Victory Loves Those Who Takes Pain

What is the vision and mission behind 'Testbook'?
The vision is to bridge psychology with technology to create the most powerful education ecosystem ever created. I want the gap between the educator and the student to be bridged to an extent that may not be possible even in offline education. For mentorship, which is the burning need of many students, the mission is to create strategic interventions for discipline, accountability, visualisation and motivation which can be delivered through technology according to the needs of the student.

How do you look at the government job opportunities in the country?
People gravitate towards government jobs partially due to their appeal but also due to lack of other opportunities. While this trend is changing fast due to the rise of entrepreneurship and a growing economy, government jobs continue to be a favourite choice for many young Indians and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
 
Securing a good job with a respectable position is not a piece of cake. How do you motivate job aspirants to not lose hope after repetitive failures?
It is the nature of everything that is valuable to also be difficult. Competition ensures that the best rise to the top and this is true most strikingly for elite government exams like the UPSC CSE. It requires a person of great grit and determination to see themselves through the difficult and lonely journey. This is where the principles of psychology come to the rescue. As a psychologist and mentor, I teach students habit-formation, deep-focus, time-management, accountability-mechanisms and discipline.

Students sacrifice their fun and leisure time for achieving their goals. What advice you would like to offer them to maintain the perfect balance between studies and recreational activities to keep stress at bay?
I suggest to students that they should treat themselves as athletes competing in the ‘Intellectual Olympics’. And like an athlete cares about their diet and training, students must seek to optimise brain-health to achieve peak performance for their studies.
This is important also for grooming and personality development, which is critical for success in any career.
In my mentorship, I emphasise on the 5 research-backed critical areas for mental health - socialisation, hobbies, exercise, mindfulness and sleep. The optimal dosage of each is prescribed hereunder:
Exercise - At least 10 hours per week. Combine low intensity cardio and strength-training. 
Mindfulness - Practice 15 minutes per day meditation sessions, increasing by 5 minutes each week.
Socialisation - At least 10 hours per week with friends and family.
Hobbies - 6 hours per week.

What is your mantra for success?
Amat Victoria Curam. Victory loves those who take pains. I believe that the amount of success one can achieve is directly proportional to the amount of discomfort which one is willing to endure.

Upasana Sharan

BW Reporters The author works as a Senior Copy Editor with BW Businessworld and currently handles the education vertical. She has done her Post Graduate Diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (NER Campus, Aizawl).