Seeing Chandragupta dejected one day, Chanakya told him, “Chandragupta, do you know, the plants grow in the dark?” (We all know that today. Dr. J.C. Bose proved it also.) What he meant was that human beings grow the most in crisis or under pressure. There is no growth in happy hours. Check your own life or ask your elders. At times, people create miracles when they are put under stressful circumstances. Human mind can work overtime, innovate and can perform extraordinarily in extreme situations. This is one of the reasons why system of examinations has been created. It is not only to test your knowledge and understanding of the subject but to create controlled difficulty for you so that you can learn to raise your own bar. Ultimately in real life, the situations would not always be according to your wishes.
You need to look at exams in this spirit and not to get bogged down by pressure or stress. Though, little stress is good. Psychologists term it as Eustress, meaning beneficial stress as it propels and motivates us to perform better.
Concept of Completeness: You might have noticed in your life; be it some relationship, some communication, preparation for a certain project etc. our thoughts go back to the same thing again and again if we have left something incomplete. Now what is being complete? Completion occurs when we do our best under the available circumstances. And all of us come to know about it internally – through our gut or heart. We can probably fool others but we can’t fool ourselves.
So, it is fine to have certain amount of stress before exams but see that it is eustress only. If you find, it’s more than that, apply the concept of completeness. Just do your best and move on. But be ruthlessly honest with yourself. You will be taken care of. Remember, the results are not going to define you. It’s you who will define your own future even if there is a temporary setback. Best wishes…
Look out for memory techniques in the next edition…
