"Things don't go according to plan and that is the plan."

Kristen Hadeed unintentionally launched Student Maid, a cleaning company that hires students, while attending the University of Florida in 2007. Since then, Student Maid has employed hundreds of people and is widely recognized for its industry-leading retention rate and its culture of trust, accountability, and compassion. But Kristen and her company were no overnight sensa­tion. In fact, they were almost nothing at all.

In this episode, I chat to Kristen about her journey and all that she's learnt. A few months into starting her new venture, with little knowledge of how to lead her business, disaster struck and 75 percent of her cleaning team quit on the same day. She's learnt the hard way but what she's learnt is gold - she shares all in this interview.

"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen." Brene Brown

Having listened to Brene Brown's fantastic TED talk and then downloading the audio copy of The Power of Vulnerability I had to learn more. I was hooked, engaged and inspired. I've now just completed listening to the audio version of Daring Greatly and can safely say that my belly is full.

In Daring, Greatly Brene shares all that she has learnt about vulnerability. It is not only inspiring and insightful but also highly practical. Brene shares tool, tips and techniques of how we can all aim to be more vulnerable. Daring Greatly is about having the courage to show up every day as our authentic selves. Great read - Enjoy!

Stories

Today's featured guest is Sandra Marinella. The topic is "Stories."

Let the show begin.

Guest Bio

Sandra Marinella, MA and MEd, is an award-winning writing teacher and author from Chandler, Arizona. She has taught thousands of students and presented hundreds of writing workshops. Her articles have appeared in The English Journal, The Arizona English Bulletin, and Seventeen.

When Sandra faced breast cancer, she turned to her personal writing to help with healing. The experience inspired her to teach writing to heal to cancer patients and veterans. As she watched storytelling and writing help others transform their lives, she wrote her new book, The Story You Need to Tell. Her pioneering work shows us the power of finding our stories, sharing them, and writing our way out of the darkness toward resilience and renewal.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

The noise of the external world is muting the sound of the internal world, and therefore our intuition pays the price. What moments do we have in the day to connect internally? How much time do we give to listen to our internal voice? What is consuming our attention and why?

Distraction is the killer of productivity and destroyer of happiness, perhaps! In this episode, I share my thought as to why - Enjoy!

“An emotion is your brain’s creation of what your bodily sensations mean, in relation to what is going on around you in the world.”

I couldn't resist the opportunity. I had to speak with Lisa again about her field of work. And that is why this episode exists. Lisa is a Professor of Psychology and her book How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain is one of my favourite book of all time. A must read!

Why is this conversation so important? When we can understand how emotions are made we are better equipt to understand ourselves and I believe that is the brilliance of her research. Self-awareness or understanding is the key to unlocking suffering and moving towards a greater state of joy.

In this episode, we chat more on her research getting into some pretty interesting stuff on the construction of emotions, the difference between feelings and emotions, the implication they have to how we operate, how we can alter them, the thought behind "free will," and much more. You'll love it!

Please share your comments thoughts and questions below, or reach out directly to either myself of Lisa. Enjoy!

Neal Barnard is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He is one smart guy that knows an incredible lot about the science of health.

In this book, Cheese Trap, Barnard explores the surprising truth about the harmful effects of cheese and dairy. If you are a lover of cheese and don't want to give it up anytime soon, then you may want to avoid this book. Neal shreds cheese apart. If on the other hand, you have an open mind and curious to discover why dairy is bad for our health, you'll gain a lot of insight from reading this book. Sceptical or not, Neal will make you think twice about eating that next slice of cheese.

Enjoy my book reflection of The Cheese Trap.

SOS Mentality

Today's featured guest is David Hare. The topic is "SOS Mentality."

Let the show begin.

Guest Bio

David is a UK author and coach who inspires individuals to achieve breakthroughs in their lives and helps teams and companies communicate with more confidence and passion.

David is a practising Nichiren Buddhist since 1985, his first book, The Buddha in Me, the Buddha in You – a Handbook for Happiness, published in 2016 and has gone on to sell thousands of copies worldwide. Themes of the book include Nichiren Buddhism, life coaching, spiritual development, human revolution, inspirational leadership and world peace.

“There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” Jackie French Koller

There is a great deal of talk around the topic of minimalism at present, perhaps a bit too much talk. However, I for one believe there is plenty of value in creating a minimalist lifestyle. I'd also agree that there is a lot of hocus-pocus going around, making it a little bit trendy. For this reason, I recorded this episode to share my thoughts on whether minimalism is fact or fiction. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

"In order to deserve the best, you have to do and be your best. And if I am not getting better, I'm getting worse."

With a belief that happiness is a choice in this episode Brannon Beliso shares his story and what he's learnt that has helped him prove this. Filled with inspiring stories, thought and practical takeaways there is a great deal of wisdom that can assist us all to Live Love and Grow. These are the lessons of a reluctant tiger. Enjoy!

Guest Bio

Brannon Beliso is dedicated to helping people live their best lives. His passion is to help people and businesses reach their full potential through defining their values, developing their culture, building their brand, creating leadership by example and fulfilling their purpose.

Brannon’s purpose is to “Always being a student and never a master.” He devotes his life to being a better martial artist, mentor, teacher, speaker, writer, motivator and innovator of personal development, life skills education and martial arts-based programs.

Brannon humbly presents workshops and seminars with the mindset that we can all always do and better. He is committed to being a student for life and being the best father, husband and servant to the community possible.

Waking Up is a podcast by Sam Harris, a neuroscientist, philosopher and best-selling author. The podcast aligns itself with one of his five books called, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion. In his podcast, Sam explores some of the most critical questions about the human mind, society, and current events.

Sam is publicly positioned as an expert in the fields of neuroscience, philosophy, religion and spiritual practice. His conversations with his guests are broad, controversial and insightful.

Enjoy my review here!