One Scroll, One Step Closer - Or Not

Sameer had this quiet habit - every evening after college, he'd shut his room door, grab a notebook, plug in his earphones, and get to work. Some days it was prep videos, some days mock tests, and some days just sitting in front of a blank screen trying to solve one tricky question. No drama, no big announcements, just effort.

Vivaan, his roommate and best friend, would often laugh, “Yaar, you're the only one I know who studies in 2025 like it's still 2010. Relax a bit, bro! Life’s not a competition!”

He wasn’t wrong - Vivaan’s evenings looked very different. Netflix open, phone in hand, stories playing one after the other, a little “doom scroll” therapy after a long day. He called it balance. “That’s my way of relaxing and staying connected to the world,” he’d say, genuinely believing it.

Weeknights meant late dinners and shared jokes, but while Vivaan would drift off watching reels, Sameer would often be making tiny notes or replaying one tricky lecture. It wasn't that Vivaan wasn’t ambitious - he had dreams too. He just felt there was still time. Sameer, on the other hand, acted like time had already started running.

Weeks passed.

One Sunday, Vivaan walked into the room to see Sameer staring at his laptop - not blankly this time. There it was: "Congratulations! You’ve been selected for the PG Program at IIM Ahmedabad."

For a moment, Vivaan froze. “Wait… you actually got in?” he asked, half-joking but fully surprised.

Sameer looked up and smiled. “I guess I just wanted to see what could happen if I stayed consistent for a while.”

The silence that followed wasn’t awkward. It was honest. Vivaan smiled back, but something inside shifted. Not regret - not yet. Just that uncomfortable feeling when you realise time had been slipping through your fingers while you thought you were holding it.

That night, he didn’t scroll. He opened his notes app. A fresh page.

Flash:
This isn’t a story of talent. It’s a reminder that how we spend our in-between hours - when no one’s watching - decides whether we drift or drive forward. We don’t always need massive changes. Sometimes, it’s just about realising where our hours are going.
And how someone else’s win can be our mirror, not our defeat.

Moral: Everyone gets the same 24 hours. The outcome is borrowed from how we spend the unnoticed ones. Discipline doesn’t shout - it shows up quietly, later, in the results.

You don’t lose to others. You lose to time when you don’t use it!!