It’s very easy to give a sermon like ‘be stronger everyday, ‘enjoy the process’, ‘endure despite many hardships’, ‘try to make your everyday count with hard work’ and so on. But the one who is muddling here knows the true pain of it. Because, most of our day won’t go as planned, most of our targets remain unfulfilled, we struggle hard to manage the available time to every important activity.
Let’s introspect the process:
- We Plan an ambitious time table. We sincerely want to put maximum hard work from our side. We want to achieve the goal in the shortest time possible.
- We miss some targets.
- Then we fall apart. We fall in our own eyes. We get discouraged. We lose confidence in our ability to achieve the goal. A lot of anxiety and stress creates a downward vicious cycle and we start losing our command on the process.
Some management Gurus call this a fragile approach. Because, if you see the first two phases, there is nothing wrong. In every training process, one has to set the targets and it is very natural to miss a few of them. But the third phase is very dangerous. Rather than making you a stronger person day by day, this UPSC preparation is building a lot of insecurity and self-doubt in your subconscious mind. This may create a tumour of inferiority in your personality for the lifetime.
So, what is the right approach to building an Anit-Fragile and Resilient Preparation Mode?
- Whenever you are planning a timetable, expect some Stress, Harsh and Uncomfortable situations. Anticipate the Pain. Imagine how you will have to: burn night oil, sacrifice cricket & football matches, to wake up early & sleep late, face insult and derogatory comments from relatives, neighbours and friends, etc. It will prepare your mind for the worst scenarios.
- Be kind on yourSelf. Don’t punish yourself for missing the targets. Comfort and Encourage the Self whenever you fail. Because only you can be your best friend.
- Put yourself under stressful and painful situations intentionally. For ex: In a single stretch attend 150 MCQs or write 25 Mains Qns. Or run for 5 to 10 km in the weekends, or take a cold shower in the morning. You should train your mind to Accept and Embrace the painful & difficult situations.
- Start counting your blessings every day in every work. You must be having a 20 days backlog of the online classes. But you have covered most of the other subjects. Your scores in Polity and Environment are better than others. Find Strengths and pat your shoulder.
- Build a positive peer group. Whenever you are going for a break from the library, or if you are chatting on Telegram channel, be careful ‘whether you are with a positive person who elevates you or a negative person who pulls you down with his own insecurity and anxieties’.
At InsightsIAS, we call our guidance as ‘TRAINING’. You must be able to embrace pain and difficulties. You shouldn’t ‘fall apart’ as you train yourself to improve. You must develop ‘Anti-Fragility and Resilience’ in your personality. It will help you for a lifetime, beyond this exam.
