Inspire Someone Today
Inspire Someone Today
E168 | Building the Second Act | Change Makers - Archana Dutta
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What if the life you want begins the moment you give yourself permission to start again? We sit down with Archana to trace a quiet, insistent nudge that grew into a full second act—one grounded not in escape, but in intention. She opens up about leaving a successful corporate career, confronting imposter syndrome head-on, and replacing the comfort of titles with the steady courage to invest in herself. The turning point wasn’t a single spark; it was a nine-day silence that clarified a feeling years in the making.
From there, the path bent toward community. A Plan India project brought Archana into sanitation sites and the lives of women carrying generational burdens. The work wasn’t charity; it was system-building with dignity, access, and agency at the center. That experience seeded Pedalon, a well-being space where mental, physical, psychological, spiritual, and financial health intersect to help women claim mobility and voice. We unpack what it takes to make change that endures: co-creating with true stakeholders, local leadership, and pacing progress to lived reality.
We also get practical. Archana shares the reframe that changed everything—stop “spending” and start “investing” in the person you’re becoming. She offers two simple micro experiments to begin today: do something you’ve been avoiding and do something you’ve never tried. Along the way, we talk sisterhood, safe spaces, and why small, consistent shifts beat grand promises. If you’re standing at the edge of your own second act, this conversation gives you a humane roadmap and the nudge to ask boldly, receive with grace, and keep moving.
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Snap Out: The Call To Change
SPEAKER_01If you don't snap out, you know, at some moment in your life, you'll never snap out. So I thought I have to snap out. You know, we have so much inside us, we just don't give ourselves the permission to explore ourselves. And that's the second act. So the thing is that we are only told what we are not able to do. But I think really believing in your own strengths, in believing in your own um sense of conviction, um, I think is a huge thing. And we all can work upon it. If I could work upon it, so can everybody. And that's what I now bring in the second act that we all have this capability and this potential and this passion and this the hunger to do something. All we need to do is really start believing in our own capabilities.
SPEAKER_00Some conversations help you pause, some help you see differently, and some stay with you long after they end. Welcome to Inspire Someone Today, my dear listeners. A space for honest conversations about life, wealth, and the choices that shape who we become. No quick fixes, no borrowed certainty, just real stories, thoughtful reflection, and the quiet courage to live with intention. This is Inspire Someone Today, where conversations are human, reflective, and meant to stay with you. Change doesn't always begin with a grand plan. Sometimes it begins with someone who chooses to start again more intentionally. In this episode of Changemaker series, I'm in conversation with Archana. The driving force behind Pedalon is a powerful example of what a second act anchored in purpose can look like. After a successful corporate career, Archana made a conscious pivot, not away from performance, but towards meaning. What followed wasn't charity but system building. He works at the intersection of dignity, inclusion, and access, creating pathways where mobility becomes an agency for those often made invisible. In this conversation, it's about reinvention without escape, impact without noise, and choosing long-term contribution or short-term uplaws. It's an absolute joy to have Archana on this episode of Inspire Summon Today. Welcome to the show, Archana.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you, Shrikant.
Signals, Fear, And The Pivot
SPEAKER_00Well, when the first act was complete, it was going to be the second act. So we'll start right there, Archana. You had a successful corporate career. So at what point did you realize this space of life was complete? Even if nothing was visibly broken.
SPEAKER_01Actually, Srikant, I think this question comes up pretty often. And I don't want to uh sound very dramatic about it. I just want to say that there is not one spark moment, you know, oh my god, like it's like now. I think it gets built up over time, and um just that some things we address at a time that we are um being knocked at, but there are some things which we keep postponing because we are in our comfort zone and say, So I think I was in that phase to say everything's working fine, you know, good money, good position, good title, everything is fine. So why rock the boat? And I think there then the fear of like that this, you know, fantastic journey will end in some time. And I think that fear was settling into me, and that was the honest answer that what next was not something that was in in my clear mind, that what is coming. So I think that was the moment when something started to shift, and it took me many years to take that bold step, I would say, of plunging from not being able to clearly decide this is the time. But um, you know, if you don't snap out, you know, at some moment in your life you'll never snap out. So I thought I have to snap out.
SPEAKER_00You made a point, you don't want to lock the boat, and that's why so many of us will be kind of sitting, nerve-wracking, saying that should we do, should we not do? So at what point of time these signals, these noises became stronger and stronger. What did you kind of connect that? How did you connect those dots to say, okay, this is it?
Asking Better Questions About Meaning
The Silence Retreat And Resignation
SPEAKER_01I think uh like I told you that, you know, things were building up. I was thinking that I'm maybe I'm not so happy doing what I'm doing. Uh is it something that, you know, it is it because I'm fearing the next change? Is it because I feel I'm stagnating? I is it because I'm feeling bored of what I was doing, you know. So there were these very many questions. And I feel the starting of any changes, the right questions coming in your life. And, you know, you have right responses only when you ask the right question. And I thought that there was a time when I was asking myself the right question to say, what the hell I want to do now, which is going to, you know, because life is something that, you know, we take for granted. And I just wanted to know that if I go tomorrow, what is it, something that I did in my life that was meaningful? And I thought that was something that was very important to me, which I didn't know for many years. It's, you know, that um the linear life, which is that get married, have children, then children grow up, and then you're just spending your time, you know, making sure that the home looks in a certain way, your life looks in a certain way. And then you start asking, who are you, by the way? Who, what are you known for? What do you want to do? And I think that was that mid-40s, which was like hitting me really that, you know, who's this Archana Dutta? What is she here for? Is she here to create some more meaning or is she here to just like, you know, live life as it life has given to her? So I think that was my turning point when I had, of course, gone for a spiritual retreat for nine days or silence program. And I thought to myself, if it's not a very, you know, it doesn't shake me by thinking that I need to quit and do something else. If this moment is calm for me and it reassures me that it's okay, this is the right time. Maybe I should just come out of it and resign. And I think I exactly did that. I went for a nine-day silence, tenth day. I came back and I said, okay, maybe this is the time. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's not the template for all of all of us out here, which is go on a spiritual retreat, be quite for nine days, come back, you'll find answers. So I'm sure that's definitely not the case because it was bubbling up, it was uh coming out to you. But as you made these decisions, Al Shah, what was harder? Letting go of those corporate titles, letting go of that comfort that you had, all just to kind of plunge into that uncertainty and saying that okay, let me kind of uh go for it. What the heck?
SPEAKER_01You know, now on the hindsight, when I think letting go was not that tough. I I'll be very candid in saying that especially just post my resignation, COVID happened. And that's a time when many of our colleagues were laid off. And then I thought maybe God has saved me from that thing of like you were laid off to that you resigned yourself, you know? So I don't know what was playing at that moment with me. It was like because I resigned, I thought somewhere my ego told me that I resigned. I was not told to go. And I don't know how different I would be if I would have been told to go. I don't even know how I would have reacted maybe at that time. But to be honest, nothing was easy. Not giving up and not restarting. Restarting is extremely difficult. And I don't want to mince any words who wants to restart their life to tell them that it's not going to be easy at all. In fact, the worst will come out, okay? The worst of emotions, the worst of the feelings, the worst of your moods, your tantrums. I think you will face, you will not like the person who comes out of it. But at the same time, I think over these last four years of working on myself so much, I feel, oh my goodness, where was the Sachana hiding? I had never met her before. So I just want to tell you it's not going to be easy. But what will come out, probably you will never want to give up then.
SPEAKER_00Oh nice. And you call this transition as second act.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Tell us a bit more about it.
SPEAKER_01I think second act is a very powerful name, which is coined by my husband. Um, he's a creative person. Uh, he had just designed a kind of uh book of some celebrities doing a second act in life of like, you know, having another business or like having another passion, or you know, and when I was in that grumbling, mumbling, and very irritable phase to say, What the hell? What am I gonna do? That's when he told me, Arjuna, get ready for your second act. And that name, believe you me, that stuck with me. And I said, Oh my god, like I never thought of it. It could be such a big transition. And when people say that, you know, when people say, Sony to Sony, banjai, LG kyo, koyor kyota. But it's a very good thing. So maybe this is something that I need to build on. It's such a powerful uh note, it's such a powerful connotation, and it's a very powerful signal in my life that maybe I'm made to do something bigger and I'm thinking too small.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And it's a metaphor as well. This goes beyond just career transition. So, what's second act beyond career transition?
Naming The Second Act
SPEAKER_01It is, it is, and this is exactly what I talk about that you know we have so much inside us, we just don't give ourselves the permission to explore ourselves. And that's the second act.
SPEAKER_00You made that point, we don't give ourselves the permission. And I'm sure many out there want to kind of do that second act. For those folks who are contemplating where do they draw that commitment from, where do they draw that inspiration from to follow their second act?
SPEAKER_01I think the the biggest and the most, I would say the most strong signal is about firstly knowing that you have it in you and you can do it. If you are convinced with your own self, everything else will come out. Then the noises from outside, the voices of outside who tell you you can't do it, you know, how will you do it? So those are very external noises. But when you truly believe in your own self, when you truly know that I am made out in this world to do something more than what I'm just given in my first act to do, I am here which can change things around me. And I can evolve as a person, you know, with every step. Once you're so convinced, and it's a journey to get there, by the way. It's not easy because we are only since the time I think we are born, we are only told what we are not good at, what we will not be able to do. Are marks ni hai useless? Are we kill me with m bekaro, tumai to capability ne, are tu maiti me passe way, to tu mageka karoge. So the thing is that we are only told what we are not able to do. But I think really believing in your own strengths, it believing in your own um sense of conviction, uh, I think is a huge thing. And we all can work upon it. If I could work upon it, so can everybody. And that's what I now bring in second act that we all have this capability and this potential and this passion and this the hunger to do something. All we need to do is really start believing in our own capabilities.
SPEAKER_00I think that's a very powerful uh phrase, the believing in your own capabilities. As much as the external saboteurs are there, the internal saboteurs also, right? Am I good enough? Right? Is it too late? Do I have enough money?
SPEAKER_01And I think this is exactly where I was standing, despite having, you know, really good leadership positions in the organizations I worked with. When I came out of it, to be honest, I thought that I don't have anything in me. Why would even somebody, you know, listen to me? When somebody invited me to be a part of a panelists, what can I contribute? You know? So, I'm not sure what I'm saying. I would say you need to shed a lot. And like I said, it's not an easy phase. It is a very difficult phase because the worst will come out for you. The kind of person you'll see in front of you who is firstly full of ego, who's not even able to accept that maybe I should restart. Maybe I don't know this. You know, we are so full of the external, um, what should I say? Kava chisko ketaana penna why ham never seen it. You you know how our feedback mechanisms are also. Either we go down really in a bad trail to say, oh, so I um I know that I'm not good enough. You know, and then there is this internal sabotage to heihi because I would say that's what I'm saying. And um, uh two trades, but reserve, kahina, or secure, achani karai, ta babko. And you say, oh really, this was such a beautiful person, I was nourishing inside, and I didn't know. And I think that's the moment when you start believing in yourself as well. But um, do you give yourself that permission? Like I said, do you allow yourself to be there? Do you allow yourself to really unlearn all those years of learning that we have accumulated? And are you really in that learning curve as well? With are you signing up for so many people are speaking such good things? Uh, so many people have opened doors to their own learnings and uh, you know, what they bring. Are we doing, are we really enrolling ourselves to those?
Investing In Yourself, Not Just Spending
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you're talking about self-emphycing about self-compassion. And doesn't come easily given the fact that we always look outward, we want to kind of get everything right before we kind of focus on ourselves. Are there any specific things that you went about doing in order to develop that particular page, in order to develop that self-confidence, saying that belief in yourself, like you said? What were some of the things that you did to kind of make that transition, make that shift into the second act?
SPEAKER_01I think Subsewale Shrikans, I think, and I'm not sure if you can use it. You know, wanting to know more from them. So I started to read a lot of books, I started to enroll into a lot of courses. Um, I started to understand that if I have to skill myself in a certain way, that's what I need to do for myself. Really invest in myself. And I think a very big transition from my spending money to my investing money on myself became my pivot. To my goodness, what will come out for me if I invest in this? So I think that is a very big bridge that I cross for myself to say yes, just invest. What is good if this money can't make you a better person? So I just feel that we are very blocked, I think, by you know, conserving what we have. You know, again, those biases, we have to do that. So I'm just saying that, you know, if we loosen that out a bit and invest in something that, you know, can take me to the next level to make me a better person, to make me a more learned person, to make me a more knowledgeable person, to make me a person who can also then not only evolve myself but help people around me, I think that is my biggest win. And I think that was also a bridge that I had to cross for my own self.
SPEAKER_00And in this whole journey, Al China, what did you underestimate about yourself?
SPEAKER_01I don't think even I can do anything. Where is Sekana going? What will second do? You know, those pertinent questions revenue model kya hai, scale, age, is me, aaiga, is me. So underestimated myself for every of these questions which came up. I was always intimidated by somebody else's journey.
SPEAKER_00Are you so I mean the imposter syndrome played a massive role?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, and more.
SPEAKER_00And this second act didn't just stop with Alchana making that transition, it kind of resulted in a beautiful community formation. Yes. Walk us through that bit. How did that whole community evolve as the result of the second act?
SPEAKER_01So, like I was telling you that you know, probably I put myself into a phase of saying that I don't know anything and I'm here to learn. Like this is literally the starting of my life. And that's when I was taking on anything and everything that was coming my way. So I was able to do that corporate program. So I was learning corporate leadership programs, what should I really do? I started to go and also talk to a lot of people saying, impactful banana, valuable banana, so we're not gonna be able to do that. Some people were open about it, some people were totally shut about it. You know, we don't want to share what we have learned, unfortunately. And that is what something that I also learned about that we though we are in a space of teaching and coaching and imparting not language, but we don't want to impart to other people who are in the same periphery. And that was a little bit of like, okay, you know, is this the space even I want to be in? However, in the same time, I was also unlearning and learning a lot of things. And uh that's the time when a project from Plan India was literally, you know, knocking on my door where they say we want to empower women in sanitation space. Um, these are women who come from abusive backgrounds, work in toilets, and they feel miserable about themselves. So there are 10 toilet locations from MCD which have to be turned into a human-centered design. And that's when they said, Will you be able to do it? You know how the life is when you are in an airline like Lufthansa, you're flying, you know, high all the time, and then you are in a hotel chain like a higher to where you are only exposed to, you know, high-end living. So the thing is that for me to get to working in slums and underprivileged uh sections of society, I had never done. But something inside me said, if you don't understand what unlearning is all about, then what are you here for? And I took that opportunity and I said that I will do it. And believe you me, in 18 months of my time with Plan India and that project that we had done, uh, we touched 350,000 lights in that project. And I think that was my turning point that my voice was impacting a section which I didn't know could do. Those eyes were looking at me when I was wrapping up that project. And they said, What's next? And I didn't even know at that time that, you know, projects happen in the NGO world, and then the next project comes. And then I said, Oh, but what about such a beautiful space that I have kind of, you know, nourished for 18 months now? So that's when um I decided to open my small, beautiful space called Pedalon. And I said, This is going to stay in whatever manner I can support it. I will support it. I will try to build this beautiful space for women from the underprivileged sections, probably who want to be in their second act and get out of what they have been given in life, but to really build a life. So it's a well-being center for women where we kind of bring in mental health, physical health, psychological health, spiritual health, and financial health to make them a holistic individual.
SPEAKER_00So that's a lovely transition or an outcome. You started off with something not knowing where your kind of the journey will take you and pedal on happened.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And I think this is only because I allowed it to happen. When I think there, and I in one of the workshops that I had attended, you know, the facilitator they said that, you know, there are opportunities every moment. And if this opportunity I don't grab, somebody else is grabbing. So there is something happening right there in the universe. Which one are you willing to pull for your own self? And that's the time that I really opened my mind to say that I'm going to grab every opportunity that comes my way.
SPEAKER_00So it's straddling between both what you have built the community as part of uh second act, all pedal on. What patterns do you see among people standing at the edge of their own?
SPEAKER_01I think the same things that uh I was going through, that we are so stuck in the comfort of the life that we are given, whether it's good or bad. Even if it's it's a miserable life, but it's a comfortable, miserable life. And I don't want to disrupt it anymore. Uh so I think that fear of like saying, Oh, I'm already going through too much, I I'm okay with it. I would rather lead my life like this rather than just trying to resurrect everything. One is definitely that. Second is again this whole thing of about spending money. You know, I am I investing to am I spending? I think this is the second lesson that I've learned in life that everything that you do for yourself, if it gives you, if it evolves you as a person, you know, it is investment. It is not spending. So give yourself, you know, as many opportunities as you can to invest on yourself, whether it is a course, a book, a community, a retreat, uh, you know, something on learning, something on meeting somebody who could probably be, you know, a change maker for you. Allow yourselves to be in these spaces. And I think that is my second learning. And third is that, you know, this whole thing about um women for women, and I think we carry our biases to say, oh, you know, it doesn't work. I think in four years, I've made such fantastic soulmates, I would say, who have been there in this journey with me, who have watched me grow, who have held me tight when I was falling. I think this is something which is commendable that uh, you know, people don't really believe in. So I would say believe in your sisterhood, uh, believe in uh men who are around you to educate them and tell them how we feel sometimes. And probably they don't know. So I just feel that men are so also, you know, kind of life just gives them like these very bold, strong tasks to do. Kiwo, they ki ni pate. I think batana zaruri hai, time to time. Um, and unko bi batana zaruri hai, I think. And that's where I felt that many voices that we don't allow. We just want to be very good girls all the time. That's what we have been taught. Don't make discomfort, don't do this, don't do that. So I feel also that is something that you know holds us uh not to do anything because we don't want disruption.
SPEAKER_00We don't want disruption, we want to kind of adhere to the status quo of the comfort. We feel bad about investing in ourselves, and we are not believing in the community believing in ourselves. So if we were to kind of unchycle all of those things and convert this not to yes, get out of the comfort factors, spend on yourself without any hesitation, be part of a community, have that belief that you can do anything, seize those opportunities. The second act can happen naturally.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and ask. And I feel I have not hesitated to ask uh whether I got anything back or not, something I took, you know, very personally in the beginning, then I had to work on myself to say everybody has their own, you know, limitations or the kind of life they've led. I'm nobody to judge. I have asked. If this thing comes back to me, I'm very grateful. If it doesn't, I need to allow the other person to be as well, you know. So I think no harm in asking. And um, yeah, I think that that's where also a lot of what I'm doing in second act happened.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00That's so true. No harm in asking. The least we would get is a no, which would have been the answer at the very start of that particular question. So nothing would have changed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Mid-Show Reflection And IST Community
SPEAKER_00But if somebody were to give, you gain out of it. Let's pause here for a moment. You may have noticed one idea quietly settling in. Something that doesn't need an answer, just awareness. Inspire someone today has always been about conversations that stay with you beyond the episode. Sometimes they continue reflection, sometimes in action, and sometimes in community. If you'd like to engage beyond the podcast, there is an IST community where these conversations are carried forward thoughtfully. And if you prefer your own quiet space, the book Inspire Someone Today gathers many of these ideas for slower reflection. Let's continue. In getting on to Pedalon, Archana, you have worked with so much of uh women groups and having seen their own journeys. What has surpassed you, surprised you the most with the women that you have involved in making Pedalon? Uh is it the outcomes or is it their aspirations or is it their limitations? What has surprised you? What's been your take so far?
SPEAKER_01See, working in underprivileged sections again um has been quite a learning for me. You know, we are so much limited to our exposure to the kind of people we have in our life, and these are mostly our friends, our family, you know, maybe some people who are working for us at home. That's really something that we are looking at. But when I started to actually work with them, um, you know, on a day-to-day basis, I understood that mindset is one thing that is not an open. See, you have to see from where their mothers are coming from, their sisters are coming from, their community is coming from. And to expect them to start being a different person or to bring in change in their life instantly is not easy. So, however much you can, you know, tune in with a lot of capacity building workshops, you can tune in with their skilling workshops, but ultimately when they go home and they're beaten up by their husbands, or they are pulled in by their mother-in-laws, or they are, you know, taunted by you know their sisters, it's not easy. You know, so they will not show up for work, they will say that I can't come today because my sister-in-laws are coming home, you know, for one month I have to take off because my husband is uh, you know, wanting me to go and nurture somebody else's baby. So the thing is that there are a lot of like, you know, unconditioning also to be done in the communities. And in the beginning, again, I thought that's what I'm saying. You know, what the hell man kills, it's not a good thing. But ultimately, you know, asan nah mushkill haired to bring a change in somebody who's living a life like this for years, generations. But is change not happening? Change is happening. I can see their daughters, uh, they are not now sitting at home. They're all either working in airports or in travel agencies or you know, have aspirations to grow. Their children are like pretty much like that. This is not we will do. So at least the benefit of their coming out is that when they have opened their minds to say that I'm willing to do it, I'm with all the baggage that I still carry, but at least I'm making sure that my children don't go through.
SPEAKER_00I think you make an excellent point out there, and this is uh important for a lot of the folks out there who want to build communities, right? You want to make a change, you are desperate to make a change, be it creating civic sense in the communities that we are part of, doing something related to the community. That pace of change is what you think you would want to do, but not necessarily what the members of the community are ready for it.
SPEAKER_01Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00For those kind of individuals who are community builders in their own self, what would be a recommendation for them to see the change, for them to be at peace at how change is happening and how can they themselves follow their second act there?
How Real Community Change Sustains
SPEAKER_01So I think one thing is that I uh thanks to Plan Ninja's work, um, I learned this that if you want to bring something into the community, you need to have them as the stakeholder. You need to understand do they want this or not? Do they see a merit in doing something like this or not? Are they willing to participate with you to bring that change or not? My learning with the community, thanks to my work with Plan Inja. So, one is that you know, try to work with somebody who knows. Don't just try to build a community just because you think you can do a community. First, learn somewhere. I think your mind will open to understand the space because understanding community in underprivileged sections is not like because we don't live that life, we don't know them. Second is that if you want to bring a change, have you understood the needs of the community? If the need of the community is not what you're trying to do, then the community is not going to participate with you. Thirdly, are they an equal stakeholder in bringing that change? If you want to, let's say, clean up the community, have you made somebody from the community, let's say, the head for that change, then is that person creating a subhead for you know themselves? Is that subhead creating 10 more subheads for themselves? Are you putting them in a place where they're also um celebrating the little changes that they are bringing with you? So the thing is you can be a facilitator in their life, but you can't be a teacher or a dictator in their life. So you have to move along with them. And I think that's the biggest lesson I've understood when you want to bring in change for the community.
SPEAKER_00That's a lovely lesson. For you to make change happen, you've got to create an ecosystem of change.
SPEAKER_01That's absolutely 100% true. Own egos, you know, Shrikant, we are coming from, you know, our own this thing that I am the one, I will do this. But um they put you back in in your place, by the way.
SPEAKER_00I have two related questions on this. One is many of these change journeys, lot many times were driven by frustration or anger. Your change journey feels very grounded and generous. Why was that thought process, that mindset important to you?
SPEAKER_01No, I was angry and frustrated, Srikant. And that is what my family saw me going through. But at the same time, you know, during COVID, what happened? That for the first time, four of us were together in one house. And my children were studying out, and my husband, you know, the best thing about our relationship was, and it it is 30 years today, is because we had really great work uh life where we traveled so much when we met, we were in the best of spaces. This was the first time four of us were in one space, and we said, Oh my goodness, this space, oh my goodness, we never thought that this is what it is. But at the same time, see, I, you know, conditioned being a good mother, um, excellent wife, um, homemaker, putting things together. So I had to really tell myself every day, Archana, don't break down because this is not you, what they have seen all their life. So I had to really work on myself to say, don't show your frustration, don't cry, don't whatever. And then I thought, what the hell am I doing? And I think that's when I started to accept it's okay. They need to understand what I'm going through. You know, and um, so there was a lot of frustration, there was a lot of anger. I was kicking myself that why did I quit when um, you know, I didn't need to. I was in a great position. Why, why, why this change? Nothing and nothing is making sense right now. Because whatever I was trying to do, COVID was putting me back in my place to say uh retreats. I could barely do three retreats in that year, everything was getting cancelled out, corporate programs are not happening, you know. Of course, what happened to me was Plan India, which was beautiful. And then I started my own podcast journey and I thought that why don't I bring in stories of second hat of people who have actually probably fallen and gotten up, maybe probably left something and rebuilt, or probably didn't do it because it didn't uh sit with them anymore. So there are so many stories, let me just bring that. So I think that really became again my pivot. The best thing about what happened was that I started to look what I was getting out of it rather than, you know, that what I was leaving behind. So I just told myself there are only two choices, no Srikant. Either you can crib and salk and like, you know, be really miserable, or you can just tell yourselves that, you know, what learnings can I get from here and what can I take and make the best of the life that I've got and more. So I started to look at that if I've left something, there has to be a bigger meaning. It nothing happens without a bigger meaning in life. And I started believing in that. And I said, if I'm meant to do something, uh maybe time is now.
SPEAKER_00So very true. And look at it today. Four years back, you had no clue of what you will be doing, where all you will be. And today's second act happened, community happened, pedal on ink. So the list goes on.
SPEAKER_01My second act awards for women, which I uh introduced two years ago. So, yeah, slowly and steadily, and um, yeah, now I'm uh planning my first second act retreat for women to help them in their second act of life in March. So I hope that um that becomes a space where they can see growth, they can see themselves, they can see another life that they can resurrect for themselves. Um, it's going to be a beautiful space that I'm thinking of creating together with them.
SPEAKER_00Beautiful. So, what did the corporate world give you that still anchors you how you work today?
SPEAKER_01I think everything. The way that um I'm so process-driven, the way that I'm so integrated, the way that I'm so conscious of quality, the way that I'm so very sure of my commitment, the way that um I think, I the way that I write, the way that I um show up, everything. I owe it to my corporate life, to my beautiful colleagues, to the fantastic organizations that I worked with. I I think I won't be the person. If I was an entrepreneur from the start, I won't be this person at all.
SPEAKER_00So that was a ground that you kind of led well for you to do your second act.
Corporate Skills That Still Anchor
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, and more. Absolutely, and more. So many learnings also from my corporate life, right? For things that I couldn't speak at that time. So I went back to like, why would I not be able to address it at that time? And then I understood that, you know, my own limiting beliefs, my own limitations, my own conditioning didn't allow it. So that's exactly what I also bring to my programs now. You know, so because I understand that world so well, it's so much now better for me to create interventions which really are true and relatable.
SPEAKER_00Lived experiences.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00So Alchana, five years out, you and I we are doing a podcast all over again. What is it you will be telling Alchana of the future self?
SPEAKER_01Actually, um, Sri Gand, I'll be very honest. I'm living for every moment. I don't know what is going to happen in five years. I just don't know. I don't want to even think that far. I want to think of today. I know that in the next one month, two months, three months, this is what I'm planning. This is 2026, what's looking out for me? I don't know. I don't even know what 2027 holds. I didn't know what when in 2021 when I started, what will these four years look like? So I have no answer for this.
SPEAKER_00That's faith. Uh you're living in the moment, you're enjoying the moment, so which is great. Hypothetically, if we were to kind of say what is a meaningful third act would look like, what would be your answer?
SPEAKER_01I think I will continue to evolve, I will continue to help people evolve, I will continue to hold women tighter, I will create uh more spaces where it's for learning and growth, and safe spaces to be non-judged and allow people to be. That's what comes to my mind. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Okay. If there are two or three insights that your journey has clarified uh to you about transformation, what would those insights be?
Small Shifts Beat Grand Transformations
SPEAKER_01One thing I've understood that transformation is a very heavy term. So I was using transformation in lots of my content also. And then I thought we are nobody to transform people. Even if we can make a small shift, I think that's a transformation in its own self. So even to make that small shift, there is a lot that we need to work on. Are we willing to do that? Um, are we willing to allow ourselves to be living a life that we are here for, to be honest? Are we willing to understand that there is something beyond what's given to us? And I think that is one thing that I have understood that transformation happens when you create that little space in your head to say this is not enough. And I'm here to do more. I think through my journey also I've understood that um everybody comes with their own quirks. And uh again, rather than judging people in a certain way, uh we are nobody to do that. Um people come with their own spaces, so so be it. Um if we can be an instrument to show them away, great. Uh but we cannot hold them like you know that like you can't shake somebody unless they want to do something. You can like break your head on them, but uh if they are wanting to just be in their own space, it's very little that you can do. So many women come to me for coaching, and then along the way they say, Oh, but like, you know what, but I'm not able to do like, you know, journaling. I don't have the time. Everybody has the time if they would really want this change. And without making these small habit changes or small changes in your life, big things won't happen. So it always starts from there. And the third thing is that if there is something along the way which doesn't fit you anymore, you will have to leave that. And I think this is a very great quote that sticks with me that you can't heal at the same place which hurt you. So you can't stay with the same people who are in the toxic environment with you or something similar, that you'll have to get out of it to do something. So you cannot just be in the same space or an environment and think things will change. You need to do something about it.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful. One is understanding individuals' quirks uh is something that hit me because only when the like the Adage says, when the student is ready, the teacher shows up. It it's the same stuff, right? You might have all the solutions, but if the individual is not ready.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So true.
SPEAKER_00So if all our listeners, if they were to have a micro experiment, if they were to listen to this uh conversation, go back and try a micro experiment or two. What are those one or two micro experiments that you would recommend for them to kind of think about the second act, think about self-cam compassion, whatever it is, if you could recommend one one or two micro experiments?
SPEAKER_01Like I said to um, like you say, that um growth doesn't happen in the same comfort. So break away from your comfort. Uh do something probably that you always wanted to do one, and second, which you have never done before. So these are the two things I'll totally recommend. Do something that you're holding back yourself with. You you're not doing because do something which you've never done before at all. Trust something. You never know. Um, because I had never done podcasting. I had never done um, you know, I had never run an NGO, I never did so many things which I'm doing now. Awards, for example. I it wasn't me. But how it's all coming together under one umbrella, so many wonderful people I'm meeting through that. Oh my god, I can't tell you how wonderful I feel in my life. And I feel, oh my god, why I didn't start earlier? But then this question is only when you're ready, you will start then.
SPEAKER_00I think the line there would be when was the last time that you did something for the first time?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Great. Alchanam, this has been one great conversation. Uh lovely to kind of see your uh second act journey. It was just not a second act of a career move, it was a second act of uh so many things. If you were to pick one or two anecdotes of people who have kind of taken second act by virtue of being part of your program, virtue of being part of your community, what would those anecdotes of second act experience are?
SPEAKER_01You know, I remember when I was doing my website for the first time, okay? When I just quit and I wanted to make a website on second act, the website developer asked me, Do you have any testimonials? And I wanted testimonials? Of course not, because I have I don't even know for what I'm gonna do, what testimonials are no website but the testimonials. I said, But I couldn't have to have a testimony. And I just feel from there to, you know, I'm redoing my website for the third or the fourth time now in four years, because I feel, oh, whatever I was doing in the first time when I quit to what I'm doing today, it's evolving in every sense of the word. So I think lots of people have evolved with me, you know. So what I probably did in my first retreat to help them understand, because that was called I celebrate myself. And there are people who said, Oh, I'm but I've never celebrated myself, or I have never patted myself on the back, or I, you know, kana banana but it's such a dumb thing that I didn't know that that also required me to appreciate myself that I'm available for them. You know, from those small little moments to now doing one on one coaching. Where I'm seeing the shift in lives, where people say this safe space gives me such a big comfort that I can be myself. And at the same time, I'm resurrecting my life in every possible way. I'm changing in the way that I'm thinking. I am being, you know, more, I have a voice at home where I can actually say things which I never said before. So lots and lots of stories. But at the same time, yeah, still going on. And I hope that it can turn out into even more magical spaces.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. Archina, wishing you lots of success, just not with the second act, third, fourth, or what are acts that you kind of uh want to put out there. Uh it's been one inspirational uh journey to kind of look at. Before you and I sign off, uh, this show is all about creating reples of inspiration. What's your inspire someone today message to all the listeners?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I think I say this very, very often that we think that there are two acts, and we start working on the second, and we realize we only had one. So um I would just say that um don't lose that one act that you have in life. That is that one life. So make the most of it. You never know how magical it can unfold for you.
SPEAKER_00It's one life, one act, make it massive. On that note, Archana, thank you so much for sharing your journey with me and my business. Appreciate it and uh wishing you success. Thank you for spending this time with us. Conversations like these remind us that good doesn't always come from answers, it often comes from better questions. Not to grand gestures, but to everyday choices. That belief still holds now with a little more depth and a lot more listening. If something from today's episode stayed with you, carry it forward, share it, sit with it, or explore it further through the IST cabinet or the book inspire someone today. Until we meet again, stay curious, keep inspiring, and inspire someone today.
