You may remember, approximately one year ago, I wrote a post ("This Time Next Year" (Or The Hopes And Dreams Of A 20 Year Old)), within which, one of my goals, inter alia, was to achieve a First Class Honours Law degree from my place of study, Oxford Brookes University. Well. I achieved that goal and made it a reality. This post is going to be about the journey of this last year in achieving my dream and what qualities I believe one needs to achieve their full potential and get what they truly want out of life.
I ended my second year at university on a very positive note. I had achieved above and beyond what I thought possible and was very close to averaging a first. At this point, I changed my goals. I was no longer going to be satisfied by achieving the 'status quo' of a 2:1 degree. I decided on that day to strive for greatness and achieve what is statistically the most difficult thing to do within the field of higher education - achieve a First Class Honours Law degree.
And so September and the start of my final year at university ticked round. So far, I had my goal to aim for, now I needed a plan. A dear friend of mine had always set the bar incredibly high when it came to hours spent on work and I believed I should follow suit. Therefore, myself and my friend would spent many, many hours in libraries, computer rooms and cafes working, preparing for seminars and writing up coursework at times when I knew full well that most of my colleagues would be at home relaxing and enjoying themselves. I did this out of choice, I moaned, groaned and got annoyed at times and suffered some pretty low points but I always had 'the goal' at the back of my mind, knowing that every minute of work I put in at this stage would benefit me in the long run. This isn't to say I was an academic drone. I still had time to enjoy myself by visiting the Oxford Union on numerous occasions, successfully completing a taster course in British Sign Language and developing my role as Treasurer of the Oxford Brookes University Table Tennis Society. In summary, my 'plan' was incredibly simple - work harder than everyone else to achieve better than everyone else.
Many moons ago, I was party to a speech given by one of our greatest Olympians, Sir Steve Redgrave, at the University of Surrey. Here, he spoke at length about a fellow competitor's tale of how he achieved his dream and broke a world record. At the beginning of the four-year cycle before an Olympic Games, the competitor - a swimmer - was told he needed to improve by well over one second in order to eclipse the record. Superficially, this seemed a very taxing prospect for the athlete, however, his coach adapted the goal in such a way that it suddenly became that little bit easier. Instead of asking the swimmer to break the record in four years time, the coach instead asked for the swimmer to go just a fraction of a second quicker every single training session. This, inevitably, felt much simpler for the swimmer and he quickly improved his time. He did indeed go to the Olympics and... well, need I say more!
This story has always stuck with me and I made sure to put it to good use this year, particularly in those inevitable times of struggle. During my first term I had three 2,000 word essays due in on the same day. This was quite obviously a daunting prospect, however, I managed to break everything down into smaller and more manageable chunks, so not to get overwhelmed by said prospect. Be it setting myself the target of writing 200 words or finding three pieces of academic comment, I ensured I went one step at a time and focused only on a single coursework at any given moment. Oh, and by the way, as you're wondering, I received 77% (1st), 72% (1st) and 60% (2:1) in those three pieces of work. Set yourself smaller targets on the way to achieving your goal. It makes things that little bit more straightforward.
So far I've mentioned my goal, my plan and my method. But why do all this? Why go to this much effort? What drives us on and what inspires us? As a massive sports fan, I had always been inspired by one sportsman or other, be it in cricket or football or tennis. However, London 2012 was something different, something otherworldly. This inspired me on a whole new level. To see the likes of Jess Ennis and Sir Chris Hoy train for four years all for one moment was something quite brilliant and, better still, was something I found I could relate to. All the work I was putting in now was leading up to one final moment; the result of my degree classification. Again, a simple mantra applies: 'Fail to prepare, prepare to fail'. Ennis, Hoy, Farah, Adams, Simmonds, Storey et al certainly prepared and they certainly did not fail. The second part of my inspiration is related to London 2012 - it is the advertising campaign at the time organised by adidas. The sportswear company used two very simple, very trendy yet very emotive tag lines; '#takethestage' and '#allin'. They struck a cord with me. I wanted to 'take the stage' quite literally, at Graduation with a first class degree, whereas I wanted to go 'all in' and give my all to achieving that dream. My colleagues must have been sick and tired of me repeating those phrases by the end of the year! Find your inspiration, it will pull you through when you are tired and think your dream is no longer possible or within sight.
That is 4/5th's of what I believe can make you achieve all that you aim for. However, without this fifth ingredient, the rest are more or less redundant. Determination. One must have the unerring, intense, unrelenting willpower to achieve their goal. One must never give up or throw in the towel believing things to be 'too difficult'. They aren't - one just needs the determination to overcome their obstacles to achieving success. This is something that cannot be taught, I suppose. It is either within you or it isn't. Are you willing to be spending 16 hours a day chasing your dream, as I did on a few occasions? Are you willing to be working 6 days a week at the very least, in order to achieve what you so desperately desire? If not, and you are happy to settle for second best, that is fine. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you wish to truly fulfil your potential and achieve all you can, then these are the lengths you will have to go to in order to succeed. You must give it your all and dedicate and devote your life and lifestyle to this goal. I cannot emphasise enough just how important a role 'determination' played in my success. It is truly the key ingredient in your hunt to achieve your goals.
Goal. Plan. Method. Inspiration. Determination. The five components which helped me achieve my First Class Law Degree on 10th June 2013. By following this path, I achieved my own personal view of 'greatness'. I was one of just ten to receive such a degree and landed, approximately, within the top 3% of my year group. The work pays off, it is that simple. These were the marks I received in my final year:
- 60%
- 69%
- 64%
- 71%
- 70%
- 74%
I could write what it feels like when, after three years of study, you finally achieve what you have always wanted, but it is a feeling personal to all of us. All I know is that it was the best day of my life and I was totally overwhelmed. Put it this way, it is a tremendous feeling when '#takethestage' becomes '#stagetaken'. Just ask Jess Ennis & co.
