Finding calling for thinking competency individuals

As i have noted elswhere, finding a calling for professionals who have 'thinking' competency is a very tough ask. For 'Doing' competency individuals - such as musicians, dancers, cricketers, and chess players - it is easier. Here is another example of a tough ask that i watched on a Zee TV on 2nd Jan.

This individual, let us call him Rajiv, passed from a college in Delhi. Went on to start a business. Managed to do it for two years. Rajiv was selling clothes.

Rajiv then joined an advertising agency which a friend of his started. After a period he shifts to a bigger ad agency, ULKA. Ulka got work for Hero Honda. Prahlad Kakkar was directing the film; however he had a cardiac trouble, when he landed in Delhi. He was hospitalised. The ad work could not be stopped. So the cameraman became the director and Rajiv became assistant director. This was the first experience of doing something what he liked. Seed was sown.

While dropping Prahlad Kakkar to the Delhi Airport, Prahlad Kakkar tells Rajiv that his place is in Mumbai. After 6 months, Rajiv lands in Mumbai. Rajiv comes and works in a ad agency in Mumbai and then starts his own ad agency. During one of his work, he comes along to work with Amitabh Bachan, on his Madhushala album.Seed grew into a big plant.

That introduction leads him to make a movie with Amitabh Bachan. The movie flops. He concluded that the movie flopped because he did not know how to write a script. Seed had grown into a plant, but not yielding a fruit.

Second script is written after a long time. Rajiv was unable to find a financer for this. However, Aamir Khan saw the script and that enabled him to find a financer and producer. Plant with seed had now yielded a fruit.

Could you guess the name of this individual? By the way, it is not John Mathan, who also had advertising background. But in all such career stories, one can trace the path.

Do you see how much time/effort and fortuitous incidents have to happen to just find a calling? And then equally large amount of time/effort has to be put to own that calling? It is absolutely impossible to find when the seed will get sown and then equally fortuitous to guess which seed will be nurtured and flowered further to make it a calling. After the event, it looks obvious. Before the event, it looks risky guesswork.

Only when such many stories are put together, one can see a common patterns and convert hindsight into foresight. If you happen to meet such a mentor, this risky guesswork can be converted into practical plan. A mentor can also help you see things before they become an event. A mentor can give you the necessary support to own the seed. And perhaps, he or she can also help you save some time and large effort!