Priyanka Chopra Jonas may be a household name now. And yes, the world may know her as one half of “Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra,” but that’s only a fraction of her story.
That story began in 1982 as the daughter of Ashok and Madhu Chopra, two medical officers in the Indian military.
“I give a lot of credit to my parents in my upbringing,” she tells Vishen, the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, on an episode of The Mindvalley Podcast. They treated her like an individual with her own ideas. “It made me into a very confident adult, and I could get over a lot of adversities that came my way much easier because I had a sense of self.”
Her early years didn’t look glamorous. They looked like a young girl learning how to adapt, observe, and hold her ground in new places.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re trying to grow into a bigger version of yourself, Priyanka’s story offers something worth hearing.
From military life to worldwide influence
Anyone who grows up in a military family knows that life rarely stays in one place. Priyanka moved every few years, with new schools and new people each time.
That kind of childhood shapes a person. In fact, a 2025 study found that many military children show strong self-esteem, social skills, and resilience.
“There is a lot of equity in our home that is put on discipline and a sense of duty and work ethic in whatever you do,” Priyanka says. And she understood early on that once she’s hired, it’s her job to show up fully and give everything her 100%.
She brought that discipline to Miss World 2000 to the thriller series Quantico to acting and producing in Netflix’s The White Tiger to being a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. It also pulled her into tech, where she invested in the dating app Bumble and launched it in India.
And alongside that, she wrote her memoir, Unfinished, and built a family with Nick Jonas and their daughter, Malti Marie.
That’s quite a rolodex of accolades for someone in her 40s. And as she shares with Vishen, she isn’t interested in a glass ceiling or a moment where she feels satisfied.
“Being satisfied is boring,” she says. “You should only be satisfied by food, not by your job, not by your purpose.”
The reality is, a career like Priyanka’s doesn’t come from talent alone. It’s from the inner confidence to keep going in new and uncertain moments.
And if you’ve felt that pull in your own life, her journey gives you a way to see what’s possible.
Priyanka’s 5 life lessons on being extraordinary
“Overachiever” is how Priyanka describes herself. It doesn’t even cover the scale of her honors, which include the Padma Shri (like the knighthood in Great Britain), Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
Being satisfied is boring. You should only be satisfied by food, not by your job, not by your purpose.
— Priyanka Chopa Jonas
Overachiever, she says? More like, extraordinary.
But that’s just what you can expect from Priyanka—100% effort. And if you’re curious what fuels that drive, here are five lessons from her interview with Vishen.
Watch the full interview:
1. About struggle
No one is immune to challenges in life, not even a “desi girl” like Priyanka. (Side note: a “desi girl” is an Indian phrase describing the epitome of an Indian girl. It is also a song in the Bollywood movie, Dostana, that featured Priyanka as the “desi girl.”)
“There are times when you have to be consistent and just take one step and open one door,” she advises. “And slowly, you turn around and look back to see that you’ve walked a mile.”
These are the Kensho and Satori moments Vishen often talks about. They are the two ways growth shows up in our lives. Kensho are the painful stretches that force growth. Satori are the flashes of clarity that lift you forward.
Now, having dipped her toes into pageantry, singing, acting, producing, writing, and, more recently, technology, Priyanka has moved through both of these moments along the way. But she doesn’t let adversity take the reins. Instead, she takes on one thing at a time until she gets to where she needs to be.
Life lesson: Going full throttle in your life isn’t advisable or sustainable. It could cause you anxiety and exhaustion. Sometimes, you have to slow down and maintain a constant speed to avoid getting overwhelmed and burned out.
2. About discipline
As a military family, Priyanka’s parents instilled the values of duty and discipline in their child.
One story she shares with Vishen is when her father unexpectedly passed away. At the time, she was hired for a small-budget indie movie. And even during such a tragic loss, she showed up to work and powered through.
“I understood early on that I might be, as an actor, in a position of power, but it is my job when I’m hired,” she recalls. “It is my responsibility from the time I clock in to the time I clock out that I give my 100%.”
What that kind of discipline comes down to is, it’s its own form of growth, especially when you treat every commitment as a chance to rise to a higher standard. And according to Vishen, your job is to grow. “Your job is to maintain a high rate of self-evolution,” he says in his Mindvalley program, Be Extraordinary.
That’s what Priyanka did when competing in Miss World 2000, where she was determined to be in the top five. So, she spent time observing the competition around her in order to push herself to do better and be better.
The end result? Crown, secured.
Life lesson: “If you’re hired, it’s your responsibility to show up 100% and immerse yourself,” says Priyanka.
3. About confidence
As part of the military customs, the Chopras had a nameplate hung outside their house with Ashok and Madhu’s designations. Priyanka demanded to know why her name wasn’t on the plaque, given that she also lived there.
But instead of putting her down, her parents made a new plaque for their daughter’s endearing request and hung it proudly with the designation, Priyanka Chopra, Upper KG.
“I would implore most parents to treat their children with individuality and give their children a sense of confidence by believing in whatever they’re saying,” Priyanka points out. Research shows that when parents offer emotional support, guidance, and encouragement, as the Chopras had done, children develop stronger self-belief and lower levels of distress.
“Don’t shame them,” she adds. “Don’t laugh at them for crazy ideas. Ask their opinions. Inculcate thoughts in their minds.”
By recognizing her presence in the family, Priyanka was able to build qualities that would help her get through adversities more easily and navigate through the competitive and comparative world of Bollywood and Hollywood.
Life lesson: Instill the value of respect, which will help build a foundation of strength to be courageous and tenacious.
4. About money
Money can be a taboo subject in many households (though modern thinking is that attracting money is easier than most believe).
However, in the Chopra household, life lessons about money were abundant. From a young age, Priyanka was taught to earn her own money and not be dependent on anyone for it.
“It doesn’t matter whose daughter you are,” she recalls her mother telling her. “It doesn’t matter who you marry. You will be financially independent.”
That’s the thing: studies on financial literacy show that learning about money early helps young people build confidence and better financial skills. Although Priyanka may not have understood its merit at the time, she realized its importance when she started working at the young age of 17.
“I understood how much freedom and a sense of self a person has when they earn their own money,” she said.
Life lesson: Earning your own money gives you the appreciation of independence and allows you to control your own finances.
5. About perseverance
Being the extraordinary person that she is, Priyanka always dreams a little bit bigger. Her success is a reflection of her ambition, taking her for the ride of a lifetime from Miss World to Bollywood to Hollywood.
“The world sets glass ceilings for us anyway,” she said. “Don’t do it to yourself.”
She admits that she’s an ambitious person. To her, success is not a destination, especially not in the entertainment industry, where she has to keep having success in projects to be considered successful.
That idea became her guiding force to keep moving forward from one achievement to another. She says, “Your laurels should be your springboard to take you to something else.”
Research on growth mindset found that people grow more when they treat success as a starting point instead of a finish line. And for Priyanka, it pushed her to break “impossible” barriers in Hollywood and pave the way for women, especially those from South Asia.
Life lesson: What advice would she give to be as ambitious as she is? “Not resting on your laurels.”
And Vishen shares the same sentiment. As he says, “We attain incredible levels of bliss, of happiness, of emotional well-being when we can look back on who we were and see how far we have come.”
Awaken your unstoppable
Behind every extraordinary life sit failures, rejections, and unexpected turns. These moments shape the courage to keep moving, to choose another path, and to try again.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ story shows what becomes possible when you keep rising. And you carry that same potential.
So if you want support on that path, Vishen’s free Be Extraordinary masterclass gives you a place to start. It may be an introductory step to his full program on Mindvalley, but in just 41 minutes, you’ll get a ton from it:
- Discover your level of consciousness
- Make decisions with more confidence
- Move through challenges with less strain
- Notice the opportunities that already want to meet you
- Feel more aligned with the life you want to create
This came through in a big way for actor and Formula 4 racer Manisha Ram Kelkar. The program helped her turn scattered energy into real direction and daily habits she loves. As she shares with Mindvalley:
I can feel more energies flowing in me.
With over one million people having gone through it, it’s no wonder it’s one of the highest-rated programs on Mindvalley.
So now it’s your turn. You choose what comes next.
Welcome in.
