I grew up in
Siberia where my dad was a political journalist. He taught me to question
everything around me and to take nothing at face value. My mom was a
nonconformist by nature, best expressed by the fact that, if she wanted something,
there was no stopping her. It didn’t matter how the system worked or what
people around her thought or did. She set her own rules.
These two traits — questioning everything and being unafraid to go after what I want — defined who I am.
By the time I moved
to the US when I was 16, I knew that I wasn’t going to accept an average 9-to-5
as a career. My time had to be spend on something big, all encompassing and
long term and, most importantly, something I would be really passionate about
and could really get behind. I set out for Cornell University determined to
find my passion.
In college I
moved quickly from one subject to the next looking for my passion, taking
classes ranging from psychology to computer science, neuroscience, fine art and
finally film. Although learning was always fun, I just couldn’t get
sufficiently motivated by academic goals set in that artificial environment.
This led me to leave Cornell only two classes short of graduation. I later
found that solving real problems and building something around opportunities I
discover is what I’m truly motivated by. Today, I’m fortunate to say that I
have, in fact, found my passion and am doing what I love — building a startup around a set of problems that I believe need
solving.
In the meantime,
I continue to observe people of all ages around me struggle with finding a job
they love. In looking at my own path of getting to do what I love, I’m
observing four main lessons.
1. When You Know It’s Not Working, Quit Fast
Many people hate
their jobs and know that they want to do something different, but stay in their
hated jobs for a long time nonetheless. Their main reason for not leaving is
that they haven’t actually figured out what it is that they want to do. This
thinking is flawed because you won’t learn or discover your ideal career or job
by sitting around and thinking about it. If the current situation isn’t
working, you need to find something else.
What happens when
you leave even without knowing what you will do next is that, suddenly,
figuring out your next steps becomes urgent. That urgency may be a bit
uncomfortable, but it can also be incredibly powerful because it frees you up
to invest all of your energy into finding the next thing. Finding the next
thing goes from optional to required.
I personally have
left several jobs prematurely, not only not knowing what I will do next, but
also exited with no savings to see me through the period of not working. The
very last job I left was a startup where I found myself wanting to do a lot
more and the company not really needing what I wanted to give. I was at this
startup for about nine months and found myself in a position where it felt that
I was simply exchanging my time for money. Frustrated, I tried giving feedback
to the management and eventually gave notice without much planning. To my
surprise, I was offered two weeks of severance, which were much-much needed
since I had no savings to hold me over.
In all cases, I
found that leaving was the right thing as it forced me to keep searching for my
next step with urgency and to eventually found the company I now love building.
2. Follow Your Curiosity
Even though you
may not have a clear vision for your career, you are probably curious about
things which may or may not be obvious to you. It’s important to follow your
curiosity and uncover your less obvious interests. The reason it’s important is
that those interests tap into your unique motivations that separate you from
others. Pursuing them sets you on the path of unlocking who you are and your
creativity. Frequently, these will be things that do not appear pragmatic and
sometimes may seem downright frivolous. A classic example is Steve Jobs’
curiosity for typefaces which led him to attend a seemingly useless class on
typography and to develop his design sensibility. Later, this sensibility
became an essential part of Apple computers and Apple’s core differentiator in
the marketplace.
A good way to
tune into these interests is to ask yourself what you would do if you had a
billion dollars. By my third year of college, I looked through Cornell’s entire
giant catalog and couldn’t get excited about any of the classes in it. I had
sampled many of the disciplines and felt that I was at a dead end. Frustrated,
I finally pushed myself to think about what I would be interested in doing if
money were of no concern. To my surprise, that led me to fantasize about
drawing and painting. I also realized that I perceived both of these
disciplines as forbidden. I believed that my parents would disapprove and that
it would be a highly impractical area of study to pursue. Yet, I also realized
that I was genuinely excited about fine art and took the plunge which became an
important stepping stone in my path.
3. Don’t Make Money Your Primary Consideration
My first startup
was in New York City. At the time, I had college loans and limited income from
freelancing as a video editor, and I lived with my dad and stepmom in New
Jersey. One of the partners of my startup invested a small amount of money into
the company — just enough to do the
basics, such as open a small office in Manhattan. Commuting from my parents’
house was a pain, so I brought in a sleeping bag to our office, got a gym
membership and would often stay at the office overnight. It was not ideal, but
alternatives, such as spending my time on making money instead of working on
the startup, didn’t make sense to me.
If you’re looking
to spend your life doing something you love, the best way to start is to treat
financial concerns as secondary. If the practicality of what you do and how
much money you earn are your primary criteria you will instantly limit your
options to what’s predictable and getting to do what you love will be tough. On
the other hand, if you allow yourself to pursue your curiosity, you will find
yourself in the position of power and, eventually, in the position to earn
money on your terms.
Connecting to your unique interests and motivations and coming into your own
authentic self, gives you power in your chosen discipline that others can’t
claim. The reason for this is the unique fit of these interests to who you are.
For others, what you choose to do may seem like a huge chore, but for you it
won’t even feel like work. When your work fits who you are so well, you stand
out as being uniquely capable and uniquely powerful. And the better you get at
expressing yourself through your work, the higher your earning potential will
be in that capacity.
4. Don’t Set An Artificial Ceiling For Yourself
Your professional
ceiling is set by you.
At some point in
the past, I hired a designer and didn’t give her an official title. When I
started receiving email from her I noticed that she added the word “Junior” to
her designer title. I found that quite surprising since that title had never
been discussed. For her, this was a way to limit the amount of responsibility
she took on, as well as the expectations others would have of her. Since then,
I’ve seen many examples of how people define their own ceilings and avoid
responsibility and growth. If you do so by choice, I respect it. On the other
hand, if you want more growth, then don’t hide behind the belief that someone
else needs to empower you to do what you want to do.
Deena Varshavskaya is the founder and CEO of Wanelo, a
“digital mall” used by millions of people to discover, browse and buy products
online. Deena lives in San Francisco and can be followed on Wanelo, Twitterand Instagram at @siberianfruit.
