What's Your Story | Manini Priyan X Shilpa Kulshrestha

Unveiling Success: Join me in the latest podcast episode as I sit down with Shilpa Kulshrestha, a transformative Game Changer Coach, founder of Scintillate, and bestselling author of "Play it Full". 

Join us as we delve into her transition from corporate powerhouse to renowned change-maker, and learn from her Midas Touch in creating impact across the globe. Gain valuable insights, actionable strategies, and motivation to unlock your full potential and achieve greatness with Shilpa Kulshrestha.

Transcript

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Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining me in this episode of What's Your Story, where we have conversations with storytellers who've made a powerful impact on pop culture and have truly inspirational stories to share with us. Today, I have with me Shilpa Pulashesta, who's the founder of Sintillate Coaching. She's a peak performance coach, keynote speaker, influencer, and bestselling author of the book Play It Full, Seven Steps to Unlock Your Extraordinary Career. Hello, Shilpa. Welcome to the show. Thank you Mani. It is such a pleasure to be here at your show. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. The first thing is I want to ask you, I find your LinkedIn profile very caption, very interesting. Okay. It says murdering mediocrity. Right. So now everyone has an idea of what mediocrity is. Okay. Great. But I want to know, like, I want to ask you, how do you recognize when that becomes your life, when mediocrity has seeped into your life? especially for those individuals who've done the same thing, same job, career for a long period of time. And they probably haven't realized that they have settled into perhaps a comfort zone, which can be labeled as mediocrity. I just wanted to talk about that for a bit. Well, that's a very good question because mediocrity, I mean, when I was in the mediocrity zone, it was impossible for me to actually recognize it until I got a jolt from life. So when people are in that few indications that we can look out for, that your job is no longer as interesting as it used to be, it has become too simple, you don't feel that you're doing anything great. Everything is okay. Like there's no failure coming, there's no big success. It's like a boring straight line. That's how your career, your life looks about. And there's nothing that you can talk proudly about. and the life is just going on, just going on as a movie without ups and downs. That's how I define mediocrity. So if people look at their career and they were enjoying the job maybe few years back, but right now it is unfulfilling. It feels like they're not stretching their potential and it feels that I can do so much more and the thoughts keep crossing, but you keep brushing them under the carpet, that's mediocrity. Right. But then I want to ask you the next question. What do you say to people who say, you know what? I know that this career or this job is not doing much for me, but I have bills to pay. My children are studying in 10th standard, 12th standard. They're in the final years. I can't afford to take any major risks. So what do you say to them who are probably afraid, who's probably recognized that mediocrity has seeped into their life, but who are afraid to do anything about it? Yeah. So what you're asking about is the practicalities of life, the bills that are scaring in our eyes and we have to take care of them. Well, when we talk about mediocrity, many people think it is about taking a risk. It is about leaving this job or suddenly starting to do something else, but it is not about that. Honestly, I would say that is not even in question. I wouldn't ever suggest it to anyone because Having done that for myself, I've gone through a very low phase in my life and I wouldn't want anybody to have it. So it is actually about while all those bills and practicalities are there, you taking out time from your day. You know, we all have 14 minutes in our day. What is it looking closely into it? What is it that I'm doing that is keeping me stuck there? What is it that is holding me back? And what else can I invite so that I can slowly start paving the way? to a life of magnificence, something that I can be really proud of. So just taking out time from your days, like I would say they are going on average. I'm sure you can take out 45 minutes, one hour from that every day or five days in a week. And in that one hour a day, do something that pushes you towards your excellence. So it is about creating a parachute. where you can land safely. It is not about quitting something. It is not about suddenly taking risks. It is not giving a jerk. Yes, jerk to your system, but not to your lifestyle as such while you slowly transition to something which will give you goosebumps. Right, so it's not about taking like huge massive risks or changes to your life. It's just about making incremental changes. Things that you think will actually improve you. That makes so much of sense. Absolutely. Because what, how we have trained our mind, mind and ease, we often look for complicated solution to our problems. But what I've realized as a coach, it is the simplest of the things, because only the simple things are the ones that we can implement. And only the things that we implement produce a result. So it is about the simplest changes that you can bring in your current landscape, which can push you out of it. Right. Yeah, that's That makes so much sense. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Shilpa. It's just made me think, you know, everything starts with small changes. So that can really transform your life over the course of time. Yeah, absolutely. What is more important is having that level of awareness. Am I really a mediocre? Am I really made for something more? Am I sitting with this potential people are talking about and I have no idea what it means to me? Am I not feeling that respect in the eyes of the people who are around me. Do I feel proud when I look into those two eyes in the mirror every single day? Asking that question. And if the awareness says, yes, probably you are living a life which is mediocre or somewhere around that zone, then what do I do? Making that decision and then figuring out those simple changes that you can do on a consistent basis. I would say consistency of the little, little things that we do leads you out of it. Right, because consistency then leads to discipline. So then that's entrenched in your behavior, which will lead to new doors and new opportunities. Absolutely. Right. Tell me a little bit about your book. About my book, Played Full. So this is a book that I have written with my husband, Kapil. So we both are coaches. We both. help people change their game in their career, in their life. Now, Play It Fool Us about a concept. The best way I can describe it is through a triangle. So think of a triangle. One side of a triangle is your achievements, the designation at which you have the success that you have, the money that you are making. That's one arm of the triangle. The other arm is your... relationships, your relationship with yourself, those two eyes in the mirror, the relationship at home, with the community, with the world, at your workplace, you know, all those relationships. The third arm is the health, mental, physical, emotional health. And what I say is that you just cannot play it full in life unless you're working on all the three arms. It is just not possible because Let's say you're working a lot on your achievements. You're, you're achieving amazing things in your career. You are that, uh, you are that star in the workplace, but some of your health is not being taken care of. Your triangle will collapse. If you are taking care of your relationships, relationships at home is rock solid, which was the case with me. It was really good. And I didn't realize when my achievement section, you know, that arm just fell down and my triangle collapsed. So. taken care of, triangle will not do well and it will collapse at some stage. So it is about working on all the three things together so that you can expand and expand the triangle. And that is about playing it full. And contrary to the common sense, it is not about balance across all the three areas. It is about a little bit of imbalance here and then a little bit of imbalance and a little bit of imbalance here so that you end up doing something amazing across all the three areas. So sometimes in health, you would be working on six packs on achievement side, you would be working on, you know, on doing something amazing at your workplace and in your relationship, sometimes you would be cutting off from the rest of the world, just spending time with your loved ones, you know? So it is about that little, little imbalance which create those moments of pride. Right, so it's like prioritizing one triangle at a time. Right, prioritizing one arm at a time, but taking care of all as a whole some. Right, right. making sure that one arm doesn't slip while you're prioritizing something else, right? Yes. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, yeah. So like, let me ask you this, okay? For women specifically, when it comes to this triangle, the triangle of achievements, accomplishments probably takes a hit when you have a child in the picture. So... What advice would you give to those women who've probably taken a break, from focusing on the accomplishment part of that, part of that triangle? And they're focusing on their children, and now they wanna get back, they've taken so much of a break. So what do we do after that? So whether you have taken a break or whether your career has taken a backseat, it is about, I feel what works well for... for women, especially women like us who want to work, who want to take a break, but then come back to the workforce or do something, whether it's entrepreneurship or whatever it is working, it is about creating those rock solid foundations of support system. It worked really well for me, honestly. Having those women, having the proximity of women where we can borrow. each other whenever needed. So having that proximity in your neighborhood, in your friends, uncle, in the woman with whom you sit, I believe women can be women's best friend and they can be their worst enemy. So if you can create that circle of friendship or that support system, I think that's where we can clear this monster of that work and children being in conflict. Because if we spend more time at work, it does take a dent on our family it does take, but if we have the support system, it makes up for it in some way or the other. So like form of sisterhood around you who can support you. Yes, absolutely. Sisterhood, proximity, powerful women where you can bank on each other and support each other whenever needed because all of us, we are fighting the same wars, the same battles, the same glass ceilings, the same expectations from the society, from the family. So we know, I don't think it is new for anybody. Right. And we can. take care of each other. Right. Yeah. I just want to shift gears now a little bit. Since you've written a book, can you let me know what reading means to you? I'm assuming you're a reader. That's why you've written a book. There's a natural propensity for authors because they're readers as well. So what does reading mean to you? Reading means having those juices in the morning. So I read books early in the morning. So when I'm gymming, I listen to audio books. I used to be a paper book reader, but I have shifted to audio book five years back. What it means is the book I am reading it is morning when I get up, I really want to get to the next page of it that is really for me. It cannot be something that I'm dragging. It's that is not giving me fun. I don't look forward to it. It's serious. I do read the serious stuff as well, but I should be looking forward to it. That is reading. It should give me those juices. So, um, currently I'm reading my life is. full by Indra Nui and every morning I want to, I just get up and I'm like, what happened next? So this is, this is what reading means. And it can be across various topics. It can be around personal development. It can be biography. It can be, it can even be the, even be the story of a movie star that I have got nothing to do about, but I love to see how people have fought their little, little battles, internal battles, external battles and what did they do? and how did they climb the ladder, you know, in different scenarios. So it can be that, it can be stories. I don't read a lot of fiction, but I think I will enjoy that. I haven't tried that out. I read a lot of stories around women, which are women-centric, different subjects, but it should give me juices. That's what reading is all about for me. Right, so can you name your, you know, like maybe three of your favorite authors? Yeah. So the magic of thinking big, thinking big by David Shorts, it's the Bible. Right. It's the Bible. Yeah. You know, and then the subtle art of not giving an F that's the next one. It is something that every single person should read because it, it will push you to challenge a lot of existing norms in your life. That's the second one. I also love the third door by Alex Banyan. It again is a wonderful concept because it talks about, you know, uh, you can create doors in life where they exist, exist now. So it talks about a general door where everybody's queuing up. Then there's a VIP door where the VIPs and the special people are entering. And then there's a third door where you run up the queues, you skip the VIP lanes and you just land inside the hall. So it is, it is a wonderful. And, um, every single like I would say the teenagers to young adults to young entrepreneurs to people in the corporate everybody should read it. It's an awesome it will open up your mind like anything. Oh wow that sounds wonderful so the author was Alex Banyan. Alex Banyan yeah okay yes we're gonna put that when we release this we're gonna put that in the in the caption that sounds third door yeah I think the concept sounds fascinating so I definitely will check that out. Okay, Shilpa, so now we move to the next segment where I ask you a bunch of rapid fire questions. So keep it rapid, no need for too much of thought. Just, you know, give me whatever comes to your mind, you know, after the question. So the first question is the book that you're reading right now. My life is full by Indranui. OK. Your favorite business coach. Brody, who's my business coach. So yeah. Okay. The three Insta accounts that you follow for coaching slash business tips. Insta accounts. I don't use Insta much, but look, I could be. Yeah. So I'll tell you the kind of accounts I follow. I, you know, I don't use Instagram that much. I use motivation accounts. I use fitness accounts. So there's somebody, and this is very different kind of thought. Hirayogi, I follow that. I follow families, so there's something called rocking groups and I love the wholesomeness with which this woman lives her life with her family and the joy and all. Those are two and then Tony Robbins, Russell Brunson, Mel Robbins, these are the usual ones. Right, right. What's your favorite travel destination? New Zealand. Nice. Your biggest fear. Losing my loved ones. What's your typical Sunday like? Typical Sunday is getting up late and it is all about family. You know, I don't go out to meet people. It's all about family at home, gardening, cleaning, just sitting, having tea together, lunch together. Yes. Your dream dinner guest. Shahrukh Khan. Oh, lovely. What was the most fun activity or something that you did this year so far? The fun activity was setting up a power couple club here in Sydney, which is amazing. The thought was there, but it just came into action and I'm loving every bit of it. Oh, wow. Sounds fascinating. Okay, Shilpa, this is the most, I would say, a very interesting question for all our listeners out there. Can you list five hacks for aspiring entrepreneurs? And you can take some time for this question. Okay. Five hacks. Um, number one, every single day, get up with an intention and you have to meet that intention by the end of the day. It's, it's not a to-do list. It's just one intention. And if you don't meet that intention, 5% of the time, forgive yourself and move forward, that's the first hack. So I'm telling personally, what has worked for me. The second thing is consistency. Whatever you pick up, just don't leave it. frequency you decide, but once you decide a frequency, you cannot go back at it. Yep. So it is the consistency. It is not about the quality. It is not about the quantity. It is about the consistency. You will pick up quality and quantity along the way. That's the second hack. The third one is be true to yourself. You know, keep your word. It is important. It is important because you'll be dealing with people who have trusted you. who have invested money in you, who actually depend on you. And if there'll be clients, there'll be employees, there will be your coaches, there will be your family. If you can keep your word, if you can keep your word, you will be very proud of yourself. That's the third one. Fourth, I'm just thinking what is their fourth is about What is about doing an assessment every couple of months. So doing a stock take off, what you have done over the last three months, what is it that you have achieved? What is it that is working well? What is it that is not working well? What is it that you need to do more of? What is it that you need to get rid of? I think that assessment is really important because otherwise you can continue doing the same thing and you would not know what is not working. So every three months you need to do a stock take, change a two- few things. And usually it is not the big shifts that people think about. It is those slight, you know, 2% changes. It is that fine tuning that can tell you what that can get in completely shift your results in the next three months and then you can build on it. So I did four, right? One more. So the last one is, look, being ready for being ready for a roller coaster, right? Entrepreneurship, it's a very fashionable statement. It's a very, it's a fashion statement nowadays, right? But behind the scenes, no two days are the same. So if you know that it will be like that, I think it's what you come to terms with, that one day you will have huge success and the other day you might be feeling totally down because something has gone wrong. So that's, so if you can accept that and start taking juices in that, then that game you can play a long game. And I'll add up six one because it is coming to my mind, get people in your team who are smarter than you. So don't get people who are like you, get people who have got the strengths that you don't have and you will thank me for this tomorrow. Yeah, so that's the secret. Oh, that's fine. Thank you. You gave one extra as well. Fantastic. So let me summarize that. So first you said, Be like, start your day with an intention. Second is consistency. The third one is be true to yourself, be your authentic self. The fourth one is do fine tuning, do an introspection every couple of months and fine tune whatever you're doing. And then the last one, no, sorry, you have two more. The fifth one was, I'm trying to remember. Except that it's an up and down journey, start enjoying it. Right. Surrender to the roller coaster of entrepreneurship. Yes. That's it, yeah. And the last one is get people who are smarter than you. Smarter than you. I think that is probably like something that everyone has started to realize, right? Everyone, the really successful people has always said this, that I have really smart people in my team. Richard Branson is the one who says this the most. I just hire really good people. So. I would say, Manini, if I see somebody who's got the right, it doesn't matter the person doesn't have, even if they don't have experience, even if they don't have the skill set, if I see a person with the right attitude, I will get the person on the team. This is how I operate. I would do everything to get that person on their team because it is very difficult to find such people who have got the right attitude, who've got the right sincerity and who have the right level of intelligence. Right. Well, thank you so much, Shilpa, for spending your time here with me today. I really enjoyed this conversation. And some of the things that you've said has really given me a lot of proof of thought for my own life. And I hope our listeners also take away all these valuable insights and, uh, you know, apply them in their life. So thank you so much. And I hope you have a great week ahead. Thank you. Thank you so much.