My name is Tenzin Kunga, currently I am working with Ashok Leyland Ltd. as Executive Sales Manager. I did my schooling till Class X from TCV, Ladakh, and +2 science stream from TCV, Upper Dharamsala. Then I did Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) in Mechanical Engineering from the Government Engineering College, Bilaspur, Chattisgarh. After that, I did my M.BA with marketing specialisation from the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (DMS - IIT Delhi) in 2004.

Everybody understands and accept that life is not a bed of roses. Ups and downs are in its basic definition, what ever you do. The best way to handle is trying to maintain equanimity and face every expected and unexpected hurdle as a challenge and face it with a planned action. And if you challenge even the biggest problem in the world with persistence, you will definitely solve it. Therefore, I feel every problem can be solved with planned and persistent challenging.

Now, what are the challenges a student might face on his/her way to success and then on to becoming a professional? I can well say more about the first, and presume only a little about the second. For a student, the following are some of them I think, the aptitude level, the financial capabilities, the parent's influence, etc. For a professional, I think, the lack of experience and the financial reserve are some of the difficulties.

The best way to tackle the problem for a student is to have a good idea of what he is going to do, what exactly he wants: to have the clearest possible aim. For this you, the student needs help from many and a good knowledge of the wide range of options available. If you have a clear aim in your life I believe you have solved half of your problems. You can then start putting more efforts in the direction of your aim from school time itself and hence your aptitude level will be as per the requirement when you come to doing your professional course. Otherwise, you might be lacking behind your colleagues and unable to give your best. You will have to compensate by putting in more time, more hard work and more effort than your friends.

Other students will definitely find it difficult to arrange the financial needs for the professional course he wanted to pursue. Well, always remember, where there is WILL, there is a WAY. You just have to go and knock at the doors of some kind people, or some organisation with kind intentions and you will definitely find a way out of this problem. Here too, if you have a clear aim you can start finding help for yourself well in advance.

Then there might also be parent objections to some of the professions one wants to take up. Due to time constraints, traditional beliefs and faith or they might have something in mind for you for your own good. Again, if you have a clear aim during school days, you can discuss your goals with your parents and other near and dear ones, in order to convince them about your wishes and overcome these sorts of problems.

After all this, after you have gained a clear aim and put your best effort and dedication into achieving that, you will definitely still have to go through ups and downs, success and failures, joy and sorrows moments. Always one should try to maintain equanimity of mind and heart. Keep your focus and dedication undeterred from your aim. This way I believe you will achieve your aim with a happy heart and cool head.

When it comes to professional life, life is full of opportunities and challenges. We all need to gain experience in whatever new field we want to work in. But that doesn't mean that a person without experience can't be successful. Experience gives your mind a taste of ground realities. If you can imagine all those ground realities right from the building strategies to the chewing of those realities in execution, then you can also achieve great success without any experience. The other thing is that even if you have all the requirements (qualifications and experience), you might not be able to proceed without a good objective, a good business model and the right knowledge and enthusiasm. Finances, or faith in the existence of finances is another challenge. Try your plan and luck: here too, if you try to find out some way, I am sure you will find help. You may have to work first and prove your worth on a smaller scale and later scale up to a higher level. This way, slowly but steadily, success can't avoid you and your efforts.

These are some of my experiences and learning from my journey till date. I hope it will be of some use to those who come across this short note.

Tenzin Khunga