It has been more than five months since I posted anything here. As it usually happens, when a gap opens up on this blog I start questioning my commitment to the blog. And as it also usually happens, I get the inspiration to continue from somewhere. Today the inspiration came from one of my favourite quotes –

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

For a very long time, this quote has been misattributed to Aristotle. Better researchers (here and here) than me have found that this quote was actually a summing up of Aristotle’s views by Will Durant. I have read Durant’s The Story of Philosophy and still thought that the quote is from the Greek Philosopher. God bless the Internet.

So then back to writing. To offer an excuse for the gap, the last five months were quite pivotal in my life. I received the Gold Medal for academic excellence (again that word) from IIM Ahmedabad. After the ceremonies I was caught up in the whirlwind called life – moving to another city, setting up pleasant environment for a healthy and productive living and starting a new job. Sounds like the resistance that Pressfield so eloquently put forth in his book “The war of art”, with which I had restarted this blog after a gap of an year. But the best way to beat the resistance is to get back to writing and that’s what I decided to do on this afternoon in Gurugram.

After I received the gold medal quite a few of my friends reached out to me through social media to ask for the “How” of it. I think for everyone the journey and the approach will be different. I have seen some posts where academic achievers have explained their approach and the effort as rules to follow. For me it is more about the five key guiding principles which I feel everyone can use in their journey.

Learning intent – This intention has to be the primary motivator. The institution is for learning and your year or two should be dedicated to that. At the end of my admission interview the Professors had asked me whether I have any questions. I had asked how to make the most of what IIM Ahmedabad had to offer. The answer was – “a sustained intent to learn”. The subtext was that most of us will join with the intent to learn, but to keep it sustained in the busy life of rigor will be a challenge. If you take just one thing from this post, please take this. Keep the intent to learn as your north star. Always look for how best to get the most out of the learning opportunities you get. You will get bombarded with submissions and deadlines and you may want to give up, or do the minimum needed. Please don’t fall for the urge. Think of them as opportunities to broaden your understanding. The learning is what stays with you long after.

A sense of confidence – The system is designed to challenge you. To overcome this you need to have a sense of confidence that you will be able to find a way to deal with the challenges. For us, the term 1 and 2 of the course were a series of days of increasing pressure. There is just too much to do and not enough hours in the day. But then it’s the same for everyone. So given the same challenges and the same resources, you have to believe that you will be able to deliver quality whenever needed. This sense of confidence will not only help you to fulfil the demands of the course but will also prepare you for whatever comes your way in the future. So, in that sense this increasing pressure is also a preparation for the future. I believe this is one of the reasons that the graduates from your institution are valued by the industry.

Identifying the deliverables – This is something that became clear to me after the end of term 1. I was not the gold medal candidate after the term 1, not even close. But after going through the quizzes, submissions and exams I realized that being a student is not the only paradigm. The other paradigm is understanding expectations. If your Boss at work calls you and asks for a deck/document to be prepared and you want to do a good job on it, you will start with understanding the expectation on which you need to deliver. It’s the same in the college. Just replace one Boss with Professors of various papers. Once you understand what the professor expects to be your contribution – be it in a class, on a submission or in the end term, you just need to deliver on that. If you are not clear on the expectations, always ask questions from the professors or the academic associates. Clarity on what to deliver is critical for grades. I understood this in term 2 and my grades reflect the understanding. The multitude of submissions and quizzes ensure that you get the opportunity to understand the expectation if you have not understood it in the first go. There is always an opportunity to course correct. If you falter, ask questions and course correct.

The team – The greatest experience that IIM Ahmedabad bestows on you is to give you a new family, if you choose to make it a family. Your syndicate is your family for the duration of the course. If your syndi remains together, motivated and takes pride in each other’s achievements, you will do wonders. I was truly fortunate to be blessed with the syndi A5. I don’t know how but within the first few days of interactions we knew what each of us wanted from the course and even if it was not apparent at that time, we knew how to help each other to achieve what everyone wanted. Whenever any of us did remarkably well the whole syndi felt pride and I think we will feel that for the rest of our lives. When you have a cohesive group of individuals trying to do something, it generally gets done. I won’t name names but after the course got over and people started on their jobs, on our syndi whatsapp group we got a message from the “Professor” of our group – “I need to create a report, but I’m struggling without the background noise of your chatter.” This was another thing, we had recognized who does what well and allowed that person to do that without letting our “need to contribute” in the way. I’ve often seen this need to contribute bring down the quality of teamwork. If possible avoid it. Everyone has their own unique capability and if you can create an environment where that capability shines forth, your group work will always come out great. I tried to follow this principle in later terms as well where we did electives and the groups were new. Identify who does what best and let them do that to the best of their abilities. It works.

In IIM Ahmedabad a significant percentage of your grades will depend on the group work. So as far as getting good grades is concerned, this becomes a key principle. In our second term we had a paper with a presentation component of 50%. I had done very badly on the first evaluation in that paper and knew that to get a good grade we will need the presentation to be remarkable. The final deck took shape in my dorm room. My contribution – supplying Karachi Bakery biscuits and playing music for the “consultant” in our syndi, while he worked on the deck till 4 in the morning.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t do the work. For each case analysis and submission you need to do the best that you can. You have to put in the effort so that you learn. So put forward your ideas and discuss them, if need be forcefully. But when the time for final deliverable comes – let your ego take a walk and submit the best that the group has produced.

Love the journey – Always remember that whatever is happening, the highs and lows, you signed up for it. Sleeping three-four hours a day, struggling to keep up with the assignments, extracurricular activities, preparation for placements – everything, you signed up for it. This time won’t come again. Use the first few months to test your limits, consciously. You won’t need to reach those limits in the later parts of the course. By that time you will be wiser. But if you have not tested the limits, you will never know. What happens in the college is not as important as what happens in your life after the college. The one way to prepare yourself for anything that comes your way for the rest of your life is to challenge your limits in the college. If you are in IIMA, you have the extended family called syndi to support you if you falter. When you consciously see this as an experiment that you are doing on yourself, you will learn to enjoy or even love the journey.

Always remember that the time spent in the college is a preparation for the life to come. I hope that the above helps you in making sense of what you have chosen to do now. I wish you success in all your pursuits. If you’ve any questions, you can reach out to me or put a comment below.