“Hello, World!”
All you need to get there is one — ‘Hello’
Hello World!
Now, it might sound like, I am a programmer or an engineer working in some high-class tech-company in silicon valley, making big bucks, driving sports cars, and more importantly, trying to show it all off to the world along with the most inappropriate finger of my appropriate hand, but I am not.
In fact, if you didn’t get the reference of “Hello, World!” — the title of this post — and programming and engineering, just let it go. You can even skip this entire paragraph. Trust me, you are not missing out on anything. If you wish to know a quick background, however, ‘Hello World’ is the first program used as an example in almost every programming language. If you learn any programming language, most likely this is the first program you will write as an example and then build the rest of your programming knowledge from there. The program simply displays two words — Hello, World! — on the computer screen.
A fun fact — the person who created this ‘Hello World’ program first, doesn’t remember much about how it came to be and why he chose those two words. When asked in an interview, he said that he had seen a cartoon that showed an egg and a chick and the chick was saying — “Hello, World.”
Well! I am not here to discuss how programming and computers have changed the world and if it is for the better or worse. You can decide that for yourself. I just want to share a small story about how I came across this program and how it made a significant impact on my life.
To be completely honest with you, I was scared of programming. It just didn’t feel like my cup of tea. The only reason I loved computers was for games. I even got myself into Mechanical Engineering to avoid any programming classes. Yes! I am an engineer too. Unfortunately. Why am I putting it like that? — That’s another topic for another day. While doing my engineering though, I had to take a class (because I had no choice) for which I had to learn programming and build a project. To me, it seemed like a nightmare and I obviously, turned to YouTube to find an easy way out of it. That was when I started my journey in the world of programming, and built this first example program — ‘Hello, World!’ Later, I successfully learned programming, and completed the project as well but the two words stayed with me. Hello, World! I guess the idea of saying ‘Hello’ to the entire world while sitting in that small town in India had amazed me to my soul.
Yes, it was the first program I ever built. It was my first ‘Hello’ to the world of programming but more importantly, it was my first step to face my fear. I kept finding the reasons and alternatives to keep programming away from my career until I had no choice. But when I actually took that first step to learn programming, I realized that it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed. And now, after all these years, I have learned programming in various different languages and have successfully built many projects. In fact, I am confident that I can even teach programming to someone in need or at least help them get started.
Now, when I think about my fear of programming, it makes me laugh. That fear that held me back for years and even changed my career path, was fake. And all it took to get over that fear, was one step to actually face it. One simple hello to the world of programming. Was it difficult? — Of course! It was. I was terrified to learn anything about programming. But was it worth it? — Heck, yeah! I successfully conquered my fear of programming and eventually, that rewarded me well (even financially).
This realization that all it takes is one step or one simple ‘Hello’ to get over any fear became a turning point in my life. It helped me take many bold decisions. It gave me the courage to step out of my comfort zone again and again, and challenge myself in a new way. Surely, not every decision I made was a huge success. I have made my share of mistakes as well. But it always was an experience that taught me something meaningful. And I really enjoyed it. In fact, now, the only zone I don’t feel comfortable being in is my comfort zone, and to get out of it, I always keep challenging myself. Taking on new adventures and new tasks that can help me grow professionally and personally, make me feel excited and alive.
Stepping out of the comfort zone is one of the best ways to seek happiness. It helps you grow.
We all have dreams. Something that we wish for, something that we hope for, something that we really want to do. That one thing that we have been dreaming about for years, that place that we have on our list to visit, that person that we wanna talk to or take out on a date, that skill that we want to learn, that job that we wish to have, and the list go on and on. But instead of working hard to achieve those dreams, we just keep avoiding them. We convince ourselves by creating reasons and excuses to procrastinate on our dreams. And this makes us feel comfortable about not having to face our fears.
Life is too short to play small on your dreams. Just start with all you have got and everything else will fall in its place to help you get there.
If I hadn’t taken that course, I would have never conquered my fear of programming. And I think I was blessed to be in a situation where I had no choice but to face my fear which led me to believe that if I start working on something and give it all that I’ve got, I can definitely achieve whatever I want in life. Today, I wanted to share my story for two reasons -
- I am truly grateful — I am grateful to life and the amazing experiences that I have had. I am also grateful for the people that I have met in my life. Yes, I do have a lot more adventures to go on and dreams to achieve and I have already started working on them and I am really excited about it.
- (Maybe) it can be helpful to you as well — If you are giving yourself reasons to procrastinate on your dreams, or if you are scared of the outcome, or if you are holding yourself back for any reason (literally), trust me, those are just the excuses that your fear is showing you. Procrastinating on your dreams is not worth it. It will not get you anywhere.
“Well begun is half done.” — Aristotle
Just start working with all you have got. In case, if you don’t achieve it, you will at least know one more way that doesn’t lead to your dream and you can then try some other way. And who knows? You might even end up surprising yourself in the first attempt like I did. But all you need is to start working. All you need is one — Hello.
So, go out there and say ‘Hello’ to the world of your dreams!
