Aditya Birla - The Real Connect

• “How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far?”

The biggest challenge I have faced in my life yet is to get back up from hitting rock bottom in your own eyes. To give you a little backdrop, this phase of my life lasted from 2016-2019 and had onset due to my lacklustre effort at Mechanical Engineering. I got out like all others, with a degree but with bare minimum knowledge.

The issue began with my expectation setting with undergraduate life. The goal was never to study, it was to socialize and take advantage of living away from home for the first time in my life. Having no financial issues propagated this lifestyle expectation as well. I lived a fun life which included lots of parties and as less as possible classes. The chances that engineering gave me, I will always remain thankful for, yet they made sure that I could take my classes lightly till the end. The availability of 2 extra semesters in a year made things very simple and pushed me to peak procrastination. In short, I lived a life which I look back upon with astonishment. It took me a year to come to terms with what I had put my family and myself through.

The challenge of winning back my parent’s trust and my own trust started with the first day of my first job. My father pulled a few strings to get me a job in a reputed conglomerate. I did a 180 degree turn on my choices. I put myself, my health and my family first. Everything else became secondary after. The overcoming journey was long but one with deep self-learning and development. I condensed my day into 3-4 main activities namely, working, sleeping, fitness, eating which I made sure to complete 100%. No skipping work, meals, fitness regime or 8-hour sleep. As the months flowed by, I got accustomed to a lifestyle which kicked off at 6am every morning and ended at 10pm every night, all 7 days of the week. This routine became a habit and then I started adding on things onto my daily routine which included certifications, job diversification and giving back to my family and friends who stuck by me. Slowly but surely, I regained confidence in myself and today proudly mention that I was able to get into a Tier 1 MBA institution on my own merit.