STOP-THINK-LEAP
The more time I spend around reading articles or watching YouTube videos on how creators have stepped into what they are doing is by following what they call is their passion. This Blog, will not talk about them but rather talk about people— who are really smart, who are really excited about things in life, who are pumped to make a difference but, who don’t know what is their passion ? So, today I am going to talk a little more about why you and I might be in this situation and what we could do to realize that dream, of course not a solution but a path towards that realization.
CONTEXT
You could be one of those who acknowledges the fact that we might be a little lost. Like, we know that we are not tapping into our true potential, we know that we are not doing something we like or we know for certain that there we are doing something we don’t like. For those people, I understand you. Because, I am one myself. We are not lost, we are just in the process of figuring things out. So, it all begins with acknowledging the reality of where we are. I suggest each of you to spend some time with yourself and contemplate on which phase you are in this understanding of reality — you could be in your college realizing that you are not taking the course you might be good at, you could be in work doing a job that you don't like or you could just be someone who might be good at something but would like to figure out what you are best at. Because what follows next is a course of action, which needs to be tailor-made based on your understanding of where you stand at this moment.
CONFLICT
Thinking about why one of us might end up in this current scenario, where we are not sure of what we truly believe in, could be because of a number of reasons. It could likely be that the education system didn’t prepare us for the real world, it could be because the company that hired you didn’t bother to tap into your skill sets that you might be more suited for, it could in fact even be because we live in the 21st Century where we have short attention spans because of the internet and smartphones. So all this problems aside, let’s put aside figuring out the root cause for another blog. Let’s stick to jibing with the issue and actively trying to figure out a solution for the same. Though the previous line sounded simple, it is one of the most difficult thing to do, since we never want to get in disagreement with what we might be doing in life, we always want to believe that everything is going according to plan that we never take a moment to stop and notice where we are heading! We could be following a path that was successful to someone else, we could be doing something since it is what the world is doing, we could be buying a home because that is what is expected of you at your age. I just have one thing to ask you guys, if your life is scripted in the way you have to live. Where is the fun ?
RESOLUTION
Let’s start with talking about what let’s call the “Leap of Faith”. So, you have decided to take up this journey of trying to understand yourself and figure out what you might be truly interested in. So you decide to spend some time of your weekend to try out new things. Or say you decided to take up that part-time job to see if it something you like. Or you just commit to spending 30 minutes each day for yourself. It could be anything — as a coder, you might decide to contribute to Open-Source, as a photographer, you might decide to wake up early every day to click that sunrise photo, as a musician, you might decide to take up practicing your instrument each day, as a writer, you might decide to start your own blog. It could be anything, what I have decided is to quit my job and try my hands at as many things as I can in the fields I believe I am interested in.
So, my close friend asked me why there wasn’t something like this in our country — Gap Year Academy. If it is something in your reach, I would recommend you take up sometime to invest in something like this. Because, a year trying to figure out what you might like is a better investment that working 5 years in a job that you loath. So in case you don’t have something like that at your reach, I suggest quite a few things to start with -
- Try out online courses — there are some amazing free content that people want to teach you. {edX, Udacity, Coursera}
- Try doing freelancing in a field of interest that you know you have some knowledge about. {Like, you could do web development if you are either a designer or decent developer}
- If you are interested in some areas of academia, you could try for research opportunities at Government Institutes near you. {If is like searching a job, but applying to institutes or universities rather than a company}
- If you can get hold of a part-time job or an internship in a start-up or a indie studio that might be working on your field of interest, that gives a sandbox to experiment on your interests.
- Figure out ways to contribute or involve yourself in the field of interest. {Like if you are a developer, try working on open-source projects or if you are a artist or designer, try to get your content to online communities like ArtStation or 500px or 99designs}
- Lastly, this is my personal favorite, try out something random. Like start a YouTube Channel or a Blog or a Website or a Instagram handle. Try to integrate your work to reach new audience, this gives opportunity to get active feedback and also figure out new ways to merge your fields of interest. {Like you can be a researcher on nanotechnology, but you can reach wider audience through YouTube or you can be a Drone Enthusiast, and can create more impact by making drone videos instead of building actual drones}. This works in mysterious ways.
So, I hope I have given some perspective on how you can start something. A place to start is all that is needed, because there are only so many possible combinations of outcomes that our brain can work out. Nothing is better than trying and failing than regretting that we missed a chance while we could. Please, share your experience in the comments section below.
