288 – How to Manage Stress in Business to Achieve a Happier and Healthier Life with Kajal Khurana

Gift biz unwrapped episode 288,

External circumstances.

Those people,

it will become easy for you to handle it.

If you're internally strong attention,

gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

Now you are in the right place.

This is give to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode,

packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow.

Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.

Hi there.

It's Sue.

Welcome to today's episode before we jump in.

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I know you may be homeschooling still.

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Now, the show I have for you today is really important.

I'd like to say it can change how you experience this

holiday season and your life beyond that.

To be honest with me here,

are you normally living your life full of anxiety and stress?

I'm pretty sure you said yes and no surprise.

We're still in COVID time.

We have elections racial unrest,

overall uncertainty.

It feels like everybody is operating with peak anxiety.

I never really considered this until it came up in our

talk, but it's true.

We're all living almost a hundred percent with our fight or

flight instinct button stuck on the on mode.

While some level of stress is unavoidable.

What we're doing to ourselves these days is not good for

us and we need to change it.

That's why I say this show is so important.

You're going to hear ways that you can start to neutralize

your stress level.

Now listen,

some of the things that we discuss will not be new

topics to you,

but there most likely will be new ideas or way to

implement these things that you haven't heard before.

So I want you to be open minded and really listen

as you overlay the ideas on top of your current life.

Plus, I open up about some things I've never talked about

before, nothing scandalous,

but sides of my life that I haven't shared.

It's okay.

I want us to know each other well,

are you ready?

I'm opening the door right now to your opportunity for a

less stressful life.

Welcome in Today.

I can't wait to introduce you to Cozumel Kirana of body

mind solution.

KK has helped professionals,

entrepreneurs and working mothers have a positive mindset,

gain clarity and business,

improve the quality of their sleep and adapt healthy eating habits.

So they stay productive and achieve their goals faster.

She's an author podcast,

host and wellness coach KK helps people transform their lives by

becoming their own accountability partner in their transformation journey.

She believes that you have the power to become a better

you in an easy way.

So it becomes your lifestyle rather than being a struggle KK.

Welcome to the gift biz on repped podcast.

Thank you So much for having me.

So it's an honor.

I love that you're here and I'm starting out by telling

everybody that you're in Singapore,

I'm in Chicago and there's close to a 12 hour difference

between our times.

And it's so awesome to be able to bring someone like

you on the show who's so far away,

but also can relate to everything that's going on right here,

where I am and where we're talking.

Absolutely. Thanks to technology.

Yes. I just love that we can do that.

So before we get started,

I have a traditional question that I ask every single guest

on the podcast.

And that is to have you describe yourself by way of

a motivational candle.

So if you were to pick a color that really resonates

with you and a quote that helps you guide your life,

what would your motivational candle look like?

My candles color would be purple and I choose it because

purple also symbolizes spirituality.

And I believe that every person is potentially divine.

So we all are connected to the higher power and we

should believe in ourselves.

And is there a quote or anything,

or that's just your saying and the way you'd like to

leave your candle,

Say we have the inner power,

like you mentioned in the introduction,

but we need to connect to our intuitive power to believe

and move forward in life.

So connect to yourself.

Okay, perfect.

And I'm thinking we're going to get into more of that.

I'm so excited to hear from you and get all of

your goodness about all of this before we get started with

that though.

Give us a little bit of your backstory,

how you've gotten to where you are now and specifically why

you're working with women in this way.

So to start from my childhood,

I would say,

I think I have a lineage behind my grandfather was a

jaundice specialist.

He wasn't an MBBS doctor,

but he would work with herbal medicines.

So when I was a young kid,

I saw him making some kind of medicines with some seeds

and roots of some plants.

So probably it's in my blood,

helping people.

And when I was very young during my college days as

well, I used to wake up early and go for morning

walks. So it always was inclined towards a healthy lifestyle.

And then after I finished my graduation,

I went and worked in corporate world where I realized that

it's not my cup of tea because I was not made

to work for long working hours.

I was missing my healthy lifestyle and having a routine to

go exercise or swim and eat healthy because you're working 16

hours every day.

So very soon I realized that I don't want to be

in corporate worlds.

I was contemplating and thinking,

what should I do?

What should I learn?

Which will stay with me.

And I can carry it with me across the globe instead

of working with a product or something that you have to

sell. So,

very soon I realized that I want to work in health

and wellness industry.

So I left the corporate world and I went back to

India. I was in Dubai.

At that time,

I went back to India.

I pursued my education and yoga or your radar meditation,

mindfulness Reiki.

So I studied very deeply for three years and understood different

aspects of health and wellness.

What if someone is physically ill and can't do yoga and

they are not inclined towards meditation,

how can massage therapy work or how can food work?

Then I studied nutrition.

So I wanted to become a one stop shop for people

who are struggling with their mental,

emotional, or physical health.

That's my back story.

And now I live in Singapore.

I have two girls and my husband also works here.

And I'm very passionate about helping people to stay happy and

help them reduce stress because I have experienced it myself multiple

times and I tell people stresses inevitable.

You can't avoid it,

but you can always learn to manage it once you learn

to deal with it,

whatever external circumstances,

factors people through it,

to you,

it will become easy for you to handle it if you're

internally strong.

So I help people manage their stress levels and then become

emotionally, mentally,

and physical,

healthy based on what their requirements are.

If they want to work on their sleep,

if they want to work on their diet or they want

to work on their mobility.

Got it.

So your solutions are different based on what each individual person

needs. Absolutely.

Because I don't believe there is any one size fit.

All. We all come from different background,

different upbringing,

our likes and dislikes are different.

So I cannot have a solution which will fit everyone in

the world.

Like the food and fitness industry does.

I think that sounds much more credible too.

There isn't a one size fits all.

And I think that's why sometimes you hear people saying with

certain products that it guarantees that they'll do this thing or

another thing,

but not every solution is right for every single person I'll

often talk with.

And listeners,

you guys are going to relate to this.

I mentioned,

and we talk about the fact that even our products that

we're making here,

aren't suitable for everybody,

not everyone is going to love what we do.

So similar with what you're talking about.

Different people need different solutions.

Everyone's seeking the same result,

I think,

but the way to get there is different.

Absolutely. The destination can be the same,

but the route or the pathway you choose might be different.

Everybody can take,

even when we have the GPRS in our cars,

sometimes it will show different routes depending from where you're starting.

Right? If you're starting from North in someone is starting from

East and both of you are planning to go to South.

You will definitely have different routes to reach them.

If that makes sense.

Absolutely. You still get to the same place,

but you take a different route.

So at the time that we're talking,

we're walking right into the holidays and the holidays for all

of us,

because we're makers,

it can be really stressful because this is the time that

we can make the most money.

And you don't want to miss out on that.

And I will say that a lot of people start thinking

about this a little bit,

too late.

So they're behind the eight ball,

if you will,

and trying to rush and get everything together so that they're

going to be able to capture the sales for the holiday.

We also,

within our community have a unique situation in that because the

majority of people here make what they're selling,

the more they sell,

the more work they've just created for themself.

And so sometimes they need to think about bringing employees in

when never thought of doing that before there's all of the

shipping order fulfillment that comes on.

And then,

Oh, yes,

we also have our family that we want to create a

wonderful holiday for.

So there's just a lot of stress going on around this

time of year.

And I remember for myself,

when I had my product based businesses,

the holiday would pass me by and yeah,

I'd go to a party,

but it was just one more party.

Cause I knew I was supposed to be going and having

fun. When in truth,

I was just exhausted.

And I knew I had to get up early because we

had a ton of orders to get out the next day.

And so it was not enjoyable to be quite honest.

So I thought this would be a great topic.

We're right now at the start of the physical part of

the holiday season,

being out and selling planning's already been done,

but now we're actually executing.

We're selling,

we're getting in orders.

So stress levels start to build for sure.

And so I thought you could maybe help us with this

here. And I'm going to start with first,

probably really obvious question,

but what happens within us when we get stressed out what

physically is going on with us?

Very interesting question.

So recently I wrote a book and I've mentioned about this

in my book as well,

because a lot of people don't know what human body consists

of to be very honest.

We only see our legs,

our eyes and whatever we can see externally,

but hardly the percentage of people who know about the internal

organs and the systems which work inside of our body.

It's a great mechanism,

which is run on autopilot.

Thankfully. So I'm glad that you asked this question because people

should get aware of what is happening inside their body,

at least with the autonomic nervous system.

Right? So autonomous nervous system has parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.

This controls our mood feelings of anxiety,

the way we behave.

So sympathetic nervous system is active when you're angry,

when you're upset,

when you're stressed.

And for example,

when you're in a flight or fight mode,

if you see a tiger in front of you,

there will be signals center,

your brain to run,

to take action,

right? Or if you see a fire in your room right

now, you will take action to run that as fight or

flight two,

we need sympathetic nervous system to be active when it's required

to. But unknowingly,

most of us these days,

our sympathetic nervous system is active all the time.

We don't even realize it.

Even when we are sleeping we are stressed.

We are upset,

but we need to learn to strike the right balance between

sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system.

So when does parasympathetic nervous system gets active or overtakes is

when you're feeling relaxed.

When you're feeling loved,

when you're feeling happy.

For example,

if you go on a,

with your boyfriend and suddenly he will propose you and say,

I love you,

will you marry me?

And those emotions which are created in your body will make

you feel so happy.

That's the time when your parasympathetic nervous system is active.

So people don't realize that they need to strike the right

balance off sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system because of

sympathetic nervous system being active.

Most of the time,

the stress levels are increasing in human body.

Is this because of our lifestyles.

We're so busy all the time now.

And with technology,

a lot of us feel like we have to be on

24 seven.

Quite honestly,

Absolutely technology is playing a bigger role in this and social

media is causing all the dysfunctional release of dopamine in our

body. We always constantly comparing ourselves to other people who are

ahead of us or shiny object syndrome,

which we see on social media.

Definitely our lifestyle has a major role.

I know I felt those feelings for sure.

Would you say that years back we were more balanced almost

50 50.

Was there a time when that was the case?

Oh yes.

I would say at least,

maybe not long ago,

but even 30 years back,

there was a better balance.

I would say.

I mean,

our ancestors had a very different life.

If you see before all the technology kicked in or even

before electricity came in,

people would not do anything after sunset.

They would just sleep.

But then electricity was introduced and sleeping hours were pushed back

9:00 PM.

And then with every warming technology,

all the gadgets we have today,

laptop iPad watching Netflix,

our sleeping time as pushed back to post midnight for most

of the people.

Yes. That is definitely true.

Is there any truth to having good stress?

Yeah, I got mentioned if you're in flight or fight more.

Yes. Like if you have to run,

take an action.

If you see a tiger or have a fire in your

room. Yes.

That kind of stress is very good.

Or sometimes like you are supposed to finish a project and

you are stressed out to finish it.

Temporary stress,

I would say yes,

but not a prolonged stress.

If you're stressed out for a couple of hours just to

get a task done,

I'm once it is done and dusted,

you'll feel relaxed and you'll take time to rejuvenate and rest.

It's good.

But if it is most of the time,

these days we finish one task and then you have other

things there's too much on our plates these days.

So we hardly have any time to rest and rejuvenate.

Yes. I agree with that.

Totally. And does that put our health at risk when we're

under this higher stress level all the time?

200%. Yes.

I will tell you clinical research these days.

I mean,

our did some research,

I think Daniel's,

I would say if I'm not wrong and the findings were

70 to 90% of hospital visits are due to stress.

Can you imagine that 70 to 90% of hospital visits are

due to stress?

Wow. So if you are young,

I think that's the prime age.

When you are between your 30 and forties,

you are in your prime age,

you can learn to do right.

Thanks for your emotions for your mind and for your body.

Otherwise you will definitely end up in hospitals.

Once you cross 50 pressure,

You end up in the hospital for something else,

but it was brought on because of the higher level of

stress. Yes.

Everything. The main root cause is stress for everything.

Today, they diabetes,

asthma, hypertension cancer.

The major reason is stress.

Of course,

there are other elements.

I would say the food,

the air,

the water,

everything is getting polluted.

Everything we eat these days is mostly especially invested world,

I would say,

is processed food or packaged food,

which is not fresh,

which he doesn't have any air water in it,

which is dead,

I would say.

So it doesn't give any health benefits to you,

but that's secondary.

The major reason is stress,

I would say.

Okay. All right,

well, and if we identify the reason,

then I'm feeling like maybe there's something that we can do

about it.

And I would love for us to get into some tangible

ideas. Given we are walking into the most stressful time of

the year.

I'm going to say as a generality right now,

but the most stressful time of year for all my listeners

right now,

being that we're going into the holiday with all that,

that entails.

And I would love for people to come back to us

after the holiday and say,

you know,

the things that I learned when you and KK talked really

helped me have a better holiday season.

I enjoyed my family more.

I loved the fact that I had a lot of business

because it looked really good in my bank account at the

end. But at least this year I enjoyed the season.

It didn't just pass me by.

And I was totally stressed and exhausted the whole time.

So if we can KK,

let's talk about some of the tangible things that people can

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Absolutely. I mean,

there are very simple steps to begin,

especially if you're a beginner.

First thing I would say is if you really want to

help yourselves to reduce your stress levels and enjoy your holidays,

you need to be committed without commitment.

Nothing happens.

People try it for one day or two day and three

days. And they say,

Oh, I don't have to hide.

Or it didn't work.

Of course it wouldn't work because transformational changes take years of

practice, daily implementation.

I would say like,

you brush your teeth.

Even if you have deadlines,

even if you have commitments,

you will never forget to brush your teeth,

right? That's become part of your life.

So similarly,

if you really want to take care of your body,

your mind,

your emotions,

your mental health,

and you really want to enjoy it.

There are simple things you can do,

but you need to be committed.

That's the most important thing,

commitment and determination.

I don't know yet what you're going to tell us,

but my question here is to be committed.

Would you also say that then you like formally schedule whatever

you're going to tell us.

Cause I don't know what it is yet,

but you make time in your day.

Every day you plan it.

You don't just say,

okay, I'm going to be committed.

You take an action to be committed such as scheduling time.

Yes. You'll have to schedule at least 10 minutes by yourself

to begin with.

And that should be in the morning.

That's the first thing you should do when you wake up

just 10 minutes,

you can either journal.

If you like to journal,

write down what your goals are,

what is it that you're passionate about?

Positive things you want to achieve in your life related to

your relationships,

your own happiness,

your health.

That's one way Like getting in my listeners mind and try

to anticipate what their questions are as they're listening to us

here. So journaling.

Okay. Well,

my goals were the same yesterday as they are today.

So I already wrote that yesterday.

What am I going to journal about today?

So you say,

well, then you can also think happy thoughts,

what you're grateful for.

Yeah. Positive affirmations,

attitude of gratitude being positive,

or just planning your day.

How would you want to construct your day?

They always use this code,

become the architect of your future.

So become the architect of your day early in the morning,

just in this first 10 minutes,

you can plan the day.

Well, rather than just waking up and trying to hustle,

just sit back and relax and plan it well.

So there are less stressed levels.

You're not rushing because if you wake up in the morning

and first thing you're rushing,

you are going to end up rushing the whole day.

Oh, interesting.

So you get up 10 minutes earlier and you have a

journal near your bed or a comfortable chair that you like

to be in or somewhere like that.

And 10 minutes is not too much to ask to do

something like this.

And would you say it's feeling grateful.

I understand what that does.

So you're reflecting on your life and all the good that's

in it and focusing on the positive versus anything that might

be challenging or concerning.

So that makes sense to me.

And then as you're talking about planning out the day,

is that setting your intentions for the day?

Yeah. It could be your personal so that you can divide

it into three things,

right? It can be your relationship,

your profession and your health.

What are the things you want to achieve during the next

24 hours or 12 or 16 hours,

if you would like to divide it or categorize it because

everybody's priority would be different.

So this is one way of doing it divided into three

different areas of your life,

your professional life,

your personal life and your health,

your relationships,

I would say.

And then,

I mean,

if you don't have that,

you are very clear on what you want to do.

You don't want to journal,

you can just wake up and go for a walk in

connect to nature because nature has the best remedy to release

stress. When you're out in nature,

especially in the morning,

the oxygen levels are fresh because there's less industrial pollution.

And it depends in which city you're living in.

Definitely if you're in big city where there's a lot of

traffic and everything after 7:00 AM or 8:00 AM,

mostly all the cars or bikes are on the street and

then pollution increases.

So if you go for a walk in the morning at

6:00 AM,

it helps you get fresh unpolluted oxygen into your lungs,

which helps your internal organs to take better decisions for the

rest of the day.

That makes sense.

Yeah. And a lot of people even like going and working

out in the morning,

whether it's outside or let's say you live in a cold

area, like I do Chicago snowing.

And at some point of the year you can't get out.

If you're not able to get outside because the weather won't

permit it.

Would you also say just moving your body in some way?

Yeah. Like some days I give you my example,

if I'm not able to go out because it's raining or

whatever, I just walk inside my apartment.

I go round and round around my dining table for half

an hour.

Do you listen to a podcast while you're doing that?

Or do you want to be in silence?

I have positive affirmations and I walk in here.

I say,

I am great.

Like I had an attitude of gratitude,

first of all.

And then I'm like,

I'm worthy.

I deserve this.

And my day is beautiful and everything.

I could think of positive affirmations in my head while I'm

walking. And I'm very mindful when I'm walking,

I would watch my step,

how my foot is moving forward.

And then when it steps down what is happening in my

legs. And so I'm trying to be very mindful.

And then when my mind shifts,

I try to bring it back.

Okay. I'm not being present in the moment.

My mind is trying to drift away.

So I start doing positive affirmation.

So I mean,

you can do a lot of things indoors as well.

If you like to work out and you have a gym

in your house,

or you have some dumbbells or you just like doing pushups,

you can do that as well to energize your body your

Hmm. But the point I think that you're saying with at

least these first two is it's really intentional going inside yourself,

being introspective,

talking to yourself,

discovering how you're feeling,

setting intentions,

being one with nature and yourself.

And I like what you were just saying that even you,

as a professional,

your mind will start drifting to something else and you have

to pull it back.

And it took me a long time to understand that that's

just a natural thing for people.

Cause I used to say,

well, I can't keep my mind on one thing.

So I can't do this.

But then when I found out it was natural,

I felt so much better about it.

No, it's absolutely fine.

Even if I'm an expert,

I've been practicing this for more than 10 years.

I still have my days,

but it is become very easy for me to identify and

change. But for a beginner,

it might not be so easy compared to people who have

been practicing it for a few years.

So for me,

I'm very,

very, I like I have my own CCTV cameras inside my

mind. I would say I'm watching everything I'm thinking and doing

and stuff.

So yes,

like you said,

we need to get inside our own cells because 99.9%

of the time,

most of the people are so much connected to the external

world. And that's where we get stressed out because we don't

know how to cut the noise.

We have to learn to cut the external noise and just

connect to our own cells.

It could be challenging in the beginning and there will be

a lot of noises.

Like I always say,

your mind is your best friend or your worst enemy.

It is truly on you.

If you want to make your mind,

your best friend,

you can,

because your mind will say,

what are you doing?

You know,

you have so many things to finish.

You're wasting your time and that around other people that go

ahead of you and this won't work.

And so many things,

because you'll have never trained your mind to do these kinds

of practices before there will be some kind of turbulence.

Yeah. It's a whole new behavior.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay.

So we have the journaling,

we have the walking or moving around.

What else?

Third thing you can do is,

I mean,

this is very difficult and challenging for most of the people.

But if you can try to just sit and connect to

your Brent,

watching your breath,

not Manny plating your red light.

Some people say debriefing or working on your breath,

work, moving it.

I would just say Connect to her breath,

check your posture,

sit up straight,

your chest up,

drop your shoulders back and down and just watch your breath.

When you do this,

watching your breath,

start with one minute in the beginning,

just three times,

inhale and exhale.

Watch that.

Then next day,

two minutes,

then third day,

three minutes,

and do it for 10 minutes every morning.

And just by doing this,

the capacity of your lungs will improve.

And we have seen this with our students who have started

watching the breath they breathing has improved.

Their mind has become much calmer and quieter.

They have seen the change in their body and their animal.

And by doing these things will that behavior,

once we're committed,

we're doing it every day.

Does that take us through the next hour or two or

does that truly help affect our whole day For some people?

It depends on your personality.

If you get upset easily,

if you get agitated,

angry very easily,

that's your personality.

Probably you will have to practice it every few hours initially

in the beginning,

if your personalities anyway,

like you don't get upset so easy.

Even if there is a problem,

you look for a solution.

You don't play the blame game,

then probably it will help you with throughout the day.

But if you are someone who gets upset very easily for

those kinds of personalities,

I would say,

you need to practice it at least every two hours.

So use your mobile phone set an alarm every two hours

when your alarm goes to digital or whatever is the harder

it is just for one minute,

one minute,

stop doing whatever you're doing.

And Connect your breath,

every two hours in the beginning.

And what is this going to do for us?

When we do that,

If it helps you relax,

it will help you get less stressed out and work doc,

you know,

because you want to disconnect with whatever is happening around you

and connect to your own breathing.

Because when you connect to your breath,

as I said,

the capacity of your lungs will improve.

When the capacity of lungs is improving,

there is better oxygen and blood flow to your organs,

including your brain.

That makes sense.

Yeah. So the chemical reaction in your brain will automatically change

your won't be very stressed out.

So in the past,

if you were very stressed,

like your stress levels were 80%.

And if you try to do this,

be mindful every two hours,

then you will realize gradually your stress is reduced to six.

People said in three months,

or maybe 50% in four months and then 30% and then

20%. And then in a few years you will become much

more common.

This makes sense because when you're less stressed,

you also come up with better ideas solutions,

because we all know that with business,

there's always things that come up that represent a problem or

a challenge.

So if your mind is in a better place,

you're probably going to create better solutions or you'll come to

a solution faster.

Your interaction with people will be calmer and the joy of

what you do,

because the reason we're all going into business is to have

freedom, follow our passion,

all of that.

And oftentimes we trade that in for being so stressed because

of what you have to do in your business.

So to get back the beauty and what that initial dream

was of being happy and joyful and confident in your business,

this is the type of thing that what you're talking about

can bring back for us,

Right? So if I have to just put it in one

line, I will say,

when you practice being mindful,

your reaction will change to response.

If that makes sense,

Reaction will change to response.

Yeah. In the past,

if you were reactive,

like you will react very angry.

Now when you're practicing mindfulness,

instead of reacting immediately,

you would pause think,

and you will be more responsible or your response will be

different. So your reaction will change to respond sentences.

I see.

Okay. So we've got journaling walking or connecting with nature in

some way and maybe sitting and breathing.

You'll be very conscious about our breath.

So these are all ways we can calm ourself.

What other options are there?

Definitely sleeping.

Sleep has a major role to play in weight loss and

productivity and stress.

Like I mentioned before,

people don't sleep post midnight.

Most of the time,

there are different types of patterns.

People follow.

If I have to divide it or segregated into three different

parts, I would say some people sleep post midnight every night

and there's no fixed time.

1:00 AM 2:00 AM,

2:00 PM.

That's category one.

Some people sleep post midnight or around with night during weekdays

and weekends because it's holiday,

they would sleep two and three and four.

So their weekend times and weekdays,

timings of sleeping is different.

Third category would sleep same time every day,

but it's still late,

like say 12 midnight,

all seventies.

So category eight doesn't have any time pattern.

Like they would just randomly keep at one,

two, three books.

Category B has weekdays and weekends category C has one fixed

time, but it's still late.

So when you're not sleeping,

you are not helping your internal organs to rest and rejuvenate.

When we sleep our body repairs,

right? All the cells are being repaired.

Even the brain,

there are some fluids in our brain,

which are released only when we are sleeping.

So if you're not sleeping,

you're not helping your internal organs to rest.

Now people can debate.

Okay. I sleep at 12 midnight and I sleep on the

8:00 AM.

Isn't that enough?

Maybe? Yes.

If your quality of is good,

6:00 AM.

Right? Because when you wake up and then you're working the

whole day,

and if you did not have any rest during the day,

you weren't just prolonging,

right? You're supposed to sleep by 10,

but you're just prolonging.

It's like using the washing machine,

you buy a washing machine.

You're supposed to use one load every day,

but you're using three loads.

So a body's also like a missionary.

If you're going to overuse it,

it is going to have its own wear and tear,

which are all internal.

And because we don't see it,

we don't take care of it.

So sleep plays a major role.

That's very,

very important that fixed your sleeping hours.

If not,

if you can.

But another way to do it,

as for example,

PM because your body's going to react.

You will try for a couple of days and you'll say,

Oh, I tried,

but I gave up.

So shift the time,

half an hour,

And then next two weeks,

12:00 PM.

And then next two weeks,

What do you say to people who say,

but I can't fall asleep earlier.

I could say I'm going to go to bed earlier,

but I literally don't fall asleep.

Yeah, because your body is not used to falling asleep earlier.

You'll have to train it right.

If you've been doing this for 20 years now,

and you suddenly,

for example,

I, as I said,

if you're sleeping at 1:00 AM and suddenly tonight you want

Your body will not because our cells have memories.

So the same memory says,

okay, it's not time to sleep.

And that's why gradually reduce,

bring it backwards.

Don't jump like three hours or four hours in the first.

I've heard so much that we are so sleep deprived as

for sure our country here in the U S but I

would say probably the majority of the world is so sleep

deprived because we're always rushing to do more,

better, faster Before you want to ask me anything.

It's absolutely true.

And it's mostly because of the gadgets we are using.

We don't leave our mobile phones on our iPads until we

literally just fall asleep.

So that's one more thing.

Everybody should,

are try to practice one hour before your bedtime.

10:00 PM,

you should switch off everything.

There should not be any social media.

There should not be any negative news.

There should not be Netflix.

You should switch off literally everything.

Then the light,

if you like to read book,

read a book,

okay? But otherwise start preparing unless the lights are not turned

off your brain.

Doesn't get those signals that,

okay, it's time to sleep now because these days there's so

much electricity and light everywhere.

That remind is so active.

So you have to start preparing to sleep as well,

which people don't do these days.

So it's very important.

I call them prime hours one hour before you sleep.

And one hour,

when you wake up these two hours,

the prime hour,

before you sleep,

where they find the quality of your sleep and the prime

hour after you wake up,

where they find the quality of your day and your activity,

I think you're right.

I mean,

I remember my parents long ago had a tradition that they

would sit around the kitchen table right before they went to

bed, have tea.

And one piece of chocolate,

only one piece before they went to bed.

So that was their transition,

if you will.

And it was a tradition for them,

that's what they always did.

And you're right.

We don't do that.

We look at our phones or we're watching TV until we

finally turn it off.

And then the second,

our eyes open we're out of bed running.

But let me ask you something.

That might be a challenging question,

but I think it's very realistic for everybody here.

And that is I can barely fit in everything I need

to get done for my business and my family.

How am I going to take two hours out of my

day and do those things that you're suggesting in the morning

and the end,

because I barely have time to do everything I'm supposed to

be doing anyway.

Okay. I will say two things here.

First of all,

change the way you do your business.

If you are planning things for three months,

start planning for four months,

I would say that we'll give you one month extra to

do what you want to do.

Like if you want to put a deadline every three months

or every two months increase the time,

I would say the scheduling should be done at least few

weeks before you would actually want,

if that makes sense,

do not plan for three months,

or if you want to plan something for three months,

increase the time for,

for if you're planning something for four months,

increase the time to find vibrancy.

So have no time on your calendar to get things done.

That's one thing,

if that makes sense,

second thing.

Yes, you're right,

because we have deadlines because we didn't plan it well,

or we keep very,

very narrow deadlines for our world projects.

We don't have time.

And we,

like, you mentioned,

how will I take out time?

Start with half an hour before your bedtime stop all the

gadgets, social media,

TV, Netflix,

and just do 15 minutes of mindfulness practice or walking in

the morning.

And I think that's not a lot that will change your

energy levels.

Your plannings will get better.

Your productivity level,

they get better.

Your mood will get better.

You will not be running around like a hint,

less chicken Say,

yeah, I have a sane,

K K,

that is our business needs to fit into our life.

It shouldn't be our life.

Totally. And I think that's what starts to happen,

especially if we're in business for ourselves,

because we're trying to get so much accomplished.

And what comes to me based on what you're saying,

because originally when you started talking,

I'm like,

well, I can't decide that all these orders that I have

to put out can wait another two weeks.

These are customers who want their products,

but it makes me start thinking two things.

Number one,

we're trying to achieve more than is realistic.

For example,

like right now is we're entering into holiday season.

All of us who are fortunate to have so many orders

that we need to get them all out is how not

to overload other projects on top of that first off.

So only do what's realistic for the timeframe or prioritize.

And then also work smarter.

If you have to bring someone in to help short term,

yes, that's going to reduce your costs or it's going to

reduce your income because you're going to have to pay them.

But that allows you.

Number one,

to have a better lifestyle gives you support for your business,

because what have you run yourself ragged and you get sick,

you can't do anything and it sets you up better for

the future.

So I'm thinking just in summary of my little thought process

here is be realistic with what you're trying to accomplish in

the timeframe you are and think of solutions in ways to

work smarter.

Not harder,

Absolutely see health as well.

Right? My mom always taught me this and that stuck with

me. She says,

even if you lose wealth,

you have not lost anything.

But if you lose health,

it will get difficult for you to even generate that wealth.

So if you were like you said,

if you're not being realistic,

you end up spending all the money.

You are born in hospitals to escape those hospital visits.

It's better to pay someone who can help you or you

don't make less money.

It's fine.

Honestly, if you are running yourself ragged,

and let's say you don't have a debilitating health problem from

all your stress,

you might just get so burnt out.

And so exhausted that you're in business for two or three

years and say,

you know what I am done?

This is too much.

So this is a way to give more life to your

business overall for the long haul,

versus just stressing yourself out so much that you just decided

to throw in the towel and say,

it's not worth it.

Right. And take small steps.

I would say baby steps.

Like we discussed so many options here.

You would get overwhelmed by listening to all of this.

Oh, I can't do any of this.

I would say,

just take one,

start with one simple thing.

Take baby steps.

Once you master that move to the next place,

I'll change.

You know,

and also I would like to mention,

if we have more time,

the food you put into your body plays a major role

on your emotions.

So being mindful of what you're eating as well,

because food,

these days travels,

right? Especially me living in Singapore,

we don't have any fresh produce here.

Everything is flown in from neighboring countries or even from us

or Africa.

So it's grown in America.

Then it goes in the trucks and warehouse,

then airplane,

then line zero.

Then again,

trucks, warehouse.

Then it lands into our house.

And then imagine the food which has traveled so much has

lost its nutrients as well as it has gathered all the

energies from across the world.

So sometimes for food,

you're eating plays a negative role,

your emotions.

So you have to be very mindful.

And before you eat or drink,

just purify your food by saying,

this is pure.

You can say,

okay, if you believe in God,

you say God remove all the negative energies from the school

and make it pure.

Or if you don't believe in God,

just say,

universe has provided me the purest form of food.

And this is going to give health and healing to my

body and my mind.

And I think it goes without saying then to also eat

fresh food,

not all the processed foods.

Absolutely absolutely fresh is a hundred times better,

fresh life food.

I would say,

which has water and air in it.

Not like dead food.

Sorry. I have no offense for any meat-eaters,

but vegetables and fruits have life in it.

So definitely because our body's made out of 70% of water

each and every cell of,

of a body has 70% water.

So all the water based foods will nourish your body better

than processed than that food.

Yes. So I have to tell you just a funny story.

I was thinking about this when we were talking in the

very beginning about journaling and what your intention is for the

day, because what I would be thinking is,

okay, I have to eat three pieces of fruit because I'm

not good at that.

That's something I'd have to be very conscious about to the

point that my husband makes me a fruit bowl every day,

because he knows that the prep part,

I feel takes too much time and he's a big fruity

person. So he puts aside and gives me my ration of

fruit every day.

And that's the only way I get it done eating my

fruit. You're lucky.

I would say,

I am very lucky.

He's been doing this ever since we got married,

especially when I was pregnant.

He's like,

you've got to eat eating healthy,

but he brings me so much fruit.

Like I have to tell him half of this is what

normal people have.

No, which is good.

See this makes me think again,

people hardly give any priority to their health.

They are so busy.

Hustling health is the least priority.

Even when I have to ask my clients,

they will say work family.

And then me and I will always tell them to change.

Put me first.

Then everything falls in place.

If you want Hailey.

I mean,

if I can mention this,

I've written a book this year,

I published it in June.

And the title of the book is why me first and

the book talks about self love and everything one needs to

do to stay healthy mentally,

emotionally, and physically,

and have less stress in life.

Perfect. And I'm so glad you said that gift biz listeners,

you know,

I'll have that linked up in the show notes,

so you can go back and reference it and get KKR

book if you're interested in that.

And so I want to summarize it and then kind of

give an action plan here and you're going to correct me.

Let's see how good a student I am.

Okay. Okay.

So the importance of doing any of these activities is to

balance out our stress to equal and calm state.

So stressful States and to try and start getting more of

a proportion of a calm state inside us.

I'm not using all the scientific wording.

I'm just making it really simple.

And so you offered us five different things that we can

be doing and you don't have to do all five.

You need to do what you can commit to doing.

So maybe you pick one or two,

integrate that into your routine.

And then you can go from there and journaling,

connecting with nature in some way,

getting out,

walking, maybe gardening later in the day,

like whatever is good,

but connecting and being outside Or just watching the sunrise or

sunset. If I can add that,

you don't have to step out.

You can just be standing in your apartment or in your

house and just look at the sky and the nature.

That's a great idea.

So for me,

it's when the snow starts,

I get so happy inside my body.

I don't even know why,

but I just love it so much.

For some reason that gives me such happiness for them.

Then third one was sitting and connecting with your breath and

potentially doing that throughout the day.

Especially when you start feeling like you're overstressed,

making sure that you're getting sleep and good sleep at the

appropriate times.

I think you said 10 to six was the best.

And then your food monitoring your food.

And that doesn't mean you're going to flip immediately to a

hundred percent like the best diet ever.

But what can you start adding to your diet?

That's healthy and you'll see a difference over time in how

you're feeling,

right? Absolutely.

You named it,

you got hundred percent marks,

But so GIF is listeners.

I want you to think about this then,

like right this very minute,

because it's so easy to stop listening to a podcast,

then go on with your day,

pick one of these things and decide maybe today,

depending on when you're listening or tomorrow that you'll try it,

you'll integrate this in and see what it does for you.

And if one of them doesn't work to your point earlier,

KK that not everything is for everybody.

You know,

everyone has a different way of getting to the end result.

And our end result is supposed to be to enjoy our

lives. Be less stressful.

Also enjoy the holidays coming up.

If one thing isn't working,

then switch and try something else.

Yes, you're right.

Absolutely. But just be committed and try it for your own.

Good. Think about why do you want to do this?

Keep your why in front of you.

And then just start.

And every day have a posted somewhere where you can read

it everyday.

And then when you're wide scale,

why do you want to do it?

You would just do it Integrated in and actually schedule and

plan specifically just,

Oh, I'll use mine.

Okay. Like not just plan.

Oh, I'm going to eat better tomorrow.

But specifically say,

okay, I am going to start having two pieces of fruit

a day.

I'm going to prepare them in the morning.

So they're ready for me when I'm hungry and I'm eating

them before I get to eat,

whatever else you eat,

make yourself a plan.

So it's specific,

Right? And if you get stuck,

you can always contact us.

That's no problem.

We are here to help you.

And you know what?

Get your book because I'm sure you go into more detail

in your book.

Yeah. I have given some exercises in my book,

especially for stress and to identify what you're eating and about

fear and breathwork.

So there are different exercises in my book as well.

Oh, beautiful.

Perfect. Perfect.

Remember show notes for everybody.

In case you didn't capture the link to the book.

What's the name of the book again?

Tell us again,

Why me first it's available.

Why me first?

Okay, perfect.

I guess one other thing I would say,

because I really want people to do this.

I want people to neutralize or as to the extent that

they can so much stress,

keep the good stress.

I guess we'll always have some stress in our life.

That's just how it is,

how the world is created,

but you can neutralize some of this to stay healthier,

enjoy yourself.

Like we shouldn't be working so hard that we're not even

enjoying our life at all.

And I think so the other thing I was going to

say is have grace,

like if you mess up and you said you were going

to do something and you didn't,

don't just say,

okay, this isn't for me.

I can't do it.

TRIBE Tomorrow.

So true.

Yeah, absolutely.

So KK,

what is your future looking like?

What kind of plans and what are we going to be

seeing from you as we move forward here?

I want to write my second book.

I'm thinking about it now.

And I definitely want to become a keynote speaker.

Yeah. Help as many people as I can to help them

reduce the stress.

Like you mentioned,

stress is a never ending story until we are alive.

We will have stress in some way or the other,

because we can't control external factors or people or situation or

environment, but we can always learn how to deal with it.

You train yourself,

you can always learn how to reduce stress in your life.

So, yeah.

Keynote speaking is one of my agenda,

as I would say,

looking for opportunities to go and help people across the globe

and write my second book.

Perfect. And I think you're considering moving closer to me.

Yes. I believe things go well,

I would love to,

I'm ready to move tonight if you want to.

Oh, Canada.

That sounds wonderful.

Talking about speaking.

It'll be easier too,

because you'll be able to be more mobile and there'll be

more fresh food.

Yes. The fresh produce Pros and cons with everywhere we live.

Right. But I love talking to people who live in different

places because it's just so interesting.

The different cultures and food and challenges.

Everyone has really great things about where they live.

And then also challenging things about where they live.

You say there's no one size fit all because they come

from different cultural background,

different upbringing,

different environment.

Yep. Absolutely.

Apart from your book,

if people want to learn more about you,

where would be the single best place online for them to

go. LinkedIn,

I am active on all the social media platforms,

but you can find me on LinkedIn or you can find

me on my website.

It's body,

mind solution.com.

You can write to me and I'll get back to you

immediately. Wonderful.

Well KK,

thank you so much.

This information has been so helpful.

I'm really looking forward to people commenting back on what they've

tried and how it works for them.

So hopefully we'll be hearing all of that in the future.

Thanks so much for being on the show today.

Thank you so much for having me Sue.

I would love to hear back from your listeners and thank

you so much for giving me this opportunity to be here

today. I'm sitting here crossing my fingers and almost ready to

get down on my knees and beg of you to really

take action from this show.

KK gave us great options for how to reduce our stress

levels. I know one of these is doable for you.

Not only because I want you to be more effective in

your business,

but I want you to live a healthier and happier life.

Now I don't ask you to do something that I won't

do myself.

I already shared how my husband prepares my fruit bowls each

day. I made the commitment to eat them and I'm doing

well with that.

So now I'm ready to add on a new commitment and

I'm going to focus on sleep.

I'm so bad here.

I bring my phone to bed admission and also I listen

to podcasts throughout the night.

So if I get up in the middle of the night,

when I crawl back into bed,

I turn on a podcast.

I'm making a statement right here right now that I will

stop doing that with the goal of getting a better night's

sleep, you can hold me accountable.

So what are you going to be doing?

Hey, jump over into the gift biz breeze,

Facebook group.

And let me know on Thursdays,

I do a question post there and the one I'll do

this week is about what we're going to commit to,

to reduce our stress levels.

So we can all write down our commitments.

That'll be fun.

Make sure to join me next week,

where we're going to talk about an opportunity to get more

eyes on your business for the holiday.

And you know what that means increased visibility means an increase

in sales.

And finally,

thanks so much for spending time with me today.

If you'd like to show your support for the podcast,

please leave a rating and review.

That means so much and helps the show get seen by

more makers,

a great way to pay it forward and now be safe.

Well, and I'll see you next week on the gift biz

on wrapped podcast.

I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook

group called gift is breeze.

It's a place where we all gather and our community to

support each other.

Got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week.

I have to say where I invite all of you to

share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,

to show what you're working on for the week to get

reaction from other people and just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

in the community is making my favorite post every single week,

without doubt.

Wait, what,

aren't you part of the group already,

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.