How to Think?

{On The Subtitle If you are finding it difficult to understand the accent or language}

How much of an advantage do the children of the richest families really have?

I used to teach maths to underprivileged kids on Saturday mornings.

3 of the kids, aged 17, were really good at mathematics, like top 5% in terms of natural ability.

I suggested they do the A-level maths in one year, not the standard two. I explained that the maths A-level should be easy for them, and they just needed to give it a go. If they did their maths A-level a year early, they could then focus on their other A-level subjects.

They were studious, wanted to do well, but told me they would not be able to do a two year course in a year - they didn't believe in themselves, and, sure, they didn't believe in me.

Now, fast-forward many years to a few years ago, my son got an A in the same exam, aged 11. He was about the same level of mathematical ability as those kids.

But the difference was my son believed in himself - because his parents have given him that confidence from an early age.

Now, sure, I’ve given some extremes - and to some extent my son was too young to know any better - but I’ve also observed that in general private school kids tend to believe in themselves way more than state school kids even if they achieve the same grades - despite it being harder for state school kids to attain those grades.

I’ve come to the view that one of the biggest things holding back the underprivileged is that less of them have role models, those around them don’t believe in them as much, so they don't believe in themselves.

The result is that they don't expect as much from themselves - in life.

Privilege isn't just access to the best resources, a helping hand, financial security, it's much more - it’s also a passed down mindset.

 

-Asim Qureshi, MA Physics, University of Oxford

{Blogger's Note:  You can change your mindset as well as life.Just learn from the people and be ready to change and be comfortable in getting uncomfortable.Please read the following books The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz and Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck.  

Watch the Below Video Also : 

}

I and Joseph were in my preparation days. We targeted some top institutes for our PG. Joseph was not good in his studies. In his 10th and 12th he scored less than 65% and he attempted JEE twice in which he failed.

One day Joseph got a call from his uncle. His Uncle said “son, go for UPSC CDS and become an army officer” to which Joseph agreed. Although Joseph was not interested in this.

CDS is an exam which opens the door for an individual to become a lieutenant in Indian Army. After the written exam one has to clear the SSB also which is comparatively tough than the CDS.

He asked me to fill the exam form for CDS just to accompany him to which I agreed and we filled the exam form. We both were preparing for one of the toughest aptitude examination so I was sure about clearing the written exam of CDS but about Joseph I doubted.

The exam day came, we both attempted the exam and eventually we both cleared the written exam. Now I was not interested in getting into the army so cleared it to Joseph that I will not be appearing for SSB. Joseph also said the same but he was skeptical about it.

One day his father paid a visit to us. Joseph’s father run a Medical Store in Bhubaneswar and he use to earn 15 to 20K a month. Joseph told his father about the exam. His father got extremely happy after getting the news but Joseph said he doesn’t want to serve the army and wants to run the medical store. (He was hopeless about clearing his SSB.)

His father said “Son, Your Grandfather used to run this store. He wanted me to study and get a job but I wasted my life with my friends and in the end I had this store left. I may not earn as much as your friend’s father but I did my best to provide you good education. I do not buy a smartphone for me because I want to buy it for you. Your mother do not purchase any jewellery because she saves money for your education. If not for you then at least for us go for the further process, join the army and make us proud.”

This had a great impact on Joseph and he started working hard for the SSB and his sheer hard work and dedication bore him fruits. He ended up clearing the SSB and got recommended for Indian Military Academy.

Every year lacs of students fail in exams like JEE and NEET and Joseph was one of them. He started thinking that he is an average and he is not born for becoming an officer or getting a heavy package in a MNC. But when he changed his mindset he was able to do exceptional things. So, we must cancel our pessimistic attitude towards our life, we must stop thinking that we are average.

We are humans and we all have infinite potential.

-Krishnakant Singh, B.A. Sociology (2017)

Lets start with little background about me I am 23 years old female. i am working as a clerk in bank of india . I completed my graduation in computer science engineering from private college in june 2018. From the beginning of last semester I was preparing for banking exams

After college I give SBI clerk SBI po rrb clerk rrb po IBPS po and IBPS clerk exams.

Finally I cleared IBPS clerk in April 2019 and from 3 marks I missed final selection in IBPS po

Then I joined bank of India in July 2019. I got posting in semi urban city around130km away from home.

I get around 23600 salary pm that I spent something like this

Rent 3500pm

Food 2k pm

Education loan EMI 5k pm

Traveling around 1500pm

Other stuff 1k or 2k it depends

After all this deductions I save around 10k or 11k every month

I belonged to a lower middle class family. My father and mother both are sanitation workers.I have 3 siblings I am elder among them. In the beginning of my education it gets really difficult for my parents to pay my school fees I remember all those days when my father left with no money even for food we took help from our relatives. But my parents never give upon our education. They give us best education as they could.

I am first graduated person in my family and also first one who get job in bank.

Yes I am happy with my salary and even more i am happy with my job because whenever someone ask about me,my job ,my career to my parents, they proudly tell them.

Since my childhood we are living in single room tiny house still we live there only so I am planning to buy house for my parents after 3–4 years when I have enough savings.

And I am still preparing for other government exams better than my current job let see what future holds for me.

-Himani Karode, Clerk at Bank of India (2019-present)

Thankyou…

What did you miss out on learning in real life because you were too busy studying?

Nothing major.

However, I do have missed out all the following

• Hanging out with friends everyday.
• Amassing tons of likes, followers on Instagram, et cetera( “But what if they earn through their influencing gigs”, said Ankit with 55 followers and no real content to provide)
• Following dumb-ass trends that could get you literally killed and flaunting your near death experience.

And it’s not like I did not have any friends whom I hung out with or enjoyed myself while studying parallelly for my Chartered Accountancy exams. Every weekend was either bowling, movies or just your casual hanging out. None of us had time other than the weekends and we were all 19 and none other than me were pursuing CA. All of us had different commitments which we were focused towards. And that just multiplies the experiences by a million times.

The point people is PRIORITIZATION (no, I couldn’t highlight it more, I would have if there was any way to do it).

You have to set your priorities right and give up enough of your time to them and not the other way around ,and yes it could be becoming a youtuber or an influencer, but try and be the best at what you aim, you cannot have fun all the time while doing what you want to do, but you have to push through and emerge your best self.

And another thing is when having cruising through life, never give a second thought to your studies because you have done enough and deserve the little breaks.

-Akshay Jain, CA Intermediate AIR 1

I will like to start my answer with a quote - A hungry stomach and an empty pocket can teach you the best lessons of life. Because the answer I'm going to write is quite relatable to this quote.

What made me upset today - As everyone knows, there is lockdown all over the country. Just llike everyone, I'm also at my home. Just like everyday, I was sitting in my balcony (Around 11 am) immediately my attention went to the street which is infront of our house, 3 children carrying some vegetables and fruits on a cart and selling it. But no one was buying from them, immediately me and my mother went and bought some tomatoes from them.

In between I had a small conversation with those children. ( Tejas who is 13 , Nikhil is 10 and Rahul who is youngest one is 9 year old.)

I - you know, we have lockdown, but still you are selling vegetables.

I - aren't you afraid of corona?

Tejas - yes bhaiyya , it's very scary but what to do, we have nothing to eat, No job - No earning. That's why we are selling this ( just to support our parents)

I took this photo from my balcony.

It was very sad to hear such a big story from such small children. Then they went ahead to sell.

We are so lucky ( we are safe at our home.)

What about these people?

-Anay Chaudhari

Working 80-90 Hours per week?

I have been working that amount of time since teenage - let me tell you how.
 

Ages 13–18 was 80–90 (sometimes 100+) hours a week, and ages 18–20 is Probably 70-80 hours (thanks to the inefficiencies of college).

I currently have 46 credits at IIT Bombay this semester (equivalent to 8 courses) which theoretically take 46 hours. Now these are CSE courses so make it roughly 60. But then I'm not that studious when it comes to courses, because of other commitments I find more fruitful, so make it 50.

50 hours a week into coursework - classes, assignments, tutorials etc.

Then I have this social identity (blogging, YouTubing and other side hustles) which is another job I have - ~ 5-10 hours a week. Involves making 2 videos, editing and uploading them, a bit of work on my blog AcadBoost and of course Quora (I count these as work for multiple reasons mentioned elsewhere).

I am also involved in a few more tech projects which make up roughly ~20 hours a week, the total amounting to 70-80 hours. Some of this 70–80 hours is not very productive because some of the classes could be more productive, and there is a lot of inefficiency inherent to college (formalities, hostel stuff etc).

IITBCSE itself is very tough, and when you indulge in more things, you don't have a social life - I don't go to trips, parties or other social gatherings. Even my meetings with friends are usually full of useful discussion. Jogging involve a podcast in parallel.

Back in 13–18 phase, when I was in school, I used to EASILY pull 80–90 hours as studying was the only thing I did. I used to study even in my school bus. Take only breaks for food and playing cricket for 30 mins - basically work a lot except basic stuff like eating, grooming and exercise. No time for friends at this range.

And this is ACTIVE hours. Please don't say you attend school and coaching for 6+4 hours a day and so you work 70 hours a week. It doesn't work like that. It has to be REAL, 80%+ efficient work. I used to backbench and solve University/High School Senior level Physics and Math back in 9th grade.

100+ hours is a whole new ballgame. It's not possible to travel or give too much time to ANYTHING apart from work (including eating - I used to eat while studying). It means 14–15 hours work everyday. I have worked this much only in January 2014 - when I was fighting against death for an exam called IJSO.

100+ hours will grow you like you're on steroids - but they take a huge toll on your personal life and health. You cannot move, nut (DON'T, IT'S NOVEMBER) , or laugh. Any movement compounded over 7 days make that 100 a 98. You sit and work like a donkey. The growth is immense though. I don't think I have ever experienced as much growth as I did during Jan '14.

The ingredients to pull this off are discipline, a mission strong enough to make distractions seem trivial, and good time management.

I have been struggling a bit with sleep recently though - I never compromised on sleep in teenage (100+ hours work with 7 hours sleep everyday, bitches ;).

-Kalpit Veerwal

If one student from IGNOU can make to an IIM, it is enough to prove that studying from IGNOU doesn’t put a full stop to your chances. It may or may not affect your chances, that information is only available with the interviewers and is largely dependent on your overall profile.

In the PGP batch of 2018–2020 at IIM Ahmedabad, there was one student from IGNOU, who had pursued BCAF (Bachelors of Commerce in Accounts and Finance) and was a CA with 17 months of work experience.

That’s the most I know but I hope it should be enough to make you feel confident to take the exam without any prejudices.

-Shweta Arora, studied at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (2020)

Hi!

Hi,

Lot of pictures ahead,

Am a banker, my salary in hand will be a minimum of Rs. 62,000. Now why i have mentioned the word minimum here is because, I will get a lot of allowances which are occasional and so cannot be included in monthly salary.

Now apart from salary, I do get a residential flat for my accommodation which is borne by organization and the furniture allowance to maintain the required furniture at residence.

Now I got a double bed room flat, king size double cot bed , a fridge and an AC , all at organization’s cost.

So, coming to my expenses, I spend on a lot of things which I want and most of my earnings will go to fun and food.

I do have a bike, Royal Enfield. My flat is very near to my bank so i don't generally use my bike at work place. But, I ride on it to go home for weekends. As my home is just 35 Kms away from my place of posting. So it will cost me 2 litres per weekend. so all in all some Rs.1000 - Rs. 1500 per month for petrol.

Am a foodie, so I eat whatever I want to on that particular day. And i do love taking pics of the food well arranged.

If at home, swiggy and zomato will take care of my cravings ,but if at workplace i have to adjust with local made snacks. And also i don’t cook for myself, so during week days I have to eat outside food/hotel food only. Hence at an average of Rs.300 to Rs.400 per day ( Cause I eat biryani for atleast 2 out of 5 working days ). 22 to 24 working days per month. So upon calculating , Rs. 8000 - 9000 approximately. And on weekends, Domino’s , KFC, Ibbaco etc., will take a hit , So atleast Rs. 2000 - Rs.3000 for adding extra cholesterol to body.

Only monthly bill which i need to pay from my pocket is my electricity bill, it will never cross Rs.160/-. My mobile bill will be paid by our organization.

I give Rs.5000/- to my mother every month for her expenses and invest Rs.12000/- into mutual funds every month. ( Annual savings are done at a time all together )

Now, coming to the second part of the question, am happy and satisfied, considering my salary, as i am getting enough , i can say more than enough to spend, to give away, to save for future. May be its because i am not married, hence less expenses and more savings, also other reason may be am posted in a semi urban place near to my home town. So nothing much to explore, nothing much to spend on useless stuff. I don't drink, i don't smoke.

Am happy because I got my own DSLR

One of my favorite purchase , Ray-Ban diamond hard shades

I got all the gadgets which i need, I don’t spend unnecessarily on gadgets, I still use my Honor 9i which i had bought back in 2017. But i do buy the essential gadgets for my fun.

I got to visit so many places, I do travel a lot just for taking pics.

So, let it be any profession, whatever the salary might be, if you can find peace and find yourself in your life, anyone can be happy.

Thanks for A2A, also for scrolling.


-Vishnu Vishal, Deputy Manager at State Bank of India (2019-present)

FIRST ATTEMPT

During the lockdown, I decided to explore the unexplored side of me. COOKING. So after a few successful items, next came the custard. It was the first time custard was being prepared at my home as ‘kheer’ is the staple sweet dish in my family.

I followed the exact steps that were mentioned in the recipe on a website. But the result was disastrous. This is how it turned out.

FIRST ATTEMPT:

It became extremely thick. I did not take care of the lumps and viscosity while preparing it.

I felt bad. But there was nothing that I could do then. I decided to give it a second try!

This time, the outcome was amazing!

SECOND ATTEMPT:

This is just a small example of my success story of cooking custard.

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WHAT IS THE SECRET OF SUCCESS THAT CAN CHANGE LIFE?

Being persistent and dedicated towards your goal is the only secret of success.

Sometimes you will get to taste the success in the first attempt, sometimes in the second, sometimes in the third and sometimes it takes uncountable times! What makes you finally achieve it is your consistent efforts.

The secret of success lies in learning from past mistakes and not repeating them. A fool is not the one who makes mistakes, it’s the one who makes the same mistake twice. Just keep analyzing your shortcomings and you will eventually reach the top. You just need to learn from your failures and do not lose hope and faith.

And if you still have doubts, just observe an ant when she is carrying a grain of size two times more than her own size. She will fall and stop many times but won’t give up and will finally reach her destination. That’s the spirit. If you have this spirit then no one can stop you from getting successful. :-)

If you want to change your life, just keep trying and do not give up! :-)

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

Why do bright students of 10th fail in IIT?

So let me tell you my experience…

Till class 10 th i was an average student (8.6 CGPA in 10th board) never too dedicated for jee, but my 2 colleagues , who were all the time toppers of my school went to kota for their jee preparation . Everyone in school thought that they are going to do well in jee as in school. But after span of 2 years what happened with them , nothing. They were even unable to clear jee mains, and I got selected in IIT Bombay with general category.

So what I learned at that time was that bieng a school topper doesn't mean that you're gonna top in jee also.

Not all the bright student but many of them are unable to clear jee and it's quite logical, there are lakhs of students scoring 10 CGPA in class 10th but there are only few thousands seats in IIT.

And not only this I have seen many 10 pointers scoring students failing in jee and an average students clearing jee. I am one of them. I was an average student during class 10 with 8.6CGPA in boards. But I cleared jee and pursuing B. Tech from IIT Bombay.

So where the problem arises. Transformation in topics from class 10 to 11 is quite difficult and it requires good level of thinking skills and the questions in jee require the hell good level of thinking skills.

So some students are good at it and some are not, and it is totally independent of score of class 10 th.

And one more thing , there is also the 2 years of hardwork which students do which let them to the way to IIT. We can't only judge by the score of class 10. There are many who do well in both, class 10 and even in jee.

Thanks

-Balbhadra Daxini, B. Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (2023)