Naz Beheshti shares her experience working as Steve Jobs’ former executive assistant and how Jobs was a mentor and inspiration for her book. As Founder of Prananaz, a corporate wellness company, Beheshti offers advice and a holistic framework to empower people and leading organizations to reach their highest potential. Tune in to Million Dollar Monday to hear how to become the CEO of your well-being ⇨ https://bit.ly/3xNKBYGChapter
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Naz Beheshti shares her experience working as Steve Jobs’ former executive assistant and how Jobs was a mentor and inspiration for her book. As Founder of Prananaz, a corporate wellness company, Beheshti offers advice and a holistic framework to empower people and leading organizations to reach their highest potential. Tune in to Million Dollar Monday to hear how to become the CEO of your well-being ⇨ https://bit.ly/3xNKBYGChapter
Summaries
Resource Links
If you enjoyed this episode, click here to watch/listen to more from Million Dollar Monday.
Subscribe and receive updates when new episodes are available.
>>>>> Follow us on YouTube <<<<<
I love what you say about leadership well- being is about being well and doing well, not just about the bottom, right?
Naz Beheshti:Exactly. Because in order to do well, you must be well. And Steve really cracked the code early on with his holistic approach to well- being when no one was really talking about it or practicing it because he was a great example for taking good care of himself, you know, prioritizing his well-being. He meditated daily, he exercised several times a week, ate healthily, had strong relationships with his family and so forth. So all of that gives you the energy, the focus, the innovation to do well. And he was really most importantly, also not most importantly, but importantly, very, very passionate about building Apple. So there's that passion that's purpose is also part of total well-being.
Greg Muzzillo:Hello, and welcome to Million Dollar Monday. I'm your host, Greg. Muzzillo bringing you real successful people with real useful advice for people with big dreams. I understand big dreams. I turned an investment of$200 and a lot of great advice from some really successful people into my big dream Proforma. That today is a half billion dollar company. I am excited to introduce my special guest today. A very special woman who grew up in Silicon Valley the heart of the technology world where just about everybody probably seen, was willing to burn the candles at both ends to become the next kajillionaire in the technology world. For her first job, she was personally interviewed and hired by Steve jobs to become his assistant. And she learned a lot of life lessons about well- being, about happiness that actually are an integral part of her life, her business, and her book. I'm excited to introduce, a CEO, an executive wellness coach, corporate wellness consultant, a speaker, writer, a change agent, and the author of what we're mostly going to talk about today. Pause, breathe shoes, becoming the CEO of your own well- being. Naz Beheshti, Naz, thanks for joining me.
Naz Beheshti:Thank you so much for having me, Greg. I am happy to be here today.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah, I'm very happy to have you. I think, as I read your book, it was very clear that, you and I are very aligned spiritually, very aligned on the overall, especially now that I'm a little older 67 and I can look back and think, you know, how many times wasn't I necessarily focused on some of the very key things we're going to talk about here in your book. I'm sure though, all of the people listening today, most of the people listening today are in business. And at first I know they'd like to hear just a little bit about interviewing with Steve jobs and working with Steve jobs. Tell us a little bit about what that was like.
Naz Beheshti:Well, after a ton of interviews, getting the stamp of approval from the rest of the exec team and their EAs, I was finally invited to meet with Steve himself. So before I knew it, I was sitting across the boardroom, his personal boardroom at Apple and he, you know, just asked me a ton of why questions, like why Apple, why UCSC, which is where I graduated. And, um, you know, why this, why that? And so I just answered, you know, really just being myself. I wasn't nervous at all because I really even didn't think I was going to get the job that the job, the interview actually happened by accident. It wasn't something I was seeking. So I was actually just there to hone in on my interview skills and for the experience, I didn't even think I would be actually meeting Steve himself. So it was a surprising and a profound experience to say the least he's a very intense man. He was, you know, asking me all these questions and I'm intensely, keeping eye contact with me. And I just answered each question. And before you know, it, he got up and hired me on the spot and it's like, great. You're hired, shook my hand. And that was it.
Greg Muzzillo:Wow. That's awesome. And, and we're going to get into a little bit more his impact on you, even his impact on, getting you to write the book. So let's back up a little bit though, and tell us just a little bit about your growing up years, those important things that sort of happened before your work at Apple and that were, were influential in the business that you own today, the book that you wrote your business by the way is called Prananaz. And we're going to get into explaining to our folks what Prana is. Uh, but anyhow, a little bit about your, your background, those growing up years.
Naz Beheshti:Well, I'm really here speaking with you today as a result of a very pivotal decision that my parents made. When I was two years old, they chose to flee our home country of Iran at the beginning of the 79 Iranian revolution, where friends and family were being executed and the country was in extreme upheaval. And so our first safety, my parents chose to take a vacation and visit some friends in San Francisco with the intention of returning when things calm down well, over 40 years later, we are still on vacation and thankfully, so, because I most likely would not have discovered my passion and purpose and pursued it, I most likely would have been married with teenage kids by now without the career of my dreams. So I think my parents for the choice that they made back then to provide a better life for us, my older brother and I. And so we, I, I grew up in the heart of the Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, and I chose to go to UCSC and study psychology and right after college, my first job out of college was a Steve Jobs's EA. So my career started at Apple and Steve was my first boss and mentor following. And so following Apple, I worked at several fortune 500 companies, as well as a tech startup where I wore many hats and then, followed by some various sales roles at Yahoo and AstraZeneca. So I learned a lot of different skillsets and met a lot of great people, but there was something missing I just was not fulfilled. And I kept wearing out that snooze button every morning after the novelty of the, you know, the beginning of the job wore off. Cause at first it was exciting and fun. If not, I would never take the job, but then that novelty wore off and his staleness began to creep in and what, what enlivened me started to deaden me and I had a hard time getting out of bed. And so I decided to go back to school. I was always, I became very intrigued and interested in yoga and meditation, thanks to my mother who introduced those two to me. And so I actually went back and became a certified yoga instructor. I also learned TM transcendental meditation. So all of these combined and went back to school to become a holistic health coach. I realized while working, this was all simultaneously while I was working in different jobs. And, at AstraZeneca while I was working as a pharmaceutical sales rep and going to doctor's offices all day long, I realized that not only was there a wellness gap in the corporate space where people, employees, including myself, were really stressed out and burnt out and didn't have the tools and strategies or the support employee well- being, wasn't a thing back then, to help employees. And so I then noticed even in doctor's offices, the same thing was happening that people were going, patients were with their chief complaint, being stress related, and doctors didn't have the time to actually identify the root cause of the stress, whether it was lifestyle, you know, choices or their job or whatever the case. So I decided that there was a need that needed to be filled, and I wanted to bridge that gap. And since I had a lot of corporate experience and I was that stressed out individual experiencing the stress, I wanted to create a corporate wellness company to help people who were the old version of myself and help them thrive and give them the tools and strategies, to really thrive and show up as their best self at work and in life because, Prananaz is a very integrative holistic approach to wellbeing. And so, my company incorporates wellness programs and leadership effectiveness programs as well.
Greg Muzzillo:All right, all great stuff, all the stuff we all need more of in our life and in our businesses. Tell, tell us about what led to writing the book. You detailed that, in the book,, a specific incident, even tell us about that.
Naz Beheshti:Well, it was the night of February 14th, 2014, when I had a very vivid dream where it was about a couple years after Steve had passed and he appeared in my dream and he pulled me very directly the way he spoke in real life. To me that I must write a book, a book about how my first job at Apple truly impacted my life and my career. And I am a vivid dreamer. However, I've only seen faces three times in my dreams. And they were people who were very dear to me who had recently passed. And Steve was one of those faces. So I really, yeah, it was very intense because the other two were family members. I mean my beloved grandfather and then my, who I, I think is a family member my, my mom's best friend who I grew up with that, you know, pretty much family. And so when these spaces appeared, it really, it meant it was more meaningful than any other dream. So I took his prophetic word seriously and I soon began to write the very next day.
Greg Muzzillo:Wow. Very good. Well, I know one of the lessons I think you learned from Steve, probably from other people also is, as you say in the book, true happiness comes from being our authentic self. So tell us, how do we even get in touch with what is our authentic self?
Naz Beheshti:That's a great question. And that's really how I start my book. It's all around mindfulness and tapping in to your true heart's desire. And the way to do that is by quieting that chatter in your, and sitting quietly, it doesn't have to even be sitting, but just having a mindfulness practice, a daily meditation, moving meditation, whatever that practice is for you, because meditation isn't for everyone, but I highly recommend meditation, but whatever it is that connects you and allows you to tap into your inner truest heart's desire, that happens when you quiet the chatter of your mind, and then eventually align your mind with your heart.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. In the book, you also call that the monkey mind, I think, which is probably easiest to understand, because I think we all pay attention to our mind. Sometimes we get like a lot of monkey business going on up there. All right. So the book chunks out into three big sections, which you call MAP M for mindfulness, A for the seven applications, the seven A's, if you will, and then the P for, becoming the president, if you will, of our CEO and, and, and the three P's. So at a larger overview level, just tell us about the whole MAP system. And then we'll get into each of the M the a and the P.
Naz Beheshti:Yeah. So the map method is really a holistic framework to help you navigate your own mindful journey. Your MAP and map is really discovering the A, so the M is for mastering mindfulness. And when you master mindfulness, you are able to tap into your authentic self. So it's all about authentic self discovery, which is the M. And then A is about applying better choices to manage stress and build resilience and that's the seven A's. And then the P is for promoting yourself to the CEO of your well- being, as well as the three P's. And this MAP method is used as a metaphor of a map to actually chart that purposeful life that, that you most people strive to live.
Greg Muzzillo:Right. You know, in the book, you talk about the importance of mindfulness and meditation, and, I found for myself, and in fact, I think you used almost these exact words in your book. I, just about every morning, listen to a guided meditation. I've tried other unguided and, u h, I find myself getting a little lost. And I also find myself having expectations that, Oh, no, a thought came into my mind. I'm guilty now of not being a very good meditator. And in this meditation, this just a 10 m inute, I got 10 minutes every morning, this lady, she says that mindfulness is the art of being present and aware without judgment. And gosh, I love that because it freed me up from judging. Every time I get a little distracted or I, these other thoughts, my monkey mind takes over. I no longer feel guilty. I just think, okay, just go with the flow and deal with it. Tell us a little bit more about some practices you find helpful in meditation and mindfulness.
Naz Beheshti:Well, one thing that I lead all my clients, my executive coaching clients in the beginning of our sessions, I lead them through two minute guided meditation, if they're open to it. And it really one tool I use in that, that all my clients say is very helpful, especially for people like you, Greg, that say it's hard to kind of focus and be, you know, sitting there without any thoughts. So the thoughts are not there to be judged. They're there to be acknowledged and let go. So what I say to my clients as I guide them through this meditation is to imagine a balloon in the sky, putting those thoughts, putting those sounds that may disrupt the pattern of the breath, because the focus is on the breath, putting those thoughts and sounds into the balloon and just letting them float away. So you acknowledge, let go, and then return to your breath. And just that visualization of the balloon is really helpful, sometimes you don't know where to put those thoughts, right. But a balloon allows them to just float away, you know, very softly float away, and then the breathe,
Greg Muzzillo:Oh, I like that. And it's also like colorful and it's beautiful. I mean, just the picture of balloons ascending in general are peaceful. And I know you also, what I, one of the things I love, I know you are CEO of your own business. You're encouraging all of us to be CEO of our own life. Really. And I tell people because I'm in, at the end of the day, I'm in, we do recruitment, right? We recruit people to be franchise owners. We recruit people to be salespeople or franchise owners. And I tell people, listen, whether you want to become owner of your own business or a sales rep for somebody else, even if you want to be a sales rep for somebody else, you are CEO of your own life. So take charge. Right? And so you and I are very aligned on that thinking. I love what you say about leadership well-being is about being well and doing well and its not just about the bottom line. Right?
Naz Beheshti:Exactly. Because in order to do well, you must be well. And Steve really cracked the code early on with his holistic approach to well- being when no one was really talking about it or practicing it because he was a great example for taking good care of himself, you know, prioritizing his well-being. He meditated daily, he exercised several times a week, ate healthily, had strong relationships with his family and so forth. So all of that gives you the energy, the focus, the innovation to do well. And he was really most importantly, also not most importantly, but importantly, v ery, very passionate about building Apple. So t here's t hat passion that's purpose is also part of total w ell-b eing.
Greg Muzzillo:As an aside, I love the story about how you gave him what you thought was a healthy cookie. Right. And tell us, tell everybody what you eventually found out happened to that, what you thought was a healthy cookie.
Naz Beheshti:Yes. So one day I decided to surprise Steve with an oatmeal raisin cookie thinking that that is a healthy choice for dessert later on that day, when I was in his office, I found that cookie, the whole cookie, not even a bite taken out of the entire cookie in his trashcan. So my version of healthy was Steve's version of garbage, quite literally
Greg Muzzillo:Quite the wake up call. All right. So in addition to meditation and mindfulness, you talk about the importance of breath and breathing. Tell us a little bit more about how we can use our breath and breathing to help us be more mindful.
Naz Beheshti:Well, the title of my book, Pause, Breathe, Choose a very simple, yet powerful tool to incorporate mindfulness breathing and mindfulness and actually making that choice. So when you're aware, that's why mindfulness is fundamental to the map method and to making better choices when you're aware of your current state, whether it's, you know, state of stress, anxiety, or just fatigue, anything, take a pause and take a mindful breath, like just taking a deep inhale. And exhaling it all out. Just makes you feel so good. And you can continue doing that for as long as you need to shift that mindset shift that state of being to a more calmer, mindful state to reengage with the present moment. And once you can re-engage with the present moment, you are better equipped to make a mindful choice. So positive choose is mindfulness and action.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. My grandmother used to say, you'll appreciate this. She actually proceeded your book with her own title. And I was that wasn't necessarily a very well-behaved kid. And I was very spontaneous, and I would say what came up in my mind. And she would say to me, Greg, you need to learn to count to 10 before you talk. I think that was her cliff notes version of your book for me. All right. So I do love what you say about, get it on your calendar. Even I'm guilty of that. For example, I know I need to work out. I know I want to work out just about every day, but it doesn't end up on my calendar. It ends up in between meetings or phone when I can fit it in. And then if those times don't happen, it doesn't happen. Talk to us about the importance of getting it on our calendar.
Naz Beheshti:Well, most of us use our calendar. Like, you know, as if it's, it's the most important thing in our life, right? I mean all our most important meetings, everything is on that calendar. And if something that isn't important is, or anything that isn't on the calendar, most likely it doesn't get accomplished right out of sight, out of mind. So I always say, treat yourself and your time, your exercise time, your mindfulness time, whatever it is that you want to add for y our s elf-care into your calendar, because you are as important, if not more important than anything on that calendar. So why shouldn't it go on your calendar? Right. I love it. I love it one way to make sure it happens that I've also shifted myself b ecause I was definitely not a morning person. And I used to like to exercise at the end of the day, but at the end of the day, y ou know, more excuses and procrastination can occur. So, you know, I'm tired. I had a rough day o r I'd rather do this and I'll exercise tomorrow. However, if you do it first thing in the morning before your day starts A, you feel so much better because you've already accomplished that. And then you already have like great energy to s ustain focus throughout the day, and you've already achieved what you wanted to do to make yourself feel t hat there's no more excuses.
Greg Muzzillo:All right. The final. And I love it, the final point I found that it was serious and yet both humorous at the same time about mindfulness. And then we're going to move to the seven A's is your RPM method. Yes, go ahead.
Naz Beheshti:So RPM is my morning routine, which stands for Rise P, my apologies for TMI too much information, but that's what works. It's something I do every single day without fail. First thing when I wake up and then when you follow it by meditation, it's going to happen. I mean research shows, you know, you've got to attach, a new habit with an existing habit.
Greg Muzzillo:Great. Like the police captain said in the godfather movie, you got to go, you got to go.
Naz Beheshti:Exactly
Greg Muzzillo:Right. I love it. All right. So moving on to the second section of your book, we move into the seven A's, about the quality of your life, depending on the quality of your choices. And so the first day is adopt a healthy lifestyle. Talk to us about that. We know we need to do it, but talk to us, guide us through it, encourage that.
Naz Beheshti:So adopting a healthy lifestyle is fundamental to upgrade not only your behavior, but also your mindset. It's really helping them build that resilience reserves so that you can really take any obstacle or challenge on. And it's the basics of, you know, getting proper sleep nutrition, having, you know, healthy relationships, a, purposeful, and passionate driven career fulfilling career. And it's really that holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle.
Greg Muzzillo:So important. And what shocked me like into like jolted me into realizing how important this is, is that when you say it's obvious, but when you say in the book that the leading cause of death is bad, personal decisions and it really right and that's so true. And yet we go so many of us, including myself, I go through life with really making bad, sometimes even unconscious decisions, just anyhow, so important to adopt that healthy lifestyle, then allocate, allocate some play and recovery time. And I know you talk a little bit about the importance of sleep, and I think you've got a story about how Steve jobs had play time.
Naz Beheshti:Yes, his play time was at work when he went to Johnny Ives office to play with all the new Apple prototypes, since he was so passionate about his work and you know, all his toys as he called them, that was his play, but play is different for everyone. And sometimes it's not at work, it's actually outside of work, but it's great to incorporate some sort of play and always recovery time for us to be able to reboot and rejuvenate every day. And part of that is getting proper sleep.
Greg Muzzillo:All right. So then the third is avoid unnecessary stress. And then as soon as you talk about unnecessary stress, you talk about the fact that there's necessary stress. So tell us about the three types of stress.
Naz Beheshti:The three types of stress stands for ACE, Acute stress, which is the fight or flight necessary stress. The C stands for chronic stress, which is also known as distress, which is the killer stress. And you want to avoid chronic stress at all costs and then there is Eustress, which is the positive, stress that fuels your energy. And, it's a desirable stress.
Greg Muzzillo:Tell us a little bit more about that I'd never heard of, is it E U S T R E S S? Tell us a little bit more about what that is. I never heard of it. I'm going to guess most of our listeners never heard of you Eustress.
Naz Beheshti:So when you're, for example, preparing for a interview or about to go on stage, and it's exciting, but you're nervous, but you know, there's stress involved. It's a good type of stress. That's going to give you the energy to, accomplish what you're about to do. It's a positive stress.
Greg Muzzillo:All right, got it. Then alter the situation, right? How many people wake up and repeat, wake up and repeat and eventually die, unfortunately. Right and and so alter the situation. And I love how you said, ask yourself the question. When was the last time I was excited about my life. Wow.
Naz Beheshti:Yes. And if you answer no too many times in a row, that means you should be alternating something because life is way too short to be doing the same thing over and over. That does not give you joy. And these following A's avoid, alter, accept kind of build upon each other. So you want to avoid the unnecessary stress. If you can't avoid it, you want to alter the situation that's giving you stress. If you can't alter it, you want to then next best thing is to adapt to that stressor. And then if you can't adapt to it, you accept what you cannot change or make the best of the situation. So those kinds of build upon each other.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. Just a ton of wisdom there. I, think another thing that you didn't say, but you live was the, and maybe it was implied surely in the book, why people need to be in a position to be able to alter the situation. If people are all the way up to their hilt and mortgages and car payments and school payments, it's really hard to be able to do what you did just to say, you know, something I'm going to pursue my passion. I'm going to start my own business. I'm going to help others pursue what I'm passionate about. Right. And so it is important that people keep themselves in a position to have the freedom, right. To pursue their passion. I'm sure you had to take a step backwards financially to start your business.
Naz Beheshti:Oh yeah. So it was definitely a risk, but a risk that was well worth it. So to me, the greater risk was not doing it for me. Everyone is different. And you know, like you said, different situations, all for different measures, but one thing you can do is, you know, start whatever you want to do. If it's too risky to just quit and then do it, why don't you do it on the side? You know, and built slowly. Yeah.
Greg Muzzillo:Oh yeah. Right. Right. So many people. And I know so many people that come up to me and I'll bet you do too. Now that you own your own business, now that you've made that choice to become an entrepreneur, they come up to you and talk about their unhappiness. They ask, well, how did you get the guts to go do that and get they, no matter how much you try to help them, they never really pull the trigger to go from what they're doing to the real happiness and passion. Because so many times there's something that has them sort of stuck in the mud. Sometimes it's just fear of change, but sometimes it's also personal financial or other decision decisions in situations. So, all right. So adapt to the stressor. Let's talk about that. And let's talk about, give some of our folks some advice about adapting to the stressor of the new world, whatever the right words are that COVID has and will continue to create for us.
Naz Beheshti:Well, these are mostly mindset upgrades. So if we focus on having gratitude, for example, what we do have instead of focusing on what we don't have and, you know, really seeing the positive, the silver linings of what the current situation is, because as terrible as COVID has been and all the lives lost and all the grief that people have experienced, there could also be lessons learned, silver linings through it all. And you know, sometimes when you're in the thick of it, you can't think of anything good that comes out of it, especially if you've lost someone close to you that you love. And, but in the end, it's always about trying to just shift that mindset, to find the lesson, even if it was a really horrible experience, there, there is a lesson there could be growth that you could evolve from the situation.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. You said somewhere in the book, I think it was a quote that once we make a decision, I think it was Ralph Waldo Emerson, I think said something like once we make a decision, do something the universe conspires to help make, make that happen. And so really you give an example in the book about everybody falls down, the real key is did you learn the lesson from falling down? B ecause there was probably a lesson there a nd more importantly, did you get yourself up?
Naz Beheshti:Yeah, because we could stay knocked down and we can also repeat the same mistakes or same challenges that we face. if we don't learn from it, you know, or make the best of it.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. I'm guilty of that by the way. Now, Repeating a few bad habits, all right. And accepting then what we cannot change, how wise, and yet, you know, we've heard that saying a million times expand on that briefly.
Naz Beheshti:Well, our, where energy goes, you know, where focus goes, energy flows. So when we are focused on what we cannot change all our energy and our mindset and everything goes towards something that's out of our control and only causes us more stress and distress. So we're just wasting that energy. So once we're able to accept it, and again, I'm also guilty of this myself. And, but I realized that accepting it and surrendering and just accepting what is and making the best of the situation, whatever it is will just bring greater peace of mind. Essentially. And peace of mind to me is, is, is everything.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah, there's just some things that we can't change, including some of the unkind things people have done to us in the past, whether they knew it or not. And I love how you talk about the importance of forgiveness, giving us freedom.
Naz Beheshti:Yes forgiveness us that was a big personal lesson. I always thought forgiveness was about letting the other person off the hook and forgiving them. But then I learned it's actually a selfish thing. It's, taking care of yourself. It's releasing that anger and resentment towards something or someone, or even towards yourself and moving forward.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah I work with a spiritual advisor every Saturday. And, um, she would say to me, forgiving others is kind of the ego. Like who are you to, you know, you know what I mean? And, but working on the forgiveness inside of yourself is really where the self-healing right. And the spirituality and the growth happens. So, you know, we agree very much on that. And then finally, attend, attend to connections, connections with self.
Naz Beheshti:Yes. That self that's that going back to the mindfulness and having, you tap into your higher self, your best self, and really, truly listening to your heart's desires so that it's not, you know, dominated by, you're not dominated by your monkey mind. Right. So that inner self.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. And I love how you talk about disconnecting to reconnecting. So many of us are guilty of that. I mean, this thing all the time, boom, boom, boom. You know, like even at dinners, I ask my children, they're, worse than me and I'm not saying I'm great at it. And, and I find myself almost accidentally and I'll have my, my wife and I have 10 children. And so some of them are adults. A few of them are, you know, young, not that young high school, but I've had my kids almost unconsciously say to me, dad, are you listening to me? And I don't, I don't even realize. So there are times I don't even bring my phone to the dinner table so that I'm not tempted to check it out. I love that disconnect to reconnect. And, I got to tell everybody again, I'm going to remind them one more time. I love the book because it just walks through such a mapped out method of really getting in control of our life. But that brings me to the final of the three sections, which is the three P's so much wisdom, the first P p ain, the greatest teacher. T alk to us a little bit about that because a lot of people can't connect pain and good teaching.
Naz Beheshti:Well, we all experienced pain in our life one way or another at different levels and it's really up to us to really be the CEO of our well- being, to choose, to make that pain, our greatest teacher for our growth. It's a conscious choice. Sometimes it's very difficult. Sometimes you can't, most of the time you can't do it while you're going through it because you need to feel all the stages of pain. And you're not thinking of how this is a good type of pain or, or helping me evolve. But eventually you make a choice to use that pain as a way to evolve, to learn from it and make it your greatest teacher for growth. And it's just a much more empowered way to, live your life rather than letting pain or whatever happened to you, define your life. Rather you're taking charge and using pain, t o, to your advantage.
Greg Muzzillo:I know a lot of our listeners believe in the law of attraction. I know a lot of our listeners would also believe in what I just said about the universe conspiring to help make what we want to have happen, happen. That doesn't always mean it's going to be good things. Sometimes it will be lessons. We need to learn through pain, the first P so the second P Prana. And that was a new word for me tell us about Prana.
Naz Beheshti:Prana is a Sanskrit word for breath and life force energy. And so Prana is our energy to be fully engaged at work and in life. And I love it so much. I named my company, Prananaz Yeah. Without our breath, without our life force, you know, we're, we're dead or without it being optimized and having that product flowing freely through us, then that means there's blockages. And those blockages can come through, you know, stress, fears, anxiety, anything, in a negative state can block your Prana, which blocks your flow, which blocks o r focus y ou living optimally and, thriving.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah. Sometimes, people will want to engage with me and I'll Iand I don't think it's important, I tell people it isn't the most important thing for me is energy management. And I'm just not going to give that any energy. I'm sorry. Maybe I don't even Need to say I'm sorry, but that's kinda what I say. I'm just into energy management and I'm just not going to give that any energy.
Naz Beheshti:I love it. I'm so with you, I'm always talking about energy management versus time management, because a lot of people say, I need help with time management. I said, let's, rethink this. Let's let's throw time management up on its head for a moment and talk about how energy can be more successful, sustainably successful for you.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah, And the final P, purpose. The thing that gives us meaning in our life, talk to us about finding o ur p urpose. W ell, our p urpose,
Naz Beheshti:Well our Purpose can be looked at t wofold. One is the larger purpose of our, you k now, why we exist our life's mission, you know, our drive for meaning in a bigger w ay. Many of us, you know, have taken, I don't know, a long time to find that or still seeking that. And so for those who haven't found it, and even for those who have even, I also a ddress the second type of purpose, which is a smaller, a more intentional purpose. It's on a micro level that walks through your life, your day with intention. So what is my intention for the day? What is purpose for the day, rather than this bigger g rand macro purpose of what's my life purpose? What is my daily purpose? What is the purpose of this meeting? What is the purpose of this p odcast, y ou k now, and, and working from a smaller level to build your way up to the bigger purpose that's the drive for m eaning.
Greg Muzzillo:Yeah, I love it. It'll, you know, at the end of the day, a life without p urpose i s sort of a life without meeting. And, I actually accidentally found the purpose of my business. I was one day in a meeting and we're a franchise, I was in a meeting and we're going around the room and everybody's saying, what business a re you in? A nd people were saying, hamburgers hotels, you can imagine right in the franchising world. And I'm thinking about what business am I in? And we're the promotional products and printing business. But I thought by the time it got to me, that's not the business I'm in. I realized I was in the dreams business. And, i t changed my life. That that was probably 30 years ago. And to realize I'm in the business of helping other people's dreams come true is so empowering it can be disappointing because sometimes there's people who don't want to even have their dreams come true. Like it's just like, Hey Greg, I just want to wake up and make some money and leave me alone. But people who want to engage and really have big dreams and want to make big things come true, giv es so much purpose, joy and happiness to me. And I think to a degree, that's what you're talking about trying to achieve in your book. Absolutely. Yeah, Any final words of wisdom for our listeners?
Naz Beheshti:I would love our listeners to take charge and I'm the CEO of your well- being and make better choices or a better life. And you can start today with one small choice.
Greg Muzzillo:I love that, you can start today. It's not like, Oh, well someday I'm going to start my own business or something. No, you can start today. It is a great book. It's it could be life altering for everybody listening and let's close. I want to share some of the words Steve jobs shared with you, which were"have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition, and also make a dent in the universe". How beautiful.
Naz Beheshti:Thank you. Yeah, that is beautiful.
Greg Muzzillo:Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for joining me. It's been my honor and quite a privilege enjoy.
Naz Beheshti:Thank you, Greg. It's been a pleasure.