Written by Shruti Anand, Specialist – Marketing & Communications at Udhyam Learning Foundation
Someone wise once said, “Everything is hard before it is easy.” For India’s youth, what does it take to embark on that journey – from hard to easy – when it comes to reaching out to a bright future? It is, undoubtedly, an entrepreneurial mindset.
Young India faces exciting opportunities and daunting challenges in equal measure. Yes, they are part of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and, yet, it is not easy to crack the job market. Yes, India’s education system has evolved to prepare the youth to stand apart and, yet, there are many barriers when it comes to accessing a robust, holistic education. Yes, they are eager to learn and work towards a better tomorrow and, yet, they are given very few tools and training towards achieving their goals.
The Right Mindset
So, how can we prepare and prop up India’s youth? In the past five years, having worked with more than 3 million students from across 10 States in India, Udhyam Foundation has learnt that the answer lies in the mind.
A mindset is a mental attitude or the way we think that can have an enormous say in the way we view our lives, our capabilities and how we decipher the challenges that life throws at us.
An entrepreneurial mindset, according to Udhyam Foundation, is what can mold young students and shape them into successful individuals – capable of navigating and conquering, both, their workplace and social settings. This, in turn, Udhyam believes, builds communities and propels nations towards rewarding futures.
Now, the entrepreneurial mindset has long been defined and propagated in western societies and psychological models that have their roots in the west. However, Udhyam Foundation, having worked extensively in various Indian contexts, has identified four key traits or characteristics that make for an entrepreneurial mindset.
Unlocking The Enterepreneurial Mindset
Working with millions of students from schools and vocational institutes along with extensively consulting other stakeholders in the educational ecosystem, Udhyam has arrived at these characteristics as key to an entrepreneurial mindset:
- The ability to try new things
- Self-awareness
- Grit
- Independence
Let’s take a closer look at each of these, unpacking how they play a vital role in promoting an entrepreneurial mindset.
Four Become One
In India’s workforce – whether formal or informal – successful individuals are usually able to take on varied tasks. Today, a computer engineer can’t just stick to churning out code or an istriwala can’t simply iron clothes well. Writing code or delivering crisply ironed clothing can be a core ability, but, as you go along, you will also need skills in customer engagement, communication, team management, presentation, marketing and the rest. Each day can open up an area of work that demands your attention. How will you, then, take it on without the ability to try out new things?
Work and relationships may be the outer world for all of us, including, the youth. But we need to be in balance with our inner world to achieve true success. For this, self-awareness can be the game-changer. Increasingly, psychological evidence suggests that young children and adults who are able to take ownership of their actions and choices, are able to decipher their emotional strengths and the areas where they could learn to receive support, and those who are able to bring their self-awareness to the table when dealing with personal and professional relationships – are the ones who are able to consolidate their success! In high-stress environments, especially, self-awareness centre young talent and helps them the chart even the most troubled waters with ease.
Mantra for Success
Third, we have grit. Take a closer look at ever successful person in the world, from Bill Gates to Kiran Mazumdhar Shaw, each of them have faced mountains of adversity while chasing their dreams. Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview with Forbes magazine has described grit as the “perserverance and passion for long-term goals.”
As a young adult, it becomes important to understand that while failure and setbacks are a very normal part of life, it is our determination and dedicated pursuit of our goals that will set us apart from the crowd. Studies have even gone on to show that it in most cases it is not talent but grit that is the marker of success.
Being Your Best Asset
In our journey towards achieving an entrepreneurial mindset, we have to develop independence instead of being part of the herd. Independence ensures we take up learning on our own. It helps us take responsibility of our actions. It gives us the courage to carve out our own path and walk down unexplored territories at work and at home. Independence ensures we follow our inner voice and keeps us firmly in-charge of our destinies.
Success Is A Practice
All of these four characteristics come together to ensure that India’s youth are geared towards championing themselves. However, it is important to note, that these in-built characteristics do not become a reality overnight.
Udhyam emphasises that even the smallest of actions towards establishing these traits have to be done consistently over many years to have a lasting impact. Additionally, it is also important to start small and keep building on actions as youth evolve and face new challenges in the world.
Finally, we will have to build an entire ecosystem around the youth to ensure that their journey from ‘hard to easy’ is supported, encouraged and shapes them into the entrepreneurs of tomorrow!
