I tell all the students who come to me for advise that they should stop judging themselves by the marks they score in the tests. Instead, develop the habit of understanding the chapter, what it deals with, what its purpose is, what its applications are and the like. Don't put pressure on yourself to get high marks and slip into exam centric preparation. You are BOUND to get wonderful marks once you get into concept centric studies.

Much later in my career, when I was reading books written by the management gurus I realised that EACH ONE of them have emphasised on the visualisation technique. They have all advocated Visualisation very strongly.

It is the weakness of human mind that when we read about some one else's experiences we tend to get momentarily swayed but eventually tell ourselves that the guy got lucky and it may not be applicable to us. That is pure escapism because your mind refuses to walk that extra mile because of moving away from your comfort zone of thinking. UNLESS YOU TRUST what you read and hear, it would have NO IMPACT whatsoever and even if you force yourself to try, you would do it half heartedly and more on experimental basis.

Friends. Practice visualisation with FULL belief that what you visualise would surely manifest. IT WILL. 

Sorry about the gap. Father was unwell.
Coming back to the episode......
I attended the Board Meeting and sat meekly amidst the suited booted Directors. I saw what a Board Meeting was like for the first time, how past performances analysed, projections deliberated upon, issues discussed thread bare. After the meeting, I told myself that this is where I belong, in the Board rooms. From then on, EVERY DAY, before I slept, I visualised that I was sitting in a Board room, others directors were posing questions and I was answering all of them with aplomb and there was a sense of appreciation all around. That visualised experience used to charge me up so much that I used to get up fully energised the moment I was woken up at 3.30 am for my studies. This experience also gave me a different perspective to my approach to studies. I used to study the lesson imagining that the next day I would be asked questions by the other Directors about these topics and I should be able to impress them. So, I NEVER prepared for exams or my academic approach was NEVER examination centric. It was more to understand the concept, the topic, to have a clear over view of what that chapter was all about. For eg, if the chapter in Company Law was about Share Holders, I used to read and analyse the chapter to prepare me to answer all the intelligent questions posed by the other Directors in the Board Meeting the next day.
My student days or more particularly, my CA days, were driven by by ambition to settle well by the time I was 28 years and my visualised Board room experiences.
I was so sure that I would achieve both of these through education. At the cost of repetition I reiterate that I never compromised with life's little thrills of seeing a movie on 1st day, watching cricket match, hanging out with friends etc. By the time I come home, I used to go back into my "zone" of visualisation.
In retrospect, this approach helped me immensely.....

How to do well in academics, therefore, is NOT the primary question we need to pose ourselves. What do I want to become, what is my dream are better questions to ponder over. Take time to introspect. Your dream gives you the energy to do well academically. The more passionate you are about your dream, the more intense your desire the more energy you will have to pursue your goal.
Generic dreams like I would like to be a millionaire, I want to own a car, I want to do very well in my job etc are of no use. The PATH that leads you to your dream should also be clear in our mind.

Quite obviously, for a student who wants to excel in his career, the path is education. Know your subject, know it well.

I shall share another experience which had a tremendous impact on my approach and attitude.

During my CA early internship days, we were deputed to audit a very big company. I was just few months into my Articleship and was being inducted into audit by my seniors. One day, our boss called us and informed that there is a Board Meeting of the company we were auditing, scheduled at 11 am on Friday and that my senior and my boss need to attend that as auditors.

As fate would have it, my boss could not make it that day because of his mother's ill health and my senior missed the bus and called up to say he will not be able to reach the company till 12 pm. I frantically called up my boss to inform. He asked ME to attend the meeting since it is mandatory that the internal auditors attend the meeting. I had no clue what a Board Meeting was, what I was supposed to do and was absolutely intimidated by the very thought of sitting in that room with all those directors!. I expressed my fears to my boss. I was told to attend the meeting, sign on the register and inform the Board that any queries to the internal audit shall be answered the next day.....

Happy Deepavali and God Bless.
Now back to my Enlightenment story !!!!
While waiting for the bus, I used to watch the traffic on the road, for want of any better alternative. I used to observe people commuting by cycles, rickshaws, autos, buses, cars and also by walk. I used to always deliberate within myself. The guy who is commuting by bus or rickshaw is not doing so as per his choice. He has no other alternative. Then it struck me. We have to make the choice where and how we want to be. If I want  to own a car I have to plan and make it happen. It does not come automatically. There and then and that very day I decided that passing CA (Chartered Accountancy) and owning a car before I am 28 is my top most priority.
For those of you who are uninitiated to the CA line , it was undoubtedly one of the toughest courses in India  and demanded tremendous amount of hard work. What made it all the more difficult was the fact that our Articleship too was quite strenuous, keeping us busy from 9 am to 6 pm and often more.
I had a huge friend's circle. I was a big movie buff. I enjoy loitering around with friends in the evening. I did not want to compromise on any of these small privileges. At the same time I was totally fixed on my objective of passing CA and owning car. So the only way available to me was to get up every day by 3.30 am and study for 3 hours.
I was extremely clear in my mind what my objective was. There was not a single day where I had not reminded myself that I should be able own a car before I was 28. I had even pompously announced it to my friends. So the intense desire to pass CA ( There was never ever any pressure from my parents or my boss that I should pass CA in the first attempt) without compromising on my enjoyments enabled me to easily stick to my timetable of getting up at 3.30 am. I never felt lethargic and  never found the routine difficult.
Suffice it to say that I was enjoying the routine as it was taking me closer to my dream. So intense was my desire. For a 21 year old, to push oneself to get up by 3.30 am should have been an ordeal. But, there I was, fully charged up with my dream of passing CA in first attempt and owning a car that I never EVER found the routine difficult. Like I mentioned, when the change comes from within, it is invariably permanent. It wasn't anymore like wanting to suddenly build a body inspired by the physique of a hero. Here, my desire was my inspiration, my dream was my energy.....

When we watch a movie and notice the hero flaunting a six pack body or showing off excellent dance moves we het hyper. We join the gym , exercise for 3 to 4 days with full gusto but unfortunately are not able to maintain the tempo. Same is the case when we see people praising high performers in our class or ridiculing below average achievers. It spurs us to draw up a rigorous time table, force ourselves to study for a few days before slipping up again.

No wonder the gurus call failures the best teachers. They change a person's mindset completely, make him more determined.

I was a fairly good student during my school days. During my college days my hobby was reading books , fiction along with the personality development genre. I felt these books to be inspirational and develop a clarity of thought in you.

Like I mentioned, it is either failures or certain experiences that bring about a permanent change in our thinking. More often than not, events or issues momentarily inspire us like the six pack urge that I had earlier alluded to. But when the change is permanent, then your objective is well defined and takes top most priority in your life. I would mention a couple of experiences which had a profound impact on my thought process .

After my graduation, I had joined Chartered Accountancy course which involved three years of rigorous and often arduous Articleship. I had to be at the office by 9 am and was usually back home by 8 pm. I used to commute by bus and often had to wait at the bus stand for over half hour to forty five minutes. Like the Buddha found His enlightenment under the bodhi tree, I keep claiming that I found my Enlightenment in the bus stand......

Hi All.
Having discussed about the nuances of overseeing the kids studies by parents, I now get into my most favourite topic of helping students who want to do well in their academics but are not able to achieve the desired results.
Dear Students. You are already on the right track. The desire to do well is by itself a battle half won. I would like to share few of my experiences which would give you a different perspective to your approach to studies. I am doing this primarily because of my belief that it is easier for you to align with first hand experiences than hear stay stories of third parties. More importantly, what held me in good stead in academics is bound to benefit you too since I am sharing my views when I was a student.
I am well aware of peer pressure, distractions, time consumed by friendships with opposite sex, movies, complexes et al. Trust me, I had been through all these and much more. I can easily empathise with the student's compulsions. With all these, the way a student needs to prioritise and plan his studies is what I am going to touch upon.

To summarise aspect 1 of issue, the parent should strive to teach the "topic" rather than the lesson and pressurise the kid to learn answers and prepare him for exams. Understanding this difference is profoundly impacting. If the student has to learn the " Jhansi Rani" lesson, the parent is better off watching an animation movie of Jhansi Rani along with the kid rather than forcing the child to remember the dates of battles etc. The child may not eventually come first in class but will surely be on top of the topic. This would MOST CERTAINLY drive the child to do well academically, as it happened in my case.
By himself, the child will realise to well academically. The fact that he is well conversant with the topic makes him/her go that extra mile to remember specifics like names, dates etc and strives to get better marks.
This approach by parents will lay a wonderful foundation for the kid to achieve academic excellence.