Pausetive Model In Action → Collegians & Graduates
Feeling stuck in doubts, distractions, peer pressure, or career confusion? We help students develop focus, emotional
balance, and decision-making clarity—building a foundation for confident adult life. Empowering the next generation to
thrive.
Understanding Their World
This phase of life is a mix of contradictions.
There’s the rush of new independence. And the confusion that comes with it. The push to figure out your future. And the pull of just trying to survive the week. You’re told to stay productive, make smart choices, build your career. But nobody really teaches you how to handle the mental load that comes with it.
A lot of young adults in college or just out of school are surrounded by activity but feel strangely lost on the inside. They want to feel focused, clear, confident. But mostly, they’re just trying to stay afloat.
A Story from the Mind Gym
We met Aarav a couple of years ago, just as he was entering his second year of college. He was bright, full of ideas, reflective. But also scattered. He’d start things with excitement and lose steam within days. He couldn’t find a rhythm, and it bothered him more than he let on.
He said, “I know I have potential. I just don’t know how to use it.”
We didn’t give him advice. We listened. Then we invited him to try something simple. A pause.
Aarav was tired. Not physically, but mentally. The constant buzz of college life, the endless loop of comparison, the guilt of not doing enough. It had built up. So we asked him to step back for a moment. No fixing, no judging. Just noticing. That pause gave him the space to breathe.
Step 2: Identifying the Mind Muscles
As we talked, the real patterns started to show up.
His cognitive muscle was struggling. His mind jumped around a lot, and decisions felt overwhelming.
His motivational muscle was quiet. Goals felt abstract. There was no momentum.
His emotional muscle was weighed down by frustration and self-doubt. He often masked it with jokes or silence.
His social muscle was okay on the surface. He had friends. But he rarely opened up about what was really going on.
Step 3: Developing the Right Skills
We didn’t try to overhaul everything. That’s not how this works.
Instead, Aarav began with one small practice each morning. A five-minute check-in with himself. No phone. No pressure. Just him and his thoughts.
He started tracking his energy through the week, not just his tasks. We gave him a few short reflection prompts. Helped him sketch out what actually mattered to him. Not what looked good on paper.
Little things. Done steadily.
Step 4: Reflect and Iterate
A few months later, Aarav wasn’t a new person. But he was noticeably different.
He paused more often. Noticed his thoughts instead of reacting to them. Spoke with more clarity. Still got distracted, but now he knew how to come back.
Most importantly, he started trusting himself again. And that changed everything.
From Struggle to Strength
This is how Aarav’s journey unfolded:
When we met him…
Over time, he showed…
Restless focus
Steadier attention
Unclear direction
A quiet sense of clarity
Frustration and guilt
Emotional self-trust
Living on autopilot
More presence, more intention
Understanding Their World
For many graduates, confusion isn’t the absence of choice. It’s the overload of it.
There’s advice from every direction. LinkedIn posts. Placement prep. Family expectations. Peer comparisons. Somewhere in all that noise, the question “What do I actually want?” gets pushed aside by “What should I do next?”
It’s not a lack of ambition. It’s a lack of clarity in a world that rarely pauses long enough to ask the right questions.
A Story from the Mind Gym
Anish had just finished his B.Com. Good grades. Strong resume. Everyone said he was “sorted.”
But when placements came around, he hesitated. He filled out the forms. Gave the interviews. But something felt off.
“I don’t hate the roles,” he told us. “I just don’t feel like any of them are mine. I don’t even know what I’m working toward.”
He wasn’t panicked. Just quietly lost in the middle of doing everything right.
We asked Anish to stop choosing for a moment. To stop listing pros and cons. And just sit with the discomfort of not knowing.
He realized he had been making career decisions like filling in blanks—roles, salaries, growth paths—without checking in with his own voice.
It wasn’t about finding a dream job. It was about remembering what mattered to him in the first place.
Step 2: Identifying the Mind Muscles
Three areas came into focus.
His motivational muscle wasn’t missing, but it lacked direction. He had drive, but no anchor.
His cognitive muscle was flooded. Too much input, no filter. Every new option felt both exciting and exhausting.
His emotional muscle held quiet pressure. Not panic—but the weight of “I should have figured it out by now.”
Step 3: Developing the Right Skills
We began with values.
Anish worked on a short values inventory—what energised him, what drained him, what he admired in others. It gave his motivation a shape.
Next came clarity filters. Instead of thinking “What’s out there?” he started asking “What aligns with my way of working, learning, and contributing?” We used a three-circle tool: Skills, Joy, and Exposure.
He also set up a weekly curiosity window—one hour to explore things without outcomes. Podcasts, alumni conversations, LinkedIn research. Not for decisions. Just discovery.
Step 4: Reflect and Iterate
Within a month, the fog started lifting.
Anish didn’t land a perfect plan. But he shortlisted three paths that felt like him. He asked better questions in interviews. He sounded more confident—not because he had answers, but because he had perspective.
And that’s what changed everything. He stopped trying to get it right. He started trying to get it true.
From Fog to Focus
Here’s how Anish’s experience unfolded:
When we met him…
Now, he shows…
Confused by too many choices
Clarity from aligned values
Chasing the “right” job
Curious about what fits him
Mentally overloaded
Using personal filters for decisions
Fear of missing out
Confidence in his pace and direction
Understanding Their World
Some graduates look like they have it figured out.
They’re confident. Social. Put-together. They carry energy, style, and certainty into every room they walk into. And so, no one asks how they’re really doing.
But even the most outwardly “sorted” students face their own internal noise—especially when college ends and the future starts knocking. That’s when the questions get louder. And the answers, blurrier.
A Story from the Mind Gym
Ritika is in her final year of engineering. Bright, bold, social. The kind of person who lights up a group project and has 10K Instagram followers. People ask her for career tips.
But in our first one-on-one session, her voice dropped.
“Everyone thinks I have a plan. The truth is, I don’t even know what I want to apply for. I’ve been saying I’ll go into tech, but I don’t feel excited about it anymore. I can’t even tell if I’m confused or just tired.”
For someone always seen as confident, the space to say that felt new. And freeing.
We asked Ritika to stop trying to decide anything.
Just pause. Let go of the “next step” question for a moment. And pay attention to the discomfort underneath it.
She noticed how often she played a role—being the sorted one, the planner, the all-rounder. And how exhausting it had become. Not because she was fake. But because somewhere along the way, she lost the habit of checking in with herself.
Step 2: Identifying the Mind Muscles
Two areas came into focus.
Her motivational muscle wasn’t dead—it was directionless. She had energy, but no sense of what it was pointing toward anymore.
Her emotional muscle was fraying. Not in big breakdowns, but in small things—irritability, withdrawal, lack of interest in things she used to enjoy.
Her cognitive muscle was on autopilot. She was doing the expected things—placement prep, internships—but without internal clarity.
Step 3: Developing the Right Skills
We helped Ritika rebuild her decision-making from the inside out.
She began with a personal pulse check—three times a week, asking herself: What felt alive today? What drained me?
She didn’t write it down. Just voiced it out loud while getting ready or walking to class.
Next, she created a Career Moodboard—not with job titles, but with energies and environments that excited her. Team vs solo, structure vs creativity, code vs communication. It helped her step away from labels and tune into feel.
We also introduced a “drop the role” day each week—one day where she didn’t need to be the diva. No filtered stories. No pretending to have a plan. Just her, as she was.
Step 4: Reflect and Iterate
Over time, Ritika didn’t land a five-year career map. But she started getting honest—with herself, and others.
She let go of a few internship options she had taken just to “keep up.” She reached out to alumni working in hybrid roles that blended tech with outreach. She admitted to her friends that she was figuring things out too.
And nothing collapsed. In fact, she felt lighter. More real.
From Image to Intention
Here’s how Ritika’s journey unfolded:
When we met her…
Now, she shows…
Confident outside, uncertain inside
Clarity about what energizes her
Doing what looked right
Exploring what feels right
Avoiding honesty out of habit
Speaking from where she is, not where she “should” be
