The ultimate question – ‘What do you want to become’

‘What do you want to become’, ‘Where do you see yourself five years down the line’; ‘Why do you want this job’; ‘Why would you like to become an entrepreneur’; ‘Why did you chose this field; – These are variations of the same question, and somehow the answer to this determines the starting point for everyone. 

We are human beings, we make mistakes; some are able to correct them sooner, and some take their own sweet time. For instance, when we were small we had a limited exposure to what was going on the in world, I remember I wanted to join the Air-Force as an aeronautical engineer and serve my nation. Later during the school days I had my first rendezvous with ‘physics’, I said bye-bye to aeronautics. College life started and I was forced to take up engineering, took me 3 years to finally gather up the courage and tell my folks that they were not going to decide the ‘what do you want to become’ question for me. 

I took up MBA to understand how a business runs, a conscious choice. Here I came across dozens of people like me, everyone did something which they never wanted to do, the struggle was not to learn anymore, the struggle was to come to terms with what they wanted to do in life, some wanted to work in a particular industry whereas their previous education was of a totally different subject. So what did most of them do? They crushed their desires, they followed the herd, applying in every company that was offering a job. Why wouldn’t they do so? The classroom was full of stories of a bad job-market and recession on one end, and of parents expectations on the other.

Who was really at fault here? or What really went wrong? Did we grow in an environment and developed a shell around us? or did we give in to the pressure and accept defeat at this larvae stage? 

If most of the people who are working didn’t want to be in this field (as a first preference, please point our any error as this statement is based on my personal experience) then why do people get judged when they attend job interviews pertaining to their second/third preferences?

I always found fun in creating something new, and I have been told nobody hires a person with entrepreneurial spirit. After grilling interview sessions, I have come to terms with myself, I want to be an intrapreneur, and work in a growing organization with a learning environment. Parents wont understand, but my friends do. I shared this with a couple of friends and somehow it motivated them. They are on to doing what they always wanted.

It is not people like me who can change this, it is people like you. 

Most of us lack motivation. Education imparts knowledge, but what good is knowledge if you are not going to take the right action? Stories of entrepreneurs, successful businessmen have motivated us in b-schools, but it isn’t enough. The rat race is fine, but it is a race which never ends.

Kudos to everyone who swerved out of this curve. You are my inspiration