Interview with Shivangi Reja | Early Years Coordinator at The Gera School | Certified Life Coach and Career Growth Coach | Author | Healer | Founder and Director of Connecting DOTS
At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Shivangi Reja for an exclusive interview with us. Shivangi is a passionate Coach, Author, Academic Leader and Entrepreneur who believes in helping and motivating people to see the world as a place of possibilities rather than obstacles. She has over 17 years of rich experience in the fields of education and corporate training.
Shivangi is the Founder and Director of Connecting DOTS, an online platform that enables people to find true meaning and purpose in life by cultivating a Growth Mindset. She specializes in helping people identify and remove damaging beliefs that could be holding them back in life. Her mission is to empower individuals to attain their highest potential and become positive change agents in their fields. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background, and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shivangi:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey, please;
I hail from Jabalpur (MP) and did my schooling at St. Joseph’s Girls School. Since childhood, I have been a passionate individual who always aspired to be an achiever by delivering high performance in all walks of life. I have a profound desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others by sharing my insights and experiences in life.
I completed my graduation with a Bachelor’s degree in Science and a Bachelor’s in Education, followed by a post-graduate diploma in Business Administration (HR) from Symbiosis. I accentuated my skills as an educator through a series of professional IB training programmes over the years.
With the motto of being a lifelong learner, I pursued a Master’s certification course in Career Coaching from Mindler and NCDA, USA to become an International Certified Career Coach. I am also a certified Life Coach.
I worked with numerous schools all over India. For more than a decade, I worked my way up, first as an educator, then as a grade level coordinator, and finally as an IB Programme Coordinator (PYP). I currently work at The Gera School in Goa, where I am in charge of the Early Years Department.
More about my journey can be found in my book Connecting DOTS, which reached the Bestselling category on Amazon.
What made you passionate about ‘Coaching’?
I believe that everyone has dreams to achieve, and the fact that I can help individuals get one step closer to realizing their passion and living their lives to the fullest is what drives me toward coaching.
The ability to assist someone in shifting their mindset from a victim: helpless and vulnerable—to a victor: confident and empowered – is what drew me to coaching.
I aim to lead and assist my clients in finding happiness and living their lives to the fullest. I think we can all alter anything about ourselves that we want to. Coaching can improve your abilities and provide you with the tools you need to modify what is preventing you from repeating negative ideas, negative self-talk patterns, and more, whether you are suffering from anxiety/phobia, pain, limiting beliefs, or weight difficulties.
‘Connecting DOTS’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
Connecting DOTS was launched in January 2021 as an online consulting platform with a mission to empower the entire learning community (that includes students, educators, and parents collectively) by providing dedicated services like coaching, training, and workshops, with the perspective of creating open-minded, compassionate, and reflective global citizens to make this world a better place.
We also offer highly effective, customized workshops for teachers and parents to help schools manage growth and improvement. Our services are tailored to their needs as we provide customized solutions. Our focus is on training and advising members of the educational community on Transformative teaching strategies, Creating adaptive learning spaces, Emotional well-being, Effective classroom practices, Positive parenting and much more. We are committed to making the learning community a place where it can be authentic, relevant, fun yet challenging, and a place for the true potential and talents to come to life.
Our students’ programmes, such as Phonics Club, Readers and Writers Club, and public speaking sessions, are thriving. We have recently introduced life coaching and career coaching programmes for students and adults. That also makes it online coaching platform that allows people to develop a growth mindset, find personal and professional fulfilment, and achieve financial independence to find true meaning and purpose in life.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
My perseverance is motivated by my passion and sense of purpose in life. I have two lovely children who give me the drive to finish my work, as well as a caring husband who supports and mentors me. I have the support of my family to face any difficulties that may arise.
Shivangi Reja with her kids and husband
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
I’ve always had a strong sense of drive, willpower, and self-control.
To attain goals, you need both the capacity and the willingness.
Discipline wins out over motivation for me. The issue with the motivation that I don’t like is that you can feel motivated one day and not the next. I place a high value on discipline since it requires you to carry out your obligations whether you feel inspired or not. Therefore, if you work on strengthening that discipline muscle every day, you’ll be much more successful.
When people are motivated, things happen. One of the most efficient strategies to increase your personal effectiveness is to discipline yourself and identify your drive.
If you can master motivation via discipline, you can deal with life’s disappointments and encourage yourself to always find a path forward, create new experiences for yourself, and follow your growth.
I’d like to share the following life lessons with you in order to provide you with some useful tools and techniques.
Please share with us, how do you motivate your clients?
I am a firm believer in a learner-centric approach because it is essential to recognize that it is not about me, but about them. As an activating agent, my role is to help my learners realize their inherent potential and believe in their self-worth so that they can embark on a journey through school, college, and life. In a nutshell, to uplift them.
In my opinion, my role is to get people to think and come up with a plan of action on their own that will help them solve their difficulties rather than offer them solutions. I accomplish it by posing powerful questions.
My job, I believe, is not to provide solutions to them, but to cause them to reflect and devise their own plan of action that will lead them to a solution to their problems. I accomplish this by asking probing questions. As a coach, you ask the best question that comes to mind at the time. You can’t plan or script a powerful question, but when it happens, it’s inspiring.
As a result, I encourage my clients to take responsibility for their own self-development and to believe in their ability to achieve their goals.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you seek to establish your success story?
Grabbing the right opportunity and performing to your full potential when you get it. I prepare myself to give it my all at every opportunity that comes my way.
You are always positive and motivated. What keeps you going?
The desire to master my skills in order to continue learning something new, as well as my genuine enjoyment of my purpose, motivate me to work hard and stay disciplined. I try to set boundaries, which takes practice so that I don’t become bogged down by my clients’ issues.
Even if it’s just alone time, I make a daily appointment for self-care: Me time. For example, I schedule time for meditation, exercise, and breaks when I go silent and turn off my gadgets, just as I would for a client.
I also read works by people I admire that contain uplifting material that reminds me of the power we all possess.
Last but not least, when I see one of my clients having a breakthrough, it’s the most powerful stimulant I can imagine.
In your opinion, what is the true meaning of success in life?
The only person who can answer this question perfectly for you is you. Each of us has a different meaning for the word “success” because we all have different ideologies about prosperity in life. There cannot be a single definition that is all-pervasive.
It is essential that you understand how you want to define success in your life! For some, having a luxurious car and a large mansion is the true definition of success, whereas others may consider a life full of joy and happiness with their family to be the true definition of success. ‘Success is a journey, not a destination.’ – Arthur Ashe
True success in life, I believe, cannot be measured solely in terms of money, but rather in terms of the number of lives that I can influence. For me, success means living a happy life and making the world a happier and better place for others.
What about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
Receiving positive feedback from those who have been inspired by my coaching sessions or work fuels my desire to provide even more value to them. It’s satisfying to see changes in them and their journey because I see their success as my success and their breakthroughs as mine. It’s less about the recognition and more about their success because it serves as a reminder from the Universe that I’m on the right track.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
First and foremost, every individual should pursue his or her passion and line of interest, so my advice to my clients and students is to always pursue a profession in which you are interested and have an aptitude.
Understand your true potential, as well as your strengths, weaknesses, and abilities that can help you succeed. Additionally, effective time management is crucial.
In order to be successful in any career, it is important to:
> Ask-when in doubt. This is the most effective way to improve.
> Backward planning is when you begin with your ultimate objective, your end goal, and then work backwards to develop your plan.
> Know when to say NO.
> Maintain effective time management skills and avoid procrastination.
> Develop productive daily habits (waking up early, exercising regularly, setting daily goals, and journaling).
> Learning a skill outside of your field can enrich your work, expand your opportunities, and serve as a talking point in interviews/conversations.
> Establishing good work ethics, helping teammates, and maintaining balance.
> Keep your plan B ready. If a plan fails, change the plan rather than the goal.
Last but not least, our audience would love to know about your upcoming book, could you please share with us a little bit about it?
To Young Minds … With LOVE! A rare collection of short stories that emphasise the importance of life skills such as Gratitude, Persistence, Mindfulness and Resilience: which form the basic essentials to survive and thrive in life. You will gain new insights and an enlightened vision, which will allow you to evaluate and progress in life. Perhaps you’ll identify yourself in one of these stories.
This unique anthology is the conscientious attempt made by Shivangi and Radhika to collaborate with the sole intention of raising compassionate and reflective perspectives toward everything around them. So, one thing is certain: these stories will have a long-lasting impact on young readers’ minds.
While this book is intended for young students, it will attract the attention of all age groups. Both children and adults will be captivated by the inspiring and heartfelt stories. This book will allow your mind to explore and wander and unleash your inner child as you travel to a place of introspection.
Shivangi, as a Life Coach and Career Growth Coach, will assist you in developing techniques and strategies to improve your career and life and help you realise your highest potential. She pushes her clients to achieve more than they could ever imagine through her coaching.
She supports individuals in developing the right mindset, setting goals, implementing strategies, and living life on their own terms in order to achieve and build on their dreams. Shivangi believes that every challenge and problem we face at work and in life are gifts from which we can learn and grow. “I help people who are confused, overwhelmed, and have no plan to become empowered, successful, and to achieve their goals, visions, and dreams!” says Shivangi. She encourages self-love and assists her clients in developing a physically and emotionally balanced lifestyle. Shivangi writes, speaks, and works with the firm belief that every person on the planet possesses a powerful gift that can be channelled to help them become greater than they ever imagined. She truly believes you have the ability to design the life you want. She assists her clients in reaching their full potential and embracing growth. If this resonates with you and you want to become a clear decision-maker with a balanced life, you can connect with Shivangi.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
