The journey to eventual career success is indeed tough. There are many ups and downs on the path of success. During the course of this journey, life often resembles a roller coaster ride. But, remember that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Recall legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who actually lived this dictum. His success did not come overnight. He had slogged long and hard, for years for this—both physically and mentally. He used to tell people that the secret of his success was a combination of physical and mental health training. During the course of his exasperating and arduous training, he had resolved and committed to himself: “Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” His example is worth emulating by you, particularly as budding career professional going to take tough competitive tests like UPSC Civil Services Examination.
But do you know who coached and trained the legendary Muhammad Ali in all-but-two his fights. He was arguably none greater than Angelo Dundee. Dundee was famous for his words of positivity and encouragement that brought out the best in Ali, or “the kid” as he called him. According to him, the four keys to being a successful coach were : (a) assist in finding solutions, (b) provide guidance based on personal experiences, (c) actively listen and heed to the candidate and ground realities, and (d) help to set goals and identify obstacles. You will find the embodiment of all what Dundee said, and even more, in your magazine Competition Success Review (CSR).
Your more than six-decades-old magazine CSR, which has been read from generation to generation, has guided hundreds of aspirants to successfully navigate the labyrinths of the path of ultimate success. The acknowledgement to this effect by the toppers of UPSC CSE year after year is a proof enough that the magazine has no parallel in providing holistic guidance to career aspirants. Be it the topical and focused coverage of current affairs, toppers’ interviews and their first-hand actual Personality Test experience reproduced verbatim, Mock Tests by leading coaching institutes, quality and timely objective general knowledge, etc., your CSR serves as the most up-to-date and comprehensive ‘friend, philosopher and guide’ to you.
It is a psychological fact that you learn the best from the masters of the respective fields, particularly those who have themselves gone through the gruelling process of reaching the top. You tend to learn more when you read the stories of excellence or success mantras written exclusively by the super-achievers themselves. Your CSR has been very much alive to this fact for decades. As such, besides the leading coaching institutes and best of the best experts, the CSR has also been exclusively reaching out to the UPSC CSE toppers—most of whom have been its readers—to give first hand guidance to future aspirants. Success usually comes to those who practise hard. Learning by practice is the best way of learning, so goes a dictum. Indeed, ‘Practice makes a man perfect’. And there is no better practice for competitive exams than attempting the previous years’ question papers and the Mock Tests—which jointly are the unparallel, shining and veritably differentiating forte of the CSR.
However, in spite of the best guidance, what actually matters is to effectively make use of that guidance for the ultimate success through your own determination and efforts with a positive frame of mind. While interacting with CSR in the past, most of the UPSC CSE achievers believed that success is not just one straight line but a bumpy journey filled with ups, downs and detours. They say the aspirants need to forge their own paths by making mistakes and learning from them. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln saw two business ventures fail, lost eight different elections and had a complete nervous breakdown before becoming the 16th President of the USA in 1816? His story serves as a great inspiration. It shows how if you just keep moving towards your dream despite failures and setbacks, you will eventually make it. Just like Mr. Lincoln’s humble beginnings, we have seen many students having become IAS officers despite coming from humble backgrounds.
Hard work, persistence and practice are the combined key to success in any competitive examination. Also, you have to have dreams and, more than that, have belief in your dreams. But as Mr. John C. Maxwell says : “Dreams don’t work unless you do”. Be persistent, and remember that ‘persistence is failing 19 times and succeeding on the 20th’. Nothing worth comes easy—so practise and practise hard. And we at the CSR Group are always there by your side to help and guide you in your quest for excellence and perfection. You can count on CSR for your success. All the very best !