Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother, she is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives and emotions about life. Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about the judgment of others and they struggle with their mental health but when they listen to the Rare Girls podcast where empowered women share their voices and tell their stories, many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom and to overcome all insecurities. They will feel it is a safe space to find their confidence to remember their unique beauty and to feel their self worth and they will connect with a sisterhood of Rare Girls who encourage their success and support their dreams. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Amanda Kuzas. Amanda lives in Sweden, Gothenburg. She works as a saleswoman and coach in a team in the sales industry. She is coaching the team about building a stronger mindset and self care. Amanda loves reading and traveling. She goes to the gym five times a week and she does CrossFit and yoga a lot. She is all about learning new things about good habits and building a better life for herself. Amanda, how are you today? I feel blessed. I feel very, very positive looking forward to know much more about you. So I'll begin with this nice standard first question which is if your friends could describe your personality, what would they say about you? Oh, that's a great question. I would say that they would say that I'm very energetic. I have a lot of energy and I'm also focused on my goals and very hardworking. I'm always very positive as well. Thank you. I love that very much. I'll begin with your energy. Is it because you take good supplements and eat well and that's what gives you energy? Is it because of working out and the more you work out, the more your body has energy to give you? Or were you born a ray of sunshine, a girl who was always active and your parents were always chasing you everywhere? Or what is the source of your energy? Is it the mindset and that's what you're interested in that gives you this much energy? What is your secret of your high energy? I think it's a lot of reasons. I think it's due to my training, of course, and also that I see life as a very blessed thing. I'm very blessed to be here and I want to enjoy everything. And I think it's also because I have ADHD, so I'm always on high alert all the time. So that's why. I understand. That's very interesting. You said that you see life as a blessing and you feel happy to be here. Yes. Can you tell me a bit more? Where does that come from? Did you always have this mindset? Did something happen in your life where there was a loss or someone you saw lost something big and you thought, wow, life is so precious. I should take advantage of it. Or how is it? No, I mean, I think it switched when I was like, I think it was like when I came into my twenties. I think that's where I really started to enjoy everything around me and like saw life in a different way because I don't know why, but when I was in my twenties, I came full aware of everything around me and my surroundings and everything. And I wanted to make the best out of it. And that's also where I started to listen to podcasts and a lot of like self care tips and everything. And I started to change my mindset to the better. I think. Thank you. I love that. The same time you growing up in a smaller city, do you find that there are many ambitious people around you or it's the podcast that are your five best friends because they say you are the average of the five people that you spend time with. So are you someone who is getting that dose of motivation and feeling that your peers are those podcasts and motivational books and everything that you read, or even in Sweden in a small town, all the people are full of ambition or how do you deal with that? Because the environment impacts the level of ambition of people very much. Yes. No, as I said, as I work as a saleswoman, so right now I just moved to Gottsongborg actually like three weeks ago or if I'm very new here and I actually live with my colleagues in a house here. So I live with like 10 guys that are striving to their goals and becoming the best version of themselves. So it's very good energy and everyone is like, everyone is like thriving to to their goals. Sorry. The environment impacts that a lot. Thank you for that. And just for you to share, since you're chosen to be a saleswoman. Yeah. What is to you the definition of sales? How do you approach it? Like how do you see it that allows you to do it well as well as to understand you even more? How do you deal with the disappointments that sometimes come when you are being a sales person because it's not an easy life? No, it's not. It's not. But I think I love sales so much that because you have the opportunity to really meet new people but also learn new things about yourself and also about other people and how to like communicate in a good way and communicate in a way that people understand you and you need to build on your mindset for this, like for this job. You need to always be thriving in your mindset because you get a lot of a lot of no. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you so much for that. I noticed that learning is something very important for you. It seems to be a value as well as constant growth. Can you tell me a bit more about that? And even more, when you meet new people, is it one of the first priorities that you appreciate is learning from them what challenges they have overcome their mindset because you said that word a lot. Is it that one of the first primary cores of why you love meeting new people? Plus, why is it for you so valuable to constantly be learning? Yeah, I think when I meet new people, I really want to learn from them because everyone has different life stories. Learn new things and everything. Everyone has different thoughts about everything and been through life a different way where you can like take from. Knowledge is everything. Knowledge is something that no one can take from you. So that is like you can learn so many things about so many things, which is really important in life because that's something that drives you forward and learning new things. It's just like I love to be able to share my knowledge with people around me. And I was not always like this. I think it's switched when I turned like 19, 20 or something. Thank you. And is the deeper reason your ADHD because you get bored very easily. So you need new information constantly. So how do you deal with that? Like describe to me in your life and in your days, the ADHD, what does it cause you to do? Like you said, you're constantly like on the edge in a way where you are constantly like going constantly full of energy like that. Does it mean like you jump up to bed, you go drink 17 cups of coffee and you are jumping from sales call to the gym to do something and you never rest or even when you do something, you're also checking on something else and checking your phone and doing this other thing multitasking or describe the life of a girl who's ambitious and also has ADHD at the same time. Okay. That is a really great question. That is a great question. Due to it depends. It usually goes like it goes like two months where I'm like thriving and I have full energy and I wake up like 4 30 in the morning and I start my my like day with being very productive and everything. And then it can come like one or two weeks where I'm like drained. Like my energy is on zero and I don't feel like motivated to do anything. So that is like the hard part with having ADHD as well. I think and also that if I think something is boring to do, I will not do it. But if it's something that I feel very interesting and I think is really fun to learn about this and everything, I will do 100%. Thank you. And you said that you love to share your knowledge with other people. Why is that interesting for you? Is it because you look at their faces and you're like, wow, they're really like getting it and loving it and you are like a pleaser. You love to make them happy or like you said, knowledge is something that nobody can take from you. So you feel, wow, I'm giving them something that will be useful forever. Or is it because you love to be the center of attention and it's exciting and it's cool or what else could be the reason? No, I think the reason is due to I meet a lot of people every day and it's usually people that work, works like, you know, at seven to six job or whatever. And they like go on their day and they do the same thing every day and they don't get to learn or get appreciated or everything. And I feel like when I share my knowledge with them and when I stand to like have a conversation with everyone, everyone like lights up and they're like, it feels like they're just like discovered something truly new. I think that's why. Thank you for that. Yes, I agree. It's absolutely fantastic. And for you as well, you are someone who said in your 1920s, you change your personality a lot. How were you before when you are like 15, 14 and what changes happened during that time in which ways you became more evolved or different? Yeah, when I was like 13, 14, 15, around that age, I was not very aware of life. Like I was always like doing some really dumb shit. When I was like 14, I was very, when I was like in class and everything, I did not do like I didn't I went to school, but I didn't do my job there. Like I didn't study. I didn't do anything at all. When I was like, I started smoking and everything, you know, with my friends and then something like switched when I was like 16, maybe when I started high school and I started working out but not and I started to take care of myself a little bit more. And then I actually went to Norway when I was like 19, 20. And that's when I started in the sale industry. And that's when I changed my life. Thank you. And if I understood correctly, if you're not meeting new people every day, you feel very bored and unhappy. And how does that work? No, because I'm imagining if you're going to Gutenberg. Yeah, it means originally you're from a smaller part or a smaller town without as many people. So tell me a bit more about that and how it is in your life. Okay, so I moved to Gothenburg like three weeks ago, I said and before that I lived in nearest Stockholm and I lived with stories I live with now. So we move together. And I feel like, yes, I love meeting new people and everything. But I also love taking care of myself and getting to know myself because I think that's really important due to you spend your life only with yourself, your whole life, you're with yourself. Sorry, why should you know everyone around you better than you know yourself? That's like my mindset. Thank you. So then can you tell me a bit more because this is related to self care, you help the team, the sales team with mindset and self care. Yes. So tell me what are some of the things you as a saleswoman is important for you to care for yourself and what do that team or other salespeople in general do that sacrifices their own mental health in order to do like to be more successful, work harder or how does it work? Sorry, the main thing I teach my like team is the mindset that everything you need to have a really strong mindset when you work with sales. So everything that you think negatively, you always want to directly switch that to something positive. Like okay, I didn't get this customer. No, I will get next one. I will get the next one. Like always have the striving mindset that it's everything we do is positive. That's the main thing. And then the second one is that you need to have a routine with everything you do. You need to write your goals down. You need to write some affirmations down. You need to always be aware of yourself and your goals because then if you don't have goals, you don't know what direction in life you're going. Thank you. I want to ask you a bit more, maybe there are other girls who are 15, 16 who are unaware of life and then they don't know what their goals are. They don't know what they want. They don't know much about themselves. What you recommend will be the journey for them to go forward and understand their real self and their real goals. And if some girls, maybe they are following the goals that society told them, maybe they told them, oh, you have to do this study or do this thing. And they're doing it because they don't know themselves yet. What's your advice so that they know the real self and live their own life? Sorry. My advice would be to get a piece of paper and a pen and sit with yourself for 30 minutes an hour and really think about the life you want. But anything around you are going to direct you, like, how do you say it? Direct you to something else. You're going to sit down with yourself and really think about everything you want to achieve in life. That's my advice. Give yourself 30 minutes an hour. And also, of course, search up, like, click on videos on YouTube and get inspired or listen to podcasts and get inspired. Just take care of yourself and get to know yourself. Thank you for that. And I'm curious as well, you as a girl who's developing her body going to the gym five days per week. Well, often people who go to the gym a lot, they also start to notice both the progress in their bodies, but also compare their progress and their bodies to other people even more because they're hyper aware, which is very similar to a lot of girls, especially teenagers now and in the past years that struggle a lot, feeling ugly and attractive because they compare themselves to Photoshop, Instagram girls and all that. What's your advice to them? And did you struggle with this especially that the more you work out, the more that you compare yourself to other girls who might be in magazines or fitness pros? And that always can affect the mindset in a negative way to some people who do not now know how to switch it to a positive. Yeah, I did that before. Like when I just started my fitness journey and everything, I started to compare myself as well. But then I like realized that I'm me and they are them. Everyone has different body structures. Everything. Everyone has different metabolisms and everything. And why would I compare myself with someone I don't know or who is not me? I mean, what good would that do for me? That's what I like started to think. I agree with you 100%. And you are a girl who has a lot of goals and dreams and you go after them. Yes. What gives you the self-confidence to believe that you can achieve those goals? And what's your advice to some girls who might have goals, but they have anxiety or worry about maybe they fail and then people will be disappointed or they fail and then they don't love themselves anymore. And so they let the fear of failure stop them from progressing. What gives you the confidence and the motivation to go after your goals big time? If you don't try, you never know what our cast will be. Like if you don't try to reach your goals, you will never reach them. Like if you don't try, you will not succeed. And if you do try and then fail, then you try again and you try again and you try again until you succeed. That's the mindset I go with every day. Nothing, nothing can stop me from achieving what I want in life. I've been through so many things in my life, what normal people shouldn't go through. And that is also what inspires me to show everyone around me and myself that I can really achieve everything I want, even if I have the obstacles, the biggest obstacles everyone ever could encounter. I understand and that's very, very inspiring. And just to know this mindset that you developed, was it because you were inspired by your search and you listening to podcasts, watching the right videos and reading and listening to audio books or is it that you knew someone in real life that inspired you in this way or how did it work? I actually think like, yes, listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos, that's good. That's just sparks a like motivation in you. And motivation is something that will disappear when you're not like motivated. Sorry, the thing you need is discipline. You need to be disciplined to set up your goals, to do your daily routine, even if you don't want to do them, wake up early, everything you need to be dedicated to. This motivation is just a spark. You need to change your life to be dedicated. I agree with that 100 percent discipline equals freedom. Yes. So it's a very, very important thing. And just to finish, is there a lesson that you learned recently or any advice you can give to other women so that they live to their potential, follow their goals and not let anything stop them and take care of their mental health so that they feel happy while they are going through the process of building their dream life? Yes. Do things that make you happy. Don't do things other people may like don't do things other people want you to do. Do things you want to do. Do things that want you do things that make you happy and do things you really want to do. That is the main thing. And to change the mindset. It's as I said before, be dedicated to your life. You're the only one that can change your life to the better. No one can do it for you. So you really need to decide what you want for yourself. Thank you so much, Amanda. It was my privilege and my honor to have you in this podcast to share your voice and your story. I wish you to keep inspiring people to keep going after your big goals and to succeed in every one of them. Thank you. Thank you as well. Thank you as well. Bye. Bye. Bye.
