Do what you love

One of my friend, who started his career recently is performing a HR & Admin role in a known organisation. He also wants to try his luck with QA (Quality Assurance). He wanted my opinion on how to go about this to make a good career. I suggested to focus on one, either HR or QA. So, asked him to think and decide after discussing with his mentors, friends & contacts. More importantly asked him to listen to his heart and analyse/understand clearly to know what his passion says. I have also asked him not to rush it since it is better to face the delay now, rather than regretting the decision later. My gut feel was that he would do well as a HR.

He came back after 3 weeks with the points which convinced him to be a QA. However, I could not find any mention about his interest or passion in the list he came up with. It was clear that he had his mind fixed on QA even before doing this exercise and he was in a terrible rush. All the points he came up with for not to choose HR would very well be the reason for him to regret his choice of QA later. According to me the interest/passion and the reason for why QA should have been the first and most important thing of all the points he mentioned, but that was clearly missing from the list. My worry is that, he should not make a wrong decision now and regret that when it is too late.

There are many in this world, who are on the same boat as my friend, especially in the IT industry. People choose a profession due to the situation, attraction, family business, seeing someone successful or just for money, without even considering if it is their interest or not. Education system & culture plays a major role in making these decisions, but it is actually screwing up the profession or a career of an individual these days. If someone choose a profession which they are not passionate about or interested in, he/she will not enjoy or perform in that profession in a longer run, sooner or later they will exhaust themselves and continue to perform badly, lose confidence, feel bored and stop growing. Hence, it is very important to know where your passion is and do what you love to do.
It is a habit for many in the industry to waste their career/life just by following others ambitions and die without having one on their own. Very few will have their own vision/ambition and passionately run towards it to achieve and feel satisfied, it is their voice which will stand out in the noise.

I am sure, you have sighted these people at your workplace,
- Who are not enthusiastic, dull or bored at work and getting used to the boredom.
- Who are excited about anything initially, and not bothered about that later.
- Who never improvise or add value to their task or duty.
- Who just does what is asked for rather than challenging what is asked for.
- Who never makes an effort to initiate anything new to improvise.
- Who never responds to the mentoring or never learns from their mistakes.
- Who goes into a defensive mode whenever there is a problem.
- Who performs poorly and pretend that they are performing well.
- Who only cares about what to do rather than how to do things.
- Who always look for an easy task and stay in the comfort zone.
- Who is never satisfied at the work, but console themselves and continue to do the same for survival.
- Who finds excuses for not doing things, rather than making things happen.

...ever wondered why they are like that? they for sure are not passionate in what they are doing, yes. They either have their passion elsewhere or they do not know what their passion is.

You must have bumped into these people as well in your experience,
- Who focuses on the core task, adds value and makes a difference on what they deliver.
- Who are determined to complete the tasks to the perfection and goes extra mile to achieve the same.
- Who are always curious about things they are interested in and always keep themselves updated.
- Who can never be stopped by time or by any means when they are on to the task which is of their interest.
- Who always looks for improving the way to reach to his goals efficiently.
- Who are self motivated and no situation can stop him in reaching his goals.
- Who pours in initiatives and work towards making things happen rather than waiting for things to happen.
- Who always evaluate themselves often and are never satisfied with their performance.
- Who are always in search of challenges.
- Who are bored to do the same kind of work repeatedly.

...if you wonder why, yes, they are passionate in what they are doing, and they love what they do. Passionate people do not see the work as a task or duty, but they see it as part of their day to day life and they practice that everyday, and of course they enjoy it thoroughly.

Just dream of a life: we get up early; getting ready with an excitement to do something you enjoy; doing something which will satisfy you thoroughly; which will make you forget about this world in pleasure; where time runs in the speed of light; work your brains and body out to do what you believe in; doing something you love; doing something for yourself; feeling that you need more than 24 hours in a day; still not feeling stressed about it; going to bed with the feeling that you have done something today which took you closer to your vision; just sleeping to prepare yourself for the next day fun. Wow! Would that not be a life which everyone of us want to live? It is damn worth living for.

My 1 Rupee on hunting for the passion,

Visionary: One must have a vision, a vision which will keep us driving regardless of the hurdles. A vision which gives a meaning to your life. A roadmap should be worked out for your vision and find how to make it possible.

Brainstorm: Find the list of things you would love to do all the time. What would you have done if you were given an opportunity to choose your profession? Think, what you would want to do to feel satisfied after all of your needs are met. Read, Read, Read, a lot.

Mentors: There are lots of inspirations on the earth, get inspired. There are lots of people to admire in this world, admire them. Note down all the inspirations and admiration you bump on. Reach out to friends, family & experts, ask for their opinions and suggestions, there is a mentor in everyone. Understand their inspirations/admiration/vision/passion, learn from their experience.

Be Honest: Many people convince themselves that what they are doing is right, even though if it is not the case, due to the situation. They fool themselves by doing so. It is quite important to admit to the fact and be honest & straight forward to get the passion hunt successful. Listen to your heart and be honest to yourself.

One of my friend said, "I do not mind working hard, as long as we achieve something". It is so damn true, however you can only achieve something if you are doing something which you are passionate about or love to do, you can see wonderful results with less efforts, otherwise, even though your efforts are hard and honest, it will not yield the outcome you expect.

Of course it is a huge effort to find the passion and position the career based on the same, but it is not impossible. This initial effort and the pain is temporary and will bring great wonders later in your career and life, as an old saying goes "Where there is no pain, there is no gain". If one realises that their current profession is not of their interest, if they see any of the above mentioned 'lack of passion' symptoms in them, then it is better to re-consider their profession. Staying in the current profession will not only make them dull, it will also screw their career and life.

So, pull yourself together; devise your vision; brainstorm your desires; reach out to mentors; put everything in place; follow your heart; be honest; find your passion; work on it; enjoy everyday doing what you love to do; feel truly satisfied in what you have achieved everyday; move closer to your vision; sleep tight; look forward for the next day to move ahead...

..simply, "Do what you love; Love what you do".

"The core value of Apple is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better" - Steve Jobs

Dance like nobody's watching

Dhoni is a young and enthusiastic chap, sincere, committed & talented. He was admired by our team for his energetic attitude. He influences our team without a doubt when he is in action. However, he had a habit of updating his team lead often, very often about his work, even when it was not necessary or not asked for. Yes, on what is done, what is left, how quick he can finish the work etc. When his team lead ignored his updates, he started updating his lead's boss.

Yuvraj, who always answers "Yes, I know", "Yes, It's already done", "Yes, I've already tried this", "I just thought about it, you said it" etc. He always pretends that he knows the solution for all the problems. There were even times, where he answered "Yes, I know" to my question and went and googled for the answer later.

..and there was Zaheer, who always says "Yes, I agree" to whatever his boss or his favorite colleague says. The answer from him would be the quite opposite if the same point was mentioned by others. Zaheer also pretends that he is listening to others, but actually he will be in his own world. When he comes back asking for the same information, the team will be puzzled.

Then there was Nehra, who always toggles the window when people walk around his desk. He wastes most of the time in observing who is watching him or who is talking about him.

Do you know Dhoni, Yuvraj, Zaheer and Nehra? I can see you nodding. You're right, we can find them in us and around us very often. Deeply thinking about what is common between these behaviors, it is their motive, which pushes them to practice these habits, which makes them as slaves and diseased... at the end which spoils their career and themselves before they even realise. Yes, the motive of trying to do things to please someone or prove something to someone.

Many people believe that progressing in their career or life will happen by just pleasing someone or by always trying to prove something to someone, however by doing that they fail to realise the fact that,

they are only fulfilling others wish than their own;
they only spend time and get stressed in thinking about others than themselves;
they mostly do things only to dodge from others words or views;
they arrest the freedom, individuality and creativity;
they don't add value either to the organization nor to themselves;
they work for the boss, not for the organization;
Simply, they are slaves to the people who they are trying to please;

The above mentioned facts are not the qualities of the people who are on a mission to achieve their own vision. Visionarypeople need a clear head and cannot afford to waste even a minute in doing some unnecessary stuff, because just 24 hours a day is not enough for them. Actually, it is a lot of effort to do things to please someone, which will stress you out and blocks your progress in career and life.


While there are infinite things left to learn in this industry, one of the fact I came across is that the industry has played a considerable role in contributing to the people's attitude. One of the way the people have been brought up by the industry is by promoting the hierarchical culture which encourages the egoistic and self boasting attitude (few people are exception). Hence even the young professionals are cultivated with the same culture, which is a shame.

When you do the right thing, Your colleagues might rub their bad mouth on your back, your boss might watch you with his half visioned eye or even your friends might fire at you with a double barrel gun. All you have to do is...

Be honest and open, always stand up for the right thing;
Do not do things to please anyone or prove anything to anyone;
Be as you are, pour in your uniqueness in whatever you do;
Own the tasks as if it is yours, enjoy the ownership;
Treat everyone as the same in the team, including your boss;
Do the best you can to add value in whatever you do;


I won't say that nurturing this attitude and environment in the team helps you to achieve the following 100%, but at least to 70%...

More satisfied team members and an excellent work environment;
Improved product quality with suggestions and ideas;
Do the right thing and feel proud;
Focus only on the end-user, no one else;
Work with everyone, not for anyone;
Freedom, Individuality, Creativity promoted;

So guys, simply,

"Start the music, and get yourself moving, warm up and imagine you are hosting the party. Remember that you are not dancing to prove anything or please anyone, you are dancing because you feel so. It doesn't really matter if you are not a good dancer or if someone is watching you, all that matters is that you make an effort with the right attitude and have fun. On the dance floor, boss, sub-ordinate, peer, anyone and everyone is the same."

Version your vision

Recently I was talking to a young chap working in Saudi. He was quite interesting in many ways, one thing inspired me was his honesty, ego-less attitude and a fresh mind. Even though his English was not very good, he was speaking from his heart. While I was chatting with him, I asked about his vision, he answered "I have no vision until now".

I have seen only few (as the young chap above) who admitted that they do not have a vision. Honesty ha? Most of the time, I have seen people making out the vision instantly when asked, because they are paranoid of being judged inferior if they do not have a vision (yes, I was one among them 9 years ago ;-)).

Actually, as time went by, I realised that there is no need to be paranoid or nervous about the vision. Many will go in search for a vision only because they need to have one for the namesake. To be honest, it doesn't work in that way, vision is something which... (re-iterating again)

Pushes you constantly to achieve your goals.
Makes you personally satisfied.
Makes you happy in whatever you do.
Makes you to define your own meaning of life.
Never lets you to sit down and worry about the silly issues in life.

Having something for a sake does not resolve the purpose of a vision, or anything for that matter. One will only fail in achieving the same. Instead, it is better to be visionless.

There are few people in this world, who have a vision, but very shy to speak about it. Actually, if one cannot share their vision, they cannot share anything to the world. There is nothing to be ashamed or to feel shy about. There is no size or rate for the vision, for every individual their own vision is big and better. It cannot be or should not be compared with any other vision. Remember, if sharing stops, learning stops and evolution stops. Soon you will be a generation behind before you realise.

There are few people in this world, who will be searching for their vision, a vision which is defined once for all. In the process of finding an ultimate final vision, they end up finding none. Vision cannot be or should not be frozen. It has to evolve as you grow in your life and career and it is inevitable. It has to be reviewed, redefined or refined now and then. It is not a bad thing to redefine your vision periodically. However, at some point the frequency should be reduced.

Saying that, I have revised my vision several times whenever I review myself every year. The version 1.0 was very primitive (rudely saying 'immature'), but as the years progressed, it started to evolve and got better and better (if you think otherwise, please say). I am at version 5.4 now and still believe that there are more versions to come. However, every version of the vision is the best I could think of when defined at that period of time. Even though the versions change, the underlying foundation stood the same.

My vision (version 5.4):
"Living a happy and joyful life, with physical fitness and enough wealth to survive and support, in a like minded society which treats everyone as equal, where the real strengths are explored and encouraged, where sharing and learning is nurtured, patriotism felt, values not compromised, simply where the quality attitude is promoted".

Note: My vision is being refined every year only because of the learning from my friends, colleagues, mentors, relatives and neighbors. So, a BIG THANKS to them.

Are you Visionary?

Me: Good Morning Diran, how is it going?
Diran: Good Morning, I am good.
Me: I understand that you have completed your aptitude tests, how was it?
Diran: It was good.
Me: I mean, how did you do it?
Diran: I did it well.
...
(long conversation on technical things)
...
Me: Cool Diran, my last question, what is your vision?
Diran: -1.5 in my left eye, 0.5 in my right eye.
Me: ?#$#$$$%%
....

Diran(not a real name) was a fresher who we have interviewed for a software trainee position in our organization, who scored very high in the technical interview. Diran is not alone in this world, surprisingly, there are many experienced candidates who we have met are in the same position as him. Sometimes, we have even given time for them to think about their vision and get back to us to proceed further. Guess what, the turn around ratio was very poor. Hope they have not gone to the EYE foundation to test their vision ;-).

Me: Well, I asked about the goal in your life?
Diran: I want to become a CEO of a company.
Guran: I want to become a Project Manager.
Saran: I want to become a Business man.

Most of the people in the industry, well even in this world think that the goals are only for work, not for life. Even worse, most of them do not even have a goal or vision. They do not know why they are doing certain things. They do not know what is the reason for their existence. They do not know the meaning of their life. Basically, they are lost. Well, I was one of them, but that is a history.

Many (including me) have married their work at their young age and love their work like they have never loved anyone before, they will even divorce their wife but not the work from their life ever. Well, work and the money it gives is interesting, exciting and amazing, however, there is so much beyond just work and money.

One needs to step out of the box they are in and look at things with a bird's view(eagle would be preferable). One needs to think on where he wants to be in his life, one needs to think on who they want to take along with them in their journey, one needs to think what contribution he/she can make to the society, one needs to search for the purpose of their existence, simply one need to define the meaning of their own life...

Yes, The vision.

Vision, is a positive look at the future, filled with hopes, promises and excitements. It is something which should make you run to achieve your goals and won't let you stop for any silly happenings in life. Vision is more about defining a meaning for your own life, more than the meaning for your work. Your profession could be anything, but that is a medium which helps you to reach your ultimate vision.

It is mandatory for every living being in this world.
It should be big enough to flush away the sillies in your life.
It should not die with you.
It should be never ending.
It should have a social cause.
It should be the reason for your existence.
It should define the meaning of your life.
It should evolve you.

While we are all visioning, I would like to remember a great leader, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was under a lots of pressure due to the face of economic hardship, constant threat of assassination, attacks on his family still burned deeply into his mind, but nothing, literally, nothing stopped him, only because he was running towards his vision...

"In a country where segregation was the law of the land, and racial hate was rampant, a world with people where they would no longer be judged by the color of their skin."

...and do I need to say anything about Mahathma Gandhi's vision? ;-).

So, sit back, relax for a while and think about your vision. If you find yourself visionary, please share your vision with me, otherwise reach out to your mentors to have one.