On a personal front, I have faced some challenges in my personal and educational life. The challenges have stemmed from a seemingly innocuous problem. I have a stammer. Usually, it's minimal but when I do some public speaking or I have to give an interview, the stress makes the stammer really bad. This also extends sometimes on to the telephone where it becomes difficult to communicate. Initially, as a young kid, I was ridiculed by fellow students and suffered a huge dent to my self-esteem. It was the only chink in my armour that I felt they could exploit. But, thankfully I had my parents and some good friends to support me as well. They never let me feel that I lagged behind in any aspect. I also developed a hurried form of speech, that made me really difficult for many people to understand. I was also not interested in speaking in front of others or socialising or spending my time networking. I faced a lot of trouble due to this during my MBA interviews as well. I was just too nervous, too fast while speaking and stammered a lot. But, I decided to do something about it and with encouragement from my family, I have tried to work towards countering this.
I am trying to speak slower and be more confident in my approach towards public speaking or other similar stressful situations. It's a work in progress, for sure but slowly and steadily I am making some progress. I am a quizzer, an activity which requires you to be the fastest to buzz and give out the answer. And, I hope that as I improve my speaking, I will also be able to give out answers more confidently instead of having the self-conscious attitude that I have carried for a large part of my life. And, I am confident that i will be able to do so, by taking inspiration from all the brilliant and helpful people around me.
#mba #abg #adityabirla
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