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Unleashing Your Inner Innovator | MAG011
Episode 1113th March 2024 • Magnetize • Grace Oben
00:00:00 01:02:25

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In this inspiring episode, we delve into Kennedy's personal journey as an immigrant in Canada who embarked on the path of entrepreneurship. Kennedy shares his profound experience of renewing his mindset, discarding old patterns and beliefs, and ultimately becoming the person he needed to be in order to achieve his dreams and vision. Furthermore, he highlights the crucial role of self-investment in his transformational journey.

Kennedy discusses the significance of investing in oneself as a means to personal and professional growth. He shares his realization that personal growth is an integral part of achieving success as an entrepreneur. Kennedy's story serves as a powerful example of the transformative power of mindset renewal and personal growth. Through his experiences as an immigrant entrepreneur, he emphasizes the importance of discarding old patterns and beliefs, becoming the person one needs to be, and investing in oneself. Kennedy's journey not only inspires others to pursue their dreams but also highlights the significance of continuous self-improvement in achieving success. 

Highlights: 

  • The importance of renewing the mindset to break free from old patterns and beliefs that hinder progress.
  • The importance of Investing in acquiring new skills, knowledge, and experiences to become the person you were born to become.
  • Turning Your Entrepreneurial Vision into a Successful Venture


About the Guest:

Kennedy Gates is a Mindset enthusiast, business owner, business consultant, and real estate investor.

Kennedy immigrated to Canada 9 years ago and spent most of his early years researching what it took to realize the “American dream” that every immigrant aspires.

After finding what it takes to be financially successful in North America, Kennedy made a commitment to test this knowledge himself. After becoming financial free and building wealth for himself, Kennedy is very passionate about sharing this knowledge to as many immigrants as possible. Kennedy believes in the saying “If you give a man a fish, he will be hungry tomorrow. If you teach a man to fish, he will be richer forever.”


Connect with Kennedy:

Website: https://www.riseandshine.university/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennedy__gates/reels/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4ih4HuizB4KjuiRayUOd4A

 

About the Host: 

Grace Oben is a highly sought-after international speaker, Author, Mindset and Purpose Clarity Coach who is dedicated to empowering women, unwed pregnant teens, and teen moms to find clarity in their purpose, make a lasting impact in the world, and make money living it. With a passion for helping others, Grace has been featured on GO TV, Global News, Podcasts, Magazines, where she shares her valuable insights and inspirations.

Drawing from her extensive experience and expertise, Grace offers transformative coaching programs that empower women, unwed pregnant teens, and teen moms to discover their unique gifts, unleash their potential, and create a life of purpose and fulfillment. Through her engaging speaking engagements, she captivates audiences with her dynamic storytelling and practical strategies for personal and spiritual growth. 

If you're ready to transform your life, Grace is ready to guide you on your journey of purpose-discovery, helping you unlock your potential, and make a positive impact in the world.

https://providenceguide.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-oben-581742a6/

https://www.facebook.com/ProvidenceGuideCoaching 

https://www.instagram.com/providenceguide/


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Transcripts

Grace Oben:

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello, wonderful people. Welcome back to magnetize. It's your girl Grace Oben. And today I have the most amazing Kennedy Gates. Blue your mind up? Listen. So Kennedy is an entrepreneur. Like he's a serious entrepreneur, I tell you, this guy is into everything Ken welcome to magnetize. So you are first of all, you own a homecare business? And then you are interested. And then you now have a university Rise and shine University on financial literacy. And you also have like an upcoming event on financial literacy. Right? So do you do you want to talk to me about that?

Kennedy Gates:

Thank you very much grace, I first of all want to appreciate you for creating this platform. And most especially for inviting me, I appreciate that. I just love the word magnetize. When I saw it, I was like, Yes, this is creativity. This is something that resonates. And I am pleased to be here today to share some knowledge to interact and possibly add more knowledge and awareness to somebody who might be listening to this now or later. Yes, I'm Kennedy. I am an entrepreneur. I don't know what that term means. But I it's been a journey. And so far I run a service business. I invest in real estate been doing that for many years. And I cannot say enough about investing in real estate. But most importantly, I realized my passion for sharing what has helped me succeed with other people. When I ran a homecare business, I taught people how to start a home care business. When I did real estate, I taught people how to invest and I encourage people, then I realized that the core of all this is financial literacy and mindset. Because if you're working on a job or you're a business owner, I've seen many businesses fail, businesses don't fail because of the type of business. They fail because of the person running the business. That's why two people in the same location will run the same business and one person succeeds, the other doesn't. So the business is because of the person and we talk about the person. It's not the skin, it's not the body. It's that being who's inside that person. And that being is made up of a mind and that mind, the way the mind is wired is mindset. So I realized that having the proper mindset and combining with financial literacy leads to success. So that's why I'm more into teaching that now because I realized it's a better way of truly help. thing people, regardless of the type of business they want to do, or even if they just work on the job. So that's who I am now. And then yeah, I created the rise and shine University. I think the only platform so far that teaches financial literacy and a mindset shift, without recruiting people to join another company. So it's just plain financial return mindset. So I have the rise and shine University. And I have the rise and shine Conference coming in on Saturday coming up on Saturday, January 27. And I will be pleased to have you there too. So it's a double win. Obviously,

Grace Oben:

you inspire me a lot, Kennedy, like your mindset is different. And that was the first thing I picked up about you the first time I met you. It was just, I'm like, This guy's mindset is so different. It's a mindset that does not recognized impossibility is a mindset that does not recognize, oh, this thing is hard. It's not part of your vocabulary. You are a go, go go person if your mind can think it. And that's what we do have magnetize you know, if your mind can conceive it, you have the ability, you have the power to achieve it. So can they do so tell me what does magnetizing your dream life means to you? And how did you discover this concept?

Kennedy Gates:

Yeah, I truly loved the way you brought up this word magnetized, because I've never thought about it as magnetize I love that word, because it's a different and a better version of attraction. You know, everybody talks about the law of attraction and attraction and, and this idea of not chasing, attracting things to come to you. So I love the concept of magnetized because in reality, we are always magnetizing, it takes a lot of courage to realize that our lives are basically what we have attracted or magnetize into it. So you might not be conscious of it, but you're constantly magnetizing attracting. So I love the concept of magnetizing, which means that instead of struggling to change our environmental change things out there, we could focus on changing us more, so that we then attract those things. So it's easier to change you rather than trying to change the external. And it falls into mindset when I talk about mindset is trying to adjust that internal being so that we can magnetize attract the things that we want. So my journey started when I moved over to Canada, because moving over to Canada, to me wasn't really for chasing the money. I lived a good life back in Africa. So coming here was like exploring the world trying to know why other people live a good life have everything while others, I wanted to just have those different views. And through my learning and training, it took me about a year of personal transformation, I ended up realizing that attracting transforming you the only way you can change the world is by changing you. And so that's how I went into see deep mindset transformation. And then the success in my business, the success in my investments. And I say this to people all the time when I do coaching, youth external success is an external validation of the person you have become. So it's just a reflection of who you are. And that goes with magnetization. So if I want to get this, how do I position myself? Who do I need to become, in order to have that thing and want to become that person, that thing comes to you so easily. So it's like a hack, a live hack, an easier way a shortcut to getting things rather than hitting the wall and trying to change external things when you are the same person.

Grace Oben:

You know, I like I like how you sit position yourself. You know, and that's something I always tell people position when it comes to, I always say to people that when it comes to opportunities, positioning, timing is so important. Because sometimes if you don't position yourself, right, you might not align with what is going on around you. And then you talk about becoming that's one of my favorite words. I did I did a women's conference a couple of years ago and the title was becoming the theme, not the title, the theme for that conference was becoming I love that word becoming a taco talking about magnetizing you have to become you know that person, you know to be able to achieve that dream, that goal. You know, because most of the time our dream is here, we are here or our vision is here we are here. We have to come up and that's where the becoming plays a role. You have to develop yourself to become that person that will be able to recover, realize that dream. So I love when you pointed the word become is going to be coming and magnetization they kind of like go one together, right. And that's that's, you know, working on that during that in our work, you know, most of the time we focus on the outside, and you rarely say we focus on the outside external. They say there's just so much control you have on the external forces or situation. So issues where the full control you have is the internal. So and that is where the work starts. So what's your, what's the greatest obstacle you've overcome in your pursuit of your dream life? And how did you navigate it?

Kennedy Gates:

Okay. Yeah, that's a, that's more of a personal question, but I'm gonna answer it.

Grace Oben:

Because, think about it, well, all of this achievement, listen, I mean, all of these things you're doing. Right? You must have come and encounter some obstacles, like definitely. And, and how did you navigate them?

Kennedy Gates:

Okay, my biggest obstacle was losing the old me was losing who I thought I was. Right. Because in the process of becoming, so you can magnetize in the process of aligning with the dream, you have to let go, the old identity of self, that was the biggest part, we come from, from from from backgrounds where we already have an identity of who we are, we already think we know ourselves, we already identify with a certain set of habits and way of doing things. And I realized that in order for me to position myself to become that person, who can achieve what I want to achieve, I am the person who needs to transform into a new being. And so that meant letting go the old person, I was forgetting that forgetting. But yeah, like I said, letting go that Oh, self, and that all self means my habits, the things I thought were cultural, the environment, etc, when I talk about letting go is not just external, it's your internal and external environment. So to me, it took a lot to realize that I don't have to hold on to that old self, that detachment. Detachment is something it took me a lot to learn to detach from it and be comfortable. I realized, I guess, in society, the worst thing that humans are afraid of, is not identifying to something. It's not, not not being proud of who they had been. But in this journey, I realized that I want to be proud of who I am becoming not who I have been. So that to me, was a huge thing, because it came with with a little bit detaching from even people that gave me identity. So that was like, the biggest thing for me to do. But once you get to that point, you now open yourself to transforming into any person you want to be because you're not holding on to the old south. So that was one of the biggest challenges and how did I get to that point, personnel, education, personnel development, continuous learning, I had to go to rigorous self development for about a year, and then develop the habit of learning new things while letting the old ones go. So my secret sauce for overcoming that was rigorous personal development, opening up to mentors, opening up the coaches, opening up to people who are living at the level where I want to go, it's not like I want to live their life, but I know that, at that level, I won't be able to leave the person I want to leave.

Grace Oben:

You know, it's it's really amazing. And I you know, it's, it's like me, because just because of the environment I grew up in, there was this thing I always say when people saw and said to me, oh, you know, you need to do this. You need to do the you need to make money you need to do, I'm like, No, I'm not into that too much money. I'm just I just want enough, you know, because, you know, we saw it as been as not being greedy. You know, we saw that as not being greedy. We saw that as being what do I say? Humble? to just say, you know, I don't need too much. I just need I just want enough and I'm fine. But then when just like you when I started understanding what life is and finally understanding that it is my birthright to be wealthy. It's my birthright to be rich if I so desire. I I am worthy of it, I deserve it. I stop saying that. I stopped saying, Oh, I just want to know. And when I realized that my life is not just about me, it's about the lot of people out there that I put that are in my world, some of them I am yet to meet, that my success is also for their own benefit. When I realize a lab is not just about me, me, myself and I, when I understood that there are people in my world that God has put on my path, that until I become who I was born to become, until I embrace who I was born to be, they might not realize their own dream, then they didn't need to hear my message to be inspired. They need to hear me, they need to come across me my success, my journey for them to like said, Oh my gosh, I resonate with this person's story. Like, when she was talking, where she was sharing her stories, like she was sharing my story. So if she could overcome, and leaving her purpose, doing what she's doing, it means I don't have to remain in a place of self pity. So that is my success impacting another person's life. You get my point. So when I, when I come to when I when I really understood what life is really about, um, like, I don't just want enough, I wanted all, everything, that it's mine, everything, I want it all because it's not just about me, I got to understand life is not just about me. So that is why, you know, when you were talking, I'm like, That is so true. That is really true. So now

Kennedy Gates:

Just to add to that, before you go to another question, yeah, we are never an island, we are always connected, you're becoming somebody is will help a lot of people in the process. Because to become that person that you want to become, you have to provide a service, you have to sell something, which means people are benefiting from you becoming the higher version of you, you cannot just become successful and wealthy out of the blue, it has to come through some form of service, or some exchange. And in that process, you are impacting people's lives while growing. So when you get there, yes, you will be a weapon that God can use to impact other people. But in the process of getting there, you provide services and help to a lot of people. So by not reaching out to be the best version of you, you deprive all those people who would have benefited from your journey from getting what they get,

Grace Oben:

and be yourself and be yourself. Because most of the time, the mistakes sometimes that we make us some people make is just, oh, I want to get this, I want to get the and they don't pay attention to the process, to who they become in the process of achieving. You get my point. And I like how you spoke about self development that how you invest in yourself. And sometimes people see the finished product, or they see the result. But they have no idea what the process has been. And most of the time, that's why sometimes people approach you. And they say, Oh, how did you do it? And then when you start trying to tell them the process? Come on, man, come on. Just Just tell me what was the secret sauce? Just come on. Just tell me who did you meet? What did they give you? And then when you try to tell them that these results you see, didn't come overnight. It was a process. I had to invest in myself. I had to read books. I had to take courses, I had to hire coaches to become this person I have become or to have all this resort. And sometimes people want a shortcut. They want you to give them the short version. You know there is no shortcut in this thing, right? You have to you have to invest in yourself. You know, and that's why always people always give an example of people who win lottery you know how the winning and then they lose money without we know time and that's the difference between someone who went through the process of becoming a millionaire. That's where the difference is. Because in that process, you develop skills you, you, you become wise, you got to know people, you you got you build connection, right, you have a framework, you have framework that coaches taught you. But then you came up with your own framework. And no matter what happened, you can go back to that drawing or use use it yourself, I've done this, I can do this. Because why you have a process, you have a framework, you can always go back to and rebuild or build something else. Right. So I really am with you 100% on that investment, self development, a part self discovery, because then you become that person that it doesn't matter where you find yourself, it doesn't matter what happens. You always wake up dust yourself, and pick up from where you stopped and move on. Right?

Kennedy Gates:

Absolutely.

Grace Oben:

So let's talk about mindsets, and belief system. So what does mindset and belief systems play in all of this?

Kennedy Gates:

I would say mindset is one of the most important things when we start realizing that we are not this body. Right? I'm not, this body doesn't represent me because even if you were to cut up my hand or cut on my leg, I would still feel like i It's me. When I was when you wake up in the morning and your body doesn't feel good, you don't call the office and say, Well, my this body is not, it's the you it's actually not the body, it's the cell that is inside and that cell is non physical. And the best way to call that self is to call it a mind. And that mind has been conditioned since we were born. The time we were born, we got conditioned by our environment, by the things we heard, by the belief systems by the traditions, the cultures, the people in our lives, the family members and everything. So when you've been conditioned that way, and you've come up to this stage, and you realize that, yes, it worked at that point, but where you're going might need a different version of you, you need that transformation. And that transformation does not mean changing your body or your hairstyle, it means changing the person inside. And that person is the mind. So mine is like a material that is cloud like and how that mind is arranged is called mindset how it is set up. Right. And so to have a new mindset, you have to get new information, because every time you get information, your mind rearranges in a particular way. And if you can repeat that pattern, it forms a habit, we're all creatures of habit. So mindset, to me is one of the key factors because it transforms somebody to become that person before the event happens to them. Mindset is one of the most powerful things I know, we're still studying the mind and how it works, I have been testing a lot of things. And the mind is something infinite. The more you study it, the more you know yourself, the more you go into personal awareness, the more you can use it. So people who live live at a superficial level, have no idea about that mind and how to control it, and how to mold it in a way that it works for you. They just know that they live life and follow all the physical rules. But once you start taking control this mind you can create a lot of things I have personally tested that power of the mind many times and that's why I tried to teach mindset and financial literacy now to show people that this thing has been brought to a scientific level where you can test it and prove it not just a random thing. So to me mine, understanding the human mind, understanding how the mind is set is wired, which is called mindset is one of the key factors to becoming who you wanted. Did I answer the question?

Grace Oben:

Absolutely. That's so true. Because like you rightly say, You it you have to do the change your idea in the mind. You know, without the transformation in there. Every other thing remains the same like the popular court that says you can do the same thing over and over expect a different result. You get my point. And I always say to people, and there's one one thing about transforming the mind or renewing the mind. And I say to people that it's not something it's more like that A book you read and you cram. It's something that, as you said, when you expose yourself to new information, and then you allow your mind, your brain, everything to process everything, it's a gradual process, you can move from thinking that money is a bad thing. Every person who is rich is a bad person or Jeep someone to overnight start thinking, Oh, money is a great thing, people, not every rich person, Jeep someone, it's a process, you expose yourself to that new information, as you rightly say, right. And then you give yourself time to adjust to transition from this, this old way of thinking to this new way of thinking. And our belief systems, as you say, has so much to do with it. Right? It's all together, I say to people that failure, it's a feedback. When you do something, and you fail. That is a feedback that you're receiving. You know, some people think, oh, when they fail, they're a loser. When they fail, they give up when they fail. They're like, I knew this was not gonna work. I was just, I don't even know what I was thinking, thinking I could do it as well. No. Failure is a kind of feedback. So what is happening is that the feedback you get is, is there something I'm missing?

Grace Oben:

Um, maybe, maybe there's something I didn't do, right? Maybe there's an information I'm missing, maybe there's a skill I'm missing. Maybe there's someone I'm missing on my team. It's a thing back. It's not, it's not a bad thing. It just said, go back and do more work, do some research, do some finding, do some more reading. Right. So that's why I tell people I say failure is a feedback bed. Because most people they think when they do something I didn't work out. It means they they failed. And it's a terrible thing. I knew it. I had this friend who said, Who is it when we play the game, and then when it's her turn, when she plays and she finishes it, I have told you people that this thing is not my thing. I knew I was going to be the only one was gonna face it. That's a confession right there. That's a confession right there. Now you should be thinking, Okay, what am I missing? In this game? What are they doing that I am not doing? Right? What are they doing right? That I'm not doing right. And then pay attention to what the other person is doing what the other people are doing. And see what they're doing that probably you are missing, when not to just give up? Right? So I just wanted to throw that in there.

Kennedy Gates:

It all comes down to it all comes down to that mindset. Mindset is like, like glasses that you were, you see, to be able to see problems as opportunities for you to learn to be able to see failure as an opportunity for you to learn something new and get better. You need that mindset, which is like those glasses, I'm saying you Take glasses off, you see things even though you wear them like oh, this thing was here, I wasn't seeing it. When you have that mindset you see life differently. You see opportunities in problems, you see opportunities in failure, then that's how you tackle them. So mindset, as like you said, it comes down to that mindset to be able to face life with that positive outlook to realize that every opportunity, every problem, every situation has a positive side of it. Cool.

Grace Oben:

That's a beautiful, you know, you said, to have the mindset where you see opportunity in a problem. You know, it just reminded me of what my pastor said one time, he said, Do you want to succeed, look for a human need and meet it, you will never go wrong. Right? It just is just the same way you just put it in a in a different way that when you have the right mindset, you will see opportunities in problem. So Ken, what is the most courageous decision you've made that significantly impacted your life? Business or your business, your life or your business? Okay. Cool. I was coming to Canada.

Kennedy Gates:

I wasn't well, coming to Canada was a tough decision. And I always say I admire every immigrant. My My teaching is not just for immigrants, but I always have that. That portion that goes to immigrant and the reason I say so is because immigrants are people who at some point in their lives, had to press the reset button to go back to zero and start again. That's how I see an immigrant I see an immigrant, as somebody who leaves everything behind their home, their environment, they all the beautiful things they admire, and then takes on a new unknown life, pressing the reset button. And when you learn at that airport with those two bags of 23 kilograms, there's nothing else you have except a dream, to realize that dream. And that's why I feel so passionate talking about immigrants, because these people when they arrive, I mean, when we arrive with nothing, but those two languages and that dream in the hand, it's a lot of sacrifice already. And to end up again, to end up with another, another life that is not worthy of what we sacrifice to me as it's painful. And I know a lot of people end up with situations that have been worse than what they left before coming. And if I could push myself and get here, I want to see many other immigrants catch up, and then take advantage of the opportunities that they don't see if they are willing to transform that mindset. So as much as that is so heavy, my biggest sigh sacrifice, he talked about the most courageous thing I've done, most courageous

Grace Oben:

decision you've made that significantly impacted your life and your business or your business.

Kennedy Gates:

Yeah, as much as traveling here was the most courageous, and that was courageous enough, the most courageous in my opinion, was making a decision to train myself to be enough for me and stand by myself and do it. You see, it takes a lot of courage to do that. It takes a lot of courage not to have that support system. Like I say, we are humans that love identity, we don't want to be alone, we want to identify with the community, we want to identify with the culture, being alone is something so scary to most human beings. And that's why in the past, when they wanted to torture people from a village or clan, all they did was exile them. That's all they had to do. And that person being disconnected from the community felt mentally tortured, that some of them died in exile, not because they lacked food, not because they lack water. But being alone is something that humans are afraid of many people. Yeah, and so we want to identify with a community, or a group, or something. So to me, I realized that I built the the courage to be able to realize that I am enough, I can do it all by myself, and stood my ground and did it. And that was also an advantage. Because when you stand by when when you stand by yourself, you don't have that influence of the group, you're malleable at that point, you can take any direction because you're like neutral. So as much as it was courageous, when I look, I see it as an advantage to. So it helped me to let go easily of those old habits of the old me, because the group wasn't there for me to identify with anymore. Right. So to me that was it took a lot of courage, it took a lot of moments of feeling alone and lonely. I had to overcome that through a lot of practices and stuff. And when I look back at Siena, I see it as a superpower now, because I'm very comfortable being older me doing my thing running my business by myself, I don't get I mean, many people go into business partnership, let me say this, many people go into business partnership, because they are afraid to do it alone. They want to share the risk with somebody. I've coached people in businesses, they always say we want to do a joint venture one a partner, and its outcomes, not because they cannot do it, but they feel insufficient. They feel like they cannot stand by themselves. They want to share the risk with somebody. And once you feel complete, and you feel enough to do what you want to do. Anybody else who adds unto you at what they're also bringing, and it leads to more success instead of feeling that you need somebody to fill up that gap so you can be successful. So in

Grace Oben:

the middle of in the middle of all of that, how how were you able to remain focused, how are you able to stay focused and motivated because it can be really challenging, you know, starting up a business, you know, going through the whole, you know, process, you know, sometimes you make those phone calls, nobody returned the call. Sometimes you send that email, nobody said anything. Sometimes you went to this networking event you made the space proceed, had this amazing conversation Are you like, Yes, this is the, you know, I have found someone that we you know, and then before you know stories of that story to get busy with other things that are not available, or they change your mind, how were you able to stay, you know, focus and may have motivated in the middle of the challenge grow, you know, building yourself and building a business all by yourself,

Kennedy Gates:

I was able to do that by, first of all, becoming my own mentor, becoming my own cheerleader becoming I mean, creating a new routine, a new system of putting myself on track I, when I coach people in business, I sometimes tell people that when you are in a business, I would use an example network marketing, or online business, you always have a team of people working with you. They hire a lot of great mentors, you have zoom meetings, you have coaching, you have assignments and things to do. And that supports you to grow the business. When I train people in business, in most cases like a homecare business, I tell them that I'm not going to be there, to give you those lessons all the time to coach you to have those mindset calls and stuff. I want to light the fire in you with the hope that you can keep that fire burning by yourself becoming self reliant. And once you become self reliant, a mentor, a coach, and it's an add on to what you're already building. I'm sure you've coached people, you've realized that you cannot really coach somebody who's not ready, who's who doesn't think they can do it. All your effort will go in vain, said to me, being self reliant, being able to develop new ways of doing things, I've practiced mantras. Sometimes I would make jokes with people, like, if you see me talking to myself, because I'm self employed, I could be having an executive meeting with me and the other me, you see, because it's me running the whole show, I don't have a team that I have this thing. But so I had to practice new habits, new, new things to do on a daily basis. Sometimes in the mornings, I converted I like I knew I needed a lot of books to keep me on track. But sometimes I don't have time to read those books. Because life is so busy. We all have 24 hours in a day and you have to sleep you have to do this. So I cut out a lot of things in my life, so that I can focus on the things that will get me going, for instance, for many years now, I've not had cable TV in my house, and I never miss it. Because I don't have the time to sit and watch cable TV. Right? I converted, I realized that I need to be reading those books because I need to stay on track. But how do I create the time to sit and read a book, I realized that I drive about one hour every day, I drive a lot like 15 minutes here, 20 minutes here, 30 minutes here, 15 minutes back, when I add up all the time, it's about an hour. So I converted my driving time to learning time, I converted my school into a learning university. So I've got all the apps and the audio books and everything. The moment I get in my car, I put an audiobook and if I'm driving to that destination for 20 minutes, by the time I get there, I have learned a lot of things I have refreshed my mind. So those books, those coaching those things became like my guide to keeping me on track. And I

Grace Oben:

was gonna I was gonna ask you what specific routines and rituals you do, but I think you you already started answering but is there other more or more routines and rituals that you do as well to really, to really stay focused and rejuvenate and keep you know, just keep going without getting exhausted?

Kennedy Gates:

I would say my rituals or my routine that keeps me on track is constant personal development. I have a desire, I'm a student at life I want to learn something new every day. I want my mind to be open reading books and audiobooks and and listening to mentors and motivational things. It's already a habit, but you to develop a new habit you have to do it over and over so that your body now recognizes it as a habit. Exercise is something that really plays a huge part in my success. And every time I could somebody I tell them, do you work out? Do you exercise? Do you have a gym membership? Even if you have it and you're using How can I get you to exercising? I realized that exercise is not just for the physical body. It's for the mind and the soul. It has worked for me somehow I realized that when you work out, it's like a reset on your body. When you sweat out in that moment. It's a mindfulness moment. because you tend to forget everything and you will focus on that workout. And by the time you come back to life, it's like your brain took a break, doing some other thing and came back. So to me, exercise gives me mental strength. And mental strength is what you need in business and in life. And the side benefit of it is maybe being in shape physically and stuff, but the biggest thing for me from exercise is the mental strength that I get from it. And then mantras, spirituality, I have had to deepen my spirituality over the years, because I realized that every successful person has a strong spiritual component. And so, you cannot go through all this without having something driving you that is non physical. Because when this body starts getting tired, when the things around you start crumbling, you need something to encourage you and get you up to go. So if I will talk about the things that my new habits is practicing new spiritual habits, having a routine in the morning, that will set my day having a routine and nighttime before going to bed, because I noticed that my I don't want my nights and my sleep to just be random, I now control them before I even go to bed. Working out, just surrounding yourself with positive things and positive people.

Grace Oben:

I love that I am a huge fan of exercise shear. And sometimes people when you talk of exercise and people think of gym only you have there is gym, but also there are exercises that will cost you nothing, like most of the time because my, my schedule is so tight, going to the gym is almost like kind of challenges sometimes for me. So what I do is I just do I just exercise at home, there are tons of YouTube videos like this, as long as you have a device, when I send you a phone or whatever tablet you can access you to. And that's mostly 95% of the time when I'm exercising, I'm using YouTube, once in a while go in, you know, go do some, you know, kickboxing, or whatever and stuff like that. But most of the time I stay home do my exercise in my living room. You know, and and I think you talk about spirituality and it's so important. You know, and sometimes people when they hear about spiritual when once is used the word, once you start talking about spiritual aspect, you're like, Oh, we're just having just meditating is a spiritual exercise, like you said, positive proclamation or positive affirmation of cause followed by some inspired actions, because those ones alone will not do anything. When you are you confess those states that you head out, right, you send that email, you make that phone call, you go to that events, you go to that office, and whatever the case is, right? And I think those are so good, because I'm a huge fan to have that. And it's it's amazing when he talked about how when you you, you buy books, but then you think it okay, you need time to sit and read those books. You know, I love reading. Like when I order book, a book from Amazon, I look forward to you know, when a child looks forward to their favorite writer. I love it. Because of books, I subscribe the prime Amazon, just because of because when I order a book, I want it like yesterday in front of my doors. Yeah, right? Absolutely. Then I kind of realized, oh my god, it takes time for me to sit and actually read those books. And then also I decided that you know what, there's audio book when I'm driving a plate and I listen to it, you know, and also like, the inspirational vigils and all those things. Those are they used to wander into my car. The first thing I do is just put on my select one of my motivational videos. So audio, I put it on audiobook until I get to my destination. I cause it when I get in the car. Yeah, gotcha. And those are things that sometimes people don't think when you talk about reading like oh my gosh, I don't have time. Yeah, you might not have time, but what do you do with the time you drive? Right? Your mind is picking your subconscious mind is been has been transformed. These are happening. You're listening over and over. These are happening. And it's amazing. Sometimes you even listen to it like there's something so I'll say that I'll be posit. When I get to chapel outpost, I'm like I want this to sink. Right? I just want this to just sink I want to process what they just said, you know, right, he's like, you want to say something more.

Kennedy Gates:

No, I was just saying that's exactly what I do. I play and I really bring it back. And sometimes I can control the speed. So I really listen and digested, I explained that driving is something we do not with our conscious minds, because you've driven a lot, it becomes automatic. That's why you can drive from your office to your home. And I asked you what happened at that junction, and you don't even remember how you pass there. The driving is something that your body does automatically, you only consciously take over driving when the light changing, or somebody comes up when your conscious mind cams, which means that in that moment, you can actually listen to something and absorb it, because it's your automatic system that is driving the car. That's why we listen to music and enjoy when we're driving. And I realized that when you listen to a book, whenever you're driving, you still absorb it so well. And so I did not need a specific time to, to, to listen to that book, and talk about YouTube, a lot of audiobooks are free on YouTube. People don't just know that they're there. Right. And so by me taking advantage of these free things, and then turning this moment, I've read a lot of books, and continue reading them. I have this idea when I tell people, if you want to be successful, spend time with successful people. And the question they asked me is, but how do I find successful people, because in our society, you don't know who's successful and who's not successful, everybody appears to be doing fine. And one thing I've always told them is that the best way to spend time with a successful person is to read the book. Because when somebody becomes successful, people like to share knowledge, like what we're doing, we're we're sharing, when somebody becomes successful, they take the best of them and put in a book. And if you buy that book, and at the moment, when you're reading that book, you are spending time with that person. If you're reading Michelle Obama's book, at that moment, when you're reading, it's like your list, you're hearing her, especially if you've ever seen her on TV, at that moment, you hear her voice talking through that book. So the more books you read, the more time you've spent, because your mind doesn't know the difference between an actual person you're spending time with and the voice, you're listening on an audio record. So by the time you read those books, you're indirectly spending time and sharing the lifestyles of successful people. So it's a win win, it wins both parties. For me, it

Grace Oben:

is. And I just like you said, I always also tell people that who do you admire? At the beginning, when you were you were talking, you said, you read a lot of books, you, you follow a lot of successful people, you don't want to live their life, but you are inspired by them. And that's that's the thing. I mean, they have their destiny, they have their life. They you get inspired by their work, their wisdom, their knowledge. And I always say to people that, you know, who is that person that you really admire? That you so admire? Find out? Do they have a book? Have they written the book, buy the book? Write it? Do they have I don't know a show? Find out, go take the time, find out who this person is for true or they won't have the time to they have an online course? Do they have a coaching program? Right. And that's where you start, you start reading their book, if they had their they have a book or whatever it is, because as you rightly say, when there's a level of success that you achieve, or you attain, that your desire is to give back is to put it into something, it could be in a book, a show, an online course. Whatever that case is, I always say Who do you really admire? That you can just sit and listen to nonstop find out if they have a book buy it? Because then you that's the best way to benefit from that person. That person's knowledge, right?

Kennedy Gates:

Yeah, absolutely. I like that. Thank you.

Grace Oben:

So have you encounter resistance from others regarding your pursuit of your dream life? And how did you handle them?

Kennedy Gates:

Absolutely, I'm sure we've all encountered resistance in our in some form or the other. I've encountered resistance I continue to encounter resistance. Yeah, I'm gonna be personnel here. Yeah. You get resistance from almost everybody around you. When you start leveling up when you start growing and that's the that comes down again to mindset you have to build that mindset because without that mindset, when those resistance is common, you You won't give up at some point. And so, to me, I had trained myself, I had gone through a lot of personal transformation, so I knew it was going to be there. And I've studied every successful person. I've seen how many haters they have have Soham, I've seen how many betrayals they've been through. Take, for instance, any successful person said Beyonce. If you go online and see Beyonce, Beyonce has millions of haters blaspheming her every day, looking for everything to bring her down. But on the other side, she also has millions of lovers and people who cheer her up unwanted, that the product success. Success comes with resistance, and people who are going to see the value in what you're doing and grow up with you. And sometimes this resistance that's in my case has come mostly from people who are the closest to me, family members, close friends, people who are supposed to be from background on every thing. And I understand sometimes I understand why there is this resistance, the resistance comes because one that person had known you before. And so they keep seeing you through the lens of that old for that person they knew. So it's it doesn't don't tell them that you've grown. It's like having a kid. And then the kid becomes an adult, but you keep seeing them like that little child, and you want to treat them the same way as the baby. And now they've grown. So when the resistance comes from close people, I see it as they seeing me through or them seeing me through the old lens, and having a hard time believing that I have leveled up, and I could help them level up with me. The other part is that you become so familiar, that they don't expect that the solution that they're looking for could be coming from you who is so close to them, they will succeed in searching for it far away. And it's one of the reasons when the Prophet said that you would not be accepted in your own hometown on your village. You see, it's the resistance because when people don't accept you, they resist you. And I had to learn how to stand, learn how to be enough by myself, and realize that many people will not come on this boat, they will actually try to sabotage it. But that's part of the process. Because every successful person I have studied, has mastered dealing with haters, people who would want to bring them down or just resist what they're doing a quote an example, you organized an event, it's free, you think people are going to take advantage and the room itself full. But regardless, they not need the knowledge. They know they need it. But there's still that resistance in them. Because of these points I just mentioned. Yeah. Right. But if we were to have a party and then play some good music, drink a lot of alcohol, get the $45, that room would be full. Listen to some music we already know. Thanks all night, drink alcohol just to get hangover the next day, and you have a jam packed room. It's the understanding that that resistance is natural. And you have to keep doing what you're doing people who catch the vision who realize that are going to come, you're not going to save the whole community, you're going to save the few people who really truly want to level up. And so that keeps me going. So when I have an event or something if 10 people show up, I have a blast with 10 people. If 100 people show up, I have a blast with 100. But resistance, negativity people trying to draw you back should not stop you. If they stop you then you've not really molded yourself into that and superior person.

Grace Oben:

That's such, you know, you have to get to that point where your vision your dream become like a burden that you have to take care of. You know, I remember years ago, I don't know probably six years ago, several years ago, I attended one women's events, one called Women conference and one of the speakers. She shared something and even when she was sharing it and I mean she was saying this pin has been like maybe 20 or 30 years. The way she was sharing you could still feel the emotion in her voice. She said she wanted just got an idea to start her own tea company. And she was so excited about this idea like that was like I mean, this was like six years ago or seven years ago, when I went attended this conference and when she was sharing she was saying it was almost like 25 years From the time she was sharing, and she says she's got this great idea, she said the excitement was just out of the moon. And she went to her husband. She was like, telling her husband with this excitement how she wants to start her own C Company C brand, and stuff like that, how he was gonna go big and she doesn't know all the information. She doesn't know everything. Yeah, but she, she has a good feeling about it, like hug. Her heart tells her that this thing is gonna work. She said when she was done telling her husband and she literally said, What do you say? Her husband? Look at her say? That's the most stupid idea.

Kennedy Gates:

Yeah, and believe me, that story happens more often than we can even imagine. It happens a lot in households. Is it?

Grace Oben:

Wasn't this the most stupid idea I've ever heard? How you're gonna start see brand? Like, are you kidding me? Like, who's gonna? She said today, when she was sharing, she said, when she think of David's Tea, she takes off Teavana she thinks of all this brand. Yeah, she said, she's just thinking she would have been one of them. She said about the who's gonna leave, see the grocery store that is sold for two $3 to go buy some brand tea. Like she said, every time she thinks of it, she said, you could still get emotion in her voice. So I think that's why I always tell people that when you have a dream, your dream, your vision is like a pregnancy. You know, and a pregnancy is something that you protect, you protect from, from so many things, you're mindful of what you eat you mindful of what you drink. Once a woman gets to know that she's pregnant, she start protecting that pregnancy, she will no longer drink this will not shave it. She said Be mindful of the way she sleeps, she lie on the bed, you know, her whole life now becomes every decision she makes every choice she makes. It's, it's it's surrounding the pregnancy, it has to be good for the pregnancy. It has to be something that will benefit. You know, and it's the same to with our dreams, our vision, we just have to like you said, You just had to say I'm just gonna do this. You know, and sometimes those friends and loved one, they're coming from a place of love. And the way I think about it, I think of it is I say the dream was not given to them. So it's okay, they can see it. If it's okay. To pet. It's okay. If they think it doesn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense to them. It's not their dream. The vision was not given to them. So they couldn't see it. What I saw, did they I saw that vision, they did not see it. So where they are coming from they're coming from where they are. I'm talking about what I have seen. I know how I felt when that dream dropped in my spirit and that vision with that idea. They don't know they didn't feel it. So it's okay, if they can see what I see. It's okay, if they disagree with me. It's okay. They think it's stupid. It's okay. They think it doesn't make sense. And that is how I see we got the mistake. Sometimes we do is we get upset with those friends or loved ones. And like oh, you standing in my way. And this. I know people who've been called their parents devil demon. You stand in my way or no, they are not bad people. They are no demons. They are no devil. They are no. They will get the set and get behind me. No, no. The way it's the way we should be looking at is like, Hey, it's okay. You don't have to see what I see. You didn't, it's not to you that it was given it was given to me. So if it doesn't make sense to you, it's okay. I understand why it shouldn't make sense to you.

Kennedy Gates:

Right? And I love that you put and I love that that sometimes they do it out of love. Yeah. Because they are not in the same position you are. So when you are not in that inspired mood. You want to protect you right? So they are coming from a point of survival. They want to protect you because they see the risk in what you're about to do. They see what can go wrong, what can happen and they're trying to protect you to see what you can lose. And because they are not in that mindset, they see all these possible negatives and things that could go wrong and they are trying to protect here's like a mom protecting your child so much, and preventing the child from exploring the world, the mom is acting from point of love, but the point of love that restricts the child from developing into somebody else. So sometimes these people are not to be hated, you just have to understand their point of view their level of awareness, and see that they actually love you, although they don't want you to do that. And it's because when they are in the survival mode with where it's protection, they want to protect you. They see all the things that could go wrong. So I love the fact that you mentioned that the resistance actually could come from a point of love, and you get so frustrated that they are not supporting you, or they're trying to kill your dream.

Grace Oben:

So, Hannah, like we could go on and on and non stop. So if someone wants to find you, how can they find you?

Kennedy Gates:

My name is Kennedy Gates. I'm getting a little popular now. So if you were to Google Kennedy Gates, I'm sure you will see five items about me. So I am Kennedy Gates. I am Kennedy Gates on Facebook. I'm Kennedy gates on Instagram on Kennedy Gates on Tiktok. And if you went to my Tiktok, I'm just saying to anybody watching this. It's a fun place. It's a place where I have a lot of fun. The content is quite different from Facebook and others. So I am Kennedy Gates, I can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tik Tok, Google, as Kennedy Gates, and of course, I'm building Rise and shine, university. So if you were to email me at Rise and shine University, it would simply be kennedy.g@riseandshineuniversity.com And yeah, the book. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention the book. How could we forget that? I just released a book. And it's all about mindset. My book is called pathway to prosperity. And it's because deep in my core, I know that there are two that you need to master if you want to get to prosperity, prosperity, reverse live. And these two things are financial literacy, and a mindset. Why financial risk because money was created by a group of people. Money is created by an institution and they have rules and regulation. You cannot play soccer without knowing the rules that are involved in a soccer game. So you need to study money, understand money, that's financial literacy. The mindset is, how your mind is wired, your attitude, your behavior, how you align yourself to magnetize the things that you want. So to me the secret combo to building a prosperous life is understanding money and building the right mindset. So I took those two items, and I put it in a book. And I released the book and the book is called pathway to prosperity. So you want to get pathway to prosperity. You can have it on my rise and shine University platform. It's now available on amazon.com. You just googled or just type pathway to prosperity by Kennedy gate and you will see it thank you grace for bringing about

Grace Oben:

okay, I told you guys that he's pregnant with wisdom, knowledge and whatever you can imagine. So that was Kennedy Gates. And he is amazing. So again, it's your girl Grace Oben and see you next week and Magnetize have an amazing day. Bye.

Kennedy Gates:

Thank you, Grace. Bye bye.

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