Stay Grounded with Raj Jana

“A lot of the times you need to do what you need to do before you can choose to do what you want to do.”   Today’s podcast guest is Carey Smolensky, author of Living Life with PASSION and Helping Others .   Carey is a dynamic businessman, event producer, and multi-faceted entertainer who’s been in the business since high school and I’m super pumped to interview him to learn more about hi...

“You can have it all. You simply have to know what ALL is for you.”   The surname Miles may be familiar, and because Shannon’s husband, Bryan was my guest in episode 11.   Shannon and Bryan co-founded Belay Solutions seven years ago. It’s a virtual company that offers self-motivated people the chance to create work (and life) on their terms. Shannon is an amazing role model and an inspir...

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. It’s about eliminating the things that you are not.”   This podcast is like none I’ve done before.   Not only was this episode recorded live and in-person with this week’s guest, but it was a tandem job! As I’m sharing this episode with you, so is Austin sharing this exact same episode on his podcast.   Austin is the CEO and founder of Entrecloud...

“I wanted to show my kids that they should go out and want all the best things and not settle for anything less.”   Today’s guest, Heather Vickery beams. Her energy, passion, and excitement for life just oozes out of her. But it wasn’t always that way.   When you’re not connected with the truth of who you are, life feels out of alignment - and that can make for a miserable existence. &nb...

“I can teach you business in one word - meditation.”   Todd White is the founder of Dry Farm Wines - a passionate business based in Napa Valley that’s busy transforming the way people drink and view wine.   In this podcast, Todd talks about the practices and principles that enabled him to learn from a previous business failure (that cost him millions), to create Dry Farm Wines . A busine...

“I live my life by the five-minute rule. When things go wrong it’s OK to be negative - but not for more than five minutes.”   Hal Elrod needs no introduction.   As the author of the best-selling book, The Miracle Morning , Hal is best known for his six-part SAVERS morning routine that has changed lives and is practiced by over 500,000 people across the world.   It’s a book that has...

“I love 30 day challenges. In 12 months you can have 12 new habits that can transform your life. In 3 years you have 36 new habits and you’re a whole new person.”   Brad Hart is an experienced entrepreneur, investor, trader, advisor, and mentor to people who want more from their life. We met at a mastermind and connected immediately.   Brad is a bundle of fired up energy and a force for...

“Even when you’re firing on all cylinders there’s always something falling behind that you can improve on”   Edward Bryan is my incredible personal trainer who I work with in Houston, Texas.   But rewind to his youth, and you’d never imagine health and fitness would be his path. At the age of 17, Edward weighed 380lbs. He was also diagnosed with hypertension and atrial fibrillation - an...

“You are the best doctor for your body. You are the best therapist for your mind. You’ve just got to do the work.”   Rewind the clock 4 ½ years and today’s guest was recovering from a heart attack.   The cumulative effect of a lifetime on the stage had led to everything from diabetes to sleep apnea, to fertility problems, heart disease, and seriously high cholesterol.   But there wa...

“If I’m going to make a dent in this world, I have only a certain amount of time… So rather than watch that time be wasted away, I’d rather be intentional with it.”   Along with his wife Shannon, Bryan Miles is committed to rewriting the workplace mindset.   Driven by his manifesto that “the way we work doesn’t work anymore” , Bryan inspires businesses to liberate their employees and tra...

“Life’s too short to not follow your dreams.”   On October 10, 2014 Lauren Raja’s life was turned upside down. After watching her husband, Justin die in a boating accident, Lauren became a widow. She was just 32.    Crippled by grief, Lauren spent hours staring at the wall - not knowing how to live, until memories of ‘Mamma Jean’ gave her the strength to get back on her feet.  ...

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness - it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” - Brene Brown   In my search for contagious happiness, I’ve explored a number of practices and strategies.   And daily gratitude is one of those simple practices that has fundamentally changed how I feel.   That’s because gratitude is a source...

“You are the author of your own story. You can create any reality you want.”   Nearing the peak of his Hollywood screenwriting career, Marc Gutman walked away from it all.   This decision wasn’t in the life plan! In love with stories and the movies, Marc had a shot most writers only dream about. Working for the likes of Disney and Oliver Stone, Marc rubbed shoulders with some of Hollywoo...

“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” - Daymond John   Last month I had a close encounter with a Shark.   It wasn’t in the water and it wasn’t in a tank either. Instead, I was one of four lucky winners (out of thousands of entries in a competition organized by Belay Solutions.   And my prize was pretty epic!   I got to have a one-to-one mentoring session with the People’s...

“The best teachers are those to whom the material they teach did not come easily.”   Nataly Kogan is a TEDx speaker, the CEO Of Happier.com and a recognised expert on the subject of happiness - so I’m super pumped to be able to get her onto the Stay Grounded podcast.   Nataly’s story is an inspiration too. Born in the USSR, Nataly and her parents became refugees when she was just 11. &nb...

“Putting yourself first is not selfish Quite the opposite. You must put your health and happiness first before you can be of help to anyone else.” - Simon Sinek   With the New Year just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to reflect and think about the year ahead and get clear on what you want to leave behind.    You got it! It’s that time for New Year’s Resolutions and goal sett...

“There’s no such thing as natural born talent.”   Rewind to December 2014 and my guest today was at rock-bottom.   With a negative bank account he couldn’t even afford to buy his fiance a Christmas card. But it was in this lowest of places that Allen Brouwer found the clarity he needed to transform his life.   Faced with the cold realization that he’d been a ‘wantrepreneur’ playing...

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” - Frank A. Clark   In the search for happiness, you will encounter struggle and challenge. It’s an inevitable, unavoidable fact of life.   Struggle and fear is something we inherently want to avoid, because it doesn’t feel good, but by avoiding a core human emotion, we can lose out on the fullness life has to offe...

“If you don’t seek out struggle, it will find you anyway.”   Today’s guest persuaded the Dalai Lama to write the foreword of his new book - FEARVANA: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear Into Health, Wealth and Happiness.   Akshay Nanavati is used to living life at the extremes.   Akshay has battled with drug addiction in high school, was diagnosed with PTSD after serving a...

Welcome To The Stay Grounded Podcast   “You measure yourself by the people that measure themselves by you” - Phil Knight   Today I’m super excited to let you in on something new that I’ve wanted to do for AGES.   One of the driving forces behind JavaPresse is the search for contagious happiness.   Now happiness means different things to all of us. There’s no real formula, just...