21 reminders from 2021

Posted on December 27, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

The last few weeks have been have been strange for me in terms of direction and focus. Something must be said for following your inner knowing…because I find myself returning to thoughts I’ve always had about my purpose and my work, which to me means – that I’m still on a journey (and I just got side tracked – again lol).

Readjusting my aperture is what I call it (photographer here, and that play on words was absolutely necessary). I know that I’ll be constantly reminded of what I am meant to do so long as I’m not doing it. Kind of like you’ll keep receiving the same lessons until you finally get the message #ThankYouUniverse!

aperture, photo blur, self portrait, self care, growth mindset, mindset coach, self growth, productivity, goal setting, mentor, virtual mentor, planner, goal setting, intention, photography, fine art photography — *adjusting my aperture*

I think it’s okay to lose your way or to get distracted because I’m a firm believer that you’ll always hear a voice and be nudged back on to your path. So I think it’s important to lean into that voice and let that nudge guide you.

This post will also serve as is a reminder to myself that I’m still in progress. (And hey if you need it – take this as your sign too).

So in the spirit of having the right mindset and getting myself to realign to my goals and reprioritize what’s going on in my life, I’m sharing 21 reminders from 2021.

Important to note: this list is evergreen – these reminders apply to ALL areas of your life. Purpose, Career, Healthy Lifestyle, Productivity, Good Habits, Social Life, Personal Projects, Building a Business…seriously I could go on!

What we need to take away is that it’s always about the journey, that we can always re-adjust our focus and that it’s totally OK to start again.

Everything we experience, will come in peaks and valleys
When you think you’ve been buried, you’ve actually been planted so get ready to bloom
Success is rarely achieved over night
The fact that you are trying, is in and of itself hard
When you need to plan something or find that you aren’t balanced – try the 3 bucket principle
You’ll never be the same woman again, so celebrate with her everyday
Breath and be grateful (every hour if necessary, which sometimes it is necessary)
Make art, it soothes the soul
Don’t put your energy into only one thing because if that one thing goes sideways you’ll feel lost
Never expect your first draft to be the best version
Balance is key
If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.
Good things take time (instant gratification is something we need to break free of)
Enjoy your success, Learn from Failure – and remember anything can happen
Never let the internet fool you (everyone has a chapter they won’t read out lout, and some have a chapter they will never even write)
When in doubt, go for a walk in nature
Always appreciate the therapeutic power of putting pen to paper and letting everything out
Find ways to learn, especially when things seem out of your control
Pomodoro timer as a productivity hack for the win
When you fail to plan you plan to fail: Goals for the year, milestones for the quarters, activities for the months, tasks for the day
Need to focus, make a cup of coffee first

That girl mentality & systems

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

Focus on you, and you grow. Focus on sh!t, and sh!t grows – read that again // anonymous

I’ve always known that good routines, habits and the ability to re-focus are important to me.

And I also know I’m a visual person so consistently practicing and seeing my goals in front me does wonders (it’s all about tricking the mind to believe what the heart and soul want are real).

aka #manifest

With all that said, recently stumbled upon the hashtag #thatgirl

If you haven’t heard or seen it, this hashtag has been trending on instagram, youtube & tiktok by that girl as a way to manifest wellness.

The best way to describe it is as a highlight real (like everything else online lol) – but these highlight reels combine artfully crafted wellness video snippets focused on habits that show the person eating healthy, partaking in fitness activities and making progress towards their goals (ie: school, work etc).

There is a lot of talk about how #thatgirl perpetuates a toxic unattainable lifestyle. But I don’t if I see it entirely like that..

Being a visual person and someone who can peel themselves away from the internet – I actually find this trend both aesthetically pleasing and inspiring. I also know that sometimes the day can get away from you and life is full of peaks and valleys.

So how do you focus on your own development while navigating everyday life? Hint the #ThatGirl trend hits it right on the head!

˙ʎɐpʎɹǝʌǝ slɐoɓ ɹnoʎ spɹɐʍoʇ ssǝɹɓoɹd oʇ sɯǝʇsʎs uı ʇnd noʎ ǝɹns ǝʞɐɯ no⅄˙˙˙

Re-aligning to your goals at certain times during the year (months or quarters) helps to keep you connected to your yearly goals. OR (like in my situation) help your get back on track. Systems are activities that focus on the journey as opposed to the end destination.

Systems ensure you find joy in the little things.

Systems ensure that those daily habits become the little steps that will turn into a giant leap.

Systems keep us inspired.

Systems help us stay disciplined, especially on the days, we don’t want to do anything.

Systems can inspire us mentally/spiritually/physically.

Systems help us romanticize our life.

How your goals doing?

Posted on September 8, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

*said with Joey Tribbiani voice*

I’m here to interrupt your double vaxxed/tired mom summer with the news that – there are 115 days left until 2022.

Yep, One Hundred Fifteen Days.

I was definitely feeling like I was hitting a wall in terms of my goals. That’s not to say I haven’t had a winning few months I just feel like I was losing focus and slowing down. And I don’t want to do that.

So I started vision boarding for the last quarter of the year, and I mean WHY NOT?

These are my goals and I need to find my motivation. Sometimes adding pen to paper (or picture to board) can help revitalize and re-engerize me. But I also have to remind myself that creating a vision board is just the first step. I then have to come up with actionable steps by month/week to get those goals accomplished. I’m going with the OKRs (being specific and having multiple key results can really drive it home for me).

My point to this whole post is that you DON’T need to wait till MONDAY or the START of the MONTH or the the NEW YEAR. (Although if that is your thing, September is a great month to get back to it!)

Another thing we (well me and you, the collective we) need to get better at is sharing our goals. I’m a little torn on sharing progress (sometimes it makes more sense to keep your head down/disappear while you get sh!t done). But something has to be said about putting your big dreams out into the universe (sounds woo woo because it is, IYKYK)!

So here it is, my Q4 vision board ++ some tips about getting back on track with your goals!

Vision Board, Goal Setting, Idea to Execution,

Goal Setting: It’s important to know what you want to accomplish
Plan your year, months, weeks and days. Goals without a plan is a wish!
Get enough: sleep, exercise, meditate, drink more water, eat what your body needs journal and find time to relax
Be grateful: Always looking at future goals can cause fear, anxiety and stress. Practicing gratitude can balance that
Be disciplined: resist the urge to snack, check social media or skip a workout. Focus on your activity at hand – that’s how progress is made
Get to the other side of consistency: whether you see great results or no results – everything is in the hard work
Invest in yourself: Read books, seek mentors and growth opportunities. You don’t have to figure it out on your own. Find someone who has what you are trying to achieve and learn from them

Keep coming back to these principals when you feel stuck or even every day to make sure you stay on track.

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

2021 Reading List

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

Hi Friends – I’ve started my 2020 reflection (on paper) which has been both therapeutic and energizing!

It has provided me the self awareness I need but also strong gravitational pull into areas of my life I want to invigorate and energize.

As I write down my goals, I am also thinking about the reading I want to do.

…So here it is, my reading list for 2021!

It’s got a little bit of self help, a little bit of sci-fi, productivity, some random fiction and a biography.

What are you reading next year?

My Ideal Day

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I truly feel alignment is the spice of life. Aligning to my goals, hobbies, dreams, passions, career and community – as much as I can EVERYDAY. Of course there are days where what I want do is “align” to comfort (aka binge watch a series on Netflix!!) But by choosing alignment, I make a conscious decisions when it comes to to re-aligning or readjusting my day to handle priorities or new needs.

I recently did the daily habit score cards as outlined in Atomic Habits. What you need to do is write down every thing you do most days. Things like brush your teeth, drop your kids at school, read on the train, scroll IG while making a coffee, take a walk over lunch, meditate before bed are some of the habits that I would need to record. Even the habits you don’t think are important like snooze the alarm or set the alarm for the next day are recorded in this list of habits. Then I used a +, – or = to denote positive/beneficial habits, negative habits and neutral habits.

What this exercise did was help me visually see and recognize habits that weren’t helping me get to where I see myself in the future or on path to attain certain goals. It’s a helpful way to honestly look at and become more aware of your behaviour.

What it got me thinking about was, what my ideal day would consist of (ie: turn my habits into goals). It made me aware of what activities make me feel energized, bring me joy and what things I want to do to improve my everyday. What I saw was those activities were grouped into the following categories:

Growth (Professional, Personal and Spiritual)
Exercise/Eating healthy foods
Quality Family Time
Being prepared
Doing Work that I enjoy and is a priority for me
Having fun
Getting Enough Rest

So here is a snapshot of what I see as my ideal day:

Wake up (without an alarm!), meditate and journal (optimal journalling practice for me would be either a brain dump/artists way writing, combined with gratitude, goal setting and a to do list). Drink a bottle of water and then get dressed in my workout clothes and spend 15 minutes reading before the rest of the house wakes up. If it’s a Wednesday or a Weekend, I’d probably wear a facemark. When the kids wake up, I’d help them get ready for the day and we all head downstairs. The kids would have breakfast and after dropping them off at school I’d do my outdoor workout (tempo run through a forest, HIIT or heavy weight training). Getting back home, I’d drink water and have a healthy breakfast that I prepped the night before. I’d make tea and refill my water bottle and get to work where I contribute to and add value to peoples life with both a tech and human centric approach. I would schedule meetings for the afternoons because my most productive time is between 9am-2:30pm, I’d want to use that time to work, write, photograph, create, ideate, research, work on projects, strategize or consult. I would break for lunch (to eat something I prepped the night before with lots of veggies/fibre, fish or eggs and a complex carb with more water) and definitely take a leisurely stroll to energize and also digest the meal. I’d spend the remainder of my afternoon drinking more water and either in meetings, training or creating. Before picking up the kids, I would love to have a tea break or coffee chat with a colleague or business partner. After, picking the kids up from school, we’d have an afternoon snack and do homework or get to after school extra curricular activities. Dinner would be prepped or at least planned and we’d eat as a family. Before bed we’d hang out (go for a walk, bike ride or play a game or watch the WNBA game). After the kids are in bed, I’d prep for the next day before taking some me time to either study, stretch/foam roll, shower, netflix or blog. I’d end the date with a peppermint tea with a few pieces of dark chocolate or home-made cookies. Definitely would want to be in bed by 10:30 after brushing/flossing my teeth and taking time to spiritually self reflect.

Wow just writing that out was so relaxing. And of course things may come up where I’d have to adjust my attention to handle a priority but the hope is keeping my day as closely aligned to my main goal categories. Every small step would create a ripple effect towards my goals.