Today I had a life moment worth sharing with y’all. Have you ever thought of going back to your school and share your career journey and experiences? To connect with future students who are ready to shape their own dreams. I just got this chance to connect with students and teachers from 20 years ago. Time does fly…
The video is a mini 10min version of a 1 hour talk I gave today at Bhavans Chevayur, Calicut for 12th grade students. Thank you Lakshmi miss and Thara miss for this lovely time together. And thanks Reading Room Calicut for this opportunity.
I was trying to figure what what would be meaningful for those who are searching for their dreams. And share my journey how I found my dream career as a mentor today.
I did what I do best - I took inspiration from all the life forces that inspired me. I read Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture to channel his thinking and wisdom.
Walking around the school definitely felt like time stopped. Like I was the 12th grade student Computer Science student, ready to go into engineering. Actually I forgot to mention that I wanted to be an architect. I didn’t get a good rank for the Architecture exam and so BTech in Information Technology became my path of choice. I was lucky to have a few of my school friends join the same university and it was just like our good old school days.
It was a true blessing to see my teachers and trust me they all look the same. 20 years passed and they haven’t changed at all. This is a moment in my book of happiness indeed.
This was the auditorium - we had about 120 students and teachers join us. If my memory serves right, we didn’t have this auditorium in 2002. We were the first batch and it’s great to see the progress and growth for our dear school Bhavans.
20 years Flashback
Today I had an amazing opportunity to go back after 20 years to my school Bhavans and I wanted to share what I shared with all of the 12th grade students and teachers. I was told to expect 120 students and I hope I was able to inspire at least one student.
21 reflections on my career and life journey
As part of my journey, I have three core values - inspire, influence and impact.
Inspire is all about building that trust and credibility with your team members as well as with the community.
Influence is about extreme ownership, owning the good the bad and the ugly.
Impact is not just about the results. It's about the relationships that you're building as you navigate through your career.
In the past few years, what’s top of mind for me are stress and anxiety, mindfulness and essentialism, diversity and belonging. Taking a leap into the unknown, I self-published books on my journey - A Broken Teacup, Fearless: Be an authentic leader you'll follow and this week on July 21, I’m self-publishing A book is born: Guide to self-publishing.
My career journey has ranged from different startups in B2B Technology SaaS to Fortune 500 companies. I'm a continuous learner for life, a student for life and blessed with my education to be where I am today.
It all started with one step at a time, one path going forward and community has been a big part of helping me find myself and also discover who I really am.
Product Marketing → Leadership
As a product marketer I get the question: What is product marketing? In simple terms, it's helping companies and teams define messaging and positioning for the product, how to launch a product to market, how to think about your target audience (aka buyer persona) and keep a pulse on the market and competitive intelligence.
As part of my product marketing experience, I also got a chance to be a leader: from leading teams at Dell Boomi and Lenovo SSG and I'm always grateful for that. Leadership is a privilege - to bring the best in each other. It helped me focus on what truly matters - people and relationships.
Let's dive in.
21 reflections
When I had this chance to prepare for the talk I took inspiration from Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. What this book allowed me to think of is - what's most important to me and how can I help the students of today shape their future. When they look back in 20 years from now, what would matter to them.
Time is your biggest wealth - Think about where you're spending your time and are you spending time on what really matters. Money comes and goes, time only moves forward. Make every second count.
Do what you love - If you've heard the concept of ikigai: it's finding what that meaningful work is where it's not work for you but something that you are truly passionate about. For me that is mentoring. I exist in this world (aka my purpose) to help and serve mindful folks to be their best selves and always be true and authentic to themselves. You can create a facade outside to meet society norms, but you cannot fool yourself for too long.
Define success on your own terms - After several opportunities, I reached a career where I'm happy and enjoy. You don't have to have everything figured out now. When I asked my sister, she gave the right advice: Everyone gets to their right place in their own way, so no need to figure it all out, if you haven't decided on your path today. Find things that interest you and talk to people in different careers to learn about the good and the bad. So, you'll know what to really expect when you pursue that career path.
Give back to the community - Contribute to the common good. It's always the best thing that you can do.
Always know that the universe has your back. Karma: when you think of it, do good and good happens to you is very true.
There is no job that's beneath you. Every job prepares you for the next one so be always ready to take on whatever opportunity is out there. You will be amazed to see how it shapes you to be the one you were always meant to be.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci. It's very true -find simple ways to solve complex problems and simplify your own life. Materialistic things don't really matter anymore. I took the concept to heart and simplified my name from 27 characters to 11 when I got my US citizenship (Divya Anand Thattandi Manickam → Div Manickam).
Gratitude is the most powerful thing, that we can do for each other and for ourselves. It’s definitely a lost art - thank you. So, I extend a heartfelt gratitude to all my teachers from the past to today and in the future who continue to shape who I am and who I will be.
The best shortcut is to work hard. Practice every day on things that matter to you and you'll finally see the compound interest in what ever you do. A simple example: I wanted to share my travel photos and started to post in Google Maps as a Local Guide in 2016 and today it is a habit that I continue whereever I go. And recently crossed 200 million views in 5years. That’s the best example of compound interest I have in life.
Always ask the question: what's the worst thing that can happen? We had some fun today talking about this and actually had one of the students come up on stage. Step back and observe your feelings because it's important to pay
attention to them. We are our own worst critic. Trust me: the worst things never happen and always be prepared for whatever may come. It’s life!
Aim for 100 rejections - experience is what we make of it. When we apply for
college or the first job, be ready for those one hundred rejections. That way you won't feel as bad when you get those first few. Always ask why that happened and don't let yourself down, because there's always a path forward.
Treat the disease, not the symptom. Stress and anxiety is real. Burnout is
real. If we don't pay attention to what our body is telling us and the signs, it'll be very difficult for us to move forward so definitely pay attention to it. I highly recommend the book Into the magic shop and the Yale course on the Science of well-being to help you better understand.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can.
Measure yourself by not what you have, but by what you could have accomplished with your ability - John Wooden
Don't obsess over what people think - I realize that when I stopped comparing to others, this is the happiest that you can be. So practice essentialism and be your authentic self always.
Walt Disney: If you can dream it, you can do it. This is where I was
passionate about personal OKRs defining that one objective that matters to me: which is to live life to the fullest with focus and clarity.
Sleep well before your exam or interview - it sounds easy but trust me, as you grow, you'll have to make choices. Never compromise on your sleep. It has future effects on your health.
Eat mindfully: When you think about balanced nutrition, we have taken food for granted today. There is a concept called the balanced plate where you have 1/2 the plate with veggies, 1/4th the plate is carbs and 1/4th is protein. Pay attention to what you eat and eat mindfully.
Walk to remember: Thich Naht Hanh had shared in one of his books: when you wash the dishes, wash the dishes. When you walk, pay attention to your
surroundings: nature and the birds.
Random act of kindness: Maya Angelou shared this idea from Anne Herbert, to practice random acts of kindness every day.
Did you reach out to somebody to say Hi? Did you make someone smile?
All of these are small random acts of kindness that will make someone’s day a little better. It’s totally worth it.
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou
There are three skills for your lifetime of growth and I'm a student forever - curiosity, empathy and openness.
Curiosity - Like an alchemist, find the magic in serendipity and every day will be a new day.
Empathy - Put yourself in other person's shoes and be curious, ask why you feel differently.
Openness - We need to work together to bring the best in each other and be open to new ideas and perspectives.
And these are my 21 reflections for you. I heard that we are the average of five people that we are with. So make sure those five people definitely count and be a student forever.
You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. - C.S.Lewis
The power is yours to make this happen. You got this.
I recently read a book called Collaborative intelligence by Dawna Markova, where she talks about a shift from market share to mind share. Where it's no more about the hierarchy and the power, it's a new world with a focus on influence and how you can actually make an impact.
Another book that inspired me recently is the Renaissance Soul: where you find different roles based on what interests you. From Benjamin Franklin to Einstein to Mozart, they had varied passions and this served them in their endeavors. I could be myself as a Renaissance soul - I am not just one thing. I always struggle when folks ask: What do you do? I am and do many things - the top 3 today being as a mentor, author and explorer. Explorer is my wild card from traveling to photography to foodie to teaching and everything in between :)
And these are the 21 books that definitely changed my life. So, I encourage all of you to find the books that can change your life. I was not a book reader before until two years ago so, so go on a book reading adventure and find what it is that matters to you - those books will be your guiding light on your path ahead.
Thank you so much for your time. Here is the pdf and youtube video for reference.
Join us at the Reading Room Calicut, a volunteer-run community library with books for kids and adults and a study area for students. Come stop by to read a book or donate books!
Have a wonderful day and I would love to hear from you. Take care!
Career and Life Journey - 21 Reflections