Reflections on Amal Totkay
By: Isha Sameen
Tags: Amal Totkay, Habits, Reflections, Growth Mindset

As a Pakistani, we all can relate to the word ‘Totkay’ and ‘Jugaad’. Amal shared amazing totkas for a growth mindset which are easy to understand and implement in our daily life. Lets take a short overview of all the tips one by one:

Self-Talk:

We all have some sort of conversations going through our minds. These conversations either make us happy or tired but they have a significant impact on our goals and aspirations.

“The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10 thousand other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe.” Michio Kaku

Amal gave us a chance to reflect on the most important perspective which affects our mindset. When we talk to ourselves with positivity, we become productive and tasks become way more easy for us. However, when we constantly demotivate ourselves, the same task becomes hectic. While I focused on this totka, I also came to realize that only positive self-talk is not enough and we need to have a realistic and positive self-talk as this will help us have a growth mindset and solve our problems efficiently. So, Instead of saying, “I am amazing and I can learn a whole book in one day”, try saying, “ I am amazing and I will give myself the whole week to finish the book”. As un realistic self-talk can also hinder our productivity.

Get out of your comfort zone:

This is the most amazing tip of all the totkas, since we often try to stay in our comfort zone without realizing that it actually shows a fixed mindset. Plants really inspire me when it comes to moving out of the comfort zone. The effort a small seed put to grow into sapling despite gravity is so amazing.

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Growth doesn’t come from sitting idly in a comfort zone. The first step toward adopting a growth mindset is to challenge over selves with difficult situations. When we read about successful people, this is the most obvious value of their lives. From Quaid-e-Azam to Nelson Mandela, each leader chose to leave his comfort zone and put himself in a challenging situation.

Create New Habits (Favorite):

Habits are the small blocks that build our personality. One good secret about habits is that they can be adopted and left easily. You just need consistency for it. To develop a growth mindset, it’s very effective to keep learning new days. Incorporating new healthy habits, really shifts our focus towards growth and positivity. I think adding small habits and learning your takeaways improves our mindset and helps us shift our mindset from fixed to growth. Research shows that almost 60 days are needed to adopt/leave a habit.

Ask people for help:

Amal shared a unique totka with us for growth mindset and this about asking people for help and especially asking right people for help. This help should be asked after researching thoroughly on your problem and making an effort to solve by yourself. I relate this totka to ‘ek aur ek gyarah’ and ‘mentor’ concept.

Fake it till you make it:

One last totka that Amal shared with us is to fake it till you make it. This totka is just like ‘haldi’ and works everywhere. Want to become more confident, fake your body language like a confident person and it will make you more confident from inside too. Growth Mindset is developed through more effort and practice. So, do not wait for the point where you can congratulate yourself for having a positive mindset. Fake like you have one and your mind will surely buy this idea and you will see the amazing results.