Building Psychological Strength

When you see an injustice, someone in need of help, or a gap you could fill, how do you respond?

This week, you'll meet a woman who learned about the massive literacy problem in her state, and she has devoted her career to closing that gap.

Deb Mallin is the founder of Literacy Matters, a non-profit organization that aims to help children read proficiently by Grade 3. In her words, as kids transition from Grade 3 to Grade 4, they stop "learning to read" and begin "reading to learn." Kids who can't read at their grade level are likely to be at a disadvantage for their entire lives. 

I am so thrilled to share this interview with Deb because her organization was just selected to receive a 2:1 donation match from the Bazinet Charitable Foundation in Minneapolis. Through October 31, all donations will be matched 2:1 up to $150,000!! 

If you are at all moved by Deb's passion and this important cause, I encourage you to use the button on the right to donate. 

Donations will be used to get Deb's literacy app, Mighty Doodle, in the hands of kids who desperately need it.

As you listen to this week's episode, I'd love for you to keep in mind a couple of things:

• Make it happen - Deb had a passion, and her work did not come easily. She worked hard to remove barriers in her way to make her dream a reality. Whether you are pursuing your own passion project, a project at work, or something else, we can all be inspired by her tenacity. Go make your goals happen!
• If you know better, do better - I was so moved by Deb's words. So many times, we see an injustice, and we remain silent. We become part of the problem. I encourage us all to take a page from Deb's book and do what we can, even if it is only using our voices, to call out and help remedy injustices in our world. Women are incredibly powerful - we absolutely can enact change!

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

Your mind can be your biggest asset or your biggest barrier, and the choice is up to you. 

Deep inside all of our minds is our subconscious. This is the old part of our brain that operates below our awareness, yet it exerts a powerful influence on the way we perceive the world and operate within it. 

Keeping your subconscious mind healthy, in check, and working for you can be incredibly difficult. But it doesn't have to be....

This week, I sit down with Carolin Hauser-Carson, a Humanistic Psychologist, Family Constellations Facilitator, and the author of the book The Pleasure IQ. Carolin helps women connect to their life’s mission that spurs truly fulfilling careers, amazing contributions, and abundance in the areas of health and relationships. 

This interview is incredibly interesting and powerful for so many reasons:

• Family Constellations - I learned about a new methodology for uncovering subconscious blocks called "family constellations." It has incredibly interesting connections to Cognitive Psychology and quantum-physics. You'll really want to hear about it.
• Your Mind Can Be an Asset - Our subconscious minds evolved to seek out threats and keep us alive. Not the most adaptive way to move through a modern world! Carolin and I have a great conversation about why it is so important to train your subconscious mind to work in your favor.
• True Yes / No - One way that Carolin works with her clients is by teaching them how to recognize decisions that are a "true yes" or a "true no," based on their underlying desires and values. She even offers a free training to learn how to do it. 

I learned so much from this interview, and I know you will too. I'm thrilled for you to meet Carolin Hauser-Carson!

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

We all likely know what it's like to look around at our life and want to make some changes. 

This week's guest takes that notion to an entirely new, courageous level. For 12 years Nichole Carlson had the American Dream with the husband, house, and career – but she was miserable.

It wasn’t until after her mom passed away at only 47 she realized life was short. She got a divorce and sold her house. One day she quit her job, sold her car an hour later and the next day she was on a one-way ticket to Spain and traveled for the next 10 years. She even got to the point where she was homeless and eating out of dumpsters.

She was standing in line at a soup kitchen when she thought, “I’ve had it all and I was unhappy and empty. I have nothing and I’m happy. And now that I know what it takes to truly be happy, I can rebuild my life on my terms.”

She went back and intentionally rebuilt her life. 

This episode is packed with incredibly deep discussions about the topics that we all need to keep in mind:

• Life is so short - Confronting the notion that your life is short can help you face your fears and be honest with yourself and live authentically.
• Self neglect & self care - It serves no one to neglect ourselves. It is absolutely worth it to take care of yourself! This is especially so if you're in a caregiving role.
• Life design requires intention - If you want to see change and improvement in your life, you have to make intentional changes. 

I hope this episode helps you think critically and honestly about your life and helps set you on the path toward alignment.

 Let's be honest. For so many of us, the mere idea of networking makes us curl up our lip in revolt. 

The idea of milling around in a room, full of people wearing "Hello, my name is..." name tags, trying to muster up the confidence to had your business card to the V.P. of So-and-So who is standing across the room.

If we're being really honest, that sense of dread arises because we're so focused on what we can get out of the situation.

This week's guest asks you to flip the script. Rather than thinking about networking as a way to get something, she suggests approaching it as a way to give something. As a way to cultivate real, authentic connections. Imagine that.

Jennifer Kroiss is a networking expert, and an entrepreneurial business coach.

During our conversation, we hit on so many amazing topics, including:

• How to approach networking from a place of service. Asking yourself, "How can I be of value to this person?" rather than, "What can I get out of this person?"
• We talked about the importance of getting 100% clear on what you want your business to look like. So many of Jennifer's entrepreneurial clients experience overwhelm when they begin entertaining work that falls outside of their passion and their vision.
• We also talked about the importance of understanding how others might show up to a situation and how that might be different from the way we show up. As an Insights Discovery coach, Jennifer helps people work together in more productive ways, using this powerful tool. 

Whether you are an entrepreneur, or you're simply interested in making more real, authentic connections with other people, this is the episode for you. 

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

It's not often that we get to sit down with someone we have admired for a long time. This week, I'm sharing an interview that resulted from my opportunity to do exactly that.

I have admired Nancy Lyons, CEO of Clockwork, for quite a few years. She is all of the good stuff, wrapped up together in one person.

Strong? CHECK!

Opinionated? CHECK!

Gumption and self-confidence for days? CHECK!

Gives good hugs? DOUBLE-CHECK!

You are not going to want to miss this episode of the podcast. Nancy shared so much wisdom with us all, including:

• How she cultivated all of that gumption
• The impact of our actions on the next generation
• Why we're so unengaged at work and how to fix it
• The importance of living life to the fullest
• How to practice and cultivate positivity
• The importance of silencing your inner critic
• The impact of women supporting women

I'm beyond thrilled to introduce you all to Nancy Lyons!

Here are a few more details about her:

Nancy Lyons is a CEO, entrepreneur, and all around good human who speaks about the intersection of leadership, entrepreneurialism, technology, and people. Through her candid writing and speaking, she explores the many facets of life at work and champions human-centered approaches to business. Seeing work and the culture of work as the next economic frontier, she pushes the progressive boundaries of how we think about professional and personal lives.

Nancy has been locally and nationally recognized for her role as owner and CEO of Clockwork. She is co-author of “Interactive Project Management: Pixels, People, and Process” (New Riders, 2012) and author of the upcoming book, “How to Win at Business by Being Nice to Humans.”

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

You've probably heard it before. That little voice in your head that gets louder and louder, the more you step out of your comfort zone. The voice of your inner critic.

Maybe it sounds something like this, "Do you think you have enough experience for that?" Or, maybe it's more like, "No one is going to take you seriously." Or, my personal favorite, "Do you really think you can pull it off? You're not going to succeed, and you'll end up wasting all that time."

I'll let you in on a little secret. I battle the voice of my inner critic every single day. 

I was thrilled to come across a book called "Playing Big: Finding Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message." This book contains a number of exercises that I have found to be so transformative.

In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through one of those exercises designed to silence your inner critic. I'll walk you through the exercise, and then bare my soul a bit and introduce you to Ron, my inner critic. 

I hope this episode helps you quiet that voice in your head that is attempting to keep you playing small. You are so much bigger than that.

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

This week's episode is all about women supporting other women using the power of the all-mighty dollar. 

Did you know that if we simply bought our tampons (JUST TAMPONS!) from women-owned businesses, it would drive $2.7 BILLION more into women-owned businesses than all of venture capital in 2017?! Those are some powerful tampons!!

Those of you who have taken big leaps know how scary it can be to go after your dreams, and you probably also know how amazing it is to have the support of those around you.

Support and tribe make all the difference.

It is this reason why I am so excited about what Kateri Ruiz and Angel Rowell are doing with their new venture, Maia! Maia is a directory of women-owned businesses, and Kateri and Angel created it to help connect these businesses with consumers who want to support businesses that align with their values.

Our dollars are powerful!

Kateri and Angel are giving away a free premium listing on Maia to one lucky listener who rates & reviews the podcast on iTunes and screenshots that review to me (social media DM or via aprilseifert.com)!

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

Have you ever considered the link between authenticity and confidence?

It is so hard to be confident when we’re masking who we really are. In other words, it is hard to be confident when our insides don’t match our outsides.

This is one of the key topics we’re exploring in this week’s podcast episode.

This week you’re going to meet Susan Denk. Susan is a 38-year veteran of the construction industry and is the owner and general manager of White Crane Construction LLC, founded in 2002. 

Susan's confidence radiates from her during this interview, and she sheds light on exactly where that confidence came from. She worked hard to reconcile her outward identity with the woman inside of her, and it was only when she was able to live authentically that she was able to cultivate her strong sense of confidence.

We also talked about her dedication to mentorship and the impact it has had on her life and on the lives of the women she mentors. What an important topic for us to talk about in the context of starting big projects and going after big goals!

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

Many of us are familiar with the powerful work of Brene Brown. She truly pioneered the notion that our vulnerability is not a weakness to be hidden, but rather, a powerful way for humans to authentically live their lives and connect with one another.

What does that look like for you?

Are there times when you find yourself feeling consistently vulnerable? How do you respond in those situations? Do you allow yourself to feel the authentic feelings that are coming up, or do you feel compelled to hide your vulnerability. Have you ever even stopped to take note of those times to understand them at a deeper level? 

This week, I am speaking with Silvia Turonova, an inspirational life coach who used her own difficult life circumstances as motivation and fuel to create the fulfilling life she lives today. 

Silvia immigrated to the U.S. 6 years ago from Slovakia with $500 in her pocket. Her desire to create more opportunities for herself and for her mother is what drove her to take such a big leap to start her life over. At the time, she only knew 2 sentences in English, and she had no idea what she was going to do for her career. 

Today, she is a motivational speaker, writer and an author of the book "Courage Within You." She is a founder of the Courage Within You platform blog which she launched almost 3 years ago to support and inspire people in living courageously and without limits.

Silvia has written well over 200 articles on success and personal development and was featured on some successful websites as Addicted2Success, MotivationGrid, Wealthy Gorilla and many more. Her drive to help people in changing their perspective on pain and using their courage to live more authentic lives is mainly based on her own experience and challenges.

She primarily focuses on teaching people how to find benefits in their hardships and how to love themselves through imperfections. Silvia believes that one of the best ways to experience fulfillment in life comes from being our most authentic self.

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!

Unfortunately, it's a near certainty that every single one of us will face some serious adversity in our lives. That might come in the form of a medical diagnosis, an accident, the loss of a job or a loved one, or something else.

The fact that the adverse situation happens to us is one thing, what we choose to do afterward, is another thing entirely.

What if you could THRIVE after adversity? What if an adverse event could be the very thing that reignites the passion in your soul and realigns you to what is really important?

I certainly experienced that on two separate occasions in my life, and this week's guest had the very same experience after she received a serious health diagnosis. 

This week, you will meet Karen Magill. She woke up one morning to near crippling levels of paralysis, with no idea what was happening to her. 

Eventually, she got her diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis. Because of the effects of MS, she was forced to leave the work force in the year 2000 and had go on private disability....and take a 30% cut in income. In 2002, Karen filed for bankruptcy.

Karen knew the that dealing with the struggle and anxiety of her financial situation was not the way to live, so she took charge of her situation. She got herself out of debt and is now helping other people do the same. 

In her words, "You can't go after your goals if you're disabled by debt." That is so true.

I'm thrilled for you to meet Karen Magill!

Sign up at www.aprilseifert.com to get instant access to April's Life Blueprinting tool! Gain clarity on the areas of your life that are most in need of improvement and start to make changes to design your best, most joyous life!

Leave me a rating or a review on iTunes by clicking here!