Chemistry

I once got 24% in a Chemistry exam at school.

Yes, I was shocked too. I thought I’d done much worse than that!

My Mother didn’t seem impressed with my achievement – she wanted to study Chemistry at University, but a World War prevented that.

I did better that year in Physics – mid 40s and Maths – mid 50s, but stratospheric marks were reserved for Geography, History and English. Easy to see where my strengths lay.

Reading a brilliant book over the last few days – “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus (Book of the Year for a long list from The Times to Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home and the New York Times) reminded me of 3 things:

·         It’s always good to look at things from a different viewpoint

·         Life often goes better if you’ve got some “bottle” (for all you unfortunates not brought up in the North it simply means strength, determination, backbone – or, if you’re posh, fortitude); JFDI!

·         Just play to your strengths; and get others to use their strengths in place of your weaknesses (it’s such a shame that neither our education system, nor standard management training, seems to understand this)

And I’ll briefly take each of those 3 points and refer them to preparation for what can be the best time of your life – your future life i.e. retirement from full-time work (N.B. you don’t have to give up full-time if you don’t want to, but part-time plus other things is great; as is just doing what you want and plan to do all of the time)

1.    A different viewpoint – as I’ve said before, money is important but not the place to start. Don’t let Google or whatever anyone else thinks seduce you into putting money first.  Know what you really want to do and plan it. Then finalise the money aspects – BUT you still need to be doing your on-going money preparations, whether that’s property, pensions, savings and/or investments. Do get help with the finance planning – but don’t let money decide anything – reverse the driver and let money simply be the enabler.

2.    “Bottle”. What more do I need to say? If you’ve spent your life not doing or wishing, now is the time to pull out the stops and do it – whether that’s new or old hobbies; new or old relationships (sort of “human chemistry”); new or old destinations; and it can include you giving back (using your skills), your legacy etc ……and a little hint, your driver should be fun, enjoyment and happiness.

3.    Play to your strengths. And by strengths, I’m not necessarily talking about things you do well. You may be the World’s best Risk Assessor – but I don’t want you wasting your future life doing that.

I mean things you really want to do; that fit with your personality; that when you do them life just flows along.

Oh yes – and read “Lessons in Chemistry” – you’ll enjoy it!

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash – I call it bangs and flashes - getting Chemistry and Physics together.