Your way! Your destiny!!

Student Corner | Making the Most of Your Academic Life 

Ten Proactive Tips from your Teacher 

Well, the other day, a student of mine, from one of my PG Classes asked me, ‘Sir, how do you find time to read this much? And how do you find time to write this much?’

This post, me thought, would be part an answer and part an exhortation to my vibrant students to make the most of your time, - our vibrant students - whom we your teachers always envision as wonderful future pillars of our society!

But before my answer, let me give you my all-time inspirational story that made a huge difference to my perspectives, attitude and commitment towards life! 

Here goes the little story for y’all -

We all know this inspirational story of a chicken farmer who spotted an eagle’s egg, and brought it to his farm. He then proceeded to put it along with his chickens to be hatched. And very soon the egg hatched, and out came a beautiful little eaglet!

Now, the young eagle began to grow up with all the other chicken folk around him! He imitated whatever they did, and ate whatever they ate, because he had been thinking all along that he was one among them, just like them – a chicken!

Since the chickens could fly only for a very short distance, the eagle too learnt flying the way the chickens did! He thought that this was all he was supposed to do, and so he faithfully imitated it!

When you spot the eagle out there! ;-) Up above!
And that's exactly where they are meant to be! 

The gentle farmer then got an idea!

He took the little eagle with him, and went over to the beautiful mountain-side, at a vantage place from where the little eagle could see for himself, huge gigantic eagles of his own folk and ilk, flying gracefully and majestically soaring high above in the skies, sure and steady, enjoying their flight, soaring higher and higher, and diving down and down in their seasoned ways, like jets, to catch their prey.

The gentle farmer held this poor little eagle, that was so stuck to the earth and the ground, held him in his hand, and lifted his head for him to see his fellow eagles flying high above!

As the little eagle went on watching all the other eagles flying and soaring up above in the blue skies, something seemed to happen to the little eagle’s psyche!

For the very first time he saw himself in a new avatar! A new light! A new perspective!

For the first time he recognized that he was an eagle, born to fly, and not be grounded and bound to the earth!

For the first time, it dawned on the eagle that he did not belong among the chickens!

By way of patient and constant practice then, the little eagle started flapping his wings, slowly!

Very soon, he flew away from the farmer’s hand and landed on a tree, a few yards away from the farmer! And in a matter of time, he was gracefully airborne! The little eagle repeated this practice quite often, again and again, and slowly he was now conquering the vast expanse of the huge sky with his mighty wings!

He flapped his wing some more and was gradually airborne. He did this repeatedly and was now conquering the sky.

Well, although he was born an eagle, and born to fly all through his life, he was living in a highly corrosive environment, and amongst unfavourable conditions, living with chickens, which had quite lowered his self-esteem and his expectations of himself!

But when he realized his full potential, he couldn’t live amongst them from thence on!

Do you think the eagle, after he learnt the art of flying high above, would desire to come back and live among the chickens? Never!!!

A great example for us all, ain’t it?

Well, you need not keep giving one excuse or the other, for not trying or attempting something new of your own! Because if you think you can, you can! Excuses are only for those who need them! ;-) And that’s hence the impactful saying goes something like this: ‘There are two options: Make progress or make excuses’.

You’ve just got to be aware of the unfavourable situations, that prompt you to dole out those silly excuses by the dozen, which ultimately have the power to pull you down!

Oh for a life without excuses! ;-)

So that being done, if you resolve to try harder and harder, you will be wonder amazed to see the great, enormous power within you!

Just remember the premise: You are meant to fly! That’s all ye need to know! Remember that well! When you’re meant to be fly and soar up above like an eagle, don’t aspire to live the life of a pavapetta chicken!

So yup! In this regard, thought of giving y’all ten tips for you to follow, to remove the clutter from your lives and start flying!

Your Very First Tip: First and foremost, try to wriggle out of all those social networking sites that you feel, stifle your time and energy to the core! [Well, I say this from my own experience. It saves you a whole lot of precious time, believe me!] It would do a whole world of good for your academic life if and when you try practicing this precept! 

Try to restrict your Group connectivities to a minimum. There was a second year student who wanted me, pavapetta me, to be added to one of his entertainment groups on Whatsapp. To convince me still further, he scrolled down his Whatsapp walls, to show me his group list, and deivameyyy! I was quite taken aback! He said he’s in more than sixty groups – all entertainment types! Probably he needed it! I don’t know! 

But, dear students, try restricting your Whatsapp movement to the barest minimum you possibly could! Maximum three groups [family, friends, studies]! The rest are not for you, right now during your short academic life that determines your entire future!

If you’re in three groups in Whatsapp, you are at the beck and call of the admins of those three groups. They might use your precious space on your precious walls, to entertain you, distract you, feed you with things you did not need in the first place, even corrupt you in toto!

If you’re in more than three groups, it goes without saying that, you feel terribly lonely by yourself, and so you willingly allow yourself to be exploited by every tom, dick and harry under the sky! You seem to tell them that you don’t have a direction or focus in your life, that you are a chicken, who doesn’t know how to fly, and wants to while away your precious time on trifles!

But don’t you worry about people who flaunt their group-isms! Let them be!

Your Second Tip: Spend at least three hours a day reading from good books, journal, magazines and newspapers. It’s a beautiful world out there, trust me! You may visit a local library and stay put there for hours reading something! Anything that comes your way!

Sometimes you might feel your friends are not into reading! Believe me! When you take the initiative and the first step, they might fall in line quite soon! And slowly you’ll find a whole lot of your friends following in your footsteps by the number.

Your Third Tip: Have your own personal space. Never allow anyone to intrude into this sacred space. Treasure it! As the good old Japanese proverb goes, stray animals enter a house without a compound wall, and litter the place greatly, leaving a dirty filthy stench behind! Only when there’s no proper fencing to your personal space do stray, wild animals enter in! Never allow them inside at any point of time if you want to soar high above!

This sight so touched me! How beautifully they
make use of their personal space, inbetween talks!

Your Fourth Tip: In everything that you do, always have the end in mind! Will this movie that I watch, help me in shaping my future? Will this video that I watch, help me advance in my life? Will this facebook page that I visit, help in giving me a prosperous life in my future? Will this instagram handle that I have help me secure my future for me? Will this comment/post/reply that I give, be beneficial to me or to anybody in anyway, or can I dispense with it? Always have the end in mind when you venture into any such social endeavours!

We spotted this amazing kid, at the airport,
who, unmindful of her busy surroundings, was
carefully making use of her personal space! 

Your Fifth Tip: Cut out boldly on friends who you think might distract you, eat up your private space, by asking you to be part of any unwanted activities, when you ought to be studying, on friends who always focus on trivial pleasures, gossip and entertainment, friends who drain all your mom’s or dad’s hard-earned money! They are a blot in your life. They will never allow you to come up, or prosper. Just shut the door on them.

Because, as you might have known by now, some students come to college to just while away their time, time-pass, they call it! They might be of very rich ancestry/parentage, with estates, companies and factories to sustain their future! If that’s not the case with you, if you feel you have to depend on yourself alone for your future, it would do well to avoid such friends, who come just to make merry, and while away precious time, pulling you down from your study in the process!

Spotted this foreigner, on transit,
making wise use of his personal space!

Remember: These ‘distracting’ friends, tomorrow, when you’re out there without a job, will never even offer to give you a 500 rupee sustenance per month, for the rest of your lives! Always be surrounded by positive friends, good friends, who nourish you and cherish you by helping you bring out the best in you. The rest are crap! Utter crap and a total waste of time!

One penny of your parent’s money, when you waste it, remember, the heart of your parents will bleed! When you spend money on trifles, entertainment and wasted things, remember it is the precious, hard earned money of your parents, who are dreaming and dreaming, from a far off place, that their kid will one day make them proud! Never spend one penny of your parents on such friends. After you start earning, maybe, you could do as you wish! Not now!

Your Sixth Tip: Be a steward of your own life. Never give room for anyone, at any point of time, to point out your duties and your obligations to you. Stewardship is being control of oneself, which means, doing what is expected of you, carefully, responsibly, and with much diligence. 

It’s such a pitiful disgrace when I find a few students all of their time in campus, indulging only in extra-curricular activities, never having the concern to attend their classes. I really pity such misguided missiles! I know a boy in campus who has never come to his classes anytime, but always disturbs a teacher’s class, intruding in, to ask for students to be taken out with him, in the pretext of some work or the other! What a disgrace! What a shame! One day, when one such misguided missile intruded into my lecture class and asked for some students out, I asked him for the reason. He replied, ‘Sir, for prayers!’. I said, your God will be ashamed of you my boy! When distracting a student from their studies is something even a mortal like me cannot digest, how will your God accept or tolerate this sacrilege of sorts?’ I asked. He went out a sad fella!

Your Seventh Tip: Reduce to the barest minimum your phone-time! Some always delight in being blued, glued and wooed to their mobiles, making it their high priority to reply with gusto to all the messages that they receive in vain, entertainment groups around 101 in number, ;-)  in which they are proud members!! 

Just try asking one of your group admins to pay you Rs. 10,000 per month, for being part of their group, and they will then press the exit button on you the next instant! So please remember, your phone is a trap! A trap and a bait to kill your time! Your academic time! Your creative time, Your precious time to a great extent and totally spoil the little planning you have for your future!

Your Eighth Tip: Take time to talk to your parents, your grandmothers, your grandfathers, your bosom friends, your well-wishers and your past teachers at least once in a while! When you talk as such, don’t ask them for anything. Don’t ask them for any favours. Just tell them that you so wanted to call them to enquire about their health, their well-being and the like! Tell them you remember them daily. Tell them that they played a great part in moulding your life into what you are today!

Remember dear ones, they are the only hearts in the whole world who will be immensely happy without measure, when they see you prosper in life. They alone are your well-wishers. But guess what? we never care to bother about them at any point of time in our lives! We always take them for granted! Talking to them would inspire you to be worthy of them in every way! And motivate you to go ahead and aim higher and higher in life! One little word of motivation from them will keep you going from strength to strength. Not only that, by doing so, you also receive their hearty blessings and wishes for you for all of your life!

Your Ninth Tip: Have a routine exercise regimen for yourself. It could be playing tennis, football, volleyball, shuttle cork, walking, yoga, etc. Make sure you do at least one of these exercise regimens every day of your life. As the good old saying goes, ‘Math trains the mind, Tennis trains the body, Music trains the soul’!

Your Last Tip: Finally, take time to listen to great minds, great leaders, great visionaries – like Jidduji, Abdul Kalam ji, and to such other great thinkers, and great writers, either in person, or on podcasts, or lecture videos! They go a long way in shaping your personality. They are visionaries of such a grand order!

Now, it’s up to you, dear students of ours in this blessed institution, to be either a chicken or an eagle!

You choose your course! You choose your way! You choose your destiny!

All the best!

Love,

Dr. Rufus

images: all images in this post, are this blogger's ;-)