Breakthrough

I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of “wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough. – Marissa Mayer

If you were in America during 2008 to 2011, you know how bad the job market was during this time. A lot of the international students were going back to their home country after graduating as a very few employers were willing to sponsor an alien, mostly only IT companies. I think 2011 was the only year when the H1B quota didn’t fill until the year ended.

I had a very little hope of getting a job after graduating. I had decided that if I don’t have an H1B sponsored job offer in my hand on my convocation day, I will go back to India the day after my convocation, without using my OPT time. Being unemployed in America is very expensive. I didn’t want to waste my Dad’s money anymore.

I was applying for all healthcare administration related jobs but I didn’t even get an interview. During this difficult time, one day, I had an epiphany that I should also look for a job in the field of Ayurveda. I have shared my story about it in another post. Eventually I did get an interview for a lecturer position at a university in Beverly Hills. I went through three rounds of interview, after which they said- Previous teaching experience and a strong recommendation letter is mandatory for me to get selected.

Now, before I can tell you what happened after that, let me take you back to my initial days in the US as a student.

When I decided to go to the US for further studies in the field of healthcare administration, I had no one who could guide me about this field. I tried to find alumni and seniors who were already pursuing their Master’s in Healthcare Administration at Cal State Long Beach. I found one person who responded to my request and answered my questions on LinkedIn. When I came to Long Beach, I met him in person and he politely answered my questions and gave me the basic details about the program. I thought he won’t give me any more info than this, so I stopped bothering him after that.

Then one day he called me and asked me if I’d like to attend one of the undergrad classes at our University where he was invited as a guest lecturer. 

I said- Of course!

On the day of the lecture, I went a little bit early to the classroom and met him before the lecture. I asked him what the lecture was about. He said- This is the Global Healthcare Systems class, and I am going to give a lecture about the Indian Healthcare System.

Interesting!- I said.

I sat in the last row as he started the lecture. The professor of this class was Dr. Frates. She used to invite my senior to give this lecture every year. I was listening to the information that he was giving to the class, and in the middle of the class, I thought of a few points about the Indian Healthcare System that he hadn’t mentioned. I wanted to raise my hand and add these points but I wasn't sure if I should do it.

First of all, I didn’t want him to feel that I was trying to steal the spotlight from him by interrupting his lecture, and secondly, I was very new in America and I didn’t know how the professor would feel about me interrupting the class given I wasn’t even enrolled in that class, so for a few minutes, I suppressed my urge to raise my hand, but as his lecture came toward the end, I couldn’t stop myself and felt that the class should also know about my views on the Indian Healthcare System, so I raised my hand.

He noticed me from the podium and said- Yes, Ashwini.

I just wanted to add a couple of points to what you just mentioned..- I said reluctantly.

Sure, go ahead!- he said. 

Then I added the points that I had in mind, and to my surprise Dr. Frates found them interesting and asked a few follow up questions. As I was sitting in the last row, everyone in the class had to turn their heads to look at me, so Dr. Frates offered- why don’t you come on the stage? - I followed her suggestion and came to the front of the class, my senior stepped aside and I continued to share my views.

The lecture went really well.

After the lecture was over, I was kind of scared to look at my senior. I really didn’t mean to steal his lecture like this. I thought he’d be very upset and he’d think that I was trying to be over smart, but to my surprise, he told me- That was really good. You shared some really interesting points about Indian Healthcare System.

I was relieved- Thanks! I hope you didn’t mind me interrupting your lecture.

Not at all. – He said.

Then as we were walking out of the department, he said- You know what! I am preparing for this certificate exam in healthcare quality management. I think you should also prepare for it. If you want, we can study together.

I was excited about it. 

I said- ‘Sure!’ I wondered why he didn’t tell me about this certificate earlier. Maybe he thought it wasn’t worth it.

We studied together for about 6 months. I wouldn’t have been able to understand a word of the study material if my senior didn’t study with me. Finally, I cleared the most prestigious certification exam in the field of Healthcare Quality Management. This certificate has played a huge role in getting me my dream job, the job where I still work. I have shared the full story of this incident in a different post, so won’t repeat it.

The interesting thing is, after my senior graduated and left California, Dr. Frates invited me to give the same lecture to her class the following year. This time, I prepared a nice presentation and included data from WHO and other sources to support my views. This was the time when I realized that I was actually good at giving lectures and I could be a good teacher.

Now coming back to the story of getting a job before my convocation Day, I had to get a recommendation letter that said I was good at teaching. I wasn’t worried about their second requirement as I was already teaching Human Anatomy to the undergrad students at Cal State Long Beach at that time. I requested Dr. Frates if she could give me a letter of recommendation about the guest lectures I gave to her undergrad classes. She happily prepared an excellent LOR for me and I submitted that LOR to this University where they had interviewed me.

I got the official job offer letter from this University in February and my convocation was in May.

And the rest, as they say, is history..

This entire story ties up to one question- When did I have the real breakthrough? Was it the time when I realized I am good at teaching? Or was it time when I had the idea of applying for jobs in the field of Ayurveda?

No. The real breakthrough came at that moment when I gathered the courage to raise my hand during my senior’s lecture. If I had succumbed to my fears and insecurities and didn’t raise my hand to share my views, none of these would have happened.

It’s the little things like this that play a major role in your personal and professional journey. Breakthroughs don’t arrive themselves. We need to create them, we need to break through the circumstances, our fears, our limitations and come on the other side by walking that extra mile because success is always an extra mile away.

After all these years, I have learned a few things about success. Success is not a result of one particular event or action. If you ask me, the key to success, in a nutshell, is to keep doing the right thing at the right time in the right place, always.