I MUST SUCCEED – Best Motivational Video (Featuring Mimi Ikonn)
how does a sixteen year old girl from a
communist country turn into an
entrepreneur in Canada if you can be
proud doing any job you can grow to
anything like if you can sweep the floor
and be passionate about sweeping the
floor then you will grow eventually but
if you’re sweeping the floor and you’re
like oh this is so beneath me with that
kind of attitude you will not grow so
it’s all about the attitude if you take
pride in your work regardless what work
it is you guaranteed through hard work
and persistence of course and vision
because you got to have a vision I think
that’s still very important it can be
like okay I love this but I’m gonna keep
doing this well if that’s okay with you
that’s fine nothing wrong with that but
if you really want to grow you can be
sweeping the floors but having a vision
of being a superstar or this author or a
doctor or whatever it is that you want
to be in life and you will surely get
there however you have to you have to
appreciate the small things in order to
get to the big things one cannot exist
without the other
I think when you really want something
you have to prove that you are worthy
that you are the one and I think too
often people nowadays just give up when
they get one note somebody else is gonna
get that person or that job or that
program we can have a vision and when we
get there we realize okay with fulfill
this vision now we have to compute
daydreaming it’s about keeping the day’s
being boring
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the people that form the world is the
people with vision that’s what everyone
has to use it and like keeping that
vision and training and believing and
seeing that picture cleared not stopping
because of course you change and as we
change your vision will change so that
that’s something that has to be
constantly evolving it I believe
we struggled financially any time I say
this on the podcast my dad is like we
were middle-class in Azerbaijan yes
absolutely but middle-class in
Azerbaijan is different from middle
class in America right like my parent we
had one-bedroom tiny apartment and my
parents gave their bedroom to my sister
and I so we can have a bedroom and for
16 years of my life and silver move to
emigrated to Canada they slept on the
couches in living room I think through
life whenever I am faced with hardships
I always try to focus on the positive
and sometimes it’s difficult but if you
focus on the positive it just feels a
bit easier I feel my parents had to
start from scratch and my dad had a
great job when also by John he would
travel he worked for BP and then he
comes to Canada and he’s a nobody so he
had to work security jobs my mom would
clean houses it was difficult I just
remember even going to my parents one
time because all my friends were going
to the movie theater and asking them for
like ten bucks so I can go see a movie
and they just look at me and said sorry
I can’t like we don’t have this kind of
money we whatever money we have we’re
spending it to feed and of course they
didn’t even need to explain it they just
said no and I remember going to my room
just locking the door and crying my eyes
out because I felt for a second like a
victim but then as soon as I felt that
way I realized you know what I don’t
need to be a victim I can go and make my
own money actually this was great
because I never want to depend on anyone
including my parents so this from a
young age of six sixteen taught me a
huge lesson where I said you know what
I’m gonna go work whatever jobs I’m
gonna make money and you know what
actually will help my parents because
they brought me here
alex says that make back then you too
would go on these gratitude walks one of
the most powerful exercises you can do
okay can you break it down for us yes
it’s not something we’ve invented we got
it from Tony Robbins actually if you do
this I think get the edge attend a
program on day one he talks about
gratefulness walks which is very simple
every day you go for a walk you can do
it alone or you can do it with your
partner and the way you started is you
just start saying things that you’re
grateful for that you already have in
your life so you could say I’m grateful
for my body I’m grateful for my eyesight
I’m grateful for you know this beautiful
city that I live in so you start with
things that are in the present then you
can move on to I’m grateful for my
partner I’m grateful for my friends and
family and then the magic part here is
that you start saying things that you’re
grateful for that you don’t have but you
want to manifest in your life so we were
going in this case for most walks while
we’re broke and just don’t have lost
completely lost don’t know what we want
to do in life and one would say things
like you know I’m grateful for having
this amazing business I’m grateful for
you know that we get to travel the world
together and that we’re financially free
and we have this beautiful home and all
these things that were wanted to
experience and live and Brian now years
later it’s crazy to think that we’re
here and beyond what we’ve even dreamt
of or imagined so we’ve used this
exercise at different different points
of our lives and it’s extremely powerful
and it works every single time but you
really got to like feel it like say it
and you feel it and yeah like we would
do it for a few months and then we would
stop but things would manifest in like a
year or two and then we would realize
that they did and we would restart the
practice but we would already ask for
different things and again then they
would come true it’s truly incredible I
think I I’m not doing it at the moment
but me and Alex were talking about
restarting the practice because it’s
just been life-changing yeah I think
it’s super powerful would you make new
ones up every day or would you kind of
say the same ones back to each other
because you can’t you can’t see the new
ones right so you you can change it
slightly but kind of you focus on the
same vision it’s like you envision
something and then you
you say it and that’s why I think after
a few months we would give it a break
and then the universe or whatever it
goes out and starts to slowly manifest
the right people the right events and
then you realize your or two later that
whoa I am here this is what I was
envisioning I think it goes hand-in-hand
with having a strong vision so it’s
using affirmations than the vision in a
gratefulness water 1993 92 that’s when
Soviet Union broke down and because
before that Azerbaijan was part of USSR
I grew up speaking Russian and then all
of that collapsed these were young kids
who were on drugs these little the
soldiers right that we’re giving guns
and basically went around town shooting
people on the street so we come out of
the tube station I am at the time five
four nine five and a half probably six
years old and I see like helicopters
flying like granades exploding and
meanwhile my mo is probably like holy
how are we gonna walk home and we had a
15-minute walk to go to my grandma’s
house and then we’re walking walking
walking she took us through the small
streets was probably one of my earliest
childhood memories and literally this
soldiers were just shooting innocent
people on the street I remember turning
to the right and seeing there’s a
soldier with like what are they called a
cake
he’s standing at the end of the street
and we’re crossing the street and we’re
like almost at my grandmother’s house
and he looks at us and then he turns to
round away
Wow
yeah literally but I can now I get more
emotional now because I can imagine how
my mom felt right two girls and like any
one of us could have been shot
you know lost I said you were a kid and
it was like a no it was just like a fun
game because you’re not attached to life
then even if you were to die at six I
don’t think you were that afraid because
you’re like I don’t even know what we’re
thing at six and then just like also
hiding because then we’ll got home and
everybody had to be on the floor cuz
they were like the windows
that’s like serious yeah like that’s
crazy
mama it is major trauma I guess I don’t
know
see like I hit it all inside and now
it’s all coming up because it needs to
come up and just like leave because it’s
not serving my body anymore because
that’s also part of the part they eye
thing like why for a big part of my life
like I have like mild anxiety because I
feel like I can’t go down at any time
right because you grew up with that or
any time I hear a siren because we used
to get those sirens at night
and like I just I go back to being like
6 7 years old and some people can say
well I also experienced that when I
lived there but I feel like everybody
observes things differently and absorbs
things differently so for me it really
impacted me a lot of people who grew up
in Canada or who were born in Canada
they’re just so comfortable because
they’ve always had this nice comfortable
life but the immigrants that come into
the country they’re hungry and eager
if you look around Toronto for example
one of the biggest if not the biggest
city in Toronto in Canada most of the
businesses are owned by immigrants it’s
incredible it’s inspirational these
people came into the country not
speaking the language they had so many
disadvantages if you compare them to a
local and yet they went through all this
adversity and managed to create a
successful business and employ other
people it blows my mind and why can they
do that oh why because they’re used to
adversity adversity is good you know
looking back at my life I never feel
sorry for myself
might have in the past because I was
maybe in that mentality a little bit of
like oh poor me how come I had this kind
of childhood or I’ll bring me or how
come we didn’t have much financial
freedom but now I wouldn’t change
anything because I wouldn’t be here I
wouldn’t appreciate the things I have I
wouldn’t have worked as hard as I have
becoming comfortable makes you
complacent and that’s the worst thing
because you just don’t do anything and
just like life is good it’s not a bad
thing I’m not again I’m not trying to
label it but when you have a dream and
you want something it’s not just going
to happen you have to work for it
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