No. 1 · The exam

At around ten years old, I failed an exam that was supposed to decide my future.

My three elder siblings all passed. As the youngest, I was the last. And, I was the only one who didn’t pass.

I still remember the feeling.

Not sadness. Something worse.

Inadequacy.

I’m 48 now. An engineer. An entrepreneur building a business across four countries.

Over the years, I’ve spent some serious time wondering how that boy became this man.

Looking back, I can now see how each event and experience stitched itself into the person I am today.

I don’t mean that as if I have somehow “arrived.” Not at all.

I still make mistakes far too regularly to entertain the idea that I have become particularly wise.

So I’m going to do something a little uncomfortable.

Over the next weeks, I’m going to tell you the story of how I got here.

The early years. The wars. The failures. The reinventions.

Not to impress you.

But because somewhere in these stories are the lessons nobody taught me. The ones I learned the hard way and wish someone had handed me at the beginning.

If you’re trying to build a career and a life that are genuinely your own, perhaps some of these lessons will save you a few years.

Let’s begin at the beginning.

With the boy who failed.

Because, in one way or another, failure would shape much of what came next.

WAYPOINTS · No. 1

A series of inflection points on a journey still being written.