There is one thing which if you do, you can dramatically change your life. Do you know what is this one change?

Start looking at what YOU did to get that result. We spend too much time blaming our parents, siblings, friends, bosses, lenders, shareholders for what goes wrong in our lives. I know just too many people who hold others responsible for the mess that their lives are in.

Have we not heard the following:

I married this girl because my parents asked me to

I did engineering because my father asked me to

My investors withdrew money at a crucial stage of my company

…

the one change that you should make in your life is simple. Be responsible for the actions that you take. Or the actions that you refuse to take. Errors of Commission and Errors of Omission.

Take the case of a girl who did not know what to do in class XI – in India you take a common exam in class X and then you need to specialize. So post class X she had a choice of taking science (doctor, engineer, pure maths, architecture..) , commerce (CA), or arts (philosophy, psychology, economics).

This girl wanted to do History leading to a degree in history and perhaps a doctorate in History.

I had no business to tell her what to do, but by mistake she asked me that question. So this is how the conversation went:

Girl: I like history, so I want to do history – maybe leading to a PhD.

Girls’ Mother: yes yes she should do what she is interested in (omg this is so fashionable these days !!)

Girls’ Father: frankly I do not know what career prospects are there but I am fine…with whatever she wants.

My take: What you want to do in your life is your take. You can study Geography and join Discovery Channel and work on some exclusive project in some part of the world. You can study Veterinary science become an animal doctor and work on wild animals in the African forests. However, at 14 if you tell me that is what you want to do for the rest of your life, I will have a sound laugh. You are way to young to know what you want to do. This is exactly an age when you are more likely to be infatuated than be in love. So let us admit by saying “we do not know what we would want to do for the rest of our lives”. My dear girl start taking responsibility for your actions. When you are 23 qualified with a PhD in History, there is a good chance that a corporate school will offer you a salary of Rs. 400,000 p.a. Believe me, this is a great salary for a school teacher. Your parents will be happy that you have a job.In fact, they might go to town saying “how you are different from others”. How you were never swayed by money and you are God’s special creation. You will spend little, and will be able to save a lot of money because you are anyway staying with your parents.

Exactly at 23 another friend qualifies as MBA from a premier institute. She is your best friend, and so you are privy to her job offer of Rs. 14 lakhs. She has also found a match – 4 batches her senior – and he is earning about Rs. 20L. So this couple earns Rs. 34 L a year, gross.

You then see your cousin tell you that she has passed her CA with a rank, is currently enrolled for CFA (US) and is not decided whether to join MBA in India or go abroad. He has a job offer (which he is not considering) that will pay him Rs. 9 L a year. This job is in Gurgaon and he does not want to relocate from Mumbai.

Another first cousin gets into IIM B and he is gushing about the previous batch’s best offer of Rs. 35 lakhs for a fresh graduate – but the job is in the Gulf…

Now does the degree look good? Answer the following questions:

• will you blame your parents for not guiding you properly?
• will you say “i wanted to be a historian and I am happy
• will you be worried that a guy earning Rs. 22 Lakhs is not willing to marry you?
• do you really think you can answer any of these questions?
• will you be able to tell yourself that it does not matter that your brother bought is wife an Apple watch?
• will you be able to match the lifestyle of your siblings and cousins?
• will you marry a fellow school teacher?
• oops too may questions?

Sorry I do not have the answers. Unfortunately in life there is no peace in pointing the finger and making others responsible for how you feel and for what your life looks like. Of course you can do it, but face it, who cares?

There is no peace in giving your power away to forces outside of yourself and making them responsible for the quality of your life. This also means that you should not care what other people think about you. Great. Try telling that to your 14 year old brain, and see how you react to a pimple. Now go to your age of 24 and see how you will react to a classmate buying a car. With her own money.

There is no peace in putting your life in other people’s hands and expecting them to live it for you. Your mother who is now so supportive has no clue about the caste system in corporate India. She might be HARMING you in supporting you. Sure she is doing it unintended, but hey YOU have to bear the consequences.

Your life is yours to live. Your path is yours to walk on. And by having the courage to take life into your own hands – assuming responsibility for who you are and for what you want to do, do it.

My job, as usual is to tell you only one thing: YOU, AND YOU ALONE are responsible for your actions.

I am not a fee based career counselor. Luckily I do not have to answer any of the questions that I have raised.

My daughters, nieces, nephews, kids of friends,…friends of kids…have to answer this question.

As Bill Gates said, Life Is Unfair.