Welcome to the 8.11 Edition of the “What I Did Last Week (and what I’m looking forward to)” Newsletter where I share what I am doing personally and professionally.
Today at a glance:
Wondering what story you will tell in the next chapter of your career? Do this exercise
Enrollment open for the 2025 Class of the Samita Lab Mastermind (incentives for early enrollment)
Paris
“I don’t know what I want Joya!”
A prospective client and I were exploring his personal brand inside of a big corporate. He’s also toying with the idea of going out on his own.
“Should I stay or should I go?” is common among my corporate clients.
The bigger question he or she asks me:
“What story will I tell in my next chapter?”
I share this exercise whenever I hear these words.
The Core Desires Exercise
This exercise asks you to figure out the core areas of your life, the stakeholders in each, and put a value to your current level of satisfaction, and what's standing in the way of full satisfaction.
Step 1 Label the spokes on the wheel
For example:
For relationships you might include family, friends, lover, partner spouse, Colleague, business partners
For health, you might include mental health, spiritual wellness, emotional health, nutrition, sleep. Feel free to add other areas you prioritize
For finance, you might include business revenue, income/salary, investments in your business, wealth and personal investing. Include any areas that impact your financial well being
Step 2 Mark your CURRENT level of satisfaction in each spoke.
Rank it between 1-10 (1 is least satisfied, 10 is most satisfied)
Write down a number that represents your desired level of satisfaction in that area of your life.
Where are you most satisfied?
Where are you least satisfied?
Where are you coasting? ie. accepting less than you desire but letting it go for now
In #2 and #3 above, what is preventing you from receiving more?
I put an example graph below
Step 3 Write ONE emotion below each wheel. In other words, what do you want to feel?
These are your four top core desires
Use this as the lens you look through when making key decisions for your next 5 years? Is this decision in alignment with your core desires?
The biggest revelation that came up for me
Growing up in an immigrant household, fear informed alot of my parents’ existence. Double that for me as a girl.
I observed a rigorous schedule of piano lessons, portraiture classes, tennis lessons, homework. There was no free time. No idle time.
It’s been 33 years since I have lived in that home, but guess what my schedule today is informed by? Very little free time and idle time. I work Sunday through Friday truly only taking Saturday off.
On the balance, the core desire I listed beneath each circle was JOY.
Could I allow for more idle, do nothing time in my schedule?
Being intentional, and doing this reflective personal development work builds the foundation for monumental success.
It's why my Mastermind clients
💪🏼 have gotten two promotions in two years
💪🏼 have built a $50MM fund and are on their way to building a $200MM fund.
💪🏼 have launched their own advisories with $100K contracts
💪🏼 have learned to get clients from their posts
The Samita Lab Mastermind
I'm currently enrolling and only enroll once a year.
Would you like me to teach YOU how to tell better stories about yourself ?
Enrollment for the upcoming 2025 Mastermind closes on 11:59pm ET on Dec 31st, 2023. But there are incentives and discounts for committing by Sept 15th.
If 2024 is the year you’re finally ready to make your dreams become a reality, then hit reply with the word “Interested” and I’ll send you more details within 24 hours.
In leadership,
Joya
Now on to this week’s newsletter
What I Did Last Week
Thursday and Friday. I did the morning business news with a 2:30am wakeup call. I still jump into the anchor seat from time to time when my good friend Jane is out. I love the adrenaline rush, but I’m always a mess after. Matt made evening reservations at our favorite local restaurant Vinegar Hill House, where the wine list never disappoints. I had too much of the Pet Nat.
Saturday. My friend Kelly Lynn and I drove out East to attend “Dinner in the Vines.” Set under a tent on a beautiful vineyard in Riverhead, Chef Francois Payad and winemaker Leo walked an intimate group of 100 diners through an exquisite 3-Course meal, paired with wines from the host vineyard. The Rivero Gonzales family owns vineyards in Mexico. Five years ago, they bought the vines on Long Island, originally owned by the Entenmann’s family, and rebranded as RGNY. The rain was merciless, pounding down with equal parts thunder and lightning. The wine flowed freely and it was a beautiful night.
I went from no plans last weekend to choc a bloc.
Sunday, I met my friend Anjalee at the Whitney Museum for the Biennial. Seventy one contemporary American artists contemplated the line between ‘what’s real’ and ‘not real’ with the advent of AI. I was especially struck by the work of Chilean artist, Seba Calfuqueo, who showed a film of her dragging glossy blue fabric across the jungle floor, to a waterfall. For the Mapuche, the waterfalls are vital and sacred spaces.
As Calfuqueo drops her body into the river, it’s a powerful call to action to preserve our forests, water and land.
Wednesday. God, will this rain ever end? I was due at Summerstage for a performance of Club Havana by Pedro Ruiz (Ballet Hispanico) with my fellow Substacker
, but Mother Nature had other plans.Thursday. Excited to join my friend Ilun for an evening SoulCycle ride, hosted by Pitch and Run, a group founded with a mission to match founders and investors, all while getting exercise.
What I’m Looking Forward To
Friday. I’m at the Shed at Hudson Yards for an OPEN CALL performance, featuring eight new emerging NYC artists with my friend Kelly.
Sunday. I join my friend Julia at Fotografiska. I’m excited to see street photographer Jean-Andre Antoine’s portraits taken on the corner of Prince and Broadway in SoHo.
He waits there several days a week and snaps photos of writers, musicians, models, filmmakers, with his 1947 Crown Graphic camera, using an instant film that has long been discontinued.
While most of the time Antoine makes portraits for his subjects to take home with them, the over 50 original polaroids on view in this installation have been selected from his personal archive.
The artist sources this film from around the world and continues with the understanding that the amount of this usable film is decreasing with each photograph he takes. Because the film is expired, it often comes with built-in distortions.
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VIP Day in Evora in the fall for one client
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Interviewing candidates for the Samita Lab Mastermind Class of 2025, culminating in this TED style talk on stage in front of a live audience.
Joya, it seems that along with joy as a core desire, seeking out beauty clearly is a core value as evidenced by the events of your week and those ahead. Now for finding those pockets of solitude. Best wishes and thanks for the shoutout.