Mystory@Shirish Shete: How I made the most of my college years

Mystory@Shirish Shete

Though I was a meritorious student till SSC, I got a bit deviated from studies during my college days as I had started earning part time. It once happened in the last year of my under graduation that I was chitchatting with my friends in the college parking area and one of our professors passed by and started talking to us. He told us that we appeared to be smart and scholar-like and should answer questions during his practical sessions, which we never did. This discussion was a turning point for me. Next day, I met the same professor and requested him for tuitions as I was unable to clear my concepts from other faculty members. He welcomed me and asked me to visit his house and helped me in understanding all concepts. Thereafter, I completed my under graduation with distinction scores. During my PG course, I became more disciplined, which helped me stand first in my institute. My professor not only cleared my concepts but also taught me how to engage in self-studies. I remember teaching my PG classmates if they didn’t understand anything.

An approach I always followed was fixing my annual goal of marks I aimed to acquire by distributing them into semesters and then per subject. So I kept high targets of scores for subjects I mastered at and optimum expectation from difficult subjects or the subjects I did not excel in. This helped me to achieve my goals for internal as well as semester exams and ultimately the annual goal. This really worked. Now I apply the same in my career. Setting up annual target for myself and breaking them into smaller targets has always led me to achieve the expected target and even over-achieve them. This helped me in getting 4 promotions in 6 years.

We should work hard from day 1 and once we have mastered the activity, then we should just set up an allotted time per activity and try to do it in minimum time day after day with ZERO errors. I have always been ready to stretch myself and instead of leaving office at the shift end, on numerous occasions, I have preferred to stay back and over-work. I have never hesitated to work for others or doing their job. This helped me in getting experience of other roles. I used to help colleagues with their pending work, which they probably found boring or non-productive. Because of this, I got the basic understanding and was able to come up with out-of-the-box suggestions in the team meetings.

My journey has not been easy and taking additional load of others’ work & delivering has been all the more challenging. What I have learnt is that we should take accountability and responsibility of the things which we are handling. Always do more than expected and you will be recognized! I had always opted for the roles which are challenging and less organized streamlining which, fetched me appreciation. This is a risky deal but approaching it with confidence has helped me achieve milestones in life. I have also realized that switching roles in every 2 years can give me internal growth and a promising profile when I am screened for a senior level position.

About the Author

Shirish Shete studied Botany in Graduation, and further went on to complete Master in Personnel management (MPM-HR). Next, he also did distance learning in MBA in HR, followed by Diploma in Labour law and labour welfare. He holds an experience of 10 years in HR and has worked with numerous leading telecom companies. He has a keen interest in playing cricket, badminton and football.