Chapter 2: May the 4th be with you

 Happy International Star Wars day everyone!

Today seems as good as any to talk about Entrepreneurship. Doesn't that word just get you fired up?

Defined as: "the activity of setting up a business or businesses", it's a word that can either get you excited, or it's a word that can bring you a lot of anxiety. Last week I read a business case from Harvard Business School about the life of Magdalena Yesil, and it really got me thinking. She started off as a product design engineer, transitioned to a product marketing manager, and finally became entrepreneur and angel investor.

Some might say that her transitions were flawless, and that she really traveled the road to entrepreneurship (Starting in a job, finding your passion, and then starting a company built around that passion). The question I want to ask is, how do we define an entrepreneur's journey? Does it star with self-discovery at a very young age? or does it start by getting a job you like/don't like and then forming/finding your passion from there? 

As you can see the answer isn't as clean cut as every person who wants to take the journey thinks. From Magdalena's story it became clear that even when we find our "calling" in life, and have goals we still want to achieve, we will still be faced with tough challenges. It might happen that on the way to our dream we get lost and find another dream. Does this new dream line up with who we want to be in life? or does it take away the ability to follow the passion we so desperately tried to find?

One thing I took away from reading the case study was that success can be defined in different ways. Success is the constant unfolding of what we intend to do. If you do happen to stumble across a side quest, as long as it lines up with the vision you had of yourself 40, 50 or even 60 years from now, then you are on the right track and if not its then time for a course correction.

The one person you cannot lie to is yourself. Having and maintaining that level of self-awareness will only serve to benefit you throughout the years. We are creative beings that are meant to do what we love, because that is the thing we will be most good at. It is for this reason that I believe we should regularly visit our "life plans" to make sure that we staying true to ourselves. When making tough decisions in life, take yourself to the worst outcome and ask if you can live with that, if you can live with that then make the decision and move forward, if not find an alternative.

Armed with the knowledge my friends, go forth and make some tough decisions, because it is those decisions that will help you growth and get stronger.

May the force be with you. 

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