See Life Different Storytelling Challenge Day 1

Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome to day 1 of the See Life Different Challenge. My name is Zaakirah, and I will be running the challenge with you all week long. I am a brand strategist and a professional photographer and a cancer survivor and the author of the book and the podcast by the same name, See Life Different. And the book actually is seeing life through a different lens. And I've been a cancer survivor for almost 3 decades, and I've been a photographer for almost 2 decades. And I'm literally here to tell you to tell your story differently. So this challenge is for you if you are ambitious, if you are a creative, if you are— if you grew up one of those who was always in a daydream. but you knew that there's a way to be impactful with your creativity, whether that's through a podcast, whether that's through a book, whether that's through music, whether that's through— what did I say? Music, book, photography, music, anything creative. That's what the challenge is going to be. So this is a 5-day, completely free online challenge. This challenge also goes hand in hand with a workbook. There's going to be a workbook that you're going to get. So make sure that you get the workbook because we're going to go to— we're going to go to work in the next 5 days. We're going to go to work for the next 5 days. And this is streaming live on a— especially in a Facebook group because that's where the interaction is going to be. Any takeaways? any homework assignments and your workbook and your personal concierge, it's all gonna be in the Facebook group. If you are not already in the Facebook group, I'm gonna show a link at the bottom to be sure to go there. Make sure that you get your workbook. And when you get your workbook, you'll also get access to your concierge. Your concierge is Shawnee, or you'll see her name on Facebook as Shawndisha. All you have to do is reply to her, say that I need a workbook. Or be sure to check your email if you've already received an email already. Be sure to check your email, check your promotion, check your spam. And then if you need to get a message from Shawnee or Shaundisha, be sure to check your message requests. So I'm so excited to be here. This has been a long time coming. I have been impactful in the creative industry for over a decade. And with having over a dozen photography clients, with having over a dozen— over a dozen— well, more than a dozen, actually over 100 podcast episodes, I've also released a book by the same name, Seeing Life Through a Different Lens. And you can actually get that because a lot of the things that I'm going to talk about are stemming from that book. And also, what else have I done? Photography marketing clients, 100 podcast episodes, tons and tons of personal and professional development. So if you have been stuck on starting that business, writing that book, launching that podcast, this is the place to be. Today's day, the first day, is mastering your mindset. We got to set these intentions. This is being recorded on LinkedIn, on YouTube, and in the Facebook and on Facebook groups at the end of December. This challenge was also a little birthday gift that I'm giving to you. I'm giving to you and being able to interact with you because my purpose is if I could overcome cancer and overcome autoimmune illnesses to do all of the things, you can too. So make sure that when you are watching these videos, Hopefully you're watching live. If you are watching live, continue to comment in the chat. If you are posting in a Facebook group, I— you have to authorize Restream to show me your name. Otherwise, I'll just see you as Facebook user. But I'll see you, you know, on the other side once I, you know, come back over to the Facebook group myself and interact with you. But if you're not already in the Facebook group, that's where you actually get to interact with me, share your replays. Share your takeaways, and we're going to get some work done. All right, now I'm going to continue to tell you how this is going to go. All right, so we have 5 days altogether. Every single day at 7:00 PM Eastern, I will be going live, and every day is different. Every day also builds upon the previous day. So today we're talking about mastering your mindset. We're going to set the intention, and we're going to say just a few affirmations, and I even have— Some discount codes and freebies for you to go hand in hand with that, um, in addition to your workbook. But you have to be able to stay to the end of the video. You have to watch the entire video in order to actually get those discounts and freebies. All right, these replays will not be up all the time. I know this is holiday season. I know this is a busy, busy season, especially, especially if you are a mom. And you are an educator and you are trying to close out your fiscal year. This is a busy time, but how much longer are you willing to wait? What is, what is the cost and the impact of you waiting another year, another month, another day to take action on that passion project that's been in your head for the last decade? How much longer are you willing to wait? Yes. That's what I thought. So Make sure that you have no distractions when you are watching these videos. So every single day, um, on the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th, you have 4 hours. If hopefully you won't have to, you know, build them up like that if you watch them every single day. One, live and interactively in the flesh, but 2, also that you don't, uh, you get the, the support that you need, the mentoring that you need while you have me here, because Come December 20th, on my birthday, one, I'm deleting the videos from online, and we're going to move it over to the private platform. But two, on my birthday, you have the opportunity to ask me one-on-one, literally AMA, like ask me anything about anything that we talked about this week. This week. All right. So the videos are going to come down. The replays will be available. And you also will need to be filling in your workbook. There will be homework assignments, all right? We're going to do homework assignments. We're going to be affirmations. Okay, so I'm sure you're half— some of you are halfway in here now, and you're probably like, uh, who is this woman? If you have not seen me or heard of me, my name is Zaakirah. My name is Arabic for the afterlife. Zaakirah is Arabic for afterlife. Nayyar, which is where you'll see most of my social media handles, Nayyar is actually Arabic for bright light. And I've basically been using my purpose and my story as a childhood eye cancer survivor. When I was 6 months old, my mother detected a photo— took a photograph of me and detected a white glow that was in my eye. When I was about 6 months old. And because of my amazing mother, Aida, when we were living— I was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And so when we were living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it was sunny South Florida, you know, sunshine. I'm just the only one that's from Florida. My mom's from New York, my dad's from Tennessee. So I love to consider myself an East Coaster. And so my eye was surgically removed when I was 9 months old. Oh my gosh. Thanks to Dr. Timothy G. Murray in Fort Lauderdale, Florida— well, Miami, Florida now. He has his own practice now. And if it wasn't for the continuous love and affirmation that I received growing up and also being a woman of God, who knows if I would still be looking at you today. And I mean literally looking at you, because statistically my cancer, childhood eye cancer back in the '90s, Before technology increased, before nutrition increased, the survival rate was not very high past the age of 5. And so I've been through it all, like grief of knowing that— grief of surviving, but more grief of, you know, experiencing friends and family who have not survived as long as I've survived. So that's why I'm here to say that this is— Literally me giving a gift to you for my 30th birthday. So that's me. And now we're gonna get into it. I'm gonna start off— I tend to start off every session with some kind of affirmation, some kind of prayer. Now each one, you customize it to your own. Take it and leave it based on what connects with you. But each one doesn't fit all. But I'm just going to read a few And actually, I probably should put this in the chat now. This is your first freebie. Let me put it in the chat right now, that if you go to notique.com and use code Legacy— notiquebrand.com and use code Legacy— and that's where— okay, I think I do have the link incorrectly. Hold on. Let me edit that. Notiq.com, N-O-T-I-Q. And on there, you actually get access— use the code Legacy— and you actually get access to these affirmations. All right, I'm just going to read a few. All right. I am a woman of rest. I prioritize my health and my well-being. I take care of my body. I refrain from stress. Close your eyes, do whatever you need to do. To make sure you hear these loud and clearly, the ones that resonate with you. I am a hardworking woman. I am not lazy. I am willing to do what it takes. I am dedicated. I am determined. I am a woman of courage. I am bold and fearless. Nothing will be impossible for me. I am growing in faith. I'm taking bold steps. I am a woman of creativity. I am full of innovation. I am actively using my gifts and talents. I am adding value. I am solving problems. One more. I am a woman of wise planning. I am careful and intentional with details. I am prepared and productive. I am a woman of gratitude. I am grateful to be alive. I am grateful for where I am. I am grateful for what I have. I am grateful for the woman I am becoming. We're going to set intentions today. We're setting intentions today. So with you setting intentions, you are picking whichever one of those resonated with you, and that's what we're going to utilize. The tone that you set today is the tone that you're going to set for the remainder of this challenge, the remainder of the year, and the remainder of your life. All right? So now we're going to go ahead and get started. And today's challenge is all about mastering your mindset. So first things first, one of the easiest ways to master your mindset is first You got to overcome imposter syndrome. You got to stop, like, now. Imposter syndrome is FOMO, your fear of missing out. Imposter syndrome is comparison between whoever you see and admire on social media. Imposter syndrome is forgetting that you have taken— you have gotten 3 decades— sorry, 3 degrees, and you don't utilize them. Imposter syndrome is Dangerous. Bad. I was gonna say bad, but it is dangerous. But there's nothing wrong with it because you're not alone. There's— I'm— I get it. The woman next to you watching this is getting it. Um, and it's, it's something that never really goes away, just like the fear. It never really goes away. So the first thing first is we gotta remove imposter syndrome. Now, how do we do that? Because it's always there, right? One of the best ways to do that is to continue to do what it is that you like to do. What is it that people come to you for often? What is it that brings you the most joy? And what is it that if you could do it unpaid, you would? Those are 3 ways to make sure you're beating imposter syndrome. Another way is you continue taking action. Stop overthinking, stop pondering, stop waiting, and actually take action. I'm sure you have some questions going on of like, I really want to do what I want to do, but life, but this, but that. Well, how much longer are you going to kind of let that be your reason? How much longer are you going to let that be your reason? Now, remember I said I've survived cancer for 30 years and I've been seeing in one eye for almost 30 years. And believe it or not, I also wear hearing aids. I've also worn it for about 25 or so years. And at any point in that phase, I could have let the bullying stop me. I could have let the period of being broke financially stop me. I could have let the loss and the grief stop me. Now, it did freeze. It did actually just help me slow down a bit. Any, any, you know, levels of grief that I had to experience, I did slow down. There's nothing wrong with that. That's the easiest way to avoid burnout. Pay close attention to yourself and make sure that you are listening to yourself to know when you're on the verge of burnout, of a breakdown, of not being yourself, of going off on someone who did no harm to you. Listen to yourself. It's okay to get internally quiet and still. You know, sometimes we don't really do that. We naturally have the music blasting all the time. We naturally have, uh, Netflix blasting in the background. We naturally have kids and people just talking to us all the time. But the only way to actually get quiet is to literally get quiet. Now, I'm a woman of faith, so at least 5 times a day I am getting quiet, just nothing but me and my thoughts. And through that, you'll get clarity. Through that, you'll get a reminder. Through that, you'll be reminded of your intention. All right? And any notes that you're taking for yourself, feel free to type it in the chat because you may actually help someone else. Any notes that you're like, ah, that was an aha moment for me, or ah, that hit me, put it in the chat. You may help someone else. Put it in your workbook, in your notes, because after these videos, you know, You want to be able to save it somewhere else. But definitely put it in the chat as well so you can refer back to it and you can inspire somebody else. All right. Now we're going to move over to the next part of setting your intentions, setting your visions. Another one of the bonuses that you'll be able to get is a vision board. Yeah. I don't really want to call it vision board because I know there's different opinions about vision board. But the real goal behind goal setting, any type of goal setting, is from your mind onto something tangible. From your mind onto something tangible and then actually taking action. In order to manifest, achieve your visions and your goals, It has to come from your mind onto something tangible and into action. So I want you to type in the chat, what are 3 big scary goals that you have? 3 big scary goals that you have. And don't put a time limit on it. I know we're all like, oh, it's the new year, it's the new year, I'm trying to wrap up, not do anything for the end of the year. We're not putting any time limit on this. We just want to achieve these 3 goals. Now, what are these 3 goals? You can put it in the chat, put it in your workbook. Um, you probably will even need some other extra page. I know I got to give you a lot of pages in the workbook, but you may need an extra page because we're setting intention. All right. Now, I've been blessed to go to 4 African countries in my young lifetime. And knowing that the impact that I can make on the African continent is a scary thought to be one of the few that actually don't mind traveling long-term and making an impact with the youth. It's still in creative, still in all things media, all things audio, video, and still make an impact. That's one of my big scary goals. Now, how am I going to get there? I'm going to talk to you briefly about something called the SMART method. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Being able to write it out as specific as possible, right? You know that quote of closed mouth don't get fed. Get specific as possible on what it is that you want. So I know that I want to go to Kenya. I will— I am going to Kenya. And with going to Kenya means that I will get to be near the ocean. Within measurable, meaning, you know, within a time frame. Set a time frame, but do not get disempowered if that time frame is not met. Set a time frame, but do not get disempowered if your time frame is not met. That's measurable. Attainable. Is it attainable financially? What can be attainable financially to be able to fly over there, to get the flights? I started to see there's an airline called Nairobi Airlines that actually is inter— Like within the African continent now that they have easy accessible flights. Come from the U.S. to a different African country to another African country before you get to Kenya. So it's attainable. Realistic. Is it realistic to— So realistic is kind of tricky for me because your vision was given to you for a reason, for you to actually achieve it, right? So by being realistic— realistic, here's an example. Earlier this year, um, I had an opportunity to— well, I have several opportunities actually. I've had several opportunities to either speak or host events Here's another example. I had a book signing for my book. My book released officially, um, at the end of 2019, December 2019. It's the anniversary, 3-year anniversary of the book being released this, this year. And so I had a book signing, but this was before the, uh, pandemic hit. So I had a book signing and I set it for at a private location, but a pretty popular tourist location. But also set it to be a private event. Now it's realistic, it was realistic to happen. I made it happen. I, I set the location, I had, um, you know, invited people and people came, right? So some— set something that's realistic, but we're going to tweak that a little bit because the visions that were given to you are real. They are real, and we're gonna shift that mindset to knowing that whatever it is in your heart is real. Just like the comment in the chat, a speakeasy, win a Grammy, and live remotely. A speakeasy, win a Grammy, and live remotely. So I'm going to use that example as a SMART method. So specific is, that's as specific as you got. You have a speakeasy, right? And with the speakeasy, you're getting the Grammy. Now, how are you going to get that Grammy? What are you going to use to measure? Right, so I gather that your music— this is music, so that means taking action, right? Recording a song, writing a song, partnering with other artists, sharing your music online, right? And live remotely? It is possible to live remotely. It is possible to live anywhere but here. This world was not created just to live in one place. You were not created just to live in one place. If you feel stagnant, if you feel like your circumstances, you're itching to go somewhere, listen to that and write that down. What is that place that you're itching to go to? And timely, put a timeline on it. Now for me, I'm gonna say in the next year, right? I had another goal related to my travel goals of going to 30 countries by the age of 30. I've been blessed to go to 11. So I'm almost there. But it's possible. I could hop on a cruise. I could country hop. I could have an international book tour. It's realistic, and you can set a time. But remember to never be discouraged if you don't meet your goal. Never be discouraged if you don't meet your goal. All right, great. Now we're going to move on to— I'm actually going to share— now pardon me, I haven't tested this out, but I am going to share a slide and we're going to go a little bit deeper into what it looks like to make these goals happen. So there's another bonus. I may have your concierge kind of give it to you, but you'll get it in the Facebook chat. There's another bonus for a vision board or goal setting checklist. In that checklist, you're setting a word of the year or one thing that you want to achieve. So if I talked about travel, that's one word, one theme. And then the 3 goals that we talked about, you're putting that there. And the 10 things that you'll be doing that you enjoy doing, if you were to— as hard as it may be. You got to visualize yourself already there. Visualize yourself already there and write down 10 things that you're doing while you're there. But that's the vision board checklist that's specifically for those who are on the email list and in the Facebook group. But I will show you this slide. Bear with me here. Let me make sure I'm doing this correctly. You're doing great. Okay. I think we got it. All right. Now, so just gonna walk you through who I am again. So I support and empower differently abled women of color creative to powerfully tell their stories through media. And I have— oops, there's the typo— I have 10+ years as a photographer and then became became the life business and marketing strategist. So people come to me, women, especially women of color, especially other differently abled women, come to me when they want to start, build their photography brand, market it on social media, and actually tweak their mindset in the meantime. Because being an entrepreneur and operating in your purpose is not easy. And so I have over a decade as a productivity strategist. I was one of those that was on Zoom before Zoom was popular. I was on Facebook before Facebook was popular. And I actually have tech abilities when it comes to being that mentor. And I use these same tools to create my vision. Now, I've always been one of those, I was always journaling. Technically, that's where the book came from. That was the concept of the book, mother and daughter journaling. Journaling and advocating for each other, advocating through creativity and advocating what it looked like to grow through adversity with resilience. But then I didn't officially start vision boarding, like the idea that you know of a board, like scrapbooking or using Canva. Previously, vision boarding was not the terminology I used. Vision boarding for me was envisioning myself in future terms. So I attended a virtual vision board party, and so I kind of just started sharing with that. So I always kept magazines anyways. I would, you know, I wouldn't really cut it out because I, you know, I had a photographer eye. So I was always just looking at the magazines, one, for photoshoot ideas, and then I was like, wait, let me look at it to imagine myself. Let me imagine myself photographing this person. Let me imagine myself photographing in this location. Let me imagine myself um, being featured in this magazine. And manifesting once again starts with in the mind, taking it, putting it in the tangible format, telling someone you trust, um, uh, writing it down. I say write it down first, but don't, don't put it out there before, you know, you attract, uh, you know, bad energy for it. But make sure that you put it somewhere for you and where between you And, and God, or you and the universe, you and some other, uh, spirit know before you share it out there. Because then once you share it out there, you can then bring in your community to your goals. Because once you're clear on your goals and you know your why and you know your intention and you know your affirmation, nobody can stop you. You're all the way up. So, um, I started to really just— I'm using the word manifest. I really did manifest everything that I, that I, you know, wanted. So the biggest aha moment to realize the power of my own intuition was I attended— I was a huge— I'm telling my age and I'm telling, I'm telling who I grew up with, but I was a huge NSYNC fan. Now, back to remind you, they went international. So I grew a love for the boy band called NSYNC. So I remember when I was younger, I was like, I want to go to, you know, their concert. I will go to their concert one day. Now, although it was the solo, it's, you know, once Justin Timberlake became solo, um, I finally did go. I had written it down and I had declared that I am going to a Justin Timberlake concert. While I was at that Justin Timberlake concert, I, uh, created something different. I created— I said it out loud. Nobody could hear me. Everybody's singing and screaming and the music is loud. But I said it out loud that I am— this will be the last concert I attend for fun. The next concert I'll be photographing, I will be photographing. And it was September, 8 months later, I was one of 5 photographers allowed to photograph Eminem at a music festival in Atlanta. So that's just one example. You know, there's multiple examples on here, but that's just more examples to journal in future tense and be as specific as possible. And yes, I'm talking to you. You're like, I don't trust vision boarding. I don't like vision boarding. Remember, it's just the terminology. The power of the English language, you can call it whatever you want to, okay? But it's called manifesting. Your unique vision and goal that was given to you only. And the only way they actively come true is if you take action. Think about it. Think about the— when you first moved to a different location, how did that happen? You thought it up, you took action on it, right? When you finished your degree, when you got married, when you had your first child, all of these are actionable steps. And the same thing happened for the big, scary vision that you have in your heart right now. So it works in any part of your life. It works in your career, it works in family, it works with where you want to travel, it works with what impact you want to make. Listen to your heart, get quiet, and be intentional. When should you start? You should be taking these notes right now. I hope you're taking these notes right now. You better be taking these notes right now. All it takes is an hour, right? Remember I shared that I meditate and give myself time 5 minutes— 5 times a day? An hour. If you can do an hour to watch a Netflix film, if you can do an hour to watch the news, if you can do an hour to just simply listen to music while you're on a commute, You can do that now. You can do it anywhere because we're really about to talk about technology tools that you can use. So this was from 2018. I can't see. I think I had updated it since because there were a couple of things on here that did actually come true. And so for me, I never put a year on it. This is the year I did it, but I never put a year on my vision board. Because, uh, God's time, right? It's not your time, it's God's time. So here's that tip: get it out of your head onto something tangible, on a piece of paper, somewhere on your computer, or use Pinterest or Canva. You have everything you need. You literally have everything you need. You can't have— you can't separate it by life. You can separate it by career. You can separate it by business and family, excuse me. And don't beat yourself up by not having it completed. So get yourself, put yourself, put a timer on your phone and just do it. And these are just more examples of what to put on your vision board. Your word of the year or your goal of the year. The things that make you happy. If you would have already envisioned yourself already there. And what you're going to be doing about it. And if you are a visual creative, because this is for ambitious creative, you are creative, use those magazine clippings that you have stored somewhere, download those images, um, use your stickers. I'm, I'm big on quotes. I actually just, uh, made— I did make mine for the new year, and I have a lot of quotes, the affirmations. And put it in a safe place, but also put it in a safe place where you can see it too. All right, so we briefly talked about SMART goals. I have it here for you in case it slipped your mind. And here's some more tips. The See Life Different podcast is my podcast. I actually have a couple of episodes about that. I will put those specific links in the Facebook group. Concierge, remind me to put those favorite links in the Facebook group. Um, and that's it. Okay, so in the Facebook group you will share what you've achieved, and I think that should be it. All right, great. So how are we doing? What are we saying? You may want to— Cameron, you have it at the lock screen on your phone. Yes, that is a great idea. Great idea. Put it someplace where you can see it all the time. I have my dream car. That's probably what I did. I found another picture. I didn't like the picture that I had at the vision board party that I showed you the photo of. So I found a different picture of my dream car. As a matter of fact, I saved a photograph from Instagram. Instagram is a great— if you use it properly, Instagram is a great goal-setting platform. As long as you don't look at it with the method of imposter syndrome, Instagram is a great platform for setting and saving your visualizations. You can save collections on there now. And save it somewhere where you can see it. Okay, now what we got? All right, so we got our We did our affirmations, we did our goal setting, we— I gave you the overview of the Seeing Life Through a Different Lens, the book, the podcast. And that, that's a wrap for day 1. That's a wrap for day 1. So there's more where that came from. You feel like, oh, but I want more. Well, there's more where that came from. Tune in every single day. Until my birthday, December 20th, and then these replays are going to be taken down. But make sure that you are in— you get— you're on the email list so that you get access to the workbook so that you can put these notes in a place. You can put these notes somewhere, and you can also put your responses in the Facebook group. And then you can also, yeah, put it in a workbook, put it in a Facebook group, and take action. Take action. All right, so tomorrow, day 2, is master your branding. So everything that you've written down that you say you want for yourself and your life, you got to be able to articulate it in a way, especially if you are creative and you are using social media. And you already are using it for your side hustle, but it may not be to the best advantage, you can look at branding. Branding is who, um, who you are when you're not in a room, what people say about you when you're not in a room. And there's, there's a way to articulate and attract that. So that's day 2. So definitely make sure you're back here for that. Because that's the biggest gap between what you want and taking action. We put together what you want, right? Tomorrow is actually taking action on that, okay? Day 3 is marketing, marketing and storytelling. So that's officially the storytelling, the busiest part. Day 3 is the storytelling side. So remember, I've been able to repurpose my story From a book to a podcast, but technically the other way around, the podcast. And then the blog, the blog first. Photos, any realm of creativity, we'll be working through what works for you, but this is what ended up working for me, starting off with journaling, right, and then become blogging, and then using photography, and then changing it to a blog. The blog became a podcast, the podcast became a book, and now we're bringing it into the 5-day launch challenges. So if you are overthinking and overcomplicating the process of starting your side hustle, tooting your own horn, tomorrow we're going to dig deeper into that. So make sure that you do your work of writing down affirmations, writing down your intention and your 3 goals, your basic area goals. And we're going to keep doing the work. And then don't forget on Day four, it's gonna be a Q&A. So entirely Q&A and a couple of bonuses. A couple of bonuses. Right? Entirely a Q&A and a couple of bonuses. And day five, hold on. Let me make sure I'm doing it. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Yep. Day five, we are having a special guest. You actually gonna meet your concierge, Shawnee or Shawndisha. And, um, we're going to literally have almost like, like a conversation, right? A conversation on what, on what it's been like, the, the actions that have been implemented. Because, um, once again, get into the Facebook group, but you'll see the photo of her, um, I actually took. I actually took a photograph. So, um, you know, if you're connecting with me from, you know, photography when I did have my photography launch, you're not missing anything. It's that I was able to take on the— I've noticed what was frustrating about that gap. You learn, you read, you watch all the courses, and then there's nothing happening for a year or however long, right? Yes, life happens, but what is missing when it comes to continuously operating in your purpose? That's what irks me. I empower women to operate in their purpose, think more positively, and tell their stories. So that's what we're going to do. This is the storytelling challenge. I will put the link again for the workbook. And if you have any questions, ask them. If you have any takeaways, share them. And I can't wait to see you again soon. Thank you.