One of the measures of growing up – is to learn how to identify when you have made a bad choice. And an even bigger measure – is to own that as a mistake. To err is Human, but to learn how to accept an error and rectify it – is life!

No gyaan here. Just some simple talk. I have not made many bad decisions in life thus far. But I think I might have just stumbled on one. I regret it and I accept it. It is just that it takes a lot of effort to rectify it.

When I look back, some of the key decisions I took have helped me become the person I am today. And this makes it even more important for me to rectify this mistake. It has to be done before it changes me as a person.

To forgo the fun at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and go to Nagpur to pursue a passion for logic – sometimes called engineering, was one of the first decisions I took in my adult life. I have no regrets about this decision. If nothing else, the engineering curriculum enables us to think and act logically.

Another major decision I made fairly early was to continue a long distance relationship knowing all the pain that comes with it. I am so happy about this decision till date. I married the right man- and I am sure of that.

Coming to US instead of working in India right after college, was
another major decision. I could have followed the norm and looked for a job in India. But I made the right call and got the right support from my parents to go pursue a dream. It was a lot of handwork to manage the education loan and even more to pay it back. So it was a tough decision, but indeed a good one.

This one is not as relevant as some others, but when I decided to look for internship opportunities outside of Colorado – it seemed a little intimidating to move to a new location and start it all over again. But I wanted to see other parts of United States and explore opportunities that were out of the norm. So I applied for internships all over US. Loved my time in Chicago and will not trade it for anything else.

Choosing not to pursue full time opportunity with Motorola, to pursue
a boutique consulting firm offer – was a big one. I am so happy I was capable of making this decision back then. You got to experience the variety to know what you like, or you will be forced to believe that what you do is what you like.

When I quit Perficient to join the new company, it was a big (very big)
decision. I quit the comfort and the love of the people I worked with to pursue more diverse opportunities. It seemed like a good thing to do to avoid stagnating my career. I am still evaluating that decision.

The bottom line is – if you did make a bad call, only you can
identify it. It is best that you accept it and even better if you take the right steps to rectify it !