Hey friends,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Here’s this week’s 1 Doodle · 1 Do · 1 Direction.

1 Doodle

In the beginning of a career, the formula for success is simple: work hard and you will move up. But eventually, everyone around you is also working hard, and you hit a new baseline. In 2011, I reached that baseline. I had a stable job with a safe game to play until retirement: teach 24 hours per week for the next 30 years, and then retire.

But I couldn't imagine staying a chemistry teacher forever.

To change this, I had to take some risks. My risk was migrating to the USA to get my PhD, with the goal of staying, finding a job, and building a life there. It sounds simple when saying it out loud, but it was the biggest risk of my life in many aspects.

These days, I look at my life and enjoy the rewards of that choice, but I shouldn't forget the risk it took to get here. This week’s doodle is a reminder of that.

1 Do

Think about where you want to be in your career over the next 10 years. Does that projection require taking any risks? What are those risks? Write them all down somewhere in your Google Calendar so a notification will pop up for you in 10 years! (One of my favorite use cases for Google Calendar is writing notes to my future self :D)

1 Direction

I am against uncalculated risk, but I am also against "safe" risk. You have to decide your own level of risk, as it can't be the same for everyone. Millions of people migrate every year for the exact same reason: searching for a better place to study, work, and live.

When I decided to take the risk and migrate, no one around me told me it was a good idea. Instead, they encouraged me to stay at my stable job where I would have a steady income until retirement. The lesson I learned was this: if I know myself, understand the path, and own the execution of each task, one after another, that is enough. I shouldn't chase external approval for my risk plan.

That’s all for this week.

Warmly,

- Ehsan /a-🌞/

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P.P.S. I recently made a video on How I Stay Focused Between Meetings. You can watch it here.

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