A Letter to your 16-year old Self…
I stumbled upon a letter written by Netherlands international footballer Arjen Robben. This letter was a reflection on his career, his time spent in and outside of football. It was a letter to his 16-year old self.
Upon reading, I felt an air of gratitude to my own personal achievements. It emphasised a point that as professionals we rarely find this level of time to commit to our own personal development. Something that this letter written by Arjen clearly has done in abundance.
Yet, this letter does not stop there and I highly suspect that Arjen wrote this letter without a blink of thought about himself. Arjen clearly had in mind the harsh realities which often land themselves upon the dream-laden youth footballers of today. Those whom like Arjen suggests, play the game with a passion yet fall-short for whatever reasons. Ability, opportunity, fitness, health, finance and more.
This letter provides those youngsters with hope. It emphasises that the arguable Dutch legend, Arjen Robben, once experienced the very same doubt, the very same pain, that they are likely going through today.
Will they get a professional contract? What happens if an injury hits? How can I handle moving to another Country?
The World of football is not too different from that of the business World. Afterall, in todays World of excessive financial outlays, footballers are becoming treated more like assets than the people whom they truly are.
This letter by Arjen got me thinking. What if more of us reflected in this same way? What if we all opened up and put all our trials and tribulations out on the table? Could we make a difference to a 16-year olds life who is at cross-roads or going through a difficult time?
Of course we can! And it most certainly will make a difference to SOMEONES life. It does not really matter who.
I only wish when I was 16-years old that I had a role model to look up to who wrote an almost entirely selfless letter like Arjen Robben did.
So here is to you Arjen. My letter to my 16-year old self
Dear 16-year-old Stephen,
It is Thursday evening and you are on your summer break, a week until your GCSE results.
First thing, do not worry!
You seem to be concerned about what the future beckons but as you will find, everything will work out. You need to begin to ask yourself, ‘what is the worst case scenario?’. This train of thought will help you endlessly in the future.
So, what is the worst case scenario with your results? Its not life or career ending! There are endless excellent opportunities out there for you. You did your best and what is done is done.
But let me tell you just one thing here before we move on and… PLEASE, keep it with you for the rest of your life: You have the smarts to succeed. More so than you could EVER imagine. You just need to motivate yourself. Have the confidence. Make a difference!
So… the results you had been dreading. As it turns out, you will be fine. You got what you worked hard to achieve. To be honest, this is a consistent story of your life. But you will soon realise (and quite quickly) that it does not matter anyway.
I would say this is incredible but you have NO idea! REALLY, no idea what beckons.
How does that dream University sound? How about the family life you desired so much? How about the fitness levels you were so far from achieving in high school? How about working for the best company in the World in a true geek role? Gadgets… do not even get me started!
Well mate, you got it! But this is only a small part.
I sit looking across your living room at your wife of 1.5 years and your Beagle pup, Toffee and reflect on the trials you faced. Self-inflicted or not. We both know how hard people treated you because of your weight. Ruthless!
But let me tell you, they lost. You won! But it isn’t about winning or losing. It is about becoming a better person. That motivation I mentioned earlier drove you to unprecedented health and fitness. This was the corner-stone in your life. As a 31-year old you, I look back and see that sole decision to master fitness as critical in all other areas.
Look… it made you more confident, less needy, more independent. It made you enjoy life more. You begun to see more of the opportunities which life presented. And as a result you worked harder for them.
You are your biggest critic. Yes, people do bully you and it is at times ruthless, but you have to realise that it is strength and potential they are fearful of. They want to bring you down. It is all to make them feel better.
You will encounter a role model called Elon Musk in the not too distant future. He was in a similar position to you in this sense yet is drastically changing the World. Why not you too? Have belief my friend.
Remember this!
I mentioned ‘dream University’. Well you got to Newcastle, one of the best in your field at the time in the UK. A word of advice though… be more ambitious! You could have done MIT or Stanford. But the problem was your parents. Your mother ‘letting go’ was tough enough, never mind to the USA. But this is your life, not theirs. A common theme.
Nonetheless, you will have an awesome time. You will meet some great people and it is here your journey really kicks into life. Just make sure you take the time to think and do outside of the status quo. It will save a lot of heartache later.
Make sure you plan for the future. Internships are critical here. Plus you have a boat-load of fun.
You do suffer a setback though. A badly broken leg to be exact. See this as an opportunity though. It hits you hard. Very hard! The darkest time in your life to date. Not intending to be critical but reflecting on this time, you were mentally weak. The more you realise this, the better.
It still is upsetting today thinking about the situation. A point of motivation in itself to never let it happen again.
It is this which will see you realise that with every setback comes a greater opportunity. The health, fitness, motivation, ambition. It all comes together after this. You rally forward and your whole outlook changes. You end up with the life and results you so seemed to crave.
You can do whatever you want. Shortly after your leg break, you will begin to realise this. The work of a guy called Tony Robbins helps you through the darkness.
You may laugh, but meditation practices will help you to better control your emotions. Try them! After a week you will NOT laugh any more!
You will find it is all about your emotional quotient (EQ), not your intellectual quotient (IQ) which you thought to be the case.
But what happens next after University?
The time every graduate regrets
I know you may be surprised how your career starts. Remember that big Tech firm HP? Yes, it is with Hewlett Packard. Amazing company. You will love it.
But there comes a time when good things come to an end. What you do need to realise though is when you have reached the end. This one played out a little longer than it should.
Still, lessons were learned and it tee’d up one of the best career moves you could have hoped for. Salesforce! It is the August 2000 when you are reading this so I’m pretty certain you will not have heard of them. But trust me on this… it is worth the wait as this story continues to play out.
Just remember, we are not finished yet…
Next up?
Ironman 2018!
So… I’d better get training
And as for you… when results day comes. Look forward. Be ambitious. Care less what people think. There is a lot of fun to be had
