There are great years and there are not so good years. I am going to share with you something extraordinary that happened to me in 2007.
Major breakthroughs were happening in the world of technology that would lay the foundation of the future. In parallel, many events were occurring personally that would change the course of my life. In hindsight, the dots become connected in a way that is amazing yet challenging to recognize in the moment.
In 2006, I approached my MBA professor for 25 years in the past to help me register for a Ph.D. program. I feel a sense of overwhelmed when I recall all the things I had to experience throughout this challenging time. I used to work 12 to 14 hours to get all of my tasks completed.
2007 was a defining year in my life. First of all, my elder son who had just finished school planned to relocate to the USA for advanced education; we both ended up working day and night to submit the best applications to MIT, Stanford, and (Yale?). In addition, my husband moved to India to accept a senior position as Vice President in a large firm. This meant I was left as a single parent with two adult young men. I was also the head of a critical dept in a university. As if this were not enough, my university secured a huge project from His Highness’s office in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), an emirate in UAE. I was appointed the Director of this project which required me to drive 8 hours round trip each week. It did offer me time the time to think through the challenges I was facing and to make the best of them. The project I did for His Highness’s office helped me secure my current job.
My elder Son was accepted into a premier USA university, and he now works for Google as a senior project leader. If I look back now, 2007 was the turning point year of my life… I completed my doctorate successfully in 2013. This helped me secure my current job heading up the Learning and Development Center at the University of Dubai. So many things happened at the same time. I now realize connecting the dots that everything happens for a reason.
Without all of the developments in technology, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of these significant results. In the same way if I had withdrawn or lost my courage I could never have reached where I am today. Neither could my sons or husband have achieved their goals.
We had to trust the plan of higher forces and push ourselves out of our comfort zones if we wanted to achieve the profound results that we accomplished. I share this with you in case you are having second thoughts about going for your dreams, trusting your deepest goals, or believing in yourself. I am here as living proof that as Walt Disney said, “If you dream it, you can do it!” If I can be of assistance to you in 2024, please reach out!
vidyanandagopal@gmail .com
Dr. Vidya Nandagopal, Head of
Learning and Development Center at University of Dubai.
And MMS Partner in Dubai, UAE
