Thursday, 5 July 2012

Career Change

I have a firm belief - its never too late to start something new. Be it anything- a new habit, a hobby, a job. . . Many of us crib about our jobs, lifestyles, etc but rarely you find a person who makes the decision to change them and follows through with it. I guess it is difficult to bring change in our lives because it makes the future uncertain. We know what our lives are like right now, even if we don't like it much at least we know how it is going to be the next day. There are nothing unpredictable that is going to happen. We snug into a comfort zone that we refuse to get out of.
We might be losing out a lot in life if we continue to live with compromises. It is a general philosophy - Live life to the fullest. I think its the most important philosophy of all. Always strive to do all that you want to do(as long as its lawful and doesn't hurt anybody).
The same applies not just to small habits etc but even your career. There is no dearth of examples of professionals switching over to completely different lines. There are doctors who give up practice to become artists, lawyers who switch over to landscaping. Keeping monetary benefits and losses aside, it is the joy that comes when you do something you are passionate about that drives many people towards career change.
Many people who want to change their career and are unable to do so are bound by many fears - what if I am not able to do something else, I am not qualified for anything else, I may not get some other job, I may suck at it, I am too old to switch streams etc. The truth of it is - you will never know what will happen until you give it a shot.
So go ahead, give it a shot, if it works -Awesome, if it doesn't - then try again or try something else, if at the end of it you realize that you actually love your initial job then go back and join that job again knowing that you have tried other stuff and this is what you love the most.
At the end of the day have no regrets about any of your decisions and enjoy what you are doing. 

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

To Know or not to Know

Ever happened to you that you get some information which you wished you hadn't. Old saying, "Ignorance is Bliss", or is it so? Curiosity is in the nature of all, well most, human minds. This curiosity is what leads them to discover new things, ideas. While some discoveries change the lives of all man kind in a good way (supposedly), not all are that impact making and not all are for the best. Ever noticed how the oldies always say how life was so much better at their time??? While we might find it impossible to have a life without a mobile and iPod, they had a perfect life without them. Neither did they ever crave for having a iPod, because they had no knowledge such a thing could exist. Today I feel bad if I don't have an iPod, because i know it is out there. I feel the need to have it (how else m i supposed to listen to all my music), but did this need even exist before the knowledge of an iPod came to me??
The frog in the well story, one curious frog jumped out of the well and found a beautiful world waiting to be explored. The others had been happily existing inside the well for generations but when they heard about another world outside, they suddenly found the well not good enough for them. Lets say they all came out and one by one were scooped up and made into a meal by an eagle. Would you say getting out of the safe well was a good thing then? Ok so I'm getting extremely pessimistic, lets say many of them flourished outside and lived happily ever after. But still is it worth the risk???? Weren't they risk free and better off inside the well? But then not knowing doesn't always mean you have a easy risk free life, what if the frogs were dying due to disease in the well and getting out gave them a fresh leash at life. 
So this brings us to the question- When is it OK to gain more knowledge????
I guess this is a decision we have to make for ourselves whenever we are faced with the choice of knowing or not knowing. And the knowledge that is dumped on us without our say in the matter, well I guess we just have to live with it for better or for worse.
Finally it ends up as - The more you know, more you realize how less you know.