Don’t Follow The Herd, Know What You Want!!
For every few years let’s say for every 15–20 years a new trend will be in the market and will be replaced by a new trend. Though I will be considering only Indian sub-continent here, these types of trends are pretty common around the world.
A few years ago it was IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) trend. Every parent wished and made it their only dream to give everything for their children to succeed in getting into IITs.
And now there is this Coding trend going on. By looking at the advertisements on various platforms and by looking at all those false statements, many are falling prey to them.
Note: I am not against IITs. Even I dreamt of getting into Indian Institute of Technology. Only those who put their heart and soul into something and couldn’t make it there, will understand why I picked IITs specifically.
Let us consider an example here to understand this topic.
Imagine that there are two marathons going on. One is half marathon and the other is a full marathon. And you were interested in the half marathon.
Then when your close friends who are very much interested in full marathon informed you that they are taking part in the full marathon and you are the only one who is interested in half marathon. Now, after thinking for a while and out of the fear that you will be the only who had been a part of half marathon, you decided to take part in the full marathon.
See, you were not interested in full marathon at all in the first place. But out of the fear of being left out, you decided to take part in it now.
You didn’t make the choice for yourself, you let the situation make the decision for you.
Even on the day before the marathon, you are not 100% sure whether you really want to take part in the full marathon. Just for the sake of others, in order to be guarded off the criticism, you are still about to take part in it.
Even though you had an option, you didn’t take it.
On the day of the marathon you eventually took part in it, but as you didn’t take part in it whole-heartedly and as you were not 100% prepared for it, you couldn’t make it. You were having a different kind of feeling now. You are realizing now that maybe it was not what you wanted to do.
You are starting to accept that maybe you are not the one who is made for this. You are about to start to feel that you are a LOSER.
Because, your heart was somewhere else, in the half marathon. You really didn’t wanted to take part in the full marathon. You just took part in it for the sake of others, not for yourself.
In the same way, all these trends are also different types of marathons my friend.
Everyone will have unique skills and everyone is different from one another.
When even the size of fingers of your hand are not equal how can one expect everyone to do only one thing.
Every job present in the market is essential and more essential is that you follow your heart. NOT THE HERD.
Initially I too followed others and without trying to understand what I really want to become, I simply followed what others were telling me. Then, as expected I couldn’t make it to IITs. That is the point when I realized that though I put my day and night into that IIT dream of mine, in reality I never dreamt of it.
Before taking up a career, first try to know what you really want to do in your life, what you really want to become. Then pursue your dream and listen to no one else, but your heart.
If you are a parent and reading this, first give your child the knowledge with which they can make their own decisions.
Don’t make your dreams their dreams, how you had a dream in your childhood even your children will have their own dreams. Let them pursue their dreams, not yours.
Do what you love, not what others want you to do.
Signing off with one of my favorite quotes of Steve Jobs…
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
