Episode VI: What’s Next
Welcome back to iSight.
I finished my senior thesis about patience on April 4th and am in what other students call PTL (post-thesis life). If you are interested in reading my thesis, please let me know and I will upload it.
In college, I learned one big lesson:
If you’re going to be good at something, do everything asked of you to meet expectations. If you’re going to be great at something, build skills and take calculated risks to exceed expectations.
In football, those risks require a deep understanding of the game and the situation. For example, if a cornerback is covering a wide receiver, they must calculate where the quarterback will throw the ball, the receiver’s route, and their assignment in a specific scheme. Knowing these three things will allow them to take a calculated risk and use their technique to deflect or intercept the ball.
How do I apply this lesson moving forward? What’s next?
All people encounter this same problem regarding what’s next when graduating college. My long-term plan is to impact mental health, but what’s going to help me get there?
To take a calculated risk, I must develop a skillset. It takes years of constant practice and attention to detail to have them, but which ones are necessary to build my future?
I have identified three primary skills:
Data Analysis.
It is necessary for my future to understand data.
Financial data contains all information about companies and deals. Having financial data analysis as a skillset wouldn’t just mean that I mastered using Microsoft Excel, studying markets/other comparable corporations, and processing qualitative metrics (like a Profit & Loss statement) at a high level.
Technical data is being able to read or make any data set from tech. Having technical data analysis wouldn’t just mean that I mastered some aspect of tech like coding or implementing AI at a high level.
Instead, having each skill set means I can apply my number and tech knowledge to obtain a higher level of understanding. The deeper the conclusion my data analysis skill set allows me to find, the more of an impact I can make because the solution will be a lot more straightforward.
I aim to study financial data in my first job after Princeton and learn how to code this summer.
2) Psychology/Qualitative Analysis.
As the world becomes more technical, physical human skillsets (like building cars in factories) become less relevant. What cannot be taken away from our human experience is our psychology and how our brains work.
I have previously stated my passion for making a difference in mental health, but fully understanding the human mind is necessary to make a difference.
Whether my future outlet for making a difference is with people or products, I will need people to aid my studies. Understanding how people think will be the biggest help in making concise decisions.
Psychology as a study requires people to be around you so you can analyze their thought patterns. A combination of experience and research will allow me to develop this skill set.
I plan to go back to school at a much later date to understand the human brain scientifically. In the meantime, I will continue to build an understanding of how the brain works through personal study and experience with others.
3) Video Editing/Production.
This skill set is something I’ve been actively working on as of late.
When I was twelve, I took a class offered outside of my elementary school to understand how YouTube works..
Ten years later, I made a YouTube channel. My first three videos will be out tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday, and the link will be in my social media bios. I am VERY excited to continue using my creative juices and have fun making content!
