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If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse. You attempt the mock test and you see a question on Indian Classical dance which you think is an easy sitter but you just can’t seem to recollect. You feel like your preparation is inadequate and you grow a distaste for the mock which you are attempting.

“If only I revise the things again and then give this mock again, I will have a more realistic score”. This is what you tell yourself and you don’t attempt your mocks correctly!

Stop right there. Don’t think like that. Stop the monkey chatter and take the things as they come. Don’t live in the fool’s paradise that your best is yet to come. No. Who knows? This is you right here and you have got to make the best out of your limited knowledge by tikdams or educated guesses and not fell prey to the wishful thinking on covering the whole syllabus again.

To get into your best test taking abilities, try to meditate everyday. Follow this 6 phase process recommended by Steve Jobs:

1. Sit cross-legged in a quiet place, preferably on a low pillow to reduce strain on your back. Take deep breaths.
2. Close your eyes and listen to your inner monologue, the thoughts that spin through your mind all the time: work, home, TV, whatever. Those thoughts are the chattering of your “monkey mind.” Don’t try to stop it from chattering, at least not yet. Instead just observe how it jumps from thought to thought to thought. Do this for five minutes every day for a week.
3. After a week, without trying to silence your monkey mind, during the meditation, shift your attention to your “ox mind.” Your ox mind is the part of your brain that thinks slowly and quietly. It senses things around you. It doesn’t try to assign meaning to anything. It just sees, hears, and feels. Most people only really hear their ox mind when they experience a “breathtaking moment” that temporarily stops the monkey mind from chattering. However, even when your monkey mind is driving you crazy with rush-rush-rush and push-push-push, your ox mind is still there, thinking its slow, deep thoughts.
4. Once you’re feeling more aware of your ox mind, ask it to start quieting your monkey mind down. What worked for me was imagining the monkey mind going to sleep due to the slow walking of the ox as it moves patiently along a road. Don’t get upset if your monkey mind keeps waking up. It’s a monkey, so it can’t help acting like one. However, you’ll find that, despite its protests, your monkey mind would rather give it rest and stop making all that tiring and tiresome noise.
5. As your monkey mind calms down, continue to shift your attention to your ox mind. Each breath will seem to take a long time. You’ll feel the air on your skin. You may feel your blood flowing through your body. If you open your eyes, the world will look brand new and even rather strange. A window, for example, becomes just a square thing that full of light. It doesn’t need to be opened or closed or cleaned or repaired or anything else. It’s just there. You’re just there.
6. While it can take a while to get there, you’ll know you’re doing the exercise correctly when it seems as if no time has passed at all between when you started the timer and when it goes off. When you succeed at that, gradually increase the amount of time you spend each day. Weirdly, no matter how long you practice, it will seem as if no time has passed.

Here’s how this may help you in your preparation and test taking strategies:

1. It will calm you down
2. Make you more perceptive to the subtle tones of texts and questions and help you identify with the art of smart guessing
3. Keep you stress free and be more confident of your preparation levels

If you already have another mojo working for you, share with us over the comments.

PS: The Flagship Prelims Module for IAS 2017 has already started. Click here to attempt your tests.