Hello,
Sir and all those who are reading this, I've been selected for the post of Stenographer Grade 'D', 2018 in the M/o Communication.
My journey includes a lot of self-doubt, pressure and at the end, determination. I've a persona of over-analysing myself to an extent where I start to believe that I am the worst at everything when everybody around me tells that I am not. But it doesn't matter what everyone says about me unless I appreciate my worth.
Let me start with the fact that I am the first generation government servant in my family (about to join, though) so, I have had very little knowledge about how things go while preparing for any such exams. My mother has always been serious about all of this for me from the very start so, she always kept a check on what's the procedure and how to get to any position whatsoever. She would ask each and every person who is even slightly connected to government services. I owe her a big time for this and hugely for her support.
So, while I was 18 I started taking exams and I was not even 1% interested in any of it since I was busy giving importance to my college life and enjoying it to the fullest. Career never hit me as a serious subject of my life. After a few months of my grad, my mom got to know about stenography and she convinced me that I should at-least learn it. I did that, again, not giving it that much importance since my graduation was going on side-by-side. You wouldn't believe that I was so careless that it took me 2 years to complete the book since I never cared about it enough. Also, I joined it with my friend so, we would talk more instead of putting any effort into learning. But, anyhow, I learnt it. I never hopped on to the speed part since after graduation, I opted for another 2 years' professional course. I completely ignored stenography and put it deep inside the cupboard. My professional course required a lot of work so, I couldn't even think of stenography. But by this time, I got this cleared in my head that I have to have a settled life and for that, I need a government job (that's my perspective). So, I knew for sure that after these two years, I'll dive into taking exams again but stenography never hit me since I aimed higher. I wanted to clear CGL and also took coaching for it. I want to blame both the coaching centre and myself for not being able to clear that exam. My efforts were very less for those exams. Then I heard that clearing CGL has now become a huge task, I should change my path towards stenography since it is a bit easier to clear. I wouldn't lie, I studied for CBT, 2018 for just 8-10 days where I just solved previous year's papers and I cleared my exam. But I was not satisfied with my score, obviously, because I didn't put much effort into it and took it very lightly yet again but those 8-10 days involved some serious studying.
The real issue arose when I realised that I had kept stenography on hold for more than two years which made me scared at that level that I started losing hope. I kept on pushing it away by saying that I might not be able to get back on track with it until one day when my mom literally forced me to get out of my bed and get a stenography coaching done. I thank my mom each and everyday for that 'actual' push she gave to me.
I also want to share another fact about me that I have been a very serious person when it comes to studying. If I am able to convince myself that I can do something, I'll put all the possible efforts to do that. I was not able to convince myself from the age of 18 until the day I started picking up on my stenography speed. I thank my coaching teacher who believed in me that I had the capability to achieve the goal I have in my mind. I didn't study the book again since I was so well-versed with everything. I couldn't even believe that I still remembered everything. I told you, I'm a serious person when it comes to doing something.
Here's the turning point; by this time, I only focused on clearing Grade 'D'. I knew that I could never achieve the speed of Grade 'C' until I got to listen to the reviews of the dictations. I asked my teacher if he thinks that I have the caliber to clear Grade 'C' and he clearly stated a NO on my face which, you wouldn't believe, disheartened me to a level that I couldn't perform well for two straight days. The skill dates were near and I couldn't do anything. My fear of not being the best at something creeped in, again and I lost all the hope.
5 days were left for my skill test and I decided to directly hop on to the speed of 110wpm. A person who was not exceeding 85/90wpm was then doing the speed of 110wpm. I was so reluctant on clearing that Grade 'C' that I got madly into the practise. I had no sense of day or night. But I couldn't attain the accuracy and if I did attain it, I couldn't type the matter in time. Even just before the exam day, I knew for sure that I couldn't do it. I lost hope. I started self-doubting myself that maybe the decision to hop on to that speed was very wrong and I might not even clear Grade 'D' then.
The exam day came and I was on cloud nine. Both my skill tests went extremely well. I was a bit doubtful about Grade 'C' and I knew for a fact that if I fail that Grade, that would happen by a very very very small percentage and only that happened. I failed Grade 'C' by a very minute percentage but that told me my worth that if I decide on doing something, I have the caliber to put all my efforts into it.
My score of CBT could never get me Grade 'C', I knew that from the very start still I was so reluctant on clearing that because I had to show myself that I could do it and nobody could tell me that I could not. I cleared Grade 'D' and that made me super happy and proud. That day I realised my worth.
Now, comes the special thanks. You, sir, have been my ray of hope at the toughest times. You can very well feel how an aspirant feels during the preparation's time but you always held my hand along with a lot others with your motivating words and amazing dictations. When I dove into the world of stenography, I came across your channel (Likho Steno Academy) on YouTube while I was searching for some dictations and I never left your channel since then. I don't want to completely disregard my coaching teacher since he was the first one to believe that I could do it but you have a very different vibe and I love it. Keep doing the best work that you're doing. You have no clue for how many people you're an epitome of inspiration. Your dictations helped me reach a certain level of speed which I, myself, never believed that I could achieve. Thank you so very much, Sir.
My destination has yet not been achieved. I've a really long way to go. But for now, I want to be grateful for whatever I have, since my journey, for me, was a very tough one, mentally. I hope to update you with my other success story soon.
For other aspirants, only one message,
"You can do anything only and only if YOU believe that YOU can." You are your own biggest critic. Listen to what you are telling to yourself and work towards improving that.