On My Own Trip!

I read this blog post by Paul Graham a few months ago and couldn’t help but reflect on it today. It’s titled A Project Of One’s Own. He talks about how working on a project of your own lightens up your life. He says that working on a project of your own makes you feel alive. And having crafted a trip for me, I couldn’t agree more. Most people who know me know that I escape from the city on most weekends. I cram myself into a corner of a moving bus and escape the noise. I do this while many of my colleagues and friends are partying under the neon lights. Of course, there is nothing wrong with going to pubs and dancing. As long as it’s a conscious decision, I’d say your better off dancing in a pub than hiking with me.

I am realizing that the only way you can feel alive and awake is to do something you’re excited about. Mind you, I haven’t used the phrase, “something you love”. It is hard to define what love is, let alone pursue it. Looking back at everything I did, except the dreadful IIT-JEE prep days, I did them out of excitement.

Saw a few seniors building a race car back on campus and I got excited to build a vehicle. Formed a team and built one. Then I got excited about working in an automobile company, which Joined Tata Motors. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. EVs and Ather Energy excited me much before the rest of the world caught up with it. I applied and got into Ather Energy and the journey continued. Now, I am excited about building products and businesses around them. And am fortunate to have the opportunity as the Product Manager at Log 9 Materials.

Of course, I didn’t nail everything I got excited about.

At one point, painting, Operations & Supply chain, Singing, Standup Comedy excited me. But that excitement didn’t last long enough.

And that’s OK. The beauty of being on a trip on your own is, you call all the shots. You decide if what you’re doing is exciting enough to continue or leave it and pick something else.

So be curious to be excited about many things. Be bold enough to pursue that excitement and be strong enough to leave them behind when the excitement fades.

That’s all for today folks. Thank you for sticking through to the end.

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Thanks. Talk to you soon.

Inju