I have started reading this amazing book. A few pages in and it felt like Marc Reklau is talking about everything that I have ever believed in and preached to others. There is an epiphany - did I write this book as every word feels like a choice I would have made? In a few pages, I land on an exercise where he asks readers to answer a set of 25 questions with complete honesty. Below are my answers but I would encourage all of you to try answering them too. It helps you in understanding yourself better. Enjoy!
1. What are your dreams in life?
To be successful in my ventures - to reach the top as a banker, to be a successful author, to be able to raise a lot of money for my charity, and to see my children reach their full potential.
2. At the end of your life, what do you think you would regret not having done for yourself?
To not have given my best to these things in order to achieve the best outcome. To feel that I could have tried harder.
3. If time and money were not factors, what would you like to do, be or have?
I had more quiet time, I would have liked to finish writing my books sooner. I would also love to teach degree Maths if time was not a factor. I never consider money as an impediment – my name means treasure in Hindi, so I believe that money will never be a factor for me.
4. What motivates you in life?
To know that my life is bigger than just mine. To help others achieve their goals and dreams because of my efforts.
5. What limits you in life?
Not being a natural networker who can be comfortable schmoozing people and asking for what I want. To not shy away from keeping in touch with them and being comfortable with small talk.
6. What have been your biggest wins in the last 12 months?
To have been able to help my children be at their best. To have been able to buy our dream house. To have been able to discuss my feeling of not being sufficiently valued for my contributions.
7. What have been your biggest frustrations in the last 12 months?
The slow pace of how things move forward sometimes.
8. What do you do to please others?
Smiling, being gentle and warm. At the end of the day, we all want to feel loved. So, when we express our appreciation for others, they feel pleased.
9. What do you do to please yourself?
When I really go after what I want, I am the happiest. I don’t enjoy being in a state of feeling helpless.
10. What do you pretend not to know?
About the miseries that relatively settled people face in their lives. No one's life is a bed of roses, but I don’t want to learn about them for those who could have changed their course. My sympathy lies with people who are instead born in underprivileged circumstances and could not have changed their course unless helped.
11. What has been the best work that you have done in your life until today?
Being involved with the street children charity in India and then setting up the UK charity to continue supporting them. Deciding to have a second child.
12. How exactly do you know that this was your best work?
Doing charity work gave meaning to my life. It made my life bigger than just myself. This has always helped me get up and keep going when I am feeling low. Having a second child helped me understand what motherhood is all about. It brought the joy of another dimension to our small family.
13. How do you see the work you do today in comparison to what you did five years ago? What's the relationship between the work you do now and the work you did then?
I constantly strive to improve – am I a better version of what I was before? Five years is a long time in that journey. Although the nature of the work has remained the same, I have enhanced the scale in the five years. The journey of COVID-19 led to introspection and better mental agility and strength which will lead to further success in the future.
14. What part of your work do you enjoy the most?
Being able to coach someone and help them be a better version of themselves.
15. What part of your work do you enjoy the least?
Finding out that someone had the potential to change for the better but chose not to do anything about it.
16. What activity or thing do you usually postpone?
Administrative tasks - I find them exceptionally boring and postpone them for as long as I can.
17. What are you really proud of?
Of my positive mindset. I see how difficult it is for others to follow it and I feel fortunate to have parents who embody it daily.
18. How would you describe yourself?
Someone who evaluates life closely and takes it seriously. We won't get another life, so I want to live it to the fullest.
19. What aspects of your behaviour do you think you should improve?
To have patience with people who don't share a positive mindset. Negativity puts me off and I have to learn to deal with such situations if I can't avoid being in them.
20. At this moment in time, how would you describe your commitment level to making your life a success?
100% as always. I am the creator of my own destiny so anything less than 100% will give me something that I would not like to live with.
21. At the moment in time, how would you describe your general state of well-being, energy, and self-care?
Medically well - although I do find myself short of some physical energy towards the end of the day. Covid has taught me the importance of self-care and helped me establish the routine and approach to continue with it.
22. At the moment in time, how much fun or pleasure are you experiencing in your life?
Depends on how fun is defined by someone. I have always found pleasure in working hard and having a focused mindset. When I am bored because I am not doing much, it is not fun for me. At the moment, I have a lot on my plate.
23. If you could put one fear behind you once and for all, what would it be?
I am a double master in mathematics and being in the corporate world and not using technical maths every day, I fear that I will forget what I had learned.
24. In what area of your life, do you most want to have a true breakthrough?
Being able to create a personal brand. Therefore, everything that helps in achieving it.
25. Evaluate yourself on a scale from 1 - 10 (10 = highest) in the following areas:
Social = 6
Work = 8
Family = 7
Interpersonal = 8
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