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Gail is a 54-year old South African who has risen to become the CEO of
Australia’s largest Bank – Westpac.  She is one of the wealthiest people
in Australia today. But it wasn’t always like this.



Born in 1956, Gail had an ordinary upbringing, culminating in a degree
in Arts. At 21, she got married to her college sweetheart, and when his
work took him away to Zimbabwe, she moved too. They came back a year
later and Gail took up a job as a teacher in a government school.



All she remembers from those days was the bunch of difficult students
she had to manage. She vividly recalls getting angry with a kid who had
left his jersey inside a sports room she had just locked up. “I felt
ashamed of myself for screaming at the little kid.  I was allowing my
unhappiness to affect who I was!”



Next day, as she sat in the school bus, she wished the school didn’t
exist. She hated the thought of going back to school. She decided she
must do something. And she did.



She got off the bus

And that was the turning point in her life. She applied for and got a
job as a teller in a bank. She did well, and soon got promoted into a
role in HR. Some years later, at age 30, and pregnant with her first
child, she enrolled for an MBA. After completing that, she went back to
work for the same bank, and her career continued to zoom. She was soon
pregnant again – and was surprised to discover that she was carrying
triplets. Five months after the birth of her threesome, she was back at
work. Back to doing what she enjoyed doing.



To provide for a better future for their children, Gail and her husband
decided to migrate to Australia – at the age of  41. She went to work
for a bank there. And the rest as they say is history.



Gail credits her success in life to a lot of things: Passion. Hard work.
Her MBA degree. A supportive husband. Fabulous teams. But most of all,
she knows that none of this would have been possible if she had not
decided to quit her teaching job and ‘get off the bus’ that fateful day
in South Africa.  Gail’s story could be yours too. Even a school teacher
can become the CEO of the country’s largest bank. Just do what you
enjoy. Work hard. Believe in yourself. And don’t allow excuses (no MBA,
need to bring up kids, moving locations) to interfere with your
progress.



So what’s Gail’s message for her employees – and for all of us? It’s
simple. If you are not enjoying the ride – get off the bus. There might
be more fulfilling careers waiting for you.



Too many of us spend all our lives in jobs we hate. We hate every minute
of it, we complain, we show our bitterness, it affects our performance –
and yet we don’t do anything to change things. We lack the courage to
call it quits. We hesitate to get off the bus.



Life is too short to be wasted doing things you don’t enjoy. Doing what
you enjoy offers you your best chance of success. It also gives you the
strength to overcome all odds – like it did with Gail. And it’s never,
never too late to get off the bus!



So if you are not enjoying what you are doing, do a Gail Kelly. Take the first step.



Get off the bus!