Curiosity? Not so conventional ! How do you do it? Revisiting the Maverick Formula

New beginnings are exciting and also the perfect time to pause and reflect and revisit experiences and learnings from years gone by. Join me on this podcast as I revisit the Maverick formula and the core elements and why going backwards is important to go forward. 

Transcript

Curiosity, not so conventional, how do you do it? Revisiting the Maverick Formula 

Hello Fellow Mavericks, wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

As we begin our fifth anniversary year, it’s a good time to reflect and to share what’s coming ahead. We started the podcast series as a family to share our life experiences and learnings as we navigate the journey of life.  Over the past five years, Sanjana and I have loved bringing these to you. Myself, Ajey as your narrator and host and Sanjana as the content creator and writer. We’ve brainstormed and dug through our memory banks together with our daughters, Avantika and Niharika, agreeing as a family to share our personal moments and experiences and we’re grateful for the support and feedback from you, our listeners. 

Looking ahead, we assure you of continuing the Ordinary Maverick journey. We plan to add some video content, expand to additional visual and audio platforms, and have a season of guest speakers. 

We are excited and looking forward to the year ahead and hope you share our excitement too! If you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet, please do so, and you’ll not miss another episode.

What better way to look forward than to go backward? Hmmm, confused? You know often times, we are so caught up in the everyday rut and urgency to complete tasks that we miss hitting the pause button and taking time to reflect. We are constantly growing, evolving. Nothing is static in life. 

Recently, I put up a bird feeder in my garden. Each day, we would look out for the birds to stop by but days passed and there was nothing. Well, patience does pay off. The birds did start coming and to our delight, the hummingbirds loved the feeder. Each time, I see a hummingbird stop by the feeder, I marvel at the speed of its flapping wings. Do you know their range of speeds? In normal flight, the hummingbirds typically beat their wings 50-75 times per second….yes, you heard that right…per second. And while hovering, the flapping is 10-80 times per second. Wow! Pretty amazing. I can vouch for that as see these tiny, beautiful birds flapping furiously each day in our garden. When I say tiny..means really tiny…just about the size of an adult thumb…

Just like the hummingbird, there’s constant movement in our life. And we are absorbing, growing, learning through it all. Am sure you’ve had the thought while looking at old pictures or perhaps reading something you’ve written a few years back….that couldn’t have been me! Sometimes we say that with amusement, laughing at our younger self for some silliness and sometimes we say that with surprise or with thoughtfulness as we are a few years wiser, and our experiences have changed us. 

Given this constant evolution, it’s imperative to find time to pause, reflect and revisit perhaps your thinking, your plans and see if they still hold true or need tweaking.

In that vein, we revisited the Maverick formula, central to our podcast. But before I dive in, let me share some statistics. We’ve grown and built a following, close to 15000 strong, spread across 586 cities located in 72 countries. We didn’t quite know what to expect when we started the podcast and looking at these stats makes us proud and most importantly, gives us the impetus to keep going!. 

In revisiting the Maverick formula, it’s important to go back to the very beginning. Often times when we share our journey of life, our experiences, each of us as individuals and also as a family are often asked, ‘How did YOU do it? How do you all as a family do it? And a lot of curiosity on how we’ve lived our life, the varied experiences we share, the strong bond that we demonstrate and the ‘not so conventional’ journey we’re on plus the challenges we’ve faced.  And what happens when you’re asked something often enough, well, one thinks…..and reflects. And that’s what we did!

We all start off in life wanting the simple things, a family, job, house, good health, friends, right? Well, Sanjana and I were no different. We went ahead and did just that….and today I am grateful and humbled by all the support and opportunities that came my way in this journey of life.

So, when the question comes on how did I do it, I wonder firstly why am I asked this question and two, yes, how did I do it? Well, on the first one, I think it’s that enigmatic, multidimensional word, Happiness that comes to mind. We do come across as a happy family, as a happy couple and overall happy individuals. Although that’s not always the case. How could it be? We are like everyone else with our fair share of challenges, grief, sadness and stresses. But while there are many challenges, there are also many things that give us hope, that give me hope and strengthen our optimism in this world and life.  

And that’s where the Maverick formula comes in.  Many a time, I have started from scratch, we as a family have had to push ourselves and keep the spirits up when situations and events made it seem almost impossible and have had to pick up and bounce back again.  Life has it’s strange ways and often when one is going through a crisis or a life changing event, good or bad, one doesn’t quite think and analyze. You just do it. Do what’s required. But when you think back, a pattern emerges, often life is a tapestry stitched together with moments. And it’s THE moment that counts. 

Not to be dramatic…but it often is ‘that moment’. The decision-making point, the point that changes your life course. Think about it, pause for a moment, and reflect on a time when you had to take a decision, and I mean, a key one, possibly the choice of career, life partner, you know the major turning points in one’s life – and how that choice affected your life.

That choice affects our wellbeing, contributes to our happiness, joy or sorrow, regret, whatever the case might be.

So that’s where the Maverick formula comes in. It has 3 core elements, one, ‘Go with your Gut’; two, Be true and; Three, Fall Forward. 

5 years into the conceptualization of the formula and we do believe all the elements still hold strong. We do have some tips on applying the formula and each of the three elements and will share one of them soon and more during the year. 

Now let’s try and understand these elements. What   and reflect on when one has to take a decision, or when there are choices in front of you and you need to decide. Let’s start with something simple, imagine, you’re hungry and you pause and think, ‘what should I eat?’…for sure, an image pops in your mind…and that could be something you’re craving for, and if you think about it, its generally something your body is telling you it needs…eg, a cool drink, a fruit, some protein etc. But this is simple stuff. Let’s look at a time when you were faced with a major decision, like a career move, choosing your life partner. Now, remember your gut feeling? The immediate thought that came in your mind, the yes or the no. And think whether you went with your gut feeling….and how that turned out. Give it a thought and you’ll notice that the decisions taken as per your gut feeling always turn out RIGHT!. So, yes, going with your gut is critical. And then comes the second element, Be true. Now this one is important, here comes the mindfulness, the inner listening and once you’ve identified your gut feeling, being true and following through. Not giving up, not getting influenced by external factors but being true to your gut feeling, your instinct. Being true to your decisions and your chosen path.

And then the third and final element, Fall forward. Now what does that mean? It means always and I mean always, moving forward…moving period. Yes, one can be flexible, yes, one can make changes, but always go forward, fall forward. Never look back. Unless it’s to reflect and learn. Never to regret.  It’s something I have lived by in my life and what we as a family strongly believe and try and practice in our lives.

Now let’s share some tips on how one applies the Maverick formula.

Here’s one that works for me and for us as a family. Visualization. Picturing yourself, your family and walking yourself visually through the consequences of any decision you’re faced with. Let me give you an example, we’ve collectively moved 28 times in the last 30 years of our marriage. Yes, you heard it right..28 times. And this is between continents, cities, different parts of the world. And believe me, when an opportunity comes up for a potential move, one of the first things we do is visualize…can we see ourselves living in that country, that city, a potential house. And in that visualization, are we happy? The answer comes naturally and its easy to take a decision. 

As we start the 25th year of the 21st century, this is the perfect time to think back and see how you relate to the Maverick formula, remember, go with your gut, be true and fall forward. 

Write your comments, share your feedback at ‘theordinarymaverick@gmail.com’ and follow me on Instagram #theordinarymaverick.  I love hearing from you. This is Ajey, signing off and wishing you have an amazing rest of the year and kickstart the new year doing what makes you happy! Keep well. 

This podcast series was put together as a team effort from the Bhardwaj family.  Concept, design, title, researchers and reviewers: Ajey, Sanjana, Avantika and Niharika Bhardwaj; Script– Sanjana; Cover design – Niharika. All rights reserved.