Nobody has it figured out.

The stock market will always go back up.

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

I write this at 7:02 am on a chilly Sunday morning in a ‘warm’ city in South of Europe. This weekend has been a much-needed reset for me. As some of you may know, March was a month filled with plenty running upandan. But with the combination of taking a few days off work and the entry of Ramadan, my schedule has changed for the better in sha Allah.

In today’s newsletter, I am thinking about the relative variance in seemingly straightforward paths.

Let’s dive in.

** side note: After realizing that it was in my interest to sleep post-Subhi, I put writing this on pause and did not get the chance to return until about 6pm.

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A few weeks ago, I was a guest on one of those “How to Get Into Grad School” events. In all honesty, I have a love-hate relationship with speaking at academic x career programs. Sometimes I love them, because I do have many experiences to share with younger people - things I wish I knew before going into these processes.

But on the other hand, I dislike them because (regularly) speaking at these events can project a false image of success or ‘guru status’, which I: 1. do not have, and 2. am not always in the right mental state for. And so my default is often to recommend someone else or postpone my acceptance multiple times, until the organizer gives up on the useless guest that is myself, or is relentless in their invitation such that I eventually bend over. 😅

For this particular event, I initially declined the invitation in December. But it came again, and again and again until I acquiesced. Anyhoo, we were only a few minutes into the event, when the moderator, while introducing the other speaker and myself, said something along the lines of “…we are fortunate to have two guests with us today. People who have their careers figured out…people who if you look at their LinkedIn profiles, everything is just perfect…”, etc.

As he said these words, I thought about how they could not be more untrue.

Me, have things figured out? Lmao.

Just six months ago I was reaching out to one of my mentors for advice, afraid that I had jumped into the wrong career path with my two feet.

What if I was not cut out for what I was committed to? How long could I stay before leaving? Etc etc.

So for somebody to look from the outside and assume that my career, which is still in its super early stages, was ‘figured out’ was a LOL. And this is not just a me thing.

Two years ago, one of my mentors let me know that he was quitting his job. He had had a very storied career, the type many people (myself included) dream of. And he was hanging his boots because he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He had experienced everything possible as an employee and it was time to forge his own path.

His plans were rock solid, his new company was registered, he was in the bidding process for a few deals and already planning for early-stage hires. I might have looked from the outside and thought, “he really has this entrepreneurship transition figured out”. Less than 3 months later, he called me that he had accepted a new job.

I’m like, what??! 😂

It turns out entrepreneurship was moving relatively slowly and he got an opportunity for a different type of role, one he had never experienced before. He was taking it. As I speak to more and more people I think have things figured out, I realize that they have the same struggles.

Seemingly straightforward plans are more complex than they appear. Seemingly logical people take academic and professional decisions purely based on emotional criteria. That is the real world. Anybody who paints a picture of having everything figured out is either lying or too ignorant to realize otherwise.

In What Osas’s finances should teach you about life, I shared an image of what Osas’s income progression in his twenties might look like. See below.

But the truth is that this image is an oversimplification.

If we were to zoom into Osas’s twenties to analyze the growth of his net worth, it would probably look like this.

A: Promotion at work - conversion from intern / contract staff to full-time. 😀

B: Crypto dip - wipes out 40% of his savings. 😥

C: Mum passes away - liquidates some investments to give her a befitting burial 😞

D: New job - sign on bonus was equal to his last annual salary 🤑

For many of the things that we young people see as important (think academic x career progression, finances, relationships, etc), our ‘performance’ is not the linear and steady progression that we all like to believe.

Instead, it simulates stock trading on an average day, swinging up and down with seemingly no purpose or end in sight. This does not mean that all hope is lost. You should continue to learn as much as you can, optimize your decision making, and take baby steps in the right direction.

But when things swing in the opposite direction, as they inevitably will, then remember, nobody has things figured out. Unless the world is ending (in which case none of this even matters), the stock market will always go back up.

** Jara content:

“Focus is the best life hack.

Very few humans excel at duplicity. Success will present a myriad of tempting opportunities that, over time, can blunt your precision.

If you’re fortunate to find your way back to focus, grab it!”

- Kola Aina

Have a great week. ✨