Progress With Us - Episode 2 Breakdown
We are back!
The second episode of Progress With Us with special guest Ellis Harrison is out now on our YouTube Channel.
If you haven’t already, you can watch it by clicking the link here!
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Three Key Takeaways From Episode 2
Ellis Harrison joined us as our second guest and gave us all some great things to think about. In this edition of the Progressus Newsletter, we are going to look back at some of the best moments from Episode 2.
Number 1 - Your Goals Will Change & That’s Okay
After Ellis left sixth form, he did a degree apprenticeship in supply chain and logistics. On the podcast, Ellis talks about how he set himself a number of goals when he started his qualification such as a new car and reaching a certain managerial position.
As time went on, he achieved these goals and didn’t feel as fulfilled by them as he had expected. Luckily, it was all part of the story for him and from this, Vitae Resources was born.
You should always have a goal.
Something for you to aim towards. Whether that be in business, work, fitness or relationships. The learning I took from this is not to be disheartened if you need to change and set yourself new goals. Re-evaluate your why and if you need to re-adjust them, do so accordingly. Don’t let it get you down.
Number 2 - Failure Is A Part Of The Process
Ellis almost lost all of the initial capital he had personally saved up to finance the start of Vitae when he had an issue with his first supplier. In the end, he managed to get the money back and he also learnt some incredibly valuable lessons.
He took a new approach when looking for suppliers and made sure that he only paid half upfront and half when the job is done. This might sound obvious, but without making that initial mistake with the first supplier, he wouldn’t have learned the lesson.
One of the key themes throughout the philosophy of Stoicism is to choose how you respond to an objective situation. If you take a loss and or come across a setback, you are faced with two choices:
Let it get you down and give up.
Carry on and take a lesson from it.
When you face a setback, it doesn’t matter how high you fall, what matters is how quickly you get back to it and how quickly you start moving forward again.
Number 3 - Find Something Meaningful To Pursue
This is my favourite lesson from the podcast and a topic I could talk about all day. Degree apprenticeships are seen as the golden ticket for people who are looking at post-18 options. You get to earn while you learn, you get your degree paid for and you also get all the additional company benefits.
Despite all of that, Ellis chose to pursuit something that was creative. Something that was tangible and a direct reflection of the vision he had internally. He went to his local gym and asked if he could get hours in behind the counter, just so he could put more time and effort into growing Vitae. Now, Ellis is getting orders from all over the world and creating a brand that has deep meaning behind it.
This just reinforced my beliefs about the importance of finding something meaningful to pursuit. In the book ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’, Viktor Frankl said ‘the meaning of life is unique to each individual; no one can be replaced’.
All of us have something that is unique to us. This could be your life’s work, a partner or a burning desire to achieve a goal. Every single one of us has something that is worth working hard for. For Ellis, it is the clothing brand. For us, it is the podcast.
Discover your purpose, find something that gets you exited and put your all in to it.
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We will see you in Episode 3, which may be out sooner than you expect…
Written by Charlie McCormack
Progressus Network