Podcasts about as kathryn

What makes a good manifesto? Are they better if they are sloganeering or questioning? Radio 1's Greg James and co-writer Chris Smith's new book is like a manifesto for the imagination, Malika Booker co-founded a poetry workshop that has transformed the literary landscape, and Kathryn Williams' songs always chart new territory - they join Ian McMillan to help him shape The Verb Manifesto which will be launched in the autumn. Malika Booker founded the poetry workshop 'Malika's Poetry Kitchen' alongside fellow poet Robert Robinson twenty years ago, inspired in part by the American writer June Jordan's ideas in 'Poetry for the People: A Revolutionary Handbook' . The workshop has included many of our most exciting poets, and an anthology celebrating the workshop is published on 5th August, called 'Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different' ( edited by Maisie Lawrence and Rishi Dastidar). Greg James and Chris Smith have turned an idea that came to Greg in a dream, into a novel for children called 'The Great Dream Robbery'. With a an acute ear for the sound of language, and a Dadaist expertise in the absurd , Greg and Chris celebrate the power of the imagination and the power of Llamas ( with bananas) - but will these things make it into our manifesto? Celebrated for her songwriting, Kathryn Williams' first novel 'The Ormering Tide' (Wrecking Ball Press) may have a listening manifesto at its heart. Its narrator is a curious listener, both to the natural world, and the people on her island. It's Rozel's listening which gives the reader hints of something mysterious that happened a long time ago -and which unsettles the present. As Kathryn has such an acute sensitivity to place, we asked her to write a special song to celebrate the places where manifestos are conceived.

As lockdown restrictions lift, most of us have emerged from our homes to mingle, shop, eat out and enjoy the everyday freedoms of life. Not so for some however, as the past year has had a devastating effect on people with learning disabilities, whose services have been decimated. Kathryn Taylor never intended to be a spokesperson for such families, but the situation has become so difficult for her family, that she's been left with little choice. While the rest of us are out and about, not much has changed for Kathryn, who is still walking the roads with her sons. Kathryn and her husband Tommy have four children - Sophie, Nathan, Levi and Sam. Nathan (25) and Levi (20) have autism with severe learning disabilities. It's been a constant battle to obtain the help that they need over the years, and Kathryn says it's getting worse rather than better – as Southern Trust services continue to shut down, with little thought for children moving to adult services. She believes the pandemic only served to speed up the erosion of services that was already happening. Day opportunities stopped with the pandemic, and because of the two-metre rule, the Trust has not reopened them and Kathryn can't envision a time that they will. As Kathryn spoke to Armagh I for this week's podcast, she emotionally recalled the wonderful day opportunity Nathan enjoyed at St Luke's Rec Room, pre-pandemic. Since lockdown began Levi, whose schooling ended abruptly last year, has been at home, joined at the hip with his mother. Print It on the Mall has been the only support Kathyrn has had. They are not run by the Trust. She's enormously grateful to Print It, who checked in with the family regularly during lockdown, and both boys get to spend some time there now. Levi also has behavioural problems, so finding day opportunities for him was tough enough as it was, but now he has settled into a routine at home and has regressed over the past year - He hides his mothers shoes to keep her in the house with him. Kathryn isn't looking for respite - although she worries for those that do. She just wants an outlet for her children to socialise, grow and develop to the best of their abilities, in a like-minded community where they are understood and their needs can be met. Kathryn also desperately needs some space of her own – just like anyone does – for her own mental health and that of the other family members.

FASD Hope is a podcast series about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), through the lens of parent advocates with over eighteen years of lived experience. On this 12th episode of FASD Hope, Natalie Vecchione (Podcast Host) speaks with Kathryn Shea. Kathryn Shea is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with over 40 years of experience working with children with serious emotional, behavioral disorders and fetal alcohol and drug effects. Kathryn served as the President and CEO of The Florida Center for Early Childhood in Sarasota, FL for 12 years. Kathryn has received numerous awards for her work in infant mental health, FASD and child advocacy.  Kathryn Shea is a Board Member of NOFAS (National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). Kathryn and her husband are also proud parents of an adult son with an FASD. Kathryn's professional legacy is prolific and incredibly impressive. What's equally amazing is Kathryn's lived experience as a mom of a son with an FASD. Additionally, Kathryn is friendly, kind and engaging. In their lively conversation, Kathryn and Natalie bond over being moms to sons with FASD, as well as sharing their respective experiences.  As Kathryn wraps up her remarkable career as President and CEO of The Florida Center (in Sarasota, FL), she is beginning a new professional chapter as a Board Member for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS). Additional topics covered in this episode include the following: Kathryn's professional work experience, her experiences with The Florida Center, key advice for parents / caregivers who may suspect their child may have an FASD, key points when seeking a diagnosis for children with a suspected FASD and her hopes for the FASD community.  "Live justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God," - Micah 6:8 Resources-Kathryn SheaKSheaconsulting@outlook.com The Florida Center for Early Childhoodhttps://www.thefloridacenter.org/ FASD Hope-http://www.fasdhope.com/ info@fasdhope.comInstagram - @fasdhopeFacebook - @fasdhope1Pinterest - @fasdhope1

This week I speak to Kathryn Knowles who combines the roles of business owner, insurance expert, mum, wife, fitness enthusiast and environmentalist.   A modest upbringing taught Kathryn the importance of minimising debt, working hard, saving and spending in line with her values and priorities.   Buying her first house while still at university led to Kathryn, her husband and three young children eventually living in their dream home, mortgage-free, by the time they were 34.   Kathryn and her husband seized the opportunity to buy the company that employed them, putting Kathryn's PHD in business and accounting to good use. They have developed the business - Cura - to be a leading specialist in the field of UK personal protection insurance.     As Kathryn says, "You've got to have that vision of what you want" before you can go about achieving it. Then you have to align your spending with your vision.    It worked for Kathryn, and it can work for you.    

Yay! It's another episode of Mom and Dad are Stoned! Thank you for listening! This week we talk all about Blavid's experience with too much RSO. We also answer a listener letter, let you know what new record we are listening to in Corona Time and check in on Dave's grow!   In Episode 137  | RS-NO • Libation corner 2:51 • Corona Time 9:06 • Listener Letters 21:46 • Stoned Conversations 34:39 • What’s going on in Dave’s Grow?  55:56 Don’t want to leave the house but are craving some CBD rich hemp flower? Visit our online hemp flower shop at happyflowercompany.com. and be sure to use code MADAS15 to receive 15% off your purchase! Try Golden Cherry it's my favorite! Don’t forget to check out our favorite  ‘Clean Green Certified’ dispensary L’eagle. (I suggest you try the strain Randy Newman) Thank you for listening to our podcast. We love your letters and feedback! Send in those questions people!! Email us at momanddadarestoned@gmail.com. As Kathryn said we are running DANGEROUSLY low and need new ones so please give us some.

Welcome to Model Genes Podcast! This show was designed for models who have worked in the industry to speak about their experience for other aspiring models. From great laughs to tears of horror models will discuss their journey and what makes their workday in the modeling industry.Model, Kathryn Wold, talks about her experience in modeling from getting scouted to walking in the same show as Naomi Campbell and Ashley Graham. As Kathryn has travels between markets she learns an important message in her modeling career that reminds her what is first and foremost.Client List includes: Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Sephora, Snap chat, Marie Claire Greece, L'Officiel Singapore, Maxim Mexico, Guess Ecomm (Mexico), Liu Jo, Loro Piano, Subdued, Vogue Eyewear, Golden Goose, Carolina Herrera, Elle Greece, Victoria Beckham, French Connection, British Vogue, Juicy Couture and much moreMarkets worked in: Los Angeles, New York, Milan, Paris, Mexico, Singapore, London, Greece and BerlinPlease enjoyThis following podcast is brought to you by Model Genealogy. An informational platform that provides skills for aspiring models to succeed. You can take a test to find out what type of model you are and they will guide you on the path that is right for you in the modeling industry. Model can learn everything fromhow to get an agent, and what to do once you have one,what type of pictures are right for you, what the clients expectations are, How to take care of yourself as a model What to expect if you want to work in other markets,and much moreWhat was your favorite part of the interview? Let us know in the comments and leave a review on Apple Podcast/iTunesGot a question about modeling? Do you have a challenge for us to solve? Shout it out HEREFor show notes and past guests, please visit https://modelgenealogy.com/model-genes-podcast/Sign up for Model Genealogy email newsletter at modelgenealogy.com/newsletterFollow Model Genes Podcast:Instagram: instagram.com/modelgenespodcast/Facebook: facebook.com/modelgenespodcast 

Kathryn Ducey's story includes multiple jobs, a wide array of opportunities, falling backwards into an advertising career, quitting with no plan, numbing her pain through substance, confidently stepping into a role as a recruiter, and finding her power and her voice throughout so she can stand up and boldly help others through their journeys. She speaks today from a place of strong self-awareness. As Kathryn has opened herself up to self-development, to explore her own story, and explore the shared human story of all of us, she has helped hundreds of people along the way. Hers is a beautiful journey of self-awareness leading to confidently doing what she’s made for. Oh, and Kathryn has an incredible ability to make you feel like her story is your story, you will certainly be inspired in your own journey while listening to hers.

‘We can become a power-house of love’ In today’s episode, Julie is joined by Kathryn Vere, an emotional and spiritual health mentor, to talk about the decisions that shape our business and life, and why the way we live might not always be up to the control of our conscious minds. As Kathryn and Julie reveal, far more of our decisions are made by our unconscious minds. But how can we take better control? And is it wise to? How can we develop a self-awareness that will better lead us towards the right path?    KEY TAKEAWAYS Studies have shown that 95% of our days are driven by unconscious factors. On that basis, most of us are unconscious for only 5% of our time. Our deep inner voices are therefore controlling us for most of our lives. Trauma can still be charged, and still be passed on unconsciously as a pattern through subsequent generations. It can affect those with a more sensitive nature, and completely shape your destiny. People struggling with pain and depression should be offered alternatives to medication, but these systems are not being supplied by the health service, even though they have been recognised as being far more beneficial. When you have a strong blend of emotions going on inside, you have to brave enough to confront them, and to feel them. And most importantly, listen to what they’re telling you. Nurturing your awareness should begin by using a daily practice or belief system that tells you everything happens for a reason. Treat life as a personal learning blueprint. Pain and drama are often seen as sources of trauma, but they also help us to realign, and to divert our attention to more productive paths we may not have spotted. The body has its own wisdom; its own communication system, and it is always right. These can come across is sensations or symbols, but we need to always listen and take heed. The problem with the main educational system is that it’s only interested in educating our brain, instead of our heart and soul. BEST MOMENTS ‘If we’re aiming to be conscious leaders, then we need to listen our unconscious voices’ ‘In half of cases in Britain, people are continuing to take drugs for up to twelve months’ ‘Emotions are fuel for greatness’ ‘You need to see your life as your personal learning blueprint’ ‘Pain has a purpose’ ‘Why do we follow our head?’ ‘We can become a powerhouse of love’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Life-Changing Magic of Setting Goals book by Julie Hogbin   The Authorities - Julie Hogbin: Powerful Wisdom from Leaders in the field book by Julie Hogbin, Raymond Aaron, Marci Shimoff, Dr John Gray Connect@Clavem.global Kathryn’s Website - www.shiningonline.com Email Kathryn: kathrynvere@gmail.com ABOUT THE HOST   Julie Hogbin   I started my career within the accountancy profession, moving on into auditing, then Learning & Development where I have spent over 30 years. In 2011 I threw everything up in the air and became a property investor via forex, trading and learning how to build websites & internet market whilst walking on fire

Why do plan always fail? When I was growing up, the A-Team was all the rage on TV. One of the characters in that show had a saying, "I love it when a plan comes together!" Why is that such a great thing? Maybe because it is such a rare thing! One of the most frustrating things to me as a business coach is to see people put so much time and effort into a business plan only to file it away and never look at it again. Is THAT why so many businesses fail? I don't believe it is. A business plan, any plan for that matter, is just a set of intended actions and expected outcomes. It's not cast in stone and there's no guarantee that the expected outcomes will happen. So why do we hold so tightly to plans if they're not going to work out? IDK...THAT's a great question! Many a business owner and entrepreneur have had to cut their dreams short not because of lack of planning ... most do a pretty good job of that. No, I believe they fail because once the plan is done, they hold more tightly to the plan than they do the desired outcome! In fact, I've probably read hundreds of business plans that didn't describe ANY desired outcome! How do you make decisions if you don't know the outcome you're trying to create? As Kathryn says in our quote of the day today, "...[be] focused on the goal but flexible in your execution." You may think a pop-up shop is THE way to go, so you struggle and suffer for two years... when all along you could have been posting your products online! Take a minute right now and try to articulate your goal, out loud, in one sentence. If you can't do that, then you don't have a firm grasp on what you're trying to accomplish. Don't do any more planning till you know what you're building...your odds of creating a successful plan will go way up! If you need help with your plan, DM me or follow me on my website at www.ThomRigsby.com (link in bio). Enjoy! Thom, THE Unashamed Non-Conformist =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Thom Rigsby is a lifestyle & business strategy expert. Drawing on his experience as a small business owner and entrepreneur launching almost a dozen startups and more than 25 years of business experience, Thom brings his creativity and "Non-Conformist" approach to entrepreneurship and getting results for you and your small business! So, whether you are looking for answers to your small business questions, time management tips, need a comprehensive business strategy or just craving some work-life balance, following Thom's exclusive personal development plan you can letting life happen to you and begin to create the life you crave with your very own small business. Be sure to connect with Thom... ...on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/thomrigsbycoaching ...on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/thomrigsby ...and on Instagram http://www.Instagram.com/thomrigsby Become a part of the Work That Matters Facebook group at http://fb.com/groups/workthatmatters Thom is available for one-on-one coaching and as a motivational speaker on topics including peak performance, how to plan, personal development, success, and work-life balance to the mindset of wealth and success. Contact Thom at www.ThomRigsby.com for more details.

Kathryn Pedersen is a 15-year veteran in the loan officer business, and her numbers speak for themselves: She does twice the volume (yes, twice) of her next closest competitor in her local area. That’s some serious hustle. Serving as the face of her business, Kathryn embraces the opportunity to connect with clients, both past and present. She does this in a multitude of ways -- agent classes, high-quality video content on social media, thorough and effective personal branding, even giving out hand warmers to clients in the grocery store. As Kathryn warmly points out, having a real desire to help others is at the heart of being a successful loan officer. Showing this through a personal touch is a key in helping deepen a long-term connection with clients -- one that will keep them coming back. In this episode, she explains how. We also learn some of Kathryn’s other best practices, including her strategies for building her brand, winning the Google war (she consistently comes up in the top three results in a Google search), and being ethical and true to yourself in a small town. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: Why connecting with clients and having a real desire to help them is such an important part of Kathryn’s success Why friendly is the way to go when it comes to competition in a small town How providing carefully curated monthly CE classes positions Kathryn as the go-to local expert in the lending field How to maintain meaningful communication with past clients What concrete steps you can take to win the Google war What role video plays in building your brand Why CE classes are critical in helping convert agents to referral partners How getting out there and getting involved in other communities and ideas can transform your loan business What personal characteristics are key when it comes to working in small-town lending Ideas for nurturing a personal connection with clients LINKS FROM TODAY’S EPISODE   Ready to grow your business in the new year? Check out the new  which helps you get more Agent referrals, convert more clients and build your online presence. Want more free content to help you succeed? Join our Facebook Group 

We all have to work with other people in every facet of our lives, whether it be in our careers, business organizations and even at home. We can all agree that this is no doubt is incredibly challenging but important to achieve something. Great teamwork is not born out of luck but requires specific strategies and effort. This is simply because of our human nature, we are imperfect individuals with egos and self-centered goals in life. This is my second book by management expert and best-selling author Patrick Lencioni in this Podcast series. In this book, Patrick presents a fable that peels back the veil on the basics of teamwork, a story of a technology company that struggles to grow and finds customers. A new CEO Kathryn sees the potential of the company and its people. But the management team is having a hard time accepting its role and agreeing, which results in negative feelings around the organization. As Kathryn finds this, she begins to immediately review the situation and implement an aggressive team building effort to turn things around. in this process, she discovers and works to understand 5 dysfunctions of a team that holds it back. And how she can address them separately to achieve the growth and greatness they all desire. Patrick says “Organizations fail to achieve team - work because they unknowingly fall prey to five natural but dangerous pitfalls.” Let's dive into these 5 pitfalls and learn some of the strategies we can use to overcome them in our teams today. Allow me to leave you with this final thought. As a leader and entrepreneur, having a great team is a powerful competitive advantage to have on our road to success. But achieving harmony and teamwork is an ever increasing challenge we face on a day to day basis. With workforces of today comprised of Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millenials, it’s become more and more difficult to avoid the natural dysfunctions of a team. What we need to do is to acknowledge, recognize and practice the small set of principles in overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team, which allows us to develop a truly cohesive team that. 1. Trust one another. 2. Engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas. 3. Commit to decisions and plans of action. 4. Hold each other accountable for delivering against those plans. 5. And Focused on achieving collective results.

In this week's episode of the Handling Business Podcast, Kathryn Cockrell sits down with us to tell her story. Kathryn launched her business as a teenager after deciding at only 17 that she wanted to work for herself. Years later, Happy Hound is a living, breathing business that thrives on it’s own. As Kathryn prepares an Airstream trailer to be her mobile office/ home, she guides us through the process of creating a company that can both help others and provide her with income while she travels the world.

My guests today are two of the most thoughtful people in the United States on the topic of regulatory compliance. They are the chief compliance officers of Citigroup and Wells Fargo – Kathryn Reimann and Yvette Hollingsworth Clark. Our listeners include a lot of people who are not fascinated by the topic of regulatory compliance, to put it mildly. The fact is, though, that compliance has shifted, rather suddenly, from being boring to most people, to being fascinating. And whether it fascinates you or not, it has become absolutely critical to whether financial companies can thrive. Becoming great at compliance – both effective and efficient -- has become mission-critical competencies for every financial company, large and small. Let’s step back and think about what’s happening.  Technology is disrupting finance, which means that it’s also disrupting financial regulation, which therefore means that it’s also disrupting compliance, inevitably. It will completely change how financial companies implement the massive set of regulatory requirements that pervade every aspect of what they do. This is going to be – already is – a wrenching process. For better or worse, consumer financial protection regulation has always been hypertechnical. built mainly around highly prescriptive rules. Congress passes laws, the regulatory agencies issue regulations to implement them, and the industry implements the regulations. I’ve spent much of my career in this field and have watched it mature into a major function – major cost center – in every bank, into a profession of experts, and into an industry of technology vendors and consultants and lawyers who help financial companies follow these rules. With a few exceptions, the system is about getting the details right. That’s still true, of course. We still have voluminous, detailed rules aimed at consumer protection. But the financial crisis shifted the ground under this whole system, by supplementing the traditional “rules-based” system with a new “principles-based” overlay that aggressively requires that financial products be not only “compliant,” but also “fair” – able to meet heightened prohibitions on practices that are unfair, deception or abusive (which we in the compliance world, with our habit of using acornyms, call, “UDAAP.” And then, as if that weren’t a big enough change, the financial world has now also been hit with a second huge wave of change, in technology innovation. And it’s even more challenging than the shift from rules to principles, because it’s coming faster, and it’s even more unknowable than regulatory change. All this means we’ve entered into a state of permanent uncertainty. The products and market and technology are changing too fast for the legislative and regulatory process to keep pace. The regulatory process can’t, and won’t, provide clarity on exactly what the industry has to do. Instead, it will review what has been done and will, after the fact, penalize actions that are judged to have been illegal because they’re subjectively determined to have been unfair, deceptive, abusive, or discriminatory in effect. The result is that financial companies are going to have to build a whole new kind of compliance model. They won’t have the luxury of waiting for clear-cut rules. They’ll have to figure out for themselves how regulators may react to rapid change, and make their own decisions, in the absence of clear guidance, about what is risky. This requires a full overhaul of the traditional compliance model. For one thing, it means deeply, actively engaging the CEO, the board, and the business-side leadership of every company in proactively managing regulatory risk. They can’t delegate it and assume that their experts and technology will take care of it. They have to make their own decisions, and they have to do it not reactively, but proactively. Again, they’ll have to think for themselves. And they’ll also have to adopt a new generation of regtech solutions, which are starting to emerge to improve outcomes and cut costs. There’s a lot to say about what’s ahead on all this, but for today, we’re going to pick the brains of two of the most impressive leaders anywhere in the compliance world.  Yvette Hollingsworth Clark is the chief compliance officer of Wells Fargo, and Kathryn Reimann leads this work for Citigroup. I’ve known them both for years, and I was lucky enough to catch them together while we were all at the same event, and carve out some time to talk. Listen to their views on how compliance is changing, the impact of technology, and the need to bring a “fairness” lens to absolutely every regulatory question. They talk about how to do that, including how to integrate teams that can bake it into daily decision-making. They talk about the challenges arising because of the accelerating the speed of change. And they discuss the challenges of working with old legacy IT systems that were created long before today’s regulations and technology. They talk about the need for a level regulatory playing field for banks and nonbanks, how to work with regulators, and advice for regulators. They also talk about their own journeys – Kathryn notes that when she started working as a lawyer, the compliance profession didn’t even exist. We’ve come a long way. These are people who are pioneering new ways of tackling compliance. They’re doing it in some of the world’s biggest, most complex, and most highly-regulated companies, but their insights apply to every financial company – large and small, and old or brand new. Also…. Vote for my panel on the SXSW PanelPicker! I need your help getting my panel selected for inclusion in South By Southwest – SXSW – the huge technology conference that runs in Austin TX each year in conjunction with the famous music and film festival. I attended SXSW (“South by,” as people call it) for the first time last year, and it was absolutely fascinating. It’s unique among the conferences I attend, in that it’s broader than finance. It’s about technology overall. I believe fintech is more tech than fin, in the sense that it’s being driven by enormous and converging technology trends. We in the financial realm tend to underestimate how big these are and how fast they’re moving, because we think of them in terms of the financial products they’re reshaping – but they’re much bigger than those. SX is a great place to go to learn and think about these wider trends, while also seeing the most interesting new things emerging in fintech, as well. So I have proposed a panel discussion there on RegTech – the shift toward using new generation technology to get to win/wins on regulation, by reducing regulatory costs and burdens while improving outcomes for customers at the same time. I’m calling the panel REGULATION INNOVATION and my amazing guests will be Josh Reich, the CEO of Simple; Jennifer Tescher, CEO of CFSI; and Adrienne Harris of the White House. Last year, SX received 4,600 proposals, so, I need you to vote for the session on the SX Panel Picker. Voting opens up on Monday, August 8 and closes September 2. Please Google the SXSW PanelPicker during that time period, and vote for session called Regulation Innovation. And then plan to come to SX, which is 3/6-10 in Austin. I’ve been thinking maybe we should take a group of financial folks. What do you think? You can vote for it HERE   Support the podcast Please support the show! Last but not least, thanks so very much to those who have sent in your “buck a show," as we call it, to support Barefoot Innovation. Donations are essential to keep the show going, since it’s taken on a life of its own and requires a massive effort to produce. And also, please be sure to like the show on whatever ITunes or wherever you listen to it. We’ll see you soon with some incredibly interesting new guests – startups, banks, and even someone from Harvard. Til next time! As Kathryn rightly states, such an overhaul of the system requires updating perspectives of themselves and of their hires. It also requires a great degree of inter-departmental collaboration and communication. This is something that I have seen to be true all across the map of regulation - open dialogue is essential. In a previous podcast, Thomas Curry, the Comptroller of Currency and head of the taskforce on responsible innovation agrees. Kathryn and Yvette explain that compliance officers have a very tough job ahead, and I couldn't agree more. They have to balance a fine line between assessing and preventing massive risk from such huge amounts of data sharing while not becoming an obstacle to innovation. As Yvette states, we want to use innovation to regulate innovation. Important links: Citi Wells Fargo Subscribe Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

An interesting conversation occurred on our Facebook group (facebook.com/brilliantlivinghq) this week. We’d posted something about ‘Why people don’t like goals (and are they right?)’ and one of our Facebook members made the comment: “Setting goals chaps my behind.” The Anglo-Saxon aside, what a great comment from someone who is obviously not a total convert of goal-setting. Direct and to the point. And that got us thinking. As Kathryn is the writer of the international best-seller “Changeability: Manage Your Mind – Change Your Life” and goal setting is a key element of developing your Change-ability, the ability to manage your mind to make changes in your life, then surely we need to be able to explain ‘Why your mind needs goals.’ So we set about explaining just that. Entrepreneur, author and writer, Jim Rohn has always plenty to say on the subject of personal development and so this quote caught our eye as in part answering the question. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” ~ Jim Rohn No plan, then in essence your plan is likely to be someone else’s and chances are they’ll be looking after themselves more than you in that process. But what’s going on in the actual brain?  Why your mind needs goals The brain operates on two levels – the conscious and the unconscious or subconscious with the conscious being less powerful but crucial to achieving your life’s aims. We know, for example, that all great ideas must begin with the conscious thought of that idea. So your conscious mind is often where it begins, and that’s also where we often decide on the actions we need to take to achieve that goal. But the conscious mind has limitations, it quickly loses focus and holds limited amounts of information at any one time – thought to be around 7 chunks. So it needs a subconscious to process things in the background. All those myriad functions our bodies and brain must undertake to keep alive. But how does your unconscious mind determine which bits of the millions of pieces of sensory data it takes in every second of every day through your senses it should make your conscious mind aware of?  The subconscious minds’ function It decides its reaction based on a comparison between new incoming data (through the senses) and existing data stored in your subconscious and then taking an appropriate response. It’s like having a library in your brain (memory to you and I) with a record of all your experiences, values and beliefs. Essentially your subconscious is trying to keep you safe, so when something happens it compares this situation with previous situations it has stored in your mind and formulates an appropriate response which it feeds to your conscious mind.  You know the sort of thing – fight or flight and in practice the brain is primarily concerned with just maintaining your safety (and some might say the status quo!) Now this is all well and good most of the time. You want to know hot things burn from previous experience and your conscious mind with those limitations we talked about earlier needs to only know what it needs to know. Furthermore, there’s a filter mechanism in the brain – the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which processes everything it receives through the senses and then judiciously selects what the conscious mind needs to be aware of! And remember, it’s primarily concerned with your safety! And in deciding what it makes known to the conscious mind, it chooses this based on what you’ve programmed your brain to focus on – rather as Google searches for matches to the words you type into the search engine. So what happens if you haven’t set goals? Then we default to what we already know, based on your previous experience, habits, values, etc. stored in your subconscious. Essentially, more of the same. But if we use our conscious mind to set the coordinates of travel, i.e. we set goals, then our subconscious will look to provide the conscious mind with evidence to support our ideas or goals we’re searching for.  We’ve in effect by passed the gate-keeping function of the brain, or at least tipped off the gate-keeper to let our conscious minds know of things which fit in with what we’re looking for. It’s in effect providing a lens through which to focus the subconscious mind, plus giving a nod to our gate-keeper the RAS to let through to our conscious mind things which might support this goal or aim. Episode 76 of the Changeability Podcast Hear us discuss this in full and more, plus a sneeky, dramatic look at the effects of the wrong way to use the Google in your brain, in episode 76 of The Changeability Podcast. Go on, you have to be at least a little curious! The last word, or do you have that? We’ll leave the last word to Melody Beattie in The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditation on Codependency: “Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level. Goals give our life direction.” Where do you sit?  Let us know in the comments below.