Very few professions that look glamorous or exciting, are actually that.
During my MBA, I thought McKinsey would be very glamorous. Big clients, global travel and fancy hotels, advising CEOs, yada yada.
So here is a reality check. At 11 pm one night, one of my buddies was craning over his computer in McKinsey’s New York office. When I asked what he was up to, he said, ‘I am making these 500 edits my AP (Associate Principal) has marked on my powerpoint. And I am doing this, after having an MD in cardiology from Mayo Clinic.’
IPS also appears glamorous. Yet even during ‘exciting’ law and order situations, you may end up just standing for 12 hrs, hoping nothing untoward happens. And I am not even talking about the mountain of paperwork you have to handle daily.
I could pile up examples from investment banking or law firms or startups. But I rest my case.
Most of life is tedium. The excitement is rare and overhyped.
However, it does not mean that life is doomed. What we can and ought to look for in our work is ‘meaning’. That is all that matters. Rest is all story-telling.
– Rajan