Mick Unplugged - Leveraging Your Zone of Genius with Amina AlTai
Episode Date: December 15, 2025Amina Altai is an acclaimed coach, healer, best-selling author, and purpose whisperer who has transformed burnout into brilliance and career chaos into conscious clarity. With clients ranging from exe...cutives at Google and Deloitte to leaders across industries, she’s redefining what success looks like for mission-driven individuals. Amina’s work centers on the intersection of body, mind, and career, and her latest book, The Ambition Trap, dives deep into healing our relationship with ambition and fostering purposeful success. Passionate about justice, equity, and helping others live into the fullness of their experience, she’s a powerful advocate for breaking systemic barriers and nurturing authentic careers. Takeaways: Purposeful vs. Painful Ambition: Ambition isn’t inherently bad—Amina distinguishes between painful ambition, driven by our core wounds, and purposeful ambition, which is rooted in our truth and wholeness. Interconnection of Body, Mind, and Career: True success isn’t just career achievements—it’s about aligning your work, values, and well-being, allowing space for cycles of growth and restoration. Zone of Genius is for Everyone: Every person has a zone of genius. When organizations and individuals tap into these innate strengths rather than focusing on relentless urgency, both burnout decreases and performance soars. Sound Bites: "Ambition is just a desire for growth or a wish for more life—and that’s inherent in every living thing on the planet, from our human babies to our plant babies." “There are times in our lives where we need new roots. So it feels like a burning down, but it’s actually a rebuilding.” “Success should include your body being well…that should be each of our birthrights.” Connect & Discover Amina: Website: aminaaltai.com Instagram: @aminaaltai LinkedIn: @aminaaltai Podcast: Amina Change Your Life TikTok: @theaminaaltai Book: The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living 🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥 Mick Hunt’s BEST SELLING book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers. 👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million FOLLOW MICK ON: Spotify: MickUnplugged Instagram: @mickunplugged Facebook: @mickunplugged YouTube: @MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: @mickhunt Website: MickHuntOfficial.com Apple: MickUnplugged Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Canada's Wonderland is bringing the holiday magic this season with Winterfest on select nights now through January 3rd.
Step into a winter wonderland filled with millions of dazzling lights, festive shows, rides, and holiday treats.
Plus, Coca-Cola is back with Canada's kindest community, celebrating acts of kindness nationwide with a chance at 100,000 donation for the winning community and a 2026 holiday caravan stop.
Learn more at canadaswunderland.com.
Get you and your crew to the big shows with GoTransit.
Go connects to all the main concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto.
And Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fairs.
A one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel across the network on any weekend day or holiday for just $10.
And a weekday group pass offers the same weekday travel flexibility from $30 for two people and up to $60 for five.
Buy yours at gotransit.com slash tickets.
What happens when ambition stops serving your purpose and starts draining your peace?
And today on Mick Unplug, I sit down with my really good friend, Amina Altai, an executive coach, author of the ambition trap, and one of the leading voices on purpose-first leadership.
We impact the mindset shift that you need to go from painful ambition to purposeful ambition.
We talk about the toll of success that doesn't serve you.
And at the end, in our quick five, we talk about her favorite brand of peanut butter.
It might surprise you.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present my good friend,
Mr. Amina Altai.
You're listening to Mick Unplugged,
hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt.
This is where purpose meets power
and stories spark transformation.
Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning,
helping you discover your because
and becoming unstoppable.
I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me,
you're in the right place.
Let's get unplugged.
Meena, how are you doing today, dear?
Oh, my gosh.
Thank you so much for having me.
I need to bring you everywhere with me.
That was just the ultimate hype train.
That was incredible.
No, no, no.
It's all true.
It's all who you are.
I mean, I've been a really big fan of yours.
One of my favorite authors of all time,
and we're going to talk about the books in a little bit.
But I love starting the episode off by asking my guest,
what's there because?
That thing that's deeper than your why that really
keeps you going. So far to say today, Amina, what's your because? Yeah. I love that you ask that
question because it's so beautiful. But my because is I have this belief that those of us that
are called to purpose driven work are actually driving toward our version of Dr. King's beloved
community. And so my because is I want to create my version of Dr. King's beloved community where
we center justice, peace and equity. And everybody gets to live into the fullness of their
experience because imagine what kind of world we'd live in if we all had that. I love it. And I mean,
I was so excited to get to ask you that question, right? Because a lot of my guests, a lot of my
family, you know, our because centers around like our children or, you know, some of the things
that we do, sometimes even our pets. But Amina, you're not the cat lady. You're the, you're the
plant lady. Talk about your love of plants and all the really cool things that you do.
with your children? Oh my gosh. Well, I have to tell you kind of like a sad story. So oftentimes
people will see this plant in the background of my recordings. His name is Herm. I've had him for
nine years. He was a giant Monsterra. And when I first got him, I carried him home on the subway.
That's how small he was. He was, you know, carry him in your arms. And then he grew to like seven
feet tall. But over the course of the last year, he wasn't doing so well. So I thought, okay,
let me replant him. He'd gotten so big. I thought maybe he needs a bigger container. And I replanted
him. Well, actually hired someone to replant him because he was too big for me to do it. And then
after the person replants him, they're like, oh, I've never worked with this plant before. I hope it
doesn't die. And I was like, what? What now? So fast forward, basically, Herm doesn't do so
well in the transplant. But now I'm propagating him. So I took nine cuttings and I'm actually
propagating it into a new plant that I will put back together. But I do love my plant children and
I just had a very, really hard experience. But I thought it was a metaphor. I was like,
Herm outgrew the pot, and he got too big, and he needed new roots.
And I feel like that's such an important metaphor for all of us.
There are times in our lives where we need new roots.
So it feels like a burning down, but it's actually a rebuilding.
So that's the metaphor I'm running with with this.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love learning different things about you.
So it's kind of cool.
It's kind of cool.
I want to talk a little bit about the ambition trap.
Multiple time bestseller.
right? And for those that haven't written books, let me explain it to you. Like, bestsellers are like the previous weeks info, sales, and data. So it's not like you write a book and it's a bestseller forever. So one, this is how dynamic the book is because it's a multi-time bestseller, which is amazing, I mean, by the way. But let's talk about the reasoning and the logic behind wanting to put that book out. What was that? What was that concept like for you?
you. Yes. So the book is called The Ambition Trap, and I'm somebody that has deeply studied ambition for basically my whole life. I am the child of immigrants and really watched my dad struggle to kind of find his place in the world. And, you know, I picked up a lot of that programming too. I was told, like, keep your head down, work really hard, be the hardest working person in the room, first one in, last one out. And that worked for me until it didn't work for me. And I ended up getting very sick and getting two autoimmune diseases. But it happened in this really
fashion where my doctor called and was literally like, if you don't change your ways,
your days away from multiple organ failure, you have to shift whatever you're doing.
So I knew this was like six years into my marketing career at the time.
I had to change my relationship to ambition and success.
And eventually a few years after that, I went on to become a coach, but I had this front row
seat to other really ambitious people.
And most of my coaching practice are women and other historically excluded people.
And so I noticed that we all had this really tenuous relationship with ambition because we're told to take up space.
We're told to speak truth to power.
And then in the same breath, we're told not to.
So there's this push, pull, double bind, right?
This not good enough to taking up too much space.
And I saw all of us really rumbling with that.
And so I wanted to deeply study and explore ambition.
And I came up with this framework where I think ambition is neutral and natural.
It's just a desire for growth or a wish for more life.
And that's inherent in every living thing on the planet.
planet from our human babies to our plant babies. But we make it right for some people and wrong
for others. And there's two orientations of ambition. It can be painful, which is driven by our core
wounds. And that's when we have this insatiable desire to chase because we're coming from a place
of pain. And then my invitation in the book is to pivot into purposeful ambition that's connected
to our truth that's coming from a place of wholeness. And so that was the impetus for the book
and sort of be the thesis of it. I love it. And I want to go into that because you do talk about
painful and purposeful ambition. And so for those that are watching, those that are listening,
we have the expert here. I mean, how do you distinguish between painful ambition and purposeful
ambition? Yeah. So painful is driven by the core wounds. So there's five core wounds. And a
core wound is an initial injury of the psyche. It's sort of like an injury that happens in our
formative years that shapes us. And so those wounds are rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, and
injustice. And every single human has one. It's just a very human right of passage, even if you have
the best parents on the planet. Like you'll just emerge with one either from the playground or vicariously.
And as a result of the wounds who are a corresponding mask, so for example, if you have a rejection
wound, the mask you wear is avoidance or withdrawal. If you have a betrayal wound, the mask you
wear is control where you try to control everything. If you have an injustice wound, the mask you can
wear is rigidity or perfectionism. And when we build our ambition upon that, it's a bit of a house
of cards. And so painful ambition is driven by those core wounds, and it has a couple of
signatures. So it can look at, look like moving at unsustainable urgency, instrumentalizing our
minds and bodies to get to the goal, this desire to win no matter the cost. And no matter
the cost being the key fraser, because winning is lovely, right? But it's like when we're
willing to hurt ourselves and others to get there. It can look like black and white, either or
thinking. And then purposeful ambition, on the other hand, is it's more contentment based
versus that win no matter the cost. It's about being collaborative.
versus like hyper individualistic.
It's about honoring our needs versus hurting our body.
So sort of the opposite of the painful piece.
That's brilliant.
Like truly brilliant.
And it captivated me when I started reading the book,
you know,
obviously the title got me the ambition trap.
And I said,
wait a second.
Am I not supposed to be ambitious?
Like hold on.
And then going into the book,
you're like,
no,
but you need to understand the purpose behind the ambition.
But then you also talk.
about and highlight the interconnection of body, mind, and career.
And it really, really stuck with me because, you know, as a serial
entrepreneurs I like to be, I drive hard, right? Like I drive really hard.
I, my friends laugh because I know one speed and one speed only and it's like,
I'm never going to slow down. But the book did make me pause and it said,
okay, I may never change how hard I run or how fast I run, right? I may never do that.
But I can talk about this interconnection that you brought up so brilliantly in the book.
And so for those that are watching or listening, talk about that interconnection of body, mind, and career.
At Capital One, we're more than just a credit card company.
We're people just like you who believe in the power of yes.
Yes to new opportunities.
Yes to second chances.
Yes, to a fresh start.
That's why we've helped over four million Canadians get access to a credit card.
Because at Capital One, we say yes, so you don't have to hear another no.
What will you do with your yes?
Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca slash yes.
Terms and conditions apply.
I don't think we can separate ourselves, right?
I think so many of us are taught too, right?
Where a lot of us live as if there's this invisible line, you know, below our neck connecting
the mind and body, but they're one.
And so the thoughts that we have impact our body, our nervous system impacts our thoughts, right?
So all of these pieces are so intertwined.
And if we live our lives in a dominantly sympathetic or fight or flight state, we're going to have fight or flight thoughts.
It's also going to express as disease, right?
So when we're thinking about ambition and our careers and hard charging and all these things, we have to bring our minds and our nervous systems on the journey.
And it's exactly what you said.
It doesn't mean that we can't hard charge, but it means we need to work harmoniously with these things.
Let me give you an example.
You know, I think how we're taught about ambition is we think it's more for more sake all the time, right?
More money, more power, more achievements.
but I actually think it's cyclical, right?
So I think it goes in cycles.
So we have these seasons of growth where we, you know, I want to write a book.
I want a promotion.
I want to launch a new company, right?
And you nurture your inner and outer environment.
You have this beautiful peak moment, right?
Where if we're using the plant metaphor, it's like the petals come out.
It's gorgeous.
But then the seasons change and we wind down and we go back underground.
And so I think it is perfectly fine to sprint in the growth periods, right?
Like I cannot look you in the face and say that writing a book did not require me to sprint.
Because it absolutely required me to sprint.
And then, you know, after the push of the book coming out, I went back underground.
And I kind of nurtured myself again before I decided to rise and take aim again.
And I think allowing that cycle, allowing ourselves to be in right relationship with our bodies, as we are ambitious, is so important and really important for burnout prevention.
I needed that in the book because it was coming at the right time for me when I first read it.
as you know, right, speaking that you do, writing a book, the appearances.
And then, oh, by the way, you're also running businesses, right?
You have clients that you have to meet the demand of.
That's the part of the kids.
Like, we run whole businesses while doing this too.
Right.
And I'm like, you know, Amina and I have so much in common that your book was right there for me.
So how do you as a coach, right, as a leader of people, how do you guide your clients
and your peers?
to build careers that feel as good as they look.
Because, again, you go through this burnout.
I shouldn't say burnout.
You go through the sprinting stage, right?
And then everybody posts what they're doing on social media and it looks great.
But it should also feel good to you as well, too.
So how do you coach people through that?
Yeah, I love this question.
Well, first of all, we have to redefine success for ourselves, right?
Because I think a lot of us are conditioned to believe it's something else.
And anytime we're like success should look this way,
we're using the language of should, we're usually in somebody else's belief system, right?
It could be cultural. It could be familial. And I had all these ideas about what success should be
based on my immigrant parents and then realized, actually, I want something different for myself.
Success for me includes my body being well. I think it should for all of us, right? I think that should
be each of our birth rights. But so first of all, we have to reclaim success for ourselves and
redefine it for ourselves. And second of all, we really have to collaborate with our bodies and
our nervous systems. You know, I, I just had a birthday last week. And every year on my birthday,
thanks, I write myself a little note and I say open it the next year on your birthday. And it's funny
because I was reading last year's note that I wrote to myself. And one of the things that was at
the top of the list was, you know, I want ease for you. And when I thought about it, and I was like,
ease has been on the top of my list for so long. And I thought about it. And I was like,
you know what? I think I actually have achieved it. I was just thinking about it a little
differently. You know, in the past, I thought about ease as like, oh, you know, there's so much
spaciousness and, you know, I was thinking about it as a spaciousness, I think. And when I tuned
into it this year, I was like, oh, at the level of the nervous system, I do have ease, right?
I'm still sprinting. I'm still putting out a book. I'm still running a business, all of these
things. But the way that my nervous system experiences that is very different than the way that it
used to. It's more rest and digest around it versus fight or flight. And I just had that moment
about it recently. And so, you know, all of this is to say is we have to redefine success for
ourselves. And I think also finding that harmony at the level of the nervous system. But inside the
book, there's a five-part framework. And basically, I talk about how purposeful work and purposeful
ambition hinges upon five things. And it needs to leverage our zone of genius. It needs to
ensure that we're operating in a space that where values aligned, that we're connected to the impact
that we want to have, whether that's our family, community, or the greater good, that our needs are met,
and that's a big one, and that we're cultivating a sense of contentment.
And so when we've checked the box on all five of those things, we're usually flowing.
Wow.
That's what I'm glad I'm talking to you now.
Again, like all the things that I had questions or that I would highlight in the book,
like you're coming back and talking through them.
Again, being a big fan of yours, I heard or saw an interview where you were talking about
that zone of genius and how you'll work with people that are rock stars, superstars.
athletes. And they're like, yeah, but I don't think I really have that genius zone. I just work
hard, right? I'm going to work everybody and then this thing happens. But talk to us about just
that phenomenon a little bit that you're able to untap into people to help them understand.
No, everybody has some type of genius and you help us get that out. I love when people ask me
questions around the zone of genius because it is work that makes me so happy to talk about.
So the zone of genius is a term that was coined by Gay Hendricks, who wrote the book The Big Leap.
I highly recommend it.
It's one of my favorites.
And so I built upon this concept.
And I believe that all of us have a zone of genius.
And I think a lot of us operate in spaces and work in organizations where we're usually in service to one person's genius, but that creates a lot of toxic dynamics.
So in reality, everybody has a zone that they are off the charts brilliant at where we don't have to push force or effort.
It's just innate.
our gifts kind of flow in that space. And I always use the example of a child who's a musical virtuoso
because they come to the planet with that gift, kind of, right? But they have to keep honing it and
getting better at it to really, like, live into the genius. And that's available for all of us.
But I cannot tell you, I think it must happen in virtually every coaching session. I cannot tell you
how many people I've sat across from. And they are just incredible humans. And they will look at me and
say, I do not have a zone of genius. And I'm literally like looking at the gold medals in the background or
like, I see the 360 reviews that they get inside of their organization. And it's so clear to me.
But, you know, the way that we've come to understand genius, I think is part of the problem, right? We think
that it's only high IQ scores. We think that it's only STEM, right? And when I was researching for
the book, I traced the lineage of the word genius all the way back to ancient Rome. And it was often a
hero and rarely a hero. And there was a study that was done by 92nd Street Y and they found that
girls as young as six think that genius is a male trait. And so many of us have to reclaim that
word for us because we have these perceptions and ideas of what it looks like. But what I love about
each of us having a zone of genius is that it democratizes it, right? Then there's no above or below.
There's no power over because we each have a zone. And when we come together in it, that's where
we shift things. So how magical is that? It's like no one's genius is better than anybody else is
and we're all in service to each other. I just think that's like the best part.
of it. So what's Amina's genius? Okay. So I think that it is seeing other people's genius and that
sometimes I think sounds like a cop out. But the reason I can see other people's genius is because
of the way that I hold a container is something happens in the first session with all my clients where
I look over and I'm like, oh my God, I love this person because I see them fully. Right. That's my
gift is seeing other people fully. And then it's just so evident what their gift is from that place.
but it's because I look through the lens of love, I think.
Hmm.
Okay.
I won't count that as a cop-out.
I pick up what you're putting down.
I pick up.
I'm so glad.
I do think it is a gift.
And clarify, right, all of our zones of genius can be different.
Like sometimes they are more power skills.
Sometimes they're more hard skills.
It looks different for all of us.
There's no right or wrong way to genius.
Yeah.
I agree.
Can I ask what your zone of genius is?
I think I have a unique ability.
to see the path forward to make a result happen.
So I'm so results-oriented.
And I think I'm not unique.
I think there are a lot of results-oriented people.
What I think a zone of genius is for me
is the path to make the result happen.
I can usually identify really quickly.
That's cool.
There's like a level of clarity.
And I really love this body of work called human design.
And human design, they refer to it as the opportunist
in the way that your brain can connect the dots faster than anybody else is to get to the path.
And it's like, oh, when people's brain works that way, I'm just like, that's amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm able to quiet noise to see the path.
So, yeah, I think that's me.
I also think you're an amazing listener.
Oh, okay.
I'll take that.
I'll take that.
I'll take that.
So one of your other zones of genius is helping organizations break through.
through, I'm going to call it burnout culture, right?
And really putting the action behind it.
Because I think a lot of times your top, not your top A,
but your type A CEOs and C-suite leaders, right?
Again, it's that if I can do it, you can do it.
If I'm willing to work 12 hours a day,
then everybody on the team should be willing to work 12 hours a day.
Well, in 2025, 2026, that's not what the modern employee
actually looks for it. And modern leaders shouldn't want that either. Talk to us about just that,
getting rid of the burnout culture. Number one, why is it important? And then I think the most important
thing for the viewers and listeners, what's like the first or maybe top two changes that leaders need
to make to avoid burnout culture? You know, I think context is so important, right? Because like when
those CEOs are like, I work 12 hour days, I work 70 hour weeks, we're not thinking about the context of
their life, right? Oftentimes, they are making seven figures, multiple seven figures. Oftentimes,
they have vast support, both at home and at work, right? And then we're speaking to people that
make, let's say, less than six figures and don't have that level of support, right? So I think
context is so important. And so I think it's, you know, really challenging to say to somebody that is
in such a different and much more precarious situation than you to be like, be the hardest working
person in the room like me, because you're not the same. I think that's super important to say. And
And your second question was, how can we get rid of burnout?
Yeah.
What are the top two things or action items that leaders can do to start to break that cycle
of a burnout culture?
One of the things I think we can do that I think is a really positive thing to both for
the individual and the organization is focusing on the zone of genius, right?
Because if we are working in that space that we are off the charts brilliant at, what
we can contribute, usually far outpaces what others can contribute in that space and what we can
contribute in other zones. And so it just requires less energy and effort on the body,
and that in and of itself can shift burnout. And organizations like that, right, because we're not
saying like, hey, you know, shift to only working five hours a day or three days a week. We're
saying, actually, this pivot into your zone of genius will serve the individual and will serve
the organization. So I find that that's a really positive change and a great way to language it.
The other one that I have that, you know, I think sometimes is a tougher pill to swallow is the
the urgency culture. So much of the time we operate as if everything is urgent and it's actually
not true. Few things are urgent, right? And it's important for us to prioritize and address those
things. But if we operate as if everything is urgent and we're constantly sprinting, that has
such an impact on the body. And so I think shifting urgency culture is another really big one.
I agree with you, which is why, again, we have so much in common. You know, I'm a huge believer in the
Eisenhower matrix, right? Like you get task or you get things and you have.
have to quantify them. Is this thing urgent and important? Is it, is it urgent but not important?
Is it neither urgent nor important, right? And so that's what we do because for me, I think
the best way to achieve life is to work on things that are important, but not urgent, right? Like,
if we're constantly in a spot of putting out fires, then literally that's all we do. And then at
some point, you start just looking for fires to put out. And that becomes war, right? And so one of the
things that I work with leaders on is how do you avoid that trap of the person who's really good
at putting out fires at some point is just going to start finding fires? And then to everybody
else, they're not really fires. And so I'm a huge fan of what you just said, because I can relate
in that sense for sure. That was so brilliantly said.
And I think that I think I used to be that person.
Like when I think about my marketing career, I was so trained to put out fires.
Then I sought out the fires, right?
But then you become addicted to chaos.
And then you also can't access your higher level of thinking because you're just always in the chaos.
Yeah.
So I love how you language that.
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
You know, and I can't, I can't go a step further without also acknowledging something for you because what you don't know, Amina, is that,
my sister, one of my aunts, a couple of my female cousins really look up to you in the
work that you do.
You are such a barrier breaker and you help women who are facing, and these are my words
and my words only, so don't come at me with comments, but come at me because I'm a big
boy and I can handle it.
But you help people that are facing systemic issues or systemic expectations.
I'd love for you to talk about that journey a little bit and that passion that you have
because you really are so valuable.
You were so needed.
And I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you so much for saying that.
None of it is lost on me.
and especially the part about like your cousins and sisters all of it like it's just so meaningful to me
and it like this is what gets me up every single day is I want to be in service and support of these people
and the reason that I do it is that I think just very early on I realized like a lot of people realize right
the starting line is not the same for everybody and all of our experiences particularly in the workplace
are really different right it's not a meritocracy right and we experience a lot of harm as a result of it
And, you know, like, that's something that I really want to shift in my lifetime.
Like, how can we support a lot of these?
So most of my clients are the first, the few, the onlys.
So they are the first woman in leadership, the first person of color, the first queer
person, the first man of color, right?
And they experience so much headwinds as a result of that, right?
They have their very own glass cliff experiences where maybe they make it through the glass ceiling,
but then they get pushed off the proverbial cliff and they experience a lot of bias.
And it just requires a very particular lens and level of care to support those folks, right?
Because they are navigating systems that weren't designed for them to thrive.
And I think it's important that we have honest conversations about that.
And, you know, I think that we are making some headway, right?
I don't think fast enough.
We're making some headway, though.
And so it does give me hope, but we need more people that look like you that look like me in these spaces, right, that are making decisions for the global majority.
And so I just feel really impassioned about it.
And, you know, as a woman of color who has invisible disability, right, who's had my own experiences
like this, I just want things to feel different for folks because we spend more of our
heartbeats at work than we do anywhere else. It should feel really good. And it just feels so
broken for so many people. Again, can't thank you enough. Can't show you enough appreciation
and adoration for just who you are. So, so thank you. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. And thank you for all
of the amazing work that you do in the world. I think that you are killing it. I look up to you
so much and just so grateful that you would share your platform with me.
Stop all that. It's all good. It's all good. So I'm going to get you out of here on what I call
my quick five. So five rapid fire questions for me to get to know amina a little bit. Ready?
Mm-hmm. All right. Your favorite comfort food is?
Oh, I just had peanut butter. So that's top of mind. Oh, all right. So this is going to be a real
deal-breaking question right here. What's your favorite brand of peanut butter then?
Oh, I always get the Whole Foods organic one.
This conversation has just ended.
You did not say GIF peanut butter, the greatest peanut water.
I don't want a GIF for all.
I'm so sorry.
I mean, our friendship just ended.
What's your favorite vacation spot?
Oh, I'm going to say my grandparents' house, they've passed on, but like I never felt more grounded at home than I did in their house.
I love that.
I love that.
What's the biggest lesson that you've learned in the past year?
that control is such an illusion and I learn it every year I'm humbled by it every single time I'm surprised by it every single time even though I know that we can control maybe one thing right but yeah I'm always humbled and surprised by that lesson I gotcha what has been a book or a phrase that has gotten you through the most I really do love gay Hendricks book the big leap especially about our zone of genius and our upper limits
It just changed the game for me.
It changed how I understood myself so much.
And then this is not a book or a phrase,
but I really love human design as a body of work as well
because it highlights everything that is right with you
where I feel like so many bodies of work tell us
what's quote unquote wrong with us.
Okay.
Good stuff.
Good stuff.
All right.
Get you out of here on this one.
I know you do a lot of speaking.
You've got to get really hyped up,
or even if it's going to the gym,
you get really hyped up what's playing in your ear.
What's your hype song?
Oh, my God.
I feel like it's so trite, but I love that song Brave by Sarah Barry Ellis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like that's everybody's walkout song, so I need to come up with a new one.
But that I'm a little basic.
And so that's my answer to say.
Good stuff.
Amina, totally enjoy spending time with you.
A couple of things.
Where can people find and follow you?
Thank you so much.
You can find me on Instagram at Minna Altai.
You can also find me on LinkedIn, same name.
And my website is menataltai.com.
And I'm sure the spelling will be in the show.
notes and then you can get the book everywhere books are sold they may not have it in person so
you can ask them to order it but everywhere books are sold the ambition trap i will have links to
all of that totally i want everyone to to do me a favor make sure you're getting a copy of the book
and when you get a copy of the book message her tell her a couple things you love ask her questions
like she's i promise you she's that engaging so make sure that you show her the love that you should
Um, they're just so glad I could spend time with you today.
I'm so, so grateful.
You are such a real one.
And thank you again for sharing your platform with me and for being endlessly inspiring and showing us all what is possible.
Thank you.
You got it.
And for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower.
Go unleash it.
That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged.
If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen.
share it with someone who needs that spark and leave a review so more people can find there
because i'm rudy rush and until next time stay driven stay focused and stay unplugged
