Dear EssayForum Community,
This is my approach at one of the CommonApp Essay Prompts. I very much appreciate your help. Thank you very much in advance!
"Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story."
Get Out Of The Building!
Monday, 4am... three hours left... launch Tradity now and risk major dysfunctions or postpone the start and belie expectations of users and stakeholders? Last minute our team of programmers implemented the connection to the API of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange that would take the website to a whole new level ... but there's no time left to test it. Pressure. Excitement. What should we do, everyone's staring at me, waiting...
I am 19. My parents, who came to Germany as guest-workers, always firmly believed that the environment you lived in greatly influenced how you think, how you act and ultimately who you are. So in sixth grade I knew it was time again - oddly we'd always move after two years - and I'd have to leave behind friends and bonds once more.
Moving to a distant state and arriving at the rural 'city' Niebuell with merely 10,000 inhabitants I was shocked. Everything here was so boring and idyllic compared to the bustling city I had lived in and everybody was so carefree and simply followed his or her own interests and hobbies instead of submitting themselves to doing what everybody else did. Through this new environment of diversity I comfortably connected and began a style of life that would eventually lead me to my story - Tradity.
What initially seemed to me as a huge disappointment turned out to be a catalyst for my development. The 'boredom' I encountered had slowed down life and opened up a door for self-discovery and creative thought. Kindled by various acquaintances (especially Tony, a young Danish entrepreneur, who became my role model), authors and my parents I started to truly build interests and question how I'd wish to live my life. I came up with an answer that I felt was logical in itself and coherent with my principles - happiness through creating happiness and creating happiness through economical endeavors. And therewith my path was set, a path that I would follow more or less determinedly from there on.
I read books, watched speeches, came up with ideas... I did everything to pursue my goal. But there was one thing that I bizarrely refrained from: Doing something... until one day when my friends and I watched a Lean Startup video of Steve Blank. It was a moment full of energy and motivation and in that moment the sentence 'Get out of the building!' somehow pushed me over this invisible wall of inaction. We instantly shut down our computers and literally got out of the building, drove to the center of the town and went through all stores trying to find sponsors for our project Tradity. We got turned down 28 times but we learned and moved on. Eventually we managed to partner with the biggest stock exchange in Germany, the largest traders' magazine in Europe and an aspiring education company; all of this because we grabbed the momentum and took action. Naturally we did a lot of mistakes (in the heat of finding sponsors, we accidentally contacted Triumph, an underwear manufacturer) and so we ended up on that Monday, with an unfinished website and out of time... and I feel like this has been the most incredible project I ever did.
It was the first time I really felt the sensation of creating, of creating something that you believe empowers people around you. I am convinced that I wouldn't have been able to take hold of that moment and go for it if it weren't for my team, that held me responsible for what I said and helped me to really be who I seemed to be. I learned and experienced that taking action really doesn't mean quitting all the planning but that improvisation and planning complement each other. I now know that the passion I defined for myself is really what I love to do and what I want to live.
by Ba Khai Tran
