10 Important Points Every SSB Recommended Candidate Should Know: Getting recommended may sure be like a dream come true for you, but if you think that you have reached your goal and thus can relax now, then you are wrong. Candidates tend to relax after they get recommended, and await their merit/medical. Of course, it is a time to celebrate, as you are a closer to your goal of joining the Armed Force, but read again, you are just one step closer to join, you haven’t yet reached. In reality you don’t get the stars, until you get them, i.e. until you cross the antim pag. After getting recommended, it is the time to be more careful, cautious, and in fact doing a lot of things, which you wouldn.t have done otherwise. Let us see what all you can/should do after you get recommended:
- Celebrate: Celebrate to the core. Do not compensate in celebrations. Celebrate with your family, friends and mentors. However bounce back as soon as you can. Caution: Lots of work ahead.
- Eat how much you want to, NO: May be these are the last few days till you say bye-bye to home cooked food or to your favorite restaurant, but you need to keep your eating habits in check. You’ll be pressurized to eat by your mom, will have loads of parties with friends to celebrate, but let them eat. The problem is if you gain excess weight, you’ll have difficulty in training, and then you’ll have to do extra rounds there, which are (I can vouch) more painful than not eating your favorite food.
- Exercise: We tell a lot of our aspirants to start jogging and mild exercises for SSB. You are on a higher level now, after your recommendation. So the exercises you do, should be of higher level too. Concentrate more on building up your stamina. The way the basic military training is,, in all the academies, it demands a lot of physical fitness, stamina. So it is strenuous, wouldn’t it be better to start a little now, so that you can catch up easily in the academy (nahi toh unhone ne to kara he lena hai kaise bhi).
- See the rising sun: This is not some life teaching. This is again to get you habituated with the academy schedule. Days in the academy start very early and wind up late.
- Prepare your mind: Training is a bit tough, more on the mental level, being almost cut-off with the rest of the world. Though you’ll have your course mates there, who’ll end up being your life-long friends. Better if you talk to somebody who has been in the training. This will prepare you mentally, and everything will not fall like a bomb in your sweet fairly land (Sadly very girly line, but guys too run away from the training! Duhhh!).
- Spend time with your loved ones: You’ll be off the grid for almost 6 months. You’ll love that time, but your loved ones will miss you (you’ll miss them too). Spend as much time you want to with your family, friends, classmates/colleagues, you’ll mostly see them after six months.
- Do all what you want to: Once in the academy, you’ll hardly get time to do whatever you want to do, like your hobbies or interests, so do all of them now. Surf the internet, read all what you have pending in your list, go out for a trip etc.
- Don’t stop applying for other entries: Yes you have been recommended, but you are still not sure whether you’ll get in the merit list or not. So, keep going for piled up SSB’s, keep applying for upcoming entries.
- Do not leave your job: If you are employed, do not leave your job instantly. Reason? See point number 8.
- Don’t forget us: Write your experience, give an interview, share your thoughts with us, and thus with other aspirants. Come on, itna toh banta hai!
Stay positive. All the best. Happy training (officer)!