There is a common backwards logic associated with advice which comes from the lips of successful friends. There seems to be a point in one’s career when people start listening with only half an ear because “it all worked out.” People assume that because things are going well now, you must not have much worthwhile experience to share on the subjects of adversity, hardship or determination. To those people I ask this: How do you think I got here?

It’s safe to say that my life has been a series of well calculated risks. But the opportunity for crushing failure was always there, nipping at my heels, often far too close for comfort. While success does occasionally stem from a convenient cocktail of undeserved handouts, nepotism and sheer luck, it certainly is no guarantee of an easy life, past, present or future. It’s so easy to write off the experiences of successful people, even our closest friends, simply because we weren’t there the day they moved mountains.