Today we welcome neurologist, Dr. Romie Mushtaq, author of The Busy Brain Cure, to share with us how to change our busy brains.
You don’t want to miss this amazing and eye opening chat with Dr. Romie Mushtaq. We are learning what it means to have a busy brain and getting tangible tips for taming our busy brains. Boundaries and self care are two important topics we discuss on the show and Dr. Romie, the self-proclaimed STEMinist in stilettos, is taking that to the next level. She teaches us the key components of the brainSHIFT protocol and how using it will change our lives and brains for the better. We didn’t want our time with Dr. Romie to end! She even helped us set an intention for the year that we are excited to share! Join us for a transformational discussion with Dr. Romie Mushtaq!
Dr. Romie is a board-certified physician who brings together more than two decades of leadership in neurology, integrative medicine, and mindfulness. She is an award-winning speaker working with Fortune 500 companies, professional athletes, & global associations. Her brainSHIFT programs improve mental well-being and help to build a culture of wellness. Dr. Romie serves as Chief Wellness Officer for Evolution Hospitality, where she scaled a mindfulness & wellness program to over 7,000 employees. Her expertise is featured in the national media, such as NPR, NBC, TED talks, and Forbes. Her first book, “The Busy Brain Cure” is being published by HarperCollins in January 2024. You can learn more at drromie.com or join the brainSHIFT movement @drromie on social media.
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The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.
burnout was not in the vernacular, and I kept pushing myself and if any of you listeners have seen my TED Talk that now since it’s gone viral
I’m Dr. Ramin identify as a feminist and stilettos. Yes. You know?
And then you get home and you’re like, Girl, let me just take the edge off and have a glass of wine or three.
Next time you get overeats, and you have the lemons delivered to your hotel at
job working in the sky club. Dr. Grove, you look around, there’s men all around you.
Hi, y’all. Welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie. And we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market. We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths.
Hi, Alyssa. Hey, Katie. This is episode 231. And we have a guest today and I’m really excited. Dr. Ryan, me, I’m gonna just run through a little of your bio. And then I want you to fill in the blanks for us and tell us more about you or kind of like what you’re doing now. But I’ll just kind of cover it. So Dr. Romi moosh talk. Did I get that right? Amazing. Yes, thank you. Perfect. Awesome. Okay, is a distinguished neurologist and creator of the brain shift protocol. Her upcoming book is the busy brain short the eight week plans are fine focus, tame anxiety and sleep again. It’s being released Guess what? Tomorrow because
this
day, I’m so glad to celebrate with you.
At Oh my gosh. So Dr. Romy, you stand as a leading authority in stress management and leadership wellness. And I would love for you to just give us kind of your your quick story and let the people know who you are. Yeah, how’d you get here? Oh, Katie, Alyssa, I’m so honored to be with you. You know, my story starts when I was I did everything right. That was expected of me from childhood. The success mantra. I don’t know. What did your parents know? You were both gonna become entrepreneurs and real estate agents. What was that kind of just ingrained? Okay. My Asian mama drama and, and dad’s strong ally. It was like, I was birthed out of the womb as a disrupter. And my mom and dad told me like, we have one daughter, and you will become a doctor. And that was it. Like my first toy like, I’m loving that Barbie is trending. My first toy was not a Barbie. It was a fisher price stethoscope and I loved it. I like young student athletes are trained to, you know, Excel and sports. I was trained in STEM as a child. And I entered neurology at a time where less than 5% of the brain doctors in the United States were women. And my early career started researching, I was not only seeing patients, but researching the effect of women’s hormones on women’s brains and how it affected epilepsy and migraines. And I loved my job, just like I know the both of you love your job. But I was like, seriously struggling. And back in those days. It was not safe. It was not civil, it was not even politically correct. It was the end of your career. If you admitted, I think something’s going on with my mental health. Burnout was not in the vernacular. And I kept pushing myself. And if any of you listeners have seen my TED Talk that, that now since it’s gone viral, the stress nearly killed me. And I should have known better. I am a brain doctor. And I was sitting in life saving had life saving surgery in 2010. And when I was sitting in the hospital, y’all, I remember thinking, there ain’t no life skill that my Auntie’s and my elders taught me that are going to get me through this. And nothing I learned in medical school is going to help me now like what do I do? And that’s how this journey started. Because it turns out, and I know you all in real estate have looked up the statistics before we got on this show. Like burnout is not the way to hustle. And
I’ve been researching it now in corporate wellness. So I get hired now as a keynote speaker, and also serve as a chief wellness officer for a company of over 7000 people. So that’s given me the world’s most fascinating lab to research and observe people as they hustle and how to avoid burnout and he’ll if needed
while you do you still have a medical practice or you’re fully focused on the research and speaking at this point, at that, yeah, at this point, I’m running my car
Beginning of the brain shift Institute, I’m still licensed and boarded as a doctor. But in 2018 when evolution hospitality named me their chief wellness officer, I tried and knew I couldn’t see patients one on one in the outpatient clinic here. That job has viewed traveling all over the United States meeting our associates that are in hotels all over the United States and Canada, then that grew and was successful. So other Fortune 500 companies started to hire me to speak like, how would they have you do what you did at that company? And how can we do it here? So I have a travel boyfriend and his name is Delta Airlines.
What a great what a great travel boyfriend. Yeah, I love it. Okay, will you talk to us about busy but I love the name of your book and feels like something that I would intuitively pick up off the shelf and busy break your I need this. I will give you a small backstory. You know, both of my children are diagnosed ADHD inattentive type. And I thought, well, you know, where could this have come from? And then I was like, oh, it’s your girl. Like, I was just an undiagnosed high performer, straight A student. But you know, now that I know all the little signpost I know it was me. And I find it for you’re so busy brain and anything that has to do with like, getting an overactive brain, I’m fascinated by
like the tips. But let’s talk about what is busy brain? Can you explain that to have let’s chat for it. First, I just want to double click on something you said it’s so important. And so many women especially as first are just our age groups. And girls tend not to get the excellent medical care even today, let alone when we were all growing up. And I know I’m an auntie compared to my young sisters, err, Katie and Alyssa. But, you know, we didn’t get the same attention. We were just written off as you’re a good girl because you’re getting straight A’s or your bad girl because you’re not behaving well. And it’s really devastating. And so I’m a you know, I’m sorry, on behalf of the medical system got missed. And that’s why we need more women in medicine and women in STEM bottom line, like, let’s just come out with a stemness statement right now.
Who’s the brain? I’m just stemness? Yes, I’m Dr. Rami and identify as a feminist and stilettos. Yes.
Yes, and, but what I want to talk about the busy brain is this is not about adults as yourself, Katie, that may have had a misdiagnosis of a DD or ADHD in childhood. When I started my career track in neurology, back in the 1990s, we did not recognize adult onset ADD or ADHD. You look at the medical literature now and the research I’ve done. It is real, because of our lifestyles of being hyper connected and stressed out all the time. So busy brain means this. And then we’re going to kind of go over a story of Is this how you both are in your amazing real estate businesses and some of your colleagues that are listening. But busy brain is a triad of symptoms that you have adult onset ATD or ADHD, anxiety or feeling anxious. And then no matter what you do, you can’t fall asleep at night, because you have racing thoughts in your brain or you fall asleep, but you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t go back to bed. That’s a busy brain. I’m as a doctor, I say this to everyone that’s going to grab the book, get a copy for your therapist or your doctor, is we in neurology and psychiatry and psychology got it wrong, that add anxiety and insomnia are not three different diseases. It’s one pattern of neuro inflammation in the brain that’s leading to all these symptoms from our chronically stressed out lives. And I’m here with the solution. So that sounded really clinical, does it? Yeah. Do you want me to break it down more? What do you I don’t I don’t feel like it was too clinical. For us. Our listeners are pretty on top of it. And I feel like it is kind of a good point. This is being talked about more. I feel like a lot of people are following these type of accounts, you know, of doctors or experts or someone who is explaining Well, why do I do the things I do? Or why do I feel the way I feel? Or were other women that can help me understand what’s going on with me as a woman? So I think I think it was pretty clear. Did you have any point? Oh, I think that was a great explanation of it. Okay, so are there industries that are prone to busy brain like when you started digging into our little realtor life? How did you feel about that? Well, let’s talk about how we are prone to busy brain when we look at the data that comes from the American Psychological Association and my data that I researched for this book. So we’ll put a free link for your listeners. We have something known as the busy brain test, and you can get your brain score, and I forgot to send it to you all
Before this podcast to get your brain scores, but you can always reach out to your doctor Auntie Romi afterwards and let me know, we will. So we had 17,000 adults between December 2020 and December of 2022. So in a two year period, go through this. And we found that 82% of people scored above a 30. That means you have the effect of chronic stress and potentially burnout in your brain, what we call a busy brain. And that’s where we’ve looked at it. So when you look at are certain industries prone, we know what industries are more prone to burnout, unfortunately, and very sadly, our teachers from K through 12 are at the top of the list, then first line responders and health care workers. Other people that rate really high are meeting planners, lawyers.
But here’s the thing we found we did not see a difference in industry, when we looked at the companies because I speak to every industry in the United States and globally. So overall, we didn’t see a difference between healthcare tech finance insurance. What we do know is I wondered about real estate because I know my process of selling and buying a house. You all were working hard for me in the evenings after my work day, or on the weekends, or early mornings, because we got to get the house and it’s an insane market here in Florida. And it was like a 6am call like, oh my god, did they look at my bead? Like, you know? Yes. And does that resonate? You tell me it helped me to understand the schedule, work schedules have you both and the people you serve in your community. So I do a lot of volume. I’m a high producing realtor. And I do feel like I am more efficient when busy. You know, like, if I have two things on the list, it’s going to take me forever. But if I have 25 things that can knock it out in a day, amazing. When I first started real estate, I was not married yet. I was just engaged. And we you know, didn’t have kids. And we both loved our jobs so much. So we were just I had no boundaries. And I loved it. Like I was just, I just was fueled by the more that I could do. And I think because in real estate, you are rewarded for your work. If you would like to make more money, you can continue working these hours, and you can continue accommodating as many people as you want.
And it wasn’t until six years in and I had my daughter, and I was you know, feeling like my career was going to be over. I was so afraid like I was excited. But I just had this fear of losing my career and wondering how I was going to continue at my level. But it was the first time that I had to have boundaries because I actually had no choice. And it was amazing. Like it was the first time that I had to tell people I’m so sorry, I can’t do it right now. But I can do it in four weeks or and people were like, Okay, that’s wonderful. And it just was like a lightbulb moment for me to understand that. People will wait and the ones that won’t you probably don’t want to work with them as client girl truth. Truth, hey, reach pre. It was so funny because my daughter was born in February of 2017. And 2017 was like my record year congrats and it didn’t feel bad. It felt really good. It was like the most I had ever done but the most at peace I had ever felt because I was actually shutting it off at a certain time. And so Oh, that’s a branch. Yeah, I was surprised. You know very Absolutely. I’m gonna interject here for you to have some context after me. Our podcast talks a lot about boundaries I heard yes standards and things that aren’t Yes. commonplace necessarily in the in the overall industry. Okay. Perfect timing against it. We’re fighting against it. Well, I get thank you for the context Katie and Alisa I think you just elicited the before which is a busy brain and the after of what happens when your brain shift and set boundaries not only in your time but in your brain. And, you know, let’s talk about that is when we have a busy brain. So if you’re, you know listeners take the test and your scores above authority. Everything feels like an emergency read on your calendar. You have to take care of it now. A client just emailed or texted you have to do it now like you said, right. Rather than being able to prioritize
And you all have amazing podcasts on boundaries, I want to dig a little deeper. It’s when people have a busy brain, that chronic stress of, you know, you feel good that dopamine high, when you check off another thing on your to do list or you knock out another email or you write another proposal, you get another thing on the MLS, whatever it is, but then that’s a high, and then you come crashing down and you think I have to keep doing more. So that’s can be a busy brain. How do you know you have it because you get up in the morning. And you’re like, girl, don’t talk to me until I have a venti latte with oat milk. And if the barista put in whole milk, I’m gonna be be with a capital, like bitter all day long, like,
right? And then you go and you have multiple browser windows open on your brain. So somebody just heard you say, Alyssa, that I’ve got 25 clients and I can knock it out. They’re like, Oh my God, I’ve got 25 browser windows open and how do I do this checklist. And something that takes you two minutes now is taking you two hours on your to do list is multiplying and you’re getting really anxious, and you keep using caffeine or maybe Adderall and Ritalin but you really don’t maybe have a clear diagnosis of a DD or ADHD like your children, Katie. And then you get home and you’re like, Girl, let me just take the edge off and have a glass of wine or three. And if you don’t drink let me have an overpriced supplement I got from some Instagram influencer. And then you put your head down on the pillow on their 72 warring conversations going on. And you’re paranoid. Did you sign that last important contract, but you can’t stop obsessing over? Oh my God, my eyeliner was like running down my face during this interview with Katie and Alyssa. That’s a busy brain. Right? That is a busy brain. Yes. And nobody can be effective. You know, the three of us are sitting from a point of wisdom and knowledge and street skills and having learned from professionals how to set boundaries, and etc. And we’re successful in our businesses. But I once had a busy brain. So I have sympathy. You know, I still have days of busy brain. Yes. Oh, perfect. No, no, they’re not. But one thing you said, Alyssa, that’s key. The busy brain cure. And we’ll get into that in a second is actually teaching micro habits or brain shifts to help your brain and body set boundaries. So when I had all this data of 17,000, people were sitting in the pandemic and my boyfriend, Delta Airlines and I weren’t seeing each other. So I had time on my hands. And I’m kind of a geek girl. And Netflix, there wasn’t really doing it for me. So I dipped into the psycho neuro immuno endocrinology literature. And I was like, medically, how can we make this easy for people to do in our full lives, not busy lives full and productive lives without having to go on another diet? What are the scientific and then we put 1000 executives through it and tested it and honed the protocol. And you said something? So key, Elissa is that in the seven days sleep challenge in chapter 11 of the book, is you set a time to stop working and you set the time to go to bed and you set a time to get up in the morning to the best of your ability for all the mamas listening who got small children, and or all the single men and women with children, you know, but to the best of your ability. And that’s key.
Fascinating, very fascinating, very fascinating. Okay, when you said that, like how you said not every day is perfect. I was kind of wondering, yeah, like, impostor syndrome, too. You know, for example, I teach an email class to help at our offices like glue just to help Realtors keep a tidy email to keep it brain, you know, like, yes, mail is clean. Your brain can be clean. Yeah.
But then on the days when my email is out of control, I’m like, Oh, my gosh, I’m you’re a fraud. I’m a fraud. You know, I mean, when you have a stressful day, like when you were just Yeah. How do you regroup? How do you how do you let let’s, let’s talk about that. So So one, I’m gonna say a few things that you both can push back on me. But I’m here as a brain doctor and a fellow sister successful entrepreneur to say, you don’t need another time management technique or productivity tool. You’re allowing the state of your email to dictate your mood and how you feel about yourself. That’s what happens when we have a busy brain. And you’re going to have fun throughout my book and all the listeners when I have a busy brain. You say it elegantly Elissa impostor syndrome sets in girl, I get the voice of my judgmental Indian aunties in my brain. And they are just nagging nagging, nagging, nagging, and none of it. And really as a whole, we see this in men and women but especially women, when you have a busy brain and that neuro inflammation kicks in. That’s when things like low confidence, impostor syndrome, inability to task, unit task or quick shift, all of that starts to happen. I
I’m here as the brain doctor to say, Can I invite you to go back one step behind? And before you say, oh, I need another time management technique or productivity tool. I’m saying, my sister’s can we take care of our brains, and let’s brain shift. And that’s what I want to be here. So that whatever systems y’all are teaching, which are brilliant for realtors to put into place, they can execute. And listen, we all have our less than perfect imperfect days. And it means I’m not going to hear the voices of the judgmental Indian Auntie is going, no wonder you can’t find a second husband or Romi. You can’t even manage your email inbox. That’s what happens when I have a bad day and I have a busy brain.
That is amazing. Oh my.
Okay, can you talk to us about the physical health implications like give us some like signposts of like, well, wait, maybe it is, for me, I am like at the edge. Can you tell us what to look for? Absolutely. So people are going to take a test, you score above a 30. And I talk about it in chapter one of the book, I got a tour of Delta Airlines operations at Atlanta Hartsfield airport, that you’re busy brain is like an airport traffic control tower. So it’s not just about your brain and not focusing, but like a global airspace, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson airport, you can get a direct flight to y’all in Louisiana, or to me in Orlando, or you can get a direct flight to London, you know. And that’s the way the brain works. There are connections to the rest of our brain for sleep, and our memory and our mood, but also to our hormones, and to our digestion into our lungs and to our immune system. So if all of a sudden you’re getting more stressed, and you’re like, I went to the doctor, where in God’s green earth did this come from the now I got high blood pressure all of a sudden, or sugar diabetes, or I have tried every freaking last cleanse, and I can’t lose that last seven or 17 pounds. That could be a busy brain. So the symptoms can vary. I’m you i That’s why I tell my story. So openly in the book is I was pushing myself through sleepless nights, sustaining on caffeine, wine and chocolate. And it wasn’t serving me and I started to have chest pain, and really serious digestive issues. And it turned out it wasn’t your run of the mill acid reflux disease, but Achalasia with precancerous lesions that needed urgent emergent surgery, right. And that is it. And in chapters 10 through 17, you read the stories of amazing executives who went through the brain shift protocol, who are hotel general managers, tech executives, doctors, principals of schools that did the same thing. And their symptoms vary. And that’s what happens is, we know that 90% of the reason you go to the doctor or you’re avoiding the doctor, and you’re looking on Tik Tok, instead has to do because you have a busy brain. And so my job is to say, let’s get down to the root cause and clean up what the busy brain center has made a mess of so that you can go back and be amazing, successful real estate agents with your full lives outside of work.
So you come out of the surgery on your leg, something has to change. And you have this knowledge, because you are a doctor, and this is what you have studied. So knowing what you knew, and also coming out of what just happened to you. Yeah, what did the beginning of the brain shift protocol? Like, how did you know where to start the foundation of this coming out of it? Thank you. You know, in chapters five through nine, you read the leadership stories of all the male allies that came along. I didn’t wake up at a surgery and have this answer. Let’s be real, because if some listeners listening out there, and they’re like, ooh, Katie, Alyssa, I’ve been in that dark hole that Dr. Rowe Meezan can I be real? It took me about 18 months to get out of it. And you read in chapter five that I’m sitting in Cambodia with the monks learning mindfulness and meditation. And that was the start. And that was why my TED Talk went viral. I started to teach companies how to meditate for stress relief, and then people were coming with a busy brain symptoms saying Wait, Dr. Romea need something more. And so I piecemealed it together over eight years healing my own busy brain and then came up with the protocol. So brain shift is an acronym the shift and I’m going to go through the five key categories. S is sleep your circadian rhythm and Shift H is hormones that need to be assessed and corrected.
I is markers of inflammation like Vitamin D is and dog D three. F is how you fuel yourself using food without going on a diet.
And T is the role of technology. And this is an eight week plan that is in chapters 10. Through 18, we Microsoft, we have we stack the habits upon upon one another, like little dominoes. And then you go, you start with one micro habit and then that and everything just starts to come down on a busy brain. And that’s the beauty of it. And we save lives every time we go through the eight week protocol and companies and now we’re releasing it to the public. And so that is kind of the overview of how that journey happened. I I feel like I had to figure out my mess, so I could help you with yours. And we all got missed. We all got mess. Absolutely. I want to talk about the micro habits, we read atomic habits, and I actually have a whole episode about it. And we love the habits. We love everything that is atomic habits, but those micro habits that I think is when January 1 just happened, right? So people like I’m going to change everything. I’m going to do it all up. I mean, now it’s the eighth as we air and I’m sure they’re like I’ve already failed. I give up this year’s wash whatever. I noticed because you had a post about hydration. Yeah. And I picked up a micro habit mid January last year, not January 1, but somewhere in the middle. My broker said, Hey,
what really helped me is a glass of hot lemon water every morning. Okay, so Mike, I’m going to start doing that it is the tiniest little micro habit, right? I have never been a coffee drinker or like a routine must have this in the morning type of person. I haven’t missed a single day of lemon water. It’ll now be an entire year. And it’s like every morning like I can’t wait for my lemon water right? Because my think my brain is like, Wait, this is something we like right so we can pick the right habits almost feel like your body will just push.
Yes, it is and my aunties are clapping for you from heaven right now with their cups of chai. Because the idea of lemon water came from either VEDA, an ancient I medicine is the most ancient medicine in the world. And also then in traditional Chinese medicine. And it’s really beneficial for most people not you know, when isn’t my job for the busy brain was what particular micro habits will help a busy brain that will calm down the anxiety help you focus get to the root cause of
a DD or ADHD for adults and help you sleep. So I’ve looked specifically at those micro habits. So yes, my book was based on both atomic habits and BJ Fogg tiny habits. So you read those, but then think of this book as your roadmap of which micro habits to do to get from point A to point Z to calm a busy brain, and we tested them for you. And so that is not disrupting your life as a mother, a father, as a powerhouse real estate broker. That’s what we researched.
It’s so funny, because we just went to Anaheim, California for a real estate conference. And one of the mornings we were kind of rushed. And we stopped at this cafe to have breakfast, and apparently so did everybody else. And it was we were just rushing in, you know, Katie did not want to eat until she got her hot lemon water. And it was like a big deal. Okay. And I’m like, Yes, it is. I know that this is a thing for her, you know, but I didn’t realize she’s not going to eat breakfast if she doesn’t get her lemon water. So I’m like, listen, waitress, I need hot lemon water must have if you want her to eat. So they brought it but then afterward, she was like, if I would have missed I would have broken my streak. Yeah. And I was like, I, I love a streak. So yes, yes. Yeah, I had trouble at first, like, why is this so important to not it’s one day, but then it was like she’s not giving up on that like this. Here’s the thing it is it’s a streak. It’s a ritual which our lives need. So not only does it have the physical benefits of that hot lemon water that you’re doing every morning, it’s a ritual that your brain, your circadian brain, your busy brain center is now used to and it’s setting off your day in the positive direction. You know, I my ritual is to get up and drop my poor dog in my pajamas. I’m on the eighth floor of a condo outside before we have an accident inside. He’s 16, almost 17 years old, and then coming up to pray and meditate. And when my day is off, because I’m in a hotel room and hair and makeup arrived at 4am Because I have 6am call time or tech time for the stage. You know, I had to learn that means I’m gonna get up at 3am to pray and meditate because it is my ritual and my circadian rhythm needs this or yes, everything really is off psychologically and spiritually for you for the day. And now the three of us
strong and resilient people we recover. But it’s always that nagging Auntie at the back of my brain, like, your whole day is going wrong because you didn’t get lemon water. Next time you get Uber Eats and you have the lemons delivered to your hotel Katie.
So funny, so true. Okay, you are creating these cultures of wellness in big companies. Okay. But Realtors work alone a lot of the times. So how do we create this culture of wellness? When we’re maybe just a company of one? Like, we’re just the one? How do we hold ourselves accountable to that? What can we do practically? To make that? I guess stick? I’d love that question. No, that’s why we released the protocol to the public. Because, you know, my job is to work with teams, whether it’s a team of five or a team of 50,000. And help foster a culture of wellness, this idea that of workplace culture, whether you’re one or you’re a company of 10,000 is not based on your to do list and your bottom line and your sales goal. All those things are important, but it’s how well am I. And so number one, a culture of wellness starts with me, the leader, my A the individual. Now, if you’re a party of one, a solo entrepreneur, I think this is why I love your hustle humbly podcast and the entire community you’ve created. And this is the one thing I will just say to the collective conscious sisterhood, as a woman leader, who advocates for women from kindergarten to the C suite is if your one big brain shift this year, is to find a community of like minded individuals. That is the one thing we want you to do. And don’t go this journey alone. And hey, if you want to join Katie, Alyssa and I, because the book comes out tomorrow, and we’re going to be starting in our global brain shift community, we will happily invite the hustle humbly community to come and join me weekly for the micro habits so that you’re doing it. It was really interesting, Katie, because we found this and Alyssa was I do this for teams and teams, the CEO and the CHR. Oh, teams will be like 10 days, 14 days into the protocol. They’re like, why is everybody happier? Like what’s happening? And everyone’s saying, Oh, it’s brain shift at AIG. It’s brain shift at Google. And they were like, and then they would join and they would see, because the first two weeks of the protocol, we restore your circadian rhythm and make you prioritize your sleep, if that’s the only thing you do, you’re setting yourself up for success and you feel better, then we ran this in my community. And we found that we got great results. But you know, I spent most of my time and so did my health coaches and team, making people feel like they were a part of a community because these were strangers from all over the world. And so that’s the key is, whatever you want to do, don’t go the journey alone. And by the way, the medical and psychology literature supports this is social isolation, is the number one root cause between women getting breast cancer, women having depression, women getting heart attacks and stroke. Yes, we hear all about weights and all these things that it’s the social isolation. So Katy, Alisa, I am cheering you on, I want you to like grow your community by leaps and bounds and do more virtual or in person events and everything you all are doing, because it’s fostering a community. And that in that before you go to your email lessons Alyssa is have a brain shift of the week of what am I doing for my brain and body? And what am I inviting you to do? And if you don’t know where to go, that’s why we have chapters 10 through 17. There’s a micro habit every single week for you to pick. It’s amazing. That is amazing. How many weeks do the micro habits go? Is it a it’s eight weeks and eight weeks people get to the root cause of their chronic stress or burnout. They are feeling better our data shows the number one improvement we got was in people’s sleep and improve sleep and lowered anxiety. But here’s the thing, weeks four through eight of the protocol are focused on how you’re feeling yourself. And we don’t put anyone on a diet we allow comfort food and people by the end of the eight weeks if they’ve stuck to the micro habits to the best of their ability while eating comfort food and having comfort food breaks are now the belly and the brain Bloating is down so they’ve lost a dress or a pant size or two and their blood sugar’s have stabilized and and like I said, you don’t go on a diet because I’m the chief wellness officer in a global institution. My job as Dr. Auntie Romi is to make sure that the vegans and the paleo and the carb lovers and the chocoholics can all sit at one table and feel like they belong.
I think that that is so important too because
Is there so many? So many of the messages out there are so it’s this way or the highway riding I load that. I’m like, oh, that’s an overthinker you know. And after I finished nursing my second kid, I just this year went and had like a whole panel done. I found like a yes, functional wellness doctor that like, Yay, all the things. Yes. And I felt really good about it. The consultation was so good. And we’re like, tweaking some new things that make so much sense, right? Yes. And that and that goes, yeah. Did you find something that helped you in those labs? Yes, I totally did. There was a few things like, after so with my son, I had like crazy. I’ve always had super low blood pressure. Like when I go to the doctor, they joke like, are you alive? Because happens to me too. Yeah. It’s so interesting. I’ve been that way. Like my whole life. Yeah. So yeah. But after my son, I couldn’t even leave the hospital because my blood pressure was so high. And like we couldn’t get it down. So it was like crazy because the baby got discharged. But I had to stay. And my husband was like, no, no, no, no, she comes. She she comes where the baby goes. Yes. So with this baby in the toddler. So anyways, it was just I was just trying to like get back to her. Yeah, getting into the new. Yes. So there was a few like little thyroid things. There was a few little progesterone things that I learned about glad you brought it up. Thank you. Fascinating. That is chapter six in the book and chapter seven. And thank you for bringing it up. Because I wanted to be a nosy Indian auntie, because you have so many female listeners. You read my story and my tragic journey of infertility and the doctor is not listening to me. I’m a doctor and I knew for a decade, something is wrong with my thyroid. And that no, we know your TSH, we have the lab slip for you in chapter 17. And in the digital materials that go along with a book. And guess what? Alyssa, your listeners don’t have to pay the hundreds and 1000s of dollars to go to an integrative functional medicine doctor like me, most of these labs are covered by a US insurance providers. We designed that and we have a partnership with Aruba health on my website as well. And they do take a lot of the major insurances and can work with that as well in most states in the United States, so that a full thyroid panel gets listened. So you know, we’re talking about all these symptoms, you’re under chronic stress, it throws off your busy brain and circadian rhythm. The one of the biggest areas that throws women off, if your gender assigned female at birth is your thyroid gland. One in eight women in the United States has subclinical thyroid disease, it could be too low, too high, or both autoimmune and it’s getting missed by traditional labs and traditional primary care doctors and please, Alyssa, help me and Katy, get this out to your listeners. And by the way, if you’re like me, and you’ve got melanin in your skin, you’re a woman of color. It’s one in four women in the United States have this issue. Like y’all, we could be saving lives. People are like doing another cleanse and they’re failing in January. And they’re like, I haven’t even lost a pound and I’m starving. Y’all go get your thyroid check. And you just heard my sister Alyssa, she is like talking about it. Absolutely. after pregnancy and having a baby or multiple babies is the most vulnerable time for the thyroid gland. For a woman. Yeah. And then it was like, I was feeling so good. And I was talking to a trainer, like a personal trainer and like super excited to share and they’re just kind of like, oh, you know, like, be careful. You know, if you start taking a supplement, then your body will shut down and not make it ever again for you. And I’m just like, oh, it’s like you’re trying to do the right thing. And the messages out there. Yeah, are so confusing. And that’s kind of, you know, the health and wellness industry has run amok. That way, it’ll give you a busy brain because everybody has a judgment. And,
you know, I know the health care system has lost confidence in, in, in America, rightfully so. And I just want to say this is fine, somebody that has licensed credentials for functional or integrative medicine. We give you the science in this book, you know, we break it out, you can go get labs, and yes, sometimes supplements are needed, but one supplement doesn’t help everybody. It’s tailored to your symptoms tailored to your labs. And, you know, here’s my thinking is I need to be on my thyroid medicine, likely for the rest of my life. But I am turning 50 Next year, and I am more cognitively sharp and productive today as an entrepreneur with a rapidly scaling business than when I was 25 and had just graduated medical school. And so no doubt yeah
I’m like, Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And and, and that’s it because I practice brain shift. And so if I have to be on a medication, I use bioidentical hormones, or if I have to be on supplements, then so be it. Because I am living my best life with joy. And I want every one of your listeners to go back to that place of joy and your hope and everything you want for your businesses. And just like how you said, like, in the medical world, trying to do this on my wellness journey, I felt like that was giving me a busier brain than my work was because I was like, over investigating and over researching and just trying to make sure I’m doing the right thing, you know, and it’s, it’s funny, because I feel like we always say that in real estate, there’s so many shiny objects, like if you need to sell something, sell it to a realtor, because they’re gonna be like, I need that so that my business will be better. You know, we have so many shiny objects in real estate, I think that’s all entrepreneurs, I call it the shiny entrepreneurial project syndrome, right? That there’s always a new shiny project, whether it’s for yourself for your business, but that can be again, a sign of a busy brain where you know, you you should have goals set for your business, you should have talked to your CPA, you know, you should be looking at your projections you should be looking at, what are the business tasks I need to do to bring in revenue. When we have a busy brain, all of a sudden, it’s like squirrel, Oh, I’d love Katie and Alyssa, this podcast, I’m going to start a podcast and then I’ll, you know, make $10 million in revenue. You both know, it doesn’t work that way, you know, and so do I am a health as a health and wellness entrepreneur. And when you brain shift, you take care of your brain, and all of a sudden, everything is illogical again, and you can follow your operational plan your strategic plan your marketing plans.
And you know, in real estate to just like you’re like squirrel, it’s like we have, we have always believed like full time Realtors is the best way to be a professional Realtor that gives sound solid advice that can be trusted. And you know, it’s sort of like you don’t want a part time financial advisor, you know, you’re the one that’s going to help you but Realtors love a side hustle, you know, and especially as things have shifted, and the market has slowed down, I’m seeing it everywhere. So many realtors are chasing all these things. And I feel like sometimes it can lead to chasing pennies, when if you actually just focus where you know, you’re good. You could have dollars and yes, yes, and that’s a busy brain, a busy brain is going to make you want to do a get rich, quick scheme, oh, I can launch a course and make millions, right. And then Facebook and Instagram are gonna start feeding you ads of people saying, oh, launch a course and make six figures in one month, you know. And that’s not how it works. I mean, I am telling you that and you both know this too. It’s I’ve lived a life of education and excellence, as have both of you to succeed as a doctor to succeed as a professional speaker to succeed as a chief wellness officer. And yes, there were always shiny objects along the way. And anytime I saw revenue dip it was because I lost focus. And a busy brain will do that to you. And you know, when you bring shift, you’re much more thoughtful. So yes, if the market is down, and your heart is really saying, I need to go another direction, you’re going to actually make a educated and sound business decision of maybe I can go teach school part time, because I need X amount of revenue per month. And I enjoy teaching, you know, rather than chasing the next shiny object, but it starts with your busy brain as a foundation, and then, you know, weigh your options carefully with someone that will give you advice like you all have created in this community. So yeah, absolutely. It sounds to me like the busy brain is when you just have that full reactive, everything you do is reactive, you’re just kind of chasing the next thing. It’s hard to stay consistent. Everything is an emergency. Yeah, your email inboxes never clean. You’re chasing the next exciting project at dopamine high chasing the next sale. You know clearance rack at TJ Maxx. Oops, that’s my aunties. Maybe not the two of you. But you know, that’s a busy brain, you know, and, and that’s like, you know, take the test. And we’ve given you micro habits. We have the labs, you’ve heard Alisa give a testimony to that, you know, even long before she met me, she was on this journey. So I, I want to see more women entrepreneurs succeed. You both know this and it’s true in real estate. less than 2% of female entrepreneurs will cross a million dollars and revenue.
And I know those numbers are scaled
In real estate because of the home prices, but it’s just kind of like this. If I told you all that I was ready to sell my condo, and I’m going to do for sale by owner, what would everyone listening to your podcast do right now? Like, yeah, right, yeah, they would have some words for you doctor, they would absolutely. And so it’s the same thing when you’re like, Hey, I’m gonna go back on Tiktok, or I’m gonna listen to that personal trainer that’s like, stop this medical regimen, you’re gonna be on these supplements forever. That’s like me saying, I’m gonna put my condo on sale by owner, I might, if I’m lucky, get it right. But you all know, it’s going to take three times as long, lots of legal mistakes, and I’m definitely not going to get the best price. And it’s going to be an awful experience for the buyer. And it’s going to take me away from what’s important to me, which is scaling my mission to improve, you know, brain health and burnout for, you know, individuals and teams that are out there. And, you know, why should I be distracting myself for by sale by owner, right? When there’s a professional realtor out there that can help me and do it professionally. It’s the same way with your brain, y’all. Like don’t let tick tock guide you on your health journey for 2024. Right, I think that is so great. And it kind of goes back to something you said in the very beginning of this is that we have so much access now to everything. And we are so hyper connected. Like we know more about what’s going on in every place in the whole world. And like every crime that has ever been committed, and every wellness tip and pro and con. And even in real estate, it’s like everyone has a different opinion. And I think that it is so hard to drown out the noise because of how accessible increase but in brain shift you’ll see. And week three, we talk about digital detox and taking a brain pause during the day from the digital devices.
I asked my executives if you need to keep up on the real estate news on financial news scheduled that during the day, schedule a break to go on your favorite social media channel just to scroll but schedule it right and to your point of boundaries. But here’s the thing that happens you’ll read the story of Kevin and how I close my book. I always ask what is it that you hope for hope is anchored in your deep knowing your desire, not somebody on social media telling you Katie, Alyssa, you need this doctor wrote me by that? What is it you really, really hope for? And when you look at that for your personal health and for your business, then you start to create the SMART goals or whatever your system is. That’s an aligned with that. And whenever distraction comes along from a busy body on TV or social media, you’ll just be like, No, thank you. I don’t need a busy brain. I’m focused, right? So can I tell you what my hope is?
Please,
I’m hoping I’ve dedicated this past decade to building this business and being a chief wellness officer and researching this book, I hope to have a second chance at love. And that my on this journey of launching this book globally that I meet my life partner. And so if that’s my hope and my goal.
I’m not on myself on social media to get distracted by the people going. There’s a reason when women turned 50 You have a one in 20 chance of finding a man you’re gonna get hit by lightning instead. I would be like, No, thank you. That’s not what my busy brain needs. Right. Right.
Right. unfollow. Yes. unfollow. Yes. And that’s it. And and then when I have moments that I don’t feel so hopeful, I’ll ask both you Katie and Alyssa, will you remember me and be like, we’re gonna be Dr. Ramiz hope holders that she finds the life of her dreams, right? Yes. What? What hope can I hold for both of you in 2024 for personally or professionally? She really put us on the spot. I know. We’re deep thinkers. We are. Yeah. Hmm. Do you know what your hope is? She’s gonna hold it for you. I’m like, it’s so funny because I told Katie I feel like you know, I haven’t. I have a two year old and a six year old. So I feel like I’ve just been in the trenches for a minute. And like when her kids are home from school, and they make their own sandwiches and stuff and go for a walk in the neighborhood alone. I’m like, how much longer?
How long so they can do that, you know? But I think that I it’s been so long since I really even thought about a long term hope for myself because I am enjoying my career. No, she only needs 2024.
I see. And that’s it and this is great. It’s amazing.
When I end my keynote lectures, and we end the book on this, what is it you hope for and Alisa, so many people like you, they think of their children, they think of their loved ones. And I’ve loved that because it shows me there’s still light and your hope. But really, when we climb our busy brain, and when we anchor and we brain shift is literally what do I hope for, for my brain, from my body, for my business for my team, and anger into that, and then we can do and show up as a dedicated mom as you are. So I think what resonates for me is, are you hoping for some quiet time at home where nobody needs you to be mom or a wife, but you just get me time?
Maybe, maybe, I think even like, it’s so funny that we’re interviewing with like, she’s very non committal, Dr. Romi she’s like, I cannot yet so I’m gonna look forward to future podcasts when you both are talking about hope and what you hope for, I’m gonna
do an update. I’m just gonna,
I’m gonna give you one doctor Romi? Because I feel like my hope is that is to have bigger impact. But to spend less time Kurt like to have more time for me, but larger impact, right? Yes, more, I’m gonna hold that impact. Yes, more people learn like that. We’re different than the industry. But also, that doesn’t mean I have to give up more of my time. So it is smaller. I am hoping that you gain your time and scale and create the amazing impact you are and the hustle humbly community. And so it is i and when you reset the hope, honestly, bring me back in. So Alyssa, I know what your hope is. And I’m going to check in on you Katie on how it’s going. And you know, now when you do your Word of the Year, your vision board, you know, that’s a part of it. And that’s mine. And maybe I’ll be lucky and that when I come back and we check in with each other. I’ll have an update on my dating life. Because right now it’s just me and my dog Raja. I feel like we’re recording this a little bit out. I feel like by the time it airs, your person is already like you’ve already failed. That’s how I feel. I feel thank you for being my hope holder and see, that’s what happens when you bring shift as a community. It’s rather than talking at each other of everything that’s on my to do list is what hope can I hold for you?
That’s so sweet. Do you have a word of the year? I would love
my hearing.
So good is your word. Dr. Remy? Do you already know your word?
Girl? That’s obvious. It’s a brain shift. We are taking the world by storm. I mean, this book is coming out in multiple languages. It’s in multiple countries negotiating even more this is it is brain shift here. Yeah, I’m just gonna live to regret the fact that I have her cell phone number I’m going to be
not at all what’s happening.
What’s happening? Yeah, stop working in the sky club doctor will be looking around. There’s men all around you. Yes.
I feel like Katie has been my hope holder along the way.
And that one day, I’ll be out of the trenches and can really like, I know I love because my kids are 11 and about to be 14. So they’re efficient and delightful. And and it’s the time when your kids are little feels so hard and so long. And then when you’re on the other side of it, you’re like it’s not that long. It’s not that long. You can do this, like we can each other or Alyssa, you already are doing it your spectacular mother’s successful businesswoman. And I will start and with this hope and intention for you and let you grow it into your own hope that even if it’s for three minutes, you find time that is just for you. And your brain and your body and your spirit every day. Whatever resonates for you just start with three minutes a day. Beautiful. I love that. That’s wonderful. Okay, Dr. Romi. At the end of every episode, I feel like you just posted to spin out but we do a toast where our guests are we usually will cheers to someone who’s impacted their life help their success, someone they’re just proud of right now. Did you bring a toast for us? Are you
okay? Let’s hear it. I have my hydration water. Am I supposed to like hold up a toast? Or am I just
okay?
This toast is for all the teachers from preschool to high school in Danville, Illinois, who were a part of my journey of becoming a stem earnest, and helping me launch this project into the world. And for any school teacher that’s listening now, and you have no idea of what impact you’re making that there’s a little roaming sitting in your classroom right now. Cheers. Cheers. The teachers I love that and Dr. Miami we have some
Many teachers that either are Realtors on the side or that have come from being teachers to being realtors, so they will really appreciate that. Absolutely. It’s the dedication and the front of my book is to all my teachers. I love that. So where can we get your book tomorrow? Yes, tell us how to buy it is already online and click an order you can go to Amazon, you can go to a Walmart you can go to target, you can go to Barnes and Nobles. You can buy the hardcopy you can get it on Audible if you’d like audiobook. I read my audio book, including all the voices of my Indian aunties audience
I went to your Instagram to try and make sure I had your pronunciation right of your name and the the link that the one that I found that did it was you doing the the like the actual title of your book? Yes. And you were so beyond excited. And I was like, Oh, we’re gonna love her.
I can’t believe I’m doing this because it is your first walk. And I really felt like
you weren’t celebrating that moment. And you were being like, giddy about it. And I love that you didn’t take it so seriously, but you were like, like I’m doing what? It was like a little fourth grade Romeo and me squealing I and your listeners didn’t hear the rest of it. But it was more exciting to me to do that. And like see a dream wedding dress. It maybe tells you why I’m single right now. Right? Right. That’s okay. You were things. Yeah, you’re gonna vote. Thank you. I love that. Okay, so you’re gonna give us a specific link though, so everyone can go take the test. We’re gonna take a different test. Yep.
Take the test. And then we’ll all compare our busy brains. We’ll do that in the community group. I think that’d be so great. It’d be so great. Okay, Doctor me before I’m going to say goodbye. Like thank you for being here. Goodbye. But don’t hang up with me. Okay, you stay. Katie wants to talk to you forever. Absolutely forever. No, no. Work. Goodbye. Thank you for being here. We’re appreciative of your time. Thank you so much. We can’t wait to read the book. And I’m really excited about it. Holding hope for the both of you and your entire community that 2024 is you just take one brain shift and you’re going to make it the best year ever for your brain, your body and your business.
That’s a great ending. Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. If you enjoy this episode, please go to rate this podcast.com/hustle humbly and leave us a review or drop a comment if you’re listening on Spotify. If you have an episode topic or someone you’d like to toast on the show, please email us at team at hustle humbly podcast.com Find us on social media at hustle humbly podcast. Don’t forget to find all the free resources at hustle humbly podcast.com/resources See you next week. This is the goodbye
