries would have jumped at the opportunity to do.
Michael Jordan is known as the greatest of all time in the basketball world because he kept his focus, kept his self belief and more importantly kept trying.
Over the Easter weekend of 2011 I saw a chink of light. I made my debut on Radio 1. For those that don’t know I am also the voice on the biggest digital TV channel in this country, ITV2. Trust me I have slid down some major snakes over the last year but the two ladders I managed to climb were well worth it.
Keep chasing your dreams!
‘I can accept failure because everyone fails at something, but I cant accept not trying’ – Michael Jordan