MOTIVATION
Handling the Final Result
It doesn’t matter how well or bad the Mains and Interview has gone, you will still be dreaming of seeing your name in the Final List. That’s called hope. It’s this hope that has kept you in the loop of civil services exam for many years. But today might be the day that you finally get to realise your dream and give a full stop to that thing called hope.
At the same time it’s a way of life that you will be either shocked or surprised while looking at the list (you may get in top 50 even though you may have never expected, or you may not get a rank even if you were 100% certain of getting one). When you are looking forward to something with very high expectations, you are bound to experience certain amount of disappointment. No matter where you stand today, you want to see your name in top 100. For some of you who have waited very long, seeing your name in the list itself will be a greatest relief.
Today there will be only two outcomes possible – you will be either in the list or out of the list. It’s scary. It’s scary because it’s very uncertain – what’s going to happen, you don’t know. You can’t predict precisely. Sometimes you dream of getting Rank 1, and sometimes you are scared that your name might never figure in the list. That constant (replaying) imagination of pressing Ctrl+F and typing initial few letters of your name, and then finding or not finding your name in that imaginary PDF of selected candidates, keeps bringing both excitement and fear intermittently. Today this will stop.
But how will you handle either disappointment or ecstasy that you are going to experience today?
If you look back, your struggle in this journey has been mostly individualistic. People around you might have supported you, but it’s you who has done most of the hard work part. When finally result is out and you get a rank, you will instantly win many friends. Everyone who knows you, even the ones who doubted you will want to relish your success (even if not wholeheartedly). If your name in is not in the list, there will be dead silence. Very few will come and talk to you. Ultimately it’s you alone who will have to cope up with the outcome.
To cope up with unexpected shock, you must be mentally ready beforehand to accept both success and defeat equally with dignified poise (it’s called equanimity). Today is the day you will finally know who really cares for you and who doesn’t. Irrespective of the support that you are going to get, you must move on immediately and figure out what to do next. There is no point in thinking about the past (analysing in depth, especially in this exam, will not help you in anyway).
Friends, parent and relative will try to console you and will lend some support. In most cases this support will not be genuine. Which means, you will have to find your way out on your own. If you fail, don’t cry. Don’t blame anyone. Don’t fall into depression. Instead, resolve to do better next time (even with all the uncertainty that exists). Resolve to do bigger things in life (something beyond IAS/IPS/IFS). As long as you dare to dream, and keep your hope alive, you can actually achieve anything in life (problem is that many people stop dreaming because of failures; they become less ambitious, hence lead a mediocre life).
Thanks to UPSC civil services exam preparation, you are able to THINK on your own (of course not everyone can think – doesn’t matter how much they read). Hopefully, you can think on your own. It’s important to think and plan for the future. It’s important to think on your own – because there are forces out there who will manipulate you. They will make you less ambitious. They will force you to settle for less.
No matter what happens today when the final result is out, be your own person. Be strong. Be rock solid. Smile at the failure. Smile at the success. In case you get a great rank, don’t behave like you have won the world. This is not the final success. You are entering into a world full of challenges and uncertainties where you will have to prove your worth. When you succeed in your job as a civil servant, count that day as real success.
Just be calm. Help will come to you. Don’t expect anything. When it’s finally announced, even when heart pounds uncontrollably, take a deep breath and be ready to face whatever is awaiting you.
Whether you succeed or fail, walk out, breathe fresh air and talk to people around you as if nothing happened. Let other people – friends and relatives -experience (or pretend) shock and awe. YOU, be like Buddha.
Having written above lines, we at InsightsIAS fervently want YOU to succeed in this exam. We definitely want to see you become a great officer that India needs today. Like you, we are also hoping to see your name in the list, especially in top 100.
Wish you all the best. 🙂
