Imagine, you’ve worked extremely hard! You managed to do everything right to get through the crowd. Perhaps you’ve done only right things in life because slight blip and the checks and balances that exist in the system would have just thrown you out of the race before you would have even entertained thoughts of making it to a B-school of your choice. After all the adulation for just making it there, comes day one. Shouldn’t you be excited? Haven’t you earned the rights to be on top of the world?
Well, you should certainly be excited and there is nothing wrong about being on top of the world. But here is the issue: we at times fail to understand that there are 400+ equally smart (perhaps even smarter individuals) who have entered the same campus by surmounting their own challenges.
This leads us to our next question: ‘how do I differentiate myself and still remain on top?’ The unfortunate truth is, we really want to stand out even among the best but it never happens because most of us are still following the herd. Now you may ask if that is what is giving success, what is wrong in following the herd? Again there is nothing wrong if that is what you really want. But do we take a moment to see if that is what we are good at? What is the point of learning management if I do not know what are my strengths and weaknesses? I am sure there are volumes of content on preparing yourself for a b-school environment. But the best thing one could do is to really know himself or herself better because there is no doubt about anybody’s ability to go out there and make a more than decent living for oneself. Now one may think, is it that simple to figure out what we want from the course and sort oneself out even before stepping into a management school? Of course, it is not! And for the record, you might still be equally or even more confused after completing the course.
Let's say you put in some effort to understand yourself and do manage to draw a plan of action before you get out of this place, don’t you think each penny and every second you’ve spent would be worth? As against having a short-term objective of getting the most glamorous or highest paid job? Certainly, there is nothing wrong with trying to get the best for yourself. But if you are unable to get there despite the effort, there is a chance that you neither have what you dreamt of nor you have enough self-awareness to steer yourself to something else more meaningful. So, if not for anything else, just for the sake of respecting all the risks and sacrifices that you and your loved ones have endured, it makes perfect sense to invest time in knowing your strengths and hence building a niche for yourself. Guess what!? When most individuals begin thinking this way, it’ll make everybody’s life in the ecosystem that much more easier because the truth is, we all do not want the same things!