An energetic young boy despite the fact that he was born without a left arm joined to learn judo with an old Japanese Judo master.
The old Japanese Judo master taught him a very exciting judo throw during the first week of the training. In the second week, he was asked to practice the same judo move. Every other week the young boy was taught to practice the same one technique over and over again. He could see other students learning different Judo techniques, but he couldn’t understand why, even after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.
“Sensei,” the boy finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”
The Sensei replied – “Just focus on this one throw. This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know”
The little boy did not quite understand what his teacher was up to, but continued his training like his Sensei instructed.
Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. The young boy was terrified to enter the tournament filled with other well trained and experienced Judo Players. Surprising himself and the audience, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third one was a little harder, but the young boy pulled off the technique – the only technique he knew, and won. The fourth round amazingly went the same way and the young boy found himself in the tournament final facing a much bigger, stronger and tougher opponent. For some time in the finals, the young boy without an arm appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt during the match, the referee called for a time out. The referee was about to stop the match, but the old Sensei intervened and insisted on letting the boy continue .
After the match resumed, his opponent made a mistake and dropped his guard. Promptly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. The boy deftly used his one and only move throughout the tournament and came out as a winner.
On the way home, the Sensei and the boy reviewed every move in each and every match of the boy. Surprised by his own victory, the boy summoned courage to ask the Sensei how he was able to win the tournament with only one move.
“You won for two reasons,” the Sensei answered. “First, with several months of dedicated practice you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for the move you learnt is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”
With the boy’s hard work and the Sensei’s sagacity, the boy’s biggest weakness was transformed into his biggest strength.
Even in UPSC, we will be having many weaknesses and strong points. Some may be good in Essays, other might be good in Optionals, another might be good in Ethics or any paper. What we need to do is to try to capture maximum benefits from our strong areas. Especially, if you have good command on Optionals, it will elevate your rank to the higher level. The GS scores might vary from year to year. But optionals are always a safe bet to put our maximum efforts on. But it doesn’t mean you have to neglect the GS papers or any weak areas. You should always try to get decent marks in every paper. Average score of GS in all 4 papers should not go below 400. But any good luck on one or two papers will change the scenario.
Hence, in UPSC, along with your consistent hardwork you need play the game strategically. You need to do all things needed to clear this exam. Because this is your dream and you must achieve it at all costs.
