Hi All,
The article below might be one of the most important important articles you might have ever read in your life about CA.This comes as a parting gift from me to you all.My personal and rare gift which will keep you in good stead for not just this course but life.
I would visit this site now and then and maybe submit an article or two but not with regular frequency as Im doing now.
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The reception was great and so were the criticisms.But really anyone else would cower and go away hearing the criticisms and personal attacks but I did not.I would aptly reply whenever I have time to all the queries and comments and you might all have noticed what care I take with every person's comment.Was I afraid of any comment? Or did I apologize unnecessarily.I prefer to first dole the chastisement and then ask an apology (hand in velvet glove approach).This has been my nature and Im quite straight-talking and dont give a fig to anyone's cheap or negative attitudes, else I would have been a mushy-mushy type of guy, trying to please one and all and sitting at home, doing nothing, except seeing the walls.
What is fear? Does it exist? Is it something to be afraid of? Is there an end to it? What will the damn thing do to my success? Is fear a good thing? I heard one must have some fear and tension and it is good in moderate quantities, is this right?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today Vidhyashankar speaks his heart once more on this topic.
Fear is knowing that you have it and yet not recognizing it.If anyone, even someone from the Black Cat commando force or the SEAL Force in USA say to me that they dont have fear, they are bloody filtered liars.They won't say either, I know personally a couple from both these elitist forces.
Yeah, Fear exists because the lack of love is fear.Lack of love in God's plan is fear, lack of love for one'ssubject, for oneself, for one's environment,etc translates into this deadly enemy.
Fear is fangless,poisonless,fearful in itself and yet it portrays itself as a swashbuckler of sorts(much like someone commented as a "Bravado").It will jeopardize your success.
Yes, this is what fear is.And fear is a cunning culprit.It takes various hues and colours and does not come in a single flimsy package.Despite preparation, students have doubts whether to write the next attempt or not.fear short-circuits their brains in such devious manners that they themselves dont realize it.
Some wisemen recognize it as a hindsight that there was nothing to have feared in the first place and yet they fear again in the next given chance.80% of the masses fear for everything and do not realize it at any given chance.They rationalize beautifully saying "Fear is healthy, it is beautiful, the body and brain are giving warnings and fear is an intuitive part of the brain" and other such excuses and reasonings and people fall for such words and infact want to fall for such words inwardly.
Is fear something to be afraid of?No.Because that too is a clever play by the enemy fear in subterfuge to keep you in its cycle.
Can there be an end to it? Yes, there are methods,psychological techniques to avert it.Fear is a natural stimulus which comes from the reptelian portion of our brain and mind you lot of CA students use this repetilian portion of brain more than the thinking brain, which says "Fight or flight" by the time one says loudly "J-A-C-K-N-I-C-H-O-L-S-O-N"
Fear is not a good thing.Tension too is not a good thing.One has to be primed to an aplhastate of the brain to remain alert.Maybe people did not find better words so they said "Have some tension"(which translates as fear in the student's mind).I would say rather in a positive way, "Be Alert"
The wisest of all is one who anticipates fear as an enemy, who is not afraid of it, who forges ahead with confidence and redoubles his/her efforts in the wake of fear and who knows techniques to avoid fear.
Why is fear such a great factor influencing CA success?
1. Hardly 15 to 20% clear the grade and in that god knows how many are multiple attempt candidates.The statistics for CA relatively don't change and this gives all a feeling, maybe ICAI is messing with the results.(And all sorts of assorted myths)
Heck no, that was your fear which messed just now!
2. CA subjects themselves pose some difficulty.Nothing clear-cut,no proper study materials(though some have found a way to understand the material and use it fruitfully),no proper guidance,herdmentality regarding certain subjects(Hey Costing is my bugbear,Hey! I hate Direct Taxes, My God! They want only supreme court decisions and nothing else).
3. The pressure of work and auditor's most callous attitudes.This gives a fear of being lonely in this battle and the constant worry of work overload and whether one can really make it?
4. Physical tiredness, which gets transformed into weakness of brain and which inturn tranforms into fear.
5. Lot of candidates failing.Lots of failures around us makes us depressed and it really takes lot of confidence,grit and stamina to beat this.
6. Parental pressure and expectations---Can I really do it and make them proud one day?
7. Inertia--Can I do it despite my bad habits(anything be it lack of energy or initiative to study,lack of focus,improper time management,etc)
8. Friends,seniors and bad associations who induce fear.I accept no manis an island but these type of people, I ould personally run away from(Read my earlier post on "How to get help from seniors and experienced people")
9.Health and other extraneous factors.
10. For girls/women,may I add: soceital,family,marriage and other pressures.
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Man, but tell me one thing, every year there is a first rank.Why every year? Every attempt(thats once in six months) there is a first rank, there are people who have got the rest of the ranks, people who cleared both groups, people who have done exceptionally well in a few subjects,etc? What about these success stories and what differentiates them from the general 'Jantha'?
The only differentiating factor was the percentage of primal fear in them(or rather not in them).This determines when a person starts his prep,how the person prepares,what he writes in the exam,etc.
To start one's prep one must beat the subconscious fear of staying in one's comfort's zone and not postponing for the last 4 months.
How one prepares also requires tweaking,creativity,thinking,etc(Some people take great pains in thinking how to avoid thinking and it surprises me and this is where,common sense comes into play)
What he writes is also dictated by the same monster called fear.
Now, does that mean,hey you all can relax, wear the flower bermudas and walk with a Hawai Chappals on the beach thumping your chests "I dont have fear! Im cool, No fear means CA exams I clear...hallelajuhaa!!" and sing hossannas?
Nope, That is why I said which I crystallize now into an axiom which you student can follow,
HAVE NO FEAR BUT BE ALERT
ALERTNESS IS THE STATE OF MIND WHICH PREPARES IN A CLEVER MANNER ANY ONSLAUGHT OF FEAR.
It averts this fear and keeps it at bay.You really have only one choice and that is to avoid fear at all costs but dont keep harping on avoiding it because precisely you will attract that which you will try your level best to avoid.(Example: Try avoiding thinking of a blue coloured mango!)
Instead concentrate on being alert on the following aspects:
Physically--Eating good foods,relaxing,exercising,keeping oneself fit,meditating,etc
Mentally---Self-talk to yourself,cleaning yourself of other people's debris-thoughts and negative energies,pepup youself emotionally(mentally means emotionally too here),prepare well for the exams using the guidelines I gave you,sharpen your axe(to cut trees better and faster than using a blunt axe and trying to cut even one tree down with lots of time and effort)--in other words improve your skills for studies itself before you take up the studies perse Examples:Increasing your reading speed,knowing various memory techniques,having a grasp of study techniques which suit you,etc
Spiritually---For exampe Im a Certified Reiki Master(4 level initiation) and I practice a form of Usui Reiki apart from Divine Mother worship and Tantra which helps me.Iam also interested in theology of all religions and read various books of religious thought daily.Now, one need not go deep into all this as a student and just focus on being prayerful and trusting the insticts of whichever source of God you worship or believe in.If one is not into God or one is an atheist, then too some sort of a psychological backup by way of pep-up books would help unburden.That is why I termed it as "spirituality" and not "religiousness".One can be an atheist and yet be highly spiritual.
I personally would not laugh at the popular joke: Jesus never fails---Ask Him to write CA...No thats not a correct attitude.Try saying this to a true Christian.He would say, Jesus never failed me in my CA attempt and I cleared the exam because I had faith in Him.Amen! What will you say then? Infact, i myself used to pray at the ST.Thomas Mount and do love Jesus as a great Saint...though Iam no practicing Christian.
Jokes are aplenty but these small things are what precisely create fear in the minds.You might laugh and loosen up that monent but then afterwards your monkey mind will react to that joke.
There are healthy jokes, which can lighten up and loosen you, try those!
When you are alert on these 3 levels mentioned supra, then success automatically flows whatever be the hiccups, it will come to you.It has to come to you.Its a divine law, take it from me.
LADY LUCK FAVOURS THE GUY/GALWHO HAS THE PLUCK!
Does this mean,I do not believe in luck,intuition,etc.
Nope,I never said that.They are there but they are not in your control, they might come as god's gift but He/She/It(God) helps only if the person works hard, has the right attitude and the chutpazh to succeed despite failures spitting on his/her face.
Fear is a kind of mist.I was driving from Canandigua(USA) to Newyork some months agao and there was a terrible fog and could not see the road clearly and used to drive slowly and think there is vehicle coming(despite fog lights),etc.It created an illusion but then I had to be alert.One must know when to control courage and when to recognize fear.Fear is something like this fog....the moment you pass through it, its gone.
Richard Branson says"Screw it, Lets do it!" Its something like this kinda...You gotta have this attitude despite the fog...and walk through it
Sometimes I experience fear in a big way.
When I took to bungy jumping, first time I feared exactly the moment I was about to jump and it was crazy.I wanted to unlock my ropes and sit there and watch people do it, why take the risk? Afterall there have been freak accidents in this adventure sport, whatever be the safety norms USA might preach.Heck NO! Im not going...let me sip some hotchoclate here and watch these jumpers....let me let me....hey chikloooo NO...Dont be a chicken....make a jump now And I mean NOW.....And before I could say INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS .I could feel my feet themselves press and my body lean and me holding my hands near my chest as instructed and ..............I was down in the air seeing the flowling river and me in a state of exhiliration.WOW!
Yes, conquest of Fear gives you this WOW-Moment everyday.You dont ened to climb cliffs or jump down gorges....you need to complete CA! Thats better than these 2!! PERIOD!
CRUSH FEAR COMPLETELY...ITS A USELESS SENTIMENT ESPECIALLY FOR THIS EXAM.BE ALERT BUT CRUSH THE FEAR.
There are so many techniques to do it, the moment signs of first fear comes.
I used to take a small pocket diary and prioritize what needs to be done next incrementally.As I said in my mini-autobio in the forum.Incrementality is the greatest concept.A thousand mile journey begins with the first step.So, when fear strikes you,you better concentrate on the first step, do it slowly and carefully and finish it, gather momentum then slowly beat the fear with each small success,incrementally.This is how you conquer the mammoth portions called CA Syllabus! This is how you conquer any damn thing in this world,TOUCHWOOD!
There are many such tehcniques available in the market books of psychology buy a goodone to beat the fear concept(My recommendation: Unleash the warrior within)
And then behave in such a fashion after your success that people are not able to believe your success,their jaws drop....WHAT YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!
A brave man dies only once and a coward dies every day!
Then all the effort on a mundane level is satisfied, but the inner spiritual level is something different because you do not do all this for others to drop their jaws or whatever, you do that to outbeat your past self.There is a race going on between your current,future and past self....the old Chiklu is gone, now the new chiklu is even better, tommorow he will be even better...This is the race to run for and I LIVE FOR THIS AND DIE FOR THIS ALONE....
SCREW IT,LETS DO IT!
CAclubindia
