Written by: Cassandra Wiley, 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. Diabetes has affected many family members. I watched some take insulin before and sometimes after meals. If not properly managed, it resulted in blindness, coma, seizures, lost limbs, and even death. Five years ago, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and high cholesterol. I made lifestyle changes because I knew that if I did not take control of my health, diabetes was the next thing. I didn’t want to take a cocktail of medications. I addressed the root cause. What can you do if you have pre-diabetes? With the holiday season approaching, people tend to overindulge in comfort foods, which are typically high in carbohydrates. Here are some tips: Pass up certain carbs. You can still have rice, just a different color. White rice breaks down quickly during digestion, resulting in glucose in the bloodstream. Replacing white rice with brown rice (red or black) can make a big difference; it doesn’t digest as quickly. Potatoes, particularly chips and French fries, increase glucose levels. Pasta dishes, like macaroni and cheese, are high in carbohydrates, even gluten-free pasta. Plant-based noodles are low in carbs; however, they have zero protein. Get active. A sedentary lifestyle increases your chances of diabetes. Belly fat is a pre-curser for type II diabetes. Check your A1C. This number is a measurement of your blood sugar over three months. A normal A1C is under 5. If the range is between 5.7 and 6.5, you're in the pre-diabetic range. Anything over 6.5 is in the diabetic range. Your medical provider can check this when you get blood work. Check blood sugar levels. Your medical provider can check through your blood work. Ideally, your fasting blood sugar levels should be between 65 and 99. Your provider will ask you not to eat or drink anything after midnight before your blood test. Avoid processed and fast food. As I always tell clients, homecooked meals are always the best because you know the ingredients. Junk food like sugary drinks, donuts, cookies, cakes, and other sweets are empty calories, meaning they contain added sugars, fats, and processed oils. Stay away from white sugar, white flour, and the like. I discussed how white rice is not the best option. Sugar and flour are not naturally white. Juice from raw sugar cane goes through a chemical process to make it white. Flour is bleached with chemicals to make it white, like nitrogen dioxide. An alternative to sugar would be agave; it has a low glycemic index, and it won't raise blood sugar levels. Alternatives to white flour are whole wheat flour, almond flour, or spelt flour. Limit dairy. Many herbalists will tell you that cow's milk is not for human consumption. Many cows are injected with antibiotics so that they can produce more milk. We all know at least one person that is lactose intolerant. Milk is also high in fat. Some alternatives to cow’s milk are almond milk or cashew milk. Eat meat cautiously. Certain meats are fine, like grass-fed beef, antibiotic-free chicken or turkey, and fish with scales (not farm-raised). However, it is recommended not to eat at every meal or daily to see health improvements. When you think about your current lifestyle, where do you stand? Are your stress levels over-the-top? How are your eating habits and activity? What do you see when you look in the mirror? Being healthy not only includes the physical but also the emotional and mental. Are you looking for better whole health? Consider if health coaching is right for you. Visit my website here. Read more from Cassandra! Cassandra Wiley, Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine Cassandra Wiley is a health coach and founder of Have Faith and Live Well with Chasadah LLC. She focuses primarily on chronic illnesses such as pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity. Her mission is to empower individuals to lose weight and teach a new healthier approach to food to live better lives. She was successful in reversing her pre-diabetes and high cholesterol diagnoses naturally. The weight loss was an added benefit. She has helped clients change their diets and “have faith” in themselves to meet their health and wellness goals.

Written by: Pin Cher , 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. When you’re considering taking an enormous career leap, it’s easy to be controlled by fear, anxieties, and self-doubt and I wasn’t an exception from it. Whether you’re thinking of starting your own start-up, making a serious career change, or taking a leap of faith to pursue your passion, it’s totally normal to feel all the hesitations about the uncertainty involved. I had a stable job with a steady income, but I took some risk in my career, too. Taking risks in your career is not always a piece of cake and can feel uncomfortable when your livelihood is at stake. Making career moves out of your comfort zone without the 100% guarantee of a better outcome is often enough to make most people stay in their roles indefinitely, and unhappily. But sometimes if you’re taking planned and calculated risks it can be empowering and even benefits your career and life in the long run. Here is something that is worth thinking about of few ways effective risk-taking can grow your career… When was the last time you really thought about how risky the risk you’re taking is? While all of your concerns seem legitimate and real, sometimes the magnitude of these hesitations is often blown out of proportion. Let’s take a moment to really think about how risky taking a year to try something bold, brave, and adventurous really is. Try this logic: Let’s say that the average person lives to be about 80 years old. Then, let’s assume it might take you about one year to figure out if this big brave idea of yours might have potential. Now put the two together: One year out of 80 is 1/80, or 1.25% of your life… That seems surprisingly small, right? In fact, when you think of it like this, nothing seems that risky anymore, even if you might not succeed in the end. We can even take a step further: Let’s say you did work night and day on your new start-up idea or moved to a new city. One of two things would happen: either it would be highly successful and transform your life completely, or it would fail but you would still be rewarded with a life lesson or two. When framed in this manner, any new venture, idea, or “crazy” thought you’re considering seems much less daunting, and that’s something powerful to think about. By its very nature, you taking risks implies that you can gain something—or lose something. And the thought of losing your hard-earned job, salary, or reputation can be frightening. Yet the truth is that if you don’t take risks, you might be missing out on great opportunities that might either help boost your career to the next level or make a career change that will increase your well-being, enjoyment, and happiness. Signs it might be time to take a risk : According to Forbes , there are several signs that might be time to take a risk in your career: You’re not advancing anymore: If you’ve hit a ceiling at your job and feel as if you’re wasting your potential, it’s probably best to start looking for another opportunity to use your talents. You’re bored at work: When your work becomes boring, your performance can suffer because you might not be motivated to work as hard as usual. This means it’s time to look for a new direction. Your life is changing: When your life is in flux, it can create a natural inclination to make a change in your career. Sometimes this is an emotional reaction—but it can also be the final push you need to move on. You have a calling: Yes, you can pursue a calling and make money at the same time. If a specific occupation or objective is calling you, you’ll feel dissatisfied in your career until you pivot towards it. Take calculated risks It’s important to know that taking a risk doesn’t mean that you simply need to be reckless, but instead to do your research to get to know the lay of the land before making any career moves. For example, if you want to reach the next level in your career, it’s wise to seek a conversation with your supervisor to see what your options are before looking outside of your organisation. Or if you’re in engineering but you’d love to work as a designer, take some upskill classes and take on a couple of freelance gigs in the evenings and on weekends. Then, when you know what you’re getting yourself into, you can start taking some practical steps towards actually making that career change. Taking risks can be just what you need to boost your career to the next level or to find the calling you love—but make sure you take calculated risks. Don’t burn any bridges behind you, and make sure that you always have something to fall back on. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Pin! Pin Cher, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Pin Cher is a personal development & career coach and comes from a diverse and international background. Her passion lies in working and coaching with corporate professionals and high performers to achieve even greater success. She helps them unlock their professional and personal potential and create an intentional, meaningful life that lights them up. In the past, Pin herself felt stuck and lost in her career direction. This painful experience has taught her valuable lessons and insights, and she now shares her experience & knowledge in helping others achieve their own success and unlocking their hidden genius. Pin's coaching is a powerful combination of head and heart, reflection and action and her goal is to help others find their North Star to lead a life with more meaning and purpose. She brings to her clients' experience and expertise gained from multiple global careers in different industries and working with top-tier global firms. Pin is a certified coach with the Jay Shetty Certification School and holds a B.S degree in International Management & Business Chinese and an MBA from the National University of Taiwan.

Written by: Marnix Pauwels, 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. ‘Don’t learn to swim when you’re drowning.’ This analogy came up after reflecting on all the times where people contact me when life looks really grim and difficult and they have been piling up worries for eons and eons. Feeling the peace within is easy when life seems simple and straightforward, but it’s almost undoable when you are cornered by problems. I see this misunderstanding all the time in potential clients (where they show up with a collection of problems they’ve accumulated over many years), and in people, I already work with (where our coaching opens up a world of freedom which feels totally amazing and liberating but will always be challenged by the mind again). You can do something about this, prepare for this, be ready for it, but you’ll have to do the work whenever you can. Work? In particular spiritual circles, people will smugly tell you ‘that there’s nothing to do, and that nothing will be left undone’. Which sounds kinda deep and could be very true on a completely elevated or purely integrated conscious level, but which is also not practical and quite disrespectful of the human condition most of us experience constantly. It may be true that everything just happens the way it does for no specific reason and without you and me having to interfere, but from that same perspective, you could also claim there is room to dive in and do shit anyway. In the most radical way of looking at life, you already ARE Consciousness having a ball being lost in the human experience, yet there’s no need nor obligation to sit under a tree and wait for the enlightenment to strike. You CAN do stuff. Now I know that I always rant about people asking for ‘tips and tricks', but that’s not what I’m aiming for here. It’s not really about specific actions or habits, but about your intention behind them, the reason we do it, and the clarity it can bring. Because what you CAN do and really should do, is change your relationship with thinking, with perception, with your personal reality. What you CAN do, is get a conscious appreciation for the only thing that never changes in your life, no matter where you are or what you do or how you feel. What you CAN do, therefore, is become aware of awareness, and follow your curiosity to experience more of that delicious, neutral freedom. But do it as much as you can and as often as you can, make it into a metaphysical daily habit, and don’t wait for the shit to hit the fan. Life is one big-ass playground and laboratory, and you can turn literally everything into an object to play with and learn from. You can find lessons in the day-to-day stuff, and you can try all kinds of activities, as long as your only goal is to become deeply aware of awareness itself. Learn to get rid of the mental stuff you don’t need, and fall in love with what’s left behind. Read books, watch videos, meditate, go on hikes, start working out, take cold showers, write, breathe, fast, or gently sway in a hammock, whatever. Whatever gets you there. Play, explore, investigate, try shit. Because whatever takes your attention away from the mumbling, threatening and chronically dissatisfied mind gives you an opportunity to dramatically change the relationship with your thinking. And it will help you to consciously land where you are safe and solid and endless: the space before and during and after. You’ll want to do that as much as possible, and eventually, you’ll find yourself being more inventive when it comes to learning and exploring, much more resilient and creative in daily situations, and much, much more free to find new options where you use to find none. Of course, we’re essentially divine energy in motion, but within the play, there’s also room for waking up, unveiling, even progress. So if you want to be ready for when the big waves come again, go in the water now and learn to feel comfortable splashing around. It will make all the difference. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Marnix! Marnix Pauwels, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Marnix Pauwels is a Dutch transformative coach and author of eight books-mostly-about mental health, living in Amsterdam with two cats. He has worked in advertising as a copywriter and Creative Director for 30 years, is a singer/songwriter, and has extensive knowledge of addiction/compulsive behavior, depression, and anxiety, deepened by personal experience. Marnix has always been fascinated by what drives people, and more in particular, what drives them crazy. He’s read over 5.000 books on self-development/improvement, life-hacks, and spirituality viewed thousands of videos on the topics, and kept on exploring the depths of the human mind and how to navigate our psychological storms with grace and respect. As a transformative coach, Marnix has helped thousands of people find a more playful, exciting, creative, and liberated life, living from a clear mind and a deep trust in their personal resilience. Marnix is a curious world traveler who loves to meet new people, write, wonder, and keep fit and happy.

Written by: Tripp Butler, 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. It's getting chilly out there! If you've been thinking that your fireplace could use a facelift, there's no time like the present. Here are a few suggestions on how to give your fireplace a makeover before the coldest days of the year set in, so you can enjoy the new look all winter long. 1. Paint it Nothing transforms a space more quickly and easily than paint, and that applies to fireplaces too. If you have outdated red brick on your fireplace, a few coats of white, black, or gray paint can transform it from an eyesore to a showstopper. You can knock this project out in an afternoon. First use a wire brush to clean the brick, then apply an oil-based primer, then apply the paint color of your choice. Done! 2. Whitewash it A subtler touch than paint, whitewashing can lighten up a dark fireplace and brighten up a room in the process. With whitewashing, you'll skip priming the brick surface and simply apply a mixture of white paint diluted with water. Just make sure to test the mixture in an inconspicuous location on your fireplace before painting the entire surface. "While painting over brick with 100 percent latex paint will give the brick a solid, opaque color, whitewashing mutes the brick's natural color with a translucent finish. The technique preserves the bricks' natural, random variations,” says Bob Vila. 3. Consider a stone veneer With manufactured cast stone masonry blocks, you don't need to be a stonemason to get an incredible look for your fireplace. Cast stone blocks are manufactured in a variety of shapes and styles that mimic natural types of stone. The product looks like a real rock but is easier to cut with a saw at home and is designed to bond to a surface with mortar. While not exactly an afternoon project, adding a stone veneer to your fireplace can be tackled and completed in a weekend's time. 4. Add a floating mantel Create a decorative focal point for your fireplace by adding a mantel. Options here are endless: use a solid wood beam for a cottage feel, match existing furniture with a manufactured shelf, or double up with an upper and lower deck. A floating mantel can be installed in an afternoon; just make sure to use proper anchors in whatever surface you're attaching to. Hard vs. Soft Credit Inquiries When you get a copy of your credit report, you'll see more than just your current and historical credit accounts. You'll see your payment history, including any payments made more than 30, 60, and 90 days past the due date, along with your account balances and credit limits. You'll also see credit inquiries. A credit inquiry is simply an instance where you or a third party has looked at your credit report. Some credit inquiries can have an impact on your overall credit scores, but not all inquiries are so consequential. There are two types of credit inquiries – a hard and a soft inquiry. Soft inquiries are common and somewhat frequent. The most common type of soft inquiry is one where a creditor is curious about offering you a new credit account, so they check your score to make sure you qualify. If you've ever received an offer for a credit card that's preapproved, that company has done a soft inquiry on your report. Other types of soft inquiries include potential employers checking your credit, or when you check on your own score. It's important to understand that soft inquiries have no impact on your credit, but they will be noted on your report and can be done without your consent. Hard inquiries occur when you apply for a loan, credit card, or mortgage and you've given written consent to a creditor to check your scores. Several hard inquiries in a row for a credit card can negatively impact your score, as this type of action may give the impression you're scrambling for credit ahead of some financial hardship. Multiple hard inquiries in a row from an auto, mortgage, or student loan lender are less likely to have a negative impact. In these instances, reporting agencies are more likely to assume you're “rate shopping,” and the multiple inquiries are viewed as a single inquiry. Hard inquiries stop impacting your score after a year's time, but they will remain on your credit report for 24 months. While inquiries do play a part in assessing an individual's credit, they represent only about 10% of what goes into a credit score. Things like making payments on time and your overall debt burden have a far greater impact on the health of your credit reputation. For more info, follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn and visit my website! Read more from Tripp! Tripp Butler, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Tripp Butler has almost 30 years of experience in the residential real estate market. His expertise is taking over real estate companies that are underperforming and increasing the growth and profits by threefold. Tripp started his career at Wild Dunes Real Estate in 1993 as a sales executive. By 1998, Tripp was a Broker and partner of the firm. At the end of 2005, Tripp sold the Company to Lowes Management, the country's 5th largest resort management Company. In 2008 Tripp purchased Southbridge Greater Savannah Realty and had made this Real Estate Company one of the premier real estate companies in the surrounding area. Southbridge Greater Savannah Realty handles the relocation work for some of the biggest companies in the Southeast.

Written by: Chris Janssen, 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. ‘Tis the holiday season! For younger me, Halloween marked the start of two months of overindulging in sugars, carbs, and seasonal treats until my Happy New Year arrived. It was my holiday pattern. More was merrier—until the merry lost its sparkle. What’s your holiday pattern? Are you happy with it? Is it the tradition you want? Does it serve you and your loved ones best? In 2021, will your pattern give you the necessary energy to be present and create precious new memories? If yes, fantastic! If not, then ask yourself: What am I gaining from my holiday choices? Do your holiday food and drink choices provide instant satisfaction? Do they help you connect with tradition and gain rapport at gatherings? The truth is, you’re gaining something by your choices. I’m curious, though. Are there other ways for you to feel satisfied and connected? What are they? Here’s another question to ask yourself: Do my holiday choices serve or distract me? If your holiday choices distract you, how do you want to feel instead? Your relationship with whatever goes into your body is an intimate one. You get to decide what food and drink will sustain the lifestyle, feelings, and memories you want to have. Past routines don’t have to be your future ones—unless you want them to. To break an old holiday routine, replace it with the wellness pattern you want. Remember, whatever you decide to focus your mind on creates neural pathways in your brain. Simply put, focusing on sustainable, euphoric feelings that result from wise food and drink choices creates healthy pathways. Focusing on instant gratification from fleeting sugar, fat, or carbohydrate highs will reinforce unhealthy neural pathways. Train your brain to strengthen the paths you want instead of the ones you don’t want. Where the holidays are concerned, I’ve learned to eat and drink what keeps me merry, because making wise choices adds sparkle that lasts year-round. So, here’s one last question to ask yourself: This year, will I choose a season or a reason? © 2021 Chris Janssen. No part of this article may be reproduced online or in print without the author’s written permission. Want to learn more from Chris? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin or visit her website. Read more from Chris! Chris Janssen, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Chris Janssen is a Board Certified Life Coach with an honest, strategic style who helps her clients master habits and skills to move toward and thrive in what they love. Chris excels in working with high performers and understands the character traits associated with driven achievers. As a trained Business Coach, Chris specializes in closing the gap between where a company or individual is and where they want to be. Chris partners with her clients to access their creativity and resourcefulness necessary to achieve the sustainable results they want. She cares deeply about her clients' careers, relationships, spirituality, wellness, health, patterns, and mindsets. Chris says her clients are experts at what they do and she is an expert at the psychology of what they do. Together they are unstoppable.

Written by: Michelle Clarke, 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. Michelle is the CEO of Empowerment Empires, the owner of 4 businesses, and a charity which provides fully funded coaching to differently abled teens. She is obsessed with handing women back their power and raising the vibrations of the earth through love and joy. In fact, she says that joy and desire are the missing keys to happiness, abundance, and success. Michelle calls herself an Energy Maverick because to her, energy matters most. Michelle lives in New Zealand on acreage with her husband of 20+ years and her dogs, cats, and horses. Michelle says “you can have all the strategy, structure, and systems in the world, and you should have those because they provide the foundation on which to build your make a difference empire and the container to support your continued growth and impact in the world. Yet without the magic, or the energy to drive the dreams, efforts fall short of success and end in a tangled heap of burn out”. Michelle is tired of seeing burnout and says “It is time for women to rise, the world needs what they have, and I am committed to showing women how to tap into and unleash that power so they can bring their gifts to the world, because the world needs what they have, now more than ever”. There is a reason that Michelle’s tagline is ‘together we shall rise’, this is what she has to say “it time to stop the sister wounds, overturn imposter syndrome, heal generational wounds, move past the societal conditioning and fear of being seen and shining brightly, so that each and every one of us can see their worth and deliver their gifts to the world. Without each and every one of us rising, we will continue to see competition instead of the strength that we have in unity and that each person's gift and purpose is slightly different, and hence needed. When we can drop the competition and rise together, and the world will heal”. Michelle coaches soul-led entrepreneurs to harness their magic and become magnetic to their clients so they can set themselves free and live in abundance, joy, ease, and flow. She empowers women to dig past societal conditioning to bring forth magical products and services unashamedly into the world by helping them to clarify their brand, message, and offerings and then empowering them to become visible and confident. Of course, magic and energy are part of everything she does these days and each of her three group coaching programmes contain energetic exercises and activations which wash away fears and unleash the success inside so that women become magnetic to their soulmate clients. Michelle says “we don’t need to work twice as hard to get twice the income and impact, in fact success is not achieved through sacrifice but by doing less in more powerful and aligned ways. Michelle’s second book Woo Woo for Women in Business is taking women to amazing new heights in their businesses, relationships and lives, and if you want to be inspired to live a lit life, this is a great place to start. You can find the book here. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Michelle! Michelle Clarke, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Michelle is an energy maverick, public speaker, author, and coach obsessed with empowering soul-led entrepreneurs to make more money doing only what they love. She says, "we have been led to believe that we must follow the normal way of doing things to succeed in business and life, but this just isn't true." She believes that the fastest road to success and living a hell yes life on your terms is to break free from the mold, unleash your true self, and sparkle like the leader you are born to be. Michelle is committed to working with women, especially those who have a fear of being visible, feel anxiety about ‘making it’ in case they cannot cope with a booming business and other commitments, and also have deep-rooted fears around allowing money into their lives even though they desire it. Her work is deeply rooted in Outing Imposter Syndrome, Creating Success Structures, and Changing Your Relationship With Money. Michelle says, "The results of what I do lead to FREEDOM. Underneath it all, that is what my tribe seeks, the freedom to be real them, the time freedom, and the money freedom, and they get it!" Michelle gets amazing results by helping soul-led entrepreneurs to dive into quantum energetics + success mindsets + powerful systems & then empowering them to show up as their truest version self to call in their soul clients magnetically.

Written by: Roderick Mason , 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 . Leadership is highly important in our daily lives. At home, at work, with friends, leadership may be used to bring out positive situations and have good experiences wherever you are. Effective leaders in a workplace don’t always have to be in management positions. Instead, they can utilize their leadership skills to assist all of their colleagues to follow their lead to better morale and higher outcomes for their organization. These skills are enough to help you become a better employee, participant, or colleague in your organization. Traits that help inspire, motivate, and create a sound strategy will effectively move you into a better leadership role, whatever your job title is. The definition of a manager is not the same as a leader, and effective leadership skills may change your whole organization. What is leadership? Leadership’s dictionary version is to lead a group of people or any organization. But it is not as simple as this. Leaders in every part of an organization ladder are important to the overall success of the business. Effective leadership is about executing the company’s vision and setting the tone and culture of that particular organization. Leadership means planning and creating, securing resources, looking for improving errors. Leadership is all about motivating people to work well with each other and cooperate with themselves and other teams to acquire a certain goal in a few cases. It is also important to point out that leadership is different from that of managing. While management is also an integral part of success, it is different from leadership. Managers have to manage things. They look at logistics and balancing budgets etc. While good managers may also have strong leadership skills, which is highly ideal, the two aren’t necessarily always with each other. What are the effective leadership traits? Following are some effective leadership qualities that a leader must possess: 1. Use clear communication: Listening well, speaking go along with each other. To be able to lead well, you have to have a stronghold on both of these. Whether you are leading a single person or a thousand ones, solid communication skills are highly important to help prevent problems, clear up misunderstandings, let employees know what is expected from them, boost their confidence to raise issues and concerns, and also get everyone on the same page so that they can work towards similar goals. 2. Possess strong self-confidence: Self-confidence and having effective leadership all go hand in hand. Leaders are leaders because they have an idea of what they want, have a clear vision of achieving their goals, and are highly comfortable leading others. When self-confidence is the key to successful leadership, being highly self-confident may be off-putting and risks the loss of respect from people looking for a better direction. Hence it would help if you remained humble in your self-confidence by being very approachable, real, and not overstepping the power you have as a leader. If you believe in the ineffective leadership skills you have, then others will likely work as well. The best leaders will channel their confidence to boost and lift those around them because they know this is an effective way to build up an organization. 3. Values the strengths of those that are around them: Effective global leadership means that good leaders work with people to show them how they benefit and why they matter to any organization. Teamwork does make the dream work if any leader knows the strengths and contributions of the team members. Everyone wins, employees feel very valued, and leaders get devoted collaborators who can help them achieve their company vision. 4. Leads through an example: Effective leadership benefits include the earning of respect by those that are around the leaders. And this can only be possible by showing them and not only by saying. Working with team members sends a message that ‘I am with you. We can do this being with each other.’ Pointing the finger while blaming others will paint a negative picture of the leader's character himself. But on the other hand, if a leader takes complete responsibility for error, it is more likely that the leader's level of respect among employees will be favorable. 5. Is highly included in operations: A leader must show a good understanding of personal investment in different areas of concern in an organization. It helps grow respect as every team in any organization wants the most of its leadership support. A leader who pays attention to all employees' concerns may spur greater camaraderie and build efficiency and more productivity. 6. Stands up for people around them: Good leaders will unify and uplift the entire team. When employees feel like somebody is in their side, the morale boost may be huge. It has the strength to encourage sharing of new ideas, increase productivity and efficiency, and inspire employees to advance in their careers. 7. Values innovation and unique input: Organizations require to adapt to change times to succeed. Doing things in a way they have always been doing them doesn’t always help in a quickly changing society. But resistance to change may prove fatal. For example, a popular clothing chain shuts its doors because it suffers from a lack of online presence, just as its competitors have. But a change may also be a very good thing, and good leaders will embrace them by emphasizing innovation and welcoming new ideas as they know these are important to stay highly competitive and move the company ahead. Effective business leaders will understand they have a lot more to gain by all of the feedback of others than by only relying on their ideas alone. Allow effective leadership to grow in your organization: A lifetime pursuit of education may give leaders valuable insights, and many online programs can help you boost your leadership skills. If you are right now, bust in professional work to step up your leadership game in the areas of business, IT, health care, or teaching. Every organization must do its best to let effective leadership grow in it. Organizations must be open to doing things differently and be cognizant of how the market is evolving and how customers are constantly changing. Good leaders require a good support system to function well and boost and their potential. A part of enabling effective leadership involves giving the right tools to assist them in getting their goals. One of such tools is HolisticCoachingSolutions.com . They have this perfect workflow management system. Great leaders make it a lot better and a lot more effective if they have the means to make processes and operations a lot more effective. Effective leadership benefits always show up once you have been consistent in letting leadership skills be practiced in your organization, not only by yourself but also by your team members. Effective leadership coaching may help you gain the knowledge you need to be good in your company and be the leader your company needs. So are you ready to get started with your leadership training with Holistic Coaching Solutions? Want to learn more from Roderick? Follow him on Facebook , Instagram , Linkedin or visit his website . Read more from Roderick! Roderick Mason, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Roderick M. Mason is a Certified John Maxwell Speaker Trainer Coach and the founder of Holistic Coaching Solutions. A platform focused on delivering high-end corporate training services. He is a Certified Bucket List Coach, a Certified CBMC Leadership Coach, a Certified Primal Health Coach, and a Licensed Diversity & Inclusion Trainer. He is an avid seeker of knowledge who highly appreciates the notion of continuous improvement and growth.

Written by: Dr. Maiysha Clairborne, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. IF you’ve ever felt that ping of self-doubt and “imposter syndrome” that makes you hesitate when opportunities you know you really want to come up because you think – you’re not good enough yet, you’re not smart enough, and that no matter how much you do, how hard you work, how many degrees you get, how successful other people think you are, it’s just not enough to call yourself an expert, then you may be a victim of your own thought patterns. The problem is that even if you’ve done a lot of self-development, even if you've done therapy, and even if you have I've read every self-help book on the shelf, there are likely some unconscious thought habits that you are not able to see because they are in your blind spots. Driving down the road the other day, and I'm a careful driver when I preceded to turn on my signal and change lanes. I have a fairly new car that has the blind spot detectors on them, but I'm old school so I still look to the side to make sure I'm not missing anything. The blind spot indicators were not lit, I looked over my shoulder and saw nothing, yet when I began to cross the line I heard a honk and suddenly saw that I was about to hit a big black SUV. I thought to myself, “How in the world did I not see that?” The answer is that even when we think we've checked all of the spots, blind spots can still occur. Fortunately, I did not hit that SV, but what did happen is I became acutely aware of other things that I did not know I could not see. What does this have to do with anything? Well, even though you likely are reading this article because you are a person who is very self-aware, and pride yourself in doing the work to eliminate these blind spots, there are still likely thought habits that could be unconsciously sabotaging your success. The amount of thought habits that get in the way of people achieving what they really want in light is exhaustive, and I will cover the four most common ones that I see in my practice and trainings. 1. The first thought habit is thinking that you are at the effect of life. Now it's true that we all have circumstances. We have circumstances of money, relationship circumstances, work circumstances. Life is always happening. But where many people make the mistake is that thinking that life is happening “to me” instead of life simply “happening”. What is the difference? It's those two little words at the end “to me.” When we constantly think of life as happening to us, we put ourselves at the effect of the equation. But when we take a step back and recognize that happening that life is simply happening, it gives us access to putting ourselves back at the source of the equation. The source of the equation is where possibility arises and solutions that transform the “likely outcome” take place. Taken a step further, we could say “for me”. When we take the case that life is for us, it allows us to examine the circumstance itself to find the opportunity within what seems to be a hardship. So stop thinking that life is happening to you and start thinking that life is happening to you. 2. The second thought habit is thinking that your past is not affecting your future. Part of what makes each of us unique is our experiences. It’s how we write the story of us. But sometimes these stories can be traumatic and many times these traumatic events are NOT addressed. In our society, we are often encouraged to “keep it moving”... to “put these things behind you” to “stay strong and focus on the future” The problem is that when you don’t address significant emotional events.. these traumatic experiences whether big or little, they can cause a distorted view of life, of yourself, and of the people around you. And that can impact your actions and results in the present and certainly in the future. So first you must acknowledge that your past has an impact on your present actions… then be willing to acknowledge the emotions and beliefs you’ve made up and finally, you’ve got to Eliminate the stuck negative emotions and limiting decisions you have made about yourself others and the world. Now in my live mind remapping trainings, we going to great depth about how specifically the past affects our future, and how to eliminate the impact of the past and the resulting limitation it causes for us to be our best selves and produce what we want in life. But the place to first begin is to acknowledge that there are things that you may be unaware of from your past that are in the way have you breaking your own personal glass ceilings. 3. The third thought habit is that change is hard and that it takes a long time. The truth is that change is only as hard as you need to get full value from the change itself and that it can happen in instantly. That is because all learning and behavior happen at the unconscious level. Take riding a bicycle for example. Initially, the learning of riding a bicycle is a conscious thing. You fumble along with the bike trying to figure out how to get yourself balanced on two wheels (by the way, figuring it out is all conscious mind). Then something interesting happens. You discover balance. And you don't discover it consciously, he discovered unconsciously. And suddenly you can ride a bike effortlessly. If you've ever seen a child learn to walk, you've seen the classic example of unconscious an instant change. Here the baby is standing up holding on to a piece of furniture, and trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other. Then one day, the baby can walk. After a few days of practice, once that baby is confident on his/her feet, walking becomes an unconscious and automatic phenomenon. You probably can think of some things in your own life that has changed in a matter of an instant. But there are certain things in our life that we find it hard to change because in our mind it “should be hard to change”. One of the things we talk about in my mind remapping NLP trainings To the mind-body connection and the underlying reason why change can happen so quickly, and how to bypass that conscious resistance that makes it difficult to drop bad habits and implement new good ones. The list of thought habits that could potentially unconsciously sabotage one success is exhaustive, but these three foundational underlying thinking patterns that are the root cause of much of the self-inflicted suffering I see in my clients and students today. And invite you to take a deeper look at these three thought habits and explore how they apply to you. I also invite you to think of other thought habits that could be getting in the way have you operating in your high a state of excellence. A good way to start is to ask yourself “what are the results that I want to produce that I have not yet produced in my life?” Then journal all the reasons why you think you haven't produced those results. It is likely that inside of that journaling you will find some thought habits that you didn't know where they are if you look keenly. As you find these thought habits I'd love to hear from you to know what you're discovering for yourself, and what actions you plan to take to begin to Eliminate those thought habits at their source. Our Mind ReMapping Mastery Programs can help. Dr. Maiysha Clairborne is an integrative physician, Master Practitioner & Trainer of Hypnotherapy, NLP, and founder of the Mind ReMapping Co LLC. If you want to learn the tools you need to reprogram negative thoughts, emotions, and self-sabotage behaviors, visit www.mindremappingacademy.com to learn more about our trainings and personal breakthrough programs. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Dr. Maiysha Clairborne, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Maiysha Clairborne is an Integrative Family Physician, Master Practitioner & Trainer of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnosis & Time Line Therapy®, & founder of the Mind Re-Mapping Academy. Through her live trainings, Dr. Clairborne teaches professionals how to master their thoughts, beliefs & communication, while eliminating fear, shame, self-doubt, & old trauma that interfere with their ability to experience full aliveness, and live their best, most fulfilled, productive, and peaceful life. Dr. Clairborne is passionate about educating her students and clients about the power that our unconscious thoughts have on the reality we create. Through her Mind ReMapping NLP & Hypnosis Trainings, and Personal Transformation Processes, Dr. Maiysha teaches the people how to connect to and utilize the power of their unconscious minds so that they can be in the driver’s seat of their thoughts, feelings, behaviors and therefore the results they produce in their lives. Her own struggles imposter syndrome and limiting beliefs are what inspired her to step outside the physician box, and now her trainings help people worldwide find their passion, purpose, freedom, and peace of mind in all areas of life.

Jodie Konstantin is a heart-centered certified life coach and Holistic counsellor. After her journey from homelessness, illness, and heartbreak she has dedicated her life to helping others transform to live the lives they desire. Jodie is the CEO and founder of Total Wellness Journey to Empower people to find balance of Mind, Body, and Spirit. Jodie is an Empathic coach, Entrepreneur, Blogger and Home-school mum on a mission to help people find their own power and passion for a free and happy life. Jodie Konstantin, Life Coach And Holistic Counsellor Who is Jodie? I feel I'm a little bag of mixed lollies lol. Jodie... I'm a single mum living in Perth Western Australia, I am originally from Auckland New Zealand, and moved over with a few hundred dollars in my pocket as a last-minute decision, and what an adventure it has been. I love all things health and fitness, you can find me drinking a kombucha, cooking healthy treats, and having a giggle I believe laughter is definitely the best medicine, and a day without laughter is a day wasted. I am a Homeschool mum, I have homeschooled my daughter now for almost six years I love being able to enjoy special moments with my daughter watching her grow and learn is such a great reward. I am addicted to reading anything on mindset and psychology my daughter dreads me spotting a book shop or health food store as I'm likely to get lost in there for hours. I always have a handful of books going at a time and I'm not so secretly obsessed with sunflowers and goats. How did you become a Life/Mindset coach? After my separation, I was determined to continue to homeschool my daughter, and without any family and friends and moving to a new town I needed something where I was able to work from home. I had always loved helping others and had been coaching in fitness and as a youth mentor in the past. During a rough period of time, I had my own personal life coach and my life improved I knew how greatly it had changed my life I wanted to have that positive effect on others. I had wanted to do it for years but it was never the right time after my separation I used what little savings I had to invest in my education and personal development to make something for myself and my daughter. My goal was to stay home with my daughter and create an income by making a positive impact. I studied NLP, Hypnotherapy, Timeline Therapy, and Holistic counseling. I want to share the tools and resources that have helped me on my journey through highs and lows it lights me up watching people grow and step into their power. Who do you work with or who should choose to work with you? I work with overwhelmed mums who struggle with self-esteem to gain confidence and see their true value, My coaching is for women who want to find their magic, who want to be seen heard, and feel fantastic in their skin and find what lights them up but also those who are ready to step up, take action and be coachable. What do you do for your clients? I take my clients on a journey to find total wellness of mind body and spirit. I help my clients to bridge the gap from where they currently are to where they want to be by empowering them to let go of negative emotions, beliefs, and stories that no longer serve so they can live life to their fullest potential and learn just how powerful and magical they are. What is your next big goal or project? I am about to launch my new wellness program which will be combing a blend of modalities such as fitness, nutrition, NLP, Hypnotherapy, chakra healing, kinesiology, and energy healing to be spirit fit body and soul-aligned. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Traveling the world, ticking off my bucket list, working with a beautiful tribe of women creating financial freedom and abundance. Opening a wellness center and I'd love to build a school or start a charity for children or animals something to know when I leave this world I left it better than I found it. What would be 3 Top Tips for mums? 1 – Be kind to yourself and fill up your cup 2 – Build a tribe of like-minded mums and powerhouse women 3 – If all else fails and you are having a bad day stop take 3 deep breathes and go hug your kids they will appreciate it and it will change your state instantly Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info! Read more about Jodie!

Written by: Mikaela 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. Did you know that 83% of the world's workforce are thinking about career advancement or career change? This means that most of us are thinking about something new or something better than we have. However, when looking for something better, the success factor will depend on your clarity on what you want and how to get it. We have all been bombarded with information on career change this past 18 months but I find that there are 3 questions we forget to ask ourselves that will make tremendous impact on the direction we take our career. What we tend to focus on: – salary, title, flexibility, or benefits. That’s all good. Those questions are important. But don’t forget to ask these questions too: What impact will I have in this role? 9 out of 10 people are prepared to take a lower salary to do more meaningful work. Now, I don’t think you should settle for less financially, money does matter in this world, and doesn’t lower your worth. But this is a clear indicator that we want to make sure that the work we get out of bed for every day, actually matters. Don’t be afraid to ask these questions in an interview. It shows the employer that you want to make meaningful impact and that you are not prepared to settle. What kind of people will I work with every day? I have interviewed countless of people and I have trained almost as many. When I ask why people stay in a role they like – it’s always the same response: The people. We severely underestimate the impact our future colleagues will have on our lives. These are the people we will talk to more than our family, collaborate with and share the majority of our hours with. We will bounce ideas of these people. We will influence each other’s careers. We will celebrate successes together and we will battle the challenges. Do not forget how important the people you have around will be to your career happiness. Is this job/career aligned with my core values? No factor will affect your career satisfaction as much as how aligned your career is to your values. You need to be completely clear about your own core values and how they take form in your career to be able to make the best career decision for YOU. It’s easy to get side-tracked by what your family wants you to do, what media says is cool and what your friend thinks you are suited for. Listen to YOUR voice instead. Failing to align your values with your career results in poor motivation, decrease in mental and physical health and deep job satisfaction. Important to mention is that it’s not just about getting clear on your values and looking at the company website to see if they align. But to understand what each value represent to you in a work environment and research the company by reading articles, talking to employees, follow the company online and ask relevant question to assess if this is the right place for you. If freedom is your value, and it means freedom to work where and when you want, freedom to share your opinions, freedom to decide which projects to take on – then you need to find out if this applies to the role you are interviewing for. The market has never been so hot, people are moving, shaking, and changing like never before. We have re-evaluated what is important to us. We have decided that we want more, different and better. Let these questions be your guide to pursuit what You want. If you are unclear about your true values (don’t worry, most of us are!) then you can find my Values Workbook here (It’s based on NLP principles and has helped me and all my clients get clarity). Follow me on Faceb ook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Mikae la ! Mikaela Contreras, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Mikaela is a career and leadership coach specialising in empowering the careers of impact-driven HR and People professionals. After graduating from university with a degree in HR she spent a decade working across multiple HR functions across 3 countries. She discovered that most HR and People professionals are so focused on other people’s careers and development that they forget to nurture their own. After digging deep into her own values, vision and superpowers – she decided that her effort were best used for coaching and supporting people professionals on their career journeys.

Written by: Aura E. Martinez, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. The intention of this article is for you to value highly the most important relationship you will ever have because it is THE relationship that dictates everything in your life. I want to start by sharing my story. As a Self-Discovery & Empowerment Coach, I didn’t start out doing the work that I am currently doing. I started out as a Wellness & Life Coach helping people get out of the sugar rollercoaster they would find themselves in and lose the weight. What I realized during this time was the fact that the help that people needed was beyond a meal plan and workout routine… the work was within. They had a relationship with food and the body that reflected the relationship they were having with themselves. Every relationship we have with everything else and everyone around us reflects our own relationship with ourselves. Therefore, I help women gain total clarity as to their purpose so they can wake up to daily fulfillment and certainty- and by purpose, I am not necessarily referring to just a calling. Your most purposeful life is going to come from your relationship with yourself. It is you understanding yourself in such a deep level and peeling the layers that cover the core of who you really are what will allow you to live a way where fulfillment and certainty are yours everyday. So, how does your relationship with yourself the basis of everything else in your life? 1. How you feel about yourself will determine how much you allow yourself to receive. There was a time when I questioned myself as to why I wasn’t receiving more, why certain things wouldn’t manifest, why the very things that I knew were for me seem to happen for others but not for me. When I did a deeper analysis, the answer to this was so shocking to my core- I didn’t feel worthy of the very things that I wanted. I know this may sound absurd at first if you don’t think this is the issue. We are so trained to look at what it is we are doing that we ignore a very critical element that plays a very big role in everything that we allow in our life and that is our being . Your being constitutes a big part of your purposeful living. If this first isn’t in alignment with what you say that you want, there is no way you can have it. So, it will be important for you to understand how you feel about yourself. Do you feel good about yourself? If not, why not? How do you feel about what you desire? Does it feel like it is possible for you to have what you desire? If not, why not? These questions will provide you with clues as to how you truly feel about yourself and what you desire. 2. The conversations you have with yourself, and others, are also a reflection of your relationship with yourself and will determine what you draw to you. This is something that is so subtle and overlooked that it is time that you take a close look at this. Your words create. Your words have energy. Your words influence your emotions. Your words are your commands. But something else that your words are that very often gets overlooked is that they reflect what is going on in your inner world. Because of everything that I wrote above, the conversation that you have in between your temples is so important to be mindful of. If you want to know why your outer world is the way it is, pay attention to what you are saying to yourself. Let’s use money as an example. If you notice that money just seems to “slip” from your hands, how are you viewing money? If money was a person, how would you feel about him/her? What kind of relationship do you have? What do you think of him/her? What are some thoughts that go through your mind when you think of money? What goes through your mind when you think of anything is a conversation you have that reflects the relationship that you have with yourself. Now let’s look at the conversation that you have with others because this, too, reflects your relationship with self. If you notice that you tend to complain a lot about something with others, I invite you to think about how this complaint relates to you. For instance, if you find yourself complaining to others about something not working the way you want it to work, think about how this makes you feel about yourself. What are the thoughts that you have about this not working the way you want it to work? What are you making this mean about yourself? What are you making this mean about your life? Can you see how this all links back to you and your relationship with yourself? When you feel good about you and your life, that is how you will feel about everything else outside of you. 3. The actions you take reflect how you think about yourself. This was a hard one for me to digest and at the same time, so liberating because it meant that I have control over what goes on in my outer world. I had a sneaky belief that I didn’t realize the magnitude of how this was affecting my life and that was the belief that I was not enough. This drove me to taking actions that were not in alignment with my soul, choosing relationships that were not satisfying to me, and the list just goes on. Whenever you notice that you do things that don’t either a) give you any fruits, or b) just plain hurts you in the long run, you must assess what you think about yourself. What do you think about yourself? Why do you think these things about yourself? How do these things that you think about yourself make you feel? Do these thoughts support you in the direction that you want to head in life? If you give yourself the moment to reflect upon the questions in this article and everything that I have shared here, you will see how the most important relationship that needs to be solid and intact is the one that you have with yourself. This is because this is the foundation to absolutely everything in your life. This is what will dictate what you allow, what you do, what you manifest, how much you receive, and everything else in between. You are the secret to your most purposeful life and for this reason, you will always be the best investment you ever make and the best work you will ever do. Start working on your relationship with yourself and you will see miracles happening in your life. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Aura E. Martinez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Aura E. Martinez is a Self-Discovery and Empowerment Coach helping women gain total clarity in their purpose so that they can wake up to a daily life of fulfillment and certainty. As a person who has traveled the world as a Flight Attendant, the opportunity has helped her learn and see so much and she discovered the most fabulous place for us all to see that is truly the key to greater well-being and she shared that with others worldwide. She is also the founder of Live to the Max™/Viva al máximo™, author of the book Creating a Lifetime of Wellness: Start Having the Life You Deserve and the journal Creating a Lifetime of Wellness Journal: Your Personal Coach to the Different Areas of Your Life. The book has been seen in Spirituality & Health magazine, Psychology Today, and Natural Awakenings NYC edition magazine.

Written by: Kristen Bilodeau, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. The world of personal development undoubtedly has focused on self-care, self-awareness, and the growth of oneself in a way that is aligned with who we truly are; but have we lost focus on the common denominator – ourselves? In a culture and society where many feel stressed, overwhelmed, and even depleted by daily responsibilities and obligations it is no wonder that for many the idea of personal development and growth feels daunting. What if we shifted our mindset away from how much “time” we think it takes and more to how we can make small shifts in our perspective and attitude towards our growth? Small shifts can lead to immense change. Whether you feel that you have become stagnant and know you need a change in your life but don’t know where to begin, or you feel like you are approaching rock bottom, you need to start from a place of hope. This is non-negotiable if you want to grow. Adopting the following understandings can lay the foundational groundwork for personal growth and success. “Doing the work” will be challenging We all have our shadows; the parts of ourselves we don’t want to face, admit to, or expose. Grace and vulnerability are qualities that can guide you through, keep you honest, accountable, and strong. If you truly want to invest in yourself and take action, you must own all sides of yourself - your accomplishments and your failures, your strengths and your weaknesses, your guilt and your shame. Speak them, write them, own them so that you can forgive and learn from them and move forward. Learning is critical As Einstein said, we cannot solve problems from the same thinking we created them. In order to grow, we need to read, explore, get curious, experiment, take risks, and challenge ourselves to think and feel differently. As we learn, our minds expand and grow. Exposing our minds to new ideas keeps us evolving so that we are not ruminating in the past and keeping ourselves stuck. It expands our outlook and problem-solving capabilities. It brings into our conscious awareness that the world and our interaction within it are intended for our greatest good. Everyone has their own version of personal success Every story and every path is different. Asking yourself questions about what is important to you, what you value, what you know to be true about who you are will lead to the liberating insight that you get to create that story. Seeing your life as a collection of experiences and moments that built you and having the agency to continue creating the life that you want is a journey only you can navigate in your own unique way. Rather than looking outside yourself - at others, on social media, to other’s standards or ideas about what success “should” look like, practice listening to your own intuition. It is guiding you for a reason. Let the journey unfold as you grow and build. So much of life is out of our control. What IS in our control is what we believe about ourselves and the limitless potential we have. You are the writer and creator of your story. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Kristen! Kristen Bilodeau, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine As a Personal Development and Marriage Coach, Kristen Bilodeau leads women through their own personal journey of finding their voice, healing their marriage, and releasing their inner wild woman. As a woman who struggled in her own journey to self-awareness and truth in her life and marriage, Kristen uses the power of a woman’s story as the tool and catalyst for change, healing, and growth. She helps women uncover their truth through questioning and reflection so that they are able to be the creator of their experiences and thrive as the woman they were meant to be.