Written by: Casimiro da Silva Santos, 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 I write this article, I realise many coaches and motivational speakers, including myself, tell you that life only starts when you get out of your comfort zone. Most of us must remember to guide you on how to do it. If you feel scared, stressed, and anxious about getting out of your comfort zone and do not know how to do it, welcome to the club. It is common. Even the most perceived successful people passed or are passing to the same emotions and unknown. For many, self-actualisation is a powerful incentive to leave their comfort zone. The concept was popularised through Abraham Maslow's (1943) theory of human motivation. “What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualisation.” -Abraham Maslow How Does It Feel Being in Your Comfort Zone? People feel at ease since they aren't being challenged when they are in their comfort zone. People seldom try new things or face problems while they are in their comfort zone. They exclusively partake in everyday activities, which gives them a sense of "control" over their surroundings. People avoid painful or anxious sensations by staying in their comfort zones. Any activity pushing us beyond our comfort zones causes uncertainty, making us uneasy. We, as humans, are wired to avoid unpleasant emotions naturally. They find it difficult to leave their comfort zone as a result. “There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” -Nelson Mandela As cosy as it may appear, this protective cocoon prevents people from developing personally and doing the actions they desire but lack the guts to take. For instance, years spent in unfulfilling work might make you miserable, leading to burnout and disengagement. But it's now your haven. Although you are aware of your potential, pushing your limits concerns you since it implies risk. Five Tips to Get Out Your Comfort Zone If the decision to leave the comfort zone aligns with a person's values, this shift is akin to making a bid for self-actualisation. Why is this important? For one, not striving for growth could mean falling into inertia later in life, and avoiding it, you can try these five tips: Acknowledge your emotions. Acknowledge that you feel scared and anxious. Face fear by listing the worst things that can happen if the fear comes true and the best things that can happen if the fear comes true. This will allow you to deal with your emotions more rationally and clearly. Define your goals. This is an important step. I suggest you take away from the busyness of life, turn off your cell phone and meditate to clear your mind. Define your goals, no more than four, and for each, answer these three questions: 1) why the goal; 2) for whom; and 3) how will this make you feel? Sound a bit complicated? It is not. I will use one of my goals for 2022 as an example. The goal is to have me-time weekly, (why) to take care of myself, to grow spiritually, to reflect and to be a better version of myself (who) and (how) so that I can feel happy and at peace. Makes sense? Prioritise your actions. Recently Liz Fosslin, author and speaker, creatively defined a way to break down to-do lists into three categories: 1) things you have to do, 2) things you want to do, and 3) things other people want me to do. Using this method, you can prioritise your actions clearly, and I suggest you tackle the first category first and use only three actions per category. Remember to go slowly and make changes one at a time so you do not feel overwhelmed. Use a career, executive and leadership coach. Working with a coach will be a great way to define what matters to you and how to have an accountability partner that helps you get out of your comfort zone. The coach can act as your mirror, questioning your fears and emotions and allowing you to see things from a different perspective. There is black and white, and in between are different shades of grey. This can help boost your self-confidence as you "jump" out of your comfort zone. Keep track by journaling. The use of journaling brings benefits to cleaning your mind of emotions –positive or negative– that distort your thoughts. Journaling will help compare the gains and losses of your decisions and, more importantly, create an inventory of your wins. In a recent article, Susan David, Ph. D., wrote to keep choosing courage over comfort. This statement summarises what it is about getting out of your comfort zone. Bringing It All Together Being safe, accustomed, and less stressed are all advantages of living in your comfort zone. However, playing small and choosing a life that is less than what you can live lacks passion, as Nelson Mandela memorably observed. You can live the life you're capable of by learning to step outside of your comfort zone. Find what inspires you, then push yourself incrementally. Leaving your comfort zone is the first step toward professional and personal growth. It takes courage. In a recent post, Susan David, Ph. D., wrote to keep choosing courage over comfort. This statement summarises what it is about getting out of your comfort zone. With Bring the Best's coaching programme GREAT 101, you may find growth possibilities in many facets of your life that will surprise you! Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Casimiro! Casimiro da Silva Santos, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Casimiro da Silva Santos, better known as Cas, uses pronouns he/his. He is a dad, a business and climate action leader, a coach, and a speaker. His mission is to create a perspective of abundance, alleviating scarcity so that we can live a brighter future. After a transformational coaching experience with Simon Sinek Inc., Cas decided to create Bring the Best®, a coaching and consulting firm for personal development and business growth. Through individual, career, and executive coaching, Bring the Best transforms lives so that each person can live the life they want and dream about. His coaching style is authentic and empathetic, with a special focus on the LGBTQIA+ community.

Written by: Marguerite Thibodeaux, 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. Hate to break it to you, but you’re not a machine. Neither are your teammates. You’re a human, and humans are built for lulls. When left to our natural devices, we work in cycles. We are made to sprint and then celebrate and recover. Your team is, too. In this day and age, there is always another meeting on the calendar and task on the to-do list. No matter what you and your team’s backlog looks like, unplugging is essential to your long-term health and your team’s success. Intentional rest helps you and your team: Avoid burnout The effects of rest and relaxation on one's performance at work can be impactful. Giving you and your team a break can help reset your mind and re-energize your bodies. Heal the body Resting and reducing the stress on the mind and body means better sleep, improved health, and a more positive outlook in life. Boost creativity and productivity When you and your team are well-rested and less pressured, you have more energy to spend on your deliverables and brainstorming sessions. Additionally, the mood boost that comes with rest is correlated with innovation. Improves decision-making With a rested, open mind, you and your team will be able to make better long-term decisions, rather than simply reacting to the urgent. How do you create space for the natural human swing between prints and rests? There are two ways humans are most comfortable enjoying rest (rather than stressing about all the work piling up while they're sipping beer at this randomly schedule happy hour): At the end of a big project. This is great for a team that works in unison on the same project all at once. This could also work for celebrating major team milestones, such as the close of a quarterly project increment. At a regular cadence, as a small break from the daily grind. This is great for teams that juggle multiple projects simultaneously and may not all end and start projects in unison. The research recommends a combination of both usually works best. For example: 60-minute weekly team meeting that includes a standing agenda item for celebrations and shoutouts Annual team event to wrap up the year, celebrate wins, and shed old baggage before moving into the new year Conclusion While we can’t take responsibility for our teammates as whole people, as a leader, the physical and mental well-being of our team should be one of our priorities. One simple thing we can do to empower our teams to bring their full, engaged selves to work is inject intentional rest throughout our work schedules. Consider those few minutes for shout-outs in team meetings and the occasional team celebratory event investments. They’ll pay dividends with increased engagement, innovation, and retention. Need help in creating a team rhythm for sprints and rests? Snag a free consultation here, and I’d be glad to help you get started. About the Author: Marguerite Thibodeaux is an executive coach and talent management consultant dedicated to changing our relationship with work. Work should be a place where each of us gets to enjoy the challenge of contributing to something bigger than one self. She focuses on helping leaders at all levels create habits, skills, and environments that empower teams to thrive. Every leader deserves support. Follow her on LinkedIn for leadership tips and discussions. Check out her website for free leadership resources like a Professional Development Roadmapping Worksheet and Attrition Risk Matrix. Want one-on-one adapting these strategies to your team? Book a complimentary call with Marguerite. Every leader deserves support. Follow me on LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Marguerite! Marguerite Thibodeaux, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Marguerite Thibodeaux, a leadership coach, and talent management consultant, helps leaders and organizations bring the best out of people with courage, compassion, and clarity. After building development programs and leading a talent transformation at a Fortune 100, she became increasingly aware that not all leaders had access to a Fortune 100 Learning & Development team. To do something about that, she started Magnanimous Leadership, a leadership coaching and consulting firm that's on a mission to make resources and support available to every leader.

Written by: Edit B Kiss, 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. Have you ever wondered why you sometimes drive to a place and don’t even remember what happened on the road you got there? Our mind is very complex. When we talk about the mind it is not the same as the biological brain. Our mind has more parts and still, it is in every fiber of our system. Might you hear people say “listen to your gut feelings” or “follow your heart”? Scientifically proven that our cravings and our choice of food can be controlled by the bacteria in our intestines, also scientifically proven that our heart sends more information to the brain than the brain to the heart. That is why when it comes to our thought patterns, behavior, or actions, it is related to our mind, not just our brain. Our mind has 4 parts: the conscious mind, subconscious mind, unconscious mind, and superconscious mind. Let’s go back to the driving situation: our body was biologically created to save energy. Probably you realized when you focus on something, solving a riddle, taking an exam, or doing something for the first time you got exhausted faster. That is when you use your conscious mind. To save energy, the body is switching into the subconscious mind and goes on autopilot when it feels safe. Like you know how to do certain things, you have done it so many times. It happens most of the time. When you are working towards your goals, and you want to change your lifestyle or your situation you are making this decision with your conscious mind. The subconscious mind holds your belief systems, your parent’s belief system, your habits, fears, and memories. Your old patterns can sneak in to ruin your plans when they are not aligned with your conscious decision. The solution is to reprogram your subconscious mind. So the 3 reasons why you need to do that are the followings: To get rid of old belief systems which don’t even belong to you. Stop practicing negative habits and implement positive ones. Overcome your fears so you can take action toward your goals. There are ways to reprogram your subconscious mind. For example, you can use positive affirmations to rewrite old beliefs. There are techniques that can make the process faster and more effective. I work with clients to reinvent themselves to the next level while getting rid of stress, and anxiety and releasing old patterns not just from the subconscious but the unconscious mind as well and learning how to get aligned with the superconscious mind to reach their goals. I am running a 5-day challenge called RELEASE AND REALIGN ACCELERATOR where you can be coached for FREE by me and practice powerful life-transforming techniques live or watch the recording. You can connect through zoom and be able to interact with me or watch it in my Facebook group. I would love to see you there to show you what is possible. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Edit! Edit B Kiss, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Edit B Kiss is a holistic mentor, success habit coach, 1 best-selling author, Humanitarian Award winner and international speaker. She helps her clients to get healed from running mind, insomnia to gain more focus and fill the void in their hearts by raising their frequency and getting them aligned with their true self so they can stand the storms and live their life joyfully and reinvent themselves to the next level.

Written by: Dr. Allen Lycka, 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. Does everything around you have undue influence? Do the stress, the drama, and the negativity become your problems? You may find yourself dwelling on other peoples' problems. Or you might wish you didn't get caught up in their negative thoughts. It's too easy for you to be dragged down by the things around you. You need to develop better insight and a more resilient min. Creating an Impenetrable Mindset™ takes dedication. However, resilience becomes a practice when you become mentally resilient and execute the methods I share below. I've been working at this for my whole life and can provide you with the tools you need to become resilient. In my soon-to-be-released course, Impenetrable Mindset™, you will have all the tools and exercises t get you there. I'll share my story with you to show I devoted myself to resilience. Then, I'll give you the things you need to guide you through the fear that too many of us feel so that you can develop and sustain a resilient mindset. I only sometimes had a resilient mindset. If we have met, you know how I became a survivor, a thriver, and a powerful force. But, if don't know you me, let me tell you a bit about myself: Nowadays, I'm typically introduced as a world-leading authority on cosmetic surgery, entrepreneur, a 3X international best-selling and award-winning author, much sought-after speaker, coach, trainer, mentor, host, executive producer of 3 top radio shows with millions of listeners, consultant, philanthropist, and publisher, but my life hasn't always been filled with victory. I had to become resilient. While all the titles and awards are accurate, I grew up in a low-income family. I struggled financially to get my university education. I had to fight to get a dermatology position and leave my country to get it. I'm a survivor and a medical miracle. In 2003, at the height of my cosmetic surgery career, I was told, "Get your affairs in order. You have ALS (Lou Gherig's disease). You have six months to live. I am here due to my grit, tenacity, and mindset. Still, I dominated the field of cosmetic surgery until I walked away in 2019. Then COVID hit, and I had to pivot once again. So, how did I overcome these obstacles and manage to come away with an Impenetrable Mindset™? The simple answer is that I made a decision. Then, I took determined action and consistently practiced the tools and strategies I learned and implemented along the way. The more precise answer? I nailed the steps that I describe below and practice them every day. These steps are simple in theory, but they are not easy, and you can start using them today. Steps to build a resilient mindset Building an Impenetrable Mindset™ starts with you choosing to become resilient. You must also be committed to destroying any challenges that life brings you and finding a community that will help you and holds you responsible. Over time, you will become more powerful and build an impervious mindset. I have that community for you at FantasticLiving.ca. It's free – join it. The following are steps you can take to become resilient. These steps aren't in any particular order, but each is an integral part of your journey. Change how you tell your story. An essential way to change your story lies in how you tell it. For example, what words do you use? What viewpoint are you sharing? For example, you could tell everyone you meet about your challenges and use them as excuses for not reaching your goals. Or, you can tell everyone about the challenges you've overcome. That you've readjusted your goals and how when one door closed, you opened another and, despite all odds, became a successful, happy, fulfilled person. I know you can't choose what's happened to you. I do. As I say in How To Live A Fantastic Life – it's not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens. But I also know that when you change the story, you tell yourself about what's happened to you, and in doing so, you change your life. Be aligned with your why Your why is a double-edged sword – it is your fuel and anchor. But, on the other hand, you're why is your reason for being, and when you understand why, it will propel you forward. Victor Frankl, a survivor of concentration camps in Nazi Germany, wrote about this in his book, The Search For Meaning. Understanding and connecting to your why gives you strength, resolve, drive, and focus. If you do not yet know you're why that's okay. Take the time to reflect and ask yourself what drives you. Think about why you do the things you do and who you do them for. Next, make a list of things that are most important to you in life. Then, take that list and ask yourself again for each item, "Why is this important to me?" Then, ask yourself again for each answer, "Why does that matter to me?" Please take a look at my chapter in my book The Secrets To Living A Fantastic Life on Ikigai because it can give you some guidance n finding your purpose. This process may take many layers to strip away to get to your core why. That's okay. Just keep searching until you get there. Become internally free When you are strongly aligned with who you are and what you want from life, you will become internally accessible. Take time to understand what matters to you and why each is important. When deeply connected to your needs, making decisions that lead you toward your goals becomes more accessible. Then you can develop a list of non-negotiables t guide you. When you develop a resilient mindset, making value-based decisions becomes second nature. Everything you do will be in alignment with your beliefs. You will guard your mind so fiercely that you won't let anyone or anything that doesn't align with your goals stand between you and your bigger future. Become intentional about how you spend your time People with resilient minds are cautious about the messages they consume. This means they are clear about what ideas are delivered to them if they watch television. In addition, they may spend more time reading or listening to personal development materials such as books, audiobooks, or podcasts rather than popular media. Be sure to determine what is and isn't helping you as you build your resilient mind. Additionally, be aware of the people you are spending your time with. Are people building you up or tearing you down? Are they moving in the same direction that you want to be going? Finally, be careful and intentional about who you listen to and associate with. Overcome Your Fears Accomplishing your dreams are on the other side of your fears. Fear is the most prevalent emotion and cripples you. F.E.A.R. stands for F- False E - Expectations A - Appearing R - Real 80% of the things we fear never happen, and 95% are much less than dread. So move forward Are you ready to build your Impenetrable Mind™? Creating an Impenetrable Mind™ takes practice. It is something that you will often need accountability and support for. You may work with a mindset coach or join a community of like-minded people. Depending on what's most comfortable for you, you might seek out groups that meet in person or connect with a global network online. As you seek out your resilient network, I invite you to check out my free community, FantasticLiving.ca. This community will teach you how to: Identify what is holding you back from living a joyful, abundant life you love. Align your mindset with tools and techniques to take you from where you are to where you want to be. Design your custom action plan to help you live life on your terms. If you're ready to live a joyful, abundant life that's purpose-filled and aligned, then the first step is to build a resilient mindset. Dr. Allen Lycka An impact-driven leader who leads from his heart and facilitates change, Dr. Lycka helps entrepreneurs and businesses come alive; authors write their books and get them into the world. Speakers amplify their message to scale their impact. And helps companies transform disenfranchised workers into enthusiastic champions. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Youtube, or visit my website for more info! Read more from Dr. Allen! Dr. Allen Lycka, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Allen Lycka is acknowledged as one of the leading cosmetic dermatologists in the world. In 2003, Dr. Lycka was diagnosed with ALS and given six months to live. After fighting the diagnosis, he is here today as a result of his courage and tenacity. Having been given a “golden ticket” Dr. Lycka used his experience to co-author the books The Secrets To Living A Fantastic Life with Harriet Tinka, Pillars of Success with 1 New York Times Best Selling Author Jack Canfield and bLU volume 1 with Corey Poirier. He is the host and executive director of How To Live a Fantastic Life show with 4 million listeners per episode. He is a sought-after speaker.

Written by: Kamini Wood, 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. Sleep is vital for your well-being and survival. Without sleep, your body and brain wouldn’t work properly. While you rest at night, your brain forms the neural pathways that let you learn and remember information and create new memories. Your body and brain stay active while you sleep to help protect your health and quality of life. In children and teenagers, deep sleep plays a vital role in promoting growth and development, triggering the production of growth hormones. Once the lights switch off, the pineal gland, located in the brain’s two hemispheres, increases the production of the hormone melatonin, which helps put you to sleep. In other words, melatonin informs your body it’s nighttime, so you can relax and fall asleep. A Lack of Sleep Effects Sleep is a complex process that affects almost every organ. Some of the main functions of sleep include physical restoration and mood regulation. Sleep also helps strengthen the immune system and clean the brain of toxins that accumulate during the day. Physical Health A chronic lack of sleep distresses every system in your body, from the brain and heart to your mood and immune function. Studies show that poor sleep quality increases the risk of chronic physical disorders, including diabetes, kidney disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Research also shows that a lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity in all age groups. Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of ghrelin and leptin, the hormones that increase and decrease your appetite, making you feel hungry or full. Sleep deprivation also raises the level of ghrelin while lowering the level of leptin, making you feel hungry. Sleep deprivation can also affect your balance and coordination, making you more prone to injuries and accidents. Cognitive Functioning and Mental Health If you constantly lack sleep, you may find it difficult to think clearly, concentrate, remember things, solve problems, and make decisions. Sleep deprivation can also compromise your mood and emotional control. Furthermore, a chronic lack of sleep impacts your emotional health , affecting how you react, manage emotions, and get along with others. Children and teens who lack sleep have problems with impulse control and often experience mood swings. They may also lack motivation, and feel depressed, stressed, and isolated. Sleep deprivation in children and teenagers can also cause attention difficulties and poor academic performance. Other mental health risks include: Depression Anxiety Impulsive behavior Paranoia Suicidal thoughts How to Improve Your Sleep The best way to prevent sleep deprivation is to get enough sleep during the night. In general, adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Avoid or limit daytime naps and go to bed simultaneously each night. Spend an hour before sleep relaxing. Read a book or meditate and refrain from using electronic devices right before bedtime. Studies show that using electronic devices before bed affects your circadian rhythm (your inner clock), suppressing the release of melatonin and making it harder to fall asleep. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , or visit my website for more info! Read more from Kamini! Kamini Wood, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kamini Wood is the founder and CEO of Live Joy Your Way and the AuthenticMe® RiseUp program. An international best-selling author Kamini is driven to support people of all ages to heal their relationship with themselves and to stop outsourcing their self-worth. As a result, her clients become their own confident, resilient self-leader with healthier relationships. Kamini is a certified life coach, board-certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, holds specialty certifications in Calling in the One®, Conscious Uncoupling®, NewMoney Story®, and teen life coaching. Also trained in conscious parenting, Kamini aims to meet her clients where they are, supporting and guiding them on their journey to where they want to be, both personally and professionally. Her mission: create space for each person to see the unique gifts they bring to this world.

Dr. Denise Moore Revel is a best-selling author, licensed Speech-Language Pathologist, and Founder/CEO of Own Your Amazing Movement, a personal and professional development movement dedicated to helping women [and some professionally driven men] embrace the power and talent within. Dr. Denise has dedicated her life to helping others use their voice and own their individuality as the catalyst to meeting their true, fulfilled self for over twenty-five years. Through coaching, speaking, writing, and mentoring, Dr. Denise ignites women to hone their power and create the authentic and amazing lives of their dreams. She has a Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology and Audiology, a Master of Science in Communications Sciences and Disorders, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Human Services with a Specialization in Multicultural Counseling and Coaching. Dr. Denise Moore Revel, Personal Development & Business Coach Please introduce yourself to our audience! What do you want people to know about you? I am Dr. Denise Moore Revel and I absolutely love helping people own their personal power. Living out loud is something that I pray everyone has the chance to experience and that is why I created the Own Your Amazing Movement. I operate a private speech therapy practice that serves the Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland area, and that’s been running for over fifteen years. I was born in Washington DC and raised in North Carolina, so my lifestyle is influenced by the urban city and the comfy south. Anyone who knows me knows I love movies and traveling. My most recent travels took me to Paris and Dubai, and I absolutely enjoyed both places! My hobbies and pastimes are always filled with anything self-care related. I am all about prioritizing yourself and then reaching out to serve others. What made you want to become a Business and Personal Development coach? I always had a passion for helping people reach their potential and maximize their success. After I graduated college, I started working as a professional and saw firsthand how much potential many people have but don't always use it to their fullest. This lack of knowledge was also present within me, so the soul-searching started with me. I was fascinated by all I learned, the people I met, and the mentors that helped me on my journey. That passion, appreciation, and joy inspired me to pursue a career in business and personal development coaching. I wanted to be able to use my knowledge and experience to help women like me reach their fullest potential. What types of clients do you most like to work with? The Own Your Amazing Movement is geared towards professional, purpose-driven women primarily (but I have coached and spoken to men about personal and business development in the past). This movement is for ambitious women who are looking to make meaningful changes in their life and reach their highest potential. She is open-minded, willing to take risks, and dedicated to personal growth and development. I love a client who is motivated to succeed and appreciates the value of investing in herself through coaching. She is also willing to put in the hard work and effort needed to make progress and achieve her goals. She is organized, resourceful, and has a positive attitude. She is ready to take action and is committed to creating a life filled with purpose, passion, and success. There is something so delightful about a woman with a relentless determination to make her wildest dreams come true. The ideal client is visibly hungry. Creative with an innovative spirit that pushes them beyond the limits of what others deem as ordinary. Unafraid to take risks in order to bring her ideas to life, my ideal student is not afraid to challenge the status quo and think outside of the box. She is passionate about creating something that is unique and perfectly organized to fit her lifestyle. The most receptive and successful of the people I coach understand that the only way to break free from the mundane and to live her life to the fullest is to design something extraordinary. "Most people will not do the work it takes to live an authentic life. You have to have the courage to be who you are.” If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? If I could change one thing about the coaching industry, it would be the lack of diversity. There are not a lot of knowledgeable and transparent coaches out there who care about their client’s progress from the inside out. We must prioritize taking care of our inner world the same way we take care of our external world. It is true that the coaching industry has a long way to go when it comes to creating a more diverse environment. Diversity is an incredibly important factor in any kind of coaching, as it allows coaches to create a personalized approach for their clients. It is important that coaches have a deep understanding of their client’s life experiences and worldviews in order to be able to provide the best possible guidance. One way to increase the diversity of the coaching industry is to create more opportunities for coaches from different backgrounds to gain experience and knowledge. This could be done by providing scholarships for coaching courses and internships for aspiring coaches. Additionally, it’s important for coaches to be transparent about their own experiences and to create an environment that encourages open dialogue and communication. It is important for coaches to be aware of their biases and to be willing to learn and grow in order to best serve their clients. By increasing the diversity in the coaching industry and creating a more open and honest environment, coaches can provide a more personalized and valuable service to their clients. What is the most fulfilling part of being a Business and Personal Development Coach? The most fulfilling part of being a Business and Personal Development Coach is being able to help people achieve their goals and reach their full potential. I remember what it was like for me not knowing the real me that was deep down inside, and how it felt to put in the work to pull my full potential to the surface. Seeing the growth and success of my clients is a truly rewarding experience that I get to relive over and over through the eyes of other women. I love being able to provide them with the tools and resources they need to make positive changes in their life and business. It is an honor to be part of their journey and to witness their transformation, and it affirms me that my purpose is to continue this movement so it can touch as many people as possible. If you could describe the Own Your Amazing Movement in three words (without using the name of your company), what would they be? I would say empowering, transformational, and authentic. Owning your power is empowering. It’s a beautiful act, to take control of our lives and make choices that reflect our authentic values and priorities. It is monumental because a lot of us are influenced by external factors that make us feel powerless. It is empowering to take ownership of our thoughts, feelings, and decisions, and recognize our worth and strength. It means understanding that we have the power to shape our own destiny and create the life we want and that we have the right to assert our needs and boundaries. Empowerment allows us to stand up for ourselves and others, and to lead with courage, resilience, and integrity. It’s a transformational process, The Own Your Amazing Movement causes a brighter future because we prioritize shedding light on what we are, why we are, and who we actually want to be. Part of the movement is about sharing those amazing parts of us with others so we can truly be light out of the darkness. Learning to love yourself more can be illuminating in ways that will change not only your life but allow you to see, accept and embrace your true self. To have that ability is to be bright. It is like someone you know seeing you in the grocery store and saying, ‘You are glowing!’ Finding your true authenticity is a substantial part of owning your power. It is important to know and understand why owning up to your authentic self is powerful, and the plot is deeper than you would think. Although it seems like an easy concept, a lot of adults go through life without fully understanding and using this fact – resulting in a life that is not the best it could be. Sometimes you just need a reminder, an outside opinion, mentorship, and practice to activate your power. That’s where I come in! For some of you reading this, it may feel like I am describing you when it comes to not realizing your power. Some of you may feel stuck right now and you are wondering, ‘Is this it? What else am I supposed to be doing?’ It is possible to level up and optimize your full potential and do it efficiently! The Own Your Amazing Movement offers private and group personal development coaching programs, designed to help you reach your goals and find true success from the inside out. Part of my message is that unleashing this potential you may read about, or see in movies, is possible. It is possible to be the best version of yourself. It just takes that special effort and willingness to put in the work, for it to actually work. Do not miss out on the opportunities you come across to meet and become who you actually want to be. I offer free clarity calls to anyone interested in learning more about coaching, courses, and speaking engagements. Ready to get started, you can contact me here. For more information on Dr. Denise Moore Revel and the Own Your Amazing Movement, please visit the OYA website. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Dr. Denise!

Written by: Nada Matijevic, 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. Career planning can help secure a better and more successful career future, but it’s hard to plan and take action without clarity, confidence, and direction. Find out how raising your awareness can help you make better-aligned career decisions and plan to achieve career success on your terms. Setting solid foundations before jumping into action can help you avoid common career mistakes and lead you to do more personally meaningful, fulfilling, and rewarding work. What does career success mean to you? Your career success objectives might fall under career development and career enhancement, career change, or managing transitions such as the transition to leadership or retirement. All require commitment, reflection, exploration, self-awareness, market awareness, direction setting and decision-making, planning and strategy, networking, and relationship-building. Any investment of your time and resources towards your awareness-building is worthwhile as it will help you to navigate and market yourself more effectively into your desired future. Read my Blog for more on why it might be a good idea to start thinking about your career future. Doing your self-awareness work well can help you understand your brand and story's components, drivers, and unique value proposition. This can help you to differentiate yourself in the market and to gain a competitive advantage. Tips on planning for career success 1. Avoid the conventional approach Traditional methods to achieve career success are fraught with risks. Chasing other people’s versions of career success to impress them or others comes at the risk of neglecting your own needs and values. Pursuing shallow goals and hollow markers of success puts you at risk of one day finding yourself in a void that leaves you craving more out of your career and life despite achieving them all. Taking a passive-reactive approach to where you end up in your career and life puts you at risk of giving away your power to other people and external forces to shape your future. You risk becoming disconnected from who you are and what you need to thrive and not being in control of where life takes you. As a result, you might feel stuck, unhappy, stressed, and even burnt out doing work you don’t enjoy and living a life you don’t love. It’s easy to stay stuck due to not knowing what to do next or how to get what you want. Sadly this has become the accepted way to live for many. 2. Don’t be stuck in a role that is making you miserable Here are some compelling reasons why: Not resolving a situation you’re unhappy with or overstaying a role that’s misaligned or one you’ve outgrown can be demoralising and leaves you doubting yourself and your capabilities It affects not only your work performance, work enjoyment, and your career-and-life outlook but also your wellbeing By waiting until your role becomes unbearable, you risk taking an emotional leap straight into the next available job or other means to escape Leaving it too long to do something affects both your own and other people’s perceptions of yourself, and you’re more likely to miss opportunities for growth and advancement Getting into a negative spiral of more of the same impacts your demeanour and optimism, further eroding your belief in yourself and your capabilities. The longer you leave it, the harder it can be to undo the damage this causes. If you want to create change, take a different approach. 3. Awareness is the first step Raising your awareness before jumping into jobseeker mode can help you discover what will make you feel meaningfully engaged and successful, the type of work you can excel at, and what you need for more joy in your career and life. This can help you avoid some common traps of career success that leave people disillusioned and disappointed. Building self-awareness first will help you to get clear and confident; about who you are and your capabilities, about what’s possible, and in making the best choices for the right reasons. This will give you confidence and conviction in your decisions to address the problem, leave the security of your current situation or comfort zone, and go for what you want. Taking the time to see things from a new perspective can help you understand the situation and see possibilities. More about building your awareness follows. Pause, reflect and reset A strategy I like to use to build and utilise awareness is Pause. Reflect. Reset. It’s a circuit-breaker, insight-gathering, and re-adjustment phase that stops you from jumping straight into the “HOW TO” phase of getting the next role and making decisions you might later regret. 4. Pause People spend more time planning holidays to get a break from work that drains them than planning a career and life that will motivate, energise and inspire them to do their best work. Holidays can be an excellent time to think about your future and what you want, but leaving it until the holidays may be too late. Create the time and space to step off life’s treadmill or hamster wheel, so you can deeply reflect on your career and life journey. Create some dedicated, distraction-free time to focus on this regularly. You will empower yourself to be in control and to ensure life happens through you rather than waiting for life to happen to you. Pause long enough to see and assess your situation from your current vantage point, to be aware of the micro nuances and big-picture perspective you might have missed. And to understand how you and the landscape have changed and evolved. 5. Reflect Reflect on how far you’ve come from where you started, where you’ve been, how you’ve been showing up, and what you’ve learned. Reflect on the person you’ve become and how you’ve grown. Identify the clues pointing to your untapped potential and who you can be at your best. Reflect on the character-shaping lessons of your essential experiences, successes, and challenges from your past and present reality. Some questions you might ask yourself: How has the past shaped me and where I am today? What are the patterns, themes, and lessons learned? How have my biggest challenges made me stronger today? What makes me uniquely me? What am I naturally good at and love to do? What are my greatest strengths? Read this Brainz article to see a different perspective and explore other possibilities. Identify your natural resources and your compass of joy: your natural strengths, needs, drivers, personality traits, passions, interests, and preferences. In this INTHEBLACK Article, other professionals and I share how extra-curricular activities, hobbies, and interests can boost your career. Please read it and reflect on your own. Get clear on how you’re naturally wired to succeed and where your untapped potential lies. 6. Reset Learn from the past and reset limiting beliefs, self-defeating behaviours, and habits. Trust yourself and your capabilities Find ways to boost your confidence by doing new things you love and are good at Redefine who you are and who you’re capable of becoming Question what else is possible Change your belief system to empower you to achieve your goals and potential Reconnect with your WHY: your needs, drivers, values, passions, interests, purpose, mission, and legacy Get more precise about what you want, your ideal role, and what you want from your job, employer, workplace culture, and industry. When you’re clear on what you want and why you’ll be better able to focus your energy and labour market search and avoid a scattergun approach. Bringing it all together Career success is a highly personal experience. In planning for career success, there are many components to consider regarding what makes us succeed and feel successful. Don’t leave it too long to do something if your career or work situation makes you miserable. Remember that change starts with awareness. So do this foundational work to avoid some common career mistakes and traps. Know what you want, what you’re capable of, and what your ideal role might look like. Then, you can explore possibilities, do your market research and evaluate options to make better-informed career decisions. Taking the time to get clear and focused makes it easier to put together a plan and prepare to market yourself with confidence and conviction. I’ve found that people often struggle with not knowing whom to turn to or trust for sound career advice. Sharing your internal struggles and career challenges with others can leave you exposed and vulnerable. That’s where the expert, unbiased guidance of a career development professional, career mentor, career coach, or career consultant can help you to regain perspective and clarity about the situation. If you’re after results, look for a comprehensive system and robust career coaching framework that supports your progress at every step. Also, look for user-experience testimonials to give you further peace of mind and reassurance. Successful career planning takes a tailored approach to suit each unique situation. An expertly-guided process can help you to put yourself in control and makes it easier, less stressful, and more effective to be focused and achieve your career objectives. Hire a career consultant or coach A career consultant or coach can help guide and support you. From where to start and what to do next, clarity, direction and reassurance in decision-making, to getting you market-ready, having the plan, strategy, implementation, and development need support. At a high level, this is what my career coaching framework looks like. However, at a practical, granular level, it is a highly tailored process designed to support an individual’s needs, goals and objectives. What can you do right now? You can start raising your awareness about what’s going on with your career by taking this free online Career Health Check 1. Read more from Nada! Nada Matijevic, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Nada Matijevic is a results-driven Career Consultant to professionals and executives who want to elevate their careers and lives. She provides coaching, guidance and tailored programs to enable people to identify their stand-out capacity for brilliance. She helps them define their career and life objectives, develop their personal brand and marketing toolkit and to chart and navigate their own path to their own version of success. Nada is passionate about helping her clients take on their most important leadership role of shaping a career and life they can thrive in so they are not dependent on external forces, or on chance, to determine their future for them.

Written by: Jayne Cox, 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 last few years have taken their toll on human resilience, and our ability to bounce back has been truly tested. From the global pandemic to climate crisis and war, our world has been rocked and our mental health is paying the price. Anxiety is now such a problem that it is estimated that 275 million people suffer globally, with over 8 million people experiencing anxiety disorder at any given time in the UK, according to Mental Health UK. These estimates may be the tip of the iceberg as most of us have been touched by anxiety in some way and if not personally, we know someone who is living with the debilitating effects. So, let’s look at three daily tools we have access to that could help alleviate some troubling symptoms. Breathe for a calmer state From the moment we are born the foundation of feeling calmer lies with our breath. It’s not enough to just take a breath, we benefit most by building regular breathing techniques and breathwork into our daily lives. This can take us from an anxious, fight or flight state to somewhere more balanced, present and peaceful. There’s a vast array of breathing exercises to try and you can start by simply slowing down your breath and breathing into your belly on the count of two and then pausing before exhaling slowly for the count of four. Move with purpose When we feel anxious our bodies prepare to fight or flee from danger. For example, blood flows away from the stomach and digestive system and moves to the muscles, priming them for the exertion ahead. This is a highly effective means of survival IF we are living like our ancient ancestors who needed to escape or fight a known predator, but it is not so useful for life in our fast-paced and stressful, modern world. So next time you feel anxious, perhaps with a racing heart and a dry mouth, try walking with the purpose of relieving the feelings of anxiety. When you do this, you are mobilising your body, which mimics escape and utilises the hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, that are being pumped around your body in preparation to fight or run for your life. Practice environmental mindfulness It’s common knowledge that mindfulness and meditation can be powerful ways to help us calm, relax and even sleep. However, not everyone feels comfortable with being still and becoming aware of themselves, their breath and their bodies. If you struggle with these practices or would like to try something slightly different, try using your senses and the environment that you are in to practice calming yourself. You can turn your attention to the colours and shapes that are in the room, the outdoors as you go for a walk, sit in the countryside, or as you travel looking out of the window as a passenger in a car, on a bus or a train. Notice any smells that are in the air and what about textures, what can you feel when you touch what is around you? And what can you hear, let your attention go to your ears and the sounds, try listening in layers and distances? Start close and reach further and further into the distance. We human animals are quite remarkable and like many animals, we have built-in mechanisms to help us to calm down when we are feeling anxious and facing fear. So, whilst anxiety is a complex problem and management takes understanding and time, the next time you feel anxious and fearful, remember, your body often holds the key to a calmer state. If you’d like to understand more about anxiety and how technology can help you, contact me at Jayne@fusion-spaces.com. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jayne! Jayne Cox, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jayne Cox has spent over two decades providing therapy and coaching to compassionately support the process of human healing. Her often self-guided journey of recovery from anorexia in her late teens, led her to develop a unique approach to eating disorder recovery in the 1990’s. Over the years, Jayne has been living in recovery and listening to her clients’ stories, and that is how it became clear that trauma played a significant role in all their life stories. With a determination to change how trauma is perceived, and help to increase compassion, understanding and support human healing, Jayne co-founded wellbeing and technology consultancy, Fusion Spaces with her husband, Michael.

Written by: McKing Lee, 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. If you don’t already know this, then you might want to read and understand yourself better. You see, our beliefs are so important and form a core within us. Our beliefs also structure our life, ranging from relationship to health, career to relationship, and our beliefs also guide our thoughts and emotions, actions and behaviors. So what are beliefs and how does it affect us? Is it something like, “I believe in God” or “I believe in you”? What other beliefs are there? That’s what we are going to explore today! What Is A Belief Statement? Beliefs are statements which we believe to be true. That’s the starting base point. For example, I believe most, if not all, living things on Earth need food, water and air to live. Or I believe I’m a human being. In fact, I don’t necessarily need to start with “I believe” either. I’m Lee McKing. You are reading this. We are on a planet called Earth. These are statements which we believe or know to be true (for us). If you believe you are on a planet called Mars, well, that’s another story. Essentially, any statement can be a form of a belief statement. The things we say or think to ourselves, the stuff we say to other people, and so on. I think at this point you are starting to gain awareness about the statements we use and how it might impact us. But if you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s alright. To help you understand deeper, let’s break it down further into 3 types of belief statements. The neutral beliefs, the empowering beliefs, and the limiting beliefs. The 3 Types Of Beliefs Neutral belief statements are pretty straight forward, they are beliefs that neither empower or limit us. Of course, it is entirely possible that one of your beliefs that is neutral to you, might empower or limit another person! That is entirely up to the perspective of each individual. “The sun is above us” is a neutral belief statement and most of us will agree with this statement. Of course, some people might say since the earth revolves around the sun, then technically the sun is more beside us rather than above us, even if it appears above us. It is perfectly fine if someone disagrees with your beliefs (if you do sales and someone doesn’t agree with your product or service, it is ok too!) “I am a man” is also a neutral belief statement, but to some people, they might say it might empower or limit us. Once again, it is up to the individual’s perspective. Empowering beliefs are statements that empower us, strengthen us, give us hope, power, confidence, etc. “I am a confident person” will allow us to feel confident in completing our tasks for the day. “I have excellent cooking skills” might allow someone to feel good about cooking and preparing for a dinner for his/her family. Naturally, if the belief is empowering, it is ‘harder’ to turn it into a limiting belief. However, I will caution that some beliefs that seem empowering might actually be limiting instead. I will not be covering this today because it requires some finer nuances as well as specific examples. Lastly, limiting beliefs are statements that limit and hold you back, usually tend to give more problems in the long run. Some you might already recognize as an issue. “I have anxiety” is an example of a limiting belief, of course, it highly depends on what you intend to do about it? Recognizing that one has a mental health issue is one thing, deciding which path to take is another. Whether you will seek ways to resolve or manage it, or whether you decide to bottle up and live with it. If you have such a statement and yet seek ways to resolve it, then eventually you will resolve the issue and the statement might change to “I had anxiety”. Yes, the past tense plays a part, hehehe. However, if you decide not to do anything with it, you can imagine how the anxiety might grow over time and become more serious in the future. “The project is difficult” is also a limiting belief! In this case, this suggest that the project is difficult to complete and what will happen is that you will face difficulties and problems in completing the project. Now you might be thinking, what if you see the project as a challenge? Then your statement might be “the project is a challenge” and if you compare both statements, which do you feel or find more difficult and hard? 😉 All these statements can potentially frame up our mind, emotions or even actions. Words Have Power If you want to, you can do a little activity for yourself. It is for your eyes only! I want you to write 10 statements about yourself beginning with “I am…” Be honest with yourself! If you want to write more, that’s fine too. Once you are done, I want you to check each statement and note which is neutral, empowering and limiting for you. Think of a way to change those limiting beliefs into empowering beliefs! If you can’t do a quick change, you can gradually change to neutral first or like in the example above, changing the word ‘difficult’ to ‘challenge’. Take your time to do this and relook at your statements over time! This is especially if you had an issue before but have resolved that issue, if that statement still appears in this list, then you might want to put it in the past tense. Instead of “I am anxious”, if you have resolved it, you can say, “I had anxiety”. Another thing to note is how you speak to people around you. Although this might take some practice, if and when you do realize that you use negative or limiting words on your friends and family, then change those words too! It will be a work in progress but I believe you can do it. Continue to empower yourself and the people around you! With love and peace~ 😊 If you want to educate yourself about the mind, be sure to share this article and check out the links below! Read more cool articles on my blog Watch my Tiktok videos too. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you next time! :D Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Mcking! McKing Lee, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine McKing Lee is a conversational hypnotist, NLP Practitioner, and a student of life. After nearly dying in his sleep when his lung burst for no reason, McKing develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and fell into depression. He subsequently sought his own recovery through learning NLP and hypnosis. Having a unique understanding of how the mind works, he has helped many people with mental and psychological issues, relationship and emotional issues, and interestingly enough, sometimes physical ailments too. McKing was recognized and won APAC SEA Business Awards Hypnotist of the Year 2020, and has been featured in local and overseas media over the years. He aims to help people as effectively as possible, through sharing of knowledge and with the right application of skills.

Written by: Kosta Telegadas, 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 the strength and conditioning industry evolves, many more coaches try to come into the profession. I welcome these young coaches with open arms and hope to see them succeed in their journey into the field. With all the programming science, recovery techniques, and advancements in technology, we have lost sight of the basics. I believe that as a field we have forgotten what programming is all about and how to teach it to a younger generation so they do not get lost along the way. In this article I will break down specific principles for programming, two different charts, Micros, Mesos, Marcos, and more. Principles, Law of Accommodation, and GAS SAID Principle The SAID Principle stands for specific adaptations to imposed demands. All this means, in a nutshell, is that the stimulus being presented on the body (if programmed correctly) will result in an adaptation. Overload Principle The Overload Principle is very simple, but can be manipulated many different ways. It basically states that an exercise must become more challenging over the course of a training program in order to continue to produce results. For the sake of this article I focus on load volume to illustrate this principle. Let’s suppose John Doe warms up on his squats and has 4 sets of 5 reps at 100 lbs as his working sets. 1 set of 5 is 500 lbs total at the end of his first set. He then repeats this with success 4 more times. He totaled 20 reps at 100 lbs each. The total load volume for the prescribed volume is 2,000 lbs. Now John Doe is in his 3rd week of training for the squat and he hits 100 lbs for the first 2 sets of 5 and feels good. John now decides he can go up in weight and he successfully hits 115 lbs his last 2 sets of 5. Let’s break down the math. 100 lbs x 5 reps x 2 sets leads to 1,000 lbs of total load volume for his first two sets. Now for his last two sets John hits 115 lbs. 115 lbs x 5 reps x 2 sets = 1,150 lbs for his total load volume. Adding 1,000 lbs and 1,150 lbs together we get a total load volume of 2,150 lbs after successful completion of all 4 sets. After 3 weeks of training, John has increased his total load volume up 150 lbs. Thus successfully applying the overload principle. Principle of Specificity This law states that to become more proficient at a set skill, you must practice the set skill more to obtain higher levels of adaptation. An example would be to squat more weight, you must squat more frequently while addressing weaknesses in the movement. Please note: in later articles I will dive into how this may not be the best principle to apply down the road at higher tenures. For now, you may find the law of accommodation helpful for understanding how the specificity principle may not always be the best technique to use. Please take this law with a grain of salt. Law of Accommodation The Law of Accommodation causes your performance to stagnate or decrease. Zatsiorsky stated that “the response of a biological object to a given constant stimulus decreases over time.” Put simply, if you do a specific variation of an exercise long enough, the body will fully adapt. However, with full adaptation comes stagnation. If you back squat for too long under a certain stimulus, you will eventually plateau in your progress. This is why the overload principle works so well and your body cannot gain strength without adding reps or increasing load at certain points in training. In higher tenures of athletes and lifters the law of accommodation may actually get to such a point where, as coaches, we need to change to variation of a movement pattern. A great example is training the back squat close to a plateau, then realizing mobility may become an issue. Now we can change the lift to a front squat to let the athlete change variations, increase mobility due to a more vertical squat angel, and maintain high heavier loads on the athlete. Some of the variations in my programming to help prevent athlete plateaus are below: Barbell Back Squat -> Barbell Front Squat->Barbell Back Squat + Chain Resistance (40 -50 lbs total)-> Barbell Front Squat + Chain Resistance (40 -50 lbs total) GAS GAS or General Adaptation Syndrome is the the process by which an organism adapts to a specific stimulus and contains three stages — the alarm stage, the resistance stage, and the exhaustion stage. The alarm stage is similar to the fight-to-flight response, and the body mobilizes resources to react to the incoming stimulus (you will be very sore). The resistance stage forces will be built up over the training cycle when the stimulus is detected as continuing week to week in a training program. The exhaustion stage will cause overtraining if the body is unable to overcome the stimulus and the body breaks down. Please note: if you see your athlete's technique breaking down on lifts it might be time to de-load in a microcycle. Credit: health/general-adaptation-syndrome Charts, Charts, Charts Relative Intensity Chart Above is the relative intensity chart. The chart helps break down intensity based off a 1 rep maximum lift. If our athlete has a set of 5 reps at 74.5% of 1 rep max, then the lifter at the end of the set will have accumulated a stress that equals 85% of 1 rep max. So if the athlete has a 1 rep max of 100 lbs, then 74.5 lbs would be needed to achieve a relative intensity of 85%. This chart can help us use the Overload Principle mentioned above to help elicit a specific adaptation in higher-tenured athletes without breaking down their bodies too much and helps prevent over-training. Prilepin’s Chart Prilepin’s chart was used to help prescribe volume for weight lifters only, but as the strength and conditioning industry has gone on, we have found that it carries over very well to prescribing volume and intensity for athletes as well in the aspects of hypertrophy maintenance and strength gains. The first column is percentages of 1 rep max. So if you had 100 lbs as a 1 rep max then the prescribed weight would be 70–80 lbs in this case in the second row down. The second column details out reps per set. You will see that there are optimal total reps and rep minimums and maximums in the next two columns. So if you wanted 18 reps at 75% then you would have to take the 18 reps and break them into sets. Now this all depends on how much time you have, the set up of your facility, training tenure of athletes, etc. Let’s say you do 3 sets of 6 reps at said 75 % for week 1 and you wanted to increase load while decreasing volume through out the next 3 weeks. Week 2 could be a total of 15 reps at 77.5 %. So with the intensity of the lift going up, the total volume must go down. Now as a coach (based on your set up) you decide that 3 sets of 5 reps is sufficient to evoke the adaptation needed. Perfect! Now what about Week 3? Week 3 could look something like this: 3x4 reps at 80% of 1 rep max. Notice this follows the overload principle mentioned earlier over the course of this 3 weeks. Micros A micro-cycle is very small sample out of the 52 weeks in a training year. You pick 1–2 weeks to work a specific adaptation to train. This could be work capacity, hypertrophy, strength, strength speed, speed strength, etc. You can even sometimes work on 2 adaptations at once depending on your tenure of athlete. As coaches, we also use the micro-cycle to de-load at specific times of the year. This could be done the week of competition or before testing to see improvement from previous training. Mesos A meso-cycle is normally 4–6 weeks of the 52 weeks in a training year. Most coaches I know go month to month (4 weeks at a time if possible). During this time we decide what adaptation(s) to train based on the phase of year we are in. Macros Macro-cycles are the reflection of your year-long training program. All 52 weeks are compiled into one year and the coach breaks it up into different micro and meso cycles to enhance overall athleticism. This takes into account all stages of the off-season, preseason, in-season, competition days, and vacations/holidays. I highly recommend coaches develop a 52 week training calendar to assist in keeping track of the stages of programming for the year. The whole goal of the macro is to be built off of the previous years results or to obtain adaptations to test to increase results in year 2 of training. Remember if your athletes have no training tenure, it is important to establish movement proficiency and increase movement progressions as needed. Progressions vs. Regressions and the Exercise Library The exercise library is a list of all the progressions and regressions you use in programming. Let’s break down some of the most well-known regressions and progressions of the squat. 1. Body weight squat This variation is the easiest due to the fact it has no load, can be modified with ease, and no equipment is needed. THIS MUST BE MASTERED PRIOR TO PUTTING THE ATHLETE UNDER LOAD. 2. Kettle Bell/Dumbbell Goblet Squat This progression is the next on my list due to it being easily modifiable, adding load, and still not placing any stress on the spine. 3. Barbell Front Squat Similar to the goblet squat, the front squat has limited spinal loading and has a more direct bar path going straight down. it also teaches the athlete how to maintain an upright position under load as well. This lift can be used to test lower body if lumbar spine issues plague the athlete, or higher tenure athletes need variations that work on mobility with anterior chain dominance. 4. Barbell Back Squat This is the highest progression due to increased spinal loading and higher loads that can be tolerated. Please note for a rep of the squat to count, the hip crest closest to the top of the thigh must be at or below parallel to the floor. This lift also adds higher recruitment of the hamstring muscles relative to the barbell front squat. Links That Helped Me Program In My Journey In Summary There is so much more we can cover in programming, but these are definitely some basics to help understand the macro-cycle layout, progressions vs regressions, various charts, and the principles needed to get you going as a young coach. I will be going into more detail in my later articles on more advanced programming concepts and principles. Please feel free to reach out as needed via my Instagram (@Coach_Telegadas). Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Kosta! Kosta Telegadas, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kosta Telegadas is a leader in the strength and conditioning for tactical athletes and martial artists all over the world. He found physical training as a necessity to grow up playing sports, help prevent injury & give back to the country that gave his family so much over the generations. Coach Telegadas has a Master's Degree from the University of Miami (FL) and over 7 years of coaching experience with both professional, college, high school & tactical athletes. He is currently the Head Coach/CEO of Telegadas Performance Training and dedicates his time to make physical training programs & remote coaching accessible to all. His mission: If you stay ready, you never have to get ready! References: Biagioli, B. (2015). Advanced Concepts of Strength and Conditioning Bondarchuk, A. (2007). Transfer of Training in Sports Verkoshansky, Y. (2003). Supertraining Zatsiorsky, V. Kraemer, W. (2006). Science and Practice of Strength Training

Written by: Megan McCann and Jennifer Ludington, 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. Manifestation is more than the “woo-woo” buzzword that you may see swarming around the internet and plastered on every life coach's website. The word manifestation, even though it appears to be overused, is actually a science. And, it has proven to be extremely powerful when applied with the right formula. In current times we are finding an overwhelming amount of research to validate the evidence around the science of energetics and manifestation. In fact, Dr. Joe Dispenza describes energy as “an invisible field of energy and information—that exists beyond space and time. Nothing physical or material exists there. It's beyond anything you can perceive with your senses.” In business, understanding the art of manifestation is essential if you want your company to be sustainable. We believe that the energetic formula for manifesting abundance and revenue in your business is driven by the energetics of momentum. Money loves momentum and momentum is magnified by speed. The speed at which you are positively or negatively manifesting in your business is dependent on three elements: awareness, alignment, and activation. As such, we have designed a formula that has been tested and proven to impact how you manifest in your business: Awareness + Alignment + Activation = Abundance Let’s begin with awareness. The energetics of manifestation begins with the identification of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Paying attention to what is happening inside you; how you respond to what you want is crucial. You might be saying one thing but your energy says another. The universe will respond to your energy and attitude towards your desires, not just what you say you want. This is how you either attract or repel what you want. For example, if you say you want to close $20,000 in revenue for the month, but internally you feel anxiety, fear, and scarcity, you will likely repel that desire away because you are tapping into a different frequency than the frequency of abundance (* i.e., $20k in revenue). Paying attention to your limiting beliefs around what you want can help you better understand why you might not be attracting your desires. After you identify your beliefs, you can then move on to step two which is alignment. Alignment is defined by Webster's Dictionary as: “to bring into line”. Falling out of line, in a military setting is literally leaving one's place in the ranks in order to take one's place in a new formation. As entrepreneurs, we are the new formation. We are the risk-takers that formulate new ideas, creations, and innovations so that we can carve the path for others to follow suit and come into their own alignments. This requires us to “fall out” of the pre-conditioned straight line we are taught to walk and instead walk our own line, the unconventional ones that are jagged, broken, and curved. A straight line is not always the best way to reach your objective. At times the messy, jagged off-course lines are usually worth the detour. They reveal unknown territory that gets to be navigated so that we can create our own version of true alignment. As business owners, we must anchor to evidence that what we want is possible. Can you find evidence in areas of your life that support the concept that you can create something specific out of nothing? When you are feeling out of alignment, it’s important to have a toolkit to help you recalibrate and attune your frequency to match the one of what you want. For example, nature, exercise, reading, personal development, music, oils, and other rituals can help you get out of the lower frequency and ground yourself before attaining into one that matches a higher vibration. Your toolkit can be the source to feel better about how you show up when you are manifesting. This can be immediate or it can take time. Either way, a toolkit is essential. Without a toolkit to anchor to, we become a product of the circumstances around us and lose authority over how we feel. Our third step is Action. Merely thinking things into existence does not work. We need to be able to apply our intentions with the equivalent actions. Actions are not always representative of intentions, and they are not created equal. As Tom Bilyou says, “You’re not judged by your intentions, only your actions”. How are your daily habits and actions supporting your activated alignment? Discipline, consistency, and commitment to the actions regardless of your emotions are what separates the amateurs in entrepreneurship from the pros that create innovative legacy-leaving an impact. You may have the best intentions, yet aligned action is the only thing that creates the manifestation of revenue results and real-life results for those you get to serve. Activated aligned action is the key to abundant manifestation. Energetically, we create momentum through daily discipline and committed action rather than being stuck in the ebb and flow of solely intention. Many entrepreneurs focus on the outcome and instead miss out on the activation that can inspire innovation and creativity. When we are present to the experience and emotional “ups and downs” of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster ride, we can use better discernment when making decisions. What we realize then is that what we desire is actually not the goal, but instead who we become in the process. The paradox here is that when we take on this perspective, it no longer matters whether or not we actually achieve the goal because we have been able to elevate ourselves and our “being” in the process. We are not fully immersed in the energetics of the human experience when we are firmly planted in our comfort zone. Deep emotional activation happens when we are challenged, tested, and thrown into the fire. This is when we are completely in the emotionality of our humanity. This is when we are called to shift and transmute lead into gold. It's a “soul-knowing” that can only occur in the midst of the fire. So if you are challenged, being tested, or uncomfortable instead of perceiving this as a setback, consider this a soul activation for your next level. Be more attuned to your senses, be aware of your responses and reactions, and observe and take note of the subtleties that are growing underfoot. If you are experiencing a lull or lag in your revenue, it is likely that you are missing the first step in the law of energy which states that “energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transferred from one form to another.” You can control the energetics of money using the manifestation formula. Your energy is abundant and thus taking committed action will increase momentum and the momentum increases in relation to the number of aligned action steps you take, therefore accelerating the amount of energy created toward your own unique alignment. In our Business Leadership Mentorship programs, we create a clear path for our clients when implementing the formula Awareness + Alignment + Activation = Abundance. Manifesting comes easier in the community versus solo. Taking this path by yourself, or “lone-wolfing it” as we call it, is a recipe for disaster. Instead, we encourage business owners to activate through mentorship or guided action. If you’d like to learn more about how you work with us to create abundance in your business, click here. Follow me on Instagram, and LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Megan and Jennifer! Megan McCann and Jennifer Ludington, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Megan McCann and Jennifer Ludington are experts in strategic leadership and business systems. As 1 amazon best-selling authors, in-demand speakers, and media personalities, they are on a mission to help over 1 million women scale their businesses. With a combined 30 years of experience bootstrapping multiple six and seven-figure businesses, they want to show others how to do it too.

Bita Safari is the founder and the CEO of GIGO Clean Technology. GIGO Clean Technology is an application that works like Uber for the cleaning industry. Starting from a small office in Santa Ana, California, the company has plan to provide services nationwide by 2028. She is a stoner leader with an excessive skill in project management. Under her vision and leadership, GIGO Clean is making a revolution to the cleaning industry. What is your business name and how do you help your clients? The name of the Company is GIGO Clean Technology . GiGO Clean offers on-demand cleaning services via an easy-to-use app connecting customers directly to cleaners. Simply tap the app on your smartphone and cleaning professionals will arrive at your location as soon as they can. You also can schedule a cleaning in advance to suit your lifestyle. GiGO Clean: — Makes it easy and convenient for our customers to order cleaning services by connecting you directly to professionals in your neighborhood via our easy-to-use app. — Recruits and supplies reliable, thorough, and trustworthy cleaners to take the guesswork out of finding a cleaning service. Each of our applicants is carefully vetted and must pass a background check. — Connects highly competent cleaners with our customers and compensates our team fairly for their labor. What kind of audience do you target your business towards? Male and Female, Ages 21 to 61. Working professionals, Homeowners, Property Managers, Realtors. Anyone with a busy life schedule who needs help with house cleaning. What are your current goals for your business? The application serves Orange County at this point. We have a plan to expand to all cities in California by 2024 and to expand nationwide in 5 years. What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future? Expand the business and return to society.... True GIGO Clean Application, we are raising the standards of cleaning. Cleaning professionals receive higher compensation. The application is free to download and very easy to use. Customers will save time and money on cleaning services. Who inspires you to be the best that you can be? My Mother. She inspires me in many ways. Her love for her children and her family, her dedication to helping others and returning to the society, and not to stay quite about what she believes is not right always was admirable to me. What is your work inspired by? GIGO clean is a true revolution in cleaning industry. Cleaning industry is a very large industry in the US. GIGO clean changes the dynamic of the industry. I am happy that I was part of the change. Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. Overcoming the challenges associated with Developing the GIGO Clean Application. I failed 4 times. Lost a lot of money and time. But I did not give up. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? Making Sure cleaners receive fair compensation and benefits. Customers receive higher cleaning quality and pay fairly. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. I grow up in a society where women are second citizens and gender discrimination is at the highest level. Basic freedom is not available to many. I had to fight for whatever was my rights to have.