1.Daydreaming
- FOCUSSING MORE ON TAKING REVENGE from people by becoming a ‘Sarkaari Babu’, and less on General Studies , Optional and Essay prepration.
- Imagining sitting in a huge cabin with 50 people waiting outside to meet you, your Y category security guards have taken position outside, when you leave from office your convoy of 5–6 cars is ready for the VIP movement.
- Counting chickens before they hatch – PLANNING EXTRAVAGANT REFORMS for the country which they will implement on becoming a civil servant. But they do not spend time on reforming their lifestyle to suit the preparation
2.Too much READING
- READING NON-IMPORTANT STUFF – Like reading 2–3 newspapers in a day, Reading all magazines like Yojana, Kurukshetra, EPS, South Asia Politics, Pratiyogita Darpan etc. (READING 1 newspaper and 1 magazine is enough)
- It’s not uncommon to find aspirants subscribing to: EPW, World Focus, Frontline, Kurukshetra and religiously going through them.
- Do you have more than 10 tabs opened on your browser for a particular topic? If yes, then you are wasting your time doing PHD ON NON-ESSENTIAL TOPICS.
3. Sharing Gyan – everywhere and with everyone
- Watching and Debating about political issues, political parties, political figures not important for exams.
- Chatting on social media/tea stalls/mess.
4.Directionless Preparation
STUDENTS FRAMING QUESTIONS themselves and then solving/answering them, thinking that UPSC might ask in this way or in that way.
5.Dosti ,Jeevan Sathi etc..
DEVELOPING CRUSH ON SOMEONE IN COACHING/NEIGHBOURHOOD – Now this not a bad thing, but the problem is that instead of impressing someone by getting selected in the services, aspirants do all kinds of things to impress her/him.
6.Chilling Out!!
- Planning a movie on every weekend, in the name of taking a break from studies. It is again not bad, provided your have studied religiously the whole week
7.Show off
- Pretending to live the hard life very forcefully. Shabby hair, poor lifestyle, junk food, etc. Just to impress upon the world and himself/herself that the ‘UPSC life is going on’. This is a serious waste of time.
- Using too many gadgets, and devoting too much time to fancy ‘online studies’. They try OneNote, Evernote, Macbook, iPad, iPhone, and whatnot. They download every app available that has something to do with UPSC. Needless to say, too many cooks spoil the broth.
- Announcing to the whole world that they are preparing for UPSC. As if preparation itself is a career that has some monthly stipend!
8. Socially hyperactive
- Being part of all Forums and WhatsApp Groups
- There are multiple online forums, WhatsApp and Telegram groups for civil services preparations.
- Some of the topics are very enticing. For instance questions dwelling on issues like scrapping of optional, reduction of age, optional A vs optional B witness thousands of comments.
- Once you are habituated reading and replying to such posts then you end up wasting couple of hours every day.
9.Procrastination
10.Convincing others …
- After repeated failures not accepting own mistakes but wasting time in convincing others that becoming IAS is your Dream, Passion etc since childhood or last birth
