4. Jenson Button

I was watching Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson turns to Jenson Button and says (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Last time you said you'd trade all the cash and the glitz and glamour for that first win, and now you've got that, is it still true for the championship?"

To which Jenson replied yes.

He won the championship in 2009 with Brawn, but like all champions (except maybe Kimi Raikkonen) the most important thing is that second, third, fourth title that 23 other men are going to do their best to take for themselves.

I always admire people who have such passion for their work. If we all had the attitude that our personal success in our jobs - or in other areas like family and friendships - would lead to more happiness than acquiring money then I think the world would be a better and more productive place.

I don't want to drive an F1 car. I want to be a clinical psychologist. The two are very different but the that I'm getting at is the same. Jenson worked his way up through the lower formulas to an F1 race seat in 2000 and then achieved that magical championship 9 years later. It was his dream realised after several hundred thousand pounds and a lifetime of hard work and competitive spirit. I've done 12 years of school, two at college and I'm about to complete the first of a three year degree which will be followed by work experience and a PhD - with stress levels rising along with the competition and my debt. I could just give up, try a field with less competition, but why should I give up on my dreams just because I could do something easier for the same end salary?

In the end, it doesn't come down to the money. I got into uni before the fee increase but I'd probably still have gone through all of this at £9000 a year rather than the £3000 I'm paying at the moment. Its not about the money. It doesn't matter if I'll be paying for this part of my life for the rest of my life, as long as I am where I want to be.

Jenson was willing to trade all of his luxuries and riches to stand on the top step and later to lift the championship trophy and that kind of passion should be an inspiration to us all.

This isn't to say that I would do a graduate job for minimum wage, and you've misunderstood if you think that's what I've said. I'd like to live on my own or with a partner in a place that's big enough for everything I need. I have to be able to afford internet, TV, phones and music. I need to be able to keep myself looking good and have some way to get myself around without resorting to spirit crushing public transport. All of these things will make me better at my job(s) which will make my dream easier to realise and continue with. We often call these things 'luxuries' and I guess in a way they are and I spent the first part of this post arguing against them but these kinds of things will be weighed against the impact that I can have if I have them all and I am the best that I can be.

Lastly, I want to be able to pay back my student loans and boost the economy, so other people in the future can realise their dreams.

For Jenson, its about being the best in the world at something and that is rarely a bad thing to aim for. I would go so far as to say that an improbably large proportion of the world has heard his name at some point. I don't care if people know my name, I'm not looking to be famous to everyone; just to be a positive force in the world with the troubled individuals I will inevitably come across in my line of work.

I can't speak for Jenson about his fame, but I would think it would be safe to assume that he doesn't care if people know his name, as long as he can say 'World Champion' afterwards.

We all have different goals, but if we all had the same attitude and passion that you see in men like Jenson Button, I feel like we'd all do better to achieve them.

Picture perfect painted smile

I never wore a lot of make-up for the first half of high school.

While the 'popular' girls discovered foundation I barely knew how to apply mascara. It was never an issue to me, I was always happy with the way I looked.

I guess I didn't care what I looked like, there was never any reason for me to look my best because there was never anybody I was interested in looking good for.

When the hormones kicked in age 13 and I also started dying my hair dark as I was going through a 'goth phase' which I didn't really grow out of, despite now having blonde hair and currently wearing a floral top. I started wearing heavy eyeliner and resenting being told to take it off. I was convinced there was a double standard; the orange girls were never told to take their layers of the wrong shade foundation off - probably because they would quit the sports teams if the sports staff had a go at them. I was probably right about the double standard but I was young and didn't know how to deal with it.

At college I changed to just mascara and lip gloss, I still didn't see the appeal in foundation, I'd never been taught how to choose the proper shade or how to put it on and I found women at cosmetic counters in department stores a little intimidating.

But one day sat in the back corner of our college library (as we always did) my good friend Beth told me to stop moaning about the state of the skin on my nose and smoothed some of her foundation over it. She then thought it made a good fit and applied a little along my jawline to check it was as good a match as it looks. She didn't know it then, but she had created a monster.

I lasted about 6 months only applying foundation to my nose - covering up the slight difference in colour by the skin being dragged by a bump in the middle - before progressing to applying it to my T-Zone to cover spots for a night out. Now, I wear foundation all over my face, everyday. I was taught to apply it by the girls at college and I've never looked back.

You always hear about girls calling other girls 'fake' because of their application of make-up in this way; and in some sense I agree with this because the skin tone you see on my face is not the skintone that I actually have. My eyes aren't as big as the eyeliner tricks your eyes into thinking they are and my lips are not that dark. My eyelashes are not as long as my quest for the best mascara is gradually making them look; but that is what you see when you look at me. And it isn't a case of what you see is what you get like a lot of people think it is, it is far from that. What you see is what I want you to see, and I don't see any problem with this.

I don't wear make-up to be more attractive to other people. Whether that is or isn't a side effect is up to you to decide and not me; but it isn't the reasoning behind why I do it. If anything, I wear make-up to make me more attractive to me. Sometimes I look in the mirror and can't believe how ugly I look. I hate my spots and my bumpy nose and the fact that one of my eyes is bigger than the other and it does restrict how I think about myself; no matter how much I try to convince myself that it doesn't. An application of foundation and mascara can make me confident enough in myself to face the day if my self-confidence is hit - even if it's only because I don't want to have wasted the effort.

So if I look in the mirror after applying full make-up following a few days slap free and feel like I look fake, it's probably a good sign and not me insulting myself. And I'm certainly not comparing myself to the girls in high school - it's not natural, but it's not orange.