
MINDSET ZONE
Our mindsets determine the way we see the world, as well as, the way we behave and who we are as people. It’s very easy and normal to stay stuck in fixed mindsets – limiting beliefs about our abilities and skills that prevent us to learn new things. We can intentionally cultivate a growth mindset that allows us to stretch our minds and amplify the realm of possibilities of what we do, and who we are. Amplifying our mindsets is one of the secrets of success, for most entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals out there.
Latest episodes

Jun 19, 2015 • 14min
Transitions–The Eagle and The Mouse
In episode 26 of the MINDSET ZONE podcast where the topic was “Do People Really Change?”, I spoke about a Greek philosopher called Heraclitus who said:
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."
Heraclitus believed everything is in constant flow, everything always changes.
I thought about this when I watched a short video from Martha Beck, a popular life coach and author. She shared her strategy to deal with major life transitions. Martha begins with the perspective that “all life is transitory” and if we accept that, we can better deal with unexpected changes.
When life throws us a curve ball, it’s vital to press the pause button, and be able to see the situation from a wider perspective – to see the big picture.
This is easier said than done, and often we need support to be able to do this.
Eagle View
This can be called taking the eagle view.
This birds eye view enables us to see the bigger picture and decide what’s really important.
Yet, we have to return to the earth and like a small mouse, walk one step at a time.
Mouse View
As Martha Beck says, sometimes we have to reduce things to very small bites. One day at the time, in some cases, is too overwhelming. One minute at a time or even smaller bites - such as one breath at a time.
Here is how Martha Beck explains it:
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I love the Eagle and Mouse analogy, because really articulates the paradox we have to embrace to thrive and evolve in our lives.
Yes. We have to be able to see the big picture. To be that eagle that soars above and sees with clarity where she want to go.
Yet, we can not fly to our goal.
We have to come down to earth and walk toward it.
We often have to climb many hills, overcome many obstacle, one at a time, while we keep the bigger vision in our head and heart.
In practical terms, we have to transition as needed between an eagle and a mouse.
Love to hear your thoughts about this.

Jun 13, 2015 • 38min
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
To conclude my series of podcast episodes about the importance of “Focusing”, I was honored to interview Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times Best Seller Book - Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less.
Greg has taught at companies that include Apple, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Salesforce, and Pixar.
He is also an amazing keynote speaker that I had the opportunity to meet at the ICON15– The InfusionSoft Annual Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Here are some of the topics we spoke about:
What is “Essentialism”?Information and opinion overloadEmails in mobile devices as a distractionDiscern between the vital few and the trivial manyBecoming an essentialist is not an event, it’s a processImportance of pressing the pause buttonSmall changes produce big resultsThe power of a short breathing exerciseThe paradox of successEssentialism is not one more thingEssentialism is a journeyThree Simple Daily Practices to Become an Essentialist:
Press the pause button - Breath slowly for 3 breaths
Top Six Priorities - Focus on the first one: The Priority
Write Down Five Successful Trade-offs and Celebrate that!
Next steps:
Listen to the book: EssentialismRead the book: Essentialism

Jun 4, 2015 • 14min
Unfocus To Focus
I can’t stop focusing on focus :)
First it was the interview with Omar Zenhom - episode 35 of this podcast titled “Focus To Succeed"
Then, it was last show – episode 36 - about "Focus Without Focus."
Today, I decided to speak about “Unfocus to Focus."
During my conversation with Omar, he spoke about an interesting phenomenon that happens when we are on vacation, and not thinking about our to-do lists.
This situation creates space that allows us to see our priorities with more clarity.
It also creates opportunities to see new ideas and revisit old ideas with new eyes.
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait for our next vacation to experience this.
Most likely...
We can think about situations where we frenetically tried to find a solution -
How can I solve this?This is impossible to solve?
Then, after a night's sleep, or under the shower, suddenly, things become clear, we have an insight for a possible solution.
What was impossible, suddenly becomes possible.
Often only when we unfocus from the problem or challenge, we relax enough to see new possibilities and solutions.
This is the phenomenon I’m focusing in this episode, Positive Psychology has an explanation for it.
Positive Psychology
The positivity researcher Barbara Fredrickson, argues that positive emotions such as joy, gratitude, serenity, curiosity, hope, pride, amusement, inspirations, awe, and love, open our hearts and our minds, which makes us more receptive and more creative.
Positive emotions open our awareness to a wider range of thoughts, potentials, and actions.
Sun light signals to a flower that it’s time to open – positive emotions affect us in the same way - they open us to new possibilities.
Let’s think of an opposite situation.
Most likely, you can remember a situation where you felt overwhelmed. For instance, you are on a deadline, things are halfway done. Then you need a certain document to finish what you are working on and you cannot find it.
You panic, you search your desk, your office - nothing.
In the middle of this, a friend calls, you speak with her and relax. You even laugh at one of her jokes.
When you hang up, your eyes wander a little and then suddenly stop at a specific place, because they notice something – there it is, the missing document.
When we are under tension our vision is restricted figuratively and literally.
We see no solutions to our problems, we don't find the object that was supposed to be there.
When we relax, we are more open, our vision expands, we begin to see challenges from a different perspective. We are aware of more possibilities, we can see more.
So, there are times that we need to focus to succeed.
There are also times that we need to be unfocused :)
When we are unfocused and relaxed we can envision new possibilities, and decide our priority – where we want to focus next.
Unfocus to focus
At first, it can look like a paradox, but if we transcend the apparent contradiction, we expand what's possible.

May 28, 2015 • 13min
Focus Without Focus
Last episode I interviewed Omar Zenhom about how to “Focus To Succeed." Afterwards, several ideas emerged for me that led to the topic "Focus Without Focus."
“Focus to Succeed” only works when we are focused on the essential projects that help us move forward.
Our focus has to be on target.
Moreover, if we take focus as the acronym F.O.C.U.S – Follow One Course Until Success – we should intentionally strategize about the "One Course” to be sure that it take us where we want to go.
This concept is especially meaningful for me, because I can focus easily, but not always on the right direction.
I consider myself a workaholic, because I’m truly compelled to do my work. I love what I do. It’s so easy to get in the work mode and stay there.
Yet – and this is the dark side of workaholism – it’s very easy for me to get busy and focus my attention on chores that aren't that important – they don’t help me finish a project, or they help me finish a project, but not the project I should be working on.
It’s easy to get stuck in busyness
This was one of my mindset blindspots. It was a turning point when I realized that busyness can be a form of procrastination.
There is instant gratification by checking off our To-Do List. Yet, if this list keeps us on the proverbial hamster wheel, we will not move to where we want to go.
So nowadays, a try to avoid being focus without focus by taking timeouts to reflect about:
1- My overall goals
2- How specific projects can help achieve those goals
3- Why to achieve those goals is so meaningful for me.
I force myself not to have too many major goals at any one time, because this helps me to keep my priorities clear.
Another turning point, was when I read the book Essentialism, from Greg McKeown, and learned that when the word “priority" came into the English language in the 1400s, it was used in the singular form only. It meant the very first thing. And it was used in the singular for more than five hundred years. Only in the 1900s, did it begin to be common to talk about “priorities."
I find it powerful to force myself to pick a priority for my business week. That helps me to have a clear goal that I set my mind to achieve.
For instance, every week I write down the answer to this question:
If I could get nothing else done this week but ONE THING, what one thing would I choose to do?What one thing would make me happy and proud?
In conclusion, the main culprit that keeps us stuck in the focus without focus is not to know our priority.
This awereness helped me move from a busyness mindset to a more intentional mindset – and took my business to the next level.
How about you?
Do you find yourself also focused without focus?
Do you have your priority crystal clear?
As always, I love to hear your comments and learn about your experiences.

May 22, 2015 • 37min
Focus To Succeed (with Omar Zenhom)
In this episode, I interviewed a fellow podcaster - Omar Zenhom.
Omar is the Co-Founder of Business Republic, where he, and his partner Nicole Baldinu, started an alternative business education program called The $100 MBA – a culmination of his years in business and education. They also offer daily, free 10-minute business lessons with their podcast The $100 MBA Show, that I highly recommend you subscribe to.
In our conversation we spoke about:
Mindset shifts necessary to keep our focus to succeed“Focus" as the most important word in business and success in generalWhy it’s so difficult for most people to be focusedFear of failure and being overwhelmedHow to avoid being overwhelmedImage of the electrical bulb and the laser beamSuspend disbelief in order to focusF.O.C.U.S - Follow One Course Until SuccessHow do we know we are on the right “Course"How to readjust your focusHow to reframe the failure experienceGo for No!Shut off distractionsThe Rule of FivesImportance of saying "No"How to get back on trackAnd much more...
Love to hear your comments.
LINKS:http://100MBA.nethttp://WebinarNinja.coEpisode 3 - Failure and The Way to Success

May 14, 2015 • 45min
A Conversation with Viktor Frankl’s Grandson – Alexander Vesely
– Listen to this interview to find out how to win a copy of the documentary “Viktor & I”–
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Movie Trailer: Viktor & I, An Alexander Vesely
In this episode, I spoke with Alexander Vesely about his grandfather, Viktor Frankl.
Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. (1905-1997) is considered by many as one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.
He was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, as well as a Holocaust survivor.
Frankl is known by many via his best-selling book Man's Search For Meaning.
Alex Vesely is an Austrian-born filmmaker and trained psychotherapist.
His movie – "Viktor & I” – is an impactful documentary about his eminent grandfather, Viktor Frankl.
For three years, he traveled the world to bring us this insightful look at Viktor Frankl through the eyes of those closest to him.
In our conversation we discussed:
- How to introduce the life work of Viktor Frankl to the next generation
- What is logotherapy
- How logotherapy can help people on their journey of personal development
- How Viktor Frankl spoke about despair (despair is suffering without meaning: d=s-m)
- The core of resilience and the role of meaning
- How Alex realized that his grandfather was the famous Viktor Frankl
- How the experience of being Frankl’s grandson shaped him
- How Frankl lived the maximum “The salvation of man is through love and in love” in his personal life and that of his family
- How does one surrender judgment in order to practice forgiveness
- How Viktor Frankl spoke about Responsibility
4-Min Video: Frankl at a conference in Toronto
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Links:
Movie "Viktor & I"
Man’s Search for Meaning
Related Episodes:
007: Searching for Meaning – Are You Aiming High Enough?
008: React or Create – Your Choice

May 7, 2015 • 31min
Your Body of Work (with Pam Slim)
In this episode, you will listen to an interview with Pamela Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation and the Body of Work.
Pamela Slim is an award-winning author, speaker and business consultant who has been an entrepreneur for eighteen years. Pam is a passionate, engaging speaker with proven advice for building careers in the “New World of Work” – a world filled with economic instability, rapid change, increased demands on leadership, work-life balance pressures and 24-hour a day social media sharing.
Our conversation focused on her last book:
Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together.
We discussed:
- Body of Work - definition
- Need for a new type of career advice
- Finding the thread that ties your story together
“You need to tell a story about your own body of work, in a context that will make sense for the work you want to get.” – Pam Slim
- Ethical and effective story telling
“More and more people, by choice or by force, don’t have a straight-line story for their work experience.” – Pam Slim
- Mindset shift needed to succeed in our rapid changing world
“Craft a story that explains your highest values, your strengths, and the value you can provide to the audience you care about influencing.” – Pam Slim
- Importance of defining our roots
- We can have more than one singular life purpose
- Our work recipes and ingredients
- A definition of success
“Don't aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.”― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
More about Pam Slim at:
http://pamelaslim.com

Apr 30, 2015 • 11min
Invisibilia – The Blind Can See
Today's episode goal is to invite you to go and listen to a different podcast - really :)
This is one of the things I love about the podcasting world.
Like authors and professionals speakers, we know that people who read a book, listen to a speaker, or a podcast, will enjoy reading others books, listening to other speakers, and subscribing to other podcasts.
We don’t see each other as competition.
Cavett Robert, the founder of the National Speaker Association, said it best:
"As speakers, we never fight over the size of our slice of the pie, we build a bigger pie."
Since my podcast is all about expanding possibilities, I want to introduce you to Invisibilia, a NPR podcast, launched in the beginning of 2015.
Invisibilia is a latin word that means "all the invisible things”, and this podcast explores the intangible forces that shape human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and emotions.
There is a particular episode of this podcast that I would love you to go and listen to. It’s titled “How to Become Batman” and was released on January 22nd, 2015.
This episode is all about expectations, and how these expectations can limit what we can do and be.
I have to warn you, that this hour-long Invisibilia episode can blow your mind, and really make you think about how we limit ourselves and others by accepting expectations without questioning other possibilities.
The show starts by describing how when scientists are doing experiments with rats, if they think that a particular lab rat is dumb or clever, that affects how well that rat will perform the experiment. But this is just the beginning.
Then, they focus their narrative on Daniel Kish, a blind person who destroys every stereotype you may have about blindness.
Daniel Kish lost both eyes when he was a very young toddler, yet he grow up to be able to navigate is world independently, and with confidence. He developed a system that allowed him and other blind people to see - really.
He is a blind person who guides other blind people, as well as those of us who have normal sight, to see so many new possibilities in our lives.
When I listened to this show, I questioned so many things:
- How expectations can limit the possibilities of people with disabilities
- How I can limit myself with my beliefs and expectations
- How my expectations for my daughter can limit her from achieving what she is capable of.
This reminds me of the episode 7 of the MINDSET ZONE podcast, where I spoke about a powerful quote that Viktor Frankl mentioned in one of his lectures:
“If we take man as he is, we make him worse, but if we take man as he should be, we make him capable of becoming what he could be."– Goethe (1749 – 1832)
Please go ahead and listen to “How to Become Batman” from Invisibilia podcast.
Click the player below to listen to it.
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TEDx talk by Daniel Kish
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Apr 24, 2015 • 26min
Non-Obvious: How to Think Different with Rohit Bhargava
In this episode, I have the pleasure to interview Rohit Bhargava, author of five best selling business books including Likeonomics and his most recent one calledNon-Obvious: How to think Different, Curate Ideas and Predict the Future.
He had me at “how to think different", because to have this skill is a wonderful way to give our mindsets a workout and open the doors to new possibilities.
In our conversation we discussed:
- Why it is misleading to think that industry experts are the best one to predict trends
- How curation is the ultimate method of transforming noise into meaning
- The Curator’s Mindset (Being Curious, Observant, Fickle, Thoughtful, Elegant)
- How to foresee a trend that will last
Links:
- Non-Obvious: How to think Different, Curate Ideas and Predict the Future - Hard Cover Edition
- Non-Obvious: How to think Different, Curate Ideas and Predict the Future - Kindle Edition
- Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action - Hard Cover Edition
- Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action - Kindle Edition
- New to audible.com? You can download for free the Audio Edition of Likeonomics at http://mindset.zone/audiobooks
- http://nonobviousbook.com - Get excerpt of Non-Obvious and a summary of all 15 trends from the 2015 Non-Obvious Trend Report
- http://www.rohitbhargava.com/
- http://www.rohitbhargava.com/blog
- https://twitter.com/rohitbhargava

Apr 18, 2015 • 16min
Misattributions – Good Or Bad?
Today, I want to focus on misattributions, that is, situations where we attribute an idea to the wrong source.
I was listening to news recently and they were speaking about the beautiful new US stamp, produced as an homage to the life and work of Maya Angelou.
It's wonderful and meaningful to see a poet and thinker recognized this way, yet the quote that they chose to go along with the photo of Maya Angelou is not her own quote!!!
They misattributed the quote.
"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
This inspiring quote was often cited by the late poet, yet we know now that it was written by another writer Joan Walsh Anglund in 1967.
Maya Angelou never claimed authorship for the quotation, she use it often because it’s a really powerful sentence.
The US Post Office should have done their homework and checked in which publication that quote was printed, not waited until the stamp was published to discover their mistake.
At least now we know about another inspiring women writer, Joan Walsh Anglund, who now has a Wikipedia entry thanks to this misattribution.
Another Example...
Another example of a misattribution – with a very a happy ending – regards this powerful poem:
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.Love them anyway.If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.Do good anyway.If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.Succeed anyway.The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.Do good anyway.Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.Be honest and frank anyway.The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.Think big anyway.People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.Fight for a few underdogs anyway.What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.Build anyway.People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.Help people anyway.Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.Give the world the best you have anyway.
This “Anyway" quote is often attributed to Mother Teresa because a version of this poem was written on a wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, yet this is a misattribution.
These Paradoxical Commandments were originally written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders.
Because of this misattribution, Kent M. Keith was inspired to publish a beautiful book called "Do It Anyway: The Handbook for Finding Personal Meaning and Deep Happiness in a Crazy World."
Here is an interview with the author:jQLeadBrite("#leadplayer_video_element_553342E612683").leadplayer(false, "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");
So, what’s the moral of the story?
Yes, before publishing anything writers should do their homework and check their sources. Yet, as this podcast has illustrated several times, it’s easy to make mistakes and misattributions too.
My thinking is that when misattributions are corrected, that can be a beautiful opportunity to learn more.
We will make mistakes, attribute ideas to the wrong sources,