Break..Build..Become | Lakshmi Priyaa TT | TEDxSJIM

Quick Overview

The speaker, Lakshmi Priyaa, narrates her journey of rediscovering her passion for chess after prioritizing motherhood and corporate life, demonstrating that resilience and reinvention are continuous choices that involve embracing failure and making brave decisions to align with one's true self, ultimately leading to success in both her personal and professional endeavors.

Key Points: Lakshmi Priyaa lost her first chess tournament at age nine, scoring a big zero, but her passion remained. She prioritized motherhood and corporate life over chess, leading to a feeling of being lost and invisible. Her rediscovery of chess as her first love involved consciously choosing it over a perceived safer career path (MBA over Psychology). She realized that reinvention is not about avoiding failure but about embracing it as part of success, using her past weakness (weight gain) as a strength for motivation. The speaker successfully coached the Indian chess team for the World Youth Championships for three years and later worked at TCS, but the core feeling of 'reinvention' was the desire to share her passion, leading her to start her own venture in personal care products. The essential lesson is that resilience is daily practice, and one must make the 'bravest choice' to align with their true self, even if it means sacrificing comfort or facing initial fear.

Context: This TEDx talk by Lakshmi Priyaa TT is a personal narrative about overcoming self-doubt, societal expectations, and the feeling of losing oneself after making life-altering choices like prioritizing family over a deep-seated passion (chess). She uses her experiences in competitive chess, her subsequent career pivot to the corporate world in Germany, and the eventual decision to pursue entrepreneurship in personal care products to illustrate the concept of continuous reinvention and resilience, emphasizing that true success comes from aligning with one's authentic desires.

Detailed Analysis

Lakshmi Priyaa shares a deeply personal story about her relationship with chess, which was her first love, and how life's expected paths—marriage, motherhood, and a corporate career in Germany—initially caused her to sideline this passion, leading to feelings of being lost and invisible. She recounts losing her first chess tournament at age nine, which was a significant blow to her ego, but she persevered. Later, after moving to Germany for work, she faced the struggle of balancing corporate life with her desire to pursue chess and her family commitments. She realized that her initial career choice (MBA over Psychology) was a 'safe' but ultimately unfulfilling path. A pivotal moment occurred when she decided to prioritize her passion, even though it meant sacrificing the perceived stability of her corporate career and facing the fear of failure. She re-engaged with chess, even coaching the Indian team. Upon returning to India, she continued to build her second career, embracing the 'reinvention' mindset. She concludes that failure is part of success, and true reinvention involves making brave choices to align with one's core identity, evidenced by her later success in entrepreneurship, which was fueled by the passion she rediscovered. The core message is that resilience is built through small, consistent daily practices, and one must actively choose their path rather than passively accepting what is handed to them.