Today’s episode features an amazing story of someone who spent many years trying to get accepted into medical school only to eventually turn down the acceptance offer in order to fuel her entrepreneurial fire. Ishita Gupta talks candidly about listening to your intuition and shares strategies on how to brave through to the other side of your fears.
Watch the show (uncensored & unedited)
Share Some SHUT UP Love:
It’s okay to not know but it’s not okay to not try. – @IshitaGupta #shutupshow (click to tweet)
Fun Facts:
- Ishita studied documentary photography (and made a short film about a Nobel Peace Prize winner).
- She was accepted into Seth Godin’s Six Month MBA Program.
- She helped Seth Godin launch his book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? and was featured in the book, a bestseller in business in 2010.
- She worked on The Domino Project, a new publishing house built by Seth and powered by Amazon, as Head of Media.
- She has spoken at World Domination Summit, TEDx, Startup Princess, Next Generation Health, Business Growth Summit, Young Female Entrepreneurs, and more.
- She founded Fear.less magazine, a digital magazine that profiles hundreds of authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders on how they’ve overcome fear.
- In addition to publishing Fear.less magazine, she runs a consulting business helping people gain confidence, live without fear, and thrive as business owners.
Defining SHUT UP Moment:
Throughout my life and high school, I hadn’t really made decisions for myself. I was going on this track of what I feel I should be doing. But inside I was excited about different things. I was the kid that was never afraid of being embarrassed. I never had a problem being different. When I went to collge I was on this straightlaced path but it didn’t feel right. It took me three years to get into med school. I got in and I sat on the acceptance letter for a year. In college is when I started to feel a sense of I’m not sure what does feel right but I know this doesn’t feel right.
I declined med school and shit hit the fan with my family. Something inside me just needed to explore. I like to see short term results. So I experimented with different things. After that, my parents didn’t know what to do with me. So I applied to photography school and moved to Boston. I needed to leave. Fast forward to today. I run an online business and I would have never thought that would be in my vocabulary. Man does your soul teach you what you need to learn.
SHUT UP Tips:
We freak out when we’re in that moment because we can’t picture what it’s going to look like. – Ishita Gupta
You cannot predict what’s going to come from taking a risk. – Ishita Gupta
For whatever reason this is where I feel creativity, innovation and real personal growth lies: when you feel totally cornered and you want to get the fuck out. – Ishita Gupta
Listen to your intuition even when it’s a little cloudy. Knowing what you don’t want is just as important as knowing what you do want. – Ishita Gupta
That still, small voice sometimes feels like a whisper but sometimes it slaps you upside the head saying “Why the fuck are you here?” – Ishita Gupta
You don’t have to find your passion. Just know your capacity for pain. – Ishita Gupta
What got you here won’t get you there. When you get to a new level, you do compromise. What can you give up without it feeling so bad? – Ishita Gupta
Fear is never going away. It’s about increasing the capacity to get through it. – Ishita Gupta
Ishita Recommends:
Ishita’s Confidence course is launching this spring, email her at ishita@ishitagupta.com for more info.
Find Ishita:
Ishita runs an online magazine at FearlessStories.com