Reaffirmation week for me.
After 3 months of hard work, I had finally completed my final exams in order so that the bank can register my representative license with the regulators.
Although I had been in the Treasury banking industry for 20+ years, I left it to join the buy-side in 2012. In my last job, the private equity firm was a subsidiary of a sovereign fund that invested in financial institutions in emerging markets. My rep license expired because I was away from the industry for more than 3 years. My new job required this rep license again and the only way I could get it back was to start at the bottom and do all the exams again like a fresh graduate. My initial shock was that I had to do a total of 7 external exams…
It was tough as I had not been actively studying for a very loooonnnnnggg time… I had to allocate time every day (weekday nights and weekend afternoons) in a disciplined way to ensure that I study for the exams, having registered for each exam one at a time. I had to finish all the exams within 3 months. Boy, was it tough. I failed one of them once by a few points and it was a tough one to swallow as my ego was hurt bad. On hindsight, that probably made me more determined to carry on. I knew too that my new job was on the line if I did not pass them and it was another motivation factor. My older son was worried about my odd behavior of studying and looking stressed, so he did once ask me : “Are you ok, Dad?”.
Finally, I completed the last of the exams this Thursday. It felt so good as I submitted all 7 certificates to the department to get them to register my license. It was a sigh of relief too, as well as feeling a nice pat on my own shoulders to say : “Well done, mate!”.
At 50, I was beginning to have doubts about myself and what I could do or will do going forward. I knew that I had to reinvent myself and get out of my comfort zone as the world had moved ahead without me. With age comes greater risk aversion and the propensity to take on more risk is low. I made the major step of leaving my old job last April to see if I can start a business and learn new skills, do new things and basically change my way of thinking to “Just Do It!”.
This period of studying for the exams taught me a few things :
- That if you set your mind to it, you can do it
- With proper and systematic planning, the probability of success is higher
- Repetition of a good habit re-enforces it
- That Age is only in your mind, you can control and change it
- The sky is the limit, let’s shoot for the stars
Although I am generally an optimistic person, this episode had made me even more optimistic about life in general. You can always be what you want to be. You are your own worst enemy. Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
I am trying to apply this to whatever I do now and also hope to influence my friends with my more confident outlook towards life and its opportunities. Let’s always stay happy and healthy, but most importantly, to never give up!
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