Self-Development in my Academic Journey

“Greatness is lots of little things done right”. This is a quote by one of my inspirations and a three-star Michelin chef, Marco Pierre White.

Self-development to me is a combination of daily actions, taking care of one’s mental health, and most importantly the on-going pursuit of greatness. In an academic context, it is imperative that as the semesters pass and eventually get more difficult, we must also grow and evolve to thrive and succeed. In my academic journey, I achieve self-development by continuously putting myself in uncomfortable situations.

 Embrace discomfort

To begin with, I would define an uncomfortable situation as any event, academically or otherwise, that Is optional, new, and perceived as difficult. Let’s break this down, I realize when I say optional, that everything we do is optional. Getting out of a warm bed in the morning to study is a choice. A choice to get out of that zone of physical comfort. On a higher level, pushing our mental limits and being in unchartered territory can be a harrowing experience. I recall such an experience in one of my first accounting units. To put it simply, I felt that everyone was speaking a different language to me. I once confidently depreciated land as an asset in front of the whole class, embarrassment washed over me, and my cheeks turned red as the class failed to stifle their laughter.  Two years later, despite that embarrassing moment, I am now a confident and hard-working ACCA student.

Embrace humility

Let’s move on to another element of expanding our comfort zone: the “perceived difficulty.” I relate this to learning something new, as it often makes us feel utterly foolish. For someone who usually knows a bit about everything, being an absolute beginner at anything is humbling. To illustrate this, I started playing chess as an absolute beginner about two years ago. I thought I’d never be able to compete in a tournament because I was convinced others were miles better than me. However, after tons of practice and encouragement from my mother, who said, “You’ll never know if you don’t try,” I decided to join a tournament with the modest goal of winning just one game, just one!

The first game commenced; I was prepared. However, to my dismay, my opponent quickly knocked me out of my preparation and confidence, and I became unsure of all my moves. Low on time, anxiety high, and mentally ready to quit, I pressed on and just didn’t give up. In the late endgame, I found a winning strategy my opponent missed, and I claimed victory after a long game. The lesson here is that there is great merit in not throwing in the towel. Too often in life we quit before we start, we second guess and doubt ourselves. You can be your greatest asset or your own biggest liability, the choice is yours.

Try something new

Lastly, I’d like to touch on the aspect of “new”. Have you ever met someone who has no passions or interests? I’d bet that person doesn’t try new things. In an academic sense, it can leave us in a rut, without any real motivation if we always try the same things. I urge readers to try the Pomodoro Technique next time they’re studying. I have found this time management method particularly useful lately. As someone who easily gets distracted and overwhelmed, breaking up large tasks into segments of 25 minutes of focused work followed by 5-minute breaks is perfect. Using this method, I can easily complete several hours of work without feeling burned out or getting too distracted. It was something new that I tried, and it worked.

Additionally, try to stick to a revision timetable or create an academic planner to track your assignments. Introducing something new can be exciting and might be the missing piece you needed to up your game. The study techniques that worked in high school likely won’t suffice to get you all the way to a master’s degree.

Getting out of your comfort zone is scary and humbling. However, only by embracing short-term suffering, can we eventually reap the long-term rewards. Remembering that every master was once a beginner, is a reassuring perspective that helps me when I’m struggling. The on-going pursuit of greatness, I mentioned at the start, simply translates to your daily drive. Your reason to get up and strive for what you deeply want. In my case, my motivation is the vision of graduating with a first-class degree. What’s yours?

Article by Suhayl Mirza, 2^nd Year Bachelor’s in Financial Services Programme