I Can Achieve Everything!!!

In this draft I am going to tell you a story of a student, Who have achieved what he really need. This is inspired from multiple students in my work in educational domain.

Note: This story is going to be a self narration of the subject.

I was a student in Grade 10 aspiring for IITs just not only because of my dad’s push but even I was really mad to be in IITs. I was not a bright student, I usually score in the range of 60–80% marks aggregate, I was called an average student :). When I score less marks , the first thing I used to do is blame the question paper, sometimes tell my parents that my teacher did not teach the concept. There were few instances I thought I have to prepare well for the exams, I would start solving few questions but never consistent. Sometimes I would solve more and work hard to solve the questions which are easy to solve.

This continued for longer time and I started getting demotivated, though I am working hard I am not getting marks. One fine day my father casually asked about my studies, I said, “All good pa”. I wasn’t sure that if he had got SMS about my marks from school ;). He again asked, Is everything good with your studies? I was silent. By then I realized I am gonna have a great session of lecture that day. You know what, to the contrary, He asked, “What is your goal?”. I said I need to get into IIT. He exclaimed, Are you Sure? Yes pa I am. OK. Tell me, What is your score in the Monthly exam?. My reply with a low voice, “Pa, its 60%”. Hmm, What are you going to do now to improve your score? I will study well Pa. What will you study well, To Score well Pa. Alright, Can I suggest you something? Yes Pa. Can you talk to your teachers and understand, What are your areas of improvement? You are grown up you should ask and identify, What are your Strengths and Weakness?

Typically these situations doesn’t seem to be ideal, isn't it? But pushing the students to ask questions, motivates them to ASK for help and be Accountable on everything they do.

Now you might think I am all charged up the next day and would ask the teachers. Nope, I didn’t I was afraid to ask and I was unsure about the fear too, My dad used to ask me everyday, but I used to run away stating different reasons. One fine day Dad said, “If you are not asking, I am going to come to your school and understand what are you up to”. I said, No Pa I will take care tomorrow pukka I will ask. I took all the courage to go to my class teacher and ask, I was surprised by her reaction, she was so happy to give me feedback about my studies. The teacher started with what I am good at and encouraged me which motivated me and then she highlighted the areas of improvement. I felt good and I came back home shared my conversation with the teacher. He appreciated for my strengths, and asked, So, you understand now your strengths and weakness? Yes Pa. Again appa asked, What’s next? I wasn't sure, I was blank. Then he said use your strength to overcome your weakness. I was still not clear. Appa said, “let us play a game to prepare for your next monthly test”. How many days do you have to prepare for the exam? I replied 2 weeks Pa. Alright lets catch up tomorrow and play.

Next day after school, he introduced a game, with following rules:

1. This game needs to be played for next 10 days everyday.
2. List down the syllabus of all the subject for your next Monthly exam.
3. Divide the syllabus into 09 parts.
4. Now you have to complete planned 1 day content on that day, How do you know you have completed the Planned day content, I will conduct a test everyday in the evening.
5. Everyday after the test we will spend few mins to Retrospect on what have you done right and what have you done wrong.
6. You should ask and clarify your doubts.
7. You should call out, Does the syllabus to be covered for that day, is it practically possible to complete?

I was really excited about this, we started the game I used this technique to go through my weak subjects, I scored more than what I have scored in the previous exam, but not cent % :). You know what! my expectation was getting 100%, as I did not get I felt all this is stupid, I went to my old ways, again my father called and asked for the paper in which I scored less, he helped me to understand what are the mistakes I did. It made me realize how stupid I am, again I blamed the process rather than identifying what was the mistake I have done.

I continued the same process for next monthly test, this time 2 cycles of the game before I gave the exam, I scored more than what I scored earlier. That kept me motivating, Slowly the game was so seamless, like how Yuvraj Singh hits six 6’s in an over. I started solving more questions in a day. I consistently did this for over 2 years for preparing for my IIT JEE entrance exam, I cracked IIT JEE in my first attempt like Dhoni hits a six to lift the World cup. I got placed in IIT Chennai. This has given me enormous motivation, I used the same game to achieve anything that I think I need, I can do it and I did it hands down multiple times.

My father has taught me a process which supports me

1. Identify What you need to achieve (GOAL)
2. Break it down in to small chunks of tasks.
3. Plan those tasks in a cycle of 2 weeks.
4. Review what have you done every 2 weeks.
5. Retrospect and learn from the mistakes you did every 2 weeks. — infact on every action you take.

What an exciting Story!!! isn’t it? Long way tot go young man.

Key points I want to summarize for you

1. Encouraging students to Ask for help.
2. Motivating them to be accountable for their action.
3. Know what they want to achieve. (It could be something as small as to be achieved in a day)
4. Plan how to achieve a goal.
5. Being consistent in actions.
6. Retrospect and learn in each step.

The name for this framework is Agile in learning , this is being used by multiple educational institutions and individual for developing strong future generation.

Thank you for your time reading this, please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.