Have you ever failed in anything?

Anshul Tiwari, Executive trainee at National Thermal Power Corporation (2016-present)

Written Mar 19
Yes, I have failed many a times in my life. I dont even remember the count, but whenever I
have failed, I came back stronger. It is important that you take lessons from your failure
otherwise you are paving a way for yet another failure. Many of my friends think that my life
is awesome, which is not true. I enjoy failures as much as I adore success. I enjoy both the
phases of my life. After a failure,I take my time to review myself, what went wrong? And
then change my plans accordingly. Biggest problem with people is that they dont change
themselves and continue in the same way and fail yet again. I am enlisting my failures, I had
so far in my life and how I came back strongly.

It might be long so you can stop here if you want to :P.

PROFESSIONAL FAILURES AND HOW I RESPONDED -

1. I always thought that I am very intelligent since childhood,so GOD decided to

teach me a lesson early on. I was 9 yo at that time, I gave entrance exam
for Sainik school. Got rejected, it was a big big blow for me. Boom the arrogance
came down a bit. (Year 2001)
2. Same year, I was in MP state board school, 5th standard was board in those times.
Got 78.33%, locked myself in the room cried for a day, didnt eat food for a day.
From 90+ percentage i dropped down to 70s. But after this never got less
than 85s. Learnt my lesson that I am also a normal human being, arrogance hit
the rock bottom. (Year 2002)
3. Then, I came back stronger (was always among top 2 in my class) was going good
till 10th standard. Gave NTSE, couldnt clear it. I realised that I am more of a guy
who is good with school exams, but fail badly when it comes to All india level
competition. (Year 2007)
4. Topped in 10th standard, got famous in school (My name is written on a board
pride of our school :P)and yeah arrogance came back again. Felt great, but it soon
faded away. Started preparing for JEE and realised that I dont know anything,
worked really hard. Ended up with EML in JEE( got 120 marks,cutoff was 175 I
guess). And rank 25340 in AIEEE, 240 in BITSAT and rank 340 in
MPPET. Then again realised I was always an ordinary student and I would end
up getting admission in a local govt. College. I was content, didnt want to prepare
anymore was going to take admission in SGITS INDORE. Then my elder brother
asked me to take drop, I didnt want to, I was sure at that point of time that I cant
crack IITJEE, dont have that much talent. But somehow gathered courage went
to kota and prepared for IITJEE.(Year 2009)
5. Worked hard for a year and realised IITJEE is not that difficult. Realised in
december that I will clear this exam for sure, over confidence was creeping in. I
was very good with chemistry, used to get marks in 120s out of 180. And then gave
IITJEE,AIEEE and other exams. My over confidence was shattered yet again.
Got AIR 8252 in IITJEE, 302 in BITSAT, AIR 3599 in AIEEE, RANK 67
in MPPET. The biggest disappointment was I got only 84 marks in
 chemistry. My parents were very happy that there son has cracked IITJEE, I
knew it was of no use. Never wanted to study in NITs. But gathered myself, dad
wanted me to join NIT BHOPAL, I joined NIT TRICHY instead.(Year 2010)
6. During the first year, I always used to curse myself for not clearing IITJEE didnt
used to study much, still was able to secure a GPA of (9.27 and 9.04 in first
and second sem respectively). Years passed by I took mechanical engg as my
dad told me you can give IES and IAS with mech engg. Started IAS prep in 2nd
year but sustained it only for a month.(Year 2011)
7. Then I realised our college is not that bad. And I was happy that I chose
mechanical in NIT Trichy rather than branches like paper and pulp or others in
IIT. I decided to join Byjus classes and appear for CAT. (Year 2012)
8. Meanwhile in 3rd year, few companies visited our college for internship. Was
thrown out in GD in ITC and Honeywell. Cleared written of Tata Steel, gave
interview. Results were about to be announced. Then,an announcement followed,
from mechanical following guys are selected - Rishi rahul kumar and Anshul
tiwari ( GOD I was so happy, finally I got an internship),then he said, sorry
Anshul you are in waiting list (I was like what the hell). And as it turned out,
WAITING never got cleared, neither it got converted to RAC :P. I ended up with a
project in IIT BOMBAY which was again one of the worst phase in my life.(Year
2013)
9. Placement season started with the bang, Bajaj auto ltd came for placements, I
topped the written test by a huge margin, was only 9 pointer among the
interviewees next one being 8.5 something. Last year BAJAJ only took 9 pointers,
my friends congratulated me a day before the interviews. In interview they asked
me will you work in sales? I denied and said that I would work in R and D
only (biggest blunder I made), eventually I was not selected. (Year 2013)
10. Cleared technical interview of Hindustan Unilever got rejected in HR interview.
Cleared technical interview of Foster wheeler, they didnt bothered to take my
HR interview (thank god for that :P) selected two candidates already, was rejected
in technical interview in Reliance, GD in TATA MOTORS. By that time I lost
hope of getting placed or clearing any interview.( Year 2013)
11. Meanwhile, I was seriously preparing for CAT, so I used to practice alot of test
series and sit for only few companies. Gave CAT thought it went good, then Hero
Motocorp came, didnt wanted to sit for it, then changed my mind, cleared
written, group discussion, interview was worst i ever had in life, still got selected in
it.( Year 2013)
12. Then Brahmos visited our campus cleared first round of my interview, was
among the 3 candidates in the 2nd round,but was rejected. ITC visited our campus
with a CTC of 17.2 lakhs, was out in group discussion. Finally ONGC decided to
visit our campus in the month of June, I was at home by then, worked hard for 15
days, as the luck would have it, I was not selected, I was ranked 3rd among the
candidates,still got rejected. Gave ONGC written exam in June 2014. Did pretty
well and was waiting for the results, but paper was leaked and the exam got
cancelled. (Year 2014)
13. I forgot to mention about my CAT results, It was a disaster got 86.2 percentile
with 78 percentile in quant. Gave GATE too but without a single day of
preparation. Got 42.67 marks with AIR 96xx. Was done with CAT and decided
to prepare for ESE along with my job. ( Year 2014)
 14. Gave CAT 2014,secured 97.19 percentile without a single day of preparation
(just revised my coaching notes a night before the exams, no mocks, no practice)
with 99.1 percentile in quant. Although it was of no use. But was happy that I
performed well that too without any prep. Gave EIL exam (Engineers India
Limited) missed it by 8 marks. (Year 2014)
15. Gave Npcil (missed it by 15 marks), gave Sail (missed it by 10 marks),
gave Nmdc (missed it by 12 marks), gave Bel (missed it by 6 marks),
gave GATE 2015 got 47 marks and AIR around 12xxx. (Year 2015)
16. Failed badly in my JOB, which I have already described. I always tried to keep my
boss happy and tried to learn alot, I wanted to learn how to fix all the machines.
Ended up screwing the Rack of a machine nachi (cost around 40k), Rolls of thread
rolling machine (cost around 10k) and many other things. Realised I am not good
with it, I am not good at anything, was depressed like anything, worst phase of my
life. There was no way of coming out of this, would have ended up there. My
maternal uncle and my mom came to my rescue, they allowed me to leave my job
and prepare. They convinced my dad, He didnt want me to leave my job. I had a
positive energy inside me,was all charged up before starting the preparation. I
knew this year is my last chance to prove myself. Arrogance was completely gone,
Humility was coming in. (Year 2015)
17. Started preparation and failure came back again. Missed Isro by 5 marks.
Missed NPC by 8 marks. But I was positive, I knew something big is coming
into my way. Gave Ssc-cgl cleared prelims with 132 marks. It acted as a
confidence booster for me. Gave SSC-JE too cleared prelims with 145
marks. Didnt attended mains. (Year 201516)
18. Cleared prelims of MP state engg services. All these little successes I had
acted as a confidence booster for me, then I gave GATE AND ESE. Cleared
GATE with AIR 97 and ESE with AIR 62, cleared mains of MP state
engg services, didnt attended its interview. Gave interview of 4
PSUs BPCL,NTPC,IOCL and ONGC and cleared them all. I was scared of
interviews and group discussion. My past records of clearing a GD was
(1/6). And that of the INTERVIEW was (1/8). This year my record
for INTERVIEW is (5/5) cleared them all. I have learnt alot of lessons in my life
and I am still learning.(Year 2016)
PERSONAL FAILURES -

1. I liked a girl from my school since 6th std :P. I didnt proposed her because I was
scared of rejection. Later she told me that even she liked me since school days.
2. I had a failed relationship, I still regret it, we were incompatible still I gave my
level best to sustain the relationship. But we broke up after a long time as mutual
friends were involoved.
3. I used to booze during my college days and continued it during my job too. I used
to booze twice in a month or so. When my parents came to know about it, they
were really very sad, my mom stopped eating food for two days, she never
expected me to drink. This was just few days before I left my job. She asked me to
promise her that I wont drink ever from now onwards. I promised her and I
havent touched alcohol for the last two years approx. Now my parents are really
happy because of me. They proudly say that their son has cleared IES, now they
want me to prepare for CIVIL Services :P (Indian parents you know :D).
LESSONS LEARNT OVER THE YEARS-
 1. Be humble. Keep your feet grounded. Never let arrogance get hold of you. I was
arrogant and I accept that gracefully. Now I am a changed person from a selfish
guy I have transformed to a helping guy and I try my best to help people around.
2. Be confident (dont be overconfident). If you are confident in your life, you can
make it despite all the hardships. I thought I cant top in 10th class, I topped in
10th std. I thought I cant clear IITJEE, I cleared it (with a AIR 8252 though
:P). I thought I would never be able to clear ESE, I cracked it. I was
underconfident during interviews in my college. Now I go inside the interview
room very confidently.
3. Failures are stepping stones for future successes. I know I have written a long
answer yet again :P, but if you have gone through it carefully. You would have
noticed, It took me 2 attempts to clear IITJEE, AIEEE,BITSAT. It took me 2
attempts to get a decent percentile in CAT. It took me 3 attempts to get a
top 100 rank in GATE ( Though I didnt prepared properly during first two
attempts). I gave two attempts to ESE as well ( first one was just a practice one
got 220 in objectives). Last but definitely not the least, once upon a time I
desperately wanted to work in ONGC, and they had kicked me twice (once during
the college and then again when I wrote its exam). Third time when I went for the
interview I told them the whole story and they were impressed that I was so
serious about working in their company and they selected me. And as the luck
would have it They rejected me twice and this time I got the opportunity
to reject their offer.
4. Keep working hard in your life. There is no substitute for hardwork. One day you
will reach where you are supposed to be. If I would have got a good percentile in
CAT in my first attempt, I would not have thought of IES. If I would have got an
offer from ONGC in college, I would have been working there for my entire life. If I
would have got an offer from Hindustan Unilever I would not have thought of
anything else. If I would have got good working conditions in my Job, I would have
never thought of leaving it. GOD has a master plan waiting for you.
5. If you love someone in life, propose him/her. Life doesnt give you a second
opportunity.
6. Never let success get to your head; never let failure get to your heart. Everything is
temporary in this life. Enjoy both the phases of your life. Failure is the learning
phase, success is the enjoying phase.
PS - Sorry for the long answer again :P.