The final year in an undergrad’s life is marked by a great zeal of enthusiasm and a myriad of emotions as one tends to make a transition between the safe hands of a nurturing guardian-institute to the reality of a challenging, yet beautiful, world. Some people know what they want to do with their lives, some don’t, some think they do and some rely on destiny (euphemism for “do not care”). Personally, I belonged to the third category and I am still not sure if it’s better to have an idea, albeit flawed, than to not have an idea at all, but more on that later. In this article I want to focus on the situations when one is clueless about what to do and when one has a supposedly definite idea but it just doesn’t feel right from within, just as was my case. Having considered and pivoted from a gamut of career options starting from an impossible career in basketball to the shattering dreams of a PhD, I dreamt of an MBA, almost joined a start-up, began thinking of launching a start-up, was about to join a wrong company for job, but ultimately found the perfect solution.
- ‘Interest’ is not the same as ‘passion’
Generally, during undergrad, we tend to explore a lot of interesting possibilities and enjoy them, be it courses, sports, music, literary activities, fests or events. Sometimes we get so good at it, that we begin to think of making it a career option. Some people love to lead groups in projects, some people enjoy their fame in sports, some are good at math, physics or other courses, some are into music and some enjoy counselling. Each one of us is usually interested and sufficiently good in one or more of such things. But, is being good at certain interests, a sufficient condition to call it passion?
Well, I beg to differ. In my case, I had a fairy-tale relationship with research. Having worked on 4 amazing research projects in 2 years, and seeing myself make way through intermittent failures, I realized I was pretty good at doing research. I was rewarded in terms of exposure to international conferences and internship. This is where the wheels of the brain switched gears (happens to a lot of people) and I was firm with a belief that I was meant to do research, and that I had found my passion.
Quick question, try to recall from your childhood, the last time you started following your interests and realized that you were good at it and were rewarded sufficiently. Didn’t we all feel like we were meant to do it? Most of us had an inherent attraction to science when we were 10, and after scoring well on the first test, most of us decided to become scientists, astronauts, doctors and what not. But how many of those dreams came true? Hardly few or maybe none. That is the difference between short-term goals and long-term goals, or to put it in perspective, interest vs passion. Our brain has a tendency to make short-term goals with anything that we do. And in the brain’s defense it is justified, because short-term goals are easier to achieve and are a huge morale boost – rather, make us feel special. But, unfortunately these are ephemeral. For a short span of time, everything seems good. When you think about it, there’s an alarming analogy to dating. When you are interested in a person, everything seems perfect initially; your brain makes a perfect rosy picture. It is only later that you bother to think beyond and rationalize. Well, just like you do not marry every person you date however perfect it may seem, similarly, your interests are not always your passion. Do not be fooled by the rosy picture. Passion is way different from Interest. Passion is something you cannot live without, whereas an interest just rouses your curiosity.
- How do you know your passion?
Always, when deciding on a career option, ask yourself your long-term goals in life and then decide your short-term goals. There needs to be some connection between both the goals and if not, it’s time to pivot – a term often referred in basketball as well as start-ups for a sudden switch in the path while still keeping the bigger picture (ultimate goal) intact. I cannot emphasize less the importance of having an ambition in life. If managing a company (long-term goal) is going to give you satisfaction 20 years from now, then start looking for exciting and scalable ideas (short-term goal). Similarly, if you are humbled by the art of passing on knowledge to future generations, take steps for becoming a teacher. It DOES NOT work the other way round. It is very less likely that out of nowhere you are forced to study finance today and become a satisfied Wall-Street Banker tomorrow. Do not settle for things you are not passionate about. Instead, take time and explore options until you hit the right one.
Let me again bring back my own example. This is about the time when I realized that research was my strong forte and was confident about pursuing a career in that field by opting for a PhD. I knew I could survive and excel during the 5 (or more) onerous years of doctoral studies, but ever since I had decided on this career option, I had no clue about what I’d do after a PhD (precisely 5-6 years down the lane). Now when I think about it, although my brain had painted a rosy picture, it never felt right from within. On the other hand I know of a few people who had sorted their long-term career goals and knew that PhD was the path to success and satisfaction. However, they were lured by placements in high paying corporate jobs. Well, they chose to serve their long-term goal and after years of hard-work, are at a stage where they have both satisfaction as well as money. The other choice might have been lucrative in the first place, but it might not have fetched as much satisfaction, and I think that would have been a huge loss.
Hence, I reiterate, never settle for something that does not feel right from within. Somehow your natural instincts and your heart know exactly whether you are going on the right path or no. Trust your instincts. If you do not have a long-term plan, it’s better to figure it out by devoting some time than to blindly pursue something.
Do not rush in making a decision that would impact your life. Try to figure out your long term goals first i.e. ask yourself a simple question, what is it that would make you happy. People find happiness in different things like money, philanthropy, corporate life, teaching, social work etc. Couple these factors with the skill set you possess (yes, further hone your skills too) and define your long term goals. Again, trust your natural instincts because those choices would feel correct from within. Then work out your short term goals which would aid you in achieving the long term goals.
- What if you have a plan but you’re not sure if that is what you want to do all your life?
Surprisingly, this is the problem most of the people face and it is completely normal. Let me rephrase this question. How do I know if what I plan to do is exactly the thing that I would want to do the rest of my life? It is indeed impossible to answer. Just like Steve Jobs once said, you cannot connect the dots looking forward in life, but only connect them looking backward. The future is unpredictable, there are huge amounts of risks, but that is actually what makes life worth it. Unpredictability is a gem.
It almost took me my entire final year to realize that I could not do research for the rest of my life. And trust me, accepting it was not easy. Likewise, one of my friends figured out 2 years after graduating from college that he could never work for a so called “boss”; he had to be his own boss, lead a team and create jobs. He realized this, made up his mind, pivoted and is a great entrepreneur today. Always ask this one question to figure out if what you are opting for is the best option – “What makes you happy? Where do you see yourself 5 – 10 years from now?” Owing to my instincts, not a single cell in my body uttered “research”. And I am sure you would get your answer as well.
For all those of you stuck in a similar situation, or likely to encounter such a situation in the coming years, keep asking yourself this very question. Even if you have decided your plans for the future, at times it’s better to step back and introspect just so that the decision you make is an informed one and is not affected by the choices made by the majority. In a long and cherished life of 60-70 years, it doesn’t even matter if you spend a couple of years, or more, in figuring out your passion than to have jumped to inappropriate decisions because of societal pressures. Some of us dropped a year to get into IIT, remember? Does that dropped year matter today? I believe not.
- What if I realize late that I planned things wrong?
It is never too late to realize your passion as well as your mistakes. Some people find it early in their life, some in their 30s and some are well over 40 still pondering over these questions. There is nothing to worry if one day you wake up and realize that you are not happy doing whatever you do. It takes immense courage to accept the fact that, weeks, months or even years of planning had gone wrong, but denial to accept is worse. What do you do then? Well, the moment you realize that you are into something that you don’t wish to do, golden words again – PIVOT. Although I feel like I wasted 10 months in realizing my flawed thinking process, it is much better than to have realized it further late. I firmly believe that one should be open to changes because that is how we grow into better human beings. Again, it is not possible to comprehend this beforehand, but only later when you begin to introspect.
Quick follow through: Find out your long-term goals in life, match your skill sets, work on short-term goals that would help you in achieving the long-term goals, and then when you begin your journey, keep introspecting. It is at this introspecting stage that you might realize that the chosen path was either wrong or complicated. Well at least you know what to do, *long pause*, pivot.
- So, what exactly is the perfect solution?
Well, the perfect solution to this dilemma is the realization that no perfect solution exists, period. Although it may sound like a bummer, yet it’s true. Life is a constant struggle between the present scenario and the eventual goal – which is to be happy. Crave for success but be open to failures as they teach you the most. It won’t be a cake-walk, ever, but somewhere down the lane you will realize how things always made complete sense – both successes as well as failures would make sense. Be open to suggestions, introspection and changes because more than half of the things that you decide today aren’t going to be in your priority list a couple of years from now. Decision making is a strong function of time. What seems perfect today, might sound horrendous tomorrow. There are no perfect decisions; there are only good decisions at a point in time which would make sense later on when you connect the dots backward.
I might have escaped from my mix-up between interest and passion but does that mean the decisions that I make now onward would be correct? Maybe not. But, that is the whole point that I have been trying to make. You need not be right or wrong, because you do not know the future. You cannot predict the happenings 10 minutes from now; leave alone your life goals 10 years ahead. All that matters is that you should feel right about the decisions you make daily in accordance with your future goals, and you’ll make it fine. Yes, I have made a decision in my life. It might be the perfect one, or it might be the most horrible mistake ever. But, I know it feels right. And that is all that matters at this point in time. Similarly, look out for different options and find what intrigues you the most. Start thinking of long-term goals and shape your career accordingly. Once again, don’t worry about right or wrong decisions, just keep introspecting at every step and the answer to the question of whether you are happy, should always be yes, if not, *long pause* …
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