What is a career, why pursue it, and when?
Before starting your career, ask yourself what you truly enjoy. Others cannot answer this for you. At best, they know what you ought to enjoy. The great disadvantage of thinking like everyone else is that your actual potential gets trapped in a predetermined mold, and your achievements become nothing that can be called or seen as distinctive. Whether you let your life fall into mediocrity is your choice.
Those of you here who haven’t even started your careers yet—are you really falling behind? What does ‘falling behind’ actually mean? Let me tell you about the BCS story. I started working at least four and a half years after my friends.
What is a career? What does a ‘good’ career (whether job or business) contain? I believe it has three things.
Social recognition
Solvency
Time to spend your earning in your own way
Better to live the small life of a sparrow without regrets than to spend long days sighing amid great abundance. Yes, you can run the rat race like everyone else, chasing victory like a mouse. But there are two problems with this. First, this race never ends. Second, even if you win this race, you’ll still remain a rat in the end. The trouble with being a rat is that rats cannot enjoy a human life. How much does a person really get from a job? We never know what will come first in our lives… the next day? Or the next life? Therefore, we should choose our careers keeping in mind that we can live life on our own terms before death.
Career and family—the story of filling a glass jar.
I had no Aim in Life, except on exam papers. Someone once asked me, what’s your ten-year plan regarding life and career? I replied that I’ve never been able to make even a ten-minute plan in my life. Still I’m happy. No regrets! How much does a person really get in one lifetime? I’m someone who lives in the world of each moment. What’s the point of living as such a careerist?
The great irony of modern man: gives more time to the boss than to the wife. Sends Eid and festival wishes to the boss first, family later.
Taking from life…
The day you want no one to remember could be the best day of your life! The story of deactivating Facebook on birthdays.
Just one second, one piece of good news can change the course of your life. A strange moment can make you forget all previous sorrows. Allah never keeps anyone dishonored forever. You must wait humbly for the day of your dreams and believe from your heart that the day will surely come!
Just one mistake can give you a tremendous push forward. Being able to make such a mistake is also a matter of good fortune. It’s best to make mistakes early in life.
Having intellectual humility is very important. Why Google doesn’t care about hiring top college graduates? Those who aren’t used to making mistakes can’t go very far.
Accept that the mistake is yours. Forgive everyone except yourself.
Stop trying to be perfect. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll remain who you’ve always been. There’s nothing perfect in this world.
Whether you’re an Oxford, MIT, Stanford, or Harvard graduate—nobody really cares about that. At the end of the day, only your impressive behavior, conduct, and conversation remain in others’ minds. Nothing else.
Most people love success but secretly dislike successful individuals. Not everyone will like you. You don’t need everyone to get by in this world. You need some enemies in your life. If you don’t have any, create some. Experience tells us that birds of the same feather feel jealous of each other. Those who pursue you have already accepted that you’re ahead.
Doing something well is more important than doing it quickly. People remember only how well the work was done. Don’t make easy work difficult, and don’t consider difficult work easy.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Saying someone has a bad face doesn’t make my own face any more beautiful.
You can become big in two ways. First, by becoming big yourself. Second, by making others small. The second way is easier, but risky. Why?
It’s better to be a follower of the wise than a friend of the worthless on Facebook. Keep learning with a humble attitude. You cannot learn without humility. It’s much better to lose once fighting a lion than to win a hundred times fighting a donkey.
The power of not listening is much greater than the power of making others listen. If you want to make someone listen, do it through your actions, not your words. Your day will come too. Until then, let people talk. Your actions talk the loudest!
Do three things.
First, write down what you want to do.
Second, write down how you’ll do it.
Third, keep what you’ve written in front of your eyes. When will you start doing this? Tonight, when you get home!
Love your emotions. Your hand may be less beautiful than many others’ hands. But just as you’re incomplete without it, you’re also incomplete without your emotions. People live with their emotions.
Why me? There’s no point in asking this question. A priest’s story. Caroly’s story. Your own story: Haven’t you ever received honor you didn’t deserve? What goes around, comes around. The world runs on balance. You’ve passed many tests in life with luck. Why does failing one make you so sad? Come on! F is just a grade! Never let it define you!
Focus on the rabbit you want to get. If needed, change the tactics, but don’t change the rabbit. If what you want seems difficult, change the nature of the path you’re taking, not the destination. Half of what you think is right about your efforts is actually right.
What’s essential for winning? Intelligence? Skill? Knowledge? No, none of these. Two things are needed: emotion and perspective. The footballer’s story. My students’ story. Little children’s story. The story of staying awake for two nights.
From now on, whenever you watch football or cricket, imagine what you would do in that player’s place. Practice this.
Frightening things are only as frightening as we make them. The story of fearing cockroaches in childhood. The bumblebee’s story. What happens when you look down from a mountaintop?
When you’re to look through the window, just look through, don’t look at.
The pessimists’ story. Pessimism is inherently contagious.
Spend more time with those who speak well of you and have faith in your abilities. When someone speaks well of you, use the sense of responsibility that arises within you. Samar sir’s story. Husbands always try to do more of what their wives appreciate. The opposite happens in the same way. Use this in your own life. Listen to praise with a humble heart, offer praise with a generous heart.
Be a 2-dollar man.
Sometimes a goalkeeper can reduce the chances of conceding a goal by not running around. Why does the goalkeeper run? We think, at least he tried. Even if a goal is scored, people don’t blame him as much. Think less about what others are thinking.
Eat that frog! formula. Before sitting down to study, write down what you’ll study that day. Finish the difficult and boring subjects first. This way you can complete the easy subjects much faster. Set your priorities right. Give yourself a gift when you finish a difficult subject. Sometimes give yourself the chance to slack off. Close the room’s doors and windows. Play music at full volume and dance! What’s the harm!
Stress Management
Sachin Tendulkar’s story.
The Main Khelega Attitude! (Video clip)
To grow big in life, one must possess that habitual ‘selfish’ weakness that drives toward greatness. When you diminish a great person, it doesn’t harm them in the least. Looking at Humayun Ahmed not as a writer but as Shaon’s husband—that’s our own mental illness. For your own benefit, try to replicate the qualities of those who’ve succeeded in their respective fields. Whatever goal you wish to reach, maintain profound reverence for that goal. Otherwise, genuine sincerity won’t emerge in your preparation. Allah honors the humble.
Notice one thing. Ninety-six percent of the world’s wealth is earned by just one percent of people. Among those who take the BCS exam, only one percent of candidates become cadres. Why is this? Some of it is controlled by factors beyond our control. Don’t worry about those. Utilize what’s within your control. Plan to be among that 1%! Think less about the misfortune of the remaining 99%.
Once a song enters your head, it keeps playing and playing. Whatever kind of song it may be! Perhaps such a song has entered that you’d be embarrassed to even hum! When our brain receives a signal, it only sees what signal our thoughts are sending. Our brain works only with keywords. Choose them very carefully. Like attracts like. Let me give a few real examples. Saiya dil mein aana re…
Creating your own work environment. The examples of Humayun Ahmed and Sunil Gangopadhyay.
It takes two hands to hold two small things. It also takes two hands to hold one big thing. If you can’t let go of small opportunities, the big opportunity will slip away. My own story. Live like birds. Leave to live.
When doing any work, follow the car headlight theory. If you think about everything that comes before and after the whole subject, your attention is bound to scatter. Most people find upcoming tasks difficult, so they prefer to think about what’s easy to think about and what discourages them from doing the tasks ahead.
No one kept their word (video clip)
To do something very good doesn’t necessarily require taking a lot of time. To create something beautiful, emotion is more necessary than hard work or intelligence. Knowing how to accomplish much in little time is a great art indeed. … No one kept their word. You fill up my senses. Kumar Sanu’s 28. Dostoyevsky’s story. … Be lazy. Bill Gates’ principle.
One thing is very true. Being academically good doesn’t necessarily mean someone will have a good career. Good students often consider you an easy target. Use this weakness of theirs to your advantage. Try to have the last laugh. Let some time in between pass in tears, neglect, and contempt.
Stop complaining the world is not fair. Yes, it’s not fair. And, this unfair world is older than you and has charmed many people much better than you.
The two most difficult stages of doing any work:
Deciding what you actually want to do, how you want to do it, why you want to do it.
Actually starting the work. The easiest technique to start any work is to truly begin doing it.
Is confidence necessary for success, or is success necessary for confidence? I can’t do it, I can’t anymore, I quit! Shah Rukh Khan’s story.
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” The difficulty level of most of the competitive exams is overrated. — Why? Those who top the civil service exams are human, aren’t they? I used to think such things. … Don’t think that you won’t pass BCS, you won’t pass BCS. Your prayers might be answered.
Your passion pays!! Books, movies, music & of course Facebook!! No matter, whatever it is!! Basically, you were what you loved, you’re what you love, you’ll be what you’ll love!!
If you are not thinking about your dream, you are not thinking at all.
What’s the use of asking Bill Gates for business ideas about rice and lentils? Be strategic.
Success can never be deserved; success must be earned. The way you think to yourself after becoming successful—that this is your achievement—in exactly the same way, after you fail, others think to themselves that this is what you deserved.
What people can’t do, or aren’t accustomed to, they assume you can’t do either. There are certain viruses that can never praise or tolerate anyone’s success. Don’t let yourself be influenced by anything they say. Those who can’t praise your right actions have no right to condemn your wrong ones. I hate critics more than anyone else. Throw them out of your life. Only those deserve to rule… Kind words are healthier than a bowl of chicken soup. The story of the strange dog.
Being known as a good student in childhood is a terrible thing—you can never think of yourself as small again. The unfamiliarity of accepting that others think I’m a fool is very painful! Sometimes it’s your bad luck! People want to see you as they want, not as you want to see yourself. Still, live in your own life. Don’t listen to others, listen to your heart.
Don’t be serious, be sincere. Not everyone can do everything. Accept this. Figure out what you do best.
Stop overthinking. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Que sera sera — Whatever was, was; whatever is, is; whatever will be, will be. What will happen will happen.
Life didn’t come to us with a user-manual. So, it’s our right to use and to abuse it! Sometimes, failures are just too good! To fail successfully is an art.
Deciding what you really want matters. Our problem is, we don’t know what we want. It took me almost 2 decades to decide what I really want. When I’d decided finally, it took me only a few months to get what I really want.
Don’t only work hard, also work smartly.
Only your results are rewarded, not your efforts. This is the way the world accepts or rejects you.
What is SUCCESS?? It’s not the opposite of failure as popularly believed, it’s just living without sighs. It’s just dancing in the manner you want and making people think you dance well even if you don’t. It’s making your style others’ favourite brand even if it’s foolish. It’s sometimes making people laugh listening to your even worst jokes. It’s making others hear you even when you don’t speak. It’s taking the opportunity to tell others that meeting your previous millionth failure was essential, anyway. It’s making your failures worth-mentioning by you or by others. It’s living in your own way and let others live in their own ways.
IBA admission exam and BCS exam
DOs & DON’Ts
The difficulty level of BCS and IBA admission exams seems somewhat overrated to me. While these are competitive exams, which is true, there usually aren’t that many candidates who actually pose real competition, which is even more true. Most people prefer to intimidate others about these two exams. Say what you know; also say what you don’t know. Let me share two facts.
In these exams, 50% of candidates go just for fun without any real reason, somewhat like attending a get-together. (The funny thing is, some of them actually succeed! The “I came, I saw, I conquered” type! There’s no point getting upset about their success.)
Only about 7% are candidates who pose real competition.
This means your competitors aren’t as many as you think. BCS and IBA admission exams don’t have specific syllabi, so it’s impossible for anyone to prepare 100% for these two exams. Remember, thinking you’ve learned 100%, then forgetting 60% of it and properly utilizing the remaining 40%—that’s the art. For these two exams, knowing what not to study is far more important than knowing what to study.
I’ve tried to address this in the following slides. Use this guideline in your own way. Take as much as you need, throw away the rest.
By the way, he is joining the IPS! (video clip)
awesome article. I will abide by your advise.