At the end of the day, have you ever felt exhausted and stressed, even though you can’t think of a good reason why? Turns out, there’s a cause after all—microstresses, small moments and interactions that fly under the radar of our fight-or-flight response, but which affect our body just as regular stress does.  Rob Cross and Karen Dillon conducted myriad interviews for their new book, The Microstress Effect, and found that “the stress we create inevitably boomerangs back on us in a different form, and so the less you create, the less you have coming back,” according to Cross. Now, Cross, Dillon and Brilliant Thoughts host Tristan Ahumada discuss how relationships affect your well-being, moments in which Cross and Dillon have taken action to push back against microstresses in their own lives and how we can build resilience and emotional reserves to deal with microstresses in our day-to-day life. ---- Mentioned: “The Secret to Building Resilience” “Harvard Study of Adult Development” Rob Cross and Karen Dillon are authors of THE MICROSTRESS EFFECT: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems—and What to Do about It.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Born and raised under the Franco dictatorship in Spain, business coach Tania Vasallo was used to being told what she could or couldn’t do, and she constantly yearned for freedom. After her first taste of freedom when she moved to the United States for school, she decided to stay and shift careers. Tania has created multimillion-dollar campaigns for some of the world’s most renowned companies, like Starbucks, AT&T Wireless, KFC, Samsung, and Nabisco, to name a few. She imparts lessons, tools, mindsets, and strategies to create an empowered life of freedom and abundance through her platform, The Courage To Be. Her community is geared toward empowering ambitious women entrepreneurs to own their value and charge for what they are worth to have a more significant impact in the world. As Tania notes in the podcast: “If you have not worked on your money mindset and how you relate to money…you can make all the money in the world and you can lose it.” ---- Follow Tania on LinkedIn. Visit her website at The Courage To Be Happy, learn more about her Manifesting Abundance Challenge and her class “Money, Magic, Miracles.” Check out her free resource library Amplify Your Abundance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many of Kiersten’s family members have been involved in the insurance business, so The Saunders are smashing through the stigma and delivering the life insurance low-down this week. They mull over the purpose of life insurance and perform a cost-benefit analysis on the two types of policies, term and whole life, while offering their two cents on which one to invest in. Julien and Kiersten also answer significant questions like who qualifies for life insurance, which of the two types is best, and what lifestyle factors will increase your premium.  The soaring cost of premiums may make some people exclude insurance altogether if they don’t know the big picture, so they let listeners know what to look for and if eliminating the middleman and investing your funds in other accounts can lead to better financial outcomes. Listen along as Kiersten shares her experience with over-investing in multiple types of insurance and how she’s adjusted her strategy over the years. She advises, however, that the market is constantly changing and not always for the best for people looking for insurance, saying, “If you’re eligible to get a life insurance policy now, you should get one NOW.” Tune in to find out more! ---- Learn more at richandregular.com, purchase Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away by Kiersten and Julien Saunders and follow on Instagram @richandregular. Support Rich & Regular by sharing and rating it five stars on Apple Podcasts. Check out their video podcast “Cashing Out” on YouTube. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rachel Glass has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but it’s only recently that she’s gotten a chance to put it to use. After graduating from business school in 2006, Glass worked in the financial sector—specifically hedge fund fundraising—for about 10 years. It was a financially secure job, but after having her second daughter, the reality of feeling like she wasn’t in a job she truly loved began to weigh on her. And so, GLOSSLAB was born. The company wasn’t a new idea—for Glass, it was one that had originated in college, something that she held onto but never pursued. Now, it is a hygiene- and efficiency-focused, membership-based nail salon brand that Glass is proud to call her own. Glass and Brilliant Thoughts host Tristan Ahumada discuss how she got the business started, the importance of a branded experience and what Glass looks for in new hires. ---- Mentioned: Equinox SoulCycle The “Getting Things Done®” system Rachel Glass founded GLOSSLAB in 2018 with a mission to modernize the nail salon experience with its hygiene-first, membership-focused concept. Prepandemic, GLOSSLAB had 2 studios in New York City and now has 21 locations open across the U.S., including New York, Florida, New Jersey and Texas. Find Glass on Instagram at @rachaglass and @glosslab.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donna Bond hadn’t felt inspired in a while. As the former director of marketing at the Ritz Carlton for 28 years, she’d sunk so much time into her corporate career, but it no longer gave her a feeling of purpose. Donna’s father passed away when he was 44 years old, and when she herself turned 44, she felt a huge rush to find her life’s purpose and get out of the corporate grind. One day, she decided to take a leap. On the advice of a psychic, Donna threw caution to the wind and decided to leave her career and apply for a master of arts in spiritual psychology. In light of her new understanding, Donna relocated to Costa Rica to chase that famous pura vida. She now serves as a soul-centered catalyst for personal transformation as an author, speaker, thought leader, professional life and business coach, and transformation consultant. Follow along to hear Donna’s incisive insights on finding purpose in a world of distractions. ---- Follow Donna on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. You can also watch her YouTube channel. Check out her book Original Wisdom: Harness the Power of the Authentic You, or visit her website at https://donnabond.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seven and a half years ago, Brad Ryan was struggling to finish his veterinary program at Ohio State University. For the first time in his life, he began feeling suicidal, and not long after, one of his classmates took their own life. This sent him into a tailspin; he knew he needed a break. He recalled a moment a few years earlier when he was chatting with his grandmother, Joy, and she admitted to never seeing a mountain in her life. With that moment in mind, Brad called his grandmother and started planning their first trip to the Great Smokey Mountains. Thus began a 50,000 mile journey for Brad and Joy. Brad is now a veterinarian and mental health advocate, famous on social media for his travels with his grandmother. They’ve flown to Alaska, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands to reach their goal of visiting all 63 U.S. national parks, and will visit their final park in American Samoa this year when Joy turns 93. Brad shares the critical perspective intergenerational relationships give us in our dark nights of the soul, and that we really need to find someone who’s been in our corner. As Brad astutely notes, “A dark day, a dark week, a dark month, a dark quarter is not a dark life. It’s not the totality of what’s possible for our future.” ---- Follow Brad and Joy Ryan’s travels on Instagram and Facebook.  Want to support the “In the Details” podcast? Make sure to visit Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify, then rate it five stars and share it with your community! You can also stop by Karen Allen’s website. ---- **This podcast and its contents are a resource for educational and informational purposes only and should not take the place of a skilled therapist or emergency services. If you are in crisis, call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a free, 24-hour hotline, at 1.800.273.8255. If your issue is an emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. Outside of the U.S., please call your nearest hospital for local resources.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each person’s retirement planning strategy is deeply personal. There are so many options for retirement accounts because they’re designed to be suitable for people with many different needs and lifestyles. But from 403(b)s, 501(c)3s, and 457(b)s, and other accounts, the amount of alphabet soup associated with retirement planning can be stupifying. Without financial education, confusing retirement account and tax code names can be a huge barrier for people trying to set themselves up for their future. This week, Kiersten and Julien break down all of your retirement account options and the pros and cons of each while shining a light on some murky topics like incentives, contribution limits, income ceilings, and deferred retirement account taxes. Julien and Kiersten ask, “When should you stop contributing?” and provide some helpful guidelines and tools for listeners, including factoring in your longevity risk and using retirement calculators or Monte Carlo simulators to predict your future financial needs. Kiersten ultimately cautions listeners to plan ahead carefully, saying, “Retirement isn’t a team sport. [...] My theory is that the reason [the government does] this is so that when they don’t provide you enough at the time you need it, they can say, ‘Hey man, I gave you every unfair advantage before this, so it’s not really on me to help you figure out a solution.’ It’s not fair, but it’s the system we’re operating in.” ---- Learn more at richandregular.com, purchase Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away by Kiersten and Julien Saunders and follow on Instagram @richandregular. Support Rich & Regular by sharing and rating it five stars on Apple Podcasts. Check out their video podcast “Cashing Out” on YouTube. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EVGLE didn’t start up all at once—instead, it built up over time, allowing pieces to slot into place and create the rising success the company is now. And slot together they did—first Victor Burnett and Blxst, followed by Karl Fowlkes. Now, their company has grown to include not only tour and day-to-day managers, but staff that include a creative director and various advisers and consultants. It’s been a slow growth, but growing in the long-term has always been their intention, Fowlkes says. Instead of rushing the company to its apex of success, they’re doing things their way, and that means taking their time and doing things right. The duo and Brilliant Thoughts host Tristan Ahumada continue on to discuss how they’ve worked through challenges, any changes they would have made based on what they know now and both recent hires and potential new additions—both staff and talent—to the company.  ---- Victor Burnett and Karl Fowlkes founded the rising multidisciplinary entertainment company, EVGLE, in 2018 with Grammy-nominated artist Blxst.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Teneshia Warner was in a rut in her career and her life. Growing up in a house where money was a sticking point, she knew her motivations made sense, but she wanted to thrive, not just survive. After a compelling question from one of her college professors, Teneshia resolved to design her life so that passion and purpose lead the way. The results of that life re-design have been astounding. Once she discovered her passion for marketing, Teneshia founded and became CEO of EGAMI Group, an award-winning, purpose-driven multicultural marketing firm recently named one of Adweek's top 100 fastest-growing marketing agencies serving some of today's most successful companies. Now serving as EGAMI’s CEO, Teneshia has authored several books and has helped turn EGAMI Group into a thriving multi-million dollar business.  Tune in to hear her takeaways about the pain of leveling up and the courage needed to stretch out of your comfort zone. Teneshia emphasizes permitting yourself to dream, saying, “You must give yourself space, time, and permission to dream freely and imagine. You have to make that become a muscle.” ---- Follow Teneshia Warner on LinkedIn and Instagram. Check out her marketing firm EGAMI Group or her annual conference, The Dream Project Symposium. You can purchase her book The Big Stretch: 90 Days to Expand Your Dreams, Crush Your Goals, and Create Your Own Success and download worksheets at https://www.thebigstretchbook.com/ to kickstart your big stretch.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before Jenny Blake started her business, she didn't feel like she had the authority to speak to others about her passion, business, because she didn’t have a “successful” $1M company under her belt. When Jenny finally leaned on her intuition and gave herself permission to speak about business publicly, she discovered her unique view on systems and operational efficiency propelled her to success. Since then, she’s learned that leading with intuition is one of her greatest strengths. The New York-based international keynote speaker and “solo’plus’preneur” is the author of the award-winning book, Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, and host of the Free Time podcast. Jenny teaches heart-based business owners how to build a business with ease and joy for all involved, not just for the owner at the expense of the employees. Listen as she explains why she believes not just in high-net-worth but in high-net-freedom and why the hard work is aligning ourselves and designing the systems to free up our time productively. ---- Follow Jenny on Instagram and check out her website to get all of the Free Time goodies! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.