Finding out your strengths to pursue your real potential
It’s natural to fall into a belief system set within our society while growing up. Family, school, university — all these structures we live in — tell us what is right and wrong, what way to go, and how life has to be sequentially organized. Breaking through these ingrained convictions to pursue something beyond them can seem pretty scary. But isn’t it scarier to look back one day and realize you never did what you really wanted? You never tapped your full potential?
In episode 24 on FemGems podcast, we feature the inspiring and eye-opening story of Friederike Ernst who transitioned her career path in academia to unfold her full potential in entrepreneurship.
Our FemGem24 has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Computation and Neuroscience, a Diploma and a PhD in Physics, a postdoc at Columbia University in New York, and another postdoc at Stanford, California. Good for a start? Here’s the key to her high achievements:
It never really felt like work. I always enjoyed what I was doing.
That’s the importance of doing things you love. Only by allowing yourself to pursue what feels most interesting to you, you’ll be able to climb mountain tops. This is also why it’s so important to examine if your beliefs of what you should be doing are really yours.
Friederike went on to hold a visiting professorship in Hamburg. That was the point in her successful academic career, where she realized she was no longer pursuing her real potential.
When you’re in academia, people make you believe that this is the only true path to knowledge. It’s pure, it’s not tainted by money or mundane things like that.
She actually liked academia for that, but she disliked it for all the boxes you are supposed to tick when you’re on that path. If these ‘boxes’ were not part of the game, she would not go to tick them off, she shares. Recognizing that the way success is measured in academia and the rigid rules you need to follow did not align with her values, she started questioning if this really is the only true path to follow.
I came to a point in my life where I asked myself, do I really want this? Do I really want to become a professor just because this is what the system I’m in tells me I should want more than anything else?
It turned out that the things she loved about academia — the freedom to explore and build things — were also the hallmarks of building a tech startup. So when two friends of hers who were working on an interesting project were about to take it to the next level and raise capital, she decided to jump ship and join them. This is how Friederike became co-founder and COO of Gnosis, where her research on blockchain technology helps build new market mechanisms to create a more equitable future for online information.
Asking herself what she actually enjoyed doing, how important validation was to her and what amount of freedom she wants to have in her work helped her do the transition.
You have to forge your own path and not follow something that someone else has laid out for you.
In the spirit of scientific exploration, Friederike encourages you to find out the kind of person you are. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and accepting those can be just the leverage you need to step into the role that’s meant for you.
Understanding what makes you tick, and what makes you good at what you do is a very powerful tool.
Some people are good at meeting expectations coming from the outside, while others are good at holding themselves accountable to meet their own expectations. Both is fine. Indeed, it’s best to have both types in a team. So instead of comparing ourselves and labeling traits as good/bad, right/wrong, we are better off by embracing who we are.
Ask yourself: What do I actually enjoy doing? Why do I enjoy doing it? How important is validation to me? Who should this validation come from? How important is status to me? How important is money to me?
Giving yourself an honest answer to these questions might not be easy. You might find it hard to identify with the type of person giving these answers at first. And yet, that’s the only way you can create the life you really want. So take the leap, get to know yourself really good and allow yourself to pursue what you really want!
Tune in to this insightful and inspirational episode with our FemGem24 Friederike Ernst and find out more about what helps her achieve fulfillment in her work, as well as how she learned to balance huge responsibilities like being a co-founder of an early-stage startup and a mother of two toddlers. Friederike also shares how what you think you’re capable of influences the results you achieve, as well as how to prioritize and say 'Nо' in order to focus on what matters most.
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