MBA & Me
September 14, 2015
Like all other CAT aspiring candidates I also wanted to join a premier B-school. Getting a plum job, higher salary, boredom in current job, change in job profile were amongst my obvious reasons. I was able to justify all my reasons by the time I completed the course. Also I graduated in flying colours but the key takeaway would last for a life time. A new and improvised version of me.
I was a teachers’ favourite in high school and a pro in extra curriculars. So I presumed MBA would not be a big deal.
I used to participate in a lot of literature competitions in my school days. I thought my english was impeccable, accent suave, vocabulary phenomenal. Oh what a frog in the pond I was! That was the first jolt I encountered within 3 months of joining. My confidence dipped. I felt incompetent. I panicked. That feeling when everybody else in the room seems smarter than you. From a celebrated student in school to the status of a below average student struggling to get noticed. I found it very difficult to follow the curriculum. Finance and economics were nightmares.
I have an attitude problem. I should be the best in whatever I do. People should speak highly of me. I long for public attention. If it doesnt happen I would start hating myself. Being the best was anyways not happening so I contemplated giving up or running away.
But I decided to stay and play the game anyways. For starters, worked on my attitude, not giving a damn about how others judge me and least bothered about my social status among my peers. I needed decent grades to survive. So I invested my time in subjects I was comfortable with. That ensured me straight As in a couple of them. The nightmare ones like finance and economics, I left to God.
I survived first semester exams. I din’t have to bother about grades now, which was a breather. But.. “The winter was coming!”. I had to make myself “recruitable”. I realized very soon that my general awareness, vocabulary, critical reasoning, logical thinking, in a scale from 1 to 10 was zero. Hard reality. I kicked off with reading Economic Times religiously. It would take me a good 2 hours to cover atleast the main columns. I exhausted free lecture hours reading business magazines. I borrowed my first ever English novel from the library. I read anything that came handy. Days passed. Gradually, I started talking about topics other than bollywood and fashion. I shared my opinions and indulged in debates with like minded. I spoke with the help of hard facts. I started developing a different perspective to life. My confidence level boosted. I discovered my new interests and hobbies.
2 years of MBA life has given me a new me. It has killed my complacent attitude. It has taught me that I can never quit learning. It helped me figure out the difference between getting things done in a perfect way and getting things done in a smarter way. Everyday I try to get better than the previous day.
So here is why you should do your MBA. To get to know yourself better. To challenge yourself. To reinvent yourself!
Like all other CAT aspiring candidates I also wanted to join a premier B-school. Getting a plum job, higher salary, boredom in current job, change in job profile were amongst my obvious reasons. I was able to justify all my reasons by the time I completed the course. Also I graduated in flying colours but the key takeaway would last for a life time. A new and improvised version of me.
I was a teachers’ favourite in high school and a pro in extra curriculars. So I presumed MBA would not be a big deal.
I used to participate in a lot of literature competitions in my school days. I thought my english was impeccable, accent suave, vocabulary phenomenal. Oh what a frog in the pond I was! That was the first jolt I encountered within 3 months of joining. My confidence dipped. I felt incompetent. I panicked. That feeling when everybody else in the room seems smarter than you. From a celebrated student in school to the status of a below average student struggling to get noticed. I found it very difficult to follow the curriculum. Finance and economics were nightmares.
I have an attitude problem. I should be the best in whatever I do. People should speak highly of me. I long for public attention. If it doesnt happen I would start hating myself. Being the best was anyways not happening so I contemplated giving up or running away.
But I decided to stay and play the game anyways. For starters, worked on my attitude, not giving a damn about how others judge me and least bothered about my social status among my peers. I needed decent grades to survive. So I invested my time in subjects I was comfortable with. That ensured me straight As in a couple of them. The nightmare ones like finance and economics, I left to God.
I survived first semester exams. I din’t have to bother about grades now, which was a breather. But.. “The winter was coming!”. I had to make myself “recruitable”. I realized very soon that my general awareness, vocabulary, critical reasoning, logical thinking, in a scale from 1 to 10 was zero. Hard reality. I kicked off with reading Economic Times religiously. It would take me a good 2 hours to cover atleast the main columns. I exhausted free lecture hours reading business magazines. I borrowed my first ever English novel from the library. I read anything that came handy. Days passed. Gradually, I started talking about topics other than bollywood and fashion. I shared my opinions and indulged in debates with like minded. I spoke with the help of hard facts. I started developing a different perspective to life. My confidence level boosted. I discovered my new interests and hobbies.
2 years of MBA life has given me a new me. It has killed my complacent attitude. It has taught me that I can never quit learning. It helped me figure out the difference between getting things done in a perfect way and getting things done in a smarter way. Everyday I try to get better than the previous day.
So here is why you should do your MBA. To get to know yourself better. To challenge yourself. To reinvent yourself!
3 Comments
Anonymous
You motivate me like crazy!!! At times i am forced to follow you, even though i am angry..i know its for my betterment.. As usual.. I love you.
aina raj
Thankyou my baby :-*
Unknown
Just awesome… It's really nice how you put those 2 years in these lines.. keep going