Watch Me, I Am

We talk how to survive Christmas in this, our last episode of 2019 series. It is so easy to become overwhelmed and frazzled when work is busy, children’s social calendars are busy and everything seems to fall to you to organise. Whilst this episode tends to speak more to our female listeners because of all our own personal experiences as working mums, we know that there are many men out there coping with the pressure of pulling together an amazing Christmas for their loved ones too. So this episode is for each and everyone of our amazing listeners. You want Christmas to be magical. You want to be a picture of organised calm with the presents wrapped by the first week of December, tree decorated by the second week of December and all your food prepped by midday on Christmas Eve, table laid by afternoon and a glass of Baileys come 6pm with a smirk from ear to ear!! We know that whilst this is the desire of many, come Christmas Eve you have just finished the food shopping, delivered last minute presents, missed the last post and still have 110 presents to wrap which are still hidden in the loft and the children are still awake at 10pm. OVERWHELM! So, in this episode we share some of our nuggets of wisdom to help you survive Christmas from years of juggling the pressures of working to last minute deadlines from the boss to nativity costume shopping at the eleventh hour and driving over 150 mile round trip to collect the only orange racer bike that beloved child MUST HAVE! And all whilst keeping a happy festive smile at the fifth Christmas Party in a week when all you want to do is sleep. From preparation, lists, delegation, communication to self-care non-negotiables. We give you lots of great tips, tools and ideas so you don’t collapse in a blubbering mess on the kitchen floor come Christmas morning but instead have a wonderful, magical, mostly calm and fun-filled festive time this Christmas.

I’m not confident. I could never do that. Is that the story you keep telling yourself? Are you struggling with low self-confidence, self-belief? Would it help you to know that you are not born confident? No one is. Yet, some people appear more confident than others. How is that? We have both suffered from time to time with low self-confidence and little belief in ourselves and have held ourselves back and played small. It has taken lots of years of reprogramming and new habits to increase our confidence, effort, practice and consistency to feel it from within. Confidence has to come from within yourself. An inner belief that you can achieve great things, and succeed and is a way you convey that inner belief that you are confident to the outside world. But most importantly how you feel, behave and show up and the actions you take from a place of self-belief and confidence. And, confidence is not about being conceited, arrogant, egotistical and coming from a place of feeling better than everyone else, putting others down in order to ‘feel’ better or more confident. Confidence is a realistic sense of belief in your own abilities, talents, skills, intelligence and capabilities and trusting in yourself to be able to handle things and do the best you can no matter what. So, now we know that we aren’t born with it, how is that some people are more confident – or appear more confident? They’ve done the inner work. They have trust in themselves. Confidence is a state of mind, positive thinking, practice and ultimately, belief in yourself. Listen in to the episode where we share 5 ways to improve your confidence that we have found help us personally and also what has helped our clients who suffer low self-confidence. From Visualisation, Planning and Preparing to Relaxation and Recalling times when you have, did, succeeded. Self-discovery and belief in yourself to increase your confidence and empower yourself so that you can do, be and have all that you want and desire.

This one is for you if you’re in need of a quick slap, a friendly slap! Because that’s what we are here for right? Are you feeling a bit low, has something happened today to put you in a bad mood today, did you get out of the wrong side of bed? Stop for a minute….think, was it a bad five minutes, or a bad day? In this short episode we give you the reality check you need, because let’s face it, sometimes you need a buddy to pull you out of that zone, and put things into perspective!

How do you feel about selling, are you highly driven, successful entrepreneur running your own business, yet when it comes to selling your wares you hide behind the line “Oh, I can’t do sales, I’m not a sales person”? If that sounds like you this week’s episode discusses sales and how to accept the No’s with dignity and keep going. Selling has, over the years, bought up all kinds of connotations of what constitutes a sales person and often times we think of sales people as men, wide boys, not to be trusted and because of this stereotype we can find that we avoid selling and tell ourselves we are not good at selling. However, if you don’t sell when you run your own business, you are but an expensive hobby and your business will not grow or make any money if you sit on the side-lines and wish for sales to magically happen. Co-hosts Zoë and Elizabeth share some great tips and strategies to help dispel the negative myth around being a sales person in your business to ensure you grow and make money in your business. Change your thinking about the way you talk about sales, believe in yourself and your products/service, it’s not about you, reframe your thinking, changing your mindset. Find the passion about selling and know that what you are offering is what someone needs and wants and come to the selling relationship from a different place.

How important is self-care to you and your state of wellbeing and calm? Have you suffered from burnout or breakdown? Have you got to the very end of your tether and not known how to get back to a state of equilibrium? Do you find yourself chasing your tail? And what on earth does knowing about and being connected with your mind, body and soul along with the 5 senses really have to do with being happy and calm? Let’s find out! In our episode this week, we explore the 5 senses – Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell. Why? Because being aware of how our 5 senses work together and knowing how we can use them to help us to find harmony and calm is something we often neglect or shun because it’s all a bit too fluffy! Yet, our 5 senses, which we use every day but often taking for granted, when we become more present and tune into our bodies, can be used to reduce overwhelm, anxiety and stress. We are here to challenge you if your way thinking is that it’s all too fluffy and share with you how being really in tune with our 5 senses and our bodies helps us to restore balance and calm, reduce anxiety and stress, avoid burnout and breakdowns, enables us to de-stress quickly and ensures you really do put your wellbeing as a priority. How many times do you hear a piece of music that instantly lifts your mood and makes you feel energised like you could achieve anything? Or, slows your mind right down so that you can concentrate on an important task? Music is food for the soul! And is well known for its spiritual healing powers. It is also well researched as being a fantastic mood enhancer. What’s not to love about that. Yet, we don’t recognise it as a tool in our kit bags to help us to instantly shift and change our mood for the better! This is just one example of how you can get back to a state of calm. We share many more ways to find calm with lots of helpful hints and tips that you can introduce into your own self-care habits. Our mind, body and soul work in harmony and our 5 senses are incredibly important components of creating that harmony within our soul. When we are aware of these senses and how we work physically, mentally and spiritually (your soul) we can make the right choices to nourish our body and grow our mind to be supportive and aligned with our souls. Dive in to this week’s episode to find many more ways that you can consciously bring your awareness to one or more of your 5 senses in a mindful way and help to return you to a place of conscious awareness of what it going on for you and step into a more helpful state of being.

We were very privileged to spend several hours with Parveen Ashraf talking everything business, strategy, resilience, persistence, tenacity and strength and swap cooking tips and enjoy some delicious cake, all wrapped up with lots laughter and a sprinkling of tears. In fact, Parveen had so much wisdom to share that she very kindly gave us two interviews. In this second part of our interview with Parveen we asked her to share her top tips, habits, self-care, or as we lovingly referred to it Parveen’s Recipe for Success! She told us all about her 3 P’s principles to success, you’ll have to listen in to find out what they are! Parveen has incorporated some habits that are now her non-negotiables and enabled her to keep going when times have been tough, the things that she knows helped her to succeed to where she is today and that ensure her mindset, mental wellbeing and physical health are looked after. Taking care of herself, as she explained, is one of the most important and definitely non-negotiables to ensure she is in peak performance for her TV shows and continued business growth. Parveen admits that in the past she was very focus driven, running on adrenalin, working for 14hours solid and then collapse. She quickly learned when she secured her own TV show that in order to be in peak performance, she had to focus on herself much more and show herself some self-care! Some of her habits are yoga, mindfulness and gratitude. She has learnt to relax and believe in herself much more and allowed the universe to bring into her life what is right for her to take her to the next level of success. As a trained chef she looks after herself and her family with good healthy food. Parveen is also strict about who she has in her inner circle. She has been networking for over 10 years and has found the right people to help her move forward with her business, TV, book and these people have become her supporters, friends and collaborators. Parveen has spent plenty of hours and money working with the right coaches to help her with her success and mindset, including a vocal coach and she continues to work with a coach now. And finally she gave us her absolute 1 top tip for those in business or just starting out, the most valuable thing she has learned! We even talked about having Bollywood Dance lessons with Parveen, that’s how much fun we had! That’s another episode right there!! Once again, the interview with Parveen was lots of fun and incredibly honest and we are thrilled to bring you this second part of talking with Parveen. There is no doubt that Parveen has been on a roller coaster ride in to the public eye, throughout it all she has stayed true to her values, kept her eye on her future vision, been authentic, kind and genuine and has become the success she is today as TV Chef Presenter of Parveen’s Indian Kitchen, Cook Book Author of Step by Step Authentic Indian Cooking, entrepreneur and inspirational Woman to many. To connect with, follow or find out more about Parveen, see links below: https://www.ParveenTheSpiceQueen.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/parveenashraf/ https://www.instagram.com/parveenthespicequeen/ http://www.facebook.com/parveenthespicequeen/

As a follow-on to Episode 5 which was all about Zoë’s self-care habits in this week episode, we take a look at Elizabeth’s top 3 self-care habits. Being the fluffier of the two, let’s just say they are somewhat different to Zoë’s and certainly far less risqué! We know that self-care is important to our overall wellbeing, yet how much time do we truly dedicate to it and how protective of that much needed time to focus on ourselves are we, really? We’ve said it over and over that self-care and self-love is NOT selfish. It is vitally important. Having suffered a serious breakdown Elizabeth knows only too well the impact of trying to be all things to all people. Working in a highly stressful job, with a very acrimonious court case, serious health issues and running home and family, she was the very last person on her list of priorities. Even after the family pets. Now that wasn’t a good place to be. From the hard lesson Elizabeth learned to put herself a little bit higher on her list of priorities. Is she perfect? Does she always put herself first? No. She is honest, she slips herself further back down her priority list sometimes. However, the difference is that she knows you can’t sustain your mental and physical wellbeing that way for long. Elizabeth shares her top 3 self-care habits that she more regularly and consciously makes non-negotiable, when she is being mindful and firm! Tune in to listen to the slightly more woo woo and fluffy self-care habits of Elizabeth and see if anything she talks about can be implemented into your self-care rourtine Woo Woo alert!

In this week’s episode we explore self-care and why it is so important to ensure that you are putting yourself first. When you think self-care you probably jump straight to thinking of a bit of exercise, some healthy eating, maybe even a bit of meditation, cut down on alcohol add in more water which are all great practices to implement and habits to adopt to move towards being a better you. Self-care goes deeper than that though, it is about harmony of mind, body and soul and it is about being aware of what self-care you do that makes you feel good, recognising when you feel good and repeating it. Are you looking after yourself? Are you showing yourself true selfless self-care? What is the quality of the self-care routine and or habits you have? Are they non-negotiable? Are you including your mind, body and soul? You can’t be everything to everyone if you don’t put yourself and your needs first. If you don’t show yourself some love and care. If you continue to put yourself last you will break. You mind will be overwhelmed and become sick, your body will be weak, battered, brusied and your soul won’t be nourished. Self-care and self-love is not selfish, in fact it is the opposite. Being the best version of you benefits not only you, but everyone else around you too. Zoë shares her top 3 self-care habits that are non-negotiables for her and let me tell you there is one in there that is not for the faint-hearted!! So tune in and find out a little bit more about Zoë and her self-care habits, don’t be shy for this one because not only is it raw it’s an awful lot of raucous!! We did warn you.

Who’s got your back? Ever thought about it? Well…do you know? In the first topic of “Watch me, I am…” Zoë and Elizabeth explore what it means to be surrounding yourself with the right people. Whilst you can’t make someone support you, you are responsible for trusting your instincts and surrounding yourself with people who lift you up, who give you honest feedback, celebrate when you are winning, empathise when things aren’t so good and those who definitely have your back when you hit the wall. Motivating and inspiring you to get right back up and try again. Those 2am people, who will always be at the end of the phone, whatever the time of day and travel across the country to be there for you. Zoë and Elizabeth prompt you to start contemplating who you are surrounding yourself with in your work, business, personal life? What impact are those people having on your life, decisions you make, how you live your life? Your state of MIND? We dig into the pitfalls of not having the right people in your life, the right support network and where you can go to find them. Different people for different situations. Call them your crew, your tribe, your people. It’s time to consider, do you have the right people surrounding you?Do your tribe make you feel great, supported, uplifted and empowered?

In the first ever episode of “Watch me, I am…” we meet the hosts Zoë and Elizabeth as they tell us a little bit more about themselves, their past experience what has driven them to where they are today. They share why they decided to hit the mic with their new podcast and how they want to support other working women.

How easy is it to succeed in business? How much of ourselves do we have to give, and what does it take, before we hit a wall with our mental, physical or spiritual health and let it affect our family and relationships. What will it take you to stop, take a step back, realise that the stress of working in the corporate world is making you very unwell? And instead, to listen to the inner voice, screaming at you to do something different, to follow your heart, your dreams, your passion and finally take that leap of faith? It takes a vision, tenacity, strength and courage to believe in yourself and confidence to keep going no matter what. And that is exactly what this week’s guest did. Parveen Ashraf, famously called ‘The Spice Queen’ found her inner strength, dug deep, persevered and tenaciously kept going because she believed in her vision. Parveen is an incredibly talented, genuine and inspirational business woman, TV Chef Presenter, Cook Book Author, teacher, charity fundraiser and all round highly successful entrepreneur. As well as being a fantastic mum of three, a loving wife, caring friend, and with a beautiful kind and caring heart. In this episode Parveen takes us on her journey from 1960’s Yorkshire baby, middle child of seven growing up in an Asian, Muslim family. In an era where Asian females were meant to stay at home and care for their husbands, breed and cook! From being an ‘incubator baby’, rebelling against all that her culture and religion expected of her to finally marrying, having a family and putting everyone else first. Supporting her husband and working in corporate whilst juggling children and family, Parveen eventually suffered with serious health issues that stopped her in her tracks. The interview is honest and raw with laughter, seriousness and some tears as Parveen bravely talks about the defining moments that changed everything from overcoming serious health issues, coping with family bereavement and dealing with the highs and lows to make her vision of having her own TV cooking show a reality. There is no doubt that Parveen has been on a roller coaster ride in to the public eye, throughout it all she has stayed true to her values, kept her eye on her future vision, been authentic, kind and genuine and has become the success she is today as TV Chef Presenter of Parveen’s Indian Kitchen, Cook Book Author of Step by Step Authentic Indian Cooking, entrepreneur and inspirational Woman to many. To connect with, follow or find out more about Parveen, see links below: https://www.ParveenTheSpiceQueen.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/parveenashraf/ https://www.instagram.com/parveenthespicequeen/ http://www.facebook.com/parveenthespicequeen/

Headless chicken…is that you? Do you feel unproductive? Like your losing or wasting time every day. Are you a procrastinator? Do you get to the end of the day and wonder where it went, and like you’ve achieved nothing? Or do you feel like your on a constant hamster wheel, frantic, stressed and going round in circles (but without the sunflower seeds & water bottle!) This week on “Watch me, I am…” Zoë and Elizabeth discuss, and give practical advice on how to manage your time more effectively, in line with your true values. Sound fluffy? Yep, it is a bit this week….Elizabeth is in her zone of genius! But open your mind, tune in and take action, you could surprise yourself! So, grab a pen and paper, because this one is packed full of golden nuggets, as Zoë and Elizabeth walk you through some really fundamental exercises you need to go through, in order to evaluate your time and plan how you can manage your life more effectively moving forwards. It’s time to claim back your time, get productive and in control. This could be a game changer for you, it’s time to maximise your hours, on your terms and live your best life! Time is endless, but your time is limited, so use it wisely.

Did you know it only takes 7 seconds for you to make an impression on someone when you meet them for the first time. So, do you dress to impress? Is it important to you? Does how you dress affect whether someone will buy from, engage with, like, trust you? This week on “Watch me, I am…” Zoë and Elizabeth discuss what dressing to impress means to them and the importance of first impressions. Are you someone who makes up your mind based on your first impression of the people you meet? Do you make an assumption, rightly or wrongly? As humans we can’t help but form an impression the minute we meet someone and whilst some of us might be more consciously aware of doing this and so more mindful, it is a reality of the world we live in that we judge people based on that first 7 seconds. And that means that everyone you meet and engage with are busy judging and building first impressions of you too! Have you ever noticed how what you wear affects your confidence level; mood; how you feel; show up; productivity or other people’s reaction to you? Zoë and Elizabeth’s views may be a little controversial and even old fashioned, however, they like to get you thinking a bit deeper about personal presentation, including your body language, facial expressions and even right down to smells! They will challenge you to think about the impact and impression you are making on the people you meet. They will get you thinking about when you feel at your best, on top of your game and ready to face the world. Is it time to pull your socks up? Upgrade your power wardrobe? Don your lippy? Wear your smile? Set your alarm half an hour earlier to be the best you and make your first impression count? Remember you only have 7 seconds to make an impression, make your 7 seconds count!