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Amber Slone was on a mission. It was early May, a couple of months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and her coworkers had been working from home for 10 weeks. They were bored. She was bored. And the last thing anyone wanted was another Zoom call. Nevertheless, she wanted to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/03/16/15-tips-to-keep-your-employees-engaged-and-excited-about-their-workplace/?sh=61632aa92962" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">engage her colleagues</a>. So the 33-year-old found herself driving around Dallas, darting from one coworker’s home to the next with dozens of soda bottles and ice cream pints in tow.



It took Slone three days, but she delivered all of her colleagues their own ingredients and guides for making an ice cream float. Under normal circumstances, this mission would have made Slone a strong contender for “Employee of the Year” at her software company, VMware. But for her, it’s just another day on the job.



“My title says ‘happiness director,’ but really I’m a people connector,” she says. “However I can <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/13-practical-ways-to-find-joy-in-your-work/">make people love their work</a>, that’s what I do.”



Slone is just one of a growing number of people whose job titles literally include the word “happiness.” Whether they are directors of happiness or chief happiness officers, their biggest priority is making people look forward to work every single day—regardless of their industry.



Jobs with “happiness” in the title are a relatively new development. They’re most common in startups or the tech world, and they’re sometimes part of the Human Resources department. But according to Slone’s colleague Lisa Berg, “happiness” jobs have little to no overlap with HR.



Berg is a happiness director at VMware in Chicago, and she sees herself as a resource for her coworkers.



“I’m always asking, ‘What burden are you experiencing and how can I help?’” she says. “If people are upset, it’s important to let them know they can be upset. It’s my job to understand why, so I can try to fix it.”



Her first week on the job, Berg saw a coworker storm out of the office, clearly upset. Berg didn’t know the coworker, and was still settling into her own role. But she still followed him out of the office to ask him if he was okay.



“He explained he was having an incredibly hard time, and asked if I [had] five minutes,” Berg says. “I said, ‘Yes! I have all the time you need!’”



Over the next several days, she and the coworker continued to talk regularly. She checked in with all of her other colleagues, too. Berg and the other happiness practitioners interviewed for this story talked about how crucial it is to simply <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-key-insights-on-treating-employees-with-love-from-leadership-experts-three-and-jackie-carpenter/">be there for the people</a> in their offices. That can impact more than the office; it can boost the company’s bottom line via employee retention and performance.



“We have people that could work for Google, Twitter, Facebook, wherever,” says Slone’s supervisor Jenn Donahue. “But they stayed here, and I honestly think she’s the reason.”



* * *



Happiness practitioners come from all walks of life. Slone came from sales. Berg came from the nonprofit world. Lauren Johnson worked in hospitality before her happiness director role with the Denver company JLL, and she echoes Berg’s idea that providing happiness means being a resource.



“A lot of what I do is finding answers for people so their days can be a little easier,” she says. “Sometimes that means preempting the questions and concerns before they come.” When her company moved locations, Johnson helped the brass design an office that gave each employee ample space.



“We work in the details,” she says. “It’s just the little things.”



Slone agrees: “It’s not always about bringing everyone ice cream floats or planning that one appreciation event that knocks everyone’s socks off,” she says. “Sometimes it’s just about remembering that someone’s family is going through a rough time, or knowing that they have a big sales meeting coming up and making sure they know they’re going to crush it.”



At the Florida-based company Presence, Chief Happiness Officer Holly Kickliter spends a lot of time focused on the little things. Kickliter’s role is unique: She is primarily <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-ways-to-thrill-your-customers/">focused on customer happiness</a>. Imagine a customer service team on steroids. Her company provides software to universities hoping to lower the number of dropouts and transfers, and Kickliter leads the happiness team. Every day, she and a cadre of “happiness experts” and “happiness allies” review every iota of customer feedback, proactively searching for ways to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-improve-customer-service-7-ways-to-take-your-mission-beyond-words/">improve their clients’ experience</a> with the company’s software. It might be as simple as reimagining a user portal, but her overall strategy is pretty simple: The fewer steps, the better.



“I’m in the business of making work pretty easy for people,” Kickliter says.



Sometimes, clients’ tempers can run hot. Kickliter is never more stressed than when a client calls and says that they’re unhappy.



“That’s like my bat signal,” she says. “That’s a sign I have to leap into action.”



In those instances, Kickliter gets on the phone, listens to everything the client has to say, then figures out what she and her team have to do to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/6-creative-ways-to-solve-a-problem/">solve the problem</a>. She stresses that the listening might be the most important part, and even though her role differs from that of other happiness directors, each practitioner said the exact same thing: “Everybody just wants to be heard.”



“That’s what we do,” Berg elaborated. “We hear, then we figure out <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2022/02/17/how-to-cultivate-a-happier-workforce/?sh=54b5285cf35d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">how to make people happy</a>.”



This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.success.com/patchworks-imported-products/success-magazine-sept-oct-2020.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">September/October 2020 issue</a> of SUCCESS magazine and has been updated. Photo by Bonnin Studio/Stocksy United

Happiness is a burgeoning new career path.

Happiness is a burgeoning new career path. | SUCCESS

Happiness Is... a New Career Path

Happiness Is&#8230; a New Career Path

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Happiness Is... a New Career Path | SUCCESS

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Tyler Hicks is a writer based in Dallas. His work has been published in Texas Monthly, the Houston Chronicle, D Magazine and The Dallas Morning News, among other publications. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading mystery novels and watching old movies with his wife.

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Tyler Hicks

Modern Mentorship Is Changing, But It's Still About Relationships

Professional Growth

Professional Growth Archives

Professional Growth | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

S​​ue Keever Watts has a simple story she likes to tell. One day she was lounging by the pool with a good magazine while her daughter practiced diving.&nbsp;



“Rate my dives!” her daughter called.&nbsp;



After each splash, Watts, immersed in her reading, rattled off random numbers. “Nine!” she exclaimed. “10!” “Eight!”&nbsp;



At that, her daughter suddenly froze.



“Wait,” she wondered aloud. “Why was that one an eight?”&nbsp;



In that moment, Watts realized her child wasn’t looking for affirmation; she was <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/365-ways-to-improve-yourself/">striving to get better</a> with each and every dive. 



“It was such a good lesson,” Watts says, “because that’s what we look for from our mentors. People aren’t just looking for a pat on the back. They’re looking to get better. And that will never change.”&nbsp;



But some things about mentorship have indeed evolved. Watts is the founder and owner of the Keever Group, a consulting company that helps businesses improve their effectiveness and internal communications.&nbsp;



“For years, mentorship has been an ongoing topic with my clients,” the seasoned entrepreneur says. “I’ve seen companies put more resources into mentorship programs, but I’ve also seen how these programs can face so many challenges. There can be forced matches, a lack of chemistry between mentors and mentees, and people who feel obligated to take part in something they don’t want to do.”



Jeff Smith has seen those challenges, too. Smith is a leadership expert who, like Watts, consults a variety of organizations. He believes the concept of mentorship has undergone something of an evolution in recent years.&nbsp;



“I think ‘mentorship culture’ is the right term for it,” he says. “You can Google ‘<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/business-coach-vs-mentor-which-one-do-you-need/">Do I need a mentor</a>?’ right now and you’ll find endless amounts of articles telling you that you needed one yesterday and here’s how you should formally ask for one right this very second.” 



The formal approach is perfectly fine, Smith notes, as long as it works for you and your mentor.



“I believe mentoring is something that should only be initiated by the mentee,” he says. “Because mentoring, at its core, is a relationship.”



Through conversations with experts, mentors and mentees (some retired, others just beginning their careers) SUCCESS set out to understand how mentorship has changed and what that means for pursuing achievement today. Although the approach to mentorship may have evolved, it appears that some attributes remain timeless.&nbsp;



<h2 id="h-a-lifelong-relationship">A Lifelong Relationship</h2>



Heather Wagner Reed has never asked someone to be her mentor. She has also never had anyone formally ask her to be their mentor. Yet like a legendary football coach, the founder of the public relations and marketing agency, Juice Consulting, has a “tree” of mentees that spans cities, generations and even industries.



“Mentorship is how I’ve built my company,” says Wagner Reed, who has worked with restaurants, festivals and even Beyoncé. “I focus on cultivating talent, and I always tell people, ‘If you’re willing to learn and be committed, I’m going to have a place for you.’ ”&nbsp;



For that reason, people end up staying with Wagner Reed’s company for long periods of time. Take it from Amber LaFrance, who cites Wagner Reed as a key mentor in her career.&nbsp;



“When I interviewed with Heather, she looked at me and said, ‘You don’t have any PR experience. Why should I hire you?’ ” LaFrance recalls. “I looked back at her and said, ‘I want to do this. I’ll figure it out.’ ”&nbsp;



And she did. LaFrance started as an intern, then got promoted. She worked for Juice Consulting for seven years before starting her own public relations agency, CultureHype. Now, she’s working on building her own “mentor tree.”&nbsp;



“Because I was mentored by Heather, I’ve always paid it forward,” she says. “She taught me more than just how to be a good professional. She taught me how to be a good person.”&nbsp;



Jim Dale, an advertising veteran who spent decades doing creative work, says that teaching kindness is a key trait that every mentor must have.&nbsp;



When Dale was coming up in the cutthroat business environment of the 1980s, he says his colleagues mainly sought mentors who could help advance their careers and make them more cash. Then, as he built his own company, Dale saw firsthand how mentorship “became more about finding people who care about you.



“All of my mentors were great at what they did, but most importantly, they were great people,” he says. “It doesn’t matter how you find your mentor. As long as they make you a better professional and a better person, you’ve found someone special.”



Wagner Reed agrees. Twenty-five years into her career, she has had the pleasure of learning from several mentors. To this day, she remains in touch with each of them.&nbsp;



“You can’t just glom on to someone and say, ‘I want your help,’ because there has to be some synergy there,” she says. “But when there’s synergy, you can have a lifelong relationship. I’ve had a few, and I firmly believe that’s why I’ve been successful.”



<h2>“Almost Like a Career Therapist”</h2>



Staci Parks carries a note of affirmation from one of her mentors wherever she goes. When she has a bad day, she takes out the note, reads it, and reminds herself that there are people in her corner, deeply invested in her success.&nbsp;



“A mentor is almost like a career therapist,” says Parks, who works in health care marketing. “Like a therapist, I think you might need different mentors at different parts of your life.”



Smith agrees. The leadership expert and seasoned business consultant says his father was his first mentor. His dad was blind, so a young Smith helped him move and manage the family concessions stand. At that point in his life, he needed a mentor to show him the ropes and the core tenets of business. But as he got older, Smith found that he needed different mentors for new stages of his career.&nbsp;



“Right now I need a mentor to help me handle the emotional side of business,” he says. “Those difficult conversations and difficult relationships are intangibles that I’m always trying to master, and I need someone who has been there, done that.”&nbsp;



Smith also believes that our current “mentorship culture” is undervaluing an extremely important resource: retirees.&nbsp;



“From a mentorship perspective, retirees are a gold mine,” he says.



Watts thinks so, too. The experienced consultant has seen companies invest in “mentor matching” software that uses algorithms to arrange mentorships, but she hasn’t seen enough organizations turn to former employees or recent retirees to guide their new hires. That would be incredibly beneficial, she argues, as would alleviating the pressure that currently permeates every conversation about mentorship.



“I almost want to use a different word than mentor,” Watts says. “That term has become so loaded with anxiety, when what we’re really talking about here is relationships.”



That’s what Parks has learned in her career thus far: No matter how you find them, the <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/my-key-to-success-forming-deep-connections/">best mentorships are relationships</a>.



“Things like openness and kindness will never go out of style,” Parks says. “No matter how corporate culture changes, we will always need open, kind and attentive mentors if we want our teams to be successful.”



In other words, when it’s time for our turn on the diving board, we don’t need someone to shout “Nine!” or “10!” We need someone who prevents us from belly flopping.&nbsp;



“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach,” Watts says. “But you gotta pay attention to ask, ‘How’s my diving?’ ”



This article originally appeared in the January/February 2022 Issue of SUCCESS magazine. Photo by @Chawki/Twenty20

Through conversations with experts, mentors and mentees (some retired, others just beginning their careers) SUCCESS set out to understand how mentorship has changed and what that means for pursuing achievement today. Although the approach to mentorship may have evolved, it appears that some attributes remain timeless. 

Through conversations with experts, mentors and mentees (some retired, others just beginning their careers) SUCCESS set out to understand how mentorship has changed and what that means for pursuing achievement today. Although the approach to mentorship may have evolved, it appears that some attributes remain timeless.  | SUCCESS

Modern Mentorship Is Changing, But It&#8217;s Still About Relationships

Modern Mentorship Is Changing, But It's Still About Relationships | SUCCESS

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Lifestyle

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Relationships Archives

Relationships | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

A few years ago, a volunteer delivering magazines and comic books for the nonprofit <a href="https://magliteracy.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MagLiteracy</a> delivered some reading material to a homeless shelter in Boston. The volunteer came across a young boy who had never shown an interest in reading. But on this particular day, the boy decided to pick up a magazine from the volunteer’s stack.



When the volunteer came back on her next run, the young boy was by the door, waiting for more things to read. A few weeks later, the volunteer saw the boy reading to his young sister. This is one of John Mennell’s favorite stories, but far from his only one.



“There are so many stories of how that one book, that one comic or that one magazine opened up someone’s eyes to a whole new world,” says Mennell, the founder and chairman of MagLiteracy. “We’re not just sharing stories; we’re <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/everyone-has-a-story-heres-how-to-make-yours-resonate/">creating them</a>.”



MagLiteracy delivers new and recycled magazines to at-risk readers in emergency shelters, women’s crisis shelters and other organizations in need of reading material. For instance, the organization recently delivered a trove of cooking magazines to a shelter for trafficked women in Columbus, Ohio. With help from those magazines, the women are now learning culinary skills and some basics like math.



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“Illiteracy is a root cause of poverty and hunger,” Mennell says. “And when we say poverty, we’re also referring to poverty of the mind, poverty of the heart. In the same way Kroger supplies food banks with surplus food, we’re able to give a new life to reading materials supplied to us by our partners.”



And now SUCCESS is one of those partners. The magazine recently donated 25,000 issues to MagLiteracy, contributing to the organization’s mission of expanding literacy and spreading great stories. For <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/success-team/">Hugh Murphy</a>, the manager of product marketing and development at SUCCESS, the donation was a no-brainer.



“Now these magazines are being used for what they were originally published to do,” he says. “They’re inspiring, encouraging and educating new people.”



Since the relaunch of SUCCESS in 2008, the magazine has accumulated thousands of back issues from overprints and event leftovers. Murphy says the company has made it a priority to reduce its inventory, but at the same time, throwing out magazines in bulk just didn’t sit right with him and his colleagues. He searched for possible donation sites, and one day, he discovered MagLiteracy.



“It was really refreshing to find an organization that takes magazines in bulk,” he says. “MagLiteracy was the perfect fit.”



Mennell agrees.



“What SUCCESS has done is so important,” he says. “It’s so timely.



That’s because MagLiteracy has established what it calls a “literacy bank,” similar to a community food bank. The warehouses that comprise this literacy bank allow MagLiteracy to accept a larger volume of donations and, in turn, reach more people in need of great stories to read. But Mennell and MagLiteracy will never simply deliver mass amounts of magazines and hope for the best; they are strategic about their choices.



“We always want to specifically match magazines to our readers’ goals,” he says. “Whether we’re delivering to that shelter in Ohio or the Inuit north of the Arctic Circle, we can connect people to the stories that make the most sense for them.”



In other words, as long as people and partners like SUCCESS continue donating material to MagLiteracy, the organization can keep reaching readers like that young boy in Boston.



“There are thousands of magazines in distribution in the U.S., and trust me: There’s something out there for everyone,” Mennell says. “That’s the beauty of magazines.” 



This article originally appeared in the September/October 2021 issue of SUCCESS magazine. Photos courtesy of Magliteracy

SUCCESS has partnered with MagLiteracy to promote reading.

SUCCESS has partnered with MagLiteracy to promote reading. | SUCCESS

SUCCESS Gives Back: Promoting Literacy in At-Risk Communities

SUCCESS Gives Back: Promoting Literacy in At-Risk Communities | SUCCESS

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Money

Money Archives

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On a remote Bahamian island, there is a woman that some locals know only as “The Fishing Lady.” For the last five years, she has spent most days of the week casting lines alongside the island’s men, a hyper-competitive group of veteran fishers. The Fishing Lady catches wahoo and grouper, and her haul occasionally includes the rare 60-pounder. She’s relentless, this Fishing Lady, as is her partner. Sometimes the pair are out on the water for 10 hours a day, and if they’re not there, you can probably find them in British Columbia. After all, that’s a great spot for salmon fishing.



Unbeknownst to the Bahamian locals, The Fishing Lady is perhaps the United States’ most popular and well-known financial advisor. Before she was a semi-retired angler, Orman wrote 10&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;best-sellers about personal finance, won two Emmy awards for her long-running show on CNBC, and was spoofed by Kristen Wiig on&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;Night Live.



“Greatest honor in my life,” she told an interviewer who asked about Wiig’s mockery. “There can be no higher honor than someone mocking you on&nbsp;Saturday Night Live. Once you’re at that point, you have made it into the culture of America.”



Having made it, Orman after a while wanted to try something new. She still loved fielding financial questions, and most of all, she still loved helping people. She just wanted something different.



“When I hit 65, I wanted to find out who I was without the attention,” she says. So after&nbsp;The Suze Orman Show&nbsp;ended in 2015, Orman and Kathy “KT” Travis, her spouse of 10 years, moved to tropical paradise where, in the financial guru’s own words, “there is absolutely nothing to do.” There’s a tiny market, there’s a small restaurant with 10 tables, and there’s fish. She was still writing and hosting a popular podcast, but, for the most part, Orman was just “The Fishing Lady,” and The Fishing Lady was at peace.



Then, well, 2020 happened.



* * *



Orman’s early life was defined by a series of setbacks. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and it was there that her father’s chicken shack restaurant burned down—twice. Worse yet, he didn’t have insurance. She didn’t know it at the time, but both fires were cruel lessons, unveiling for Orman just how bad things can get when you don’t prepare. She moved to the West Coast after graduating from the University of Illinois, and in Berkeley, California, she suffered another catastrophe. This one changed her life.



Starting at 23, Orman waitressed at a place called the Buttercup Factory. Her best months, she pulled in close to $400. Intent on starting her own restaurant, Orman borrowed $50,000. Then she took a trip to Merrill Lynch.



“I did exactly what they told me to do—put it in a money market account,” she told&nbsp;New York&nbsp;magazine in 2010. “Except my broker, Randy, said to me, ‘Suze, how would you like to make a quick $100 a week?’ And I said, ‘That’s more than I make as a waitress. How do you do that?’ ”



Randy started using Orman’s dough to trade speculative options, and soon enough, all of the money was gone.



In a myriad of interviews since, Orman has pointed to that moment as a turning point, the fork in the road that ultimately led her down a path to those Emmys, the&nbsp;SNL&nbsp;mockery and her friendship with Oprah. Yet while it’s true that Randy’s buffoonery was a catalyst for her career, Orman learned a far more important lesson.



“I realized that I could be helping people,” she says. “In a way, I could be the anti-Randy.”



Orman enrolled in Merrill Lynch’s financial training program, and chose to specialize in retirement planning. “I had a kinship with clients who walked into my office full of fear and anxiety as they neared retirement,” she writes in her latest book. By 1983, seven years since she bolted for Berkeley, Orman was a VP at Prudential. Four years after that, she founded her own financial advisory firm: the Suze Orman Financial Group. She loved creating those lightbulb moments and those sighs of relief for people. She loved showing them how much they can save if they did X and Y, and she always reminded them to remember Z, too. She loved it so much that she started writing books, in the hope that the masses could benefit from her money musings.



Publisher Esther Margolis took a chance on the amateur author because Orman reminded her of Jacqueline Susann, an uber-popular writer with a special talent for connecting with women. Orman’s first book, 1994’s&nbsp;You’ve Earned It, Don’t Lose It, sold well, and over the course of the next two decades, Orman advised her way across America: There were book tours, endless tapings of her eponymous show, and the call-ins and guest spots, where Orman dazzled with her no-nonsense, “let’s get real” approach to finance.



It always looked like she was there to whip you into shape, not sell you something, and that was, in fact, her duty. She helped famed comedian Kathy Griffin straighten out her finances, and did the same for pop star Sia. But her favorite conversations aren’t with comedians; they’re with mothers. When Orman produced a series of videos for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, she met Ayanna Benjamin, a 36-year-old domestic violence survivor with two daughters. The two became friends, and Orman and Travis attended Benjamin’s hard-fought graduation from The City College of New York. The friends frequently talk over text and phone calls, and Orman is always ready with money advice. But sometimes the guru just can’t handle Benjamin’s financial folly, or her penchant for spending money at Dunkin’ Donuts.



“When I’m bad, she’ll hang up the phone, and I know,” Benjamin told&nbsp;The New York Times. “She’s not with that.”



* * *



Orman saw this coming. She didn’t know what exactly “this” would be, but she knew 2020 would bring about a cataclysmic financial event.



“The market had already gone up really high,” she explains. “I was looking at artificial intelligence. I was looking at an election year. I knew flooding and fires and hurricanes would be rampant. Something just wasn’t feeling right.”



Her podcast,&nbsp;Suze Orman’s Women &amp; Money, offered caution.



“In 2019, I warned everyone about February 2020,” she says. “Four. Different. Times.”



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That’s partly why she wrote her latest book,&nbsp;The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+: Winning Strategies to Make Your Money Last a Lifetime. The book hit shelves in (you guessed it) February 2020. So when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Orman was ready. She was prepared for the media requests. She was prepared for the inevitable panic, which she says is completely warranted. Most of all, she was prepared to scold anyone who wasn’t taking their finances seriously.



“This is a financial wake-up call,” she says. “You need a new road map, a new way to look at your money. This is about what you need versus what you can afford.”



Her most important piece of advice is pretty direct: Hunker&nbsp;down.



“You should be downsizing, keeping your car longer, and learning to live a pretty austere lifestyle,” she says.



But her book contains nine chapters of far more detailed and intricate nuggets of wisdom. Over the course of nine chapters, Orman dissects everything from Treasury bonds to interest rates to maximizing life in your 60s. In each chapter, Orman seamlessly blends deft financial guidance with the personable approach that has been her staple for decades.



“Listen: My mom lived until she was 97, and her two sisters lived into their mid-90s,” she writes in a chapter about planning for the long term. “Given that both their parents had died in their 60s, the three sisters were convinced they would never make it to 80. Didn’t quite happen the way they thought it would.”



Therein lies one of the biggest themes of her latest book, and of almost every conversation Orman has had since the coronavirus reached the U.S.: For the sake of your loved ones, you have to plan ahead.



“Most financial people talk about which stocks to buy and how the economy is doing,” she says. “But personal finance is about so much more than that. Personal finance is about family. How do you tell your children you can’t support them anymore? What documents do you need to have in order if a loved one is sick? That’s what I’m focusing my time on now.”



The pandemic and the subsequent recession has lit a fire under Orman, not unlike a certain Merrill Lynch staffer named Randy. Even when she needed surgery for a spinal tumor in summer 2020, she rebounded quickly, jumping back into the podcast booth with advice, as she puts it, “for mothers, grandmothers, wives and the men smart enough to listen.”



“I realized when I stepped away that I won’t retire from helping people,” she says. “I can’t. It’s in my DNA, and nothing can replace that. Not even fishing.”



That sentiment gives me all of the motivation I need to ask Orman for some financial advice before our conversation comes to an end.



Even though I have a layman’s understanding of finance, I still think I’ve been doing pretty well saving and investing. As it turns out, I have not. Orman set me straight and took me to school, quizzing me on my 401K, my Roth IRA and at least three other acronyms I was now hearing for the first time.



“Why are you doing that?” she asks, perplexed by my ineptitude. “No, no, no, here’s what you do.”



 This article originally appeared in the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://store.success.com/by-media/success-magazine-jan-feb-2021-mark-cuban.html" target="_blank">January/February 2021 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>. Photo courtesy of Suze Orman

Amid a rocky economy, the renowned personal finance expert has more thoughts on how to make your money last.

Amid a rocky economy, the renowned personal finance expert has more thoughts on how to make your money last. | SUCCESS

Suze Orman Wants to Help You Improve Your Finances in 2021

Suze Orman Wants to Help You Improve Your Finances in 2021 | SUCCESS

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Business &amp; Branding

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Stay ahead in business: strategies and insights for success

It’s mid-July and David Osborne is sitting in the posh but mostly empty Providence, Rhode Island headquarters of Virgin Pulse, the largest workplace well-being company in the world.



The Virgin Pulse HQ has all the exercise desks and yoga spaces its employees need to be healthy while creating software that helps other people be healthy, too. But ever since COVID-19 arrived, almost everyone has been telecommuting. Osborne is one of the few still working in a space meant for 350, and he hates it.



“I like to be face to face with people,” he says. “We’re a very social culture, and not interacting with anyone puts a lot of strain on people. I think we’re just at the starting gate of a long-term impact.”



Yet even as he discusses the pandemic’s effect on society, Osborne isn’t all doom and gloom. Far from it, in fact. His company has recently launched a product that the CEO believes will be incredibly valuable to companies returning to the office after quarantine. More importantly, Osborne is confident that the product, VP Passport, will be integral to employee wellness in a post-pandemic world.



“We’re doing the same thing as Uber and Lyft; we’re innovating in a broken system,” he says. “We do what we do to change lives and get people healthier and happier.”



The company had no way of knowing its gleaming office space would sit nearly vacant for months just three years into its existence, just as Osborne had no way of knowing he would have to lead an ever-expanding wellness company in the face of a monumental health crisis. Nevertheless, when the virus arrived, Osborne and Virgin Pulse were ready.



“When everything is up in the air, you realize everything you’ve been doing set you up for these moments,” says Wendy Werve, Virgin Pulse’s marketing chief. “Because of Dave, we were prepared. Now, that’s going to trickle down to our clients, their clients, their families and on and on.”



* * *



Founded in 2004 as part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Virgin Pulse designs technology that cultivates good lifestyle habits among its client companies’ respective workforces. Osborne joined Virgin Pulse as its president and COO in April 2016, when the company had just bought ShapeUp and Global Corporate Challenge. His first task was a tall order: Merge all three organizations while retaining the tight-knit company camaraderie synonymous with the Virgin brand.



“If you take small companies and put them together, the worry is, ‘I’m no longer a small company,’ ” he explains. “And you can’t walk into an organization and change everything at once.”



At the same time, Osborne wasn’t afraid to mix things up. 



“Anytime someone says, ‘That’s the way it’s always been done,’ I want to jump out the window,” he says.



He streamlined the company’s go-to-market strategy, prioritizing collaboration between the engineering, marketing and product teams. He also started over-communicating to his employees, reminding them again and again what Virgin Pulse is and what they come to work to do, underlining the key performance indicators (KPIs) of growth, retention, adoption, changed lives and profit. Likewise, he shared his vision for key traits of Virgin Pulse team members: humble, hungry and smart. Those traits and KPIs are engraved on the back of the touchstone coins Osborne awards to high-performing employees, and all eight members of the executive leadership team must carry their coin with them at all times.



“If you’re an executive and you’re caught without it, you have to pick up the tab,” Osborne says. “And no, you can’t expense it.”



He maintained a focus on company culture and employee well-being when he moved from COO to CEO in June 2017. Virgin Pulse invests heavily in its employees’ health and talents, teaching them to listen to their minds and bodies. Osborne wants the same for everyone else’s employees, too. Products like Virgin Pulse Navigate give client companies’ employees a single platform for reviewing their benefits, checking symptoms, finding in-network providers and more. With each product, the CEO and his team are striving to achieve the seemingly impossible: Simplify healthcare.



“You wouldn’t buy a car or a ticket on a flight without knowing how much it’ll cost,” Osborne says. “But in this field, you make decisions all the time without factoring in all of the costs and all of the options. I love the fact that Virgin Pulse is in this place where we’re really trying to solve those problems and innovate this broken industry.”



At the start of 2020, Osborne’s team had a slate of products on the docket. Then the pandemic arrived, isolating people to their homes and heightening the urgency for Osborne and his colleagues.



“Digital health was already more critical now than ever,” he says. “This pandemic just made it even more urgent.”



Companies needed a one-stop shop for engaging their employees, offering them digital health resources and eventually, the ability to return to work safely. Employees needed more digital resources for managing stress and anxiety while remaining connected to coworkers. Virgin Pulse’s solution was VP Passport, a new platform for the mid- and post-pandemic world.



It all came together quickly .



“We went from, ‘We gotta do this,’ to having nine clients in just 45 days,” Osborne says.



“That’s possible because of Dave’s leadership,” Werve adds. “He created a culture of collaboration where everybody has input, everybody buys in, and we get it done.” 



But Osborne is humble. He rarely talks about his Division I golf career, for instance, or the other facets of his extensive résumé. He prefers to keep the focus on his people and, better yet, the future. That’s why the empty office doesn’t bother him. He knew his team would be back in person soon, riding the exercise bikes, playing table tennis and, of course, creating the next platform.



“We’re gonna keep innovating,” he says, surveying the HQ that will soon be humming with activity once more. “We’re gonna be there for people.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide"/>



<a href="https://www.successacademy.com/successinsider" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Do you need weekly inspiration, success tips and self-help resources? Click here to sign up to join our weekly newsletter to help you achieve all your goals!</a>



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This article originally appeared in the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://store.success.com/by-media/success-magazine-nov-dec-2020-payal-kadakia.html" target="_blank">November/December 2020 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>. Photo courtesy of David Osborne and Virgin Pulse

The CEO works overtime to keep his employees—and everyone else’s—happy and healthy.

The CEO works overtime to keep his employees—and everyone else’s—happy and healthy. | SUCCESS

Virgin Pulse CEO David Osborne Is Committed to Employee Wellness

Virgin Pulse CEO David Osborne Is Committed to Employee Wellness | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Virgin-Pulse-CEO-David-Osborne-Is-Committed-to-Employee-Wellness__.jpg

6 Simple Ways to Find Motivation in Everyday Life

Personal Development

Personal Development Archives

Personal Development | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

This was going to be my year. At the beginning of 2020, I was newly married, I had a new job, and for the first time in a while, I had a solid exercise routine that didn’t zap all of my energy or leave me cursing the inventor of cardio. I had lofty goals for where I wanted to take my business, too, and I was optimistic. Most importantly, I was motivated.



Then, of course, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/this-pandemic-is-our-teacher/">the pandemic</a> arrived. While I have been incredibly fortunate throughout these trying times, I’ve fallen short of what I hoped to accomplish. At first, I refused to give myself grace. I resorted to harsh self-criticism, and my biggest complaint was about motivation. Specifically, I had none, and I missed it.



But that was a mistake. It’s vital to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-give-yourself-grace-to-start-again/">give yourself grace</a>, and it’s equally important to remember that motivation isn’t an elusive aspiration that is near impossible to get and even harder to sustain. Rather, motivation is all around you. It’s on your bookshelf, it’s in your past triumphs, and it’s in the relationships you have with friends and colleagues. To put it simply, motivation was waiting for me. It’s waiting for you, too.



Here are six tips for getting and staying motivated:



<h3>1. Establish mini-rewards for yourself.</h3>



This has been crucial for me. Whether you have a daunting project on your hands or a task that doesn’t excite you, creating your own reward system can be the push you need to keep at it and infuse your work with some energy and enthusiasm. For instance, when I scratch something off my to-do list, I let myself read a chapter of a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/27-books-for-success-to-add-to-your-summer-reading-list/">book</a> or listen to 10 minutes of a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/motivational-podcasts-by-black-hosts-you-need-to-listen-to/">podcast</a> I’ve been devouring. This will motivate you to take care of pressing tasks and maybe even get you excited about work you’d otherwise put off.



<h3>2. Take a break to work on a personal project.</h3>



You may have taken your time in quarantine to start a home improvement project, or pick up a new skill or hobby. If you’re feeling stuck or rudderless with your work, it could be beneficial to pause and divert your energy elsewhere. Take 30 minutes to paint, renovate or chip away at an ongoing passion project. This can give you the fuel you need for the rest of your day and provide you with something to look forward to.



<h3>3. Revisit one of your past successes and break down how you got there.</h3>



Maybe it’s the high-profile account you landed or the high-dollar sale you and your talents netted for the team. While it’s always good to be forward-thinking with your main or side hustles, it can be valuable to reminisce on your greatest achievements and remember how you obtained them. This will remind you that the impressive heights are worth the many tiny steps it takes to get there. Then, suddenly, you’ll be more motivated to take those steps again.



<h3>4. Exercise.</h3>



It’s hard enough for me to get motivated for exercise, so I rarely consider just how powerful a little cardio can be. But science doesn’t lie: A short jog will do wonders for your brain, and as long as you pace yourself, you’ll return to work with a clearer head and heightened focus. I’ll admit it—this one took some convincing from <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/what-ive-learned-from-my-wife-in-quarantine/#comments">my better half</a>. But once I acquiesced to a daily jog, I realized a monumental difference in productivity. Even more surprisingly, I started looking forward to these recurring runs.



<h3>5. Read.</h3>



This one took less convincing. I’ve always been a bookworm, and I don’t need any cajoling to crack open a mystery novel or, frankly, any well-written work that’ll keep me turning pages. Yet until recently, I didn’t realize how much reading motivates me. I recommend starting a book over the weekend because come Monday that same book will be top of mind. And if you’re still working from home, it will be subtly calling your name from its spot on the shelf or nightstand.



<h3>6. Reach out to a colleague.</h3>



We’re living in <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-working-from-home-can-make-you-more-productive/">isolated times</a>, but we still need connection. A conversation with a friend, family member or loved one is always beneficial, but next time you’re looking for some motivation, I recommend reaching out to someone with whom you don’t often connect. It could be a co-worker from a different team or a colleague in your field whose work you admire. Ask them about their work or bend their ear about a project you’ve been working on. The conversation will re-energize you, and best of all, it’ll remind you what you love about what you do.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Read next: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/100-simple-secrets-of-productive-people/">100 Simple Secrets of Productive People</a></blockquote>



 Photo by @isr4el/Twenty20.com

Motivation is all around you. It’s on your bookshelf, in your past triumphs and in your relationships.

Motivation is all around you. It’s on your bookshelf, in your past triumphs and in your relationships. | SUCCESS

6 Simple Ways to Find Motivation in Your Everyday Life

6 Simple Ways to Find Motivation in Your Everyday Life | SUCCESS

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It’s one of the best problems you can have: too much work. You put in the time, you’ve built your business or side hustle, and now clients are clamoring for your talents. It can feel like staring down a daunting ski slope. You can tell it’s going to be a fun ride, and it took a lot of time and effort to lug your skis up the mountain, but what if you fall?



I’ve been there. For three years now, I’ve been working a full-time job while building a writing business on the side. At 5:00, my second shift begins, and lately it’s been stretching into a third shift. When the clock strikes midnight, that’s when I usually admit it: I’m in over my head. Usually, I fend off a panic attack and try my best to keep working, but recently, I’ve discovered a better way.



This problem isn’t unique to solopreneurs and side hustlers. It’s easy to bite off more than you can chew in any job, especially if you have a great work ethic and like what you do. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/setting-healthy-boundaries-3-simple-steps-to-establishing-boundaries-that-stick/">It can be hard to say “no”</a> to work. So when you feel overwhelmed and notice your work-life balance is anything but balanced, here are six things you can do.



<h3>1. Take a break.</h3>



Working nonstop is a slippery slope, for your overall well-being and your productivity. So take a moment, a breath, or better yet, a small break when you feel fatigued, frazzled or stuck. Go to the kitchen for an afternoon snack, take a short walk outside, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/4-daily-stretches-for-a-healthy-body/">stretch</a>. Taking a minute or five away from your computer to do something that refreshes you can do wonders for your energy, focus and productivity. &nbsp;&nbsp;



<h3>2. Set your own deadlines.</h3>



It’s Monday, and your manager or client wants a project completed by Friday. It can be tempting to put it off until later in the week—after all, you’ve got four days to do it! Instead of procrastinating and building the pressure, though, try making your own deadline: like, Wednesday for part of the project and Thursday for the rest. Getting started is the best way to beat stress, and breaking up the task into less daunting to-do items will improve the quality of your work. And by developing a habit of setting personal deadlines, even last-minute assignments will become more manageable.



<h3>3. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-give-yourself-grace-to-start-again/">Give yourself grace.</a></h3>



It’s easy to let small setbacks get you down or one misstep leave you doubting your skills and talents, but <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-importance-of-self-forgiveness/">everyone makes mistakes</a>, even the most successful people out there. So while perfection is impossible, grace is not. If you sleep in one morning, miss a deadline you set, or get distracted and fail to accomplish everything you wanted to get done one day, don’t fret. No single day or deadline will define you, and dwelling on what went wrong will only hinder your goals. If you experience a setback, focus on what you did right that day, and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-appreciate-yourself/">give yourself praise</a> when praise is due.



<h3>4. Make time for the essentials.</h3>



No project is more important than your family, friendships and health. Even when you face a daunting deadline and a mountain of work, it’s vital to take time for yourself and the people you love and who love you. It could be a five-minute phone call catching up with your mom, a short stroll around the neighborhood with your husband or wife, or a full-blown game night with your kids or your friends. Balancing your work with personal will 1) keep you sane and 2) remind you what matters most in life.



<h3>5. Cut out the non-essentials.</h3>



Many of us are still quarantined and working from our couches or our kitchen tables, and some of us will continue to work from home well after the pandemic has ended. The distractions are tempting: The TV is right there, so is your phone—but screens of every kind can derail your workday. A quick episode here and a scroll through Instagram there, and all of a sudden you’ve lost your afternoon. (See tip #1 for better ways to take a mental break.) <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/10-ways-to-cut-down-on-screen-time/">Cutting down on screen time</a> will help you be more efficient with your time, not to mention make you feel better about how you spent your day.



<h3>6. Remember what got you here.</h3>



It’s inevitable: Every time you bite off more than you can chew, you’ll get stressed. You’ll probably even forget how you got to this point. But your talent and hustle got you to the top of the mountain, and they can definitely get you down it, too—intact and ready for another climb.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Read next: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/100-simple-secrets-of-productive-people/">100 Simple Secrets of Productive People</a></blockquote>



Photo by @NataliaSolo/Twenty20.com

Here is what to do when you bite off more than you can chew.

Here is what to do when you bite off more than you can chew. | SUCCESS

6 Things to Do If You Feel Overwhelmed With Work

6 Things to Do If You Feel Overwhelmed With Work | SUCCESS

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The
first fight was about music. She wanted pop and hip-hop; I wanted classical. A
couple of hours later, we sparred over coffee. I was drinking too much, she
claimed. I’m not drinking enough, I retorted, practically mainlining espresso
at breakneck speed. This was Day One with my new officemate, otherwise known as
the wonderful woman I married in the long-ago age of November 2019. 



Four months after tying the knot, my wife and I are trapped in a room. We leave every now and then (never underestimate the power of a good walk), but for the most part, we wake up, do our work, then retire for an evening of reading, TV watching and what little relaxation we can attain in <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/7-tips-for-dealing-with-your-coronavirus-anxiety/">this era of increasing anxiety</a>. 



It’s
taken some effort to establish this pattern, mostly because we have wildly
divergent work styles. As a couple, we’re compatible; we have The Newlywed Game
scores to prove it. As colleagues? Not so much. 



I
rise early, make my first of many cups of coffee, and settle in for a day of
hammering at the keyboard, sweating the details (in my defense, I’m a writer),
and emotionally investing in every sentence I weave. She sleeps in, typically
waking an hour or so after me, then does a morning workout before tackling work
like an intermittent tornado. She breezes from one project to the next with
what can seem like little to no lag time, taking calls and finishing tasks with
equal parts ferocity and calm. When she does break, she bakes. Then, with my
attention diverted from em dashes to blueberry muffins, she dives back into a
conference call with her co-workers. 



Shortly after our squabbles over caffeine and our Work From Home soundtrack, we decided to try to make the most of our co-working situation. At the end of each day, we both share a sticky note with one another that highlights one good quality we witnessed on display during that day’s 9-to-5 grind. They keep us sane, and they’ve given me a road map on how to improve my work ethic, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-working-from-home-can-make-you-more-productive/">be more productive</a> and, best of all, loosen up a little bit. 



Here are some of the notes I’ve shared with my new favorite officemate mid-pandemic:



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">“I Like Your Zoom Etiquette”</h4>



This
seems like it may not have much shelf life beyond quarantine, but as many of us
can now attest, Zoom meetings can be true tests of patience. And my wife’s Zoom
etiquette reveals more than just patience; she subscribes to Michael Dell’s
advice, too: “Try never to be the
smartest person in the room.” She never pretends to know all the answers and
takes every opportunity to ask questions. In meetings, she defers to the
experts and is eager to check in with her other team members before making
demands. No one would blame her if etiquette was left by the wayside, because we’re
all adjusting to living through a pandemic. But that’s not how my officemate
does business. She is patient, and her patience has reinvigorated my own. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">“I Envy Your Efficiency”</h4>



I
don’t take breaks. I switch back and forth between multiple projects at once.
And my eyes often flit from my Google Docs to the news to Spotify. All of which
is to say the obvious: multitasking does not work. My wife takes plenty of
breaks (did I mention the muffins?), and while she loves to listen to music
while she works, she tends to pick one playlist and stick to it. She is <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/12-efficiency-secrets-of-the-worlds-busiest-people/">a
master of efficiency</a>, focusing on one task at a time but taking a moment to
breathe when she needs to. Her method has taught me to be a better writer, a
better officemate and a far more attentive husband. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">“I Admire Your Approach to
Problem-Solving”</h4>



My
wife works in a profession where tough decisions have to be made, often many
times a day. At every turn, she pursues collaboration, turning to experienced
colleagues and newcomers alike. In isolation—and for the sake of the
aforementioned efficiency—it would often be easier for her to act as a
committee of one. But my officemate goes to great lengths to offer seats at the
table, even if that table is virtual. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">“I Like Your Sense of Humor</h4>



At first look, there doesn’t seem to be a lot to laugh about these days. The world outside the confines of our tiny apartment seems grim and bleak, and the world inside our tiny apartment is often consumed by a multitasking caffeine fiend. That doesn’t stop my officemate from seeking out reasons to laugh. She <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/use-your-humor-being-to-be-a-better-human-being/">finds humor in the everyday</a>, often mundane acts of a workday from home: the quirks of a slide deck, the goofy icebreakers of a virtual team meeting or the lunchtime phone call with a friend. She knows humor can offer refuge from a stressful day, and sharing a laugh with your co-workers can enliven even the darkest of days. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">“I Love How You Practice Kindness
Every Chance You Get”</h4>



A reassuring word to a frazzled co-worker. A kind note to a new team member. An impromptu, stress-reducing dance party in the middle of the kitchen-cum-office. My new officemate does all of that and more each day, all in a perpetual quest to make her team as happy as she can. With the possible exception of a dance party, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-exponential-impact-of-random-acts-of-kindness/">kind acts are possible every day</a>. They remind us that our co-workers are often much more than just co-workers and, in my case, remind me that I have quite possibly the best office in the world. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Read next: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-secret-to-staying-motivated-during-this-pandemic/">The Secret to Staying Motivated During This Pandemic</a>
</blockquote>



Photo by @sesionesconella/Twenty20.com

Mid-pandemic, in an attempt to make the most of our co-working situation, my wife and I decided to write notes each day—sharing things we admire about each other’s 9-to-5 grind. This is what she’s taught me about work ethic, productivity and more.

Mid-pandemic, in an attempt to make the most of our co-working situation, my wife and I decided to write notes each day—sharing things we admire about each other’s 9-to-5 grind. This is what she’s taught me about work ethic, productivity and more. | SUCCESS

What I’ve Learned From My New Officemate (aka My Wife) in Quarantine

Quarantine Lessons: What My Wife Taught Me About Work and Life

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Notes-to-My-Wife-Mid-Pandemic_2.jpg

Maybe It’s Not ADHD: Why Smart Professionals Struggle at Work

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Do you fidget through meetings or lose track of appointments? Feel like you’re not working to your full potential because you feel scattered in different directions? If you answered yes, don’t worry, you’re not crazy—but perhaps you are crazed.

Most business professionals suffer from a newly recognized neurological phenomenon called attention deficit trait, or ADT. ADT isn’t an illness, but it is a direct response to modern office life and the hyper-connected environment in which we live and work. In other words, brain overload.

Unfortunately, ADT has become an epidemic in today’s professional settings. The core symptoms of ADT are distractibility, inner frenzy and impatience. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/john-c-maxwell-be-a-time-machine" target="_blank" title="John C. Maxwell: Be a Time Machine | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">managing time</a>, and may even feel a constant pressure.

I discovered ADT while treating executives who came to me complaining that they might have attention deficient hyperactive disorder (ADHD). I realized that these executives displayed the typical ADHD symptom of not being able to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/learn-to-develop-extreme-focus" target="_blank" title="Learn to Develop Extreme Focus | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">focus</a>, but also that this symptom disappeared during vacations or time off, which is not the case with ADHD.

It is possible to control ADT by changing your professional environment. Below are some tips busy professionals can employ during their day-to-day routine:

1. Ask colleagues to transition to email- and cellphone-free meetings.
2. Make time for a “human moment,” a face-to-face chat with a friend or co-worker.
3. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-creative-ways-to-walk-while-you-work" target="_blank" title="4 Creative Ways to Walk While You Work | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Go for a walk</a> outside, around the block or up and down a few flights of stairs. Just move.
4. Eat lunch, and eat it in a different location than yesterday.
5. Break down large tasks into smaller ones so they’re easier to tackle.
6. Keep a section of your <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/the-happy-office" target="_blank" title="The Happy Office | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">work space</a> clear of clutter.
7. Schedule an hour a day that’s free of meetings and e-mail, for yourself and your own tasks.
8. Build a short “to-do” list of items for the next day and stick it to your monitor before you leave.

In addition, professionals can employ the “Cycle of Excellence,” a five-step plan that draws on my own work with ADHD patients, created to help them overcome ADHD symptoms and become more productive in everyday life. This plan brings together experimental evidence on peak performance into a unified series of steps that create ideal conditions to propel to excellence. The five steps in the “Cycle of Excellence” and what it teaches are:

Select: Put the right people in the right job and give them responsibilities that “light up” their brains.
Connect: Strengthen interpersonal bonds among team members.
Play: Help people unleash their imaginations at work.
Grapple and Grow: Enable employees to overcome pressure to achieve mastery of their work.
Shine: Use the right rewards to stimulate loyalty and people’s desire to excel.

Remember, today’s workplace is a pressure cooker and even the most talented people struggle to sort through the influx of information, relentless demands and unprecedented stress. You’re not alone and you can overcome.

<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/do-all-entrepreneurs-have-adhd" target="_self" title="Do All Entrepreneurs Have ADHD? | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Ned Hallowell also explores the question, “Do all entrepreneurs have ADHD?” Discover the innate traits—shared by those with ADHD—that define an entrepreneur.</a>

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Do you fidget through meetings or lose track of appointments? Feel like you’re not working to your full potential because

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Do you fidget through meetings or lose track of appointments? Feel like you’re not working to your full potential because | SUCCESS

Maybe It’s Not ADHD: Why Smart Professionals Struggle at Work | SUCCESS

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Some of the most successful entrepreneurs credit their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for their accomplishments. Virgin Airlines founder <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/richard-branson-virgin-entrepreneur" target="_blank" title="Virgin Entrepreneur | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Richard Branson</a> and JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman both speak openly about their ADHD and how they wouldn’t be anywhere without the creativity, vision and ability to take risks that seem to stem from it.

Working with entrepreneurs for more than 30 years, both as a consultant and as a psychiatrist, I’ve found that people with ADHD are natural entrepreneurs. Conversely though, do all entrepreneurs have ADHD?

Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-things-successful-entrepreneurs-do-on-the-weekends" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">5 Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do on the Weekends</a>

In my opinion, ADHD is a terrible term. As I see it, ADHD is neither a disorder, nor is there a deficit of attention. I see ADHD as a trait, not a disability. I’ve realized that a high number of entrepreneurs share many of the same traits as the ADHD patients I’ve treated, including a lust for stimulation and a willingness to take risks.

If there is one psychological characteristic above all others that defines entrepreneurs, it is what I call pop: grit combined with imagination and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/entrepreneurs%E2%80%99-optimism-outweighs-worry" target="_self" title="Entrepreneurs' Optimism Outweighs Worry | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">optimism</a>. Entrepreneurs have pop. They never give up, they have an edge, and they believe in the pot of gold.

People with ADHD also display similar positive aspects as those of successful entrepreneurs:

<h3>-High energy 
-Tenacity 
-Creativity 
-Originality 
-<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/learn-to-develop-extreme-focus" target="_self" title="Learn to Develop Extreme Focus | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Focus</a> 
-Insight 
-Ability to get along with others</h3>

The most important skill successful entrepreneurs learn—by instinct, consultation, education, experience or practice—is the skill of maximizing the benefits of their assets while minimizing the internal damage. I’ve learned that what separates successful from frustrated entrepreneurs is their ability—or inability—to capitalize on this. The great entrepreneur learns how to harness and direct mental power, while the frustrated entrepreneur spends life trying to learn how. Entrepreneurs and those with ADHD who find the pot of gold are the ones who learn how to master their minds, rather than letting their minds misdirect.

“You are very lucky,” I tell entrepreneurs. “You are blessed with an extraordinarily powerful mind. You have the equivalent of a Ferrari engine for a brain. That’s why you are a major winner in the making, a potential champion. But you must address one major problem. You have the brakes of a bicycle; you have difficulty controlling the power of your brain. Sometimes it runs away with you, so you may crash into walls or fail to slow down or stop when you should.&nbsp;This can cost you the race.”

The key is to slow down.

When entrepreneurs learn how to slow down, they can better control the power of their brains. To <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/make-life-slow-down" target="_self" title="Make Life Slow Down | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">slow down</a>, ask for help, take that advice, get organized and make a plan.

When they slow down to think the project through, then their creativity, intuition, enthusiasm and turbocharged brain will generate victory upon victory.

I have worked with many entrepreneurs and helped them develop the skills that saved them from their race car brain with bicycle brakes.&nbsp;Structure, coupled with the entrepreneur’s innate drive, leads to focus and eventually the magic wand of peak performance.

Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/the-5-emotional-challenges-youll-face-as-an-entrepreneur" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">The 5 Emotional Challenges You'll Face as an Entrepreneurs&nbsp;</a>

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs credit their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for their accomplishments. Virgin Airlines founder Richard

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs credit their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for their accomplishments. Virgin Airlines founder Richard | SUCCESS

Do All Entrepreneurs Have ADHD?

Do All Entrepreneurs Have ADHD? | SUCCESS

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