3P's for success - Passion, Perseverance and Patience

The past couple of years have been difficult, to say the least, professionally. Now I'm finally where I want to be. I now know where I want to go and how to get there as well. With confidence I can say that I'll soon be at the top of the ladder. Sheryl Sandberg, in her new book Lean In, calls it the jungle gym rather than a career ladder. But in my mind, it's a ladder where I'm going forward be in any field.

To recap, after graduating from University of Southern California in May 2011, I desperately hunted for jobs without any clue as to what I wanted out of my life. After six months, I landed an internship at a PR firm in Los Angeles - the beginning of a very long journey. After six months, I moved on to a temporary job at a non-profit firm for a month.  Then I landed an internship at one of the most prestigious PR firm - Weber Shandwick. It was a dream come true. This happened after a month of interviewing, waiting for responses, and finally jumping on an opportunity to meet the President. For six months, I observed, learned, made mistakes, and learned some more from my peers, senior coworkers, and my wonderful manager. Unfortunately, it did not turn into a full-time job. Again, I was disheartened and heard a lot of advice, including looking for opportunities in another field. But my heart told me to stay put and continue my search. I did. Then I landed a contract job at another PR firm in San Francisco, which lasted for four months. This was my first real 'full-time' job and I managed to learn a lot in those four months. The end of January brought good news as I got a break at one of the leading technology PR agencies in San Francisco. It was then that I knew for sure I was where I was meant to be.

I mapped out my career as it helped me to understand what pushed me towards success - my passion for PR, my perseverance to stick to the same field despite the many obstacles that were thrown my path and lastly my patience not to give up. Had I given up and moved on to another field, or taken up jobs just for the sake of working I would have been miserable all my life.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die" - one of my favorite quotes from my all-time favorite movie, Shawshank Redemption. Hope also played a huge role in bringing me here. I held on to the hope that someday I'll get a break that will help me launch my career. And it did. So, don't give up just yet. Success is just around the corner.