I was seven when my family and I immigrated to the UK from Pakistan. I can remember noticing the weather was a lot colder here and the people spoke a different language. This became especially apparent when my parents left me in school every day I had no one to communicate with in my original mother tongue ‘Urdu’ – talk about lost in translation.
At the time all the kids were already reading novels, writing essays and knew their times table up to 12, while I was learning the alphabet and memorising numbers. What’s interesting in that situation is within one year I caught up to their academic level. It was pretty strange when I reflect back at that time, I may have felt pressure in the beginning but I don’t remember feeling depressed or overwhelmed, I just had to make a start and make progress step by step.
I am now in my 40s, still living in London and work in the IT sector at Central city Centre. What I have found while living in this earth is the past does not equal the present nor the future. It really doesn’t matter at which point a person starts from it’s the end goal that matters.
Society always tells us it’s good to start in life as an underdog such as being poor or small or weak. Than one can strive to work hard, struggle to reach high dreams and finally reap the fruits of their labor once the goals is achieved. I’m not a fan of
- Hard work on something I have zero interest on.
- Doing anything that is not even remotely fun. I have to enjoy the process.
- Working to my full potential with blood sweat and tears only to get zero results in the end.
I am a fan of:
- Emulating people who have already made it to the top and duplicate their process.
- Short cuts by avoiding all the traps my elders already fell beforehand.
- Enjoying the process of going up the ladder along the way.
For me becoming a Copywriter/Consultant/Business Strategist and Speaker will be a major shift in my life. But for some reason I am not nervous about it. It’s like I have gone back to the situation when I was seven I have to start from the beginning again and just and make progress step by step.
I am looking forward to new future endeavours.
Ali Khan