Define Yourself (and Take Control of Your Career) Before Someone Defines You

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

Welcome back, and happy Wednesday morning to you. Today’s podcast episode is motivated, or in a way inspired by a conversation I had with a friend of mine last night. So this friend of mine is going through some carrier issues and career challenges. He was trying to pick my brain. And there are certain things I told him that I want to share with you today here on the podcast. So today’s podcast episode is for you, if you are a career-minded individual, you’re looking to make changes to your job, you want to grow up the ladder, and all that. But this is for you. Also, if you want to create a better equation for yourself. Regardless of the problem you have today, you may have a problem in your career today, you may not have a problem doesn’t matter, but you want to really, you know, kind of work on the foundational elements of building a good career, then this podcast, there is a message here, I think you’ll love this. So this is one of my last nights, longtime friend listens to this podcast. Shireen if you were in my shoes, what would you do? His story is that he is looking for a job. The hiring managers don’t take him seriously. And somehow his resume is not making it through. He doesn’t have a lot of connections. And he’s worried that he’s at a point in his life. If he doesn’t do something now, then he may miss out on the biggest promise that he had for himself at the beginning of his life, which is to get to a certain level. So here’s what I did. I asked him how many relationships he has today in the marketplace, in the job circuit, specifically with recruiters. And his answer was none. He focused on hiring managers and companies and brands and forgot that he has to develop people who are plugged into these bigger entities. And he never could understand why it is important to build relationships with recruiters. 25 years ago, 30 years ago, when I was actively 25 years ago, actively in the job market, I built up some friendships with recruiters.

Interestingly, some of those friendships have survived the test of time, even today after these many years, when I ping them when I text them, they respond to me, we became friends over these years, I don’t have any job requirements, I’m not looking for a job, I don’t have a resume. But that relationship is intact. It’s interesting because some of these recruiter friends of mine have even called up companies when hiring managers or are having issues. And they are somehow conflicted in their thought process on who should really be the right fit for the job they have. Or they have difficulty defining the job. And they’re working with these recruiters. These recruiter friends of mine are telling these hiring managers you got Dr. Srini on this. I was explaining the concept of this relationship dynamic with recruiters to my friend. And I ended up saying this, I said, if you want to buy a house, you can go to the court step. And can buy a house and auction. If you want to buy a house on which the taxes the property taxes have not been paid, you can go to the county office and look up all the properties that have a tax lien. And you can call and get hold of, or even the county does sometimes some auctions so the tax liens, you can buy those. And that’s how you can buy a property. If you really want to buy a house in pre-foreclosure, then look up all the people who have defaulted in the last 90 days from the properties and call them up and get the properties or, you know, whatever, whatever they have, whatever the asset that they have defaulted on, you can get that asset for very cheap. Now, that’s rare. It’s hard work. It’s rare, but you really want a house tomorrow morning.

Go into the ecosystem, the ecosystem will have a house, a legitimate seller trying to sell that house to make a profit. You have a legitimate broker in the middle, trying to find a buyer for the property and everybody’s working for the outcome and you plug yourself into The outcome, when you’re not working with recruiters, you are not working towards the outcome. You don’t value those people, but they are plugged into the ecosystem, called respect them. For the work with them. The main discussion from last evening was that I was making the point to my friend that he has waited too long. And he’s having difficulty in defining himself, not necessarily because the market has issues with him. It’s not that the managers of the positions have issues with him. But he has issues with how he sees himself because he doesn’t see himself or he doesn’t value himself, or at least the collateral, the resume and everything he has the languaging the words that he says, the way he comes across all that doesn’t add up to who he is, because he doesn’t believe anymore what he is, and what he has come to what level he has come up to, because he doesn’t believe that’s why he has a hard time selling himself to whoever wants to buy him, for lack of better words, to put it. And after like, good 30 minutes, conversation, 45 minutes. And, you know, I told him that, you know, if you don’t think that you are relevant, everybody around you will find you to be relevant, we have to get into the scheme of things, the scheme of things is not going to work towards getting us them. So you got to work on yourself.

You need to maximize your capabilities, and your strengths, you will need to have the voice, the representation, the values, and the beliefs of that professional, who you really want to be. That means you just can’t be superficial about it, that you start to believe that you matter that you start to believe that yes, you bring something of value to the marketplace. And that you’re yourself and you see yourself in a mirror. You can’t sometimes people cannot recognize themselves, they can’t see themselves because they have been so out of sync with what’s happening around them, that they know the same job for 1014 years doing the same thing. They don’t see themselves as professionals, even though they are working very hard. They have had the same office, same cubicle, same balls, and similar structure for such a long time that they can’t find newness in them. So when you wake up in the morning, you can’t find newness in you. Why do you expect whoever it is to find newness in you? And then I wrapped up by telling him that you need to be assertive of his worth. Otherwise, you will be defined as somebody else, and you don’t want the definition for yourself. So the reinvention of you will involve you start taking yourself seriously, that’s step number one. Step number two, you bring in all that you know, and also have an acknowledgment or understanding that you do not know a lot of things, what’s the gap? What can you do to bridge the gap? And then you start planning, where will you be? Where do you see yourself, you know, three, five years from today, if yourself 10 years to retire? That’s what he was giving himself and 10 years? Where do you want to see yourself? And what do you have to do today to get to that level in the next six months, nine months a year, whatever the timeline is, what is the one year goal what is what is the two-year goal? What is the three-year goal, all these things have to be identified. So you have to really work before everything that you say and do automatically reflects you in the conversations.

The reason I’m sharing this with you is that people set goals, this is a time of the year and I was talking about it yesterday is very important that as you are stepping, into and you’re getting closer to the goals that you want to accomplish, and the time is condensing on you. You’re in your 40s or 50s. The timeline is very tricky timeline to work with. You got to be very, very serious. You got to really the energy levels that you probably had in your 20s and 30s. They do not exist today. And a lot has to happen also physically, mentally, and emotionally for you to get there. And then you are working with a very, very difficult timeline. And also a marketplace that is more open to all different kinds of possibilities. So I want you to take this seriously. And I want you to start to think What can you do to make yourself relevant? What has to happen? And how can you? How can you work on yourself? And how can you become more assertive? So that you can get to what you are expecting and what you’re desiring so that you don’t get what others are expecting of you. You get what you’re expecting of yourself what’s very important.

Okay, I want to stop here. If I have to summarize what I said, on today’s podcast, you know, it’s not good to be having this feeling where you feel like you’re irrelevant, that you’re losing your relevancy. So, three big takeaways. Work on yourself. Tell yourself that you exist and tell yourself that you are relevant and become a bit more receptive to your worth. That’s all for now. Wherever you are, be safe, and I’ll be with you. As early as tomorrow morning, keep listening.

The Importance of Receiving (and Acting Upon) Feedback

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

Good morning, everyone, welcome or welcome back to Success with Srini. Today is the first of November 2022. This is the start of a new month. It’s a remarkable day for me personally, because I woke up this morning, thinking how far we have come with this podcast, you mean, all of us have come with this podcast. So at the beginning of this year, I set a goal for myself, I said, I’m going to do this podcast on a daily basis. And by the time I reached the end of the year, if at all I’d reach then December 31, is going to be the last day of this podcast. That was in my mind, I’m like, it’s so hard to get there. Once I get there, I’m going to That’s it. I’m done that that was going on in my mind, as I started the first of January, this year, and it kept on going. At every moment, at every step of the way. There was a subliminal thought that I should stop this podcast. I was looking at the numbers I was seeing who is listening, how many downloads, I mean, all that your questions that are not coming in, that was asking people to ask questions, I was not getting the right pulse of where this was going for a long time. And along the way, you have kept this podcast alive. Along the way, you challenged me to think differently, you challenged me to get, you know, pull myself out of the shell or, you know, drop my funk state and get into a performance state. So the credit goes to you. Thank you for your trust, a lot of things have to happen. I’m not there yet with this. The way it’s going right now, I don’t think I’m going to stop it on December 31.

For sure, I will not stop it on the first of January either without wishing you. But there are so many good things happening with the podcast, there is a tremendous amount of momentum. And I’m looking forward to carrying forward that momentum beyond my internal deadline date of December 31. So thank you for your questions. Thank you for your feedback. And now, here’s my message for you today. My message to you is that he could give given that today is the first of November, this is the start, and I want you to set a 60-day goal for yourself and work towards achieving that goal. Given whatever it takes, you need to work some sleepless nights to do it. You have to expense yourself at a level that you did not expense in the past do it. You need to cut off a few other things from your life to achieve this goal, do it but do it. I said the same thing last month, I said I’m going to set a goal for myself 90-day goal and I want to go after it. I did, but I do not have a lot of traction on it yet because there are so many unknowns that I’m dealing with right now. But I’m working on a daily basis towards that goal. So set a 60-day goal for yourself. And as you come to the end of this month, as the first of December comes in, set a 30-day goal for yourself. And by the time the first of January comes, you now have a date-related goal-setting mindset. So every time the first of something comes or the 15th of something comes you set a goal and you achieve the goal. I know it’s hard to think like that. This is the time when people tell some of my coaching clients, they’re telling me, this is the end of the year, we’re getting into this whole decision, I need to slow down and I’m gonna take it easy and all I’ll tell you if you raise yourself to 10,000 20,000 feet into the air and you look down the affairs of the world, the earth, they are the same doesn’t matter what the season is. And you go beyond a certain height into the sky. There are no seasons anyway.

So if a goal is important for you, and you want to get there, wherever you want to get to people have weight loss goals, people and all these things coming up, you know these things, you know, come January 1, you will be there. It’s going to happen. So why not preempt it and make it happen a little earlier a couple of weeks ago, I was doing a radio show. And this was on October 14. And for the first time, I was on a Friday show. And as I was wrapping up my show, I had a caller calling Whose call I could not take on air. And because exactly it was seven pm Pacific, my show ended. And this call came in it wasn’t the board. So after the show ended, I took the call. And I was a couple from Fremont was on the other side and he was praising you know, this podcast. He says he listens to this podcast and all the good things. And he said Srini I listen to it, but you say so many things on the podcast that I don’t get all that. Is it possible for you to summarize everything that you have said in a podcast towards the end so that I don’t need to go back and rewind and listen to it again and again and again? So we were talking. And first of all, I told the couple, I was thankful to Kapil for calling into my show, listening to my show, and listening to this podcast and all that. He himself said something he said, I understand, you start something without any notes or any, you know, with a set agenda. And then along the way things come. And it’s very difficult for you to go back and summarize what you said, which is screw by the way. And then as we wrapped up the call, I asked people to call into the podcast line and ask that question, so that I can use his voice, his message, and his question as a voice drop on this podcast. And I’m going to come and add a few more comments to his question. So he did it immediately. So let’s go to his question. And when I come back, I’m going to answer his question.

He made the couple from Fremont. I’m an avid listener of your podcast. They are usually very thought-provoking and insightful. I had a suggestion to improvise them, which could benefit the listener, get the end of the podcast if you could introduce a key takeaway session. To summarize the key bullet point of the podcast, I believe it will. If not all, it will help a few listeners to recap and get the takeaway items from the podcast. It’s been wonderful listening to you. Thanks for doing a great job. And thank you so much. Gopal, thank you for the question. I sincerely appreciate this. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on this podcast. And people told me sometimes in person, sometimes via email, I don’t like your intro, or I don’t like your outros. I don’t, why don’t you have guests on the podcast? On September 7, you said this. But then prior to that, on March 21st, you said this, and what you said on March 21, is not true anymore. On September 7, you contradicted yourself. So I don’t know which one to follow. I’ve gotten that feedback. I have gotten feedback from people saying that I listened to you only when my kid is in the car. But I don’t listen to you outside. So ever since the school was off, I did not listen because of also not driving my kid around. I’ve gotten all kinds of feedback. It’s weird how and all good, nothing. All feedback is good feedback. I’ve also gotten feedback saying people don’t like your voice. That’s why don’t listen, somebody told me that I like her ideas, but I don’t like your voice. And some people told me that they did like my voice, but they don’t like my ideas. I’ve gotten all kinds of feedback. This is interesting feedback, that you gave, and I’m thankful to you, because my son, my wife, all of them said this to me, you start, you say, but then if somebody doesn’t follow from the beginning to the end, then they’re lost. And, as you said, during that phone call, and now that I also said that at the beginning of this podcast, which is that It’s difficult for me to go back and, and summarize the points very hard because I some of the podcasts I can some I cannot. And that’s the challenge.
For example, on yesterday’s podcast, I talked about how to create a mighty life. And I said, add some movement to your life at some moment to money to live a meaningful life. You know, add some meditation to your life and add some mantra to your life. Because that was clear.

So I could summarize that at the end. But some of the podcasts they are I don’t know how to summarize some. So not that this. This suggestion has not come in before. But this has not come in from a listener. So thanks For doing this for me, but I will make a concentrated effort to summarize everything that I say on a podcast, you’ll start seeing that modification pretty soon on this podcast going forward. As I said, December 31, is the last day. So I don’t need to summarize this on December 31. But here is the secret to speaking. And I’ll tell you when you are giving instructions to people when you are telling people when you are expecting others to do something, this is the formula, the formula is that first, you have to tell people what you are going to tell, then tell. And then you tell them what you told. So first, tell them what you will tell, then tell. And then tell them what you told. This is the formula. This is the mindset, this is how you approach. So your suggestion of adding a small little summary towards the end comes down to me saying what I told in the podcast, which makes sense, actually, your suggestion falls in the approach, and the majority of the top speakers, and trainers, usually use this formula to communicate with people.

So that’s all I had for today’s podcast. And before I wrap this up, I have to summarize today’s podcast, I’ll start here, and make an attempt here. There are a couple of takeaways, the first and the foremost, and the biggest takeaway is that there are 60 days left in this year, that’s it, this year is gone, and will be gone. These days are not going to come back. So if you had a goal or a set of goals at the beginning of this year, and you haven’t yet gotten to them, please schedule some time and go after them. And try to accomplish them as soon as possible. So that the first of January 2023 is going to be an incredible start for you. Don’t wait till the first of January to start something. That’s the biggest takeaway. There’s also one other big takeaway from today’s podcast, which is when somebody takes time, and talks to you. You know what they have in your best interest. They really care for you. They really have given a part of their thought to you. It’s interesting why people, you know, every word somebody else says to you, in a positive way, in a good way with good intent in their heart is worth gold. It’s amazing how powerful it’s I don’t have any words to describe this. Somebody is telling you that you need to include something, change something that means and they’re coming from a good place. Listen to them. Listen to them. And if possible, accommodate their ask, because when you improve, you end up improving a lot of people. It’s very simple. That’s the biggest takeaway for me.

Okay, that’s all for now. Be safe wherever you are. And before you know it, I’ll be with you as early as tomorrow. Keep Listening.

5 Powerful Keys To A Mighty & Magical Life

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

Welcome, or welcome back to Succes with Srini. Happy Monday morning to you. Today is a very, very special day. For two reasons. Today is October 31st of the year 2022. Today is the Halloween. So Happy Halloween to you doesn’t matter where you are, whether you’re celebrating, or not celebrating, it’s a very special day for all of us. But then specifically to me, it’s a very special day. Because Exactly a year from today, October 31, the year 2021, I decided to turn this podcast into a daily podcast. The mistake I made on October 31 of 2021, I decided that I’m going to do it, turn this podcast into a daily podcast. And up to that time, I was kind of off and on, like doing a podcast here in the earlier part of last year. I did do it daily. But then I kind of stopped six weeks into the podcast, I said, I’m going to do it, I’m going to turn this podcast into a daily podcast. The mistake I made, which many people make, by the way, is I waited till the first of January to start this podcast and make it a daily podcast. And I did not do anything for two months. It’s a colossal mistake, a huge mistake not because the podcast would have done better. It’s just the weight, it kind of gives you a window into my mindset.

Most people do this, you know they think about something kind of think about it after some time. And a long time goes by and they think a little bit more about it. They know they have to do it. But they want to wait for something to kind of motivate them and inspire them. And I wasn’t waiting till the first of January to motivate to start the podcast. And the minute first of January came, I had to do it. I’ll tell you about deciding to start the podcast and doing the podcast daily. And waiting for it to start was more painful than today.

Today, I’m doing it every day, and it’s less painful, as compared to that waiting period. I think I overthought this, and I spent a lot of time doing nothing. So here’s my message to you. My message to you is at any point in time, you should be thinking about making your life mighty, making your life magical. If you have thought if an idea, you are onto something, you know you have it within you just do it, because nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Seriously, nothing is you know, I’ll tell you, the more I age, the more I see, the more I tend to respect. Wow, okay. You know, I may not have tomorrow, I need to do something today. It’s funny how the window to do something is shrinking by the day. So if you have something within you, you know you wanted to do and you know you have it, you know you have done it in the past or something and you think of doing it. You want to do it. But then you’re waiting for something to happen before you do what you think is important. And you know it has to happen. Why wait? Just do it. I’ll tell you nothing is perfect anyway, and I did a podcast a few days ago talking about perfection. There’s no perfection. 3000 Other things you have to do before or 30,000 things had to fall in place before you do just one thing that you have been waiting for. It doesn’t work that way. Anyway. So I want to share with you what five different things that five different philosophies as the right word philosophies that will make your life mighty. Makes your life magical. Okay, so let’s get into this. By simply adding a little bit more movement to life. Your life could become magical. Just go out and walk just go out on the swim, just move around, walk around, run around, whatever. Just adding some movement. Just move your life will be different and will change. Trust me, I’ve seen that happen.

Add some money to live. I see people not taking money seriously. And you know, at least for the next 60 days set in as you’re setting your goals or maybe you’re thinking about 2023 Think about adding a revenue stream and income stream to everything that you have got going on. See how you can scale, your activities and how you can bring in, you know, something so that you know, money is important, it is an integral ingredient for anything that you want to do. And to think small is a crime. Literally, it’s a crime, don’t do that crime. I also said this multiple times, I’m gonna say that again, one more time here today, which is adding some meaning to life, just by shifting just a little bit. Attaching a different meaning or altering the meaning of your life is will become magical, it’s going to become mighty. Just not that you have to go to something extraordinary to make your life big. Just ship the meaning of whatever you’re trying to do. Do some meditation that will make your life mighty, we talked about it yesterday, and on the podcast, there was a question that I was answering. And the last one, add some mantra to your life. You know, who you are, and why you do what you do. What brings you joy, what creates peace in you, is just in a way an affirmation, but almost like a mantra. You know, my mantra of life is what is your mantra? And in order for you to arrive at the mantra, you need to have some news. The news means you spending time, a lot of time dwelling on who you are, and then a bit of self-exploration, going inward, trying to discover yourself and bring that real self out. That’s what it’s called Muse kind of spending time. And if I have to spend time, I want to spend time with the unknown. These days, I spend a lot of time with many unknowns. So what is your mantra? What’s your muse? See, these are the five M’s of life. And each one of them individually can create your life. Magical.

You see, when you add movement to life, that means that’s physical. When you add money to live, don’t look at money, money. Money means wealth. Money means completeness. When you add money to live, that’s financial. When you are adding meaning to life, that’s emotional. When you’re adding meditation to life that’s mental. When you are adding mantra muse to life, that spiritual. And there’s no other way to become magical without addressing physical, financial, emotional, mental, and spiritual states of your mind of your being of your existence. Want to stop yet? Hopefully, this is helpful. Hopefully, you’re finding value. If you are, let me know. That should be a place for you to write a comment, write a review, and go enjoy your Halloween.

Go spend time with your family and I will be with you here as a rehash tomorrow. We’ll talk about something new, something different. I hope today’s philosophical angle is helpful. Give it a try. Think through this. And let me know. Thank you