I was a science student, until my 12th standard. I didn’t like physics, chemistry and biology at all. I hated to study. I only secured 49% marks in my 12th class. After my 12th, I decided to quit science field. I opted for BMS (Bachelor of Management Studies).

Accounting was a part of BMS syllabus. Being from science background, I didn’t know even the A of accounting. In the first semester, I secured only passing marks.

One day, I overheard the chat that my father was having with a relative.

Father - She just secured passing marks. I guess, she is struggling because this is a new field for her.

Uncle - She is not good with her studies, anyways. I don’t know why you have so high hopes on her.

Father - It’s my responsibility to push her to be the best, rest is up to her.

Uncle - In a year, you start looking for a guy for her. She will have a secured future.

I just wanted to barge in between the conversation and break that uncle’s face.

But this motivated me to prove to the world that I am better than what they think.

---

After this day, I started studying madly. I started to meet teachers after the lecture. I would request them to explain me something that I didn’t understand in the class.

I had my cousin brother. He was pursuing his CA. I requested him to help me with Accounts. He use to help me during weekends. I use to practice madly.

Not only during exams but everyday, I studied late night. I ensure to give my 100% to get what I want. I started solving previous years’ question papers.

In my third semester, I topped my class in Accounting. That’s when I felt that “I am here to win the race”.

After this, there was no looking back. I even completed my MBA.

---

Motivation should come from within to achieve something. It can be positive or negative reinforcement.

You need to develop an aggression within you to prove to the world that you are better than what they think.

In my case, it was negative reinforcement.

---

Keep smiling…

-Priyanka Pillai

Biggest Trap People are in.....

Fearing change

I know quite a lot of people who work long hours, in a company where people are treated as robots, not humans. They don’t even get paid well. Still, people are afraid of letting go of the job.

There are those who get into relationships, where they are either controlled or abused. What good can ever come out of it? But people are afraid they won’t find anyone better.

How about friendships? Sometimes, it’s better to have no friends than to have some who will bully you or get you in trouble. But you’d rather prefer being a scapegoat than being alone.

How about the people who cannot say ‘No’ only because they find it too rude. And throughout their life, people take advantage of them. They simply refuse to learn the lesson.

There are countless examples where people get into toxic habits and they just can’t seem to find a way out of it. Only because after some times, you simply get used to it, whether or not it’s good for you. And because change is equally frightening.    -Anshul Sharma,IITR

{ Blogger's Note :    


                      }

10 Lakh Aspirants in the Exam ?

Less than 50,000. The question should also cover who is a true aspirant. Is a person taking coaching and attending classes daily is a true aspirant? No. Is someone who is preparing for 2–3–4 or even 5 years a true aspirant? No. Then who is a true aspirant?
 

One who takes UPSC because of peer pressure or parents pressure or because everyone is doing so or because it gives you reputation in society saying that you are preparing for UPSC, or because you are not doing anything i.e. you are jobless and have to say something to people, or even if you are studying because you want to do it genuinely but you are not able to put your heart and all your efforts into it, you are not a serious aspirant.
 

Serious is one who knows this is what he wants, is ready to put all that it takes and is consistent with his efforts.

And trust me, there are not many.

Luck works only in objective exams, that too at times. With exams which screens at so many levels, it's your hard work and dedication. However, if a person who has prepared really really well and still not able to appear in the exam itself because of some emergency say he met an accident, that is pure luck. So as long as you save yourself from such mishaps, luck won't contribute much in the exam.

-Puja Baranwal, works at Central Board of Direct Taxes

Do not get overconfident!

From the very first day when the projectile motion was being taught in class, I hated physics. I never knew that it was going to cost me my entire JEE exam. I had prepared Chemistry and Mathematics very well but never realized that I would not be able to clear the individual cut off required for Physics by 4 marks. While preparing, I had done only this much Physics to score well in boards and clear the cut off for the JEE paper. 

       Back in 2012, there was no concept of Mains and Advanced. But fortunately and unfortunately, I ended up scoring 90+ in the Physics boards but couldn’t clear the JEE. I can still remember that day of my life when the results were announced. It was extremely hard to accept when everyone out there was expecting me to clear the exam with a good rank. As my brother had scored the maximum marks in Physics in his JEE paper and went on to become one of the top rankers, it was very hard for my family and teachers to digest!

That day I realized that it is very easy for us to give up on the things that we hate or find difficult instead of working hard to overcome that weakness.
I became overconfident that I would definitely score the minimum required marks in Physics and gave up on that subject. I was wrong, completely wrong.

When preparing for JEE, do not take any topic or subject for granted. You can never know in what terms it can affect your chances of clearing the exam and your rank. Though I no more regret whatever happened in my case, still sometimes I feel, had I scored just 4 more marks, life would have taken a completely different turn!

-Nishu Jain, IIT Kanpur (2018-20) | Hansraj College, DU (Batch of 2015)

We are all under self-quarantine currently, and locked up in our rooms. Now imagine a situation where this lockdown is extended for the next two years, though I really hope such a situation never arises. Seems difficult to imagine, right?

 

Studying for JEE was a two year sacrifice. Two long years spent locked up in my room focusing completely on studies, with minimal interaction with the outside world. I did not attend any parties, birthdays or marriages, and I hardly even watched any movie in those two years.

During JEE studies, I only used to go outside once a week to school and once a week for my coaching classes. Apart from that, I used to play Badminton for some time almost every day, which was needed to keep myself calm. The rest of the time was spent locked up in my room, surrounded by books.

 

I always consider JEE studies a marathon. Your performance over a few months does not matter, because the situation can change completely at the end of two years. Many early toppers during the beginning of my JEE preparation phase started dwindling towards the end of the preparation, and were replaced by those who were consistent in their dedication.

 

JEE is not just an exam. It is years of dedication and commitment. Compared to that, CAT is a mini sprint.

Yes, I was extremely happy when I got into IIMA. But the day of my JEE result will always remain one of my best moments in life, because in that one moment, I could see years of hardwork finally culminating into a rank on the screen.

 

Here is an old picture from my JEE preparation days. I used to be so mad regarding studies at that time that my life used to revolve only around mathematics, physics and chemistry.

 

---

If you wish to reach out to me, feel free to connect with me on Instagram.  Rohan Jain (@jainrohanrj)

Hostel Food at IIT is Bad?

Earlier, I had heard so many people complaining about the mess food at their hostels. When I went to IIT Kanpur, on the very first day, this was being served for lunch. Does this look bad?
 

I loved it and wondered how could people not like this food.

With time, I got used to it. The quality also degraded, I guess. Yes, they make slight changes in the menu every month and it’s the best in July/August (when new students come).

To this date, after a year, I only look forward to having breakfast at the mess because I can’t skip that! It’s been months since I had my last lunch at the mess. Dinner, once in a week type!

So why is the mess food so bad in hostels?

1. We get bored, which is the most obvious reason. No one can eat the same food every Monday. It gets repetitive.
2. We feel that the food is actually bad because we all are used to mom’s magic. :-P                                                                                      -Nishu Jain

Airlines are burning millions of gallons of fuel by..........

Airlines are burning millions of gallons of fuel flying empty 'ghost' planes so they can keep their flight slots during the coronavirus outbreak and avoid paying for plane parking at airports.

 

 

Slots are extremely precious assets for airlines. With more than 200 of the planet's busiest hubs operating at full capacity, demand for flights exceeds the availability of runways and space inside the terminals. 
 

         If you stop using your slot, you will lose it to someone else (use-it-or-lose-it). Airliners are sending empty planes just to use the slots and keep them busy at minimum. 

 EU law states airlines must fly 80% of their flights on a slot in order to safeguard their presence at major hubs for the next season.

-Akram Odaily

Saying No is not just OK..........

Getting comfortable with saying no is how I begin to create my boundaries. Boundaries are essential to happy, healthy relationships and a happy, healthy life.

I can and should say no if someone else wants to touch me and I don’t want to be touched, or even if someone says something about my body that is not appropriate. If a stranger says, for example, “you look hot in that dress”, I can say “don’t do that. It makes me uncomfortable.”
  

I can and should say no if someone is pushing on the way I think. If I do not (or do) believe in God and someone is imposing their beliefs on me, “don’t force your beliefs on me” would be the right thing to say.

I can and should say no if I need time alone and my friends are insisting I go out. My time and how I spend it is mine, and I need to protect it. I can say no, and don’t need a reason. “I can’t join you this time but thank you so much for thinking of me.”

My things are mine. I can and should say no if someone is insisting I lend them my clothes or anything that belongs to me. Refusing to lend anything that is mine is my right.

You can and should say no if someone wants to talk about something I don’t want to talk about. What if what I am hearing puts me in an awkward position? I would rather not discuss that.

My body, my rules. My time, my rules. My energy, my rules. My things, my rules.

This doesn’t have to be combative, aggressive or threatening. It can be gentle, subtle and firm.

Sometimes, though, saying no is not enough. Sometimes the fact I you said no makes the other person push harder. It’s common for people to push on boundaries. We ourselves do it to others.
 

Whoa! I didn’t mean to insult you when I said you looked hot. It was a compliment! The fact you don’t want to lend me your scarf is so selfish. Why do you only think of yourself?

I need to learn to protect my boundaries. This can be calm, without being hesitant or feeble.

Oh, come on! Come to the party! You need to learn how to have fun!
 

It certainly sounds like fun, but I really want to go home now. I will call you tomorrow so you can tell me about it!

Saying no is not just OK. It is necessary.

-Dushka Zapata

How you became successful overnight ?

I get asked this question a lot…
 

Over the course of a few short years, I went from sleeping on my brother’s couch with only $14.67 to my name (less than that if you take my massive credit card debt into account) to running a multiple six figure business, living on the beach, and doing work that I LOVE.
 

It hasn’t been an easy road.

But just because it hasn’t been easy doesn’t mean it hasn’t been simple…

There is an old saying that success leaves clues

And that’s certainly been true in my life.

Here are the five things that have given me the greatest success in life.

1. A Commitment to Massive Self Education/Investing in Myself

When I quit my management job in corporate, I didn’t have any real business skills.

I didn’t know the first thing about building a company online or creating anything truly impactful on the internet.

And so I committed to learning.

I literally maxed out my credit cards flying across the country to different seminars and events.

I hired a professional coach.

I read countless books and took dozens of expensive online courses.

I committed myself to massive self education and it has paid for itself 100X over.

2. I Committed to My Health and Fitness

 When it comes to optimizing their lives, people will often save their health and fitness for last.
 

They work hard to make money, they bust their asses to get into that dream relationship, they even work on their spirituality… But they won’t work on their health.

I was like this for a long time and always assumed that I didn’t have time to take care of my health.
 

I would stay up late working on my business, skip the gym to take calls with clients, and drink enough coffee to stimulate the entire state of California.

But then I realized that I had it all wrong.
  

By not prioritizing my health and fitness I was actually damaging my performance in every other area of life.

Now, I train 4 times a week, ride my bike on the beach daily, and eat a diet that consists of 90% whole food.

My energy, performance, and business have all flourished as a result.
 

3. I Surrounded Myself with the Right People
 

     My company, would not be what it is without the team that I have around me.
 

For the longest time, I held onto being a “Solopreneur”.

I avoided making any big hires.

I tried to do it all by myself.

And it worked fine… For a while.
 

But then I got stuck, couldn’t generate any more revenue, or grow my business the way that I wanted to.

And so I decided to start building a team of A+ players all around me, and it’s made all the difference.
 

In life and business, you are only as good as your team.

If you don’t have the right people around you, your performance will suffer.

You are the average of the five people you associate with most. Always remember this and be careful who you let into your circle.
   

4. I Developed the Ability to Cultivate Internal Validation

One of the hardest things about becoming successful is that there are always going to be haters.
 

My family, friends, and even significant others thought that I was crazy for quitting my cushy job and starting a business.

And it was hard.
 

I used to crave external validation, I needed someone to tell me that I was enough… That I mattered.
 

But as I developed myself and grew and invested in my personal growth, I realized that the only person from whom I need validation is myself.

That’s it.

I chose myself.
 

I no longer ask permission, I don’t ask people how I am doing (unless they are my mentors), I don’t try to make others happy.

I let go of the need to please others and instead focus on pleasing myself and making an impact in the world.

And it has made all the difference.
 

5. I Ignore 99% of the Advice that I Got But Took MASSIVE Action on the 1% That Made Sense
 

Soooooooooo many people tried to tell me what I should do when I started my business.
 

And so many people were completely full of crap.

It’s not that they didn’t love me or weren’t well intentioned.

It’s just that they didn’t really know what the hell they were talking about.
 

I’ve realized that if someone doesn’t have exactly the results that you want in an area of your life, then you shouldn’t listen to their advice… Period.
 

I became incredibly selective about who I took advice from and because of this, I was able to build a multiple six (bordering on seven) figure business in only 3 and a half short years.

-Andrew Ferebee

{ Blogger's Note : It takes time, Be patient and learn from your own mistakes and especially from mistakes of others and Success leaves clues. Modify the path and make the one that suits you. keep Learning  }

We blame other things that are not the.......

Markus is late for work. His alarm did not wake him up and now he is in a hurry to get going.

He rushes his breakfast, storms out of the house, and drives to work.

When he finally gets through the traffic, it is 10 minutes past his start time. He is late.
 

He sits down and starts to work, hoping no one saw it, but it is not long before his boss shows up and reminds him about punctuality. Should it happen again, there will be consequences.

Markus is furious.

“Why didn’t my alarm clock work?” He asks himself and then answers confidently: “It must have been a faulty battery.”

On his way home he gets a new pack of batteries and changes the batteries before going to bed.
  

The next morning, Markus wakes up too late again, but barely manages to make it into work on time.

His boss, although not pleased, decides to let it go, since he was technically on time.

“Crap… again so close.” Markus says quietly to himself. “I have to get a new alarm clock.”

And so he goes and buys a new alarm clock, installs it, and, the next morning, he wakes up late once more.

This cycle continues for a while, until Markus eventually does get fired for being too late too often.
 

Had Markus been very direct and blunt with himself he might have figured out that the 5 hours of sleep he gets through watching too many series late at night may have been what was causing him to sleep through his alarm.

Maybe he would have understood that drinking 3 beers before going to bed also did not help and that it was his fault for getting late to work, not his alarm clocks fault.

But instead of taking responsibility and sacrificing some luxuries, Markus decides to lie to himself and blame something else.

---

 
Most of us have similar problems to Markus, albeit in different areas of life.
  

We blame other things that are not the root cause of the problem.

We lie to ourselves to protect our comforts or avoid hard changes or difficult decisions, never realizing that we just suffer more in the end because of it.

We lie about how much we love our partner to avoid difficult conversations, lie about how good we are doing at our jobs and keep pretending we are fine to avoid working harder, and convince ourselves that we are doing enough for our own success by sitting on the couch even though our life is getting worse.

We do this all to avoid the hard, uncomfortable work.

But it is exactly that work which gets us ahead.

Remember that the truth is always simple.

Being honest, blunt and direct with yourself allows that simplicity to shine through.

It gives you an insight that breaks through the convoluted lies you tell yourself, but more importantly it opens up the opportunity for change.

If Markus had admitted that it was him who was at fault for waking up late he could have worked on himself rather than fixing the alarm clock.

If you never admit to a broken leg, you will never look to fix a broken leg. Why would you if you do not believe it is broken?

Only when you accept the truth is when you see a doctor, get the help and tread carefully in order to heal.

It is in this way that being blunt and honest with yourself allows the greatest opportunities for change and growth.

The difficulty is finding out what is true and what is false.

My advice on that note: Keep it simple.

Was it only the fault of your alarm clock that you were late to work? Yes or No?

Is your leg broken? Yes or No?

Are you doing enough to succeed as fast as you want to? Yes or No? Do you need help? Yes or No? Are you happy? Yes or No?

Do not spin vast tales and stories just so you get to avoid doing some of the hard and uncomfortable work.

Be direct, blunt and brutal in your honesty.

For when you are, doors open for you that you never saw existed.

-Lukas Schwekendiek

Constructive Mindset with Guided Action

We all know that our actions follow our thoughts. For example,

• You think of walking before you walk
• You think of talking before you talk
• You think of reading before you read

However, little do we know the power of action over our thoughts.

If your mind is thinking negative, it may be due to your negative actions.

For example, when we are discussing negative things about people or doing negative things like harming someone, our thoughts become negative.

The best way to convert your thoughts into positive is to stop doing the negative things and start doing the positive things.

It involves two steps.

Step 1: Stop Negativity

You have to stop the negative thoughts filling your mind first to allow the positive thoughts to come in. The best way to avoid negative thoughts in your mind is use the Triple Filter Test of Socrates.

One day an man ran up to Socrates excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

'Triple filter?" asked the acquaintance."That's right," Socrates continued, "Before you talk to me about Diogenes let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about it."

"All right," said Socrates, "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued, "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?"

Step 2: Act Positive

While the step 1 prepares you for positive thoughts, you can’t think positive unless you do some positive acts.

You must, therefore, start doing something good like reading good books, writing, playing, talking to your friends, listening some good music or carry on your daily routine like cooking, washing cloths, or cleaning the utensils.

Once you start doing a positive thing in your life, positive thoughts would invariably follow your actions and you would start feeling happy.

The former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said this so wisely, “Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.”

The only way to think positive and to retain positivity in life is to keep doing positive things in life and dispel the negative thoughts when they are trying to enter in your mind.

-Awdhesh Singh