Srishti Kumari

Tag: discipline

  • Show Up

    Because You Need To

    Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

    Sometimes, you only need to show up. Yes, that’s it. Just show up. Show up, because you owe that to yourself. No matter when your day starts and when it ends, show up for that one thing, for at least that one hour you need to.

    Many times, we don’t need inspiration or motivation, but momentum – the one thing that makes you sit and do your work, and get it done without thinking much about your relevance in this universe. Yep, it’s true!

    And I have started quietly loving this version of mine (very recent though), and my loved ones, where they have such clarity of their goals that whatever happens throughout the day, including the emotional ups and downs, they show up. They just show up when they are required to without any fuss.

    You want to read more? Read a few pages, or just a single page every day from any book you want to read and explore. Just one page every day. I’m pretty sure you have that much time.

    You want to write more? Do you feel like you have nothing to write when you sit in front of your laptop? Fine. Start with how your day has been so far. Just start it. Scribble the story, and finish your rough draft. Now you have a draft ready to edit and publish later.

    I know, you have 100s of ideas, headlines, storylines, and content pieces saved in your Google Docs, in your Notes, in your LinkedIn and Instagram saves, and in your Medium and Substack reading list. Oh, and the one in your private WhatsApp chat (with yourself)!

    My dear writing friend, I know you have all of these, and you still wait for inspiration. You need action. Just start scribbling that one blog piece, and the story will come to you. Show up for the sake of your sanity. Please!

    Has health gone downhill? Want to be fitter and more confident? Then show up. Move your body. Outdoor walk, indoor walk, walk on treadmill, deep breathing exercises, basic beginner-level cardio & strength training, dance workout – do anything in the world you can do.

    Just do it. Do it at least for half an hour 4 times a week. It won’t give you a celebrity-like figure, but it will break your inertia, your initial resistance, your lifelong wait for motivation, and you will finally feel the process happening through you.

    When a few pages read every day brings you to page no 300 in a 400-page book, or when even 30 minutes of everyday walk builds your discipline and mental strength to keep going on in this journey ahead within a month, then you actively start to focus on the momentum, not motivation.

    Yes, motivation is important. But choosing to do the things that move the needle, that’s a game-changer. And I can say this from my experience that sometimes doing less is more – just make sure that you show up for the things that get you into the flow you need to be in.

    Inspirational content is superb to watch, but small changes made every day, out of clarity and intention, can inspire like a dozen motivational talks can never.

    I hope you got my point.

    Note: This piece was originally written for my LinkedIn post, but it exceeded the character limit, as you can see, so I edited and shortened my LinkedIn post a bit, and this is the original version.

    I hope you found it useful.

  • Getting Ready Helps Me

    And I am definitely happy for this change

    Photo by nikhil uttam on Unsplash

    Since the arrival of spring this new year, I have started doing one thing, and it is helping me a lot internally in showing up every day. And that thing is “getting ready for the day”. Nothing fancy or fashionista type. Just getting ready.

    So, what I have started doing is as soon as I wake up, within 2-3 hours, depending on the exercise duration and assistance in house cleaning and cooking, I get ready.

    I bathe, do my haircare and skincare, put on my clean and colourful clothes according to my mood, wear a few pieces of jewellery, and apply my favourite shade of nude lipstick and a small bindi on my forehead. It goes well with my Indian/ethnic attire, which I am frequently wearing these days.

    After getting properly ready for the day ahead, I usually express my gratitude to the universe for having my back and always helping and loving me unconditionally.

    This morning thing of getting ready intentionally and thanking the universe for all the blessings in my life kind of just shifts the whole body language and energy inside me. My mind gets the message that now I am ready for the day, and I will sit and work in my study for a good few hours. It helps in carrying on on the days when I feel I can’t do much. Even reading a few pages of a book on such days counts as something done. Getting ready helps me in achieving those small things with a relatively better state of mind.

    I have started getting ready for myself. For my work. For my growth. For the future me. I show up for my future self. It helps me in taking small steps every day in the right direction.

    I didn’t know that getting ready intentionally, and thanking generally, when done intentionally, can be really effective. For me, it is working quite well. Especially in terms of energy that I feel inside. It is definitely a lot healthier and more positive as compared to the days when I used to wake up late and start reading or watching podcasts in my pyjamas. The effect on mood is real.

    And I am happy that I started this at the right time. Spring, I think, is the best time for us as well to gain momentum and really change the things we need to change. It works.

    What about you? Have you started doing anything that has changed your approach towards your day and work in particular? I would love to know any such stories. Please share them in the comments below.

    Happy living.

    Take care.

  • Some Days, I Feel A Bit Clueless

    And maybe that’s okay.

    Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

    Some days, like today, I feel a bit clueless. I mean, I have my tasks to do. My to-do task list for the next 10 days is kept in front of me. And I know the importance of this work very well.

    I have to write, prepare, and schedule a few – actually a lot of pieces for my blog, write a few medium articles, prepare a good amount of LinkedIn pieces, and all of this has to be completed on time. All of the writing, editing, proofreading, scheduling, publishing – everything is part of my plan to make my writing, my stories, my articles more visible online to create a valuable and reliable personal brand for myself in the long run.

    And this bigger picture and purpose make it even more important for me to show up. But I feel that “no two days will ever be the same” is actually a reminder for me. You know, I created 9 blog post pieces and 1 LinkedIn post – a total of 10 stories just the day before yesterday. And I can’t tell you how amazing I felt. I gave myself the freedom to just write the stories that come to my mind for the blog you are reading now, and boom! I happily, very happily, wrote nine stories in a single day – within 8 hours. The drafts have been saved, and I am editing and publishing them with each coming day.

    But yesterday, I didn’t feel that energy. And the maximum I managed to do was to edit two drafts and publish them. And, I am fine with it. I still have the next ten days to complete my tasks, and it’s fine.

    But today, oh god! Today, I have opened my laptop at 3:30 pm – sooooooooo late! And that too, after convincing myself enough that there’s no need to make it perfect, just show up! And that is what I am doing right now. Just showing up.

    And if you will get to know that this particular writing is the third one in my effort to show up today, and I have already scribbled and saved two drafts, then maybe you will understand the power of showing up. At least I am convinced by the power of just showing up. Good work, better work, best work, excellent work, extraordinary performance – everything will come, once you make it a point to show up. Show up unprepared. Show up with confusion. Show up with half-baked stories. Show up with a clueless feeling you have with you since morning. Just show up.

    Maybe you were clueless because some days, life decides to make you show up first and let the cluelessness fade away in the light of the day. Maybe. Who knows!

    That’s why I think, some days, it’s ok to feel a bit clueless. I think our cluelessness comes to softly nudge us towards something better. And for me, it was to show up. It was, for me, to open my laptop and write six pieces – six personal stories/ blog pieces/ blog posts without too much thinking, and see, it’s been 1 hour and 20 minutes, and I am already about to finish my third story.

    Yeah, only drafts, not the edited, proofread, polished one. Just drafts. And that works.

    Taking small steps every day to build the life, career, finances, and everything of your dreams sometimes may also feel like this. Just remember, you are only feeling clueless. You are not clueless. Go to your why. Go to your what. And figure out your how for today. You can do it. I believe in you.

    Show up happily. Show up peacefully. Show up cluelessly. That’s okay. Just show up!

    Take care.