Best Advice We've Ever Been Given - AMA with Alex and Mimi

04/11/19 • 43 min

This one of our favourite ways to interact with you, our lovely audience, today we are answering your questions that you’ve sent in to us, again.

Here are the 5 questions that were asked this week:

Should I drop out of university if I’m not feeling it? [0:48]
What should I do next now I’ve finished my studies? [12:19]
How do I overcome resistance when creating? [21:52]
How do I overcome social awkwardness while I’m developing my career? [28:15]
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? [37:35]

These are some super exciting questions that really got us thinking. Alex and Mimi discuss their thoughts and experiences around the questions you sent in. Let’s start!

Should I drop out of university if I’m not feeling it?

Mimi drops out of college on 3rd semester
What does school mean to employers interviewing for new positions
Investing in yourself by saving yourself from huge amounts of debt
Being excited about what your studying is the only way to learn
Parents usually want status disguised as a college education
Possibilities for the education system to embrace the changes in society
Building relationships is the best thing about college

School doesn’t prepare you for a lot of things we need in life, like communication and selling yourself, these are the important things, you’re always selling yourself or an idea” - Mimi - [14:22]

What should I do next now I’ve finished my studies?

Following your curiosity, let that be your guiding path
Once you’ve found an idea, for results you need to commit to it
There’s 1000’s of people trying for the same position, what can you do to stand out?
Using your youth as time for experimentation
Play risky while you have nothing to lose
Entrepreneurship is sexy but not for everyone

While your in your 20’s, that’s not a time to play safe, that’s a time to be shooting for your dreams” - Alex - [18:19]

How do I overcome resistance when creating?

Getting out of your own way is the only way to start creating
The perfectionist myth that stops people in their tracks
Are you impacting people’s lives in positive way with the content you make
The people who keep going are really the only people creating the best stuff
Even the best have their insecurities
Create a higher purpose around your content creation
Do it for yourself not validation

“It’s sort of like having a treasure, you can keep it to yourself, keep it inside, or you can share it with the world, like giving a gift” - Mimi [25:10]

How do I overcome social awkwardness as I’m developing in my career?

Going that extra mile will make people feel special
Not every social situation is black and white, be intuitive with interactions
Become fascinated and inquisitive with people in general
Don’t take it personally when people don’t want to chat
Create a vision for yourself for inspiration and how/where you want to be
Be yourself and be PRESENT when talking to someone

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Persistence is genius in disguise for Alex
Nike’s JUST DO IT is winning for Mimi
Virtual mentorship, soaking up information from everywhere
Don’t be delusional, but keep going, even when you don’t feel like!
Small steps at a time

“It’s not because I’m smarter, it’s not because I’m better, it’s because i just do it” - Mimi [41:50]

This one of our favourite ways to interact with you, our lovely audience, today we are answering your questions that you’ve sent in to us, again.

Here are the 5 questions that were asked this week:

Should I drop out of university if I’m not feeling it? [0:48]
What should I do next now I’ve finished my studies? [12:19]
How do I overcome resistance when creating? [21:52]
How do I overcome social awkwardness while I’m developing my career? [28:15]
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? [37:35]

These are some super exciting questions that really got us thinking. Alex and Mimi discuss their thoughts and experiences around the questions you sent in. Let’s start!

Should I drop out of university if I’m not feeling it?

Mimi drops out of college on 3rd semester
What does school mean to employers interviewing for new positions
Investing in yourself by saving yourself from huge amounts of debt
Being excited about what your studying is the only way to learn
Parents usually want status disguised as a college education
Possibilities for the education system to embrace the changes in society
Building relationships is the best thing about college

What should I do next now I’ve finished my studies?

Following your curiosity, let that be your guiding path
Once you’ve found an idea, for results you need to commit to it
There’s 1000’s of people trying for the same position, what can you do to stand out?
Using your youth as time for experimentation
Play risky while you have nothing to lose
Entrepreneurship is sexy but not for everyone

While your in your 20’s, that’s not a time to play safe, that’s a time to be shooting for your dreams” - Alex - [18:19]

How do I overcome resistance when creating?

Getting out of your own way is the only way to start creating
The perfectionist myth that stops people in their tracks
Are you impacting people’s lives in positive way with the content you make
The people who keep going are really the only people creating the best stuff
Even the best have their insecurities
Create a higher purpose around your content creation
Do it for yourself not validation

“It’s sort of like having a treasure, you can keep it to yourself, keep it inside, or you can share it with the world, like giving a gift” - Mimi [25:10]

How do I overcome social awkwardness as I’m developing in my career?

Going that extra mile will make people feel special
Not every social situation is black and white, be intuitive with interactions
Become fascinated and inquisitive with people in general
Don’t take it personally when people don’t want to chat
Create a vision for yourself for inspiration and how/where you want to be
Be yourself and be PRESENT when talking to someone

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Persistence is genius in disguise for Alex
Nike’s JUST DO IT is winning for Mimi
Virtual mentorship, soaking up information from everywhere
Don’t be delusional, but keep going, even when you don’t feel like!
Small steps at a time

“It’s not because I’m smarter, it’s not because I’m better, it’s because i just do it” - Mimi [41:50]

Previous Episode

Our Observations of Living in North America Vs. Europe

Fresh off the plane, in today’s episode Alex and Mimi chat about their observations, having just spent 3 weeks in North America. What are the main differences between North America Vs. Europe.

“Americans take ice cream soooo seriously, how do you even choose?” - Mimi Ikonn - 22:00

The USA is the land of plenty, everything is BIGGER! There is more of EVERYTHING. From credit cards to what’s on your plate, either in a restaurant or baked at home in a tiny oven.

Alex chats about a friend who moved from London to California, just so his Billion Dollar dream could be recognised. Meanwhile, Mimi gets chatted up in the supermarket over what breakfast cereal does she like.

“The cities in Europe are designed in a way to get you walking, to move, to be active and mindful”

Alex Ikonn - 18:47

Having travelled to many places and lived on both sides of the Atlantic, Mimi and Alex have great insight into just how different the 2 cultures can be. Here’s what they get into;

How people spend their money, which culture has the most consumer driven society?
Do you have a billionaire mindset or are you being conservative with your cash?
Where do Alex and Mimi get approached the most?
Who speaks the loudest, who is most respectful?
Public transport Vs owning a car.
Food portions, even a salad in the US is enough to feed an entire family.
What’s in your kitchen? We want some Patatas Bravas! Yum!
How to notice disruptive industries when you realise something is missing in a culture?
The empowerment of youth through social media.

We didn’t want this episode to be political so please, don’t take offence if you live in one of these countries. We haven’t meant to choose a favourite here, since we love both - EQUALLY! These are just some generalised observations from spending a lot of time in both places.

“I like to find differences, it gives color to life, as long as people live in peace and harmony” Mimi Ikonn - 33:30

Actually, we know there’s something for everyone in both places, but it’s not until you explore the world that you really see for yourself where YOU fit in. We really encourage you to travel and see the world for yourself, maybe your expectations and realisations will be completely different to ours but you only know if you go find out. Explore - with love and an open heart!

Find resources mentioned in the show here:

Greta Thunberg (Twitter) - The 16yr/o Swedish climate change activist,
Pepper Pig (YouTube) - Peace and harmony for all the world.

Next Episode

Healing Health Journey with Yalda Alaoui

In today’s episode we are talking with our friend Yalda Alaoui from EatBurnSleep.com. We chat about the incredible journey she’s been on and how she healed her body into remission after suffering from a near terminal immunity condition. She shares her challenges and paves a path for other to follow by optimising these 3 simple things:

Eating right
Sleeping right
Exercising right

“Yeah..we’ve heard it all before a 1000 times”, BUT Yalda’s story is living proof of how drastic life can become when you don’t take these 3 things into consideration.

“It’s only when we are at our worst that we look for problems to the solution, I’m teaching people that prevention is a much better approach” - Yalda - [38:45]

Born to both Morocan and Iranian Parents, Yalda moved to France when she was 12 and immediately started having dietary issues, the junk food that she was now regularly eating, was a stark difference from what she’d grown up with back in Morocco.

At 15 years of age she found an interest in economics, finding a subject and a lens through which she could understand and see the world with. This led her to studying at the London School of Economics and EDHEC Business School. And was soon followed by a very stressful job working on a trading floor in capital marketing. The unhealthy eating and a stressful job, along with a failed pregnancy then signaled to her immune system to finally shut down. In 2007 she developed two life threatening auto-immune diseases:

Ulcerative Colitis
Auto-Immune Haemolytic Anemia

The latter causing her hemoglobin measurement to fall to 4 (usually reserved only for patients in a coma). After being admitted to hospital, countless blood transfusions later, the doctors struggled to get to the bottom of the underlying cause. This pushed Yalda into extensively researching health for herself. A ten-year recovery lead her to sharing her knowledge, making a full career change and a full recovery. She eventually got to the route corse while searching for ways to ease her chronic inflammation, by cutting out all foods and starting again like a baby. She Added 1 food at a time, narrowing her eating options to only foods that didn’t cause her problems. This was only the start...

Here’s what we get into on this episode:

What is your microbiome and how to avoid destroying your gut health?
60% of you neurotransmitters are in your gut? So let your belly think for you!
What is leaky gut and what happens when your body tries to fight back?
The importance of walking everyday.
What happens when your body’s natural defense doesn’t know how to turn itself off?
How stress plays a role in your immune system?
The benefits of collagen powder and bone broth.
Why lifting light weights are more important than the big heavy ones.
Fermented foods, the most common in the healthiest longest living societies.
The Vegan Myth - Why not all meats are unhealthy, just the processed ones.
Why we should be choosing whole foods and dropping dairy / wheat / nightshades?