Hey friends,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Here’s this week’s 1-1-1.

1 Doodle

When I started studying chemistry, I imagined a pretty clear future: earn my PhD and become a scientist at a pharmaceutical company. I even remember talking to a friend about Pfizer long before COVID, and he had no idea what company I was talking about.

But during my PhD, I became fascinated by how chemistry, physics, and engineering come together to make microchips. Moving from pharma to semiconductors felt far outside my comfort zone, but I decided to give it a try.

In 2020, I joined a semiconductor company. At first, everything felt unfamiliar, and I often wondered if I should return to pharma. But slowly, I fell in love with the technology, the environment, and how much there was to learn.

That journey inspired this doodle.

1 Do

Write down one thing outside your comfort zone and take one small action to pressure-test it.

1 Direction

We often assume that the place where we feel most comfortable is also the place where we belong. But comfort tells us what is familiar, not necessarily what is right for us.

You don’t need to make a huge leap or know exactly where a new path will lead. Sometimes you just need to step outside the familiar long enough to see what is there.

If I had waited until semiconductors felt comfortable, I might never have discovered how much I would enjoy this field. And that is the beauty of stepping outside your comfort zone: you are giving yourself the chance to discover something you cannot see from where you are standing today.

That’s all for this week.

Warmly,

- Ehsan /a-🌞/

P.S. If this newsletter made you think of someone, feel free to forward it to them. They can read all past newsletters here and subscribe if they like.

P.P.S. I recently made a video on What's In My Bag: Business Travel Edition. You can watch it here.

P.P.P.S. Feel free to reply and say hi. I always enjoy hearing from readers.

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