Achievements

I never really stopped to think about how much I have accomplished in life, until I started compiling the content for this page! Took me a long time, yes... almost a month, but finally, it's done. And, it turns out that I have quite a lot of feathers in my cap, of a variety of different hues, sizes and textures!

I chose to go with a more elegant kind of hat for the header image, but were my cap real, it'd be more like those conical birthday caps that we grew up with – the slightly wider ones that were "exclusive" for the birthday girl/boy, and were covered ALL OVER with colorful feathers. Do you remember those? 😀

Well, here are the "feathers" that I COULD find and collect during my recent (and deliberate) walk down the memory lane. It is possible that some more may still be buried under the "sands of time". I will add them to this list as and when I uncover them.

Feathers In My Cap

• (Starting with a "black" feather...) I lost my mother just 10 days after turning 19, totally unexpectedly, but instead of falling apart inconsolably, the very next day after her death, I was not only taking care of my own family (father & younger sister), but also a whole bunch of guests, including few house guests, who, being unused to Kanpur winters, were finding it difficult to even come out of the blankets & quilts!
  
  
• I am the first girl in my family to take up an outstation job (that I got without “applying” any “source”) and go stay on my own in a big city. In fact, I’m even the first girl in my family to have traveled on my own.
  
  
• I am also the first girl, not just in my family, but in my entire circle of acquaintance, to have actually rode in the front seat of a truck, while transporting all my belongings to a new residence in Delhi! LOL! Even my Dad doesn't have THAT bragging right!
  
  
• AND, I am the first girl in the family to independently set up a brick-n-mortar retail business, and see it through its end-to-end development, i.e. conceptualization, implementation, inventory selection, supplier sourcing & management, customer acquisition & retention, planning & forecasting, sales & marketing, accounting & cash-flow management, product development and, of course, business development.
  
  
• I have sold custom handmade DIY pieces, as well as made-to-order digital art-work at my store. And yes, I've also designed and sold my own custom-made, exclusive, gift packs for kids.
  
  
• I managed to keep the above retail business not only afloat, but, IN-PROFIT as well, in a market where new businesses would open and close almost every year!
  
  
• So yes, that would make me a member of an elite group of probably less than 1% of the FEMALE population of the world, comprising of women entrepreneurs.
  
  
• And, I am among the maybe less than 0.1% tax-filing population of the world, who is able to do their taxes and file their Income Tax returns on their own. For that matter, even UNDERSTAND the lengthy, complicated language of the tax rules and laws!
  
  
• I am among the perhaps less than 0.1% computer-using population of the world, who has an international IT certification (the Sun Certification in Java Programming).
  
  
• I’m also in a very niche group of probably 0.1% computer-using population of the world, who can assemble a desktop computer on their own, with their own custom configuration, buying all the components separately in the open market.
  
  
• At the same time, I am likely in a select group of maybe less than 0.01% population of the world who can swap the values of two variables without using a third variable.
  
  
• I have managed to regain full mobility of my arm after an injury, through 4 months of extensive physiotherapy, at an age when (apparently!) females are not able to heal from such an injury, as disclosed by my physiotherapist AFTER I had already recovered 95%, AND just before he was supposedly going to share my case in a review meeting with other doctors!
  
  
• During my stint as a Quality Compliance Analyst in the BPO Sector, I have successfully led a team-size of about 35-40 Technical Support Representatives (TSRs) from a Monthly Quality Benchmark of about 82% to over 96%, in a period of just THREE months.
  
  
• As a TSR at this place (before moving into Quality) –
  • I consistently maintained my own CSAT, FTR, CARE and AHT scores (various client SLAs) in green (“ACCEPTABLE”) or blue (“BEYOND ACCEPTABLE”).
    
  • Was hand-picked by my Team Lead for analyzing and improving the Team FTR scores; drove the average monthly Team FTR from 68% to 84% in just TWO months.
    
  • Was also selected in a three-member CSAT training team for the ENTIRE process (from about 400 TSRs!), to assist in the creation of the training content.
    
  • Was among the select few winners of the limited-time, process-level, "Customer Experience" Championship.
  
  
• I have also won prizes in extra-curricular activities at this place, such as –
  • a Rangoli competition held during Diwali, in which I participated jointly with another girl from my team and we won the First Prize, and
    
  • a Fancy Head-dress competition, in which also, I won the First Prize, wearing a handmade floral head crown (Haku / Lei Po'o) of artificial yellow carnations!
    
  
  
• When I gave my resignation at this place, even the Process VP, who was four levels senior to me (TL > Manager > AVP > VP), stopped by to ask me if there was any possible way to make me stay. I was pleasantly surprised that he even knew my name!
  
  
• During my stint as a Writer/Editor, I have written business website content, SEO web content, blog posts, directory articles, reviews, tutorials and emailers; on topics ranging from health & wellness, food & travel, lifestyle & entertainment, happiness & motivation, finance & sports, consumer electronics & automobiles, technical, and IT (including software, ecommerce, Internet Marketing, and even Big Data).
  
  
• I have dabbled in Ghost writing, Freelance writing, Creative writing, and Copywriting.
  
  
• I have written sponsored content for brands like Zee, Airtel, Dabur, Ferns & Petals, Housing.com, AskMe.com, Ambi-pur, TRESemmé and CupoNation.
  
  
• That would probably make me a part of less than 0.01% population of the world that consists of professional writers (scaling up the statistics mentioned in this article, GLOBALLY).
  
  
• I have written and self-published an ebook on Amazon Kindle during my previous blogging stint, (and actually SOLD some copies too!) which would then make me a member of an elite group of probably around 0.001% population of the world, comprising of authors.
  
  
• I’ve been published in one of the leading print journals of India in the field of alternative healing – Life Positive. Also got published in various other online journals, like chillibreeze, FriedEye and 4indianwoman (the latter, in fact, being a paid column).
  
  
• I have successfully created and run a variety feature online magazine, and managed to achieve a Google page rank of 1 for it, in just FOUR months. (This was, in fact, shortly before Google PR was discontinued.)
  
  
• I have also seen my no-niche and extremely diverse personal blog grow from exactly 6 readers to over a couple of hundred regular followers and thousands of occasional visitors from all parts of the world, boasting of over 5,000 monthly page views and a Google page rank of 3.
  
  
• And, despite having just a handful of food-related posts on that old blog, I managed to get my Microwave Eggless Chocolate Cake recipe rank on the first page in Google SERP, right next to the recipes of Tarla Dalal and Sanjeev Kapoor!
  
  
• I have successfully completed month-long daily-blogging challenges (i.e. one new blog post daily for the entire month) on my old blog, TWELVE times, out of which, four were in CONSECUTIVE months (Apr 2013 - Jul 2013). In other words, 122-days long streak of daily blogging!
  
  
• I have won several prompt-based blogging challenges and other blogging contests on my old blog. (Panasonic hair-straightener, FriedEye T-shirt, Gold BATOM, BlogAdda WOW…)
  
  
• I’ve written three HIT comedy skits so far, directed two of them, and even acted in one of them, which, by the way, won the FIRST prize in the talent-show contest for which it was prepared.
  
  
• I was a member of my School English Choir (as well as my House English Choir) throughout my middle and senior school, even though I do not have any professional training in singing, nor any serious interest/inclination in it!
  
  
• I was also the undisputed "dumb charades queen" of my entire batch, in my final year of school.
  
  
• In class 11^th, when I had opted for the batik and tie-n-dye extracurricular activity, the quality of my work was apparently so good that my teacher mistakenly thought I’d BOUGHT those bedsheets, scarves and stoles from the market! 🤦😂
  
  
• I have won the third prize in a school-level painting competition organized by Rotomac, when I was in class ninth, again without any kind of professional training in art.
  
  
• I have, on more than one occasion, been selected to represent my house in elocutions, poetry recitals and debates in school.

Such a diverse portfolio of achievements…
- In Small Business Entrepreneurship (Retail)
- In Writing/Editing, Blogging & SEO
- In Web Designing & Visual Storytelling
- In the BPO/ITeS sector

And I’m also:
- A professional writer and author
- With a SCJP and other IT Programming/Development skills
- Versatile in art & craft, embroidery & needlework, batik & tie-n-dye, singing, and play-writing

Now which elite percentile group would THAT put me in?
0.0001%?
Even smaller?
🤔

By the way, that is not all.

I have also survived and recovered from long-term psychological narcissistic abuse (you can read more about Narcissistic Personality Disorder here, here, and here, AND you can read about the debilitating effects of narcissistic abuse here, here, and here) AND I still managed to keep my integrity, conscience and compassion intact, even after the experience!

In fact, the trauma actually helped me GROW exponentially at the spiritual plane, through Reiki, Chakra healing, Nichiren Buddhism, Bhagavad Gita, and Neuro Linguistic Programming.

And no... I’m not even going to think about how FEW people there might be in the world, with this kind of diverse knowledge-base and understanding, of the ancient healing wisdom of the East, AND the more recent research of the West into the human mind and psychology, AND ALSO more than one religious philosophies of the world!

. . .

So this has been my journey so far. At least the portion of it that I felt comfortable enough posting here. And, more importantly, the portion of it that I was able to REMEMBER so far!

And what was the purpose of posting it here at all?

Well, it's easy to get caught up in the challenges of the moment and all your goals for the future, and forget how far you've already traveled, but remembering your journey gives you the confidence and strength to keep going when the going gets tough, doesn't it?

Also, something that I only recently realized... acknowledging, appreciating and even CELEBRATING my accomplishments and all my strengths and abilities is actually just another form of expressing my GRATITUDE for all the gifts bestowed upon me by the benevolent Universe.

So, what has YOUR journey been so far? How much of it do you remember? How long will it take you to pen down your accomplishments till now? Will you be able to do it easily, or will your mind procrastinate on it the way mine did?

Let me know you visited me. Leave a comment!