On this weeks Trailblazer podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Scott Weir, a Mancunian born Scotsman, and a truly inspirational human being.
As Scottish as Scott sounds, he was actually originally born in Manchester, and was then moved to Scotland with his parents at the age of 3.
He first noticed that life was different for him, when he was mixing with the other children and realised it wasn’t normal to not see your parents all the time.
At the age of twelve, Scott often spent his days alone. His mother suffered from a severe drinking problem, leaving Scott to fend for himself. At the worst of times he actually had to steal food, to make sure that he ate that day.
He never wanted to admit these things to anyone as he did not want to end up in care.
At times, the family would go weeks without power in the house, and no shower.
His mother was not optimistic or hopeful for him when he way a boy, she told him not to bother getting a job, and just ‘ sit tight ‘ . To Claim his benefits that would pay for his home and provide his ‘ drinking money ‘as his mother put it.
Now many of Scott’s prior peer group have ended up in jail or dead.
However, Scott was unwilling to accept this as his future
Up until the age of 15, he had four goals in life:
- Not to get caught by the police
- Not to get beaten up
- Stay away from drugs and crime
- To get some food to survive.
These were survivalist instincts and not goals that would ever accomplish anything real for Scott.
‘ To change your life… you have to change your goals ‘
He decided – enough is enough, and set himself four… seemingly impossible goals.
- He wanted to be smarter than his teachers
- He wanted an MBA
