The Story of Me (V) : Legal Spreadeagle

Luckily for cat-with-nine-lives me the school term in Australia starts in Feb but in the UK, term starts in September. Just enough time to apply and switch course/schools/countries AGAIN!

This time, I picked Law. Why? Because my mum was a lawyer and she told me to.

But the difference this time was that it was actually something I could do! Holy moly mother of macaroni!

The University of Bristol was brilliant fun. My confidence returned because I got it. Classes didn't leave me feeling stupid and frustrated. Things made sense. I could see a point to them. I was engaged.

Moral of the Story: Know what you're good at
Even if you don't have a clue what to do or where to go with it, acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses. What do you like doing? What jobs/tasks feel like fun? What kind of things make you procrastinate? We don't live in a perfect world and will never find a situation that ticks every box. But if you're a round peg, you'll never fit into that square hole no matter what anyone says. I've read job-interview strategy books that 'coach' people into saying things the employer wants to hear when the infamous strength/weaknesses question pops up. WTF? Why bother pretending to be something you're not - you'll only disappoint in the end.

It sounds bloody obvious but look at how long it took me to figure it out. Not all of us consciously know what we're good at doing...I certainly didn't. I kinda stumbled upon it. But there are a whole bunch of psychometric tests available on the internet. Tickle has a Classic IQ test which is pretty fun to do and free, and tests your right/left brain skills. There's an incredibly helpful job-hunting book called What Colour is Your Parachute? that helps you consolidate your aptitude and choices.

Ok this is NOT THE WAY you should do things, but it's the best example I can give to show how much a difference it makes to do something you have an aptitude for. In my first year, I was having waaayyy too much fun and hardly made it to any classes. I got a letter halfway through the 3rd term requesting an official letter of withdrawal if I had dropped out. Needless to say I failed the end of year exam. BUT I applied myself for the re-sits a month later and studied those SWOT books (they're legal textbooks that have been summarised down to the bare principles). And I passed. This is law school - that shit is HARD. "Getting it" enables you to understand in 1 hour what would otherwise take months, if ever.

Knowing what you're good at isn't going to magically reveal the meaning of life or the secret of your destiny. But I think any decision should start from here, be it brainstorming a new biz idea or choosing a career or deciding on a course. It will save you alot of grief down the road!