Why Motivation Matters

“Never give up,

…great things take time”

“So…. my name is Dylan McCrimmon and here is an inspirational story of me and my journey through life when I was growing up until now, I want to share it with yourself and hope that you can learn something from me…”

When I was 14:

I was naughty at school, disruptive in lessons and always being told off and I thought I was jack the lad.

I didn’t care about my education, I didn’t care about what I was going to do in the future, and how GCSEs and qualifications can help me get a job.

I had an interest in technology, so every lunch and break I would sneak into the IT rooms playing around on the computers and making little websites. That wasn’t the only time I was learning about technology, I would go home and make my own circuit boards, I brought an Arduino board and started doing minor programming like making a LED’s flash on and off. I got into computer more and more and learnt about the basics of IP address and network.

The head teacher of the school saw my interest and contacted Joskos, (they are the company who supplies the school with the IT equipment and managed the schools IT network).  A few weeks earlier Nick, the CEO had visited the school and delivered an assembly sharing how anything was possible. I was asked to go to the office and they asked if I wanted to meet with Nick the owner of Joskos, I said yes and to be honest I didn’t really know why this man from this big company wanted to talk to me, but I went along with it.

A few weeks later I meet with Nick, we sat in the meeting room and he talked about his company, what it was like when he was the same age, and his journey through life. His story reminded me of mine and he kept saying that if he could do it then I could do it too.

A few months later I messed up and I was permanently excluded from school.

I thought I’ve messed up badly that I would not be able to get a job and all these things. My future  in education and career prospects didn’t look bright. I didn’t go to a school for a couple of months and was being educated in my local library.

My mum and I looked for schools and came across Children’s Support Services (or CSS for short). We went for the meeting at their Hadleigh Center, and we spoke about my background, why I was permanently excluded from school.

I mentioned Joskos and the meeting I had with Nick. At that meeting he offered to fund all of the IT courses, the experience placements along the way and the mentoring, which Nick provided all the way. I realised that this was not something that you could buy, it was a rare opportunity to change my life and I grabbed it with both hands. I knew it could change my life and it did.

CSS got into contact with my old school and got the contact details for Nick through them. A month or two later we was sitting in a meeting with each other, I was thinking to myself why would this man even bother with me; I’ve been excluded from school! Nick shared with me that he saw that I had passion and determination and that he believed I would work hard to achieve my goals in life if given the opportunity (which I would to work for).

I remembered Nick’s story from that first meeting, in that meeting he said that he was the only one who can change it around for himself; he had to do all the hard work and that no one would of put it on a plate for him.

I realised Nicks background was very similar to mine, especially with him also being dyslexic.

That stuck in the back of my mind. I realised that what he said was true and I followed on from what he said, I worked hard and I done it.

At that meeting Nick made me an unbelievable offer, if I stayed out of trouble, got my GCSEs, good reports from the school and completed the training Nick sponsored he would give me a job in his company. There have been challenges and I have overcome them, as Nick always tells me ‘keep your eye on the prize and accept each obstacle as something that will make you stronger’.

With the support and people around me from CSS, my family, Nick and the experience from Joskos, I now I have 12 qualifications to my name, and have been offered that job I was promised.

I ask myself how did I do it? And the answer to my question is because I made it happen, I put in the effort to get the grades and the job I was offered. I had to do all the hard work and that it’s not going to be put on a plate from me; it’s similar to Nick’s story that he told me and kept repeating to me throughout my journey.

The moral of my story is to tell you that you can achieve anything you want, no matter whether you come from a poor family or you have made mistakes in life. If you want to be something in life you have to put in the determination and the hard work, It may not be easy but you will get there.

 You cannot just take an elevator to reach your goals, you have to take the stairs. You have to surround yourself with the right people in life, if you are friends with people who think that you can take the elevator in life, your chances of being successful is low but if you surround yourself with people who want to put in the hard work and want to make something of themselves in life ,then you will go far.

I am very grateful to all of those that have believed in me, shown me support and helped me climb this ladder – I’m now looking toward to climbing to the next level and in time I want to help others climb ladders too, very much like Nick and Joskos helped me climb mine.

Dylan – age 16

In the photo below is Nick Madhavji, CEO of Joskos, and myself on my prom on the 22nd of June 2018, this is the man who got me to where I am today and I cannot thank him enough for all your support and the amazing opportunities you have giving me!

Big thank you Nick and everyone around me including Children’s Support Services!”