Hi friends!

Newsflash: A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, working womxn are even more burned out than they were last year — and increasingly more so than men. Despite this, women leaders are stepping up to support employee well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, but that work is not getting recognized. That’s according to the latest Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey, in partnership with LeanIn.org.

The report went on to highlight that women of color continue to be on the receiving end of othering behavior, which likely only exacerbates burnout.  

The way forward is crystal clear. Organizations need to honor and reward women leaders who are leading in the most challenging circumstance AND they need to do the transformative culture work required to make their spaces one in which everyone can thrive. I probably don’t need to tell you this — you’re likely living it!  

But why are we feeling so burned out (current global crisis aside)?

Did you know those of us who produce estrogen actually have a higher propensity for burnout, anxiety and stress — biologically speaking. In fact, recent research has found that estrogen-producers are more sensitive to low levels of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a hormone that organizes stress responses in mammals, making them twice as vulnerable as men to stress-related disorders.

AND

The brain system involved in the fight-or-flight response is activated more readily in women and stays activated longer than men, partly as a result of the action of estrogen and progesterone.

Layer in all the invisible labor we have to do on top of the very visible labor we are doing — of course we are burned out. I’ve put together a worksheet to help you mitigate burnout and hopefully shift some of the factors exacerbating it in this moment. Use code "burnout" to access via the button below for free!

To demanding spaces where we can thrive, 

Amina xx

Hi my friends,

I have a confession to make. For a long time, I felt deep shame about my multi-passionate ways. I felt something was “wrong” with me because my career path wasn’t linear, and I wasn’t focused on ONE THING. I would constantly get excited about new things, fully immersing myself and studying them, and I felt like a major flake. The inception of this concept was from society and my old community often echoed this sentiment, raising a brow with judgment followed by a monologue to the tune of “what are you doing now?” because they “couldn’t keep up.”

They made me feel like my multitude of interests was the problem until I learned that it was my superpower.

I wasn’t designed to do one thing. Some people are and that is wonderful but it’s not this gal. And that is likely some of you, too!

I began to share this with some of my friends, clients and colleagues, realizing that there were so many of us who had these multiple sets of interests who were just pushing them to the side.

We were made to feel like our naturally multi-hyphenate nature was frowned upon or it was something to apologize for versus to be celebrated. Being multi-passionate and bringing those passions together is what makes us magical. It helps us stand out from the crowd. It helps us express ourselves in a 5D way. It’s what makes you, YOU! 

Passion-staking, as we call it in coaching, is when you bring your passions together to share them in a way that they haven’t been shared before—and it is the stuff legends are made of. 

For a long time, I felt so shameful and insecure about my multi-passionate ways. 

• I went to school to study marketing and economics and worked in marketing for ten years. 
• I enrolled for a master's in marketing which I promptly unenrolled from.
• Then I studied nutrition and was halfway through a master's before I realized that wasn't the whole dream.
• I studied meditation. And movement. 
• I started a corporate wellness company. Only to put that down because it also didn't feel like the dream. 

And when I did retire my corporate wellness offering, I felt like a big, ole failure. 

I remember the day clearly. I had given a talk at Deloitte, which had long been on my vision board. I landed my talking points, I moved the room, and folks lined up to talk to me afterward. And as soon as I finished my talk though, I ran to the bathroom and cried loud, uncontrollable sobs. Because something still didn't feel "right" and that scared me. I did everything I was told to do and yet it still wasn’t clicking. I wondered if I would ever find work that felt good, where I could bring all of me to the table. 

It was time for me to shift the narrative. I was seeking a new way of thinking and then I stumbled into passion stacking—but I had no idea it was called that or if it was even a thing. I decided that it was too painful to compartmentalize myself. And that if I wanted to live the most full and fulfilling life, I needed to put everything I loved and was great at together. So I did.

That is when I sat down to design my coaching curriculum, which leverages my business, mindset, and wellness backgrounds. When I started my coaching business, I knew I needed to bring all of me to the table to do this work in a way that was the most authentic to me, my purpose, and my true self. Who would have thought that coaching, meditation, nutrition, movement, human design and strategy could all work together?! My multiple passions is what set me apart from the beginning.  

If you would have told me that a decade ago, I would have laughed in your face. But, here I am bringing all of these modalities into my coaching container. It’s tangible the way this passion stacking shows up in my work.  And for the last seven years, I have given myself full permission to bring in all my passions and put them together in a way that is uniquely me!

Looking back at all the times I felt like I was hopelessly grasping at straws for the answer of what I was doing wrong, I realize was not a failure at all. I was in process. And the only place I had missed the mark was not giving myself permission to be all the (seemingly disparate) parts of me. 

Here is what I want to say to you that I wish someone had told me. You are perfect. Your passions make sense and can work together. Give yourself permission to be all of you because the world needs that very thing that doesn't exist yet. So, what is your version of this? If you’re multi-passionate, how can you passion-stack to get on the court with more of you and share your differentiated perspective? Let this be your invitation. 

There is nothing weird or wild about honoring yourself and your gifts. It's okay if others don't understand yet. Lead by example. Keep going—you've got this. 

To magical millimeter shifts!

Amina xx

Hey friends,

I feel like I’m constantly saying "what a wild time to be alive" these days, and indeed it is. On a spiritual level, because of my personal belief in reincarnation, I believe our souls chose this moment in time because we knew we could be of the highest service with our gifts and our agency. It is one of the ideas that ground me when the going gets tough. 

In my experience over the last few months while hearing countless stories from my beloved clients, it's clear most of us are getting knocked off-center. Our stability, trust, and safety feel constantly called into question. 

I've recognized more deeply over the last few months that we cannot ascend to a new level until we have reinforced our foundation. Maybe for some of us, we even need to build a whole new one. It's like trying to add a new floor to your home without looking at the underlying support structures. We cannot claim our next level in business or life if we haven't first reinforced our infrastructure. And the infrastructure I'm referring to in this context is our inner child—specifically reevaluating and supporting that inner child through reparenting.

Reparenting is giving yourself what you didn't receive as a child. And many of us are in need of it because no matter how wonderful your parents were or are, it's impossible to get everything we need it when it comes to our work and lives from them. And that lack or dysfunction can show up in our adult relationships and patterns, seeking externally what we need to find internally.

This can show up in work like:

• Feeling whatever you achieved, it wasn't enough
• Your self-worth is only as good as the next accolade or form of praise at work
• You have a hard time setting boundaries when it comes to your work
• You're putting self-care last on the list in service of getting things done for others
• Stepping into your leadership and authority feels really unnatural and scary

If you nodded yes to any of these, you might benefit from a little reparenting work. 

Something that’s helped me on my journey of reparenting has been meditation so I’m sharing this one along with a worksheet to support further inquiry for you here. And if you want to learn more on the topic, I highly recommend you check out the book It Didn't Start with You by Mark Wolynn. 

To reparenting and real shifts!

Hey Friends,

When I was in high school my tennis coach used to say, “a day off is a day wasted when others become better than you.” Yikes…I cringe when I read that now—it’s like the anthem of hustle culture. What an unhealthy way to motivate young people. This creates a foundation of deep neglect and respect for rest, nourishment, and listening to our bodies.

But, I have to confess, for years I lived by that idea. I was the last person in the library, the last person at work, the last person on the tennis court—terrified that if I took a day off, I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I thought that I wouldn’t be deemed as worthy or good enough if I didn’t give every single ounce of my energy away to everything but myself. And then my body said, “no thanks.” The constant hustling, pushing, and forcing impacted my body and tipped me down the hill and into a pile of autoimmune mud of my own making. Our bodies are WISE. 

It took me years and years since my diagnosis to reprogram and shift out of this always-on, scarcity mindset culture. I had to teach myself and my nervous system that it was safe to rest. So many of us can feel guilt, shame, and a whole slew of negative emotions when we slow down. Even if it’s a life or death decision.

I had to learn that giving my life to being “the best” wasn’t necessary because there is space for us all. I’m right on time for my life. 

The best work and deepest transformations happen when we are nourished at a soul level.  

Don’t believe me? Then you might want to read up on the science of downtime. The gist is this—doing nothing (not even meditation) gives our brains the opportunity to go through the data it’s aggregated, connect the dots, and creatively problem solve in a way that we cannot if we are always using our brains and are “cerebrally congested.”   

In May, I took twelve whole days off to cerebrally decongest. I ate vegan gelato. Walked aimlessly. Swam in the Mediterranean and took naps—and it was glorious. 

As an entrepreneur, truly doing nothing can be a really scary undertaking, but I know that this work depends on me being deeply nourished. I cannot pour into you if I haven’t first poured into me. Athletes at the top of their game live by this. Their best time trials and races cannot happen if they haven’t taken rest days. Their muscles and their minds need replenishing in order to win at the levels that they do.

So, please let this be your invitation to:

• Book that vacation and do nothing
• Take that long weekend to rest
• Leave work an hour early to decompress
• Or lay on the floor between meetings and stare at the ceiling 

There is no wrong way to do nothing but our creativity, motivation, and joy depend on it.  

To nothingness and nourishment,
Amina xx

Hey Friends!

There’s been a juicy theme rumbling through the halls of Amina AlTai Advising lately and it’s confidence.  

How do we find the confidence to do things we’ve never done before?

How do we access our power within?

Why do some of us seem to have it and others of us struggle?

How can I find it and hold on to it?

I’ve asked myself these very questions and to answer them, I want to give it over to the amazing author, educator and activist, Brittany Packnett Cunningham. In her famed TED Talk, Packnett Cunningham says we build confidence through permission, community, and curiosity.  

She says:

• Confidence needs permission to exist.
• Community is the “safest place to try confidence on.”
• And, “curiosity invites people to be in charge of their own learning.”

“Confidence is the necessary spark before everything that follows,” Packnett Cunningham explains. “Confidence is the difference between being inspired and actually getting started, between trying and doing until it’s done.”

So, if you are ready to not just be inspired but to actually do the thing, this is your invitation to…

Give yourself permission to be ALL OF YOU

AND gift yourself whatever you need to claim your next level of confidence.  

If you’re ready to go there, I highly recommend you watch the TED Talk, and then go download this worksheet to help you unearth what’s standing between you and the confidence to do the work you desire.  

 “Your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.” -Michelle Obama

With love and courage,

Amina 

P.S. If you love juicy lessons like this, consider checking out The Career Uplevel Digital Course, which is filled with videos, how-tos and lessons on how to advance your career.