At Brilliant Read Media, it is our constant endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from the startup ecosystem. As part of this, we invited Priyanka Dave for an interview with Brilliant Read Media. To say further, Priyanka is an NLP & Mindfulness Practitioner, Certified International Life Coach, Corporate Trainer and Influencer. Let’s learn more about her background, her inspiring journey so far and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Priyanka:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My backing is my family and my GROUND is my belief in ME. I feel these are two important things that help you soar high but parallelly keep you grounded in reality. I am from an ideal middle-class family – infinite aspirations, limited resources.
This humble upbringing, this background of mine is that steady, rock-hard canvas on which the colour of my past, present and future selves are painted. For me, background is not something that is limited to only professional achievements or milestones.
It also encompasses the ethics, morals, the values that we absorb from our childhood to adulthood. My professional journey started with me deciding to pursue Chartered Accountancy (CA) and it’s not an unknown fact about how tough this exam is to crack! With lots of ups and downs, I cleared my CA exams and that is still etched in my core memory.
I did my Industrial training in a leading MNC manufacturer of home appliances. Later on, joined as a Senior Consultant in one of the Big 4s with a specialisation in Taxation. My experience in corporate set-up has been enriching and eye-opening one.
My journey was supposed to be a SMOOTH, STRAIGHT road as I had the dream job, the dream company and the dream degree but life is sure had a surprise stored for me! After a few years, I hit a roadblock in my journey and surprisingly, that roadblock was actually a beautiful detour to an even more beautiful journey!
How did you discover your passion?
The roadblock led to the discovery of my detour i.e. my passion.
Three sleepless nights, insomnia, racing heartbeat and complete chaos – This seemingly unnatural thing seemed to become a normal. That’s when I realised that something needs to change in order to truly live my life. I felt as if something inside me needed to die for the birth of a new ‘Priyanka’.
The first question that came to my mind was what is the life that the new version of ME needs to have in order to live a fulfilling life. For me, pursuing passion is like pursuing your purpose for this life. It’s like doing that something that you really love to do!! Something that makes you jump out of the bed every morning with new vigour for the day! With no Monday blues or waiting for weekends!! (Although I’m still excited for weekends but now I don’t have dreadful weekdays).
So, after several years, I again took career assessments from various sources and, surprisingly they all pointed to three strong traits of mine – communication, empathy and listening skills. Taking this into consideration along with my longing to help and connect with people aided me to narrow down my prospects to life coaching.
Currently, I am an ICF certified Life Coach (pursuing PCC), NLP practitioner, CBT practitioner and Mindfulness practitioner and Corporate trainer. This detour from being a CA to a Life coach has opened new and thrilling avenues for me! And I enjoy every bit of it!
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest source of motivation is my parents. Parents can either make you or break you! You are really fortunate if you have supportive parents because that’s not the case for everybody out there. I am blessed in that aspect as my parents, brother and husband all of them supported my decision to change careers.
Changing careers is not an easy path at all! It’s like learning how to walk all over again after successfully completing marathons! If in an unknown, difficult path, your family stands with you as an anchor then navigating through rough seasons becomes easier. I still remember an incident from my childhood that serves as motivation to me till date.
It was the most memorable day of my life – my 10th standard results were out! Being an average student, scoring 90% on boards was a dream that was realised with my sheer hard work & parent’s blessings! So, for others, this was a shocker! On that day, I had also topped in English subject, which wasn’t taken positively by my English teacher.
In her exact words,” I never knew that you could top the subject, it seems luck was in your favour.” I was heartbroken and cried my heart out in front of my parents. My father told me these words that have been my motivation source till date, “Does it matter what she thinks about your achievement? Craving for validation and appreciation from others would eventually destroy your self-esteem so better be your own cheerleader!”
Learning to accept my imperfections, my flaws wholeheartedly yet striving to make that small change to have the desired version of ME is my everyday motivation.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
Take one step at a time!
Have you eaten a hot chapati? If yes, you would know that you can’t eat hot chapati directly from the centre as it would be very hot. We slowly eat from corners and eventually devour the chapati.
When even a simple chapati can’t be devoured in an instant, can the growth of an individual happen overnight? No, that is neither possible nor feasible. This mindset of embracing one change at a time has helped me to grow as a person and also as a coach. Having insightful coaching conversations has helped me grow as a human and also, as a Coach. So the strategy is very S.I.M.P.L.E
S – Stay focussed
I – Integrate small changes
M – Make yourself happy
P – Perseverance and Passion go hand-in-hand
L – Lower your self-doubt
You have recently been part of the ChampQuest writing competition, how was your experience?
I was in the top 25 from over 1 lac participants at the All India level. All three of my poetries were selected in the top 1000 best writings. Coming from a CA background, competing against established authors and still landing in the top 25 – helped me explore a new dimension of ME i.e. writing. This was a very encouraging start for me as a writer and I promise to work more diligently towards it!
You are also a certified Mental health first aider for suicide prevention. What are your thoughts around this topic and what prompted you to take this on?
Let me ask readers a question. Why is suicide called as ‘Atmahatya’?
‘Atma’ means Soul & ‘Hatya’ means Murder.
When a person dies due to suicide, that person has first died from within i.e. from their soul. That’s the reason it’s called ‘Atmahatya’.
What I mean by dying from within is to –
💔Lose the hope
💔Lose the faith
💔Lose the zeal
💔Lose the smile
💔Lose the intent to live!
There are many reasons due to which people may have suicidal tendencies. But, some people still judge them stating that they are weak-minded to take such drastic measures.
Which is so not true! People who have suicidal tendencies are not weak-minded people but the ones who are surrounded by weak moments. Such drastic measures are taken by them in these weak moments.
🩹When we get a bruise in our body, we first go for first aid.
🩹When we get a bruise in our mental well-being, whom to go for first aid?
When I started taking life coaching sessions as a coach, I understood what emotional resilience means as a term. I finally understood how powerful questions could change the perspective of the client and help them redirect their life. It was at this moment that I made up my mind that i would be that Life Coach that provides support also as a Mental Health First Aider on Suicide Prevention
This step of mine to take up this role has pushed me closer towards my vision to make people master of their minds.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Success is a very subjective term and it’s definition and measure are different for everyone.
“Every flower bloom at its own time” – Ken Petti
If one takes a literal sense of this quote then –
Begonia flower – Blooms in autumn season
Tulip flower – Blooms in the spring season
Marigold, China rose – Blooms almost every season
Just like a flower, every individual takes its own time to polish its skills, find its true passion and live life to full potential.
Once you find your own spark, learn to embrace your authentic self. That is true meaning of success for me.
A flower can be crushed or withered away but the fragrance of the flower stays! Drawing a parallel here, a person may die but the legacy of that person shall stay even after its demise. This legacy, this impact that you have on the world is the true meaning of success.
And, the key to this success is to simply A.C.E. ie A – Action
C – Consistent efforts and
E – Energy
Without synergy of these three elements, dreams remains dream without it’s transformation to a vision
What advice would you give to our readers?
Everybody loves the BEST of you but, only you can love your FLAWS wholeheartedly!
Based on my humble experience, a fulfilling life is more worthy than a successful one!
Don’t play by the rules set by society to determine your success. It’s your life, your game, your stage – so play the game just for the joy of it without being binded by any rules!
I was in one of my coaching sessions where I told my coachee to even celebrate the failures as it only meant that ‘earnest efforts were put but, something new & more needs to be done.
But, this is easier said than done!
Let me share my real experience with readers to elaborate on this topic. Being a camera-shy person, it’s difficult for me to record a video without retakes!
When I’m talking in front of an audience it’s easy because I can see their reactions! When I’m talking in front of the camera, the camera doesn’t respond or react. I’m only seeing my face and, it kind of kills the buzz!
This is a virtual world and, I have to deal with this thing with no exception. I tried to record myself but always felt that my face looks weird, my eyes were wandering everywhere. So, eventually got conscious seeing my face. I was planning to delete that video as it was not perfect but, it was then I remembered the earlier coaching session and I posted it with conviction. However, to do this I had to coach myself by asking these questions –
Why can’t I celebrate my flaws?
So what if this is not the perfect video?
What stops me from taking the tiny baby steps towards my goals?
My message to the readers as a Mental health advocate and coach is to have this realisation that –
it’s ok to be imperfect!
It’s ok to have doubts!
It’s ok to feel conscious!
But, it’s not ok to remain in
Constant denial!
Constant fear!
Constant worry about the judgement of others!
Last but not least, what about your life coaching journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
Honestly, the realisation that each and everyone is empowered enough to solve their problems, my only job is to show them their empowered self! This is enough to make my every day, every moment exciting, satisfying and fulfilling!
Just like in Ramayana, Lord Hanuman had forgotten his capabilities (the Asht Siddhis) due to a curse from Indra. It was only when Jamvant made him realise how powerful he actually is! And, later is history of how Lord Hanuman played a pivotal role for Lord Rama’s victory.
As a coach, my each coaching sessions underlying intent is to make my coachee realise their inherent strength, their inner core energy. Once that state is achieved, every problem life throws at you seems like an opportunity to prove oneself!
