Passion and Effort

Mark Cuban wrote a blog post a couple months back about not following your passion, but instead, to follow your effort.  If you haven't come across that post, you can read it here.  I think Mark Cuban is awesome, but I can only agree with him to a degree.

His philosophy is that when you dedicate your efforts into an activity, you master it and become passionate about it. My standpoint is slightly the opposite of Mark's.  I believe that the passion needs to exist in order for you to invest effort into succeeding.

I have tons of friends who put a huge amount of effort into their jobs, are really good at those jobs and make a good living, but I have yet to see them develop a passion for their careers.  They are wildly successful, but absolutely hate their jobs.  I guess a question I would shoot back to Mark is, "What is the end goal of the advice you are giving in your post?  Is it making money or finding happiness in your career?"

If it is making money, by all means, invest your time and effort into whatever career you initially land in and hustle and grind until you reach the top.  If you're trying to find happiness in your career, I think you need to explore to find your fit. Everyone has multiple passions and things they want to pursue.  It's your job to pick which passion you're going to transform into a career and which one you're going to keep a hobby.  For example, I love dancing, but don't want to ever be a professional dancer.  

So some advice to young professionals, go out there and find your fit. Don't let someone manipulate you into a career you don't want to do (ahem...parents) and don't be afraid to try something new.  I realized I didn't like public accounting by doing it.  I realized I didn't like public relations by doing it. I realized I did like brand management and product development by doing it. I've always taken risks and tried new things, but I think that's the best way to learn.  We are young and can afford to make mistakes here and there so long as we learn something along the way.

Things work out when you take calculated risks.

Tying this back to the theme of business school, when you really understand WHY you want to pursue a certain career, you can project that passion more coherently in your essays. If you can project that passion clearly, the reader can feel your enthusiasm and that's the kicker to get them to give you an interview.  I believe what made the difference as I progressed through the application process was being able to channel my enthusiasm and determination to the admissions committee.  Bottom line, make sure you know what you want to do and why you want to do it. 

The Verdict

June 22nd started out like any other day.  I waltzed into work at Anderson and sat down at my desk poised to get started on my tasks.  I had a training scheduled around 1pm to learn about the admissions database so that I could help with some analytics.  

Around that time, my colleague shows up and I pop open the program to show him where I was having problems.  He tells me that he actually hasn't learned to do that himself yet so he couldn't help me out. However, he did have something else to show me and from around my cubicle, he whips out a bag and says, "Looks like you're going to be hanging around for at least another three years.  Congratulations and welcome to the FEMBA (Fully-Employed MBA) Program."  I literally froze and thought, "No way this is happening right now!"  Speechless, I took the bag from him and shook his hand.  My office mates congratulated me and I was completely dumbfounded.  The moment that I had been working towards for the past two years of my life was finally here!  In three years, I would have my MBA from one of the top schools in the nation. I had to take a break from work to express my happiness in the hallway:

Ok, but really, immediately after finding out, I called my family and friends to let them know the good news.  After that, I proceeded to do nothing but smile at the screen of my computer until it was time to get off.

To those of you that have been getting discouraged in this process, understand that hard work pays off.  I have applied to a total of 11 schools (all in the top 25 programs in the US) and have been grinding through this process for approximately two years.  On my 12th application I was accepted into UCLA Anderson.  Every single time I was rejected, I learned something new, repositioned myself and filled another gap in my profile.  For me, it will always a matter of "when" I was going to start school, not "if" I was going to get in.  I knew it was going to happen, but I'm really stoked that it happened this year.


To be honest, I didn't expect to realize this goal this year at all.  I was planning on keeping this blog for a bit longer to document my journey into applications again next year.  Now that I'm there, I'm going to continue to blog, but alternate topics.  I'll be talking about my business school experience as well as other points about the business school process.  Hope that you all will continue to follow me on this journey!  The road to matriculation ends Sept. 20 when I start school and the road to graduation will begin!


Thanks again to everyone for their support!!!