Business mentality

When you walk past a hospital, do you look up and see its windows? Is it a new building? Are there colours? Do you imagine to yourself what the doctors and nurses are doing inside- caring for the sick, saving lives... It's the same with a court. There are likely to be people inside, looking to improve our society by applying their knowledge and evaluating situations.

When you apply for a medical degree, it helps to want to help people. But what you mainly need is a great, maybe even morbid interest, in one area of medicine. Radiology, Paediatrics, Neurology. Why? Because it's a difficult profession in which it is likely that you will be relied upon to contribute to the health of others and to help solve medical anomalies. But what you must keep in mind is that a hospital or a general practitioner's office is not just a place for helping or condemning people. It is a business.

When you apply for a legal degree, it helps to want to help people. But what you mainly need is a driven, maybe even obsessive interest, in one area of law. Family, Criminal, Media. Why? Because it's a difficult profession in which it is likely that you will be relied upon to contribute to the predicament of others and to help solve legal anomalies. But what you must keep in mind is that a court house or a legal office is not just a place for helping or condemning people. It is a business.

While these two admittedly unrepresentative professions do happen to inflict a large amount of power over certain realms of society, we must always remember that somebody who has trained for years must have money coming from somewhere. Either these people are working for their money (and if you feel they are overpaid try being them for a couple of days), or they are already rich and simply working because they are interested in their area. These are very tricky jobs to have. A simple mistake can cost a life, whether that is literally physically true, or because you have just allowed your client to be imprisoned for life for an offence he did not commit.

My point is, there's no argument in doing something lots of people find invaluable if you're not going to have a pricetag to go with it. These professions are businesses. These businesses, however, are not governed solely by profit. They are also governed by ethics. Research and hard work goes into being a doctor or a lawyer. You are dealing with other people's lives, their liberty, their happiness, their health. If you wish to obtain a job such as one of these, then certain qualities have to be either acquired or brought to light.

- Ability to work under pressure.
- Ability to work long hours.
- Enjoyment of puzzles.
- Enjoyment of hostile and confused clients who need you to use non-technical language so they don't walk out feeling lost and confused.
- Organisation beyond compare.
- Teamwork.
- Communication skills.
- A long fuse.

In short, business mentality. If you don't know how to run a business and how to operate efficiently, then you find out how, you change things, and you carry on. Research and development. Of yourself. Of your profession. Of your goals.

Be good at something. This year, learn one new thing that will help others. Make it a goal. Find out how to achieve it. Stick to the goal. Improve. The point is, high-flyers wanted to be up there. And they got what they wanted, by managing themselves and creating opportunities. Create opportunities.

Happy reading, folks!