A decade of my US life!

Today, I completed 10 years in USA. Someone who came in 2008 with 2 bags, few $$s in pocket and big dreams in the eyes didn’t realize what was waiting shortly ahead! I subscribed to Wall Street Journal immediately with an excitement to read company’s growth stories, leadership articles, rising Dow Jones but instead found the stories about sub-prime crisis, bankruptcies and market crash. That recession slowed down my dreams for few years. I recall dialing to my elder brother back home and discussed if I should come back but as we say in America, he suggested to just “hang-in” there. Next decade brought unbelievable ups and downs that shaped my thought process about my career, life, people and expectations. As I was reflecting upon my learnings, I thought to pen down few and share with y’all:

• Manage your dreams. We possibly can’t achieve all the dreams on our mind. We need to shortlist, prioritize what’s most important, critical to us and then chase it. And so what if we can’t achieve them, we shouldn’t forget the knowledge we gained and the lessons we learnt during the process because those can come handy anytime in future. I had to delay my MBA (Emory University) for 4-5 years but when I started, I applied my industry knowledge gained during all these years with the academics that my learning became super easy and very practical.
• Be Resilient. Failures, setbacks, rejections are bound to surprise us in different shapes and sizes. But the real test lies how quickly and efficiently we can rise and prove our mettle to the world. My current company GE has seen 2-3 economic cycles since 2008 and every time, it has emerged more stronger and better. If a company of 300k+ employees can do it, why can’t an individual like you and me do it!
• Be Passionate. Do what you feel most passionate about. If you love what you do, then you don’t have to actually work for a single day. I have not enjoyed all the roles I did but couple of them stood out so much that I didn’t realize when I finished my tenure and there came a time to move on.
• Nothing is Permanent in Life. I made lot of close friends in US since I didn’t have an immediate family but kept losing them one after another due to their relocation, family priorities etc. So enjoy and cherish your possessions while you have but stay prepared that future may have something else for you.
• Stay Positive. Negativity just breeds more contempt and recedes our thought process to move forward and upwards. Once I applied for a role which I was most passionate about, but eventually someone else earned it (possibly a better candidate). For next couple of years, I worked diligently on my development needs and finally landed a role which was so unique and full of knowledge than previous one.
• Be Compassionate. Don’t make enemies, please! If you don’t like someone, change your course but don’t talk negative about them or go after them. You never know when that person immediately becomes the most helpful person in your life or you get to work for that person. Once I got into an argument with someone at work that could have got escalated to HR, but after the advise from my manager, I apologized to that individual and since then, we have shared a close working relationship with each other.
• Stay Focused. Reduce the number of tasks but improve the quality of such tasks. We all love multi-tasking but don’t kill yourself to be an over-achiever. I wrecked my beloved car two years back due to an accident on Interstate. Reason? I was hopping between playing music, calling, reading and texting that I completely missed the halt of the car right ahead of me.
• Learn from Everyone. I have observed that every human being on this earth has something unique to offer, but its upon us how we perceive others and how much we want to learn. After I rented my very first apartment in Atlanta, I got a roommate who had an introvert personality. But he used to spend his time reading quality books that one time when I sat with him, I was amazed with his wealth of knowledge.
• Forget your Past. No one can change the course of history, no one! But we can change our present for a better tomorrow. A broken relationship, losses in stock market, delayed promotion can all dent your memories but if we hold onto these grudges, we would never be able to think afresh and do what we need to do so that we don’t repeat our mistakes. Forgive and move on, simple!
• Family first, Always! Love your family, they will be there when no one else would be there for you. I had to travel to India twice in last 6 months to take care of my beloved ailing dad. Every job in this world can stay for a while, others can step-in for you but you need to definitely take out the time to be with your family when they need you the most. Don't miss those moments due to the demands of work. I was fortunate enough that my GE managers and team gave me full flexibility to travel and spend as much time as I wanted to. Make those relationships, nurture them!
• Chose the Manager, not the Job. I saved the most important one for the last. This is very critical guys. One effective manager can make the most boring job very enjoyable by being collaborative, engaged. But an ineffective, non-promoter manager can make the most exciting job very remorseful. So always-always be careful who you are going to work for. I learnt this the hard way, you shouldn’t. Do your homework!

Hope my thoughts didn’t come as cliché, and you were able to resonate at least some of them. I am really very excited now for the next decade for me and for my family. Wish you all the best and live a happy and healthy life. Enjoy!

Sumeet