5 rules to break this 2021

The table was set for 2020. But covid yanked the cloth from under, and what was neatly placed in order was up in the air, and set to crash. However, while the advent of the pandemic was a nightmare to all of us, it did force each of us in our own best capabilities to learn something-be it from our surroundings, the people we live with, the way we interacted or the simple things that made our day special. In the process of getting through each day and reminiscing about my time pre lockdown, I decided to do one thing every day that taught me something, and it all began with breaking the rules…

Unlearn to learn: Start from the scratch and learn everything all over again. When we’re experts in a field, we see limited options, and because we think we know best, we become blind to many possibilities. As a result, our creativity suffers. How do we constantly challenge our techniques or formulas given the most limiting situations we are in. If you are a home-maker with limited supply or a businessman with limited resources, what would you do differently than what you have been doing?

Planning is everything: Many a time, there have been days when I have just got lazy. All I would do is binge watch Netflix, and then end up feeling completely useless by the end of the day. It was much later that I realised the value of time we had and how much could have been achieved then. Until I decided to break my routine and do a 21-day project, where everyday I would put up something of value on social media. The question to really ask here is- How do we set small goals every day that makes us feel more satisfied and accomplished, but also takes us one step closer to our larger goals.

Try and fail to try again: The herd mentality on social media of perfecting our Dalgona coffee to baking our own desserts made me realise that we are all capable of achieving whatever we want, only if we tried. I did not have the time or patience earlier, but today we have unlimited access to information on the tap of our fingers. It is OK to fail, we sometimes have to deal with failure before finding success. How do we build a successful mindset to withstand those many failures.

Less is more: I have realised that with lockdown and not being able to get things from the market had a positive side too. We all had to learn to cook with fewer ingredients, make a craft from any waste we found around the house, go back to playing the age-old board games. We learned to connect without having to meet. We worked without having to travel, and above all we learned to enjoy the simplicity of life. How do we embrace and make every moment worthwhile given any situation we are in.

Be ready to shift your mindset: It is important to transform our mind to consciously understand our precedents and rules. We are the rule makers and rule breakers. The fear of failure, lack of attention to identify solutions and accepting our situation are often the reasons stopping us for taking big bold steps or doing something different. Cure.Fit, the fitness brand, redefined the rules of exercising during the lockdown. By having live classes with a million people working out together and celebrities training them, fitness was no more about just going to the gym. How do consciously work towards changing our perspective and redefining our own rules that can help us overcome our own barriers?