Written by: Rita Farruggia, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Think about the skills required to achieve high levels of success. We have heard them a million times: laser focus, clarity, emotional mastery, creativity, flexible thinking, great leadership, problem-solving, communication skills, and high energy are some of the top skills required to achieve success. Meditation enhances our ability to cultivate these skill sets required to achieve high levels of success. Relationship Building and Sales A top skill to achieve success in business has great people skills. We are always dealing with people, even if you are a solopreneur. As a solopreneur, you are still dealing with people: clients/customers, vendors, pitching to secure speaking engagements, and converting (communication skills) strangers into paying clients. When you are dealing with people, you interact with multiple personality types with different perspectives, communication styles, and personal past histories (education levels, experiences, beliefs, values, etc.). We have all encountered people in our day-to-day business life that appear to be rude. The important thing is how we deal with both pleasant and not so pleasant people so that our energy doesn’t get depleted if we let them change our state into an angry state. Meditation helps you build emotional strength. You are less likely to become upset when dealing with difficult people because practicing regular meditation, we can observe and understand the truth behind our own emotions (gain clarity to see that people who chose to act disrespectful are insecure, it’s about their personal wounds, their bad behavior is not about you) and you become better at seeing how those around us are feeling. This gives you the ability to develop deeper connections with people when you are deeply connected to yourself. This enhances your communication skills because you are becoming aware of the truth between your interactions with people. You are more aware of what the other person needs to hear in your conversation because your listening skills increase along with your intuition. This is because when you meditate, you quiet your mind from mental chatter and stop living in a reactionary state from external stimuli. This allows your nervous system to calm down. It is from this calm place we can see more clearly. When tuning into ourselves, our intuition increases; therefore, we can receive clear insight from this theta state. Therefore, we become used to observing our breath and ourselves more. This is the reason after you complete a transcendental (quiet) meditation, you see more details in the room, you feel more present and alive once you open your eyes (you are becoming more tuned in). This is why daily meditators don’t respond with a quick reaction to an offensive statement; instead, they can recognize the other person’s feelings and have more emotional flexibility in their response. Being more aware of our emotions and thoughts allows us to motivate people who work for us. This allows you to have advanced communication skills to ensure your team members' emotional and mental needs are met in order to feel fulfilled in performing their work. For example, if one team member is doing something that you see as inefficient, you have the ability to communicate with diplomacy because you are not quickly reacting based on emotion. Instead, after you react in your body and mind, you process your reaction by asking yourself questions as to why that specific team member is taking that action? (it could be for a number of reasons, maybe someone else told that team member to take that action or a misunderstanding in communication, etc.). Therefore, you can have a calm, respectful conversation to discover the truth and explain the action you prefer that member took because of efficiency. You apologize if you weren’t clear in your instructions. Improve Mental Performance Our mental performance declines as we age. We can combat the aging process with a daily meditation practice. Meditation, when practiced regularly, is training the mind to concentrate and focus. You need to be able to concentrate on your breath initially to get into a meditative (theta) state which is a state just above the delta (sleeping) state. Studies prove that meditation helps people sustain their focus, even during mundane tasks. Researchers have discovered that Buddhist monks who meditate daily have high performance on concentration tests than the average person. Those who meditate regularly not only increase their ability to concentrate they also boost their attention to detail. Every entrepreneur wants to get more done. This research proves how meditating can improve your productivity levels and the quality of your productivity. Therefore, you are likely to achieve the results you desire with laser focus as a result of daily meditation. Learn Faster and Improve Your Memory In order to be a successful business leader, you need to process and learn new information quickly. All entrepreneurs can relate to this. Technology is always changing, our culture always changes, the market always changes, and new opportunities arise that require a new skill or knowledge to adapt. Researchers have discovered that meditation stimulates areas of the brain associated with memory, concentration, and learning. One study of college students who took a mindfulness class four times a week for two weeks demonstrated that their working memory capacity improved during that time. Other studies demonstrated that meditation increases gray matter volume, also enhancing the performance of other areas of the brain that assist with learning, memory, cognition, or emotional regulation. Researchers highlighted that meditation is likely to change the brain’s structure, increase mental activity and think faster. This means that meditation improves your mental performance. Increase Your Creativity Being creative leads to business innovation. If you are not innovating in this fast-moving business world, your business can get left behind. The ability to be creative is a must-have skill in order to succeed. Having rigid and in-the-box thinking can get you stuck at a certain level in your business. Meditation activates your creativity. A study discovered that open-monitoring meditation, a type of meditation that involves observing how you are feeling in the present moment in your body, your thoughts, and sensations, increases “divergent thinking.” This kind of thinking involves generating creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. Research has discovered that open-monitoring meditation improves working memory and increases flexible thinking. Tools To Amplify Your Meditation Practice Burning Sage There are tools you can use to amplify your concentration during your meditation sessions. You can burn sage. Smelling sage is aromatherapy for your brain, it activates your brain to concentrate by calming down your nervous system, and it is also known to increase your intuition. Also, looking at the swirls of smoke in the air puts you into a trance/meditative state. Crystals Each crystal emits a different energy frequency to amplify your meditation session. Depending on the intention of your meditation, you would choose a crystal to match your intention. For example, when doing self-love or increasing compassion mediation, hold rose quartz in your hand since it emits a love frequency. To gain more clarity on making a decision, you can hold clear quartz, amethyst, or selenite crystal. Clear quartz amplifies clarity, and it also amplifies the energy of the other crystals around it. Amethyst crystal increases your intuition, and selenite helps communicate with your higher self. Essential Oils You can diffuse essential oils in an oil diffuser for aromatherapy. Smelling the wonderful scents of essential oils puts you into a calm state, feeling more peaceful and more at ease to go into a trance/meditative state. Also, health benefits are associated with smelling the wonderful scents of essential oils. Note that some people also run the essential oil of their choice onto the palm of their hands then smell them before meditating. Some Top Essential Oils for Meditating: Lavender. Ylang Ylang. Cedarwood. Frankincense. Chamomile. Patchouli. Sandalwood. Also, guided meditations performed by a person certified in hypnotherapy (two meditations below) helps guide your body and mind into a deeply relaxed state to ensure you are in a theta state for the specific guided imagery the meditation facilitator is painting in your mind, a trained hypnotherapist is trained in activating emotional responses through voice techniques, choice of particular words to increase the success of your transformation with daily meditation. Two Excellent Guided Success Meditations to Activate High Performance: Achieve Higher Levels of Success Meditation Abundance/Wealth Meditation After reading this article, now you know why some top business leaders meditate regularly, such as Marc Benioff (CEO and Founder of Salesforce), Arianna Huffington (founder of Huff Post), Jeff Weiner (CEO of LinkedIn), Tony Robbins, Oprah, and Ray Dalio (Founder of Bridge Water Associates) among many other top business leaders. My passion is to motivate and inspire people to live their best lives by improving their minds, body, spirit, and confidence. If this article has inspired you to meditate daily, please share the gift of mental health by sharing this article with your network. Stay updated with me and my content on Instagram, Happy Being Well Blog, and Facebook. Read more from Rita! Rita Farruggia, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Rita Farruggia is the CEO and Founder of HappyBeingWell.com, with the mission of being the 1 Self-Care Community in the world. Her mission is to awaken a billion people globally to their love while teaching them how to love themselves, reprogram their subconscious, align with truth, universal laws, and create a daily spiritual practice that involves self-care practices. HappyBeingWell.com offers the tools/products, education, and inspiration to use in our daily spiritual & self-care practice. Rita believes a daily spiritual practice is not limited to yoga and/or meditation. The truth is when we are manually cleaning our dishes, we often go into a trance. This is also a form of meditation. Rita believes our personal hygiene (self-care) and home cleaning sessions can also be our spiritual practices. Self-care and spiritual practices changed Rita's life, increased her ability to love herself.

Written by: Lucy Griffin-Stiff, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As we begin to see the light appearing at the end of the Covid tunnel, has this period made you re-think your life? For some, it’s been a matter of survival. For others, a period of reflection. People, businesses, and families have needed to change and adapt to new ways of life, new rules. And most of all, we’ve all had a bit of a shake-up. It’s very easy to get used to life being a certain way and keep journeying on the merry hamster wheel of life going round and round, but if Covid has done one thing, it’s disrupted us all. We’ve realized that things can change, and things do change. Which begs the question – is there a change you want to see in your life moving forward that’s different from what life used to be like before the Corona Crisis? It’s very common to have that niggling feeling that something needs to change in life but to not know where to start. Or how to make the change without getting stuck. So here are 5 things you can do to get more clarity on what you want. 1. Purpose Have you asked yourself how you want life to be and feel? If you haven’t, take some time to brainstorm how you want to live your life and how you’d like to feel each day. Then ask yourself why. Why do I want this? Why is this important to me? Is there a contribution you want to make to the world? Is there a legacy you’d like to leave behind? Is there something that you’re passionate about that would drive you to get up each day? Do you want to live a life where you can balance work and family life more easily? If you were living your life with purpose, what would be different? Now consider how life is right now. Can you find the purpose in what you do and how you live right now? Is there a gap between life now and the vision of purpose you brainstormed? 2. Ideal Day Exercise Building on the brainstorm above regarding your purpose and how you want your life to be and feel, can you envisage an ideal day in the future where you’re living that purpose? Take a piece of paper and write down if you were to have an ideal day, what would it be like? How would that day go from the minute you got up to the moment you went to sleep? What would you be doing? Who would you be with? How would you be spending your time? How would you be feeling? What activities would happen during the day? What’s interesting about this exercise is that it helps you question your thoughts and what you really want. You may find you start writing out what an ideal day would look like based on your current habits, but when you see it written down, you might re-think it and realize you only wrote that because it’s what you’re used to. Challenge yourself – in an ideal day, what would really happen? 3. Values Values help us decipher what’s really important to us. They help us make decisions and guide our choices. In my book, The Create a Life you Love Journal ™ The Ultimate Life and Mindset Makeover – you’ll find an exercise that helps you discover your core values. Unless you’ve worked with a coach or done a decent amount of personal development, you don’t often spend time doing a values exercise for yourself. We just let our values develop. And often, we don’t pay much conscious attention to them. We pick up other people’s values as we grow up, and it’s only as we get older that we begin to challenge them or question if they are still true for us. To do a really quick values audit, you can ask yourself: How do I spend my time? What do I spend money on? Who do I spend my time with? These questions help reveal what you’re actually paying attention to – how you’re currently living your life. The question is – are these activities aligned with the values you truly want to live by? Do your values fit with your ideal day? Do they align with your purpose? 4. What’s working? Another great exercise to help bring you more clarity and make the shift from where you are now to where you want to be is to ask yourself these three questions: What’s working well that I want to keep in my life? What’s not working well that I’d be wise to let go of? What needs to change? Deep inside, we know the answers to these questions. We know what’s working and what isn’t. We often know what needs to change. It’s just that fear gets in the way. It can feel so overwhelming that we don’t know where to start. Stepping out of our comfort zone can stretch us. It can make us feel uncomfortable. That’s normal. The thing is, if we do what we’ve always done, we get what we’ve always got. So somewhere between now and your ideal day, we need to figure out what we keep, what we lose, and what we change. 5. Do the (Mindset) Work Usually, the biggest thing stopping us from getting clear, living a life we love, and reaching our full potential is ourselves! We are masters at getting in our own way. Whether this is down to fear or our deep-rooted limiting beliefs about ourselves, we have become habitually conditioned over our lives to behave in certain ways and believe things (that aren’t necessarily true). Unless we “do the work” to free ourselves from the limits and conditioning of the past and let go of our old baggage, we’ll find ourselves going round in familiar circles and never really getting to our ideal destination. In my book The Create a Life you Love Journal ™ - The Ultimate Life and Mindset Makeover – you’ll discover how to “do the work.” The book is a unique hybrid – part book, part coaching exercises, and part journal. It’s time to break the rules on not writing in books because this is the book you actually “do the work” in. It’s been described as “a manual for a new life.” With 23 different exercises to complete, alongside knowledge, insight, and tools, you’ll be able to create a life you love from the inside out – if you do the work. If you’re re-thinking your life post-Covid and would like some support, you can get your copy here. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or visit my website for more info! Lucy Griffin-Stiff, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lucy Griffin-Stiff is a global messenger of Enoughness, on a mission to help as many people as possible understand they are worthy and enough. Lucy spreads the message that the unhelpful conditioning of the past isn’t how the future needs to be. As a life and mindset coach, Lucy works mostly with women in and around their forties to help them understand or re-find themselves, let go of what’s been holding them back, reach their potential, and design a life they love from the inside, out. Lucy is a certified mindset coach, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach practitioner, Timeline Therapy™ practitioner, certified hypnotherapist, neuroscience geek, and author of The Create a Life you Love Journal ™ The Ultimate Life and Mindset Makeover.

Written by: Andrea Cristancho, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Building your business from your gut, core, lungs, and pelvic floor with KPIs in all the colors of the rainbow. It was 6:00 am, a misty morning winter in Shanghai in 2010. I was heading to my yoga teacher Waylon’s class. He was in his next stay in Shanghai throughout his yearly Asia tour, just starting his regular classes at Anamaya, the yoga studio our friend opened recently in the heart of the french concession. Shoes off as usual inside the shala, I walked in, and the smell of fresh incense greeted me on this wet morning. I dropped my stuff in the changing rooms and headed to practice. There he was, the same old smiley Waylon, hyped up at 6:15 am already awake, guiding us to take a seat, but first: “go blow your nose,” he said, “because we are going to practice kriyas.” Back then, my normal was to wake up with a stuffy nose, and I totally blamed the pollution, so I went to the bathroom to do as I was told. We slowly came back and sat in our places, started with soft pranayama, and in no time switched into deeper forceful intentional breathing sequences that, oh my, were clearing airways and getting me high. I was curious and delighted, happy and nervous at the same time. I was experiencing a new sense of peace, and it was intentional. We carried on for a couple more minutes. After that, we sat in meditation and began our asana practice. 90 minutes later, I was walking out of the studio alive, awake, feeling fresh, feeling powerful, and my brain in alert mode. I could only say that was great… and it was, as I made my way to the office. On that day, my regular kriya practice began. My journey on the mat is long and ongoing. It extends over 11 years now, and I’m nowhere close to retiring yet. But, now I’m on a mission to share the secrets among my fellow coaches and dear clients because it is possible to integrate business with a healthy lifestyle. The regular practice of kriyas got me to tap into the power of my breathing in business and life. When speaking on stages, when hosting a team presentation, when in session with a client 1:1, even when jet-lagged. Kriyas work! This experience got me to research the energy centers inside the body, or as I like to call them, the energy pockets. The places where we can store and tap into energy as we are pleased. Breathing is one. Now allow me to introduce to you three more: the gut, the pelvic floor, and the core. Inside our gut lives our gut bacteria, the essence of our immunity. Did you know you can rebalance your gut with the power of the rainbow? And I’m not talking about unicorns here. The rainbow you find in your fridge, at the farmers market, on a lovely whole foods meal. If you’re curious, I invite you to research and experiment with the awareness of your food intake. As an entrepreneur, dealing with mental fog and running low on energy is common, but it doesn’t have to be. Remember, you have the ability to tap into your power sources! Next up, the pelvic floor. In yoga, we call it “Mula bandha,” and mastering these techniques allows for real awakening and direct access to your highest self and purpose. Something entrepreneurs could absolutely benefit from, don’t you agree? Imagine having access to your superpowers 24/7 by simply controlling the muscles that sit on your pelvic floor. The exercises are super simple, in combination with your breath count and hold, no equipment nor gym time required, only mindfulness and commitment. Women, in particular, tend to work hard at recovering the pelvic floor, and as a result, gain tremendous strength after the delivery of their children. But not all, unfortunately! And man can absolutely master this too! Google it. And last but not least at all, the core. Yes, we can aim for the 6 pack, good for you. However, be mindful of the inner muscular wall that holds up your body structure, prevents lower back pain, gets you to gain your confidence like anything else, and keeps your posture upright. Alright, alright, the last one sounds like a fantasy, and I’m sure you’ve tried the reps at some point in time and failed. However, my invitation to you is to examine it from a micro-commitments daily perspective for at least 10 minutes a day. As we commit to building habits of highly effective individuals as business people, we can start with building our energy pockets 10 minutes a day. Did I get you interested? As a holistic business coach, I bring to the table that integration, not balance, of running a business and a healthy lifestyle. Really combining a lifestyle that you can design and put together, keeping in mind that fuel for your business is your own energy. And building all the pieces of the puzzle upon that energy level and level of intelligence and expertise you already have. There’s nothing less or more missing from the equation. It’s all about designing and strategizing that roadmap. And that’s exactly how we integrate the creation of your Flagship Offer and your lifestyle as an entrepreneur inside my holistic business coaching world. But of course, I’m biased. This is why today is special. I’ve asked my first business coach - who focuses on helping health coaches launch their businesses —, Dawn Friedland — to answer the top 3 frequently asked questions I get asked the most for you. 1) Q: What’s your take on burnout? Dawn: Burnout is a symptom of fear and scarcity at play in your mindset. When an entrepreneur begins her journey of building a business, she likely has big dreams, big visions, and lots of excitement for future possibilities. She starts out with an abundance mindset. "Plenty of business to be had!" she thinks. But then the realities of how difficult the path will actually be start to sink in. The revenue doesn't grow the way she expected it to. She has a bad month and maybe goes into debt. She gets scared it might happen again and doubles down on her efforts to make up for it (fear.) She starts to take clients that aren't perfectly aligned for her because she needs every dollar she can get (scarcity.) But then, next month, she exceeds her goals and gets re-invigorated about the possibilities again, so she keeps going. The following month isn't so hot. The cycle continues, and each time the fear and scarcity increase a little bit while the workload and doubling down continue to grow. Eventually, an entrepreneur will burn out if this problem is not addressed due to overworking for too many months. The solution is to find a balance between your big visions & dreams and what actually can be accomplished in your first 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years of business. Keep that abundant mindset ever-present and stay tuned in to the future possibilities while accepting and expecting a bit of a roller coaster as par for the course. When you believe that the path from A to Z is not a straight line and you will hit some bumps in the road and few detours, it can be easier to stay present to your abundant vision and pace yourself on the journey towards that vision. 2) What’s your top 1 advice to aspiring online business entrepreneurs? Dawn: In the online marketplace, alignment trumps all. To win in the online space means to attract perfect clients into your perfect offer. You can have all the funnel pages, complicated technology, and budget for ad spend in the world, but if you are not in 100% alignment with who you help and what problem you solve, no amount of marketing will work. Here's why the success of your business is a direct function of your ability to communicate what you do and why people should work with you through copywriting and content creation. Communication is essentially an expression of your inner beliefs, deepest understanding of the problem, and most importantly, an expression of your empathy for their struggles & challenges. All humans want to be heard and understood. Most of us don't get that from the people we interact with daily because most people just survive and get their own needs met. Most people don't make it their mission to make other people feel heard. It's just how the world works: bosses are hitting KPIs, spouses are trying to get the kids to school, be at work on time, etc. So often, this need to feel understood and be heard goes unmet. So when you can express your deepest understanding of what they are struggling with and what they want, when they see your content, they're going to resonate with it. They're going to feel heard. They're going to be drawn in. If you aren't 100% aligned, it's going to be difficult to create that experience for them - you'll get crickets on your posts, your ads won't convert, the leads won't buy. But when you are 100% aligned, everything becomes easier, and the business starts to flow in because of the aligned energetic pathways you've created through the resonant communication in your content. 3) Do you believe it’s possible to integrate business with a healthy lifestyle, for real? Dawn: Not only is it possible to integrate business with a healthy lifestyle, it's required! If you interview the founders of the most successful online businesses, you will find something they all have in common. They have a morning routine. They actively work on their mindset. They exercise. They meditate. They drink lots of water. They eat well. They minimize clutter and manage their calendar tightly. They invest in healthy relationships and avoid toxic or draining people. Successful online business owners know that business success is an extension of their personal energy. Personal energy is created through daily acts of self-care and business care. When an entrepreneur allows her state to go into an unhealthy state, energy blockages in their mind and body show up as energy blockages in their business. "As within, so without," as the saying goes. I hope our approach gets you inspired, and if you need further support, you know where to find us. My online community - Health & Business Integrated, The Club - is the place where all my teachings and practices come together and evolve as our community grows. More on this coming soon. To your success! You can also visit her website for more info and join her Facebook Group here. Read more from Andrea! Andrea Cristancho, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Andrea Cristancho, the founder of www.andreacristancho.com, is a Holistic Business Coach helping female entrepreneurs in the wellness space. Through her signature program, The UpLevel Method, Andrea integrates the entrepreneurial mindset with practical business tools that re-engineer existing businesses to achieve their next growth level. As an international business mentor with Latin roots and serial entrepreneur, she has run her own businesses in 3 continents in many different industries. In the process, she has discovered that having a signature program, a personal brand, and the right mindset is the key to taking off your entrepreneurial success.

Written by: Cynthia Jones, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Starting over is never an easy thing to do. How do you start again after a traumatic loss? Or you lose your job after 20 years? You get a divorce after 29 years. Why is it so difficult? Because you feel like you are losing. In society, we have been trained to believe that anything you do that does not result in a positive it must be negative. Losing is not fun, but failure does lead to success. Every time I get on a plane, I think about the Wright brothers these days, and what if they gave up after one or multiple losses. Some fun facts about the brothers: They were never married. Neither had a high school diploma. Neil Armstrong carried a piece of the Wright Flyer with him to the moon. And today, the longest flight you can take is from New York to Singapore, 18 hours. I know you can see what starting over can do for you. Changes signified that you are growing. Everything must grow or die, so embrace the changes. Let’s remove the “starting over” and start to say “started changing.” I know from experience that change can be very uncomfortable. I had to earn to embrace job loss, rebuilt my credit several times, and moved to another country for 5 years. I have developed some characteristics that pull me through, and I know they will pull you to your next level as well: Control what you say to yourself. What is the conversation you have with yourself when starting over is the next step? I am losing? I never get anything, right? Why does this always happen to me? Instead of viewing the situation as a loss began to view the situation as an opportunity. Begin to ask yourself questions like I get to create again, I get to move to anywhere I want, or I get to design the life I want. Using the get conversations moves you into opportunities and possibilities. Your past has nothing to do with your future. Making past mistakes do not hold you hostage but your thoughts. By all means, I have made some terrible mistakes and have not given my all but guess what? I have a successful career and a thriving business, along with a loving family. I refused to allow the things I did to control where I was going because, as you see, where I am going is a clean slate for me to write on. So stop reliving your past and begin to write your beautiful future! Gain a fresh perspective. Learning to let go of old beliefs and embrace new perspectives is a great way to change your reality. Your reality is exactly what you think it to be. The brain will not give you anything you do not truly desire. If you don’t like change, then when it happens, guess what happens? Everything goes wrong. If starting over is hard, then guess what you get exactly that. Learning how to control your perspective and how you look at things is key to starting over and creating a fresh perspective. Begin to believe that everything works out for your good. Learn to find the good in all situations. It’s so easy to see the bad. Create the vision. When starting over, you get to write or rewrite your vision for your life. When you develop your vision and follow-through, it will not take you long to arrive at success. You want to ensure you’re are pointing yourself in the right direction as you grow and change. Evaluate and understand that your priorities and values will change as you grow towards your vision. I still remember when I graduated college, my goal was to get a job and make money. As I have grown, my vision is still to make money and support my family and business. I hope these steps have given you the encouragement you need to start again. It’s never too late to start over. You don’t want to regret how you let life pass you by. One of the biggest regret elderly people have is having failures in their relationships, so don’t come to an end when all you had to do was start again. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Cynthia! Cynthia Jones, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine As a first-generation college student, Cynthia began her career in Cybersecurity with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a double master's in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity Policy. She worked her way through college with limited support. Fortunately, she had her husband by her side as she completed her master's degrees. As she entered the male-dominated field of cybersecurity, Cynthia had to learn how to show up with confidence to avoid dismissal, which many women struggle with. At this job, she realized her ability to empower other women to become fearless in pursuing their purpose. She has accumulated 20 years of experience in mindset coaching and has helped many women on and offline pursue their goals with courage and continue to watch them succeed.

Robin Goldsbro is a guy with a vision for the future — a world full of people doing exactly what they were born to do. Instead of work-life balance, people are living — for a living. He founded Level Seven with the goal of making this dream come true. Before Level Seven, Robin had a corporate career where he challenged the status quo and was known for creating change. He dared people to think bigger and believe in themselves enough to take action. After realizing this was what he was born to do, Robin left his job to follow the dream he’d been building for himself. That’s how Level Seven came to be. Now it’s dedicated to helping people experience a life with more joy, freedom, and purpose by doing what they love. Robin Goldsbro When asked what you do for a living, I want people to reply, “I Live for a Living.” Robin Goldsbro’s dream utopia is a world full of people doing exactly what they were born to do. There's no such thing as work-life balance, only life. Previously, Robin had a corporate career where he challenged the status quo and inspired change. He dared people to believe in themselves and to take action. It became clear that motivating and helping people was what Robin was born to do. Why coaching? It’s the best work in the world, and I love it. It just took me years to realize this is my raison d’être. Looking back, I know I really struggled in school, but I didn’t want that to be the ‘thing’ that came to define me. I felt a burning need to prove myself, and I spent quite a bit of time being really up in my own head, projecting my “ideal” self rather than being true to who I really am. I know now that I was lying to myself in striving to prove something to the world. I was trying to fit into a mold that I thought went along with what it is to be successful, collecting objects and stories of accomplishment. The thing is, there was always a feeling that I’d steered off my true path. I realized I was going about life all wrong, but I couldn’t find the courage to do something about it. I got caught up in a story that there would be negative implications if I tried to change things now. I’d become too embedded in this version of myself that I’d created. Now that I’ve made the changes in my life, I see the story for what it was - just a story I was telling myself, and acting as if it was real is what made it real. I want other people to have this realization too. It’s so deeply liberating, and the real magic lies on the other side of this. I really want people to embrace life and live it passionately rather than working on a hidden hamster wheel. We tell ourselves all kinds of stories that prevent us from taking risks. It keeps us trapped in an unfulfilling space. The truth is, you can’t experience true joy when you are living an inauthentic life. When someone asks what you do, what do you say? I tell them I’m on a mission to help people have an epic life. I share how I’ve supported my clients to have more ‘life’ in their life and how I’ve helped shifts from a soulless purpose centered around working for money to buy stuff so we can compare ourselves favorably to people we don’t really care for to a life centered around meaningful goals. I share that I help people take more control of their emotions and thoughts to see, understand and change the stories they’re telling themselves. In my work, I act as a guide for people on a journey to realize what they were born to do and then bring that dream to life, whether they want to start a new business, change their career path, or need help in realizing their deepest aspirations. I’m working to convey that you can’t measure fulfillment with external, tangible rewards of success. It’s a feeling that’s being generated from within. I focus on getting people in touch with that feeling inside and bringing that to the outside world. No masks, no hiding, no more holding back. Just comfortable in your innate and wonderful uniqueness, doing what’s right for you. What sort of person do you like to work with the most? I love working with business owners who want to live for a living, making their life and business work in harmony where each complements the other. I also love working with professionals who have lost their mojo and want to fall back in love with their life again. When people feel alive, they change the world! I know that the world needs us, humans, to change our behavior, and for that to happen, we all need to be comfortable as our authentic selves. I help people to achieve this - it’s what enables us to feel truly alive. I help my clients see how they’ve been conditioned and what this does to the subconscious mind, empowering them to lower the veil. I only work with clients looking to make a positive difference in the world, even if it’s a small difference. Business leaders, professionals, and those passionate about influencing positive change are in great positions to create the ripple effects needed to be good for everyone. What would be your go-to advice for someone struggling with motivation and drive at work? Fundamentally, when we feel this way, we’re following the wrong path. Or we’re on the right one, but wearing trainers instead of walking boots. We’re doing it wrong. My assertion is there’s often an internal battle going on where values of success are being driven from somewhere external to ourselves and adopted as our own, yet conflict with what we know on a deeper level to be true, and that really brings us joy. I know that genuine motivation is something that happens inside us. Ask yourself, what am I doing when I find myself in the zone and lose track of the time? What are the specific activities that never fail to keep you immersed? Look for the convergence of all these things, then look where this points you. You don't need to have it all completely worked out. My advice is to start moving in the right direction, and your path will become emergent. Find the things that are in your ‘sweet spot’ and use this to inform you what you invest in all areas of your life. What’s your favorite example of a challenge you’ve overcome with a client? It's the story that finally made me take the leap into full-time coaching. I was playing it safe, coaching on the side whilst still doing work that didn’t bring me joy… and then, within 5 days, two people I was coaching came to share that they'd handed in their notice and were going to pursue new careers. They told me I'd made them see how they were on the wrong path and how I’d helped them see a better one. I was struck - my coaching was powerful, and here I was still playing it safe. Not taking risks. I realized that I would never make it if I couldn't walk my own talk. That gave me the push to find my courage, and Level Seven was formed. I’ve noticed you sometimes go to Sweden with your clients, tell me about that. I offer a canoe and camping coaching intensive in Sweden twice a year, and for those who want something a little closer to home or to dip a toe in the water, so to speak, I also offer a lite version of this where I provide coaching whilst we paddle on a local waterway. No prior canoeing experience is needed. The beauty of this coaching style is that it creates a certain energy and mindset that complements the work we do together, accelerating the value that clients get from the coaching. Adventure and nature are part of who I am. In fact, it’s part of who we all are, but that’s a discussion for another day. It felt almost instinctual to bring this into the coaching experience. Something wonderful happens when we get away from the noise and distraction and go to a completely new place, and are surrounded by nature. We really get to the core of the challenge, and we use the quiet and the space for insight and mindfulness. There’s a quiet voice inside us all - that’s our authentic self. The loud voice is the ego and the way we’ve been conditioned. When out in nature, we are better able to hear that quieter voice. From that place, who we are and what’s right and wrong for us, and the actions we need to take become much easier to see. At the end of the experience, I’ve found clients make significant shifts in a much shorter space of time than through standard coaching sessions. They share of having a new appreciation of how to face the future and feel rejuvenated, recharged, and ready for anything. It’s a really wonderful way of helping people whilst also aligning what I offer with what’s most authentic to who I am and what I love to do. What are your current goals and projects for moving forward? How do you set yourself on the right path for that growth? I’m currently making a movement. The work I do inspires people to live for a living, to do what they love, and have more life in their life. I said earlier that there’s no such thing as work-life balance, only life. It’s the forced separation of these, though, that creates challenges. It’s the integration that we need, not separation. I want to use this knowledge to make a bigger impact and contribution to the world and push people to really take action in their own life. I always hear this phrase “I’ll do it in my own time. I’m currently at work.” I just want to ask: when are you never not on your own time? You’re spending the hours of your life, and it’s expensive. It needs to be invested in the right places. When we really embrace this truth is when we start really living. Nobody will get to the end of their life and say, “I wish I’d spent more time in the office doing something that brought me money but not joy.” No one. The community I’m building is there to inspire, encourage and educate people to take control of their own time and to create a life they love, not a job they do in exchange for money to buy someone else’s version of success. I’m inviting business owners, senior leaders, and professionals as they’re the ones creating the environments we spend so much of our time in and making decisions that impact us all. They're in a position of power, and I want them to embrace the responsibility of creating a space where everyone flourishes. I’m also contributing to a book. It’s co-authored by a number of coaches, athletes, and even an ex-FBI agent. It’s a rich, diverse perspective on “Winning Mindsets.” It’ll be out in August. Working towards it has really inspired me to keep writing, so now I’m also in the process of writing my own book. Is there anywhere, currently, where people can read more from you or interact with you? I hang out on LinkedIn, where anyone can interact with me. There are also free resources available if you sign up to the mailing list on my website, but there’s one main place I want to draw everyone to and to join the movement for more ‘life’ in your life. Follow Robin on Facebook, LinkedIn, or visit my website for more info!

Written by: Trish Whetstone, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects approximately 10%-20% of the population worldwide. It is characterized by abnormal bowel patterns, gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and low energy, among other concerns. The etiology of IBS is still being studied and differs from person to person, but one factor still takes the cake. It’s stress! Here’s the caveat; you may be overlooking some different types of stress or just how mental stress from a long to-do list affects your digestive system. Let’s look at 3 ways stress contributes to gastrointestinal disorders such as IBS. The Gut-Brain Axis The colon (the gut) and the brain are directly connected via the Vagus Nerve. This connection is called the Gut-Brain Axis. Neural signals from the brain travel down to the gut and vice versa. This means that the mental stress you experience from a packed work schedule and that fight with your partner actually impacts the health of your gut. Ever felt that drop in your abdomen with the onset of bad news? Yup, that’s the gut-brain connection! Stress Hormones Let’s dive deeper. Cortisol is the hormone released during stressful times, and research shows that persistent cortisol release can upset the delicate balance of good and bad bacteria within the gut. This bacteria environment is called the microbiome, and it can become unbalanced when the bad bacteria take over. Bacterial overgrowth is an underlying causal factor in many cases of IBS. Additionally, when under stress, adrenaline mobilizes the body for action. Blood rushes away from the abdomen to the appendages. You’ve likely heard of the “fight or flight” response. The body is primed to fight off a grizzly bear or run away from it. During an attack, the body prioritizes these actions and shuts down digestion. Digesting your lunch is simply less important during these threats. The problem is most of us live in this stressful state far too often, literally shutting off digestion. We’re no longer running away from grizzly bears (hopefully) but evading our angry boss or sitting in traffic. In the long term, this can impact the optimal function of the digestive system. Biochemical Stress So we know mental and emotional stress can aggravate the gut, but what about nutrition? That’s where biochemical stress comes into play. This is stress within the body’s internal physiological environment. Highly processed foods laden with sugar, preservatives, and trans fats cause inflammation within the gut, spike blood sugar, and thus cause biochemical stress. Unidentified food allergies or sensitivities, such as lactose intolerance, can also cause a stressed-out gut. Additionally, inconsistent meal timing and eating in a rush can cause fluctuations in blood sugar and create a stressful environment within the digestive tract. How to Manage IBS? Now that you know just how much stress impacts digestive health, what steps can you take to mitigate these effects? Gain Clarity. For starters, you can download the comprehensive Feel Good Gut Guide highlighting actionable steps toward better gut health. Seek Support. Finding professional help can be of utmost importance when managing complex conditions like IBS. As a Certified, Health, Life & Nutrition Coach, I provide support and accountability for busy professionals managing IBS. Book your complimentary Clarity Chat here. Here’s to feeling good in your gut! Want to learn more from Trish? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit her website. Trish Whetstone, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Trish Whetstone is The Feel Good Gut Coach, a holistic health specialist, stress expert, and intuitive eating advocate. Trish received degrees in Psychology & Public Health from The State University of New York at Fredonia and worked within the non-profit world as an Educator, Coordinator & Director. After waking up too many times in her early twenties feeling like she "got hit by a bus", Trish said enough was enough. She healed her gut after years of struggling with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and became a Certified Health, Life, and Nutrition Coach to help others do the same. Through her personal coaching business, Health Coaching by Trish, she helps busy professionals with nutrition, stress management, and lifestyle change, so they can feel good in their gut! Catch her co-hosting the podcast "Ice Cream, You Scream", within The Feel Good Gut Facebook group, on Instagram as @feelgoodgutgirl, or visit her website www.healthcoachingbytrish.com.

Written by: Jenn Taylor, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As a Mom of 18, the question I get asked the most is - “Are they all yours?” - or a version of that question. Did you have all of them? Did you adopt? Is it a blended family? Some questions have been direct, forward, and rude, but most have been curious. It seems to be human nature to put people in a box or figure them out in a way that makes sense, and - quite honestly - 18 kids is tough to make sense out of. Some days, even for me. An OB/GYN told me at the age of 15 that I should expect infertility and the possibility of not having children. I have always been thankful to him because that conversation set the stage for the years to come. I did go through infertility - 7 day-surgeries and the maximum amount of meds that could be prescribed. I stopped the infertility train right at the point where invitro was on board - and bravo to those women who step on board and take that ride, as I knew it wasn’t my path. I did become pregnant while weaning off the meds, and I knew in the future, if pregnancy didn’t happen naturally, I wouldn’t have more biological children. When my first daughter was born, she had a lung disease. They whisked her away immediately, and I didn’t hear anything for over 7 hours. When the head neonatologist came to my room, she told me that my daughter was the most critical in the NICU, that she wouldn’t live through her first 72-hours, and that I would hold her for the first time after she died. I could sit by her bedside but couldn’t touch her and had to remain quiet so she wouldn’t use any calories - which were now precious energy. I’m happy to say she is now 29 and one of the most incredible human beings I have met. I did get pregnant six more times, gave birth to 3 more daughters, and lost 3 pregnancies. After the birth of my first daughter, I knew that if I became pregnant, those were the “extra” kids. The children you don’t expect but are ecstatic you have. What I felt was my calling was to become a foster Mom. To make a difference in the life of a child who has had a tough start in life. A childlike I had been. I had been blessed with a third-grade teacher who made such an impact on my dysfunctional upbringing that I knew I wanted to do the same. I wanted to pay forward the feeling of someone showing me I had worth. I was a foster parent for 12 years in total. In the first 9 years (while also going through those pregnancies), I adopted four children and had another two that were long-term - one in foster care and one who was a foreign exchange student from Germany. I went through a divorce, and during the next 3 years of foster care, I adopted one more and had three long-term. If you’re adding as we go - that’s 14 children total. Kids got older, a couple moved out, circumstances changed, and I had 9 living at home. That oldest daughter of mine - who was then 20 - and a mutual friend started fixing me up on dates. One of those dates was with Dane. Dane and I texted for a week and had one phone call before we met, and from the moment we met in person, we have been together. Dane had been married and divorced when his first three children were small. He remarried and had one little girl who was 2 when his second wife died. His youngest was just turning 4 when we met. I had one child move out and shortly after, he and his four kids moved in - for a total of twelve living at home. I’ve never had more than 12 in the home at once, although there have been years when 9-12 kids were under my roof. Another question I’m asked often is if it’s hard being a blended family, having step-children or foster children. Yes. It is hard. But not necessarily because of where they came from. Raising kids is hard - period - regardless of the number or where they come from. Certainly, some situations create added stress or challenges, but for me, raising them has been about them, not their situation. The relationship I have with each child is unique due to their circumstances and personality, and that’s what it is my responsibility to foster. Having a husband who co-parents with positivity and support has been vital as the communication he and I have is what keeps our family together and cohesive. That doesn’t mean we always agree. That means we discuss the needs of many very individual humans with different pasts and make decisions together. We also defer to each other when either of our ex-spouses is involved, and sometimes co-parenting means agreeing to disagree with love and support. I’ve now had over 29 years of experience parenting. I’ve parented through nearly every tough situation you can imagine. Now that almost all the kids are adults, I can have discussions about what things went well and why, what things I might have done differently and why, and they’re open to discussing their perspectives. I have really outstanding relationships with most of those eighteen kids. I’ve built a coaching business for Christian women based on all the skills and certifications I learned while parenting these amazing humans, and I’m embracing the season of life where there is one child left at home, and I am called Gramma. It’s been an amazing, crazy, fun adventure that I wouldn’t trade for anything. As the kids have grown into adults and moved out, not only are they close with Dane and me, they’re close to each other. Although my family was built on an amalgam of “yours, mine, foster, adoption,” in my eyes, they are all the same. We treat them as such, which has gone a long way in our successful blending of families. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly, they are worth it to me. And to answer the question, I get most often - yes, they are all mine. For more info, follow Jenn on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit her website ! Read more from Jenn ! Jenn Taylor, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jenn Taylor is Mom of 18 (yes, 18 kids!), a Transformational Coach for Christian Women, and the host of At A Crossroads with The Naked Podcaster - a 4-year podcast to uplift others in their struggles. Her goal is to help others get through life’s struggles faster, easier, and with more support (and joy!). Jenn is also a motivational speaker, has written the blog "Mom’s Running It" for over 9 years, and is a published author of a self-help memoir "Hello, My Name Is... Warrior Princess" - which she will email to you as a pdf for free. She is also married to an amazing man in Reno, NV, is a runner, minimalist, and healthy lifestyle enthusiast. If you’ve attended events or heard speakers in the past and gotten excited about making changes only to return home and have felt frustrated at not knowing how to implement the information, you’ll love working with Jenn!

I’ve been a corporate trainer for a Fortune 500 company. I’ve been a yoga teacher with consistently sold-out classes and a professional hypnotherapist successfully curing some of the biggest fears and phobias people have. All of this, plus studying with some of the highest level teachers on the planet, has led me to an understanding of human nature that I use to help strong professional women shed their old beliefs and become the potent, prosperous leaders they’re here to be. Who is Lynn? A daughter, a sister to her fraternal twin, a mom to 2 grown men, a Grammie, and a grand-dog Grammie too. She’s a lifelong learner and an avid reader. Lynn enjoys writing, yoga, pilates, walking, and biking. Lynn is a mental health disruptor, educator, mentor, and speaker. She is the CEO of Mission Possible You Transformative Coaching. She believes everyone is fundamentally well. She doesn’t see people as labels. We are spiritual beings and designed perfectly. The problem arises when you don’t know how your spiritual and psychological experience works. We all are wired the exact same way. Everyone was born from spiritual energy with the capacity to live from well-being, resilience, contentment, and happiness. She believes most people have only scratched the surface of their capacity for unlimited potential. We often put limits on ourselves that prevent our growth and evolution from ideas of who we think we are. Everyone has gifts to share with the world which ignites passion and purpose for a life well lived by serving others. Lynn resides in Connecticut and is looking forward to an in-person human-to-human connection next year at a 5-day retreat in Sedona, AZ. What is it that you do for your clients? She helps her clients live rich full lives by pointing them to their wisdom and mental well-being by understanding how their mind and Thought systems really work. They gain life-changing insights into how reality works as opposed to how they thought it worked. She guides her clients away from struggling, coping, and managing stress, anxiety, and depression instead, points back to spiritual truth. Looking at the fact that all of that is a reaction to Thought, they then have a chance to transcend it, real-time, no longer how long they have suffered. As a result, her clients live more from their true essence of joy, happiness, peace, love, understanding, and are compassion. Who should hire/work with you? People who are ready to commit to transformation instead of the constant struggle with label living suffering, managing and coping with stress, fear, anxiety, depression, feeling not good enough, etc. Companies who want more productive, happier, and less stressed employees who get along and respect other people’s opinions. Small business owners who want to grow their businesses and increase the impact they have on their clients but feel stuck, lack creativity, and unable to step into their full power. People who are done relying on a variety of tips, tools, and apps in order to feel calmer more relaxed. Because when they forget to do them, they go back to feeling stressed out. What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? My big goal is to reach thousands of people to end-label living by teaching them how their minds and Thought systems work, specifically the spiritual principles behind our created experience of life. My life is dedicated to sharing the wisdom of principles to help people live from what is instead of what isn’t. This is the catalyst that points people in the direction of what’s behind their created experience of life. When they see it, they transcend it in real-time and no longer suffer, cope or manage stress, anxiety, or depression. This understanding has the power to change the world as each person takes responsibility for their inner world. Follow me on Facebook for more information! Read more from Lynn!

Written by: Lee Paine, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. COVID has forced us to change how we run or manage our business; a big part of this, of course, is software. Choosing software has never been easier, but also as challenging. For example, if you go onto Capterra, a brilliant website to critique software, you will find: Over 3900 options searching for CRM Over 2600 options searching for ERP Over 1600 options searching for Finance It is like picking off a menu - so many options, and you need to narrow the list. So, where do you start? Well, let us break it down into three sections – prior, during, and after. Before you choose the software, you need to consider the following: Your objectives. What do you need to achieve by making them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely)? List of requirements. Do not assume you will initially have these, as others will appear. MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have) can help this. Where to look. There are many websites to view options. Capterra is a great start. Total costs. Do your homework to ensure you know upfront and continual costs, software assurance, licensing, support, etc. Have a play. You can try most software for an ‘X’ amount of time to ensure it meets your essential requirements. Customizations. How much and how easy can you customize the software to give you a competitive edge or meet your essential requirements. Connectors. Can the software be connected to other software, so you can move data automatically, without the need to build an API? Data. Can the data be exported? Useful if you need to report on data sets from other systems. Most businesses will look at what they want prior because, typically, this is where most time is spent. Looking at activities during and after is essential. So, what can you do during? Create an MVP. Minimum Viable Product. Don’t seek perfection; get benefit and value from the software as soon as you can. Be agile to change. IT constantly changes. You are in the wrong industry if you cannot embrace it. Get into the mindset of making frequent improvements to the software. Where is your flexibility? You must be able to flex at least one aspect of your project – Time, Cost, or Quality. Know which one can move to address changes that will happen. Be wrong. Have empathy; you will not know all the answers. Get users involved as they will use it more than anyone, so their input is invaluable. BRAs. Business Readiness Activities are often forgotten but significantly help user buy-in to change. These include processes, procedures, training, and reporting. So the software is in, well done. But we are not finished just yet. There are still activities you need to do to ensure a successful implementation: What next? Have a plan, a backlog, or a list of how you can continue to improve what you have implemented. Reward – the team and, as importantly, you. Consider a day off, team meal, financial reward, promotion, etc. Lessons learned. This is never done enough. Do not just focus on the negatives. Look at the positives as well. It is also essential to make it an open forum - get everyone's thoughts. Partnership. Remove the ‘them and us’ mentality. How can you, with suppliers and clients, obtain a win/win situation for all? It is easier than you think. And breathe… Though I have addressed tips on successfully implementing software, attitude to IT, and change – both you and the team are just as essential to ensure success. Good luck! If you remember anything, please remember these three closing tips… Don’t panic Don’t seek perfection Think big and long term Want to learn more from Lee? Follow him on Facebook and Linkedin. You can also visit his website to get in touch. Lee Paine, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lee helps businesses make vital decisions about how best to use technology and “Crack the Rhythmic Acquisition of Customers” (The Entrepreneurs Circle). With over 23 years of experience as a technology professional, he uses tried and tested tools to enable you to embrace change confidently. As a result, you will benefit from a long-term strategic technology roadmap fuelled by a regular influx of new opportunities. As an “Introvert Coach” or an “Introvert-Extrovert Coach,” he will bring calm, order, and logic to your thinking patterns - setting you on your path whilst supporting the journey. With tech and people so closely intertwined, especially after all that has happened, he is passionate about helping businesses get the best out of these resources. He is a County Level rugby coach, martial art instructor, and influential in helping SMEs through networking initiatives, including the Entrepreneurs Circle and BNI.

Written by: Paul L. Glover , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. “We Plan, God Laughs.” — Yiddish Proverb. Never has this proverb been more apropos. As Executive Team Leaders in my coaching program reflect on the first half of 2021, we discuss how the pandemic made 2020 goals irrelevant. And one universal 2020 goal was to increase the number of performance reviews with their Team Members. But not a single performance review was conducted in 2020! And that’s good since the last thing a Team Member needed in 2020 was a performance review because: Every Team Member was working harder, even if it was from home. Team Members couldn’t escape from the stress at work because their family was feeling the stress of living in the economic and health pandemic pressure cooker. “The Future Depends on What We Do in the Present.” — Gandhi Flash forward to the present: the post-pandemic economy is booming, the labor market is in chaos with millions of employees leaving their jobs, leaving many teams short-handed, while Team Leaders need to ensure, for the remainder of 2021 and beyond, their Team remains as productive as possible. Under these circumstances, a performance review focused on telling Team Members they need to do better or do more can be a morale killer. However, that doesn’t mean a review is not needed to set the stage for improved performance for the remainder of the year. But, instead of a performance review, it needs to be an Appreciation Review. An Appreciation Review review is about the Team Leader personally telling every Team Member not only how much they appreciate the effort they have shown for the first half of the year but also prepares the entire Team for the rest of 2021 and beyond. “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” — Yogi Berra The 8 Features of a Successful Appreciation Review (In-Person or Virtual) Because an Appreciation Review is about coaching and leading, not managing, it’s outside the comfort zone of most Team Leaders. To assist Team Leaders to grow their comfort zone, here are the 8 elements of an impactful Appreciation Review: 1. Say Thank You: Give them a virtual hug! Each Team Member needs to hear how much their effort and work are appreciated during these unprecedented difficult times. And be specific: identify three instances where their effort made a difference to the Team’s success. 2. Be Energetic : C.E.O. stands for “Chief Energy Officer.” Team Leaders can energize Team Members by transmitting positive energy to them as they interact with each Team Member during the review. This transfer of energy will have a cascading impact, moving from Team Member to Team Member. Transfer energy by being positive, smiling, being enthusiastic, using positive words, and open body language. 3. Be Empathetic : Understanding the needs of others, caring about how they feel, and being supportive creates trust and strengthens relationships. This means being in the moment with them, paying attention to their words, body language, and tone of voice. Ask how they are doing and what challenges they and their families are facing. Show concern for their well-being by committing to keeping them safe in the workplace. 4. Be Hopeful : Without hope, Team Members’ excess stress will cause burnout. Team Members need to hear this situation will pass and the future will be better. Because Team Leaders are the model, and h ope is contagious if the Team Leader exhibits hope, so will Team Members. Exhibiting hope requires Team Leaders to be truthful, not overly optimistic, and provide a realistic version of the future. Accomplish this by expressing confidence in the ability of each Team Member to help overcome the Team’s challenges and, with the input of the Team, set realistic goals. This also means encouraging Team Members to revisit their own developmental goals. 5. Use Humor : Don’t try to be a stand-up comedian, but recognize humor helps people cope with difficult situations. If, as you conduct the Appreciation Review, you can make a Team Member laugh or smile with a short, amusing story, highlighting the frustrations and inconveniences you are both experiencing, you immediately reduce their level of stress and let them know you are in this together. 6. Be a Better Communicator : During this time of high stress and anxiety, more communication is needed! Establishing a consistent communication program is required to meet the needs of individual Team Members for relevant information. This includes, where appropriate, expressing daily appreciation for the work being performed by Team Members and making the Appreciation Review at least a quarterly ritual. 7. Provide Resources & Remove Barriers : Ask what resources Team Members need to do their job easier/better and provide them. Ask what internal procedures and policies are barriers to work being done effectively and efficiently and eliminate them. 8. Words Matter, but Action Creates a Memorable Moment : At the conclusion of the Appreciation Review, after again expressing gratitude for the hard work the Team Member has contributed to the Team’s success, give them a financial expression of that gratitude. While there are a plethora of ways to do this, I recommend a gift card for the Team Members and their families. Coming directly from the Team Leader, this does much to ensure the Team Member is engaged and committed to making the remainder of 2021 a success. “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.” — William James The Value of a Successful Appreciation Review The Gallup’s 2021 employee engagement poll found only 36% of employees are actively engaged! This low number is unacceptable at any time, but it takes on heightened significance when polls show up to 40% of the workforce is considering changing jobs. Under these circumstances, which can seriously hinder the ability of the organization to take advantage of the opportunities an ongoing robust economy may present, an impactful Appreciation Review can be the deciding factor that increases engagement, commitment AND retention and, therefore, improves the odds the organization will not only survive post-pandemic but will also thrive. Want to learn more from Paul? Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit his website. Paul L. Glover, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Paul is known as The No B.S. Workplace Performance Coach. For the last 30 years, his mission has been to assist Executives, Team Leaders, and their organizations in achieving their full potential. His approach is practical, hands-on, grounded in the realities of the real world of work, and very results-oriented – but all applied with a sense of humor and panache. Paul is also a "recovering trial lawyer," a Chicago Bears fanatic, an unabashed Starbucks addict, and the author of WorkQuake™, a book dedicated to how to thrive in the Information Economy and a Member of the Forbes Coaching Council.

Written by: Mona AlHebsi, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. The concept of “Career Break” is becoming a popular phenomenon increasingly among both men and women, especially with the current large millennial workforce population. According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, 37% of females and 24% of males “highly qualified professionals” left their careers at some stage, most with the intention of returning. Generally speaking, women may require a career break to take care of children or elderly family members, while men usually step out of their existing careers to switch careers, obtain additional training, or start their own business. This is especially true during and post COVID-19 period when many people across the globe were forced into taking time off work to think about what else they can do with their time. Around one year back, I’ve decided to step out from my highly rewarding career to take care of my newly born baby and take time to do some self-reflection. In this article, I’d like to share 5 takeaways from my career break experience. 1. I needed some rest! After 15 years of a fruitful career journey, I realized that I need to take some time off to rejuvenate. The birth of my first baby was a great universal message to me that it’s the right timing for a career break. No matter how much I loved my job and enjoyed my working life, after some time, I felt the need to leave my fears behind and be courageous to step out to think about my life in a broader context. The long work schedules and professional responsibilities may not permit you to disconnect and reflect, even though such long intervals are quite essential for our overall wellbeing. If you utilize it properly, a career break can give you the ultimate opportunity to replenish your energy, calm your mind, recharge your motivation, and rearrange your priorities. If your weekend or the 1-month long vacation leave is not enough for you anymore, it may be a good sign to think seriously about a career break! 2. It’s good to try new things! Maintaining the same routine or lifestyle for years can make you feel like a machine and make your life dull. Taking time off to engage in new activities will allow you to view your career or field or even life in a totally new way. Transitioning from a full-time senior director in a reputable luxury brand to a full-time homemaker and mother was a big shift for me. As much as this move has brought a lot of excitement in my life for all the new things that I can do, it equally compelled me to adopt a new mindset and identity to make the best out of this new chapter of my life. The career break experience allowed me to create a new routine as a mother, play new roles, try new things, let go of old ways and beliefs, and know more about myself away from titles and positions. The experience has been rather expansive with a lot of ups and downs and helped me broaden my horizons about how I view myself in light of my new responsibilities while integrating and building on what I’ve worked hard to build all these years to have a good life. 3. Motherhood is an amazing experience! Being someone who is intellectually stimulated by continuous learning, my child is introducing me to new ways of constantly learning and adapting to new situations. I must admit that motherhood can be a very demanding and tedious task to undertake, especially when it’s your first time. However, it can end up being one of the most rewarding things in life due to the ongoing learning and molding the mother and the child goes through together during the process. It’s all about unlearning many of our old patterns and relearning new behaviors, habits and seeing things from new perspectives. Baby Khalid continues to teach me patience, curiosity, sharp observation, being selfless yet determined, having fun, and letting go. He continues to teach me amazing things day by day. I’m grateful for all the great and the not-so-great moments that the baby and I have shared together and that my career break allowed me to spend these precious moments to see my child growing in front of me from day 1. 4. Get to know me better! Even though I’ve always described myself as being a self-aware individual to a high degree, my interactions with baby Khalid and self-contemplation during my alone time showed me how much I’m yet to learn about myself! I’ve read once that our children are angels who come to our lives to heal us, but we can only benefit from this immense healing power if we understood the messages that our children bring to our lives. I’ve learned during my time-out experience about my qualities & strengths and how to apply them in my current life context, my triggers & fears, and how they started surfacing in my most vulnerable circumstances requiring me to accept them then learn the right techniques to deal with them. A lot of questions came up to me during this period, including but not limited to: Who is Mona away from her career accomplishments? How else I can add value and benefit others while not working? How to apply what I know in new contexts? Will it work? What new skills that I need to learn to make the most out of this new life experience? 5. I know what I really want! Now that I’ve taken sufficient time away from work, I know one thing for sure, I love hospitality, and I miss being around people! I believe my career in a service-centric sector, i.e., hospitality gave me deep fulfillment and enabled me to experience and provide a lot of things that I love and constitute core values to me like exclusivity, service, learning, achievements, quality, etc. It also exposed me to new challenges on which I can thrive, innovate, and contribute to something bigger. I learned from different people from various nationalities and backgrounds and had many opportunities to help my colleagues and make them smile . I guess this is what has made my working life rich and rewarding. My people-oriented career in hospitality has enabled me to give back to my community in the most amazing ways one can think of. Whether it’s utilizing my capabilities and intelligence to make my workplace a better place for stakeholders, coaching, mentoring, and developing young talent in my industry, or striving to set the benchmark for excellence and best practice in my field and industry used to all to make me feel very fulfilled and worthwhile at the end of the day and stimulate me to think of more creative ways to contribute and make a difference. In a nutshell, taking this much-needed career break allowed me the opportunity to disconnect, contemplate, re-evaluate, and restart stronger and with more clarity and maturity. A well-planned and rightly utilized career break will give you the space to determine your future direction and can end up being an extremely valuable experience. As the popular saying goes: “sometimes you have to get away to come back stronger .” If you find yourself struggling to overcome toxic work patterns and feel stuck in a mediocre job, know that you are not alone. Career & Success Coaches like myself can help you be aware of your blind spots while guiding you towards career options that will make you achieve personal effectiveness and fulfillment. You can email me at info@monaalhebsi.com . For more personal effectiveness and career success tips, visit my website . Connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on Instagram , Twitter & Facebook ! You can also subscribe to my channel on YouTube . Read more from Mona! Mona AlHebsi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Mona AlHebsi, is an Award-Winning Hotelier, HR Practitioner, Success Coach, Renowned Author, and Speaker. She has recently been named “Most Influential Woman in Hospitality Human Capital” and "Inspirational Female Leader" due to her eminent contributions to the hospitality industry and Human Resources profession. Through her book “Beat The Odds,” Mona aims to provide a roadmap to all hoteliers and working professionals on making their work a vehicle to delivering excellence and achieving astounding success. She instinctively knows how to ignite the courage in others to stay true to their values and capitalize on their strengths, which will ultimately steer them towards success and fulfillment. Mona's life mantra is, "The more odds you beat, the greater will be your feat!"

Written by: Lee-Anne Mendel , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Are you feeling good? Do you feel your best? Are you feeling in flow? Are you living your best life aligned and on purpose? When we feel good, we vibrate at a higher frequency and that’s when the universe responds to us. What you put out there is what you will get back. We call this the “Law of Attraction.” You’ll be amazed at what you attract after you start believing in what you deserve. The universe listens. Your thoughts create your reality. What you feel you will attract. Be mindful of what you are saying as this energy transforms to create whatever you want or don’t want. “The standard of success in life is not the money or the stuff – the standard of success is absolutely the amount of joy you feel” – Esther and Jerry Hicks In the last 51/2 years, I have been on my own personal journey of transformation. It’s been a rollercoaster ride of triggers that I have had to heal and continue to heal at a soul level. Many people along the way have asked me what does this looks like? My answer is that it’s not just one healing or quick-fix ritual with a spiritual guru or reiki master. It takes consistent effort, a daily commitment and discipline to show up no matter what each and every single day, even when you don’t feel like it. Most importantly, it is to know your worth and to love yourself enough at the core to care about your wellbeing. When your mind, body and spirit are working in harmony, that’s when we feel our best. This journey we are on is full of different experiences and in order to get from where you are to where you want to be, it starts with you! Change starts with you, it starts within. Nobody is responsible for your happiness or outcome. You have to take 100% responsibility. It’s about choosing how you respond, healing at a soul level and playing the victor, not the victim, in this game called life. You attract who you are, not what you want. So, I ask you today – how are you really actually feeling? How are you showing up every day? Feeling good about yourself is the secret. It’s that simple. However, in reality, it is not always that easy. What I have learned is that when we can take any negative situation and look at it thru the lens of love, turning it into a positive this is what keeps our vibration and energy high, and this, in turn, will work for us and our highest good. It may not present itself in the timeframe we would like, but we have to have faith that what we desire and already exists. Trusting the outcome. The Universe has your back. I chose to affirm what I wanted not only by visualization but also by being grateful for what I already had and then writing it down daily. Ask it is given the universe listens literally played out in my life this year and it can do the same in yours. Here are my Top 10 Tips on how to manifest what you ask for: Vision – be crystal clear on what you want and what you don’t want to create for your life. Create a vision board of pictures, quotes, affirmations that depict this reality, or create a keepsake box where you can add these photos into. I love to even create a wallpaper as a screensaver on my mobile phone, so I can see it all the time. Be grateful for what you already have – appreciation is the highest level of frequency. Daily Habits - show up and work on yourself daily. This includes self-care rituals like meditation, breath work, journaling, prayer, listening to inspirational podcasts, audios, or personal development books to expand your mind, body and spirit. Virtual Reality – visualize a positive pleasant experience and practice aligning your vibration to your desires. Imagine yourself thriving and feeling your best. Focus on the location, the people, the smell, the sights, the sounds and how good you feel. Connect to Source, Divine, God, Nature whatever works for you. Like a mobile phone needs to be charged every day to work at optimum, so do we. This is a great way to tame the ego and be more heart-centered as we go about our day. Choose your thoughts - be mindful of what you speak. The ego loves to be in control so learn to quieten that inner critic that sabotages you. Forgiveness – let go of what no longer serves you. Decide – change starts with you. It’s up to you, nobody else to create your best life. Decide what you would like to experience and believe it’s possible for you, own it, feel it, see it, believe it, then you will receive it. Allow Abundance – instead of earning it, allow it. Your actions aren’t the cause of abundance. Your abundance is in response to your vibration. Love yourself and believe you are worthy of what you want. Some great positive affirmations I like to use include: “I allow the Universe to surprise with new positive experiences” “If I put my mind to it, I achieve it” “I am a magnet of miracles” In conclusion, I challenge you to consider your thoughts and feelings. You are not defined by your past, circumstances, events, people or situations. You have the inner strength to create your own reality and life that you so truly are worthy and deserving of. You are here to heal, grow, learn and expand and by so doing attract all the magnificent positive things into your life that already exist. It’s yours for the taking. You can absolutely achieve your dreams and manifest what you heart desires. Believe it. Believe in you. Ask for it. Allow, have faith and trust the process. The universe listens. For more info, follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit my website ! Read more from Lee-Anne ! Lee-Anne Mendel, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lee-Anne Mendel is a Holistic Beauty Coach, Professional Makeup Artist and Health and Wellness Advocate for vegan toxic-free and cruelty-free skincare, beauty and nutritional supplements. Lee-Anne’s coaching approach is a holistic one as she believes once you have your mind, body and soul all working in harmony that’s when you can become the best version of you and live a fulfilled life aligned and on purpose. She is passionate about supporting woman to awaken their Divine Inner Goddess, to tap into their own inner beauty and divine feminine, discover their true authentic self and ignite the spark and light within so they can glow bright, look and feel their best from the inside and out and be confident and comfortable in their own skin. Lee-Anne graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Degree in both Industrial Psychology and Economics and spent 15 years working in IT Distribution and Corporate. She emigrated to Sydney Australia in 2000 where she now resides with her family. In 2020 she traveled to India on a spiritual retreat and studied a Practitioner course in Love Soul Healing. She uses her own wisdom, healing experiences and self-love journey of Divine Transformation to support her clients through both 1:1 coaching and groups. Contribution is big on her heart as she spends time sharing her skills and passion with others and raising money for charity.