How I Re-Engineered My Luck to Land My Dream Job

Often my friends call me "lucky." A few strangers who follow me on Instagram appreciate my "superhuman" persona. And recently, in one of my articles  I was referred to as an "entitled one-percenter Indian."

Well, if you would have asked me, about being lucky, a couple of years ago - I would have agreed that luck goes hand-in-hand with karma. But as I evolve, I disagree with myself. I strongly believe in karma but I feel we all can redesign our luck. I'd explain it in detail in the article.

As for my superhuman, jack-of-all type persona on social media, it is a deliberate attempt to camouflage my vulnerability. So please don't fall for it. Is it all a facade? Maybe yes, maybe not, we'll find out.

And for the rest, who thought of me as an entitled one-percenter Indian, I'll let you pass a verdict on that after you read this article.

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It was December 2019. I happily resigned from an IT job in India. I had no fallback plan.

As an Indian kid of the '90s, you don't really get an option to "follow your dreams" or "pursue your passion".

Neither did I have that luxury nor did I have the guts. Period.

At 30, I quit my job because I could afford to do it. My husband had a handsome pay in the United States and I had little savings. We were debt-free with no major liability.

As I landed in America on an H4 visa, we both prioritized having a baby. My motherly instincts were brimming and the biological clock was ticking.

But as they say, "you want to tell God a joke?" Tell her your plans.

I had a miscarriage, Covid-19 hit. But life kept going, the world moved on. And so did we.

It was 3 months since I left my job and the negativity gushed in.

No work, no money, an empty womb. They rightly call H4 the "dependent visa" as I was heavily dependant on my husband.

I felt left out, lost my individuality because I wasn't a breadwinner anymore. I stopped taking interest in the household finances. Neither did I learn to drive nor did I show a will to do it.

My life revolved around the same daily chores and some basic reading.

The magma of under-confidence, worthlessness, extreme vulnerability brimmed my psyche; often erupting as tears.

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It was April 2020 and my husband was on his last official trip before Covid-19 worsened.

I chose to be at home and desperately wanted to journal my feelings - "a complete loser who crashed her own career."

I scribbled. I wrote an article about my failed scuba diving attempt on one of the writing platforms. Serendipity struck and it kindled my joy for writing.

I wrote. He edited. Rinse and repeat.

This process continued for about 6 months. No traction, no views. To be honest, I was a little disappointed.

But whenever I felt disoriented or groggy or even considered my writing as garbage, I asked myself - do I love writing? My gut crashed and it was a resounding "yes". And so, I continued.

Slowly and steadily, I started trusting the process and embracing the not-so-rosy days.

Whenever I wavered, I took comfort in the fact - "being together" is all that matters. On one of our evening walks, my husband advised me to stop reading shitposts or get-rich-quick articles and instead focus on carving my niche. You see, he was right. Because, unconsciously, I tended to compare myself with others or assessed my earnings that never crossed $5 a month.

The writing exercise continued, and in August 2020, I finally got significant traction.

I focused only on history and art history.

Lo and behold, after a year and a half of writing, earnings increased to almost $1000 a month.

I constantly reminded myself to build and package my craft better, write well-researched content that no one else is talking about and the vanity metrics would automatically follow.

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Even in my wildest dreams, I couldn't imagine pursuing writing a sustainable career. And I'm glad, I never had psychological baggage of expectations about writing.

As a humble Hindu, I did my karma and let the luck re-engineer itself.

As the creator economy is booming, there couldn't be a better time to be a full-time writer.

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Writing is my tool to be a better human. It is an opportunity for me to learn about things that I would otherwise never pursue. This might sound idealistic, but money, followers, and top writer badges are just the by-products of this journey.

As Kevin Kelly of Wired magazine said, "all an artist needs is 1,000 true fans to maintain a fruitful, if unspectacular, career."