GMAT with CJ

Why do I often stay silent in social settings? It's not because I have nothing to say. It's not because I'm not interested. It is because when people speak, so much of what they say lacks depth or meaning. It often feels like a stream of words without much thought behind them. Surrounded by this noise, I find myself choosing silence. Do I judge these people? I judge an aspect of them, not the whole of them. I respect and appreciate most of these people. However, I find most of their conversations insipid and lacking substance.

Why am I not sure about anything? Because of the people around me. Not that they constantly challenge me or make me aware of my ignorance. But because they are so sure of what they know little about. From their standpoint, knowledge is a possession they've already acquired; they just 'know'. From my standpoint, they know only a fraction of what is there to know. So, I constantly see around me the possibility that one can be entirely confident about something while understanding merely its shadow. I dare not become another example of that possibility, another mind closed by the illusion of completion. So, I remain unsure of everything. But is it truly better to be self-aware and unsure, or confident and blind to one's ignorance? Of course, I am unsure what criteria to use to define 'better'.

A GMAT Preparation Plan Is More Than Just a Schedule Last week, a student eagerly shared what he called his "GMAT preparation plan" - a meticulously organized Excel sheet with colour-coded blocks showing how many hours he'd dedicate to each section throughout the week. "That's an impressive schedule," I said. "But tell me - what's your target accuracy rate for Problem Solving at the end of, let’s say, Week 1? What’s your target time per question for Critical Reasoning questions after Week 4?” His expression shifted from confidence to contemplation. "I... haven't really thought about that yet," he admitted. This interaction reminded me of a crucial parallel in business planning. Imagine a company presenting a strategic plan solely focusing on resource allocation - "We'll assign 20 people to marketing, 15 to product development, and 30 to sales." While staffing is important, without clear objectives like target revenue, market penetration goals, or customer acquisition metrics, it's just organizational choreography without purpose. A truly effective GMAT preparation plan, like a comprehensive business strategy, needs several critical components: 1. Define Clear, Measurable Objectives Instead of simply saying, "I'll study Verbal for 2 hours daily," set specific targets: - Achieve 85% accuracy in Data Sufficiency questions - Complete Reading Comprehension passages in under 3 minutes - Maintain consistent 90% accuracy in Critical Reasoning 2. Develop Strategic Action Plans A business doesn't just allocate a marketing budget - it creates detailed campaign strategies. Similarly, your GMAT prep should include: - Systematic error logging to identify patterns of weaknesses - Strategic review schedules based on performance data - Specific approaches for different question formats 3. Establish Clear Milestones and Progress Metrics Just as businesses track quarterly performance, your GMAT journey needs regular checkpoints: - Weekly mini-assessments for specific topics - Adjustment of study strategies based on performance data 4. Create Robust Contingency Plans Successful businesses always have backup strategies. Your GMAT prep should too: - Alternative study approaches for challenging topics - Additional resources for concepts that don't click - Flexible time blocks for unexpected weak areas - Backup plans for when life inevitably disrupts your schedule 5. Implementation and Monitoring Like any business initiative, execution is key: - Are you just spending time? Or are you learning? And how much are you learning? - Are you regularly reviewing your mistakes so that they don’t recur? - Are you refining your way of study to yield more learning? Here's the key takeaway: Your GMAT preparation plan shouldn't just answer "When will I study?" It must address "What specific improvements will I achieve, and how will I get there?" #GMAT #BusinessPlan #StudyTips #MBA #PrepSuccess

Seeing myself as an accomplished professional has a huge downside: whenever I come across a shortcoming in me, my self-image gets threatened. In such a case, either I get disheartened and demotivated by the discovery of the shortcoming or I simply run away and deny that it even exists. There's a better way, I have discovered, to think of myself: as a work-in-progress professional. With such a self-image, I continue to believe in my current capabilities while remaining open to areas of improvement. I don't get threatened by or run away from critical feedback. I remain at peace in the face of critical feedback and use it to become a better version of myself. I think it's a better way to live.

“A US president, James Garfield paid his way through college by persuading his school to let him be the janitor in exchange for tuition. He did the job every day smiling and without a hint of shame. Each morning, he’d ring the university’s bell tower to start the classes — his day already having long begun — and stomp to class with cheer and eagerness. Within just one year of starting at the school he was a professor. By his twenty-sixth birthday he was the dean. This is what happens when you do your job — whatever it is — and do it well. …But we are always so busy thinking about the future, we don’t take enough pride in the tasks we are given right now.” As I read this today, I could relate it with what many GMAT aspirants go through. We are so busy thinking about the future that we don’t take enough pride in learning and its associated challenges and discomfort. We get inspired by people who went through challenging times with a smile, doing the best they could. However, we could also be one of those. If GMAT turns out to be a challenge for us and we need much more time than others to ace it, so be it. We can’t change the circumstances; we can just change our perspective and embrace with complete acceptance what we have while continually working towards making it better.

"I got this wrong because I was overthinking." "I need to be more careful next time." "I should have read it slowly." Do these thoughts sound familiar? As a GMAT coach, I hear these from students every day. But are these really the root causes of our mistakes? In my latest article, I explore what actually happens when we make mistakes and how to turn them into learning opportunities. https://gmatwithcj.com/how-to-prepare/learning-from-gmat-questions-moving-beyond-practice-to-real-improvement/ #GMAT #MBAprep #Learning https://gmatwithcj.com/how-to-prepare/learning-from-gmat-questions-moving-beyond-practice-to-real-improvement/

Everyone knows you can’t deal well with a situation if you’re getting anxious, scared, or angry about it. The first problem you have to deal with is your own reaction. You will not be able to solve anything outside until you own how the situation affects you inside. Problems are generally not what they appear to be. When you get clear enough, you will realize that the real problem is that there is something inside of you that can have a problem with almost anything. The first step is to deal with that part of you. This involves a change from “outer solution consciousness” to “inner solution consciousness.” You have to break the habit of thinking that the solution to your problems is to rearrange things outside. The only permanent solution to your problems is to go inside and let go of the part of you that seems to have so many problems with reality. - Michael A. Singer

“Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.” ― William Martin

"I am not against success, let me remind you again, I am not saying, don’t be successful. I have nothing against it; it is perfectly good. What I am saying is don’t be motivated by it, otherwise, you will miss painting, you will miss poetry, you will miss the song that you are singing right now; and when success comes, you have only empty hands because nobody can be fulfilled by success. Success cannot nourish you; it has no nutrients in it – success is just hot air." - Osho

"I want to have some balance in life and not work at the breakneck pace I'm working currently. However, I'm afraid that I'll repent later that I could have achieved more", a girl asked my opinion on her situation. I said: You're going through guaranteed misery in the present in order to avoid probable misery in the future. When I was 28, people around me started warning me that I better got married. Otherwise, my time might pass, and I might regret my entire life. I didn't want to get married and take any responsibility because I still wanted to explore unconventional career paths. Of course, there was a possibility that I might regret later in life for not settling down at that age. However, I was clear that I was not going to substitute probable future misery with guaranteed present misery. I thought, "rona padega to ro lenge. Let's do now what seems right to me." We have two ways to live: 1. to do what seems right to us and approach our future with courage and an open heart 2. to make choices out of a fear of future pain even though they don't seem right We can probably increase the proportion of choices we make according to the first way.

"Master, bless me so that one day I can show all those who have looked down upon me that I can make it in life." said a young man to a Zen master. Have you any fondness for these people?" asked the Master. "No" "Do they have any fondness for you?" continued the master. "Of course not master, they have always ridiculed me." said the young man. "Isn't it funny that you want to succeed just to defeat your oppressors? By doing that, aren't those who hated you, have more say in your life?"

"Obstacles are not opposing you, but merely and gently re-routing you. It is important not to view that which stands in your way as your 'enemy.' It can often be your best friend, sending you on a detour that takes you around what would have been your biggest stumbling block." - Neale Donald Walsch It's not that you shouldn't try to work through the obstacles that come your way but that you should acknowledge that you know very little about the future, including where your best interests or happiness lies, and that your understanding of your future is just an extrapolation of your past. Rather than getting discouraged by a few circumstances that don't fit in with your current understanding of how things should be, you could continue to work hard to build yourself and add value to the world. Doing so would probably help you achieve much more ultimately than worrying over things that didn't happen. What choice will you make?

उन्हें कामयाबी में सुकून नज़र आया तो वो दौड़ते गए, हमें सुकून में कामयाबी दिखी, तो हम ठहर गए...! ख़्वाहिशों के बोझ में 'बशर' तू क्या क्या कर रहा है.. इतना तो जीना भी नहीं, जितना तू मर रहा है... They saw peace in success So they kept running for success, I saw success in peace So I stood still! Under the burden of your desires, 'Bashar' what all are you doing You won't live as much as you are dying! - A beautiful poem by Bashar, an Urdu poet

Some time back, I received a WhatsApp message from one of my GMAT students who said he was very disappointed that he had not cleared the CFA. What I replied to him seemed to help him, so I thought of sharing the same with the larger community. “Life will have both its ups and downs. When you will look back at life, you’ll probably not feel as proud of your achievements as about how you dealt with your losses. Take your time to relax. And then keep giving your best. Failures will still be there, but successes will eventually exceed failures. Besides, none of these failures or successes may matter after some time; what will matter is whether you continued to give your best and whether you continued to believe in yourself and the universe.”

When I hear about startups barely two or three years old and valued at several hundred million dollars, my first reaction is, "Wow! What an achievement!" And then, quite naturally, my mind asks me, "do you also want to pursue such an achievement?" The answer is a clear 'No.' From whatever little 'success' I have achieved, I have seen that while a new car and a new house can stimulate us for a few days, we return to our daily lives very soon with all our regular struggles and confusions. And then we just pursue another such achievement for a few more days of stimulation - that we get at the end of a few more years of struggle. Such temporary successes that appear at the end of long periods of suffering don't make sense to me. For me, success is a moment-to-moment measure. If I'm happy at this moment, I'm successful. If I'm not happy, I'm not successful at this moment. My success is entirely driven by how I feel, not by how others label me or how much I have accumulated. Seen this way, success lies in doing what we like and liking what we do, not in just pursuing a goal while hating the process. The latter is equivalent to failing for years while succeeding for only a few days!

🎯 Just published: "How to Practice GMAT Quant Questions" Are you in a relationship with GMAT Quant where you're putting in all the effort but getting nothing in return? 💔 Have you solved hundreds of questions but your score refuses to budge? You've probably heard the usual advice - "focus on quality" and "learn from each question." Great advice... if only someone would explain HOW! Well, here's your HOW. In this article, I break down exactly what to do with each practice question: * What to write down while solving * How to document your thought process * Why you should never erase your work (yes, keep those mistakes!) * When to introduce time pressure https://gmatwithcj.com/quant/how-to-practice-gmat-quantitative-questions/ #GMAT #GMATPractice https://gmatwithcj.com/quant/how-to-practice-gmat-quantitative-questions/

I was about to click on a video on YouTube when I realized that if I clicked on that video, YouTube would start showing more such videos in the future. Well, no. I didn't want that. So, I chose to ignore the video. It is then that it struck me that spirituality has been teaching the same principle of "Like attracts like" or "The law of attraction." If I entertain a specific thought today, I'm more likely to attract thoughts of similar quality in the future. Then, the more I think about those similar thoughts, the even more likely I become to think the same thoughts again. When repeated enough, those thoughts may become my beliefs, habits, and destiny. Thus, spirituality teaches that negative thoughts must be nipped in the bud. In the beginning, I can choose to entertain negativity or ignore it. However, once negativity becomes entrenched as a habit, it'll have control over me. We need to choose our thoughts carefully! (By the way, people who are still wondering which video I decided not to play - it was some heated debate on a spiritual leader.)

GMAT success isn't just about mastering concepts but also understanding and managing the triggers that lead to mistakes. Recognizing these patterns can help you avoid pitfalls and perform at your best https://gmatwithcj.com/how-to-prepare/beyond-gmat-concepts-understand-your-triggers/ https://gmatwithcj.com/how-to-prepare/beyond-gmat-concepts-understand-your-triggers/

One of the professors at IIMA used to say, “Strategy is the art of closing doors.” So true! A person who pursues everything in life doesn’t have a strategy and thus is likely to achieve nothing substantial in life. Choose carefully, and then have the courage to drop everything else that gets in the way!

"How to forgive myself, for I have done some really bad things?" One fundamental principle of learning is not to start with the hardest problems. Instead, we should start with easier problems and work on increasing our clarity of thought. As our clarity increases, we can start working on increasingly challenging problems. Over time, we reach a stage where we can solve even the most challenging problems that once seemed impossible. The principle applies not only to academic subjects but also to the subject of life. After reading my post on forgiveness, a student wrote, "While it's easier to forgive others, I can't forgive myself, for I have done some really bad things in life." I told him, Forgiving yourself may be a very hard problem for you right now. Don't start with that. Start with easier problems. Forgive others for smaller issues. Gradually, if you truly forgive others for trivial things, you'll find in yourself an ability to forgive others for even bigger things. Over a period of time, you will reach a stage where you'll be able to forgive others for things that you consider unforgivable today. At that stage, you may be closer to forgiving yourself.