When did you decide to try for civil services?
I asked the young, handsome IPS officer by whose side I was seating. I was on
an official work and was asked to accompany him to a programme. Travelling by police
TATA Sumo in the scorching heat of Chandrapur in April on way to Gadchandur I
broke into conversation with this opening question. He started sharing his
story. A graduate of electronics engineering he was working in a multinational
company with a package of 12 lakhs. One day he discovered that the job was
not for him. More than the professional that probably was inner call. He
decided to try for civil services. Quit the job and started preparation. Presuming
an obvious rejection of the idea of appearing for civil services he didn’t
inform parents. When he cleared written examination and was to appear for
interview he broke the news to them. That attempt proved to be a learning
experience. He became IPS in second attempt. Amazing story indeed, I asked
leaving a job in MNC with good package was a big decision, packed with risk. He
said that you had to take risk. That was the sacrifice I had to make. Then he
came up with an insightful statement, he said, “Every success story is a story
of sacrifices.”
A
precise description of success. In the glitter of success we see the faces, we
presume the hard work, sound faculty, intellectual prowess but hardly think
about the sacrifices. Looking at success as a story of sacrifices is a
wonderful as well as insightful way to understand it. Hearing that line 5 to 6
years have passed but it has left an indelible mark on my mind. This has helped
me understand success stories better. The hard work is the foundation of any
success but often ignored is the story of hard work. A closer examination of
hard work reveals a mountain of sacrifices. We can always get the complete
chronicle of hard work often leaving us awestruck by the amount of efforts put
in but if you want to feel it you have to explore the sacrifices. Once we start
looking at story of success as a story of sacrifices and we are able to divide
it in small achievable steps it becomes easier for us to explore the story
closely and understand it. Whether scoring a century in a cricket match or clearing
civil services or any competitive examination we have to break it into small
pieces.
Talk to achievers they will share the
secret how they planned study for every day and remained consistent. When the
hard work is broken into small steps it looks simple and achievable. When a
small goal which is part of the bigger goal is achievable or so we feel, it
boosts confidence. When we hear this story of a step a day towards the goal we
sense the ease of achieving success. The simplicity of the approach makes us
overlook the challenge. The challenge is of taking a step a day, every day
without fail over a long period. Consistency is the challenge. It is not
difficult to plan a step a day but consistency is the real ordeal and it writes
the story of sacrifices. If every small step counts then every small sacrifice
counts equally. In fact for every small step a small mundane sacrifice is
needed. That small insignificant sacrifice becomes an inseparable part of the
bigger picture. In reality it gradually
paints the bigger picture.
Plan is to wake up early morning at
5.00 am and start study by 5.30 am. Simple step to take. But doing it every day
means you who normally wake up at 7.00 am begin a day with a sacrifice of 2
hours sleep. Easy for a day but doing it every day for one year needs
uncompromising commitment to one small step. When we don’t want to compromise
we have to give up something. Just imagine number of sleep hours one would forgo
if the plan is executed with commitment for one year. A closer look at small 2
hours sacrifice reveals another sacrifice; you cannot watch movies or involve
in gossip, chat with your friends late into night. Else it becomes difficult to
wake up at 5 am early morning. So you have to give up highly tempting
entertainment, enticing gossip. It seems undemanding but it is testing. If we
start figuring out plan for the whole day it just becomes compilation of number
of small sacrifices we have to make every day.
Over a long period of time in a
developing success story then develops a hidden story of sacrifices. The
earlier you begin better it is for the size of the step and the demand of
sacrifice escalate exponentially if you lose time. The moment you fix your
target the timer starts ticking. With every wasted tick the size of the step
increases and so also the amount of sacrifice it requires. Those who seek self-deceiving
comfort in available time often get a rude awakening desisting them sometimes
from taking a serious attempt at the goal. They often surrender to the huge
step size and colossal sacrifice demanded by it. Interestingly those who waste
time initially after fixing the target expose their weakness of succumbing to
temptations and physical comfort. It is a ticking timer the earlier you realize
the better it is to write a tale of triumph. Rest assured there always will be
conditions beyond your control sucking time reserved by you. So it is never too
early to begin but it could be too late anytime.
Whether civil services, competitive
examinations, acquiring skills or losing weight or any other examination the success
story is made up of loyalty to a step a day and veiled sacrifices to take this
step. The loyalty to one step has to
defeat the all powerful temptation of amusement and the attachment to physical
comfort. The message is simple if you want to write your own success story first
you have to script your story of sacrifices. And never forget the timer is
ticking…
** Image credit - videoblocks.com
