Molly-Mae Hague is not quite the Dalai Lama when it comes to inspirational quotes, however, recent attacks against her on social media seem to be a little harsh.
The 22-year-old received a barrage of abuse for trying to share some tips of how to succeed in the modern world on the Diary Of A CEO podcast.
One highlight that did the rounds was the idea that everybody has the same 24 hours in a day to make things happen. This was tagged – rather amusingly – with somebody claiming that a homeless person should simply buy a house. Such interpretations extrapolated on the original quote and ended up shifting the semantics of what she actually said.
Molly-Mae hadn’t declared a war on anybody in particular and she didn’t say anything hateful. Her overall argument was that you can go anywhere you want if you're willing to go to any length. While it might be a touch fanciful in a world of social inequality, it's certainly a hypothesis that is worth following.
Working hard is key to the success of most people. It isn’t a guarantee of anything but neither is sitting on your backside and complaining about why some other people have it better than you do. Control the controllables and you can put yourself on a solid pathway to some level of personal growth.
A lot of people hate capitalism but it isn’t going anywhere quickly; it is the dominating reality of the western world so we all have to learn to live within it. Some people are dealt a great hand from birth and some are not. If you are not, what are you going to do about it? It sounds harsh but that is the nature of the system.
In a roundabout way, Molly-Mae does partially come to that conclusion. She notes that some people have it tougher than others but that those handicaps can be countered by working the extra mile.
The notion that hard work always pays is a little misleading but, unless you were born into wondrous opportunities, it is absolutely necessary that you do put the hours in if you want to have a chance of success.
Working hard
Molly-Mae wasn’t privately educated but she did have private tuition outside of school. Instead of continuing with her education, she spent two years at the Retail Fashion Academy in London before appearing on Love Island shortly after.
It takes a great deal of guts to go against the grain and commute into the capital city in pursuit of something better, especially when you consider that Molly-Mae had only just left school at this point.
She wasn’t the daughter of a millionaire and she didn’t have the advantage of private schooling so there were no guarantees when she made this life decision. Nonetheless, she committed to something she enjoyed and – with a bit of luck along the way – she is now reaping the rewards of that.
Reality check
If you are not born into an elite family, you have two choices: perpetual whinging or hard work and hope. The latter gives you something to work towards while the former leaves you wallowing in a pit of procrastination.
Life is all about going on journeys and making detours if necessary. You can chase a dream, fall short, and still end up in a better place than where you started. On the flip side, you could end up in a worse place than where you started but that’s part and parcel of the risk-reward mechanism. Falling short is better than doing nothing.
The worst thing you can say about Molly-Mae’s comments are that they were a little simplistic. Life will always come down incredibly hard on a number of individuals and there is very little that they can do to counteract that hardship.
However, there are so many inspirational people who have suffered heavily in some sort of way – but they have found a way to bounce back in a quite brilliant way.
A friend of a friend was diagnosed with cancer in the middle of the pandemic; he had only just left university. Amazingly, while in the middle of his chemotherapy, he passed several interview stages to secure a well-paid job in the law industry.
A girl that I used to go to school grew up with an abusive parent. This left her with a lot of built-up childhood trauma and she ended up falling into the sex-work industry – something she did not want to do. She has now managed to build up a big social presence on Instagram, designed to help other mentally-fragile women.
While the most impressive aspect is how she is using her own past torments as a way of now helping others overcome trauma, she has also made this a viable method of income to help pay her bills and living costs.
Two truly remarkable stories and I observe at a distance with tremendous respect, admiration, and love. Such stories are truly empowering to those hit by harsh adversity in young life.
It's worth remembering to ever lose compassion or empathy for those who have it tough. Their challenges deserve respect. But don't downplay their ability to make a success of themselves, through that difficulty, because that's as patronising as calling Molly-Mae out for telling them that they can!
