One failure in CA snatches that confidence

No one wants to be a looser. Once we start a journey, we wouldn’t want to stop mid way until we reach our destination. CA is one such journey. Most of us start with unparallel energy and enthusiasm. Very few of us would have faced failure in life until that point of time. One failure snatches that confidence. In a way it is good to fail early in life rather than facing the wrath of failure at later part of life. But then we all have our tolerance limit. Once we breach the tolerance limit, we begin to panic and lose our confidence, what ever little left , and start questioning our abilities.

If we had all the time in our hands, we wouldn’t have bothered a single inch. But then time flies in a blink of an eye. The cycle of May-Nov takes away a year in a jiffy. We would not even know and from a energetic teenage guy , we would turn into guy in their mid twenties in no time.

This question haunts many, specially those who have not made it.

“After having spend so many years, will it be wise to quit”

The ray of hope always keeps the spirits up. But the pain of staying away from family, the pain of missing out on celebrating festivals, the loneliness is killing. It becomes tough to keep up the spirits and be highly motivated all the time, after all we all are humans. But very few of us understand the difference between positive motivation and negative. Fear can be a great motivational trigger to put that extra effort to avoid failure. Parachute would have never been invented if the inventors of airplane would think why my invention should ever crash.

Most of the CA students lack that proper career guidance. There is a disconnect between members and that alumni feel is completely missing. We should learn from the experience of our seniors who have been through all this. In fact after passing also we must take guidance as to shape up our career as times have changed by leaps and bound. We must keep sharpening our artillery to keep ourselves ahead of the rest.

We should also do a reality check. We must factor in all the opportunity loss and the loss in confidence accumulated over the years due to continuous failure. Here’s the data for the latest campus placement. Total number of companies is 102 but there’s a catch. It has same company visiting multiple centers. So if we actually check the unique companies visiting for campus placement ,its only 38. That’s very less considering the number of candidates registering for the placement.

The primary goal for any CA student is getting a decent paying job for all the hard work being put over the years. But these stats are not very encouraging. Most are left to search on their own and from getting a good profile, the momentum shifts to bagging a job any how. There’s already so much of competition in the job market and companies do have a lot of options to fulfill their requirements.

Hence my point is, we all must do a rigorous and timely check of our strengths and weakness. We must understand that CA is not the destination, it is just a journey. We can achieve even greater heights. We must identify our true hidden potential, once we do that then there is no stopping .But you must have a target in mind. “I will start planning once I clear “  is absolutely not the right approach. Planning should start as soon as one enters the course and should have a fixed time line that lets say “I should have the degree by the year.. if not I have these back up plans” This will help the mind to stay relaxed and also at the same time keep it on its toes to put best foot forward.

1: Knowledge

There is no substitute of knowledge. We must be updated and should possess an expertise in at least one subject matter. The world  is very dynamic and keeps changing, we must keep an eye on latest developments ,not only in our field of work, but also an overall watch.

2: Manage Your Expectations

Expectation is the root cause of all the sorrows, some wise man had once said. Likewise, we must manage our expectations after clearing. The stats above shows how cut throat is the completion even to earn a decent salary. If you desire to be paid high, you must possess some unique skill set. It can be as simple as knowing a foreign language, lets say German.

3: Build Your Confidence

One of the biggest source for confidence is knowledge. Others could be good physique and attire. Wearing good and fitting attire shows up as positive body language. Having good communication skills and right mix of vocabulary boosts the confidence level.

4: Meditate

With so much of stress all around , we might feel lost at times. Meditating just for 10 minutes daily will increase our productivity and also help us touch base on our real self. After all the ultimate aim of life is self actualization.

5: Have a vision

All the successful people have a vision and a goal with time limit attached to it. If we at all aspire to be successful, we should not have a laid back attitude and take things as it comes. 24 hours is what everyone has, it’s our choice how we define it –– Either dreaming or executing.

6: Live in real life

Now a days, knowingly or unknowingly, most of us  spend a lot of time on various social platforms, be it Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Youtube to name a few. Before we know, these platforms start dicating our lives and it becomes more of an addiction. We must learn to detach from time wasting activities and make our time more productive. Reading a book is always better than knowing about Checkins or check outs or what your friend is eating right now.

The list can go on & on..but now is the time for some serious action..

In the end I will share a small story, before the financial crash of 2008, I had bought 100 shares of Suzlon at Rs.300 odd per share. The business model looked good. The experts marketed the company as the company of the future. I had no reasons to believe that my capital would be written off . Then the shares started tumbling. I held on. I thought it was a result of the financial turbulence, it will stabilize. Months passed, years passed. I held on. I held on for the ray of hope that it would recover soon. Today it trades at the range of 15-20 . Because I did not have any exit strategy, I suffered huge loss. But I learnt a valuable lesson. Time  does not stop for anyone. We must take decisions at right time. We should not wait for someone else to make that decision for us….Reality Check is a must!!

Motivation has to come from within...

Disclaimer: These are my personal views and experience. I do not intend to discourage any one or start a debate. Constructive comments are always welcome.

The author can also be reached at vikash.maheshwari381@gmail.com