Lift, Lead and Love.
Spencer W. Kimball
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Exams Were They That Important
Working my way through Secondary school was actually quite enjoyable. Time didn't really have much of a meaning, looking forward to school holidays, generally getting on with everyone and lots and lots of exams.
Reaching the 5th year was when the majority of exams were taken, a week didn't seem to go by without revising or taking another test. It's fair to say I took it in my stride, I suppose I was conditioned to it, it was what was expected of me.
One thing I did know though and that was I wasn't ready for the world of work, simply I felt too young, too inexperienced. My intentions were to have more of the same and that was to stay on for the VIth form.
The GCE and CSE results were pretty good and left me with a fairly straight forward decision of what I was going to take. Maths, because I had an excellent teacher, very systematic, logical, focused and respected. For me all the top ingredients for a role model, he also became my form teacher for the two years, Mr 'Pancho' Pearson. Sorry, but to this very day I do not know what Pancho stood for, it was the nickname he had and who was I to argue with that. Metalwork and Physics were the other two options. Metalwork because I enjoyed the practical and 'precise' methods and Physics because it made 'practical' sense although I had always struggled with it.
VI form was a real enjoyment, lots of work both at school and later at home but I lapped it up. For me it wasn't easy but I was in with a great bunch of people.
Throughout those two years I worked away, but always struggled with Physics, from the 5th year I only achieved a CSE grade 2 which wasn't good enough to study the A Level. However, the school let me do it, but I would have to take the O Level so that I could continue. Each time I took the O Level (3 times in all over the 2 year period) I failed with a Grade D. The school must have felt pity on me and still let me take my A Level Physics exam.
In the interim period I was applying for apprenticeships and I gained a place in the dockyard as a Technician Apprentice subject to me gaining an O Level pass or higher in Physics. My life appeared to be mapped out, what could stop me, I was preparing myself for the 'sausage factory' of life but...... things didn't go to plan.
On the day of the A Level results I cycled to school, I had nightmares about my results previous to this day, anyway they were nightmares and surely they couldn't come true... could they?? On looking at my results slip reality kicked in hard, very hard. I'd passed my Maths, just, only an O Level pass at Metalwork (I had spent 3 hours in an exam answering a question that when I finished I re read and realised I'd got it wrong) and worse to come FAILED Physics. From that moment I world as I knew it had imploded, no job in the dockyard, no sausage factory of life.
I was frantically looking around for excuses, my Physics teacher was to blame, he was crap, he couldn't teach, I had no chance with him. This result was being treated as someone else's buck to bear.... but in fact it was mine.
You see, I could have done something about it, I could have put into action things that would of given me a better chance of passing my Physics. I should have taken a leaf out of one of my friends books who arranged additional tuition with another teacher, he passed.
It wasn't until years later I accepted the responsibility of the buck stopping with me and me doing something about it.
So, the lesson to be learnt is be prepared to make change, don't blame someone else for your misfortune, take control and let the buck stop with you.
A year later I did pass my O Level Physics, even though it was too late for the dockyard, it wasn't too late for me.
Reaching the 5th year was when the majority of exams were taken, a week didn't seem to go by without revising or taking another test. It's fair to say I took it in my stride, I suppose I was conditioned to it, it was what was expected of me.
One thing I did know though and that was I wasn't ready for the world of work, simply I felt too young, too inexperienced. My intentions were to have more of the same and that was to stay on for the VIth form.
The GCE and CSE results were pretty good and left me with a fairly straight forward decision of what I was going to take. Maths, because I had an excellent teacher, very systematic, logical, focused and respected. For me all the top ingredients for a role model, he also became my form teacher for the two years, Mr 'Pancho' Pearson. Sorry, but to this very day I do not know what Pancho stood for, it was the nickname he had and who was I to argue with that. Metalwork and Physics were the other two options. Metalwork because I enjoyed the practical and 'precise' methods and Physics because it made 'practical' sense although I had always struggled with it.
VI form was a real enjoyment, lots of work both at school and later at home but I lapped it up. For me it wasn't easy but I was in with a great bunch of people.
Throughout those two years I worked away, but always struggled with Physics, from the 5th year I only achieved a CSE grade 2 which wasn't good enough to study the A Level. However, the school let me do it, but I would have to take the O Level so that I could continue. Each time I took the O Level (3 times in all over the 2 year period) I failed with a Grade D. The school must have felt pity on me and still let me take my A Level Physics exam.
In the interim period I was applying for apprenticeships and I gained a place in the dockyard as a Technician Apprentice subject to me gaining an O Level pass or higher in Physics. My life appeared to be mapped out, what could stop me, I was preparing myself for the 'sausage factory' of life but...... things didn't go to plan.
On the day of the A Level results I cycled to school, I had nightmares about my results previous to this day, anyway they were nightmares and surely they couldn't come true... could they?? On looking at my results slip reality kicked in hard, very hard. I'd passed my Maths, just, only an O Level pass at Metalwork (I had spent 3 hours in an exam answering a question that when I finished I re read and realised I'd got it wrong) and worse to come FAILED Physics. From that moment I world as I knew it had imploded, no job in the dockyard, no sausage factory of life.
I was frantically looking around for excuses, my Physics teacher was to blame, he was crap, he couldn't teach, I had no chance with him. This result was being treated as someone else's buck to bear.... but in fact it was mine.
You see, I could have done something about it, I could have put into action things that would of given me a better chance of passing my Physics. I should have taken a leaf out of one of my friends books who arranged additional tuition with another teacher, he passed.
It wasn't until years later I accepted the responsibility of the buck stopping with me and me doing something about it.
So, the lesson to be learnt is be prepared to make change, don't blame someone else for your misfortune, take control and let the buck stop with you.
A year later I did pass my O Level Physics, even though it was too late for the dockyard, it wasn't too late for me.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Monday, 25 January 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Moving from Secondary Modern to 'Technical Secondary' was in the mind of a 13 year old 'going somewhere'. At that time 6 other friends from the same school made the break and here we were in a different environment, a school half the size of the previous and ......... no girls! By this time I certainly had at least a passing interest in opposite sex and all the mysteries that went with it.
So I was put into 3T, haven't a clue what the T stood for but 3 obviously was the 3rd year. At this school there was a 6th Form too for those who may have either thought their learning had not finished or in the case of me for those not ready for the world of work (didn't feel old enough).
From a school perspective this was a grand place, not in structure or design but one of belonging, one which you felt part of, you could say an 'actual community'. Fond memories flood back on this time, particularly of certain teachers. At the daily assembly Mr 'George' Hurst the Deputy Head would invariably remind us that to be attending the school we had to be 'above average intelligence', of you course you believed it and I'm sure it has guided my career path with it etched on the brain.
I certainly was not top of the class but what I did learn was that if I listened to what I was taught and put those teachings into practice I would succeed and this is what I still believe to this very day. Without listening first and understanding what you have learnt it will never be of use to
you.
So I was put into 3T, haven't a clue what the T stood for but 3 obviously was the 3rd year. At this school there was a 6th Form too for those who may have either thought their learning had not finished or in the case of me for those not ready for the world of work (didn't feel old enough).
From a school perspective this was a grand place, not in structure or design but one of belonging, one which you felt part of, you could say an 'actual community'. Fond memories flood back on this time, particularly of certain teachers. At the daily assembly Mr 'George' Hurst the Deputy Head would invariably remind us that to be attending the school we had to be 'above average intelligence', of you course you believed it and I'm sure it has guided my career path with it etched on the brain.
I certainly was not top of the class but what I did learn was that if I listened to what I was taught and put those teachings into practice I would succeed and this is what I still believe to this very day. Without listening first and understanding what you have learnt it will never be of use to
you.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Going to the Big School
Junior school was soon behind me, even though I had friends, generally I was the 'quiet one'. Tests and things were not so complicated back then, it was simply the 11+, you either passed or failed..... I failed. This led on to going to a 'Secondary Modern' school. At the time it seemed very large and impersonal. I was in a class of about 30 which included another 5 classess of the same number, so (I thought) quite a few. My achievements there weren't particularly spectacular, like most others my interest in girls was starting to evolve. Also because I was in the 'top' stream I was put forward (there was about 8 of us) to do the 13+. This was like a 'second chance' exam to move onto another school and get a potentially better education.
Now learning from my experience two years previous I decided to 'focus' on what I was doing and bought a practice book for the exam, I think it was one of those verbal reasoning tests. Simply I practiced and practiced and on the day of the exam itself I found the test an absolute doddle, but I then heard nothing for weeks or was it months, just nothing.
One day out of the blue I was summoned to the Head Masters room, couldn't understand why as I had done nothing wrong. On arrival I found out that I had passed and would be changing schools in the summer.
Here is an example where I was given an opportunity and made the most of it, I grabbed the second chance with both hands. It's like life really make the most of what you have, use your time wisely.
Now learning from my experience two years previous I decided to 'focus' on what I was doing and bought a practice book for the exam, I think it was one of those verbal reasoning tests. Simply I practiced and practiced and on the day of the exam itself I found the test an absolute doddle, but I then heard nothing for weeks or was it months, just nothing.
One day out of the blue I was summoned to the Head Masters room, couldn't understand why as I had done nothing wrong. On arrival I found out that I had passed and would be changing schools in the summer.
Here is an example where I was given an opportunity and made the most of it, I grabbed the second chance with both hands. It's like life really make the most of what you have, use your time wisely.
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Where did it all begin
Well.... where do I begin, how can this small boy (aged 10 in the second row far right) become an Internet Entrepreneur? It's fair to say that I have always had an individual streak in me, always wishing to be different and not comfortable in being part of the crowd.
Posing for that photograph seems a lifetime away, in fact the wall behind is the very same wall which Trudy Thompson pushed me against which cut my head open. Yes and the same wall I sat beside when I learned about the 'birds and the bees' (don't ask how old I was because I can't remember. But I knew back then I wanted to do something with my life but was never really sure, in fact it took almost 30 years to discover what I do now and to understand the importanace of time and making the most of every day. There's alot to tell in my story and I'm not going to finish it today but keep reading to find out how my mind ticks and how I can help you.
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