The selection process at the SSB requires average and ordinary people who can perform extraordinary things and actions when the need arises. Brick by brick we built a castle; similarly, there are a few practices that every defence aspirant should inculcate in their lives to stand with their head held high one day.

The armed forces of India require officers who display unparalleled mettle, quick wit, soldierly demeanour, concrete determination, and intense social intelligence that clearly sets them apart from their fellow humans.

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The SSB process is a very dynamic evaluation of your personality that you project voluntarily and subconsciously along with the many Officers’ Like Qualities or OLQs. Hence, the preparation for the same, unlike any other academic exam, requires an ongoing effort that should be imbibed in your daily routine. The aspirants should be aware that our personality is a projection of the things and actions that we undertake in our routine and our psychology is the result of our actions only. It is a cycle where personality and psychology are aligned such that they follow each other. To better psychology, you will have to change daily actions or personality and it will gradually get imbibed in your psychology.

The following are some habits that a defence aspirant should inculcate in their daily routine for a better correlation between their personality and psychology:

1. Wake up and perform your routine like you are in Academy: You all must be aware of the famous speech delivered by Admiral William H. McRaven of US Navy as the commencement address to the graduates of The University of Texas at Austin on May 17, 2014. The following is an excerpt from that speech that describes the relevance of doing small tasks in your routine as they can change your perspective about the things i.e., psychology.

“Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centred just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack — that’s Navy talk for bed.

It was a simple task — mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.

If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

I hope till now the message must have been clear and loud for every defence aspirant. You can listen to the full speech on YouTube to sustain daily motivation.

2. Do daily tasks and do them like never done before: There are many activities and actions that we do in our daily life and many of them are done just for the sake of it. If we can bring that neatness and perfection that is expected from a cadet in the academy, then you can practice self-discipline that will result in better performance and execution of tasks. For example, I used to come home from outside and remove shoes just like that without even untying my laces and keeping them on the stairs instead of the shoes rack under the stairs. All it was required for me to untie my laces, wipe the dirt off my shoes from a cloth nearby and then put them into the rack systematically. So basically, activities like these determine your basic psychology and you can correlate this with very well during GTO testing. You know that you are breaking the rule but you skip repeating the obstacles as you think that assessor might not have seen you. Remember, be your own assessor.

3. Working out for physical and mental stamina: You need to practice self-discipline and what is better than devoting your time for your overall well-being. This is another major activity that defence aspirants should be doing on a daily basis as working out is sometimes directly linked to higher self-discipline and obviously toughness and strength. Sticking to a routine or morning exercise can improve your determination and give you a sense of satisfaction when you achieve your goal for the day. Remember that you need to create a first impression on everyone whom you meet and for that you should be looking presentable. Your physical fitness along with immaculate dressing sense tells a lot about you as a person and this will be the first things that the Interviewer will see in a candidate when he/she will enter the room.

4. Be a decision-maker in your daily life: You need to understand the basic rationale to become a good decision maker through your daily habits. Each thing that we do and each action that we perform needs a decision and this decision should come from a practical and logical mind. You should ensure that the decision is backed with substantial reasons and that comes from patience, calmness and composure. These are essential values that every aspirant and an effective leader must possess. Maintaining composure is imperative as your future in the forces could demand you to work under stress with a clear mind and make practical and workable decisions. This feature is basically very handy in Group Planning Exercise when you need to decide the priorities of the given problems. Also, under heavy stress in Command Task and other obstacle tasks, you need to present a workable solution and that will come from a calm mind only.

5. Be adaptable and a quick learner: Adaptability is the one main habit or rather characteristic that a defence aspirant should always practice. If you are opting for armed forces life then you should be aware that there is a vast difference between the life of comfort back at home and a strenuous and demanding life at the academy. Everything will demand you to overcome and adapt. Moreover, it will require you to grasp and learn things quickly. Unlike your workplace or school where you get time to adjust to your surroundings, it’s a no-nonsense environment there. The key here is to be enthusiastic to learn new things and try to learn them through innovative ways. You should be ready for challenges by accepting everything in its most brutal form and tackling it with your leadership.

You can prepare for SSB Interview and defence entrance exams such as NDA, AFCAT, and CDS Exam by taking Written Online courses as they will not only give you access to full-length quality lectures but will also provide the facility to take standardized mock tests for better study and strategic growth in the exam. You can take multiple quizzes after each lesson to ensure a full understanding of the subject along with creating your customized lesson plans. You can check out the course content along with other important specifics at SSBCrackExams.

You can also access them through the SSBCrackExams App available in the google play store.

Jai Hind