Copywriting was the long-term goal but I came up with a ridiculous idea to do something as I built up that business: build up another, completely separate business as a driving instructor.
My intention was misguided at best, utterly stupid at worst.
It was fear-driven dream protection: if you protect a dream by not striving to achieve it, you cannot fail. I was desperate not to fail at the thing I really wanted to do so I did something else that mattered little if I messed up. Delay tactics on a grand scale.
There were three elements to pass before I could call myself a driving instructor: knowledge of the theory, driving ability and the ability to instruct. That last part, at that time, had a pass rate of 28 per cent. That’s low. It’s tough.
As I sat in the debrief, when the man was telling me where I’d gone wrong and why I’d failed for the second time, I thought, You know what, I don’t really care. I’m off. That’s it. Done.
I gave up my final chance of passing because I’d wanted to do something else all along, so I finally sat down in front of my laptop and started to write (a book that no one wanted, but that’s another story).
