Comeback Champion Summit Keynote Zaakirah Muhammad

Hi, my name is Zaakirah Muhammad, and I am a multifaceted entrepreneur, cancer survivor. Now imagine if you were told that you would not survive past the age of 5. Would you work harder? Would you work less? Now imagine if you were diagnosed with the cancer that, as a result of the surgery, You now live with one eye. How would you literally see life differently? How would you live life differently? Today we're talking about how to shift your mindset and see life differently. My name is Zaakirah Muhammad. I am a cancer survivor and a multi-passionate entrepreneur. I'm the CEO and founder of Focused Media Group, where I focus on encouraging women and entrepreneurs to confidently step outside of their comfort zone and tell their story. So today we are talking about mindset. We're talking about how to live your life by prioritizing a morning routine that includes self-care in your busy work days. And also, we'll talk about how to prioritize your mindset in the hustle and bustle of building your business, because positivity is everything. Mindset over matter, right? And also how to operate Positively and make sure that you're always and only walking in your purpose. So we're going to talk about environment, we're going to talk about nutrition, we're going to talk about your circle, because all of that really goes down, boils down into, uh, who— how you can make yourself successful as an entrepreneur, as a champion, as a businesswoman, as a big person. As a public speaker, right? So the first thing, the most important thing, is always to have a morning routine. Now, if you're creative like me, you're a photographer, right? So I'm a photographer, and I was saved by a camera. And then as life goes on, I then become a photographer, and along the way, I'm literally seeing life differently. But in order to— because sometimes as creatives, we tend to get into our heads a lot. So in order to maintain that positivity, I think the most important thing that kept me going in business for the 10+ years has been having a morning routine. Now, I'm also a practicing Muslim, so by default, we are always praying. Now, for me, I easily love to describe our 5 prayers as yoga. Like, you have to dedicate a minimum of 5 minutes, 5 times a day to just meditate, right? Show gratitude and visualize yourself in the person that you want to be, the person that you strive to be, the person that will also be leaving a legacy. So morning routine can also include making sure that you have no more than 10 things on your to-do list. Right, make sure you— I personally recommend starting your to-do list the night before. However, I think it's very important to make sure that you have a to-do list at the start of the day, because 9 out of 10 times we wake up rolling ourselves out of bed and we're like, oh, it's a Monday. Oh, it's another workday. Oh, the bed is so comfortable, I don't really feel like getting up today. But that day kind of shifts, right? Your mindset kind of shifts once you, of course, operate in a sense of gratitude in regards to the fact that you are alive yet another day. Because you have to think about outside of yourself sometimes, step outside of yourself and think about those who did not survive and did not have the privilege to wake up and still live their passion-filled purpose, right? So then make a list of So 10 things that you want to accomplish today. Make it as small as I'm going to shower, I'm going to go to the groceries, I'm going to actually cook today, or make it as big as I'm going to launch my business and I'm going to start writing that book. I'm going to start taking further learning, purchasing that course, working with that professional to learn and expand my education. And Another important aspect of your morning routine is, if possible, getting enough sleep. Even if you didn't get enough sleep, the easiest way to kind of eliminate how much sleep you get is by the first thing you do is check your messages, check your email, check your social media. Now, one of the things that I do is go straight to the bathroom and wash my face. That is, if my bladder wasn't already telling me that, hey, it's time to get up. Go straight to the bathroom, wash up your face, which, you know, hey, if you love beauty, it's a part of your beauty skincare routine, right? So wash up your face and take a good look in the mirror. That's the perfect time also to recite to yourself positive affirmation, positive words, because you are what you think. Not only are you what you eat, you are what you think. So if you think, oh, it's not going to be a good day today, Guess what? 9 out of 10 times, something's going to come up that will literally ruin your day. So first you have to put it out there, project it out there that you want to have a very good day. Even if you're not the type of person to feel comfortable staring at yourself in the mirror, write it down. Write down about 10 things that you want to be defined as, the woman that you want to be known as. But the businesswoman, the wife, the mother, the sister, the aunt, the daughter that you want to be known as. And write it down. I also use affirmation cards. I've purchased some from, you know, other Black-owned businesses that already have them out there and just shuffle the deck and pick out one that would intuitively relate to you for that day. Mm-hmm. Another important aspect of making sure that you have a positive mindset is making sure that you have the environment that supports that. Now, I'm a traveler. I love to travel. I love to go new places. I've always just lived in different cities. I've lived in Dallas, Nashville, Miami, D.C., Atlanta. And what I've noticed is that no matter where I go, I make sure that my environment suits me. So I'm not quite luxurious and I'm not quite too old school, but I love to be as holistic as possible, right? So I will always make sure that there's sunlight, natural light, something well-lit, have daylight light bulbs, and also make sure that I have essential oils around, right? Essential oils, sage, incense, you name it. Your environment is what you make it. Even if it requires just having— even if you live in a place with nothing but 4 white walls, have something that can kind of have your favorite color around, have your favorite kind of flower around, your favorite scent of a flowering incense oil. Whatever it is that needs to be done, even if you do not have your own unique space, your own office, your own space where you feel that you can fully thrive, create that. Start again with your morning routine. Take the time out not to go to social media, but write out the ideal person that you want to be. Write that out, right? Visualize it to the depths of the 5 senses. You know, how would it— what do you smell? What do you taste? What do you see? What do you feel? What do you hear? And just visualize, have a visualizing activity. Now I'm creative and I'm always in my head and I'm always thinking, so naturally I'm just As soon as I wake up, as soon as I thank God for waking up, first start off with gratitude. Then I'm always visualizing and creating and daydreaming about the ideal woman that I want to be, where I want to be, and the ideal bed that I want to be waking up in, the ideal home. What do I want to smell when I wake up? So I'm always visualizing first and foremost. So until you can actually create that environment that you actually thrive in, whether you are creative, whether you are analytical, Or whatever it is that you know that you need, whether you need to actually get up, wash up, dress up, and go to an office space or coffee shop or a bakery. Do whatever you need to do to make sure that your environment matters, because you can control your environment. The next aspect that I feel that you can control that's super important with mindset is nutrition. Once again, I'm blessed to be a cancer survivor that has been in remission and surviving for over almost 30 years now. I'm giving out my age. I know. But I think the most easiest solution to a lot of the health problems has been nutrition. Are you eating your colorful foods? Are you just eating when you're stressed out and when you're filled with anxiety? Are you eating, getting up in the middle of the night to eat after your body had digested and you sat down and you've already took a nap after that? I did. Are you still eating? Just being more conscious about what you put into your body, not just the words, not just on your body with the type of clothing you wear, not just your environment by where you're living. What are you eating? Are you eating colorful fruits and vegetables? Next is legacy. I'm all about legacy because I think about not just myself and others who have retinoblastoma like me, who have not necessarily been able to thrive or survive or even be alive to this day. I think about legacy a lot, especially when you're Building a business in the online world, it could go in the flash of a second, but you have to think about legacy. You have to think about the impact that you're making, and what legacy do you want to leave? Why are you building your business? Sure, a lot of us choose to be entrepreneurs, we want to go the entrepreneur route because we want that control over our life, we want to have the flexibility to be around family, But why— how do you want people to feel about you, about your brand, behind your back? Behind your back, and when you're not even around on Earth, how do you want people to feel? So a lot of time we kind of have to step outside of ourselves and remember that it's not about me, it's about we. So it's about us. It's about all the women that I want to empower, uh, to confidently tell their stories. It's about all the women who I want to empower to become the entrepreneur that they dream of being. All the women who I want to Empowered to write that book, start that podcast, start video blogging on YouTube. So think about what your legacy is going to be. Next is how can— okay, I've said all these tips, right? I've said all these tips, and there's so many aha moments of like, I've never thought that I could really control this aspect of my life, or I never really thought that I could change this aspect of my life, and I never really knew how much these words or this food or this environment actually negatively impact my life. So of course there's something that we still are getting overwhelmed for and we still feel that we can't control. And that's when imposter syndrome kicks in. Imposter syndrome, commonly known as feeling like we're not good enough. But you are good enough because you've had a degree, you've had the consultation, you've had the successful client. You've been promoted time and time again at your job, so you know you're good at what you do. However, there are little small voices that seem so very loud that will creep up inside of you, inside your head, every so often and just make you feel like you're not good enough, make you feel less than, make you feel like you're not confident, right? So imposter syndrome is always going to be there. The fear is always going to be there, but Again, going back to legacy, if you were not doing what your purpose is, if you're not doing what you were called to do, how would people be inspired by you? How would people be inspired by your story? How would people even know who you are, right? The key thing to not letting imposter syndrome take you down almost as strongly as any medical or mental health disorder is by keep going. Keep pushing, keep going, keep practicing, keep learning, keep talking to people. The more sales calls you have, the more confident you'll be, the more you'll know what you need, what you don't need to do in your business, right? So the easiest way that I've been able to beat imposter syndrome is I'm always learning. I'm always talking to people. And this moves on to the next act, that community matters. Your circle matters. Who are the people that are literally either exactly like you or have been where you want to go that are in your circle that are okay with helping you to get there. Like, they're not jealous of your level of— you're not jealous of your vision. They're not jealous of your financial levels or anything like that, right? You evaluate your circle. Like, are they feeding into you? Are you feeding into them more than they are feeding into you? Are they encouraging you when you do have those moments of anxiety and depression and imposter syndrome creeping in? Or are they just like, yeah, okay, think about that? There's some circles that are poking a hole in your boat, literally poking a hole in your boat rather than helping you to stay afloat. So Definitely evaluate your circle, and it's okay to cut ties, as hard as it may be, especially if you're super close with your family, especially if you have been married for a very long time. I've been divorced, and I understand just how draining it can be when you have this support system because they're not where they want to be, right? You have the support system, they're supporting you as much as they can see for themselves. Right. So next thing is also to make sure that you maintain tunnel vision, tunnel vision with your goal, because sometimes we tend to look on social media and we see this person doing well. We tend to go on YouTube, you see this person doing well. You go watch the news and you see, um, this person being featured. But the most important thing is to make sure that you have tunnel vision for your goals. And again, your goals were only given to you. Your goals are the ones that were specifically given to you. So you can ask your next-door neighbor, you can ask the next person in your community, like, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? Sure, they have an opinion. They're like, eh, I don't know. But the vision was given to you and you only. So it's up to you to execute it and take action on it. But the only way you can do that Is maintaining your positive mindset, maintaining your positive schedule, maintaining your positive diet, and continue to do the work, literally. All right, so that was amazing, right? There's so many tips. I hope you have so many that you've been able to write down. Now I'm going to recap just a little bit. All right, so the best way to maintain a positive mindset and see life differently In your personal life, which will then be able to positively relay over to your side hustles and your business goals, is to have a morning routine. Have a morning routine that works for you. You can read as many books as you need to, to get an idea of everybody else's morning routine. But think back to your childhood. Think back to what actually worked out for you, right? Set your morning routine of what works for you. Set your environment for what works for you. Choose your diet for what works for you. Focus on having a tunnel vision of what your legacy will be, because that vision will send only to you. Choose your circle wisely and never stop practicing, never stop learning, and never stop forgetting that it's about we, not about me. All right. Now, if you want more tips on morning routine and want to hear from other women entrepreneurs and business owners who have been through the fire and made it out and who are confident and comfortable enough with sharing their story of adversity and overcoming adversity with resilience, be sure to take a listen to my podcast. Visit zaakirahmyard.com/podcast to be able to listen to, um, episodes on mental health, on lifestyle, Building a business, and of course morning routines and how they've been able to thrive and literally see life different. Thank you so much for watching, and be sure to leave a comment on your favorite takeaways, and if you have any questions at all. Thank you for watching. My name is Zaakirah Muhammad, and you can find me also on social media and my website, zaakirahmohammed.com. Thank you.