During my training with the Indian Police Service, we were attached to an elite army unit in Nagaland for exposure.
So a few days after we landed, we went for a patrol in full combat gear – we had to wear a metallic flak jacket and a bulletproof headgear that was so heavy that after half an hour, we felt like our neck would break.
And yet, for the army and the police, that was what they did for 8-10 hrs every day. One army major told us that they were sometimes deployed at the airport for six hours at a stretch, in the burning hot sun, in full combat gear.
One might glamorize being an army officer in an elite unit, but in real life, it can be mind-bogglingly hard.
I observed the same thing in McKinsey – you go in expecting to solve problems for CEOs, which sounds so cool. And yet, most of the time, you are just working back-breaking hours on your PowerPoint.
The same could be said about startup glamour.
After all these experiences, I have realized that the glamor is only from the outside. In reality, even the most coveted jobs are really hard. And when we say that a job is exciting, it is exciting not like a Disney movie but like a hard trek.
Nothing worthwhile is likely to be easy. But nothing is so hard that it can’t be done.
– Rajan