{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Sgwrs Tei Bow","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy","author_name":"Clarke Roberts","author_url":"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy\/author\/clarke-roberts\/","title":"What does it take to be successful? | Bow Tie Talks","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"fwZgKoAcfH\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy\/2018\/11\/24\/what-does-it-take-to-be-successful\/\">What does it take to be successful?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy\/2018\/11\/24\/what-does-it-take-to-be-successful\/embed\/#?secret=fwZgKoAcfH\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;What does it take to be successful?&#8221; &#8212; Bow Tie Talks\" data-secret=\"fwZgKoAcfH\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>","description":"At the time of writing this, I&#8217;m 26 years old. I work in marketing for a globally successful business; I have two degrees; I drive what I think to be a nice car; I live in a nice apartment, and I&#8217;m engaged to the love of my life and my best friend. But are these things the constitute success? I often spend far too much time scrolling through my social media feeds, reading posts and looking at pictures that my friends post, thinking to myself &#8220;God, why am I not that successful?&#8221; I have friends from school that have gotten married and I have friends who are earning very healthy salaries in big cities, and are on the road to or have already purchased their first home. I have friends who have shared pictures from every corner of the globe, boasting about how they&#8217;ve just helped to rebuild a tribal community with the help of small group of some sort of endangered species, that they spent months teaching English to. Are these the sorts of things that I should be judging my success by? In a word: no. It&#8217;s been five years since I graduated from university and I have to say, not one of the plans I had has amounted to anything more than a daydream or a few excel spreadsheets to work out the cost of making it work. I never moved to Edinburgh nor did I move to South Korea to teach English. I didn&#8217;t do my teacher training and become the inspiration for the next generation, nor have I completed my PhD and written my first academic book. I&#8217;m not a Member of Parliament, I don&#8217;t drive an Aston Martin and I&#8217;ve only left Europe once, and that was for a few hours on a day trip to Bodrum. If success is determined by the number of things one ticks off their bucket list or life plan, then you could argue I&#8217;m an abject failure. But I&#8217;ve moved on from worrying about the apparent lack of success in my life in recent months and have started on focussing on the positive things in my life, which I believe speak to the contrary to the mantra of &#8220;I&#8217;m a failure&#8221;. Now, I think about all the things I have achieved in my relatively short 26 years on the planet. I&#8217;ve completed both a Bachelor&#8217;s and a Master&#8217;s degree, whilst working at the same time. I&#8217;ve had lots of jobs in different industries and have gained a wealth of experience of the world outside of one small bubble. I have overcome mental health issues and am now a much stronger and more resilient person. I&#8217;ve stood for parliament in a General Election, representing my views and beliefs, putting my head above the parapet for all to cast judgement on me. I&#8217;ve finally landed myself a job that makes me feel valued and that I feel I&#8217;m good at. I&#8217;ve managed to live on independently of my family for [&hellip;]"}