Almost everyone would have come across that “special” or “miracle” person, thing or

event that changed the life of the person completely. Sometimes these changes can be for

better but sometimes it can even make things worse than before. However, regardless of the

result these life changing events forces the people enter a new path for their lives. Sometimes,

people cannot even tell if the change was for better or worse until his or her journey comes to

an end on this new path. This life-changing event can be meeting the person of your life or

scoring a high grade from a test or it can even be as simple as reading a book. For me, a high

school student who cannot make up his mind about the future and prefers to live in the dream

world, this life-changing event was reading a book called “Snowball – Warren Buffet and the

Business of Life” by Alice Schroeder. Even though, I had never read a book about a person’s

life or business before this book, when I read “Snowball”, I realized that I need to reconsider

my future study choices and as the most important question of life “where do I want to see

myself in 10 years?. Thanks to this book, I now know the answer.

All my life, I have been interested in technical things like fixing cars or making robots,

which made me think that I should pursue a career in fields such as engineering. Actually, it

was not only me as almost everyone around me including my parents have always been

encouraging me to pursue a career in the field of engineering. My father used to call me “my

engineer son” which made me believe that I need to be an engineer to make my father proud.

Even when I was in 9th grade, I used to tell everyone that I would become an engineer in the

future. Therefore, when the time came to decide on a university and a department, I told my

educational consultant that I was only interested in engineering degrees and asked him to help

me find school only for this department. What is disturbing is that if I had not read the

Snowball, I would have been registered into a department in an overseas university that would

make me regret my choice in the future.

 I was given the book by my teacher not because he wanted to teach me a life lesson or

anything, he only game me the book because he taught reading a life of a rich man would

motivate me to study more for the university exam in Turkey. However, the book did more

than just motivating me; it actually changed my life perspective and woke up the entrepreneur

that had been sleeping inside me. When I first started reading the book, I was fascinated by

the fact that he was one of the wealthiest people in the world but when I got deeper in the

book and found out about his life philosophy I become even more interested as some of the

things he said about life were very close to my own life perspective. He is one of the smartest

investors the business world has ever seen and he explains his secret as being motivated and

focused on his life goals, he never stopped until he accomplished the goals he had set for

himself.

Moreover, as I read about his investment strategies and business ethics, I became even

more interested in the business world. I began searching online to learn about the business and

investment terms and I even read some of the course books my friends had from their

universities. I also volunteered to help one of my friends who is a student at King’s College

London to do his research for the assignment he had to write for his macroeconomics course.

After reading the life of Warren Buffet, I realized that working on issues that are business

related appeals more to me than the technical issues. Then, I began searching for the course

contents of business management courses at different universities and asked my education

consultant to cancel all the engineering application and apply to management courses instead.

My family and friends were shocked when they heard about my decision but after seeing my

excitement about this new path, they became my greatest supporters. It is hard to believe the

speed of the change in my life after reading a single book. While I was looking at automotive

and mechanical engineering departments in the Netherlands, I am now accepted by one of the
greatest schools in the world; University of Amsterdam to study international business

management.

Overall, I believe everything happens for a reason; my teacher giving me this book

with completely different intentions started the unprecedented chain of events, one thing

triggered another and I am now looking at a completely different future than I had anticipated.

Besides, while I was going to apply for average universities, being accepted by one of the best

universities in the world appears to me as a sign that indicates; thanks to the book “Snowball”,

I have found the right path for my future.