Indulge me because I do end up picking up a lot of cricketing examples in relation to your CAT coaching journey. It is partially borne out of my affection for both CAT and Cricket. And partly because it just makes a lot of sense. But since you’ve been really patient with what I’ve been sharing over the past year (or more) of your CAT Coaching journey, I feel encouraged to keep going 🙂
So, here we go … Imagine a young batsmen, say Yashaswi Jaiswal, going for his first Test series to South Africa or Australia. Conditions alien to him. He has access to a couple of coaches, including a batting coach perhaps, to help him prepare. And to advise him on how to go about making the most of the opportunities that lie ahead.
Even before his first innings he has access to a few batsmen within the team for advice. Some, who have played in South Africa earlier and have excelled – Kohli, Rohit, Rahul maybe. And a few others who will play for the first time along with him.
He can also reach out (if he wanted) to some stalwarts of the game sitting in the commentary box. That could be a dozen cricketers from India and South Africa. Some of these would have done exceptionally well in South Africa. Some would have failed. And some would have been bowlers giving an insight into the minds of his opponents.
If that weren’t enough, he could switch on some sports channels to see the views of some more cricketing experts on how one can do best in South African conditions, or against tall South African bowlers.
And if he were like many CAT aspirants undergoing CAT Coaching, he would probably follow every cricket match going on in the entire world and call up and ask every batsman who came out after playing as to the kind of balls he faced (just like most forums and discussion boards on social media are filled with people asking other people who’ve appeared for some interview for some B-School, before them, hoping to know what the questions will be like)!
And for a lot more advise, he could just listen in on the comments of crores of Indian experts (all of us are, aren’t we!?) on Twitter, FB, Insta, or even the stands when he walks out to bat.
You get the picture, right?
How clear do you think the young batsman would be in terms of what he should be doing when he goes out to bat? With the help of 100s, if not 1000s, of these expert opinions, from those qualified or not.
Muddled? Confused? Even dazed, perhaps!!
Now, after the long winding buildup above, just pause and think –Â how many experts/experienced people do you need to take advice from to do your best at your interviews?
Hope the answer helps you cut down on the noise all around you, including the Internet especially, and focus on making the most of the guidance from a very select group of people who understand the process and also try and understand YOU. That’s all you need to make a real impact. Everything and everyone else is just a drag on your progress.
About the author: Deekshant has sleep-walked through several 100 and 99.9 %iles in practically every section of the CAT. That he is a cricket fan and he writes okay is evident from most of his posts. 1000s of our students swear that he can motivate almost anyone to double his/her percentile through very simple yet powerful inputs. And that’s why every MBAGuru student has direct access to him via mail and Telegram. Oddly, he somehow also finds the time to write songs professionally. And yes … almost missed this … he is an alumnus of IIT Delhi & IIM Cal 