| I remember when I was growing up, my parents | | | | financial advisor.StutteringFrom the age of |
| used to become vey annoyed with me when I | | | | four I had suffered with the speech |
| stated that I could not do my homework or | | | | impediment known as stammering or stuttering. |
| could not do other things I had been asked to | | | | By my early twenties I had had enough of this |
| do.They would respond with the advice that I | | | | struggle and went about trying to overcome |
| could do anything in life as long as I | | | | the stutter. It proved to be very difficult |
| believed in myself and as long as I was | | | | and my progress was slow. I had superb |
| willing to work very hard. The word, can't, | | | | support from my family who would always pick |
| does not exist in my vocab Steve, I sometimes | | | | me up when I was feeling down and who also |
| find certain tasks difficult however always | | | | continued to ram home the message of never |
| believe that I will be able to succeed, my | | | | giving up. During the hours of practice I |
| father would say.He worked very hard to make | | | | would regularly state that I could not do it, |
| me understand and to take on board this | | | | my family would not accept this and kept on |
| message, which would eventually prove to be a | | | | at me to keep believing and to think |
| valuable lesson for me to learn. It has | | | | positive.After nearly a year of working and |
| helped me to achieve many things and to also | | | | practicing very hard I managed to eradicate |
| overcome some of the issues I had in my | | | | the stutter which is my biggest and proudest |
| life.School and employmentI was not the | | | | achievement in life.WeightThroughout my life |
| brightest student at school and as previously | | | | I have had problems with my weight. I was |
| mentioned would often say that I could not | | | | never happy being fat and at the age of |
| complete the work through my lack of belief | | | | twenty decided to try to lose the weight. It |
| in my own ability. Through hard work and | | | | seemed to take forever to achieve the weight |
| determination though, I left school with an | | | | and size I had targeted and as usual there |
| impressive set of examination results. I | | | | were many times when I was close to giving |
| continued this success into my work life and | | | | up. From the lessons learnt and with the |
| at the age of twenty-two had passed a number | | | | support from my family, eventually I did lose |
| of insurance exams and had become a qualified | | | | the excess fat. |