Written by: Katie Stoddart, 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 it comes to focus, the first thing most people think of is: how to deal with distractions. Focus is, therefore the opposite state to being distracted. No wonder it is such a common issue in this world of distraction! However, focus is not only the result of avoiding external distractions; it is a powerful combination of being clear & intentional, optimizing your energy, and training this concentration muscle. In this article, I will breakdown the superpower of focus in the five key categories: Clarity – Energy – Distraction-free – Concentration – Review Clarity & Intention Before even beginning to focus or work on a task, you need to be 100% clear on what that task will be. As simple as this sounds, this is a step that is often overlooked: jumping into autopilot at the start of the day or onto social media will reduce that clarity and will lead you down a less focused road. To avoid this, you can embrace ‘eat that frog’ (Brian Tracy) by working on your most important task first thing in the morning. This is a fantastic way to start your work: it sets a productive & focused tone for the day ahead. What it comes down to are two keywords: Priorities & Intention. When you are clear on your three to five main outcomes for the day and you are intentional about your work, you are far more likely to be motivated and stay focused throughout the day and week. One of the pitfalls that high achievers and doers often fall into is multitasking: this great illusion that when you are doing several things at once, you are more productive. It has been proven many times that this is not the case. By multitasking, you are reducing concentration and making it harder on your brain. Single-tasking is one of the greatest habits to develop if you are working on improving your focus: it is a total game-changer! Optimizing our Energy Imagine starting the day, after a great night’s sleep, and an energizing morning routine including exercise, fresh air – you then sit at your desk and work: how focused do you think you will feel? There is a great correlation between your energy levels and your concentration levels. Your optimal level of focus is linked to how energised you are feeling. A few essential points to optimise your energy: The four energy pillars: Nutrition – Exercise – Sleep – Meditation. All of these have been proven countless times to be the highest components of energy. If you want to improve your energy, look at each of these categories and reflect: What could you improve? What could you put in place that would make a change in each of these pillars? Breaks: Your brain is wired to be able to focus efficiently for 90 to 110 minutes maximum. If you skip breaks, your attention will diminish over time, and you will gradually feel less focused and more inclined to indulge in distractions. To avoid this, you can use the Pomodoro method, or set a reminder to take a break every hour to an hour and a half. Triad: Tony Robbins’ triad of Physiology – Focus – Meaning is an impactful method you can implement to change your state or emotion at any given time. If you are feeling unmotivated, you can: change your body by exercising/ breathing (physiology), focus on a different thought (focus), or change your perspective (meaning). Constantly working on being in a ‘high state’ will directly change your energy! Managing Distractions As Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky put it in their book ‘Make Time,’ we are prone to falling down infinity pools: social media, YouTube, Google, emails, etc. You are more likely to be tempted by such distractions if your energy is low, if you are feeling bored, frustrated, or stressed. As Nir Eyal, author of ‘Indistractable,’ clearly states: ‘Time management is pain management. The first step to managing distractions is to understand that the majority of distractions are internal: they come from an emotion/ thought that you want to remove or avoid. That search for extra dopamine is what drives you to check all these infinity pools. Once you have understood this and managed your state effectively, you are far less likely to be tempted to go down that rabbit hole. Nonetheless, you can also use extra distraction blockers to reduce the temptation to check these sites while you are working, such as Freedom, StayFocusd, or ColdTurkey. By taking even only 5 minutes break (off computer & phone) between each important task, you won’t feel as distracted, and you can continue working in a focused way. Training Concentration Focus/ Attention/ Concentration is really a muscle. You can train it over time. If you feel that you are not a focused person – this is something you can influence and change! As mentioned here above, some of the best ways are to: be clear on your intentions, only work on one task at a time, manage your emotions (to avoid being distracted), and take breaks. If you are looking for a ‘focus booster’: a practice to greatly increase your focus over time – there is a magic secret ingredient: meditation. The principle of meditation is to constantly bring your awareness back to a specific object (often, your breath). By doing this, you are training your meta-attention: the ability to understand how you are placing your attention. The greater your meta-attention, the easier you can catch yourself when you are distracted or if you switch from one task to another. This is how meditation serves your focus: it trains your meta-attention and helps you to be mindful & keep your concentration on your current activity. One of the greatest rewards of focused work is flow. The term flow, coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, refers to that state of mind & body where you are totally absorbed in what you are doing, and no longer have any notion of time or self. The more you train your focus, the more likely you are to enter ‘flow’: this is when you produce the highest quality work and where you derive the greatest feeling of enjoyment! If only for increasing ‘flow’ in your life, it would be worth training your focus! Review As with any skill that you are trying to improve and work on, you will reap the rewards after you put in the effort. To observe your progress, you can monitor how your focus is improving over time through essential questions. How long are you able to concentrate on one single task? How often do you feel distracted? How many breaks do you take during the day? In today’s world, focus is a superpower! You can achieve more in less time and enjoy the process so much more when you can be fully focused on what you are doing. I wish you a great focused journey ahead! For more info, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit my website! Katie Stoddart, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Katie Stoddart, founder of ‘The Focus Bee’ is an award-winning, international, high-performance coach, speaker and podcast host. Katie supports leaders and business owners to reach & sustain peak performance in their business. For her weekly podcast ‘The Focus Bee Show’, Katie interviews leading experts in high performance. Passionate about living intentionally; Katie challenges each and every person she works with to re-focus on what matters most. Katie works primarily with entrepreneurs & executives through 1-1 coaching & workshops on: Focus, Leadership & Performance.

Written by: Sandra Corzilius , 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 . Help, mercury is retrograde again !!!! It's a bit like when the actors moved from place to place in the middle age, and people brought in their laundry. It didn't mean anything good. And just as the reputation of actors has changed, so it is my goal to put Mercury in the right “spotlight”. Then that's exactly what he deserves Mercury is a boy wonder. In all its directions of movement. Today I will concentrate on the most famous, its retrograde. What does it mean when a planet is retrograde? It is an optical illusion that results from a change in the speed of rotation. In the rhythm of Mercury every 88 days. You can imagine it as if you were overtaking on the motorway. When you are on the same level with the car you are overtaking, it almost feels like a standstill, you have the same speed. Then you overtake him and the car suddenly seems to make a backward movement. In the “direct” phase, Mercury races through space at a speed of 47 km per second, whereas the earth is rather leisurely at 29 km per second. So enough of the facts. You are here because of its energy and not because you want to get an astronomical assessment of mercury. My knowledge is only limited there, and what I know and have read and read will be prepared as easily digestible food in the next 11 articles. The mercury energy. Our smallest power planet is the fastest in our universe, you have already learned that above. Now imagine that he influences us with his energy just as we know it from the moon. With the effect of the moon on our oceans, fieldwork, our hair, and, most recently, on our business (I always have to smile because I've been dealing with the moon for 30 years and it already had all these positive influences on us back then just nobody was interested), we “know” our way around. It is familiar to us. In the case of Mercury, things “still” look different. He is a thorn in our side, a bad omen, and omnipotence that lies like a dark shadow over us for 3 weeks and destroys everything that we have so laboriously worked for. Our electrical devices give up the ghost. When we travel there are delays or even a total breakdown of all means of transport. We fight all the time and nobody understands us. Friendships break, contracts concluded during this time only cause problems. We shouldn't get married, at this time, because that is doomed to fail anyway, and if we plan to make a large investment, then we can throw the money out the window right away. What if…. 1. ...already two weeks before mercury goes retrograde, in its pre-shadow, announces that your electrical device may be repaired? It is exactly the right time to make all repairs in reverse. That saves time and money. Open up your mind to the small signs. You get them all the time during this phase. It goes backward and no longer goes full speed ahead. You can learn to use this time in a positive manner. 2. ...waiting is pleasure? I love to travel. For me, the trip has always been a big part of my journey, not just arriving at my destination. There are delays, yes. So what? You now have the opportunity to look around. Stop and smell the roses, to activate and enjoy your full perception. 3. ..our communication is being put to the test? Before I understood all of this about Mercury, I always wondered. There have been phases in my life, several times a year, when I felt like I was speaking a different language. There were constant misunderstandings, which led to an argument and left behind two people who had nothing to say to each other because they were talking completely past each other. Today it is different because I know about this gift that retrograde can give me, in terms of communication, I perceive my communication at this time very differently. I am learning how to listen better, how to express myself more clearly, and how to ask better questions. Mercury helps us with this because in its retrograde Energy it is easy for us to get involved and to grow beyond ourselves. 4. ...it is important to look into the past to create an unimaginable present? Old friends are a great reference. And in the sign of mercury retrograde, they knock in droves on our door. Some friendships also dissolve during this time if they are not based on truth. It's easier to find out and say goodbye with love. 5. ...you should take a deeper look into the contract, instead of signing it? The retrograde energy affects our concentration. We are nervous when we try to storm forward at high speed all the time when things are going backward. When we sign contracts, especially when it comes to big decisions, we need all of our attention. Allow yourself the time, make it clear to yourself that you want to take a very close look at what you are signing. And decide when you are 100% sure in your body that this is the right decision. We don't find our answers in our heads, only our questions. I'll get back to that in another article. 6. ...love can grow even more and we allow points 3, 4, and 5 to flow into this time? Are we communicating on a good level, or are we just having a relationship that isn’t based on truth? Mercury Energy shows us very clearly and with full truth whether we are maintaining our integrity or lying to ourselves and our partner. Always remind yourself that love has no conditions. Everyone has the right to be happy and we always have the opportunity to develop further. Trying to change your appearance is like fighting windmills. The change on the outside happens when you change the perspective on the inside. 7. ...it's about finding out whether you need it and what you want to give in return? Oh, I love that part. It made my life so much easier. Less weight, more comfortable traveling. When things go backward again, and that starts for me with the pre-shadow, then I look forward to finding the things with ease that no longer positively charge me energetically. And that does not mean that they have bad energy, but that they no longer make me happy personally or support me in my development. Like Marie Kondō, I take on different areas and ask whether the object is still energizing me, if not, I thank the object and give it away or sell it and thus bring positive energy back into my life. Since I handle it like this, I become more and more aware of what I need. And I do not collect things senselessly to use them as satisfaction, but create space for energy, to draw the things that are important to me in my life. First of all, thank you for paying me your attention up to this point. I don't take that for granted. You have already got a different perspective on mercury and its energy. Reading the information is one thing, if you want to change something in your life, then become an action taker. We like to forget this part, and then wonder why we still haven't gotten where we would like to be, and why we keep encountering the same topics with totally new people in different situations. So if you don't want to feel repetitive anymore, want to be at peace while taking action, want to prepare yourself better for the high-speed days, then exhaustion, burnout, panic attacks, depression, and the thought of you never getting anything done could be a thing of the past. If you are interested in more information….. PS: The next pre-shadow comes on September 13th, and this is the start of my new program Re-Empower yourself with mercury retrograde. Want to learn more from Sandra? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube or visit her website . Sandra Corzilius, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Truth! Perfection! Quiet! Bliss! Universal love! These are not empty phrases, Sandra Corzilius embodies that. As a Hairstylist, Makeup Artist (8 years since when she was 21), an Actress (7 Years in a Daily Show), a Naturopath since 2017, and now as a Holistic Digital CEO and Specialist in the Power of Mercury she knows about all odds. Helping her Clients to Re-Empower themselves with Mercury Retrograde and give them their Energie and Rhythm back, with so much empathy and knowledge in so many things, as also in Gene Keys and Human Design. Sandra is using these, for example, as tools in her Work. She is helping people to create their strength, the knowledge of how their best Energy feels like in their body, and creating with them their unimaginable life. The greatest happiness for her is to see the people of her heart showing their potential and letting it blossom. Sandra is a great animal lover, who has recently saved 4 animals, here in the Dominican Republic. Two are now Sandras Pet's, Grew and Canela, a Cat and a Dog who are, by the way, the greatest of Friends. And the other two Sandra found beautiful homes for. And one of them in fact just had 8 Puppies, 4 Girls, and 4 Boys, ready to start their unimaginable life's. Love needs you.

Written by: Tracy Renee Stafford, 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 is with a tinge of sadness that, as I look back, I can see that the times when I received the most praise for how ‘in shape’ I looked were actually some of my most truly unhealthy moments. Not only was my body constantly sore from overtraining & undereating, I wasn’t even able to appreciate the misguided compliments that I was receiving. While I may have felt a momentary sense of relief that all my hard work had finally paid off in hearing a few nice words, almost immediately, I was stressed out again for fear that I might not be able to maintain this much-desired ‘in-shape-ness’. I would wonder if perhaps I could get more praise by being even more extreme. I would even disbelieve the praise that I was so desperately seeking because deep within I didn’t feel like I was really good enough. I may have looked fabulous but I certainly didn’t feel it. Does this sound familiar? Perhaps your ‘never enough results’ complex was not about fitness. Instead, it might have been about success, recognition, or money. Whatever the issue, it often all plays out in the same way: we trade love & respect of ourselves for external validation. While my worst moments were decades ago, self-acceptance still requires steady practice for me. No doubt early childhood issues played a role, as is often the case, but our modern, image-focused culture is certainly doing no one any favors in the self-esteem department. Now, as a fitness trainer & health coach, of course, I am very interested in helping my students adopt healthier habits, so they can get more ‘in shape’. But even more so, I am also interested in them learning to cultivate acceptance, patience, forgiveness, & compassion for themselves. I know from my own experience that this is the surest path to not only achieve our desired goals but also to actually enjoy what we achieve. So, how do we find that sweet spot where we can challenge ourselves without beating ourselves up? How can we be kind to ourselves without being too easy on ourselves? Trust in the power of kindness It may help to know that compassion, forgiveness & patience actually work better than denial, harshness, or force in creating lasting change. There has been a considerable amount of research in this area (most notably by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. ; Kristen Neff, Ph.D. ; & Chris Germer, Ph.D. ), showing that when we are hard on ourselves, we are more likely to give up on our goals - fitness or otherwise. In contrast, when we can forgive ourselves for not always being perfect and be patient with ourselves when it takes time to see results, we are more inclined to stick with healthier habits and to keep walking the healthier path, even if we sometimes stumble along the way. Prioritize how we feel over how we look It’s truly wonderful to like how we look in the mirror. The problem comes when the cost of looking great is feeling horrible or when we obsess about our measurements so much that we can’t enjoy a meal with friends. While the ability to delay immediate gratification for future benefit has great value ( i.e. , less ice cream now usually does mean that we feel better later), we also know that our most precious moments come when we are present - with ourselves and with our dear ones. There is a saying, “People remember us more for how we made them feel, and less for what we actually said”. We could also say that people remember us more for how we made them feel and less for how fit we looked! And, while we’re at it, instead of focusing just on how our triceps or our glutes look in the mirror, how about noticing how well we are able to get up & down from the floor when we play with our children or grandchildren? And instead of focusing on how many grams of carbs we’re eating a day, how about enjoying how empowering it feels to be able to climb the stairs or walk the local trails with ease? When we seek happiness in the mirror, it will always be fleeting. Always. It can be a great feeling, but the greatest feelings come when we focus less on ourselves and more on living & giving. Feeling ‘enough' while still being ‘a work in progress’ This can be a tricky balancing act requiring the ability to observe oneself with equal doses of kindness, spaciousness, & humor . Zen master Shunryu Suzuki says it best: “We are all perfect just as we are, AND there is always room for improvement”. When we make positive choices for our health out of love & respect for ourselves, rather than out of shame, everything changes. Self-love and self-respect don’t always come naturally, however, which leads me to my next point… Practicing the Art of Practice When we set a goal for ourselves, fitness or otherwise, we have to absolutely expect that there are going to be days when we don’t achieve what we had hoped. After all, if it comes too easy, we aren’t growing or challenging ourselves. This is where practicing forgiveness, compassion, & patience really comes into play. Alongside practicing healthier habits is also the practice of viewing & treating ourselves with kindness & respect. We might miss a workout, but instead of giving ourselves a good scolding, we can keep believing in ourselves and pledge to try again tomorrow. Initially, it might feel a bit ‘fake’ to treat ourselves with respect if we have been used to reprimanding ourselves for every ‘wrong’ turn we take. Keep practicing. Every step that we take towards not only our goals but towards a more loving, respectful relationship with ourselves is a step towards true health & well-being. Focusing on skills rather than results I love it when one of my students tells me that they were feeling sore over their road trip holiday from too much driving, but that after they practiced the stretches I showed them in class, they were able to feel better all by themselves! Or when they tell me that they were feeling very stressed out, but then practiced some of the breathing exercises that we often do in class, and it allowed them to calm their mind & have better sleep than they have had in a long time. Or when they tell me that they tried a new recipe using veggies they had not cooked with before and were surprised at how simple & delicious it was. Or when they tell me they were able to complete their multi-day hike with no problem because of all the training we did together. These are results that matter. We are not going to achieve perfection and just stay there forever. When we are able to take ownership of the skills and tools that we have learned, we are setting ourselves up for long-term success. This is empowerment. Practicing gratitude for what we already have inspires us to keep going . Although this phrase may be overused, it has been statistically shown that when we appreciate the progress that we have already made, we are more successful in going further. Instead of beating ourselves up for what we have not yet achieved, we can look back at how far we have already come with a deep sense of gratitude. This gives us the strength & momentum to keep going. When we can keep all of these principles in our minds, healthy & sustainable results are inevitable. Making change does take some discipline and ‘stick-to-it-ness’. But when we can be our best ally instead of our worst enemy, the journey towards our goals, while not always easy, can be joyful. If you are interested in more tools to create healthy change, click here to receive the 5 Day Introduction to Fully Embodied Living. Each day includes guided stretching, breath practice, meditation, & guidance on mindful eating. Follow Tracy on her Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and website for more info! Read more fro m Tracy ! Tracy Renee Stafford, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Tracy Renee Stafford is a coach in Fully Embodied Fitness — a weave of yoga, pilates, dance, & functional exercise - and in Fully Embodied Living based on 4 Pillars of Well-Being: Connection to Body, Nourishment, Presence & Growth. Her mission is to help people discover how they can make self-care a celebration, rather than an obligation, & enjoy the body for how it feels, rather than just for how it performs or looks. She ran her own studio in the Canadian Prairies heartland for 20 very rewarding years - where she taught various forms of fitness, with a specific interest in injury prevention & rehabilitation and empowering students with information on HOW the body works best. She is a Mindful Movement, Holistic Living & Nutrition Coach, weaving together all of her expertise into her Fully Embodied Living Programs. She currently lives in Buenos Aires and keeps her passion for dance alive by studying Argentine Tango.

Written by: Adelina Stefan, 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. Why going for perfection? Perfectionism is often admired by many, as we are putting lots of effort into achieving important goals; at the same time, we often demand impossible or excessively high standards from ourselves and others, without accepting anything else than “impeccable”, which can often lead to mental health problems, depression, and anxiety. Perfectionism can often interfere with striving for excellence, and sometimes it can become self-sabotaging if we constantly try to overdeliver, overthink or overanalyze any decision we may need to make. If you find yourself unwilling to delegate tasks easily, trying to manage everything on yourself, or feeling frustrated when you have to deliver a task and still find a lot of areas to improve, start asking yourself: How important and worthy of your full effort that task is? What possibilities do you have? Do you often feel responsible for overdelivering and overperform? And if you cannot do that, would you feel that you are not productive or valued enough for your efforts? Do you feel that something catastrophic would happen if you don’t reply immediately to your client's requests or if you fail to over-deliver every single day? Are you annoyed when you don’t deliver 100% constantly on a project? Has this become a pattern? Last, how realistic are your expectations about yourself, whether this concerns your grades, relationships, work matters, or salary goals? Understanding how important a task or an action that you want/need to complete is, plays a crucial role in determining your trajectory and creating a process to achieve excellence. How is excellence different from perfectionism? Excellence is the desire to become the best version of yourself, to strive for the better, and become a high achiever while delivering quality results and focusing on the process rather than merely on the outcome. Perfectionists often tend to focus on achievement, forgetting any major steps that they have taken to reach the top. Excellence entails setting SMART goals, while perfection is about spotless results. Remember that as individuals, we do not have an innate capacity to excel. We cultivate excellence throughout their life through smart work, focusing on continuous development and growth. Excellence is about continuous improvement, while perfection is something that cannot fail and doesn’t admit any mistakes. It restricts a growth mindset and hinders both innovation and your ability to learn and constantly improve. Striving for excellence motivates you, while perfectionism affects your self-esteem and reduces your productivity, your efficiency, effectiveness, and peace of mind. The pursuit of excellence keeps you focused on what really matters, a key concept in the Personal Agility System, created by Peter Stevens, which aims to help you align what you do with what is important for you. By constantly inspecting and adapting, applying a correction when you are drifting off, you will have a higher chance of success without requiring your focus on complex plans or perfect results. 5 Tips to Achieve Excellence Develop a growth mindset. People with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace challenges, learn from mistakes, and develop new skills. Take time to reflect, acknowledge and accept all your failures. You will be more likely to admire others, learn from them, and be inspired by others’ success to persistently pursue your goals and solutions. Be passionate. Do things that make you happy! What do you like to spend your time and energy on? By reflecting on your values and what makes you effective, you will become more confident in what makes you unique or at least unusual, in your own competencies, and hence, on what you need more. Know your talents and strengths. Align your smart goals with your inner values. This will help you stand out and position yourself as an expert in these uncertain times. In this way, you will be able to show to your potential employer how you will bring values inside the organization, what makes you unique or at least unusual. Remember, though , that your unique characteristics, values, skills, and passions go beyond your job! Work smart, not hard. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Create clear and realistic goals based on your passions and purpose. For instance, if you are a job seeker, aim to send few personalized applications per week and ensure you take the necessary steps to prepare for the roles you really want to get. A tailored job application will bring better results than several applications sent using ‘easy apply’ button on LinkedIn. Ask for constructive feedback . Tracking your progress regularly will allow you to check where you are, celebrate small wins, or understand if you need to adjust before being too late. When asking for feedback, ensure you are open to hearing honest assessments with the intent to improve your performance and develop as an individual. Remember that you can always change something if you feel that it’s not going in your target direction or serving you anymore. Understand the deeper root of perfectionism and where it has taken hold in your personal or professional life, and accept that nobody is perfect. Excellence is a process, a self-discovery journey, rather than a destination or an endpoint. By focusing on excellence, your results will constantly be improving, and you will always be striving for the better! Follow me on Facebook , connect with me on LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Adelina ! Adelina Stefan, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Adelina Stefan is a Professional Certified Coach designated by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Intercultural Trainer, Ignite Coach Training Facilitator, and Personal Agility Ambassador (PARA), with a deep expertise in International Human Resource Management (IHRM), and Expatriate & Career Transition Coaching. Adelina is the Coaching Training Co-Facilitator of Ignite Global ’s Professional Coaching Mastery Certification (PCMC) as well as Program Director of Ignite Global Europe and the main facilitator of the PCMC training in Europe. Greek-Romanian national, living in Switzerland, Adelina has worked for 12+ years across cultures. Her professional journey has enabled her to catalyze individuals’ potential, supporting expatriates integrate in a new cultural setting and creating alignment around what really matters. Adelina specializes in working with senior-level executives dealing with challenging work environments that can affect both their performance and well-being. She supports organizations in building a corporate coaching culture by highlighting individuals’ maximum potential and engagement so that they become dedicated and highly successful employees. She is also the author of two research books Global Strategies for Culturally Diverse Workforce: HR Agenda (2019) and Advancing Intercultural Perspectives through Corporate Training (2018). Her practice includes Career, Life, Executive, and Personal Agility Coaching for individuals, as well as corporate training and executive coaching for improving intercultural relations.

Written by: Irina Costea, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise . We live in a world that goes 100mph in every second of every day, being exposed constantly to tons of information. Our brain is not equipped to process everything that is going on around us, at least not at this kind of speed. We often find ourselves unable to focus, our attention being scattered in 100 places at a time. We start something, a notification or an email comes around, we get distracted and it goes like this every day of the week. Burnout is an extremely common diagnosis these days, and the pandemic didn’t help our brains at all. I often find myself exhausted, like my brain is on fire, I cannot focus on any task and I jump from this to that, and at the end of the day, I get the feeling that I started a lot of things, but didn’t really finish anything. I always imagined that (lack of proper) sleep and technology play an important role in my exhaustion, but it wasn’t really clear until I started studying neuroscience. And then it hit me. Let’s start with the basics. First of all, only 3% of the population can actually multitask (supertaskers; they have less activity in the prefrontal cortex and some tasks become automatic). We do not multitask, we SWITCH TASKS. When we focus on only one task, both of our brain hemispheres share their activity and work together. When we “multi-task”, things change. Each side of the prefrontal cortex performs one task, but not simultaneously: the activity is switching from one side to the other. Since we only have 2 frontal lobes, it’s becoming even harder above 2 tasks. So what we can understand from here is that task switching reduces cognitive performance and is very stressful for our brains. It causes mental fatigue, it deteriorates mood and decision making. (source: NeuroMindfulness ® Coach Certification Course ). If you look carefully in our environments, we are constantly task switching (we already decided that we are not multi-tasking): we work on something and an email pops. We open the email, we think about it, we process it, we reply to it than we get back to what we were doing. In the meantime our phone beeps due to a notification. We pick up the phone (we interrupt our activity again), we check the notification, we take a scroll across social media, we get back to what we were doing. And this continues through the rest of the day. When we sit on the couch “watching a movie”, but we also scroll through Instagram/Facebook. Our brains are constantly in this fatiguing dance, and yet we do not understand why we cannot focus on one task. Because we do not allow ourselves to do one thing at a time! And this is the starting point. Turn off your social media notifications, let your email update only once per hour, and try to focus on only one task. And mindfulness plays a very important role here. We can use meditation or breathing exercises in order to strengthen our prefrontal cortex and therefore our focus. 5-10 minutes per day: it’s doable, it doesn’t take an awful amount of time, and it’s a brain workout. Second most important thing. “We are a dark deprived society” - Matthew Walker, neuroscience professor. He spent the last 20 years studying sleep, and he wrote the New York Times Best Selling book “Why we sleep”. That means that our brains get mixed signals of when to go to sleep, or when to wake up. But we also lack a proper sleep hygiene. We give little attention to sleep, but actually sleep is one of the most beneficial things that you should do properly for yourself. Why? Let’s see. Well, to begin with, there is no living creature in this world that does not sleep in a form or another. If sleep wouldn’t have been crucial for our development, evolution would have found a way to get rid of it. Lack of sleep affects our focus and our memory in a very negative way. For example, for things to pass from short-term memory to long-term memory, we need a good quality of deep sleep and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep (without micro awakenings). Why? In REM sleep, when information is passed in long-term memory, it connects with all the other information that is stored in our brains. There will be new connections made and maybe even new insights. And this process is a constant process, because our brains receive daily input, and while we are in REM sleep, the new connections get imprinted. "The findings indicate that sleep deprivation most strongly affects the functional connectivity of prefrontal cortical areas. The findings extend those of previous studies, which showed sleep deprivation to predominantly affect functions mediated by the prefrontal cortex, such as working memory. Together, these findings suggest that the restorative effect of sleep is especially relevant for the maintenance of functional connectivity of prefrontal brain regions." (source: https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-15-88 ) This is the reason why you get brain fog if you don’t sleep or the reason why you are in such a bad mood if you don’t get your hours of sleep. Severe lack of sleep has been associated with depression, anxiety, and many other mental health issues. I can confirm. I was a suicidal depressive and lack of sleep has played a huge role in my depression. During sleep, our brain basically washes off negative emotions. Did you ever go to sleep angry and woke up the next day, with nothing changed, and your mood was just better? This is what sleep does for our emotional states. The researchers believe that when you get too little sleep, the amygdala does not 'hear' messages from the brain's reasoning centre. Over a long period of time, you risk becoming emotionally imbalanced. (source: https://sciencenorway.no/forskningno-norway-sleep/how-sleep-washes-away-our-worries/1460977) If you want to take a deep dive into the sleep subject, I cannot recommend enough Matthew Walker’s book, "Why we sleep" or his Masterclass "The science of better sleep". It will change your life! How can we get more quality sleep? No coffee after 1 PM. Coffee does not energize us, it masks the information that our brain perceives as „sleep pressure“. This sleep pressure is starting to build up as soon as we wake up in the morning. The substance that leads up to sleep pressure is adenosine , and coffee masks its effect. Caffeine stays in our system around 12 hours, so be mindful also of green tea, white tea, chocolate, and many energizing drinks, because they contain caffeine as well. Routine. Try to be consistent with the hours at which you go to bed, or wake up in the morning. The more consistent the routine, the more your brain understands when you should go to sleep (and send you clear signals, that you should not ignore), and when to wake up naturally. No technology at least 30-60 minutes before sleep. This is a very important step, because it sets the „ wind-down “. Social media and technology in general, keep our brains in a high alert state. In order for our bodies to get ready for sleep, our parasympathetic system needs to be activated. This is the part of our nervous system that is responsible with our social engagement mode, also called „rest and digest“. We are calm, in a safe space, and so our bodies can send us signals that we can relax and go to sleep. Sleep is not essential when you are in fight/flight mode (and in 2021 we are almost always in fight/flight state), so we need to prime our body for that. Be very mindful of naps during daytime. If you are in survival mode (a.k.a maybe new parent) it is what it is, get as much sleep as you can. If you are not in a survival mode and if you do nap, do it for 15-20 minutes maximum, and try to avoid napping after 2-3 PM. Naps release that „sleep pressure“ valve, and this can lead to having trouble falling asleep at night. No alcohol before sleep. Alcohol is actually a sedative, and it doesn’t help you to fall asleep, you just get basically sedated. The quality of deep and REM sleep is decreased under the influence of alcohol, and it also affects negatively your memory (the transfer between short-term memory and long-term memory is altered). Meditation can help you decrease the activity of the Default Mode Network (responsible for mind-wandering ) and will for sure help you calm down your nervous system. Breathing exercises. Here is a simple one. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 6 seconds, exhale for 8 seconds. Repeat at least 10 times before sleep. This exercise helps restore the state of your nervous system to a calm one and is very handy. You can do it before sleep, at work, in the car, when you wake up, basically anywhere, anytime. Take advantage of it! Silence. We don‘t often get the chance to stay with ourselves in silence. In these days, we barely can contain it. Why does silence bother us so much? What are we running from? Re-learn to enjoy silence, to give your mind some time to wander, to rest, and give yourself time with the most important person in your life. You. When was the last time you did nothing? When you enjoyed your own presence just because? Try it for a few days. I think you will be pleased or at least you will learn something about yourself. Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Here is the trick. Sleep recovery doesn’t do the job. From a neurological point of view, you cannot recover sleep. It doesn’t work to sleep 5-6 hours during the week, and 10-12 during the weekend, and also, it messes up with your biological rhythm . So be sure that you get your share of 7-8 hours per night, every night. Neuroscience proved that sleeping under 6-7 hours even on one night comes with a lot of cognitive impairments. In the age of speed, we need to (re)learn how to slow down. For our brains, for our minds, for our well-being . We are wired to do ONE THING at a time, so let’s use that to our advantage. Turn off unnecessary notifications, let your email sync every hour, or even update it manually, let your mind focus on what it has to do. Stay in silence. Get your sleep hygiene in place, and try to respect your body enough to keep this promise to yourself. Don’t forget: sleep is basically free therapy! So why not use these free and amazing tools that nature has provided for us? They are here for a reason, they are handy and scientifically proven. And yes, it’s that simple. Follow me on Faceb ook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Irina! Irina Costea, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Irina Costea is a Transformational & NeuroMindfulness Coach® and a former HR Professional. After a severe postpartum depression scattered with suicidal thoughts, Irina discovered Positive Psychology and the power of coaching. Once enrolled in the coaching school, she soon realized that her personal mission is to help other people unlock their true potential through practices of neuroscience and mindfulness. She believes that only by mapping and following your fears and blockages you can live authentically. Because only when you use them as your stepping stones you can connect to yourself again. Costea has been trained as a Coach at CoachVille, one of the first coaching schools in the world, and as a NeuroMindfulness® Practitioner at the NeuroMindfulness® Institute. She also worked as a Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist for one of the biggest travel platforms in the world.

Written by: Jeraldine Peters, 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. What should you do when your audience doesn't seem to be that much into you? It does occur, but it is not the end of the road. We're excited about what we're doing, and we're growing our list and/or social media audience, but things don't seem to be working out. There's no point in trying to sell something to an uninterested audience. You must take a step back and attempt to determine what they want AND/OR how to target the audience that ALREADY wants what you have. Here are some thoughts on how to get back on track: 1. Create your free offers so that they are a direct match for the products you sell, and then follow up right away. By the way, we have a free course and templates to assist you with this. 2. Pay more attention to your audience. Discover what makes them tick. Before you make a product to sell them, ask them questions, share free items and products via affiliate links, and see what they respond to. 3. Experiment with our "get paid before you create your content" method to avoid wasting time and resources. 4. Make It Your Mission To Learn More About Your Customers I believe some of the reasons my customers return for more are as follows: High-quality products that are clearly demonstrated so that customers know exactly what they're getting. A lighthearted and approachable communication style that self-promotes aggressively but authentically... As a result, my customers value my recommendations. An inside look at my life and business, as well as a willingness to provide practical advice to help my customers succeed in life, business, and with my products. You must also determine what distinguishes you from your competitors. It could be due in part to the way you create your products. However, in most cases, it is your image and how you communicate with your audience that draws them to you. In essence, continue to work on it; it's not difficult to build a decent-sized audience if you work hard enough. The difficulty is in attracting an audience that is eager to buy what you have to offer, but these tips should prove very helpful. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram and visit my website for more info and tips! Read more from J eraldine ! Jeraldine Peters, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Miss Jer Peters is a certified business coach and digital marketer who helps ambitious entrepreneurs to start, grow and scale successful businesses to create their desired life through entrepreneurship by learning how to stand out online and attract more sales. After spending years working corporate jobs, she opted to take on entrepreneurship, and through her rewarding journey, she found a way also to help others unlock the key to the future they desire. She now devotes her time to working with entrepreneurs who are either just starting or have been in business for a while but have been struggling to figure out how to make it work to have the results they need. By addressing the foundations of their businesses, she helps them set their business up for growth and scale via paid or organic methods. She believes that there is always more to life than what initially seems possible.

Annie Canning is a leader in transformational coaching. Having previously worked in high-level HR and Compliance roles, she stepped into coaching due to a series of challenging life events. Taking these learnings, she has created tools and strategies to shift her clients' into an empowered and enabled state. She has coached CEOs, leadership teams, workgroups, and business owners and is a staunch advocate for those committed to their growth journey. Through her programs and keynote speaking, she spreads a message of hope, humor, and optimism. Her mission is to positively impact thousands of lives with her unique coaching brand and help others recognize their value, their place in the world, and how to claim it! Transformational Coach Annie Canning Who is Annie? Well, where do I start? I’m a 50-year-old empty nester, coach, key-note speaker, and staunch advocate for personal development. I refuse to act my age and spend lots of time laughing and being utterly grateful for all this life has brought me. Yes, even the tough stuff, especially the tough stuff. I have a blended family of three girls and the most amazing husband. From years of navigating life surrounded by four strong and assertive women, his tolerance and forbearance are nothing short of astonishing! I live in God-Zone, a term coined over 100 years ago by my fellow countrymen and women to describe living in New Zealand, and for me, it truly is. Apart from a brief stint in London, I was born, raised, and still live in the small city of Rotorua. Right bang in the middle of the North Island, it is a beautiful place surrounded by lakes, mountains, forest, and geothermal activity. A fantastic place to connect with all Mother Nature has to offer. After working in Human Resources and Risk Management in leadership roles for 30 years, experiencing grief, depression, divorce, and frequent bouts of overwhelm and anxiety, stepping into coaching was a natural progression, as was the creation of Canning Life Coaching. What is it that you do for your clients? In essence, I’m all about challenging limiting beliefs and false narratives. I support my clients to open themselves up to a world of all possibilities and enable them to create that energy in their everyday lives. As I said, I’m an advocate for personal development; however, knowledge needs to be applied. I don’t like getting caught up in coaching cliches and jargon; my clients get tools and strategies to use in the real world and tangible results. Whether it is one on one or group coaching, I have a number of different online programs available. Who should hire/work with you? My most successful clients are action-orientated, collaborative, and forward-thinking in their mindset, have a bent for positive change, and have a compelling vision to make the world a better place. I love working with small to medium-size businesses, as you can create high levels of connection that support excellent results. In saying that, I derive enormous satisfaction working with larger organizations and observing the positive impact of coaching on workplace culture. What is your big goal? To connect with 10,000 people over the next five years and share my skills and knowledge in a way that will enhance their lives for the better. And that they, in turn, will use what they have learned in service to others. That would be pretty cool! Where do you see yourself ten years from now? Still laughing, still learning, still coaching. Pretty much continuing to live my best life. For more information, visit my website Canning Life Coaching and follow me on Canning Life Coaching - Home | Facebook!

Written by: Marilda Cutrone, 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. Fact: June 2021, the percentage of women working is 57.5, the lowest since the 1980s. Fact: In 2020, women earn 19 percent less than their male counterparts. The gender pay gap has never been so discouraging. Nevertheless, there is an environment where women are growing and thriving financially, and they live like a boss: the digital economy. In the digital economy (as opposed to the traditional economy, clearly male-dominated see politics or the top chairs in all the major companies globally), information and communication technologies (ICT) provide women with crucial support in all economic, political, cultural and social activities. Women can participate in the labour market, using all these elements to their advantage in full accordance with gender equality. In the digital economy, i.e. in all new business models (e-commerce, affiliate marketing, network marketing, to name the main ones), factors such as age, gender, religion, colour or sexual orientation are absolutely and completely irrelevant. Consequently, the ability to create income and control one’s own financial future is equal for women and men. The only obstacle to accessing this possibility is awareness. Still, many women do not know what opportunities they may have. However, many women, and especially many mothers, have already discovered the potential of this new system and have already reinvented themselves, becoming boss ladies or mompreneurs. Flexibility is a must Thanks to the business models offered by the digital economy, working mothers get back control over their time: this means that they can plan their working hours freely and according to the rhythms of the family and especially the children. Apps and new technologies make it possible to automate most tasks or plan them in advance for the next few days or even weeks, thus minimising the time spent on specific tasks daily. These new digital tools can make life easier not only for earning a luxurious and smarter living but also for being able to watch your children’s football match or dance recital. Besides, all these businesses allow women and mothers to earn money based on the goals they achieve rather than by the hour. In this way, they can grow incredibly. What’s more, these business models can be done online and from home (or wherever you want) and therefore allow women to substantially cut down on commuting costs (not to mention time). Six-figure income Obviously, there is an effort to make to enter the digital economy, which can be summarised as a willingness to learn the new skills required: digital skills. Once you have decided to embark on this career, you need to prepare yourself properly. And luckily, you don’t need several years of university study. You need determination, consistency, and an excellent digital marketing programme. The reward for this commitment is very spellbinding . There is no limit to how much you can earn with online business. That’s the beauty of this economy: it’s growing so fast that thousands of people can become millionaires in just a few years. Here are some data: E-commerce already skyrocketed in 2020 and continues growing by 13.7%, reaching $908.73 billion in 2021. These numbers are unbelievably high, and behind them, there are not only big companies but also thousands of “small” business owners, like boss ladies or mompreneurs, who are earning 6-figures income yearly. A kingdom to conquer The huge demand has created a scarcity of digital marketers and mentors to help other people get started. So here is where working moms can claim their place as queens of the kingdom. New technology allows making all of that possible. Emerging digital tools afford digital marketers more control over their time (and ultimately over their earnings) because they’re able to focus on those areas where their expertise is increasingly in demand. This leads to more customers, more money, and a definitively better work-life balance, which is crucial for working moms. Furthermore, it is proved that women have better digital skills than men. Therefore, women—naturally empathetic, people-oriented, detail-oriented, and outstanding communicators—can be the benefactors of this marketplace demand and represent the new wave of digital marketers that the new economy needs. They can build an equitable career and get paid the salaries they deserve. It’s time to shift into another mindset, and if you are interested in learning more, please get in touch with me. Follow Marilda on Instag ram , find her on Facebook , or visit her website to learn more about the programs. You can also subscribe to her YouTube channel ! Read more from Marilda! Marilda Cutrone, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Marilda walked away from a successful 20-year career as Senior Project Manager. For many years, she felt unfulfilled: she was continuously struggling to juggle her career and family. And eventually found herself drained and depressed. Marilda massively changed her life in 2019 when she realized that developing a new set of skills in the current economy is necessary. And here is why: over $2.5 trillion per year is being spent on retail purchases online and, over the last few months, there's been a 25% increase in online sales. Marilda created her own business – Living My Digital Life – and reached a whole new work-life balance level by leveraging the digital skills. This shift would not have been possible for Marilda if she had not discovered the power of affiliate marketing. She is now the owner of her time and can build her career around the family (not a life arranged around the job as it used to be). Her mission is to empower other women to stand up for themselves and make the same shift. Hence Marilda offers a program that walks you through specific steps to learn the skills you need to create a profitable online business from scratch.

Written by: Katarzyna Dorosz, 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. You help companies train employees. You teach motivation, time management, and coping with stress. Do these three elements determine success in managing a company? The company is like a family. If there is harmony and peace there, it profoundly affects its development. Smart company management is the basis for the success of all employees and the entire management team. This applies to every rung of the corporate ladder. You cannot require discipline from lower-level employees if upper-level management is dysfunctional. Where did you learn these concepts? In Poland, I worked in the media, and this requires consistent discipline and good time management. It is a job under constant time pressure and stress. You must be ready several hours before the press runs or the TV or radio program starts. If you have a headache or are stressed, you have to deal with it. After all, it is similar for almost everyone in everyday life. Nervous at work, we go home and transfer nervous energy to our friends, family, and domestic life. And if at home, we are nervous, we transfer this to work. We literally transfer this emotional energy from one place to another. I have learned to find my balance on my way home or on my way to work. I've been practicing this for many years, and it is efficient and critical. This method of finding a balance between private life and work turned out to be very effective and rewarding. I now teach how to apply it, implement it and teach others to make it easier for us to live with them and they to live with themselves. For several years I have also managed large companies as a director. Besides, as a child, I practiced various sports, including ballet, for 3 years. Sport teaches us discipline and motivation. Thanks to this, I found the joy of learning. Planning is the most helpful skill for me. I've achieved such a degree of excellence that if I plan to write a book in two months, it usually occurs. I am task-oriented and motivated. I am happy to pass this knowledge on to the owners of companies and their employees. I believe that using these techniques; they can achieve greater business success and build peace and harmony in their companies. I believe in and use the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning "change for the better" or "continuous improvement." This Japanese business philosophy examines the processes that continuously improve operations and also involve all employees. Kaizen sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process. This is also my experience. Discipline can be learned - it's training, after all. All we need is a willing spirit and a determined mind. In a few points can you show us how to do it? I will cover this with a simple example: Scheduling time appropriately helps us reduce the stress of effort against time. The order then prevails around us, and despite the stressors in life, we can achieve peace at work. Delegating tasks will allow you to gain time for yourself and for your passions. Exercise and movement will arouse our enthusiasm and energy, which will increase our body’s endorphins and give us both enthusiasm and determination. In short, the mobilization to act. Prioritize in the morning – always do what's important or critical first. Let's start thinking about what we want, not what we don't have. In the evening, let's plan the next day - planning saves time and increases productivity - our subconscious will work for us at night. Let's think on paper. Write everything down, buy notebooks and take careful notes, and nothing will escape our attention. Let us not look at what others are doing. Let's focus on our needs. Let's read at least a fragment of a favorite book every day. When setting goals, I encourage you to use the SMART method, which I use in my training. A good way to set new goals is to make them: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Timely. Specific: understanding should not be a problem, the wording should be unambiguous and leave no room for loose interpretation, the goal must be clear and detailed. Instead of saying, "I want to be more active," say, "I'll be exercising 20 minutes a day. Measurable: formulated so as to be able to quantify the degree of achievement of the goal. I am going to lose 4 kg in 2 months. Achievable: Avoid targets that are too great. Divide yourself into stages and follow them step by step. Relevant: The goal should be an important step forward; at the same time, it has to be of value to you. Is your goal actually important to your life now? How will your life change when you achieve it? Time-bound: Is your goal something you can do now, or can it wait later? Define the exact date of achieving the goals you have set. Can you recommend any simple exercise that works well for goal planning? Of course, this is a simple exercise: Write your goal on a piece of paper. Then just think about your success. Feel yourself achieving it; feel yourself increasing your self-esteem. Feel how endorphins, or the “hormones of happiness,” are secreted ... describe this feeling to yourself. Feel the moment of triumph ... it's more or less the same feeling as marathon runners get crossing the finish line. Don't worry when you don't get what you want the first time. Failure, on the other hand, is a science that enables a fresh start. Thomas Edison ultimately built the electric bulb - do you know how many failures he had? What trials and tribulations? How he overcame those? Edison always replied, "I only found 10,000 ways, not failures." You can too! What makes your method innovative? I am a practitioner for many years, not just a theorist. I studied Marketing and Management in Poland and the USA and graduated from the German Economic Association. I have visited over 500 companies. When I come to the company, after a short conversation, I am able to analyze where the problem is. The problem many times results from poor company management - in general, the owner of the company has too many responsibilities, he/she does not delegate tasks or manage time or personnel well, and frequently does not know how to motivate their employees. Putting pressure on employees is almost always the worst management method. Working under stress and the inability to deal with it, as well as bad work habits, are a definite path to business failure. It is remarkable that oftentimes thanks to my training program, management personnel finally find time for a meal with their family during the working day. They are remotivated to go on vacation with their family. They start taking care of their health because they see the potential in this change. This is where the new life of the individual and company begins. Each of us wants to be successful in our professional and private life. However, we are frequently not able to take this first step, and this is compounded by a lack of self-esteem. What we lack is a certain stability of development. The best investment is an investment in education, more self-education, and inviting cooperative help to solve these problems. It takes courage and wisdom to ask for it. Most busy managers lack the hours in the day to read all the books that cover the techniques needed to be successful and to enact these as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our reaction to changes is important. So also is the speed ​​of adapting to market needs. Creativity is essential. Our personal beliefs are of great importance in deciding our course of action. Coping with stress When we have all the requisite life skills, we are destined to succeed! We have more focused energy to act, and, most importantly, we know how to manage challenges, demands, and the attendant stressors that go with these. How do you think good self-esteem influences success? It all starts with the head – emotions axis, our beliefs, and consequently our self-esteem and bodily health. A healthy employee is a happy employee - this is also the motto for all my training programs. After all, health is at its basic level, a physical and mental state of wellbeing. “Every cell in our body is equipped with intelligence. The reason is not only from the neck upwards.” — Candace Pert People in all cultures sense intuitively that mental phenomena, such as feelings and thoughts, have a significant impact on our physical health. What do I think is the power of self-esteem? The way you see yourself and others is most culturally and historically determined. These messages can comfort us and provide strength, but they can also sometimes limit us. Therefore, it is worth knowing what influences the assessment of ourselves and others in one way and not another. Self-esteem is of great importance for functioning in the world. People with high self-esteem are livelier and derive greater satisfaction from their work and family life. In the end, this is the foundation of their mental health and well-being. Our self-esteem greatly influences our feelings towards ourselves and the world around us. We should strive by continuous effort to increase it. The assessment of our own advantages and disadvantages must be objective. We cannot expect ourselves to be perfect. Only then will our self-esteem be appropriate. We need to feel that we ourselves influence our world and the people present in it, just as they surely influence us. The most important basis for a person's self-esteem is its beginnings - the basic elements of self-esteem are formed by the age of 4. Thus, it is primarily influenced by the family environment in which the child lives and the parents' attitude towards him. Adults are responsible for developing and nurturing a child's self-esteem. Therefore, they should see the child as he is and not as (in their opinion) he should be. We cannot blame ourselves and criticize ourselves for things that we have not had any influence on. Our self-esteem is like a bank account. By undertaking charitable activities for ourselves and other people, our self-esteem is enriched with an additional deposit. When we throw ourselves exclusively and narrow-mindedly into a vortex of hard work, we neglect our basic needs, caring only for others instead of taking care of ourselves, and we rush forward in the madcap of life, running away from anger, sadness, loneliness. We are draining resources from our emotional savings account. Our current life situation is also of great importance—our experienced ups and downs. Divorce, illness, death, problems; all worsen our well-being. However, being aware that these are normal human states, we begin to learn how to deal with them and understand that they need only be transitory problems. We are not perfect, and we must accept it. Instead, we have the right to do and be our best through effort. We should reward ourselves for the little things we've done successfully in our lives, for our little successes. Considering that we should treat minds and bodies as the most beautiful temples, I recommend that we give ourselves a little pleasure as a reward once a week, at least on average one every two weeks, and a great pleasure whenever we can afford it. How often do we forget about our own successes? Let's write down our achievements on a piece of paper once a week, so we don’t forget, this way we will see how much good we have done. Let us reward ourselves even for small successes. Let's think, what would we say in congratulation to our friends, colleagues. You gave us a lot of great advice on how to manage time, plan goals, and increase self-esteem. What are your passions? I have many passions, and they develop me. I'm never bored. I love writing books. I read several books every day. I dance flamenco, and I have fencing and singing lessons. I love traveling, during which I frequently visit natural wonders, museums, and art galleries. I love art, especially art glass, paintings of all styles, and sculpture (preferably classical style and Greek). I love ballet and opera. Recently, I have also been fascinated by the culinary arts and the use of herbs and spices. I cannot forget my garden, and work in it always inspires me to write better and take the balance. Follow me on LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Katarzyna Dorosz, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Katarzyna Dorosz is a leader in the field of brain performance, mental performance, and improving memory and quality of work. She is a world-renowned expert for senior and mature individuals who also conducts research on longevity. She is also a lecturer and author of several books. Katarzyna works with many prestigious American universities about attaining meaningful longevity in Life and how to maintain brain function. She also supports women around the world through motivational lectures. Her attitude and stubborn pursuit of purpose show how important changes and progress in life are. She is also the author of the TV Show "Te Power of Life". During lectures, she uses the "Educational kinesiology and Emotional intelligence" and developed her own methods of exercises that provide excellent memory, concentration exercises as well as relaxation, and a set of physical exercises to improve the condition (adjusted to the age and flexibility of the body). In business training, Katarzyna uses the popular Japanese Kaizen method, i.e. a philosophy based on changing lifestyle - an endless process of improving and improving the quality of the company.

Written by: Fran Pedron, 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. MEMORIES – Light corner of my mind – Misty water-colored memories “Barbra Streisand—The Way We Were” Memories play a large part in our lives, from grief to success. They direct and produce our life experiences. They are the glue that fastens our walls of life. In the present, memories are fleeting, temporary and brief. They drive our journeys forward, either positively or negatively. We use them to support where we are emotionally, but with time this glue begins to deteriorate. How we make Memories Brains are wonderful devices. They do so much, and when making a memory, our brain gives us space to store it and make connections. Those connections resurface in future events with places, people, and things. Each time a memory happens, it gets more vivid, life-like and resets itself with new strength. Recall becomes easier and adds intensity. To suppress those memories shuts down parts of the brain used to recall them, and you create missing pieces in life. “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.” - Soren Kierkegaard Keys to your Past What do you do when memories come to visit? Do you revel in their goodness, use them to catapult you into the future, or do you become angry with life? Feel-Good Moments Feel-Good moments are amazing tools. They create joy—releasing endorphins. They build health and well-being—increasing immunity. They add years to your aging—happiness fights DIS-ease. They are tools for healing—finding the good in hurtful life moments. Create ways to keep them alive: write your stories and share them, make websites and hold them, find things you had as a kid, make home videos. Those feel-good moments hold steady future momentum. And success has a stable foundation to plant roots and grow. Future Momentum Using memories to move you forward—takes feel-good moments to new heights. How are you using these memories as foundational steppingstones? You are embarking upon a new venture, either personal or professional. You ask yourself, “Can I do this?” Is this personal? Is this professional? Have you prepared? Do you have time to prepare? Only you choose the outcome. Here are tips to calm the jitters. Write a list of 10 things you have successfully completed. They show that you are competent. Read them 10 times when you question yourself. Ask for guidance. A mentor, who has done this before, can guide you through his/her experience. Time is cut by success expertise. Write SMART goals. They keep you on track, allow adjustments to be made, and build confidence during the process. Specific – What will be accomplished? What actions will be taken? Measurable – What data will measure the goals (How much? How well?) Achievable – Is the goal doable? Do you have the necessary skills and resources? Relevant – How does the goal align with broader goals? Why is the result important? Time-Bound – What is the time frame for accomplishing the goal? While creating a new life experience, having a plan builds successful mindsets and opens your memory-storing door. Holding Onto Anger I spoke with a young woman whose grandmother had passed over 10 years ago. She was angry, hurt and filled with grief. Her judgment was skewed and overshadowed by emotion. She missed out on many parts of her life. When memories trigger emotions, upheaval and chaos ensue. Negativity drives life experiences. With these types of remembrances, many choose to stay in the past and stay broken. Emotional memories leave imprints upon our brains. Childhood and meeting details go un-remembered, yet traumatic times clearly have a front-row seat. Sensory awareness is heightened, and the memory is impressed more effectively. Intentional actions are required to heal. Managing memories is a start. Ways to initiate healing include: Inventory – acknowledge life will be different. Feel your emotions. Limit memory-time. Journaling – bad memories have triggers. Recognizing them allows you to respond to them differently or devise a plan to grow through them and lay them to rest. Understanding – get your mind wrapped around the memory and why you want to keep it. Re-creation – decide what you do and do not want to keep. Control – decide what you are going to do with the things you are keeping and the things you are discarding. Limitations – decide going forward how much "of what" you will hold onto, as with storing physical mementos. Dynamics – change the stored memory by hanging onto the love, releasing the trauma. Modalities – choose to enlist other healing methods (i.e., hypnosis, coaching, counseling, etc.). Well-being – place your priorities upon getting physically healthy. Join a gym. Schedule “me” time. Serve others. Have fun. Memories are wonderful parts of our lives. However you choose to interact with yours, decide how you want to live with them. Are you choosing them for support or for detriment? For more info, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit my website! Read more from Fran! Fran Pedron, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Fran Pedron combines intuition, education, and life experience to help clients understand their foundational self-definition, make changes, and intention-purposed plans, which align with who they are as they create their desired outcomes. Her experience in insurance, technology, accounting, communications, along with being abruptly downsized later in life, led her to understand how change affects people and their decision-making processes, along with the need to make decisions aligned with their authenticity.

Written by: Roxy Rapedius, 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. Self-image is the opinion you have about yourself. It's your own belief and truth of what you think and feel about yourself, what you are capable of, what you are worth, what you are good at, what you are bad at, where you need to improve, where there is an opportunity for growth and what your strengths and weaknesses are. This inner self-image determines what you attract in life, how well you do, your behavior and actions which in turn impacts your results. You also have an outer self-image. That image is the outer expression of the inner image. It's the way you talk, walk, dress and associate with others. Whatever you think of yourself is often limiting you in some way. Your results in life are a combination of your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions. Your self-image has been deeply programmed into your subconscious mind and is your habitual way of living every day. Your self-image can be recreated, and by doing so, you will use your imagination for yourself instead of against yourself. Your imagination is where your ideas are formed and created. Once you change it, what you or others thought was impossible becomes possible. Whatever you think about yourself right now can be 100% changed. You don't have to become a new version of yourself, you just have to see yourself as a different version. You are not changing who you are, you are changing how you see yourself. When you expand your self-image, you broaden the area of possibility. If you believe you are not worthy of success, do you think it's possible to achieve it? NO, because you are programmed to only receive "unworthiness." If you continue to see yourself as ordinary, receiving ordinary results, then that is what you will continue to receive in your life, more ordinary. Can you imagine a life where you love yourself, you are proud of yourself and you are happy with what you have done and accomplished? When you are born, you don't think bad things about yourself, nor do you talk bad about yourself, you are simply amazing. Get back to thinking you are perfect, the best version, the one who helps others, who achieves greatness, the one who steps outside the sandbox because they know deep down they can achieve anything. It's time to trust, believe and express yourself instead of suppressing it. For many years, I wanted to fit in, I wanted to be like everyone else, I wanted to fix everything and everyone and most importantly I wanted so much recognition and praise for what I was doing. In wanting all of that, I ended up modifying who I was to what I thought others wanted me to be. I wasn't living, I wasn't expressing, I was simply suppressing myself. The day I started focusing on my growth, self-development, limiting beliefs and values, everything changed for me. I started living on a high frequency of vibration, attracting success, positivity, and the people I wanted in my life. I am limitless! Changing the self-image to what you want is the most important work you will ever do. Work on yourself and be honest. The more honest and real you are with yourself, the bigger the difference you will make in your self-image. The demand of yourself, what you demand of others! By changing your self-image, your subconscious will change and your new self-image will become part of your daily life. Do you want to spend the rest of your days with the old self-image or do you want to be successful, influential, and badass? Every day, visualize yourself as this new person, behave and show up with this new self-image and you will attract the results and the life you want. What you think about is what you get! Follow Roxy on her Facebook and Instagram. You can also visit her website for more info! Read more from Roxy! Roxy Rapedius, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Roxy Rapedius’ decades of professional experience include progressively increasing responsibility and measurable positive results. Roxy has built significant and unique skills through these roles. She has experience in life coaching, public speaking, training, teaching, behavioral analysis, addiction, trauma, mental health, palliative support, grief and bereavement support, opioid dependency treatment, finance, insurance, event planning, financial planning, environmental development, immigration, dental, and banking. As CEO and Coach of Life Coach With Roxy, she approaches her work and life as an established leader who gets results. Roxy has a curiosity and keen desire to expand her knowledge and acumen to reach greater heights in serving others as a leader in business and life.

Written by: Leslie Klatt, 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. Online business coaches and gurus often talk about the required sacrifice of your life and sanity while building a 6 and 7 figure business, like it is the only option if you truly want to reach your income goals. It is the start of a very toxic cycle. Today, we’re going to uncover exactly why I believe the hustle, and the free challenge model of marketing your online business in particular, is toxic. I will break it down for you so that you can be aware of the actions that you are taking that are doing you a disservice and give you the steps to break free from it. There are 4 clear stages in the hustle of free challenge launches that become deeper every time they are repeated. The excitement of the build-up The exhaustion of the execution The evaluation and excuses Rinse and Repeat If you have been stuck in this cycle and have yet to see the return on investment and consistent income in your business, take solace in knowing that you are not alone. Entrepreneurs around the world have been wearing a badge of honor, beeling like they are true hustle heroes when they are stuck in this cycle of toxicity. Read on to learn more about each phase of the cycle and other ways of thinking about your business growth. A closer look at the 4 stage cycle If the hustle cycle, or free challenge marketing model, was reflected in a personal relationship, it would be considered abusive, and this is why you haven’t achieved the results you desire while pouring yourself into something that should be liberating, fulfilling, consistent and supportive for you in your lifestyle and business goals. This should help you understand why these trending cycles of attempts at marketing a profitable business, more often than not, fail horribly and leave you feeling unworthy, unable, and completely lost. 1. The Excitement of the Build up You have turned marketing into a popularity contest. Every “like” feels like a vote to you, but when you don’t get the desired engagement on a post-it will trigger a feeling of anxiousness, questioning what you did wrong, trying to see what you can do to get that “love” back from the followers who engaged with your last post. You keep going, posting, inviting, messaging, and desperately reaching out to people to sign up for your challenge. As they do, you’re on a high! You start calculating how much revenue you’re going to get from this launch! Should you use an 8% or 10% conversion rate because all these people signed up look exactly like your ideal client! This is gonna be THE ONE! You can feel it in your bones! 2. The Exhaustion of Execution This is it! You have your challenge set up, the weeks of never-ending prep and outreach have come to this point, and you are going to deliver gold! You’re checking your scheduled posts, you’re going live, you’re available to answer questions and be the answer to your ideal client's prayers. Are they showing up? Should you be giving more? Should you change the qualifying questions to apply to work with you? Should you have bigger prizes next time? Are your ideal clients ghosting you halfway through the challenge? Did they take your free call offer and disappear? Are you back to the drawing board before those five days are even over? Then what happens with the new clients that you recruited? Did you reach your goal? I have seen so many entrepreneurs follow this free challenge model that they end up so tired from the delivery of the challenge that they are exhausted and unable to follow through on the promises for their new, eager clients. They don’t have the energy to show up 100% for their coaching calls. They miss emails, forget to deliver bonuses, and their clients end up not getting the results from the program, ask for refunds, are disgruntled, and the business, their brand does not move forward and uplevel. 3. The Evaluation and Excuses After the challenge, when you’re exhausted and your clients aren’t getting the results, your motivation to deliver starts to dwindle, and you start thinking about your next, bigger, and brighter challenge that will get you more dedicated clients and income so that you can show up for them. You’ll need a better title to attract more clients; you’ll get better prices. You offer your past clients free access to the next round of your program. You rebrand, get new photos were taken, new workbook, new emails, new landing page. This is set up fabulously, and you’re going to get even better results than the last one. It almost gives you a release of dopamine as you get things going for this next challenge. You have set it up to be everything you want it to be, and it is fabulous! 4. Rinse and Repeat This “cycle” happens over and over with the hope that the next challenge will be more successful than the last, that you’ll get more clients, a bigger email list, more income, more interaction, more testimonials, more anything! The length of time between each repetition of this challenge cycle can vary. Some try three-day challenges, or two days, more frequently or less. But the damage that it does to your vision, your self-confidence, and the complete lack of results and scalability is toxic for your life and business. Gearing up, time and time again, clearing your doubts, reframing your experiences so that you are able to head into the next challenge in the right mindset can be tiring, and you may even start to think that your mindset work is working against you because all you know is the burnout and struggle, but you hope for a successful and scalable business. Is there a better way? There definitely is. In my 16 years of marketing and project management, I have never launched a business and had two grand openings; there was never more than one kickoff meeting for a project. The trend of constantly launching and relaunching the same product over and over again is more of a manipulative tactic than a marketing strategy. My One Launch Method, which is also the title of my book that was published in May 2021, covers the real principles of marketing that will get your business and offer set up to support your life and business goals. The One Launch Method has you craft your high quality, high ticket, life-changing offer; a product, program, or service that will be your signature, claim to fame. You will position yourself in your ideal market as a leader, create raving fans and launch your program once, and be set up to scale immediately. You will end the confusion for your audience by focusing on your signature offer with crystal clarity. You will end the hustle and chaos in your life by having a rock-solid marketing framework in place that will carry your message and offer to your ideal clients time and time again. You will end the uncertainty of income and scarcity of the hustle struggle and finally be able to support your lifestyle and family life with stability and abundance. If you aren’t sure whether you’re experiencing the hustle and struggle cycle, or if you know you are and you are ready to make the change to financial and entrepreneurial freedom, book a call with Leslie Klatt by texting “I’m ready” to m.me/leslieklattlife, or visit her website to see how you can get the support and results you need. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or visit my website for more info! Read more from Leslie! Leslie Klatt, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Leslie Klatt is a leader in the online marketing and project management industries. She is the founder of the One Launch Method, which stems from her solid background in corporate business, where organizations play for longevity and sustainability, building brand credibility and a high profile as the "go-to" in their industry.