Things You Need To Let Go Of To Crack CAT

Since the failure in CAT 2016, I was committed to CAT’17 and had to manage my time very well. To do this I had to let go of few things and they were:

• Comfortable Life, Weekends: Since I had the perfect 9-to-5 job, which was not so demanding and can enjoy the perfect weekends. However, since a year I did not visit any new place in Pune and did not go for the parties (except one-two exceptions).
• Laziness: In engineering, I was like kumbhkaran. I used to sleep like 8-10 hrs a day and once slept for 18 hrs and the same tradition continuous after that. Earlier, I never woke up before 12 on weekends but during the preparation phase, I usually woke up around 6:30 AM. It gave me additional time to improve my weakness.
• Disorganized life: I never followed a schedule during my entire life. However, for a year I made a schedule for myself and followed it very religiously. The first time, I found myself so committed to achieving something in life.
• Family Functions and Home: I did not attend any family function for a year, I did not go home for a year and it was the longest duration away from home.
• Entertainment: Earlier I used to watch various TV Shows, Comedy Shows and Cricket Matches and all kinds of stuff on YouTube. However, in the last one year, I significantly reduced the time for these. I am a big cricket fan and earlier used to watch all the Indian Cricket team matches including the IPL and CL. However, in the last one year, I restricted myself to the Highlights only.

I learned/gained following things from the CAT’17 Preparation:

• Commitment, Attitude and Hard Work is the key to Success.
• Never give up, admit your mistakes, learn from them and move on. Do not repeat the same mistake twice. (Practice and Persistence is the key for CAT and it also applies to all the areas of life)
• There is no substitute for Hard Work. Work Hard to achieve your dreams.
• You are unique, so you have to find your own way of success.
• Time management and Selection of questions on D-Day will differentiate you from others. Do not let your ego to ruin your dreams.
• Compete with yourself and always try to improve yourself by improving on your mistakes.
• Start early and keep ahead of others.
• Developed a habit of the reading newspaper daily and it is the best outcome from the preparations phase.

In the end, do your job, enjoy the journey without worrying about the targets.