Episode 707: How to Build a Successful Business Without Constantly Hustling With Nona Djavid

EBT707 – Dr. Nona Djavid

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

[00:00:37]  Megan Porta 

I am a little bit speechless after recording this interview. Oh my goodness. So good. I absolutely loved this conversation I had with Nona Djavid from Elivate. She talks about some ways to get a handle on your mindset to set yourself up for success and after you listen to this episode you will be so convinced that you need to dig into mindset.

Go listen to all my mindset episodes and just dig in in new ways because it really is the foundation for everything that you do that you want to get done. Nona in this episode talks about a framework that she built she’s spent the last decade building that walks through how to support your sustainable success.

[00:01:26]   

She talks about creating a future vision of you, referencing that every day and what you need to do in order to make that first future vision of you come to life. The words she says in this episode are so powerful. I was so immersed in this conversation in a way that I normally don’t get quite so immersed. It was great and I hope you find it really valuable as well. I think you’re gonna love it. It is episode number 707. 

[00:02:00] Sponsor

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[00:02:15]   

Dr. Nona Djavid is an entrepreneur, mom, speaker and founder of the Part Time Millionaire Business and Elivate Club. With a background in neuroscience and a doctorate in Chiropractic, she blends mindset mastery with energetics and business strategy to help entrepreneurs create the business and life of their dreams.

[00:02:35]   

She is also the author of Elivate Your Life and currently teaches entrepreneurs how to work just one week a month while scaling to multiple six or seven figures. Hi Nona, how are you today?

[00:02:47]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

I am good, thank you. Megan.

[00:02:49]  Megan Porta 

So great to have you here. I love this topic. We’re going to talk about just some different ways to get a handle on our mindset as entrepreneurs. It’s hard sometimes and just setting ourselves up for the success we want. And you are an expert in this area. We’re so excited to hear from you.

[00:03:09]   

But before we get to that, do you have a fun fact to share about yourself?

[00:03:14]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

I do. Can I do two? Two fun facts?

[00:03:17]  Megan Porta 

Absolutely. Yeah. Let’s hear it.

[00:03:20]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

One is that English is my, my second language. I started learning English when I was 16 years old. So my accent comes out or I’m looking for a word, hopefully I’ll be forgiven. And second is I live between Southern California and Italy now. Go back and forth between the two.

[00:03:39]  Megan Porta 

Oh, amazing. So Italy is your primary, is that where you’re from?

[00:03:45]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

No, actually I’m from Iran, so I moved to the United States when I was 16. Yeah, no, the Italy is just the choice.

[00:03:53]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that’s amazing. And two great places to go between. Right, and how much time do you spend between each?

[00:04:00]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Usually pretty much 50, 50, 50% in Southern California and I home-school my kids. That’s three facts. Three fun facts.

[00:04:11]  Megan Porta 

Okay, super cool. I love it, love it all. Well, super happy to have you here today. I would love it if you told us just a little bit about Elivate Club, what is that all about? And then that’ll give us an idea about who you are.

[00:04:25]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, absolutely. So before I can tell you about Elivate Club, maybe I can tell you about what I was doing because Elivate Club was born out of something that was stuck if you would. And we might get into my story. But before I gave birth to Elivate Club, this sort of coaching community thing that I have built up, I was teaching business owners and entrepreneurs how to build part time seven figure businesses.

[00:04:55]   

So I had a mastermind and I would teach them the systems that it takes, the sales process that it takes, the sort of mechanics of running a business that was going to be part time and seven figures. So basically a profitable freedom based business. And in this mastermind, something that I noticed was people would come in, I would give them the systems and it was the same systems for all of the business owners.

[00:05:19]   

And some of these business owners were very similar in their niche and their personality and what they brought to the table in their audience. Even the same exact business, however, one of them would just take those systems and quantum leap and take it to the next level. And then the other one, even though they were implementing the systems and the mechanics into their business, something just wasn’t adding up and they just weren’t getting to that next level.

[00:05:47]   

Right. Or they were. They were just kind of hitting the ceiling over and over and over again. So this is when I started to kind of reevaluate, well, what else is there? Or is there another element to helping these entrepreneurs sort of quantum leap into that, their next level, wherever it is that they want to go and cross that barrier of a.

[00:06:10]   

Of the glass ceiling? And I knew that mindset was a thing. We all know that it’s so cliche, like, your mindset is everything. But I needed to find practical ways to teach these entrepreneurs to how to show up to those mechanics that I had been teaching. So I could tell you, hey, get on a podcast, or here’s your social media strategy, or here’s your marketing and here’s your sales funnel, or, and here’s how you’re communicating.

[00:06:37]   

But if you’re approaching that from the energy or mindset of scarcity or not enoughness or struggle or sacrifice, then you’re going to get completely different results than if you’re going to approach those same mechanics from a place of abundance and service and love and joy, you know, which often we forget as we get busy and as we build our businesses or our lives in general.

[00:07:02]   

So that was what gave birth to Elivate Club. I started Elivate Club really as a community for my existing entrepreneurs to teach them the energetics of quantum leaping in life. And then it evolved over time. Because it’s not just business. How you approach love and relationships and your body and your nervous system and your health.

[00:07:27]   

Right connection with yourself, relationship with other people, all of that is tied into entrepreneurialship. I think business is just a sort of spiritual journey where it teaches you a lot of things about yourself and your relationship. So it sort of sort of evolved around this, the energetics of not just a successful business, but also a successful life and a successful relationship.

[00:07:51]   

So that’s really the space where I teach all of that on weekly basis. And we do some coaching calls and retreats in there as well.

[00:08:00]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it is such an important piece. I think it’s the foundation, really, for an entrepreneurial business that’s successful. And it’s so overlooked. I overlooked it for a lot of years, and I was just in that hustle grind mode where I was almost spinning my wheels, not getting anywhere, wondering why I wasn’t getting anywhere.

[00:08:21]   

And then, yeah, there was a moment where I figured it out too, like, oh, wait a second, I need to back up and do these kind of mindset things and take care of myself and exercise and eat well, it all plays in together, so I love that you’re focused on that. I think it’s such an important.

[00:08:39]   

Yeah, it’s such an important piece of the puzzle. I would love to hear. I know you have a framework for building mindset, this. That supports all of this sustainable success. Can you talk through that framework for us?

[00:08:51]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, absolutely. So if I can back up a little bit to what you said, it sounds like we have similar stories because I sort of. I built a business, and this will play into the framework of quantum leaping in your business, in your relationship, and any next level that you’d like to achieve, whether it’s scaling a business, doing it with ease, or experiencing more love and connection and passion in your relationship.

[00:09:18]   

But there was a time, because of my background and everything that I experienced really growing up, I built a business. I built a business. My first business. I moved down to Southern California after going to school, getting my doctorate and everything else. And I started a first business. And I was determined, right?

[00:09:38]   

I was like, I’m gonna make this business really successful. However, the where I was coming from was this idea. I call it struggle, money, energy, where you have to sacrifice and work hard and. And in order to make the thing happen. And you’re so proud of being a type A, working hard and struggling.

[00:10:01]   

And at the time, I was checked off all the boxes. I was married, I had my first child. I started a business. I was near seven figures, seven employees, 13 employees maybe at the time, I don’t know. And yet I had this moment where it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. One, I didn’t have any freedom.

[00:10:21]   

Two, I was completely burnt out in the process, and I couldn’t have continued that route, so I had to find a different way of doing it. And I remember this particular moment where I was. Walked myself into the closet of my previous home. I was walk small walk in closet. I shut the door, I shut the lights, and I sat down against the wall and I held onto my knees and I started sobbing because I felt so trapped in this life that I had built for myself.

[00:10:54]   

That was. That had, you know, ripped me of. Of everything that was fulfilling to me, everything that of who I was, you know, in my soul and my heart’s heart. And I remember thinking I had to do things differently. I had to approach things differently. And one of the things that I did, and this is really the first step in the framework that I teach.

[00:11:16]   

I remember being in the closet and thinking, I can’t walk out of this closet. The same version of myself I cannot walk out and set another smart goal and hit the goal and just continue to climb this thing that was defined as successful by society. And I definitely couldn’t do it with this belief system or this framework of struggle.

[00:11:41]   

Money, right? Like sacrifice money. So I had a vision in that time, in that period of time, I had a vision that I was going to build a part time seven figure business, that I was going to multiply it by three and have. Create passive income with three other businesses. So I was going to scale and multiply that.

[00:12:00]   

I had a vision that I was going to live by continentally, I wasn’t sure what country. I had a vision that I was going to world school my kids. I had a vision that I was going to have a bigger impact. And the nonprofits that I was super attached to, I wanted to write a fat check for them like whatever my heart desired instead of looking at my bank account and trying to figure out what I can.

[00:12:22]   

So I had, I had this vision for this kind of, what seemed to be a completely unreasonable version of life. Completely unreasonable. Especially from where I was sitting in the closet, burnt out and really considering some dark outcomes in that, in that space, considering where I was, this, this life, this vision that I had seemed so, so unreasonable somehow.

[00:12:52]   

I made a commitment to that unreasonable vision. I made a commitment to expand it, I made a commitment to explore it. I made a commitment to say yes to it over and over and over again. Even though I didn’t know anybody else who had done it, even though I didn’t think it was possible, even though there was a voice in my head that was like, how are you going to create a business like that or a life like that, or fall in love and do this life that you think you’re going to experience.

[00:13:18]   

I was married at the time to my ex husband. So the very first step in the framework that I teach is actually to figure out what is your version of an unreasonable life. You know, in your business, if you think that you can’t cut out Fridays, if you think that you can’t cut your hours, you don’t.

[00:13:42]   

If you think that you can’t excel or scale your business or multiply, it doesn’t matter. Your brick and mortar or your virtual, it doesn’t matter what the business might be either way. Like if there’s something out there that your heart has been desiring and you think it’s impossible and you don’t know anybody else who’s done it, that is what you put on paper, that is what you express and you speak into, you speak life into and you give energy.

[00:14:09]   

So that’s really the first part of the framework is having what I call is an unreasonable dream life, unreasonable vision for your business, for your relationship. And love this framework because it works for anything. You know, I tend to speak to a lot of entrepreneurs because we tend to want more out of life.

[00:14:30]   

But you can’t have a successful business and not have, you know, love in your life or support in your life or a good balance of feminine and masculine. You can’t have that and not have a healthy body. I mean, these are the elements that make us fulfilled in life. So that’s the first part of the, the framework is that unreasonable life.

[00:14:53]  Megan Porta 

Do you feel like if it’s in your mind, even though it might seem unreasonable, it’s possible? Because I always think that too. Like, my first instinct is to say this isn’t going to work because it’s, it doesn’t make sense. I don’t know anyone else who has done this. But then I think the fact that it came into my mind makes it doable.

[00:15:16]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yes. And if it, if you thought that it was doable, right. If you thought about a dream or a vision that you thought was doable is basically what we call a smart goal, right? It’s measurable, it’s realistic, it’s timely. All these things that kind of a vision or dream, which I wouldn’t call it a vision or dream, I just call it like the next goal or discipline, get disciplined and get it done.

[00:15:40]   

But that does not require you to shift your identity. That does not require any evolution. So the reason you think it’s unreasonable is because the version of you right now doesn’t have access to, that doesn’t know how to do it. So the idea is the becoming of the version of you that has access to the how of the, of what you believe is unreasonable.

[00:16:06]   

I can tell you now, fast forward, you know, this is a decade, by the way. I don’t want anybody to think that this is an overnight process. This framework has been developed over a decade. I’ve gotten divorced in the process. I’ve had another kid. I’m, you know, I’m about to get married. So there’s all these things that have happened over the past decade.

[00:16:25]   

But one thing is for sure, when I look back, you know, in the process, I had no, I totally thought it was impossible. I totally thought it was a crazy idea, but it felt better and more aligned to keep committing to the vision than going back to doing the things that I had been doing, and in the process, now it’s like, oh, all the ways came to me because I kept committing to it.

[00:16:54]  Megan Porta 

And you believed in it. You believed that it was possible. Yeah. So that’s step one. Once we can wrap our heads around that, what is the next step?

[00:17:04]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

All right, so once you have an unreasonable vision for your business, for your life, then it comes, which we kind of touched on. Beautifully integrated in this conversation, is expanding your identity to match this initial unreasonable vision. Right. So I think in moving in this direction, like we’ve been talking about, there are three kinds of visions that you could have.

[00:17:33]   

Right. One is it could be a smart vision. You already know how to do it. You just do the things and you get there. And I think most entrepreneurs are doing that already. That’s what I had been doing all the way till I started, sat in that closet. And in that vision, the criteria is you already know how to do it.

[00:17:52]   

Okay? So there’s no evolution of becoming. There’s no need to expand your identity and explore outside of what you have picked up along the way. Right. The second piece, the second kind of vision that you can have is going to be an inspired vision in which you’re like, I don’t know how to do it, but I can figure it out.

[00:18:12]   

I don’t know how to do it, but I could call Megan. I don’t know how to do it, but maybe I can get some mentorship. I can get a course course. I can YouTube it. Right. The how is very in front of your face. So that does require a little bit of a stretch outside of your current identity.

[00:18:25]   

But when you talk about an unreasonable vision, the criteria is you have no idea how to do it, and that it has to activate a voice that says, you cannot do this, or this is impossible, this cannot be happening. And that is what it takes to stretch beyond your current identity. Which again, in the second step to the process is, okay, how do I expand my identity to become the version of myself that has access this next level that I set in step one, I said, I’m going to have this unreasonable life or my business is going to look like, you know, this way or that way, or part time or profitable or scale or multiply?

[00:19:09]   

Well, who do I need to become if I’m going to go from owner to CEO? What are the traits of the CEO? Those are wildly different than the practitioner or the business owner that is in the business or the manager. So who do I need to become? So I want to back up on this because a couple of things I want a foundational points to be made here is one is that your identity will always, always drive your behavior.

[00:19:37]   

So most people will go, I need to behave this way. I need to show up this way, and I need to be the CEO and I’m going to have this habit and I’m going to eat healthy and I’m going to, you know. However, if you don’t identify with a fit individual, you do not identify with the CEO, you do not identify with that.

[00:19:56]   

It’s just not going to happen. You won’t. You’ll behave that way externally. A couple of times, a couple of weeks, maybe a month, you go back to exactly who you were in this process.

[00:20:09]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I feel like it’s so hard to bridge that, though. Do you know what I mean? Like, you can. Something can feel hard or impossible. You know, you can do it. Kind of like you have a feeling inside. But how do you take on the identity? Because I feel like that’s kind of where it gets really challenging for a lot of people.

[00:20:33]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Absolutely. And this is where most people stop most. If, if you’ve already. Most people stop before they get to step one, which is, I don’t know what I want, or, you know, I don’t know that I can commit to what I want. But if you’ve gotten past the first part, this is where most people get stuck.

[00:20:51]   

So I think there’s two pieces to this. One is identifying the traits of the version of you that’s living that life. Right. Or that is the CEO or that is scaling with ease. And then the second part to the equation is actually embodying and practicing that version of yourself, which is actually step three.

[00:21:12]   

But let me expand on that on the identity piece, because I think that this will help if your identity drives your behavior. Another thing I want to. Another point to be made here is that we’re also. When we’re born, we don’t. We have some traits and some genes and, you know, that are kind of playing out and the kind of person that we are, however, majority, 99% of identity pieces of identity that we pick up are based on what we have experienced or what you know, directly or indirectly in our lives.

[00:21:52]   

If someone tells you you’re smart because you get an A and you think you’re smart, someone tells you you’re funny, or someone does something in the playground and you go, I’m not enough. Or you watch your parents a certain way or their experiences. So the parts of identity that we’ve packed on, especially if you’ve experienced any level of trauma or any level of emotional heaviness.

[00:22:12]   

You’ve even developed what we call a hyper identity. So if you have a hyper identity of I’m a hard worker, I got to do everything myself or I’m not supported or whatever due to something expensive that has happened in your childhood, two things are facts. One is it’s still not who you are, it’s what happened to you.

[00:22:32]   

Therefore you develop this protective mechanism. And the other is identity is fluid, right? It’s fluid. If it happened to, if I’ve picked on this, these pieces of my identity because of what I have experienced, then I could experience something different and pick up something different along the way. Or I could choose to be confident today and I could choose, you know, there are days where I wake up and I’m super down on myself, right?

[00:22:59]   

And there are days where I’m like, I’m super confident today. Well, which one am I? Which one is actually who I am? What’s not really parts of the identity, it’s who you tap into and what you tune into. So in the first part of the process, sorry, the second step in expanding the identity, you’re really utilizing the left part of the brain.

[00:23:21]   

Doing some exploring, exploration, having a conversation with someone that you and you’re inspired by. Maybe you reach out to them because you think that they’re the CEO you want to become or there are aspects that are inspiring to you or just studying, studying successful people, studying the next version of yourself in some ways.

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[00:24:52]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

So you do that and in this step two, you’re really utilizing the left part of your brain to describe her. So you go, what is the relation? I have 10 categories that I go through to sort of describe this. But I’ll just give you a couple of them. What’s the energy of this person?

[00:25:09]   

What’s the relationship that they have to time if they’re constantly, I’m out of time, I don’t have enough time. I’m stressed out. What is their relationship with money? What’s their decision making style? What kind of decision making style they have? So you sort of logically go through and go, they must be confident.

You define her as your next level character, if you would. And then of course, in the one other thing I want to say, because when I talk about this, people will raise their hand and they’ll go, are you talking about fake it till you make it fake it. Yeah. So what I like to say to that is, you know what you are doing right now in your limited thinking, in your limitations, what you have picked up in all the different ways that are holding you back, especially if you have a big dream for life, for your business, for your relationship, that is what’s faking it.

[00:26:12]   

What’s real, what’s the most real thing is the fact that you have unlimited potential and that if there is a desire out there that is truly yours. Even though, like you said, Megan, the subconscious is like, you can’t do that, which is the whole point anyways. But you have the potential to get there.

[00:26:31]   

If that is authentically yours, that dream is authentically yours. What you’re doing right now, that’s the most fake thing you could be doing. Stay playing it small and being in your limitations, expanding your identity is really tapping into your potential. So that’s sort of step two.

[00:26:49]  Megan Porta 

That’s interesting. So you’re almost calling yourself out like, okay, no, you’re not going to fake it till you make it. This is the fake thing here.

[00:26:58]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

This is the fake thing because I’ve picked up struggle money. Who did I pick it up from? I wasn’t. I mean, if I was born in a family where struggle money wasn’t a framework, I wouldn’t have struggle money. So, I mean, when I was born, when babies are born, you only have two fears.

[00:27:13]   

You have a fear of falling and fear of loud noises. And those are reactive, responsive reflexes. Right. They’re not real fears, but there’s no other fear. You’re not. You’re not born thinking, am I good enough? Are they gonna like me? Is my mom’s gonna love me. You know, we’re not born with any of that.

[00:27:30]   

We pick it up. So here we are. More. There’s a lot more unlearning in the process that needs to happen.

[00:27:39]  Megan Porta 

Okay, I love how you just piece that all together. So what comes next?

[00:27:44]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

The third step in this process is embodiment. So this is where if you, you know, this is where it’s an easier. If you’ve made it this far and you’ve actually sat down and you’ve gone through the criterias and you’ve explored and you’ve studied and really defined the next version of yourself, this becomes a bit easier, which is the embodiment of the next version of yourself.

[00:28:09]   

And so people think, oh, embodiment. And, you know, we just had this conversation in my mastermind, where people go. I fired somebody and I hired somebody, and I, you know, invested in this, and I bought a company. You know, whatever it is, the big decisions that they’re making in their lives and their businesses, and they think that that is the embodiment.

[00:28:31]   

Right. But I gave this example just the other day. Embodiment is really showing up as the next version of yourself or in the energy and frequency of the next version of yourself when you are drinking your coffee, when you’re on a podcast, when you’re on a zoom, when you’re answering your emails, when you’re with a client.

[00:28:51]   

Like, that is the truth of the embodiment. Just because you made a big decision, that’s. That’s a spike. That’s a spike. That’s a. Maybe a peek into the new future version of yourself that might also be faking it at times. Right? Because you had this high, and then you went and you did the thing, and now you deal with the consequences of that versus, okay, this coffee that I’m drinking every single day, this time I spend with my children, getting them ready at breakfast, every single day I’m doing that.

[00:29:21]   

What energy. Am I approaching this with my. Am I. Am I approaching this in the frequency and embodiment of the next version of myself? So I find it a lot more. You know, there is a disconnect, and it’s a big blind spot there. There’s. Because we throw these words out, around. Oh, embody the next version.Okay, I’m gonna go do this big thing. But no, no, no. It’s in the little, tiny, small things.

[00:29:45]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And this part, I feel like, can be a process, right? Like, this can be a journey in itself, because you can’t. Just like you said earlier, you can’t do this overnight, especially this piece. This is like kind of a whole learning curve. Right.

[00:30:02]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Learning curve and lifetime. And it’s lifetime.

[00:30:09]  Megan Porta 

Experience.Yeah.

[00:30:09]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

And just tuning. Keep tuning into it. You know, I tell my students is if they. If you’re off the frequency, off the signature self, off the future version of yourself, the key is not to put in even more shame and guilt, like, oh, I’m showing up a certain way. I didn’t go to the gym.

[00:30:26]   

I didn’t do the thing. No, the key is to just recognize a neutrality and go back to her as much as you can, as often as you can, and sustain that as much as you can until it becomes you, until you merge. And there’s lots of neurological studies around this, by the way.

[00:30:45]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that’s so interesting. Keep calling yourself out. Right. And just. I find that I just need to catch myself sometimes and see the misalignment. Like, this isn’t. I’m not behaving or thinking in a way that aligns with the future version of myself that I desire. And then it’s just like reset. But it’s constant. It is definitely a journey.

[00:31:12]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Absolutely. Something I have learned and I teach and I practice. All, like, even before this podcast, is to prioritize my energy and my frequency. So before I do anything, and I don’t mean just important things, like this conversation I’m having with you, but when I sit down to play Legos with my kids is just taking that five minutes or sometimes longer.

[00:31:36]   

Go for a walk, take a nap, you know, just jump around the house to shift my energy, get back into my body, especially from a busy day at work or something like that, to prioritize the energy and the experience and set an intention for the experience I want to have with my kids.

[00:31:51]   

Sitting down on the floor playing Legos, going on a date with my husband, a podcast, email. So kind of training my body, my nervous system to be in the signature self versus, you know, versus the old patterns.

[00:32:06]  Megan Porta 

What do you do in those situations? Like, let’s say you’re about to sit down and play with your kids. Do you just meditate? Do you have a little talk with yourself? What is your process?

[00:32:16]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, I think this can vary for anybody and everybody, but I’ll tell you what I do. But it’s. It’s anything that you do that will change your state. I’ll give you an example of this. I was about to record something yesterday for record some content around, doing a workshop around, you know, bringing in money or magnetizing money and I was feeling a certain way and I definitely was not in the energy of the future version of myself.

[00:32:45]   

And I recognized that when I’m not in that energy, it’s not fair for the people who are going to be consuming my content. That’s not fair to them for me to show up in less than my maximum potential in this moment. So I just walked outside and went to go get my mail.

[00:33:02]   

I cleaned up a little bit and then once I got myself into the next, the next frequency then I sat back down. But I’ll tell you my go to and this is probably the number one thing that I do, whether it’s in a business meeting or with my children or anything in between, have written out in step one we talked about having an unreasonable life.

[00:33:23]   

I have written out, have multiple versions of it, a script of what that life looks like and I’ve written it as if I already live that next level life. And I’ve done numerous versions of this and have been able to look back and be like, wow, I live that life now. And now there is another version.

[00:33:41]   

So that is something. I have a version that’s like bullet points of the things in a way that’s present now. And then I have a version that’s like 20 pages. It’s not 20 pages but it’s long. So depending on how much time I have, I will tune into that and I will feel the things that are that are there as if they’re already happening.

[00:34:03]   

Because I want my nervous system to feel safe in the dream life. Because currently my nervous system feels safe in the current life. So to give it that safety and to shift my energy from scarcity or struggle into abundance and love or joy, then I got to anchor myself to something that’s my go to.

[00:34:24]  Megan Porta 

I love that. I think everyone should have an ongoing running future version of you that you refer to. Right. How often do you look at your. Your document or wherever you have it?

[00:34:37]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

That’s a non negotiable for me every day. I mean this is the life that I live. I have a mastermind and it’s called one week a month lifestyle. There’s a whole story behind that because I once I tapped into more freedom then I had this inspiration to see if I could. It was really a challenge to see if I could live a life and create a business that’s one week a month.

[00:35:01]   

You know that I only work one week a month and I’ve been able to tap into it anyways, I started a mastermind and the reason I tell you this is because we have four. We have a couple of non negotiables inside of the masterminds for entrepreneurs. One of the non-negotiables I have is that you not only have an unreasonable vision for your business and for your life, but also you read and feel that vision every single day.

[00:35:29]   

One of the other non negotiables is you have an hour a week. I call it thinking hour, where you think about where you’re headed. No phone, no nothing. You just journal and think and dream about where you are headed. And we have a couple of other. But that’s how important this step one is, is get your nervous system to feel safe in the next level.

[00:35:50]  Megan Porta 

Oh, I actually do this daily as well and I find that not many people do this. I talk about it a lot and I feel like I get blank stares, like, why would you do that? What is the point? But there’s so much power in it. And you touched on this earlier, but you can look back and see how you’ve fallen into like a previous version of who you are today, who you thought you would become.

[00:36:16]   

And you did become it. Right. And that, that’s almost like building so much trust in yourself. Like, look what I did. So of course I can do the next version of me. I can attain that. Right. So I feel like doing the whole process of it is so important. It builds self trust and confidence so that you can keep building future versions of you.

[00:36:41]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, absolutely. And I think another thing that this does is when you look back at what you have accomplished or how far you have come, because often we get lost right. In the busyness of life or what we want to do in the future. I know my crowd tends to be more future oriented and not so much living in the past, but I encourage them to look back and go, how far did you come?

[00:37:05]   

Because when you do that, you’re actually putting growth and appreciation and all of that in your energetic field. You’re tapped into growth instead of the not enough, let me go into the future. Something better is in the future.

[00:37:21]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, all of this is so good. Is there another part of your framework that you want to mention?

[00:37:26]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, the last step. So so far we talked about the unreasonable vision for life. The second part is expanding your identity. The third part is sort of, you know, embodying that identity. And the last part is taking unreasonable action. Right. And so these are the actions that the future version of you would take, the CEO version of you would take, that the manager, solo business version of you might not take or these are things that the next level mom or wife or friend would take and you are not comfortable taking.

[00:38:06]   

And it could be really small or it could be really big. It’s, you know, it’s within reach. But that. The idea is, by the time you get to step four, they’re actually not really all that unreasonable for you. They may have been unreasonable for the version of you sitting here, but they’re totally reasonable and okay and easy for the next version of you to be taking those actions.

[00:38:30]   

So I think following this framework and the way I developed it just over the past decade or over a decade now, is looking back and studying the times where I did quantum leap or I did have a big jump into a whole new reality and being like, what were the elements that happened?

[00:38:52]   

And then making them practical so that I can teach it and help other people do the same.

[00:38:58]  Megan Porta 

Do you ever look back at actions you took and think, oh, my gosh, how did I do that? A previous, previous version of myself would have been like, no way.

[00:39:08]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

I have so many of these delusional, crazy, insane. I mean, I. Thankfully, I have my husband and my friends and people I surround myself with that. The most delusional actions that I’ll be taking, they’ll be like, yeah, that sounds about right. And I’m like, nobody outside of this bubble would give me that validation that I’m on the right track.

[00:39:34]   

They’d be like, you are insane. You’re crazy. But I’ve jumped quite a bit, you know, in almost any. Everything that I do now. I look for the jump because I know how juicy it is on the other side.

[00:39:48]  Megan Porta 

Oh, there it is right there. You know how juicy it is on the other side. Love that. So you talked about working one week a month. Is that right? How in the world did you make that happen?

[00:40:00]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Okay, I have to tell you, when I first got the inspiration to do this, I had a panic attack because I was. Because exactly how the heck am I gonna do this? I mean, I. I’d already been working semi part time, as I mentioned. I’d built businesses, seven figure businesses, where I would be part time or they were semi passive, but not like one week a month part time, more like 20 hours a week part time.

[00:40:30]   

So, you know, I think I took it as more of a challenge and the becoming of the version of me that is worthy of the freedom that I wanted to experience and the presence that I wanted to experience with my family and the level of contribution that I wanted to have in the world.

[00:40:47]   

So for me, it was like let me put these concepts that I teach to work on myself and design something. And the way it started was I was taking one week a month off first. So I was working three weeks a month first. And in those three weeks, it wasn’t like full time still, but still I was working three weeks in a month.

[00:41:08]   

And I would take, you know, I think at the time was like the first sometimes was like the last month, the week of the month. And I would take it off and my husband and I, with the kids, we would go traveling or without the kids sometimes, and we would go traveling in that one month, local or international, whatever.

[00:41:24]   

It’s just like an adventure week for us. And I looked back and I thought, wait a second, so I’m already doing this. My profitability hasn’t changed all that much. Although that, then the idea of cutting it down to working one week a month, it was, it just sounded crazy. But I started to kind of sit with how much of that struggle, money, energy was left over still where I took pride in the struggle and the sacrifice that I thought I should be making in order to be quote, quote successful.

[00:42:00]   

Once I really self contemplated that part, then I go, okay, let me go through the four steps. The first step I had down, you know, I written out what it would look like to have a one week a month lifestyle and a one week a month business. Broke down some of the sort of detailed like, okay, how many days?

[00:42:18]   

Because it could be one week a month or it could be two days a week, you know, maybe half a day or whatever, something like that, which is typically what I do. So I broke the practical part of it down. And then I didn’t worry about strategy or how I was going to scale my businesses or sustain them even, but I just kind of focused on what that would look like.

[00:42:39]   

Then I went into identity. This is where I got stuck because it was like, ooh, there’s a lot of my identity that’s tied into, you know, all the things that I do and who I am, who I am for people and who I am to people and you know, the things that I do.

[00:42:55]   

My self worth is tied into all the things I’m doing. So there was a lot of reevaluation in that process. And then the embodiment, so the embodiment was like, okay, how would the, like I said, how would the version of me that’s working one week a month drink her coffee? Well, she would sit her butt down instead of on the go and in the car, you know, like she would. She would slow it down.

[00:43:22]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

She would be present, she would be, you know, she would know that she can scale her businesses and, and work less. So anyways, then moving into the embodiment part and then it was like, wait a second. So here’s, here’s the how, here’s the how in this process. Then I started to get inspiration because I was tapped into the next version of myself that was already living that lifestyle.

[00:43:45]   

I started to get inspiration in how I would run my business. I started hire team members. I started to, I mean, like my entire business model, not entirely, but a lot of it completely shifted. I got new ideas that were doubling my income and cutting my hours so I was working less and I was more profitable.

[00:44:07]   

And over a period of time, then it turned into a, you know, legitimately a one week a month lifestyle. So right now I have two days a week where I give myself working hours and doesn’t mean I don’t work the rest of the time, but I have the option and my calendar is free. So if I choose to go to lunch, I do. If I choose to volunteer at lunchtime, I do. If I choose to go to my kids function or travel or take the week off, then I do that as well.

[00:44:35]  Megan Porta 

I love how inspiration comes to us when we show up. Like literally all we have to do is show up in ways that we know we need to show up. I loved your example about the coffee. What kind of person did you want to be drinking coffee? One that’s sipping while you run around or one that sits down and actually enjoys it?

[00:44:54]   

Oh my. I mean, it’s as simple as that. I made a shift very recently to. I mean this is simple too, but just sitting down and eating lunch with, with nothing else to do for a decade or more. I would sit down with lunch at my computer while I was working on the go.

[00:45:12]   

I didn’t taste my food. It was just, it was ridiculous. And recently I was like, wait a second, what if I actually stepped away from my computer, sat on my couch, stared out my window, literally just sat there and ate my lunch. And it has been life changing. And I can almost feel that shift happening in the universe like inside of me. Everywhere is just like this simple thing is so powerful and important.

[00:45:37]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah. Isn’t that crazy? It’s. I always say it’s in the small things. I call it small tweaks and massive results. Because you sit there and you have a shift in your frequency every day that you eat lunch and then add in breakfast and dinner and the presence that comes with that zero chance, your life will not change even if your actions are exactly the same.

[00:45:59]  Megan Porta 

That’s good. Okay, so we’re gonna follow your formula and hopefully work a week, a month as well. Nona, that sounds super inspiring, but I’ve kind of gone through the same process too, where it’s like one step at a time. Like taking Fridays mostly off has been my first step. My next dream is to take a week off, like you mentioned.

[00:46:21]   

I think I can do that by next fall, maybe this summer. So again, it’s not like an overnight thing. You can’t go from working 60 hours a week to one week a month. Right. You’ve gotta, you’ve gotta go through the process and do this incrementally.

[00:46:39]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, absolutely. Day by day. I mean, I, I always say, like, it doesn’t matter how far off you are from where you want to go. What matters is just returning back to the frequency or the, or the dream vision is just continuing to say yes to it every single day, every single moment.

[00:46:56]  Megan Porta 

And then how do we continue to build that self trust and confidence? Because I think this is such an important piece of it. Is it just continuing on and taking the cues or do you have other ways that we can do that?

[00:47:12]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

I mean, I think the, you know, when people ask like, what are your habits or what are your rituals that get you to that frequency? I can, I can. You know, there’s so many tools available. There’s meditations, there’s visualizations. There is, you know, being in a kind of community. That’s why you started Elivate Club 2.

[00:47:32]   

Like all of those are tools. But the best tool that you could have in this process, the one that’s is going to be the one that you enjoy the most, is going to be the one that you are most consistent at. So I remember going to the gym and making myself go to the gym every day and eat healthy.

[00:47:51]   

And it really was, it was me making myself because I was attached to a certain something. And once I understood this, this concept of really, really understood it, then I started to go, wait a second. What is it that I enjoy? Oh my gosh, I love a yoga class at home from my iPad.

[00:48:06]   

I’d love a long walk on the beach, right? So once I started to tap into that, then I was way more consistent and I was way more. I was way easier on my body and I was happier and I was in so much more joy. And you didn’t have to force me to go on a walk.

[00:48:22]   

You’d have to force me to take a yoga class. So my health becomes. Became better as a result of that. So do this thing that you know, whether it’s a meditation, whether it’s a visualization, whether it’s reading through your vision, what is it that you would commit to every single day that would be a reminder or like I say, touch your dream.

[00:48:44]   

So what kind of thing could you do every day? Is it a vision board? Is it a picture? Is it a conversation? Is it being in the community? But it’s got to be continuous. I mean, I tell my students all the time is you can listen to this podcast, right? You can, you can read a book and you can be inspired.

[00:49:02]   

But if you’re not touching your dream every single day, every single week, which is why I think elevate community is so important for our students is because every week we’re showing up in the next level frequency and the continuation and the surrounding yourself of with other people that are in the same frequency that believe you can do it, that remind you of the potential that you have is really important too.

[00:49:27]  Megan Porta 

Such an important conversation for entrepreneurs, I think, especially women. We just try to do so much and there are so many expectations we put on ourselves. And when we add entrepreneurship to it, it’s like it can be a recipe for disaster. I’ve been there, so this is so important. I feel like we need to talk about this more and I just really appreciate you showing up in this way in our community and for women and entrepreneurs. So thank you. This has been so great. I love this conversation. Nona, thank you.

[00:50:03]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Thank you for having me. Megan, I appreciate you.

[00:50:06]  Megan Porta 

Such a wonderful chat. Do you have either a favorite quote or additional words of inspiration to leave us with today?

[00:50:13]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

Yeah, my favorite go to that I share at all times is if you want something that is wildly different, you must do and I would put in parentheses, become something and somebody that is wildly different.

[00:50:29]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that is perfect. Great way to end. Thank you so much. We will put together a show notes page for you, Nona. If you want to go peek at those, you can head to eatblogtalk.com/elivate and Elivate is spelled E L I V A T E. So tell everyone where they can find you.

[00:50:47]  Dr. Nona Djavid 

I love personally connecting with people who maybe listen to podcasts or hear my story. So if this resonates with you, you can find me on Instagram. And if you send me a little note that says, hey, I heard you on the podcast, I have a 90 minute training on the four steps of the quantum leap that sort of goes a little bit more in detail, a little bit more hands on, because I just have more time in that space where we go over the four steps and perhaps you can kind of create what your dream vision would look like and take some actions by the end of the 90 minute training.So if that resonates, just send me a message, mention this podcast and I’m happy to send it over to you. It’s totally free.

[00:51:28]  Megan Porta 

Amazing. Thank you. That’s a very generous offer. And yeah, just thank you again for being here so much. And thank you for listening at food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

[00:51:48]  Outro

If you enjoyed this topic, you’ll also love the episode I recommend in the show notes. Click on the episode description to find the link. Thank you and I will see you next time.