STAYING MOTIVATED How to motivate oneself during this long arduous preparation? Most people had asked me to write something on mot...
STAYING MOTIVATED
How to motivate oneself during this long arduous preparation? Most people had asked me to write something on motivation. I do agree with a lot of people that motivation is that fire in the belly that you and only you can ignite. Having said that we are often bogged down by insecurities. Your friends in corporate sector maybe earning million in bonus, or have a million dollar career all set – while you languish at home or in the small city. Doubt does creep in that what if I don‘t make it? What will society, my friends, family, etc. think of me? Will I be able to handle the pressure? This that and so many other negative thoughts keep haunting you.
Always have a positive set of
friends around you, ones who challenge you to work harder, test your knowledge
and when you get tired in the long marathon also fetch water to keep you going.
Family obviously is another pillar of support. By now, you might have dreamt hundreds
of times seeing yourself getting first rank in civil services exam; imagining
yourself giving speeches on TV, to magazines and newspapers, to yourself. You
might have also visualized yourself being treated as celebrity in your home,
village, city and in state.
Have you noticed one thing? You
usually dream about this Big Day in your life mostly after spending few hours
productively preparing for this exam. Study well for 2-3 hours, you will soon
start imagining yourself to be the future topper. Once you realize you are
actually wasting time, you will be shaken and awoken to reality: you will again
start reading/writing something; the dream evaporates!
Daydreaming is mostly accompanied
by spurts of productive hours in your exam preparation. If you are not studying
well, your confidence level will be low and you will rarely think about getting
a rank. Your ambition level climbs down once you see yourself wasting time on
doing things that doesn‘t take you anywhere. The less you study, lower will be
your ambition level. For some people, clearing Written will be a goal, for few
reaching interview level and for a few getting a rank will be the dream: it all
depends on how well you are utilizing your time now.
If you are dreaming about getting
that top rank, you have everything in you to reach there. You just have to make
sure that in coming days, you dream less and work more. But blindly working
won‘t take you anywhere. There are extremely hard working people – every year –
who don‘t make it to the list. It‘s not about ability. It is about attitude.
The more you are willing to learn and enjoy new things every day, the better
will be your chances in succeeding in this exam.
Many people stick to old methods
or resort to shortcuts. A day you spend on studies, should be an improvement
over the past day. For example, if you are writing 2-3 answers daily, after few
days you should be writing 4-5 answers within same time.
Many people either give up
writing after trying it for few days, or never start it, or worse.
To top in this exam, you must use
your strengths very well. Analyse in which area you are strong and weak: If you
are strong in optional, study even better and try to get highest score
possible. If you are weak in essay writing, make sure that you write at least
40 essays on variety of topics before exams. You can overcome your weaknesses
by working on them; but you can not easily make them your strength.
Scoring good marks is not the
thing you should be worrying most now. You should be worrying about being
consistent in what you are doing. Take a break of 10-15 days, you will see your
confidence level plummeting to low levels; it‘s difficult to restore the
momentum if you lose it once. But it‘s not difficult. In such cases, you should
just
stop worrying about backlog and
focus entirely on future. The cost of not studying for 10 days isn‘t much if
you don‘t waste a single day in future.
No topper will know for sure that
he/she will top in this exam. Until the list is out, it will be a surprise.
However, one can be sure of getting a rank in a desired range – like within top
20 or 30. This depends on your performance in written and interview. And also
on your honest and objective introspection of your performance. If you are
happy about it and have a gut feeling that you have done well in all areas, you
might be surprised (or shocked) to see your name right at the top of the list.
To see your name in top 20, two
mistakes you must never commit or repeat: Treating this attempt as your
experimental attempt and doing too many experiments influenced by too many
advises. I believe, it‘s possible for you to crack this exam in one attempt
provided you follow any one good strategy completely.
There is a reason why only a few
make it to the top. Even after lots of motivation, only few will be consistent.
They just want to clear CSS Exam at any cost. Even when they fall ill, they
don‘t miss their targets; even when there are personal problems, they just
focus on their preparation; even when friends and relatives try to demotivate them, they silently re-focus
their time and energy on studies; even when they fail, they are not affected by it.
Most people either give up or
start something new – be it a strategy, or a job. If 100 people start writing 5
secure answers today, by the end of the month, 50-60 will be still writing
them. Among them 10-20 will be writing 5 – 10 answers. After 2-3 months, there
will be less than 30-40 people regularly writing answers. In the end less than
20 will be toiling hard. Of these 20, a topper will emerge. Others out of these
20 too will succeed today or tomorrow. Certainty is 100%.
You must try to be one among
these 20 people. The 20 who never give up. All it requires is strong will to
succeed, a strong desire to see your name among toppers and a clear road-map to
follow till the end. This exam doesn‘t require you to be a graduate of top
university or college; it doesn‘t require you to be an intellectual; it doesn‘t
demand you to master English or any other subject. All it requires from you is
consistency in your efforts, and sincerity in your desire.
Compared to all the struggles
that you see around the world, giving 100% to this exam is the easiest of all
these struggles, or from among those that you will ever face in your life. May
be because this exam appears easy, some people take it for granted, and some
people don‘t give their 100%.
If you are consistently seeing
improvement in your grasp over current events, English skills and , essay
writing skill and finally in your own personality, then never give up. It might
take longer than you expected, but success will be yours. Some people achieve
it in one attempt. Combination of many factors, including 1% luck, help them
achieve this. Don‘t compare with them. You are not them. Take your time, but
also show sense of urgency in achieving your
goal.
Self-doubts, confusions and other
negative feelings will be your constant companions in this journey. Don‘t give
in to them. Neglect them, and keep on moving. These negative feelings should
make you stronger, not otherwise. You know what to do. Start doing it. Don‘t
stop until you succeed. Your dream is not just yours. There are people who love
you most in the world and want to see your dreams come true. At least, work
hard for them!!!
