Speaking of plans...

           

 What do you want to be when you grow up? Remember that time when grownups asked you that question and you got all excited to reply? You didn't analyze your talents or compare yourself with anyone else, you just mentioned the career that fascinated you the most. I vividly remember those moments and my reply varied each year, from doctor to politician to teacher to nun, none of which am currently pursuing.

            We look around and everyone seems to have it figured out. What they want to be, how they’ll get there, how they are working to achieving it. Steve Jobs showed a knack for computers and entrepreneurship way before elementary school and got really bored at school.  Isaac Newton invented calculus in his university vacation. Albert Einstein showed passion for physics way before he got his first Physics teacher. This trend makes you think that great people are born not made, right?

            Not necessarily.  Leonardo da Vinci started out life as a painter; he ended being a mathematician, engineer, anatomist, geologist and all the occupations you can think of. Elon Musk’s first degree was in Economics, amazing how that turned him to an engineer/entrepreneur. These legends and a lot others keep showing us great people are actually made. Life is too dynamic to stick with a childhood plan.

             In a world that is always after definitive answers, we can’t always afford to be non-affirmative. But sometimes we just don’t need to be affirmative. What you can make of yourself is a combination of your talents, skills, beliefs and most importantly your experiences. In mathematical language I would say it is an integral of constants and time considering experiences are a function of time.  Maybe we can plan for a year ahead or two years, but it is okay to leave a 10 years plan blank, as the wise say, “Time will tell”.

            I don't know; that’s my answer. My answer to what I want to be in the future. It’s not because I'm too lazy to sort out and plan my life now, but because life is too amazing to live it as a written script. I think a goal is enough to get you through life. As Allen Saunders once put, Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.