This is an everything thread for all stuff 2022. You can post your daily goals, end-of-the-day updates, weekly targets or any weird thing you use to measure your progress. You can put into words & post the soul-sucking sadness that is threatening to devour you & your productivity. You can write what made your day & let others experience the happiness too, at least vicariously. This is a thread to pick each other up. This is a thread to keep each other accountable. This is a no-judgement zone.
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“This is one more piece of advice I have for you: don't get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can't do anything, don't get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it's ready to come undone. You have to realize it's going to be a long process and that you'll work on things slowly, one at a time.”
— Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Calling it a day, too early today. Will watch some movie. This sudden news of upcoming result would take time to sink in. Won’t fake it, but i am as much nervous as much I am excited.
Reviewing now - meditation resumed, Stock Exchange missed, Jammu Kashmir considerably done. My love for the land has ensured i went too much in depth and not dimensions. Will correct it in coming days. Below average day overall.
Targets for March 17 (day 18)
1. No plans as of now, would post by night what all I did.
Good luck dostoen, may tomorrow be a good day !
PS - I will write two letters to self. One tonight, another tomorrow night. Will keep both of them confidential.
Today was not a good day. Flunked in Mains once again. Doing it consecutively is not ordinary. It’s extra ordinary. This entire cycle has been very much confusing for me. Clearing prelims effortlessly, flunking in mains with efforts. I shall work on changing orientation towards Mains, and it will take time. Will ensure good enough answer writing practise. Meanwhile, some of my best friends have cleared this stage, I am just so happy for them and family.
Reviewing now - watched some random stuff here and there, nothing concrete. Watched a movie just now - The Lunchbox, could relate very well.
Targets for March 18 (day 19)
1. No major targets as such - my father sahab has planned to take me somewhere on a short vacation, i am just very curious.
2. Will look towards psc mains, limited days are left, limited choices are left.
Haar nahi maanenge. A battle is lost, war still remains.
Hi guys!
The results came. Out again.
This was my 3rd attempt. 3rd Mains. And 3rd straight setback at this stage. This one hurt the hardest though.
Yesterday was spent in processing the pain and trying to introspect on the mistakes I made. There are a lot of things I need to work on. Some changes I need to make in my approach. Changes I'm confident of implementing because of the support system I'm lucky to have, especially here.
I want to thank this community. This thread (and particularly the 2021 daily routine thread) are my favorite threads. I've made some great friends here, learned a lot from everyone and found motivation every day to work better. And now I hope this thread will help in keeping the desired level of discipline, consistency and intensity.
It's time to get back to the grind now. This still hurts; but the only way to heal the pain is to be better and ensure a positive result next time. The next 6 months is do-or-die.
Targets for today:
1) Polity
2) Newspaper
3) CA August 10 pages
4) Maths PYQs
5) TLP
Have a great day!
Came across a passage that resonated with me deeply and reminded me of this UPSC journey.
"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That’s the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You’ll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm is all about.”Haruki Murakami (in Kafka on the Shore)
Loved reading this. Putting the book on my reading list. This reminded of a poem I keep going back to in difficult times.
Sharing it here: Kahlil Gibran, Fear