The only thing I have seemingly excelled at in life is throwing away whatever I have done, only to restart my career, repeatedly, from scratch.
I first learned electrical engineering – admittedly, not very well. The IIT professors tried hard but for lack of cooperation from my side, they did not make much progress.
So I started all over again, this time learning criminal law enforcement, on joining the police service. I did better with the Indian Penal Code than with electrical engineering, but that is not saying much.
After a while, I threw it away and started again – this time learning business management and finance. I don’t know how much I learned but at least I had better grades – so some progress!
Then as a consultant at McKinsey, I learnt how to make reasonably persuasive presentations, even when I was shaky from inside. And I learned the ultimate hack – when you are not sure, put a ‘Preliminary’ sticker on top of the page.
But I had to throw all that away when becoming an investor. With nobody to advise now, I had to act on my own recommendations. That was scary.
Finally, I gave up even that to become an entrepreneur.
Many people do just one thing in life, and they get really good at it. People like me, who can’t make up their mind, do lots of things, presumably without that depth.
Either way, it is fine. Life is a journey, and when it ends, all you will have is the experience.
So don’t beat yourself up if you can’t figure out what your real calling is – just enjoy the ride!
– Rajan