To be dedicated to the process without worrying about the result is essential; Lord Krishna said this on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, MS Dhoni has said this in many a post-match press conferences, and I say this to every student who thinks that the upcoming GMAT/GRE attempt is a do or die situation. Surely, the three of us can’t all be wrong 😛
One of my students, Priya (not the actual name), told me that she’s targeting a 720+ on the #gmat to apply for the most prestigious #mba programs. My concern was that she was really stressed about the outcome because she believed all her efforts would amount to nothing but a waste if she doesn’t score a 720+. For someone who consistently crossed 700 on her mocks, she could manage only a sub-600 score on the actual test. Admittedly, she was very nervous on the day, impacting her performance considerably.
Has Priya’s prep journey ended? Was it all just a big waste of time? No! She’s now targeting the next round of deadlines, more aware now that of all the things that matter for a good GMAT score, it was the ‘nothing’ – the fear of an imagined failure – that made her falter (the irony). She will succeed in scoring a 720+ if she can train her mind to be focused on the process and not the outcome.