(Nominated in the category of English Non- Fiction for the REC-VoW Book Awards, 2019)
Excerpts from the interview with Preet Sandhu:
By Akshyata Ray
Your book is inspirational, and is really motivational for any woman trying to make something of herself in the world today. What are the things that you do to keep yourself mentally fit to be able to inspire so many others?
My aspirations, my father’s ideas, my passion to live life by standing out from the crowd always motivate me to work hard and work more than the regular person. If a normal person works for 8 hours a day, I work 12 hours, exerting to achieve my ambitions. To keep myself mentally fit, I never put myself in a position wherein I have to choose between my ambitions and family. I prioritise my schedule in a way where I give an hour daily to my son and 2 hours to my husband. I talk to my loved ones on the phone. Being an introvert, I do not have many people in my life. However, the most important people in my life give me the mental peace and energy to keep my spirits high. My belief is that everything has its own place, work has its own importance and family is significant in itself, so try to keep oneself balanced always, especially when it comes to the important aspects of life.
What was the process of writing ‘A Woman Unparalleled’ like for you? How long did it take? Was it cathartic?
I completed ‘A Woman Unparalleled’ in one year. As a first time author, I did not follow any professional writer or the ideal writing process. The book brought out a very candid version of my thoughts. During my entrepreneurial journey, whatever the challenges I faced emotionally and mentally, I did not give up, in fact I found reasons behind every challenge and tried to fight them. Facing every challenge I became successful in defeating it. This book gave me a lot of clarity about the beliefs of life. We all carry values, beliefs from our family and societal dogmas. While writing this book, I got the transparent and clear picture of every belief. I will explain this with a small example. The girls who were brought up in the 80’s and 90’s carry the belief that girls are not liked when they talk a lot or when they dominate. However, after writing this book and during my entrepreneurial journey, I have learnt that a girl too is a human and every human has the right to express their opinions and carry their own attitude. Gender takes a back seat – the first priority is to put your opinion across the table. These are some of the learnings I write about in this book.
‘A Woman Unparalleled’ talks about three paths of life – Identification, Realisation and Implication. How did you draw up this theory, and who are the self-motivation guides that have inspired you on this journey?
I haven’t followed anyone yet. I do agree somewhere with Buddha’s beliefs but do not follow anyone. The theory of identification, realisation and implication is drawn by me out of my experiences. I identified my challenges, complications, then realised from where they had been seeded, rooted and watered and then implemented my tactics to beat them. It is a very generic process for anyone to beat their challenges. We do make things and processes complicated by applying others’ theories. However, I do believe that everyone has a unique life and that is how they have to dig out the unique theory for themselves to live the process of their life.
Your name is up there amongst the giants of social media and the likes of Neil Patel. How did you start social media influencing? How did you climb up that ladder with such speed?
I just followed my learnings and decided to share with people. The thoughts are very real time and people resonate with them. I think presenting your real self is the ladder you need to climb to reach where you want.
Preet Sandhu is an Entrepreneur, Author and Motivational Speaker. With more than 11 years of entrepreneurship experience in the education industry, the term she mostly likes to associate herself with is that of being an “entrepreneur”. Not because the entrepreneurial culture is currently in trend but the challenges it comes with and the person it has made her today.
For the complete interview, log onto www.valleyofwords.org
