You published this at a time where I was (and still am) questioning my life direction. I don’t think I can get immediate clarity no matter how much I try to refine my questions, but every good question is a small step closer to getting to where I want to be. Thanks for sharing!
I am so with you on questioning life decisions. I recently read this piece about life scripts who thought she had everything figured out until she didn't:
I also wrote a piece last year about life design if that's interesting. Like career experiments (internships, projects), we can also use life experiments to test our ideas of what life we'd like:
Love the premise of asking yourself first whether you're working on the right or wrong problem, this is such a powerful question ! The answer to that though, however frustrating that might sound, does tend to come after years of trial and error too, so don't be too hard on yourself ! Sometimes you have to experiment with what you don't want to get clarity on what you do want.
Really insightful piece, Ved. In marketing, there’s a lot of focus on problems and solutions, but probably not nearly enough on analysing whether the right questions are being asked.
Such an important question and so hard to self-appraise, too.
“Else, you can just run through a fog. Tendrils of ambiguity will hug your heels. As you hack away, nothing changes. You choose bad problems to solve, wasting your work with no direction. Or worse, towards a wrong one.”
A really fun and informative piece of writing, Ved, I love where you ended up!! Palpable and powerful, your career journey into robotics and out again. The insight from your family dynamics, the situation at home when you went to college gives richness to the processes you share in the second half of the essay. Bravo.
Writing this was a big reminder for myself too - it's so easy to skip this step. A lot of (pointless) arguments take place because neither side agree on the same definitions.
You published this at a time where I was (and still am) questioning my life direction. I don’t think I can get immediate clarity no matter how much I try to refine my questions, but every good question is a small step closer to getting to where I want to be. Thanks for sharing!
I am so with you on questioning life decisions. I recently read this piece about life scripts who thought she had everything figured out until she didn't:
https://brenna.substack.com/p/living-for-me-crafting-a-life-beyond/comments
I also wrote a piece last year about life design if that's interesting. Like career experiments (internships, projects), we can also use life experiments to test our ideas of what life we'd like:
https://thestrategyguild.substack.com/p/passion-project-20-life-experiments
Love the premise of asking yourself first whether you're working on the right or wrong problem, this is such a powerful question ! The answer to that though, however frustrating that might sound, does tend to come after years of trial and error too, so don't be too hard on yourself ! Sometimes you have to experiment with what you don't want to get clarity on what you do want.
Thanks for reading Sandhya! And happy New Year :)
I agree, sometimes trial and error is needed to figure things out. If only hindsight wasn't the only way to see how (some of) the dots connect.
Really insightful piece, Ved. In marketing, there’s a lot of focus on problems and solutions, but probably not nearly enough on analysing whether the right questions are being asked.
Such an important question and so hard to self-appraise, too.
“Else, you can just run through a fog. Tendrils of ambiguity will hug your heels. As you hack away, nothing changes. You choose bad problems to solve, wasting your work with no direction. Or worse, towards a wrong one.”
Oft, that’s powerful. Great read Ved.
I love your comment Claire - I wasn't sure if that paragraph would hit as well or not :')
Thanks for reading 🙌
A really fun and informative piece of writing, Ved, I love where you ended up!! Palpable and powerful, your career journey into robotics and out again. The insight from your family dynamics, the situation at home when you went to college gives richness to the processes you share in the second half of the essay. Bravo.
Made my week. Thanks for reading Ed. Love that it hit well with you 🎉
Indeed the vital step of clarifying goes missing when we dive into problem solving headfirst. A good reminder for myself.
Writing this was a big reminder for myself too - it's so easy to skip this step. A lot of (pointless) arguments take place because neither side agree on the same definitions.
Crazy to say, but that's the reality.