LOVING THE PROCESS AS MUCH AS THE END
Shreya Kabir
In this world, a passionate life is glorified so much so, that the vitality of boredom and repetition has been put under the covers!
So, really do all the IAS aspirants have the “passion” to become one?
What is the difference between a successful aspirant who makes it into the list and the one who doesn’t?
Naturally, the latter will develop the feeling that it is his lack of will-power and ‘passion’ that created the gap between him/her and success in this examination. And of course to think this way is not wrong. After all we’ve been trained to think this way.
For example, we have always seen the top notch players in any field, being spoken about as people who have a lot of passion for what they do! Even in this Civil Services Examination, the top rankers are people who are considered to have extreme passion and motivation towards their envisioned goal of LBSNAA, towards their studies and towards their preparation.
Thus, any failure to crack the examination is often treated as an inability to produce passion!
Many aspirants give up too soon because they feel that they are not able to be as passionate and motivated as their successful counterparts. They miss the inner drive that the others have!
Few weeks back, I had met a professor of mine who also prepares aspirants for the CSE. As I was very distressed with my performance, I asked him, ‘What is the difference between a successful aspirant and me?’ Now, I was expecting a cliché answer that, the successful aspirants are too driven and how they have so much passion that cuts across the boredom of preparation!
To my surprise, he didn’t say any of it. Rather, his reply was diametrically opposite to what I was expecting!
He said that, ‘there when the goal is such to become as IAS officer, every aspirant is passionate about it and that is why he/she decides to prepare for this examination. The successful candidates have the same circumstances as you and they go through the similar feelings and emotions of preparation. They also have to float in the boredom and monotony of the preparation as you. But they are the ones, who persevere through this routine of boredom, through repetitions and revisions. They are the ones who have trained themselves to be firm and look over their thoughts of doubts, monotony & boredom. They are the ones who everyday move a step ahead towards their goal and continue their daily practices. They know that their daily work in not easy but still they immerse themselves in it.’
This is what had led me into reflection and self-introspection! I realized that the difference lies in the ability to keep doing the work when it is not a cake-walk.
When the preparation journey is easy, it is equally easy to stay motivated. When your work is being recognized and applauded, it is easy to stay passionate about it and go back to it the next day! But, is it that easy when your journey is arduous and repetitive!? When you have to practice the same daily routine every day; reading newspaper, reading NCERT, making notes, practicing answers and then finally off to sleep knowing that you’ll open your eyes again to the same schedule? And on top of it, when you know that no one will acknowledge your hard work till the time you don’t make it into the list!
No, it is definitely not that easy.
This is the catch! This is what separates the successful aspirants from the aspiring ones. The successful aspirants, as much as they have fallen in love with their goal, with the event of becoming an IAS officer, they have fallen in love with the process of becoming. They embraced the boredom of routine and practice as an inevitable part of their preparation.
So, if you have to become a pro in analysing the current affairs, then you have to fall in love with the process of reading newspapers, discussions on forums, watching debates. Similarly, if you have to improve your answer-writing skills, you will have to fall in love with the process of writing within a time limit, of quickening your though-process and doing it over and over and over again.
The only thing that will set you apart is..
Loving the boredom of same schedule, loving your hours of hard work and persistent practice, loving the repetitions and revisions and finally loving the process as much as the end!
