If you flip through my fifth-grade yearbook, prepare to find something highly embarrassing and undeniably amusing on the 36th page. I’m not speaking about the goofy headshot of me in pigtails (although that comes in a close second), but rather, the short description I give of my future goals. When 10-year-old Ibanca was asked the question “what do you want to be when you are older?” her answer was slightly…ambitious.
“Lawyer, author, and astronaut.”
Let’s take a moment to emphasize the AND. Not even a modest “or.” Back when I was a starry-eyed elementary-schooler, there was nothing unusual about defending clients, writing novels, and making missions to outer space, all at the same time. Of course it was possible.
The nerve, right?! Today, I look back at this moment in history and chuckle. Oh, how silly I used to be! How hilariously childish! But through all the light laughter, there’s a part of me that can’t help but feeling…cheated. Why is it that, as I grew older, I felt my hopeless optimism being compromised, piece by piece? I reminisce for the days when reality never kicked in, when the world was infinite and limitless, and when my imagination reigned over “practical” things like finances and job stability. As time progressed, I began to think that my future had to fit a mold more than it had to fit me.
As we age, we become more rational. More affected by the facts, more likely to act upon sense and knowledge than intuition and whims. Some even go so far to equate this to “wisdom.” But this is a detriment to our capacity for invention…we are left less bold, less curious, less idealistic, less audacious.
There’s been this long-held belief that, when it comes to entrepreneurship, only the creative succeed. Creativity is thought to be an innate talent that only the Zuckerberg’s and the Shultz’s are endowed with. No doubt, creativity is essential…but I think everyone is born with the potential to create. I mean, really, who can argue that they haven’t had a few stupid ideas in their life?
According to Donald Campbell’s classic theory of human creativity, the formulation of creative ideas occurs subliminally, with different bits of information combining and colliding in several unique ways. This process, similar to mutations in evolution, is blind, random, and a result of chance. What brings certain ideas to our conscious minds, however, is the selection mechanisms we possess. The idea for the next best thing since sliced bread may be floating around in anyone’s head, but the entrepreneur is the one whose mind deems what most would sort as “silly” as, instead, “brilliant.” The heliocentric theory was just a whimsical thought Galileo happened to have, but if it weren’t for his stubborn optimism and hyper-confidence to act upon it, we wouldn’t today have the telescope.
This irrational behavior is often characteristic of younger people. We think we are invincible and, simply put, awesome. We may not have the most diverse experiences in life yet, but we sure as heck are enthusiastic, adventurous, and just a tad bit crazy. With dissuading statistics released every year about the nature of entrepreneurship (for example, only 35% of small businesses make it to the five-year mark), those that embark on the journey must possess, to some extent, unreasonable confidence. They must be the risk-seekers, the ones who arrive at the airport asking for the “next ticket out, no matter the destination.” The entrepreneur is the traveler who thinks not of the possibility of loneliness, crime, or disease…but of discovery, thrill, and love.
In an essay a few weeks ago, Y-Combinator Founder Paul Graham made the case against being an entrepreneur-in-college, as several of your life-defining experiences lie yet in your future. Yes, perhaps you’ll miss out on the one-month “EuroTrip” all your friends are going on upon graduation, and maybe you won’t be able to upload certain photos on Facebook anymore. But if you’d rather fly around the world to make business deals for a company you truly care about instead of flying around the world to “find yourself,”…well, then, you do you. And if you’re finding yourself through your journey in entrepreneurship, then do you again. And if you consider college to be the perfect incubator (with a high concentration of diverse experiences, people, and opportunities) for your particular idea…then do you a third time, I guess. The best thing about entrepreneurship is that it’s an unshaped path, and whether you’re 19 or 91, you can define it for yourself.
As now a sophomore in college, I’ve determined that lawyer+author+astronaut is not the best career for me. But my dreams are still big, my hopes are still high, and my eyes are still starry. And this little thing called “rationality?” Well, I’m not going to let it get in my way.
