Failing at IIT-JEE
#81 Mindset & System
Failing at IIT-JEE taught me more than clearing it ever did.
When I took my first attempt at IIT-JEE in 2002, I didn’t even clear the screening round, despite being a good performer throughout my school life.
The failure was largely because I was in a hurry to answer the questions and didn’t pay attention to the negative marking rules, which were introduced that year.
This failure taught me how to survive in the same environment, among the same set of people, who once considered me smart. It was humbling and eye-opening.
Determined to try again, I decided to move to Kota, against my parents’ wishes. This decision created a high-pressure situation for me because Kota was a significant financial burden on my parents, and I felt that weight every single day.
Despite giving it my all, I couldn’t clear the exam this time either. I secured a rank of around 5,000 in the final exam. While I cleared all subject cut-offs, IITs didn’t have enough seats back then.
But this failure felt different. This time, I could see progress and growth compared to the previous year.
By now, most of the people who had been preparing with me had either secured a seat at IIT or given up entirely. But I couldn’t resist taking one more shot.
So, I did. This time, I moved to Jamshedpur, as it was less expensive than Kota. In this new batch, I was the oldest student until I found two others like me.
But I didn’t care about how old or senior I was. My perspective was clear: these one or two years would hardly matter in the span of a 70-80 year life, but not pursuing what I truly wanted would matter much more.
Finally, in my third attempt, I got through IIT. The struggle was over. (My two new friends got through as well!)
However, the struggles and failures taught me some lifelong lessons:
Self-confidence is our biggest asset
“Risky” decisions are essential sometimes
Comparing with our past version, always enables growth
Life is too long to worry about a few “failures” and a few “lost” years
Failures teaches us many valuable lessons, especially when we focus on the process and let go of our ego. Hoping 2024 gave you enough opportunities to fail and learn.
Take care and have a great year end.
Vivek
PS:
I’m onboarding a small group (only 5-7 spots available) for our 2nd cohort of Fitness Systems.
If you're serious about transforming your health in 2025 and ready to commit to sustainable habits, register here: https://forms.gle/vc8ic5ZxyEkYxbQ89
If you just need a constant dose of motivation and broad guidance. You can follow me here and subscribe to www.totalmacro.com 🖖 (live long and prosper).
Extremely motivating article in current times when people sometimes self-doubt their abilities. We forget all of our achievements & conveniently ignore the process we navigated to get to where we stand today. Self-confidence & belief is a real full-time job with no days off, even when results take time. Failure teaches us valuable lessons and embracing them means we are working towards becoming better. Backing yourself, even when the entire world hesitates is a sign of strength. "Every great achievement begins with self-confidence".
This post just filled me with a lot of positivity. I was losing hope to prep for an exam and giving too much importance to people and chaos. No doubt, self-confidence is the key, and 1-2 fail years won't matter in the larger scheme of life. Perhaps, it is giving the biggest lesson required.