Written by: Jorge Contreras, 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. For the longest time, we’ve been told to save money for the future. We studied hard and got good grades so we can become highly paid employees. And then after getting jobs, we still carry the thinking that for us to live better and retire well, we need to work hard, save up, and place our money in trusted savings accounts. We carry this mindset for years and it was taught to us in school. However, this cycle can also be detrimental to your finances. Yes, saving up may work for a lot of people, but it can only do so to a certain degree. Because if you want to make the most of your hard-earned money, you need to make it grow by INVESTING it. Losing money through Savings Did you know that money loses value over time? Ever noticed that $20k years ago just feels like $10k today? Well, apparently it's because of a monetary policy called Quantitative Easing. Every so often, central banks increase the supply of money in the market by printing more. But the market needs to have a certain balance. Imagine it as a glass full of water under an open faucet. As water keeps getting added to the glass, the water spills to keep the volume the same. This is what happens when the central bank prints more money. Over time more and more is spilled. In turn, monetary value also lowers. Add this to factors like inflation and taxes, and it basically means that the cash you save today will not have the same value at a later date. Of course, you can always save money for emergencies and other funds. But if you really want it to not lose value, the best way is to make it move through investments. The 3 risks of not Investing For a lot of people, investing sounds like a gamble because you don’t exactly know when and how your money will come back after you invest it or if it will ever come back with the same amount. All investments carry some degree of risk. And oftentimes, the negative possibilities are preventing people from making bold moves. But on the other side, there are also inherent risks to not investing. Here, we've listed some of them for you. 1. Not being able to achieve their life goals Most of our life goals involve time and money. They may be short-term goals like being able to go on vacation with your family at the end of this year or long-term ones like being able to retire at a certain age. If you find that addressing these life goals is harder because you don't have enough, maybe it's time to switch up the strategy. Finding something that will allow you to save time and experience financial freedom usually involves investing in something that will yield the kind of result you want. 2. Stopping your money from growing As we’ve mentioned earlier, saving cash doesn't mean saving its value over time. Of course, you can always save it in banks for fixed deposits. But if you do the math, you’ll see that the money you get from these fixed deposits is inferior to the ones you will get if you put it on moving investments that yield earnings. Plus, did you know that banks use your money to loan it to other people and you only get a percentage of the interest? Let’s say you get 2% interest on your bank deposit. Chances are the bank loans your money to other people for 12% interest. This means, you'll only get 2% and they get 10%. That’s how banks make money out of your money. 3. Inflation depletes your money’s value You've probably heard stories from your grandparents about what they can buy with a hundred dollars during their time. If you compare it to what we can buy now, the difference is huge. That’s because of inflation. The prices of commodities get higher and the value of money gets lower. This is the biggest reason why you must invest your money. You need to make it grow so that the effects of inflation will be minimal for you. So you see, investing is a good plan and you need to know which ones are worth the risk. Are Real Estate Investments worth it? Now that you know why you need to put up your money, it's time to know where. I've been a real estate investor for many years so I can confidently say that investing in properties is a great place to start. People always need places to stay. It's a basic necessity and investing in it means your service will always be needed. Long-term rentals are great if you want to have a fixed monthly income. However, if you want your money to grow faster, you might want to go for short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb. The best part of putting your property on this online platform is that you can start out small like a space or property you already have. But what if you don’t have any property to list as a short-term rental on Airbnb? Well, you can just use the following strategies to help you get started. Making money without capital It is intimidating to start a business if you don’t have enough money to get started. But you can learn the following methods and use any (or all) of them for your Airbnb business. 1. Rental Arbitrage/Subleasing The Subleasing strategy is a recommended Airbnb strategy for people who don’t own properties but have the means to rent. Because this requires less capital, it is a good place to start. You'll only need to look for properties on websites like Zillow and get in contact with their landlord to get their permission so you can launch it on the platform. Read more about Subleasing here. 2. Co-hosting The Co-hosting strategy is where you take advantage of your knowledge in managing and helping people who already host Airbnbs. Here you can earn without any capital just by offering your services. This method doesn't require you to buy or even rent properties, and it will allow you to get your feet wet in the business. You can also save up your earnings to level up to a subleasing strategy or even buy your own property soon. 3. O.P.M (Other People's Money) If you don't have money to rent properties and you don’t feel like co-hosting is for you, here's a pro tip you might want to try. It's a strategy that banks and rich people have been using for a long time now and it’s where they use other people's money to grow their own. Here's how you can practically make it work on your first Airbnb. You can use this strategy called Balance Transfer. It is the process where you transfer money that is available on your credit card, into your checking account. Typically when you utilize this strategy, you get 0% interest for up to 21 months. Now, let's say you did a balance transfer for $10,000 and you found a property that's available for rent for $1,500. You spoke to the property owner and you get their permission to use it as a short-term rental on Airbnb. The owner then requires you to pay the first month for $1,500 and the deposit for another $1500. That's $3,000 all in all. Then you need to furnish the place and spend another $5,000 to $6,000 on furniture, supplies, decor, and professional photography. That's just around $9,000. Now you've just started your own Airbnb business without having to use any of your money. Of course, this is just a simplification but this is the main gist of this strategy. With this, you can now create a positive cash flow to pay off your credit card and keep the rest of the profit for yourself. However, here's also a little caveat to this method: I don't recommend using this balance transfer to go on vacation or buy a new car. This is a very powerful strategy, but if and only if you are going to create more cash flow-producing assets with it. If you want to learn more about this method and how to start an Airbnb business without owning property and without using any of your money, download and check out our free training guide here. Follow me on Instagram, YouTube, Podcast, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jorge! Jorge Contreras, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine From poverty to a million-dollar business, Jorge Contreras is a real estate investor and coach. He started his real estate journey over 10 years ago, and he launched his Airbnb business 5 years ago. Before that, Jorge was overworked and underpaid. He barely had time to spend with his family, and his business wasn't exactly thriving. Once he got into real estate, he realized the potential, especially with Airbnb and short-term rentals. When he became a millionaire before the age of 30, he decided to share his knowledge with all the people who have the need to spend more time with their families and less time working. Jorge has already helped over 3000+ people reach their goals with Airbnb.

Written by: Laurie Levin, 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. In a recent small gathering with author and spiritual leader, Marianne Williamson, she said there are three ways you can respond to today’s world. Through a material filter By developing a new filter Transforming the trauma of this time In the first scenario, we only see the things that are not working, that are falling apart, and we are always at the effect of the chaos. In the second scenario, we are beginning to realize that if you look beyond what you can see with your eyes, and understand the situation at a deeper level, you can in fact endure whatever comes your way because you know you will endure. The first scenario can make the situation worse. The second scenario usually maintains the status quo. In the third scenario, we begin to transform the challenge or trauma, along with our lives and the world. Three different responses. Three different trajectories. While our discussion with Marianne was about the challenges we face collectively; locally, nationally, and globally, we can expand the net to include how we, individually, respond to challenges and the circumstances of our lives. Whether our challenges arise at home, at the job, with our health, or in relationships, our responses create the outcomes of our lives and that’s good news. In other words, the event does not equal your outcome. Your outcome equals the event plus your response which means you have much to say about the outcome! It’s the challenges that come up in our lives that give us the greatest opportunity to learn and grow, transform the challenge into an opportunity, increase our resilience, and overcome hurdles that have tripped us up in the past; sometimes again and again and again. As we learn how to change the way we respond to the circumstances of our lives and our challenges, we rewire our neural circuitry, accordingly, and are more apt to respond positively to challenges and frustrations in the future. In a stressful situation, we react to the circumstance or event negatively, piling more negativity into our lives and those around us. That’s because, in a stress state, all the brain can do is go to our prior response pattern. These patterns get hardwired into our neural circuity and it’s like a button is pressed and there we go—adding more negativity into the world, into our lives, and into the lives of those we love. We can find all kinds of reasons to justify our reaction when someone insults, disappoints, or betrays us. How different life can be, however, when we take just a moment to ask ourselves one simple question: What outcome do I want? Is it? Peace within self and family Love Respect Health Happiness Collaboration/partnership/team Self-growth If you answered yes to any of the above, then your responses must be: Peaceful Loving Respectful Health generating Kind and caring Collaborative With a willingness to alter course Let’s take a few examples: You feel insulted, dismissed, or ignored. You can decide that two can play this game and insult, dismiss, or ignore right back. OR you can excuse yourself from the conversation if you feel you are not able to respond positively at that moment. You can ask for greater understanding, or say “I’m sorry you feel that way,” or say to yourself this is an opportunity to grow—appreciate the opportunity and listen within for the best response—which might be no response at all. Traffic is keeping you from getting to an important meeting on time. You can allow anger (fear) to overcome you, begin yelling out the window, hitting the steering wheel, or honking the horn. OR you can take the opportunity for some deep breathing to optimize your health and prepare yourself for the meeting, taking note that you chose health, peace, and happiness. Yay, you! Your child, after being told not to do something, does it anyway. Will frustration and anger lead the way? Or, will you ask yourself, what outcome do I want? What do I value most? Perhaps the focus in that moment is your child’s safety so you hug them and tell them the lesson you want them to learn. Perhaps you want your child to understand there are consequences to each action they take and therefore with love in your heart you come up with a plan together to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Your boss decides on someone else for the promotion you feel you deserve. You can choose to confront the boss with anger, throw something, or pack up your things and quit. OR you can have a discussion with your boss on why they made the choice they did. You can appreciate the opportunity to reassess your work there or opportunities to improve and then take the time to make a well-thought-out and considered response. If you react negatively to a challenge, circumstance, or event in your life, you create another event that you and oftentimes others will have to deal with. When you respond positively and in alignment with what you value most, you create a trajectory that is transformative—one that in many instances, improves circumstances for all concerned. Positive responses, in other words, yield positive outcomes. What does a transformative filter through which we can live our lives look like? Here are five steps, no matter what the particulars of the event or circumstances are, you can create positive outcomes that will optimize your health, happiness, and performance. 1: Expand self-awareness ongoing Know your core values—those things you most value in life such as family, peace, love, harmony, health, faith, learning, etc., so that you can choose your responses accordingly. Be able to rattle them off quickly. Pursue an increasing AND loving awareness of your flaws. It is in the heightened awareness of our flaws, we can transform them, and accept them in others, increasing both resilience and compassion. 2: Reduce stress throughout the day Unmanaged stress results in unmanaged emotions which hijack the brain and result in those negative reactions and patterns of the past. Remember, we’re talking about transformation and new more positive trajectories forward. I recommend the HeartMath® techniques to reduce stress and anxiety in the moment it is occurring and when it is most damaging to your health, relationships, and performance. Most of the techniques take seconds to a few minutes. 3: Pause When something occurs that is stressful in your life, pause. Take several breaths. Know that anything difficult, anything upsetting, anything that triggers you, is a golden opportunity to learn something, to grow, and become a better version of yourself. Welcome these opportunities. Appreciate them. Get skillful with the pause. Enjoy that moment of silence knowing you are managing your internal workings for your benefit and everyone else’s as well. 4: Listen Now that you have quieted the noise in your head brain by pausing and appreciating the current situation, LISTEN. Listen to what your heart is telling you. The answers are there because your core values are there. In a stressed state, all you will hear is a lot of noise that is coming from that hijacked brain. The answers are not there! The answers come when the heart and brain are working together. We call it heart coherence. Heart coherence is the optimal state to live your life as you optimize your health, responses, and performance when you are in the state of heart coherence. 5: Respond In Alignment With Your Heart’s Desires to Create Life As You Want It Now you are ready to respond in alignment with what matters most to you (your core values) and what you want more of in your life. Remember, that oftentimes the best response is no response at all. The world can use a little less knee-jerk, head-brain, ego-driven, and incoherent reactions. More and more, it is becoming clear that lies, corruption, violence, anger, complaining, resentment, frustration, and angst anywhere is felt everywhere. We are all in this together. What you transform in your own life, we transform in the world. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! – Read more from Laurie! Laurie Levin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laurie Levin is an author (Call Me A Woman: On Our Way to Equality and Peace) and Transformation Coach. She specializes in optimal nutrition, healthy weight loss, and the leading HeartMath® stress reduction techniques. She has been a featured speaker on each of these topics. Laurie has an MBA, is a Certified Coach, and HeartMath® Certified Coach, supporting clients globally to achieve their health and well-being goals. Her new book, Call Me A Woman: On Our Way to Equality and Peace, provides real-life experiences, global studies, and insights, and the 7 Habits of Equality that will reshape the world into one where all children have equal opportunities, from the beginning to the end of their lives. Healthy happy equal: It takes all 3 to thrive!

Written by: Angela Faye Barnard, 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. How do you "Build Communities We Want"? It starts with the three "P's" ‒ Purpose, Profits, Property. At the 2022 Vancouver Island Economic Alliance Summit last month, I attended a panel discussion "Building the Communities We Want: How can we quicken approval times for housing projects while protecting community interests." There was a good turnout. Developers, elected officials, & municipal staff were on the panel, plus an estimated 80+ audience members joined from all over Vancouver island & British Columbia Canada. Dialogue was on 'what is the problem' and 'how do we solve it'. What I heard was: consensus that the development approval process is broken, outdated or increasingly irrelevant based on norms | systems | policies or practices; one city (Victoria, BC Can) has a current shortage of 6,000 housing units, and is fast-tracking non-profit building projects through the development approval process [source unverified] there is a culture of 'us' and 'them', making REAL collaboration to solve problems together in a timely manner difficult, little to no room for good intentioned companies/staff to approve projects that make sense but don't conform to OCP because change, experimentation, autonomy in decision-making is road blocked by unviable timelines, policy & corporate immune system, What I didn't hear: no communities presented their aligned Massively Transformative Purpose or Market Dominating Position on empowering (or providing) housing solutions; inside scoop on communities that have pre-approved incentives, reduction of red-tape, innovative policy to encourage affordability/timeliness/innovation in housing solutions to meet provide housing needs smarter, faster, better than traditional options; no communities showed up to say they are open to fast-tracking housing technology solutions (e.g. 3-D printed, adaptable, modular, cohousing/coliving, fintech) or zoning incentives I realize it is complicated. I deduce that it is intentionally restrictive and controlling. But can 'Building the Communities We Want' be simplified? Can we empower more people with the inspiration, tools, training, systems to actively better our communities? By now, I hope you are asking or curious on why PURPOSE is a starting point for "Building Communities We Want". The OpenExO Solutions & Business Development team has the data and experience to prove that if you are aligned on Purpose, these magic things happen: Purpose-driven individuals, companies and destinations ATTRACT Purpose drives enrichment and profits Purpose-driven people, organizations, destinations are more agile and resilient than those without purpose [MORE READING: Check out the article 'Being Exponential: The Value Imperative' by Chander Nagpal, a fellow Advisor | Author | Speaker for Purpose-Driven Exponential 10X Results Do you want to take this knowledge and insights for a test-drive? Engagement ‒ For Individuals Attend the upcoming Live Virtual Masterclass "6 Ways to Live Your Best Live & Better the World"...starting with defining your Purpose. You can participate via: LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, or register here on Eventbrite. Engagement ‒ For Organizations Peter H. Diamandis shares his insights on 'What is an MTP' ‒ for individuals and organizations ‒ in this 5-minute video. And, here is a worksheet tool you can use to uncover and define your organization's purpose. When you have your Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP) defined, you will be ready to take the next step to Profit Acceleration. For companies and organizations of all shapes and sizes. At FuturVille, we host Profit Acceleration Masterclasses + Coaching for startups, small and medium businesses by empowering 6-7 figure entrepreneurs to imagine and build enriching live, work, play destinations with engaged residents | visitors. If that is you, and you have a compelling question related to Purpose, Profits or Property enrichment, as a starting point, go ahead and Ask Now. You can also access free resources with links from my last Brainz Magazine article. As part of the OpenExO Solutions team, we also offer 1-on-1 Sprints for Fortune100 companies, and group Sprints in partnership with Trade Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development Associations, and Downtown Business Improvement Associations around the globe. As a starting point, go ahead and Download the ExO Sprint Summary for more information; available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Vietnamese, Korean. And what about the 3rd "P" ‒ Property? Stay tuned for an upcoming article and Masterclass on Property Acceleration. P.S. Dream project acceleration ‒ I want to start with a 6-10 family coliving/housing | coworking community that offers free accommodation and food for residents. The "job" of each resident (family) will be to commit 3+ hours per day planning and building the NEXT free accommodation/food-coliving community that is bigger... and so on. This will start the flywheel of abundant living in a pay-it-forward manner that I believe will grow exponentially! If you have capital, time or resources to get this started, let's connect! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Angela Faye! Angela Faye Barnard, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Angela Faye is impacting the lives of entrepreneurial business leaders by empowering them to access purpose, profits and property in today's rapidly changing times. Angela leverages her exponential mindset, training and systems to support others to build their business, develop ‘destinations’ and engaging relationships. She is Founder of Futurville, the business accelerator for business owners that own, or want to own, multi-residential, commercial or industrial property to accelerate cashflow and equity for worry-free property ownership while contributing to the most desirable, livable communities and 'villages of the future'. Her mission: build increase happiness, social impact and value for their family, co

Written by: Benjamin Gonzalez, 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 tend to let life decide for us when we can choose for ourselves, I like to say that life is a succession of events, there is always success in everything we do, it doesn't matter what kind of situation we might be facing, it's our choice if this situation will bring growth and evolution or stagnancy and comfort. All it takes is a little fear to queue us from moving into a new area of growth, avoiding that fear means not facing growth, when we dare to face fear, we break the loop of comfort and break through a wall of possibility. If you wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is how late, or early it is, you are following the perfect recipe for a challenging day, how you start your day is a huge contributor to how it will unfold, it is a choice to wake up and give the best of you or your worst. Your thoughts define your reality by giving meaning to situations, pay attention to how you think, it will lead the way your reality unfolds. if you feel stuck in a loop you are in the perfect place, I will show you how to get out of this loop and create the outcomes you want to experience, all it takes to face this fear is a choice. These are the steps on how I choose to create my ideal outcomes. An idea arrives Ideas come to your mind to help you build momentum and guidance. Whenever we have an idea, we either write it down, ignore it, take action and accomplish it or overthink it, overthinking keeps you stuck in a loop of inaction. When we overthink, we are trying to justify the delay we put into not acting or blame ourselves for not taking action, this usually creates frustration and anxiety. When we don't want to face our fear, we bury it deep down by doing things that will help us forget about the idea, we usually do this by staying focused on something outside of ourselves, maybe watching Netflix or overworking to not face the fear. Choose to grow When an idea arrives think about your future, not what others will think about you, ideas usually push us outside of our comfort zone to grow and evolve into a better version of ourselves, when choosing to bring growth into your life you are attracting more thoughts that support the main idea so you can keep growing more and more, this will bring the feeling of success by letting ideas flow through you and growing with them. Write down the idea and observe around you what or who can help you bring that idea into reality, it is all about being mindful of how you think. Decide ahead of time Create a schedule that will help you take massive action towards the idea, I call this making a decision ahead of time, by doing this you are creating the steps that will take you to the outcomes that will generate more thoughts to support the main idea, sit down for 10 minutes and write all the things that flow in your mind, you will have a better sense of direction on where to go, observe what you wrote down and create a one week schedule on bringing the idea to life. By following these steps and taking massive action towards your idea, you will be living the future you want in the present moment by seeing change not only in yourself but in the experiences you live in life, all it takes is to make a decision and face the fear that is stopping you, behind that fear the limitless version of yourself resides, choose to become that person and life at its fullest. and remember, it’s not about reaching the end, it's about who you become on the path. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Benjamin! Benjamin Gonzalez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Benjamin Gonzalez is a reality composer coach, and he helps leaders develop their creativity and perception of reality so they can live fulfilling lives. Benja started his coaching journey in 2022 when he found his love for helping people and playing with concepts like building a reality and changing belief systems with the help of psychedelics. He became a certified life coach by Mindvalley as well as a certified breathwork coach and now he is working on a thesis on how psychedelics help create new belief systems to build a fulfilling life. Benja's most recent project is the creation of life budd, a platform that helps leaders develop their creativity with tools and ideas.

Written by: Rita Trotter, 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 age, it's easy to look at the signs of ageing and think we have nothing to do with it. But you are responsible for your ageing, as with anything. Lifestyle plays a huge role in how you age and whether or not you look youthful. Ageing is a natural process that affects all of us. You've probably heard at some stage or another that we are all going to die, but your perception of that statement should be challenged. As we age we accumulate more experiences and knowledge, which means we have an edge when it comes to knowing how to live our lives well. The lifestyle you choose impacts your ageing, as well as the quality of life you lead from one year to the next. What is a biological age? Biological age is a measure of how well an organism has aged and developed. Human beings have many things that can be measured, including height, weight, body composition, and even DNA. There are also things you cannot measure with your own eyes or hands, such as the depth of wrinkles on your face or the colour of hair on your head. But what exactly is biological age? It is a measurement of how well a person's body has aged over time. Biological age is not to be confused with chronological age or chronological age plus "mental" age. Chronological age refers to how old someone looks physically; biological age describes the state of health and functional ability of an older person. The most common way to estimate your biological age is through your risk factors for disease. These include lifestyle choices such as smoking and obesity as well as biological factors such as genetics. The American Council on Exercise recommends that physically active adults under 40 should try to reduce their risk factors for heart disease by losing up to 10 pounds (4 kilograms) and eating less than 1,200 calories daily. The study found that people who ate more calories than they burned over time experienced an increase in telomeres—the caps at the end of your chromosomes that protect genetic material from damage. The longer those telomeres were, the younger they looked, and the healthier their cells were overall. Those who were more physically active had longer telomeres than their inactive counterparts. In fact, when it came to telomere length, even sitting still increased your odds of having longer ones! As we get older, our bodies have a harder time producing new cells. As a result, we lose muscle mass and bone density, which can lead to osteoporosis and arthritis. Our organs also start to weaken with age and we may experience vision problems or hearing loss from damaged inner ear cells. So how do we keep our cells young? What you eat You can't tell me that you haven't wondered about the ageing process, about how your body changes when you get older. You know that looks fade, that your skin sags and wrinkles come to the surface, and that your hair becomes thin and brittle. You know there are aches and pains that come with age, and when they do they're often worse than they were in your youth. What you eat contributes to those changes in your body. What you eat also contributes to how quickly those changes will occur. So if you want to look younger than your years, then it's important for you to pay attention to what you put in your mouth. The good news is there are plenty of ways for you to keep yourself looking young as well as feeling great. But first, let's take a look at some of the things that contribute to ageing and how we can help prevent them from occurring in the first place: If you want to age well, it’s important that you eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that help protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. In addition, they are also high in fibre—a type of carbohydrate that can help lower cholesterol levels by partly blocking the absorption of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) into your bloodstream. When choosing foods high in fibre, look for whole grains like brown rice or whole wheat bread instead of white bread or white rice; whole-grain pasta instead of refined pasta; beans; nuts or seeds (e.g., almonds); dark leafy greens like spinach; broccoli/cauliflower Florets (which are chopped up into florets); applesauce made from Granny Smith Apples instead sweetened ones like Red Delicious Apples because the latter have more sugar added during processing which slows down digestion making food less satisfying when eaten later on down the line." How active you are One of the most important factors in slowing down the ageing process is staying physically active. Studies show that people who exercise regularly tend to live longer than those who don't exercise at all or only do so sporadically. Even if you don't consider yourself an "athlete," walking around your neighbourhood or going for a walk after work can help boost your metabolism, which means calories burned during physical activity will help shed pounds more quickly than if you were just sitting on the couch all day long. You don't need to be an elite athlete to benefit from exercising regularly. Walking briskly for 30 minutes each day helps improve your overall health and well-being, which may help counteract some of the effects of ageing on your body as well as improve your chances of living longer than someone who doesn't engage in physical activity at all. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity five days a week or 20 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity three days a week, plus muscle strengthening exercises two or more times a week. If you're overweight, the AHA recommends losing 10% of your body weight before starting an exercise program. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease, start with less than this amount and increase as needed to lower risk factors for these diseases. The more active you are, the better off you'll be. A baby born today won't live as long as a baby born in 1900 because we've changed our lifestyle over time. But if we keep changing our lifestyle, we can change this trend and prolong life expectancy further. Inactivity is one of the most basic causes of early death and disease in our society today. It's estimated that an inactive person aged 20 has half the chance he would have aged 30 if he had been physically active at all times during his life. Inactivity also increases the risk for many other health problems including heart disease and some cancers such as colon cancer or breast cancer. How much you drink and smoke Smoking and drinking are the two most common causes of premature ageing. Smoking increases your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Drinking alcohol speeds up the ageing process and can lead to age-related diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, causing more than 480,000 deaths each year. This is more than all forms of obesity combined! It also causes lung cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), chronic bronchitis, emphysema and many other diseases that shorten life expectancy. Alcohol use has been linked to many types of cancer including liver cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer. Alcohol abuse can cause cirrhosis of the liver, which leads to liver failure or liver cancer. Alcohol abuse increases your risk of heart disease by increasing blood pressure, cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels in your blood. You can reduce your risk of premature ageing by quitting smoking and drinking alcohol now before it's too late! How much sleep you get Sleep is one of the most important factors in health and ageing. Sleep is essential for your body and brain to heal. Having adequate sleep can help you recover from illness and injury, stay strong, and maintain a healthy weight. In fact, getting enough sleep has been shown to be one of the best ways to reduce your risk for diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. How much sleep do you need? It varies by age and activity level. Babies and young children need 14-17 hours per day; teens need 11-13 hours per day (on average). Adults typically need 7-8 hours per night. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults aged 25–54 get between 7-9 hours each night; those aged 65+ should aim for about 8 hours of shut-eye each night. While our lifestyles impact how we age, it is important to keep in mind that they do not control ageing. ageing has a genetic component—older parents are more likely to have offspring who live longer. The best thing you can do for longevity? Stay active, eat a healthy diet, and exercise regularly. It certainly isn't easy to completely avoid all the things that lead to premature ageing, but those small steps we take may be one of the best defences against the onslaught of time. If you put health and fitness at the forefront of your priorities, you will feel proud looking back and seeing how much you were able to accomplish throughout the years. By prioritizing your own well-being, the quality of your life will improve significantly when all is said and done. Ready to prioritise your well-being? Start your health and fitness journey with me today! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Rita! Rita Trotter, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine My passion, work, and philosophies focus on the joy factor, self-acceptance, physical and emotional cohesion, and authentic wellness and I enjoy sharing my wisdom for all that is connected to a successful and healthy life. My foundation in women’s health comes from my own struggles with weight, sleep, energy, productivity, and health and my passion to share this with the whole female collective. I am a Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach, Behaviour Change Specialist, Long Covid Rehabilitator, Women’s Hormone, and Pre and Post Natal Specialist, Health for Business Coach, published author of three globally selling books, and the creator and facilitator of The Self-Health System Programmes.

Written by: Rolande S. Sumner, 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. At some point in your business, you will need the expertise of a professional to solve a specific problem. For example, you may need help with marketing development, sales representation, image consulting, website development, etc. Outsourcing help can save time and allow you to focus on revenue-generating activities, and it also increases the probability that the problem is solved the first time correctly. In this article, I will share five questions you should ask when seeking a vendor. What is the desired outcome? You never want to go into a discovery call with a vendor and not know what you want when all is said and done. During a discovery call, the vendor must understand your pain points and what you want to achieve. Knowing what you wish allows them to assess if their service is right for you and what solutions would best serve you. What solution options are available? Before looking for a vendor to help, assess if other means of solving the problem are better. Do you have the staff, the tools, and the time to solve the problem on your own or via another means? Assess the potential return of investment you may receive in terms of time, money, and peace of mind for each option, including outsourcing. How much are you willing to invest to solve your problem? You must be reasonable with your budget. If you invest too little, the problem may persist after the service is over. If you invest too much, you may blow your budget entirely and make other options unattainable. Research to learn the average cost and add a little more. You want to be able to hire the best, which often costs more. Do you have referrals? Referrals from reputable sources are a great way to get top-notch services. Birds of a feather flock together; in other words, people in your network are often like you. Chances are, if they liked working with a vendor, you would also enjoy working with them. What is the reputation of the company? Research client complaints and reviews via the Better Business Bureau and social media posts. Better Business Bureau lists all customer complaints and responses. Businesses are rated based on their response and solution rate; if you find a company with a score of a C or lower, run. C’s generally means the company doesn't care enough to respond to customer complaints promptly, which means they do not value their customers. Regardless of where the review or complaint is listed, read complaints and positive thoughts for understanding. Not all complaints make sense or are valid, and not all positive reviews are legitimate. There are a lot of companies that essentially purchase or incentives reviews, which will screw the perception of the experience. What does your intuition say? God has given every creature on the planet intuition. Humans are the only ones that ignore it. Be different and listen to your instinct. If your gut says no, listen to it. There is a reason you feel off or unsettled when talking to a vendor. Chances are you will regret taking steps forward with them. Need help finding the best website designer, graphic designer, biography writer, and copyrighting download our preferred vendor list at https://lastcovets.activehosted.com/f/43. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Rolande! Rolande S. Sumner, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Rolande S. Sumner is a retired US Army veteran and the CEO & Founder of Life After Service Transitional Coaching LLC®. Rolande served her country in the United States Army National Guard from 1995 to 2015. During her career, she was an Administrative Clerk, Heavy Vehicle Operator, and Human Resources Manager. She served as both a traditional National Guard Soldier and as an Active Guard Reserve Soldier. During her military tenure, Rolande received multiple honours: Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Combat Action Badge, and the Army Accommodation Medal.

It may be foreign to hear that intuition can bring you a successful business. In “the west”, we are raised to believe that the grind and 9-5 work-life is all that is necessary to create a lifestyle of sustenance; when in actuality, it is the opposite. It is all about how you manage your energy, as it manifests into wealth and balance. Shocker, right? Most of the wealthiest individuals in the world don’t work within the system. The routine and mundane tasks of daily life are starting to adjust as people are more conscientious and in preference of creating a business led by both intuition, and trust in their own creativity. This gives the option to curate time for rest and inspiration. The key to hacking the system is looking at it from the external to understand how our comfort zone inhibits our ability to follow our intuitive nudges. This could be as simple as leaving that job that has you feeling undervalued, running a business the way that you were “taught” to, or venturing out into a new territory once finding a sense of purpose in creativity. Focusing on your body’s response and listening to your higher-self can be done as follows: Listen to that voice in your head, and that feeling in your gut. Every businessperson once made a difficult choice by leaving their comfort zone. You have to be your biggest supporter. Relying on others will stifle growth. Your human design is your blueprint to maintaining an intuitive business. Listen to that voice in your head, and the feeling in your gut: Those “voices in your head”, are often your own guidance system giving you advice and direction for what to do in life. If the idea feels to big or unrealistic, it is only because you are still in the comfort zone of playing it small. Hindsight tends to be 20/20, and it is only after our nightmares or “worst-case scenarios” pan out that we say, “I should have listened”. We can avoid a lot of grief, hardship, and detours when we give respect to our true desires. We also must be mindful of the negative voice in our head, as it is our ego. Our ego is what tells us that we are not worthy enough to follow our intuition. The real reason is because our ego hates change as it involves uncertainty. We are hardwired within our human design to follow the path of least resistance, when, some resistance is key to growth. Every businessperson once made a difficult choice by leaving their comfort zone: The comfort zone is one of the most dangerous places to be when looking to build a business or brand. Though it is okay occasionally, maintaining a state of plateau or ease is something that does not allow for much growth. The reason is because your intuition is always leading you and guiding you to your highest potential – something that we are programmed to actually fear. All of those “wildly good” business ideas, were once a concept that many investors, friends, family, and ego traits told us were not our intuition, but wishful thinking. Manifestation is such a huge part of evolution and informing progress, but as humans, we tend to lean toward shutting down our imagination. The Wright Brothers would have been told that airplanes were unrealistic, Steve Jobs was met with criticism when inventing Apple, and women were told for centuries that they are not permitted in specific sectors. If no is the dominant response – how do we justify and explain all of the times that people persevered against the odds? The dissent has become the most powerful measure of success amongst society (though it’s underutilized). So – take the chance, and make the move that you have been guided toward. It is the same one that [in]directly leads you to your intuitive business success. You have to be your biggest supporter. Relying on others will stifle growth: One of the main things we do as humans is tell people about our manifestations and desires to “hear their opinion”. This is not a bad thing, but at times the energy of the other person (ie: their belief system), is what holds us back from making the decisions that are truly fulfilling for us. Listening to our gut instinct means that we are the only ones that can truly tap into all of that which the Universe is trying to tell us. We should always seek support when needed – but, should be careful in how much we allow the opinions of others impact our ability and mojo to make the decisions that in our alignment with our highest good, aspirations, and potential. Seeking coaching, mentorship, and engaging with videos or podcasts by or from people that have been in these positions can be helpful vis-à-vis motivating to block out the noise. Your human design is your blueprint to maintaining an intuitive business: Human design is the blueprint of the time of birth. It includes your personal activations, as well as how you were programmed to succeed. On the flip side, it gives insight into how you were born to be conditioned too. Our human design connects us to our life purpose, and how we can really lean into our intuition while knowing the channels, gates, and definition within us. You can get your free human design guide or book a session here! We are all born different, but business models often look the same and lack an intuitive component. The system was structured according to the success of a generator or manifesting generator type, but is hardly sustainable for anyone wanting to live fully in purpose. Those that are meant to have a life of positive projection or reflection, are not taught about the ways that the can utilize their light-filled energy to achieve success in the workplace. Understanding your intuition, potential for growth, and programming, will give you the indispensable tools and guidance to align you with a composition of living in alignment for better decision-making. Summarily, allowing yourself to trust your intuition is the hardest, and most promising success in allowing true fulfilling business growth. If you are looking to book a coaching call or human design reading with Raminder, you can do so at her website www.therkh.com. You can also follow her socials at Instagram and linkedin. About the author: Raminder K. Hayre, or "The RKH", is best known for her spiritual activism, and healing business. She is a lawyer that transitioned out of conventional practice to make education accessible to the public via her social media platforms. She is a leader in the space of helping clients and professionals find their purpose through understanding their energy, and activations that they were born with. She was named one of the leading women in industry impact by Women in Business, and strives to help people limit burnout by focusing on their inherent success codes.

I, Dr Ketan Kulkarni, am a physician, a clinician researcher (>125 published papers), a scientist, a passionate entrepreneur, an ardent advocate of financial literacy and independence, an avid learner, a traveler, a photographer, an artist (and art enthusiast and antique collector) and a music buff. I am also interested in entrepreneurship, business, leadership and investments while balancing sustainability and social responsibility. My core values for leadership are excellence, creativity and the addition of meaning that would lead to a deep sense of satisfaction, joy and fulfillment. How would you describe yourself as a leader? My leadership ethos is the ability to share my vision with clarity, develop a deep sense of common purpose, engage, and motivate others to strive to achieve the goals that assist in realizing the vision, and create value that permanently and positively adds to humanity and the world at large. My core values for leadership are excellence, creativity, and addition of meaning that would lead to a deep sense of satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment. Thus, my work is focussed on adding value globally! What is your business name and how do you help your clients? I am the SavvyPhysician on a mission to transform lives of a million professionals in the next 5 years though creating evidence-based content, coaching and other media. I have always studied and explored art, mathematics, sciences (especially theoretical physics), astrophysics, ancient and modern Eastern and Western wisdom and philosophy, psychology, mysticism, and medicine, in a comprehensive attempt to understand what living a truly successful and fulfilling life really means. However during my extensive leadership and coaching training and practice, I did not encounter could not find a comprehensive resource that addressed these concerns in a simple, digestible format using evidence based resources. I wanted to conceive a philosophy of life that makes sense to an inquisitive mind, that can be applied to life, and that can catapult anyone toward their dream life and journey. Thus I and Dr Francis Yoo, after 2 years of work and research, wrote our first book in a sincere attempt to present our deliberations, analysis, experience and investigations into a variety of these fields and to describe them in a comprehensive and unified manner (link: https://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Quest-Professionals-Excellence-Fulfillment-ebook/dp/B09VBGPVSG). We have developed success, leadership and finance blueprint workshops and more extensive transformational coaching based on the legendary quest to really pivot one’s life. With me you will learn about what we often get wrong, in our personal and professional lives. Then, through the book’s models, concepts, investigations, and exercises, you will understand how to authentically achieve inner excellence, how to catapult yourself toward outer excellence in terms of success, leadership, and finance, and ultimately how to become the CEO of your life. What kind of audience do you target your business towards? Reply: I experienced burnout in 2017-2018. I have seen and experienced that while the words success and fulfilment are used extremely frequently, current data suggests an extremely high levels of personal and professional burnout, stress, exhaustion, mental illness epidemic. Burnout is seen in professional at all levels, and in all fields. A lot of work and life satisfaction data doesn’t suggest people experience authentic fulfilment, happiness, and success regardless of what they achieve, and how hard or smart they work!! Success and fulfilment often appear to be fleeting and temporary!! It is unfortunate majority of human beings experience a persistent state of background discontent, busyness, anxiety, overwhelm, stress, heightened alertness, or some form of distress most of the time (see The Legenday Quest). They do not seem to be able to separate themselves from this visceral discontent, no matter what happens. Happiness and joy seem to be fleeting and limited to brief moments such as holidays, certain life events, and sporadic circumstances. The result is that individuals believe these states are normal and expected! And that life is but a struggle. Our work and business are targeted towards professionals looking for more in their lives to experience their best vision and version and weave a rich lived experience. What are your current goals for your business? I am on a mission to transform 1 million professionals in the next 5 years. I want to add infinite value to their lives through my work and build credibility and authenticity. What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future? Reply: I want to live and reach my best vision and version in the upcoming years. In addition to several entrepreneurial pursuits, I’m excited to be writing my second and third book. The second book applies the concepts of the Legendary Quest and describes a transformative journey of an eagle, and the reader gets to accompany the character. We are working on getting extensive feedback on our manuscript currently. Similarly, the third book is in the works and is a science fiction highlighting concepts of The Legendary Quest. Similarly, through our courses, workshops and coaching, I envision widely reaching the global professionals. I also envision continuing to sharpen my skillset by continuous learning. Who inspires you to be the best that you can be? My family and close friends inspire me to be the best of who I can be. They are my mirror and sounding board. I am thankful to know about the great people who have or are walking the planet, including Albert Einstein, Leonardo DaVinci, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama, Steve Jobs, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, Marie Curie, and many, many other world-class scientists, leaders, reformers, musicians, artists, writers, entertainers, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders who have been, and remain, deeply inspiring. What is your work inspired by? In addition to my influencers, my core values of abundance, joy, excellence creativity and meaning inspire my work. Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. Evidence is clear that lasting success is not about 1 achievement or moment. It is a rich kaleidoscope of a combination of factors including happiness, achievement, contribution, legacy and significantly impacting those you interact with (directly or indirectly). Thus, I find deep satisfaction in simultaneously achieving high level of success in all areas of my life. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? I would love to bring transparency and accountability to my industry. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. Reply: In the darkest moments one often finds the light within! When I found myself burnt out, I was able to do deep within and seek solutions, to truly understand who I was, what I wanted and what I wanted to do. While it took many years to find some of the answers (and I continue to work in the area), it was in the abyss that I was able to find the seed of opportunity!

Written by: Travis Kendrick McCray, 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. In this article, I will be explaining the qualities of what it means to become an Inspirational Leader from humble-beginnings. There are certain required goals which we should set because they most certainly can become resourceful when you are born and raised in a small rural area as such as Southwest Georgia. This is what I did in order to ensure that was granted a hope and prosperous future in becoming a leading trailblazer. “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.” – Bob Marley Surviving From Rags to Riches as an Inspirational Leader Faith! Self-Control! Joy! These are a few intriguing words which will help inspire someone who is serious about accelerating from humble-beginnings. Over the years, time has truly modernized into something so life-changing these days. This has made several individuals transform their daily life existence. What our minds constantly focus on whether it is positive or negative becomes our navigational system on the path we ascend or descend into. For instance, faith is the substance of things hoped for and promised in the “WORD of GOD” which becomes true, even though unseen. This means we must believe in something productive or fall for anything negative. Our character shows what is truly within our souls if we are blessed and highly favored with the “Inspirational Leadership” energy. It is so amazing to know all will become well once we consistently press forward to the mark of the ultimate prize. Here are the top 5 qualities of what it means to become an “Inspirational Leader” and the top 5 intriguing questions. 1. Love In order to exemplify love, it takes genuine compassion for others. Love is truly an action word which requires devotion on a universal level. We live in a world which is lacking kindness due to overall negativity in today’s society. For instance, I grew up experiencing hate which I transformed into love because hate is the total opposite of love and I began to simply love myself even more. It is like the late great legend Bob Marley quotes, “One love, one heart, one destiny.” 2. Determination Life has its moments of disappointments, but it is highly important to never give up even though at times we feel as if we should “Throw in the Towel.” We must continue to encourage ourselves on a daily basis to constantly strive for excellence no matter what. It takes 100% self-control to always remain positive in order to become successful. For example, I was determined to become an Inspirational Leader even though I did not have the proper support system as such as parents, family members, colleagues, and even unworthy so-called friends. 3. Longsuffering We live in a microwave society which does not want to have patience. Additionally, there have been several individuals that have not reached their highest potential of gaining success. Longsuffering helps molds and shapes us for the long-term in order to endure any type of hardships. For example, I grew up financially struggling due to my lack of support and financial opportunities; however, I gained a tremendous outlook on life in order to succeed once I received several miraculous opportunities as such as starting my own business called Days Cross Road Cooperative, LLC and became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 4. Respect Respect is truly valuable as an inspirational leader in the business industry. Over the years, we have witnessed the deep admiration of others with their unique bonds. The collaboration experience is mind-blowing due to the combination of high-end levels unitized on one accord in order to proceed forward with business. For instance, I have made some incredible relationships over the years due to my high level of respect which I show everyone whether it is the janitor or the CEO of any particular business at hand. 5. Integrity Throughout history, integrity has played an enormous role in the business industry. Some businesses have increased by expressing upright morals, but some businesses have decreased due to the lack of honesty. The importance of integrity helps the unification of supply and demand for all business structures. For example, my mission statement guarantees that I will morally help elevate my client’s business affairs through constructive Business and Financial Management. “You Don’t Have To Be Poor” ‒ Tom Leding 1. What is Inspiration? Inspiration is when we live our lives with a GODLY purpose. For instance, I have had my share of downfalls, but overall I have accomplished several remarkable achievements. Life is basically what we make out of it. My experience has evolved gradually throughout my “Champion Moments” of accelerating upward because I am bound to inspire someone. Over the years, I have broken several generational curses and made some historical moments as such as gaining a full scholarship back in late year of 2017 and I graduated in the fall of 2019 with Summa Cum Laude Honors plus double degrees in Business Management and Accounting along with Presidential Listee Honors. 2. How to remain Motivated? Motivation is a known key to success. Even though sometimes we experience our outward being expressing “NO” always remember to constantly focus on our inner being which is genuinely expressing “YES INDEED” we are totally prosperous. Our legendary ancestors from before have made some stupendous landmarks which we should always keep within our daily motives. I have continually adapted to live my life being a consistent representative for my incredible legendary elders such as the late great Sonnie Wallace, Sr., Sidney Poitier, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mildred H. Brown to just name a few. Additionally, motivation has been initially a driven force which we use to accomplish several particular goals in order to succeed in our lives. 3. Why is it so important to stay away from negativity? Negativity has truly played a major role in our lives at some point. The outcome can really subtract the positivity and most times we always expect the worst in any situation at hand. Throughout my lifetime, I have had several experiences of trauma stemmed from negative energy based on mediocrity. It certainly becomes “Crabs in a Bucket” mentally, spiritually, physically, and financially when you come from humble beginnings. Overall, it is highly important to maintain positivity and elevation despite any type of negative moments because eventually, we will indeed become “Victorious” in due time. 4. What is Success? For most people, success is making huge accomplishments. Success can be described as something regal whether it is big or small. We all have had some awe-inspiring moments in our lives which have elevated our outlook on the definition of success. Just waking up every day is indeed a remarkable way to view success. For example, in the month of June of this year, I was nominated and by the “Grace of GOD” unexpectedly, I actually won The Marquis Who’s Who of America Publishing Company Certification. 5. How to live being set apart? When we are set apart it means to transmute from the lowest levels and accelerate into the prime focus of “Victorious Living.” Society has several forms of levels which consist of leaders and followers. In this life, it is very challenging at times to stand out and dare to become different from anyone else. Life becomes like a process once we realize the letter “I” comes before “YOU” meaning others, once we learn the proper strategies of becoming an effective leader which takes total perseverance in loving ourselves then taking care of the well-being of others. For instance, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prepared himself daily by learning and preaching “The Word of GOD,” plus gained an education at Morehouse College, and then led the Civil Rights Movement by standing and speaking about justice, peace and unity for everyone worldwide. In Conclusion Nevertheless, once we apply these types of factors in our daily lives we will indeed become a “Victorious Inspirational Leader.” It is highly important to maintain these particular qualities due to prosperous long-term success. Every successful “Inspirational Leader” can give everyone advice who wholeheartedly seeks several combinations of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in order to simply survive once we peak our brilliant lifestyles. My hopes are only to share my testimony in order to inspire someone to level up from “Rags to Riches” in such an amazing, humble manner. Follow me on LinkedIn, and you can visit me @ Google name Travis K. McCray for more info! Travis Kendrick McCray, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Travis K. McCray is a genuine definition of an ambitious leader by exemplifying a compassionate heart person for others. He began his life in Southwest Georgia in a small rural community called Days Crossroads Community. In his early childhood, he totally realized that he was surrounded by poverty and the lack of opportunities which truly encouraged him to always strive for excellence. After the completion of high school, he attended Independence University to gain double degrees in Business Management and Accounting as a Summa Cum Laude Honor Graduate. Now he is the CEO of Days Cross Road Cooperative, LLC which provides services such as Business and Financial Consulting. In the summer of 2022, he was nominated and won The Marquis Who’s Who of America Publishing Company Certification.

Written by: David L. Lantz, 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. So, you’ve decided that you want to create a blog, a Facebook page, a podcast, or another social media site where you share content. You have a webpage, and you’ve started a Facebook page. But beyond that, you’re not sure. You know that to create link traffic, you’re going to want to drive traffic to your landing page, but HOW you do that is a bit fuzzy. Exactly how do you create a road map for your landing page? Here’s a three-step plan to help your readers do just that. Step One: Set Goals Recently, I entered into a partnership to become an expert contributor to Brainz Magazine. I faced issues similar to the one I described above and developed the following three-step plan that I wanted to share with you. The first step is to define your goals, making sure they are simple and focused. For me, my primary goal is to drive traffic to several online courses I’ve created. A second goal is to increase my email subscription list for future digital marketing purposes. And of course, a third goal is to create increased conversions from just clicking on my landing page to buying my books and courses. The landing page is a tool to achieve my goals. These three goals are straightforward, and if you’re reading this article, you no doubt wish to accomplish similar goals. But here’s the thing: Writing a blog or creating a podcast requires a commitment to consistently produce content on a given topic. It’s easy enough to SAY you’re going to do that. It’s another to follow through. Therefore, a fourth goal I have is to use the content from these upcoming posts to create a course that demonstrates these ideas in video format. It just so happens that as an adjunct college instructor, I teach a course on e-commerce for one of the schools I work with, so this overall topic is one I already spend time on. The question you should ask yourself is this: Do I have a plan to consistently create content over an extended time? Step Two: Inventory Your Existing Social Media Resources A long time ago, I came across a bible verse that has stuck with me in my professional life. It’s Isaiah 32:8 which says, “The noble man makes noble plans, and by noble plans, he stands.” What I’ve learned over the years is that you can’t succeed with just a “big vision.” You’ve got to pay attention to the little details – the “supply chain flowchart” to make a vision happen. We’ve all clicked on links to something, only to get a 404 ERROR message of a broken link or discover that the content we have clicked on has been changed by the person or company that created the link in the first place. So, before starting on your blogging journey, it’s a good idea to sit down and chart a course of link paths you hope to take your readers on to visit your landing page where you hope they will purchase or sign up for what you have to offer. Here's the inventory list I came up with for my project. As you review my list, take time to create your own: A webpage Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook Page channels/profiles A blog on my website that can be segmented into different category topics A Mailchimp account with the ability to create landing pages that can be integrated with my website and social media accounts. A backend dashboard that stores content for my webpage, such as downloadable PDF files. Here are two important questions about which I had a conversation with myself as I created this inventory list – questions I hope you’ll consider for your own circumstances. First, is my inventory of social media resources organized so that people reading my post can simply and easily click on things I want them to see? If not, what do I need to do to get them organized to accomplish my goals (see step 1)? Second, do I know how to make the changes I just identified so that readers of my blog post can be quickly taken to a landing page destination or other places on the Internet where they can easily sign up for more information/buy something from me? Step Three: Organizing Social Media Resources to Achieve Your Goals When I evaluated my decision to partner with Brainz Magazine, I realized that I had built my social media resources in a rather haphazard manner over the years. To achieve my goal of driving traffic to my email subscription list, I’d need to do some serious tweaking of my resources. Fortunately, I had begun this overhaul process the year before by significantly revising my website. Having said that, there were several other things I needed to do: Use my Mailchimp account to redesign a landing page, as well as integrate it with a dedicated page on my website where I promote my courses. Create several promotional videos that will appear on my social media channels. I can store them on my YouTube channel in a playlist for easy access. Create a promotional “thank you” giveaway to new subscribers in return for giving me their email addresses. Edit my Mailchimp subscription form to provide a link to download this giveaway – an e-book in PDF format I created titled “Make Money Teaching Online.” Access the online dashboard for my website where this downloadable e-book will be stored. Ok! You’ve done the first two steps, and at least started on step three. So now, begin the process of writing the blog post! There will be a lot more you’ll have to do regarding promotion, including figuring out “keywords” and “S.E.O.” (Search Engine Optimization), but for now, WRITE. You can edit and revise later. Perhaps you know how to do the things I’ve listed in Step Three. Perhaps you may need to hire someone to do those things for you. On my website, I have a series of blog posts on the topic of “My High Tech Journey to a Linked In World” which I created to map out my journey in discovering how to do all of these techie things I’ve listed. To see how it all came together, check out the landing page I created after following the steps listed above. If you sign up, you’ll get my e-book “Making Money Teaching Online” for free, and I’ll let you know when I finish that new course – sometime in 2023. After you’ve looked at the landing page, please come back and leave me a comment! Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! David L Lantz, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine David Lantz is a leader in the field of online instruction. He was awarded a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University’s School of Public & Environmental Affairs in 1981 and served as their Alumni President from 1990-1991. In 2005, he was named Faculty of the Year by the first graduating class of the University of Phoenix’s Indianapolis, Indiana campus. Having taught both face-to-face and online classes since 2003, he received the distinction of Advanced Online Instructor/Facilitator from the University of Phoenix in 2012. Since 2011, he has been creating online courses in the fields of entrepreneurship and online instruction. A self-published author, he has authored both fiction and non-fiction books, which can be found on Amazon.com. His mission can be summarized in the proverb: “The wise man makes knowledge acceptable.” To learn more about David, visit his website at www.wisejargon.com.

Written by: John Scott, 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. This note is the second insight in a four-part goal-setting and attainment series. I envision seeing my next book completed. I have chapter headings and lots of words. But I need to write more consistently to finish it anytime soon. I know that and haven't been doing it, which does not feel good to say out loud. So, I reviewed what I had just written in the first of these four insights on goal attainment. The structure a goal statement matters to the level of engagement we feel. The key points are: Proximity – How far out in time is the goal to be attained? Shorter-term (small-chunked) goals tend to be easier to attain. Specificity: Being specific helps our brains "see" more clearly or bring in more easily, what allows us to manifest our intention. Orientation – If we say, "I want to eat less bad food" (avoidance goal), our brain is engineered to focus on "bad food," but if we say, "I intend to eat a healthy diet" (approach goal) our brain will focus on "healthy diet." We cannot be motivated by the reverse of a negative. So go with an approach goal. Purpose – As in the purpose of the goal. Is it about learning, developing a skill, or performance? There are more positive outcomes with a learning goal and some adverse effects or risks with performance goals. Duration: A "process" goal is a regular action, like writing three pages daily. These tend to be about creating habits. An "end state" goal is a specific task after which nothing is required, like, "I will finish writing the book." Looking a little deeper into how I perceived my book goal, two things became evident and real: (1) the goal of "writing a book" did not meet the optimal structure above, as I often get paralyzed by its bigness. And (2) I take on a lot: big, multiple, and ambitious goals, making it hard for me to be on top of all of it. Unchecked mind chatter was like a current running against my goal. When training to swim across Lake Ontario years ago, I met resistance in my mind around the goal's magnitude. I recall repeatedly thinking, "How can I possibly swim 51 kilometres?" The unchecked mind chatter and negative context were like a current running against my training efforts. I needed to do something different to turn the current around so "the wind" would be at my back. So, I brought logic and facts to bear. If there is a limit to overcome, it is in us, not out there. I could swim 1,500 metres and do 10,000-metre work without too much trouble. So, I changed my narrative by reflecting on what I had done that made the big goal more plausible. Then, later in reflection, I took the "negative" thoughts and re-oriented them as an approach goal and from a position of strength, virtually eliminating the "current" against me. The thoughts that were now emerging were about the speed I could do it in. Re-purposing the context energy was like going the right way on a flume ride! Focusing on strengths and acknowledging successful training milestones supported self-efficacy, which is how well one can execute the necessary action to deal with or achieve the desired outcome. "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right." –Henry Ford. Boosting self-efficacy to support goal attainment: Role models – "That person did it, so can I." A cheerleader ‒ Someone (or yourself) that is entirely there for you. Managing stress skilfully – This is trainable. Knowing your strengths – Write them down. Having mastery experience – "I can do this. I am doing this." Savouring wins – KEY: Dwell on small and big wins (good facts aligned to your goal or direction). Own your worth. Present tense intentions: "I am" is more powerful than "I will." High self-efficacy correlates with problem-solving, achieving goals, and well-being. If we want something but it's not happening, we must figure out how we can adjust our thoughts to have it. It is not about that goal being possible or not it is about reducing resistance and turning the current in our favour and direction to attain what we desire. "May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back…" Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from John! John Scott, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine John worked in sales and leadership in the financial industry for 30 years. For part of that time, he experienced a great deal of stress and didn't know the way back. As a result, John's health and well-being suffered. Becoming burnt out was the stimulus to wake up with a determination to do his life differently. John began a private journey to understand and overcome the negative stress he was experiencing. He found a formula for sustainable performance he now shares to help people move through common challenges to experience more great and less grind. John has completed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR, U. of Massachusetts), Foundations of Applied Mindfulness Meditation (U. of Toronto), and the Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP, Flourishing Center, NY). John's adventures include: • Climbing Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. • Two dog sledding trips to the Canadian Arctic. • Two record-breaking swim crossings Lake Ontario (51km) • The first to swim from Christian Island to Collingwood, in Georgian Bay (32km). John brings his experience in life, learning, and adventure to help people do life and work well through writing, speaking, and coaching.

Written by: Salim Sheikh, 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. Beyond the potential for economic growth, can Artificial Intelligence (AI) also be used for and have a positive impact on everyday people across society? Overview From a Western perspective, to achieve a positive impact, AI solutions need to adhere to ethical principles of both the European Commission – that states AI needs to be lawful, ethical and robust, to avoid causing unintended harm – and the OECD ¹ ‘Principles on AI’ – that states AI should be driving inclusive growth and sustainable development; designed so as to respect the rule of law, human rights, democratic values and diversity; transparent, so that people can understand AI outcomes; robust, safe and secure; deployed with accountability, so that organisations can be held responsible for AI systems they develop and use. Importantly, AI should not be imagined as a solution on its own, outside of the context of its application: it must align with human intent and enhance (or amplify?) human capabilities. Not all applications of technology aimed at delivering positive social impact have managed to achieve their goals. For AI, the result and experience must be different – for society’s sake. Enjoy the article! Introduction We are witnessing a pivotal time in human history, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) is integrated into just about every new or established industry. It is the "x factor" or "secret sauce" that is helping to accelerate the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Coupled with the global COVID-19 pandemic and our collective experience of "lockdown", everyone young and old is truly experiencing noticeable changes to how we live, work and engage with one another. With this backdrop, few would debate that AI (and emerging technologies) will transform our lives. The question is: will it be for better or for worse? AI for business Much of the narrative around AI is essentially about changing how companies do business. Companies adopting AI expect to see increased productivity. New efficiencies can be derived from streamlining tasks that previously took humans weeks to complete and improving work processes by pairing people and machines in new ways. Boards and Private Equity (P.E.) investors will expect CXOs to answer critical questions about how AI will fit into the company’s strategy along with its opportunities and risks. Consequently, leadership and management teams will be expected to answer deeper questions relating to: How will AI could transform our products or services and which aspects of our business could benefit from increased automation or machine learning? Have we considered the potential efficiency and productivity benefits that may come with adopting AI? How might AI fit with other emerging technologies we are investing in? Do we have the computing power and infrastructure to support the use of AI? Do we have the digital skills and talent to move forward? How will we gain the trust of our stakeholders if we use AI? How can we ensure that biases do not alter AI decisions? Do we have established practices and controls in place to minimise any reputational, regulatory compliance or other risks? Have we thought about how we would use data collected by AI? Have we considered cyber risks and data privacy issues? To truly capitalise on AI, companies will need to consider a myriad of questions which are multidimensional affecting "people, process and technology" — all of which will be costly. AI for society In contrast to business and industry, fewer considerations are made publicly about the use AI for society and social good. To be clear, this is not about showcasing the latest in AI technologies — from drones, exoskeletons, and robotics to avatars, autonomous cars, and AI-powered health solutions. All too often, we naively empower marketing agencies, analysts and businesses to propel the belief that AI is a "silver bullet" that will help society solve key issues of the future alongside topics such as democracy, economic inequality, social welfare, and justice. There are few platforms or institutions that are available to share successes and failures of the intersection of AI and social problems. Where they do exist, they are still in their infancy and currently only offer philosophical notions of social good. Greater focus needs to be applied to connect researchers to civil society organisations, NGOs, local governments, and other organisations to enable applied AI research for beneficial outcomes. Additionally, data created from any learnings and outcomes should be shared across countries, borders and societies perhaps via a pact with leading tech companies that link back to societal organisations that can collectively make social change happen with the right government and civil support. On the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, one exemplar worth calling out is the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The SDGs promise action on 17 critical social and environmental issues to address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice — by 2030. If we were to think of the SDGs as an incredibly powerful employee and citizen engagement opportunity, it would allow all businesses and people across civil society to have a sense of a shared purpose — that connect people to businesses, their communities and the world. In the midst of a pandemic radically transforming our economies and societies – this provides a more sobering wakeup call that should make us all pause to reflect on the world as it is, as it was, and as it could be. As a human family, and a global collective, we have an opportunity to reimagine and reshape the future. Equality versus equity It is undeniable that AI will continue to transform every facet of our work, play, and home lives, and benefit organisations in terms of making better decisions and predicting outcomes. The vast amounts of data sets collected and analysed by AI to predict patterns and outcomes are raising issues around privacy, security, ethics and transparency. The disruptive potential of AI poses looming risks around Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (F.A.T.E.). However, let's side step this for a moment and accept that there are plenty of calls to action for greater governance to avoid these negative repercussions. Let's remain focussed on "AI for society": creating AI that supports equality, transparency, and democracy. After all, these are presumed to be the pillars and foundations required to support aif or all. However, I believe herein lies a fundamental problem: our language. What is equality? The Equality and Human Rights Commission describe equality as: “Ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents.” In other words, equality means ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities and receives the same treatment and support. What is equity? Equity is about giving people what they need in order to make things fair. Giving more to those who need it This is not the same as equality, nor is it the same as inequality. It is simply giving more to those who need it, which is proportionate to their own circumstances, in order to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities. Equality vs. equity The difference between equality and equity must be emphasised. Although both promote fairness, equality achieves this through treating everyone the same regardless of need, while equity achieves this through treating people differently dependent on need. However, this different treatment may be the key to reaching equality. Since equality and equity are often used interchangeably, let’s ensure we are using the same vocabulary. Equality → Sameness I get two apples. You get two apples Inequality → Unequal I get two apples. You get no apples. Equity → Fairness I get two apples. You get two oranges because you are allergic to apples. Inequity → Unjust I get two apples. You get two apples, even though you are allergic. Equity does not undermine equality, but rather provides the means to achieve this. Equality is undermined when equity is used incorrectly; it is undermined when a person or group’s needs are not taken into account, i.e. giving less to those who need it and more to those who do not. For example, giving women in the engineering workforce less support based on low numbers rather than high need. There are many other examples we can all share. In a video posted to Twitter a few days before the 2020 election, now Vice President Kamala Harris wrote: “There’s a big difference between equality and equity.” In the video (with over 6.4 million views), Harris states: “Equality suggests, ‘Oh, everyone should get the same amount.’ The problem with that: Not everybody’s starting out from the same place. So if we’re all getting the same amount, but you started out back there and I started out over here, we could get the same amount, but you’re still going to be that far back behind me… Equitable treatment means we all end up at the same place.” Our choice of words can fundamentally change the course (and the potential) of our society. Ultimately, there is a fine line between equity and inequality, which we must ALL be careful not to cross. Otherwise, we will only reinforce structural, cultural and economic biases. Final thoughts AI is rapidly developing and is increasingly being applied across sectors, posing significant ethical and societal challenges. There is, therefore a national and global need to adequately equip future leaders and decision-makers to address these challenges across business, public, and social sectors working with AI. In the context of "AI for Society", to create true equality of opportunity, equity is needed to ensure that everyone has the same chance of getting there. We must be cautious when dealing with equity; providing too little to those who need it and too much to those who do not can further exacerbate the inequalities we see today. We need "AI for social good" initiatives to empower employees, customers, individuals and communities across society in order to truly benefit from AI and emerging technology. We need to continuously "zoom out" and look at society as a whole rather than focusing on minutiae siloed topics that are heavily entrenched by structural and cultural inequalities. We need "Storytellers" and "AI experts" alike to help everyone understand how AI and emerging technology might tackle various societal challenges. We need to think about our fellow humans... across all borders, countries, and nations. Follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter and visit my website for more info! Read more from Salim! Salim Sheikh, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Over the past 25 years, Salim has built a career in consulting, working both client ‒ and supplier-side as an interim CIO/CTO and a Business Change / Transformation Consultant. facilitating digital and technology transformations programmes that have included rescue & recovery ("turnaround"), process optimisation & improvement and organisational change – across diverse industries in the UK, Europe, Nordics, Turkey, UAE, US, and Australia. Salim is an Oxford University alumni who also has strong academic roots in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He is a mentor in the “Responsible Tech Program” managed by “All Tech Is Human” where he advocates “AI for Social Good” and “AI for All”. He authored "Understanding the Role of Artificial Intelligence and Its Future Social Impact" which is available via IGI Global (https://bit.ly/34cfJVf) and Amazon (https://lnkd.in/gbk-zba). Reference: [1] The OECD or “Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development” is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries which was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. (Source: Wikipedia)