I met Paul (not his real name) a couple of years ago. He came up to me after a talk I gave at UTS here in Sydney to one of the Marketing masters degree courses. He was looking to start his own marketing agency and wanted me to mentor him. I think he was 21 at the time.

We stayed in touch and had a few excellent conversations. He was full of positivity and extremely well-researched in all aspects of personal development in a way that really impressed me – he knew what it was all about and was putting the pieces together.

Paul messaged me after our last conversation about six months ago to say he’d been made redundant from a role at a company that didn’t match his values and I gave him some straightforward advice on what path I felt would work for him to follow long term.

My sense at the time was that he didn’t take this well. I went against the course that his passion was suggesting was the right one. The route I mentioned would take much longer timewise but would be a real win for him in the long term based on my own experiences and knowledge.

But I’m not him, right? And I’m not in my twenties, champing at the bit to get paid the big bucks and make my mark on the world…

I took a call from him yesterday to say that my suggested path was the one he was now taking and he had started his dream job yesterday. This made me so pleased for him after a tough time mentally getting this point.

But the thing it highlighted more than anything is that the man with a plan is the most dangerous kind.

I had the feeling that Paul was going to struggle to get his life on track as the ‘follow your passion’ brigade was blowing their bugles and calling out to him, but he stuck with his plan and landed the right opportunity in the end.

And his call to say thank you for my help made my day. The fact that he did this means I’ll always keep him on my radar and look out for more ways I can help him.

Well done, mate.