Power of After Show

Do you ever open up a book and after reading the beginning, skip to the end of the story? It's tempting at times, especially when there is so much suspense and you want to make sure the hero or heroine lives! It's a vivid illustration of how we can write much of the end of our story, even though there are so many unknowns. There is a lot of life to live, but when all is said and done, what story w...

When I told some friends and colleagues Greg and I were traveling to South Africa people started coming out of the woodwork. I heard comments like, I've been there several times! I can't wait to go back! I didn't fully understand those comments until we made the long flight to the tip of that large continent and experienced it for ourselves. South Africa wasn't on my bucket list, but the reviews f...

Sometimes I think about living to 100 and I wonder if I really want to do that. Wheelchairs, more medications, caregivers, wrinkled skin and more. It doesn't sound glamourous or even that fun when I think of all the drawbacks, but then I think of more than that. I think of impact at this point in my life and how much more I could give. Longevity is a reality for many who are facing mid-career and...

The song Climb Every Mountain is sung at the close of the first act of The Sound of Music by Mother Abbess. It is an inspirational piece used in many situations to encourage people to take every step in pursuing their dreams. The musical is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp and many of the songs have become standards. Jenny Lynn Stewart , known as a Heart-Stirring Songstress, toured the...

Many of us go along our merry way, living life and don't often stop and think about the question: What are you advertising? The aim of a commercial is to have a memorable take-away to help you remember a product or service. What product or service are you advertising? Many of us are drawn to ads such as the Clydesdale horse commercial with the adorable puppies that make us feel good all over durin...

The value of trust is one indispensable quality that affects every relationship and situation in your life. There's more of a seamless movement in our world when there is trust. From the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, 22nd annual trust and credibility survey, nearly one out of two respondents (out of 36,000) view government and media as divisive forces in society. This is probably not surprising to...

When you think of making a difference what comes to your mind? Feeding a starving nation, providing clean water to communities, helping the homeless? The term making a difference has different meanings to different people, depending on personal circumstance, culture and relationships. The point to this show is that you can live your life with the focus of making a difference with a mindset of perf...

Picture yourself in an extremely intense situation and then imagine how you would respond when confronted with facing your fear . One of those intense situations could be sitting in the cockpit of a plane as a fighter pilot. To add to the intensity, now imagine that you're being shot at. This happened to Kim Campbell , who was a fighter pilot for twenty-four years. She has been in intense situatio...

What is success to you? Have you defined it? Can it really happen overnight? Sometimes it seems like it can. When we look at others, we can make the judgment that they are super-successful, got there quickly and got all the breaks, but that's usually not the case. Though the media can paint a picture far from reality that it can. Part of success is defining what success means to you and then reali...

Traveling can expand your horizons and perspective not only physically but mentally. There is a quote from the English philosopher and physician John Locke (1632-1704) that says, If you spend too much time in one place you can use up its educational value. In order to grow you need to change. But with uncertain world events and escalating costs, creative planning has become absolutely necessary in...

We hear a lot about groupthink and you may wonder what is groupthink , really? According to William H. Whyte Jr., defining groupthink in1952, it is making decisions as a group and this discourages individual responsibility or creativity. It leads to the exclusion of other ideas with potentially disastrous results. An easy way to define groupthink is as a follow-the-leader exercise with an automati...

There are so many benefits to being both a mentor and mentee that it may be difficult to distinguish which position gains more out of the relationship. In interviewing Naomi Rhode , who has literally mentored hundreds, if not thousands of people in her life, her words confirmed this fact. Naomi defined the different levels of mentorship that has made this possible in her life which are: short-term...

How do you prepare for the times you wake up with a start, feeling totally unprepared trying to remember where you were and why you were feeling that way. You have a horrible pit in your stomach and you feel light-headed. You do remember grasping for your notes, trying to find something that will help you navigate the horrible feeling that you can't find your place to fulfill your responsibilities...

There are a number of ways to look at business models and business plans and a multitude of programs and courses that can help you with this subject. In this article and podcast, we will be looking at a simple plan for establishing a business in the Financial Services industry, literally begun with simple sketches on paper by Greg Johnson. He is a former Registered Investment Advisor, and this is...

If I asked what kind of life you'd like to live, most would answer a life of fulfillment, not a life of discontentment. But the definition of life of fulfillment can change with life's circumstances and events. If you look at previous generations, especially those that came through any part of the great depression of the 1930's and 40's, a life of fulfillment meant having the basic necessities of...

The terms politics and life may feel contradictory in nature, but politics is a part of our lives, whether we like it or not. In interviewing former California State Senator Mike Morrell, he noted two subjects that were discouraged by others to talk about: religion and politics. Yet when we look back at a casual study of history over the last 5,000 years, it's the only two ways men oppress other m...

What is an excuse ? An excuse is defined to lessen the blame or to get out of a duty. It's also usually full of defensive language or blame. There is an attempt to explain why something has or has not been done. How is this different from a good reason? Most of us, myself included, tend to want to give a good reason instead of an excuse to justify a particular action or lack of action. A good reas...

This is part-two of the stupid and funny things Greg and I have done-not only together but individually. The ability to laugh at ourselves brings relief and even respite from stress and we definitely laugh. For this episode we've again not had to think too hard coming up with things we've both done and learned through our experiences. I hope this inspires you to come up with your own funny things...

During our world's huge shutdown, there was a focus on essential work , including essential workers. Those workers never quit going in to their offices or place of business, while other businesses were shuttered. We continued to get our mail every day from essential mail deliverers, shop for groceries at essential stores and filled up our vehicles with gas. There were many who found ways around th...

In the summer of 2005, six women made national news when they appeared on a Times Square billboard in the Dove Real Beauty Campaign , dressed only in their underwear. Other billboards featured actresses and supermodels, but this one promoted real women with real curves and the nation went wild. Stacy Nadeau was one of those women. Dove's mission was "to widen the stereotypical theme of beauty maki...

You've heard this phrase before I'm sure: You can't do that! It may have come from one of your parents or siblings while growing up. But then you start hearing it in school. Later, you hear it at work, even from colleagues. The phrase brings up feelings of being scolded and reprimanded. But You can't do that doesn't just relate to doing something wrong. It can make you feel like you're not good en...

Whether you are married, living with a significant other or working with a partner, setting goals as a couple is valuable. It's a way to organize life where the "have to's" don't get in the way of the "need to's." Any time you talk and clarify thoughts and dreams together is worthwhile. With the amount of interruptions and urgent matters that crop up daily, having a big-picture mindset of where yo...

Self-accountability is a relationship you have with yourself. No one really wants others to tell them how to run their life. If you are a parent, you have guided your children through years of training, hopefully developing within them a sense of their own self-accountability. If you are married, you realize all too well how it doesn't work to set goals for your spouse. You can encourage them in t...

Tiny Habits, or habits implemented in very small segments, have the power to change your life, your health and even your financial future. Linda Fogg Phillips is the sister of BJ Fog who wrote the book Tiny Habits and is director of the Tiny Habits® Academy. BJ runs the organization Behavior Design Lab at Stanford, but Linda is the brawn behind the brain for the programs. You will enjoy hearing mo...

A willingness to change causes some to shiver in response as they have faced shutdowns, mandates and layoffs. Life feels like it will never be the same with changes almost daily. When speaking about transformation, we envision new life and even renewed direction and focus. But entering into that transformation in our individual worlds takes our willingness to change and adjust to make it happen as...