Because I had a point to prove - Vedant Bhalerao, IIM Visakhapatnam

They say that there is no substitute for hard work, and it is true after I got admitted at SGGSIE&T, I had become overconfident of my abilities. I never worked hard, always thought that whatever may be the case, I would end up scoring high marks. I am not bragging, but this belief became firm after my first year, and as I entered the second year, I ignored the red flags like scoring consistently low in midterms. In the end, the obvious happened, I had failed in a course. Before this, I was always a topper. This whole series of events was a jolt for me. I had to reflect on how I had spent my two years wasting time and energy while others were shaping their careers. People now saw in a different light. I was more of a person who had gone down the wrong road. I picked myself up, made schedules, thinking whether I actually wanted to be an engineer, or there was something else I could do. This lead to the realization that an MBA would be an option which would maximize my potential. After all, you can’t work without giving everything you got. I started preparing for the CAT as well as for the subject I had failed.

The thing about hard work is that while you are doing it, what is important is that you keep yourself calm and keep working without paying attention to what people have to say. People around me had changed and now were talking. I knew every tough phase comes to an end. I had a constant belief that this time when the opportunity comes, I would step up, and this is what happened. I had passed the exams.

I am writing this article as a student of IIM Visakhapatnam, people who had changed now looked up to me. But to be honest, it was never about what others thought; I had let myself down. You can’t think about taking up challenges when you are not confident enough. I see that failure very important. Had I not failed the subject, I would not have thought of MBA and would have had wasted another two years. As someone said, keep your successes close but failures closer because they teach you things, success can’t.