To Believe

Well, just a quick update.

Everything is so busy right now, and the days go by so quickly.

Over the last few weeks, I have thrown myself into my career and uni-life. It has been exhausting but exhilarating and I have learned so much about myself and about others.

I am a great believer in giving time and energy to help others out, for I believe it will always come back to you. I share this value with my dearest friend and mentor, Mr HT….and over the past few months I have offered much of my time to other people for no reason other than to take pleasure in helping them out.

Needless to say, luck and good karma has returned my way – and I have been blessed with some amazing opportunities of late.

Most impressive of all, is the fact that I have succeeded in a goal that I set myself at the start of my First Year – to earn myself a summer internship in mergers & acquisitions at a big bank in second year.

All I can say is that I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited and I can’t believe I actually managed to achieve this. I worked so hard to get to this point….including waking up at 4am to make sure I was totally prepared for anything they could ask me! AND I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON! lol.

This is like a mini-dream come true for me…and it is a big weight off my shoulders at the same time.

I am the kind of person who has a lot of life goals….but sometimes I do worry about how I would feel if I didn’t achieve these things – especially when I make no effort to hide from others what I’m trying to achieve….and inevitably that attracts some people who will do their best to put me down.

However, my view is that the greatest failure, is to never try.

That doesn’t mean it has been easy though! With rejections here and there, and with the knowledge that I was competing against double degree students in 4th or 5th years….sometimes I would ask myself (and others!) “I’m only 19! Am I kidding myself?!”

But I have been lucky to have some truly amazing people around me who have always supported my dreams in life; my friends, my mentors and my family; most important my father.

My father is a tradie who spends his days on building sites….VB, blue overalls and Blundstone boots are everyday concepts to me…..my family’s life is a million miles away from the corporate jungle I am about to enter, yet my father has been my greatest supporter through all my investment banking career endeavors. He was the person who encouraged me to read the business section of the newspaper when I was 13, he was always there to talk business and politics with me, he taught me the value of the dollar; of education; of opportunity. Without him, I would not be who I am today.

So in conclusion:
Keep believing, and keep dreaming everyone,

Sophie