Your career is your responsibility

You can’t have it all.
But you can have whatever your heart truly wants, at that particular time, if you give it your full focus, deep attention, and quiet intent.

The trick is to listen.
To really listen to what your heart wants right now.
Not what others expect. Not what’s trendy. But your voice, in this season.

It won’t be a straight line.
It’ll feel messy, nonlinear, even foolish.
But over time, the dots connect. Not in the moment, but in hindsight. And when they do, you’ll realise you did have it all. Not all at once, but in layers.

That’s how my story shaped up.

I started with C++ development. Got curious about databases and became a DBA to understand data deeply. Most people don’t do that. I did.

Then I shifted to front-end development—HTML, CSS, JS—because I was drawn to the visual layer. My peers thought I was making a dumb move.

But offbeat paths are meant to feel odd.
If you're doing what 99 percent won't, it’s normal to be misunderstood.
Only the 1 percent know what that feels like.

Then came the love of my life, Human-Computer Interaction. I pursued a master’s, took a job at one-third my tech salary, and jumped out of bed every morning excited to solve creative problems. Design thinking felt like home.

I left a thriving job in Singapore to move to India for my kids' Waldorf school. I had offers from top companies, but I chose to build my own agency instead. For years, I solved exciting design problems and loved it. Until I realised I was spending more time managing the business than designing. So I shut it down.

Next, I started a design school. Not for glory, but because the quality of designers I saw around me was heartbreaking. We needed better, so I built it.

Eventually, I missed working with messy processes and large-scale teams. I returned to corporate. Not for safety, but for complexity. Ironically, I earned more from one day of teaching than a month of salary. But this was never about the money.

It was always about doing what my heart wanted at that time, and going all in.

Today, I’m in love with systems design, leadership, writing, community, experimentation, metabolic health. Not all at once. But all together now, as chapters in one cohesive life.

Maybe I made a few million less. But I’ve lived a life that feels whole, wild, and fully mine.

Your career isn’t built in a day.
It is crafted through a series of decisions.
Each one shaped by listening closely to what your heart wants in that moment.

You won't always know what's next.
You can’t have it all at once.
But if you stay anchored to your why, you’ll see that your career wasn’t just built. It was crafted.
And over time, you’ll realise you did have it all.

Your career is your responsibility.