"Life is a race.. if you don't run fast.. you will be like a broken anda.."
Most of you have watched the movie 3 Idiots and can easily recall this dialogue where the head of an institute was trying to teach a life lesson to students. Indeed, it's true and one must learn from it.
Nowadays, competition is getting tougher day by day and the doorway into the best of the academic institutes is just not straightforward. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication and most importantly, consistent efforts. The reality of tough competition can be seen through this data.

In 2018, around 11.5 lakh students registered for JEE Main and 2,31,024 students qualified for JEE Advanced and at the end only 31,988 (that too after the revised cut-off) students qualified JEE Advanced. These candidates will fight for 11,279 seats available in the IITs in India.
To prepare yourself for the challenging path, you are required to take initial steps at a very early age. Students, irrespective of their career interest, should start appearing in various national and international-level competitive exams.
Nowadays, there are various exams conducted by govt or private bodies for students from class 1 onwards. These may include Olympiads, NTSE, NMTC and many more.
There are no drawbacks of appearing for such competitive exams and it's just a myth that they can hamper regular studies. An early step will articulate your journey of success.