My adventure started on a rare quiet night at work when I entered a competition – which culminated in me running Sainsbury’s. Originally, my winning idea was that as a company we should live up to our slogan and make it easier for customers to try something new. To do this, I suggested we designate a location within our stores, so that customers could find out which products are new for them to try. From this, I was told I had potential and that they wanted to see whether I had what it took to be a store manager in a short space of time.

On reflection, the whole experience taught me a lot of things, that at the time I never knew I had learnt. I now know how to manage my time more effectively – and I also learnt that your actions will define who you are.

However, during the three weeks that I spent running Sainsbury’s, I often felt stressed and at times overwhelmed due to how much was being asked of me. In hindsight, if I could have changed one thing about the experience, I would have realised how big an opportunity it actually was.

I was being asked to learn a year’s worth of teaching in less than three weeks and I think I failed to understand how difficult that would be. I think if I had realised this, then I would have fared a lot better in the challenges set.

Don’t get me wrong; there were a lot of great moments along the way and my favourite was interviewing a member of staff for the role of team leader. It was great asking questions and giving an excited young employee the opportunity they had desired for more than two years. When my three weeks were over, the one question I asked myself to validate the experience was, ‘If you could do this all again, would you?’. The answer has always been ‘Yes’.

I’m Running Sainsbury’s, Tuesdays at 9pm on Channel 4

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