Waste Your Talent If You Want

I was very good at math.  So when it was time to go to college, my parents wanted to me to be an engineer.

I was first drawn to dance.  I loved to dance.  I wasn't great at dance.  But I wanted to learn more.  I could happily spend my entire day learning about dance.  

Maybe I would want to be a dance teacher?  Maybe I would have a breakout moment and become a professional dancer?  Maybe I would find something related to dance to study?  

But the answer was no.  

It was not a secure thing.  

It was a waste of my talent.

I was very good at math.  My parents wanted me to be an engineer.  My parents wanted me to go to Cornell.

During the Cornell campus tour I was drawn to the hotel management school.  I was really organized.  I loved food.  I loved decorating.  I loved entertaining.  I loved travel. I could happily spend my entire day learning about working in a hotel.

Maybe I would want to be a chef?  Maybe I would be an event planner?  Maybe I would manage a small B&B in France?

But the answer was no.

Did I want so spend my life serving others?

It was a waste of my talent.

I was very good at math.  My parents wanted me to be an engineer.  My parents wanted me to go to Cornell.  My parents wanted me to get scholarships for being a girl good at math.

While looking at engineering majors, I was lured in by it's sister, architecture.  I loved art and buildings.  I wasn't a great artist.  But I wanted to learn more.  I could happily spend my entire day learning about architecture.

Maybe I would be an architect?  Maybe I would design really cool furniture? 

But the answer was no.

I was not a good enough artist.

It was a waste a my talent.

So, as you may have guessed, I went to the Cornell School of Engineering and studied Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.

I can't tell you what I learned because I wasn't interested in learning about it.

I did not get good grades because I wasn't interested in learning about it.

I could not get a job in engineering because I wasn't interested in learning about it.

I ended up in human resources and loved serving others.  Then I opened a bakery where I designed really cool and crazy cakes.  Oh, and I volunteer teaching dance to kids.

So I eventually got to a place where I was doing the things that I liked.

I would have been so much happier and made a bigger impact on the world if I had just wasted my talent and learned about something that I was interested in to begin with!

So go ahead.

Waste your talent if you want!