Bade hokar kya banoge?

Bade hokar kya banoge?

The question every Indian has faced as a child. 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

Our classic response would be - a doctor, an astronaut, a pilot or a scientist. 

Fast forward today, most of us still struggle with the question. And understandably so.

At an age when our hormones don’t let us stick to a relationship for more than a month (if it’s a year, you’re the lucky one), we are expected to be certain of our life-long vocation. For most of us, it means choosing a degree - B.Tech, MBBS, IAS, or MBA - rather than a vocation. And we end up choosing one of them because of parents’ pressure or because of peer pressure or because it’s in trend or because it has future scope.

Thinking of our future in terms of degrees is a very reductive way to live life, isn’t it?

Nonetheless, that’s how our system is designed - to confuse us. Let’s see how we can become confidently confused then!

This method is called ‘Test the Exam before it Tests You’.

Aakriti Goel, whose LinkedIn profile banner proudly says ‘Retiring from Career 1.0 (engineer) and beginning Career 2.0 (MBBS) at the age of 30’, used this method.

After her engineering from BITS Pilani, she landed in usual management roles in corporate. She decided to make a move after good 6 years. Not to earn another degree, but to pursue a vocation.

She had to make a choice - Civil Services or Medical. And here, she used the method. 

She started attending online coaching for both Civil Services and Medical exams. Going through the study materials, listening to lectures, and appearing for mock exams - testing the exam. She realised that politics and government doesn’t excite her. She found herself engrossed in the science of the human body - biology. 

The choice was clear to her. Becoming a doctor!

Take a few free lectures, read course material, appear for mock exams - are good ways to find what excites you before you make any decision.

So, test the exam before it tests you. 

And next time you see someone asking a child, ‘bade hoke kya banoge’, you know how useless that question is!

Signing Off,

Aarti & Ashutosh

Confidently Confused