Best Advice: Be a Nerd

I have a confession to make: I’m a nerd. Yes, I said it, I am a nerd. When I was 8 years old I spent an entire summer watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, when I was 14 I geeked out so much on professional wrestling that I created a backyard wrestling league complete with outfits, entrance music and a weekly podcast (before podcasts were a thing) and when I was a sophomore in college I made the decision to change majors from Business Management to English Language and Literature. But don’t worry, my career wasn’t in jeopardy because I minored in Poetry, you know, just to keep my professional options open.

What it means to be a nerd

The greatest quote I’ve ever heard about being a nerd comes from young-adult author John Green:

“Nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff…Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. When people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff’ which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you’re too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’”

That’s an apt way of defining what a nerd is. Somebody who is excited about things. Some people are baseball nerds, some people are comic book nerds, some people are problem solving nerds. I’m here to tell you that it is okay to be excited about what you’re passionate about, because the one thing that is lacking in this world is people who truly care about their work, their life and the world around them.

Harness your inner-nerd

When I was in 3rd grade I was really into Star Trek (so much so that I feel the need to clarify I was into The Next Generation, not Deep Space Nine…I wasn’t that kind of nerd), but my love of space exploration and identifying new life and civilizations was not a topic of conversation that many kids at recess could relate to. Most of my classmates at Fairview Elementary wanted to talk about Power Rangers, Video Games and Matchbox cars instead of a bunch of middle aged men hurling through space. What did I do? I stopped bringing my Star Trek toys to school, I began watching more Sportscenter and I did everything in my power to fit in. I was really excited about space, but if I wanted to have friends I was going to have to keep it to myself.

A decade later I would find myself doing the same thing in my undergraduate studies. I would sit in the back corner of a macroeconomics course with a Kurt Vonnegut novel, oblivious to supply and demand, but super interested in Bokononism. Needless to say I got a D- in Macroeconomics and the College of Business sent me a kind letter indicating that I might want to try other academic pursuits.

You’re not alone

I had a conversation with a great friend of mine during my freshman year of college about this phenomenon and realized I wasn’t alone. He was an English major and convinced me that I’d be better studying something that interested me and I changed my major to Literature. To my amazement, my GPA climbed, I was more interested in participating in class and I realized that I was finding that I wasn’t alone in wanting to read books, discuss them with others and analytically criticize them.

During this time I began working in the alumni office at my University and found an incredible passion within me to connect people back to their institution. I felt part of a team, I felt I was providing needed services to the alumni of the institution and I was truly the happiest I had ever been. When you surround yourself with people that make you feel good there is no holding you back. Passionate people are truly the only ones on this planet who can follow through and create great things. When it seems like nothing is going your way and your idea has hit a dead end, it’s passion and dedication that is going to pull you through. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.

Make YOUR mistakes

After college I did what I thought I was supposed to do. I chased the money and left the world of non-profits. I got a big-boy job in advertising and I started my MBA. I quickly ran into the same issues I had before. I woke up every day going to a job I didn’t like, studying for classes that didn’t keep my attention and found that I truly the most happy when I was volunteering for an educational organization or reading a book out by the pool. I knew that I was going to have to follow the path that brought me the most joy instead of the path that brought me the least resistance.

I got back into alumni development, quit the MBA and got a Masters in Higher Education Administration and committed my life to serving students who are trying to find their passion. It’s been an incredible journey and I wouldn’t have done it any other way. The older I got the more I realized that the people I have met with the greatest amount of success have their own stories of being a 3rd grade Trekkie. The most successful entrepreneurs I get to meet on a regular basis left great paying jobs to build something from scratch when everybody told them they were crazy.

They are crazy, but crazy is the only thing that gets us to realize our dreams.

Nerd up

The best advice I can give to anybody is to find their passion. Find the one thing that gets you so excited you want to dance around the house and pursue that. If you love baking more than anything in the world, go be a baker. If you love numbers and problem solving, go be an accountant. If you love writing, go be a writer.

Because nobody got to the big leagues if they weren’t willing to put in the work every single day on their craft. And for every game out there, there are a handful of players playing and hundreds of thousands of people watching. Be a player, not a watcher.

Nicholas Linde is the Director of Development and Adjunct Faculty at the Minnesota State University, Mankato College of Business

Other posts by Nicholas: How to Life Intentionally, In Life and Work: Point to the Passer, 3 Reasons to Hire from the Farm,