How can you love your subjects?

Before we jump to how let’s understand why we would love what we do or read or learn?

Why do we want to learn? Why do we want to study?

To pass the exams? To achieve your dream? If it’s just to pass the exam, you will never fall in love with your subject, but if your answer is to achieve your dream, that’s the only way you will fall in love, with your subject of course.

So it’s well understood if I want to achieve my dreams, then I would have to find the reason for involvement in my subjects. In my dreams, I wanted to be a pilot and I started loving mathematics. But then I got to know that, I could not appear for that exam due to my weak eyesight. But dreams never stop. Then I wanted to be a scientist. I started loving science. And that became my next love and it kept on changing until I found my real IKIGAI.

But was my journey easy for loving maths and science? Nope, it wasn’t. Just interest is not enough. U would need the right help. I, fortunately, found an amazing teacher who helped me clear small doubts and guided me to the right path. Once your small doubts are resolved and you start to get things. Your interest in the subject then leads to falling in love with the subject. Just like I did with mathematics.  Though it could be any subject for you, no matter what.

Now the question is, why would I love other subjects if they are not even used in fulfilling my dreams. But unfortunately, that’s not the case in this country. There are entrances which we need to clear before I get into a place which would fulfil my dream. So let’s just say I need a benchmark to achieve that entrance in other subjects which means I don’t have to worry to score maximum. Just the minimum score to clear my entrance criteria should be fine. Good enough. Does it lessen your burden? For me it did. I hated social science my whole life and I still hate it. But it never stopped me from achieving my IKIGAI.

So ask yourself.. What do you want to become? There are plenty of ambitions you can have. And don’t worry. It keeps on changing as you grow and experience new things. Experience a new life. And it’s completely fine. It’s not an agreement on a stamp paper that you made to yourself and you have to stick to it at any cost even if you are no more interested. Very less percentage of kids become what they want to become in their school time. And that’s fine. Unless you explore new options you would never come to know your interest.

I used to teach kids for some time in my life and I used to get amazing questions from amazing students of mine.  Here the list goes.

Few conversations.

Student 1: Mam, I am just a small kid and I want to play. I don’t want to study. I want to do sports or acting or anything in my life but studies.

(Kids are also egoistic trust me)

Me: I agree but let’s suppose your mother will give you 50/- and will ask you to buy something from the market. And now you go to the market and buy something which is 20/- but your shopkeeper uncle gives you only 20/- back instead of 30/- If you don’t know the calculations or don’t know to read the MRP and expiry date in the product, the shopkeeper uncle can make a fool out of you, would you want to become a fool?

Student 2: Mam I want to be a businessman. How do these maths equations of any use for me?

Me: okay let’s say you will become a successful businessman and will own a fortune 500 company like tata Birla, Ambani and you will hire highly qualified people. But unless you know how things work. How equations work. How balance sheets and finance work. How would you know that you are not being cheated? Or you are not guided the right way.?

Student 3: Mam, why the hell we learn this bullshit integration differentiation. I don’t want to be a mathematician. And I don’t think this would be useful anywhere in my life.

Me: that’s true. Only mathematicians would need those. I used to feel the same until the time I did an MBA. I don’t know why I chose finance but maybe to get all my answers which I too had in my mind during my school time. Integration and differentiation are the 2 majorly important tools widely used to maximise your profits and returns. Minimise your expenditure. In short, optimisation and the best solution to your problem is achieved from all mathematical equations. And the most popular job in this era is data analytics which uses regression (based on mathematical equations) as the main tool to run predictions for the future based on current data. Could be used in all the fields. Starting from predicting future sales of Nike shoes to future prices of shares to the future number of confirmed cases of COVID 19 positive patients. And it’s true.

So my point is just to find the connection of your ambition to the subject you want to learn.. Or maybe you are supposed to learn. Even if it’s the subject you dislike the most, you can still love it 50% just to achieve your entrance criteria 🙂 isn’t a bad deal for sure.  Remember you don’t have to be a topper in all subjects and love none. If you love 1 or 2 of them, you would start loving others also a bit because you would be more confident in your loved subjects and would be happier.

It’s just like doing the questions you know first as compared to the questions you are not confident enough. And bit by bit you will be a step closer to your dreams every day. Give it a try.

-Inaya