Abid Waqar

Academic

Career

Verbatim text

Abid Waqar (i16-0229) 
 
Four-years ago in 2016 I got a letter that I got accepted in FAST. At that time, I was exhilarated as 
well as nervous, exhilarated because my percentage was barely enough to get in FAST and nervous 
because even though I got the admission I wasn’t sure if I was intelligent enough to survive in FAST. 
This journey made a life changing impact on my life because it changed my mindset from fixed to 
growth. 
At that time, I had a fixed mindset and believed that my basic abilities, intelligence and talents are 
just fixed traits, I have a certain amount of them and that's that. I wasn't really that intelligent in the 
beginning but I would compensate that with hard work. I didn’t want to look dumb in front of the 
class, I didn’t want to be left behind and I surely didn’t want to waste my parent’s money. These 
fears made me work harder and harder.  
In the final exams of the first semester I was really nervous that I won’t be able to complete my 
degree and will just end up wasting my parent’s money, so I made up my mind and talked to my 
family that I don’t want to do this degree because I don’t know if I was intelligent enough to 
complete it and i would prefer to join my brother’s business. They said it's okay if this is what I 
wanted but I have to give the final exams. So I ended up giving the final exams and I got a pretty 
good GPA. I was happy and made the decision to continue my degree. At that time my mindset 
started to change from fixed to growth, slowly but surely. And I started to realize that my talents 
and abilities can be developed through effort and persistence. 
In the second semester I started to compare myself with medal holders and that started me 
thinking that there isn't much difference between them and me, so if I worked harder I might 
become as intelligent as them and might even be able to get a medal. So I added in my bucket list 
that even for only once I will get a medal in my degree. At that time, I didn’t realize that hard work 
alone isn’t enough to achieve that but the challenges that the following semesters gave me forced 
me to realize that and change. Change my approach, change my habits and most importantly 
change my mindset.  And I started the journey of continuous experimentation of change in myself. 
It was a slow process but along the way I was able to achieve my bucket list goal. 
Along this journey I realized different things but most important of them is that life is short and 
time is fast, so enjoy every moment as it comes. This inspired me to become more socially active 
and socially conscious and to try new things every now and then. Now that I look back, it was a 
tough journey but the friends that I made, the skills that I acquired and the mindset that I have 
now, I will say that it was all worth it.  
“There is no secret ingredient. It’s just you.” – Po, Kung Fu Panda