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Host: Welcome to the Lifelong Wellness podcast where we talk to wellness professionals from so many walks of life from around the world and get their insight into living healthier. I’m your host, Wes Malik. For the last two dozen episodes we've talked about health and we've talked about physical, mental, and even spiritual health. But to truly talk about health and our well-being, we must talk about a very important part of our lives and that is our work, our careers, our jobs where we spend most of our time. And to talk about that we've invited Dr. Benjamin Ritter, founder of Live for Yourself Consulting. Now, during his time as a healthcare executive and side hustling entrepreneur, he was overworked and underutilized. And despite his professional success, he didn’t feel successful. After much introspection, he pivoted professionally and started crafting a more effective, efficient, and aligned life. And as he was creating this new life he realized that his process was a process and that he could coach others how to do the same for themselves. And to talk about careers, let's welcome him to the show. Dr. Benjamin Ritter, welcome to the Lifelong Wellness podcast. How are you doing today?
Dr. Benjamin: I’m doing a little cold. It does snow a little bit but I think we’re going to…I'm in Chicago. We’re going to hit up to the 60s again in a few days so getting all the seasons right now.
Host: Are you looking forward to spring and summer when it finally does arrive?
Dr. Benjamin: I'm looking forward to just getting out of the house a little bit, to be honest. You know I’m getting a little cabin fever right now because I don’t know what your situation is but Chicago is pretty much shut down or stay in place and…Actually I’m going to head to the cabin in a few days just to get some fresh air and be around nature. So, any beautiful weather and a chance to feel comfortable outside is something I’m looking forward to.
Host: As our audience is all across America, North American, internationally as well, the levels of quarantine and lockdown do differ. And in Toronto I can safely say that they're quite stringent and the authorities are on the lookout for people assembling, more than five people assembling, and the fines are very, very high C$880. If they find you outside let's say playing in a public park or, you know, playing the game of hockey or football or somebody with ten people.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes, it's pretty similar in Chicago. If you want a good laugh, Google Mayor Lightfoot COVID memes. Our mayor has been pretty stern and made some public announcements but in a humorous way. She’s like, “You know, stay out of the park. Your jump shot wasn’t that good anyway”. (laughing) It was just like a variety of things that kind of help promotes some humor but also it keeps people at home. I sent a picture to some friends the other day. I was just kind of exercising outside and my friend sent me a meme with just the mayor in the park that I was at just saying go home. (laughing) So, yes. No one’s supposed to be outside. If you’re outside, you know, you should be exercising or going somewhere essential. And our city’s lock and down as well.
Host: And with this, it poses several challenges. It poses challenges of living life differently than life will be different. How different that's for you and me to talk about, right? You are the founder of Live for Yourself Consulting which is a leadership and empowerment organization. Should I call it that?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes, that works. So, we mainly supply personal coaching, workshops, and then a series of live events that are now, of course, transitioning virtually. But it’s actually been a lot of fun that transition, spent a lot of amazing collaborations and I get to engage with an audience all around the world now when I used to just really focus on Chicago
Host: How easy or difficult do you think it will be for people to adapt their current careers or find new careers in going forward in the short-term and the long-term?
Dr. Benjamin: Whenever I hear this question I think of from the ashes rise the phoenix, you know? And it's more so there's always going to be a winner and it may take some people a little bit longer to figure out how to pivot, how to transition, how to adapt and evolve, but everyone can. But it is, for some it could, you know, for some they’re making tons of money right now. For some, this is the perfect environment. Some people have been working from home this entire time. They work in an industry that is needed right now, while others have just completely lost their livelihood and are thrown into a brand-new world and they're just dealing with the trauma of it all. But everyone can, there is an opportunity. It’s just, I don’t want to just push people to do something right now but it is going to take some time to sit back, relax, you know, breathe everything in for a moment. Take a real hard look at where your skills lie with the environment needs and make that transition.
Host: You are an empowerment coach as well and a lot of people require empowerment because there might be a sense of loss or despair with a lot of people. I think over 16 million people filed for unemployment insurance in the United States. The numbers are very high around the world, close to a million people in Canada, where we are here. So, when that sets in there's a lot of emotions and feelings of, you know, depression. How can people deal with that?
Dr. Benjamin: The first little bit of advice and I think almost the most important piece of anything I want to this is, just take it in for a second and accept the fact that you're dealing with trauma. I mean let’s say, you have a job that you didn't like and you get fired and you think that this is wonderful. I didn’t like that job. Or in a relationship, you didn’t like and he breaks up with you and you’re like, “Oh, this is wonderful. I don’t want to be in that relationship”. But if you’ve experienced those moments you also know that a few weeks after that happened to you or maybe a month, maybe two sometimes, it hits you. And so any major change is going to leave its mark and is going to cost trauma. So, no matter what, the first step is to just accept that you're going through a new experience and that it is going to hit you at some point. If it’s not hitting you now, it's going to hit you in the future and so this experience requires a little bit of focus, a little bit introspection, a little bit of respect and honoring our true evaluation of what's going on in the world and how that's impacting your current life. And I say that out of all the little bits of advice I would say, sit back and answer those questions in terms of what is going on, how do I feel about it, how is it affecting me and how is it affecting my environment that I live in my social relationships, my work, my intimate relationships and just personally how I feel about myself. I think that's the first step. I don’t know if you have any follow up questions about that so I’ll pause for a moment before kind of moving on.
Host: Those sound like very difficult questions to ask yourself and they require a lot of thinking and possibly writing down because the answers could be long and there's, they’re scary questions.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and as you mentioned it’s important to do it, I mean, by yourself. You can do it by yourself. I highly recommend you do try it out by yourself. But I also host a series of events that are focused on small breakout groups and sessions where people come together, they partner up and they answer these types of questions with someone else they don’t know. Now, you can answer these questions with someone you do know but it’s just important that you have someone with you to kind of work through some of your ideas, some of your questions. And I guess one of the most important aspects of partnering up with someone answering these questions is that it also makes you realize that a lot of people are feeling some of the same feelings that you might be embarrassed about or may not even recognize at the moment. And so, it kind of gives a little bit of normalcy as well to the thoughts that are going around in your head.
Host: Now, before all this happened you spent your time as a healthcare executive and you worked with underutilized, sorry…It says you’ve worked underutilized, sorry. I’ll rephrase the question. Before this, you were a healthcare executive and now you help people create a more efficient, effective, and aligned life and that's what your expertise is. And you work around the topics of self-leadership and living for yourself and I have not come across these terms before and I was hoping I could ask you, what is self-leadership? It sounds like something that we need or a lot of people need at this time but it seems like it's something that we can use on a normal ordinary day, too.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and even though I work with people right now that are trying to create what they love these same concepts are foundational. They can be implemented for this point in time in our life for changes are abundant. Self-leadership is truly just the knowledge of who you are and the ability then to integrate that into your work and life. The key component of self-leadership is knowing what your values are and knowing how you want to live those values in the world.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: The relationships to your work and…So it doesn't really matter what you do now. I think there is such a large focus in terms of work, work satisfaction, and, “You know, I need to find the perfect job” and it's if you know what you value…You should know what your values are, you know what you stand for and you know maybe the impact that you want to create in the world or the images the impact that you want to create for yourself, then what you actually do, the job title, the role you have it doesn't matter because you can live your values in almost any role. I know that’s kind of a big concept because it’s saying that I can…The things that you do today for actual work don't matter as much as how you perceive them and the impact they could potentially have.
Host: It's a very big concept and, you know, for a lot of people like myself, I think it would take a little bit of reading or understanding to understand what self-leadership is. For example, how do I base my work around what I believe in or what my moral values are, what my moral values are if I'm working in the, you know, the restaurant industry? Or, you know, like a normal or any kind of the mundane jobs that, you know, millions of Americans do or millions of people around the world do.
Dr. Benjamin: To that point, I’d say you don't need to leave a legacy. You don't need to create a larger impact on the world. Like if you’re happy with whatever job you have at this point in time then you're happy with it. If you have certain goals and you’re on track to meet those goals and your happy with it then more power to you. A lot of the information out there that's like, you know, live your passion, purpose, live through your values, a lot of that are for people that feel like you're missing something.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: And not everybody is. And so if you feel like you're missing something and maybe you do, because I used to bartend for 10 years and I know people that want to bartend for the rest of their life. That’s their passion. The craft of the cocktail or even just working with people socially then they themselves have a certain level of meaning attached to that work. That could, you know, involve their values per se.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: I just want to make that point. And like overall job satisfaction consists of three things. The meaning behind your work, the social context of your work, so the relationships at work that you have with people that you interact with, and the actual work that you do. And there are sweet spots and each of those little areas that are individualized and personal. And so think what’s important about these theories and this concept is that there is no right answer. And this is where self-leadership comes in. There is the answer that's right for you.
Host: Oh, okay.
Dr. Benjamin: And so it's like it is individualized. It does take you to sit down to answer these questions and there is no right or wrong and you don't have to have this huge glorious global impact, right, because self-leadership isn’t about that. It’s about what you care about, what your values are, and how you want to integrate those into your life right now.
Host: Now I'm getting a better understanding of what self-leadership is. So, even if I am a mechanic or a salesperson, I work at a dealership, I’m a call center agent, I work in a bank, I can apply self-leadership if I think about these things that you said.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and so the more technically, self-leadership is composed of three specific things. The three Cs of self-leadership and so it’s clarity, confidence and control. And to flash that out, Clarity is what your goals and objectives. Do you feel like you know how to get to where you need to go and why does it matter to you? What's your story? How does that relate? Where is the meaning behind the things that you set your life to achieve? Confidence is, do you feel you actually can achieve them? So, are you going out and learning skills and the technical aspects of the goals that you now set for yourself? And you have an internal belief system so that you actually just feel good about getting up and working towards these goals. And control is, are you actually prioritizing this in your life? Are you intentional? Do you have a certain level of emotional relationship management to be able to prioritize all these things in your life? Because if you don't…And all these kind of tie together, right? Because Control actually comes from Confidence and comes from Clarity, right? Because it builds motivation and engagement, but in Confidence comes from Clarity because you feel like you actually know where you're going and what you’re going to do. This all starts with clarity, but these are essential, 100% essential to being able to lead yourself towards anything. So, if you’re like not feeling like you're actually making progress towards things is usually an issue one of these areas.
Host: Clarity, confidence, and control that's, it's a great step-by-step process towards self-leadership. Setting your goals or envisioning your goals, knowing what you want to achieve, can it be quite a daunting task in itself and it could take days, months, even years to figure out what you actually want. But when people go through that process, what do you suggest? Do you suggest the big picture or the ultimate end goal or do you suggest that you take it in smaller chunks or step-by-step objectives to get to a larger goal?
Dr. Benjamin: I think there are so many link components and I think you probably goofed me here that. It is important to know what you care about, what your values are, what your vision is what the overall impact you want to have.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: But then you can move a little bit closer and not be so overarching and have kind of a couple of endpoints that you care about. And I say a couple. I do a future mapping exercise with clients.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: And it involves coming up with three different endpoints you want to be in the end of your career and three different ways to get each of those endpoints. And that's at a minimum.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: And this is, the reason why that's so important is that it shows you that there are multiple ways to get where you want to go.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: And again this is, this amplifies the fact that I don't believe there's one specific job or one specific endpoint. What’s more important is that you feel that what you're doing is meaningful in creating the impact that you want. So, you have this larger picture of this larger vision. You understand the meaning behind the work on you want to do. And then you actually have to get granular. So, you create an annual goal based on some of your vision and one of the pathways or some of the pathways and then you divide that goal by 12 months. So, now you have a monthly goal.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: And then you divide those monthly goals by weeks, you have 52 goals.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: And then actually as you look towards each week, you divide that weekly goal by daily goals. And this can seem overwhelming, but there's a really important key or way to succeed in this and that's to pick one thing. And it’s similar to like the one thing which is a book which is highly popular, but you pick one thing that is going to move the needle and the mouse so things going to move the needle and the mouse and direct your attention, at least on completing that on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis. You have this one thing for each of those goals. And you also plan for what's the one thing that can get in my way. And really honestly like all my success, yes, I've been consistent, I’ve shown up, I have all these different goals, but all my success usually comes down to like one thing that I did that move the needle that made a difference. And you can identify that with just a little bit of thinking, you know, half an hour session of brainstorming. And if that one thing doesn't actually move the needle, well so great, is now you can pick a different thing next week or a different thing next month or different thing next year because none of this is a race. We’re looking at the current environment right now. If you feel rush, then you're probably under a hundred times more stress than someone that understands that this is just a point in time that will pass and how am I going to adapt to or evolve to or what's the one thing that could help me in this moment. And to not to feel overwhelmed by overarching huge goals or a running list of to-do’s that you feel you must accomplish like as a coach. It’s, do I need to podcast? A video? An article? A webinar? Sales leads and Lead Gen and marketing. I said no, just pick one. What would you need to do right now? It’s a good thing to know forward.
Host: I really like the concept of the future mapping and the systematic process that you created and breaking it down into yearly, weekly, you know, achievements or objectives. That is fantastic. I think just with a little bit of thought like you said a little bit of brainstorming and thinking about, you know, what's ahead and moving that needle could make a real difference and big impact in your life and what you want to do as soon as you figure out what you want to do. And with the time that we have this is the most opportune moment to think about these things and do these things and write these things down there.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and there’s going to be a little bit of groundwork involved. And sometimes sitting down, find the motivation to do this can be tough.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: So, I suggest you treat it just like you would any other deliverable at work or in your business. Your time block it out on your calendar.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: You don't schedule another meeting, you create an environment around you that promotes creativity and thoughtfulness and not stress so I don’t know what that is if its music or I have a salt lamp that I enjoy or it’s getting it right now may be moving to a different part of your house or apartment. (laughing)
Host: Right. (laughing)
Dr. Benjamin: Or if it's watching a motivational speech or webinar prior to it to get yourself in the mindset or if it’s, you know, for me I have a keyboard here, playing a keyword for a little bit to get the creative juices flowing.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: But it's, you know, set the environment up, time block it out and do the work because like you said, there's no better time right now to do the work because you have probably some time to do it.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: And this is a launching pad, right? This point in time the world is hungry for something new. The world is hungry and listening to people that are coming up with ideas or putting themselves out there and no one is judging. Everyone is very much just curious.
Host: You also talk about in your live sessions, and now your virtual sessions as a consultant and a mentor, you talk about some concept called “Living for Yourself”. What does that mean?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes. Thanks for bringing that up. I think too often people hear that and they say, “What do you mean? Am I supposed to live selfishly? Am I supposed to ignore everyone?” And honestly, if your values are very individualistic, I can't judge you for that.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: Living for yourself, those are your values, that’s how you’re supposed to live. And I don’t want to work with you because those aren’t my values but I can’t judge you. And so living for yourself just truly means, I’ve said this already I’ll say this again because it's so important, know who you are and that can change, right? Because this constant introspection is constant curiosity and questioning of who you are, what you care about, what you want to do with life, and what you want to accomplish. And live through that without worrying, without fear, without this, you know, without being pressured to live into any other construct that is around you. And this doesn't mean break the law. I can't, you know, you live within the laws of your current world that you live in.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: But it's like, if my friend wants me to go to some event that I don't want to go to, I don’t feel comfortable being a part of, I’m not going to go. If someone says something that is racist I'm going to say something. You know, if it means that little voice inside you that goes, “You don't want to do this, why are you doing this?”, you actually listen to that voice. And the voice it says, “You're not good enough. You can't achieve this”, you don't listen to that voice. So, living for yourself really is about empowerment and self-leadership.
Host: Oh, that's a great explanation of what living for yourself actually means because the title is a little bit, just a little bit misleading but the overall concept is wonderful. It's beautiful. Sometimes we forget to do that. So, let's get back to what people are going through these days. Again, let's get back to the current situation. Demotivation, you know, disillusionment, burnout, all these things can occur while we’re working from home, while we’re not working, while we're thinking about a situation which has a lot of variables, meaning that we don't know what the future holds. There's a lot of stress and a lot of pressure of that. And I think you have some good advice on how to prevent these things from us.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and I mentioned it that the most important piece is to understand that you’re going some trauma and just pause for a moment and allow yourself the process of things that are going on. But next, because now you want to find motivation and you want to actually take steps forward in your life, what can you do? So, I'd say first off, figure out what motivated you prior to all this, and figure out how to reintegrate that into your life. And so, for example, I have a client, one of her main values is freedom and travel. So, we brainstormed a bit and how can she create freedom in her current life where freedom has been taken away.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: And so, part of that was buying plants to feeling like she's actually outdoors. Part of that was actually going for walks, part of that was finding virtual tours about the places that she loves and wants to visit, part of that was actually going through old travel photos, part of that was reconnecting with friends. So, there’s a lot of opportunities for you to re-energize yourself in unique and creative ways based on what you know energizes yourself already.
Host: So the process of finding a career that we love or transitioning to something that we want to do like you’ve mentioned before is not sitting in front of a laptop and computer going through the classifieds to see what jobs are out there. There's a lot more to that. I like what you did with your client. That sounds really immersive.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and I like to add to that. With the focus on the work, what should you be doing to find your next job? Let’s say you find yourself unemployed and, I’m not sure what it’s like where you’re at, but there are some benefits, right? They can keep you afloat during this time of unemployment and so you have actually some breathing room to say, “Where do I want to go next?” And to say those are good or bad is not my position but to say that just first, it's okay like there's, you have some time. But during that time, let's use it productively and I’d say that there’s this worksheet, this activity that I call the “Career Sweet Spot”. And it takes a look at three main categories of your work to help you figure out where you go next. And I think even if you have a job right now you can use these three categories to evaluate if you're doing the right type of work if you need to adapt your work or maybe you need to look for something else. Yes, people are actually hiring right now. There are industries that need to fill positions. I see new job postings on a daily basis.
Host: True.
Dr. Benjamin: So, it’s not so grim.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: There still are opportunities. I was looking for my first full-time real job back in 2010-ish, which was one of the other recessions so 2009, 2010, 2011.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: And I did not feel the job market was as good now. I mean, I do not feel the job market was as good…Let me rephrase it. The job market now is better than it was then and so I'd say can I head up and let's look for opportunities because they are out there. So, it’s just a breath of fresh air hopefully for everybody. But those three categories that you can take a look at right now to understand how to improve your work or to find what to do next are what, are your actual skills? So, what are you good at? What were you been trained to do? And to take a look at where you’ve gone to school or what your education is or the job you had before. And brainstorm and write down the things that you feel that you were good at, those skills, those strengths. Another area is what do you actually care about? So, what are some of the main areas of your life work or non-work related that get you energized and motivated and some people would say this “What you show meaningful”. And the third category which and if you’re thinking of this as like three circles that kind of meet in the middle as your career sweet spot. The third category is “What do you want to learn?” and I think this is often forgotten because your career is a dream. What do you want to learn? Where do you feel challenged? Who do you look up to? Who do you respect? What skills do they have? And so the intersection of those three areas is what you want your work to be. Where will you be most you feel engaged? And so right now if you have…And jobs can move out of this category, right? Because you can be in a job and all of a sudden stop feeling like you're learning anything, but still feel that's meaningful and still feel that you’re good at but you’re still feeling stuck. You could feel that you’re actually challenged and you can feel that work is meaningful, but if you feel that you’re not good at it, again you start feeling overworked and exhausted and fatigued and stressed and anxious, you know, and the same for being in another category. So, you can use these three areas to figure out how to either adapt your current job or the type of job you should be looking for next.
Host: This sounds great for somebody who's it sounds like advice counselor or a guidance counselor would give to somebody who’s just entering the job market or has been in the job market for several years still looking for the career that, you know, they're looking for. How does this apply and how can we apply this advice to somebody who's in their 60s? Or somebody like myself who has work 20, 30 years in one industry or one area when it comes to learning or when it comes to crafting a job or how about somebody who’s in their 50s or so. Can they change? Can this apply to them as well?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes and so I challenge that and say, “How doesn’t that apply?”
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: Yes. And so if you have a ton of experience and you know you're going to do a variety of things, if you have a ton of experience then you probably know what you care about. And if you don't know what you care about that highlights an opportunity for you to start exploring, defining, and aligning your values. And if you also aren't sure what you want to learn or what a challenge is now time, just like design thinking of breakthrough improvement, to create a bunch of small tests. So, talk to people that maybe you're doing something you think is interesting, you’re kind of curious about but not sure. Go to a class, you know, take an online webinar, now there are tons of them, and figure out what sparks that interest. You know, you’re not supposed to immediately know, right, what you care about, what matters to you, what you want to learn. But you do have the opportunity in this world to go figure that out. I don’t know if that answers your question.
Host: No, it does answer my question because the first thought, you know, in people in different situations and different age groups, you know, in different demographics field differently, a lot of them would say, “Well, it's too late now.” And this a general, generic response, “Oh, it’s too late for me. I’ve been doing this for such a long time. I don't know how to…” There's a lot of negative words that come out when it comes to job crafting, career change, or things like that, you know? “Oh, I’ve been a teacher all my life. This is all I can do”. When you encounter people like that, I'm sure you do face-to-face in your groups, I'm sure you give them the same advice. Is there anything you would add to people like that?
Dr. Benjamin: I mean, I have a ton of really incredible, amazing clients that made pivots, that have launched companies or that they’re a state of their current role with any mindset, but I have more, probably three times more of people that I’ve been on the phone with have said that they want to change, have said that they don’t know more and I’ve shown them the pathway to get there, on their own or with me, and they took no action.
Host: Oh. Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: So, it is always going to be your choice. This is where self-leadership comes in. If you believe that you can't change something, you can't. What do you want from life? If you're comfortable with complaining every now and then at something that isn’t working for you but not doing anything about it, you're comfortable with that for the rest of your life, then I'm happy for you.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: But if all of a sudden you get to a point where you need to change something, I'm also here to tell you that you can change it if you want. You can be happier. You can be more fulfilled. You can craft your job. You can pivot at 60. So, it is just what you truly want to do. What are you willing to commit to? What questions are you willing to face? And what discomfort are you willing to also face during that time of that transition of the pivot? And believe me, it doesn't have to be this grand or like there’s supposed to be fireworks, you don’t have to have a huge event and a parade for pivoting, right? You can do it in small increments and steps. It doesn't have to be uncomfortable, it will be because the change doesn't have to cause fear, anxiety, and things like that, like it can be safe.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: So, there's always an opportunity to create the change in your life that you think you want, to test it out. And if you don't want to do that, that's also okay if you're okay with the results of that.
Host: That’s a very encouraging answer to someone like myself in a safe place in terms of their career. That's very encouraging advice. What are some of the most important things to think about when it comes to working? What is the general advice that you give?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes. I made a mistake when I was younger than I really thought my organization owed me something. My organization owed me meaning and owed me fulfillment.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: I say the first step is, no one can give you an emotion. No one owes you anything. It was in my power to change my perception, it was in my power to change my work and it was my power to leave if I needed to. But the worst thing that I could've done in that situation, I see a lot of people doing today, is that I became resentful.
Host: Oh.
Dr. Benjamin: I became less engaged and I pulled back for my relationships at work and I pulled back from the actual work. And so all I did was actually make my own situation worse.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: And I see a lot of people doing that today in terms of work. And so, instead of pulling away and becoming resentful, becoming angry, how do you take a look at your work and see it as an opportunity even if you’re unhappy? And how do you leverage your current role, your current skill set, your current relationships in a positive way? That would probably the first, the first thing I’d recommend. It can be a champion, it can be someone that you love and connect with and can make the world a difference within an organization, but sometimes that’s not the case either, right? Sometimes the leader is the problem and the organization is fine. I’d say figure that out first, but sometimes it's just everything that’s isn't the right thing. And you don't know that until you actually start doing the work, you move around the organization, you're there. So, that's when it's okay, “How do I start building relationships with people if I want to stay in this line of work and pivot and I’m into a new company, a new position and somewhere where my values are more aligned”. And, you know, I think people think that they’re going to know before they go in, but really, you don't know the work, you don't know the organization until you actually get immersed in it. So, don't be afraid to actually pull the plug when you need to.
Host: It's a very large subject, you know, talking about it for 45 minutes is not do it justice. And I know you've talked to hundreds, possibly even thousands of people about this and everyone comes in with their own unique situation and their own perspective. There are so many different industries, so many different challenges but, you know, it's amazing how you deal with them. And I'm sure you come across different cases that require like different solutions all the time. Different people require different types of coaching, right?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes. I mean, it's individualized that’s like one-on-one coaching. But honestly, when I was putting these systems together, self-leadership and the Live System, the team model of Managing to Motivate, like they’re the universal because they are based on people, on human development, on soft skill development and also provide, so there’s some hard skill, some structure attached to it as well.
Host: Yes.
Dr. Benjamin: Now, not everyone wants to work with it, not everyone is looking for fulfillment from work. So, I think that's the biggest difference. Not every leader wants to be more humanistic and not every leader cares about the growth and development, the engagement of their employees, despite the fact that at least the proactivity and such. They just want to be authoritarian, they just want to be a dictator.
Host: True.
Dr. Benjamin: But because I care about developing the individual, because…I have this conversation a lot with leadership coaches that I actually focus on like assessments and things, right, the Myers-Briggs, or disc conception. I’m like, “Look, those are great for organizational cultural work, but I’m working with individual people”. I want them, you know, I want to develop them. I want them to understand who they are and then once you understand who you are, what happens outside of you, eternally, doesn’t matter as much. Because someone's criticism or, you know, a let-down or a failure, things like that don’t truly have the same level of impact because your core self is so strong. Because yourself now with who you are, what your overall vision is, and what you’re going is, you know, it redefines failure, redefines success, it redefines work.
Host: That is excellent. That is fantastic. Where can people get in touch with you if they want to? What are your websites or areas or where we can get in touch with you?
Dr. Benjamin: I’m really active on LinkedIn. You can just look up Dr. Benjamin Ritter. I think I’m the only one, but if you need to just limit for Chicago and it will pop up.
Host: Okay.
Dr. Benjamin: You can also find me on YouTube if you want some extra content. I always produce videos once a week.
Host: And what is yours…Does the channel have a specific title?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes, just look up my name as well, Dr. Benjamin Ritter.
Host: Right.
Dr. Benjamin: If you want to learn more about my coaching programs and products and events and things like that, just go to liveforyourselfconsulting.com. If you don't want to type that much just put in lfyconsulting.com and you’ll get to everything as well.
Host: Okay, Dr. Benjamin Ritter, I'm assuming no relation to the famous actor John Ritter?
Dr. Benjamin: No, no, not at all. (laughing) And I get that all the time that sometimes I even introduce myself, “Hi. Dr. Benjamin Ritter, no relation”. (laughing)
Host: Thank you so much for being on the Lifelong Wellness podcast and I'm sure our audience will definitely get in touch with you. And thank you for all the great work that you are providing to all the people who need help in their careers and in their lives.
Thank you very much for doing that for us today.
Dr. Benjamin: Thank you so much for having me on.
