Get Unstuck Through the Practice of Mental Rehearsal by Darlene Corbett

Do you ever feel stuck? Of course you do, and since life is full of obstacle courses, you will continue to face many throughout your life. What is a potent way to become unstuck and reach that next pinnacle of success? Well, one way is through repeat mental rehearsal, also viewed as intense visualization. I have witnessed the effectiveness of this practice for over twenty years and have developed some simple techniques of visualization and writing to help people get unstuck. A more expansive version can be found in my book, Stop Depriving the World of You.   

Visualization is elevated in mental rehearsal. If you are dubious of its usefulness, look at the studies that show the results of mental versus physical rehearsal. The results will astound you. In his fabulous book The Brain That Changes Itself, Brian Doidge gives an example of a more advanced form of mental rehearsal known as mental chess. He shares the story of a human rights activist who not only survived solitary confinement with the practice of mental chess, but years later managed to beat the world champion Gary Kasparov. Although many of us may never reach such lofty heights, we can obtain greater confidence, motivation, and performance by mentally rehearsing through visualizing, writing, and visualizing again.  

As a mind/body activity, writing is an important step in this process. The physical movement of writing (even typing) not only helps redirect your thought process but actuates visualization. Doing this on a regular basis will help you get unstuck. The more often you do it, the more you are producing a new habit, which automatically promotes change. 

Now take a piece of paper and write the first four letters from the word Unstuck. You can also take four sheets of paper and write each letter on a separate sheet. Once you do this, you are ready to assign positive words to each letter. 

Let us start with Unique for the letter U. Just having your own DNA makes you unique. Reflect on everything within you that makes you, well, you. Now think about the fact that you are entrepreneurial or at least willing to give it some consideration. Being entrepreneurial makes the unique you more unique. You are a risk taker and believer in a unique business and/or idea. Think about this uniqueness; then close your eyes for a moment and visualize the unique you. Now return to the pen and paper and write down a few words of what you envisioned next to the word unique.  

N is a fitting second letter for unstuck, and what could be a better word for N than New? Why? The reality is that nothing stays the same. An entrepreneur embraces new, always keeping his or her eye on the prize. Being open to new when something isn’t working is a crucial aspect of getting unstuck. The word new is inviting and reminds us of the possibilities. What is the point of focusing on days gone by? When you’ve had constant rejection, remind yourself that a new chapter is beginning. How many times do babies fall before they walk steadily on their feet? Their desire to move supersedes all else. Go ahead and visualize something new that you could begin to incorporate. It could be as simple as changing the language in how you approach things tomorrow, adding or delegating a task, moving the time you attend to a particular activity. Once you have decided on your newness, write it next to the word New. Recognize that generating one change will alter the course of events in the near future without knowing how or when. Most importantly, allow yourself to get excited about trying something new and congratulate yourself for doing so.  

For the letter S, I suggest Strength. This is one of my favorite visualizations for mental rehearsal as it is for many of my clients who have practiced it. I modified the original form I learned from the late Dr. Claire Frederick. What I suggest you do is close your eyes, take a deep breath, and just imagine your inner strength. Is it an image, thought, feeling, sound or a memory of your power shining through? Whatever it is, write it down next to the word strength. When in need, close your eyes and evoke your inner strength. Do this on a regular basis and watch what happens. 

Tenacity is for T. Many of us recall the Greek myth of Sisyphus who was condemned to roll a massive ball up a hill repeatedly. Now obviously, this is a myth, but sometimes we feel like Sisyphus. The beauty is that tenacity provides us with the will to keep going, and eventually, maybe with an adjustment or two, the ball will go over the hill. If you look throughout the ages as well as current times, the most gifted or brilliant person is not usually the one to achieve the crown of success. No, the most tenacious frequently gets the reward. Visualize yourself in a situation that draws on your tenacity. Write down a few words you can associate with it, and then visualize it again.    

Continue to practice all four steps, and as you get ready to approach your next lead, investor, or anyone whose assistance you will require, visualize yourself going into the meeting as you tap into all you have incorporated. Again, write it down, close your eyes, and visualize the scene again. Notice a difference. There will be one. Not only will you experience it, but you will project it.   

Being an entrepreneur is a creative, courageous, and exciting endeavor but, at times, a daunting one. Even in the best of circumstances, human beings get stuck, but when you walk to the beat of a different drummer, the voices of doubt may ring louder when stuckness ensues. If this is you, go ahead and practice these simple techniques of mental rehearsal and celebrate your Uniqueness, Newness, Strength, and Tenacity. If you visualize, write, and visualize again, this exercise will eventually transform the way you think. A new idea may foment in your mind. A solution to a problem may begin to take root. Motivation and mobilization will energize. Whatever happens, because you are practicing a new approach, change will occur in some form. Within a short time, you will come to subscribe to the belief that mental rehearsal cannot only help you get unstuck, but perhaps also bring you opportunity in ways you may have never thought possible.  

Darlene Corbett is a keynote speaker, success coach, and licensed therapist who is committed to helping people become “unstuck” through visualization and scripting so that they can live their lives to the fullest. Her book Stop Depriving the World of You: A Guide for Getting Unstuck is available to purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and many other fine retailers on November 20, 2018. 

Accountability Is Impossible Without the Truth by Sam Silverstein

For a leader, there is no such thing as “kind of” telling the truth.  

If you are a leader, you are either fulfilling your personal commitment to tell someone who is counting on you the truth or you aren’t fulfilling that commitment. If you aren’t, then accountability within the relationship and the organization you lead is impossible, because you’ve already failed to be accountable to your team coming out of the gate.  

That’s the high standard that leaders of teams and organizations must meet: they’re either telling the truth or they aren’t. It’s kind of like the old joke about having a baby: you’re either pregnant or you’re not. There’s no such thing as being “a little” pregnant. It’s an absolute state. And so is being a leader who expects—and shares—the truth. 

You can depend on a culture where truth is consistently present. You cannot depend on a person who passes along, or accepts, less than the truth. Accountability and lying can never exist in the same space. 

People who seek truth want only truth and do not want anything else around them. They don’t want “BS.” They are not afraid of being told the truth. They love the truth, even when it hurts, and they don’t want to associate with anything that is not the truth or with people who accept less than the truth. 

What happens to people who don’t want to hear the truth? What happens when they would rather have their egos stroked than deal with the reality of their situation? What happens to their organization? I’ll tell you. The viewpoint of the entire organization becomes distorted. The viewpoint of the company’s people becomes distorted. The viewpoint of what their people can accomplish becomes distorted. There is a false picture of where they are, both individually and organizationally. This false picture leads to bad decisions, and those bad decisions lead to an ever-growing wave of less-than-favorable outcomes. It’s a downward cycle. 

When people consistently don’t want to hear the truth, they lead themselves and the people around them in the wrong direction. This is the ultimate recipe for failure. 

The truth produces something. It produces a freedom. We have all heard the expression, “The truth will set you free.” This concept originates in the New Testament—it’s in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32. But what does it mean, this idea that the truth will set you free? Free from what? What kind of freedom is it, and what will that freedom allow you to do? What happens if you do not have that freedom? 

The reality is that truth frees you by allowing you to be you. When the standard by which you live your life is the truth that guides you, when you make your decisions based on this standard, you move closer to the person you are supposed to be. And you become more consistent in both your actions and your results. When you build your life around truth, you are free to move forward because you know how to make decisions, you know what your decisions are based on, and you know that the decisions you make, when they are based on the standard of truth, will always be the best decision you could have made.  

That is true freedom, for leaders and for everyone else.

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His most recent book in the No More Excuses series, No Matter What: The 10 Commitments of Accountability, is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, 800-CEO-READ, and other fine retailers.

Interview with Jenny Galluzzo, Co-Founder of The Second Shift by Jennifer Janechek

Before I had kids, I never could have imagined how difficult it would be to try to build a career while parenting small children. As a very career-driven person, I also never anticipated the profound desire I would have to stay home with my children when they were young. This desire has often created a real tension for me, where I’ve felt a nagging pull between work and home. Luckily, I was able to find a work situation that enables me to join my two passions: parenting and working. Indeed, there are many opportunities in today’s work world for women to find part-time, remote, and/or project-based work—opportunities that help women develop their careers when they previously might have had to leave or hit pause on them.

Enter The Second Shift, a job agency co-founded by Jenny Galluzzo and Gina Hadley. The Second Shift helps women find non-traditional or temporary work situations so that they are able to have more freedom to parent, care for a sick child or parent, travel frequently, or do whatever they need to do. It is not a re-engagement platform, or one that helps women move back into the workforce after taking time off from their careers. The job opportunities that it features are top notch because they cater to women who are experts in their respective field. So, note that to use this platform, you’re expected to have a minimum of 10 years of experience in your area, which may exclude younger moms who are just starting out on their career paths. Nonetheless, this service ensures that women who have worked very hard to attain an executive position do not need to step down from it in order to have the work-life situation that they need or want.  

Recently, I talked with co-founder Jenny Galluzzo about how The Second Shift came into being, the challenges and joys of being a working mom, and the important mission her company has of encouraging gender equity and increasing support for moms in the workforce. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

My name is Jenny Galluzzo, and I co-founded The Second Shift with Gina Hadley. The Second Shift is something that we needed for ourselves, but it didn’t exist at the time. I was a journalist for a really long time, and Gina was a marketer. We both needed to find a different way to work for different reasons. Her husband kept relocating, and every time she moved she needed to start over again at work. I was a journalist looking to leave the field. In 2014 we built a platform to solve for all these things—to help women identify the skills they have and find a work situation that was a better fit for them—and early on we saw the possibilities. In the first year, we tried to do it on our own—to find companies to work with women, but we didn’t know what kind of women and what kind of jobs we were really looking for. We refocused the search process to move beyond boundaries of job titles and to help women identify what skills they had that would be appealing to various businesses. This is important to us because we believe it is crucial to keep women going throughout different points in their lives. Currently, less than 5 percent of CEOs are women. We have a very high-talent member profile and a four-step vetting process. We encourage businesses to make changes to support these incredibly talented women and to benefit their organizational climate as well. We believe that companies that support these sort of project-based, part-time, or otherwise flexible work situations will thrive just as much as their employees. 

What types of jobs will someone find on The Second Shift? Are there certain types of fields that are better represented than others? 

The majority of jobs fall into three categories: HR, CFO, and market research. They are often maternity fills, or big projects with a start and end date (long-term and contract based), or quick turnaround projects, or ongoing part-time routine jobs (e.g., PR, interim COO, etc., where there’s a set amount of hours). We have moved into full-time roles, as well. We curate jobs: we take only really high-level jobs that we think we can fill. Our goal is to follow the life cycle of our members through their career journey. At least half of the jobs are remote. We are always pooling different markets and looking for new members.  

There’s been a lot of talk lately about “work-life integration” instead of “work-life balance.” What are your thoughts on this? 

I think that it’s trying to find a solution to an ultimately unsolvable balance. There’s really not a way to run everything perfectly smoothly. You just need to be more patient and more realistic and realize that every day is going to be a different setup and every year your children’s needs will change.  

What is the best piece of advice you’ve heard or would give to a new mom trying to juggle work and parenting? 

Think about the long game and just keep swimming. Figure out a way to keep going, and don’t give up because it will get easier. Sometimes parents make hard decisions based on short-term circumstances, but it’s important to see things through. There are resources that are available to help you. Even if you leave the workforce, keep networking. Keep up with every colleague you’ve ever known. Keep everything going, even if it’s just the smallest amount, because it will help you in the future. 

Do you believe that women can “have it all”? 

Yes. I don’t believe you can have it all all the time. You won’t be able to do everything perfectly all day every day. Some days you will be a perfect worker, some days you will be a perfect mother, and some days you will be neither. But go into each day with the expectation of trying, and if nothing else, you tried. Lead by example for your kids, colleagues, and partner—show that you are human and fallible but that both your work and your family are a priority. 

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom. In her spare time, she writes for her website, The Work-at-Home Mom Blog. She loves that she gets to join her two passions—reading and writing about great books and empowering working women—in both these pursuits.

Declining to Use a Mic at Your Next Conference Is Ableist by Jennifer Janechek

* October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. To honor this, many of the Sound Wisdom blog articles this month are meant to educate about disability-related employment issues and celebrate the diverse contributions brought to the workplace by employees with disabilities.  

There was an article circulating on my Facebook newsfeed the other day about what you’re really saying when you say, “I don’t need a mic” at a meeting or conference. According to the author, declining to use a microphone is a form of exclusion. It tells the audience that people who are not hard of hearing are valued over and above those who are—that it does not matter if people with hearing differences can comfortably listen to your presentation. In doing so, it not only devalues and ostracizes people who are hard of hearing, but in its baseline assumption about standard hearing and normative communication practices it also reinforces prejudices against those with hearing differences. In other words, it is an ableist behavior—it is discriminatory against people with disabilities. 

As someone who prides herself on being able to project well and who thus often declines to use a microphone when speaking publicly, this piece really gave me pause. I did not realize how assumptions about normative hearing were underlying my attitude about microphone usage.  

It is so important to cultivate inclusivity in our work and conference environments. In addition to always using a microphone when speaking in front of a group, here are some other great ways of promoting inclusivity in business environments that the article mentions: 

• Do not widely vary your pitch and volume while speaking: when a speaker gets quiet, a person’s hearing aids will amplify accordingly, so a sudden dramatic increase in volume can be painful to the listener. 

• Be patient and willing to repeat yourself, and if someone still can’t hear or understand you after a few repetitions, try changing your wording. 

• During Q&A, either provide question askers with a microphone or have a speaker repeat the questions using a microphone. 

• Another suggestion (unmentioned in the article) would be to have a multimedia component to your presentation. Having slides with written text can help deaf and hard of hearing audience members follow along better with your presentation. 

• This was also not stated in the article, but it is nice when conferences provide sign language translators for keynote lectures and large presentations. It is an extra expense to be sure, but when you consider what conference organizers are spending on the featured speakers, the catering, etc., the cost is minimal in comparison.  

According to a 2016 study by the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, only 48% of deaf people were employed in 2014, while 72% of hearing people had jobs. Imagine how much richer our companies and conferences would be if we made them more accessible to deaf and disabled people. Let’s be respectful of the physical differences of our colleagues and work to eliminate ableist attitudes and behaviors from our work environments. It’s not always easy—as Joe Gerstandt writes in his introduction to Jessica Pettitt’s Good Enough Now, “Inclusion is [not] an intellectual endeavor…. It requires effort, action, and a bit of discomfort”—but it’s definitely worthwhile. Diversity brings so much value to the workplace and to society as a whole.  

This article originally appeared in The Good Men Project.

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom. She has her PhD in English literature from the University of Iowa and her MA in English from the University of South Florida. She is also the founder of The Work-at-Home Mom Blog, which provides inspiration and community for moms who juggle work and parenting simultaneously. Her writings can be found in Entrepreneur, The Good Men Project, and many other publications.

5 Tips for Employers to Encourage Productive Conversation Surrounding Disabilities and Chronic Illness by Hilary Jastram

* October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. To honor this, many of the Sound Wisdom blog articles this month are meant to educate about disability-related employment issues and celebrate the diverse contributions brought to the workplace by employees with disabilities.  

Last week, I led a call for the social interest group for The Good Men Project. We are called “Creating Success with a Disability.” The topic of the conversation dovetails perfectly with National Disability Employment Awareness Month (to my mind, anyway).  

Bringing awareness to the general population of people living with disabilities is a monumental task and that is mainly because this is a layered topic.  

Why don’t people want to look people in wheelchairs in the eyes? 

Because they are afraid of being rude and staring (likely), but more so, because they are uncomfortable. 

And why are they uncomfortable? 

Maybe the person’s disease or disability has more to do with their own fear of how they don’t want to see themselves. They are a voyeur from the outside looking in, making pronouncements about others’ realities. I was the same way. I did not understand the other side of the coin (yet). I didn’t know the range of emotions a person wielding a cane or using a chair or other helpful tool might feel. I didn’t understand that despite illness or disability, life could even improve on all levels. 

But there is definitely a range of feelings around the topic, which happens to be cushioned by the very way we regard and refer to people with disabilities. Words have power, and I am of the opinion that if we renamed “disability” with another word, we would find fault with it, too.  

Here’s one take on the definition of the prefix “dis-” from Merriam-Webster: “to treat with disrespect or contempt : insult; … [to] do the opposite of.” 

When we combine “dis” and “ability,” because of the way we have labeled this definition we create a person or state of being which is less than, which is the opposite of ability. 

Try being a person who has been told they are disabled. It is as if they have heard they are no longer able. Not only are they, for example, a woman, mother, wife, etc., but again, they are “no longer able.” Every time they receive a piece of material from the state or their insurance company, every time they have to explain their physical reality, they are repeating in their head, “I am not able.”  

This is not a far leap to “I am incapable,” and here you have the merry ride that leads us from perception to bias and fear, which feeds into our hiring practices. 

Societally, we have embraced that people who are still thriving, living, and participating in life are not able to complete tasks, to take care for or think for themselves, to get around autonomously, etc., simply because they have a disability. 

And this thought camp has been in effect for decades…since who knows when. 

Which is why the topic of disclosing a disability (or not) was selected for the first call for this new group. 

We had to wade into the weeds of how much to disclose, the liabilities of sharing too much, the responsibility we all have to educate people and change the perception of the chronically ill and disabled. We spoke of the desire to be open and explain without the resultant reaction of fear from a prospective employer or client, the need for accommodations. The need for real requirements to live, such as taking a nap during the day, or using a backup plan if plan A isn’t able to be implemented at the last minute, or moving offices, or allowing some work from home, exist. People who have disabilities and chronic illnesses are up against the stereotype that instantly befalls them upon diagnosis: they are lazy excuse makers; they are incapable of critical thinking (as if a perceived weakness in the body equals a frail mind). They want to just get by; they expect different (unfair or privileged) treatment. They will cost the company money because they won’t be able to meet deadlines, and on and on it goes. This stigma is emboldened by the people who do chase ambulances and who want to cave into their baser instincts to do nothing. 

But employers, you should know that chronically ill and disabled people are the poster children for work smarter, not harder…because we have no choice! We have to preserve stamina. We have to find the most efficient manners in which to complete our to-dos. If we don’t, we might suffer a setback. So many of us are parents who cherish making a living wage and who are overly proud of taking care of our families…despite our circumstances. 

Here are five tips employers/potential clients can implement during the next conversation with a person with a disability or chronic illness who is seeking a job/project. 

1. Listen to the accommodations needed with an open mind. Resist the urge to slam shut the door to more progressive conversation. Accommodations don’t mean lazy.  

2. Be open to more than one way to complete a task. Your new worker might need to finish her role in chunks, instead of in a marathon flash. He may need to rest to stave off his headache before picking up the ball again. That’s okay as long as your deadline is met. 

3. Speaking of deadlines, you can use several of them. Stating that you would like work turned in a little bit earlier than the true deadline when you need to implement a new program, etc., will give you a bit of a net. If that date cannot be met due to illness or other turns of events, then you are not sunk. You still have time. 

4. Your new employee doesn’t owe you a laundry list of their symptoms, and that’s all right, too. Treading carefully is no different in this case than in any other. Human curiosity doesn’t give us the right to pry into other people’s lives. If someone is not comfortable sharing, so be it. You can still discuss the accommodations needed without the dirty details of what may be embarrassing or a vulnerability. 

5. It is okay to question if there are any concerns that may get in the way of the job. Definitely check the laws and don’t proceed without doing so. But to move our conversations forward, we need to have deeper engagement. Would you hire a person who lived two hours away and didn’t have a car? If they weren’t sure they could be to the office on time, probably not. You can ask about the responsibilities the applicant or employee would be charged with and if they will be able to handle them. When I lost my job, the HR director and I had a similar conversation. It was open and honest, and it helped us both to make decisions. You have a job that needs to be done and you need a person who can do it. It is reasonable to talk about that. 

With the rising number of people receiving all sorts of diagnoses of diseases and disabilities, these conversations and the need to be sensitive and more honest than ever before will be paramount.

The founder of Sick Biz, Hilary Jastram uses her experience with chronic illness to support other entrepreneurs with disabilities and invisible illnesses in their journey toward success and freedom. Her book Sick Success: The Entrepreneur’s Prescriptions for Turning Pain into Purpose and Profit is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other major retailers.

Creating Overachievers by Jim Stovall

In our society, there is a constant, never-ending struggle for normalcy. We seek to fit in at all costs. The advertisers tell us what we should look like, feel like, and smell like, and there is not enough of a premium placed on becoming outstanding.   

When we study the lives of overachievers, we find that many of them were faced with a disadvantage or a disability of some type that made it harder for them to be considered normal.  

In most cases, these overachievers were simply working harder than the rest of the world to be considered normal. But a funny thing happened to these overachievers on their way to normality. It is called greatness. 

It is important for us to understand that greatness comes not from being ten times better than anyone else, or even twice as good. It comes when we are willing to invest just a little more of ourselves toward the task at hand.  

If you were to study the biographies of the great overachievers in history, you would find that each of them had a turning point in their lives where they veered off from what we call “average” and became great. In most cases, this turning point comes in the form of a disappointment, a disadvantage, or a disability. 

The next time you are faced with a difficult challenge in your life, try viewing it as one of these turning points that can put you on the path toward the greatness for which you have been destined. 

In the Chinese language, symbols are used to express thoughts and ideas, and not just individual words. The symbol for crisis has long been identified with the ancient Chinese mariners who viewed crisis as “opportunity on a dangerous wind.” The same stormy seas that threaten to founder our ship can often propel us toward a Promised Land that we never before imagined. 

Today’s the day!

This and other motivational pieces by bestselling author Jim Stovall can be found in Wisdom for Winners Volume Two, an official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. 

Enhance the Service Experience of Your Untapped Customer Base: People with Disabilities by Jennifer Janechek

* October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. To honor this, many of the Sound Wisdom blog articles this month are meant to educate about disability-related employment issues and celebrate the diverse contributions brought to the workplace by employees with disabilities.  

The sixth Convenience Principle in Shep Hyken’s new book, The Convenience Revolution, is Access. This principle is about “removing unnecessary friction from the typical customer’s day.” According to Hyken, the three factors that contribute to it are availability, communication, and location. 

A large and growing percentage of the population has a disability, and these customers contribute greatly to the economy. However, many businesses do not make an effort to be accessible to customers with disabilities, which, on top of being unethical, can be really detrimental to their company. It’s important to consider how your business—and the businesses you support—make themselves accessible to their customers who have disabilities, whether visible or invisible, physical or mental. Using the three components of Access that Hyken mentions in his book as a framework for this discussion, let’s reflect on the various ways that companies can enrich (or harm) the customer experience of people with disabilities. 

Location 

Your company’s physical environment is likely the first thing that comes to mind when you think of access, and it is certainly a very important aspect of the customer experience of people with disabilities. Because there are such a wide variety of disabilities—from mobility impairments to visual impairments, chronic illnesses to psychological and cognitive disabilities—it’s important to utilize universal design principles as much as possible in the construction of your space. “Universal design” simply means structuring your place of business in such a way as to cater to the widest range of customers possible. According to this article in Forbes, two ways to enhance access for people with disabilities in terms of location include (1) having ramps and keeping them well maintained and (2) using “universal access” levers instead of round doorknobs for your entry/egress doors, restroom doors, and as many other doors as possible. The US government recommends that business owners who aren’t able to make the physical location of their company accessible (as in cases where a ramp isn’t feasible or is cost prohibitive) offer an alternative means of access, e.g., curb-side or home delivery for restaurants and dry cleaners, home or alternate meeting locations for appointments with a lawyer or an accountant. It’s also important to be sensitive to people with allergies, autism, and other sensory sensitivities. Unless you own a candle or perfume store, avoid strong-smelling scents (I’m looking at you, Abercrombie & Fitch). Keep sound levels to a minimum, and be cognizant of how lights, media, and other stimuli might affect customers differently. 

Communication 

Are your customers with visual and/or auditory disabilities able to reach out to you online? According to the US government, “Under the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act], businesses are expected to communicate effectively with customers with vision, hearing, or speech disabilities, and are responsible for taking the steps that are needed for effective communication.” But how many companies actually do this? The Forbes article mentioned earlier recommends making sure any CAPTCHAs (“Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”) have a (good) audio alternative for blind customers, designing customer service channels in such a way that gives alternatives to IVR (interactive voice response telephone systems) for those who can’t interact with them effectively, and ensuring that your website isn’t too graphics heavy, which can make a website unreadable for those with visual impairments who use screen-reading technology. And all images should have readable alt tags that give a clear description of them. 

Availability 

Are you able to meet the needs of your customers by providing hours of operation or communication (for online customer service experiences) that are accessible for the widest range of customers possible? Some people with disabilities rely on a family member, friend, or caretaker to assist them with their purchasing: Are your business hours conducive to those who might need to shop, go to the bank, etc., after the “normal” 9-to-5 workday is over? Do you have long wait times on your customer service channels that might deter neurodiverse customers from getting the answers or help they need? These are important questions to consider. 

Remember, accessibility isn’t just about the physical environment. Social barriers (including the attitudes of employees) can hinder people with disabilities from patronizing your establishment. I encourage you to reflect on how you might make your business more universally accessible to both your customers and your employees. 

How might you make your business more accessible to customers with disabilities? What businesses do you know of that excel in this area? Comment below to share!

Looking for more tips? Check out this course from the US government on “Reaching Out to Customers with Disabilities” or this Canadian guide on serving customers with disabilities. And be sure to pick up a copy of Shep Hyken’s The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience That Disrupts the Competition & Creates Fierce Loyalty, available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, 800-CEO-READ, and many other fine retailers. 

Six Ways to Out-Convenience Your Competition—and Maybe an Entire Industry by Shep Hyken

I’ve spent my professional career teaching companies and individuals how to provide amazing customer service and a customer experience (CX) that would keep customers coming back and help their businesses to grow and thrive. But today, customers expect more. They know what good service looks like and they expect it. And, they not only compare you just to your direct competitor, but to the best service they have ever received—from anyone. Delivering an expected level of service is now the baseline, and you have to find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition—because they are also trying to out-service you. I have found a way. It’s a concept that is being embraced by smart, successful companies to disrupt their competition, and in some cases, entire industries. 

And the secret is this: Convenience. If you can find a way to make your customer’s life easier, or find a way to be easier to do business with, you will have added a new level to your CX that will draw customers away from the competition. How can you do that? I can teach you. My new book, The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience That Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty, can guide you and help you come up with ideas to create more convenience for your customers. 

The book highlights dozens of companies that have used convenience to disrupt their competitors. And, in some cases, companies that have come up with ways to make people’s lives easier have disrupted entire industries. As I studied these companies, I identified six Convenience Principles that they are using to set themselves apart from the competition. They are: 

1. Reduce Friction 

2. Self-Service 

3. Technology 

4. Subscription 

5. Delivery 

6. Access 

Let’s discuss each one and look at examples from different companies: 

Reduce Friction: This is really what convenience is all about. It is the overriding principle, and the others that follow detail ways to reduce friction, or make life easier for the customer. Think about a convenience store. The concept originated in the 1920s, when Southland Ice Company, which sold big blocks of ice for iceboxes (precursor to the refrigerator), started stocking basic items like milk and bread. Maybe their items cost a little more, but customers loved the convenience of not having to make a special trip to the grocery store for these necessities, and the convenience store was born. Today we know it as 7-Eleven, which has nearly 65,000 stores worldwide. Another company built on the principle of reducing friction is Uber. They not only disrupted a competitor (a taxi cab company), they disrupted the entire industry. You open up the Uber app, input your destination, the app informs you how far away your driver is and how much the trip is going to cost. When the car shows up, the driver knows your name, and when you leave, you don’t have to reach in your pocket for money or a credit card, because you’re already in the system. Uber out-convenienced the entire industry! 

Self-Service: While self-service sounds like it’s making more work for the customer, this isn’t really the case. Many customers prefer the self-service checkout option at the grocery store if it means not having to stand in a long line. And, when customers have a question or problem, where do they turn for answers? Most will start by checking the company’s website first, hoping to find a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, or maybe even instructional videos to help them figure out a solution on their own. One of my favorite examples of self-service is offered at Panera Bread, a chain of restaurants that provides the option for customers to order and pay for their meal at a kiosk. Since introducing the kiosks, Panera has been working to streamline the process even further. Now, when you place your order at a kiosk you are given a pager, then you simply take your seat at a table. The tables actually have sensors built into them, so when your order is ready, you don’t even have to get up. The server knows where you are and brings your food to you. I asked a manager at a local Panera why they made the change, and his answer was simple and direct: “Because it’s more convenient for our guests.” 

Technology: Technology is an obvious way for companies to create more convenience. By providing an app or website, you are giving customers more options, more ways to connect, get information, or even make purchases. PayPal is an online banking solution through which people can send money or transfer funds from one bank account to another in an instant. One of my favorite apps is the NoWait app, which allows customers to remotely put their name on a restaurant’s waiting list. If the wait is an hour, you can actually watch your name moving up the list and time your arrival so when you get to the restaurant, there is…no wait. 

Subscription: Subscription services have expanded from magazines and newspapers to include all kinds of products and services. Amazon, the leader in convenience, offers a subscription service for a myriad of consumable products. Annual maintenance contracts are a form of a subscription model. If you go to a hardware store to buy air conditioner or furnace filters every six months, many now make it easier by offering the option of automatically sending you the new filters when you need them. And when they show up, it is also a reminder to change them. Netflix disrupted the video industry when they offered a subscription model that made it easier than driving back and forth to the video store. 

Delivery: Take it to the customer. Using delivery as a convenience proposition can go beyond shipping a product to the customer’s home or office. Even some service-based businesses have begun to offer mobile options, going to where the customer is, making life easier. I recently purchased a new car—not from the dealership where I had been a loyal customer for more than 20 years—but from one that, even though it was much further from my home, offered more convenience. I really didn’t intend to buy a car there; I just saw one that caught my eye while driving past. When I stopped to look at it, I told the salesman that I would ultimately buy from my local dealership, but he sold me on convenience. He said that anytime the car needed service—even a simple oil change—they would deliver a new car to my home to use until they returned mine. He disrupted the other dealership that I’d been going to for more than two decades. 

Access: Are you available where and when your customers need you? If you’re not, you face some stiff competition. Websites are available 24/7. Walmarts are everywhere; in fact, 90 percent of US residents live within 10 minutes of a Walmart. Think about your location and hours of operation. Are they designed to be convenient for your customers – or for you? Could you disrupt your competition by offering nighttime or weekend hours? Huntington Bank offers extend daily and weekend hours. 

The concept of being intentionally convenient can be a competitive business weapon. I studied hundreds of companies and their business processes to identify the areas in which these companies excelled to create a more convenient CX. My book The Convenience Revolution can guide you and help you come up with ideas to create more convenience for your customers. 

In the end, it’s really quite simple. Customers will pay more for convenience. And they’ll choose to do more business with the people and companies that make their lives easier. So, choose one or more of the Convenience Principles that you can work on. Find ways to be more convenient for your customers and you’ll disrupt your competition and create fierce loyalty.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/experience expert, an award-winning keynote speaker, and a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book, The Convenience Revolution, is available to purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, 800-CEO-Read, and many other fine retailers. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. You can follow Shep on Twitter at @Hyken. 

(Copyright © MMXVIII, Shep Hyken)

Two Questions That Support an Accountable Workplace Culture by Sam Silverstein

If you want to attract and hold on to the best people, redefine accountability in your organization.

I work with a lot of senior leaders of organizations. One of the major challenges these leaders frequently share with me is their difficulty in hiring and holding on to good people. They want talented people, and they don’t want those talented people going to the competition once they have been hired and trained! So they’ll ask me, “Sam, what’s the best way for me to win and hold on to the talented people that will keep our organization competitive?”

Often, before I can even begin to answer that question, the phone will ring, and I’ll hear that same senior leader say something like this: “Jim, you do realize that you’re accountable for delivering X, Y, and Z by such and such a date?” The leader’s tone on this conversation is likely to be brisk and aggressive, the conversation is typically brief and one-sided, and the implication is always clear: if the person on the other end of the line doesn’t deliver exactly what’s expected, on time and under budget, there’s going to be trouble! These very same leaders are the ones most likely to tell me that they pride themselves on their organization’s “accountable workplace culture”—as though them saying, “I am holding you accountable” was what created such a culture!

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the whole concept of accountability—a misunderstanding that undermines any and every attempt to recruit and retain a productive team. It never even occurs to these leaders that the quality of the conversations they’re having with their own people is adversely affecting their ability to attract and hold on to the best people!

As leaders, we have to change the way we think about accountability.

Change the Conversation

If we’re leading a team, we need to start that change in thinking by defining accountability for ourselves. Let’s define accountability as “keeping our commitments to people…starting with me keeping my commitments to you.” 

Translation: Having an “accountable culture” doesn’t mean you hold everyone else hostage to your authority!

To the contrary, it means modelling accountability from the top down. It means you go out of your way to make commitments that support your team as they move toward fulfilling their goals—and it means you keep those commitments. It means accepting that an “accountable workplace culture” always starts with the commitments that you make to the team…not the other way around!

It is perhaps a little too easy for leaders to look past that word “commitment.” It is too easy to think, “Oh yeah, I know what a commitment is. Everyone knows what a commitment is. A commitment is when you say ‘yes,’ or ‘I will,’ or maybe even ‘I do.’”

“No Matter What”

A commitment is something you follow through on…no matter what. Just because you hit tough times does not mean you need to move on or that it is time to quit. Just because something is hard does not mean you should do something else. Where’s the commitment in that? A commitment is a pledge. It is a promise. It is not a maybe, or a hopefully, or a probably. It is an absolute. It is a relationship built on a foundation I call “No Matter What.” That foundation takes the form of two powerful questions:

• What personal commitment do I demonstrate to my people, in both words and deeds, in every single interaction? 

• How do my people know with certainty that I am committed to them and that I will be delivering on my commitments to them? 

Notice how a conversation about, say, an important project’s current status changes when you make a habit of asking yourself two questions. Instead of saying, “I hope you realize you’re accountable for delivering X, Y, and Z by such-and-such a date,” you’re more likely to say, “Jim, I’m committed to helping you always shine, reach your full potential, and move forward in the organization. With that in mind, what do you need from me in order to complete this assignment at a high level of quality by August 1?”

Guess what? That’s what a conversation in an accountable workplace culture sounds like! And following through on what you then commit to is what it looks like!

Holding someone else accountable, without clarifying your commitment to them, is like holding a gun to the person’s head. Who wants to work in that environment? If you stop to think about it, you’ll realize that the only reason someone stays in an environment like that is the paycheck they receive. Is that where you are right now with your team?

If so, you should know that that’s an extremely dangerous place to be if you’re a leader whose priority is attracting and retaining top talent. The moment someone offers that person a nickel more in salary, or offers to pay the same salary but work closer to home, you’re at risk of losing that talent you’ve worked so hard to find and develop!

When you hold someone accountable, it is all about them doing something for you. By contrast, when you are accountable to the people you lead, the conversation is transformed. It becomes about your working for their success. When you create an authentic relationship that’s based on you keeping your commitments to your people, based on you being accountable to them, they will naturally want to perform at a high level…and they will never want to go work for anybody else! 

So: If you want to attract and hold on to the best people, change your discussions with them. Ask those two questions. Change the way you think about accountability. Understand that accountability only begins when leaders choose to demonstrate it, on a personal level, to their own people!

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His most recent book in the No More Excuses series, No Matter What: The 10 Commitments of Accountability, is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, 800-CEO-READ, and other fine retailers.

What Losing My First-Class Seat Taught Me about Customer Service by Simon T. Bailey

As a person who prides himself on giving great customer service, I learned three ways to create superb customer service after a recent experience I had with Delta Airlines. I made three observations: 

• It doesn’t matter what happens. It’s all about the recovery. 

• If you hear it, you own it. 

• Customer service is not a department; it’s a mindset. 

Let me explain. 

Recently, I was in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, California, with my two young adults for a week-long vacation. It was probably our last trip for a while as my children are transitioning into graduating from high school, driving, starting a job, going to college, and shifting into less dependence on me and their mother. Making sure the experience was perfect for them was very important to me. 

Our last meal was at Jean-Georges, an exquisite restaurant located in the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. We were floating on a cloud of magical memories as our trip was coming to an end. 

How could this amazing time with my two favorite people in the entire world get any better? 

Well, imagine my surprise when we checked in to Delta Airlines Sky Priority Lane at Los Angeles International (LAX) for our return flight back to Orlando, and both my daughter and I were upgraded on flight #1649 to first class for our five-hour cross-country trip back to Orlando, Florida. 

Then, as the last group of passengers were boarding, the Delta gate agent came to me and told me that my daughter and I had to give up our seats in first class and move back to seats 26 A and C. This was the last touchpoint of the trip, and this moment created disappointment for both of us and a feeling that something gained was now lost. 

This may seem like a small issue, but the devil is in the details, and moments like this can often make or break a customer’s experience. Going the extra inch beyond the extra mile is what creates customer love and platinum service. 

Justin Simmons, the lead Delta Airlines agent, understood this idea. He came back to apologize for what had happened and said that when he closed out the upgrades, he neglected to see that two first-class seats were purchased at the last minute. 

I understood what happened. However, many customers take opportunities like these to turn to social media or Yelp in order to feel heard. It was significant that Justin took the time to acknowledge our disappointment and mitigate any hard feelings. 

Beyond this, when I called the Delta SkyMiles Diamond Desk and explained what had happened, the agent immediately sympathized with my situation and deposited 10,000 miles into my account and 10,000 into my daughter’s account. 

Here’s what losing my first-class seat taught me about customer service: 

It’s all about the recovery. Although Delta Airlines was unable to undo the mistake, they recovered by gifting us some airline miles. We felt like we had gained something despite our initial loss, and Delta was now assured that we would fly with them again using the miles, giving us another chance to interact with their service. 

If you hear it, you own it. Once Justin heard about the hiccup, he took ownership of the experience. He could have passed the buck or let us continue on without acknowledging what had happened. After all, we did not purchase the first-class seats; they were given to us, and it would have been easy to discount our experience. 

Customer service is not a department; it’s a mindset. Justin did not work in the customer service department, but he made sure to discuss the event with us, making us feel acknowledged and like our experience mattered. The SkyMiles Diamond Desk did not transfer us to another customer service department. They righted the wrong right then and there. 

The original post appeared here on Simon T. Bailey’s website and has been slightly modified for republication. For more inspiration from the author, pick up a copy of his books Shift Your Brilliance: Harnessing the Power of You, Inc. and Brilliant Living: 31 Insights to Creating an Awesome Life. 

When Sickness and Purpose Come Calling by Hilary Jastram

In conjunction with the release of my book, Sick Success: The Entrepreneur’s Prescriptions for Turning Pain into Purpose and Profit, it’s important to address the sickly elephant in the room. Namely…that more people are sick and hurting than you think.  

Maybe you’ve heard the buzzword: invisible illness. It’s bandied about, seeming to have little weight or meaning, but I want to invite you into my world for a minute to illustrate that this is not the case. 

Over half of Americans are chronically ill. This data from the CDC was provided in 2014, and the trend is continuing upward, so I posit, truly more than half are sitting (or likely lying down) in the throes of suffering. They aren’t experiencing the type of illness that clears up after a few days of rest. The states and qualities of people’s lives have changed—not to mention the people who are sick for an extended period of time (not lifelong) due to cancer treatment, or shorter-term disabilities. No, we are not a well country. 

Around April 1, 2014, my body waged mutiny. First, my feet felt like they were asleep for extended periods of time. No position change would alleviate it. Then, I experienced the sensation of wet patches on my legs (quite confusing after drying off after a shower), and the symptoms worsened. I had vertigo for seven months. I lost my job. I lost my identity. I lost my self-esteem. It was a bleak and dark time and there was only me…lurking on the computer to decipher the words of the doctor. “Neoplasm,” a.k.a. tumor. I was terrified and instantly isolated amidst family and loved ones begging to get in. 
 
Then, thankfully, my transverse myelitis stabilized enough to meditate on the “why.” And not the usual meandering thoughts of “why me?” But I pondered on “why did this happen, and what am I supposed to do with my new reality?” I had known a gentleman with cancer who had held a high position in a large, national corporation, and from my outside view, it seemed like he threw himself into his work even more than he had before his diagnosis. I started to wonder what the gift was, and truly, I was tired of viewing my life as a series of obstacles. It was easier to walk toward gaining a positive position than to prepare to fight myself…again. 
 
Sure, a tough childhood, blah, blah, blah. Marriage-go-round, whatever. We all have STUFF. I didn’t want this disease to become just another excuse to feel bad. I wanted to draw near to it, instead of inching away. I wanted to immerse myself in my experience of rewriting the existence I desired, one of inclusion and comfort. I wanted to be a part of the conversation to remove the stigma that sick and disabled people face. And I found intense empowerment, not just in my own life, but in discovering that helping others to see and use their own superpowers was a different kind of growing stronger.  
 
This true vulnerability repainted my life in different shades I never would have chosen if presented with the palette. 

I wrote about being open, confronting fear, misbeliefs, values that hadn’t served me and that had hurt others. I was willing to be molded by this wrench in the works, and I wanted others to experience what it felt like to freefall away from control. 

I wrote some more. In fact, mere weeks after my diagnosis that came five terrifying months and two neurologists later, I became a contributor to The Good Men Project. 

I am so grateful to Sound Wisdom for allowing the sounding board to share my experiences so they might benefit others. We are on this planet to love and Sick Success is your guidebook to emerging into strength from vulnerability in all areas of your life. 

You can reexamine the moments you will never forget for all the wrong reasons and learn there are no accidents—that if we respect the detours life throws in our way and we veer with a graceful heart we may find our purpose. So many times we are afraid to not fight; we want to resist what seems to go against our plans in life, the flimsy control we have exerted in our careers and relationships.  

As I often share with readers, we have a choice as to the level of pain we will experience. If we remain angry about what has befallen us—say, a diagnosis or loss—we will stay in the misery because we condemn ourselves to it.  
 
I came out of the fire. In some regards, I was lucky. But in others, I was deliberate and finally shucked off the pity I’d heaped on myself for years. I couldn’t be accepted or loved for who I was. I was exhausting. I was talkative, too energetic. I had weird tastes, hung out with odd people. And internally I screamed for decades. But this was my fault. I chose to live like that. I selected toxicity as if I had merely plucked a chocolate out of a box.  

The instant I took back the control to choose my reactions and actions is when I was set free. 

Sick Success is about finding your freedom from judgment, physical imprisonment, and the glass ceiling where we trap ourselves. It is about walking into our triggers to discover our mettle and owning our brilliance and gifts, and it’s also about understanding our responsibility to link to others and extend our gifts to them. It is about doing it all without fear or the threat that someone will sweep in and take it away. It is yours. No one else can even compare.  

When you read the book, I hope you will share with me how your life has transformed, simply by altering your thoughts, simply by shifting your perceptions into personal abundance. 

The founder of Sick Biz, Hilary Jastram uses her experience with chronic illness to support other entrepreneurs with disabilities and invisible illnesses in their journey toward success and freedom. Her book Sick Success: The Entrepreneur’s Prescriptions for Turning Pain into Purpose and Profit is available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other major retailers. 

Prejudice and Pride by Jim Stovall

All of us want to be accepted and valued by those around us. This acceptance is based upon other people’s judgments. They can judge us on how we look, how we act, or how we perform.  

Possibly the best way to judge and be judged came from Dr. Martin Luther King’s powerful dream that his children be judged based on the “content of their character.” This is a difficult judgment to make as it takes a lot of time, effort, and energy. Unfortunately, too many people in the world don’t make the commitment to honestly judge everyone, and therefore, they engage in the practice of prejudging or prejudice. This is highly inaccurate, fallible, and dangerous. At its best, prejudice is a lazy mental shortcut.  

I am a white, male American who makes my home in Oklahoma. I am blind, I’m an author, I’m an entrepreneur, and I am a former Olympic weightlifting champion. Each of these individual elements and countless others can be the basis for someone to prejudge me. Their prejudice could be more favorable than I deserve or less favorable than I deserve but will rarely, if ever, be accurate.  

Pride is how we judge ourselves. Much like our judgment of others, our judgment of ourselves is rarely authentic and accurate without a considerable amount of effort, energy, and contemplation. We can have pride in our accomplishments such as graduating from college; we can have pride in our affiliations such as being an American; or we can have pride in our associations such as our faith, family, and friends.  

Having a proper amount of pride in these things can be very positive as we rarely outperform our own self-image; however, false pride is among the most damaging, debilitating, and destructive human emotions. When we engage in false pride, we often inaccurately compare ourselves to others or a distorted image of ourselves.  

I find it highly beneficial if not imperative to have a trusted group of mentors, advisors, and accountability partners who help me to accurately judge myself and my performance. We can only be judged or judge ourselves against the image of who we know we should be based on our ability and our life goals.  

When it comes to judging others, my late, great friend and mentor, the legendary Coach John Wooden, often said, “There’s enough good in the worst of us and enough bad in the best of us that it doesn’t behoove any of us to judge anyone.” I believe this is a standard worth aspiring to. 

As you go through your day today, judge yourself with grace and everyone around you with mercy. 

Today’s the day!  

This and other motivational pieces by bestselling author Jim Stovall can be found in his latest collection of columns, Wisdom for Winners Volume Four, an official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. 

Sound Wisdom Staff Reads: The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, & Big Success After Baby by Jennifer Janechek

Recently, I purchased Lauren Smith Brody’s The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, & Big Success After Baby (Doubleday, 2017). My husband and I just had our second child, and I was hungry for advice about how to navigate working motherhood with a new baby, even though I had done it once before. I really enjoyed all the practical wisdom, insight, and, most of all, the emotional support it offers. It contains advice on everything from how to pump on an airplane, to how to ask for a raise after being on maternity leave, to how to work at home and actually get stuff done—and it’s not just from Brody; much of the insight comes from the 700+ women who answered a 50-question survey she posted online (some of whom she then followed up with). The Fifth Trimester is for all moms, whether they work in an office, at home, or don’t work at all and just need some help finding confidence and feeling more like themselves again after giving birth and while taking care of a tiny human while running on fumes. I won’t detail all the techniques for being more productive while working at home, but I do want to highlight some of the advice Brody offers about navigating the emotional terrain of working at home after baby. 

“Do not let working for yourself rob you of the very freedom you sought when you decided to become your own boss.”    

Brody writes about what she calls “Superwoman Syndrome,” noting that when you work at home, it’s very easy to take on too much of everything: too many work projects, too many home projects, too many social projects, etc. etc. It’s okay (and even important) to be choosy about the projects you take on post baby. As a new mom, your emotional well-being has to come first, because it’s crucial for your baby’s well-being, as well as the rest of the family’s. 

“You need to know how to have difficult conversations that mix personal and professional in ways you might not always find comfortable.” 

This line was not in the section geared specifically toward work-at-home moms, but I found it incredibly relatable. Remote employees or freelancers might be able to continue working when others would take a maternity leave, but doing so requires them to be upfront about their work-life integration. You might not have to disclose personal details (and that might not be a great idea depending on your work environment and profession), but I do feel that it’s important to be transparent about what your work situation looks like and what your boundaries/needs are. 

A few other very helpful recommendations relevant to work-at-home moms include the following: 

• Set daily work-time limits to maintain a healthy work-life balance. 

• Don’t feel the need to get everything done in one day—you can’t; that’s the nature of being self-employed or working remotely. 

• Just like you should schedule in time to work, you should block off mommy-and-me time during the week. Brody notes that this will help enforce boundaries during work times, and I agree. I find that when I carve out time to be fully present with my daughter, say, when I take her to music class, she generally respects my work time at home. 

• It’s okay to use some traditional work hours for personal things, if you’ve worked more hours outside of the traditional work day (and if it’s okay with your boss). I often will take a break mid-day to go for a run, and sometimes I feel guilty about this, but then again I usually get up at 5:00 a.m. to start work, and I often work late into the night. 

I’m loving everything Brody has to say about finding peace (and hopefully fulfillment) while working post baby. The Fifth Trimester seems to meet moms where they’re at and offer them genuine solidarity, regardless of their work situations. 

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom. She has her PhD in English literature from the University of Iowa and her MA in English from the University of South Florida. She is also the founder of The Work-at-Home Mom Blog, which provides inspiration and community for moms who juggle work and parenting simultaneously. Her writings can be found in Entrepreneur, The Good Men Project, and many other publications.

Set Goals and Succeed by Adrean Turner

If you find yourself going over and over your decisions and doubting yourself, I’ve got a solution for you. You can experience a profound freedom from doubt and gain the confidence and energy you need to excel by setting goals. 

Setting goals is a way to chart a course for your success. It helps you identify your priorities, reflect your values, and reveal time-wasters, obstacles, and weaknesses so you know where to focus and how to get there. You’ll free up your mental resources for other tasks by making important decisions beforehand. 

Check out the video below to learn the five rules of goal setting! More information, strategies, and tips can be found in my book F.I.T. for Success: Fearless, Inspired, Transformed for Success. Order at major retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble today! 

Get more information and inspiration in Adrean’s book, F.I.T. for Success: Fearless, Inspired, Transformed for Success, or visit www.coachadrean.com. 

Here Is the Best Gift You Can Give Anyone by Shawn Doyle, CSP

In my church, there is something I always find very moving: we turn to each person around us and shake their hand, saying, “Peace be with you.” It is actually wishing all the people around you peace. I just think it is a great gesture, and I really focus on being sincere about it. I don’t want to just go through the motions; I want to mean it. I think, I am giving you peace from my heart to yours. 

These days I must admit to being taken aback by the violence in the world, random killings, bombings, and as people say, “man’s inhumanity to man.” I am concerned about people on Facebook who are very cruel and vicious to anybody who doesn’t agree with them. It’s disturbing to see videos on social media of beatings in a fast food place with people cheering them on (which I refuse to watch). I know what they are about by reading the headline. The name calling, the vitriol, the violence, the hate, the spewing of violence based on any ideology. 

What can we do about it? What can I do about it? What can you do about it? There is something small you can do.  

You can give someone peace. What in the daylights am I talking about? Through your actions you can give people the best gift ever—peace.  

Last night, my wife and I went out to dinner at a local restaurant on a weeknight, and it was busy and the restaurant was packed. The server came over, and she was clearly frazzled. They were down two servers, and she had a ton of tables. My wife and I both said, “Take your time. No hurry.” At the end of the meal, she said she “felt terrible” about the slow service. We said, “No worries! It’s all good!” Don’t miss this point—we could see her relax. We helped her feel better, we gave her peace of mind, and we saw her visibly relax. Some guys reading this would say, “I am going to chew out that server for being slow!” So now let’s review: (1) you have gotten mad (you were there to relax—right?); (2) you have gotten her upset; and (3) you have created a scene for those around you. Maybe you have heard this term—you are disturbing the peace. Okay, maybe not in legal terms—but what I am saying is we are bringing tension, aggravation, hostility, and not peace. You are not being “my peace I give you; my peace I bring you.” You are bringing the opposite.  

Here are some things to think about: 

Traffic—The next time someone cuts you off in traffic, just smile and wave and send them a good thought and wish them peace. Here is the idea: you are not only sending them peace, but creating peace in yourself and deciding to be calm and not irritated. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.” 

That stupid person at work—There is that person at work who just irritates everyone. C’mon, you know the one I am talking about. They are just so irritating! Instead of being irritated, why not give them peace? Why not be nice to them? I was doing a training program for one of my clients, and there was one person who was irritating, blunt, disruptive, and clearly agitating everyone. What did I do? I was kind, patient, and gave him respect. I sent peace his way. Over the months, I eventually won him over, helped him calmed down, and he actually told management that he really liked the program and me! (He doesn’t like anything.)  Now, some would say, “Hey, if this person has a big mouth and an attitude, give it right back to him! An eye for an eye, right?” As Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” 

Your loved ones—When at home and your loved one makes you mad or irritated, don’t get irritated back. Just think how you can give them peace and love. After all, isn’t that what we want for those we love the most? 

What would happen if we all made a commitment to do that? Every day? 

Henri Nouwen once said, “Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” 

Well said Henri, well said.  

For more business and personal development insight from Shawn Doyle, check out his titles from Sound Wisdom, including his Jumpstart Series, The Sun Still Rises, The Leadership Manifesto, and Two Months to Motivation. 

The Twelve Book Rule by Jim Stovall

Here in the 21st century, we don’t get compensated for how hard we work. We get compensated for how much we know. Becoming an expert on even a very small thing is generally better than having some basic knowledge of a lot of things. A brain surgeon may not know how to change his oil, turn on his vacuum, balance his check book, or run a washing machine. The brain surgeon may know very little about virtually everything, but if he or she knows virtually everything about brain surgery, that person will probably have a profitable, satisfying, and fulfilling life. 

It is a fascinating study to contemplate how much you need to know to be considered an expert in a given field. Our brain surgeon went to school, studied, and interned for over a decade.  

Most things in life do not involve this level of concentrated expertise. You may know absolutely nothing about actuarial tables, natural gas reserves, lift coefficients, major league batting averages, or cake recipes. It is fascinating to talk with people who are experts in these areas and many others and ask them how many textbooks or resources they have really mastered in order to be considered an expert.  

Most people would be surprised to know that in many endeavors of life, the right twelve books will put you into an elite category of knowledge. In many fields, you don’t even have to have elite knowledge. You simply need to know a little more than the average person on the street. Be sure if you’re going to study in a certain field to become an expert that you’re studying the right books.  

The right books are defined and determined only by the top experts in a field. In order to find these books, you’ve got to talk to the experts. In order to find the experts, you’ve got to ask other experts. If you inquire of many people, they will lead you to believe they are an expert or a top performer in their field. This may or may not be true; however, if instead you ask someone in a field who they think the top experts are, you will begin to get many of the same names. And lo and behold, you will find a short list of experts. If you call a handful of these people and ask them for a list of books or resources you should read, you will compile an amazing list. If you read one of these books each month for a year, you will quite likely be an expert within most any field you choose. 

As you go through your day today, decide what area you want to master. Read what the experts in that field read, and shortly you will not be talking to the experts, you will be an expert. 

Today’s the day! 

This and other motivational pieces by bestselling author Jim Stovall can be found in Wisdom for Winners Volume Two, an official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. 

From English PhD to Entrepreneur: An Interview with the Founder of Runners Love Yoga by Jennifer Janechek

When I started my PhD program in 2012, I managed the stress of the coursework by running every morning before my classes. Running gave me a clarity unlike anything I had ever experienced, dramatically reduced my anxiety, made me noticeably more alert and responsive during classes, and kept me focused during grueling research and writing sessions. Around the same time, I started taking hot yoga classes at a local studio. I noticed that doing yoga a few days a week really helped my running: I was able to increase my mileage without getting too tired or experiencing an injury. 

Ann Mazur, PhD, founder of Runners Love Yoga, recognized the same thing and turned her love of yoga and running into a successful business. An elite runner and yoga instructor, Ann uses her knowledge of yoga to help competitive runners train harder and avoid season-ending injuries and enable recreational runners to discover the emotional and physical benefits of complementing running with yoga. I talked with Ann over the phone to learn more about the inspiration behind Runners Love Yoga (RLY), her transition from academia to entrepreneurship, and her goals as a business owner.  

Can you tell me a little bit about your business? 

I started Runners Love Yoga in the middle of my PhD program. I was teaching yoga to runners, and my friend Louise suggested that I make a DVD so that she could do my yoga routines on her own schedule and not just when I was teaching classes. I happened to have a friend who was in film school at Emerson in Boston, and so I flew up to Boston and made the first DVD there. So, it started with a yoga workout DVD geared toward runners. We’ve since added a clothing line and online streamable workouts. It’s gotten a lot bigger through Instagram with the monthly yoga challenges I offer.   

What was the inspiration behind Runners Love Yoga (aside from your friend’s suggestion)? 

The worst part about running is being an injured runner. I had an IT band injury my junior year of college [Ann was a runner for Notre Dame], and it showed me what yoga could do for runners. I would do pigeon pose almost every night, and it was the only thing that kept the injury from reappearing. Yoga helps you achieve a balanced/stronger body in a way that supports your performance. It also really helps you understand your body so that you can train in the best way possible for you. 

How does your PhD in English literature (from UVa—super impressive, y’all!) shape how you run your company? And what skills were transferable from your degree program to the world of entrepreneurship? 

Having my PhD has helped me enormously. The time in the PhD program and when I was a lecturer after getting my PhD gave me the opportunity to grow my business more slowly, without the pressure of having to support myself entirely by it—because there is that time when it’s essentially a hobby, and so it’s really useful to have something else going on. But more importantly, my time in the English PhD program gave me so many skills—namely, writing and communication skills. One of the most important aspects of teaching yoga is being able to explain the positions in a way that’s understandable for everyone—from seasoned yogis to new students. Also, teaching yoga and teaching English classes are both a lot like improv: you have to learn to read the room and adapt your lesson accordingly. My PhD program taught me great time management skills, which is really important for the business side of things. Academia is emotionally and mentally rough on you—it’s very high stress—so now as a business owner I can manage stress relatively easily. I view my PhD program as having been like a boot camp for being an entrepreneur. 

What do you love the most about owning your own business? 

The flexibility it gives me in terms of how I spend my time, though there’s an irony with this—I don’t work a normal 9-to-5 job, so I have flexibility there, but I probably work more hours than someone with that sort of job. I like that I can stop work and go for a run if I need/want to, and I like that I’m not tied down to one physical location so I’m able to travel to races. I also really value being able to help and reach people globally. My favorite part of being a lecturer was working with and helping my students; now, teaching yoga I get the classroom experience, but I also get to reach people worldwide through Instagram and through my online streamable workouts. I love getting to help runners so that they can keep doing what they love to do. 

What is your favorite social media platform for business use and why? 

Definitely Instagram. Younger people don’t seem to be using Facebook as much as they once did, and there are limitations to what you can do with Twitter. But with Instagram—especially with the platform’s capabilities constantly expanding—it’s opened the door to teaching snippets of yoga in a way that’s easily digestible for people on the go. And now you can even have up to fifteen-minute videos with Instagram TV.  

What is in store in the future for RLY? 

I’d like to continue growing our library of streamable yoga workouts so that people anywhere in the world can have the yoga videos at their fingertips. Right now we have twelve full-length workouts that run anywhere from ten minutes in length to just over an hour. They are catered to runners, with workouts that target body parts that can become trouble areas like the hips, core, and IT band. In addition to building that library, I’d like to continue growing our clothing line, which is a lot of fun to work on (but harder than people might imagine!). I’m also currently working on a yoga book for endurance athletes. 

What advice would you give to someone looking to start his or her own company? 

First, having another job can be very helpful. It can take the pressure off and enable you to grow your business at your own pace. Also, surround yourself with supportive people, and find a good mentor. I was lucky to have guidance on the retail end from my now-husband Philip, who designs clothing for cyclists—and now I’m able to help him! 

Be sure to check out Runners Love Yoga online at www.runnersloveyoga.com and on Instagram at @doyogarunfaster. 

6 Smart Tips for Hiring Smarter by Shawn Doyle, CSP

One of the biggest downfalls I see in leaders is they don’t have great interviewing skills. For you to be successful, you must become an expert at interviewing. What we have to realize is that the work is not done by the leader; the work is done by the team. Therefore, if we hire the best team, we get the best results.   

Tips for Hiring Smarter  
Here are six tips for ensuring that you hire the best:  

1. Make it your goal to find the best. 
   I see leaders in many industries settle for a candidate who seems okay but is not the best of the best. If you do that, you’ll pay for it later. Be the tortoise, not the hare. Take your time, be patient, and make sure that you’re hiring the cream of the crop. 

2. Always be looking for new talent. 
   When you attend industry conferences and meetings and as you network, stay on the lookout for new talent. Sometimes when we least expect it, we come across the talent we will someday want to be on the team. Talk to them and get to know them professionally. Perhaps even ask them to send you a resume, and put it in your file of future talent. Keep in touch with this talent on a regular basis, and when you are ready to make a move, you now have a very strong “best of the best” candidate.   

3. Become an interviewing artist. 
   Really strive to become a master interviewer. This is a skill and a science. Identify people in your organization who are known for being great interviewers. Ask them if you could sit in on one of their interviews. Be the proverbial “fly on the wall” and observe their techniques and approaches. I learned all of my best interviewing skills from a gentleman named Filemon, an executive to whom I once reported. He taught me the subtleties of effective interviewing approaches and techniques. If internal training on effective interviewing is available, take advantage of it. Secondly, read and study books and online courses on effective interviewing—you will find that you will learn a lot.  

4. Have multiple interviews with multiple people. 
   In my experience, I have found that interviews that incorporate multiple people and that require the candidate to come back for several interviews are much more effective. Why does this work so well? The reason that this is so effective is that each time the candidate comes back for an interview, he or she becomes more relaxed and comfortable. This allows you, as the leader, to get beyond the techniques that they’ve learned in their interviewing books and classes and get to the real person. Additionally, if multiple people are interviewing the candidate, there may be areas identified by one person that were not identified by another. The reason for this is simple: some people have chemistry with one interviewer and not another. I once had a very strong candidate whom I interviewed two times and was practically ready to make them a job offer. That is when it got very interesting! I took the candidate to lunch for a third interview, and over lunch she revealed some ethical problems that she had in her last job (plagiarism), which clearly told me that she was not appropriate for our team. I believe that this would not have been revealed if we had only done two interviews and if she had not been interviewed by multiple people. By the way, you’ll notice the classic technique mentioned above—the all-important, infamous “meal” technique (which, by the way, works like a charm). If you want to find out more about the real person, get them to dine with you. The candidate will disappear, and a real person will emerge.   

5. Look for internal hidden assets. 
   I often find that in corporations and organizations, there is hidden talent just waiting to be discovered. I was once a vice president of training and development for a large company. I received a resume from an internal candidate who wanted to fill the position of trainer. I called the human resources department and asked them why they sent me her resume. They explained that even though this candidate worked in the accounts payable department, she had indeed developed and designed a significant amount of training on her own to train accounts payable people around the country. “Besides,” the HR person said, “you have to interview her—she has passion!” Of course, we interviewed her, and after several interviews and a live training audition, she was hired as a trainer. So we discovered a talented trainer who was buried in another department in the organization who was truly a hidden asset.  

6. Hire for diversity. 
   Great leaders hiring people are always are looking for diversity. Yes, I know it’s the right thing to do, and it adds greatly to the company’s PR reputation. The fact that leaders are sensitive to and addressing diversity issues in terms of hiring has great value. But I think there’s a more important reason—the real reason—why you should hire for diversity. You should hire for diversity in order to get people who think differently. My definition of hiring for diversity means that you get people on your team who are completely different than you. You get diversity in race, creed, color, ability, religion, geography, lifestyle, age, culture, etc. The advantage of having this kind of diversity on your team is that each person brings a unique perspective to both the projects and the work. That way, you get a much broader range of opinions. So, hire people who are completely different than you—in fact, the opposite of your own image. Hire people radically different than you.  

Those are the key strategies for interviewing. Print this out and tape it to your desk. It will pay off when you are looking for your next “superstar.” 

For more business and personal development insight from Shawn Doyle, check out his titles from Sound Wisdom, including his Jumpstart Series, The Sun Still Rises, The Leadership Manifesto, and Two Months to Motivation. 

4 Ways to Grow Your Consulting Business by Jennifer Janechek

The consulting industry has seen considerable growth in the past decade. According to this article in The Wall Street Journal, “U.S. companies increased spending on consulting by 7.1% in 2016,” with the amount of money paid to consultants reaching $58.7 billion.  

With sufficient expertise in a given area, you can easily start a consulting business of your own. If you have mastered a skill such as business management, digital marketing, or fundraising, you can build a multimillion-dollar business around this knowledge. But because there are so many consulting practices out there, you’ll likely have to do some work to grow your company. To do so, consider the following approaches:  

1. Network both locally and nationally—and even globally. 

Not only should you attend the relevant professional conferences and connect with others in your field, discussing how you can support each other’s businesses; you should also network locally, within your community. Contact small businesses in your area to see what services they might be needing—if you can’t help them in their area of need, perhaps you can connect them with someone who can. You could also join a mastermind group that meets virtually and network with other consultants and entrepreneurs around the world. For more on the value of mastermind groups, read Napoleon Hill’s 1937 classic, Think and Grow Rich. 

2. Provide referral discounts and rewards. 

Give your clients business cards with a first-time client discount code to share with their contacts. Once a contact solicits your consulting services, provide the client who referred him or her with a credit or discount for future services. This is an incredibly easy way to turn happy customers into loyal clients and to reach a larger audience. 

3. Get tips from professionals. 

It’s always helpful to refine your methods and expand your knowledge base by receiving help from experts in your area. One way to do this is to take an online course, such as Sound Wisdom Learning Academy’s WOW! Business Advisory Course. Created for small business owners, entrepreneurs, managers, and business consultants, this course educates users in the Five P System of Professional Management—a methodology for streamlining business practices to promote business growth, increase cash flow, ensure happier and more committed employees, and give managers and owners more freedom to spend time on things that matter to them. Licensed by Sandler Training, the world’s largest management and sales training company, the online course contains workbooks, slides, and other materials generated specifically for business management consultants to use with their clients. Check out the WOW! Business Advisory today and see how it might revolutionize the work you do with your clients and help you build a larger client base.  

Another way to receive professional advice is by hiring a coach. Coaches provide invaluable one-on-one support that can help you grow your business by identifying your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and by connecting you with the resources you need to succeed. According to author, coach, and certified professional speaker Shawn Doyle, CSP (http://shawndoylemotivates.com/), “If you want to get from where you are to where you want to be, then hire a coach who has already been there. The huge advantage of hiring a coach is getting tools tips and techniques to accelerate your progress and growth. If all world-class athletes have coaches, then you should have a coach if you want to be a world-class business person.”  

4. Get published. 

Another way to boost your company’s exposure is by publishing material on your area of expertise. These publications might take the form of articles in business magazines and trade publications or even a book. Sharing your knowledge and experience in this way will increase the visibility of your company and greatly enhance your credibility. Interested in submitting a manuscript to Sound Wisdom? Learn more here. 

There are many other approaches to growing your consulting business, but these four tactics are a great start to expanding your client base, building your company’s reputation, and enhancing your support system. There are myriad opportunities out there for consultants—make sure that you are taking advantage of all the ones available to you! 

The Art of Optimism by Jim Stovall

Recently, I once again got to experience the excitement of having a new book of mine released. My new book is entitled The Art of Optimism and may be the most powerful among all of my more than 40 previous titles.  

I was always aware of the fact that there were optimists and pessimists, but I began learning about the incredible difference that being an optimist can make from my late, great friend and mentor Zig Ziglar. Zig was fond of saying, “I’m an optimist. I would go after Moby Dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with me.”  

I remember being backstage at an event where we were both speaking. It seemed like everything was going wrong with the lights, the sound, and everything else surrounding that particular arena event. Zig was greeting everyone backstage as he always did. “It’s a great day to be alive.” One of the stage hands said sarcastically, “Well, you’re in a good mood today, aren’t you?” Zig abruptly turned, stared at the young man, and proclaimed, “Yes, sir. Many years ago, I decided to be in a good mood today.” 

Zig’s statement made me start thinking that we’re not born an optimist or a pessimist, but we can choose how we want to live. Recent scientific research has borne this out, and it is the basis for my new title, The Art of Optimism. There are many great reasons to be an optimist. Here are just five of them:   

• Optimists are more creative. We always find what we’re looking for, and if you believe in greatness, excellence, and beauty, you will find it all around you. 

• Optimism helps you emotionally. Although the science shows that optimists have to continually support their positive attitude, pessimism tends to stick with people long term. 

• Optimism helps you professionally. People want to hire, promote, and work with optimists. The research shows that optimists are more readily hired, promoted, and given bonuses. 

• Optimism builds your relationships. Subconsciously, friends and family members want to be around optimists and avoid pessimists. We judge relationships based on how we feel when we’re around the other person, and optimists make us feel better. 

• Optimism keeps you healthy. The science shows that pessimists are sick more often and suffer longer with illness. Optimists are sick less often and recover faster. The research actually showed that being a pessimist has as much of a negative impact on your health as smoking cigarettes. 

One of the most important things you can do in your life is to be an optimist and share your optimism with everyone around you. 

As you go through your day today, enjoy the art of optimism. 

Today’s the day! 

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including The Ultimate Gift. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. His latest book, The Art of Optimism, explains how adopting an attitude of optimism can change your life.