The Attitude behind all Mediocrity

The Chaalse attitude

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

In India, the 10th board examination is the first milestone exam in every students life. The results will carry forward for decades. They will determine the field you get into next year, which will determine the field you’ll get in college.

The exams are so important that if you fail the exam, there is a separate check during your passport application in some cases.

In my 10th board exams, I scored 150 out of 150 in Mathematics.

This was monumental to me because of two reasons.

1. No one in the history of my school had ever scored a perfect score in Math. (Every year, some students scored 148 or 149, but never a perfect score)

2. I was one of only ~16 people out of roughly 1.6 million students that year to get a perfect score. The top 0.001%

The reason I got the perfect score in Math was because of Prof. Shankar. He was a quirky man in his 60s, with thick rectangular glasses and an even thicker mustache. He was just shy of retiring when I joined his tutoring.

We feared him as much as we admired him. More than once, I recall seeing him twist student's ears for not completing their homework. 

He did not tolerate bullshit.

80% of the time, he taught us Mathematics. For some reason, other subjects like social sciences weren't deemed important. 

If it was not for him, I would have never scored a 150 in Math, I might've scored a 148 or 149, but not a 150.

Why? Because he did not tolerate the Chaalse attitude.

The "Chaalse" Attitude leads to mediocrity 

The Gujarati word "Chaalse" roughly translates to "its OK" or "it'll do".

Got a less-than-expected raise at work? Chaalse
Scored 95 out of 100? Chaalse 
Anything go wrong in life? Chaalse 
Anything went right? Chaalse

When things go wrong, and you're down in the dumps, chaalse brings solace. It helps you dig yourself out of a hole and lets you know it's not the end of the world. There is a time and place to use the Chaalse attitude (we’ll cover that at another time).

But when you're aiming for the stars, looking to put a dent in the universe, burning with an insatiable fire to leave your mark on the world, or just wanting to do better, the the chaalse attitude might as well be poison arrow laced with the salacious goodness and comfort of a warm blanket on a cold winter night keeping you permanently sedated in the world of your dreams and preventing you from making them a reality.

How?

Because it makes mediocrity acceptable. 

It makes lower standards acceptable.
It makes lousy design acceptable.
It makes shortcuts acceptable.
It makes anything less than excellence acceptable.

It says it's OK if you did not get a perfect score. You scored 149, it's OK. 

When you start settling for less than exceptional results, you start the decline of excellence.

Ask any legend or master in any field who has spent their life in the pursuit of excellence, and they'll tell you.

No. Nai Chaalse. (It won’t do)

Here’s an example of Jerry Seinfeld on why the show was so successful.

The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it— every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That’s my way of life.

- Jerry Seinfeld, HBR Interview

If you want to be the best, you can't lose and say Chaalse.
If you want exceptional results, you can’t skip practice and say Chaalse.

If you want to reach the top, you must reject the "Chaalse" attitude.

Professor Shankar knew this. 

He wanted us to aim for perfection. Aiming and preparing for anything less was not acceptable. the results were out of our hands, but the preparation was in our control.

He did 3 things that pushed me to get the perfect score.

1. He established a high standard - Score full marks in each exam. Every-time.
2. He made us practice, practice, practice - By the time I took the exam, I had practiced both of the maths textbooks, end-to-end, more than seven times.
3. He did not tolerate the "Chaalse" attitude. He called it out everytime we missed a single mark.

"Tumhaara "chaalse" attitude idhar nahi chalega”
(your “it’s ok” attitude will not work here!) 

- Prof. Shankar

The mission's single-minded focus and clarity helped me practice, practice, and then practice some more until every single thing was perfect. 

Every answer, every single step of getting to every answer was perfect. That was the only way to get the perfect score.

Once you do know what works and what you want, aim as high as possible, aim for perfection and most importantly reject the chaalse attitude.