Measure Up Part 2 - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

How do you measure success?

For much of my life, I thought I’d failed.
I didn’t go to university like most of my high school peers.
I left school early and got a job sorting bottles in a glass factory—low-paid, low-status, and (to my teenage brain) confirmation that I wasn’t smart enough, good enough, or “on track.”

That belief stuck around for decades. Even as I built a life full of variety, purpose, and creative work, I still felt a quiet insecurity whenever someone introduced themselves with a title or a degree.

It wasn’t until I hit fifty that I finally saw it for what it was:

I’d been measuring myself with the wrong ruler. 

The problem wasn’t that I hadn’t measured up.
The problem was the measure itself.

This week I read an article from the ABC about Isabella—a 20-year-old woman who built her own electric guitar from scratch, soldered the electronics, and started a career as an electrician. She loves her work. She’s proud of building Australia, wire by wire. But growing up in a private all-girls school, trade wasn’t even on the table.

She had to apply for university to be allowed to graduate.
Imagine that.
Told she must go to uni… when what she wanted was already in her hands.

Isabella isn’t alone. Despite massive shortages in trades across the country, many young people are still being fed the idea that university is the only respectable choice. That not going means you've failed.

“You’re better than that,” they say.
But what they’re really saying is: some work is better than others. Some lives are worth more than others. 

Here’s the irony:
Communities across Australia are desperate for skilled trades.
130,000 more tradies are needed to meet housing goals alone.
We need plumbers, sparkies, carpenters, mechanics.
Not in theory. Right now.

Meanwhile, we keep pushing kids into university debt and degrees they may not want, in jobs they may never love, for the approval of a culture that’s starting to realise it was wrong.

Trying to measure a life with credentials is like trying to weigh a song.
It might look official—but it doesn’t tell you what matters.

University isn’t bad. But it’s not the only path.
And pretending it is has done damage.

If you’re a young person with calloused hands, a curious mind, or a deep need to build something real—you have nothing to be ashamed of.
If you’re a parent, teacher, or career adviser still handing out the same dusty old ruler—it’s time for an upgrade. 

Because when we start valuing contribution, creativity, and capability over credentials, we open up a world of opportunity.

Change rulers, and you’ll be surprised how tall you already are.

💬 Tag someone who’s outgrown the old ruler but hasn’t realised it yet.