Trust, Action, Berkeley!

Trust in yourself, fate or a higher power. Trust that everything will turn out okay, nay everything will turn out awesome. In my opinion, 'Let the fear of failure not keep us from trying' is a perfect phrase to ascribe to for the difficult circumstances that you will find yourself in : Sometimes we worry too much about how things will turn out and are either overwhelmed by the complexity of the task at hand or are engulfed in the belief that we may not be able to make it. It is imperative to ignore such thoughts and focus.

The very first step is planning : think long and hard about what do you want to achieve and why do you want to do it. Consider all possible factors, this is one of the most important phases. Talk to people who have made it. Voice your ideas to your mentors and take their advice into consideration. Reach out to other successful people in your field; let me let you in on a secret : most successful people are good human beings and more than willing to help motivated individuals, you just need to ask them nicely.

After considering all of this, make your own decision for the right reasons. And once you have decided on a path, stick to it. Don't let self-doubt fool you into lowering your expectations, which is bound to happen when you are faced with challenges that any goal worth achieving would present. This is the time to believe. Trust in yourself and your abilities and drive. Trust in fate, you are destined to achieve greatness. Trust in a higher power, God will help you. Trust in anything you believe, and trust that you will achieve your goals. Do not let self doubt eat away at your dreams. Trust and put in work.

At the end of the day it is the only action that matters. Work towards your goal, and you will find yourself closer to your goal with each passing day. The steps need not be and will not be significant, in fact you will not even notice that you moved forward in the grand scheme of things. But keep your head down and keep working, after all it is the drops that make an ocean.

You must keep in mind that not every action will lead to an instantaneous reward, in fact 99% of your effort will seem to go to waste. But that is not the case when you are mindful, with each attempt you are learning something which makes your next attempt better in some small way. You need to actively look out for opportunities and seize them with an unapologetic fervour. You need to keep shooting arrows after arrows, you never know which one will hit the target. And it will hit the target, believe me.

For instance, I have been applying to good summer programs in artificial intelligence for over six months now, and none of them seem to materialize. Some of the applications got very close, even to the last stage of reviewing, but did not come through. Rejection is hard, and it is difficult to not take it personally. I mean who believes letters like "Thousands of meritorious applicants applied to our program this year, but unfortunately we have a limited capacity.....This decision does not reflect on your caliber....we are sorry.....apply next year". But you know what, they are true! Of course merit is one of the main factors but so is luck. Chug along and finally you will receive an email at one in the night saying that you have been accepted to participate in Astro Hack Week 2016, a summer school cum unconference being organised by some of the best institutions in the field, University of California Berkeley, University of Washington and New York University, in Berkeley.

After the jumping on the bed stops and you are finally able to explain to your friends why have you been smiling the entire day like an absolute and utter fool, you will begin contemplating, and that’s when self doubt begins to creep in. Am I really good enough? Was this an administrative mistake? I surely do not belong here! You will not believe how common the Imposter Syndrome is, and how powerful it can be. The best way to fight it is to recognize it. To realize that almost everyone feels this way, and this brings us back to trust. Trust in yourself and your abilities, it’s about time.

Power to you!