Chasing your dreams

Key takeaways:

• Your success is not judged by whether you achieve your goal in your life but by how hard you try to achieve it and things you experience through that journey.

I was lucky enough to have a student who impressed me every time I met her. She was not the student with the best academic performance but she was perhaps the most determined student I’ve ever taught in my career so far.

Just before she graduated, she took my course in her last semester. She was just like an ordinary student in my class until I had a chance to talk to her in a longer conversation. I was impressed in that conversation because she knew exactly what she wanted in her career and she had been preparing for that for years. While some students may like to take some ‘easy’ courses to pass and have fun in the university, she took the path she wanted and hoped that the path would lead her to her goal.

It has been so, indeed.

She dropped me an email not long after graduation asking for a reference to study in an Asian country because she wanted to improve her proficiency on that language (which is her 3rd language). It was tough; a tough journey for her, although she had already spent time learning that language for years by then. I saw her LinkIn profile last year taking various casual positions while she studied in that foreign country. I could feel her determination and perhaps a bit bitterness of the hardship she needed to go through.

The next time I met her was earlier this year in her home country. She returned to her home town and we caught up for a cup of coffee. She was still determined to pursue opportunities in that foreign country but not so successful by that time. I told her that she was on the right path but needed to be patient and be ready to grab an opportunity.

Later this year, I got to meet her again. I could tell that she was a bit confused this time. She still hadn’t achieved her goal and found her dream job but from her eyes, I still saw the same little girl whose eyes sparkled when talking about her dream job.

“Is it just a dream?”, she asked. “No”, I said. “It’s like a dream because you haven’t yet achieve it.” I asked her: “Do you think you can achieve it, if you try harder for another one or two years?” “Yes, I still believe so”, she said.

Although it was not a coaching session and she was not my coaching client, I went through some ideas and planed a little something with her, making sure she knew what she was doing and was creating opportunities for herself. I told her, “You need to create opportunities for yourselves. Opportunities don’t only show up on Jobs.com“. I believe she got my message because she had already taken actions to create opportunities in her career. I was impressed.

I said goodbye to her and left with a smile on my face on that day. I was so proud of this brave girl. I can’t predict the future but I’m pretty sure this little girl will achieve her goal one day. She still impressed me and I believe she will keep impressing me in the future.

Remember, little girl. Your success is not judged by whether you achieve your goal in your life but by how hard you try to achieve it and things you experience through that journey.

This blog is for you, my little brave girl. I’m so proud of you.

Dr. C. Richard Wu @ REEAConsulting.com