Always Keep your Positive Attitude

An aspirant, who is determined to succeed, if he/she always possesses the quality of being positive, then the positive mindset gives an edge over the rest of the aspirants. It is not a cakewalk to maintain the positivity and motivation level during the long and tiresome process of preparations for the Civil Services Examination; but with a sincere effort, this can be achieved. Based on my experience, I can say that the following measures can help in keeping the level of positivity:

1. Always be happy from within and make others happy. Instead of taking too much stress about studies, it is better start enjoying it.
2. Do celebrate all the small happy moments, and never postpone its celebration to tomorrow. I mean, do not say that you will be happy or will celebrate only after achieving your objective. Liveliness should be
   maintained, and for this, you must not wait for any particular occasion to be happy.
3. Sometimes, you may feel motivated after meeting someone, while sometimes, you feel demotivated.

Therefore, always be in the company of people with positive vibes and maintain a safe distance from the people full of negativity, Move forward on your path with loads  of positivity, and avoid indulging in meaningless arguments with the negative persons. However, you must welcome openheartedly the healthy criticism and suggestions, meant for your
improvement.

1. Learn to maintain your relationships, Your family and friends always remain with you during the process of preparation for the examination as well as at every step of life. They motivate you to never lose your confidence and will power.
2. Develop your interests. Each and every person amongst us can have different interests, i.e., some may like to play, while some like to read; some may like to practise yoga, while some may be interested in watching cinema or listening to music. You must devote at least some time towards your hobbies. It will give you immense pleasure and satisfaction, refresh you as well as maintain your positivity. It will teach you on how to celebrate the small happy moments and how to avoid taking stress on small things.

I, during my Civil Services Examination, wrote the following poem on the ‘Positive Thinking’. Its English version is as follows:—

Positive Thinking

“With positive thinking, along with zeal and happiness,

I will win every lost battle; I do believe this in my heart.

Let all the stresses, confusions, anxieties be vanished,

Let there be thousand hindrances in my path,

I will have smile on my face.

Our inner heart must be filled with energy;

that must flow from within,

I will tackle every challenge and conquer the whole world.

Let us take the resolution of creativity with loads of hopes,

Destination comes close to committed souls.

Let the wisdom and love be come forth,

And the message should flow; and should give such a message

A new energy should awaken my country till the goal is reached.”

Always have a Desire for Learning

The desire for learning is a specific quality in human beings, which makes them only different from other beings, but also extremely powerful. This very desire of learning motivates them to make new discoveries, move forward and keep making new improvements constantly. The strong desire to learn is always present in a child since the initial stages, and it learns things quickly with the help of imitation. In this manner, the learning process grows to expand the dimensions of our thoughts, and we mature day by day. We continue to learn from our family, friends, teachers, neighbours, surrounding elements, and also from the information provided through the newspapers, magazines, internet and social media.

The preparations for the Civil Services Examination requires a certain level of maturity, which is definitely not related to our physical age. There are aspirants with an open mind, who develop a balanced and broad view at a young age comparatively; while some, though mature in age, they remain stuck in their
limited thinking. Therefore, a maturity of ideas and a desire to learn continuously are the essential factors, which lead to success in the Civil Services Examination.

The sea of knowledge is infinite and inexplicable, and we taste only a few drops from it. No doubt, the syllabus for the examination of civil services (Union Public Service Commission and State Public Service Commissions) is very
detailed and broad, but the insatiable hunger of the aspirants for a continuous learning makes this multidimensional examination easier, and paves their way for success. Therefore, do not hesitate to learn even from your younger ones, and constantly observe the surrounding and the incidents happening all over the world. In this way, the lifelong learning develops your abilities and helps in
achieving success in the Civil Services examination and all walks of life as well.

Develop Aptitude and Attitude

Generally, in order to succeed in any field of life, an attitude and aptitude in that area is essential. Your interest or inclination in a particular field increases the possibility of your success in that field. In this era of specialization, if
you want to become a good manager, a teacher or a research scholar, then your respective aptitude for management, teaching or research is tested; but the testing process in the Civil Services Examination is a bit different from those of other competitive examinations. In this examination, the specialization in any specific field is not tested, instead, the basic understanding and views about the various spheres of common life are tested. This examination expects the aspirants to be a generalist, not a specialist.

The Civil Services Examination is different in its nature, as it selects those visionary aspirants who possess the basic understanding of the surroundings, a broad viewpoint and a desire to learn. In order to prepare the selected aspirants for a challenging career, the skills of the selected aspirants are polished through an excellent training. Though the famous proverb says, “Jack of all trades, master of none’ but it requires the following modification to suit the need of Civil Services Examination: “Jack of all trades, master of one”. We should keep in mind that this examination demands a generalist approach, therefore, an aspirant should mould his/her interests accordingly. Try to keep the following points in mind during the process of developing your attitude and aptitude, while building your personality:

(i)      Maintain your awareness of the different dimensions of the incidents     and    their socioeconomic and politico-cultural impact I on the world and society. Update yourself continuously.

(ii)     Try to feel the ‘Joy of giving’. Make the social concerns as an
integral part of your thinking in life, and analyze your contribution towards the marginalized class and the people in need.

(iii)    Whenever you feel difficulty in taking the right decisions, or are unable to understand the issue use your common sense. Though we all possess a common sense, but we fail to use it wisely. During the preparation of Civil Services Examination, or while appearing in the examination, always let your common sense guide you wisely.

In order to build an overall personality, avoid the narrow views and welcome the new ideas with open mind. Learn continuously, and let the best ideas come to us from across the world, as the Rigveda
recommends,

“Aa no bhadrah karatvo yantu vishwatah”

(Let noble thoughts come to us from every side)

Therefore, refrain from the narrow mindedness, and adopt a broad and balanced view instead.

There is no Substitute for Hard Work

There is a proverb, ‘Practice makes a man perfect’ means that practice enables a person to achieve excellence, as the rope creates a spot on the stone of a well, where it strikes continuously. Therefore, there is no other substitute for practice and hard work. Besides, there is no shortcut to success also; and moving forward continuously, step by step, leads to success.

This proverb is very relevant in the context of the Civil Services Examination. An aspirant can crack this extremely tough examination by the dint of hard work and perseverance. You have to maintain your tendency of doing hard work as you have to work hard and face challenges during your service period too.

Try to Remain Humble in all Situations

While building your personality, during the preparation of the Civil Services Examination, you must develop the quality of remaining humble in all the situations. Humility is such a quality, which makes you, and the people associated with you, happy.

The fact is that the more we learn, the more we realize the truth that we have  to learn much more to achieve success. Socrates, the renowned philosopher, said meaningfully, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”. ‘Therefore, remain humble in all the situations and maintain your desire to learn more, while moving forward to achieve success.

Develop your Inherent Skills

Generally, every person is full of abilities. How do we consider one particular person more able than others? As a matter of fact, the yardstick to judge the ability of a person is the skill, which is inherent in the personality of that person. Interestingly, we can develop our inherent skills by devoting ourselves to hard work.

In ‘Management Studies’, we study that the skills are of the following three types-

1. Technical skills
2. Conceptual skills
3. Human skills

If we try to understand these three skills in the context of the Civil Services Examination, then our knowledge, strategy, practice, revision etc. come under the technical skills; our opinion, understanding and analysis of various concepts come under the conceptual skills; and our indomitable spirit, the zeal to learn, aptitude and attitude, as well as the communication skills and the interpersonal skills, come under the human skills.

It is needless to say that all the three sets of skills are required to develop one’s overall personality to succeed in Civil Services examination. Therefore, the aspirants incorporate these three skills into their personality and k working on it. Maintaining Relations

During the preparations of Civil Services examination, it does not always happen that you live your life in a ‘straight line.’ The moment you start preparing for this examination, you are bound to face the ups and downs. In such a situation, you need the support of your parents, siblings and close friends.

For staying stress-free and happy, it is necessary to maintain these relations, not only during the preparations of examination, but also for your whole life.