Success Unlocked

Meet our Guest, Britteney Ofodile!  I'm so excited to be joined by Britteney Ofodile on the podcast! Britteney is a Business Coach and Consultant and she helps women level-up their business, show up as their authentic selves, and align their work to their driven purposes. Britteney has two decades of experience in corporate America, and she has built and led teams, coached, and mentored other...

Are Law School and Other Chat Forums Useful? We're doing something different this episode - I share a segment from one of our group coaching calls in The Success Society, our higher-level coaching community where we discuss all things outside of the application. This is my response to a discussion about law school forums and how this brought up feelings of insecurity for one of our members ab...

Meet Our Guest and Apply Yourself Community Member, Jaylene! I am so excited to be joined by this week's guest, Jaylene! Jaylene completed her Bachelor of Arts with a double major in criminology and psychology, and double minor in gerontology and human rights from St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. Jaylene and I first met during one of our Masterclasses, Showcasing Yourself in Your Gradu...

The Way We Define Success The way we define success affects the ways we get there. We can define and talk about success in so many different contexts - academically, professionally, socially, economically, and more. As you go through your advancement journey, ask yourself: How do I define success?  Success Is the Freedom to Choose I believe that success is defined by the freedom to choose - the fr...

The Benefits of Asking Questions Today, we get real about asking questions and why it’s so beneficial for our long-term success, growth, and advancement. As I work with my clients and as we onboard more team members at both Apply Yourself and our law firm, Shnier Mackenzie Law & Policy Consulting, PC , asking questions continues to be a significant part of our mutual success, understanding, an...

What’s Missing from Your Schedule? Time to Think. I often hear from students and clients that there’s not enough time in the day to do everything. In today’s episode, I take you through a time management exercise and explore strategies around time, time management, and prioritizing. Many of my clients feel all consumed with their studying and other responsibilities. But rather than more hours in t...

Meet our guest, Anita Rombough We are so happy to have Anita Rombough on the podcast this week! Anita is a Soul Strategist & Success Coach who helps high-achievers balance multiple priorities and amplify their fulfilment, time, and success so they can break through to their next level. She shares with us her winding journey and the ways she committed to herself - she knew there was more out th...

No Shame in Rewriting Your Standardized Tests  In this episode, I unpack the perceptions around re-writing standardized tests and why it’s totally not a shameful thing. Students and applicants are often hesitant to talk about this, maybe out of disappointment, embarrassment, or fear of failure, but I’m here to tell you that this happens all the time. In fact, many of our guests on the podcast and...

Obsessing Over the Test - Why I Fundamentally Disagree Today, I unpack a trend that I’m seeing more and more on social media - that is, the concept of students and applicants needing to obsess over standardized tests in order to do well.  I fundamentally disagree with this concept and fear-based marketing because I know it’s not true and I've been there, too. I’ve been an applicant for gradua...

This week’s episode is a replay! Our guest, Gabe Fezza, is a member of the Apply Yourself community and is doing amazing and meaningful work. Gabe shared his insights on the medical school application process and his experience working together in our various programs. Tune in to learn more!  Meet Our Guest and Apply Yourself Community Member, Gabe Fezza This week, we’re joined by our guest and Ap...

New Years “Resolutions” - Do They Align with You? Today, I discuss why I personally skip New Years “resolutions.” When we think about what's happening outside of the formal institutions where we learn, work, and play, treating the winter like a period of starting anew seems out of alignment with the natural environment and hibernation cycles, perhaps even ourselves. And if New Year's res...

The Journey What do we mean when we talk about “the journey”? When we think about our own personal journeys, we often start at the place we want to end up - I want to be a doctor, or a lawyer, a dentist, a teacher, an engineer, you name it. But what happens when we reach that goal, the top of the mountain, and what’s on the other side? We don’t stop progressing or advancing. We have to go through...

“I’m No Quitter” You may have said or heard someone say this before when in a really challenging situation: “I’m no quitter.”  But what if I told you that the choice to stay may actually hinder or prevent your growth and advancement? Now, I don’t believe we shouldn't deal with challenges or hard situations. However, sometimes we have to make the conscious decision to stop doing something for...

Productivity and the Principle of Doing Things We Enjoy Today, I delve into the idea of reward and its impact on our productivity. You may have heard this before: I’m going to work an X amount of hours, then I’m going to do something I enjoy or a hobby of mine for X amount of hours as a reward. I believe that we have to do things we enjoy simply because we enjoy them, not as a reward. This is actu...

Meet Our Guest and Apply Yourself Community Member, Gabe Fezza This week, we’re joined by our guest and Apply Yourself Community Member, Gabe Fezza! Gabe is completing his second undergraduate degree, Honours BSc in Global Health with a specialization in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. He is also a Research Assistant at the Cardiac E-Health Unit at the Toronto General Hospital and at the...

Only One Program...Are You Sure?​ " I’m only applying to one school or one program." So many of our members proclaim this when we start working together. Today, I want to unpack that - why we are often so committed to only one school or one program?  Why Do So Many Applicants Want to Apply to Only One Program or School? There tend to be 3 main reasons that students and clients decide to...

We are joined by Jessica (Lane) Bassmahon on this episode! Jessica is an internationally-renowned, award-winning operatic soprano with 15 years of instructional experience, and is currently pursuing her second Master's degree in Counselling Psychology. Full disclosure: I have also been a voice student of Jessica’s for over 10 years!  Shifting Identities and Goals In this episode, we explore h...

It’s that time of year to focus on final exams, final assignments, applications, and finishing the semester.  I hear from students and colleagues, and have felt personally, periods of intense and unwavering stress. It's important to explore strategies to decompress and create some space for calm, unwinding, and the ability to centre ourselves during these intense times of stress. And remember...

With Winter application deadlines fast approaching, my clients often ask me: “How do I showcase myself in my applications?  In this week’s episode, I talk about what I’ve learned so far from holding our foundational Masterclass: “Showcasing Yourself  in Your Graduate & Professional School Applications.” Over the past few months, we had the privilege to connect with students from pre-med, pre-l...

This week’s episode is a replay! Here we cover some really important realizations as we go through our advancement journeys. I want to talk about 3 things: outgrowing, doing what makes you happy, and making the hard choices. In my life, in my experience, and in the work that I do with my clients and the people around me, these three factors often lead to the most growth and advancement when we exe...

Today we are joined by Jonathan Mackenzie, Apply Yourself COO, who you’ve heard about before in his introduction in Episode 30! Jonathan is back on the podcast with us to talk about interviews - the good, the bad, and the ugly. From contentious interviewers to workplace drama, we share our own stories about our interview experiences, lessons learned, and skills gained while navigating through vari...

I am so excited to introduce our guest Peace Akadinma to the podcast. Peace is currently completing her Masters in the Health Policy and Equity Program at York University, which is also my alma mater! She holds two degrees in Nursing and Global Health, and she is interested in how health and politics merge and the outcomes produced as a result of the conflicts between the two areas.  Peace shares...

Today, we discuss something that I’ve covered extensively with my clients in our VIP 1:1 sessions and group coaching sessions. What does it actually mean to answer this question: What is an area of weakness or area of improvement for the applicant? This question often comes up in applications, reference letters, and job search and academic interviews. After being on admissions committees and provi...

Today, we have one of my amazing VIP clients on the podcast, Stephanie S.! Stephanie is completing her second degree, her Honours Bachelor of Science in Biology, and is currently writing her honours thesis and working as a pharmacy assistant while being a full-time student. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, conducted research at Toronto General Research Institute, and has been a volun...

Today, we have Stephanie Muskat on the podcast! Stephanie is a registered social worker and holds a Master's in Social Work from the University of Toronto. She is also a licensed psychotherapist and owns Compassion in Caregiving, an all-encompassing mental health network based in Ontario. Compassion in Caregiving focuses on the mental health needs of caregivers, with a focus on one-to-one psy...