Don't Follow the Herd

Photo by Tommy Lisbin on Unsplash

Imagine the world around 40 years back. You are out in the wild. Trying to find your way at night. No physical maps with you. Digital maps don't exist. The only guide for you is the north star. Our life is sometimes like this. We are sometimes looking for direction. As we grow older we question ourselves more. What's next? In those moments having a north star helps. This north star doesn't show our ultimate destination but it acts as a guide to let us know where we are. The different directions we can go to. But without the north star we are always kind of lost, not only in the forest but also in life.

Few years back right after high school I was lost too. Not knowing where to go or what to do. Not knowing where my passion lies. A common situation we all face. In that vital moment I made a mistake that a lot of us make. I decided to follow the herd. I decided to look at what everyone else is doing. I decided to follow the herd. That was one of the biggest mistakes I could have done during that vital moment. But that mistake didn't hurt me as much as it taught me. That's why mistakes are important. That mistake taught me how following the herd never should be the answer. Here's my story of trying to do exactly that.

Founder at 'X', is something that is really common nowadays. Everyone seems to have their own 'startup' or works at one. But this startup culture was still relatively new in 2014 when I graduated high school. Everyone was trying to follow this dream of owning their own business some day. Changing the world with their new startup. Although I had zero knowledge or interest in that sector. I decided to follow the herd. I thought to myself, I will have my own startup, my own business. That's what I want. Little did I know that I still hadn't found my north star. I was still lost but I thought I found something.

That one step of following the herd led me to making a lot of dumb choices in the past 5 years. I participated in multiple startup competitions and accelerators. I failed every-time or gave-up in the middle. I always told myself, ''The next one will be the one''. Countless ideas and countless pipe dreams down the drain. I still continued. But I never questioned the fundamental step that led me to this path.

I never really wanted to run my own big startup. Never really wanted to be the next founder at X. I went after that pipe dream following the herd, and wasted a big amount of my life. I don't regret doing that because this wrong path did teach me lessons that have guided me and shaped my north star.

I am talking about this because a lot of us are on this similar path. Following the herd. Not knowing what we really want. It's fine at the beginning but slowly start asking more questions. If that path is actually for you or is it just a pipe dream. It's not wrong to accept our mistakes. It's rather a sign of maturity.

This blog post is my acceptance of that mistake. The mistake of following the herd. A mistake that did more good than bad. A mistake I am happy to have made.

Do I know What's Next? Certainly not. But do I have my north star? Absolutely!