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12 Effective Strategies New Real Estate Agents Can Use To Build Their Business – Forbes

Posted: October 20, 2019 at 9:07 am


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A new real estate agent faces an uphill battle. Not only are they unknown, but they now are competing against more established agents who have been in the field longer, meaning they need to be creative and look at things from a different angle in order to set themselves apart.

Building interest is where the journey toward becoming a successful real estate agent starts. Even if clients are already familiar with their name, agents have to demonstrate why they perform better than their competitors if they want to get noticed and earn client business.

Here, 12 professionals from Forbes Real Estate Council examine a few critical tips that new real estate agents can implement to help build their business and start their careers off on the right note.

Forbes Real Estate Council members share their top career tips for new real estate agents.

1. Understand Yourself And Your Specialty

Identifying your strongest attributes and comprehending what your value proposition will be are both crucial at the origin of your real estate career. Building your business on a solid foundation is paramount to a successful practice, and it is significantly easier to accomplish once you understand yourself and how you can create the most value for your future clients. - Adrian Provost, Compass + LEVEL

2. Plan, Strategize, Execute

I see many new ambitious agents jumping right in. The problem is that it's challenging to execute without a strategy, and it's impossible to have a strategy without having a plan. Just as with a house, having a solid foundation is necessaryotherwise repairs might be expensive! New agents should think about their objectives and create a great plan focusing on what makes them unique. - Julien Leclair-Dionne, HomeFluent

3. Get A Mentor

If I were to do this all over again, I would start out either on a real estate team, or I would get a good strong mentor that would push me, hold me accountable and make me work. It is so easy to not work when you are self-employed. - Aaron Marshall, Keyrenter Property Management

4. Take That Desk Duty

I tell new agents to take front office desk duty whenever possible. You meet and greet new customers as they walk in, and you never know what might transpire from that initial handshake. You get a sense of what people are looking for, and it's an easy way to trade contact information. After all, you're dealing with people actively seeking real estate advice; all you have to do is show up. - Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan, Compass

5. Work Hard, Serve Others

In my opinion, the key for young people is to work extremely hard, be disciplined and have a plan, invest in self-improvement, not be afraid to fail and try to help as many people as possible. Service leads to trusted relationships and that is the key to long-lasting, profitable client relationships. - Jonathan Keyser, Keyser

6. Get Out And Network

Find the trade associations most relevant to your niche, go to all of the networking events and/or panels they put together in your area and ask about joining the committee that helps plan the events and/or panels. If you want longevity in your career, focus on building genuine relationships with your peers, not just based around work. - Robin Bhalla, The Festival Companies

7. Avoid A One-Size-Fits-All Approach

You may want to work with "everyone," but "everyone" may not want to work with you. Whether marketing, geo farming or working your sphere of influence, know who you want to serve and what value you bring to the table. When you can identify a specific target market, you will understand their needs and create value that is meaningful to them. Create a client-centric business and the results will follow. - Michelle Risi, Royal LePage Connect Realty

8. Connect With The Community

Building a real estate business takes time, trust and an abundance of effort. Take time to explore neighborhoods and make connections with the community. When a property becomes available, you might be in the right place at the right time. Connecting with the community gives you the insight you might not otherwise gain. - Bobby Montagne, Walnut Street Finance

9. Build Your Database

Your top 150 contacts is a great place to start. The best initial approach is to ask them for referrals and not their own business. This way you keep the lines of communication open. Prepare your 30-second elevator pitch that shows your commitment and passion for business. Remember, to make money, you must meet a person face-to-face and get them in contract. It's that simple. - Amit Inamdar, Own Sweet Home Realty

10. Take Advantage Of Every Education Opportunity

Take every real estate continuing education course availableyou will quickly expand your knowledge base and be more prepared to answer a myriad of buyer and seller questions. Beyond classes, go to an event at least once a week, join the flow of conversation, let people know what you do. Everyone knows someone ready to buy, sell or lease a home. In fact, leases are an often-overlooked avenue for building a referral base. - Anna Morrison Lee, Anna Morrison Lee, Broker Associate, Moreland Properties

11. Leverage Video To Build Your Brand

By creating short videos about businesses, events and notable people in your town, you can begin to gain a reputation as the local expert. Branding the videos with your logo lets viewers know you're a broker without asking for referrals in every video. Be sure to include real estate-focused videos such as buyer and/or seller tips and property tours. With consistency and patience, your business will grow. - Ryan Moran, Option Realty Group LTD

12. Provide Social Proof

Provide social proof by posting pictures and experiences for others to see how you helped someone else buy or sell a home and the benefits the homebuyer or home seller experienced by working with you. If you have no experience and are just starting out, you can follow the same idea by borrowing that social proof from your broker or team's experience. - Dani Lynn Robison, Freedom Real Estate Group

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12 Effective Strategies New Real Estate Agents Can Use To Build Their Business - Forbes

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October 20th, 2019 at 9:07 am

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DTZ Investors CEO on why the firm is launching a 650m co-living fund with The Collective – Property Week

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This latter point is particularly true for younger adults starting out in careers or studying. A report on loneliness published last year from the Office for National Statistics identified three profiles of people at particular risk from loneliness, including younger renters with little trust and sense of belonging to their area. These are young professionals actively sharing and engaging their lives online but unable to access a physical community and the benefit that brings.

It is against this backdrop that co-living is being championed as a way of building communities and fostering social engagement in dwellings. Co-living is not a new concept: for most, co-living was flat-sharing forged out of financial necessity. It had multiple set-backs: difficulty in finding a place; inflexible check-in / check-out; arduous billing arrangements; a lack of amenities and facilities; and remoteness from friends or colleagues.

The future of modern co-living is a far different and far better proposition. It recognises that its customer base (typically, 18-34 year olds) value experiences over ownership. Modern co-living allows renters to occupy their own space but share amenities as well as participate in events in a cohesive community assisted by a skilled building operator.

The sector has the potential to grow rapidly, offering choice and flexibility for tenants as well as significant potential for investors seeking sustainable returns for their capital. Certain entrants are establishing a small foothold in the sector, but the real opportunity will come with scale. In my view, large-scale co-living can be an ideal response to the needs of Londons solo-renting housing market. Purpose-built student accommodation has revolutionised the student lettings market over the past 15 years, and it is clear to me that large-scale co-living has the potential to deliver the same impact to the private-rented sector in London over the next decade.

For these reasons, we launched COLIV with global co-living pioneer The Collective. COLIV is the worlds first large-scale co-living fund, with an aim of raising up to 650million of capital. We are seeking to acquire, or forward fund, between six and ten purpose-built, large-scale co-living assets, all in the London area with an estimated gross asset value target of 1bn.

Its an important step in the development of our business to be leading the market in delivery of an innovative solution to Londons housing shortage for solo-renters. This fund will bring a strong social agenda through the properties we create, how we engage with our communities and in the way we foster wellbeing in our members.

Alongside the investment opportunity, our guiding principle is to have a positive impact beyond the four walls of our real estate. We want our buildings well-designed with sustainable principles and we want them well-managed to retain their efficiency and effectiveness. The fund aims to create a gold standard benchmark for other co-living operators to follow such as targeting BREEAM excellence standards.

Our aim is to engender a positive social impact within our assets and within their communities. A range of self-improvement and self-actualisation programmes are aimed at developing and nurturing members in our buildings. We also aim to improve neighbourhood accessibility by opening up buildings for use by local community groups. A portion of the funds rental income will also help local community initiatives which have aligned social objectives, of bringing people together and preventing loneliness.

Large-scale co-living will have a dramatic impact on big city living providing a growing alternative asset class for investors. However, for it to fulfil its purpose it is critical it is done with the principles of quality, convenience and community at its heart.

As one resident of The Collectives Old Oak Common asset put it I could be in a building with five hundred anonymous people that I dont know. Here, its about five hundred people that I want to know.

Chris Cooper, CEO DTZ Investors

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DTZ Investors CEO on why the firm is launching a 650m co-living fund with The Collective - Property Week

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October 20th, 2019 at 9:07 am

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Work Matters!: The power of self belief – New Straits Times Online

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This past week, I travelled to United Kingdom for a short trip to be best man at my friend, Martin Drivers wedding.

It was a fabulous trip, and I was so thrilled to give a reading at this lovely occasion. It was such an honour to be asked to be best man.

Like all weddings, there was lots of joy as well as tears of happiness, and a whole load of hugs and kisses. It was also fantastic to catch up with some of my oldest friends in Brighton, where I went to university.

My friend Martin, for as long as I can remember, always said that he would never get married.

But then he met his lovely wife Patricia, and as he enters into the sixth decade of his life, he tied the knot. Im so happy for him and I suspect he is going to be a very content man for the rest of his life.

Why do people change their mind under certain circumstances, and breakaway from long held beliefs?

The prolific Dutch post-impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh, who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art is reported to have said, if you hear a voice within you say, you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

Self-belief forms the core foundation of getting any result in life.

Renowned management guru, Bob Proctor says, you dont have to know how to do it, you just have to know that you can.

Perhaps my friend Martin, when he met his future bride, realised that he could actually be married and be happy, even if he didnt know the steps to make this happen.

I find that this is the most powerful mindset you can ever have.

I have met so many entrepreneurs and successful business owners whove made it, even though they actually did not know how to manage their businesses to start off with. They only knew and believed that they would get it done.

This attitude, where you take ownership of your actions is necessary for all parts of your life, from your relationships to your career.

Your beliefs are hugely influential, and powerful. Their impact is beyond the normal conscious control of your mind. Much of what happens to you, is a result of your sub-conscious beliefs.

The power of your sub-conscious beliefs is quite phenomenal.

There are multiple scientific studies on the placebo effect that reinforce this. A placebo is a substance containing no medication, given to strengthen a patient's expectation to get well. Their belief that the treatment will work, dramatically affects the way their bodies react to the illness.

The placebo effect is not deception. Instead, it is a product of expectation. The human brain anticipates certain outcomes, and because that belief is so strong, the desired result is produced.

This underlines the fact that belief is vital to the human mind. If your belief in something strong enough, it will happen. Therefore, to be successful at anything we do, we must have belief.

On my daily radio show, The Right Perspective with Shankar Santhiram on Lite Malaysia, I regularly remind listeners that of all the beliefs we develop, self-belief is critical.

People with self-belief have qualities that we admire. They are confident and competent. These types of people also encourage confidence in others. The biggest contributor to self-belief is your confidence in your ability.

As you master skills and gain expertise in any given field, you gain in confidence. And, as you sense that you are competent at what you do, naturally your self-belief increases.

While positive thinking has a role in the development of your self-belief, setting and achieving goals helps you build your confidence and competence.

Through my work, I have learnt that the key component to developing self-belief is being confident that the end result you want is possible.

You need to be able to say with total conviction it really is possible for me to achieve this goal.

Having self-belief facilitates finding creative solutions. When you approach a goal at the workplace with disbelief you will feel anxiety and your ability to think gets clouded by t

his.

Alternatively, when you approach a goal or a problem at work or even in life with self-belief, you are able to think much more clearly.

People who lack self-belief have a strong inclination to filter out the positive aspects about themselves.

So, consciously work on identifying and acknowledging your results and strengths.

List out your accomplishments, and not undersell your success to yourself. Most of all, stop comparing yourselves to others. It is a total waste of time, and completely futile.

Do not sabotage your own self-belief.

Instead, work on self-improvement by concentrating on your self-efficacy. This is your belief in your own capacity to execute the behaviour necessary to produce results.

Just like my friend Martin, when you increase your self-belief, you will find that your value grows.

Shankar R. Santhiram is managing consultant and executive leadership coach at EQTD Consulting. He is also the author of the national bestseller So, You Want To Get Promoted?

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Work Matters!: The power of self belief - New Straits Times Online

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October 20th, 2019 at 9:07 am

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Enough Leaning In. Lets Tell Men to Lean Out. – The New York Times

Posted: October 10, 2019 at 7:44 pm


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If parents were giving their children virtue names today, as the Puritans used to do, nobody would choose Charity or Grace or Patience. Instead, half of all baby girls born in America would be named Empowerment or Assertiveness.

For women in this cultural moment, assertiveness is perhaps the ultimate in aspirational personal qualities. At the nexus of feminism and self-help lies the promise that if we can only learn to state our needs more forcefully to lean in and stop apologizing and demand a raise and power pose in the bathroom before meetings and generally act like a ladyboss (though not a regular boss of course; that would be unladylike) everything from the pay gap to mansplaining to the glass ceiling would all but disappear. Women! Be more like men. Men, as you were.

There are several problems with this fist-pumping restyling of feminism, most obviously that it slides all too easily into victim blaming. The caricature of the shrinking violet, too fearful to ask for a raise, is a handy straw-woman for corporations that would rather blame their female employees for a lack of assertiveness than pay them fairly.

Theres also the awkward issue that it turns out to be untrue. Research shows that despite countless attempts to rebrand the wage gap as a confidence gap, women ask for raises as often as men do. They just dont get them.

But even if we leave these narrative glitches aside and accept the argument that female unassertiveness is a major cause of gender inequality and that complex, systemic problems can be fixed with individual self-improvement, we are still left with a deeply sexist premise.

The assumption that assertiveness is a more valuable trait than say, deference is itself the product of a ubiquitous and corrosive gender hierarchy.

As a rule, anything associated with girls or women from the color pink to domestic labor is by definition assigned a lower cultural value than things associated with boys or men. Fashion, for instance, is vain and shallow, while baseball is basically a branch of philosophy. Tax dollars are poured into encouraging girls to take up STEM subjects, but no one seems to care much whether boys become nurses. Girls are routinely given pep talks to be anything a boy can be, a glorious promotion from their current state, whereas to encourage a boy to behave more like a girl is to inflict an emasculating demotion. Female hobbies, careers, possessions and behaviors are generally dismissed as frivolous, trivial, niche or low status certainly nothing to which any self-respecting boy or man might ever aspire.

Women: Improve yourselves! has always been a baseline instruction of both the world at large and the self-help movement. Take the whole Women Who subgenre, a surprisingly large range of books whose titles start with the words Women Who and end with a character flaw that then blames us for our own failure to be happy or successful. Women Who Love Too Much, Women Who Think Too Much, Women Who Worry Too Much, Women Who Do Too Much.

Rarely do we stop to consider that many of lifes problems might be better explained by the alternative titles Men Who Love Too Little, Think Too Little, Worry Too Little or Do Too Little. But instead we assume without question that whatever men are doing or thinking is what we all should be aiming for.

Now the assertiveness movement is taking this same depressingly stacked ranking system and selling it back to us as feminism. We in turn barely question whether the male standard really is the more socially desirable or morally sound set of behaviors or consider whether women might actually have had it right all along.

After all, one mans assertive is often another womans abrasive, entitled or rude. Surely many of our current most pressing social and political problems from #MeToo to campus rape, school shootings to President Trumps Twitter posturing are caused not by a lack of assertiveness in women but by an overassertiveness among men. In the workplace, probably unsurprisingly to many women who are routinely talked over, patronized or ignored by male colleagues, research shows that rather than women being underconfident, men tend to be overconfident in relation to their actual abilities. Women generally arent failing to speak up; the problem is that men are refusing to pipe down.

Take apologizing, the patient zero of the assertiveness movement. Women do too much of it, according to countless op-ed essays, books, apps and shampoo ads. Theres even a Gmail plug-in that is supposed to help us quit this apparently self-destructive habit by policing our emails for signs of excessive contrition, underlining anything of an overly apologetic nature in angry red wiggles.

The various anti-apologizing tracts often quote a 2010 study showing that the reason women say they are sorry more often than men is that we have a lower threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior. This is almost exclusively framed as an example of female deficiency. But really, isnt a person with a high threshold of what constitutes offensive behavior just a fancy name for a jerk?

Rarely in the course of this anti-apologizing crusade do we ever stop to consider the social and moral value of apologies and the cost of obliterating them from our interactions. Apologizing is a highly symbolic and socially efficient way to take responsibility for our actions, to right a wrong and clear space for another persons feelings. Its a routine means of injecting self-examination and moral reflection into daily life.

Indeed many of our problems with male entitlement and toxic behavior both in the workplace and elsewhere could well be traced back to a fundamental unwillingness among men to apologize, or even perceive that they have anything to apologize for. Certainly many emails I have received from men over the years might have benefited from a Gmail plug-in pointing out the apology-shaped hole. The energy we expend in getting women to stop apologizing might be better spent encouraging men to start.

So perhaps instead of nagging women to scramble to meet the male standard, we should instead be training men and boys to aspire to womens cultural norms, and selling those norms to men as both default and desirable. To be more deferential. To reflect and listen and apologize where an apology is due (and if unsure, to err on the side of a superfluous sorry than an absent one). To aim for modesty and humility and cooperation rather than blowhard arrogance.

It would be a challenge, for sure. Pity the human resources manager trying to sell a deference training course to male employees. She would need to paint all the PowerPoint slides black and hand out Nerf guns just to get started. As long as the threat of emasculation is a baseline terror for men, encouraging them to act more like women still instinctively feels like a form of humiliation.

Which is exactly why we need to try, because until female norms and standards are seen as every bit as valuable and aspirational as those of men, we will never achieve equality. Promoting qualities such as deference, humility, cooperation and listening skills will benefit not only women but also businesses, politics and even men themselves, freeing them from the constant and exhausting expectation to perform a grandstanding masculinity, even when they feel insecure or unsure.

So H.R. managers and self-help authors, slogan writers and TED Talk talkers: Use your platforms and your cultural capital to ask that men be the ones to do the self-improvement for once. Stand up for deference. Write the book that tells men to sit back and listen and yield to others judgment. Code the app that shows them where to put the apologies in their emails. Teach them how to assess their own abilities realistically and modestly. Tell them to lean out, reflect and consider the needs of others rather than assertively restating their own. Sell the female standard as the norm.

Perhaps some capitulation poses in the bathroom before a big meeting might help.

Ruth Whippman, the author of America the Anxious, is working on a book about raising boys.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Enough Leaning In. Lets Tell Men to Lean Out. - The New York Times

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October 10th, 2019 at 7:44 pm

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5 Things You Need to Know Before Trying a Mental Health App – SheKnows

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Private therapy helps so many people stay mentally healthy, but it also can come with long wait times, high costs and sometimes awkward moments. So its no wonder that many people turn to mental health apps for help with their own mental health concerns. Popular apps can include mood tracking, meditation, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and other tools to use to stay mentally healthy.

People find that they can increase insight, improve habit forming behaviors and build mindful awareness [using apps], Lauren Cook, MMFT and Doctoral Candidate of Clinical Psychology at Pepperdine University, tells SheKnows. Furthermore, they can be discreet. It might look like youre texting when in actuality you may be utilizing a mental health app.

But with all the advantages, mental health apps arent exactly perfect. There can be some drawback to using them especially if youre using them incorrectly. Here are five things mental health experts want you to know before you hit download.

Mental health apps are best used in conjunction with in-person therapy. Jessica A. Rose, LMHC, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist, says mental health apps are most useful for individuals who are currently working with a mental health professional and are looking for an organized way to their track symptoms or experiences, or to practice the interventions theyve learned in therapy in their daily life interventions such as meditation and breathing techniques.

The best thing about mental health apps is that they extend the learning from the therapy session, says Cook. They bring the skills into a day-to-day practice and build greater awareness. They also help you form healthier habits. For example, you may begin a more consistent mindfulness practice when you get a daily reminder from your phone app.

Rose has only criticism for any mental health apps that promise to make you your own expert.

Imagine the same statement was put forward regarding legal advice, dental health, acupuncturist? Mental Health Professionals (LMHC, LCSW, Ph.D., PsyD, MD) have, at minimum, six years of college education, plus externships/residencies, supervised clinical hours, and must pass a state licensure exam, says Rose. It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine an app that is able to encapsulate all the education acquired both in and out of the classroom to assert that one who downloads this app may become their own expert.

Mental health apps should not be diagnosing anyone and it is concerning that someone would use an app after they have self-diagnosed themselves, says Cook. Ideally, she says, use of an app is monitored by your clinician so that any questions or significant changes in behavior can be monitored. Mental health apps also dont assess for safety in the same way that an in-person therapist can. For example, if someone is feeling suicidal, an app can only do so much to get you to the appropriate care whereas a therapist can guide you through the process of getting support.

In the same vein, of course you want to select apps that will do you good, and your doctor or mental health provider can likely give you a personalized recommendation. But if thats not possible, read reviews about the apps and Google what apps may be the most helpful for treating the symptoms that you believe you are experiencing, recommends Cook.

If youre experiencing mental distress, Cook suggests connecting with your personal support network first before you go to an app. Having conversations with family and friends about your distress can be a meaningful way to process your experience, she says. That face-to-face opportunity for support can make a tremendous difference even if its through FaceTime. Human connection makes a big difference.

If its a small amount of stress, that in-person support may be all you need to help you cope. But if youre having difficulty completing your daily obligations and/or are overwhelmingly upset, Cook recommends that you seek professional care before turning to an app.

Ultimately, when it comes to treating your mental health effectively, the experts we talked to believe that seeking treatment from an in-person therapist should always take priority over seeking help from a mental health app.

Mental health apps are great for those who are looking for self-improvement and increased awareness, Cook says. But for people who have difficulty controlling their emotional responses and/or are emotionally in distress or for those who lack motivation, a mental health app is likely insufficient treatment.

Instead, Rose urges people to think of mental health the same way you think of physical health: Ifyou have a worrisome symptom, its best to first get checked out by a professional.

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5 Things You Need to Know Before Trying a Mental Health App - SheKnows

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October 10th, 2019 at 7:44 pm

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How ‘The Good Place’ made the cast, creative team and maybe even the viewers better people – WFSB

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"It felt a little bit like what I imagine sending your kid off to college feels like," says Kristen Bell about wrapping up "The Good Place," currently in its fourth and final season on NBC. "It's a good and bad feeling."

That's indicative of the thoughtful, philosophically-inclined and morally-minded comedy's theme, the constant push-pull between good and bad places. But Bell, a self-confessed weepie ("Believe me, I have the instinct to cry through almost everything -- I mean, I cry at a Folgers commercial."), said she chose to celebrate rather than mourn the ending of a show that's proven to have as much meaning for its audience as it has for its creative team.

"I refuse to spend my final moments being allowed to play with these people in misery -- I think that would be pitiful," says Bell. "I didn't want to let that ruin it, because it is a gift. It really does feel like we did it for a reason, and when you see the ending you'll know."

When the finale comes, it will mark the end of a long, always fitfully funny but also moving journey of striving for enlightenment and self-betterment in the afterlife of a group of damned souls -- Eleanor (Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Jason (Manny Jacinto), plus the reforming demon Michael (Ted Danson) and the ultimate Siri/celestial automaton Janet (D'Arcy Carden). It's meaty philosophical, territory peppered with silly swear word substitutes.

"I definitely felt the anxiety of landing the plane more acutely than in previous years," the show's creator and executive producer Michael Schur tells CNN. A veteran of "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" -- two series both riotously funny and deeply warm-hearted which also struck pitch-perfect notes as they concluded -- Schur admitted his team sweated many details crafting "The Good Place's" endgame. "We spent a massive amount of time on the ending. Because we really wanted to get it right,"

"I feel like we had a fairly good handle going into it, where our end point was," says supervising producer and writer Jen Statsky, who explained that the series' creative team constantly took a "forward-thinking" approach to the way the story unfolded season by season, neatly set up the story and character arcs to play out in subsequent episodes, which paid off as the final season was conceived. "You want to give the proper ending to these characters."

"And to make sure that we had covered all the ground we wanted to, and to be like, 'Did we explore every facet of these characters and of the world?'" adds co-executive producer and writer Megan Amram, nodding to the rich, comic afterlife mythology the series has constructed. "In some ways we've been talking about the ending of the show almost since we started writing the show."

Thus the decision to end after four seasons, on their own terms, at a moment in time where broadcast networks tend to mine hit series for as long as they possibility can. When it became apparent that the fourth season would lead to the most organic and satisfying conclusion, NBC deferred to Schur's creative vision. "We knew why [it was time to end], and it was because of the meaning of the show and it was because we were telling story that deserved its ending," says Bell.

As the cast and crew delved into the many ethically and morally thorny issues the show's characters would have to contend with, they found themselves in an extended learning curve as they routinely consulted academic experts in fields such philosophy, neuroscience and criminal justice to bring nuance and context to the series. "We've learned so much about so much stuff," says Schur. "It's been like a rotating course of lectures that we've had in our writers room, and it's been so fun."

"We've all been very lucky to work with various writers rooms before, but this is the first one that felt like a combination writers room/college course," agrees Statsky. "And for a true dummy like myself, it's been very enjoyable to just not only get to be at work, but get to be learning about these topics that I had no previous knowledge of."

"This is paying us to go to college," laughs Amram.

Bell says that by exploring such heady, meaningful topics, even through a comedic lens, had a profound effect on everyone involved in the show, leaving everyone considering seriously what it meant to make a positive impact, both on those around them and on a global scale.

"There are these opposing theories in my head about ways to be, to state my opinion fighting for good or do it with my art, and I vacillate between the two," says the actress. "This was one where I felt like I really did it with my art, where I was a part of saying some things that I wanted to put out in the world, and I was really lucky to be able to be offered a job that was both creatively fulfilling and emotionally fulfilling to my sort of maternal instincts towards the world...I hope to get both again, but this is a pretty lucky experience."

The show's conceit, to strive to be better even in the face of eternal damnation, proved downright infectious.

"In the fabric of the show we talk about, life is a lot of little choices," says Amram. "The show helped me realize that going through my day, I am presented with a lot more moral decision-making than I had previously thought. And I try to always make this slightly better choice now. And I think that is what the show is about. It's like, when presented with two things, think about it, and maybe try to make the slightly better choice." As a result of her involvement on the show, for example, Amram committed to a vegetarian lifestyle.

"I don't think that I totally understood the level of which moral decision making can become a factor in your life, where from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep almost everything you do has a moral component," says Schur. "It can drive you nuts. I'm not necessarily saying this is a good thing."

"We do it when we order lunch and when we have any big decision to make. You can get really paralyzed," adds Schur, noting that the show used the character of Chidi and his inability to resolve micro-ethical considerations to illustrate the point.

"If you let the idea of making a moral decision infect your life to that level, you become a nonfunctioning human being," he adds. "The important thing is that you think about it, and then the next most important thing is that you are okay with the idea that you're going to blow it sometimes...You need to let yourself off the hook when you do things that aren't exactly perfect."

It's a quandary that resonates deeply for the actor who brings Chidi's indecision to life.

"A lot of that is a very intuitive manifestation of a lot of my own stuff," says Harper. "Maybe it's more universal than I thought. Maybe a lot of people feel that way, but I personally get stuck a lot, and I think that just seeing what that paralysis looks like can actually be freeing, because sometimes it's really useful to see it from the outside, the commitment to an action or inaction, how frustrating that can be. Especially to someone who is like, 'Any choice you make right now will be better than not making one'... The most salient thing about the show and especially about this character for me is that."

Harper says that as a result of being a part of "The Good Place," on screen and off, he couldn't resist a powerful impulse for self-improvement.

"I've learned in a very visceral way that people make the world, and the world that we are so privileged to inhabit for these past four seasons is beautiful, and wonderful, and full of good feelings and positivity and kindness," he says. "And there's no way to have that environment at work and not feel like, 'Well, why can't this be what the rest of my life is like?' So coming away from the show, I want to make sure that I try to put as much good into the world as I can going forward."

Much of that is a result of the people Schur invited in to "The Good Place's" world, says Stasky.

"Mike's an expert picker of people to work on projects. He has a very good radar for good people who want to make good things and treat each other well in the process of making those things. He empowers people to feel like they are a part of the project, and that really I think creates this environment where everyone is just happy, they're happy to come to work, they feel they have a stake in it, and it's a fertile ground for relationships to grow."

Indeed, as the public face of the show, the cast has demonstrated an emotional investment in both "The Good Place" and one another that's rare among even the oft-self-proclaimed "families" of other TV series. A recent panel at the Television Critics Association's press tour found the actors all tearing up as Danson waxed poetic about what a gift the series had been to them. And the show's fans are likely to have similarly intense feelings about its departure.

But will it have a lingering effect on the way its viewers choose to impact the world?

"I am extremely wary about ascribing success or failure to the show in any goal," says Schur. "People used to ask if I felt like 'Parks and Recreation' had convinced people that government could be good or something."

"The only thing you can ever do is you can be very specific about what the show is saying. You can't force people to hear the message or to react to it in any specific way," he continues. "I don't know whether people engage with the show purely comedically, or whether they engage with it spiritually, or academically, or whatever. I don't think you can ever hope to control that. You can only say, 'Here's the thing: now it's yours. You can react to it however you want.' And we certainly have hopes that that's true, but I don't think there will ever be a meaningful way to gauge that."

Harper, however, offers anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.

"I remember this one time there was a woman on a train who recognized me from the show, and we started crying," he says. "I feel like there's a real desire for people to see other people being good to each other, especially where we're at right now in the country where it just doesn't feel like that's happening very much."

"It gives you hope that this is something that is possible, that there's someone out here that's thinking about these things, and putting it on television for people to watch." Harper adds. "It must be comforting for people to know that people like Mike Schur exist."

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How 'The Good Place' made the cast, creative team and maybe even the viewers better people - WFSB

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Stressed at work? These apps offer help for anxiety and trouble sleeping – Fox Business

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Fox Business Briefs: A new Merrill Edge report shows 59 percent of Americans worry about their finances.

Feeling anxious? Youre not alone. Millions of American adults suffer from anxiety disorders, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Anxiety disorders are actually the most common mental illness in the U.S., according to the group. And while the disorders can be treated, they said less than four in 10 people suffering from anxiety get treatment.

The association recommends that people suffering from anxiety disorders seek treatment like therapy or medication.

While an app cant provide the same care as an expert, there are many apps that offerhelp with ways to calm down and get through the day. Here are some of the most popular apps to help deal with the stress:

This app offers help in learning how to mediate, breathe and live mindfully. It has different exercises on topics like managing anxiety, relieving stress and breathing.

Its two three-minute mini meditations are perfect for a quick quiet moment alone during a stressful day.

Headspace also comes with features to help users sleep better, including sleep meditations and sounds.

The app is free but a subscription costs $12 per month or $69.99 for the year.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

This female-focused app includes more than 800 guided audio sessions designed to help users examine their emotional health.

The creators said they want to take the shame out of taboo topics, and its sessions include topics ranging from relationships and sex to anxiety and self-improvement.

The audio sessions range from five to 30 minutes, offering something for people with different schedules.

The app is free, but a $99.99 annual subscription opens up more features.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

This Best of 2018 award-winner offers hundreds of guided meditations offering help with sleeping, being more mindful, improving relationships and generally becoming happier.

The app includes brief meditations to help users when they just have a few moments free. It also brings stories and inspiration to help with mindfulness.

Its free, but a subscription opens up the apps full library of content.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

Apple named this app its 2017 App of the Year and it boasts the No. 1 ranking in the App Stores health and fitness category.

The app comes with guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, stretching exercises and relaxing music. Its mindfulness exercises are designed for beginners up to advanced users, and meditation sessions came in six length variables between three and 25 minutes.

The sleep stories include celebrity voices like Stephen Fry, Matthew McConaughey and Leona Lewis, plus the sounds of painter Bob Ross.

The app is a free download, but subscriptions range from $14.99 per month to $69.99 per year or $399.99 for a lifetime.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

This app, also a Best of 2018 selection, offers users a personalized program led by a self-care expert to help work toward specific self-care goals.

Users will receive an empowering message with affirmations and advice each weekday morning. The app also recommends articles, meditations and exercises based on a users mood, plus a library of more than 500 guided meditations.

For bedtime, it includes stories inspired by movies.

The app is free. It offers monthly and annual subscriptions to unlimited access to its Shine Talks, priced at $11.99 and $53.99, respectively.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

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Stressed at work? These apps offer help for anxiety and trouble sleeping - Fox Business

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The power of diverse perspectives – Idaho Business Review

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According to economist and author Scott Paige, When we solve problems with generally one perspective, we build an error rate of 30%.

An example of this error occurred in the car industry. Previously, teams responsible for testing car safety were typically made up of all males. Because of this perspective, safety tests were done with male-sized dummies. Up until 2011, women were 43% more likely than males to be injured in a car accident. This mistake was not done out of ill intent, but as a result of having an undiversified perspective and an unconscious bias. These biases, as well as emotions, assumptions and habits, have become ingrained in our subconscious over a lifetime of experiences.

According to psychologist Timothy Wilson, Our five senses bring in 15 million bits of information every second and our brains can only consciously focus on 40 bits of this information at a time. This means, that 99.9% of the information that we receive is being processed by our subconscious. When forced to decide or respond to a situation, we really are not thinking at all, but are reacting through our unconscious bias perspective.

Knowing this, how can we become proactive and build in a safety net to open our minds to diverse perspectives and decrease the error rate?

Step 1: We must open our own mind to diverse opinions through improved self-awareness and increased self-confidence. Consistent attention on personal development and working on emotional intelligence will help you find value in behaviors instead of performance. When we solely focus on our production, we tend to pursue perfection and rarely will seek or be open to a difference of opinion. However, when we judge our success based upon our behaviors, we tend to pursue excellence and will see differing opinions as opportunities to learn and get better. Improving our self-awareness can be achieved by reading and listening to self-improvement books, enrolling in leadership development programs or seeking wisdom from some experienced mentors.

Step 2: We must begin surrounding ourselves with people of different perspectives. This doesnt mean that we just hire anyone. On the contrary, we must hire people who bring value to and fit our culture; however, we must bring in people who view things differently. This can include the obvious diversity of age, gender and race, but must also include people who are more or less dominant, extroverted, patient or process oriented. By looking to capture these differences, we are beginning to build a team that can tackle any problem.

Step 3: In order to create a safe environment where opinions can be shared without fear of retribution, intent and the behaviors required of the group must be set. One can imagine how intense and sometimes heated a boardroom could get with driven leaders of differing views. However, if the team first agrees on the intent of the group and the behaviors needed to achieve the vision, leaders are then given permission to hold one another accountable for the positive behaviors needed for all to feel safe. If behaviors are not upheld, safety and trust will never be achieved, and the group will fail to maximize the talent and diversification of the team.

Today, lets enhance our leadership and culture and start becoming people and companies that others want to follow!

Be a Champion Today.

Brandon Buck is theCEO/owner of Infinite Strengths, a Boise-based coaching company.

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The power of diverse perspectives - Idaho Business Review

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October 10th, 2019 at 7:44 pm

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4 Things Experts Say You Must do if You Truly Want to Get Ahead in Your Career and Make More Money – Inc.

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High achievers are typically keen on self-improvement. For me, that means constantly having a stack of books on my desk, bedside table, kitchen counter and in the door of my car which have been written by smart people. Here are several nuggets I've bookmarked in the last week in my quest to get better, achieve more and feel more fulfilled. If you're like me, these challenges serve as inspiration.

If you want to achieve more, you need to work harder than everyone else

In Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different, Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger tell the story of Kobe Bryant addressing his fellow athletes while accepting the 2016 ESPY Icon Award, during which he refers to the kind of legendary and obsessive work ethic it takes to become great.

It's the same with you. The authors put it this way:

Most people won't do what it takes to be truly excellent in their field, but then they feel frustrated and demoralized by not being where they want. They won't work weekends. They'd rather party than study. They live for Fridays. They wouldn't dare show up two hours early for work to get a head start on a project. And they sure as hell aren't rolling out of bed in the middle of the night to shoot free throws.

How much harder are you willing to work, compared with the people around you?

Never negotiate against yourself

It's called having a "poverty mentality," according to David Nichtern, author of Creativity, Spirituality and Making a Buck. He says that while there may be people in the world rooting for you to fail, falter and doubt yourself, that person should never be you. While it's important to possess an honest assessment of your own strengths and weaknesses, often people get into the habit of defeating themselves in the mind before undertaking anything.

Overcoming this tendency, he writes, necessitates taking control of your thought life and cultivating kindness and compassion toward yourself. "When we lack confidence, for whatever reason, we can easily underestimate our own value and the value of whatever it is that we're presenting as our offering," he writes. "Our business can only succeed to the level of success we'll allow in our life."

You must have a coach

Just like there are certain parts of your body you can't see when you look in a mirror, there are aspects of your personality and performance which elude your awareness. In Aligned: Connecting Your True Self With the Leader You're Meant to be, Hortense Le Gentil makes the point that just like elite athletes cannot become champions without a coach to develop their talents and provide motivation and emotional support, you need a coach in business, too. "The notion that everyone, including surgeons and CEOs, can stretch further and perform better, no matter how good they already are, is making headway outside the sporting world," he writes. "Studies have confirmed that coaching improves how individuals function in organizations, with significant positive effects on performance, skills, well-being, coping, work attitude, and goal-directed self-regulation."

Do what doesn't come naturally

In Elevate: An Essential Guide to Life, Joseph Deitch makes the excellent point that people tend to fine-tune their strengths instead of working on shortcomings and weaknesses. However, your productivity and profitability can be dramatically multiplied by doing the hard work of leaning into what you're not good at. Deitch writes:

Let's face it, focusing on areas of strength gives us pleasure, while dealing with our weaker attributes is usually unpleasant, often frustrating, and sometimes agonizing. As a result, we generally don't want to confront those weaknesses. Plus, sometimes we believe that we don't have to look at them because we're sufficiently successful doing what we do well, and we rationalized that we can just keep doing things the way we always have.

Not only does confronting weakness exponentially improve performance, it also bolsters your self-image. It's because you know deep down that your willingness to do hard things is what sets you apart from your competition.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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4 Things Experts Say You Must do if You Truly Want to Get Ahead in Your Career and Make More Money - Inc.

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McNary junior to be featured in 45th Parallel Film Festival – Keizertimes

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Braeden Olheisers short film, Tandem Thoughts, has been nominated for an award for best youth film and best narrative and storytelling at the 45th Parallel Film Festival, which takes place at Salem Cinema on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Braeden Olheiser (right) chats with actor Jonathan Echavarria on set (Submitted).

Braeden Olheiser has only been interested in filmmaking for a couple of years, but despite his inexperience, the 16-year-old McNary High student is already getting recognized for his skills.

Olheisers short film, Tandem Thoughts, has been nominated for an award for best youth film and best narrative and storytelling at the 45th Parallel Film Festival, which takes place at Salem Cinema on Saturday, Oct. 19.

The fact that this is getting recognized at all is an achievement, Olheiser said. It was really gratifying when I found out I was nominated. It feels like all my hard work is finally paying off.

Tandem Thoughts, which is just under five minutes in runtime, is a drama about a guy who just graduated from high school and is moving to Spain. But during his going-away party, his ex-girlfriend shows up to try and re-kindle the relationship.

The entire movie is the conflict and dialogue between these two people who are at battle with each other on what they should do, Olheiser said.

Olheiser first got into filmmaking after taking a video production class from former McNary media production teacher Jason Heimerdinger who is now in his first year teaching at San Luis Obispo High School in California.

The second I got the camera, I started hogging it to be honest. Once I got a touch of actual video production, I just had to keep going, Olheiser said.

During his freshman and sophomore years, Olheiser spent time behind the camera making a variety of different short videos that featured different clubs and events at McNary. Over time, he began to grow his skill-set.

As an aspiring filmmaker, Braeden was constantly trying to improve his storytelling and cinematography, Heimerdinger said. He appreciates technical details and would often go the extra mile to get a shot.

When Olheiser got the chance to borrow Heimerdingers video equipment this summer, he knew that he had to take advantage.

Ive done two years of video production and I need to do something with it, Olheiser said.

Generally, one of the most difficult parts of the filmmaking process is writing the script. Olheiser, however, wrote this 10-page script in just one night over the summer, using a green-apple flavored Bang Energy Drink as his fuel.

He then cast McNary students Makayla Hadley and Jonathan Echavarria as the two lead characters.

I dont think it was the quality of the script that they were excited about, I think they were just excited about this other avenue of acting because there arent a lot of opportunities in videos here at McNary, Olheiser said.

After three days of filming and almost 20 hours editing, the short film starting running on Capitol Community Television (CCTV) in September.

I had full creative control over what was happening and I had also had help from people that I trusted who are very talented people who can give me really good input. I fell in love with that process, Olheiser said.

One of Olheisers biggest inspirations is Zeek Earl, a 2006 graduate of McNary and another one of Heimerdingers former students.

Along with his friend, Chris Caldwell, Earl formed the production company Shep Films. In 2018, the duo co-wrote and co-directed their first feature film called Prospect, a critically-acclaimed science-fiction film.

(Earl) came from the same place that I did and now hes making out big. He is one inspirations for what I do today, Olheiser said. Because he did it before me, it makes me feel like I can do it. I feel like this is my calling.

Olheiser already has another film that he is in the process of making, called As The Crow Flies. He has been much more deliberate with this project as he started writing the 50-page script last December, and held auditions in late September.

Similar to his first film, As The Crow Flies centers around two characters preparing to leave high school and enter the real world.

Even though his first film is up for an award, Olheiser is much more confident in his ability to put out an even better piece of work this time around.

The driving theme behind the film is to not look back, Olheiser said. Im very excited about it because I spent a lot more time on it than my first film. Im much more confident in the outcome because I really got to plan it. I know a little bit more of what Im doing.

Olheiser has a constant drive for self-improvement when it comes to his films, which he believes will help him in the long run.

At the end of the day, I still probably wont be satisfied, which is why I will keep moving forward. I want to chase that dream and make something worthwhile, Olheiser said.

Heimerdinger added: Braedens technical skills will make him an experienced young engineer or tech right out of school. His networking and ability to satisfy a client will also take him a long way. Its a tough industry to break in to, but I would like to have him on my side after hes had more filmmaking experiences.

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McNary junior to be featured in 45th Parallel Film Festival - Keizertimes

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