Meet Sushma Verma, India’s youngest M.Sc. at 15

Lucknow’s Child Prodigy Sushma Verma Beats Odds To Soar Higher

 It is often said that success comes to those who strive for it with greater force and conviction. For child wonder, Sushma Verma her inherent genius coupled with a pinch of luck has done wonders for her at a tender age.

Lucknow-based Sushma Verma has been hitting the headlines for quite a few years now.

She first shot into the spotlight in 2007 when she broke all past records to become the youngest matriculate in the country.

At seven, she made it to the Limca Book of Records. Sushma had beaten none other than her own brother Shailendra, who had passed the Uttar Pradesh High School examination at the age of nine.

Daughter of a daily wage laborer and an illiterate mother, her genius was discovered at the age of two and she was just five when she was directly enrolled in class IX in 2005. When she was seven, she got listed in the Limca Book of Records for being the ‘youngest student’ to pass class X. She was 13 when she completed her graduation and at the age of 15, she has created yet another record by finishing her M.Sc. And that too with a Semester Grade Point Average (SGPAs) of 8!

Realizing Sushma’s poor financial health, Sulabh’s chief Dr. Bindeshwari Pathak announced a grant of Rs 8,00,000 towards higher education of the child prodigy.

Interestingly Sushma hails from a family of illiterates; her parents find it difficult to even make two ends meet.

“Sushma’s mother never went to school, but I have cleared Class VIII”, asserts her father Tej Bahadur who is a class IV employee at St Meera’s Inter College in Lucknow’s Alambagh area, the same institute where Sushma completed her class 12. 

Although she lives in a single-room tenement, she’s least daunted by her financial or social odds.

“We don’t have a television at home. My only pastime is to play with my two-year-old sister Ananya,” she says.

Ever since she grew confident in charting her own career, she wanted to pursue medicine. “I always dreamed of becoming a doctor,” she says.

At the age of 10 after completing her class 12, she took the Combined Pre-Medical Test for admission to the MBBS course, but her result was withheld because the authorities found her to be underage.

That’s how she came about choosing Microbiology for her undergraduate.

She doesn’t hide her disappointment when asked about her medical dreams. “Let them not grant me admission to MBBS if I am underage, but if they could let me know whether I touched the qualifying level or not; because that would give me an idea as to where I stand in terms of fulfilling my dream to become a doctor”, pleads the 13-year old in an interview.

Her brilliance does not just shine in India. She was invited for an IQ test in Japan where she competed with 35 other students of her age and stood first.

Clearing the course with flying colours with a grade point average of 8, the daughter of a sanitation worker never looked back. In 2007, she entered the Limca Book of Records as the youngest student to clear class X exams. Even her elder brother Shailendra completed his graduation in Computer science at the age of 14 and cleared matriculation when he was nine.

At a time when the country talks in terms of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, this girl in UP’s capital Lucknow is a perfect example of how if given a chance to spread their wings and fly, girls in today’s day and age are second to none.

India has often been prey to medieval mindsets where girls are discouraged from going to school and getting educated. Women in some parts of the country are still seen as typical homemakers who are supposed to stay at home, do household chores, take care of family, and serve instead. But like Bob Dylan once famously sang – Times they are changing.

Good Luck 

To Be More Successful, Start Living by the 2-Week Rule

To Be More Successful, Start Living by the 2-Week Rule

Even though achieving your biggest goals may take a long time, the battle will be won or lost in the first two weeks.

We all have huge goals we want to achieve. Yet very few people achieve their goals.

Maybe that's because we assume our individuality means we need to create and shape a unique process designed to achieve a goal. After all, you know yourself better than anyone.

Or not. Most of our limits are self-imposed. You can always do more than you think.

That's why the plans and processes you create for yourself rarely work. You're willing to work hard--but not too hard. You're willing to work long--but not too long. You're willing to push yourself--but hey, you're not going to go crazy.

So you start slow. You start soft. You start with a mental safety net.

And within days, the resulting lack of progress forces you to confront the huge gulf between here and there, between where you currently are and where you someday hope to be, and the renewed willpower and determination it will require to keep pushing forward.  

Which is the moment, and the reason, we usually quit. Not because you didn't want it badly enough. Not because you don't have the mental toughness. Not because your goal wasn't important or meaningful or worthwhile.

But because you started slow and soft and safe.

And never gave yourself a chance.

Next time, try this. Find a person who has done what you want to do. Who started a business. Who ran a marathon. Who cleared any tough exam. Who lost 30 kgs. Who achieved a level of financial freedom.

Find someone who won't sugarcoat the effort involved, and will tell you that if you want to build a business, your first day will require making 40 cold calls. That if you want to run a marathon, your first day will require running-walking three miles. That for clearing an exam you have to study 10 hr in a day. That if you want to achieve a certain level of financial freedom, your first day will require cutting every discretionary expense to the bone.

Find someone, who could illustrate the process.

And then commit to following that process for two weeks.

The Two-Week Rule

Yep: Two weeks. No matter what.

Why? One, you can do anything for two weeks. (If you can't, then you've clearly chosen a goal that doesn't mean enough to you.) 

More important, at the end of two weeks you will have enjoyed some level of success. Of improvement. Of return on effort.

And you'll realize that the distance between here and there may be huge, but not insurmountable. That all you have to do is keep doing the work -- and you're more than capable of doing the work.

For two weeks, just make sure you keep your head down and focus only on what you're supposed to that day. Don't think about the next week or month. Don't think about how many more calls you have to make, or miles you need to run, or money you need to save or hours you need to study.

Just focus on today. Not tomorrow.

Do that, and by the end of the second week, you will realize you can achieve more than you ever dreamed possible.

Because this time, you gave yourself a chance to prove -- to yourself -- what you're really capable of. 

I will wait for your positive comments which I hope you will provide after two weeks of implementation. You can try this strategy for anything and everything. Let's give ourselves a task to accomplish.

Good Luck.