What amazes me among all of the
people that we’ve met is: how much of what they were able to do can be
attributed to serendipity and how few of them (honestly none) could have seen
themselves where they are right now.
Needless to say they were all brilliant, but you see so much brilliance are
you and some of the speakers have outright repudiated the claim that they were
brilliant. Dr. Koblick seemed particularly adamant in
this assertion, he even said that some have suggested that perhaps it takes a
certain lack of imagination to do what he did and that the really brilliant
individuals are not cut out for the type of research he does, which of course
we all know was good natured modesty on his part. However what was particularly ironic and
striking was that he said that sometimes he’s afraid to ask questions, because he
feels they won’t be brilliant enough, and here I, myself, was sitting there
feeling the exact same feeling. So, it
seems to me what separates these people from the rest of the brilliant
individuals, is that, there was something they were passionate about and they
saw an opportunity and ran with it, they stuck to it.
Jerry Yang and his friends created
one of the most cutting edge search engine at the time simply because they
wanted a way to beat the poli-sci kids at fantasy basketball and he expressed his
doubt over whether they had or had not successfully defeated their opponents. The CFO of Stanford a man who leads an
University with a budget larger than some countries, met a random friend at
movie that his wife (not he) had wanted to watch, from that he was able to
ascertain his position of great power. Yet
sometimes I’m afraid, what if I have that great moment and somehow miss it.
Maybe I might have missed my chance
my moment to have that kind of success, or maybe that is exactly the incorrect
mentality. The problem is that I am
looking for an opportunity too zealously, rather I should let the opportunity
come to me and not try to force it.
There have definitely been opportunities, ranging from my friends trying
to start a home décor company for college students, or a new type of resume,
etc.; starting before I even came to Stanford and just recently when a
semi-sketchy grad student was pitching his idea of a new online class
system. Maybe that’s the problem, I am
too eager for looking for that perfect opportunity, rather I should just run
with whatever opportunity comes my way.
I have found two quotes extremely
inspiring: when Gerhard Casper said that as a German boy eating Hoover food one
could never imagine that he would be living in the House of President Herbert
Hoover and when Dr. Uwe said everything can be taken from you your knowledge
cannot.
I personally have been given all these
opportunities that most of the people I know have never had, I should take them
and whatever may happen have no regret.
What happens, happens. It’s just
hard to put into words this feeling, this weight of having to do something, but
fearing that I might sit complacently. This fear that I’ll miss this critical
juncture. That, by the time I finally
know what to do, it’ll be too late.
Today the speakers from the design school said “isn’t it great that you
are going to miss so many opportunities.
Maybe they were trying to point out the sheer numbers of opportunities
available to us, but I personally really hope that they were being sarcastic.
Haroon
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