When I was graduating back in late the 2000s, you were expected to join a big corporation preferably in banking or consulting, put in crazy amounts of 60+ hours per week, get promoted and hope to become a partner at the firm someday. I had the opportunity to peep into ‘what it was like to work as a consultant in a big 4 firm’ by having a close conversation with one of my mentors from the firm which completely changed the direction I was heading.
At first, the change was hard, as it always is when you have made up your mind based on some assumptions. But it was important for me to reflect on my life’s goals, values, organisational fit and basically- would I be happy? During that time, I spent time reading (on various topics from spirituality to technology to finance & business etc), reflecting, talking to people from industries that I was interested to pursue, volunteered at local organisations, and hustled my way to break into the venture capital industry. It took me months and months of soul searching but finally I landed up where I wanted to be- working with early stage companies.
To arrive at this, I focused on finding 3 things about me
1) What do I love doing? (Something I’d do happily even if I wasn’t paid to)
2) What am I good at? (Something that brings the best of my skills)
3) What do I care deeply about? (This can be your life’s mission, passion, motivation)
For me, I figured out that I love learning- from anyone, anywhere and anytime. I am good with connecting with people, generating ideas and deeply care about solving problems and making a global impact. Today, I am fortunate to work with entrepreneurs and change makers and glad that I changed the direction of my life before it was too late.
At Illume, we want to empower every student to dream and make that dream into reality. If you are kickstarting your career or changing the direction like I did, reach out to us for career mentorship and guidance.
Laxmi Pun
Illume Foundation
