Way back in 1960, a survey was done in America with a group of 1500
fresh college graduates who had taken up a new career. They were asked why they
chose the particular career that they had chosen. They had 2 options.
V Option A:I chose this career for the money in it.
V Option B: I chose this career for I am passionate about it.
Out of the 1500, 1245 people (83%) chose option A and the balance 255
people (17%) chose option B. The same group of people were interviewed after 20
years and they found that out of the 1500 people, 101 people had attained the
status of millionaires. The interesting part is that 100 of those millionaires
were the ones who chose option B, during the survey in 1960 and only 1 who had
chosen option A. The result of the survey was surprising. While people who
aspired for money did not make it very big in life, the majority of the people
who followed their passion, became millionaires. This is not irony, but the law
of life. When you follow your passion, success comes to you naturally and money
is just a by-product of our success. Whereas when your focus is in earning money,
by doing a job you are not passionate about or not happy about, you end up
doing an inferior job and never get the expected returns. Now that your
children would have completed their Std X or Std XII board exams and are in the
cross roads of choosing their higher education which will ultimately lead them
to their career, I felt this would be the right time for me to share this
thought. It is a crucial time in their life, when they have to make a right
decision. Let the decision they make be the decision of their voluntary choice
and not influenced by your opinion.
One of the major challenges of teenagers is that, it is at this age
they are very confused in life and easily influenced by others. The best wecan
do for them at this stage is to clarify their doubts and be willing to accept whatever
decision they make. With a clear mind and the confidence that you will back them
up, no matter how long it takes, our children would make the best choices that
are suitable to them. As they grew up, from a toddler to a teenager, we would
have invariably made a number of choices for them, saying that, “I know what is
best for my child”, but this is not something we can take for granted. We need
to take efforts to help them discover their passion. It is a matter of their
life and so let the choice be theirs.
Movies like “3 Idiots” in Hindi and its Tamil remake “Nanban” goes on
to reaffirm this idea, of following one's own passion. Still not every parent
is convinced. They want their children to get into popular professions like
Doctor, Engineer, IAS, Chartered Accountant etc. It is a matter of social
status to them. Believe me, there is abundant opportunity available in every
field, especially in a country like ours where the economy is steadfastly booming.
There are so many new areas of interests such as a Radio jockey, TV anchor,
fast food business, tour guide, beauty salon, costume designer, so on and so forth.
The possibilities are endless. There is no job inferior or superior. It is our
attitude towards it that makes it so. Many people have made it big by choosing the
not much trodden path, because there is less competition there. A popular quote
goes like this, “It is no shame to be a shoe maker, but it is a shame
for a shoe maker to make bad shoes”. Being a class apart in whatever
wedo, gives one the needed recognition and rewards. This can be achieved only
when one is passionate about what he is doing. So, our advice to our children,
should only be, “Strive to be the best in whatever you choose to do”.
With this mind set our children would create wonders and certainly make us
proud.
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated June 2012
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