Are You Left-Brained or Right-Brained?

I was convinced I was a left-brained person until I started gaining notice of my visual, creative, and intuitive side too

At the age of 8, I discovered my love for writing, and it has been a passion that I have pursued throughout my life. From writing poems and opinion pieces for university magazines to authoring market intelligence and consulting/data reports for Gartner and Mordor Intelligence, my writing skills have always gained notice and has been a valuable asset in my career.

In my late teens, I realized that I also had a knack for Mathematics and Statistics, when I was consistently scoring straight A's in all the disciplines most of my peers would dread. Little did I know back then, that this would help me when I would later go on in my job presenting complex data findings to stakeholders, building models from scratch, or cracking otherwise nerve-racking guesstimate interviews.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis hitting the stock markets, I also got fascinated by the business world in general (and the economic factors that shaped them), and by the functionality of the share market in particular. Imagine a young teenager wondering about all this lol. However, this curiosity led me to pursue a bachelor's in Economics and a master's in Business Economics and Finance as well. When I was studying at the University of Delhi, I gained a deeper understanding of personal finance and later started investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options/futures, and ETFs that would yield me long-term returns. Moreover, I earned a certification that would allow me to be an expert in the field and help my friends build strong diversified portfolios. 

With the data bend of mind, I was convinced I was a left-brained person until I started noticing my visual, creative, and intuitive side, when at work, my client presentations were repeatedly appreciated for exceeding expectations on analysis of course, but also on visual appeal and clarity. Of course, I would work on making them as intuitively as possible - even sometimes after my work hours - not to please anyone - but because I identified it as an opportunity to channel my inner creativity. I realized that I was perhaps good at designing when I started winning hundreds of dollars in prizes and gigs for taking out just 30 minutes for designing logos, ads, or website banners for companies. I was always working with data so this is when I started furthering data visualization skills through projects on essential BI dashboarding tools such as Tableau, Excel, and Power BI.

One thing led to another, and with data visualization, the next thing that I learnt to work well with was some technology and coding to learn how to fetch and analyze the data. Of course, a plunge into the world of technology tools and methods ignited another interest - technology, business processes, product, and project management.

After circling back to my constant love for business, one thing that I realized is:

• Change is the only constant
• In only 5 years into my career and so far, I've been lucky to get the opportunity to work within the Finance function, the Marketing function, the HR function, and even the IT & Data Function of companies, which itself is a rare occurrence. Wearing several hats so far has given me a unique perspective.
• In the early stages of career (0-5 years at least), cross-functional understanding of business can help realize a person's strength areas.
• I don't think I will stop learning cross-functionally until I learn all aspects of businesses in-depth, so much so that I feel comfortable even starting a business of my own if I'd want.

Learn, connect, and evolve. 

And as Steve Jobs said, "Stay hungry, stay foolish". 

#business #passion #finance #writing #mathematics #statistics #dataanalysis #consulting #datavisualization #personalfinance #leftbrain #rightbrain #investing #technology #coding #design

Why I Decided To Move Halfway Across The World To Canada

"Can you go halfway around the world, and live in a cold city with freezing winters? Can you leave your friends and family? Wouldn't you be lonely?"

-Jumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

This is the exact question I asked myself, as I saw my invitation letter from the Government of Canada with the following words:

"We are pleased to invite you to apply for permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Workers". This is a highly competitive score-based immigration system for experienced professionals valued internationally for Canada's social benefits, healthcare, education, and a high quality of life.

I usually never second-guess, but in that moment, the prospect of quitting a well-paying reseach & consulting job in India and the proximity to my people to start life from square one barely held any appeal. 

More so, because I love India. The love, the education, the principles, the family values, the work diligence, the peace-loving outlook, the experiences, and the resources to grow up India has given me were incredible in shaping me into the well-rounded individual I am today. It will always stay with me and I will always be grateful to the soil of my motherland.

Additionally, what made the decision even more difficult was the fact that my life in India had become extremely comfortable, specially after I started working from home during COVID. Although my work was challenging to my liking, all my personal work was outsourced, and I was working at home, spending way too much time alone in front of my computer than I wanted my 20s to be. As India doesn't have a minimum wage in the unorganized sector, having the option to afford a servant and a cook at less than $1 an hour was another factor that made me dependant for even my basic needs like food. Working from home, I was pampered and had time for personal development. 

However, at the end, I considered myself a little too comfortable to realize my true potential. I wasn't networking to the best of my ability as I never had to look for a job myself after college. Opportunities had always knocked on my door, either through a campus placement or a LinkedIn offer. As a result, I started lacking enough inspiration to realize my potential - something that I had seen shine through on multiple occasions in both my academic and professional life when I worked with people.

It was only after careful evaluation of the situation and my inner calling, that I made the decision to move to Canada. Following are some of factors I considered:

1. Relocating is a major life decision and for me, it was either then or never. I consider late 20s as the perfect time to start a new life as all the other important life decisions like what role to restart from, where to get the first car, the first home would depend on identifying the base location first. Everything else, thereafter would be a domino effect of that.
2. I kept reminding myself a quote that I read - "Don't Get Comfortable. You are Not A Tree. Keep adapting, Keep pushing your limits. Keep Winning." I know it takes a lot of patience and grit to start a life and a livelihood all over again and I wanted to experience and learn from it.
3. I moved in 2023, when global recession predictions and more specifically for that in Canada were at an all time high. Being an economist myself, I was cognizant of the situation and the possible implications of difficulty in finding a job in my domain, but also, the offer I had by the government had an impending activation deadline, so the decision was timebound. After careful evaluation of the pros and cons, I realized that "Recessions are temporary. Career development in a global environment with a solid startup culture and diverse multicultural perspectives is an opportunity that would lead to long-term growth and/or character development".
4. I highly value diversity and inclusion. So I love an environment of high gender and ethnic diversity. What really appealed to me was to see people of every gender, sexual-orientation, and ethnicity getting equal rights and opportunities in Canada. And there is always something to learn from the experiences of everyone. Also, although it doesn't impact me directly, but I love the fact that there are laws that enable same-sex couples to get married in Canada. Thus, my moral compass is very well-aligned to some such regulations of the country.
5. Lastly, it seemed like the right decision and the right time in terms of my age. I was genuinely very excited to embrace the opportunity of living and working in a diverse, multi-cultural, and goal-oriented country with some of the nicest people in the world.

It takes courage to take a leap of faith as big as this and to move continents. 

I am just carrying 4 virtues with me on this journey:

- Respect

- Resilience

- Quest for Self-Awareness

- Constant & Lifelong Learning

And I hope to pick up more on the way.

Wish me luck!

Here's an applaud to the courage of all immigrants.