Meet Divya Mittal, who cracked IIT, IIM before becoming IAS officer

Hundreds of candidates spend years in Delhi's Rajendra Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar preparing for the toughest exam. Millions of candidates appear for the UPSC exam every year, but only a handful crack the exam and serve as civil servants for the country. 

One such inspiring IAS officer is Divya Mittal, the District Magistrate of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. Divya Mittal secured 68th All India Rank (AIR) in UPSC CSE 2021. 

While some struggle to grasp the concepts, some fail to complete the syllabus on time, almost everyone struggles to focus their concentration 100 per cent on their studies. Divya Mittal, who faced this problem during her preparation days shared some useful tips on Twitter to overcome distractions. 

Sharing a thread, Divya Mittal wrote, “I have cleared some of the toughest entrance tests in the country like that for IIT, IIM, IAS. It is not that I was not distracted during studies, but I overcame those distractions.”

I have cleared some of the toughest entrance tests in the country like that for IIT, IIM, IAS. It is not that I was not distracted during studies, but I overcame those distractions.

Small tips on how to overcome distractions and get great focus

A thread

— Divya Mittal (@divyamittal_IAS) October 29, 2022

Read: IAS Success Story: Meet Samyak Jain, visually-impaired JNU alumnus who secured AIR 7 in UPSC

She shared tips to achieve greater focus during UPSC preparations: 

Avoid using phones 

Check your phone usage and the apps you spent time on every week. Many times you don't even know how much time you are wasting on mobile apps. Mittal said, "Keep the phone with the internet switched off and away from you while studying. You can also keep it locked and with a parent/ friend. Heavens will not fall while you are studying and if it is something urgent, you will get the message."

"Use apps like Blackout to block the internet for at least 6 hours every day. Force yourself to study during that time. It is not a free app, but it is very effective. Once it blacks out the phone, you can't go back for the period," she added. 

Early morning studies

"Keep the alarm away from you, at loud volume. Most likely once you get up from bed to switch off the alarm, you will decide to not go back to sleep and study. Early morning study is the best these days especially as it has lesser distractions." 

Keep short focused Sessions

"Do 90-minute/2 hr intensely focused sessions, take 15 min break after every session. You cannot maintain focus for longer than that at one go. Measure the session. Till the alarm goes off, dont do anything else but study," Tweeted the IAS.