Of course, you might be the first person to do something, but you are not the first person to do something for the first time.

You do not get a better education, better results, better food, better allowances and – later in life – better salary, better working conditions or better life by demanding them from someone else.

If you want freedom, go get it. If you want comfort, bust your backside for it. If you want change, create it. Better yet, be that change. If you want your dreams to come true, do not sleep. If you are not happy with your life, improve it.

The worst thing that can happen to you as a young person, is to refuse to grow up. You refuse to grow up when you believe that someone else must take responsibility for your life and life circumstances.

Once a child is born, its main business is to grow – to learn all there is to learn and grow. It can only grow! Trees grow, vegetables grow, animals grow, and you must also grow.

Forcing yourself to do what matters over what does not, however simple; what is difficult, over what is not, however convenient; and what is right over what is bogus, however expedient, is self-discipline.

You become ill or attract illness or dis-ease into your life because you refuse to let your brain grow.

Holdups serve to help you learn more about what you are trying to achieve, push your boundaries and score a lot of small victories when you overcome all these unexpected hurdles.

Being educated means being able to use what you learn to create possibilities and to provide options that lessen or eliminate pain from your life and that of others. Passing standardised tests in the classroom is just a small part of education.