Stop beating yourself at something you are not good at, start thinking!
This Blog is going to be my expression towards a challenge that I and many of my friends are facing in our Career and you might be too. Let’s call it the Millennia Challenge. I am not promising to solve this apparent challenge, in fact let me tell you that I don’t have a solution yet. But, I want to provide a platform of self-contemplation, that would help you and me together find a solution to this problem.
Context
Let us set some context to the challenge that I am talking about. To start with, it is something that is very common amongst the Millenials(presently 18+ and 30-). I want this to also reach students who might be doing their undergrad college, since a solution from there might be a long lasting one. Ok, so what is the challenge that I am talking about ? It is the transition from the structured paths of Education to the wild open world of Jobs. I am sure most of you might have already resonated with what I am telling, but let me explain this better with my personal story. I am from India and I pursued what majority of the students in India do for college, Engineering. While, I had a great time learning and having fun, the course never actually took a moment to find my core interests and provide me an opportunity to take up that path. It was like as if Engineering was a ticket to a plane, that I didn’t know where it was heading to. I got a well paying job in the IT sector, since my major was Computer Science. But, what I worked on during my day job was something to do with Data(Big data and Data Analytics), while it is a very HOT topic in the Industry, it is just something that didn’t resonate with my core interests.
Conflict
So, based on what I have said so far. You might wonder, well, the answer is simple to the problem, right ? Leave the current job and work on something that you love! Well, the problem is that I don’t know what is that I love, not because I don’t like anything. But rather because I have a lot of interests. I am sure many of you might have also faced the same problem, that you might be interested in something, but don’t have the opportunity to pursue it. Or, that you aren’t sure of what you are interested in, so you just take up what life throws at you. At this point, I would like to quote a saying from a wiseman — “If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.” Don’t you think, that is one of the most bitter truths that you have heard for a while ? It is pretty obvious for someone who might have figured out what their dream is. But I am writing to the others, who are still wondering — “What is my Dream ?”. So, let’s see how we can realize our dream by not conforming to the system.
Climax
So we do realize that we need to know what is our dream ? What is our calling ? I have a practical solution for that. We all have tried a lots of things, through the course of our life — dancing, sports, compering, quiz, robotics, short film, photography and we know we are talented in a few of them. What I suggest is that we narrow down on a few key interests and see how best we can try to make a living out of it. Like I am interested in robotics, I am planning of taking a Udacity Nanodegree. I also interested in animation, so the best I can try something is in game development and am trying to build a VR app using Unity. I am also interested in computer graphics, for which I am planning of taking a course offered by University of California, San Diego through edX. These are just a few ways I am thinking about trying my hands in few of my interests. If you are a photographer, you can start an amazing Instagram handle. If you are into cinematography, you can try your hands in short film and upload it to YouTube.
Closure
True, closure can only be achieved when we try and fail, over and over. Until, it is one thing we have succeeded in. Because, all it takes is one right move to set things right. For me, I have worked for almost 2 years in a field, that I loathed, to realize that I need to try out things to figure out my true calling. For, all the ones who are beginning their career, I would just suggest you, to take a risk — work in a startup, experiment in fields of your interest. Because, the 5 years after we graduate are the years we truly have for ourselves(As suggested by GaryVee, check the video below) and I regret wasting the last 2 years for a secured high paying job. I hope you don’t do the same mistake and regret later.
Conclusion
This is just a start to a whole new beginning, I am writing this at a time when I am taking a high risk to the standards set so far. I can only conclude with a path to action that I believe each one of you will take. I will continue, to write further articles, to update on how my interests turn out — if I am truly passionate about it, if I am able to earn a living through it, if I am able to create a new job for myself combining my fields of interest. I will update on this and also update on various, methods and techniques suggested by many well thought countries, many different systems and experiments around the world that we can adopt to our self. To conclude, I hope this gives you a push to drop from the high seat and free fall until you hit the concrete of reality. It is reality where true work takes place that will impact the world, let's jump into action to start with.
Few thoughts and videos, to keep you resonating on the same —
No Excuses by Casey Neistat:
The Ultimate College Graduation Speech by Gary Vaynerchuk:
Millennial in Workplace by Simon Sinek:
