Omobola Stephen Interview Janet Macaluso "DESIGNING YOUR NEXT CHAPTER AT MIDLIFE"

Welcome everybody to this week's episode. We really appreciate you joining us. This podcast really shows us how we can all learn live and thrive off of each other by sharing our knowledge through our conversations, we will impart some knowledge whilst learning ourselves how to progress even further.

Here is your host on Live Reality by Mobile tv. Now this will focus on personal development and self improvement occasioning experts and professionals who have the right information disruptive in nature that is going to shift your mindset and move you closer to the life that you're truly meant to be. Now on today's show, it gives me great pleasure to have Jeanette Marcosu, who is a Socratic based leadership resource on the show. Hi Jeanette. It's a pleasure.

Hello Amabala. Great to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me.

Great having you on the show. I'm looking forward to great time indeed. Jane Makaluso it's good for my audience to know that you combine modern science. I beg your pardon? You combine modern science and ancient wisdom. Now also you take a 21st century anti you approach to developing professionals for their next chapter in working in life. By next chapter, what do you mean by this?

Well, I typically work with midlife professionals and the other thing I would say is that we are now living 30 years longer than people lived in the 19th century. So that means that we have three extra decades to live. And what are you going to do with that? I want to help people consciously, deliberately design taking their success, their experience in the essence of who they really are so that they can design it deliberately versus just for usually the first half of our lives we've listened to the culture, the school, the teachers, the parents, the coaches, the church, all telling us what to do. At some point we say, this is my life, I know it's going to end and I want to do it my way. And that's where I want to help people evolve their success to significance, whatever that means for them.

All right now, so talking about midlife, what is the living systems approach and how does it relate to midlife professionals? Have any insight?

Yeah, it's very, for me it's very uplifting because the way that we have, many of us have been educated so deeply that we, we don't realize the source of a lot of the things that we think about and do was based in the industrial age when they started factories. So my work was identifying leaders in an organization and then rating them and ranking them and slotting and slating them into high potential, low potential, no potential. What I want to help People do understand is that was the industrial age and when people thought that we were machines and robotic in linear A to B. With the modern science and ancient wisdom approach that I take, I see the world through a living systems approach that we are continually growing and evolving. I am as a living system. You and I are a social system. And we live in communities, families in the world. And as we can see reading the news about climate change, that the world is evolving and growing. And that can be uplifting to think about as the world evolves and I'm living three decades longer, how can I consciously evolve myself deliberately? Because I'm going to get there and most likely I'll be living much longer than I thought I would be. Let's do it in a conscious, deliberate way.

Right? Good to know. We like to talk about reinvention. This is one topic also that is touching my head, the process of reinvention. And is it possible for one to reinvent themselves at any age?

Oh, I believe so, yes. And that I focus on midlife professionals. So if they can do it. And I have done it. In fact, I just am writing last night I started my email broadcast talking about my own reinvention in the last 18 months from spending almost three decades in global corporate organizations. And I've reinvented my. Reinvented myself as a solopreneur. I have. I'm learning so much and I'm making so many mistakes along the way and I'm just keep going. So I just find that this is. I believe it's possible. Yes, it starts in our beliefs. I think you might be consistent with that. But it really starts in. In how we think. And if we can reinvent our thinking and identify these inner obstacles or inner negative chatter that are pulling us back, if we can become aware and manage those kind of robotic thinking, then we can truly reinvent ourselves and become someone anew.

All right, now for emphasis, I'd like us to talk more about reinvention. I know that you're not a stranger to personal regeneration as you've reinvented yourself several times just in your early discussion. Now, the current state of life is a mix of data overload. We have situations of constant demand for our time and attention and expectations that we should always be available and plug in. I know that you can identify with this. Now, be that artist, may. How can we get to the point that we can truly tell ourselves that we really want to have a regeneration? I want to get to this point. I want to regenerate myself. Is this something that is automatic? Is there a strategy? Are there tips and tools that can help by.

Well, I think everyone is different and has to find their own way. For me, I knew I wanted to leave corporate. And so while I was still working at night, I designed an eight week pilot program called Best Future Self Now. And then I invited successful midlife professionals to work with me on Saturday mornings because I had a full time job. So I did the second shift at nighttime to design the program and then I offered it for eight weeks on a Saturday morning. So that did take extra work. I'm admitting that up front. I had my day job and then my side hustle before I actually quit. But what I also do is, as you mentioned, I take an ancient wisdom and modern science that to me is a holistic approach. It's not just only about the brain and the beliefs which are critical, but it's also about the body. I find that people, either they spend maybe more time on the body and meditation and breathing and yoga, or on the thinking. I try to combine both. So for me, what I think is important, Mobila is I use something called heart math. I don't know if you've heard of that. It's a specific way of breathing in a way that regulates your heart rate variability because your heart actually talks more to your brain than your brain talks to your heart, actually 80 to 90% more. So if you can regulate your heart rate variability, it's going to go to your neocortex, which is the executive functioning part of the brain, and you will have clearer thoughts, better decisions, be more resilient. So even when we are Inundated with this 247 world of work, I have taught my clients, and I do this myself, I practice heart math on the go. And I'll just say this. What do I mean by on the go? Like, I drink a lot of water every time I'm walking to the bathroom. As I'm walking, I practice heart math. When I fill this water bottle up in the spout, I practice heart math. These are also. I'm certified in tiny habits. So I try to practice these little tiny hab of inserting heart math that is regulating my body throughout the day. That was a mouthful. So I'll have you react if you'd like.

All right, good to know that. Thank you once again, Jeanette, for that insight. We talk about paradigm blindness and thinking outside the box. Now, can we shed more light on this? I'd like you to do that quickly with my audience. And also, what do you think is the effect of this in an organization.

Yeah. So we often, as I didn't realize, we have been educated and a lot of the work came from the industrial age where the management was designed then and workers were taken out of their doing their handicraft, artisan types of work into a factory where they were told everyone do the same thing. And then from there they came the belt bell curve. And anything outside of the bell curve was considered scrap or waste. So we wanted that people wanted everyone to be the same. And in work, you know, there's this high, low, medium, average, these bell curves. And we need to be aware this is a paradigm. Is this what's needed? That we're taking our old thinking and applying it blindly? Because we're not even aware that we're looking these through these lenses and applying them to a living system that's diverse and complicated and doesn't follow these rules. Often we copy paste. Let's use an example of how the factories worked and they worked very well. So that worked in a factory. But then we try to do the same thing with education, with our children, all in schools with the bell curve, more or less, and then copy paste the same thing over and over again. My goal when I work with folks is help them understand their thinking and their doing and clarify what paradigm is that coming from. They self assess because you remember I told you I used the Socratic method and want them to make the decision, not look outside to a guru. They self assess and say, oh, this was the work I've been doing was the industrial age, or it was more of the human development, which is better for me, I believe what's best is the living systems because to me that's the real world that we're living in. So people can assess how they're thinking, which paradigm that thought comes from, from. And they choose if they want to elevate that thought to the next level that's more consistent with the reality that we're living in today.

Great, thank you once again for that. You also have your topic on leadership. Can we talk a bit about that? Talking about leadership in this modern day and age, how can we tell if leadership is fit for the future or not?

Well, so that was my work for many years. And what I would do was either I did this myself or I would hire a large company. We would hire gurus, consultants to come in, external consultants to come in. They would tell my leaders the competencies, the best practices, or they would do 360 degree feedback, which is from the boss, the peers and the direct Reports, they would interview them, get some feedback on a person, write up a report and then say here's feedback, how you need to change. So that's all in my opinion, that is outsourcing your development to someone else, to that consultant who's going to go and do that copy and paste that over and over again. Versus the fit for the future is how do we develop internally, those leaders, for them to self reflect and for them to see and self assess themselves against something and say I want to be more and do more in the world versus someone, an external person, third party guru, expert, telling me the answer, that's like being a child. We are adults, let's own our power. And that's why I believe the fit for the future and I'll just say this is that the world is so complex now that there is no textbook, there's no playbook to give us the answers. So you can't go and Google and find out what to do. What you need to do is rely on yourself and work as a team. So that's why I want to build that inner capability versus looking outside.

All right, now that's some tough work to do Janet, but I tell you, toward the effort at the end of the day. Thank you for that. Jenex, do you have any projects in the pipeline or any useful information, any interesting information you'd like to share with my audience?

Certainly. Thank you so much for having me. This has been terrific and I really appreciate your work as well. So I would ask your listeners if they're interested in my message. My website is learning number two lead.com so learningtolead.com and I also, if you'd be willing to check out my YouTube channel, I'm starting that as well and that's Learning to lead number two, Learning to Lead LLC which stands for Limited Liability Corporation in the U.S. i do have a mastermind that I'm starting with a small group of kind of like minded professionals who want to co evolve together and that'll be on my website. So and if you want to reach out to me, I'm@janetearningtolead.com right.

Do you have any pattern words you'd like to share?

I think I just want to remind everyone that we are in this, you might call it chaotic times or complexity and it's actually an invitation for us to think about our best future self as we keep evolving. It's there. I often ask my clients when they get stuck, think about your best future self if they were to turn around from the future and walk towards you and maybe poke you on the shoulder. What would they say to you? And I'm asking you listeners to think about your best future self. What would they say to you? And you own that and listen to it. Don't listen to anyone else. I could be wrong. I'll leave it with that.

Thank you once again. That is truly inspiring. Jeanette. Now you've shared your website with us and that's pretty fine. I wanted to ask after that and also your social media handles, I think we can get that on the website.

Is that absolutely yes. And sign up for my newsletter and you'll be notified with a number of different My thinking I sign my emails as learning and unlearning because I'm unlearning so much and I do share that with my people who are interested in the same type of work.

All right, Beautiful, beautiful. I really want to appreciate your time and your valid contribution on the show. Jeanette Bakalutso. I wish you the best of luck in all the future interviews that you embark upon.

Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

All right now it's been worthwhile having Janice Matalu on the show. If you'd like to catch up with any missed episodes of the show, you can check my website, www.omogolastv.com where you get to know much about me and also what I'm up to. And learn much about the podcast and catch up with the episodes. You can also do that online search for live wellness even on any cross promotion platforms or any podcast distribution platforms to bump into. And I guarantee you you're going to have a great time listening to the show. I need you to stay safe. With all my love. I talk soon. Bye for now.