I am accustomed to taking a post-lunch walk. Kathmandu is going through a transformation; roads are widening. Despite the resultant dust, I and my friends pluck the courage to walk. It would be spurious to justify our post-lunch walk by saying that “we are health conscious” (pollution does not promote good health). We do not just walk, but also talk. I loathe giving opinions on politics (because I have an apathy towards it), so we normally talk about non-political matters. Last Tuesday, my friend Anup shared with me a case of his relative, Sushma. Sushma was an engineer.
She pursued Bachelor of Engineering from a renowned institute of Nepal with a lot of interest. But she is a nurse now. I know you must be as stunned as I was to hear this. I was unable to understand the reason for this change. Anup later explained to me that the nursing is more lucrative than engineering. We together concluded that available opportunity had changed the course of Sushma’s career. A question emerged in my mind after this conversation: What is more important in determining our career: opportunity or interest?
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I remember my mother exhorting me to study forestry after my secondary education (but I didn’t). The demand for forestry graduates was high at that point. “You will get a job as soon as you graduate” said my mother. I am not blaming my parents, parents do analyse this way in our society. I expect many of you have encountered similar suggestions. Deciding a career based on available opportunity is not wrong. But if you choose it against a career based on your interest, it will probably leave you disgruntled later in life. In the movie 3 Idiots, director Raj Kumar Hirani clearly depicted why a career of interest is more important than a career derived by opportunity.
Imagine you are hunting for a scholarship to study your favourite subject ‘A’. But your friend suggests that you apply for subject ‘B’ as well. You sit in entrance exams for both, but unfortunately, you only received a scholarship for subject ‘B’ (I swear I really don’t want that to happen). What would you do? Get admitted to subject ‘A’ and pay for your education, or jump to subject ‘B’ with scholarship? Yes, that is a tough question, and will surely confuse you.
Let me give an example of my friend, Lisha. A couple of weeks ago, she took entrance exams for two subjects: Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). Despite her predilection for IWRM, she could not score well in the entrance. However, she made it to NRM. I happily congratulated her. She gave me a surly expression and shared her unwillingness to go with NRM, regardless of the scholarship she received in it. Obviously, I asked why. She told me that she is less fond of NRM than of IWRM. “How am I going to enjoy something that I dislike?” she asked. Wow, what a lucid answer that was!
“If I study NRM now, at some point in my life I will regret it,” she added. “Why not compromise now and be content later?” In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes, “Work is a prison sentence if it does not add meaning.” In agreement with Gladwell, I opine that if you are following your interest, it will add meaning to what you do.
Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit says that if you follow the same routine to achieve a certain reward over a period of time, it will become a habit.
Suppose you are not interested in teaching as a profession, but since you don’t have any alternative to feed yourself, you start teaching. Duhigg also highlighted that crisis makes people open to change. In the above-mentioned crisis, having no alternative to feed yourself made you flexible enough to take an option that you would not have considered earlier. Over a period of time, your interest in the new profession may increase, according to Duhigg’s theory. But it depends on how you proceed. If you succeed in the field, it will probably generate interest. Again, the question is, how do you measure success: Based on how much you earn or learn?
Coming back to Sushma, I can imagine that a high salary has the potential to lure anyone. But would money generate interest? If yes, the interest could be ephemeral (beware of such interests!) Thomas Jerdee and Benson Rosen in their 1974 article emphasized that transient interests have the potential to attract us by creating a delusion. According to them, when people choose short-term interests over long-term ones, the results can be catastrophic.
Dan Ariely writes that “a large amount of money would most likely get you to work many hours, but it is unlikely to improve your creativity”. I believe creativity comes through interest. When you involve yourself in something, it demands investment of your thoughts and time. Investment of labor results in attachment. Every time you create something, you feel pride in your creation. This feeling of pride drives you further for more accomplishments. Why would anyone invest thoughts and time in doing something that is of no interest to him or her?
Lucrative professions do attract, but they leave you discontented. When I was attending a workshop on communication in India, I met Nagendra, who was more than 55 years old. Nagendra was very enthusiastic. He had reached an apogee of success in the field of media. To someone like me, Nagendra’s life seems impeccable. After a short conversation, I realised that it was not entirely so. During his higher secondary school days, his interest was not in media, but in agriculture.
But there was a boom in media then, and he jumped into the bandwagon. Nagendra claimed that if he had gone into agriculture, he would have achieved more in terms of satisfaction. He would have served millions of farmers by improving agricultural practices (of utmost necessity in the current world). His dissatisfaction was apparent in his face. That conversation answered a great question in my mind. Following an opportunity can bring success, but not long-term satisfaction.
Many of you may encounter a choice between pursuing your interest or jumping for the best available opportunity. I am certainly not in the position to bestow the perfect solution, but I definitely suggest you think over my argument before making an expedient decision.
uanumalakar@gmail.com
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