Chetan Bhagat’s 11 Rules For Life is a compelling guide that offers practical advice on how to navigate life’s challenges and achieve personal growth.

Through a blend of personal anecdotes, insightful observations, and actionable tips, Bhagat presents a roadmap for readers to level up in various aspects of their lives. Whether it’s setting goals, cultivating positive habits, or fostering meaningful relationships, this book provides valuable insights that can help readers lead a more fulfilling life.

Bhagat’s conversational writing style makes the book easy to read and relatable, making it a must-read for teenagers looking to make positive changes in their life.

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2021 hit us before we realized and it’s not been a great previous year for many. And yet 2020 has been that teacher who’s taught us a lot about ourselves, life, existence and humanity in general. To not take anything for granted — health, wellness, education, friendships, family and more. Did you make any resolutions in January for how you wanted to spend this year? Two months have passed, and time has now gathered the speed of a concord aircraft; it’s flying faster than we can cope up with.

What drives resolutions?

Motivation is the energy source for accomplishing goals. When we resolve to study more, eat healthy, or be less argumentative, for instance; we could be functioning from many different internal visions. These could vary based on the resolution we make, but are all focused on getting to a better state or space than we already are at. Think of the motivators, for example, for the resolution to argue less.

• You’ve been told that you’re rude.
• You could lose your internet privileges.
• Friends are seemingly upset with you.
• You get headaches when you’re upset.
• You don’t like how angry you get.
• Respecting others more.

Whatever it is that you are aiming at, either external motivations or an inner energy force; both are feeding into the willingness to stick to your resolution and resist the temptation to falter. But then, you are human, and you can slip. Do you recall any of the traits that may have contributed to your slip-ups? When you were so sure you had made up your mind, yet tumbled? Here are four likely obstacles, the reasons why your resolutions may sizzle out even though you were certain you would keep them up:

1. Lack of self-control

By design, humans are vulnerable to temptation. It takes immense focus to not lose sight of the goal we’ve set for ourselves. Temptation works its charm by blurring the distant vision to distort the target, and make it seem unimportant for the moment.

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A new academic year or semester is like the sun that shines brightly in the sky after a long night. It carries the dawn of new beginnings. It brings with it a fresh opportunity to accomplish goals that were not. It gives you another chance to evaluate yourself, and brings with it another opening to start anew.

It is crucial to know ‘how’ you could make the most of what is given to you as another chance. The foremost thing to do is to identify your goals. But you also need to create a precise roadmap that would lead to the achievement of those goals, just like the treasure hunter in your favourite adventure stories creates a plan and follows his roadmap to reach his treasure in the cave that is hidden in faraway isolated mountains.

5 roadblocks on your roadmap to success this academic year

Roadblock 1: Goal Setting

“Your dreams are your dreams until you write them down.” ~ Anonymous

Yes, you must write your dreams down. This practice will turn your dreams into goals which will entice you into taking actions that you would need to achieve those goals. Give each goal a time limit within which they should be achieved. Everyday take long strides or tiny actions towards fulfilling your dreams.

★ Set a positive momentum. If you want to achieve good grades this academic year, don’t tell yourself, “I will stop going out, playing or doing anything else till I achieve my goals.” Saying this makes you a prisoner in your mind. Instead try this: “I will dedicate hours in the day or night every day as serious study hours, and will also accomplish every other task/s before or after my serious study hour.”

★ Keep a list of your goals in a place that you frequent often. Doing this will remind you each day of what you have achieved and what is yet to be achieved. This will not only act as a reminder but will also be a great motivator in achieving pending goals.

★ Set goals that are achievable. It takes practice, patience, discipline and consistency to be able to achieve a goal.
Set goals that you could achieve as short-term goals and long-term goals. For example, completing assignments on time is a short-term goal. A long-term goal could be losing weight. Identify time limits to completing each of those tasks in your day or throughout the year.

Roadblock 2: Time Management

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, over-whelming tasks into manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
~ Mark Twain

A new academic session/semester is the best time to kick that procrastination, and jumpstart your engine to life. On your roadmap to success you cannot have obstacles like procrastination acting as a barricade to achieving your dreams/goals. You often don’t realize how much time you lose by just sitting there and daydreaming or pushing off tasks to do till the last minute. Maybe you should consider telling yourself that in the holidays you did away with time as you wanted, and now you got to make a timetable and manage your time effectively.

Successful time management techniques:

• Once you have clear goals to achieve, identify which of these goals fall under short-term and long-term goals.
• Setting goals will help you prioritize and identify which of those tasks fall under the “important” or “urgent” categories throughout the day and the week.
• Make weekly maps to understand the school/college tasks to complete, studying to do, and extra-curricular activities to accomplish. These maps will help you analyze your tasks that fall in the urgent or important category.
• Make a daily schedule that is flexible, and that prioritizes tasks that need to be accomplished urgently from tasks that are important. The schedule will also help in assigning time limits within which each of those tasks needs to be achieved.

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Teenagers of the past

Did you know that several decades ago, teenagers were some of the most hardworking members of society? Long before shopping malls, computer games and high schools, teenagers were expected to work with adults to make a difference to society. They worked in trade, did farming, cooked, served, cleaned; and learned essential life skills well in time to grow into mature and experienced adults. The job had to be done. And they did it.

Do you think teenagers are any different today?

The impression of today’s teenager is more like a kid who…
… sleeps in late.
… prefers junk food.
… plays computer games.
… is hooked to social media.
… is easy going and lazy.
… surfs the internet all day.
… hangs out with friends.
… doesn’t study enough.
… is unsure about the future.

Does any of the above hold true for you?

Teenage is a period of great transitions. It’s the time to perk up on your looks, tone your body, improvise your wardrobe, build friendships, strengthen relationships, expand your social circle, excel in education, sport, career, hobbies, and build the plan for your life in totality. How easy is it to achieve all of this? Seems like too much to do and too little time? Do you ever feel stranded, directionless and out of control of your own life?

Find purpose in what you do

If you don’t believe that it’s going to benefit you, there’s very little chance that you will do it. If you want to feel important and responsible, you’ll have to find meaning in everything. Whether it’s helping out at home or exercising; completing homework or studying for your examination; know that you have to do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do. School work and study gets you to a good college and university to eventually get your dream job one day. And that helps you get your fantasy car and the latest gadget and other pieces of technology you admire. If you want it, you’ll have to work for it.

Say what you want — respectfully!

You are old enough to make decisions, provided you make them conscientiously. If you don’t agree with parents, teachers, friends or relatives, speak up and let them know how you feel. If you have your own agendas, voice them, have open discussions and reach mutually agreeable solutions.

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Well-defined and set goals make our lives worthwhile. Our most important goals or targets are: family and friends-related targets, finance oriented targets, career related targets, health associated targets, mental targets and targets linked to spiritual wholeness. Our life will go out of balance should any one of these goals goes missing or is disproportionate to one’s state of life and living situations.

When one’s goals are synchronized, one will be able to soar high and reach the heights that he/she has set for oneself. That’s what great men and women in history teach us with their lives. Helen Keller has proved to the world that when we ensure that all our goals are in harmony with one another even physical disabilities will give way to incredible success.

Goal-setting is thus an essential key to success. To reach one’s set goals there are certain fundamental principles to be followed. Goal setting works best when we specify our goals, write them down, make sure they are attainable, believe we can achieve it, set a time frame to achieve it and motivate ourselves with positive self-talk.

Lailah Gifty Akita says, “Your goals and dreams must be written in a journal or notebook. This will ignite a fire, divine power and divine strength within your soul. You will begin to reach out for your goals and dreams”.

Success and happiness are the goals in general set in the mind of every person. Each individual person will have to define his/her own means and ways to achieve one’s set goals. Knowledge, however, is an essential tool in the pursuit of these goals. Education, formal or informal, is an inevitable contributing factor in acquiring knowledge. The present issue speaks about tips that helped students to be toppers and the success mantras of young professionals.

To achieve something it is essential that we know what we want to achieve. What we want to achieve is the goal we set for our life. Often the reason why people do not succeed in life is that they do not know what they want. Still fresh in the New Year 2016, what are the goals you have set for your lives?

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