Push's 30th birthday blog from speaker, Moj

Moj, long standing Push speaker and content creator, looks back at what influenced his career path - and how he got to where he is today.

What do I wish I’d known?
 
When does one start making choices? Let’s start at the beginning of life.
 
You don’t choose your life. By that I mean you don’t choose that you are born. And who to.
 
You don’t choose where you are born (that’s decided by your parents) nor where you are brought up (that’s down to your parents too), therefore you don’t choose your school or your classmates. Your friends are a choice but only within a mixture of children you did not choose to be placed with. If it had been any other mixture you were placed in, would you have ever met your (now) best friends?
 
Your choice of clubs and out of school activities is not your own. It depends on where you live, what your school offer, what your parents do and if they have the means to support your ability to get to those clubs (should they be further than a walk from your house). You don’t choose your local authority, and therefore you don’t choose the investment decisions (or often lack of them) in public services like buses, trains and your access to quality further and higher education opportunities.
 
Coming back to your friends, would you go on to follow their advice and support, when making your post-16 and post-18 choices? If you had never met those friends, in that school, and been raised in your town which made you feel the way you did about your dreams and aspirations - would you then, have ever developed your career in a job, at uni or in an apprenticeship? The list goes on.
 
In my case, being an accident to my parents, they didn’t choose for the collection of cells which is now me to even start knocking together, whilst they themselves were young and trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their own life and career.
 
I recently read a news article about a boy in India who tried to sue his parents in court for being born. His defence was that he was miserable and he didn’t chose his life. He argued that the series of decisions before and after he was born kickstarted a sequence of events where he felt he was making proactive choices, but in fact these were reactive choices within the world, shaped by his upbringing.
 
I am not looking to sue my parents in court. I am lucky and consciously aware of my privilege, in having two loving parents who raised me with everything I wanted and needed (within their means)  - even now I'm coming to appreciate the financial challenges they must have faced in their early 20s by having that accidental pregnancy.
 
I feel privileged that they instilled in me a work ethic and mindset that “any job is useful if you want it to be”. In hindsight, whilst my dad never said it, he didn’t care what I did with my life but he wanted me to build character. Ironically, I think I went too far and too literal with the character-building: I became an actor – spending 14 years of my life escaping my own life choices by experimenting with my given character’s choices. I remember the annual anxiety of trying to stay happily contained within the walls of my gran’s home at Christmas whilst also batting away verbal deluges of careers advice. No surprise that they always began with “so, what’s happening with your career journey…do you have a plan, or are you still acting?”. Ah grandparents. It’s only those who are two generations apart – those who still see the world in a more traditional light where jobs are for life, single incomes are enough to sustain a household and final salary pensions still exist (we wish!) – who try  to sound motivating whilst reminding you that acting is not a career. Thank God for Push.
 
The (now) 14-year Push apprenticeship into engaging students (it never stops teaching you) via a never-ending exploration into what we all want from life and how to get it, has helped me to not only feel more positive about my career journey, but also to liberate me. Albeit slowly, and over 100s of sessions across the UK (train windows during long journeys are the most wonderful tool for solitary contemplation) from the idea that a career journey has to have a destination. The journey is the destination.
 
Anyone’s career journey is fuelled by soft skills, namely resilience, creativity, adaptability, empathy, and a constant reflection and evolution on what one’s ethics are when it comes to a career. By this I mean a deep and honest exploration, during any training or job itself, about what you can truly offer and what you truly want from life.
 
TED Talks are 10 minutes. But If I had to slim down a Push talk into 60 seconds, I would tell every young person I know, that when you start life your choices are made for you, but the journey ahead is yours – if you truly perceive it that way. But you have to make that choice. Your perception of a career journey is the most important choice you can make - and that is one hundred percent your own.
 
Don’t go ‘all in’ for your dream job and believe it will bring you happiness. You might not achieve it, and then what? There are enough bumps, accidents and potential tragedies along the road for all of us, so focus on bettering yourself each day: train your body to be adaptable, and don’t stop until you feel energised by the intrinsic rewards you search for. If you know what rewards you want from life, you’ll realise that the pressure is off the dream job: you can shoot for it, but if it doesn’t work, you’ll find another job that gives you a lot of what you are looking for in life.
 
Value adding value to something (a private or public organisation, or a charity), and value those aforementioned intrinsic rewards, not extrinsic rewards like material things.  Which intrinsic rewards matter? That’s up to you. For me it is helping others – whether that is to laugh, to entertain or to engage others in their future careers. I also value being given – and taking - responsibility, feeling valued by an employer. I value a company that offers one a work life balance where one can detach and enjoy themselves and the employer is wise enough to know that this makes you happier, healthier and more productive during every minute you are in work (the most productive countries in Europe don’t work the longest average hours). A good employer knows that you don’t just turn up, but are truly there.
 
I’d add one more thing for students: develop a philosophical mindset to better your mental state. I am half Chinese, and there are many mantras about how important enlightening your mind is, as well as your body. So, get off social media and read. Read about the world, different countries and cultures, and different beliefs. Don’t see the world as black and white – understand it as grey. Develop your ideas and beliefs, but be willing to actively listen to others who have different beliefs. Only then will we start to solve the immense challenges of the world together.
 
Finally, I have learned that the future is not set, and an opportunity can be anywhere, if you take off your headphones, get your eyes off your phone, and talk to people. Back to those ancient Chinese mantas: a wise person listens and speaks little. So listen to others, and when you sense a link, however small, to something you want to do, pounce. I don’t mean literally. Choose your words wisely: tell the person in front of you what you want to do in life, and why. Suggest to them how they may be able to help. People like to be flattered, and fortune favours the brave. And in a world full of so much unpredictability when it comes to future you and your career, you must be brave. 

Author

Moj Taylor originally trained as an actor, with a decade of professional credits across stage and screen. He has been a professional stand up comedian, and still runs comedy and storytelling workshops for Comedy Club 4 Kids at international festivals. He has been a Push presenter since 2010, and has run thousands of workshops in that time – to over a 100,000 students. He cares deeply about students receiving inspiring careers and employability experiences – as he never had one. He is always exploring the use of comedy and stories in pedagogy and is undertaking an MSc at University of Edinburgh in Transformative Learning and Teaching.

​Picture by: bamagal on Unsplash