Feel like I’m on a roll with the updates. Firstly, I’d like to say F U iPoker for their software at the moment. Its totally unacceptable for a company worth in excess of $1bn and one that is meant to take poker seriously. You can bet their casino software has far less downtime. Anyway, I’ve been hit like everyone and so far its probably cost me $2k which is really beginning to piss me off.
Anyway, with that off my chest.. let’s get into the post.
I’m 20 and a few of my ‘friends’ from school are now graduating from uni’s in England (3 year courses, Scotland is a 4 year course). A few of them are coming out with 1st class degree’s from Oxford and Cambridge and its pretty sobering for me. One in particualr who I used to be good friends with is set for Harvard Law after getting the best mark for law in his college at Cambridge. There is no doubt he will have worked like mad and certainly deserves the recognition for it.
Its pretty scary though. 3 years ago I had identical grades (arguably better in some ways; Best mark in Scotland for Philosophy and for my history dissertation and a more rounded CV – I used to play a lot of Squash and was in the top 5 in Scotland) but, didn’t get into Oxford. I think I was just too young and in reality didn’t want it as much as these guys. I stayed at a friends before the interview, ended up drinking and making myself pretty ill. I didn’t treat them like I did my Squash or this business.
Now, 3 years have past and there is a huge gulf in the way our lives will pan out. That’s okay because we’re different people but, its just a wake up call.
I’m genuinley happy for him because hard work should be rewarded. My only reservation is that I feel I should have and could have done a lot better academically with my grades.
I kind of think golf is a good analogy for life. Its not like tennis or squash where I’m playing against someone. Sure there are other people on the course; there are tiger woods’ and complete amateurs but, all I can strive for is to be the best I can be, watch these people and learn from the routes they’ve decided to take. I’m not against this guy at all, I just believe (when we were younger at least) I was academically in the same league as him he just had a different mentality.
What is reassuring is that we actually have the same ends. I think people go into further education for 3 reasons;
1. Intrinsic interest for the subject they’re studying. These people are academics.
2. Uni as a continuation of school qualifications – considered obligatory. A box that needs to be ticked with a 2:1 showing they’re suitable for employment. This, I guess makes up the majority of students.
3. Uni as a ‘time to shine’. To set yourself away from the field. Using the connections and impressive qualification as a means to acquire wealth and social status.
This guy is number 3 and he wants the same end that I do. He just believes he can achieve it with less risk or gain x value more times out of 10 via his chosen path than mine. The sad thing is, looking at it logically, its true. Dropping out of uni (what I did orignally when I did Law at Edinburgh) to start a business was retarded in terms of expected value. 1 in 100 times it might become successful… the rest I’ll be stuck.
Anyway, apologies for this post being slightly self indulgent. The nice thing is that when something like this happens we should be happy someone we know has shown us what we are capable of. Its not about people being better than you, its about you seeing someone become the best they can be, the optimal version of themselves and attempting to emulate that.
Tags: Business, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Graduation, Harvard, poker, Uni
