How life comes a full circle

As a b school student often does, I often think about my future. What kind of job would I like to land in… Which is my dream company… Which sector would I like to work in, etc… And like most b school students, I am clueless. The only thing I am sure of is that my job should pay me well, shouldn’t be too taxing and also give me ‘job satisfaction’. Economics students may call this the unholy/ impossible trinity. But hey, I am human and I have the power of hope and imagination :)

Recently I was chatting with a good friend of mine. During the course of our conversation I said that right now I am looking at IT companies for my final placement. He reminded me that we had a conversation on the same topic about a year and a half back. At that time I had told him that I came to do a MBA because I wanted to get out of the IT sector in which I was previously employed. At that time I had wanted to end up in anything but the IT sector. How ridiculous isn’t it… Human mind is so fickle! What I didn’t want to do 15 months back is precisely what I want to do now! Life has come a full circle so soon!

If I look back at the reason I gave for disliking the IT sector one and a half years back, it sounds so stupid. And if you were to ask me the reason I prefer the IT sector now, I would probably not tell you. Because, sometimes the reasoning sounds stupid even to me. See, the problem is that I do not have a clear cut preference for anything. I do not have any area of interest so to say. I do not have a passion for any particular thing. Probably that is why I am not clear as to what my aim should be. Once I chatted with my dad about this. He said that it is good this way. One must always be open to anything. I think his point of view is that it is not important what job you get into. What is important is how well you do the job. Well I think he is justified in thinking that way. After all, considering his family situation 40 years back, he would’ve been happy with any job he could get. But I do think that there is a lot of truth in what he says. I think most people in this world end up in jobs they did not want to do. But not all of them are unhappy. And not everyone who gets into a job of his choice is happy with his job. One must learn to develop a liking to what one is doing. That is how one can be successful. I think to some extent I prescribe to this idea. During group projects in my MBA, many times we have to divide the work among ourselves. When the work is being divided I am not very particular about what part I get. That is because I tend to think that whatever part I get there is always scope to do a good job at it and impress people.

A few weeks back I had a conversation with Madhan, a good friend of mine who is working for a software company. He is doing very well in his job. He got top marks in his appraisals and is always cheerful. I told him that he seems to be very happy with his job and that he is very lucky to be in a job he loves. He said that rather than getting into a job he loved, he got into the job first and then developed a liking to the job so that he can enjoy his work. I think that is a very mature attitude and a very good approach to life. This kind of attitude is not only applicable in work life but more importantly in personal and family life too.

I hope I gain this kind of maturity soon. I know that I have the capability to do well professionally. With the right attitude I will hopefully live life the right way and enjoy it!