Wani's power talk at WeWork on how to get realigned for 2019 and truly make 2019 *you* year.

Hello everyone! Hi! Okay, that sounds way better.

Okay, so my name is Christine. I'm with Miami Under 40. We're a young professional network, and we just love to help young professionals be able to grow and develop themselves through various activities and events such as this one. Today we have a special guest. Her name is Wani Iris Manly Manly, and she's going to be talking about how to reset your 2019 in order to achieve the goals that, you know, how we all set resolutions in the beginning of the year and We have this idea and concept, and halfway through the year, oftentimes we kind of lose it and forget that importance. So she's here to kind of get you guys recharged and ready to accomplish every goal that you set for yourself. So I will welcome to the stage Wani Iris Manly.

Thank you for this lovely welcome, and thank you for having me all today. Welcome everyone to your 2019 reset. So if you got a note card, I would like to What are some of your goals for 2019? What about you? Maryam, right?

Mariana.

Mariana, sorry about that. I have my own company. I, well, I do have it, but I want to grow it more. I own a marketing agency. Uh-huh. So I handle all social media accounts. So if you guys seen how— Anybody else? Better friends. Okay, better friends. What kind of friends? What do you mean better friends? Well, more friends, closer, nicer. We can all use more friends. Anybody else? What are some of your goals for 2019? You're both down. Uh, my first thing would like to structure because I have a small venture capital firm, but with investments abroad, and I'm structuring the whole thing. So that's my whole goal for this year. So we're at what, May 8th? Quite— not quite in the middle yet, but we're approaching there. So how is everybody like, how are they on track? Are you off the mark? Are you hitting it? Are you completely way off? That's the photographer. Ah.

Well—

Can you kill it? Don't you think he said no? Ah, okay, okay. So where is this— this checking in? So where are we at? So are we completely like off the mark, it seems impossible, or we're like, we're nailing it already? Halfway. Yeah, halfway. Are you pleased so far with where you're at? A couple bumps here and there, but I think overall right track. Okay. Is there anybody in here who find themselves the goals they wrote down are the ones you may be thinking about right now, they are old goals? Yeah. Yeah. 2018. How far back? How long ago? Couple years. Yeah, I totally get it, right? You know, New Year, you know, I was saying those type of things. So, well, anyway, my intention for this presentation, number one, sorry about that, it's fine, easy, okay, is number one, to get you realigned, to get you back in 2019. Because you know how it is when New Year's Eve comes around, December 1st, everyone's in this like, new year, new me, new me vibe, and everyone's proclaiming on social media, it's gonna be my year, right? And then by January 16th, statistics show it's all back to the same attitude, same old, same old, and we're just pretty much repeating the same years that we did in the past before. So my first intention is to get you realigned, number 1. Number 2 is to get you out of this broken pattern because this is a lot of people, myself included, I was here too. Number 3 is to go from the hoping, wishing, and actually physically, tangibly manifesting your goals. How many of you have been to where you've had this like pie in the sky dreams where like you want this, you want that, and it's just kind of like out there. Anybody want to admit? I was there for many years, okay? Which is why I'm doing that. I'm actually here because like I was screwed up for so long, so. And the last thing I want, my intention for this presentation is to actually have 2019 be your best year, or you probably be on your way to that, and it's not just some proclamation you make on social media with some meme or posting something on Instagram, whatever, but you actually are actually living it, right? Tangible results. So what I want you to do right now is I want everybody to close your eyes, please, and I want you to fast forward to New Year's Eve 2019, December 31st. You wake up that morning, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock in the morning, You have plans to go with your friends, right? To celebrate, for dinner, whatever the case may be, right? But it's a celebratory day. New Year's Eve is a day that we are celebrating and we're welcoming the new year. But I want you to just kind of fast forward a couple of months from now and you look down this day. Are you getting ready to party? Or are you really getting ready to celebrate things that you accomplished this year? Is it about the food, the drinks, the venue? Or are you looking back and saying, "Man, I freaking did it. Like, yo, like, I did something." Did you actually manifest your goals? How are you feeling? Fast forward. Think about that. That's what today is about, is for you to start thinking about December 31st, 2019, going 2020, looking back on what you did. Because so many of us are living our lives, we're living dream-deferred lives, and we're living our lives on autopilot. We're having dreams that are not even our dreams. We're guided by social media, quote-unquote influencers, and we're setting goals for ourselves that is unattainable. We're not committed to it. But it's what society says you should ask for. You can open your eyes now, your eyes were closed. So my intention is to really get it from out there, out in the ether, and in your face. You're touching it, you're feeling it, you're kissing it, you're spending it, you're creating an impact, you're on the COVID whatever it is that you have written down, you've got bank account, whatever it is, that it's not this pie in the sky, I want to do this, I'm hoping and wishing, and just kind of like hoping life is going to show up in your life. Because like I said before, as I alluded to before, I was there many, many years. So who is this for? Number 1, you're in the right place if you're having a repeat of 2018 or prior years before. I've been there many times. You're also in the right place if you need to hit the reset button in 2019 and to get realigned. You're also in the right place if you're not achieving your goals that you really want to. Number 4, you're in this New Year's same goals cycle that a lot of people fall into, and you need a 2019 realignment, right? You're not going to wait until December because what tends to happen, we make a goal, December 31st, January 1st, January 2nd, January 3rd, we do nothing. We go through the whole 12 months, and then New Year's Eve comes around, we're like reflecting, we're looking back, and it's like, whoa, I didn't do anything. I did this, I did this, yeah, but nothing really. So welcome, welcome to all of you. So who am I? My name is Wani Iris Manly. I am a two-time bestselling author. I'm an international speaker. I speak in Europe, I speak in the US, and I will be heading to Australia in July to actually speak. I'm also a corporate attorney. I am the founder of my law firm, WMMLPA, that I started in 2008 here in Miami. And I split my time between Paris and Miami and this year is in Houston. At some point I'm going to add London to the mix as well too, but I live a very global lifestyle. I'm a quintessential Pisces. If you're into astrology, I'm telling you right now, I'm a little bit woo-woo, but I'm a business lawyer, so I'm very grounded as well too. Like, but I am very dreamy, you know, adventure type. That's why I'm all over the place in terms of where I live. Um, but I'm also obsessed with breaking the habit of being me, and I'm gonna tell you that last point right there is actually the key to really manifesting and achieving your goals. Some of the places I've actually spoken to, I've been featured, I've been seen right here, magazines, radio shows, speaking engagements, and some things needs to be updated in that, but when I look at that, it's not just to kind of show you that yes, I got some authority, that I'm not full of crap, but I've actually kind of, you know, been someplace. When I look at that, It represents for me my goals. Because I can tell you that ever since I was 6 years old, I said 2 things, or 3 things. Number 1, that I wanted to live between Europe and the United States. Number 2, that I wanted to have multiple homes. And number 3, that I wanted to become a lawyer. 2 out of the 3 goals were mine. The one about being a lawyer was not mine at all. However, I've been an attorney since 2002. That was all for my parents. I spent most of my adult life doing something that I had zero joy in, zero passion for, but I did it because I owe a hell of a lot of student loans. And every time my parents would want to talk about me, "My daughter's a lawyer," and it just brings them the greatest joy. And it took me a very long time to let that go. So when I look at that, it's not just to brag and say, "Yeah, I've been here, I've been there." Look, I said, "You know what? That's what Wani want." Okay? But before all of that, this was me. I'm talking like 10, 12, 15 years. Like literally studying the same things over and over. And I'm a hard worker. I'm not a slacker. Well, this was me. This was awesome. Insane. This right here, Albert Einstein, you should just— they should replace his picture next to this quote or these words. This was so me. I thought that if I just worked harder at doing the same things that weren't working, they would just completely like shift, right? But none of that happened. And in 2010, on New Year's Eve, I kind of got the message. I woke up that morning, as we all do. I always wake up early, and I had plans to go party with my friends at this big mansion in Coconut Grove. We used to have a party every single year, my friends. And I woke up that morning, and my life was hell. I was coming out of a broken relationship. It was the middle of the crisis that was happening here with the housing crisis. My law firm was like on this boom and bust. I was in survival mode, which is why I wrote this book about living in it and how to get out of it. And I was suffering from a broken heart. The year before, I had found myself a completely healthy woman but having chest pains and going from doctor to doctor in Miami trying to figure out why the hell this young, healthy woman was having chest pains. Finally, by like the 5th or 6th doctor who was keen on Eastern preventative medicine, was like, "You know, let's just do— I know you're very young, let's just have a, you know, an exam for a mammogram." Did a mammogram and there was a lump found in my breast. And I had to go through this 2-time biopsy for breast cancer. Nothing was wrong with me, however. And he said to me, "Wani, you know what? You're just stressed out." get into yoga, start calming down, get a job if you can't handle the business, do whatever you need to do, but it's not worth it because stress will kill you. That was the end of 2019— or 2009. So in 2010 rolled around, I was like, whoa, something needed to shift, right? So I woke up that morning and I did what I now call the New Year's Eve ritual that forever changed my life. It took me out of Miami to live in my dream life in Paris. What I did was I woke up that morning and I got a journal out and I wrote down every single thing that I had accomplished that year. Super short list. Then I wrote down every single thing that I failed at. This long of a list, right? And I went through every single one of that and I just was like looking at to see what was really going on with me and I was taking full responsibility of it because I believe that I create my reality. What was really going on was I was in love and my mindset was not on making money, it was on business. I had just started law from the year before, I didn't know anything about starting a business, I just knew how to be a lawyer, and then I met someone and fell in love for the very first time, so my heart was completely on that love, right? So then I went to start looking at my belief structures, what I believe about myself, and I started writing down all of my limiting beliefs as I myself called them. Subconscious mind. I'm not good enough, smart enough, I don't know how, I don't have the lead, all the things that are mine that it's just like running our lives on autopilot. I put it to paper. It wasn't pretty to look at, but I needed to actually look at it. And I got on my hands and knees. I believe in a higher power, and I prayed to have a shift up in here, to have a shift in the self-perception, the beliefs, whatever I was thinking about myself that was creating this chaos, I wanted to be like Goethe. Then the next day, I mean, I'm sorry, the next, the second part of the day, I got a journal out and had the word "magic" in there. Sorry. It's okay. And I wrote down everything I wanted to be, do, or have, to create, to experience in 2011. And for the first time, we know you always hear about, you know, think big, and think big, and think big. For me, it was always a very theoretical the whole thing out, like I'm very naturalist, right? But for some reason I was thinking like along the lines of Elon Musk, like that level of thinking I really wanted to create. And when midnight came, I took a glass of champagne and I passed out because I was exhausted. I've been at it since 6 o'clock that morning, right? And so what started happening to me was I started having this phenomenon in Miami where my entire space began to be filled with all of these signs pointing me to Paris, France, blah blah blah. And I basically sold my condo, I sold my car, and I gave away all my things to different charities, and I moved to Paris. I didn't know a single person, I didn't know one word of French, um, I didn't have a plan A, a plan B, or a plan C. I just went. I told you I was a Pisces, right? Remember that? Which means I'm crazy. So this happened, I started living in Paris, This also happened. I wrote this book. It became a bestseller book. And this also happened. I've always wanted to be on the COVID of magazines. Call me vain or whatever, but it is what it is. And this is the number one read expat magazine in France. And I've been on this cover feature many times. And I began doing this, speaking, which is what I was meant to actually be doing, not practicing law, right? So I say all that to present to you is what was the difference? I became focused on manifesting my goals. I became focused on getting out of the pie in the sky, and, you know, I want this, I want that, and I was like, you know what, what is it going to take? Getting focused and getting really like, let me physically touch it. If you want to reset for 2019, you have to shift. It has to be, "I want this, I would love to have that," to no, like, what is it really going to take, right? That's how I ended up here before you. Otherwise, I would have still been drafting contracts. So there's 8 things I'm going to present to you all today that I felt that was for me. Was what made the shift and has me living this life that I just absolutely love, and I'm always upgrading it. And to really help you get realigned, right? The first thing is about believing in yourself. We hear this all the time, but I'm telling you right now, that's the crux of it all. Because if you don't believe in yourself, no matter what you're right now, it ain't gonna happen. I don't care how much money is thrown at you, I don't care who you're connected to, it's like it's not gonna happen. If you don't believe in yourself, number one. Number two, you gotta have what I call a come-to-Jesus meeting with yourself. And that's basically getting real and super honest of what's working, what's not working. Number three is commitment. Like, are you really committed to your goals, or is it like, I would love to have this and I'll have that? Number four is shifting from having a goal to outcome-based, in-your-face, like touching it. Number five is you must have new thoughts to come in. Number 6 is defining what's your non-negotiable and being anchored in that. Number 7 is also upgrading your daily habits. And the last, number 8, is vibrational alignment. Okay, let me go through each one of them, each and every single one of them. Number 1, this is my absolute favorite quote by Henry Ford: whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things about existing, about life, is that we're creating this thing called your life, you know, and it's like whatever story you're telling, whatever you're believing, is whatever is being reflected back to you. So right now you have to decide that you can, because here's the thing, the reason why I love this quote, because whether you think— the universe, creation, life is always saying to you yes, whatever you're saying to it, what you're believing, it's going to say yes. If you think you suck, it's going to say, okay, I'm going to give you examples of why you suck. You don't really suck, but if you believe that, hey, here's Exhibit A, right? So tell yourself you can. And I will tell you what the hack to it is. And I know that the reasons why a lot of us don't believe in ourselves is because we're too stuck on the how, right? You want to have a goal. I want to make a million dollars. I don't know. You've never made that much money in your life before, so your brain gets stuck on the how. And because you can't— you don't know the how because you've never experienced it, you then think you can't actually do it. But here's the thing though, the how is none of your business. Your business in this game of life is to declare like what you want and be freaking hellbent about focus on it, that it's done, right? And then you start to ask the questions, okay, how can this happen? When you start to ask those questions, okay, how can I get this, how can I get that, then the universe or life begins to cave in and to bring people, the resources, the knowledge, the whatever you need, it will step in to support your belief of I can, this is what I want. So the first thing now is you're going to repeat after me. All right, put the hand on your heart. We're all going to declare, "I can," out loud. I can. I can.

I can.

I can. I can. I can. High five. So no one was like, "I can't, Mass." Okay, there's none of that, right? Number 2 to get a real life for 2019 is come to Jesus meeting. How come to Jesus meeting with this song, right? This for me, that's what was on that photo. I was like this, like that. I'm talking about really getting real about what's working and taking 100% ownership and responsibility for what's going on in your life. Because here's the thing, honesty— this is a quote by, uh, I didn't put it on here, it's by Simon Adler— honesty is the first chapter of wisdom. I love this quote because it's true. It's like, number one, it's like You can't change what you're aware of, and if you're lying to yourself, you're only hurting yourself, right? So the first thing is that, you know, it's like basic number one: take 100% responsibility for your life. It's not, you know, whatever happened to you 10, 20 years ago, a divorce, a this, another that. It's like, you know what, it's like it's your life. It happened, you created it, whether it was unconscious, deliberate, it doesn't really matter. But when you begin to really take ownership and responsibility then you're able to actually respond, take a different action. Number 2, which is very, very important, is what isn't working? Like, for me, I knew that I was constantly in the habit of setting these goals in the beginning of the year and never looking at it again till the end of the year. Like, that was not working, but I did it for 10, 15 years. Somehow I wised up in 2010. So You gotta look at what isn't working because we have this, I don't know, our human minds think that the more we do something, because it's resistant to change, it thinks that the more we do the same thing over and over and over again, like, is he benching on a stick? It's like, no, it's not gonna work. If it's not working in 10 years, like, do something different. Hopefully you weren't like me and didn't do the same thing for 10 years, but you're much smarter than I am. But yeah, so take stock of like what isn't working and actually replace it, right? I'll give you an example of me right now. Like, I'm actually writing my third book, and I can tell you for me, Miami is not a place I'm creative at all. When I'm here, I want to go to the beach, I want to party, I want to hang out. Like, I'm not focused in Miami, right? So writing my third book, which is my Paris story, it's been very difficult for me to write here. I was like, listen, and I have vowed, I'm gonna get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and type. That's not happening for me. Right? I know what works for me. Go to France for 1 month, go to the South of France and knock it out. I'm leaving in 3 weeks to knock out my book. So it's like, figure out like what's working and just like, you know, replace it with what's actually going to work, right? And when you start to start taking responsibility, this is when the help, the big thing comes in. Like you start to get help from the universe, from people, the resources, because you begin to see, you know what, I need help. You begin to figure out, okay, I can't do this on my own, I need to have somebody help me. And so you begin to open up. You can't do that, you cannot open up to the help If you're lying to yourself, if you're not really being honest, right? Any questions, any comments? Outbursts? Can I— I'm sorry, can I take a picture of this? Sure, sure, please, please, please, yeah. And we refer to help family, friends, anybody around you? Anybody, anybody. You know, like, for example, right? I'll give you an example. I— I've been wanting to be a millionaire for the longest time. Because my lifestyle requires money. I'm just gonna be proud with you. You cannot live in Paris, the most expensive city in the world. And now I need to go to London because my French is not the best part for me to speak. I need to, you know, which is what I'm really gearing towards doing full-time, you know, is I need to be like in a London-based city. Those are two most expensive cities in the world. And I have to realize that, you know what, no one ever taught me how to make money. I mean, did she— did anybody teach you guys how to make money? I know for me, I grew up, you know, in a family with my parents