January Reads

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Bhanu Misra Marya

Reading Routine, Habits, Brain Boosters, Rituals, Best Self, Higher Self, Reading for pleasure, Reading for Fun, Thriller, Suspense, GoodReads, Bookstagram

I’ve been trying to read 20+ pages a day which has really helped me to read more efficiently. And because of that I managed to finish 2 books in a little over a month! I’m trying to diversify what I read because I’ll normally read business/strategy/career books and get bored and not want to read for a while. Or read thriller/suspense/fiction one after another and then I feel like I’m consuming without learning anything. So to prevent that – I switch it up (ie: thriller, followed by business, followed by fiction, followed by self growth, followed by thriller etc). It’s a good way to stay motivated and the habit of reading a certain number of pages of day helps too! Read on to see my reviews :)

How Women Rise by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith

This book had me nodding in agreement throughout! The authors present 12 habits that women specifically do to serve them well earlier in their career – actually end up holding them back when they further their career. What I really like about this book is that they talk about women-specific behaviours that I’ve learned also learned from other sources (like women not speaking up for their accomplishments). The peer reviewed sense of it really made me feel like these things I do are common to all women and I shouldn’t feel bad. More specifically, the habits of building relationships and never leveraging them or try to be perfectionists – I was immediately able to see the habit in me and other women I knew. With each habit, the book provided an example and actions to overcome it. A great book and something I will reference and read again.

Find How Women Rise at Chapters Indigo (Canada)

Such a quiet place by Megan Miranda

This book is about a close knit community and the strange things they know about one another and the efforts they go to preserve what they believe to be the truth about their neighbours. The story reads well and although I wouldn’t say it’s a page-turner, it was definitely something that kept me engrossed. Harper’s roommate is sentenced to 20 years in prison for a crime. But her conviction is overturned which sends all of her accusing neighbours into a frenzy (and against Ruby). Including Harper, who although believed Ruby to be innocent, but now wants to remain on the inside with her community. There are twists, turns and random pieces of information that don’t necessarily add to the story but are still interesting info about the characters. Definitely a great vacation ready! *fingers crossed* we’ll be able to take vacations this year ;)

Find Such a quiet place at Chapters Indigo (Canada)

Become a #GoalDigger + Free Wallpaper Download!

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

TL;DR

If you can’t get to the entire post, I’d like to highlight the following

Vision boards are great tools to help you conceptualize and work towards your goals
Even though I’m posting this on the last day of the year, #VisionBoards can be created ANYTIME (of the year) you need an extra boost of motivation
Scroll to the bottom for the FREE download!

I’ve been a big proponent of vision boards for a long time – and still am!

I’ve created them yearly (sometimes several times in a year) and find them to be a great way to focus and hone in on my goals.

Visionboard, goal setting, yearly intention, #FutureBoard, goaldigger, Productivity, Personal Growth, Self Growth, Self Care, Routines, Systems, CEO School

I believe in them so much that I’ve got my girls in on it. I want them to know what it feels like to both be strategic and reflective when it comes to goal setting. I want them to know what it feels like to reach milestones and accomplishments they set for themselves. I also want them to know that getting to those goals, doesn’t happen overnight – and what progress feels like.

Also want them to know what it feels like to be internally driven. Not told to do something because the school system, an adult, society or their friends etc have told them to do something. And although yes, I do give them some guidance – I really ask that they think of the specifics around the goals. The journey throughout the year is really amazing. They consistently view their board, talk about it with me or between themselves and find ways to make their dreams a reality.

I’m so glad I introduced them to vision boards early. I only learned about them as an adult so I’m still learning and right now, I’m pivoting as well. So two things of note:

I’m currently perusing the book #FutureBoards for more inspiration and knowledge
I’m taking on a different approach where instead of doing a vision board for the entire year, I create a vision board for a month or a quarter
Creating a vision board doesn’t need to only happen at the start of the year

Some tips I’ve started to use when creating my vision boards are:

Come up with a goal statement and write it as if you’ve already achieved it! (very empowering) Remember you can also have several goals in different buckets (Personal, Professional, Fitness, Family etc)
Next write out a detailed story of each goal – be as specific as you can. You really want to help your brain see in your minds eye and your heart feel emotions attached to achieving the goal. If you have a why statement you may find yourself leaning on or tweaking that as part of this exercise.
Break down that vision into milestones, 4 works really well because that can fit nicely into quarters of the year or weeks of a month.
Now with each milestone, figure out activities that will help you get there. As an example if you want to change careers you might have a milestone to apply to your dream job. Activities for that milestone could be to research companies that align to your values, update your resume and then apply to jobs. Milestones can have many activities, so try to keep it to three activities so as to not overwhelm yourself.

Now here is the best part! You can create a vision board based on the goal statement, goal story OR on the milestone activity! Like I mentioned above, I’ve always created the vision board based on the goal story (macro level based on what you want to accomplish in the year), but this time I’m creating it on the milestone activity (micro level based on what I want to achieve in each quarter of the year).

I don’t think there is any right or wrong way – I do think you have to try it out and see what works for you.

If you are planning on creating a vision board or set intentions/goals for the new year – enjoy! I wanted to share two motivational wall papers (for your phone and desktop wallpaper).

Click here for a f ree download!

Artist != Athlete

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I’m a little rusty in coding/developing. It’s been 4 years since I last SQL’ed.

With all that said, I am building my skills. I am completing courses. I am learning and I am getting better with every action I take.

Just like I do every time I pick up my camera or lace up my asics.

x = ‘artist’
y = ‘athletes’
print (x + ” are not like ” + y + “. ” + x + ” cannot win gold. “)

txt = x + ” cannot ‘beat’ other creatives. “
print(txt)

txt2 = “an ” + x + “‘s craft is subjective.”
print(txt2)

txt3 = x + “s create to connect to the people who need their energy. “
print(txt3)

txt4 = “Create in your way.”
txt5 = “, show up, and focus on your unique brand of magic.”

print(txt4)
print(“we are all ” + x + txt5)

Artists are not like athletes. Artists cannot win gold. Artists cannot ‘beat’ other creatives. An artist’s craft is subjective. Artists create to connect to the people who need your energy. Create in your way. We are all artists, show up, and focus on your unique brand of magic.

39 for 39

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I have seen recently on Instagram that runners will run a certain distance on their birthdays. For example, when someone turned 36, then run 36km on their birthday. Whoa! Pretty inspiring right!

I figured I wanted to do something similar. Although I’m not going to start running over 20km, I found a birthday running goal that was meaningful to me.

So for my 39th birthday my goal is to run 39 laps around a high school race track.

Now let me explain: A race track is 400m, running 39 laps of that will mean I’ll run 15.6km for my birthday (400mx39) 🎉

right now I’m running about 10km on my weekly run, so I have 4.5 months to add 5km – and I really think I can do it.

I also feel this will mean I’ll need to improve recovery and cross training. Be more disciplined with foam rolling, stretching, cold showers/baths, fartlek (speed training) and weights.

This feels right and makes me feel joyful!

Go me! 🏆

Season of rest

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

We’ve been in this for over a year now. Take this as your sign.

It is okay to have a season of rest.

It’s okay to be feelings orientated if you need a break from being results orientated (or vice versa).

In the old time, the future seemed multifaceted. We had careers, families, personal aspirations, places to go, friends to see, bucket lists – the hum of human dreams we took for granted.

But we were sleepwalking, just one step away from trading all those possible futures for the shared fate of the Freeze.

// Monologue by Melanie Cavill of Snowpiercer

Winter Dusting

Posted on December 20, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

Yesterday, there was a little bit of snow falling in the afternoon so I decided to grab my 50mm and capture some magic.

I was looking through the old posts on the blog and I realized I have three main themes: Style, Inspiration and Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes.

OOTD posts are the easiest way to do self portraits, but also it’s fun to feel confident and put together…so those will continue.

The inspiration theme is the piece that I feel I could go more in depth into because I love the topic…so it definitely gave me some ideas for the coming year.

I also have a new chocolate cookie recipe to share soon (another healthy option of course). And since the pandemic, I’ve been frothing a lot of almond milk so maybe a cookie latte is in my future <3

It was rejuvenating to have my camera in my hand, holding my own and not being nervous to do my thing. I have to be more like that, with my photography and with my life.