There is One & Only One Single Formula for Success

There is one and only one single formula for success. Everything else you might have heard and read about it is a derivative and a variant of this formula.

The willingness to do what the other guy won’t.

So get off your lazy butt and start doing it. Dreams don’t make you successful, actions do.

Do you want to lose weight?Hit the damn gym for 60 days straight.

Do you want to do well in that upcoming test/exam?Delete all your social media, lock that phone away and study your butt off.

Do you want to grow in your career?Stop wasting time looking for excuses and spend every waking minute delivering value to your company.

Socially awkward and want to make friends?Stop hiding behind social media masks and discord servers and step out of your frigging room and go meet real humans.

The problem today is that most people expect success to come for free and are not willing to pay the cost it takes. Don’t be that person. Success only comes to those who relentlessly pursue it and are willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.” - Jordan Belfort

Oh and don’t forget to keep smiling along the way… it makes the journey easier…

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In case we haven’t met before, I’m Rohan Kamath.

There Were Many Challenges That This Person Faced During Preparation

Well , There are many troubles I faced during my preparation. I started my journey in June, 2016. I would give my answer in some points.

1. Residential / PG problem : when I went to Delhi , I had taken a PG in Ghitorni. This was a very bad decision I had taken. The behaviour of the owner of the PG was very pleasant. I decided to reside there. After some days, He started creating problems. He started to tell me the rules according to situations. Earlier he had allowed me some things ( Like kitchen availability, Friends meet-up in the room , water availability on my floor etc) and later he restricted all those things. Then I got to know that the owner only needs money. He had very rude behaviour. I decided to leave that PG. Them he asked rent of 1 more month . At that time I had paid the fee of coachings and rent+ security amount to that owner. Hence I had not any money to give him. Along with it, my classes were also getting disturbed. Somehow I had arranged the rent and left that PG.
2. Food Problem: In South Delhi, where the Campus is situated, it is very tough to get the good/healthy food. I was in Ghitorni. There were no good mess in Ghitorni. They were simply doing money making business. There was no Quality food available . After I left that PG, I had taken a 2 room apartment with my friend Rahul . Then we decided to establish a kitchen and we employed a maid for this. I had came Delhi with my friends Rahul and Suranjana . So we all shared the kitchen. The food problem was solved . But also there's a maid problem. They used to cook good for 1–2 months and after that they were just making the food . So we had to search for a maid in every 1–2 months.
3. Health Issue: The environment of Ghitorni was not so good. There are very bad roads and gutters . So there were also many diseases like Dengue, Chicken pox etc. We all 3 friends suffered from these diseases. I faced chicken pox. It took 15–20 days of my preparation. I missed many classes. So I got a lot of Home work to do. Rahul faced Jaundice. Suranjana faced Dengue. So they also had a very much loss of their studies.
4. Made easy: Now if I talk about coaching, so when the classes were over in the evening, the road got jammed . On that road you can only see students of Made easy. In a batch there were 400 students. So whenever I used to see them I used to think about the competition. There were only 100+ total seats and total students in coaching were 15000+ . And many of them were from IITs and NITs. I was from a Govt college. So I used to think if I have to get a seat then I have to defeat them all.
5. Classrooms: In a class there were 400 students. There were some students who were answering just after the teacher'd asked something. And I was doing calculation at that time. So I was thinking if I can not fight in a class only then how would I fight with those 15000+.
6. Time: I had joined the coaching very late. So I had only 6 months to prepare. Those who are preparing for ESE, know that 6 months are not enough if you start from the basics. I had also wasted my time on chicken pox and that PG owner. So I had not much time. At last , the coaching began to increase the class timings. In June it was 6 hrs/day, then increased to 8 hrs/day, then 10 hrs/day and finally they went to 13hrs/days. So imagine what would be the condition of one who is taking a 13 hrs class in a days. I was unable to do any self study, unable to solve problems.
7. Test series: Now if I talk about test series, I was not getting good marks on test series. My ranks used to be above 8–9000. So my self confidence got down at that time.
8. Water: The water quality is not so good in Ghitorni. We had to purchase water Cane . Now we were new at Delhi. The shopkeeper was selling the canes in ₹30/cane and if on doorstep then ₹40/cane. So we used to bring it by keeping canes in our shoulders just to save money.
9. Self Study: our syllabus was completed on 20 Dec and the exam was on 8 Jan . So we had 18 days for self preparation. Now we had to cover whole syllabus in 18 days. (Note: we were taking 12–13hrs classes daily so we hadn't study self at last.)

So what was the result???
 

Failed in every Technical exam.
 

Tried again in next year with full of experience and a better strategy.

Got success. Thanks to my family who supported me in everything, My friends Suranjana and Rahul and also Vikram who came next year.

-Shailendra Mishra,IES Officer

One Golden Advice

A colleague of mine at Oxford University was one of the most positive and inspirational individuals I've ever met.

He represented Oxford in the 1st XI cricket team, learned to speak fluent Arabic by simply talking Arabic to every Arab he met (initially that meant asking them to teach him a few words), and I recently found out he came from a very disadvantaged background.

He gave me some advice over twenty years ago which has stuck with me to this day…

“Don’t get annoyed about small things in life. People who get annoyed about small things just make their entire lives miserable because they end up annoyed with every little thing.”

Someone being rude, a baby crying a few seats away on a flight, some Quoran giving you abuse in the comments. I just don’t let small things annoy me. And perhaps because of that the big things rarely do.

-Asim Qureshi,MA Physics, University of Oxford

Salute to This Individual !

Salute to this man!

He has more ability than all of us. It's about passion and determination.

He is Srikanth Bolla, a 24-year-old, blind entrepreneur from Hyderabad. When he was born, his parents, who were earning ₹20,000 in a year, were advised to get rid of him but somehow he survived.

Despite getting 90% in class 10th, he was not allowed to choose the science stream for 12th. He sued the State Government, fought for six months and won the case.

He scored 98% with science in 12th.

When Bolla was denied admission to coaching institutes for the Indian Institute of Technology, he applied overseas and got selected in 4 of the best colleges ever created on earth: MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon.

He chose Massachusetts institute of technology, received a scholarship and was MIT's first international blind student.

After returning from the US, in 2012, he launched Bolland Industries, where 60% of employees are poor, physically challenged. This 450 employees' company is now worth ₹50 crores, and recently, Ratan Tata invested in his venture.

As per him, “I was made blind by the perception of people”. When the world told him, “You can't do anything”, Bolla said, “But I look up at the world and say 'I can do anything'.”

Srikanth Bolla - Wikipedia

This should inspire us all, to work towards a better future despite our biggest hurdles and problems.

    
-Gaurav Jha

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Medical School

What are some truths about medical school?

1. Medical school changes your life.
2. Medical school is the most difficult most frustrating most complicated most fun experience for almost everyone finishes it.
3. Medical school is all encompassing. I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning and study until class started at eight. I would study throughout class until labs in the afternoon. After labs are over I would go home and study. After having dinner with my wife, I would study until I went to bed. I would estimate I studied an average of 12 hours a day for my first two years of medical school.
4. Medical school is an emotional experience. You start off medical school with a death. You are immediately introduced to a cadaver and you spend 2 to 3 hours a day for the next nine months with this cadaver. You have the awe inspiring knowledge that a person donated their body so you could learn . It is your responsibility to learn everything you possibly can from them and their sacrifice. At the end of my anatomy class we actually had a memorial service for the people who donated their bodies to a medical school. We wrote letters to their families and let them know how much it meant for us to be able to learn from them and I found it it to be a deeply emotional experience.
5. Medical school is (can be) fun. As much as we studied we learned how to make studying fun. We studied in groups we studied with friends we quizzed each other. We took turns diagramming pathways. When you’re in your third and fourth year of medical school every day is new. I knew specialty new location a new hospital it’s very exciting.

Edit: I found medical school fun. Some people don’t. It was a culmination of years of work and study and I enjoyed the heck out of it. It is very hard and very frustrating at times but overcoming adversity is fun. Becoming the best you can be is fun. Now I enjoy triathlons. They are long and grueling. However they are fun for me. Is suffering in the heat fun? Well overcoming the heat and meeting your goal is fun. So it all comes down to your attitude and outlook.

-Jonathan Geach, MD

Discipline

I hated sleeping on time, going to the gym, eating right.

It felt very constraining. It seemed so much better to binge watch TV shows, sleep longer and eat whatever I liked. If I slept well one day, or went to the gym one day, or ate well one day, it didn’t really change anything.

But I also began to realize that my life was incredibly chaotic. I felt dissatisfied.

I should have been satisfied. After all, I was doing what I wanted to. It is then I began to realize that I was looking at things all wrong.

Doing things well for one day probably did not change anything. But one week, one month, one year might. I started a test experiment by just planning my days and fixing the time I slept and woke up.

Ironically, the “discipline” set me free.

I could do more in the same day. I felt like working out. My work productivity improved substantially. It felt a lot better, surprisingly.

By building habits and a rhythm to my life, I could do more. I didn’t have to convince myself to follow those habits, doing so made me feel better. Personal “discipline” is actually quite easy because you just feel so much better. Those who are now “addicted” to the gym will know what I mean.

All you need to do is be patient while building habits, and know it will make you feel better if you remain patient.

I now love sleeping on time, going to the gym, eating right.

  
 

-Aviral Bhatnagar

,IIM A '16 | IIT B '14
Genius ?

Especially My Family– I Want to be Their Hero!

“After my father passed away, I came to Delhi with maa and my brothers. Bhaiya used to work in a nearby factory and made enough to take care of us and pay my school fees. 

But before the lockdown, he went to Jaipur for some work and I noticed that Maa used to be tense all the time. She wouldn't tell me anything but I understood that we had a money problem. Ghar ka ration khatam ho raha tha; Maa would sometimes skip her dinner. My younger brother was also sick.
 
I wanted to do something to help and since my school was closed, I had plenty of time. One day when I saw a vegetable vendor in my area, I got the idea of selling vegetables in a pull cart! Maa was hesitant at first, but when I promised her I’d be safe, she helped me hire a cart! 
 
Every morning, at 4am, I go to Khalsa mandi and fill my cart with fresh stock. The market is usually very crowded– so, social distancing becomes difficult. I somehow manage to juggle through the crowd and head to the nearby households. Sometimes people say, ‘Beta, itne chote ho– aap kaam kyu karte ho?’ But I’m always smiling because I’m helping Maa! My first day earning was Rs. 1000– I was very happy! I gave all the money to Maa and she used it to buy ration for us. 


 
I remember, at first, I was very hesitant to talk to customers. Mujhe bahut darr lagta tha, but they were all so nice to me that I opened up to them. We ask each other about our family and a few of them even give me gifts!
 
So this is what I’m doing now, but someday, I’ll join the army, serve my country and make everybody proud of me! Especially my family– I want to be their hero!”

I am Poor

  

When I was doing my graduation, I stayed in a hostel, which provided lunch and dinner but no breakfast. You had two options for breakfast: Go out to a restaurant nearby and have a hot breakfast or eat what most of the students ate - mashed banana and flattened rice (it is called poha or chura in India). I chose the second option since the first option was too costly. The food in the hostel was neither good in quality nor enough in quantity. So most of the times, I was famished.

I used to pity myself till I had a discussion about hunger with one of my classmates. He was worse off than me. His father was dead and his mother used to serve tea and water in a government office in a desolate tribal village. In short, he had enough money to have just one meal a day. I asked him what he did when he felt hungry. He said he would drink water.

This classmate of mine was a good student but did not have a clue about what to do after his graduation. In those days, IT was booming in India and I convinced him to do get a Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He got into one of the best Universities of India.

I did not meet him when we were doing our Post Graduation since I was at a different University. I met him a year after both of us had started our careers. He came to meet me. He was working for the largest software company of India and was on his way to his first foreign assignment. I felt very happy at how he had been able to turn around his fortune. He had started from a village which did not have electricity and his relatives and friends had not even seen life outside their village.

I am not in touch with him. But I searched the net and I found this photo. He is happily settled with his family in the USA.

So how do you deal with being too poor? Work hard and have patience. Things will turn around.

-Rahul Shrivastava,IFS

Don't Rely On Anyone to Fight Your Battles

I have a story. I usually do.

Years ago, I was dating a guy who had a friend who for some reason couldn't stand me. He took every opportunity to slam me for one reason or another. He would do this in front of my boyfriend, Jim. There were times I could sense that it bothered Jim but I believe he wanted to side more with his buddy than me so he wouldn't look bad to his friend. I tried several times to get Jim, this guy who was supposed to love me, to tell his friend to knock it off but to no avail.

One day, when I was alone with this friend, Frank, I got in his face and asked him what it was about me that he couldn't stand. I wanted him to tell me why he hated me so much that he felt he had to belittle me every chance he got. It took Frank off guard. I could see in his face he was shocked at my direct question. He actually said he didn't know. He apologized and from then on we were fine.

If your husband won't stick up for you, maybe it's time for you to stand up for yourself. You shouldn't have to deal with that kind of behavior and your husband shouldn't want you to have to deal with it either. If your taking control doesn't fix the problem then you need to have a big girl talk with your husband. I don't give a piss what people want to label another individual. It doesn't excuse bad behavior.

Don't rely on anyone to fight your battles. Fight them yourself. Go to bat for yourself. If this situation were happening to me today, the outcome would have been much different. I would have shut it down a long time ago. I was in my twenties when this took place. Age and wisdom have replaced those young girl insecurities.

Tell this man yourself he's not welcome in your home unless he changes his attitude. Don't forget, you live there too.

Distraction & No Focus

#1. Consuming useless information by way of: TELEVISION, INTERNET ARTICLES, DISTRACTING APPS/CONTENT (Facebook, news networks that spew ridiculous attention-grabbing political and negative news for the most part), LATE NIGHT SATIRE SHOWS, and the list continues. None of these media channels will change your life and scientific research shows how your brain literally shuts off during television.

Sometimes I really hate myself when I look up at my watch and realize I spent 2 hours just surfing the net on puppy videos, how a dog got reunited with the owner or how a fisherman saved a whale, etc. What a waste of time!

Replace this soul-sucking habit with: reading, working harder/more, goal setting, life planning, etc. The most successful people read often and diligently on subjects that matter - not your latest romance novel, instead they read the latest biography, business thought leadership publication, self-development book, or respected economic journals (Harvard Business Review, the Economist, etc.).

-Dandan Zhu

You Need to be Passionate to Succeed..................

You need to be passionate about something to achieve your dreams, right?

Wrong.

Frankly, the only thing I've ever truly been passionate about is playing video games, which I could spend 8+ hours a day playing.

Everything else in my life I'd want to do for up to a few hours a day, no more.

Yet I attained a school scholarship, perfect grades in my 18+ exams, managed a solid upper second from Oxford University, became a VP at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, founded several successful startups.

I absolutely love what I do - and I don't spend any of my time playing video games - I haven't for two decades.

In fact, when I'm on vacation I want to spend at least 8 hours a day working.

How does that work without passion?

You see, you don't need passion - you need a REASON. Sure, that reason could be a passion, although it rarely is. It could be helping others, money, fame, a chip on the shoulder, wanting to outdo a rival, fear of failure, or you just trying to prove a point to yourself or the whole world.

Passion is overrated - you probably can't make a career of something you love doing anyway.

So find your reason.

-Asim Qureshi,Masters in Physics from Oxford University