One Achievement and 9 steps

I had to write an essay for a website. Thought I’d share it on my blog as well. The topic was “tell us about one of your achievements and the steps that you took to achieve it.”

Here’s the essay:

Last year of school when you have only one last opportunity to show the academic potential you possess. When there is only one last chance to be among the toppers. One of my achievements so far on which I can be proud of is my last year of school when I scored 91% beating all the odds which were against me. Everyone I knew had written me off before the session even began and rightly so. I had never even scored 70% or above in the previous years of school. I had to take the criticism with a grain of salt and project my inside burning aggression on to my work. That’s exactly what I did and it was such a glorious moment when the results came out as I was sitting in front of my computer screen completely relaxed because I knew I had done all the hard work in the world and just had to reap the benefits now.

The result brought me even more joy owing to the fact that I had scored 95/100 in English, the subject I most enjoy. It was also a life changing achievement since it helped in boosting my self esteem and self efficacy. For the first time I had realized that hard work can bring loads of success only if you know how to balance your time and put the required effort. For the first time I started believing that nothing is impossible if you have the will to achieve something. It expanded my thinking horizon and changed my attitude towards life. It gave me a new point of view to look at things and made me more optimistic.

I took the time to set a plan and took steps to reach my final goal. The steps that helped me reaching my final goal were:

• Time management- A lot of people talk about it but it’s really the most important part if you want to achieve anything. I used to make sure that I do physical activities in order to keep my mental health in check. Set a routine and follow it.
• Adequate sleep- It is a part of managing time and setting up a routine but it had to be mentioned separately because so many people think that following a routine means assigning time for everything but often times they forget that sleep is an essential part to function properly. 8-10 hours of sleep is a must for everyone. I used to set proper time for sleep so that I could function properly in the school and had ample energy for studying later as well.
• Make notes- Note making is crucial. Chapters are long and reading them thoroughly is required if you want to make proper notes. Reading long chapters again and again is time consuming and you might forget important points. It is always crucial to have well organized notes when you have to revise later.
• Comprehend concepts thoroughly- I never had that ideology of studying for hours. It is a vague explanation about the way you should study. I always used to pick out topics from a subject and made a goal to understand them thoroughly. I never looked at the time and just made sure that I understood every bit of a topic completely.
• Study everyday- A no-brainer. If you want to understand every bit of a topic thoroughly then you can’t expect to cram in a night or a month before. Study every day. As simple as that. Pick a topic and make sure you’re learning something every day. That was a crucial part to reach my goal.
• Small goals- Do not think too far ahead. I used to set small targets and run at a brisk pace. Remember, you cannot run a marathon at top speed. Slow and steady wins the race.
• Regular exercise- Being physically healthy also helps in staying mentally fit too. I made sure that I exercise every day even if it was brisk walking. It does wonders and helped me to focus better.
• Take help- Whenever I found difficulty in a topic, I always took help from my friends, my teachers and my tutor. There is no shame in accepting that you’re having difficulty in certain topics. Taking help helps a lot and it is something which everyone needs at some point of time.
• Positive Approach- I always believed in myself even when others thought I could not do it. Having faith that you will succeed brings a lot of positive vibes and you become a better person. With the right mindset, everything is attainable.

So, that was my mantra to reach my goal. It is not something which you can do overnight. A thorough thought process, proper planning and good organization are essential key elements when you are trying to reach a long term goal. I made sure I was aware of every moment and planned for everything way before. After all the planning, I just had to implement them and I did it. Hence, I reached my goal without putting a lot of pressure on myself.