The Real You
1:1 Long-Form Interviews with Interesting People Doing Amazing Things
In-depth discussion of people's journeys to tap into their full potential and find ways to be the truest version of themselves.
The Real You
EP 10: Overcoming Fear and Thriving: Priya’s Journey to Wellness and LinkedIn Success
Unlock the secrets of overcoming fear and building a robust personal brand with our guest, Priya, a renowned coach, marathoner, and wellness expert. Priya takes us through her journey from hesitation to confidence on LinkedIn, where she spent nine months writing content without posting it, only to eventually share her thoughts, starting with a Steve Jobs quote.
Learn how her persistence in daily posting turned minimal engagement into a thriving online presence, emphasizing the power of consistency and the courage to put oneself out there.
Dive into Priya's passion for health and wellness and discover how prioritizing well-being can lead to success in any field. Our conversation uncovers the profound benefits of connecting with like-minded individuals on LinkedIn and how adopting healthy habits can be transformative.
Priya's anecdotes highlight the exhilaration of engaging with a global community and the misconceptions about delaying fitness for future endeavors.
Finally, we explore Priya's compelling marathon journey, filled with mental and physical challenges and the rewarding shift from traditional corporate roles to content creation.
Hear about the significant impact of personalized coaching and rebranding on professional visibility and the importance of an optimized social media strategy. This episode is a treasure trove of insights on persistence, authenticity, and strategic social media presence, all shared through Priya's inspiring story.
Welcome to the Real you Podcast. I'm your host, david Young, and this is episode number 10. This podcast discusses tapping into your potential and finding ways to be the truest version of yourself. Today, I'm joined by my friend, priya, a coach, marathoner and health and wellness expert. We will discuss her coaching, running, how she uses LinkedIn and a whole lot more. So, priya, welcome to the show and thanks so much for taking time to join me today.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much, David. Thank you so much for having me on your show. That description you just gave it's actually embarrassed me, and now I'm feeling a little intimidated.
Speaker 1:I'm like what?
Speaker 2:did he just say about me? Well, no need for that.
Speaker 1:You're doing amazing work. We've had a couple other calls in the past just like getting to know each other, and we actually talked about the podcast on one of them. So I'm so happy that you decided to officially come on so we can talk and record it and people get to hear your story. I'm fascinated by it. It's inspiring. I've loved seeing all of your growth on LinkedIn and everything that you do. So very happy that you're here and we can kind of start there if you want. Just obviously. So very happy that you're here and we can kind of start there if you want. Just obviously that's how we got connected is LinkedIn and you're one of the most consistent posters and engagers, I think, on the platform that I see. So just talk a little bit about how did you get started on LinkedIn and kind of how it's helped propel what you're doing these days.
Speaker 2:Sure, how did I get started on LinkedIn? Oh my, that took a really, really long time. I had been thinking about getting on a social platform and building my audience and building my brand because for the longest time I felt I have more to offer than just my corporate designation. And I was kind of doing it on the side say you know, friend of a friend recommends kind of thing, but I wasn't really talking about it. One I was not sure how many people would want to know or hear about it. So I said, you know, should I do it? Shouldn't I do it?
Speaker 2:I spent a lot of time just thinking about all the what ifs in my head. What if someone doesn't like it? What if I'm embarrassed? What if I say the wrong thing? What is? What is what is?
Speaker 2:But it finally got to a point where I said, you know what? I'm just going to start writing about it in my journal or whatever, whatever comes to my mind, and someday I'm going to gather the courage to post it. And I did that for almost nine months. Nine months I had content that I was just writing and writing and I didn't care. Long form, short form, hooks, no hooks, nothing, whatever just came to my mind I would write it. And then I filled up this book, this really long A4 size book. It was filled and I was like I really should get on the platform. I have no idea why I'm not doing that. Yes, so one fine day. I have no idea why I'm not doing that. And yes, so one fine day. I said, okay, it's. I'm really scared about doing this, but I'm going to pick a famous quote from a famous person, so it's not attributed to me and I'm just going to post it. I'll see how it does.
Speaker 2:And then I picked something that Steve Jobs had said and I posted it on a Friday afternoon and I got, I think, one like. And then the entire weekend I was oh, there it goes, see, nobody. Somebody else posted Steve Jobs code and they're all over the place and I don't even get like 10 likes or 10 engagements. I shouldn't be doing this. But thank God there was a weekend in between. And then I told myself you know what? I'll do this just 30 days. 30 days, I don't care what, I don't care how. We'll see what happens. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? People will laugh at me. I'll take that. It's happened too many times already.
Speaker 2:And then I did it for 30 days and it was October and I said, okay, I've already done it, 30. I'm going to do it just another 30 days and then that's it. That's it Because this is not going anywhere, but it started going somewhere. You know, the one like change to 20 likes, the 20 change to 30. I started seeing some form of traction from getting like 10 followers a week, I started getting about 45 followers a week and it happened so slowly. But then by the time, I think I hit January, my engagement was consistent and I'd done it already for four months in a row. And then it, by then it had just become a habit. I didn't know I was building it, but it had become that. And then it just, from then on, I'm just rolling. I guess I do have off days like everybody else, but yeah, I just show up and I just do it.
Speaker 1:Well, it's funny because you did a Friday afternoon news dump on your first post. I don't know if you did that intentionally, but you did the hide it on a Friday when no one's really paying attention and they're gone. They're off the platform and they're already thinking about their weekend. That was the safest Steve Jobs quote post ever and no wonder nobody saw it. Nobody was even there to see it. You got to do it Monday morning at 8am Jump right in.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that back then. I didn't know any LinkedIn strategies. I mean, I had to figure it all out much later on. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's funny, it is true. I actually wrote about that in my post today, about, you know, the fear of putting yourself out there, and I see this a lot, hear it a lot. People think you know I don't have anything to add, everything's already been said. Um, like, who am I right to say? And I think that really sells everyone short because, yeah, of course it's already all been said. Right, we can Google and YouTube literally anything and learn about so much at our fingertips. Right, but that is only that only is going to get you so far. Right, it's more than the information. It's your perspective, right? We all have these different lived experiences. You and I could do the same thing, but we're going to process it and experience it differently, based on our backgrounds right In our lives. So that's that's the sharing part. It is not that backgrounds right and our lives so that's the sharing part.
Speaker 1:It is not that the yeah, the information's roughly the same but it's how you are experiencing it, and then you share that of like how it's impacted your life or others, and then other people see that and they relate to that because, like, we're real people, we're not Google or YouTube and so it changes. And so that's what I really encourage people to do. Is, even if you're out there and you think like, ah, I could never post content or, like you said, like it'll be embarrassing or my coworkers will make fun of me or whatever, like, it goes away pretty quickly is what I found. Like once, you really, first of all, you realize that most people aren't paying that much attention anyway, but you start to get in that groove of like, okay, this is kind of fun. And you start to get in that groove of like, okay, this is kind of fun. And you start meeting people and interacting with people.
Speaker 2:I think it really changes your perspective and kind of motivates you to do more. Yeah, yeah, and you're right about that. I mean the best part about getting on a social platform LinkedIn or whatever is the kind of people you meet, you know, it brought me in touch with you. There are a bunch of other really nice people I met who are out there, kind, willing to help. You know, I would have never met them otherwise. I met this person the other day. She told me she's 55. And you know, she's a trainer. She travels all over United States training people. I'm like you're 55? She told me she has a 25-year-old daughter. I'm like I want to look like you when you're 55. I would have never met her if not for LinkedIn. She looks so pleasant, so happy, so fit for that age. I'm like, wow. I mean I know I'm not supposed to say that you look great for your age. Some people don't like that kind of compliment but, I cannot stop myself.
Speaker 2:You absolutely look stunning, and those kinds of people inspire you, right? So, yeah, you should get out there for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that same thing thing. I mean. Obviously you're in the Netherlands, I'm in the States. We don't think we could be much farther apart distance-wise, but because of the power of LinkedIn and Zoom, you can create a relationship and a connection, which is the magical part, and I love that. You said the energy because that's what I found is that meeting all these people and I've had calls with people you know all over the world it's so energizing because you just get it's like a breath of fresh air, because you meet them and they're smart and they're high achieving and they're talented and they're working towards something and it just feels good, like as a fellow human, to like transfer that energy.
Speaker 1:What kind of what moved you to start writing a lot? Because obviously a lot of your content, at least now, is, you know, health and wellness focused. Like, what did you start writing always? Did you always start writing about that or did you kind of move to that? That's obviously a passion of yours and something you care a lot about. So how did you kind of move towards, kind of the health and wellness space?
Speaker 2:I don't think I put in efforts to move into any space as such. Health and wellness is something I've been always passionate about and all that I speak about I don't know if it comes across or not in my post, but all that I speak about is from experience, is from what I've done. So when I get out there and say meditate or journal or do whatever, I'm not saying it because everybody's know everybody's talking about it. I'm saying it because I've done it. I've seen its effects, I've felt its effects. I've seen it transform my life. I've seen myself go from this overweight, grumpy, really depressed person to who I have become right now. And it all it didn't happen overnight. It took me many years, but it helped me get to this point. You know where I can say, yeah, I can get on LinkedIn and do this. Or yes, I can run a marathon. Yes, I can, you know, tone my body. Yes, I can work a full time job at whatever it is that I'm doing.
Speaker 2:So I don't think people realized and I felt that a lot my interactions, when I had my interactions with people, whether it was online or offline so many people put off health. You know I've heard so many of them saying, yeah, I'm busy with my startup right now, you know five years, and then I'm going to put all my time, I'm going to hire a personal trainer, I'm going to hit the gym. It doesn't work like that and that's the misconception that I want to change. That's the information I want to empower people with, that fitness or health or well-being is not something that comes after everything else. It's what you build on. It's not going to take away from whatever you're trying to do. You know whatever you're trying to do, whether it's to make money, whether it's to succeed at your professional job, your nine to five job, you know you want to be a podcaster, you want to be a coder, it doesn't matter. That's your.
Speaker 2:Your well being is your foundation and a lot of the reason why so many people these days across the world be it the Americas, the Asians are reporting burnout, are reporting anxiety, are reporting obesity and diabetes. None of these rates have gone down. And that's not a coincidence, right? Because we're so. We're just so used to running. We're just like running all the time and we don't get off, we don't pause, we don't think what we want because we're so busy running, we just grab what's on the way we put it in our mouth.
Speaker 2:And then we think why am I getting fat? Oh, it's just old age. Maybe you know I'm getting old. Oh, it's metabolism. It's none of that it's. It's what you think it is. You're just convincing yourself. But well being is something that's going to change your life and I really felt passionate to talk about this, you know, because I saw. I saw that nobody was paying attention to it and I wanted to bring that change. So I don't think I worked to get into the space. I was always in the space, so I just put myself out there. I had to work to bring myself out there.
Speaker 2:But I don't think I really narrowed in on what I should be talking about. It just happened.
Speaker 1:No, I love that and I think that's why your posts do so well, because I think it comes through. You know the authenticity of the post because it is your lived experience, right? So you're not just posting like, hey, I saw this on Google and I think it's a great idea. You should think about it, right, it's like I've done this and I think that comes. I think that comes across because you can only fake that kind of stuff, right for so long.
Speaker 1:And I love the message, because health and wellness is. You read a lot about it and there's obviously a lot out there, but it certainly is not a priority for a lot of people. Like you said, it typically comes well after relationships, business, work, kids. Then it comes in like a distant six or whatever. But really it should be much higher, because if you don't have that, then you can't do all those other things. That message kind of gets lost.
Speaker 1:The other thing, too, is our society. Everything is quick and instantaneous, right. So, from fast food to Netflix, all the apps, right. Everything. Food delivered to your door in 10 minutes. Amazon packages within the hour. Apps, right. Everything. Food delivered to your door in 10 minutes, amazon packages within the hour sometimes, right. I mean, it's just all this, just super. The technology has gotten so far and so fast. So I think then we think that we can put it off for five years and then we can snap our fingers and we can instantly get it back right. But but for our, our bodies are too complicated, um, to do that right, like we can't ignore it, and then be like, okay, now, now, I'm going to get in shape, now you can do it. But it takes time and it's hard to undo maybe some of the damage you did with with a. So it's always better to do like a little bit, even if it doesn't feel like a lot consistently, than it is to put it off for years or decades and then be like you know, now I'm serious about it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely no. But it's also just doing the basics right. Like when people tell me I'm thinking about starting a cold plunge challenge for 30 days for myself and then I see them, you know, eating like pizza or whatever I'm like. Yeah, the cold plunge will help, but get the basics right. You eat nutritious, nutritious food. They're going to be the right chemicals released in your brain, right. You'll feel good, the energy will be good from the good food that you eat and then you will tend to do more than whatever you're trying to do. Sorry, I just lost my train of thought. This is why I asked for the edits.
Speaker 1:No, I mean. What you're saying is true, though, because it all blends together right, so it works together. It's the food, it's the movement.
Speaker 1:You've got the mindset, whether it's meditation, journaling or just being present, just getting away from the devices, clearing your head. Right, it doesn't have to be going to the gym hiring a trainer working out two hours a day. Right, it can be if that's what you want it and there's nothing wrong with that. But most people don't have the time and aren't going to go that hardcore. But it doesn't need to be that right. Simply walking 45 minutes a day is super helpful, right, whether it's with your dog or partner or just by yourself. So it doesn't have to be super strenuous, hardcore workouts. And I think that gets lost a little bit in the simplicity which we see a lot on linkedin with business. But you can apply that to your life too. Um, again, drinking water, daily move, daily movement. You know that kind of stuff. So I think that's that's a great message. Just in, it's the little things, consistently, day after day.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to be the huge, big, whatever exactly you when, when people say you know I was working on this presentation, it was so hard, it took so much of my I just didn't realize I wasn't drinking water. Like you know, this presentation took three weeks of my time. I had to present it to the VP and like, how do you not drink water? And then you want to do a cold plunge, like that's what the internet is talking about. Right, it makes you think like, oh, go on that ultra marathon or go take that cold plunge. I'm like, no, no, you can do all of that, but get your basics right. Just hydrate, just meditate, just walk. It really does not take time and you will see, you will start feeling it and once you start feeling it, you will not go back. You will not go back to not doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Once, exactly Once, you start to see the benefits and you feel it and I've done that in my own life.
Speaker 1:I'm pretty active and I've done a bunch of racing and training, but I will go in dips and usually it's around like the winter for whatever reason weather wise. But I'll get kind of off track and I notice how much different I feel. I'm tired more quickly, just lethargic, not as motivated, and then once I get back in the habit, like, oh, I just feel so much better. Again, it could be like a 20-minute kettlebell workout. It isn't even difficult or hard, but even just mentally you're like, okay, well, I did that, and then you just feel better, right, and then that just compounds. So how did you get into the marathoning? I know you've done at least several recently. I've done one full marathon, which was over 10 years ago, and it was not a great experience. I've done one full marathon, which was over 10 years ago, and it was not a great experience. I've done three half marathons. So you're a pro compared to me. How did you get into it and how do you do so many each year?
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, how did I get into it Again? Didn't plan on getting into it. I used to race many years ago and then I stopped because there was a lot of things happening in my personal life moving from one country to another, one city to another and it was happening very frequently. So I would be moving houses like every year, and when you move to a new house, a new country, a new city, you just the two months before you move and the two months after you move is all about unsettling and settling. And then you got to figure stuff around like you know how the culture of that works, plays, build your social life. So a lot of things were happening in my personal life so I barely got enough time to do my workouts and keep my sanity intact. So, yeah, racing dropped out.
Speaker 2:And then it so happened that there was a race for kids and parents at my son's school for like three kilometers or something, and we had to raise money as charities. So for every lap you ran you would get some money. And I told my son yeah, I've done it before. You know, we're going to be winners, we're going to raise a lot of money, don't worry about it, it's going to be cool. You got like a very fit mom. It was very embarrassing. After a kilometer or so I was panting, I was walking and I was like, oh my God, I got a catch, I cannot do this anymore. And I saw all these kids, all these students like zooming past me and I'm like, damn, that hurts. So then that's when I realized how much, you know, I missed running, how much I loved running.
Speaker 2:This was, I think, 2022. And then it was the perfect time for me to get backed into it. So then I looked up and I said, okay, where is the next nearest 10k race happening? And it was here in Hague. I said, okay, that's it, that's my opportunity. I'm going to sign up for it and I'm going to do it. I'm going to run the damn 10K and then I never look back. So that's how it started in 22. And they say you can either hate running or you can love running. I think when I'm doing the races or after the race, I fall in the love running part of it. I'm not really loving it when I'm training Definitely not in.
Speaker 2:Netherlands weather Like it's still not spring here. We had a hailstorm yesterday. It's been raining for the last four days. I haven't seen the sun, so it's really not the time or it's really not the place where you can just go out there and start running. But I like what it does to me. I like how it builds discipline in me, I like the way I feel after the run and I'm I've noticed that the last 18 months, when things are not going so great in any aspect of my personal or professional life, I've begun to say I cross marathon finish lines, I am so badass, I can do anything, and that's the kind of positive self-talk it helps me do right.
Speaker 2:So I'm happy for what it does to me. I have a couple of more races lined up this year. It does to me. I have a couple of more races lined up this year and I'm thinking next year I'll go really big in the sense that I'll do the world majors, which I haven't into this year, because again, one of those things, can I do it? What if I'm not able to do it? Everybody else is so fast. Oh, my god, this one ran in two and a half hours. That one did it in three hours, but this time I'm like so what? Whether you run it in five, six, seven or three hours, it's still the same distance. In fact, if you'd run it in six hours, I'd say you're more badass. You know how much effort it takes to stay on your feet for six hours. So, regardless, right, just go out there and do it. So I'm thinking I'll go a little bit more pro next year, but it's fun, yeah um so my quick marathon story.
Speaker 1:I won't take too much time on this to do it but I've not told this before.
Speaker 1:Um, I'll tell I'll. I'll do a linkedin post one day. But so I ran a half marathon. This is 20 uh, 2013 and I didn't think it was that hard. So I thought, oh well, I'll just double my training and I'll do a full easy. And so trained and felt good about it the day of the race.
Speaker 1:It's like 40 degrees, pretty pretty driving rain, not like pouring rain, but like a pretty steady rain and chilly. And this is in like mid-October. So my mindset was not great because I was just like, of all the days, it has to be this weather. Why can't it be 55 and nice? I'm already not in the best mental space.
Speaker 1:My only goal I knew I was going to be slow. My only goal was to run all 26 too. I did not want to walk one step. I didn't care how slow it was, I wanted to run. It was my only goal. I take off running and I just never found a rhythm. I was already laboring at like three miles and I just it just wasn't happening. And so I got to mile 17 and I knew that there was a? Um a table, when I knew there was like bananas and oranges and drinks there and I thought, okay, if I can just get to that table, I'll get a banana, I'll get some energy and that'll get me through. So I did, but I was so slow getting there, it was gone. They were already out there was out.
Speaker 1:There was nobody at the table. The table was there empty, no volunteers. So my grand plan is now over and I did not recover mentally and so I got to about 20 and I quit. And I didn't quit the race, but I stopped running and started walking, which was a terrible idea, because now my legs, my hips and everything just like locked up.
Speaker 2:And then.
Speaker 1:so now I'm super depressed and I'm like well, I failed. And so I walked for like a mile and a half, so I get to like 21 and a half, and I was ready to quit the race. I did not want to finish because I felt like I was done. So my wife was there. She was about seven months pregnant with our second child. She seven months pregnant with our second child.
Speaker 1:She was there with her parents and she saw me and I was walking, and so she came over to the ropes and I was like I'm just going to quit. And she was like wait what? She was like you're almost like mile 22. She was like you're almost done. I was like, right, but I just I wanted to run. I've already started. I've just walked for like the last mile and a half. And I was like this is a complete failure. And last mile and a half. And I was like this is a complete failure. And she got right in my face and she was like you are not fucking quitting. You know how much time and effort you've put into this. Who cares if you've walked a mile and a half, nobody cares. You did too much. I'm not letting you quit. I'll go get you bars. I've got bars in my purse. I don't care what you need. You're going to stay on the course. I don't care if you walk the next four and a half miles. You're finishing this race period. And I was like oh. I was like oh yeah, oh, yeah, okay, okay, okay, um. And so I did I.
Speaker 1:The sun came out, I got some food and then so I, so I did a walk run, so I walked a mile, ran a mile to the end, and I think I ended up finishing at like five and a half hours or something like that. And so the funny part is like, many years later, when I think about it, it was like so silly that I was going to consider dropping out because I hadn't reached some arbitrary, self-imposed like limit of like I have to run. Right, who cares? No one that I've ever told that, hey, I ran a marathon. You know what? No one's ever asked me, hey, did you run the whole thing? No one, not a single person. They don't care, nobody cares. I was the only one that cared.
Speaker 1:The other takeaway that I realized is that I was way too focused on running all 26 miles instead of just running the mile that I was on. The weather was bad, it was a little chilly. My focus should have just been run one, then two and then three, and my whole mindset. I never should have been thinking about 26. It should have been one. But the whole time was like, oh well, I'm only on five and I have 21 left. I'm never gonna make it. Or now I'm at nine, I'm really struggling. I have 17.
Speaker 2:right, it was just silly anyway, so I didn't mean to hijack, but I knew you'd appreciate like that story um for all the racing that you've done um one of actually one of the reasons I never talk about my time when I talk about my marathons, because I notice on social media everyone's like I ran a marathon and I PR'd in so many minutes and so many hours and you get this impression that everybody's running. But that's not really true. If you run a race, you will see so many of them walking and so many of them you know doing the run, walk, run, walk and when you finish it, what it tells you is that you got the commitment to finish whatever you started, no matter how long that took. Of course, you're fast and really good and well-trained if you can do it in two hours and if you're Kenyan, but most other people are just normal human beings you know, that distance is really hard to do on your feet.
Speaker 2:Yes, and a lot of people are doing ultras. Yes, a lot of people are doing the Ironman. So that doesn't mean you cannot walk or you cannot do. You know, whatever you're trying to do in your marathon, you do your race. That's I saw this time in Paris marathon. Oh my God, do your race. And that's I saw this time in paris marathon. Oh my god. There was this guy who you know um, you know how it.
Speaker 2:you know chaffing happens when you run, right like cold weather, and that poor guy was so, and he was in such bad condition he was bleeding all over his skin had really come off and I, he could barely even limp right because you, even when you walk, the moment happens and your skin is rubbing against um each other and it, and I saw him finish it. I saw him limp across the whole thing and I saw him finish it. I'm like, oh my god, I don't, I really don't know what kind of things people can do on this planet. And that is that is why I never talk about my time, because I feel it's so discouraging to the slow runners, it's so discouraging to the slow runners, it's so discouraging to the people who want to walk, run or who just want to start walking. I just say do the race you know 5K 10K, whatever.
Speaker 2:just get up and do something, Doing an endurance.
Speaker 1:sport will teach you so much about yourself and it'll teach you that you can do so much more than you actually think you can no, I love that and I love the whole like conscious decision not talk about times because I'm kind of the same way like I'm not a fast runner, and then you know you see somebody that's like yeah, I did 245 and you're like I can do it, I can do a half and like 210 um so you know, you could basically finish the whole thing in the time I can do half, so good for you, um, but yeah, no, I, I totally get it.
Speaker 1:It can be discouraging and it's a metaphor for life, right, like we're all on a different. There's no timeline to our like life journey, and so if you're doing a race, it doesn't matter, like it doesn't right, there's just recap. So you did, you did three. You did three full marathons last year. I believe is that correct and you've already done. You've done one this year, or more than one I did dubai and paris full marathon.
Speaker 2:I did. I've done two half already and then I have another half in june, another half in may and june and then I'm thinking I'll break july and august for summer because I'll actually be in the states um for a holiday and I don't want to train.
Speaker 1:Then I really want to stop training for a bit and then pick it up again in the fall nice, how do you, um, how do you mix in the training, like, obviously you know you're a mom and you work? And then the content, um, like all those like your life is busy and full, like, how do you like, how do you commit and stay on those training plans, especially for, like, the full marathon training?
Speaker 2:um, I try to follow the 80 2020 rule everywhere in life, even with my training plans. So there are times when I have the energy to do the training plan but then my daughter falls sick and then I'm up the whole night and then I'm up the whole night for days together and I don't. Then I cannot follow the training plan. So life happens. I got kids. I got to deal with that. I got so many other things going on. I got to deal with that. But as long as I'm able to stick to about 80% of it, I think whether it's my workout, whether it's my training plan, whether it's eating my meals, it pretty much works. Yeah, I may not be able to finish a marathon in two and a half or three hours, but I do finish it. I do feel good about it. So that's pretty much the rule I try to follow in life for everything. It keeps me going. It's worked for me so far.
Speaker 2:The other thing I do is I'm ruthlessly boring and I think I've always been this way. My friends in college they would joke they'd be like oh, you know, priya, you know when you get married, your husband will say Can I kiss you? And you'll be like oh wait, you can do that only at 10pm. It's not the time to kiss right now. So I was that painfully boring back even then. So I just like to put everything in my life into like time slots and I like to stick to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's worked great for me so far. I'm like I am not going to stay up beyond a certain time, I am not going to party beyond a certain time, I will say yes to only so many dinner invites a month and I stick to that. Like I said, ruthlessly boring for a lot of people, but it works for me. It lets me do the things that I like, whether it's running, whether it's being a mom, whether it's creating content, and I think that's what makes sense in life. Right, as long as you can do what makes you happy and what gives you energy, you're pretty much set.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. I love that we shouldn't be doing things for other people or because we think they want us to do them.
Speaker 1:That's not a good recipe. So what might be boring, in your words it's irrelevant, right, because it's for you, it's whatever, it's what you want to do and I applaud that. So talk a little bit about. So you've kind of moved. I love that you've done a little bit of a rebrand on LinkedIn, so your new colors and branding and pictures I think it all looks great, yeah, I think. And you've kind of moved towards offering coaching. So talk a little bit about just kind of that kind of move and kind of what you're like, what your coaching is about and how you're working with clients.
Speaker 2:Okay, so here's the thing. Right, I was always offering coaching, but my branding colors and everything else on my profile page was not optimized and optimized quite poorly, if I can say that, but nobody even noticed.
Speaker 2:And this happened for a while, right, I thought it was just the norm when I would hit. I had hit, I had plateaued at about 100 followers a week and I thought this is, this is about it, right? This has been happening for six, seven, eight, nine, 10 weeks now. So this is just how it's going to grow and this is how it's going to be. But then I went. I got some pictures done, because I really thought I all the pictures on my profile were all from my selfie section on the camera, because you have kids and then you get so lost taking their pictures that you don't have good pictures of your own, and even if I do.
Speaker 2:They're not professional. So I spoke to this photographer who used to do shoots for Adidas and I said, you know, I tied up with her and I said how about you and me work together? And she said yeah, you know, it would be great. So it was really that easy. Easy, you know. The shoot was like right next door, didn't take much of my time.
Speaker 2:I got, I got a bunch of professional pictures done and then I put those pictures on Canva and then Canva said these are your brand colors and that was it. That's, that's all I did. I just went with whatever Canva gave me and I did my colors. I didn't do anything else. And then there was this person on LinkedIn, you know, who noticed that I've changed my brand colors and he said I could just help you make your LinkedIn banner better and I will not charge you for it. I said, okay, that works for me. And he just did it like overnight. He just, you know, added a dash of color here and there and he just touched up my profile and he did it for me. That's about it. So that's how the rebranding happened Just purely me playing with colors and my pictures on Canva, nothing else. But the interesting thing is, once that happened, my impressions, my follower count, the number of people who are signing up my coaching program. That changed dramatically. From averaging 100 followers a week I started averaging about 90 to 100 followers a day.
Speaker 2:The first time it happened I was like one off day, something must have happened, linkedin must have pushed something, whatever I don't care. And then it happened the next day. You know, I hit like 92 followers in one day. I know there are a lot of people who had like 500 followers a day. I'm not there yet, but then for me to go from 100 a week to 90 a day was a really big deal, and all because I worked on rebranding and changing colors and that's the thing. Right, I should have done this many, many months ago, but I said I think I just slept on it. So that's helped me get my impressions high, that's got my follow account high.
Speaker 2:And then I took a little bit of inspiration from you and I started, you know, tracking how my posts are doing and what are those posts that are getting me tractions and how different kinds of posts are performing. And now that's giving me a little bit of strategy, a little bit of direction as to how I should go the next few steps. And I don't know if you've noticed, so I'm sort of now falling into a pattern. Okay, two carousels, two images, one random quote, you know, does the job for the weekend and I always do the quote on Friday because by then I'm exhausted and I really don't have anything else to talk about. So that's how the branding happened.
Speaker 2:And coaching, like I said, I've always been into it. I was doing it offline. I was doing it even when I got on LinkedIn, just that nobody saw it. It wasn't, I hadn't done a good job of talking about it. But now more and more people are, you know, having conversations about it. I think it's it all goes to talk about why your page should really be optimized on social media.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I love it. I was looking at it yesterday. I just the there's something about the visual of the light blue and then that it's like a burgundy or a maroon I'm not sure exactly what that color is, but yeah, like it really pops against the light blue. So like that contrast is really nice because, like I was noticing, like your book, the call on the banner is really clear and then your featured section, like it's all continuous, um, very congruent, and I just, I don't know it really. It really looks nice and I don't see a lot of that color scheme.
Speaker 1:so I think whether it was just messing around on canva or whatnot like it which is which is great because canva just has, you know, so many tools, um, but it really looks nice and so like I don't think I even knew that you offered coaching prior to, like recently, um, but now it's like really, it's like really obvious um so I really that's really nice.
Speaker 1:What? So? You're doing coaching kind of what is your like? How do you have like a set like you're gonna work with someone? Do you have kind of what is your like, how do you have like a set like you're going to work with someone? Do you have kind of a set program? Do you meet with them, hear about what they're needing and then you tailor it Like how do you?
Speaker 2:like how do you approach the coaching? Definitely that way. I always always do like the first call and then I always tailor it because everybody has different needs, everybody has a different lifestyle, different activity levels, and I wish it was as straight jacket as it would make my job easy, right, if it was. Here's the formula. Go, apply it, you're all sorted. Wellbeing doesn't work that way. We all face different health issues, we all face different anxiety levels and I cannot just have one solution fits all approach. So it's always tailored. So I do a long conversation with them about what they're looking for, why they're in it and what results do they want from the program and how long are they in it and how deep are they in it. So a lot of. If you want hey, this is my problem, give me like a solution and I'm done talking to you. I could do that. You know, we could talk twice the first time, where you tell me what you're going to, what you want, and then I tailor your program, I give it to you and then we're done talking. Or I could also say, hey, I can hold your hand for the next three months and we can make changes and we can make iterations as we go along to see if this suits you, if this is sustainable for you, and then we can see how it goes after the three months. So I do it on both levels.
Speaker 2:There's nutrition coaching involved, there is fitness coaching involved and there's mindset coaching involved. So in the nutrition program, of course I tailor to you, know what you want to eat, what you feel you can never give up eating every day. And when you tell me I always have to have chocolate ice cream, then I say we cannot work together. But other than that, I try to include everything that you want to eat so that you don't fall off the wagon because it's too difficult and there's a sudden change in your taste buds and then'll say it's too, too much for me, I cannot stick with it.
Speaker 2:I like to understand what kind of lifestyle you have. You know, are you somebody with four kids, with the full-time job, who has no time to cook? Then I also have solutions for what are those meals that you can prep in a short time? Are you somebody who has a lot of time and you're just looking to get fit? Fine, we can work around that. So it definitely has to be tailor-made and I do it like I said, two approaches basis what you want. One is let's meet, talk and then never see each other again, and the other is more long-term.
Speaker 1:Nice and I feel like for something like that, the long-term would be better because you can really help them with implementation. And the one-off, like you said, you can get some ideas and tips. But if they're struggling to do it before they get to you, odds are even after a call with you and or two calls and you give them like they're probably not just going to start putting that in place, like yeah, probably, um.
Speaker 2:So I think that's where what I feel like also helps you're right about that, uh is that I ask them to track. I give them a tracker and I ask them to track the progress. And when we are in the long-term program and you know, the first 10 days they barely see any change. Uh, then the 20 days they're starting to see the change. And after 40 days, when all their friends and all their colleagues are asking them what's going on, there's a glow on your face or what's going on? You look different, you've dropped a couple of sizes.
Speaker 2:That's when their confidence peaks and that's when you know how they say success follows success or success begets success, something like that. It's so true in this case, because, one, you're feeling it and now, two, you're getting compliments for it. Like who doesn't want compliments? Right? And then they get more motivated and they're like okay. So now I'm all pumped up. How do we do more? Or what else can I do? Yeah, I know I used to work out only 20 minutes a day, but I think I can do 30 now. I figured out a way to fit in 10 more minutes. So they get more confident, they get more happy, and that energy translates to all aspects of their lives.
Speaker 1:No, I love that and I've talked to my wife about this before, but so much of like working out is sometimes geared towards like weight loss, right? So you have to like lose weight and I'm always like that's fine if that happens, but that should not be your goal.
Speaker 1:The purpose of the workouts and eating better is like how you feel. So you feel stronger, you feel more energetic. If you happen to lose some weight, awesome. But you could lose. You could actually gain weight because it's muscle and whatnot, but that's, that's fine. It's much more like, first of all, like the mental impact, like you're talking about. You now want to add 10 minutes to the workout or you feel like doing it, but it's just, it's an overall being, and I think that gets missed sometimes Like well, if I didn't lose 20 pounds in X time, then it was a failure. And it's like well, that should never have been the goal, the goal of making changes is just to impact your energy and strength and just overall well-being.
Speaker 1:So I love to hear that it's more wholesome and well-rounded, because I think that's missed sometimes.
Speaker 2:What I also like is when they come back and say you know, I didn't think it was so easy. This is yeah, I can do this. And I'm not craving the food that I used to eat before. I'm not craving chocolates anymore. This is not hard Like you make it. I love it when they say that, because they come to me with this notion of this is impossible. I've tried so many things. Nothing has worked. My mental health is gone, I look like crap and I don't know what to do about it. And then in just within two months, they're like oh my God, this is really that simple and anybody can do it. You know I can become a coach. I'm like go for it Now, you know how it works. So that's the idea to show them how it's done, and then, once you know the trick, you can do it yourself. Really, it's not complicated at all.
Speaker 1:No, I love that.
Speaker 1:So I called the podcast the Real you, and part of the genesis of that was, you know, as I've kind of moved away from my more traditional like nine to five roles and kind of doing content creation and it's kind of this new path and it's really got me thinking about, like the mask that we wear in our lives and how we show up differently Kids, partner, work, friends, family, extended family.
Speaker 1:Right, I was always kind of a different person and as I've gotten older you realize kind of how exhausting that is, and so I've tried to like shed some of those so I can just kind of be more me and more scenarios. And so I thought if I'm going to do the podcast, I always get I like to hear people's kind of thoughts on that, so I get your take on. Just you know how you're showing up like as the truest version of yourself and how you. That's obviously a constant kind of journey as we, as we move forward, but, um, I'm assuming, with the content and the running and the coaching and kind of how this has progressed, um, it's kind of helped you like move closer to like the truest version of priya I hope so too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, I I think also the truest version of Priya. I hope so too. Yeah, I think also the truest version of you. At least for me it's. It changes every five, six years or every decade, but this is probably the closest I've come to who I want to be and what I want to be. I'm in a content place. I'm in a happy place. I don't wake up every morning thinking about, oh my God, I so don't want to do this day, and that, I think, is a really big win for me and for a lot of people in our generation. If you can wake up every morning not grumbling, not feeling grumpy, not looking forward to your day, there you go, you have your formula for success, and I think that's the definition we need to change. It's not anything material that you want or you're trying to buy. Yeah, I think it's, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:No, I love that. I had not really experienced that myself in my traditional corporate jobs. I mean, there were some that I liked and I didn't mind as much, so I didn't dread them. But there were certainly a number that I did that I really didn't enjoy and I wasn't good at and I didn't want to do them and it was just pure dread from the time you wake up to when it's over. But it didn't really even go away when it was over because you knew you had to go back in 12 hours anyway or 14 hours, whatever the math is.
Speaker 1:But, um, so I love that and I hope more people can experience, like, what it's like to get up and like look forward to, like this is fun, this is engaging, this I'm growing, I'm learning, I'm energized, I'm meeting people, I'm, I'm making a difference. Um, you know that kind of stuff. So I I love that and I think you're doing a great job and I think you're you've been one of the most, like I said, consistent, just authentic people that I've come across. You know, in my last kind of 10 months on LinkedIn. So, as we kind of wrap up here, tell people you know how they can find you, what website or your profile, or what's the best ways. If they want to reach out to you and learn more, how would they go about that?
Speaker 2:Well, right now I'm only on LinkedIn. I am building my website and I'm hoping that should be out soon. On LinkedIn you will not find me with Priya S. You'll probably find a lot of Priyas with that name, but I think on LinkedIn I am Priyamvada S, so that's P-R-I-Y-A-M-V-A-D-A. Um just means in Sanskrit someone who speaks very sweet, and I think that's very evident from this podcast, and that's the only place I am on right now. Um, I don't think I'll be branching out into other social platforms anytime soon. This is overwhelming enough on most days and I'm happy it's getting me or it's letting me do what I want to do in life. So, yes, you can find me on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1:Love it. Well, you can always repurpose, right? You can take your LinkedIn and you can just throw it over on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook and then it's just one piece of content for five outlets, right?
Speaker 2:But you got to do the same thing, right, even, you got to get on other social platforms and then engage with the other creators and make your profile pop on everybody else's you know comment page, which I'm doing right now here pretty consistently, and I think, uh, yeah, I'll stick with it for now nice.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what they always say is you know, build kind of build one pick, doesn't matter which one, whatever you you know are partial to go all in there, really build that up and then at a certain point, you know, then you can tack on another one, but I'm the same way. I don't. I don't do anything else, no other social media besides LinkedIn, but this is great. Thank you so much for your time and insight. Really enjoyed the conversation, but this is great. Thank you so much for your time and insight. I really enjoyed the conversation. Again, hope people reach out. What you're doing is amazing, it's inspiring and I really appreciate your insight and time today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had a great time too. David, Thanks for having me on your show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no problem.