Written by: Jenn Taylor, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As a Mom of 18, the question I get asked the most is - “Are they all yours?” - or a version of that question. Did you have all of them? Did you adopt? Is it a blended family? Some questions have been direct, forward, and rude, but most have been curious. It seems to be human nature to put people in a box or figure them out in a way that makes sense, and - quite honestly - 18 kids is tough to make sense out of. Some days, even for me. An OB/GYN told me at the age of 15 that I should expect infertility and the possibility of not having children. I have always been thankful to him because that conversation set the stage for the years to come. I did go through infertility - 7 day-surgeries and the maximum amount of meds that could be prescribed. I stopped the infertility train right at the point where invitro was on board - and bravo to those women who step on board and take that ride, as I knew it wasn’t my path. I did become pregnant while weaning off the meds, and I knew in the future, if pregnancy didn’t happen naturally, I wouldn’t have more biological children. When my first daughter was born, she had a lung disease. They whisked her away immediately, and I didn’t hear anything for over 7 hours. When the head neonatologist came to my room, she told me that my daughter was the most critical in the NICU, that she wouldn’t live through her first 72-hours, and that I would hold her for the first time after she died. I could sit by her bedside but couldn’t touch her and had to remain quiet so she wouldn’t use any calories - which were now precious energy. I’m happy to say she is now 29 and one of the most incredible human beings I have met. I did get pregnant six more times, gave birth to 3 more daughters, and lost 3 pregnancies. After the birth of my first daughter, I knew that if I became pregnant, those were the “extra” kids. The children you don’t expect but are ecstatic you have. What I felt was my calling was to become a foster Mom. To make a difference in the life of a child who has had a tough start in life. A childlike I had been. I had been blessed with a third-grade teacher who made such an impact on my dysfunctional upbringing that I knew I wanted to do the same. I wanted to pay forward the feeling of someone showing me I had worth. I was a foster parent for 12 years in total. In the first 9 years (while also going through those pregnancies), I adopted four children and had another two that were long-term - one in foster care and one who was a foreign exchange student from Germany. I went through a divorce, and during the next 3 years of foster care, I adopted one more and had three long-term. If you’re adding as we go - that’s 14 children total. Kids got older, a couple moved out, circumstances changed, and I had 9 living at home. That oldest daughter of mine - who was then 20 - and a mutual friend started fixing me up on dates. One of those dates was with Dane. Dane and I texted for a week and had one phone call before we met, and from the moment we met in person, we have been together. Dane had been married and divorced when his first three children were small. He remarried and had one little girl who was 2 when his second wife died. His youngest was just turning 4 when we met. I had one child move out and shortly after, he and his four kids moved in - for a total of twelve living at home. I’ve never had more than 12 in the home at once, although there have been years when 9-12 kids were under my roof. Another question I’m asked often is if it’s hard being a blended family, having step-children or foster children. Yes. It is hard. But not necessarily because of where they came from. Raising kids is hard - period - regardless of the number or where they come from. Certainly, some situations create added stress or challenges, but for me, raising them has been about them, not their situation. The relationship I have with each child is unique due to their circumstances and personality, and that’s what it is my responsibility to foster. Having a husband who co-parents with positivity and support has been vital as the communication he and I have is what keeps our family together and cohesive. That doesn’t mean we always agree. That means we discuss the needs of many very individual humans with different pasts and make decisions together. We also defer to each other when either of our ex-spouses is involved, and sometimes co-parenting means agreeing to disagree with love and support. I’ve now had over 29 years of experience parenting. I’ve parented through nearly every tough situation you can imagine. Now that almost all the kids are adults, I can have discussions about what things went well and why, what things I might have done differently and why, and they’re open to discussing their perspectives. I have really outstanding relationships with most of those eighteen kids. I’ve built a coaching business for Christian women based on all the skills and certifications I learned while parenting these amazing humans, and I’m embracing the season of life where there is one child left at home, and I am called Gramma. It’s been an amazing, crazy, fun adventure that I wouldn’t trade for anything. As the kids have grown into adults and moved out, not only are they close with Dane and me, they’re close to each other. Although my family was built on an amalgam of “yours, mine, foster, adoption,” in my eyes, they are all the same. We treat them as such, which has gone a long way in our successful blending of families. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly, they are worth it to me. And to answer the question, I get most often - yes, they are all mine. For more info, follow Jenn on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit her website ! Read more from Jenn ! Jenn Taylor, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jenn Taylor is Mom of 18 (yes, 18 kids!), a Transformational Coach for Christian Women, and the host of At A Crossroads with The Naked Podcaster - a 4-year podcast to uplift others in their struggles. Her goal is to help others get through life’s struggles faster, easier, and with more support (and joy!). Jenn is also a motivational speaker, has written the blog "Mom’s Running It" for over 9 years, and is a published author of a self-help memoir "Hello, My Name Is... Warrior Princess" - which she will email to you as a pdf for free. She is also married to an amazing man in Reno, NV, is a runner, minimalist, and healthy lifestyle enthusiast. If you’ve attended events or heard speakers in the past and gotten excited about making changes only to return home and have felt frustrated at not knowing how to implement the information, you’ll love working with Jenn!

I’ve been a corporate trainer for a Fortune 500 company. I’ve been a yoga teacher with consistently sold-out classes and a professional hypnotherapist successfully curing some of the biggest fears and phobias people have. All of this, plus studying with some of the highest level teachers on the planet, has led me to an understanding of human nature that I use to help strong professional women shed their old beliefs and become the potent, prosperous leaders they’re here to be. Who is Lynn? A daughter, a sister to her fraternal twin, a mom to 2 grown men, a Grammie, and a grand-dog Grammie too. She’s a lifelong learner and an avid reader. Lynn enjoys writing, yoga, pilates, walking, and biking. Lynn is a mental health disruptor, educator, mentor, and speaker. She is the CEO of Mission Possible You Transformative Coaching. She believes everyone is fundamentally well. She doesn’t see people as labels. We are spiritual beings and designed perfectly. The problem arises when you don’t know how your spiritual and psychological experience works. We all are wired the exact same way. Everyone was born from spiritual energy with the capacity to live from well-being, resilience, contentment, and happiness. She believes most people have only scratched the surface of their capacity for unlimited potential. We often put limits on ourselves that prevent our growth and evolution from ideas of who we think we are. Everyone has gifts to share with the world which ignites passion and purpose for a life well lived by serving others. Lynn resides in Connecticut and is looking forward to an in-person human-to-human connection next year at a 5-day retreat in Sedona, AZ. What is it that you do for your clients? She helps her clients live rich full lives by pointing them to their wisdom and mental well-being by understanding how their mind and Thought systems really work. They gain life-changing insights into how reality works as opposed to how they thought it worked. She guides her clients away from struggling, coping, and managing stress, anxiety, and depression instead, points back to spiritual truth. Looking at the fact that all of that is a reaction to Thought, they then have a chance to transcend it, real-time, no longer how long they have suffered. As a result, her clients live more from their true essence of joy, happiness, peace, love, understanding, and are compassion. Who should hire/work with you? People who are ready to commit to transformation instead of the constant struggle with label living suffering, managing and coping with stress, fear, anxiety, depression, feeling not good enough, etc. Companies who want more productive, happier, and less stressed employees who get along and respect other people’s opinions. Small business owners who want to grow their businesses and increase the impact they have on their clients but feel stuck, lack creativity, and unable to step into their full power. People who are done relying on a variety of tips, tools, and apps in order to feel calmer more relaxed. Because when they forget to do them, they go back to feeling stressed out. What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? My big goal is to reach thousands of people to end-label living by teaching them how their minds and Thought systems work, specifically the spiritual principles behind our created experience of life. My life is dedicated to sharing the wisdom of principles to help people live from what is instead of what isn’t. This is the catalyst that points people in the direction of what’s behind their created experience of life. When they see it, they transcend it in real-time and no longer suffer, cope or manage stress, anxiety, or depression. This understanding has the power to change the world as each person takes responsibility for their inner world. Follow me on Facebook for more information! Read more from Lynn!

Written by: Paul L. Glover , 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 Plan, God Laughs.” — Yiddish Proverb. Never has this proverb been more apropos. As Executive Team Leaders in my coaching program reflect on the first half of 2021, we discuss how the pandemic made 2020 goals irrelevant. And one universal 2020 goal was to increase the number of performance reviews with their Team Members. But not a single performance review was conducted in 2020! And that’s good since the last thing a Team Member needed in 2020 was a performance review because: Every Team Member was working harder, even if it was from home. Team Members couldn’t escape from the stress at work because their family was feeling the stress of living in the economic and health pandemic pressure cooker. “The Future Depends on What We Do in the Present.” — Gandhi Flash forward to the present: the post-pandemic economy is booming, the labor market is in chaos with millions of employees leaving their jobs, leaving many teams short-handed, while Team Leaders need to ensure, for the remainder of 2021 and beyond, their Team remains as productive as possible. Under these circumstances, a performance review focused on telling Team Members they need to do better or do more can be a morale killer. However, that doesn’t mean a review is not needed to set the stage for improved performance for the remainder of the year. But, instead of a performance review, it needs to be an Appreciation Review. An Appreciation Review review is about the Team Leader personally telling every Team Member not only how much they appreciate the effort they have shown for the first half of the year but also prepares the entire Team for the rest of 2021 and beyond. “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” — Yogi Berra The 8 Features of a Successful Appreciation Review (In-Person or Virtual) Because an Appreciation Review is about coaching and leading, not managing, it’s outside the comfort zone of most Team Leaders. To assist Team Leaders to grow their comfort zone, here are the 8 elements of an impactful Appreciation Review: 1. Say Thank You: Give them a virtual hug! Each Team Member needs to hear how much their effort and work are appreciated during these unprecedented difficult times. And be specific: identify three instances where their effort made a difference to the Team’s success. 2. Be Energetic : C.E.O. stands for “Chief Energy Officer.” Team Leaders can energize Team Members by transmitting positive energy to them as they interact with each Team Member during the review. This transfer of energy will have a cascading impact, moving from Team Member to Team Member. Transfer energy by being positive, smiling, being enthusiastic, using positive words, and open body language. 3. Be Empathetic : Understanding the needs of others, caring about how they feel, and being supportive creates trust and strengthens relationships. This means being in the moment with them, paying attention to their words, body language, and tone of voice. Ask how they are doing and what challenges they and their families are facing. Show concern for their well-being by committing to keeping them safe in the workplace. 4. Be Hopeful : Without hope, Team Members’ excess stress will cause burnout. Team Members need to hear this situation will pass and the future will be better. Because Team Leaders are the model, and h ope is contagious if the Team Leader exhibits hope, so will Team Members. Exhibiting hope requires Team Leaders to be truthful, not overly optimistic, and provide a realistic version of the future. Accomplish this by expressing confidence in the ability of each Team Member to help overcome the Team’s challenges and, with the input of the Team, set realistic goals. This also means encouraging Team Members to revisit their own developmental goals. 5. Use Humor : Don’t try to be a stand-up comedian, but recognize humor helps people cope with difficult situations. If, as you conduct the Appreciation Review, you can make a Team Member laugh or smile with a short, amusing story, highlighting the frustrations and inconveniences you are both experiencing, you immediately reduce their level of stress and let them know you are in this together. 6. Be a Better Communicator : During this time of high stress and anxiety, more communication is needed! Establishing a consistent communication program is required to meet the needs of individual Team Members for relevant information. This includes, where appropriate, expressing daily appreciation for the work being performed by Team Members and making the Appreciation Review at least a quarterly ritual. 7. Provide Resources & Remove Barriers : Ask what resources Team Members need to do their job easier/better and provide them. Ask what internal procedures and policies are barriers to work being done effectively and efficiently and eliminate them. 8. Words Matter, but Action Creates a Memorable Moment : At the conclusion of the Appreciation Review, after again expressing gratitude for the hard work the Team Member has contributed to the Team’s success, give them a financial expression of that gratitude. While there are a plethora of ways to do this, I recommend a gift card for the Team Members and their families. Coming directly from the Team Leader, this does much to ensure the Team Member is engaged and committed to making the remainder of 2021 a success. “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.” — William James The Value of a Successful Appreciation Review The Gallup’s 2021 employee engagement poll found only 36% of employees are actively engaged! This low number is unacceptable at any time, but it takes on heightened significance when polls show up to 40% of the workforce is considering changing jobs. Under these circumstances, which can seriously hinder the ability of the organization to take advantage of the opportunities an ongoing robust economy may present, an impactful Appreciation Review can be the deciding factor that increases engagement, commitment AND retention and, therefore, improves the odds the organization will not only survive post-pandemic but will also thrive. Want to learn more from Paul? Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit his website. Paul L. Glover, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Paul is known as The No B.S. Workplace Performance Coach. For the last 30 years, his mission has been to assist Executives, Team Leaders, and their organizations in achieving their full potential. His approach is practical, hands-on, grounded in the realities of the real world of work, and very results-oriented – but all applied with a sense of humor and panache. Paul is also a "recovering trial lawyer," a Chicago Bears fanatic, an unabashed Starbucks addict, and the author of WorkQuake™, a book dedicated to how to thrive in the Information Economy and a Member of the Forbes Coaching Council.

Written by: Mona AlHebsi, 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 concept of “Career Break” is becoming a popular phenomenon increasingly among both men and women, especially with the current large millennial workforce population. According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, 37% of females and 24% of males “highly qualified professionals” left their careers at some stage, most with the intention of returning. Generally speaking, women may require a career break to take care of children or elderly family members, while men usually step out of their existing careers to switch careers, obtain additional training, or start their own business. This is especially true during and post COVID-19 period when many people across the globe were forced into taking time off work to think about what else they can do with their time. Around one year back, I’ve decided to step out from my highly rewarding career to take care of my newly born baby and take time to do some self-reflection. In this article, I’d like to share 5 takeaways from my career break experience. 1. I needed some rest! After 15 years of a fruitful career journey, I realized that I need to take some time off to rejuvenate. The birth of my first baby was a great universal message to me that it’s the right timing for a career break. No matter how much I loved my job and enjoyed my working life, after some time, I felt the need to leave my fears behind and be courageous to step out to think about my life in a broader context. The long work schedules and professional responsibilities may not permit you to disconnect and reflect, even though such long intervals are quite essential for our overall wellbeing. If you utilize it properly, a career break can give you the ultimate opportunity to replenish your energy, calm your mind, recharge your motivation, and rearrange your priorities. If your weekend or the 1-month long vacation leave is not enough for you anymore, it may be a good sign to think seriously about a career break! 2. It’s good to try new things! Maintaining the same routine or lifestyle for years can make you feel like a machine and make your life dull. Taking time off to engage in new activities will allow you to view your career or field or even life in a totally new way. Transitioning from a full-time senior director in a reputable luxury brand to a full-time homemaker and mother was a big shift for me. As much as this move has brought a lot of excitement in my life for all the new things that I can do, it equally compelled me to adopt a new mindset and identity to make the best out of this new chapter of my life. The career break experience allowed me to create a new routine as a mother, play new roles, try new things, let go of old ways and beliefs, and know more about myself away from titles and positions. The experience has been rather expansive with a lot of ups and downs and helped me broaden my horizons about how I view myself in light of my new responsibilities while integrating and building on what I’ve worked hard to build all these years to have a good life. 3. Motherhood is an amazing experience! Being someone who is intellectually stimulated by continuous learning, my child is introducing me to new ways of constantly learning and adapting to new situations. I must admit that motherhood can be a very demanding and tedious task to undertake, especially when it’s your first time. However, it can end up being one of the most rewarding things in life due to the ongoing learning and molding the mother and the child goes through together during the process. It’s all about unlearning many of our old patterns and relearning new behaviors, habits and seeing things from new perspectives. Baby Khalid continues to teach me patience, curiosity, sharp observation, being selfless yet determined, having fun, and letting go. He continues to teach me amazing things day by day. I’m grateful for all the great and the not-so-great moments that the baby and I have shared together and that my career break allowed me to spend these precious moments to see my child growing in front of me from day 1. 4. Get to know me better! Even though I’ve always described myself as being a self-aware individual to a high degree, my interactions with baby Khalid and self-contemplation during my alone time showed me how much I’m yet to learn about myself! I’ve read once that our children are angels who come to our lives to heal us, but we can only benefit from this immense healing power if we understood the messages that our children bring to our lives. I’ve learned during my time-out experience about my qualities & strengths and how to apply them in my current life context, my triggers & fears, and how they started surfacing in my most vulnerable circumstances requiring me to accept them then learn the right techniques to deal with them. A lot of questions came up to me during this period, including but not limited to: Who is Mona away from her career accomplishments? How else I can add value and benefit others while not working? How to apply what I know in new contexts? Will it work? What new skills that I need to learn to make the most out of this new life experience? 5. I know what I really want! Now that I’ve taken sufficient time away from work, I know one thing for sure, I love hospitality, and I miss being around people! I believe my career in a service-centric sector, i.e., hospitality gave me deep fulfillment and enabled me to experience and provide a lot of things that I love and constitute core values to me like exclusivity, service, learning, achievements, quality, etc. It also exposed me to new challenges on which I can thrive, innovate, and contribute to something bigger. I learned from different people from various nationalities and backgrounds and had many opportunities to help my colleagues and make them smile . I guess this is what has made my working life rich and rewarding. My people-oriented career in hospitality has enabled me to give back to my community in the most amazing ways one can think of. Whether it’s utilizing my capabilities and intelligence to make my workplace a better place for stakeholders, coaching, mentoring, and developing young talent in my industry, or striving to set the benchmark for excellence and best practice in my field and industry used to all to make me feel very fulfilled and worthwhile at the end of the day and stimulate me to think of more creative ways to contribute and make a difference. In a nutshell, taking this much-needed career break allowed me the opportunity to disconnect, contemplate, re-evaluate, and restart stronger and with more clarity and maturity. A well-planned and rightly utilized career break will give you the space to determine your future direction and can end up being an extremely valuable experience. As the popular saying goes: “sometimes you have to get away to come back stronger .” If you find yourself struggling to overcome toxic work patterns and feel stuck in a mediocre job, know that you are not alone. Career & Success Coaches like myself can help you be aware of your blind spots while guiding you towards career options that will make you achieve personal effectiveness and fulfillment. You can email me at info@monaalhebsi.com . For more personal effectiveness and career success tips, visit my website . Connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on Instagram , Twitter & Facebook ! You can also subscribe to my channel on YouTube . Read more from Mona! Mona AlHebsi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Mona AlHebsi, is an Award-Winning Hotelier, HR Practitioner, Success Coach, Renowned Author, and Speaker. She has recently been named “Most Influential Woman in Hospitality Human Capital” and "Inspirational Female Leader" due to her eminent contributions to the hospitality industry and Human Resources profession. Through her book “Beat The Odds,” Mona aims to provide a roadmap to all hoteliers and working professionals on making their work a vehicle to delivering excellence and achieving astounding success. She instinctively knows how to ignite the courage in others to stay true to their values and capitalize on their strengths, which will ultimately steer them towards success and fulfillment. Mona's life mantra is, "The more odds you beat, the greater will be your feat!"

Written by: Lee-Anne Mendel , 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. Are you feeling good? Do you feel your best? Are you feeling in flow? Are you living your best life aligned and on purpose? When we feel good, we vibrate at a higher frequency and that’s when the universe responds to us. What you put out there is what you will get back. We call this the “Law of Attraction.” You’ll be amazed at what you attract after you start believing in what you deserve. The universe listens. Your thoughts create your reality. What you feel you will attract. Be mindful of what you are saying as this energy transforms to create whatever you want or don’t want. “The standard of success in life is not the money or the stuff – the standard of success is absolutely the amount of joy you feel” – Esther and Jerry Hicks In the last 51/2 years, I have been on my own personal journey of transformation. It’s been a rollercoaster ride of triggers that I have had to heal and continue to heal at a soul level. Many people along the way have asked me what does this looks like? My answer is that it’s not just one healing or quick-fix ritual with a spiritual guru or reiki master. It takes consistent effort, a daily commitment and discipline to show up no matter what each and every single day, even when you don’t feel like it. Most importantly, it is to know your worth and to love yourself enough at the core to care about your wellbeing. When your mind, body and spirit are working in harmony, that’s when we feel our best. This journey we are on is full of different experiences and in order to get from where you are to where you want to be, it starts with you! Change starts with you, it starts within. Nobody is responsible for your happiness or outcome. You have to take 100% responsibility. It’s about choosing how you respond, healing at a soul level and playing the victor, not the victim, in this game called life. You attract who you are, not what you want. So, I ask you today – how are you really actually feeling? How are you showing up every day? Feeling good about yourself is the secret. It’s that simple. However, in reality, it is not always that easy. What I have learned is that when we can take any negative situation and look at it thru the lens of love, turning it into a positive this is what keeps our vibration and energy high, and this, in turn, will work for us and our highest good. It may not present itself in the timeframe we would like, but we have to have faith that what we desire and already exists. Trusting the outcome. The Universe has your back. I chose to affirm what I wanted not only by visualization but also by being grateful for what I already had and then writing it down daily. Ask it is given the universe listens literally played out in my life this year and it can do the same in yours. Here are my Top 10 Tips on how to manifest what you ask for: Vision – be crystal clear on what you want and what you don’t want to create for your life. Create a vision board of pictures, quotes, affirmations that depict this reality, or create a keepsake box where you can add these photos into. I love to even create a wallpaper as a screensaver on my mobile phone, so I can see it all the time. Be grateful for what you already have – appreciation is the highest level of frequency. Daily Habits - show up and work on yourself daily. This includes self-care rituals like meditation, breath work, journaling, prayer, listening to inspirational podcasts, audios, or personal development books to expand your mind, body and spirit. Virtual Reality – visualize a positive pleasant experience and practice aligning your vibration to your desires. Imagine yourself thriving and feeling your best. Focus on the location, the people, the smell, the sights, the sounds and how good you feel. Connect to Source, Divine, God, Nature whatever works for you. Like a mobile phone needs to be charged every day to work at optimum, so do we. This is a great way to tame the ego and be more heart-centered as we go about our day. Choose your thoughts - be mindful of what you speak. The ego loves to be in control so learn to quieten that inner critic that sabotages you. Forgiveness – let go of what no longer serves you. Decide – change starts with you. It’s up to you, nobody else to create your best life. Decide what you would like to experience and believe it’s possible for you, own it, feel it, see it, believe it, then you will receive it. Allow Abundance – instead of earning it, allow it. Your actions aren’t the cause of abundance. Your abundance is in response to your vibration. Love yourself and believe you are worthy of what you want. Some great positive affirmations I like to use include: “I allow the Universe to surprise with new positive experiences” “If I put my mind to it, I achieve it” “I am a magnet of miracles” In conclusion, I challenge you to consider your thoughts and feelings. You are not defined by your past, circumstances, events, people or situations. You have the inner strength to create your own reality and life that you so truly are worthy and deserving of. You are here to heal, grow, learn and expand and by so doing attract all the magnificent positive things into your life that already exist. It’s yours for the taking. You can absolutely achieve your dreams and manifest what you heart desires. Believe it. Believe in you. Ask for it. Allow, have faith and trust the process. The universe listens. For more info, follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit my website ! Read more from Lee-Anne ! Lee-Anne Mendel, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lee-Anne Mendel is a Holistic Beauty Coach, Professional Makeup Artist and Health and Wellness Advocate for vegan toxic-free and cruelty-free skincare, beauty and nutritional supplements. Lee-Anne’s coaching approach is a holistic one as she believes once you have your mind, body and soul all working in harmony that’s when you can become the best version of you and live a fulfilled life aligned and on purpose. She is passionate about supporting woman to awaken their Divine Inner Goddess, to tap into their own inner beauty and divine feminine, discover their true authentic self and ignite the spark and light within so they can glow bright, look and feel their best from the inside and out and be confident and comfortable in their own skin. Lee-Anne graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Degree in both Industrial Psychology and Economics and spent 15 years working in IT Distribution and Corporate. She emigrated to Sydney Australia in 2000 where she now resides with her family. In 2020 she traveled to India on a spiritual retreat and studied a Practitioner course in Love Soul Healing. She uses her own wisdom, healing experiences and self-love journey of Divine Transformation to support her clients through both 1:1 coaching and groups. Contribution is big on her heart as she spends time sharing her skills and passion with others and raising money for charity.

Written by: Laurence Nicholson, 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 have all done it. And most likely still do. What am I talking about, and can we learn to understand how to deal with this more effectively? Let’s define this by considering an all too familiar scenario: You have been given a new department to manage, and are on your way to your first meeting to put forward your thoughts on improvements to the Executive Team. You are unsure where the room is, so you ask for directions from another member of staff you pass. As you start to follow the directions, your phone rings, and it is a supplier who is looking for an update on a proposal, and you have to tell them they have been unsuccessful. You realize you have not been paying attention to where you have been walking and are lost, not knowing where the room is, and you rush to end the call, and after getting your bearings, eventually arriving 5 minutes late, and annoyed with yourself. You make your apologies and join the meeting. A few minutes in, and your phone vibrates (you feel you have to be ‘always on’ after being promoted because you worry you might miss something urgent if it is turned off) with notification of an email from the successful bidder, needing the contract meeting rescheduled, and you reply immediately, half-listening to the current meeting. You feel a little anxious and sick, trying to do both activities. Your brain is showing signs of struggling. The supplier sends a response quickly, to which you type a quick reply, only to realize the room has gone quiet, and the execs are looking at you, waiting. The CEO has asked you to give a brief introduction and a summary of your initial thoughts around how you might improve the department you have taken over, and is waiting. You stumble out some vague introduction, already concerned about how this is looking as you are a typically a clear and concise speaker. Your first meeting has not gone well! So, what is going on here? Firstly, your pre-frontal cortex limitation has been the culprit here. There is a limit to how much information you can hold in your focus at any one time, but also a limit in what you can do with that information, and stretching these limits will result in reductions in the accuracy and quality of the outcome. You can hold several ‘chunks’ of information in your mind at once, however, you can only perform one conscious process on them at a time, without a serious performance impact. In fact, your pre-frontal cortex performs the following conscious processes: Understanding This involves new maps being created in the pre-frontal cortex of the new information and connecting these to existing ones. Deciding This requires the activation of a number of existing maps and selecting between them. The number of maps involved is in the billions, if not trillions. Recalling This requires searching billions of maps involved in memory, in order to bring the correct ones into mind. Memorizing This requires these maps to be held in your pre-frontal cortex long enough to embed them into long-term memory. Inhibiting This energy hungry process involves preventing certain maps from getting activated and wasting vital energy and space. Think of this as the security guard, keeping unnecessary thoughts and information out, to avoid interruptions and overloading. Each of these 5 conscious processes involves complex manipulations of billions of neurological circuits, and generally, you have to finish one process before you can begin the next, because each uses an incredible amount of energy and, many of the same circuits. Now, this is all getting a bit technical, so to bring this to life, let’s think of the brain as an operations room, overseeing the factory floor workforce, and we will apply this metaphor regularly, as we go through the rest of this topic. The operations room (your pre-frontal cortex) takes a lot of energy to run, is powered by battery units that run down quickly, and can only hold a handful of ‘operators’ who can only carry out one scenario at a time. You will recognize this, when you consider the act of driving; you find it easier to talk with a friend in the car if the route is well known and you don’t have to pay attention to it. Try this on a new route across the city, and you will either struggle with the conversation or find yourself lost. Your pre-frontal cortex is overwhelmed with trying to maintain a conversation, at the same time as paying attention and focus on a new route. From a scientific aspect, in the 1980’s Harold Pashler showed that when he set people to doing two cognitive tasks simultaneously, their cognitive capacity dropped from their being university educated professionals, to that of an 8-year-old! This is known as ‘Dual-Task Interference.’ A further study by the University of London, found that constant use of digital messages with no break, reduced normal mental capability by an average of 10 IQ points, which is similar to the effect of missing a night’s sleep. Not a fun prospect and a little ironic, considering digital messaging is widely considered as a so called ‘productivity’ tool, yet it can actually reduce your IQ, if not used in an appropriate manner to support or be sympathetic to your brain’s way of working. In addition to this IQ drop, the concept of ‘always on,’ touted as another hyper-productivity tool, is not actually productive either, because you are forcing your brain to be ‘alert’ for far too much time, increasing what is called your ‘allostatic load,’ which is a measure of your stress hormones relating to a sense of threat. The resulting constant feeling of crisis or threat perception, by being ‘always on,’ has an inevitable impact. Consider also the fact that as a concept, accepting being ‘always on’ into your operations room, is easier, or sits easier on your anxiety meter with regards to potential perceived consequences, than switching off digital messaging for periods of time. In actual fact, the impact of a 24/7 always on behavior, is a highly negative effect on your mental performance, exacerbated by the higher number of messages you will receive, as people realize you are always available, thereby worsening the impact. This extended, almost never-ending, day for your brain, and the above compounding effect of increasing messaging and activity, typically trends towards what people consider as ‘multi-tasking’ (which is actually mentally impossible, because of the previously explained conscious processes limitation), which is really rapid constant switching of focus, which uses up additional working memory as you try to hold all the things not being focused on, in the background, thus reducing any energy and resources for the thing you are focusing on. In our metaphorical operations room, imagine having 4 shifts of ‘operators’ constantly running in and out, each shift working on a different activity, with ‘handovers’ on the way in and out. Clearly not efficient and burning through those battery packs rapidly. Something will have to give. So, what can you do to improve this? You could: Automate more of what you do. This is like getting menial, repetitive tasks to be carried out by the factory floor workers, so this is removed from the operations room. An example is setting up email response templates that are linked to key-strokes and can be issued rapidly, such as “I have received your message and am looking into it.” This will become a habitual response when trying to focus, and so will be embedded as a reaction in your system 1 limbic brain, which uses very little energy and has huge resources available. Get the information into the pre-frontal cortex in a better order, allowing it to be there when needed and then released from using energy when not in use. This is scheduling your operators to be in the operations room only when they are needed and on shift, thus optimizing the way your pre-frontal cortex and conscious processing works (which is serial, not parallel), to avoid the bottleneck. The sets of unfinished connections an unprioritized system creates, takes up mental energy as they wait for all prerequisite information to be available, often coming from other decisions not yet made. Use dependency mapping to determine decision order, to ensure data is readily available for those decisions as they need to be made. Those ‘operators’ can then leave the operations room after their input has been delivered, keeping it uncrowded and free-flowing. Mix up your attention, to consciously limit the time you spend across a number of activities, deciding how long you can split your attention before returning to a primary focus. An example is having a set period(s) when your email/messaging is on, when you would not schedule any activity which would require focus. This would effectively be like having a break on the factory floor, when operators can come in and out of the operations room, without impacting any focused factory floor activity. Basically, don’t allow distractions whilst concentrating. Replaying our original scenario using these techniques would see a different outcome; the call whilst looking for the meeting room, could have been left to voicemail, enabling you to be on time for your first executive meeting. You could have looked at the meeting agenda to work out when, if it was absolutely necessary, you could split your attention and check messages whilst keeping a partial focus on the meeting, switching off devices again for those agenda items which need your full attention, such as presenting your introduction and improvement plan to the executive team, creating a much better initial impression. In short, Notice when you are trying to do too many things, and consciously slow down, focusing on the prioritized things. Get as many repetitive tasks embedded as a habit, moving them into your powerful system 1 limbic brain, to move them out of your energy hungry, limited resource system 2 pre-frontal cortex. Prioritize and get decisions to be made in the right order to avoid bottlenecks. If you have to do multiple task switching, combine heavy cognitive load ‘thinking’ tasks with those less demanding reactionary tasks, like checking email and messaging inboxes. Next time we will look into how to survive the morning email avalanche. Follow me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Laurence! Laurence Nicholson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laurence Nicholson is the CEO and founder of the N Cubed Group, My Better Life – Mind Coaching, and Exec Mental Health Solutions, through which he works with both Corporate clients and individuals to improve and optimize mental health, performance, and resilience, to realize measurable improvements in business and personal productivity and decision making. A Mind Coach, certified as a Corporate Mental Health Facilitator, holding 'Distinction' grade certifications in Life Coaching, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychoanalysis, Depression Counselling, Anger and Aggression Management Counselling, Criminal Psychology, Forensic Psychology, and Corporate Wellness Coaching, Laurence is also trained in Corporate Coaching and Mentoring, Behavioural Analysis, and to the expert level in non-verbal deception detection and analysis. He had spent over 35 years working across corporate environments as both a consultant and leader, and when he was first sent abroad for work way back in the 1990s, he became fascinated by how different people and cultures think and behave in different ways under the same conditions, and quickly became addicted to immersing himself within local environments, to get a true experience of thought processes and event-behavior associations. Human psychology and behavioral patterns became his passion, and he used his corporate consulting work as a way to enable him to travel extensively and to study wide and diverse behaviors, and investigate the ‘how and why’ of our brain’s processes, and more importantly the impacts of stress and change on people, universally. His business education and experience as an advisor and consultant in procurement, finance, law, information technology, organizational change, and executive management, combines with his life experiences and numerous culturally immersive experiences from working in over 14 countries around the world, to provide what his clients consider as a unique appreciation of their individual circumstances. Laurence aligns himself with Jungian psychodynamic theory, with its spiritual element, supporting this as a certified and attuned Reiki Master Teacher and a Certified Meditation Teacher.

Written by: Gurpreet Kaur, 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. Let’s start with this question. Why is it even important to assess if our pride level is healthy or not? Let’s find out. The research indicates that there are two types of pride: of course, healthy and unhealthy. We will go through the examples in a bit so hang tight. Let’s first talk about how pride can actually hurt you and keep you away from your goal of living each day to the fullest. I know it is a sensitive topic, and I will do my best to be as gentle as I can when pointing out “unhealthy pride” that can get in the way of your emotional freedom. And I also know that a lot of us wear pride like a badge of honor, but would you really have that badge or peace of mind? That really is the purpose of this episode. I want you to be really honest with yourself as we go through the examples so you can decide what is really serving you or not. So, what is pride? By definition, it is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements or someone closely related or associated. It’s to be proud. As I mentioned earlier, there is healthy and unhealthy pride. As you can imagine, healthy pride is grounded in being proud of your achievements and successes but yet with humility. And humility is being free of pride or arrogance. Unhealthy pride is what research mentions as hubristic or excessively proud or confident. The unhealthy pride is based on low self-worth and is shame-driven. And that’s when you would be critical or judge others to feel better about yourself. Now, most of the time, we think of arrogant or haughty people when we think of being prideful. Not so easily, my friend. Pride gets us all, and it can really ruin your positive state of mind, especially when you are trying to be easy, loving, and non-judgmental towards yourself. First, I will share my own example here to make the point, and then we will review the subtle ways pride is keeping you away from being the authentically confident person with high true Self-worth. Most of the time, I consider myself a humble person, especially because I am aware of the dangers of being prideful at the back of my head. So, I would consciously be mindful not to sound arrogant or obviously prideful. But it still was present in my behaviors so subtly. I consider myself a very quality-oriented person. I do things with depth, and you can expect high-quality work from me, whether I am counseling, writing a blog, or cleaning the bathroom. I still can feel pride in this quality and unconsciously hurt people or drive them away. For example, cleaning the bathroom. My husband can clean the whole house in 2 hours, and I can easily spend more than 2 hours just in a bathroom. Sure, enough I do a really thorough job, and I am proud of that because I don’t have to do it often because it lasts longer. A thorough, excellent job done lasts a little longer than just an okay well-done job. Right? First of all, I now realize that it should not take 2 hours to clean a bathroom. But more than that, I was hurting my husband’s feelings each time I would throw that “excellent job done” in his face. Actually, the true realization was when I realized that I am not any less of a person if I didn’t do an excellent job. That felt freeing. I could just do an acceptable amount of work for the bathroom to be cleaned. It doesn’t have to be sparklingly clean. All this was coming from my perfectionist tendencies. Yup, our good old friend perfectionism. It is good to be proud of who you are and what you become, but it is not good to base your self-worth on what you have achieved. That type of pride can ruin relationships. It hurt my husband to hear that he would not do as thorough of a job as I can. He is just simply not built that way. He is not less of a person if he doesn’t have the eye for that quality. And I am not more of a person if I can. This pride has shown her ugly face in other areas of my life where I felt pride in “doing everything on my own and not asking for help.” I drove myself crazy because I felt I only could do that job that way. Who can relate? So, your pride is not doing you any favor, my friend. It is not healthy for your emotional well-being. You will have to learn to let go of your pride if you want to sustain a healthy and happy mind. Here are some subtle signs of pride ruining your life: Being too proud to ask for help. Being independent is different than feeling hurt and not asking for help. Or, yet worse, letting your loved ones or kids suffer because you don’t want to ask for help. Disregarding the advice. If you consistently disregard others’ advice, that might be a sign that you are prideful. Your behavior shows that you are uncomfortable living or adapting to the information you are receiving. That can be dangerous for your mental health. Being critical. If you are being too critical of others or judging them so you can feel better about yourself, that means pride is present. Now all this could be unconscious, but it still is impacting your emotional health. In reality, what you are judging others with is really your own judgments of yourself. So, pay attention to that. Need attention. If you constantly need others' attention or need others’ affirmation, you don’t have a good base for true self-worth. If you need others’ paise or attention for all that you are doing, that means you are not really content and satisfied with who you are. Not teachable. By this, I mean when you assume you already know something when someone is teaching you. I feel this type of attitude is present in people when they are afraid of being vulnerable. They don’t want to admit that they are wrong because that is going to highlight their limitations, and they are already not comfortable with what they already know. When this happens, try to be open-minded about it. Can’t receive constructive criticism. We all can struggle with receiving constructive feedback or criticism, but individuals with high pride can be extra sensitive because their sense of worth is based on pride. Similar to the last point, when someone struggles with receiving feedback, they don’t want to face the unknown. When you struggle with other people providing you helpful feedback about your life, you immediately shut them down by saying, “you are not in my shoe.” Or “I already know this, but I can’t do it because of _____.” Fill in the blank. Just becoming aware of this can be very helpful to notice low self-esteem. Obsessing over physical appearance. If you are constantly obsessed with your physical look or, in general, what others think of you, pride is there in the form of you obsessing over yourself. The point here is that you are still thinking about yourself because you feel you are not enough just the way you are. Blocking communication. If you blow people off and do not respond to them, you are in your head minimize the importance of this person, thinking you can’t waste your precious time on this person or conversation. Yes, in today’s world, we all are busy, and time is a real commodity, but you have to be really honest with yourself here about the reason you were not responding. If you dig deeper and be honest, you might find fears you are not ready to face. Instead, work on overthinking, self-criticism, and negative self-talk to overcome repressed emotions. There you have it! Some subtle ways how pride is keeping you unhappy. And it is grounded in perfectionism. I am guilty of it. Recently, I had to let go of a lot of the things I used to be very proud of that did not serve me well to be happy in life. I don’t need to be the quality controller if it’s not helping me be happy or move towards it, at least. It is doable to let go of these things with being a little open-minded towards the process. I had no idea pride was hurting me instead of helping me. Not accepting help from others. Thinking you can do it all. Feeling you don’t want anybody to pity you. All that is not serving you well. It really isn’t. Here’s the thing, you are only one of you, and you happen to be a human. Humans have emotional, physical, and social needs. So, you too have those needs. However, you would like to think that you are a superwoman, but you really are not because you are struggling. You can be! Absolutely! But for that to happen, you have to take care of yourself. You can’t be waking up at 5 am and going to bed at 11 pm and working every minute in between. You have to learn to call out sometimes. It might feel counterintuitive to you but trust me on this. You feel irritated, frustrated, and overwhelmed when you are burning your candle on both ends. It’s not sustainable. Feeling irritable, frustrated, overwhelmed, exhausted, and not happy despite all that you do are the signs that you need to let go of your pride and change some things in your life. Now, before I let you go, I want to give you the antidote to pride. And it is Humility. Being humble is the antidote to being prideful. By that, I mean, don’t measure your self-worth with your achievements. Don’t compare yourself with others for good or bad. Don’t judge or criticize someone else to make you feel better. Catch yourself when you are doing it and make every effort to stop it right there. You can also practice Attitude of Gratitude, and it is very helpful. You are a beautiful human being just the way you are. No achievements are needed for you to be humble. You are loved no matter what. Be proud of that, not just the achievements. Fill up that void with true self-love, not just the achievements that you end up fearing being taken away. Follow Gurpreet on her Facebook, Instagram and visit her website for more info! Read more from Gurpreet! Gurpreet Kaur, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Gurpreet Kaur is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Life Coach, Speaker, and an Author. Dr. Kaur is very passionate about self-love, self-empowerment, wellness, reaching the full potential, and applying quantum mechanics principles to daily life. Dr. Kaur teaches a step-by-step self-care process to live a mentally and emotionally healthy life.

Written by: Richa Chandra, 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. Even though it seems like social media makes it easy to build your personal and business brand fast. One still has to follow the 7 laws of branding to building personal and business brands. It can take years, if not decades, to build a brand that people love and are loyal to because it takes time to build trust. I follow all the laws, and I teach my clients to follow the 7 laws of branding for a steady and fast growth; The Law of Contraction The Law of Publicity The Law of Advertising The Law of Decision making The Law of Credentials Law of Consistency and Singularity Law of Meaning and Mortality In the last article, I covered the first law. Let’s look closer at the second law: 2. The Law of Publicity Publicity is the birth of your brand. The moment you make your brand public, you are declaring your values and your vision. When people can resonate with the values or the vision, they start caring about the brand. Also, trust is built. The focus of publicity is to create awareness around the brand. Publicity is the activity of providing information about a business, service, product, or individual to make it popular. That could be done by using the traditional media, as being featured in magazines, published in papers, or reviews by customers. Or the new media sources like podcasts, blogs, emails, and websites. Publicity is not paid promotion, and it is not for a targeted but for a broader audience. It is a way for mass communication to a larger audience for the main purpose of visibility. Publicity can both be negative and positive since that is something that the company does not have entire control over. It can break or make the brand's credibility. That is why I don’t agree with the statement that “All publicity is good publicity.” A negative review and bad publicity can do a lot of damage, and it usually takes a lot of effort to correct it or rebuild the trust. The best way to build and keep the trust is by having as many testimonials as possible. Good and positive testimonials can often be the best publicity you can have. But this is often limited to the services or products the customers have tried and gotten good experience or results with. When it comes to testimonials for the brand of a company or individual, you have brand ambassadors or experts in the field or industry. There is no direct connection between sales and publicity, but it is a strategy to build good public relations. Good public relations build trust, awareness which in return created raving fans and loyal customers. Another intent of publicity is to create awareness of opportunities and possibilities for collaborations. This is often achieved by a brand story or clearly talking about the company’s goals and vision for what need you are filling in the market or what demand you are meeting. This makes it easier for other companies to relate and to express the desire to collaborate. In conclusion; Publicity is an action taken to create awareness or get visibility so a larger audience can understand and see the brand, being a business or personal brand. There can be many ways to communicate and many various media that can be used to communicate the message in order to build trust for the brand. It can come from the company itself or can be done by a third party depending on the message, the marketplace, and the intention of the publicity. For more info, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit my website! Read more from Richa! Richa Chandra, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine ‘Fears don’t define us, but how we face them, does that!’ This is the mantra of Award winner ( Most aspirational businesswomen, Norway 2019) Richa Chandra lives by. She is actually the driving force and face behind the success and visibility of many coaches, entrepreneurs, and workshops. In 2015, Richa faced a hostile takeover of her company and lost everything, but in just a few months, without any hesitation, she started 3 new businesses. She has written 3 books that have become the main Norwegian textbooks in teaching Indian Dance and Proven benefits of Meditation (2019).

Written by: Sarah Jones, 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 mindset from which we operate has an immense impact on every aspect of our lives—our health, relationships, careers, and most importantly, our sense of self-worth. The beliefs we harbor about ourselves create a filter, influencing our perception and affecting how we react and respond to challenges. Your mindset is detrimental to achieving life goals, managing relationships, and becoming well-rounded, self-assured, and successful. We naturally develop either a fixed or open mindset in childhood, consisting of subconscious beliefs which ripple out throughout the course of our lives. One way to look at this is through the ‘Gifted Kid Burnout’ phenomenon. Children who show innate talent in a specific area often see low results in other subjects. It’s not because they’re incapable, but because they have developed the belief that they can only excel in subjects that come naturally to them. They often give up without trying or at the first sign of difficulty. These children struggle to adapt to challenges later in life, as they have developed a fixed mindset. They have learned to measure their success by the degree of natural talent instead of effort and hard work. In contrast, children who don’t excel naturally in a specific area are much more likely to learn the value of working hard and carry this mindset into the rest of their lives. They know that it takes effort to succeed. They embrace the learning curve and approach failure as an opportunity to develop themselves. They learn to learn, take risks, try new things, and don’t judge themselves on fixed personality characteristics. This reflects an open mindset, a habit every single one of us can cultivate. The mind is a muscle like any other— strengthening it just takes a little practice. The Fixed Mindset A fixed mindset is resistant to change. It knows what it can and can’t do and won’t be told otherwise. If a task takes too much effort, it is deemed a waste of time and energy. People will this mindset are fear-orientated, making them much less likely to take risks, dream big, and learn new things. Failures become a personal judgment, with self-esteem becoming prickly, defensive, and reactive. A difficult place from which to pursue success. If you find yourself full of doubts, constantly try to prove yourself, or judge yourself purely on traits such as intelligence and creativity, you are operating from a fixed mindset. What many fail to realize is that the mind is a muscle we can control. With a bit of effort, a fixed mindset can be transformed into an open mindset. The Open Mindset An open mindset is primed for growth, development, and transformation. There is less emphasis on natural ability and an understanding that human beings are built to learn and adapt. Those with an open mindset view personality traits as mutable and value the learning process as much as the outcome, if not more. They view challenges, setbacks, and failures as opportunities for growth, and are more likely to take risks, master new skills, and dream big. They are more receptive to feedback, seek continual improvement, and have a way of finding the silver lining to any setback. These are the creative problem-solvers, the quick thinkers, the adaptable, and the optimists, and they are much likely to achieve success and realize their dreams. How Mindset Helps Across Life Cultivating an open mindset is the gateway to a life of continuous development and self-mastery. You’re guaranteed to see a fast improvement in mood, adaptability, and problem-solving skills. With an open mindset, you are less likely to suffer depression and chronic stress, as you will have learned to lower expectations of yourself and others, becoming less judgemental in the process. You will understand that the goal is not perfection. The goal is growth. An open mindset will vastly improve your relationships as you release impossible standards of perfection and instead commit to doing the work through communication and compromise. By reframing challenges as opportunities for growth, you will no longer succumb to fear of failure as you being to operate from a relaxed and curious space. You will also find yourself much less concerned with what others think of you. Techniques to Change Your Mindset Countering the inner critic: Identify the inner critic—those nasty, nagging doubts that creep in. Narrow down the thought. Identify the root—the limiting belief. Counter the limiting belief. Question it. Transform the negative belief into a positive belief, even if it feels forced or wrong. Practice this every day. You are re-wiring your mind. It will soon become second nature. Transforming your general mindset: Find one positive side to every negative situation you encounter. Learn to see the silver lining. Embrace all your failures. Practice gratitude for the lessons learned. Lower expectations—for yourself and others. This takes the pressure off and frees you to take more risks and try new things. Speak to yourself the way you would a loved one. Try something you always thought you could never do, and see what happens… As the famous Buddhist quote says, ‘Mindset is the Ground of Everything’ Ask yourself where your mindset is – are you generally open or closed. Where do you tend to have more success in life – is your mindset different in that situation? Whilst I coach and help my clients with careers and leadership – so much of what I tackle is around self-belief, confidence, and Mindset. With the right mindset, you will overcome setbacks, learn new skills, continue to believe in yourself, and push yourself forwards despite circumstances. You will change relationships and results in your life. Follow me on Facebook , LinkedIn , and Instagram ! Read more from Sarah! Sarah Jones, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sarah Jones - Published author, speaker, accredited personal & executive coach helps motivated, ambitious professionals & executives improve their career, find a new career, and help teams accelerate success & performance. Due to significant early challenges in her own life, Sarah has always been tenacious, entrepreneurial & unafraid to speak her mind. At times being the only woman in the boardroom amongst international corporations in her early 30s, she is a beacon of strength for leaders and individuals. In Sarah’s former career, she was a leader in corporate affairs but founded Sarah-J Coaching to help individuals & leaders become their personal best in life and their careers. She is dubbed the phrase 'regroup, reboot, and reinvent' - a three-step change process - having helped pull out individuals from the trenches & into their own spotlight through her transformative and action-based coaching approach. Her book ‘From Vulnerable to Invincible’ helps readers identify how to step into their challenges, reframe & learn, to launch themselves to success. She also regularly contributes to the media such as BBC, The Guardian & Sky. She regularly speaks and has delivered empowering talks for Pearson Business School and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

Written by: Lisa M. Kindle, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. In high school, I had a teacher who would ask me every day, “Lisa, why don’t you smile?” When I didn’t answer, he would continue to get after me and ask again, “why don’t you smile?” I didn’t feel like smiling. I wasn’t really happy or confident in who I was yet. I didn’t feel well-liked by my peers or feel like I fit in. I was an artist, I liked school, and I spent all my free time practicing the cello. I’d see those golden girls radiating their smiles and wonder, “why not me?” What I’ve discovered nearly forty years later is that their “golden glow” came from within. The kind of glow comes from confidence in oneself. I would say I used to be more of a blue person in the sense that I was more introverted, quiet, and not very confident. I also went through periods of depression and panic attacks over the years. I now realize that I can be a shining light for others. You can employ colors in a way that promotes positive change in your life, just as I have over the years. I now thrive on leading groups and connecting with others around the globe. I have learned... I am a leader. I am a mentor and coach. I am an artist. I play my cello because it is part of who I am. I create art with special meaning. I am an encourager of others; I shine in knowing who I am. I have unique gifts to offer the world. I have a story to tell. I love inspiring people. I master at connecting people. I enjoy learning from others. I am a supporter of women. As an artist, I see things a little differently. People often ask me how I see certain things in nature when I’m out taking photos. Now, think of when someone asks you if you’ve ever heard of “such and such,” or a certain model of a car, or type of food. Suddenly, you notice it everywhere! It’s been like that for me with color. When I started to learn about the psychology behind color, it opened an amazing resource for me. In this article, I am focusing on the color yellow, the most attention-getting and brightest color your eyes can see. What is Yellow? The color yellow stimulates and promotes feelings of energy. Yellow is believed to stimulate areas of the brain that are directly linked to logical and analytical thinking. Yellow is also said to speed up metabolism. A Yellow Person Reflects…. Sunshine, happiness, fun, optimism, joy, friendship, creativity, laughter, an active nature, energetic, femininity, vivaciousness. Yellow descriptive words: radiate, glow, shine, light, warmth. Golden shades of yellow promise good times. Wear yellow when you need to pay attention to detail or maintain alertness. Feel happier when you wear yellow. When you think of yellow, think of all the possibilities of who you are and who you want to be. Be mindful of how the colors found in natural elements also provide a link to your well-being. The sun appears yellow and is known to provide us with vitamin D, which can boost our mood. The sun shines on us and warms our skin. The sun also feeds plants and makes them grow. Tilt your face up to feel the sunshine sometimes. Smile and enjoy the moment. This is yellow. Art Application: Use the color yellow to create an affirmation card. Take a 3x5 or 4x6 piece of heavy paper and gather some art supplies. Create an image using only hues of the color yellow. You don’t have to make any concrete shape, thing, or scene. Allow yourself to create shapes and play. On the back of your card, write an affirmation as you reflect on your “art.” Take a moment to reflect on this composition and ask yourself, “what does this say about me?” “What message does it have for me?” Start your statements with the words “I am.” Use the present tense. State it in the positive. Keep it brief. Make it specific. Include an action word ending in -ing. Include at least one emotion or feeling word. Make affirmation for yourself, not others. Use this exercise to transform the narrative around who you are, your mental health, bring healing, and overall well-being to your life. You have the ability to leverage the power of color to bring more joy into your life while improving your confidence and self-worth. I believe that each of us has a little bit of every color of the rainbow that makes us who we are. A unique and wonderful human being. To learn more about color and how it can help you, consider my signature workshop, Empower Yourself with Color: Create Your Own Color Affirmation Deck™. This is a 3-hour workshop. You will learn your life path color and its associated number while being provided with exercises and tools to dive deeper into how you can use color in your life to manifest your best self. You will also have the opportunity to work with Lisa to create your own Color Affirmation Deck.™ It is an amazing tool that inspires positivity and encourages you to reach your full potential. The Color Affirmation Deck™ has been created by Artist and Therapeutic Art Life Coach Lisa Kindle. Get more information at www.artsoulliving.com or contact her directly at lisa@artsoulliving.com. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram Read more from Lisa! Lisa M. Kindle, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lisa Kindle, a therapeutic art life coach and leader in building a creative community that inspires people worldwide, is dedicated to a creative lifestyle with a personable approach and an artsy twist! She now coaches one-on-one and in group settings, including retreats and workshops. With over 25 years of professional experience as a corporate designer, photographer, graphic designer, small business owner, and all-around visionary, Lisa's creative spirit shines through connecting people and ideas.

Written by: Michael Neill, 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 do Stress, Pressure, and Deadlines Really Have to Do with Productivity, Performance, and Results? Over the past 20 years, I have written and/or contributed material to a dozen bestselling books and over 1000 blog posts. And until a few years ago, there were two things I could absolutely guarantee would be part of my process. First, I knew I would make my deadlines. While I often would cross the finish line with less than fifteen minutes to spare, the book or blog was always where it needed to be on or before the last possible minute to be ready for publication. Second, I knew it would be stressful. Not continually and sometimes worse than at other times, but what seemed like the inevitable pressure of creating to a deadline created sufficient stress in my life and world that my wife would have to steel herself each time I accepted a new contract, knowing that when push came to shove she could kick me out of the house so I could go through the worst of it in a hotel instead of lying next to her in bed. The most extreme example of this came, ironically, when I was working as the developmental editor on a book about how to control stress. I took on the assignment with only six weeks to get the book from a puddle of possibilities to something tangible, coherent, and helpful; by the time we finished, I wanted to take not only my own life but the lives of most of the people around me. But as I gained more and more experience as a writer, I came to see that neither the pressure nor the stress that I associated with the process was coming from the deadline or the task at hand. Sometimes I would feel stressed months in advance of a deadline; other times, I would be coming down the home stretch with no feeling of pressure whatsoever. This insight came to a head a couple of years ago when I began working on the manuscript for a new book called Creating the Impossible. I had run public and corporate versions of the program for close to a decade, so I felt confident that this would be a relatively easy thing to write. I didn’t freak myself out at all as the delivery date approached, and even my wife commented on how calm I seemed. And then, for the first time ever, I missed a publication deadline. My publisher very kindly moved the release of the book back by a couple of months to give me more than enough time to finish. And then I missed the second delivery date as well. I felt oddly liberated, finally understanding the words of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, who said, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.” It was around that time that my agent phoned me to check in on how it was all going. “Great,” I replied. “I’ve never felt so chilled and at peace around missing a deadline.” “That’s wonderful,” he said with quiet humor in his voice. “How’s the book coming?” And that was the moment where I fell down the staircase of insight and bumped my head onto a couple of simple truths about the relationship between productivity, performance, results, stress, pressure, and deadlines. Our common cultural memes around performance are that what we do or don’t do is a huge determinant of how we feel, and how we feel in turn determines what we do. We feel pressure, stress, guilt, and shame when we’re not doing what we think we should, and we attempt to use those feelings to compel ourselves into action. But what I saw as clear as day was that what we do and how we feel are two completely independent variables. I’d had plenty of experiences of feeling stressed out and taking action; I now had an experience of not feeling stressed out and not taking action. But that didn’t mean that the two things had a cause-effect relationship. Here was the first truth: When it comes to productivity, performance, and results, pressure and stress are independent variables and the result of my own thinking, not the result of any external deadline. The more I caught myself pressuring myself and stressing myself out with scary thoughts about imaginary futures where I failed to meet my deadlines, the less real those scenarios began to seem. I recognized that there had been any number of times where I felt great and got a ton done and an equal number of times where I’d felt stressed and pressured and gotten a ton done. And while in this instance, my inactivity coincided with a feeling of ease and comfort, I had no shortage of examples of inactivity accompanied by feelings of discomfort. At some level, I already knew this. For over twenty years, my go-to move as a coach when a client complained about putting off a task as a symptom of procrastination was to ignore their complaint and tell them to call me back when the task was done. Inevitably, things that had previously seemed impossible for them to get themselves to do, like paying bills, having a difficult conversation, or getting started on a big project, found themselves getting done without anything having to change in my client’s psychology. But because I hadn’t seen the principles behind it, I thought of it as a cool trick — a way of getting people into action when it worked and annoying the heck out of them when it didn’t. I could now see a second incredibly practical truth: What gets done has pretty much everything to do with what we do and almost nothing to do with how we feel. So while conversations about getting better at managing the stress and pressure we see as being inherent in deadlines might be interesting, in and of itself, they won’t really help us get the job done. Whether our job is writing a book, hitting a golf ball, building a house, or building a business, our results will be largely a function of the writing, hitting, and building that we do regardless of how we happen to be feeling while we do it. Don’t get me wrong. I love the feeling of ease and flow that often accompany my work and would choose it ten times out of ten over the feelings of stress and pressure that sometimes show up in my scary and insecure thinking instead. But I also love that when it comes to getting things done in the world, I can do what there is to do regardless of how positive or “enlightened” I happen to be feeling from day to day. So if you’re struggling trying to meet a deadline or stressing out about the fact that they just keep “whooshing” past, here’s a simple rule of thumb you can follow: Every hour you put your energy and attention into the project itself will move the project forward; every hour you put your energy and attention into your thoughts and feelings about how the project is going will cost you time, energy, and attention (and generally contribute to feelings of stress, pressure, and discouragement). Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or visit my website for more info! Michael Neill, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Michael Neill is an internationally renowned leadership coach, author, speaker, and thought leader. He has worked with executives and teams from Disney, Google, Netflix, Pixar, Public Health England, and more, challenging the prevailing mythology that stress and struggle are prerequisites to creativity and success. His TEDx Talks, bestselling books, podcasts, keynotes, training, and retreats are designed to unleash the human potential with intelligence, humor, and heart and have inspired and impacted millions of people at the United Nations and on six continents around the world.

Written by: Sarah Lewis , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As an Intuitive Business Coach, a big part of my work with my clients is about helping them grow their business and market themselves in a way that feels aligned. A very helpful tool to do this is using Human Design, which basically gives us your unique energetic blueprint and a lot of useful information about how you can market yourself effectively, according to your Human Design type, strategy, and authority. Today I will mostly focus on your Human Design type, which you can find on www.jovianarchive.com/get_your_chart with your date, time, and place of birth. So first of all, why should you care about this and why is this important? Your marketing is meant for you to connect with your audience, to give them value, to position yourself as an authority in your field so that ultimately you can stand out online and attract soulmate clients consistently. And I’m sure you’ve heard countless times that it is so important to be yourself in your marketing, show your personality, and shine your own unique light. This takes a whole new level with Human Design because we go even deeper and look at your soul’s blueprint, how your energy works, and how you can use that to your advantage. Human Design shows you more about who you -your soul- came here to be, what you came here to do, and how . Human Design helps you align yourself on all levels and use that power in your marketing so you can truly stand out for who you are. Not using Human Design in your marketing can make things harder. When you don’t align yourself this way, it doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. Of course, traditional principles in business and marketing still work, but sometimes they may not be the most adapted for your Human Design type and for your energy. This can lead to: Burn out Overwhelm Not attracting the right people or anyone Doing all the things and not seeing results Truly you have this incredible tool that gives you so much insight into you, so make the most of it! Now, let’s look at the different types in Human Design with what marketing strategy works best for each. Manifestors Manifestors are here to initiate. And they are actually the only ones in Human Design who are truly meant to initiate. Generators Generators are here to respond, not initiate, which can be hard for them because they have so much energy and tend to want to initiate. As a Generator, you are always responding - to external things, questions, options, ideas, to your gut, intuition, etc. Focus on this in your marketing too. Manifesting Generators Manifesting Generators are also here to respond, similar to Generators. One exception is if you feel it is a hell yes , you may initiate (like Manifestors). Projectors Projectors are meant to wait for the invitation. In your marketing, as a Projector, focus on positioning yourself as an expert/authority, which will lead others to invite you in. Reflectors Reflectors have the strategy of waiting 28 days before taking action regarding a big decision. It may sound scary, but the good news is that you can align yourself with your cycle or with the lunar cycle and play with that in your marketing. When you are doing your thing, you truly are so magnetic. What is your type? Let me know by getting in touch on Instagram or my website ! Read more from Sarah ! Sarah Lewis, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sarah Lewis is an Intuitive Business Coach and a leader in the online space. She specializes in helping heart-led, mission-driven women entrepreneurs build thriving online businesses in a way that is aligned and authentic. She merges her unique approach to heart-centered marketing and soulful selling with her intuitive gifts, energy healing, and subconscious reprogramming to help her clients quantum leap in their business and create the income and impact they are here for. Sarah has clients from all over the world and helps them create heart-centered 6 figure businesses and beyond.