A journey so far
I’d dive right into who I am in a single word a “multipotentialite” or in more simpler terms a person with many passions. I have always struggled to put myself into a labeled box of pursuing a single focused passion, my journey has taken me far and across different verticals and in completely unrelated interests.
I grew up as an poetic soul and not someone who mixed well with everyone else, eventually learned to hone my introvert nature to that of being more conducive to form relationships.
I have read tons of self-help books to figure out what was wrong with me from my early teenage years, I did figured out I had ADHD and the culture I was in didn’t accepted people who don’t want to follow a set course of life dictated to them, the people never understood when I told that I cannot focus on something due to ADHD, I was blamed for making excuses for not doing stuff.
I come from a humble middle class setting, a father who worked his entire life 24/7 to keep the roof over our heads and provide a comfortable life, a mother who worked just as much managing things at home. Growing up in UAE to migrating to Pakistan due to financial uncertainties, I was made aware as how quickly life can turn completely upside down at the age of 10.
I was lucky to be one of few who are blessed with the best set of parents, they sacrificed and endured for me to get foreign education burning their life savings on me as I just couldn’t fit into the culture in Pakistan. It was an eclectic, thrilling, amazing and full of anxieties 4 years in a different country (Malaysia), studying with people from over 80 different countries.
I did major for my undergrad studies in Technopreneurship of which I was the sole candidate, as it was made up from combining engineering, business, computing, entrepreneurship modules. That combination allowed me to keep my hungry mind well fed with curiosity for even more.
My dreams are to travel the world as a digital nomad, I resigned from my corporate job as a research analyst just after 4 months deciding to come back to Pakistan, to pursue experimenting and doing things on my own.
My experiences allowed me to counsel through facebook other people specially students when I was in my early twenties and have been doing that for last 9 years (I turned 28 this year).
I feel blessed as now I have the schedule I chose and doing things I wanted to do such as teaching in a university to just relaxing on Monday mornings with my family.
I’ve written my experience as a visiting faculty here. My journey has not been perfect of course, had to endure countless arguments and taunts hurled at me every step of the way, which quite often were not only demoralizing but also hurtful to say the least but I was persistent in guarding myself from the negativity and kept on my mission to find a path I wanted to take which wasn’t dictated by the society or peer pressure.
Going months without earning a single penny and figuring out, how to carve my way into life which was both meaningful and simultaneously adding value to other people’s lives, it was a tough nut to crack but continuously learning and trying out new things kept me going.
I’ve mastered the art of failing but not giving up. My bucket list comprises of becoming a published book author, happy husband, skydiving, traveling across the world, leaving a legacy and positive impact on the world behind.
It’s 6 AM in the morning as I am typing this, I am still wondering what life holds in it for me in the future, lots of adventures and risks still to take, people to meet, places to be, books to read.
That was my Journey of life so far as of 24th December 2017.
Updated – January 5th 2020
Well it’s been two years since I last wrote my journey, I thought with the new decade I might as well try to fill in the gaps and shed some light what has happened to catch up everyone to speed.
Books
So here it goes, without any doubt I read through at least 100+ book and hundreds more in the past 2 years through my secret app which is blinkist.com love it every bit and worth every penny. In very simple words it’s like Netflix for Non-Fiction Books, you get quick summaries and also can listen to the audio blinks.
I try to read/listen at least 3 books per week and then if I find some very interesting I’d buy the complete one and read it cover to cover.
I still somehow love paperbacks, cannot get rid of the feeling the tangible nature and aroma of books in my hand. Here’s a picture for some bookgasm
I finally caved into getting Harry Potter series, being a huge fan from the movies I never really read them cover to cover and I am still struggling with it but at least now I have them by my bedside to see 😂
Learning
On other note no part of my journey is ever complete without learning new stuff and 2018 to 2019 I completed 11 more certifications despite my very hectic schedule. Here are them in chronological order
CXL Institute
Product Marketing for Technology Companies
Project Management for Marketers
Udemy
The Complete Web Developer : Zero to Mastery
Interaction Design Foundation
How to Create Intuitive Products by Imitating Physicality
IBM
Public Talks
I was invited as a guest speaker / mentor at multiple occasions but was only able to go a few. Here are public sessions I did from 2018 to 2019
Usman Institute of Technology 15th May 2018 – My topic was “Navigating the new economic landscape” – details here
National Incubation Center Karachi Jan 2019 – I went there to mentor startups on growth and customer acquisition – details here
Institute of Business Management Dec 2019 – Eureka Fair – I was invited as one of the panelist to judge student’s industry projects – details here
Adventures
There weren’t as many adventures I ventured into as I’d have liked but nevertheless I watched a movie almost every weekend (Not proud of it but did enjoyed) 😂
I went to Maldives in 2019 completely out of the blue without any planning and I’ve blogged about that here
I visited oldest school in Sindh est 1855 for a community project which was really wonderful experience
Went to Gorakh Hill station which was breath taking journey
Blogging
I wrote one of my most vulnerable yet heart felt blog about how I’ve grown as a person in the last ten years from 2009 to 2019. Read it here
I updated my Journey blog which you are reading just now 😎
Here are few others I wrote
How to leverage Udemy for your SaaS business
Marketing Lessons from London’s Number 1 Fake Restaurant
The Tech Behind Singapore’s Top Ecom sites
Is Your Business Too Reliant on Facebook or Google?
Tips To Scale Multi Niche E-Com Stores
For More check here
Research
Oh and I almost forgot I published my first research paper in the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology. Heartous thanks to my dearest supervisor Sir Ehsaan from Asia Pacific University Who not only motivated me to pursue my undergrad thesis into a published paper but helped every step of the way into this academic world. It really felt awesome seeing it published. I’d love to take up more serious research in the future