One of my Mastermind members showed up to the Tuesday morning call, expressing the amount of joy she felt while away this weekend. She runs an eight figure business with her husband. She wondered out loud: How could she design a life she didn’t have to take a vacation from?” It’s a Seth Godin quote. My interview with him here.
I challenged her. What were the elements of vacation that delighted her so much?
Freedom from responsibility of running the business
One of the biggest ‘sugar burns’ is context switching. In other words, the amount of energy we burn, when we switch from task to task. Think of turning the engine of your car on and off. It burns way more gasoline than leaving the car on continuously. One way, I get around this is to make a master list on Sundays of all my “to-do’s.” I ensure there is more ‘whitespace’ in my calendar. Then I batch tasks that are similar and assign the tasks to days of the week. For example, today I have committed to “Content Creation”
- Content for the month of September (2-3 hours)
- Commenting for an hour on others’ posts (1 hour)
- Drafting a post on the difference between my “VIP Day” offering versus “my Mastermind.” (1 hour)
Presence
Being truly present at a dinner or a conversation requires being intentional. We can do this at home, but it also means putting away phones and devices. It also means, listening. Like really listening. I’ve been on television for 20 years. I’m trained to be thinking about the next question while the person is answering my current question. Today, when I”m at a networking event or at dinner, I turn that habit off. I say to myself in my head, “Just listen Joya. Right now, just listen. There will be plenty of time to respond if needed.”
Beauty
She was surrounded by so much beauty while away. She wondered how she could make time to witness it in her everyday life. It requires intentionality too. On Sundays, I not only strategize about my week, but I also think about where ‘beauty,’ one of my top ‘core values’ will find its way into my week. Thursday afternoon, I’m attending an art fair with my friend. That also means, I have to get all my work done by Wednesday and be more efficient with time.
I suspect quite a few people are feeling this way this week. There is a heaviness to September, because summer is over. Vacations, that may have been a year in planning, are over. Connecting to the joy we felt while on vacation isn’t a bunch of ‘hooey.’ Being intentional, and doing this reflective personal development work builds the foundation for monumental success.
It’s why my Mastermind clients
have gotten two promotions in two years- have built a $50MM fund and are on their way to building a $200MM fund.
- have discovered their self-worth and started realizing their dreams
- have learned to get clients from their posts
I’m currently filling for the 2024 Class of my Samita Lab Mastermind. If you apply by September 30th, you get $1000 off the list price. Apply here.
Now onto this week’s newsletter:
One Leadership Tip
In reading an influencer’s post “Fall finds I can’t wait to wear” this weekend, I was reminded of my interview with the CEO of M.M. LaFleur, Sarah Miyazawa LaFleur, from 2021. In this podcast episode, she talks about finding ‘the perfect product market fit,’ listening to clients and the current zeitgeist.
One Public Speaking Tip
Most think they don’t have access to 5 powerful mentors who can change their lives. In my interview with Laura Gassner Otting, she says, start with your social media feed. Mentors are there. “Follow five people who are constantly giving themselves permission and telling you to give yourself permission. Put them at the top of your feed, get notifications when they post, you will automatically start feeling more empowered because we are the average of the five biggest inputs and influences we get all the time.”
One Adventure Tip
One of my favorite events to host combines both an adventure AND a conversation design. Here are my Mastermind members at a dinner in Marrakech. I’ve hosted these conversations all over the world. London. Paris. Florence. Boston. Washington DC. New York.
I’m inviting you to the next one. It’s Sept 16th at a vineyard in the Hamptons. 3 spots remain. RSVP here.
