Sailesh Bhupalam - snippets from my learning

Preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing. Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Fantasizing about all of the adoration you'll receive once you do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading this essay isn't doing the thing. The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing. Credits: Essay by Strangest Loop, reposting

Thank you all for your wishes for teachers day, i am amazed at how many of you still remember me. grateful to have been a part of your lives. ☺️

There is a major shift in upsc preparation. it started about 2 years ago, but expanding rapidly. Students who follow the traditional method of joining coaching and what older mentors tell them may face problems. Because now it's easy to get continuous feedback from chatgpt or claude. it can break down things which you don't understand like you're 10 years old. Even in job markets people using AI are replacing others easily. And in upsc there are very few posts. Obviously, everybody won't adapt quickly. But there are about 5-10% in every class that i have taught who think independently and are capable of adapting (probably the same across all aspirants). unfortunately for the rest, this number is far higher than the number of posts. And preparing with the help of LLMs is 3-4x more efficient now, may become even more efficient in future. I remember reading one of the top 10 rankers had used AI in 2022 for prep, in 2023 it was multiple candidates. Right now it's probably more than half of those who clear the exam. It's only a matter of time before everybody who has cleared the exam would have used LLMs extensively in their preparation. old coaching, test series, crash courses etc will exist, just as a vestige of previous era. in 5 years no one will be getting ranks from these traditional methods, they will just continue to make some money (lower than current obviously) from non serious candidates who don't know what to do. During any time of change, there is only one choice - Adapt or perish.

there are 2 types of drive/motivation 1> coming from trauma - revenge, jealousy, need to feel powerful, keep reliving painful past to get energised this is like drinking salt water, makes you more thirsty and you die unhappy even after you achieve your goal 2> coming from self expression - fun, art, game, liking the process, need to do what I love to do, keep getting excited about possibilities this is like drinking from a clear serene pond, makes you happy and content even if you don't achieve your goal

i learnt something new today. it seems everytime we do something new, a neural pathway is activated or formed, and when we repeat it, a myelin sheath is built around the pathway. the more number of times we do it, the stronger and faster the pathway becomes. and when the pathway is strong, the action automatically becomes a bit faster. so the practice could be slow, but the result could still be fast. on the other hand, wrong practice strengthens incorrect neural pathways, and once they solidify, a lot of work has to be done to unlearn. i can recognise this from my own experience, revising the same notes becomes faster each time. but having multilpe sources creates too many weak neural pathways. writing a very good answer slowly at first is a good thing. eventually you will gain speed. taking yout time to practice solving high quality MCQs will build the skill really well. repetition of the same > doing different things slow, quality practice > fast, shallow practice revision of a single source > reading from multiple sources

For those of you who have given 2 attempts, i have said it before, and i will say it again. the incremental value you get out of preparing for UPSC will diminish drastically from now on, and the probability of success will either remain same, or if you prepare really well, may slightly increase. if you look at it as a standalone bet, it's not something most people would get into. But because of momentum of previous years, sunk cost fallacy and some sort of ego defending act, most students continue preparing without any backup. (i did the same) find a job. There's nothing wrong with it. it's not going to deviate you if you find the right one. it need not even pay, your future looks much more secured even in an unpaid internship. huge amount of suffering can be avoided in undesirable cases even by getting a part time job. it's not just important to show proof to future employers, it will change your mindset from an armchair scholar to a doer of things. A lone performer to a team player. Somebody who has focused only on written communication through answer writing to someone who can communicate with people to get things done in real time. A year from now, it will have boosted both your competence and confidence to a a level that you feel upsc is just one option for you. it takes pressure off you from family and relatives. it will reduce the probability of depression, anxiety and other such mental health issues that are so common, yet never spoken about in upsc preparation. i get it, that it is difficult to find one. but it's just a numbers game. find something which is a viable alternative future for you. go to those job descriptions and list out what they're asking from candidates. create your public portfolio under your name and update it everyday to show how you're gaining and upgrading those skills. don't join any courses. use free resources. don't make the mistake of thinking you can get a job only after doing a 6 month course on something. apply to a 100 positions, you'll get 10 calls and you will clear 1 or 2 interviews. it may take 1-2 months. but it's much easier now than after one more attempt, exponentially easier compared to after 6th attempt. i know most of you will not be in this mindset right now, most of you feel a sense of discomfort even thinking about this. But i am telling you as your teacher, and as someone who has walked through the same path. And also as someone who wants to prevent unnecessary misery and suffering.

Ideally try not to get into this position (I was in a similar situation once) but if you do, think about getting a job. It’ll restore your confidence. Even if it has very little or no pay.

Some of you have asked economy tips. So here goes. — expectation of upsc in economy is pretty low — don’t worry about questions which are ultra complex or never heard of, skip them — try to use simple logic and simple explanation for most questions — answer factual questions only if you know or can eliminate two options — know schemes which have been introduced, or have had changes in last 2-3 years — know 50 point summary of last economic survey — know 50 point summary of budget — there are some questions designed to keep cut off low, not for you to answer them, leave them. — if questions seem very difficult despite good prep , then nobody else is going to answer them so you don’t have to worry about them

I heard someone say what we couldn't do in a year , how can we do in a week before prelims? but the thing is, all days are not equal. the days just before prelims are 5 times more valuable. So each day is 5 days. 7 days is 35 days worth of time. Because you actually remember what you study during this time. Also, Most of your competitors are stuck in a paralysis due to insane amount of pressure and stress. you can triple your chances of clearing upsc prelims by just being at your best this one week. All you have to do is keep calm and make every hour count.

If you have applied for upsc prelims but you’re having second thoughts about whether to give the exam or “prepare well for next attempt”, please don’t skip the attempt. The sheer amount of emotional and psychological pain you go through is so huge and so meaningless. it’s just not worth it. Your mentors and faculties have all been through this and most of them normalise it. But it shouldn’t be normal. Coaching centres and Ed tech giants have tried to keep you in the exam loop for as long as possible to increase their customer life time value. But it’s just plain wrong. IMO , there is nothing wrong with pressure, pain and suffering when it is meaningful and results in something worthwhile. (Sometimes it may even be necessary)But this is not it. If you still think it’s a good idea, take a pen and a paper and write down what is a year and a half of your life’s best years worth to you. And think about whether it is worth gambling away for a slight chance of increasing your probability of clearing the exam next time, but a fat chance of depression, isolation and crushing pressure reducing your chances and making you generally less fit for the world. As someone said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Take the shot. Give your best and forget the rest.

With prelims around the corner, students usually face some of these problems 1> Inability to sleep well 2> sleeping too much 3> not being able to focus 4> Not being very efficient in the use of your time These are normal, no matter how many times you give the exam. This is because of the anxiety that builds up knowing that one day of an exam will probably have the largest bearing on the rest of your life. It is not just you, the average quality of preparation in the last month of the exam is in general low because of this. So do not worry that you are left behind. The race has changed. Now the hurdle is being able to handle the pressure. If you can handle this well, you can probably handle any other pressure that ever comes in the rest of your life. So what should you do? 1> If you aren't getting sleep, still switch off the lights and close your eyes during your normal sleep time. 2> If you are sleeping too much, sleep enough to feel refreshed but not as much to make you groggy 3> Don't keep unrealistic targets, try to do as much as you can. 4> Keep a timer for 25-minute/50-minute intervals and don't get up, or touch your phone during this time. give your full focus. You can worry about the exam all you want outside the intervals. 5> Get some physical exercise for 30-40 mins. It helps in getting enough oxygen to the brain and enables you to learn and sleep better. It might seem like an insurmountable obstacle to you now. But it is not. You may not realize it now. But this process makes you better in many ways. Focus only on what's in your control. Do your best and forget the rest.

I have found students overanalyzing questions very frequently. There is no need to think of multiple levels of logic. UPSC is only trying to test if you understand the concept on which they are asking a question. If you are confused about how to interpret a question, the simplest interpretation has more probability of giving you the right answer (of course you can still go wrong, but you will get it right 7/10 times, which is usually enough accuracy for upsc prelims) Don't overcomplicate it. Answer the question and take feedback on your thought process to get better next time.

If you are attempting prelims on 25th of May, then this is for you. 1. Maintain your sleep cycle -- regardless of whether you are able to sleep or not. 2. Maintain your health - take preventive care to avoid any known health risk 3. Maintain your study hours aligned to the exam ex: one study session from 9: 30 am to 11 30 am 4. Integrate stress reduction activities -- walking, meditation, moderate exercise for 20 mins, taking a 15-20 min nap etc 5. Reduce discussion about the exam with your friends -- although it might seem like a good idea, it isn't. 6. Stop studying any new information -- unless you have important parts of the syllabus left to be covered 7. Focus on solving PYQs to get familiar with the language used by UPSC 8. Revise your basics and class notes 9. Eat healthy food at the same time every day, and maintain this on exam day also. 10. Have a rough plan and stick to the plan -- don't randomly try to study everything. In the available time, it is not possible to revise the entire syllabus cover to cover. Think with a calm mind and list out whatever is possible practically and create a reasonable plan giving 30% more time than what you think it will take. If you stick to this plan, you are already in the top 1%. Because in my experience with more than 10,000 students, When it comes to UPSC prelims, panic is the norm, and being calm is the exception. Stay calm and keep moving forward.

Today i got a message from someone who got a rank in this UPSC exam. i just went back to our previous conversation to understand the context. He had doubts after 3rd attempt on whether he should continue or not and i asked him to make a choice. he made a choice to go for masters. While he was doing his masters, he continued preparing and he was confident about his preparation. This attempt, he asked me again on whether to continue masters or focus on mains, and based on my understanding of his preparation, i asked him to go for upsc mains and drop out of masters. And he did, got 555th rank. I wish more students understand that the real process of getting a rank looks more like this, than a clean path to the top. And i also wish more students were as practical and rational in their choices as him. Although i can show the path and i have done to many, most students still get stuck in the emotional baggage of preparation instead of looking at it from the perspective of their future selves. So whatever guidance i give, only around 10% take it and act on it. He also reminded me that my thoughts maybe helpful to many students. And so i will try to write more frequently. If it can help even a few, it will still be worth it.

The world is changing rapidly. skills are becoming obselete overnight. careers are dissolving. No one knows how the world is going to look like in 10 years. UPSC or no UPSC, there is one aspect of personality that is becoming more and more important over time. it's agency. Agency is not understood well by most. sometimes it's misunderstood. If you have 30 mins, read this article and internalize it. integrate it into your life. if you didn't understand any part of it, ask chatGPT to break it down to you until you do. There are very few high leverage activities that can change your life if you do them right. this is one of them. https://www.highagency.com/

This is resolved, thank you 😊

If anyone is staying in Tumkur DM me, there’s an emergency help needed for a friends mother.

From Anu atluru’s Substack Reflections on the inequality of time As a night owl’s night owl, I used to treat the 24-hour day like a loose construct—sleep negotiable, day and night arbitrary. It was effective for grinding through the infamous 60 to 80 to occasional 100-hour weeks of studying, training, or working. I coped by cramming life into the leftover hours: scheming while I walk, gymming at 1 a.m., writing in the dead of night, scrolling myself to sleep. Complicating it all, I’m not a creature of routine but of bursts—I come alive in flashes, not on fixed schedules. I always envied those who lived like metronomes, summoning their best selves on command. What I didn’t realize before, and still keep realizing, is that not all hours are created equal. There are hours in a day, and then there are your best hours. Your best hours are the ones where you feel most alive, most energized, most inspired, most creative—most you. They’re when your focus is sharp, your confidence is high, and your heart is fully in it. You’re the best version of yourself, effortlessly. And yet, too often, we give away our best hours. We give them to tasks that don’t matter to us, habits that don’t serve us, and people who don’t appreciate us—or whatever demands our attention in that moment. Too often, we treat our best hours like they’re infinite. Like they’ll always be there waiting for us. (But they won’t.) Like we can always get more. (But we can’t.) Over time, you learn: Your best hours are a gift—rare, finite, not to be wasted. I’m not the first to realize this, and I won’t be the last. So, what deserves them? Your dreams—whatever they are. You might get by or even thrive on leftover time, but your dreams won’t be realized. And when you give away your best hours, you give away your dreams—for someone else’s, or worse, for nothing. Your dreams demand your best hours—and nothing less. You don’t want to look back on your life and wonder where they went. You want to know, without hesitation, that you gave them to the things, the people, the desires that matter most. There are hours in a day, and then there are your best hours. Don’t waste them.

Every year in January, there is mass hysteria in UPSC aspirants. Until now things would have seemed distant, because the exam used to be next year. But once you're in January, it seems closer than ever. This brings anxiety and anxiety brings restlessness and you change your original plan to something else, something seemingly less time consuming and more realistic. But the fact is, this is a psychological battle happening in your mind. Nothing has changed. Ignore the world and stick to your original plans, follow them through. When you follow your plan consistently over a long period of time, it will yield compounded results. provided, the plan is decent enough. constant flip flopping between plans will make you feel even worse and won't give you enough time to see the fruits of your efforts. stay in the game. keep at it. chip away. to quote Frank Underwood, "That's how you devour a whale, one bite at a time."