My university's Business Honors program (UT Austin BHP) asked that we write a letter to our future self to be read after the completion of our four years of college. Here's mine.
Dear Future Arun,
I hope you’re doing well! I’m writing to you in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic halfway through 2020 – hopefully it’s over by now. This also marks the start of my college career; it has been three days since college started and I've been to all but one of my classes. I know you’re on to better (or at least different) things, but I hope you’ve found an answer to some of the questions I’m worrying about now.
I hope by now that you’ve figured out your career path (no pressure if you haven’t, this isn't something that should be rushed, even if it seems like time's running out) – if you remember how it was back when you were me, it’s hard to make the choice between software engineering/finance/venture capital/quantitative finance etc. Maybe you've found that one of them is especially interesting to you, or that you just dislike one less than the rest. Regardless, make sure you're passionate about what you do - nothing else really matters (even experience for starting a company, since the path to entrepreneurship is so variable). Also, I hope you’re closer to solidifying your path for entrepreneurship – you don’t have to have everything figured out by now, obviously, but practice is always helpful even if it leads to failure in the short term. On that note, don’t underestimate the power of failure – nothing is permanent except the knowledge gained from it. You know as well as I do (hopefully better) that the only scary part of starting a business is what could go wrong. If you don't like a company enough to go all in on it, it isn't time yet. Don't worry, that time will come.
As a person, I’d like to grow by becoming more aware of who I am – my strengths and weaknesses, what I enjoy and despise, and the kind of person I really am. I'm sure you think you know yourself now, but you know as well as I do that you probably don't. As long as you're closer to finding yourself, we can call that success. I hope as I go through college I get more aware of my self-perceptions (especially the ones that are wrong) and I hope you’ve thought about that some more since writing this. I’m sure you’ve made mistakes, which is okay, as long as you (we?) have grown from it. Make mistakes, but never make the same one twice.
I also hope you’ve made new friends – you have great friends, that you should love and trust unconditionally, but there’s always room to grow and to learn new things and new perspectives from others. Trusting others (not with information, which doesn't really matter, but with support and your time) may seem hard, if not impossible, but trust me – it’ll turn out fine. If you ever feel you aren’t ready for what’s out there, just remember middle and high school and how much we’ve changed and learned since then; life is fleeting but friends are forever. At the same time, don't worry too much about the details of friendship - the point of friends is that there's an understood connection, not an explicit one. Also, whoever said not to start a business with friends is wrong - they just need two things, in order of increasing importance: trust and passion.
If you haven’t had the college experience you hoped, don’t worry – the 4 years of college is an arbitrary time frame and your life is nowhere near over or different yet. Being prepared professionally and with a strong support group around you is the most important thing I/you can do. Make sure to romanticize the right things in life – not everyone or everything is worth your attention or time. However, just ‘thinking’ about stuff is always worth it, so don’t forget to leave time for that, no matter what that entails. It may seem like a waste of time sometimes, but living in the abstract is necessary to better understand the 'real' world.
I hope that, in these upcoming years, you can work more to find out what you like – if we haven’t figured that out yet, there’s still a lot of time left and I’m sure you have good opportunities lined up. If you have found that, then make sure your focus and drive are behind you – it may seem tough at times but the present becomes the past as fast as the future becomes the present.
Keep reading philosophy, if you still do - it's hard to recreate that feeling of learning something so profound in just a few words. Also, rewatch Season 3 Episode 7 of Rick and Morty again, it's really good.
Finally, I’d like to depart some bits of knowledge I’ve accumulated in high school and before to you once again in hopes that you’ll keep these memories and lessons with you forever. Firstly, be convicted and confident in your beliefs and yourself – the truth is always subjective, so don't worry too much about being wrong. At the same time, don't be afraid to adapt your opinion if you do find a reason to do so. Pursue happiness, not money – they’re rarely, if ever, the same (although there may be some cause and effect). Never worry too much – think back to the things you worried about when you were me – do they really matter now? Life is short, but that doesn’t mean waste it or do things only for short term satisfaction – it means to strive to be better but to smell the roses and enjoy the path there. You may feel like it’s a waste to spend time suffering now for a better tomorrow, but as long as you enjoy the journey, you’ll be in an optimal position now and in the future. The night is darkest just before the dawn - be ready to face hardship but work past the pain and don't dwell in it; there are better things to come. Most of all, take all of these aphorisms with a grain of salt – all rules are made to be broken so there are no steadfast rules. Do what feels right and hope you’re right.
Good luck.
Arun Eswara
8/29/20