Guest featured in this episode:

Dr. Ruth Gotian is the Chief Learning Officer and Assistant Professor of Education in Anesthesiology and former Assistant Dean of Mentoring and Executive Director of the Mentoring Academy at Weill Cornell Medicine. She has been hailed by the journal Nature and Columbia University as an expert in mentoring and leadership development and is currently a contributor to Forbes and Psychology Today where she writes about ‘optimizing success’. She also has a weekly show and podcast by the same name where she gathers high achievers to talk about their journey to success. In 2021, she was one of 30 people worldwide to be named to the Thinkers50 Radar List, dubbed the Oscars of management thinking and is a semi-finalist for the Forbes 50 Over 50 list.

During her extensive career, she has personally coached and mentored thousands of people ranging from undergraduates to faculty members.  As Assistant Dean for Mentoring she oversaw the success of nearly 1,800 faculty members at Weill Cornell Medicine. Currently, she researches the most successful people of our generation, including Nobel laureates, astronauts, CEOs and Olympic champions, in order to learn about their habits and practices so that we may optimize our own success.

Dr. Gotian received her B.S. and M.S. in Business Management from the University at Stony Brook in New York and certificates in Executive Leadership and Managing for Execution from Cornell University. She earned her doctorate at Teachers College Columbia University where she studied Adult Learning and Leadership and focused her research on optimizing success.

Dr. Gotian publishes on topics ranging from networking, mentoring, leadership development and optimizing success and has given keynote talks on these themes all over the globe. She regularly publishes in such journals as Nature, Scientific American, Academic Medicine, Psychology Today, Forbes and Harvard Business Review. She is the co-editor of a book on medical education, won numerous mentoring awards and is the author of The Success Factor – Developing the Mindset and Skillset for Peak Performance.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • What do high achievers have in common
  • What are the ways adults can learn new things
  • How do high achievers deal with challenges
  • Why is it that the high achievers don’t crumble when they get their big prize – Nobel or Olympic medal
  • How can someone find what they are passionate about
  • and much more…

Guest featured in this episode:

Heather Murphy is a clarity coach, genealogist, and host of the Stories in Our Roots podcast. With an academic background in family history and twenty years of experience helping people discover the stories of their ancestors, Heather knows the clarity and strength that comes from spending time in the branches of your family tree.

Her mission is to help women feel more peace in their lives, because most are struggling with the weight of the past, the stress of the present, and the uncertainty of the future. So she helps them understand today’s circumstances and struggles by learning the stories of their ancestors, empowering them to create an incredible future filled with clarity, connection and perspective.

When she’s not exploring family trees, she’s knitting lace shawls, taking care of her three Welch Harlequin ducks, or trying to understand her teenage son as he discusses quantum mechanics.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • Why is studying our family history important 
  • Common challenges seen with women with their past.
  • How drafting a family tree contributes to learning about who we are
  • Using the past to prepare for future challenges
  • How can we use our family gatherings and family memories to help us in life
  • and much more…

Jingle Bells. I love them Christmas songs, and all the holiday spirit makes me so happy BUT, the holidays can also be such a stressful season. While most of us love all the holiday activities, sometimes they can be overwhelming.

The EXACT things that we planned to do with the intention of making the holidays more enjoyable, can actually turn out to make things much more stressful, and that leads to losing sight of the true meaning of the holidays. So today’s episode is for you if you feel this overwhelm from past holidays and want to enjoy the holidays this year better than the past.

I just took a 2 week vacation off holiday season to avoid crowds. But if you are planning on traveling during the holiday peak season, expect and be prepared for delays. If your flight is delayed or canceled for any reason, what would you be doing? Prepare enough clothing and activities for you and your traveling companions. 

So first off, make vacation time actually vacation time and avoid working at all. Make sure you have scheduled out your social media posts ahead of time, emails can be scheduled, work ahead and let everyone know you will be on vacation. Set those vacation auto replies and enjoy your vacation. 

Before the holidays start, set some rules and limits, use these rules as boundaries for your decision making to keep your holiday sane. You can limit the time you spend with certain people if they make you feel uncomfortable. You can limit the number of activities or events that you will participate in so that you don’t burn yourself out.

Keep things simple, holiday decorations do not have to be a certain way, beautiful  friendships and family relationships can still last a lifetime without extravagant gift exchanging. Years from now, no one will ever remember your food, your decor or your gift, but they will only remember the times that you shared together laughing and enjoying the holidays. Only focus on what’s important! Family togetherness, spiritual enlightenment and camaraderie with friends, these are far more important than the tiny details that are often focused on that drives us nuts. Do less and actually embrace family and friends time more. So keep things simple! 

I always say that my favorite quote is yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present.  If something happened in the past that made your past holidays undesirable, let go of that feeling first. Don’t let past events pre-determine the experience you will have for the upcoming holiday. For example, if you had an unhappy experience with in-laws or other relatives from a past get-together, don’t pre-determine that your experience this year is already ruined. Today is a present, so focus on today, focus on the new you this year because this is a different chapter of your life and you are the author and you get to determine how to write your life story. If the holiday season makes you focus on a painful event from your past, start creating new holiday traditions.

Remember that your Christmas get-together is not a problem-solving working session. Deal with your family issues another time. Do not drown yourself in the negative stories of others. When someone is getting on your nerves, laugh it off, it happens to all of us. Feel free to excuse yourself to a private room or even the bathroom to calm yourself if you feel any overwhelm or anxiety. Close your eyes, take deep deep breaths, and restate your new intention for once you open your eyes. Do this reset for yourself as often as you need to.

You get to live your life the way you want to. Remember that saying no to anybody is ok, telling your parents that you won’t be going over this year is ok. Staying home for Christmas is ok. 

Guest featured in this episode:

Lois Koffi is a professional speaker, sales trainer, coach, Best Selling Author of Fearless Entrepreneurs, and Ironman Triathlete that has coached thousands of people in business and healthy lifestyles for the last 22 years.

She pivoted, like many in 2020, without having an email list or podcast or tribe online – having focused on face-to-face sales for over 20 years.

She went from 0 sales online to 5 figures a month in less than 6 months with permission-based lead generation online and now coaches, affiliate marketers, and speakers hire her to do the same – pivoting in 6 months guaranteed to live their best life. She now is at multiple five figures a month in 9 months of starting at ground zero online.

She loves affiliate marketing as well and is really passionate about sharing her story and resources through her top 20 podcast.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • Story of going from Zero to 20k months in 9 months
  • What lessons learned
  • How she got started with zero online presence
  • What was helpful along the way
  • and much more…

Guest featured in this episode:

After 40 years on a diet, yo-yoing up and down the scale, Renée Jones had learned every diet – and every cheat – before finally stopping the comfort and stress eating to lose “those last 30 pounds” yet AGAIN in 2012 – and has not gained it back. Then she dug a bit deeper and found more freedom from the baggage she’d dragged with her for decades.

Now she helps others do the same. Renée has a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling and a Clinical Residency in Pastoral Care to guide her international counseling and coaching practice of traditional and contemporary models as well as relaxation and horse-assisted methods. Her book, What’s Really Eating You: Overcome the Triggers of Comfort Eating, is an Amazon best seller, and her TEDx talk helps her reach people around the world.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• • What is emotional eating, and how do we manage it?
  • Why do diets fail?  
  • How do you manage holidays/family feasting?
  • How to navigate a “snack-filled” home?
  • After 40 years on a diet, what made the difference for you in 2012 and through to now?
  • How do you make a resolution – New Year or otherwise – work for you?  
  • The real secret to losing weight and maintaining it?
  • and much more…