By: Linnea Molander Dating Coach and founder of Happy Dating Can you imagine if we gave people career advice in the same way that we give single people love advice? Single people get well intended, yet often completely delusional, words of encouragement all the time: “Just wait it out and you’ll find someone too someday.” “Don’t think so much about it, just let love come to you.” “You don’t need therapy/coaching/matchmaking, just be yourself and someone will love you for you.” It all sounds great, doesn’t it? But let’s take a closer look at these comments. What they all have in common is that they tell you to do nothing to improve your love life. Absolutely nothing at all! Just be yourself (whatever that means…) and wait it out. I don’t know about you, but I would call that a pretty crappy success strategy for any area of your life. Comments like these keep people stuck and struggling because they actually encourage you to be completely passive, but I don’t think that’s how you handle challenges in other areas of your life. Let’s put the same words of ‘encouragement’ into a career context and see how absolutely insane they sound: “Just wait it out and you’ll have your own business too someday.” “Don’t think so much about your finances, just let the money come to you.” “You don’t need to practice any skills, just be yourself and someone will hire you for you.” It makes absolutely no sense, right? So why do we think it will lead to a fulfilling love life when we literally don’t think like this in regards to anything else? When it comes to health, education, money, travel, life goals and all other parts of life we are well aware that success requires knowledge, skill and practice. Somehow love, dating and intimate relationships has become the only exclusion from this obvious fact. Why? It’s certainly not because intimate relationships are easier than everything else. Relationships are hard, require a lot of skill, compassion, self awareness and practice. Nor are they less important. Who you spend your life with is one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make, and the quality of your relationships has a huge impact on your happiness levels and life satisfaction. If relationships skills were at least taught in school and we didn’t get emotionally messed up by our hopefully loving, but most likely also emotionally clueless, parents, we might have had a chance to make it work with ease. But for most of us that’s not the case. Instead, we have to do some inner work just to make up for all the misunderstandings, heartbreaks and disappointments we’ve already acquired from birth until now. That inner work can’t be delegated to someone else, still many try by thinking that the right person is suddenly going to appear and solve everything just by existing. They won’t. And it’s not their job. It also puts all the power over your love life in the hands of a stranger you haven’t even met! Again, I don’t think this is how you run the rest of you life; hoping that some stranger will show up and solve your problems. Instead, you do what you got to do to get the results you want, right? Results require skills If you think about it: how much time, energy, effort and money have you put into exploring your inner emotional landscape, learning authentic communication skills and understanding intimate relationship dynamics? If there is a difference in success level there is most likely also a difference in knowledge and skill level. How much time, energy, effort and money have you put into succeeding in other areas of your life, like your career, fitness and lifestyle? If there is a difference in success level there is most likely also a difference in knowledge and skill level. Simple as that. I believe that everything in life is a learnable skill, which means that you can improve your love and relationships skills, just like every other skill you have (or don’t have). But there’s a catch here as well! If you want to learn you need to listen to someone who knows what they’re talking about — and when it comes to love everyone has an opinion and offers advice, but very few have actual knowledge. If you wouldn’t take financial, career or health advice from just anyone with an opinion, then don’t use that strategy for your love life either! If you’re struggling with your dating of love life, get help from someone who is an expert in their field and can teach you the skills you need! Read a book, follow a blog on dating psychology, educate yourself on the latest research on what makes relationships work and most importantly make an effort to understand yourself and your relationships patterns. Then you will, in fact, have a great chance to just find someone, let love come to you and have a partner who will love you for you. But not because you waited long enough or were lucky, but because you applied the exact same success strategies to your love life that you already use in every other successful area of your life. Linnea Molander is a dating coach, author and the founder of Happy Dating — Positive Psychology For Your Love Life. Find out more at www.linneamolander.com

You might have heard that all you need is a great idea? But how do you become a problem solver - and how do you come up with a business idea? We listed 4 important things to think about when creating your business idea and also what might be a good idea to try before you register your company. There are tons of great ideas that are being pushed out to the market every year. Unfortunately, not even a third of them reach success. Why? Most people and companies have these things in common; They all have challenges/problems and desires. How great you succeed is all dependent on how well you can fill those needs or what helpful solutions you can provide - and maybe most importantly, how passionated you are to be the provider. There is a lot of different aspects that can affect if a business succeed or not. The first thing you should focus on is to have a clear and defined target market, a clear and defined problem or desire - and a clear and defined solution. Then, you should ask yourself - will I enjoy working with this? When you're truly passionated about what your building, the odds will be in your favor. Being solution-oriented is a Habit - Look for possibilities everywhere and become a problem solver! Most people think that you have to be born a problem solver. You don't. "Problem solving" is something you can practice and you can practice it daily, you just need to change your habits and the way you typically see things. Most people bump into problems or challenges every day - big and small. What most people don't do is stop and think; "How can I solve this problem?" or "What possibilities do we have in front of us?". To become a problem solver, try think like that for at least 30 days to make it a habit. Acknowledge every time something bugs you. Every time you find yourself complaining about something or seeing the down-side of something - ask yourself those two questions and see how your brain respond to it. You will be surprised how many new ideas you will get and how many new possibilities you will see. That is how inventions and businesses are born. 4 things to help you form a Business Idea: What are you passionated about? Many people don't know what they are passionated about and a lot of us don't even know what we are good at. "What are you good at?" - is a hard question. Most of us are pretty shy when we get asked this question. Instead, try to ask yourself; What things do I love to learn? What do I typically google? What do I typically spend money on? What do people ask my advice on? All these questions can help you figure out what you actually like to do, learn and talk about. Most of the time, the answer to what you are good at is right underneath your nose - you just don't know how good you are at it. Most of the time we don't know how good we are at certain things because we don't acknowledge everything we learn. Think about it this way; If you spend most of your time learning about mindset (you go to seminars, you read blogs, you follow research, you google, you listen to podcasts) - and your friend spend most time learning the same way about cars. Who would be the go-to-person when your other friend have a question about mindset? Who would you go to if you had a question about cars? Many of us know things that we assume everyone else already know - and most of us have no clue how good we are at something. Who would be your target market? To figure this one out you should think about what kind of people you would want to work with. Is it; women, men, adults, children, parents, a business group, dentists, entrepreneurs, car owners, etc..? What group of people do you feel most connected to? What problems or desires do they have? Do they have problem finding clients? Do they have problem losing weight? Do they desire better technology knowledge? Is their car always dirty and they don’t have time to take it to the car wash? Solution to their problem. Is your target market dentists who are struggling to find new clients? The customer will most likely be more receptive to their service when marketing through social media such as; creating facebook-ads to attract potential clients. Another target market can be car owners who don't have time to take their cars to a car wash. The solution might be to find a mobile car wash service that would accommodate to their needs. Look for solutions. Exercise - Fill in Blanks I help _______ To________ By________ I help (people or groups you like to work with): Example: Dentists, Parents, Teenagers, Men, Elderly, People with Weight Problems, People with Smoking Addiction, Entrepreneurs, etc. To (what is their problem/desire?): Example: get clients, get their kids to sleep all night, better dating life, quit smoking, loose weight, become confident on stage, learn more about technology, get better time management etc. By (solution to their problem): Example: Building a marketing funnel, offering them coaching, working with acting techniques, implementing better routines, setting up their IT software correctly etc. Last but not least.. Sell before you build Most people think that you can't start working until you have legally registered your company. That's a common misconception. It's not necessary to focus on the paperwork and registration process before you even know how your market will respond to your idea. Try selling it - iterate and improve. Establish and recruit clients to your company. When you get your first client and have proof of concept - send in the paperwork and send your first invoice! This way you can test your business idea and the markets need for it before even starting it. It may seem too simple but its a very smart way to start - plus it saves you tons of time!

By: Caroline Winkvist First of all, what is an Affirmation? Affirmations are short, powerful statements used to state that something is true - to help make it true. But how is thinking my way to success going to work? To begin with, it's not magic. Just because you think about a new car, it won’t just magically appear in front of you, unfortunately. You might also feel uncomfortable lying to yourself, since you're stating things that aren't true (yet) - but hopefully this article will help you clarify how it works. Affirmations actually work due to the power of positive thinking. First of all, affirmations make people receptive to change - and then they help making the change reality. According to different studies it is easier to make a positive change when you use daily affirmations because it remind us of what we want and why. Affirmations to help you stay on track Everyone can have a ”day off" with a habit change. Unfortunately many people use this as an excuse to say, "I can't do it" and they quit - or they say they're going to do it later. Daily affirmations give you the motivation to keep going through these tough times by reminding you of what you want, to help you stay motivated and determined to work towards the change you want to make. However, positive affirmations is not only about helping you to succeed with your missions. Affirmations can also be used as reminders of things that are already good in your life, including your strengths or things you're grateful for. Positive affirmations can also help release you from anxiety, negativity, guilt, fear and pain. Messages to your Brain These three sentences on the left side of this picture are all positive affirmations. For example: When these simple messages are repeated over-and-over, they begin to re-program your mind and slowly change your thought patterns. Eventually they will change the way you think and feel about things - which will increase the chances of you taking the actions required to succeed with it. These positive statements can help you focus on goals, get rid of self-defeating negative beliefs and program your subconscious mind - and eventually create a new reality. Areas you can include in your affirmations: When you write your affirmations we recommend using a mix of these areas because they will help keep you on track, make you stay positive and motivated, empower your strengths, fight your limiting beliefs and remind you of what’s important and WHY, and maybe most importantly - what you're grateful for. GRATEFULNESS - WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR AND WHY? This is an amazing way to remind yourself of things in your life that are important and meaningful to you. We tend to forget all the great things we have in our lives and these affirmations will act as beautiful reminders. Example Affirmation: "I am grateful for my health. I am grateful for every part of my body that is healthy." Another example (if you have children): "I am grateful for being a parent. I am grateful for being given the opportunity to raise children and for the love I get to give them and receive from them every single day for the rest of my life." MISSION & PURPOSE - WHAT DO YOU WANT AND WHY? These positive affirmations might begin as wishful thinking - but when you fuel your mind with these affirmations as a part of your daily habits, they end up becoming the reality of your life. When writing affirmations about what you want and why, write them as it already happened and try to include the feeling you have when you’re succeeding. Example Affirmation: "I want to stop having a stressful morning - is not an affirmation. Your affirmation would instead be: "I choose to have a great morning routine because it makes me feel stress free and energized and I start every day with a win!" That’s a strong affirmation. MY STRENGTHS Making an affirmation about your strengths is a great way to remind yourself of your greatness and to empower yourself. Example Affirmation: "I am kind and I always care deeply for others. I work hard to be able to take care of the people I love and care for. I have positive energy and people enjoy my company. I feel humble." NEGATIVE THOUGHTS & LIMITING BELIEFS Negative thoughts can also include limiting beliefs and weaknesses. It can also be things that scares you. For example, a limiting belief can be ”I'm always going to be overweight and depressed" Example Affirmation: "I choose to be healthy, eat healthy and exercise because that makes me feel better, look better and be happier." Or you might have a weakness you want to work on.. Making an affirmation about your weaknesses is good to remind yourself of why you want to change. Weakness: "I’m always late because I’m a time optimist" Example Affirmation: "I’m committed to always be on time. I prioritize planning my time because it makes me feel in control and free from any stress." Fears If you have any fears, a fear can be: "I fear rejection" Example Affirmation: "I am free of the fear of rejection. Rejection is a necessary thing to achieve success. I act without fear of rejection and I feel proud and confident." Cheating your subconscious mind If you feel like it’s too hard to convince your mind of some of the affirmations you’re writing, then try to avoid making the ”lie” too obvious. Affirmations is about cheating your subconscious mind and in some cases when you make the lie too obvious, you might make it too easy for your mind to catch the lie. You might get stuck focusing on not believing your affirmation - especially if you’re a person who’s often skeptical. Therefore, we want you to focus on your WHY for the things you feel is the hardest to commit to. For example: Don’t write ”I love eating vegetables” if you truly hate vegetables. That way you make the step to reality too big. Try to make it more like: ”I choose/commit myself to find new healthy alternatives everyday because it makes me feel healthy, strong and proud of myself.” When you focus on your why, your reasons and motivation to commit to it will increase. Guidelines for writing your affirmations Use the present tense - I am, I have, I always, I love, I commit, I can, I choose.. etc. State it in the positive - Try to not state what you’re doing wrong, focus on what you can do right instead. Don’t write: ”I’m going to stop being negative!” Instead write: ”I choose to be positive because it makes me feel energized and happy and I attract opportunity.” Keep it brief - You don’t need to write a full story. Try to keep it short with only a couple of sentences. Include feelings - Try to include how succeeding with the statement would make you feel. E.g. "I feel honored and gifted” Do not use words like: I wish, I want, I should, I don’t.. When writing about negative thoughts: When you make affirmations based on bad habits, negative thoughts or limiting beliefs try to use sentences like: I choose to____because____ Or: I commit to____because____ Think about how you want to feel instead of how you feel right now, and choose or commit to make actions based on how you want to feel. When using these kind of affirmations repeatedly, "I choose to", will eventually become ”I am”. Read or listen to your affirmations daily or whenever you feel like you need to empower yourself. We recommend recording your affirmations and keep them on your phone. That way you can listen to them on your way to work or school - or whenever you want to. Listening to your affirmations is like meditation or mindfulness, it's beautiful. Most phones have recording applications pre-installed which is the easiest way to record your affirmations. Read your affirmations slow and with confidence and really focus on imagining the situation when it's happening. If you want to, you can use mindfulness music in the background to make it extra powerful. Really try to feel the positive emotions from it as you read. For many people this sounds silly but you'll be surprised how much your own voice and your own statements can motivate you and help you take necessary steps forward to success.

Jeff Bezos is an investor, technology and online retail pioneer from the U.S, and the founder and CEO of global technology and retail giant Amazon.com. Bezos is considered by many to be one of the most influential and successful leaders today. Jeff Bezos is again the number 1 richest person in the world, followed by Bill Gates at number 2, according to The Forbes World’s Billionaires list. Bezos is also regarded as one of the leading thinkers in the world due to his vision and his ideas are not only different but also often at odds with many other entrepreneurs and leaders. “If you decide that you’re going to do only the things you know are going to work, you’re going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table.” – Jeff Bezos “One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don’t choose your passion; your passion chooses you.” – Jeff Bezos “Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.” – Jeff Bezos “The common question that gets asked in business is, ‘why?’ That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, ‘why not?’” – Jeff Bezos “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” – Jeff Bezos “What’s dangerous is not to evolve.” – Jeff Bezos “If we can keep our competitors focused on us while we stay focused on the customer, ultimately we'll turn out all right.” – Jeff Bezos “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos “For people who are readers, reading is important to them.” – Jeff Bezos “When you receive criticism from well-meaning people, it pays to ask, 'Are they right?' And if they are, you need to adapt what they're doing. If they're not right - you need to have that long-term willingness to be misunderstood.” – Jeff Bezos “Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful.” – Jeff Bezos “Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos “To get something new done you have to be stubborn and focused, to the point that others might find unreasonable.” – Jeff Bezos “The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they'd already solved. They're open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.” – Jeff Bezos “It's perfectly healthy--encouraged, even--to have an idea tomorrow that contradicted your idea today.” – Jeff Bezos “If you can't tolerate critics, don't do anything new or interesting.” – Jeff Bezos “Where you are going to spend your time and your energy is one of the most important decisions you get to make in life.” – Jeff Bezos We hope you got some new wisdom out of this. Which one is your favorite?

The Possible Mindset - Your way to Success! - ”It’s impossible!” The doctors and physiotherapists said to me. - ”Everything is possible!” I replied. - ”We put a man on the moon 50 years ago, so please don’t tell me that I can’t keep working, or run or ski again!?” The fifth jump was perfect, until 15 meters above ground, where I came into thermals and my parachute collapsed. When I was 16 years I went skydiving, it was amazing! I could fly and I could see the earth underneath me. The fifth jump was perfect, until 15 meters above ground, where I came into thermals and my parachute collapsed. The last 15 meters went really fast and I hit the ground hard. That’s how I’ve got my first back injury. The doctors couldn’t help me, nor the physiotherapist in Järvsö, where I grew up. I had to stop my career as a cross country skier and it was really hard for a 16-year old elite athlete to realize that the dream of the Olympics all of a sudden went out of sight. If I would have listened to the doctors, I probably would have got disability support pension, but I refused that. I just wanted more out of life than to sit down and let my life just pass by. Thanks to my knowledge about mental training I managed to fight against the pain. Since then I’ve got three more back injuries and I have lived with chronic pain for 28 years to date. Thanks to my back injuries, I got interested in the human body and our brain so I studied to massage therapist and mental coach. I wanted to help other people to handle their pain and teach them how to use the brain to set and reach their goals. My injuries gave me my dream job! Anything is possible or nothing is impossible? Have you heard the expression ”Nothing is impossible”. It’s not a very good sentence. Why? Because ”nothing” and ”impossible” are both negative words. Your brain will recognize these words as negative and simply don’t get the wanted positive effect. If you say: ”Everything is possible” (positive words) your brain will act to it as a positive mindset. The brain acts differently to negative and positive words along with your actions. If you keep feeding your brain with negative statements about yourself, you will soon believe that those sentences are true, for example: - ”I’m not good enough!” - ”I can’t do this!” - ”I will never be able to reach my goals!” Have you ever tried to make those sentences positive? - ”I’m good enough!” - ”I can do this!” - ”I will reach my goals because I believe in myself!” Does it feel strange to think like this about yourself? In Sweden we have something called ”Jantelagen”. Jantelagen is a code of conduct known in Nordic countries that says you shouldn’t think that you’re better than anyone else. I see this all the time with coaching clients that I work with. They feel embarrassed and think they are egoistic if they say: -”I am good enough” or -”I am the best person at this!”. Don’t be ashamed for your skills! You have worked hard and a long time to get your skills, be proud of what you can! So when you set your goals, make sure you use positive words and pictures to visualize your goals. I guess you’ve heard about the half full/half empty glass. How do you see it? Studies show that people with a positive mindset live longer and are more likely to reach their goals. Companies who sets goals are 60% more likely to reach success then the companies who don't. It’s my possible mindset and the knowledge that it’s my choice. Your choice I often get the question: - ”How can you be so happy and positive? You live with chronic pain and have been through more tough stuff than most other people.” Well, it’s my possible mindset and the knowledge that it’s my choice. I have three choices: I could lay down, 6 feet underground. Then it’s over, the pain would stop, but also my life. So it’s not a very tempting choice... I’m far too curious about life to do that! I could lay down on the sofa and be bitter and think about how unfair life is. Would it help the pain go away? Nope! I need movement to prevent my pain from getting worse and it still wouldn’t change the fact that I’ve got four back injuries. I can do the best of the situation, focus on what I can do instead of focusing on what I can’t do. I have always chosen nr. 3! Of course, like everyone else, I have bad days and just lay down on the sofa and feel sorry for myself. But hey, it doesn’t help me feeling better. So I quit with that quite fast, because I realize it doesn’t improve my life at all. We can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we handle it. You can feel sorry for yourself about a lot of things, but when you start to realize that it’s not going to help you achieve your goals and that it’s just making you sad, angry or bitter, then it’s about time to change to a possible mindset. It’s always your choice. Because in the end, it’s not me as a coach, it’s not your family, friends or colleagues who’s responsible of your choices. It’s only you who have that power! It’s always your choice. Take it seriously, don’t blame it on others when you don’t achieve what you want. You are the leader of yourself and when you can lead yourself, it will be easier for you to lead other people. Which choices do you do for yourself? How does your choices improve or impair your daily life? Possible leadership Are you a possible leader or are you an impossible leader? This sentence could mean a lot of things. Are you a possible leader could mean that you might be a leader, but maybe you’ve never tried it so far. If you already are a leader it could mean that you see the possibilities in your employees and in your business growth. What about if you are an impossible leader? An impossible leader doesn’t hesitate to reject employees who comes up with new ideas and they don’t see the opportunities even when they come up on a silver tray. They see problems and difficulties in everything, except maybe their own ideas. When you start to work with your own possible mindset, you’ll find out that you can be a possible leader. When you start to lead your employees with a possible mindset you’ll get happy and proud coworkers which leads to better productivity which leads to better economy and you can see how your business get more successful than ever! Are you ready to start your journey with a possible mindset and become a possible leader? Remember, anything is possible, you just might have to do it in another way to suit you! By: Cattis Olsson Cattis Olsson is a mental coach, massage therapist and health manager. She has worked within health for about 20 years and her focus has been helping elite athletes reach their goals by mental training. Today Cattis is helping entrepreneurs and companies work with human sustainability to prevent stress and setting sustainable goals for reaching success in a long term. She is also having lectures towards medical professions about chronic pain and how they can help their patients with a possible mindset despite chronic pain.

Q&A with Aicha Gaye, Self-Love & Mindset Coach Aicha is a Self-Love & Mindset Coach, Kundaliniyoga & Meditation Teacher but most importantly a Mama. She is a former theatre actress and is still passionate about theatre and has hosted workshops where she combined improvisation theatre with meditative excersises. She is dedicated to empower women to embrace themselves with self-love and acceptance - Guiding them to find and grow the confidence and the right mindset they need to create their dream life. Aicha runs her business and coaching program online from Stockholm, Sweden with clients around the world. We caught up with her for a Q&A about fixed and growth mindset and to learn the 7 different ways to change your thought patterns. What is a fixed mindset? A fixed mindset is when one assumes that abilities and understanding are relatively fixed. Those with a fixed mindset may not believe that intelligence can be improved, or the belief that you either “have it or you don’t” when it comes to abilities and talents. Here are 3 examples of a fixed mindset thinking: "I just can't do this" "I'm not good at this" "This is too hard" What is the definition of a growth mindset? A growth mindset is “the understanding that abilities and understanding can be developed” (Mindset Works, n.d.). Those with a growth mindset believe that they can get smarter, more intelligent, and more talented through putting in time and effort. Here are 3 examples of a growth mindset thinking: "I can always improve so i'll keep trying" "I choose to learn from my mistakes" "I'll use a different strategy" What is the main difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset? The main difference between the two mindsets is the belief in the permanence of intelligence and ability; one views it as very permanent, with little to no room for change in either direction, while the other views it as more changeable, with opportunities for improvement. This difference in mindset may lead to differences in behavior as well. If someone believes intelligence and abilities are immutable traits, they are not likely to put in much effort to change their inherent intelligence and abilities. On the other hand, those who believe they can change these traits may be much more willing to put in extra time and effort to achieve more ambitious goals. With a growth mindset, individuals may achieve more than others because they are worrying less about seeming smart or talented and putting more of their energy into learning (Dweck, 2016). Can you tell us about a time when you faced an important opportunity or challenge with a fixed mindset - What were your thoughts and worries? I have plenty of challenges but I will tell you about a time when I was lacking in self-love and worth. I was working in the fashion industry for many years and absolutely hated it. "My mind was negative and I didn't believe that I could do anything about my situation" I was longing for meaningful and creative work but I was stuck. So why did I feel stuck? Because my mind was negative and I didn't believe that I could do anything about my situation. This led to anxiety and burnout and it took me some real time and effort to regain my health. 7 ways to change your thought patterns Create a new belief - with this I mean: a belief in yourself, in your own skills and abilities, and in your capacity for positive change. View failure in a different light: see failure as an opportunity to learn from your experiences. In fact, you can remove the word failure and replace it with learning. Cultivate your self-awareness: work on becoming more aware of your talents, strengths, and weaknesses; gather feedback from those who know you best and put it together for a comprehensive view of yourself. Be curious and commit to lifelong learning: try to adopt the attitude of a child. When I look at my daughter and other children I can see how they look at the world with such awe and curiosity. Embrace challenges: know that if you wish to accomplish anything, you will face many challenges on your journey; prepare yourself for facing these challenges, and for failing sometimes. Do what you love and love what you do: it’s much easier to succeed when you are passionate about what you’re doing; whether you cultivate love for what you already do or focus on doing what you already love, developing passion is so important. Be persistent: it takes a lot of hard work to succeed, but it takes even more than working hard—you must be persistent, face obstacles and getting back up after each time you fall. How can you learn to hear your fixed mindset voice? Pay attention to the voice that pops up when you face new challenges. This is the voice of your fixed mindset, and it likely only has negative things to say about you and your abilities. Fixed mindset voice might say something like “You really think you can do it?” or “This is too difficult for you, just give up and do something else!”

By: Fia Hobbs How can we tackle the amount of stressed out people that keeps increasing and who are under pressure and in the risk of being burned out? It has been an escalation for many years and it does not seem to plan out in a foreseeable future. It is not an easy task and there are many parts of society that has to get involved to be able to establish viable work ethics and a good health care with emphasis on health, before burn out is a fact. During my 30 years of work as a therapist I have seen many diagnosis like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome to name a few and it is very hard for the person to first of all be taken serious and secondly get the right treatment. There will always be components of physical, mental and emotional issues and many times also existential together with underlying amount of stress that has not been dealt with. The stress out syndrome we are witnessing now cannot be blamed on work alone but on a series of complex events happening and has everything to do with the outer stress we experience, as well as how we cope with our inner stress. On top of that we also have chemical stress all around us that can be harder to avoid. I will talk about the differences later on. The people I mostly see are successful career women who are stressed out and caught in the sandwich generation, meaning they have teenagers at home, a work that is demanding and parents who are getting older and who needs extra care. Many women tries to balance this impossible equation and end up being the ones who fall ill. Of course this is a scenario that happens to both men and women, but women tend to take on more responsibilities when it comes to caring for the home and dealing with relations in the family. There is no easy solution but it all has to start with each and every one of us taking responsibility for our own health and making it a priority. Most people want a quick solution to their problems. I am sorry to be the one to say that there are never any sustainable habits that comes from quick fixes. Unless they are willing to look at their life from all angles and be willing to change things, I or anyone else cannot help them. Taking the step towards change is very uncomfortable for many and that is why we see people driving themselves to the ground before making changes. But there are ways to navigate through change and over the years I have identified a system consisting of five crucial steps where the first step is awareness. As most of our days are a series of actions being monitored by our subconscious mind up to 95% we tend to do what we always have done. This works in our favor most of the time as it saves energy for our brain or we would get overloaded. Unfortunately there are also habits and behaviors that we have picked up along the way that are less useful and sometimes even harmful and they also happen by routine. We need to address the subconscious mind where the real change is going to happen otherwise we will always fall back into old habits as soon as we put our conscious guard down. The subconscious will always win. There are many ways to reach awareness and I use a few different tools depending on the person. Mindfulness is one of them but the very first step consist of looking at areas of outer stress, things that happens outside of us that we cannot control, change or run away from. This being anything from nature catastrophe, war, getting a serious illness like cancer, divorce or death in the family. The list can be long. After that we start looking into how to deal with this, what tools do we have, what coping strategies have we used before etc. I usually take people through a series of steps identifying their own self-saboteurs that can contribute to the inner stress and cause a blockage. Most of the time we are not even aware of what they are, we just accept them as a part of our identity or behavior depending on what level we are looking at. Most things have been there since childhood and are so ingrained with how we think and act that it becomes a blind spot for us. By looking at our own self-saboteurs we can turn them into self-helpers and resolve blockages that we have been carrying around for years that has contributed to stress. After the awareness step we have to take action and change patterns to get rid of what does not serve us anymore and this usually comes with a lot of resistance. We need help here to sort things out and learn to let go. It is a process that is necessary to go through before we can go to the next step which is recharging. The recharge step is fun and can be done in many ways. For some people it is a daily walk, for others meditation, mindfulness, qigong or yoga practice as a way of finding a new life balance. It can also be singing in a choir, playing an instrument, gardening, painting and whatever gets you in a flow where you feel charged up afterwards. You have by now learnt to set up boundaries, saying no to things and people that takes your energy, and learnt to deal with stress in a whole different way. Last two steps are very important but many times overlooked. It is the implementation of new habits, making it a part of a new lifestyle and sticking with it until it becomes second nature. That is when you have a new habit that you don’t even have to think about, it has become the new you. The 5 Fundamental Steps 1. Awareness The first necessary step that lays the foundation of a deeper understanding on what is going on in your life on different levels that includes physical, mental, emotional and existential level. 2. Cleanse once we know the stressors in your life whether it is caused by outer, inner or chemical stress, we take the next step to look at what does not serve you and letting go of it. We tend to cling to familiar habits although we know they don’t help us in the long run. 3. Recharge this is an exploring step where it is important to match the activity with your personal preference. Getting recharged can be as easy as spending time in nature or taking up a class of qigong or yoga but it can be so much more and the coach will be there to help you. 4. Implement the last two steps are many times overlooked but they are also important. If you have spent the time going through the level of awareness, cleansing and recharging you also need a plan to implement into your everyday life without it being a burden. This is where we focus on informal training and making it a part of your life. 5. Sustainable New Habits having a plan to continue with your new habits is crucial and for that reason we put together a health plan that includes all parts of your life, even social life. This is your new roadmap to a more balanced life. Outer, Inner and Chemical stress Outer stress – Events, illnesses, trauma, divorce, death in the family etc. Things you have no way of controlling. Inner stress – How you react to the outer stress with coping strategies or lack of them. Chemical stress – Environmental toxicity. Fia Hobbs International Author, Speaker and Expert on Stress Management

By: Hanna Lundberg A lot of people would say that we need a new approach to leadership. We do not need a new style or type of leadership, we need a new form of leadership. This new form is about the mindset of the leader themselves. It is about their courage to emerge new levels of consciousness and make it to wisdom in their making of decisions. We already know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take parts of our jobs - but what not many people understand is that it can restore our humanity. In 2020, the most attractive work skills will already shift from technical skills to human skills like; emotional intelligence, creativity and cognitive flexibility. Why? Because, that is the only competitive advantage of humans against the robots. To require this we need our leaders to be connected to themselves, to their staff, and to the communities they interact with. The missing link It is not new to us that high IQ and EQ are valuable skills of successful leadership. But the recourse they have as a secret weapon is the domain of highly body intelligence (BQ) meaning intuition, improvement of performance, fundamental insights for both emotional intelligence and making of decisions. Historically, our emotional and body intelligence has been lost. As Albert Einstein said: “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honor’s the servant and has forgotten the gift”. From my point of view, the root who causes why we are feeling so bad when we are still doing so well. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honor’s the servant and has forgotten the gift”. A holistic network of knowledge Many times when we do not receive the results we where looking for we question if it was some information we missed along the way. Was there something we could have done differently? Along with most leaders who have experienced this they would have said YES, because they already know that they have ignored their gut feeling. Neuroscience shows us, something that has been known by both Einstein and metaphysics since a long time, that your brain does not have a monopoly on your intelligence. Rather, intelligence comes from several regions in your body. Your intelligences is a massive network of chemicals, hormones and neurons that constantly transmit information and provide feedback that reside in your mind (IQ), in your heart (EQ), and one of the most significant region; your stomach (BQ). All with the ability for complex learning processes and fully equipped to think on its own. By working together your intelligent network will gain the synergy and wisdom that arises from ‘holistic mindset leadership’ and that will help you to reach a point where you can make better decisions. Then you are able to face today’s complex issues and adaptation challenges as attracting and retaining talent, execution on strategy, delivering quality customer experience or other leadership issues. The solution In other words, this requires leadership with a new level of self-awareness and self-facilitation for integrating mind-based intellect with heart-based values ​​and gut-based instincts. By aligning your forgotten conscious and unconscious intuitive gifts, you are able to harness your innate wisdom of your mind, heart and gut intelligences for a powerful and generative decision. But to create possibilities into this new form of leadership you need to build a strong relationship to your own body. By training your body intelligence you will expend your intelligence to the millennial wisdom you carry in your cells. My personal experience is when you develop your BQ and use your intelligence according to the information receive from IQ, EQ and BQ - you will no longer make the wrong decision, you will be the new form of leader the world needs. Hanna Lundberg Mindset Architect, Researcher, Trainer & Speaker

Interview with Paulin Larsen Berglöf, CEO and founder, Whippy What does Whippy do? Whippy designs structured onboarding processes with customized content that is focused on both the employee and manager experience. The onboarding processes are created in external technical solutions and platforms. Does onboarding and introduction mean the same thing or are there differences? We used to talk about introduction but today, we use a new terminology with terms such as employer branding, retention and onboarding. The difference between introduction and onboarding is mainly that introduction was a more analog process. Analog in the sense that it included a lot of physical material such as employee handbooks. It also included physical introduction days which were aimed at getting the employee up to speed. There was a lot of one-way communication. The introduction was also often limited to a few days time. Onboarding, on the other hand, should be a more digital process and with two-way communication. The employees should be able to share their reflections, ideas and thoughts about the business as you can learn a lot from new employees. Onboarding should also be conducted over time, up to 12 months, as 12 months is the average time to get a new employee completely onboarded. Therefore, you need to plan ahead; for example what will happen during the seventh month and not only during the first week. Why was Whippy founded? Whippy was founded out of a frustration. We worked closely with companies but in other areas that were related to onboarding, such as recruitment and organisational development, and we stood on the sidelines when it came to the actual onboarding of new employees. We saw that companies put a lot of time and resources into recruitment but once the new recruits started, it did not turn out as expected. Expectations were not always held, employees sometimes left their jobs early and there was often a lack of culture integration. Conclusively, the recruitment became very expensive as people dropped out. We started Whippy as we know how critical the first months of employment are, both to the new recruit and to the manager. The founders of Whippy, Paulin Larsen Berglöf and Ida Garamvölgyi, both run additional businesses within recruitment and organisational development and saw a gap in the market when it comes to the onboarding processes within companies. Ida often saw that companies with a good vision but in the ending lack a plan, time and knowledge to manage new recruits in their new roles and Paulin met managers that understood the value of onboarding but lacked the time and the right tools to succeed. Why is onboarding important? Today, there are a lot of requirements on employers. As an employee, you want to fit with the culture and have a leader that you actually want to follow. You want to have fun along the way and almost experience your employment as a journey. We can also see that companies put a lot of effort into attracting new employees. Looking forward, we believe the focus will shift onto retaining them. When it comes to withdrawals, as many as 1 in 5 will quit their jobs within the first 45 days. Paulin predicts that in the future, companies must focus even more on retaining the employees you have attracted and recruited. There is often talk about managers’ lack of time. Why should managers focus on onboarding, too? The benefits are many but primarily to retain new employees. Of course, you want more employees to feel satisfied with their onboarding journey and to feel ready to fully take on their role. How employees experience their first time of employment and how they talk about it externally is an additional reason why, as it affects the employer brand. Studies (Gallup 2019, Creating an Exceptional Onboarding Journey for New Employees) indicate that the manager’s role is critical for how the new employee experiences the new workplace as an engaged manager indicates that you are important to the company. We have seen this in practice with our customers as well - what has been most appreciated in the onboarding is the manager’s active participation in the process. Paulin’s recommendations to managers who are onboarding new employees: People work for people Objectives and tasks are often prioritized over culture and values, which are often neglected. However, if you as a manager include how employees should experience and become a part of the company’s culture and values in your strategy, the incentives to stay increase. Also, think about how you want to be perceived as a manager as leadership plays an important role in why people stay within a company. Confirm expectations  Make sure that the employee’s expectations are aligned with reality and encourage the employee to ask questions and to reflect on their new experiences early on. One of the top 3 reasons for early quits is that the reality did not live up to expectations. Physical meetings Even though the onboarding process is mainly digital, physical meetings cannot be completely disregarded as they build a strong relationship between you as a manager and the new employee. However, you do not need to have several long meetings - rather, they should be well designed and with relevant content. Utilize past experiences  The window where a new employee can see the company with fresh eyes is short. Make sure to utilize this window by capturing the employee’s unique experiences and ideas. This can contribute with valuable insights and new perspectives.

By: Heroes of Brand and Business Innovation Gone are the days when companies could use a megaphone to broadcast a message with an attractive promise to build their brand and drive sales. Internet has given rise to an increased transparency and has transferred power into the hands of customers. Companies can no longer get away with poor experiences that are not aligned with the purpose of the brand. In this article, brand and customer experience experts, Åsa and Sofie, give their view on how this has changed the way companies need to interact with their customers to be relevant in the future. Customers today are competent and engaged. We comment and scrutinize brands in social media in touch points that the company does not control and might not even be aware of. We are no longer passive consumers, but active collaborators or opponents (!). We have power to affect the perception of a brand and thereby, the business of the company! There is a constantly on-going conversation online that affect the perception of the brand. We listen to each other and we know that we are important. We don’t make purchases without checking the testimonials from other customers. – We put more trust in the referrals from strangers than in commercials from brands. Experiences can spread like wildfire online. Good experiences drive sales and bad reviews cause enormous harm. As pointed out by Brian Solis, experiences that people share have become the most important touch points for branding and purchasing decision: The experience of your customers defines your reputation on the market. – They become the brand. “Experience is the new brand. Experiences are the new branding”* We expect companies to listen to us and value our opinions. To see us. To interact with us. And to provide great experiences. For companies and organisation, this is both the bad news and the good news. Companies today have less control of how they are perceived. At the same time, they have more opportunities than ever to engage with customers in meaningful and value-creating ways! People today are constantly bombarded with information, messages, communication, and interactions. This information overload makes it hard for us to make decisions. So a strong brand might never have been more important than today to help us to make decisions. But the way to build a brand has changed radically! There is a new and exciting world and sooo many new opportunities to take advantage of! Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your organisation to understand to what extent you have adapted to this exciting new world. All related to things that we believe have changed radically! What is your response when sales figures drop or churn increases? Do you make another campaign, or do you try to understand where the customer experience fails? Shift the focus of your efforts to the whole experience of your customer in the customer journey. Fix the basic problems and enable emotionally engaging experiences that customers chose to talk about and share with others. Do you talk to your customers our with them? Do you use traditional media to send one-way messages, or do you engage in conversation with your customers? Increase mindshare through relevant presence when and where it is relevant to your customers. Online as well as IRL! Do you make the same offer and communication to all you customers? Or do you adapt based on target groups, tribes or situation in the customers’ lives? In a world of endless possibilities and information overload, relevance is gold. If you try to be everything for everyone, you end up being nothing for noone. Do you optimise or innovate? What is the main focus of your organisation – to sell what you have already put on the market? Or to continuously develop and improve services, products and experiences to stay relevant for your customers? Involve your customers in the development projects to ensure that you solve the right problem in the right way. Co-creation is the new black. Stop trying to make people want things. Instead, focus on making things that people want. - John V Wiltshire Are your main concern how to deliver the next quarterly report? Or how to deliver on your organisations purpose of being? The myriad of touch points with your brand are impossible to control. Only with shared values and a passion for your customer experience will you be able to ensure that you enable the right experiences for your customers and your brand. How do you talk about your customers? As human beings, or as transactions or data points in an excel sheet? Your customers are your best marketing channel, your best collaborators in your development teams and your best sources of insights! Relate to them as equal parties of the relationship. Build trust through solving their problems, fulfilling their needs and engaging in meaningful conversation about things that matter for them. Experiences are the new branding and it is not the issue of the marketing and communication department! The focus of branding needs to be on the total customer experience that ranges across all the touchpoints where the customer interacts with the brand. This makes it everyone’s business and the ability to adapt will decide the future of your business. Judgement day is here and the customer is the judge. Heroes of Brand and Business Innovation aims to help companies grow in a better way. Our core business is business and brand development within digital change. Our focus is to help companies with HOW they can develop and grow better based on the company's specific conditions and current situation. Whether we make big or small efforts for a customer, we always work from a holistic perspective - all parts of a company must work together to create sustainable solutions. Our efforts alternate between ongoing advisory services, workshops or to execute change.

By: Anton M.G. Lindberg There is no doubt that the world is full of accessible information. We can search the web and find everything in between successful people such as Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon to 236 million results of pie recipes on Google. Type in Personal Development and you will find another 2.7 billion results. Yet, with all this information available, independent studies show that depression among millennials is rising. Healthline.com published an article on March 2019 named “Why Millennial Depression is on the Rise”. In this article mental health therapist Jessica Singh explained that millennials can not help to compare themselves to the success of others, which can leave them feeling insecure and unaccomplished. As a millennial myself who overcame depression, I relate with the arguments stated. However, the Internet is not the root of evil. It offers endless opportunities for the curious mind. It is thanks to Social Media I was introduced to global thought leaders like Robin Sharma. Or Tony Robbins who is known as a motivational ‘guru’ and has coached celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela according to Business Insider. Yet there are people with no titles or reputation in our neighbourhoods who have taught me more about life than anyone else: kindergarten children. But what is it that the internet failed to teach me, that they did? Here are two (forgotten) key practices for life: Firstly, stop being sad and be happy, NOW. Have you ever seen a child that cried hysterically over something, to only within a few minutes later be able to laugh over a funny face? Children can shift their focus from negative to positive without overthinking. We still possess this skill. But only a few practices it enough. This goes beautifully in hand with Tony Robbins famous saying: “Where focus goes energy flows”. Secondly, clear communication. Are you uncomfortable around children? I used to be. Back in my teenage years I was asked to be a kindergarten assistant. They showed me so much affection in the first two days that I called in “sick” for the rest of the week. I did not know how to cope with a four-year-old adamant girl who had told all her friends about her teenage crush (I had no say in this)?! Believe me I was petrified, and reasoning was not an option. The key lesson to take-away, is that kids have no filter when they speak. Instead they express what they feel without the fear of being judged. Read those two last sentences again and embrace the beauty of it. To conclude, the next time you encounter a life problem. Spend time with a child. Give it a go, go offline and reconnect with their imagination and authenticity! You never know what lessons they will teach you. Believe it or not but spending time with children helps us to get out of our own heads and focus on what value we can bring to an innocent mind. Laughter could actually be the medicine that you are missing. Anton M.G. Lindberg empowers young adults by liberating their mind of distractions through thought-leadership. His passion resolves around the idea of progress. In the past, he has founded several small enterprises but has now decided to focus on public appearances.

By: Åsa Degermark Many companies create excellent visions and detailed plans for driving a digital transformation. Very few leaders create a plan for how to develop their leadership. The digital consequences such as speed, globalization and innovation put new requirements on the leadership to fully empower the drivers of digital success. Do you have what it takes? For leaders with more traditional leadership, it is important to understand and adapt to the new conditions that exist in a fast-paced digital environment. Fixed systems and frameworks need to become flexible playing plans and corporate silos needs to break down and become flexible project groups and networks. The leaders themselves need to let go of control and move towards a more orchestrating approach where daily tasks are more of facilitating opportunities, judge risks, solve problems and point in the right direction of in testing and trials. With less detailed plans, the company culture becomes the spine of the company. Values and behaviors not only need to be defined and implemented in the teams, but also be 100% embraced by the executives and the leaders of the company. In the culture you also need to find the risk-taking part, where employees deer to test and fail to reach success. A success factor for digital transformation is transparency and communication. It is important to make the progress and the learnings visible for all employees as well as for the external stakeholders. I also recommend all companies to implement an “constant improvement” mentality instead of a “change-project” mentality. This will benefit the company by more employee’s contribution to daily improvements.  The human aspects of digital transformation have yet not been fully implemented. Technology is there and no longer a limit. The only limit is the human ability to change, embrace new ways of working and re-skilling. An upgraded leadership with a large focus on the human abilities is a key to success. If a company tries to put new digital KPI’s managed by traditional leadership – you will fail.  No matter how the world develops, a good leadership is always the starting point. Make sure you are ready. Åsa Degermark is the author of the book “Digital Leadership – develop your ability to lead in a digital world”. She is a consultant working with digital transformation, leadership and communication.