I love a good podcast.

I listened to an episode of The Diary of a CEO last week, entitled ‘Jimmy Carr: The easiest way to live a happier life. I was hooked from start to finish.

It was one of the best podcasts I’ve ever listened to.

I’ve listened to it a couple more times since. 

Why?

Because so much of what he said resonated. Who am I? Why do I exist? What makes me truly happy? Existential questions that you usually gloss over and questions that the education system fails to address. So many of us start our working lives feeling unfulfilled and I was one of them. 

School teaches us the wrong lesson. It teaches us about mediocrity and how to be a good ‘all rounder’.

Yet we live in a world that does not reward all rounders.

It’s drilled into us from an early age that we must be good at everything in order to succeed. And if we want to get into college, university or ‘get a good job’ we must do well in the core subjects: Maths, English and Science.

Well I bloody hated Science and Maths.

I’d zone out everytime and would take to doodling in the back of my book instead. Any excuse to not have to think about things like atomic structures or quadratic equations. 

I always gravitated to subjects such as: Art, English, Photography and Dance… anything that allowed me to express myself in my own unique way. 

But most of the subjects I was enthusiastic about were deemed ‘less important’

I was laughed at when I told my fellow students I wanted to take Art and Drama at college and I was advised by my teachers to take core subjects.

I ended up taking Psychology and Biology.

WTF.

I still kick myself to this day. Why didn’t I do what I loved? What I was good at? Looking back, it makes no sense to me.

As Jimmy Carr quotes:

“If you get a D in Physics and you get an A in English, just go to English lessons. I’ll tell you what the world doesn’t need, someone who’s s**t at Physics”

Most of the time, the things that we’re good at ARE our passions. Sometimes, they’re not. But if we identify what we’re good at, it becomes so much easier to build a life around the things we love and the things that we do really bloody well.

It’s taken me a lot of life lessons but I’m finally working at the thing that I’m best at and that I love.

I wish I’d done it sooner. 

If I could give one word of advice (as well as to watch the podcast – link below) is when you’re good at something, make that everything.

Til next time.

@CatMBayley