Our goals and dreams always seem very big and the mere thought of fulfilling it can be very overwhelming most times. The problem is we always focus on the big picture, the final destination and tend to always forget about the journey.
Getting to that goal, dream, big picture is a process. The process is actually more important than the final big picture. The final big picture is as a result of the process. So what you put into the process determines how the end picture would be.
A lot of us get so frustrated on the way to fulfilling our dreams and the reason is because we are constantly focused on the final picture that we always seem too far from where the final picture is that we begin to feel like under achievers or failures that we get so frustrated and a lot of times we quit.
I studied Electronics and Computer Systems Engineering as a first degree in a top university in London. By the time I was in my final year, I knew without a shadow of doubt that I did not want to work as an Engineer. Problem was I kept saying to myself that I had a very strong analytical mind and was very intelligent, so I would have a very successful career but I knew I would be very frustrated. After a lot of searching myself and digging deep, I knew I wanted to work in finance. Uhmmmm, then came the dilemma, how do I achieve that dream.
I began to do my research, my guidance counsellor told that with an Engineering degree, I could go on to work in any field, which was very true. One of my options was to apply to any of the accounting firms but I knew I did not want to do Audit. The aspect of finance that I loved was using figures to explain the strategy of the company, or using numbers to analyse the success of a company.
I was so sure I did not want to go and do a masters especially because I had already abandoned a masters programme and mentally I was not prepared to quit at something else. So after much research, i decided to my professional exams in finance, but I decided to do CIMA as oppose to ACCA as I was not interested in audit. Deciding to do the exams was the easiest part of my journey.
The hardest part was finding an employer that would give me a job. It was difficult for employers to understand why I wanted to do such a change. A lot of recruitment agencies told me I was dreaming, told me I would be better off getting a job in IT or Engineering. There were days I came out of their offices and I would cry out of frustration or get so upset but I knew what I wanted to be and I kept pushing and knocking on doors in the face of rejections and discouragements and obstacles.
Today, all those seem like distant stories because I have become more than I ever dreamed that I wanted to be in my chosen field of finance because as I got to know more, my dreams got bigger and my visions got bigger and I aspired to achieve more, but I took it one day at a time and I broke my dream into little steps.
My steps were;
1. Apply to do my professional exams
2. Find a school to take my classes
3. Look for a job in finance to get experience
4. Draw up a career path, wanted to be a finance manager within four years, achieved it in less than that
5. Do more study- a masters degree which I have done.
Now I have attained a greater height in my career and I am living my career dream.
The key is to have a final destination in mind and break how to achieve it into smaller steps as little goals that need to be achieved and you would feel less overwhelmed and less frustrated.
The LGP Team
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