Thread: Advice that has moulded your life

Hello All,

Have a quick squiz at the description linked to 'General Chat' before casting disparaging remarks about my starting this thread .... pause ...

Once upon a time - when I was in Year 10, I caught a train from Goulburn to Cootamundra. Then a motor rail to my ancestral home - Temora. During the Goulburn to Cootamundra leg I shared a dog box with a very well dressed fellow. After some initial conversation he asked me what I wanted to do when I left school. My reply was that I wanted to get a trade. The bloke then said he was a fitter machinist by trade. He had moved away from the tools as his career advanced. He mentioned how there were two types of tradespeople. The first type did not do any study or read any trade related publications after they finished TAFE. The second type of tradespeople were always seeking new and better ways to do their work. They enrolled in advanced courses. When opportunities arose to take on higher duties they volunteered themselves. The comparison was that the first type of tradespeople had 30 or 40 years of the same day repeating itself throughout their working life. For the second type of tradesperson each work day presented them something new. Such as new challenges and new opportunities. One of the biggest benefits of this was during hard economic times the first type of tradespeople were the first ones to be out the door. The second group of tradespeople were held onto as long as possible. Often riding out the economic turbulence. Frequently, the second type of tradespeople went - "why don't I start working for myself". They routinely became successful in business because of the attitudes they developed throughout the pursuit of their trade.

This conversation must have occurred during one of those rare instances when I, as an ignorant teenager; along with most of my peers, did something different and I actually took time out to really listen to someone else. The bloke's advice stuck with me and I became the second type of tradesperson. The highly successful business owner part of the talk still remains a bit elusive though. Despite this the long ago given advice has always held me in good stead and still pays dividends!

Did similar things occur in your life, a time where you actually listened to someone else's wisdom and modelled aspects of your life on their advice? If so, what was it?

Kind regards
Lionel

I read once that although the grass may be greener on the other side it just means there's more lawn to cut.