“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

In the blink of an eye the tree leaves have turned from green to vibrant shades of orange, red, and yellow and finally to various hues of brown as the wind blows through and sweeps them away. Just like that, three months have gone by since HBS started. In the first month, I was wondering what I would do with my free time. By the second month, I found myself wondering where my free time went. In between my roles in the Entrepreneurship Club, TechMedia Club, Harbus Foundation, and Volunteers Club, I fortunately still have time to catch up with newfound friends over coffee in Spangler, on a hike in Blue Hills, or an outing into Beantown.

During other times, I’ve found myself more and more frequently reflecting on my experiences at HBS and whether I am meeting the challenge I had set for myself. Throughout all of this, I was constantly reminded of HBS’ Portrait Project, which asks graduating students to answer a question posed by Mary Oliver’s poem, The Summer Day - “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” While I don’t yet have an answer to that question, I do know that I want to be happy. Therefore, after much internal deliberation I decided to dip my toes into the startup world - be that my own or that of another.

Not too long after that decision, an onslaught of “traditional” career related events started popping up in my inbox and on my calendar. Company Presentation Day, LinkedIn makeovers, resume reviews, coaching sessions, EC lunches, and recruiting emails all came in on one giant wave. I resisted the instinct to respond to the recruiting emails and the temptation to attend the corporate presentations. Instead, I channeled my time towards helping to organize the Entrepreneurship Conference, attending the Cyberposium conference, and other events more suited to what I was looking for.

In the background, I started brainstorming with a fellow classmate on startup ideas. Our first idea was dead on arrival. Our second idea had a longer lifetime, but was soon discarded after a subsequent brainstorming session with an HBS faculty member. Then, in the middle of preparing for an FRC case, another idea, one which reflects my passion for food, popped into my head. Only time will tell where that idea will go; but until then, onward!