{"id":7181,"date":"2017-08-31T23:44:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T18:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=7181"},"modified":"2019-07-12T14:51:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T09:21:00","slug":"the-two-months-to-mains-planning-days-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-two-months-to-mains-planning-days-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"The Two Months to Mains – Planning Days Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Its the end of August. And the beginning of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time of the year, when you are caught between the heat\nof summer, the wet of the monsoons, and the chill of the winter. ( Its coming\n).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels much like the adolescence – the unknown vacuum\nbetween childhood, and adulthood, being neither, and yet being both. At the\nsame time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is also the time, when you are as close to giving up,\nas you are to success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You just don’t know it yet<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, as the Mains approaches, not the most hardworking, nor\nthe man who made it to the list last year, but the fittest will survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here is how to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or Perhaps win<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1 Brace the chaos.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is the time of the year, when your plate is full. You\nhave your optional to cover – unless it is your third mains ( in which case,\nyour optional should be<\/em> covered ). You have GS Paper 4 almost untouched.\nOr GS 1 is still not rock solid. On top of it, you are missing the Test Series\nyou paid for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse still, you kept postponing joining a Test Series\nthinking you will do the whole syllabus, and then write the perfect Tests and\ntop the Mock Tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also one of those times, when you feel like you are no\nlonger in control of your life. The days end before they begin. Sometimes,\ntoday and tomorrow seem to run ( and get over ) in parallel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you are facing any of it ( alright, even  a part\nof it ), my advice to you – Brace the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its egalitarian. Its classless. And Its happening to\neveryone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should  know. Some of the people I work with, serve\nin the IPS and IRS, and are writing the exam, and I know<\/em> what they are\ngoing through. I often take 2AM calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

( The last guy who called me at 2AM was worried about\ngetting IFS, and not<\/em> being able to write the exam again. See the irony ?\n)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So realize that the semi hell of chaos that you are going\nthrough is normal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2. But it isn’t normal. I am jittery. Confused. And feel\nlike giving up.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Then you must draw a  new normal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lets face it. You have signed up for the Nation’s most\ncompetitive exams. Some of the people I work with ( a euphemism for student,\nand the term makes me feel a lot older than I am ) are former Investment\nBankers, some sons of Anganwadi workers, and some do part time jobs to sustain\ntheir studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I can tell you that the ability to withstand strain (\nand stress ) will define who the winner is. Frankly, I do not know who<\/em>\nwill win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So unless you accept to live with the levels of stress you\nmay be going through – and make peace with it, you will keep fighting your own\nbiology.[1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you can’t win that way. So accept the current levels of\nyour existence and keep going. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#3. Do things tangible. Make own notes.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The bad things about good things is that they are difficult\nto begin. And form a part of habit. So in the next 20 days –<\/p>\n\n\n\n