The fit was perfect. I saw myself in the mirror, the suit sat neatly, like it was made for me. The fabric was glorious, the whole affair was worth all the money. The next day, I was confident in my new, beautiful formal attire, and that confidence somehow translated into a great presentation. I was even able to tackle some tricky questions from the client, and my management was highly impressed with me. This incident played a crucial role in my life since I got to lead two big projects. The faith they had in me was immense.
The intensity of this revelation made me take personal grooming very seriously. I bought more suits and formal wear from the brand for the various interviews I attended for MBA admission. To think of it, just a good suit made all the difference. Now, as I continue to pursue MBA, I’m just as confident, with the Van Heusen tag hanging in my cupboard.
PART B
Unapologetic - the key to being successful in whatever we do in life. The moment we start questioning ourselves, our ambitions and our abilities, we will falter and fall. I taught myself this as I overcame hurdles to get where I wanted.
During college, I had reached the final stage of an oratory competition. The finals had a huge audience, members of very established clubs in my college, faculty and staff. I wanted to impress all of them, but when I took the stage, the fear of being laughed at, of not being good enough, came over me and I couldn’t get a word out. I hung my head low and walked out. I was sorry for not being able to overcome that sudden anxiety. Months later, the dramatics club held their auditions and I decided to give it a shot. Still pondering over the incident, I was highly determined to do only one thing – not be sorry. Two years later, as the director and actor of a play, my team won every competition we signed up for.
I beat all odds when I got placed at a prestigious market research and data analytics company during college. I was the talk of the town, everyone was surprised and thrilled for me. This boosted my confidence; the day I walked into my first job I was ecstatic. Three months later, everything I worked on had multiple errors. I spent nights on each issue, resolve them till dawn, and started the new day with a heavy heart. I didn’t realize what was going wrong until I took a break one fine night and reflected on this. I apologised every single day for something I did wrong - the first sign of something being fundamentally wrong with me. I found it easy to say sorry. It came to me naturally, like a happy good morning. That was a turning point in my career, when I decided to stop apologising, since it meant I had to be ten times better than what I was.
You are your biggest obstacle. One trait brings you down – it can take months or years to beat it. Taking that time will make all the difference.
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