The other memory of being wide eyed is actually a sweet memory of a deja vu.. In central Mumbai, Prabhadevi, where Deepika Padukone’s residential building stands tall, the road is one way, wide and lined with trees. My memory is from the days when the current tall buildings were not there and the bright sunlight reached the roads. It was during my CNBC TV working days, my second job. It must have been February or March, one of the days just before summer. The road was sunlit and not so busy. I was driving my first car, my green Matiz. My right elbow was resting on the open window, loosely holding the steering wheel, some music was playing, my hair was flying and a sense of deja vu took over – of being exactly in the same experience earlier. That was in my dream. It left me wide-eyed.

I have never forgotten. No one forgets achieving a dream. In my late teens, these were two simple, interconnected dreams – a) of working in an office and b) driving a car. The society that I was brought up placed no emphasis on a girls’ profession. Education was important but marriage plans were seeded right in the beginning. So dreaming of being a ‘working woman’ was a big deal. It still is.

Thankfully, my father gave me the freedom to work. He turned the gatekeeper of allowing people in my life to let me be ( he chose my life partner and ensured the choice of working was always mine and not anyone else’s) and his encouragement meant I could start working in Mumbai, a strange, far away place from hometown.

My wide eyed journey at workplace started here, in Mumbai. You may think I was lucky to bag important-to-the business projects even in my trainee days, but I worked hard on each project to deliver and more importantly to prove my intellect. I remember asking for a haircut when I wanted to look serious and middle aged in meetings. Delivering results to get more freedom to work my way became a habit. It was all about ‘how you think, learn, apply and repeat.‘ I remember the place, the presentation, the time of the day where a particular idea struck me. I developed that idea for a Times Now campaign in one of the metro cities. That campaign had made a huge difference to the market share and therefore to the business. Steve Jobs would have called these independent events coming together as connecting the dots. But you need a process to connect the dots. SHIFT, the course will teach you that. It will take you through the cycle of think, learn, apply and repeat.

Being wide eyed is a habit of being in awe, which aids in critical thinking. You will find it in the course. Stay awe- inspired!

Yours truly,

Vishakha