Prelims 2024 and Lessons from Roger Federer
Lessons from 2024 Commencement Address by Roger Federer
I loved watching this Video by Federer, it was honest, witty and simply beautiful, as a force of habit I was interlinking all the wisdom to UPSC preparation and thought why not write a post about it. Which Might help you in prelims.
You can watch the commencement here
or read it here 2024 Commencement Address by Roger Federer
The lessons and Wisdom.
1) “Effortless”… is a myth.
He says that
“The truth is, I had to work very hard... to make it look easy.”
If you apply it to UPSC, there are people who repeatedly clear prelims or score well in Prelims, it takes 365 days of effort, around 3000 hours to clear the 4 hours prelims effortlessly.
If you have done all the basics, the mocks, PYQ, CA revisions, written FLT’S you have done your job, all that is left is to believe in yourself.
But remember that the last few days are the hardest and takes a lot of strength, you will always feel like I wish I had more time, my preparation is not good enough, my scores are not great, it takes all your mental strength to stay strong and reaffirm your faith in yourself.
In the words of the champion himself
Then there are days when you just feel broken.
Your back hurts… your knee hurts… Maybe you’re a little sick… or scared…
But you still find a way to win.
And those are the victories we can be most proud of.
Because they prove that you can win not just when you are at your best, but especially when you aren’t.
Do not give up until the last question is solved in the CSAT paper, no one knows what will happen. Keep pushing yourself, find your win!
2) It’s only a point.
In tennis, perfection is impossible... In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches... Now, I have a question for all of you... what percentage of the POINTS do you think I won in those matches?
Only 54%.
In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play.
Here’s why I am telling you this.
When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world.
But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you... This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point… and the next one after that… with intensity, clarity and focus.
This sounds purely like Nishkama Karma, when you are solving a paper, a question that is the single most important thing in your life, focus all your energies on that, if you cannot solve, just move on. Morning GS paper should have zero impact on your CSAT paper, Your past performance should have zero impact.
Many Students have self-doubt, stress of past failures, his advice here is very valuable.
̌And by the way, your opponents have self-doubt, too. Don’t ever forget that.
But negative energy is wasted energy.
You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion.
3) Life is bigger than the court.
Dartmouth’s legendary football coach Buddy Teevens used to recruit players by telling their parents: “Your son will be a great football player when it’s football time, a great student when it’s academic time, and a great person all the time.”
That is what a Dartmouth education is all about.
Tennis... like life... is a team sport. Yes, you stand alone on your side of the net. But your success depends on your team. Your coaches, your teammates, even your rivals... all these influences help to make you who you are.
Life is bigger than UPSC
When you prepare for UPSC sincerely, irrespective of results, you will become a good human being, a great person all the time, for some, unfortunately, the path is the reward. But if you change your ideas, personality and thought process along the way, you are already a champion.
Just like him, we all need a team for success, it can be family, friends and mentors. Finding the right ones will make all the difference in the world, in the end it’s just an exam. We make it larger than life, adding extra stress or hype is not going to make any difference. Treat it like an exam.
A tennis court is a small space. 2,106 square feet, to be exact. That’s for singles matches.
Just like that, have you mastered your 2106 sq feet? If you have walked that path many times and mastered it, you are going to do well in prelims. As says Rudyard Kipling wrote,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Stress, anxiety and tension are inevitable, and you are not alone. You can message me @kalyanzz on Telegram