Stay ConnectedThe Ikonns Podcast is hosted by Alex and Mimi Ikonn. We are here to help you create and live your dream life. Join us as we discuss life and business insights with each other and our special guests. Covering topics such as life purpose, building a life that you love, relationships, entrepreneurship, spirituality, health, parenting and much more.
New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
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Copyright: © Copyright The Ikonns 2019
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:
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?
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?
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?
“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?
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
“It’s not because I’m smarter, it’s not because I’m better, it’s because i just do it” - Mimi [41:50]
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;
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:
Growing up in a big family in the North-East USA, Nate Checketts always knew he wanted to create something innovative, but back then there wasn’t even a word being used for he wanted to do. He first thought he might be an inventor, but it was clear from pushing around his red-cart lemonade stand from an early age, that he also loved to sell. He’d sell anything if he could. It was inevitable he’d soon be walking the path of entrepreneurship. He tinkered around with a few failing ideas on the side of his full time job running sponsorship strategies for the NFL. One day his regular practice of journaling shed some deep understanding of what he had to do in life. While not feeling fulfilled in his role, he wrote;
“I want to lead a company that really matters, side note - that doesn’t necessarily mean I have to cure cancer”
At the same time, a Lululemon christmas present from mom - for all the family, triggered an idea; men are at a point of identity crisis right now, when it comes wearing clothes that make you feel good. This same kind of approach that was working predominantly in female branding, could be marketed at guys too. He and a few family members (having received a gift they weren’t too thrilled about) spotted the gap in the market for great quality activewear specifically for men. And NOT just a brand that is targeted purely at the athletic type, but one that could speak to every normal guy out there. The concept became even deeper when they decided to target men who want to achieve more, dads wishing to be better parents, guys open to self growth, men wishing to find purpose and work harder. Not just how good you are crossfit or how many miles you could run. They crafted something that was missing, clothes that are as comfortable as sweatpants but smart enough to wear on Wall Street.
“Everyone should feel tall, proud, and inspired, that’s when we decided to innovate, educate and inform our community that we was building. We needed to speak to the individual, other brands just weren't”
Story telling became a big part of their business startup using instagram and other social media platforms, NOT the little things like logo, name and email address, all these things that didn’t really mean much. They stood by a unique ethos; If all your clothes in the closet are clean, which ones are you picking out first - They wanted to be that brand!
Here’s what we get into on this episode.
“To be successful you need have a succession of great years, To have great years you have to think about how you can have great days, you can do that with the 5-minute journal”
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Nate Checketts , you can find out more about him here:
Find books and resources mentioned here:
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
Full show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode18
In this Episode Mimi and Alex revisit the golden vault again with this special audio version of a very popular video, originally published on YouTube.
They go head to head, 15 rounds in a game of relationship tag with quick fire questions, sharing each other’s best and worst. How much do this entrepreneur couple know each other?
You’ll hear all the juice behind this relationship; From Mimi’s messy habits leaving hers socks everywhere, to Alex being stuck in his airpods and not listening properly. To romantic gestures and affectionate smooches, favourite traits and first opinions
Hear what they can’t live without... or what they wish they could live without - “that red lipstick”
“Stress Is The Biggest Killer - I Love MY Airpods”
What was the last argument they had, What was the last text message they sent to each other and WHO WEARS THE PANTS IN THIS RELATIONSHIP?
Hear all this and so much more.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Alex & Mimi
Intelligentchange.com - The Five Minute Journal
Full Show Notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode17
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
In today’s episode Alex and Mimi are talking with a special guest Aggie Lal, AKA ‘Travel In Her Shoes’ successful Instagram and YouTube travel blogger.
Growing up in Warsaw, Poland Aggie was dreaming to travel the world, absorb different cultures and see amazing places. At 18 years old she made a life-changing step and moved to Australia alone to study English. At the same time she was working as a waitress, saving up every dollar to live out her travelling dreams. During her stay she had a major car accident, and even though it was very painful working with a broken arm, she pooled her money alongside her insurance compensation, to helped fund her journey.
After finishing her university studies, 25 years old Aggie and her ex-boyfriend found a 40 year old sailboat on eBay and bought it for $10,000. After fixing it up in Mexico, painting it blue and giving her a pretty sea name, the couple dared to sail the Pacific ocean without any previous experience. During the year of sailing, spending 185 days on the actual boat Aggie found her truth self.
“Success without fulfilment is the ultimate failure. Most people believe that when they reach a certain point in their careers, that they will instantly become fulfilled” - Tony Robbins
At the beginning of this journey Aggie was driven by curiosity and ego. But this changed while on the water. Thanks to the close connection to the nature, a near-death experience and meeting people of different cultures Aggie found herself appreciating life and respecting nature more than she could have ever dreamed of.
After a year on the ocean Aggie and Chris ended their journey in front of the Sydney Opera House. Thrilled by her memories during her time on the ocean and wanting to share, Aggie started to use Instagram. Her very first posts were interviews with different women from countries she’d visited. But when she got more reaction on her outfit she had to rethink why she was there.
“Creating trust with the audience is the first step before posting heavy content.” - Aggie
It was 2015 she embraced the social media platforms that she’d lost touch with whilst on her travels. After a very successful video on Vine with 6 million viewers, her Instagram account started to grow to nearly 1 million followers, just by being authentic in herself and sharing her travels.
During the podcast we will also learn:
“The most attractive thing to a human being is to seeing another human in a flow state, being effortless in what they do.” - Aggie
Hope you enjoyed this today’s episode with Aggie, you can find out more about her here:
Find Books and resources from this episode here:
We were happy to see you guys had sent in more great questions, Alex & Mimi give you some real deep answers… Again! We love these episodes where we get to interact with you.Here are 5 questions we were asked that we had to share our thoughts on:
Wow these are all great questions, If you heard your voice on this today’s show, we appreciate your vulnerability and love you dearly for sharing.
How do you learn to love people unconditionally, even when you don’t know them?
Mimi shares her technique for seeing the best in everyone. She says “to find love in others you must find love in yourself”, “the more acceptance I find with myself, the more I can extend that to other people”. It’s possible to find love in the strangest places, even if people have done truly bad things, she says “it’s usually those people that need love the most”.
Other things mentioned that might help is meditation. Especially metta meditation, which is a practice of sending love and positive energy out to the world at moments when you feel your best.
What are you excited about when you wake up in the morning?
Alex loves this question, his morning is something that he is really passionate about, so what gets him excited? He says - “waking up… that is what gets me excited”. This is where both Alex and Mimi’s gratitude practice intersect with their morning routine. The are both thankful for life and what they have; health, eachother, Alexa and many more things. Life is precious and they celebrate their waking moments knowing that.
Having gone through an internal mindset shift, how do you persevere if you’re not seeing an external change around you?
Mimi tells us that it’s all just a matter of time. It’s like going to a gym for the first time and expecting a six-pack the next week after or planting a tree and expecting to pick an apple from it straight away. This is a lifelong adventure of developing yourself. Alex likens this to being your own inner farmer. Underneath the topsoil, there is a seed that has taken root, you can’t see it yet but something yummy is going to happen very soon. Keep watering your seeds, fertilizing your soil and be patient. Every small step is actually a big step when compounded over a huge amount of time. Remember you and the people in your environment may have already grown much more than you’re giving yourself credit for.
How to pick a new place to live and what about leaving my friends and family behind?
Most people like to stay in one place with their family and friends, that’s where it’s comfortable. Others like the idea of being global citizens. What’s more important is not to sit around wondering, or worse regret that you never expanded past your comfort bubble if this something you want to do.
The people that travel or live in different places tend to absorb culture from around them and expand the most has people. But that’s not for everyone. Make the choice for yourself and also make sure to put a process in place for keeping in touch with your family and friends.
“It’s like having a big pot of soup...
living in and experiencing other cultures is like adding flavours to your soup” - Mimi Ikonn
How do i stop hating myself?
This is a deep one. The first step is being ready in yourself to make the mindset change. You can’t begin to make the change without acknowledging that this is YOUR TIME to take CONTROL over this. Reaching out and speaking to someone is the first step. So thank you Peter.
Realise that you hold the blueprint to your own happiness and feelings about yourself, now let’s start changing that negative story that you keep telling yourself. One small step at a time. A hack here is to start practicing gratitude.
Recognize the importance of being thankful for you, give respect to yourself for all the things that are going right in your life. Maybe you have your health, maybe you have a good job, a bed to sleep in at night, you’ve eaten a meal within recent hours. All these small things can be your foundation to realising things aren’t as bad as they seem, because someone out there doesn’t have these.
Yourself, you’re perfect as you are and if you want to be something better, well GREAT, that’s what we can & should all aim for. But start by loving where you’re at, not hoping that one day you might love yourself if only you could change yourself. stop comparing yourself to where you could be if you had a magic button. Love yourself now. We love you and so does other people.
Writing your thoughts down in your 5-minute journal and practicing some of our mentioned techniques, we hope, will give you a glimpse and positive motion towards an answer.
Wooohooo! We appreciate you so much. Glad we had a chance to chat with you. If you’d like to have your question in our next Q&A’s please head over to https://www.ikonns.com and press the red recording button on the home page. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Find Books and resources from this episode here:
Jim Quick is one of our smartest friends and is one of the world’s leading learning experts and brain coaches. He regularly works with A-list celebrities, movie stars and learns people - how to learn more effectively.
After suffering multiple brain injuries as a child, he was named the boy with the broken brain. So he had to do one thing to fix himself, he’d become the genie of learning, instead of a wishing for more wishes, he’d grant wishes to learn how to learn.
“That boy over there is the boy with the broken brain” - Jim’s school teacher
Having suffered a second traumatic accident as he woke from a coma to einstein's face on a mug of tea, he realised that we aren’t taught how to learn, that just like a super computer we need to learn how to program it. While struggling at college, Jim found a new perspective on his broken brain when a mentor turned him onto reading a book a week. This was the moment where his poor grades at school stopped getting into the way of his education.
“If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them” - Jim Kwik
His technique for memory development includes building a mind palace, which is a technique used by the ancient greek to remember long speeches and performances. To do this you have to implement 3 things:
Jim shares some valuable advice on why it’s important to build your memory, including; how the most successful people that get rewarded, ALWAYS remember people’s names. They know the secret; that nothing sounds sweeter to someone than hearing their own name. Try it yourself next time you’re in a coffee shop, but don’t be surprised if you end up getting a discount. People put trust in you when you use this fantastically simple technique.
Meet Jim’s M.O.M. And remember her…
Jim treats presence like giving a gift. To be present to someone’s words is like giving them a present. He says the best way to listen is to just be silent and stop thinking of how to add your own piece.
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”
You’ll learn Jim’s 10 key tips to super learning and high performance brain function:
Wow, Sleep snagged 3 out of 10 there, but Jim really does value sleep as a huge import role to brain health, reminding us that we dream for about 3 years of life. Imagine if you started to journal all your dreams, just how much creativity you could manifest. He shares the importance avoiding your phone for the first hour of your day, starting off small with better morning habits. He even recommends the 5-minute journal as a great way to get started in the morning.
“Technology is meant to be used, when we use technology out of habit or boredom, we have to ask which of us is being used, and who is the tool?” - Jim Kwik
There’s so much here in this interview, here’s what else we get into:
“If you fuel yourself on other people’s opinions, you’ll soon run out of gas” - Jim Kwik
Hope you enjoyed this today’s episode with Jim Kwik, you can find out more about him here:
Resources and books from this episode:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Changeby Stephen R. Covey
Power of Positive thinking - by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
Mimi’s Morning Routine video
5 minute Journal by Intelligent Change
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
In this episode Alex and Mimi explore how to overcome and best use, the innate human emotion of fear.
This is one subject where Alex and Mimi really do differ, both realising their own fears, differently in their own lives. So let’s hear what’s so scary?
Mimi has a very creative imagination that sometimes takes her fears to irrational places, like her fear of flying and swimming in deep water, these are things she fears all the time.
“I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” - Mark Twain
Meanwhile, Alex’s finds his fear in spontaneous places having never given time to think over what actually scares him… Until it creeps upon him - like finding himself in front of an unfamiliar audience that he wasn’t expecting to be speaking to.
Alex explores the evolutionary aspects to our fear and why, as humans we are born to be afraid. Mimi concludes her stories with; whenever she overcomes fear, something good always comes from it. They both challenge the uncomfort we must go through, when talking about and facing our fears, stating the importance to do so, in order to truly grow.
Here’s how you can navigate your fear
Books and resources mentioned in today’s show:
Episode: 8 - With Stephen Shanly, rowing the Atlantic Ocean
Tony Robbins - Dancing with your Fear
Tony Robbins - How to Face Your Fears
The Biology of Belief - Unleasing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles by Bruce Lipton
Hope you enjoyed this today’s episode, you can find out more about Alex and Mimi here:
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
And here’s where you can find 5-minute journal by Intelligent Change
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
Alex and Mimi talk to Valeria Lipovetsky about her journey as one of the fastest growing and engaging YouTube content creators who has grown to almost a million subscribers in less than 3 years. In this episode, Valeria shares amazing advice on life, business and relationships for you to implement into your dream life.
As a late starter to the blogging world Valeria talks about her first exposure to YouTube. How at first she battled her beliefs, that she might not be good enough and after spending her childhood trying purposefully to be invisible, she soon realised that no one ‘does her’ better than she does. Every voice can find an audience.
She takes us behind the mindset changes that needed to happen to become who she has become today, sharing stories of how her introversion shaped her into a better observer, who could step back at any moment and see a much deeper, bigger picture.
Her story is one of taking action for herself, finding her own voice and the best ways to communicate it with authenticity.
“I had to be that saviour, I had to be my own hero, no one is going to come save you” - Valeria
Here’s what we get into:
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Valeria Lipovetsky, you can find out more about her here:
Full Show notes at https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode12
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
Welcome back to The Ikonns, That’s right we dropped the word ‘Experience’ but this episode will only be dropping one thing - Deep and thoughtful answers to your deep and thoughtful questions.
Here’s what we get into:
If you heard your voice on this today’s show - wooohooo! We appreciate you so much. Glad we had a chance to chat with you. If you’d like to have your question in our next Q&A’s please head over to https://www.ikonns.com and press the red recording button on the home page. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode, you can find out more about Alex and Mimi here:
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
And here’s where you can find 5-minute journal by Intelligent Change
Full Show notes at https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode11 Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
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