What elevates the crème de la crème from the rest ? Not the IIT-IIM-Ivy League Tag !

We often get carried away by a person' credentials, almost as if the credentials precede a person and his persona. It does happen a lot across the landscape.
People assume a certain level of superiority attached to some institutions and then start dreaming about being those people they think so highly of. When it comes to India, there are the IITs and IIMs - the prestigious and much sought after Technological and management hubs of education that have a 1-2% of conversion rate.
Similarly when you talk about the US, you have the Ivy leagues, the Harvard brand of schools and the MIT that hold fort as a counterpart, if i may say so. We dream of things we feel are quite out of reach, sometimes a miracle needs to intervene to actually make us one with our dreams, or so we would statistically like to agree.
I was one such individual till i got there somehow. Always dreamt of a good institution and much like most middle class kids in India, ran blindly towards the goal, not inspecting the nitty gritty of it, not questioning enough on the why, what of the goal i attached my life to.

I would safely assume, a huge number of people have such dreams in life; From a big home, to a big car, to a nice plush life in a good neighborhood, some have dreamt of being a movie star or winning that monthly or annual lottery or tried their luck at the casino, we have thought of it all.

Dreams are basically ideas we attach ourselves to. They reside in us even when we do not consciously think about them for years together. Regret, jealousy, dejection are the other side of failed dreams we so often feel.

So what separates the crème-de-la crème, Is it the IIT-IIM-Ivy League Tag ?
How could an application process, an interview or an examination- a timed entry barrier be the differentiation. It could well be the litmus test, which would be a separate debate for another day but not a differentiator certainly.

What we often overlook is what do these individuals do differently that we overlook or ignore. simple things that change the way world looks at them.

It seems that they never stop hustling, well at-least the ones who make it as not everyone who gets to these institutes necessarily makes it in the end.

The hustling comes from fear of failure and the extreme want of success. Now if we extrapolate this behavior to a lot of entrepreneurs out there, we see it in each of them. the never say die attitude, the out of box thinking and not accepting anything short of extraordinary, the constant pursuit of excellence is what we see in common.

These tags, although they are easy to identify and help with quick demarcation of such people are not the only ways to identify and find these diamonds in the rough. there are many extraordinary stories of hustlers who have made it despite the grave circumstances they battled through.

My advise to everyone is to keep pushing, keep hustling everyday. Not lose steam due to some made up tags. In this exam season, in times of extreme challenges, not making it to the big names, established institutions is not the end of the world. It sounds easier said than done and it is.

You have to hustle, you have to push boundaries and you have keep the fire within you alive each day, every moment and not slack one bit.

Sounds tough and it is, but the end result is what separates you from your dream, your destination, the miracle you have been thinking loosely of. When you feel the pain, bring a smile to your face because it means it is working, you are growing, gaining ground.

What separates the crème de la crème from everyone, It's not the IIT-IIM-Ivy League Tag, it is your grit and ability to never give up.

Get rid of your inhibitions, ego, fear and give it all you got to get thereocta template