How To Create Simplicity And Ease In Your Business with Amanda Muhammad

TRANSCRIPT

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED Diane: Hey, I'm excited for you to meet this week's guest Amanda Mohamad, I cannot see her name without taking a deep breath and dropping my shoulders and I will hustle harder and go, go, go. She is all about building resilience and reducing stress. She grew her business on the principles of simplicity and ease, and I can't wait to steal all of her tips and tactics today. Hey Amanda, welcome to the Amanda: thank you so much for having me, Diane. I'm so happy to be here. Diane: let's start with a little bit about your business journey. Amanda: Where do I even start? Let me just tell you. So I have a mindfulness based stress management consulting company and. All of this, you know, where I first learned about mindfulness practices and you know, these different things that help you even just like manifest a life that you like. It came to me what years and years ago in college, when I was in college, I was going through a super stressful time. And my whole entire family was actually, so, my mom actually invited me out to take a yoga class. And so I had never done yoga before. And at the end of the yoga, there's a final resting pose called Shavasana. And in Shavasana, I was knocked out to the point that I had, like, that was pretty, you know, asleep. There's like this, the state where you're in between being asleep and awake. And I was in there, but I was in there deep. And I remember when I came out of Shavasana, I look at my mom and I was laughing and I'm like, mom, somebody was snoring so loud and she looks at me and she goes, maybe that was you. And I was like, what? Because at that time I was so stressed and I was going through two different things in my life and I was not sleeping organically. And so for me to have fallen asleep and all I did was use my breath and my body. And my focus, I was like, what is this? And I had just kind of fell in love with these practices. And I began using them throughout my days and throughout my life just to manage my stress and they worked for me. And then when I would kind of drop them off and not be using them as, as often, that was noticeable too. And so I've found them to be these tools that I just kind of kept in my back pocket. And I was kind of using them Willy nilly and learning about them through the years. But they really became just a huge resource for me over the years, as I eventually graduated and you know, went off and started working in corporate America and eventually transitioned to working in schools and even in my grad school practices and stuff. I always knew that these tools were a resource for me when I use them. And I always know again, when I didn't use them. It was very obvious. And so I got to a point where I looked up, I was in corporate America first, and I looked around at a lot of the people that I was working with were pretty miserable, but there weren't resources available for us to manage our stress. And so I was like, Hmm, like I just noticed it. And then when I went to another job, I noticed the same thing. And then when I went to another job, I noticed the same thing. And at that point I was in education and I knew, Hey. when I use these things, they work for me. And they're not giving us any resources. So I'm just going to teach the people, the resources. And I started doing that. I became a certified yoga instructor. My firm is trying to have compassion for teachers over the years. And I started facilitating these different trainings and just sharing these practices with people and they loved them and they were making a difference. And I was, I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but I didn't, I wasn't fully in it yet. And I got to a point where I just said, you know what, I'm going to try it. And so I took the big leap. I left my job and I began facilitating these trainings that were all about different things that you could do throughout the day to manage your stress. So I was working with people who didn't have hours at the end of the day, or didn't have, you know, they didn't have the money sometimes to go take some expensive class. So what were the little things that they could do to manage their stress that didn't really require anything outside of themselves. And so I developed this framework called the Maaco method. That's five evidence-based practices that have been proven to help you manage stress and it's gratitude and perspective building and journaling and affirmations and breathing and stretching and all of these different exercises that we can just kind of sprinkled throughout our day to help us build the resilience that's required for the stressful experiences that we're inevitably going to encounter. And so that's what I do. I spend my day as facilitating trainings, developing resources for companies and just sharing different practices that people can use. Just to find a little bit more peace just to kind of knock the edge off. Diane: And you know, I'm like a massive fan of like your little breathing videos on social media. But what's always interesting to me is when I see one, obviously I immediately do it. Like I'm such a fan of these, that amount of built me my own one so that I would stop pestering her about when she was going to post the next one. But what always gets me every time is how hard it is for me to match the breed in. And it just reflects how little of your time you actually spend breathing properly. as you go about your day, So how does coming from the space of, I have these tools, I'm more mindful about things. I know that I can do this throughout my Workday change your entrepreneurial journey versus somebody else who I guess gets more sucked into the go, go, go, have it all. Amanda: Yeah, well, you know, I try to practice what I preach. Sometimes it's easier said than done, right? Because I think one of the hard realities that we have to face as entrepreneurs, and especially when you're doing it full time is, you have to know when you have those seasons where you have to push through. And you have to know when you have those seasons where it's, you have more flexibility to incorporate more of that rest. And so I think that the best solution that I've been able to come up with, it's just a constantly sprinkling the rest as much as I can so that it doesn't get to a point where I'm forced to rest. It's like I get to rest and it's, it's more built in as a part of my day and I'm, and I'm just kind of knocking off that ease. And So knowing the importance of it and knowing that I can do these, you know, just little things throughout the day, it definitely just kind of helps to alleviate those things, that knowledge. Alleviate that stress, that knowledge that's around it. That maybe people just everyday don't know or they don't realize, or they haven't taken the time to build the self-awareness to know when they do need to take that break to know when they do need to have that rest. So it's definitely a perk that comes alongside it. But anyone that knows me will tell you, I also, I worked my butt off. I do worked my butt off for years and I've worked myself into a space where. Simplicity and ease are much more attainable, but I had to get there. So it was a journey to get here as quickly as I, as I have to be able to have more simplicity and more ease in my business. Diane: So I want to ask you, you how you define rest, because for some people, rest is a weakness because, and they put it off, like you said, until they have to rest, because I think people see the only kind of rest as like, Oh, I'm like taking a nap. Amanda: right? Diane: Or I'm like bitching in front of Netflix, both of which are perfectly valid, but I'm also pretty sure with what I know of your business and how you operate that that's not necessarily what you mean by risks. Amanda: So there's definitely, you know, rest where you're physically resting in bed, laying on the couch, whatever. But there's also active rest and I'm big. I'm a big fan of both. And so like, my rest is anything to me that is restorative. Right. So when I am. Taking dance class with my friends when I am, you know, cooking a good meal. When I go for walks, when I, you know, take a yoga class, when I am laughing with my friends, all of that, I consider a rest from my business, right? Like a rest from my hustle arrests from. The things that, you know, stress me out and allows me to just kind of have that time that allows me to experience that, you know, alleviates me from every, everything that I'm constantly having to, you know, operating. Right. So, you know, of course we want to operate in a high level of excellence, but I'm not able to get there if I'm not rested, if I'm not fulfilling fulfilled in other areas of my life. So when I'm able to kind of be in that. In this space that allows me to feel more creative. Phil allows me to feel like myself, like so much of my business. Yes. I'm passionate about it, but I'm passionate about what it allows me to do. I have the time, like the time freedom to, to grab lunch with a friend, I have the time freedom to, you know, talk to my family for long periods of time on the phone, more so than I did when I worked full time and was, you know, going from there and then coming home at night and grinding all nights so that I could get to a point where I could leave my job. Right. So like, That's, you know, all of that is, is rest to me. It's anything that restores me and allows me to feel like I'm capable to keep going. Diane: Yeah, I think that's a really key point because I know people will feel kind of guilty about resting. And I definitely have that. I'll have moments where I'll be like, okay, I'm just going to take like 10 minutes and then I feel bad for the whole 10 minutes that I'm taking. And so I come back and I'm not rested at all, but I like the way you describe it, because it's almost like, actually this is a business tool. So I'm taking a rest because my business needs me to take a rest versus I'm taking a rest from my business. Amanda: And it's like, it benefits me and it benefits my business. I know that I can show up better. When I am rested, like that's been, you know, I was like, I'm the stress management consultant who refused to be like, I'll teach you about burnout. I refuse to be burnt out. So like, I got to a point where I was like, okay, I'm only going to work a certain amount of times a month and facilitate trainings right now because I'm also working on my PhD in the background. So I was like, I'm not going to be out here trying to facilitate trainings every single day. Yes. A lot of people need my resources. But I believe that I will receive the people that I am here to serve and I'll serve those people without burning myself out and just make sure that I position myself and my company that I'm able to deliver with excellence that I'm able to show up energetic. So then I can position myself to receive the contracts that allow me to have the time to rest if you know what I mean. Right. Like as long as you're able to, you know, bring in the profits and secure the, the right. contracts, then you have the time to rest. But if I have to keep. Working working, working like I'm going to burn myself out and then all of this is going to be at the crappiest level. So I have to do these things so that I can show up so that I can be on camera. So then I desire to, because I don't, I also don't want to resent my business cause that's like the worst space that I could possibly be in. So I have to have that, that balance. And I'll also say like, you know, if you look at my Instagram or social media, you may not see much rest. But that's because I only show business. So I rest offline. I enjoy my time away from my phone away from the internet. And you know what I mean? Like, And do things that truly recharge me because my phone can be draining. You start looking at other people and we all do it or looking at other people's lives and all of these different things and feeling the pressure. And so I, I free myself from that. And just allow myself to do what feels good to me and what's going to restore me. And it benefits both me, my business, the people that I'm around, everyone benefits when I'm better. Diane: you just dropped it in, it was like a little side note, like, Oh yes, I have this super successful business. Oh. And you know, like, I'm just doing my PhD on the side kind of thing. Like I've got this like mini, like PhD side hustle going on. So yeah, it's just this like little thing that I'm doing over here. So how do you still talk about. Simplicity and ease, like how are you cultivating that with all the things going on, essentially? Amanda: Yeah. So it's just about like designing my life. Designing my life around what it is that I want instead of forcing, letting my life design it for me. You know what I mean? So it's not working on my PhD. I work on my PhD on Monday night, so we're come up the HD, like in the evenings and things like that. Finish up my work earlier in the day, I have certain things that I do on certain days. And so just structuring my life in a way where I can fit those things in. So I don't believe in balance and there are seasons that are heavier than others. But I believe in harmony. So it's about finding ways to help those things work together. I wake up first thing in the morning. My homework's not due until midnight, right. So when I wake up in the morning, I'm focused on, okay, I need to respond to these emails from my clients. I need to go in and check and make Sure that everything is flowing good, that we have this work flow. Do I have any new leads? All of these, all of these things I take care of work. Then when the work is done, I put down work, I pick up PhD. Right. And so just being really intentional about how I kind of segment that time. And then also you know, I use my weekends and things like that. And with me being full time, it also just allows me a little bit, even more flexibility. Cause he got a lot of folks in my PhD program. Majority of them that are working full time at another company. But I work and I can do my PhD in the day. I can do it in the evening and I can kind of move things around where it just kind of works together for what's best for me. So I look at, you know, what's important for me to get done this week, prioritize, prioritize those things and then allow everything else to work together. Diane: and do you schedule in the rest as well? Amanda: I do have like, especially pre pandemic. I had a lot of things that were like scheduled for me. So like I would not miss I dance three hours a week pre pandemic. Those were not negotiables for me. So if it on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings, I dance and I dance with my dance friends and then we'd go to dinner and that was no one can take that away from me. And so that was my active rest, but then I also just make sure that I get my sleep at night and then. You know, in the mornings I do like a power hour. That's really like energizing for me. It gets me going I'm that I'm just naturally not like a napper, so I was going to win those things, but I will things I do have to schedule, or sometimes I have to schedule a lunch. But that's the only type of like rest that I've will like schedule, schedule like that outside of dance class and those things that I did. Diane: It's always really calming to listen to you talk about things because you always sound just very like relaxed and in control of all these giant things that you have going on, you know, you would think that we were talking about like, Oh, you know, I'm trying to fit in, like, I don't know, a manicure and a politics lesson or something, not like a PhD and a full-time business. How does somebody get started getting some of your like calmness into there? How do you switch off? How do you put down work and pick up a PhD I'm like, tell me everything. Start at the beginning. Is there a ritual? Is there a spell? I need to say, like, how do I do this? Amanda: Well, okay. So productivity hack hour is shared, you know, about this? one, but the Pomodoro technique is really big for me. So I'll do like Pomodora rounds and I'll be intentional about what I'm doing with each period of time. So those can go 25 minutes. Sometimes they go longer like 45 minutes depending on what I'm working on. But at the beginning of that, I'll set my intention for what I'm working on and give myself that period. And at the end of that period, I take a break and I always ask myself, what do you need? And that might be water. It might be, you know, go for a quick walk, whatever it is. And then I come back and I set my intention on the next thing that I'm working on. I think. For me, that's, I'll be honest. That's not really like a roadblock that I had to get past. It's just something I knew I had to get it done. So it's like, I have homework and I have work work, and I have to make sure they both get done. So we're going to work on our work work until this point. And then I look into, are these things, things that can get done tomorrow. Can they get done the next day? Okay. They can cool. Let's move into PhD. And it's just constantly finding that, that like I said, that harmony. Of making them work together. You know, some days work is going to require much more of me. Like the days when my clients in the 20 page contracts like today, which is less. Yes. But Diane: Yes. The 20 page contract for the reading, the 20 page Amanda: exactly. And for all of the, all of the deliverables that come with it. But you know, there's just some like, sometimes things are just going to require more of you naturally, you know, and it's about. Figuring out, you know, what can be done tomorrow? What has to be done today. And sometimes I might have later days than I'd like, but it's the sacrifice that's required for the things that I see on the other side. Sometimes this stuff is exhausting. You know, but just because I'm tired doesn't mean that I get to quit. It's about what is the bigger picture. And I always have things around me that constantly remind me of the bigger picture that I'm striving towards, even if it's just to have the freedom and flexibility to travel. When I want to, to see my friends, to see my family. Cause that was a big reason why I left corporate was because I wanted to see my family more, but it's just like, you know, constantly surrounding myself with those reminders of what the bigger picture is. And knowing that there's sacrifice that is required. When you get tired, you have to learn to rest in that quick and you have to learn what rests works for you. That's restorative. So it might not mean that I take a nap, but it might mean that I take a walk because I take a gratitude walk almost every day. And in that walk, I feel renewed and I can come back and I can do it. Or I can come back and say, you know what, this can be done tomorrow. And I give myself that grace when I need, and I, and I gave myself that push when I, when I have to too. So it's just, it's constant. Evaluation of what has to be done and what's required for me to get to where it is that I ultimately want to go. I know we're talking about like simplicity and ease and I just want to, I want people to know that this business was not always simple and easy. When I started, when I left my job, I worked so much Diane. Like I, I worked full time. I was a teacher. In-between every little break that I had. I was at I'm working on my master's degree at the time. And I was working on building this business at the time. It was just like a yoga company. And then when and then when I would leave school at night, everything was knocking out papers for school and doing this. And I would stay up until two and three and I was like, Rising grinding, grinding, grinding it even so much of the stuff that you still see to this day was built from five years ago when I was doing all of that grinding. Right. And it was a heavy season and I did not give myself enough rest, but what I will say because I, I forgive myself for that, but the way that I really ride it so hard is that I knew that. Very hard work was required for me to get to where I wanted to go. And at the time that was for me to work for myself full time. So I had to sacrifice a lot of things. I was not as social. I was not, I stopped drinking five years ago, so you'll rarely see me have a drink. I stopped hanging out with certain friends. I stopped doing a lot of things. It wasn't the things that fulfilled me, but it was the things that distracted me from the bigger picture of things that I wanted to do. And so I worked like that. For a long time. And it wasn't until probably a year ago that things really, that the might switch really popped on for me to actually have this business that was of simplicity. And that was easier. Right. And I just you know, I was working and I was trying to do a million things and I was too scattered. And then I took a training with Jordan Gill and jury HSA Hawk. And I learned about the power of focusing on one thing. And when I did that, my business took off. Right. And so once I started just focusing on training, training, training, training, and that's all that I did, things got simpler because I was able to give all of my focus to that one area of my business. It was just, you know, focusing on, you know, driving trainings, going in, serving these clients and coming out. And then it was like, things just slowly started to evolve. So it's like, once I got to a good point, then I could add onto it. Just like we talked about with the morning routines, it's like, I started very simple and now things are evolving to be even bigger. But as I like dove in there and it's like, Okay. how can I make that even more simple? So then I started to get to automate my process for onboarding my clients and trainings and using systems and learning about the value of those things. And because I did that hard work saw everything that was required. I was able to step back and say, Okay. now how can I automate this? How can, what can I outsource? Because then I was making the money I had the time and I could actually, and I had the energy cause I wasn't having to work as much because the price point was going up that I could flip around and pour back into. Okay. How can I, you know, how can I kind of rearrange things? How can I structure things for things to be simpler and for things to be easy. And that's how I got to the point where I only had to work four times a month. It started with me working 10 times a month, or, you know, sometimes more than that and doing all of these things and then refining my process, refining my services, refining your experience to the point where I could charge more work less. And that's what really got me to. Being able to, you know, just have more ease and simplicity in my business and to not have to be on all the time. There there's sacrifice that is required upfront. And then the goal is for that to pay off and you don't have to be on all the time. I'm not even where I want to be, but I'm in a season where I can rest more because I'm being taken care of because of the fruits of my labor for years. So I just wanted to share because I don't want to, I never want it to come out. Like I didn't have challenging times or anything like that. And I'm just living this great life with simplicity and ease. Like, no, I've grinded my way into simplicity and ease. And I'm not saying that it has to be some fight for you each day, but hard work is required to take the rest that you need. Sprinkle it in through your days, build up your resilience because it's, there's always going to be something that pops up and it's about having the tools and the resources to get over that hump so that you can keep going. And so I did that for years and that's why things are simpler and easier now Diane: gosh, you're not going to know what to do with yourself when you finish that, is there like, are you going to do like another PhD? It's like, Oh, while I was teaching and doing my masters and now I have my full-time business and my PhD, you're going to suddenly be like, I am. So Amanda: there will not be another PhD. This is the last formal school at that level. But I do want to like create curriculums and whatnot studying like psychological safety and wellness. And so right now my work is focused on the individual, right. So I go in and yes, like I work with companies, right. So. Your company is probably, you know, a crap Fest. Sometimes you're are some tools and some risks courses to help you along the way. It's about the individual getting tools. When they take those tools and they use them frequently, they usually see a difference. And those are the results that I usually get kicked back on. Right. Or that I, you know, from folks I want to be able to go in on the organizational level and support these organizations at the next level and say, this is what you need to do. From an organizational structural standpoint, these are things that need to be changed. I have a friend that has an HR company, so want to work on implementing policy and things that can actually change so that your employees aren't as stressed so that you're actually creating environments that are psychologically safe, that that your employees can thrive in and things like that. Diane: I love that. So I know at the beginning you mentioned like the main method and the like five easy things that people can do. Where can they find a guide to help them through that? Amanda: Absolutely. So I do have a free guide that takes you. It just kind of gives you an overview of what the Maaco method is, and it gives you 50 different ideas of ways to practice different things that are reflective of the Vaco method. So again, the Maaco method is my evidence-based framework and it consists of gratitude, affirmations, journaling perspective, building and breathing and stretching exercises. If you're interested in any of those practices, you can go to. Www.themaacomethod.com and on there, just drop your name and email and it will send you over a guide and you can download the guide and check it out and you don't learn some of those different strategies. And then after that, you'll begin receiving very helpful emails that tell you different things that you can do for managing your stress. Diane: And I think it's important to note there are 55, zero different things that you can do. So there is bound to be at least one that feels good to you Amanda: absolutely. And you know, don't be overwhelmed by that. And I think, you know, one thing when it comes to stress management or like, you know, something that a lot of people want to practice is like morning routines or anything. That's one of these kind of like life shifting practices start small and start with what works for you. Like that's why I gave 50. And everybody was like, you're doing too much like, blah, blah, blah. I'm like no people need options so that they can find what works for them. Like your, my morning routine can be 90 minutes long with ease. Like I've got, you know, it can easily go anywhere. It's anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes each day, depending on what needs to be done. I know it's a lot, but that's what works for me. And it's taken me a long time to get there. And I love it because when I come out of that 90 minutes, I'm just ready to go for the day. But it might start with saying one thing that you're grateful for in the morning and taking a deep breath and getting out of bed. And then it might be three things you're grateful for in five deep breaths. It just will grow with you with time. So just start small and with something that you can get used to, and then once you're used to it, you might add something else in. And then once you're used to that, you might add something else in and let it evolve and being natural with things that, you know, you don't want to feel forced. You don't want to feel against it. You know what I mean? But if you find something that makes you feel even the slightest bit of good. Kind of explore that and see, can I go a little bit deeper with this? Why does it make me feel good? It makes you feel good. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Diane: Awesome. So this has been really, really helpful. I asked my guests a couple of questions every time, and I'm very interested, especially in the first one, I think is going to be really interesting people to hear your answer. So what is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business? Amanda: So, one thing is I actually only take work calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, like I have designated days for designated things. And so I'm pretty strict on that because I go into different types of modes, right. Like Mondays and Wednesdays are very creative for me at did things like podcast interviews. I do things like, you know, creating and voiceovers and stuff like that. So I might be like hunkered down in the closet. But on Tuesdays and Thursdays social, the days that I, that I show up for work. So that's that's one of them. I also I'm very I don't take every call. I don't take every call for work. And also don't take every call personally, when you start a business. And when it's exciting, a lot of people want to learn about you in, in meet you. And it's really exciting and it's great, but you have to have boundaries around that stuff too, and recognize that you are still building. And if I get sidetracked each time that somebody reaches out and wants to know how they too can. Can do it. It's really, it's really inspiring. But I have to learn when to say no and be okay with that and like have authority and stand in that and understand why I'm saying those things. So I do take some of them, you know, when I have a relationship, someone like you, that, you know, I've gotten to just kind of connect with and really vibe with that's one thing. But I am a very, I'm very, very, very strict about the time that I share. With people. My time is the most valuable thing that I have and I can not get it back. And so I will always offer to answer questions via email. I'm very responsive there, but when it comes to my physical time that I'm sharing with you I am very, very, very strict about that. So even with that usually for any kind of like, you know, just kind of like, Oh, hi five calls. I do that on Friday and I only do a few of those and I just, I'm just, I'm just super strict about that. Diane: I think that's a good one for people to think about, you know, we're so strict with ourselves on all the things that we do, but also to be able to step back from it and think like, I don't have to save everyone. just because someone has reached out to me doesn't mean I'm the one that, that is the solution to their problem. Amanda: that's really important. You know, it's just, like I said, like, How I got to a point where I was like, okay, I'm only going to do four trainings because I'm working on my PhD, I'm running a full-time business. And you know, I like, I I'm developing all of these other things too. Well, especially last year I was developing courses for one of my clients. and so I had to decide like, you know, what I, what I truly had time for. And how many people I was going to serve and know that just because an opportunity is presented to me doesn't mean that it's for me. And so what are those things that tell me that it's something that I do need to pursue? When am I going to say no and getting really clear around those things? Because what happens is it's like every time I pushed back on a boundary, I ended up regretting it. So if I take a client at a lower price point than I would want. Or that I, you know, that is the price. Oftentimes I can end up regretting that because then they don't treat it. They don't treat it the same way as a lot of my other clients where I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know, usually some other opportunity will pop up in the day is already snatched by something, by someone that you know, I let down my boundary for, and now I don't want to go into that training and not be my best self because I'm resentful towards that client. It just is what it is. Right. But then there's also, there's also times where it's like, I, I really value the work that this organization is doing. So I'm willing to do that. And because like, when I lived down my boundary and it feels good to me, then that's totally different. But if I let it down and it feels bad, like, no. So I try to alleviate doing that as much as possible and not just get really strict around you know, who I allow into my space. And then also what I give up my time and energy for. Diane: and I think a key point here is everybody wants the simplicity and the ease that you talk about. Everybody wants the lack of stress and your level of calm. This is the price that you have to pay for this. You have to say no when people are going to get hurt feelings or take it personally, or, feel some kind of way about it. And you have to kind of, I guess, not manage their feelings in that situation and just be like, this is not for me. I need to move on because these 10 things off for me, Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. You're not responsible for anyone else's feelings you're responsible for your boundaries? I'm responsible for the level of service that I'm providing. And you know, it gets really challenging to feel like, Oh my gosh, this person's going to think of so mean, or this person's going to, but that's why I have somebody else managing my inbox. Two that can say no for me, when I feel like I can't too. Right. So like doing things like that has been super helpful and just really recognizing like, on the other side, why, like I said, what is that bigger picture of what you're striving for? This is some of that stuff that is required. Like, yes, I live a life that is simpler and that has ease, but I also spent a lot of time developing systems, you know, working on myself. And see the benefit and the power of enforcing those boundaries. Because if you don't, people would just walk all over you. Next thing you know, you're on a two-hour coaching call with somebody because they wanted to pick your brain on something. When you should have been dedicating that two hours to, you know, developing something for a client or, you know what I mean? Like it's, at the end of the day, it is a business. And I think that. You know, with the internet it gets really easy to feel like you have this like access to people and that, Oh, they're my best friend. Cause they liked my clothes three times or, you know what I mean? It's just not it's, that's just not the reality of it. And we have to kind of step back and really, you know, take better care of ourselves. I'm not going to be the stress management consultant. That's completely stressed out because like, no. I'm not going to advocate for taking care of myself and then compromise all of my boundaries just because, you know, you're not listening to all the free content that I have that gives you, you know, I mean, that's the thing, right? You always go back to like, I don't mean to sound mean because I don't, but it's, but these are the things that have helped me to get to where I am. And I know they're going to continue to help me to get to where I'm going. But sometimes you have to make those hard decisions around. What do I want my life to look like? Who am I put here to serve? And how can I do that in the best way? And a lot of the other noise down learned, you got to learn when to shut it out. I don't always shut it up. There are people absolutely like that. Reach out to me. You're always going to hear back, but I have to know when I can truly dedicate that time, that energy towards something when it's really worthwhile. And also mutually worthwhile Diane: Yeah. Awesome. Okay. So finally, my last question, what is the worst piece of cookie cutter advice that you got for your business? Amanda: I don't know if it's cookie cutter. I will just say, and I have to keep in perspective. So I know a lot of the folks that, that you work with interact with, they're like an online business. I'm a B2B business, right. So I do business with other companies I do, but you know, so, I, my lesson a little different in, I don't know, Have to constantly put out content. But I just, I don't feel like I always have to be on a lot of folks have to post three times a day or have to, you know, all of this stuff. And while it will grow your following I've been able to experience great success. What I deemed as successful. Without having to do all of that. So you see a lot of content and you're seeing more content now, but it's not all me it's because there's a team behind me that is developing it, but I am so grateful for. But I just refuse to be just on my phone all day, super responsive to everybody, but like, that's not the life that I want and that while it's, you know, it's great to be able to be on and to connect with all of these different people. I actually, even though I'm extroverted, I really valued, just like my very like intimate relationships. I don't need to be friends with everyone. I love the friends that I do have, like, I make great internet friends, but I just don't. I just don't believe that I have to be on all the time. And I refuse to just be addicted to being present for everyone, but myself. Diane: Awesome. That's pretty inspirational. I'll let you know when I get, when I get anywhere near that, thank you so much for this. I think this is been a really. Unique outlook on our businesses. So I know people are going to want to connect with you, and they're going to want to ask you questions and they're going to want to carry on the conversation. And if they all promise to not expect immediate replies, where's the best place for that? Is it LinkedIn where you post a lot or is it Instagram? Which is where I like the breathing. Amanda: Yeah. So if you love the breathing exercises that Diane is talking about, those are usually found in my stories, or you can actually go onto my actual page. You'll see different breathing exercises. So I am at Maaco mindfulness on Instagram. You can also find me on LinkedIn. It is Amanda Muhammad. So if you just come over there You know, like I said, you'll hear, you'll hear back from me, you know, like I actually do love, like, you know, people reach out and things like that. It's the people that want the free coaching. That's where it gets a little tricky. Right. But yeah, please connect with me over on LinkedIn. I me over on Instagram and yeah. Look forward to seeing you all day. And I hope that you're creating a great day. Diane: thank you so much for squeezing us into this. You know, in-between the like full-time business and the full-time PhD and the like 19 minute morning routine. I appreciate your time. And the energy that you have brought to this, thank you so much. Amanda: Thank you, Diane.


Are you still searching for that elusive balance between pushing hard in your business and getting enough downtime to recover so that you show up at your best? 

Amanda Muhammad walks you through the tools she uses to build simplicity and ease into her life even with a full-time business and being in the middle of her PhD.

Key Takeaway

Rest is a business tool that allows you to show up and serve in your highest capacity.

We talk about

  • How to define rest beyond naps and Netflix
  • How to create intentionality and focus with a productivity hack
  • What to seek instead of balance
  • The one change that brings simplicity, ease, AND results
  • Amanda’s lifestyle boundary for her business
  • The worst cookie-cutter advice Amanda’s been given on her lifestyle business

About Amanda

Amanda Muhammad is an International Mindfulness Based Stress Management Consultant in Dallas, TX. Amanda teaches individuals how to build resilience and reduce stress as well as how to introduce different practices to the people they serve as a foundation for social-emotional learning, restorative practices, and building resilience.

She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Business Psychology, holds a Masters in Organizational Leadership, and a Bachelor's Degree in Management and Leadership.

Amanda is a certified Mindfulness trainer, Compassion Fatigue Trainer and yoga instructor.

She facilitates a variety of workshops, hosts mindfulness trainings and serves as a coach to schools and organizations both across the country and internationally.

In addition to in-person training, she runs a web-based education platform, Mako Mindfulness, created to guide you through her framework of evidence-based practices that change the way we process and respond to stressful situations.