Thanks for the comment Susan!

It’s a hard thing to do, but we need to set milestones with ourselves and keep challenging ourselves by those standards. I’ll never run a 4:00 minute mile like Alan Webb, but I just dipped under 6:00 so the next goal is based on where I’m at not an Olympic caliber athlete.

On a personal note, I am very proud of your sister for deciding to be a teacher. I don’t think there is a better place for a brilliant mind. Sure, she could be one doctor… OR she could inspire 1000s of kids — which will create 100 passionate doctors, 100 engineers (etc) and most importantly at least one equally brilliant teacher to start the cycle again.

And in a way, I think that may be worse! Because there will always be someone out there better than you – someone more successful, someone who got their quicker, someone who’s happier, someone who just seems to have everything you don’t. It’s crazy and you’ll drive yourself crazy if you don’t stop worrying about not only what other people think, but comparing yourself to other people as well.
.-= David´s last blog ..Saying Goodbye To Blogging 1 Post Shy Of 1,000 =-.

That being said, every single person has their own passions and dreams for a reason. It may not align with what others think of us, what others believe we should be doing or who we should be, but that’s what makes it incredible — it’s our path, our passion, our dream. Not theirs.

Kudos to your sister. And kudos to you, too.

But what I think is really important (and the hard part) is to sift through what others tell us and translate it to what is actually applicable to us.

Very well said Mariam!

I always used this approach playing baseball. Different coaches will often tell you different things so I would try one and see if it worked. If it worked, I kept it in the arsenal, but if it wasn’t applicable to me I thanked them for their input and maintained the same approach.

To your point about should dos vs. want to dos, I definitely think there’s a balance, an ebb and flow perhaps, but I will say I’ve found that sometimes those want to dos are should to dos disguised by others (or maybe even your own brain) as something that isn’t necessarily logical. Do them anyway.

Reading your explanation makes me curious if the reason many MBA’s sometimes have trouble with entrepreneurial ventures is the fact that they trained to be sol calculated and precise. Entrepreneurship seems like a field where you really have to trust your gut and abandon the “path” sometimes.

Thanks for the kind words about my sister. She typically reads the posts, but I don’t know about the comments.

I did what was right for me, but there were certainly trade offs involved. And like we discussed the other day, you’re 100% correct in that we’re all still ‘figuring things out.’ Most people aren’t uber successful until at least 40. I have a LOT of time to mess up trusting my own instincts between now and then.