About This Episode

In today’s podcast, because it’s the season of us reflecting back again on our year, right? I was thinking about where have gone so far. I mean, the last year 2020 was really, there are so many ups and downs this year because so many changes happened in my life going from Employee to Entrepreneur. First, let’s acknowledge that, at the beginning of this year, I’ve graduated with my Ph.D. And then after that, big changes happened, I started this coaching program, I mean, I started to become a coach. And instead of going in the direction that people assume I would normally go which is engineering, I decided to choose a different path, which is life coaching and mindset coaching. It is such a big transition for me. And to be honest, it is hard, and only people who know me know how much I work my butt off to really get all these things started.

Reflecting Back on This Year

And there are so many things I learned this year that things that I couldn’t get if I were to sit around and not pursue my dream. I want to make an impact in this world. Last year, around December, during the holiday season, you have a lot of time by yourself with your family and not working. And you started to have thoughts, you know, not necessarily negative thoughts, or not necessarily positive ones, but it’s just thought that appears in your mind about where do I go from now.

And I started to spend more time during the holiday season because I was not going to the lab. So this is what happened last year, right? So I remember that I took the longest stroll that I did mindlessly and around my neighborhood in Japan.

What to do next?

I was really thinking about where do I go now after graduation? So I was thinking about if I were to look back, three years from now if I were to look back and say this has been the best three years in my life, what would it be? What can I tell to myself? You know, if my future self, you know, come back in time, and see that I’m really proud of it that three years.

I cannot even imagine another path than to really start doing things that I love more. So I really use that time to dig down deeper on things that I’m passionate about, what’s my strength? What can I do more of? And what impact do I want to do? What impact do I want to make in this world game? I know, as we age, I’m 34 this year going to 35. So as we get older, we kind of start to question our life and whether we are doing enough.

And although what we have been trained to do up till the point of maybe early until earlier. When you are the 30s like that. Sometimes you might feel that there’s something that you can do more of. Okay, so I started to feel that way. Okay, so I’m just sharing here with you guys. Because I think that this is the moment where I think most of you guys also have more time during this season, school holiday season, maybe you have been spending more time with your family at home and are wanting to listen to things and reflect on what’s your year, have been.

Digging deeper and finding my strengths

So when I asked myself what are the things that I like to do, you know, then I started to dig deeper into things that I have been envisioning throughout my life, you know, I have always wanted to work on my own, you know, having my own business, creating something, monetize my skill, and things like that. But I couldn’t pinpoint to what exactly is that you know, I love coffee. And I was once with my husband, we thought of building our own cafe, you know, but that doesn’t happen, you know, with the model and the commitment to really, you know, to really start off that. So instill dream, that is, I’m not sure whether we’ll eventually get to that dream or not, but the fact is that I have always wanted to create something, you know, really build my own business. So that’s when I start to question myself. So so now when this is the era where people can monetize our skills, you know, like, there are so many influencers, freelances, maybe what we call them, the people who help you in marketing online, right? There are so many opportunities for you to monetize your skills. And then I started to think about what about me? So what are the strengths that I have?

Employee to Entrepreneur

I listed down the top two-three strengths I have. I love making connections with people. I love that deep conversation because it comes really easily for me. I think my friends all know this about me when because when we started to talk about something I like to question them even deeper. Without noticing, I mean, I, I like to it’s not like the digging deeper and become a busy-body and being judgemental and things like that. But I really like to know people on a deeper level, maybe because that’s the introvert in me playing its strengths.

Because I instead of love to meet people in a large group, which usually extroverts love that activity, I kind of love connecting with people one on one. So that’s what when I realized that, okay, so that’s one of the strengths that I have, I might say, and then digging deeper into what are the strengths that I have that I can start monetizing? Yeah, that’s when I found the world of coaching and what this world can impact other people too. And especially because during lockdown season, you know, COVID, and also, because we move country, right, from Japan to Malaysia early this year in April, I kind of don’t have that energy to get out of the house too much. But the mind is still healthy, you know, at least, I try to protect my mind and make it healthier.

Making an impact from home

So what I’m saying is that sometimes to make an impact in the world, you don’t really need to get out of the house. You know, because sometimes, especially we as moms and have kids, sometimes we are comparing ourselves with people who don’t have kids, and we start to think about how easy for them to do these things and get out and maybe crush their dreams.

But the reality is that there’s this, there’s a way if you really think about what do you want to make an impact on? And really dig down into what are the resources that are available around you that you can start right away right now?

What’s holding you back?

Then when I start to think about this area of possibility of me to go and building this business, I start to think about what’s holding me back, you know, when you start a business, of course, you might think about the financial resources, and what are the things that you require to go into that direction, right. So that is the, you know, external things external, you know, danger, or as we might see, like, things that you have to be conscious about, there’s the external things, of course, you have to do that work also, right?

To find whether it is possible for you to go into this route of whether you will be impacting your family’s finances and things like that, right. So Alhamdulillah, I have some resources to help me with that, through my savings and things like that, and I can probably see that because this industry doesn’t need me to really put down a lot of financial commitments, because I’m not building physical things, I’m not building a store, that you have to have a lot of products and not having that, you know, physical things in my hand as a transaction for a person to pay for my service. I started from basically zero, you know, so, that’s where I started and looking back. The experiences that I have been through throughout my life have brought me here. Allah has planned this and now is the moment for me to make that transition.

I feel like during that time I was ready and I made that leap of faith and working with several coaches too and really dug down and figuring whether this is the thing that I want to do is really helpful, because, as I mentioned, just now the financials aspect of it is just the external thing.

Mindset always matters

And what’s holding you back usually is the internal thing, the mindset, you know, because this is a new path, this is a new field that you have never been there before. You know, so when you started to do something new like this, you’ll start to have this inner critic, you know, inside of you, this is the mindset work, you know. You start to self-sabotage yourself because you start to have negative thinking about how you are not enough to start doing all these good things in the world. And to really overcome that part of it is not like a one-time job, you know, it is a constant struggle.

Alhamdulillah, I have learned along the way on how to overcome it, because to be honest, it’s a totally new path, okay, from being an employee to then becoming my own boss, you know, as an entrepreneur, and as a coach, or the transition is big. Because before this you know that the thing that the work that you are doing, by the end of the month, you get paid for it, but when you are an entrepreneur.

The things that you are doing now, you are not sure whether you will get any reward, because of it, I mean financially, and you start to second guess yourself, and your energy will be depleted, if you keeps on doing things and the outcome is not there yet, you know. Sometimes Allah has the plans that Allah has given for us, and maybe He has been holding back a little bit, regarding the monetary aspect of our business, sometimes it’s there to protect us, right? So we have to remember that and remind that, and what are the real reason that we are starting doing these things.

Are you going to the your mental gym?

The mindset work part of it is really, as I’ve always mentioned before this, that mindset work is like going to the gym for your mind, right? It’s not a one-time thing to do, it’s a constant thing to do that you have to do every day. And throughout this year, I’ve learned that a lot, because this is the first time in my life, I transitioned into the field that I totally know about. And I don’t have anyone around me who is also in this field, I mean, my family or friends. I cannot just ask freely other people about their experiences and things like that in this area, because I didn’t know anyone who really does these things. But it’s something that I really want to do. And this idea has been in my mind and Alhamdulillah looking back this year, I have transitioned into becoming a coach, and I never have thought that this would have happened at all. And if I knew about this sooner, maybe I might have stopped my Ph.D. earlier.

That’s why maybe Allah has kept this world a secret, you know, from me before this, because if not I might just stop myself from finishing my Ph.D. in Engineering. That’s just the honest thing for me to say because… there are these things that we, you know, like the default thinking in our mind that to be successful, you have to follow the level of success that has been defined by society. Like getting the scholarship and going through this education and in this particular field and being successful in it. That defines success in, in the eye of society.

But that’s not true.

The definition of real success

Because for me, real success is when you are okay and when you are happy with yourself, and the progress that you have made in all aspects of your life, that’s the real definition of success for me. If you are losing yourself, for the recognition, for the acknowledgment, and for the things that are not necessarily things that you, yourself, want to do. I’m not so sure whether you can really be confident and say that this year is a success for me, you know? Yeah.

But to be honest, I’m not saying that everyone has to quit their job if they hate their job. The reality is that there’s the responsibility that you need to fulfill, and maybe you need to provide for your family and things like that. What I’m saying is that it is possible that you do other things that are also making an impact in your life and things that you really care about and really like to do on top of your actual job.

Because I see it again and again, before this, that some people who might have this unfulfillment in their life, maybe from the job that they don’t really like to go to, and from the kind of relationship that they have at home, with their husbands or with the kids, but they don’t do anything about it.

Become 1% better in all domain of life

And if we don’t consciously take effort into making it better, it will not get better. So that’s a reminder for all of us, even for me, going to 2022 to really think about all of the domains of life, and whether we are playing our parts and making it better. Even if it is 1% better than the previous year, that’s a big success for me. InsyaAllah.

If you are one of the people who are thinking about improving your life, you can download a quick guide, it’s a workbook that I provided on my website, it’s at https://draliahmajid.com/lifeaudit/ . I’ll have the link down below, you can download it. It’s all workbook to look at all aspects of your life, all domains of your life, and where you want to go and where you are now, and where you want to go. And really think about what has been holding you back from going in that direction. It’s a good tool for you to reflect on and is the right moment right now for you to take some time and reflect on that.

And so with that, I hope you guys have a good holiday if you’re taking a break. I hope you guys stay safe during this season. And also, if you like to talk with me if you want to chat with me. You can book a free call with me, 30 minutes Free call. I have it in the link below at https://draliahmajid.com/coaching/ and it’s actually a 30 minutes free discovery call for you to get to talk with me.

Journal Prompt this week…

If you were to call me three years from now and tell me that the past three years have been the best years of your life. What will you be telling me? 

Comment below or let’s talk about it over Instagram yourock.podcast in the comments.

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