I like designs and electronics is my passion. In junior secondary, I fell in love with electricity. But every person wanted me to study medicine (a great call) but I was not a fan. The closest I got to medicine was writing JAMB in first year, while in Federal University of Technology Owerri, just to prove that it was not about any difficulty of getting in. University of Nigeria Nsukka offered admission for MBBS but I only revealed to family a day after the matriculation.
My message to you today is this: Do all to discover your passion. But do not pick a job (at entry level) because it is your passion. Rather, plan that career to do all necessary to have resources to accelerate and ascend into that passion.
In my experience, the biggest satisfaction comes when you know you are making progress on things which you have desired to pursue. And defining those things must come out of awareness, and understanding of many things which could help you to thrive in life. That is also where humility comes – what you have called great success may be things others passed over. But in the foolishness of a fool’s mind, he or she was thinking that was the pinnacle
Yes, if you studied chemical engineering and a bank job arrives paying 4x than what a small engineering firm is paying, take the bank job in Lagos. But have a transition strategy with a path to return to engineering at higher level. Do not allow the bank perks to disorient you because later you would regret it.
With a solid plan, the resources from the bank job can fund a foreign postgraduate degree which will set you ahead by miles. The energy to push harder in whatever you do typically comes when you have passion for that. Mine is electronics and daily I pursue a “vision of innovation in addressing the world’s challenges”. Discover your passion, and accelerate it.
This one may require a caveat, because you are part of less than 1%, with capacity to have clear vision, and a sound plan to see it actualised. This is not for average graduates, too much to ask…
There’s a certain ‘hangover’ that usually happens, when young graduates begin a career in high-paying sectors, the so called passion becomes muddled, and then gets redefined and adapted to the comfort of the new surroundings, with all the perks.
To be able to disconnect from such hangover, you must posses the mental agility and cognitive humility, to be able to see beyond your present ‘comfort’ and question your life purpose; that way, you may be able to pursue your higher goals. Money comes with deceitful tendencies, and in many cases – blurs one’s ability to think critically.
The first task for young graduates could be that of being able to link passion to wealth creation, without such link, the passion may turn out to become a source of misery. Not many things you have passion for can sustain you, the business element of such passion needs to be viable too.
In this life, your happiness or misery is hedged on your ability to discover your purpose; anything short of that, sorry!
NB: originally published 3 years ago
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