• What's the trick to making resolutions sticky?

• How to navigate through all the self-help clutter in the marketplace (Good God, there's a ton)
• A powerful tip to building positive habits and not being discouraged when you mess up

There's no shortage of self-improvement advice out there-waiting to take over each new year.

Especially during this time of the year, the weight-loss books fly off the shelves, the gyms are packed, people feel a jolt of energy to make the next 12-months better than the last. But, what happens when the jolt wears off?

Don't get me wrong, resolutions are awesome. They provide a focus on a goal and recalibrate millions each year. Except one thing, these goals usually fall to the wayside quickly after the holidays pass.

What can we do to make our resolutions stick? We cover that in this episode.

• Her discovery of Zen through D.T. Suzuki in the midst of severe depression
• Strategies to cope with and reduce onslaughts of anxiety and stress
• The traits that keep overachievers from reaching their full potential
• Steps to take if you're interested in Zen
• Accepting dissatisfaction as a process
• The fast-track to turning your life around through Recording and Listening

Having a conversation with Cheri Huber (@cherihuber) is kind of like having a conversation with your best friend. She has this unique skill of making you feel at peace with yourself as you talk to her, so it's no wonder that her life has led to her being an expert on helping others become at peace with themselves.

With so many professionals finding themselves looking for different approaches to cope with the stresses of being an overachiever, Cheri has an extremely important message to offer.

If you're unfamiliar with her work, Cheri is a meditation instructor and has been student of the spiritual practice Zen for over 35 years. She was brought up in the San Francisco Bay area and studied Zen under the direction of Jay DuPont. After this period, she sought to have an impact on more people's lives and then opened the Mountain View Zen Center in 1983.

As an author, she's been extremely busy. With 20 books to her name, including There Is Nothing Wrong With You: Going Beyond Self Hate, The Fear Book: Facing Fear Once and For All, and Be The Person You Want To Find: Relationship and Self-Discovery, Cheri writes on the subjects of Zen, overcoming fear, and living with self-awareness.

Cheri also has her own weekly internet radio show, Open Air, where she openly discusses the practice of conscious, compassionate awareness.

Her latest book, The Big Bamboozle, reveals why we stay in dissatisfaction and obstacles that keep us from being happy and being joyful. The book is based off of Buddha’s teachings, and gives you answers to everyday questions you think about in your own life and your happiness.

When a new year comes to a close, many of us take this as an opportunity to reflect on achievements and tie up loose ends on projects. We get a chance to look at things we wish we had finished (or hadn't started) and make it a goal to focus on that project for the upcoming year.

Recently, I ran into one of my past clients and was reminded of one of the best interviews we conducted throughout the 2015/2016 season.

In this episode we interviewed Jeb Banner and discussed the impact of having great company culture within organizations.

To what degree can a kick-ass company culture impact your organization? The answer may surprise you.

• How to use your HR as a marketing tool
• How to install a "Factory Week" in your schedule and use it to address new projects and tie loose knots
• The value of letting employees "play" while in their work
• Why you should treat your team like well-fed chickens

Jeb dives into his first business and his crash course into web marketing [1:35]

How he fell in love with building websites and figuring out how to drive traffic to them [4:00]

Jeb shares how to build a strong organizational culture through marketing [5:30]

Caring deeply about clients more than caring about customers [9:00]

“Factory Week” is and why every company should host one annually [10:45]

How to handle new initiatives with employees [15:00]

The concept of turning work into play [16:00]

Seeing their business as healers and servants of client organizations [20:00]

This week our topic involves....WORK EMAILS!

Email is the biggest cause for work related stress because: 

1. It creates uninmportant distractions
2. It starts unneeded anxiety because you're not sure how to get all the work done in the time available
3. It creates a reason to work over the weekend
4. It distracts you from the current moment when you're on vacation or with family
5. It gives a quick dose of "I got something done" when you're procrastinating something else

In this episode, we cover a couple very simple practices when managing your inbox.

After you've had a chance to listen, I'd love to hear from you.

• How did it go? 
• What did you end up doing to controlling your email overload?

To your journey,

CJ

Sure, open office layouts are great for collaboration.  

But, have you ever had the one person in your office who overshares their every life story?

They're pretty easy to spot once you know what to look for. This person usually chit-chats about the latest episode of Game of Thrones, their kid's basketball game, or a way too personal medical issue.

HOWEVER, sometimes the distraction is not so easy to spot. Usually, this person says something along the lines of, "Do you have a minute?".

While very sneaky, this person is a distraction in disguise. 

The thing is, these open office spaces are killing your productivity! They welcome people to interrupt your work at all points of the day. So then, you're left feeling like you need to take your work home with you. 

I don't want that for you and I'm sure you don't either, so today's episode covers how to deal with an open office littered with distractions and distractors in disguise. 

To your journey,

CJ

Look at your commitments today......this week....or even something that you'll be needing to do at some point this year...

It could be a neighborhood association, a holiday party, a class, a committee , or even an event for your kid's school.

Whatever you choose, you must pick one. That's all.

The goal today isn't to make you less involved in the lives around you. In fact, what today's episode is about is completely in the opposite direction.

The goal is to recognize that you can't say yes to everything thrown at you AND do a good job with the commitments that absolutely need your time.

What I've come to recognize is that we will compromise the outcome of things we really want to focus on for the future so we don't disappoint someone in the present. This ends up yielding mediocre results.

So, today I will give you one simple action to take so simplify your life.

To your journey,

CJ

To phrase the same question another way...

These questions have fascinated me for years. They are the root of why we continually kick the can down the road on tasks.

Maybe it's because we're perfectionists. Maybe it's because we know the task won't be fun and won't provide any immediate benefit.

So the question is...

Since we all have a tendency to procrastinate, what's the best way to conquer it?

In this week's episode, I tackle two separate tricks you can use today to overcome your procrastination tendencies.

From a Jack LaLanne Juicer to slightly used camping gear, this week we discuss regretful buys​. 

Today's show is for those who tend to forget things. If you've ever awoken at night thinking about if you've forgotten something you promised to do-listen to this week's show.

In this mini-episode, I'll share how I prevent from forgetting my to-dos.

After listening, you can add this strategy to your day immediately so you never forget anything again! Enjoy!

• How do you find creative solutions to big problems?
• What process do you go through to implement a successful company succession plan?
• How can you make team members so happy they won't want to leave?
• Why do employee owned companies thrive? 

Some people ask me if entrepreneurs are born or made – the nurture/nature debate. My answer has always been the same, you can have a predisposition to handle some of the challenges better than others, but fundamentally, entrepreneurs are made over time.

This couldn’t be any truer than in the case of our guest today, Bernie Veldman the CEO and founder of the Midwest Orthotic and Technology Center. Bernie was surrounded by successful entrepreneur’s his entire life and you can tell that this exposure helped him develop a passion for small business. In addition, Bernie paid close attention to everything he learned and took full advantage of this education.

In addition to learning a lot about what it takes to build a successful company, you’ll love Bernie’s humble approach and grateful attitude towards the opportunities he’s had in his life. He recognizes that his success is a product of hard work, surrounding yourself with great people and making sure they love their job.

Enjoy!

SureStep 

Midwest Orthotics

“Employees are now the owners at South Bend”  

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

“Team of Teams” By General Stanley McChrystal

“Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” By Vern Harnish

“Atlas Shrugged” By Ayn Rand