On day 3 of this challenge, the prompt was about skills.

“What skills do you have that you are one of the best in from the people you know? What are you good at? What knowledge do you possess that most others don’t?

Somehow it reminded me of the questions I faced when I decided to pursue liberal arts instead of an MBA after engineering.

“What skills will you gain from the course? What is the scope after you do this? Do they give job placement in companies? “

The honest answer was I did not know. All I know was that I felt inexplicably drawn towards the idea of studying subjects I had never imagined they teach in one college- Bombay cinema and gender studies, Heart of leadership, Shakespeare, Political economy, Critical writing, Fundamentals of Law, Design thinking, Art appreciation, and around 20 more multi-disciplinary courses like that.

My education till that point had been pretty one-dimensional with a focus on science and math. It neither sparked any curiosity nor gave me any joy of learning for its own sake. Being one-dimensional did not excite me. It was boring.

On the other hand, the multi-disciplinary education in that 1 year made me come alive. I threw myself into my studies once again, but this time with a genuine curiosity to learn. It was the best decision ever in my life.

I did get the job as well in the end.

But, it was more due to the skillset of online marketing I had already developed prior to the course. It is still difficult for me to explain what skills I gained during that course.

However, what I did develop during the course was an intangible, subtle, multi-dimensional aspect of my personality that is uncaged and undefined by any skill. This aspect makes me think about problems from multiple angles. It makes me accept and appreciate the paradoxes of life and group behavior. It made me kinder and more emphatic toward people. It has given me the courage to make unconventional choices and be unapologetically myself.

No skill or MBA could have matched this nuance of understanding and the inner transformation I experienced.

It made me realize that skills come secondary to your inner compass and being. They are a byproduct of who you are and what are you genuinely curious about.

Chasing skills without paying attention to your inner world is a mundane, soulless way of living. This is what Navel also once talked about specific knowledge that comes with chasing genuine curiosity and passion rather than pursuing what’s hot right now.

Because you are not a robot with a chip of instructions to perform a pre-defined list of tasks. You are a f**king beautiful multi-dimensional being. Embrace it first before defining yourself in terms of skills and competing with others to be the best.

When you do that, life becomes more lively, beautiful, and an open field of endless possibilities driven by your playful curiosity.

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