Running the Race

“Of course success is dependent on its owner: be it a Coutts account, a designer handbag or just achieving your life-goals, dreams and desires.” The world is full of successful people; the people we secretly discourage, moan about yet somehow can’t refrain from observing on shoddy, nonetheless brilliant, reality TV shows or on the 12^th page of the latest Hello! magazine. The people who are truly born into success; whose fate has already been charted, mapped and dichotomised before their mother is being leisurely wheeled into the first class delivery suite complete with Bollinger and hand-picked grapes flown in from France. This little bundle of new life will not only be given the foundations to success but the bricks and mortar to go with it. Their first Babygro will be tailored perfectly; designed, sealed and delivered by Louis Vuitton himself whilst he/she gains comfort from snuggling a Fendi blanket complete with Gucci pacifier – perhaps the little one has more money in their Coutts trust fund then some of us will ever see in a lifetime, and on their 12^th birthday they’ll receive a state of the art Range Rover just to “play in”. So yes, occasionally we do wake up on Monday morning feeling discouraged and for the 365^th time that year we mutter the unchanged repetitive cliché that is buried deep down in all of us: Life is so unfair. Yet (Cue inspirational music) aside from the baby who inherits £2.5 million of the Hilton fortune, there lies a number of other successful entities; the ones who have to climb the ladder, the ones who earn it. What drives me on a Monday morning to roll out of bed and feel inspired to make my 90 minute commute? The idea that success is something that is born in all of us. Don’t get me wrong we may not all have the same start, but we all effectively run the same race. And when that starting pistol fires: potential, ambition, drive, determination and attitude holds presence; how we came into this world very much takes a back seat. Although some of us like to think successful people are “lucky” or more often than not land that “big break” by chance: Life is so unfair right? The reality is the majority fought for it. Walt Disney, Oprah, J.K Rowling, Steven Spielberg, Michael Jordan, Marilyn Monroe, R.H. Macy, Albert Einstein, Vera Wang… all started the race where we did. They weren’t born into greatness, greatness most certainly wasn’t thrust upon them; they earned it… and isn’t that we do every day? We work hard to better ourselves, to become better people, superior in our jobs. Further skilled, further educated, higher salary brackets and greater opportunities. We are all on the same journey to strive and to finish the race just how that successful baby started, albeit minus the Fendi blanket and Gucci pacifier. From Monroe being told she’d never make it as a model to Einstein whose teachers labelled him mentally handicapped (I hope he thanked them on receipt of his Nobel Prize) all of the above and a million more were told that success wasn’t an option. The common denominator here remains: persistence. When morale is low and you’re behind in the race think of Spielberg or Rowling and find that one ounce of spirit you need to succeed. Continue to reach your dreams and above all, finish the race. We can be whoever we want to be. All you have to do is envision that finish line, push from within and most importantly… never give up.