Not all lessons are created equal.

Some lessons we learn are small. They are little reminders along the way of what truly matters. Other lessons are giant.

They fundamentally change the course of our entire lives.

After 4 years studying Chemical Engineering, these are the single most important lessons I learned:

Chase Your Passion

You are uniquely talented in something.

Usually, it's something that came naturally to you in childhood or your teenage years. For me that was:

• Reading
• Writing
• Sports

Think about what you were good at.

If you don't know, ask people who knew you well at that age: your parents or your best friends.

The things you did effortlessly then are usually things that you found fun.Think of what made those tasks fun to you, and try to bring it into the things you do. If you find your work fun, then no one will be able to compete with you.

They will be working whilst you are playing.

You will be driven, excited, and passionate — working to solve a problem you want to know the answer to. You will be competing against people living day to day, weekend to weekend, pay-check to pay-check. There is no competition there.

People pick up on the energy you bring, and are energised by people with positive energy.

Don't Choose A Path Because It Pays Well, Or To Please Others

I learned this lesson the hard way.

I spent 4 years studying Chemical Engineering, which I realised I hated pretty quickly. Other people who enjoyed it performed much better than me.

It was a painful 4 years.

In 2013, I was in my final year of school.

I had aced my exams the year before, and already had the qualifications I needed to go to university. I only studied 2 subjects in my final year of school. All that spare time and yet I didn't seem to think about the most important question at that time.

What was I going to do when I left school?

My favourite subject was English. I loved reading novels, studying poetry, and writing. But the only job I could see in writing was journalism, which I had no interest in.

I fell back on my other strengths: the sciences.

I enjoyed studying science in school when things were easy. So I looked for jobs in science that paid well. I found it straight away: chemical engineering.

And so began a the most gruelling 4 years of my life.

Before I started, I didn't even know what chemical engineers did. I saw:

• It involved physics and chemistry, which I could tolerate
• It paid well, which is always nice
• It was an extremely flexible degree (graduates went onto many different fields)

I didn't know it at the time, but these were terrible reasons to study it.

I spent 4 years playing catchup to people that were either:

• More interested in the subject
• Smarter than me
• Harder working than me

This only compounded my resentment for the subject.

Do What You Love, And You'll Love What You Do

“I’m always ‘working.’ It looks like work to others, but it feels like play to me. And that’s how I know no one can compete with me on it. Because I’m just playing, for sixteen hours a day. If others want to compete with me, they’re going to work, and they’re going to lose because they’re not going to do it for sixteen hours a day, seven days a week.”

Naval Ravikant

I will never again spend time doing something I hate, and I have since landed a job in a field that is much more aligned to my interests.

Chase your passion, be patient, and continuously seek out greater and greater accountability — you will inevitably land yourself a job you love, work harder and better than your peers, and fast track your progress.

Share this with a friend that you think will enjoy this.

Thanks for reading friends.

Jack