I quite hate the fact that blogger is supposed to be this online diary where one can just put in whatever their current musings are. Its good to have something to pen your thoughts in, but writing a detailed account of what one did since getting up in the morning, IMO, is an obsession. phew!
I'm trying to do my essay for stanford mba, and this is the current draft:
What matters most to you, and why?
Since the time I remember, I have always been experimenting. Second hand experiences are not for me. Looking back, I feel though it was good to experiment and find things out myself, perhaps I should have looked at other people's experiences and wisdom as well. This is not to say to just accept everything that others proclaim, but distill or adapt it to myself. It took a number of years to draw the fine balance between doing things on my own, and drawing inferences from work already done. As I begun to obtain this understanding, I began to understand and realize something bigger - that of making my life meaningful and to not let the learning of years go waste.
Admittedly 'making my life meaningful' sounds vague, but I believe the childhood or teenage aspirations of becoming something (and such aspirations are typically drawn from the parent's or peers' expectations) are just a milestone for life, and not the goal. In practical terms I know that sometime in future I would like to start my own company once again, but more important than making money, or being successful in accepted norms, I want to build or create something that changes lives of others in some way.
Though it sounds momentous, this change does not have to be significant. I am amazed at the amount of progress mankind has made in the last couple of hundred years, and rate is astonishing. During these years, not only there have been inventions or creations that have changed life profoundly, but also there have been several minor, simple ones that have gone on to add to something, making the number of things that make life better, simpler and
easier. For example, a thing as mundane as a safety pin, making it easier to folds of clothes together without getting hurt in the process.
I belive this aspiration has been further fuelled by the tractable media that I work in. The last few years that I have spent in software development, have made me realize the subtle difference in visualization and actual delivery of a product meeting the needs. Further, the media represents the tractability so apparent in real life - and thus, it is so easy to get carried away and invest time and energy to better something that probably is not necessary, or worse, not required. Too many ideas have failed not because the idea itself was wrong, but because it did not add any value to the target user in any way. Drawing an analogy, hard work and
sincerity are good virtues to have, but unless one is unable to create or be a part of something fruitful, these may remain only virtues. One may argue there is learning in the failures as well, but someone has to put that learning together to create something worthwhile.
Further, creating something gives this pleasure that is next to none. Not only does it provide a creative pleasure and....(more to come)
