Never let that fire go out
There’s a feeling you get after you’ve graduated college, sat through a motivating commencement speech and started interviewing for your first job. It feels like the world’s your oyster and that you’re finally ready to set sail on your life’s journey. It feels like a burning flame, a passion, a motivator, a driver. You’re scared, but you have so many hopes and dreams for the future. You know that you can do anything you want as long as you set yourself to it and no one can stop you.
Never let that fire go out
I think many of us initially try to strive towards our high aspirations only to have those feelings squashed and squandered when first coming in green into the workplace. You start your job as employee #3895 at a large multinational corporation. It’s your first year and you’re still eager to make a good impression. You work hard, you come in early, you’re always quick to come up with creative suggestions or ideas, yet you might find that your hard work comes unrewarded, bureaucracy gets in your way and workers would rather adhere to the status quo.
Eventually, the fire you once felt starts to dimmer. Rather than pushing and pushing against the torrent you start to embrace the homogenous flow and eventually accept your fate as employee #3895 and accept that this is the way it was meant to be.
It doesn’t have to be that way
I recall when I was working my first real job. After almost a year, I opened up to a co-worker and explained to her that sometimes I felt frustrated that things couldn’t move faster. I told her how one day I wanted to start my own company which was why I was pushing myself so hard right now. She sort of chuckled and said in a condescending tone:
“Oh Vu. I know what you mean. I was like that once too — glossy eyed and naive. The feeling will eventually fade.”
I thought this through for a bit and the conclusion I eventually reached was “bullshit”. About several months later, I found a position at a different company and soon after that, did a startup.
Fight back
Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of people out there that will tell you, “No, you can’t do it”. Those people are the easy ones to ignore and brush away. What you really have to be cautious of are the doppelgängers that try to pretend that they know you and have some sort of wisdom over you.
Such as the guy that claims how he once too was as passionate as you and how you remind him of himself. He’ll tell you about how he tried and tried but eventually failed and settled for less. Those people can really deflate your tires.
Also be cautious of the people that seem to think that having a higher amount of experience allows them to preach ultimatums rather than give suggestions (feel free to call bullshit on me). Try to be open to suggestions and advice, but call bullshit on the whole “you’ll know when you’re older” spiel.
The winners are the ones that keep the fire going the longest
The fire is the engine that propagates change and movement. As long as you’re moving in a direction, you’ll eventually get somewhere. Sometimes movement is bad and sometimes you want to settle down. That’s totally cool.
But douse that flame for important matters like family, friends, personal happiness. Don’t let anyone else take it away from you and call bullshit on those that try to tell you otherwise.
