Posting updated on 25th October!

The journey of ‘Dream It! Do It!’ took me through 30 odd cities in 45 days! I could not make it to the following cities before CAT – Pune, Mumbai, Baroda, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Agra, Meerut, Gzbd, Jammu, Hissar, Gurgaon, Faridabad………. Looking forward to facilitating as many as I can through the session posting on youtube in the next one week! I am sure I can be as effective through this medium too! Watch out for the posting!

“I attended your session at Bangalore on 26th Sept,10 and talked to you at the end about how important MBA from IIM is for my life. The session conducted by you has been one of the most inspiring sessions i have ever experienced. Your advice to me at the end really lifted my spirits and my ultimate goal became more clearer. I

have attended so many seminars but none has touched my heart like this because this session was not only about cracking CAT but about life and its various shades which we all negate in day to day life. A warm and sincere thanks to you for helping me to think about these important areas.”

“First of all A Big THaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks for the session and it was one of the best things i have ever experienced. I have attended thousands of seminars and

lectures but today for the first time after I left my home some 3 years back in the search of my aim & goal, I have come across something substantial. Believe me sir you have touched my heart and moved me”

So go many of the emails I have been receiving, after every session. Each one is from a charged aspirant who wants to change his or her life for better; who wants to bell the CAT in 2010.

I am on my annual pilgrimage across the country before CAT. I get motivated and inspired while motivating and inspiring youngsters and old alike to push their boundaries…. boundaries of thought and action, and boundaries of achievement! Every year scores of students write back saying that this session has been of immense value in helping them reach their dream destinations, institution of their choice. I keep pushing my boundaries all the time, in order to be able to push each of the participants…. The whole exercise is a great energizer for me, though each session is energy-sapping when I finish those four hours of ‘dancing and singing in the alleys!!’

This year the series started from Delhi with a great opening at three different locations and continued to address CAT aspirants at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kurukshetra, Patiala, Patna, Durgapur, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Cochin, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore so far. At most of these locations, the halls have been packed and people were unrelenting to move even after four hours. The audi guys had to push us out!! At Varanasi, it was very heartening to see girls in hijab sitting in the packed hall even when the world outside was celebrating Eid / Ganesh Chathurthi and Teej, all of which fell on the same day.

The best thing I liked about the sessions have been the Q&A in each location that lasted for over two hours. The participants, students and also many working executives, asking questions not limited to preparation for CAT but of larger perspectives of setting goals and priorities, focus and concentration, managing time, social expectation, expectations from self, pushing boundaries…..!!

The participants gave feedback at the end of the sessions. I just thought of sharing the summary from 3000+ participants so far during this tour –

a. Feedback about the session
0. Life altering and Life changing
i. Fantabulous!
ii. Brilliant!
iii. Awesome!
iv. Outstanding, never attended anything like this before
v. The session was an eye-opener. It can change everyone’s life for the better.
vi. Such sessions should keep happening once in a while
vii. Very motivational

viii. Two more such sessions before CAT!!
ix. I am going to be at IIMA now
x. Can we have Audio and Video CDs of this session
xi. I WILL, IIM here I come
xii. I am an IIMA student from now on
xiii. Thanks a lot for conducting this session; It has changed my outlook
xiv. Do should have done this session four months ago!
xv. You should do it for parents too!

b. Three things I carry home from this session

i. Vision, Vision, Vision
ii. Inspiration and Motivation
iii. Positive thinking, Self belief and Right attitude are the key
iv. Passion rewards… I will be
v. Sachin’s discipline, Oscar Pistorius’ strong desire to compete
vi. Energy, Energy and Energy
vii. Practicing everyday is the ‘mantra’
viii. Live, Eat, Breathe what you really want… IIM in my case now
ix. Think Ahead, Look Ahead, Run Ahead… learn lessons from the past

x. I will remove “try’ from my dictionary.. I will do it
xi. New found determination
xii. Got a wake-up call !!
xiii. Master the fundamentals
xiv. Nothing is impossible
xv. Determination, Dedication, Discipline… 3 Ds of Success
xvi. Clear vision of what I want to be!
xvii. Peace of mind
xviii. Will remember ‘Going to the 10th floor…’; brain releases the chemicals to help us achieve what we want to..
xix. Listening to My OWN HEART, not to any one else
xx. I will have to conquer myself, I will conquer the world
xxi. If I think I can, I will definitely will make it
xxii. I will never forget Bumble bee and climbing the stairs!!
xxiii. Big successes come when you do small steps well
xxiv. Starting the game and finishing it… I will succeed
xxv. Being selfish and hungry for more

c. Learnings I will implement in my life –

i. Passion can defy destiny, I WILL
ii. I will believe in myself
iii. I will Plan and work with dedication
iv. I will Face the reality
v. I will Manage my time
vi. I will use Time management matrix to organize my schedule well
vii. I will imbibe the Attitude of ‘just do it’
viii. I will give Sweat, Guts and Blood…. Nothing less will do!
ix. Every second counts; I will be disciplined
x. I will Fight and do not give up
xi. I will be Making schedules and sticking to it
xii. It is ‘Me Vs Myself”
xiii. I realize that there is No substitute for hardwork

xiv. I will Practice, practice, practice… every day
xv. I will tell the world what I want to do!
xvi. I will make learning every day agenda
xvii. I will Change my habits to achieve anything
xviii. I will make Flash Cards and use it every moment of time
xix. I will make IIM class of 2013 Placards and stick every where
xx. I will be focused on myself, and not bother about others
xxi. I will fight the Urge to Give up
xxii. Step out of the comfort zone; I Will
xxiii. I will give up my comforts and strive
xxiv. It is never too late to Begin, I will start today with passion
xxv. I will work harder
xxvi. I will study hard for eight hours; and also sleep for eight to be fresh
xxvii. RC is the key to succeed in CAT, I will work on it seriously
xxviii. Will polish my fundamentals thoroughly
xxix. I will continuously revise with a plan
xxx. I will do thorough analysis of every mock to improve myself
xxxi. I will keep fighting

d. Suggestions to improve the sessions

i. The session is energy sapping, so much in a few hours
ii. Use videos of our generation, or about students going through similar challenges
iii. Show more IIM student videos
iv. More interaction and examples
v. The focus was on Success and how to win. Kindly focus more on CAT (Spent two hours only answering CAT related questions after the first two hours on Dream It, Do It!)

vi. Use more Hindi!!
vii. Kindly include more videos from Business and student world too, though sports videos are very compelling
viii. You can do some activities with participants during the session

Videos of “Believing is seeing, 2009 version of Dream It! Do It! Motivational Series; CAT 2010 takers can watch these and charge themselves”

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The journey to the Audi @ Delhi…..Viva Metro!

I was heading to the venue by my car, and it was pouring and as I approached Apollo hospital, still a good 15 kms away from the venue, I realized that though I have an hour and half for the session to start, I would not be able to reach. The pouring rains and the blocked drains, had already caused a long traffic jam. I covered a kilometer in half an hour. I just asked my driver to turn the car around at the next cut and head to the nearest metro station, Botanical Garden in Noida, which was a good four Kms away, hoping that the way will not be that crowded. Thanks to my luck, it was indeed a smooth drive. And in 10 min, I was at the station.

This was the first time I was boarding the metro on this Noida-Dwarka line. The line has been opened a few months ago. But, I was appalled by the apathy we Indians have towards any thing that does not belong to us. The moment, I stepped on to the escalator, I noticed pan-spits on the wall next to it; Stepped into the bogey, scribbling on the walls. We have world-class service being provided and we don’t care for its well-being……

Yes, I reached the Sriram Centre in just forty minutes. If I had continued by road, I would never have made it to the session. Viva Metro!!

Sreeni
sreeni@iwsb.in