I was talking to a friend of mine last night, we were swapping stories about where we grew up, things we'd done, places we'd been etc. and suddenly she says.
"You've blagged your whole way through life!"
At the time, I laughed it off, but have been wondering about it since. I dropped out of school, college and university (how did I get into college and university, I suddenly ask myself?) I've taken jobs I didn't have the credentials for. And lived an 'in at the deep-end' kind of existence for most of my career. It's been fun, I'm doing pretty well now and think I've done ok.
Now from my point of view, I think this is great, it makes me feel as though where I am now is based solely on my taking chances and having gotten away with them through a personal mix of resourcefulness, guile and a strong sense of humility
I feel lucky, happy and confident.
Now she seemed to think that this was a bad thing, and when I asked her why this was, she asked me if I ever felt proud of anything since most of what I've done has been the result of riding on the back of good fortune.
i.e. I've not worked towards any qualifications, I've never risen up the ranks of a company (it's always seemed easier to shift to a different job somewhere else rather than join in with office politics) and I've never stuck anywhere for long that I didn't enjoy.
I had to think quite hard before I answered...
How would you have answered?