The Universe Is Hiring: Discover the Role You Were Born to Fill

0:01Lowe's knows you've got a job to do and we help get it done with the my Lowe's Pro Rewards program eligible members save more with volume discounts on qualifying orders and a quote of$2 ,000 or more for no. Hey, Lowe's, we help you save. Offer can't be combined with any other discount contract and or special pricing. Exclusions, more terms and restrictions apply. Details at lowes.com slash terms. Subject to change. If someone said to you, you have a gift that nobody else has. If you believed that, how would you show up to your life? Would you show up being like all meek and mild? Or would you show up and be like, hey, I got something.

0:43This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what gets you right and what makes it today actionable. That's what we're about. Today's about action. It's about purpose. It's about goals, but goals don't matter unless you're making them happen. We all get in our head a little too much, myself included.

1:26That's why I'm excited for today's guest, who's actually one of the stars on our podcast network. She is, Aniston Ricksteins. Hey, Aniston, what's up? I am so happy to be here. I've been really excited about this conversation. I know. We all want to get hired at certain points. If the universe is hiring, I want to get hired. You got a new book coming out, The Universe is Hiring. We'll talk about that here in a bit, but I did love the title. I had to get that out. I was like, yes. I hear a lot of titles of books where I go, I've heard it a thousand times. I have not heard that one and it really sunk with me.

2:08So, uh, bravo. Well, thank you. And I can't, I honestly cannot take credit for it at all. It was one of those moments where I was like in a meditation and it just landed. I saw the book cover. I saw the title. I had the outline. It was truly, it was just like, it was like a present that landed in my brain. So I can't take credit. I don't know where it came from, but thank you. Yes. No. Well, uh, bravo. We're going to get to that. Aniston is one of the co-hosts of the In Powered Life podcast on the Radcast Network and also at SVP at a large company. She's a leadership coach. She's kind of a do-it-all, I think it sounds like.

2:51So how do you keep it all together, Aniston? You know what? I think I've had to get really discerning, and I'm sure you can relate to this, Ryan, because you've got a lot going on too, but you know, we all have a plate. And I think when you actually take the time to get really clear about what's on your plate and what do you actually want to be there and what is necessary that you realize that a lot of the things that you're saying you don't have time for, or that you're saying isn't possible is just a story and that you can reallocate the space around. And that's what I feel like I've, I've gone through this process over the last 15 years of really like arranging my plate with just the things that really light me up, like spending time with my kids, obviously, and Rudy and, and, and my job, but also the things that really fulfill me like writing and podcasting and coaching and, and the time you create the time, right?

3:50Like the time, it's amazing what you can do with time when you start to get really discerning and say no to things that you know are not for you or that are not really necessary. I led the witness a little bit there because I have this firm belief that we make the time for what we want to make it for. And everything else sort of starts. I think we start. I don't I'm not belittling anyone or judging anyone when I say this, because I do think you nailed it with the story thing. Like we start, we create these narratives and we convince ourselves, you know, like, oh, I just don't have time for that.

4:27I can't get to that. But we make time for what we want to make time for, you know, right? Don't we? Don't we? And everything else gets kind of bucketed over here. And I think you subconsciously start to make that a valid reason why you don't do it. But it doesn't necessarily make it valid, right? Nope. Nope. Nope. I think, I think having like really questioning your relationship with time is, is an important exercise that I think every single person should do because it becomes a scapegoat. And so, you know, for instance, if there's something that you were, it was really, really important to you, you would carve out the time.

5:08Right. And it might come as a cost of something else. Like when I was writing this book, I wrote it between the hours of 4am and 6am in the morning. Cause that was the only time I knew I was going to have a quiet house. That's when I'm my most creative, like in that flow, the cost was, I was in bed every night at eight 30. Like the cost was late night Netflix. It was going out for late nights and late dinners. I just, I couldn't have both, but this was more important to me. So it was a choice. Yeah. And you compartmentalized it in that way. And I think that's, I mean, that's the one, I don't know, skill set that if anyone can learn.

5:48It's like you have to sort of compartmentalize these things and compartmentalize the steps that it takes to get it done, right? And this is what I love about the book and about what I'm sensing from you. I'm an action guy. You know, like we can talk about shit all you want, but like let's start doing things. Because there's always, you know, you're planning. and it's sort of my, I love personal development and coaching. I do. I believe in it, especially high-level ones like yourself and Rudy that are just high quality. You can get so much out of it and you don't know what you don't know. My only trepidation with the industry is just learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn.

6:37I'm learning. I've got all this stuff. Okay, when are you going to do it? When are you going to put it into play? And I think that's a lot of your kind of mantra here, isn't it? A hundred percent. And I was one of those people for a really long time, to be frank. I'm a natural-born seeker. I love to learn. I love to read. I've read thousands of books. I mean, Rudy is astounded. I took a speed reading course just so I could read more. I mean, I'm that kid. I was the nerd who loved school. Anyways... I mean, her and I, I have to meet her. I think we would get along great. But a point came where I was learning so much.

7:21I was consuming so much information, but nothing was really changing in my life, right? I would read a really great personal development book and then I'd be like, oh my God, I feel so great. And then ask me two weeks later, and I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about that book. And it's because I was missing a really important element, which is actually taking something from the book, applying it, experiencing it, and not just once, but repetitively, and then being able to then create a change and a shift in my way of being and showing up and how I think. But I think what happens is just that a lot of people will consume because that's comfortable.

8:00It doesn't require you to really do anything outside of your comfort zone or anything different than what you normally do. And then they miss out on the gold because the gold is that, I mean, you could take a book, one singular book, and you could apply one singular idea from a book and it will change your life forever. But if you don't apply anything, it's, it's kind of wasted space. It's just a, it's just an idea, but ideas don't create change.

8:32Finger. Ideas don't create change and hope is not a strategy. That's right. That's right. Two of my favorite sayings. Yep. Talking with Annika here. So talk to me, like, Aniston, about, like, what – you said it came to you in a vision. I'm thinking, like, I always admire people with, like, books that's, like, the path to get there. But it's obviously a lot of impressions over time. So I feel like when you write a book, you get these impressions over time, and then it's your sort of application of it, or you're pulling from themes and things that have helped you that ultimately did it. What were maybe some of those career journeys, some of those things that maybe built that path or that mind map for you?

9:21Oh, I mean, it's a great question. And I think for me, I started asking questions, I would say, in my early 20s, like big questions because I felt really lost. And I was looking around and I had found myself working at this amazing advertising agency right out of college. It was the dream job. And it was what I had worked so long for. And then I remember one day I was sitting there and I was looking around and I saw this guy sitting across from me who had been with the agency for like 20 years, sitting in the same cubicle he'd been in for 20 years. And I just had this sinking feeling of like, so this is it.

10:04This is it. Like, this is what I worked so hard for. And now this is it. Like, it's going to be like every day is kind of the same. And so I started asking questions and I allowed those questions to be like, well, what do I really want to do? And what am I good at? And I started unraveling a lot of things. And thankfully for me, those questions started a lot earlier than I think a lot of people get to. I know a lot of people in their mid thirties, kind of that midlife crisis, if you will, that's where those questions really start coming. But for me, it hit me early. And so it started me on this journey of like self-discovery.

10:38So my path was being created out of necessity for myself. And I became, I became the student. I was a student of myself. And it was through this process that led me to, you know, understanding a desire to coach and to give back. Because I think that's the natural, that's the natural path, right? Is you, you learn and you apply and then you want to turn around and you want to teach it because I think it's just ingrained in all of us, which is why so many people want to be coaches, you know, because it's just that natural thing within us. But the thing for me was what I couldn't grapple with is I've always been very career-minded and I've been successful in business.

11:21And yet on the flip side, at home, behind closed doors, I was miss spirituality, you know, married to a coach. We were hosting coaching sessions in our home for years. I mean, like having strangers come in, nobody at my work knew about this. It was like I was living a double life is what I felt like. I had all the things that really filled me up. I was writing in the mornings and I was meditating and I was having this whole experience. And then I would like button it up and go into the office and sit in the boardroom and be a badass executive. And that was kind of my life. And that worked until such a time as the desire to grow that real authentic part of me started really kicking in.

12:06And I wanted to launch into coaching and I wanted to be a speaker and I wanted to share all of these things I was learning. But that fear of like, what will they say? Oh my God, they're going to fire me. They're going to think I'm a crack, you know, a quack. They're going to think I've gone off the deep end. And all of those fears kept me very, very small. And so you kind of hit that point where you're like, what am I going to do? And I finally had to make the decision and the leap that I was going to have to start showing up and deface that fear. And what's interesting, Ryan, is I had thankfully someone came in.

12:44Well, someone, that person being my husband, showed me how to do this. Because at the time I was working as a director at a company, a very large company. And they headhunted Rudy because they needed someone to come in and lead their sales teams. he was taking a break from his companies and he was like, fine, okay, I'll go do it. I sat him down and I said, Rudy, this is not one of those companies that you can just come in and just say everything that you're thinking and, you know, bring all of these spiritual ideas into. I mean, it's very corporate, right? And he was, and I was like, so you might have to just, you know, just be thoughtful of what you're saying.

13:22And he was like, I have no intention of doing that. And he's like, I'm going to show up and be me. And if they don't like it, like, okay, fine. What do I have to lose? Then I'll go somewhere else or I'll do something different. And I was petrified for him and for me, because what would that look like for me? I was his wife. Anyways, to my surprise, when he came in, in all of his glory and all of his rootiness, he approached these sales teams as he would as a high performance coach and as a spiritual teacher. And it worked. It worked. People loved him. The revenue went through the roof. The company was having gains like I had never seen.

14:00And I just sat there with a mouthful of teeth. All these years I've been here, I could have been doing all of this. And instead, I've been allowing that fear to stop me. And I know I'll never get where I want to go unless I can start being who I want to be. And that means everywhere, not just at home. It means at the office, at the grocery store, as a mom, you know what I mean? And, um, and that was the big turning point for me. And so when I received the idea for this book to your point, yes, I didn't, I received it and it was, I was like one of those things and I was like, huh. And I wrote it all down.

14:38I was like, that's such an interesting concept. I'll think about that later, you know, because I was like, I don't know if I have, I don't think I have the time to write a book at this point, but it wasn't until I started training on these topics a lot and I would get people come up to me and they would say, is there something else? Like you've really, you've really, um, you know, tweaked something within me. Like I'm thinking about a lot of what you're saying and I want to continue with this work. Do you have a book? Do you have something I can take and like work with? And I was like, no, but I could, I could write a book and I already have the whole outline because I got it in a download one day.

15:17So long story short, yes, this was the path and it was certainly a path. And I was the student of the path. And I still am a student of this path. Yeah. So much to sort of unpack there. I want to start by saying there was a look, like, as I mentioned, the Empowered Life is on our network. Rudy and Anna's show was amazing. that don't, this is not a, I'm just telling you, do yourself a favor, go listen. You won't stop. So, but in all seriousness, the moment we got on today, and Rudy and I have a lot more contact than you and I, and we started talking, you remind, you know, I came up in the ad agency business, and I was like, there's a familiarity with Aniston that's this like badass advertising, you know, like person, like that I would go to another agency and be like, God, she's a badass.

16:09I respect the hell out of her. And it was kind of like that mutual respect thing. Like when, cause you know how it is with agencies to agencies when you're an agency agency. I was like, that was totally the vibe I got when you got on. I'm like, you reminded me of like New York ad agency, uh, badass. So, uh, that's the highest compliment I can give you. Uh, that was a, well, thank you. I'll take it. I didn't know you were on the marketing and ad side. So that was fascinating. But then this journey, I think sometimes I feel like, you know, there's a lot of books that get ridden, a lot of stuff, and it's certainly typically by subject matter experts.

16:52But there's something super credible and interesting when someone has lived and breathed and sort of developed these concepts through their own personal development. And I think that makes this highly credible because you're almost your biggest case study, perhaps, in overcoming some of these things and then putting them into practice. I love that. And I want to talk about what it is that people can expect from the book. What people can expect from the universe is hiring is an opportunity to get really clear, number one. And I say that because I think that a lot of times we don't really create the space or people won't create the time and the space to take a beat and to assess like, who am I?

17:53And what are my passions and what really actually lights me up? And what were those dreams that I've just been sitting on? Because I kind of believe they're a figment of my imagination at this point. Like it's never going to happen. But for some reason, they won't leave you alone. I actually have an exercise in every single one of the chapters because back to what we were talking about earlier, Ryan, in terms of experience, like every chapter, there's something for you to anchor this information and for you to do. Because my goal is that you could literally read one chapter and it could be life-changing for you if you just do the exercise and actually go through the process of that experience.

18:34But one of the exercises is called an authentic self-resume. Because I've seen, and I'm sure you've seen, I've seen thousands of resumes in my time, right? Thousands of resumes. And we will pour over our resume and write all the things that we've done in our career. But if you ask someone to sit down and now I want you to write a resume about you, like about who you are authentically and what your passions are, what your unique strengths are, like what is your unique selling proposition that you bring to the table, a gift that you have that maybe nobody else does. People have a hard time with this.

19:13they have a really hard time with it because they don't know. And it's because they've been so busy being somebody else that they're not even aware they're being somebody else anymore. And so they're so disconnected from who they really are that of course they're going to feel unfulfilled and unhappy and lost. And so my goal in the beginning of the book is really to help bring people back and to who they are at their core. Like, um, and then from there, give them a roadmap and a step of like, how can you start today today being who you came here to be and fulfilling the role that, that I believe that we all have uniquely one that's been created for us, that we are meant to fulfill and that we're uniquely being qualified for every single day through our experiences.

20:08The universe is hiring. Discover the role you were born to fill. Talking with Aniston Rick Steens. Look at there. I got it. Yes. Aniston, talk to me. I think when I hear you say people finding their purpose and, you know, like, is it self-doubt? Because I'm sitting here going, I think some people are confident, so maybe it's not self-doubt, it's always, but is that what it is nine out of ten times? Is it just self-doubt or is it an inability to take action that isn't guaranteed to succeed? I feel like those are two very different things. They sound similar, but they're different. Some people just question, you know, they're just naturally unsure of themselves.

21:06And then some people just don't like the unknown, right? It's a different kind of fear, right? It's a different kind of fear. I think to answer your question, it's both, definitely both. And I think you hit two of the core obstacles that people have. I think one of the things in terms of self-doubt, like if you, Ryan, if you knew for a fact, if someone said to you, you have a gift that nobody else has and nobody else will ever have for the rest of eternity, right? you have this gift and it's a superpower. And when you start to utilize it and you start to work on it and perfect it and become a master of it, that when you share this gift, it is going to light you up in a way that nothing outside of you can.

22:11Like no amount of money, no amount of things, no amount of relationships, but this, wouldn't you be curious? Number one, would you not walk a little straighter? Like, huh, I got this gift. You know what I mean? You would believe it. If you believed that, how would you show up to your life? Would you show up being all meek and mild? Or would you show up and be like, hey, I got something? I had a vision. You remember the old commercials of the Kool-Aid man running through the brick wall? Oh, yeah. I was like, that's what you do. I'm dating myself a little bit. He was a glass bowl, I think, and he ran through brick walls and somehow didn't break.

22:57That's what you do, though, if you had that confidence, right? If you had that confidence, if you knew, and I think that because so many people don't actually think that they're good at anything, sure, they have no worthiness. Sure, they have self-doubt because they're not connected to this belief that they're here for a reason and that there is something actually important for them to do. And in the doing comes the fulfillment and the freedom and the joy and everything that they seek, right? I think when it comes to having goals and just saying, okay, I want to live a big life, so I'm going to have a lot of money and I'm going to do all of these things, that's great, right?

23:37I think it's great to stretch and it's great to have goals. But what I see, and I'm around a lot of very successful people, as I know you are as well, what I see is a lot of really miserable people because they've gotten it all and now they're really effed because they're like, what am I to do now? What else can I do? What's that next level? Because it's not working. And instead of asking themselves like, okay, what when I do it really fills me up? Like what is the thing that lights me up? And what if I just started doing that in addition to everything else I have going on in my life? How would that shift things for me?

24:18And what I find is that when you start doing those things, and it doesn't necessarily have to be tied to your paycheck. It could be, I have a friend who her love is for fostering puppies. Like that's her thing. She loves animals. She has a very high paying VP level position at a very large company, but on the side in the mornings and when she gets home and this is what she's doing, but it is growing. It's something in her life that's starting to grow. And I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't turn into a business one day because that's the nature of our purpose. When you land on it, it will start to expand in ways that you can't even imagine or fathom.

24:57And so a big point of discussion in this book is the idea of stop waiting. Stop waiting to be something or to do something because the magic is when you actually start to do it right where you are. Like right where you are, you find ways, the littlest, littlest bit of a way, and your life will start to shift and change, but you've got to have enough faith to at least start. Faith is the word, isn't it? I mean, that's really what a lot of this comes down to. It's like faith, because I can mean, not to get spiritual gospel on you, but it's the belief in what you can't necessarily see. Yes, the non-tangible, no matter what it is.

25:42Whether it's God or purpose or how you're going to make something happen that you don't know exactly what the steps are. But you have to stack the actions. I got a question for you that's not necessarily related to the book, but maybe in this whole realm. There's a lot of this talk around the journey is everything. And versus – because, like, the successful people that I run into are always on journeys, the ones that are happy. And myself included a little bit. And I've turned into my father a little bit with little things that I like to do, projects, so to speak. I never understood about my dad.

26:27I'm a kid, young. Now I get it. And so what's your sort of belief on destination versus journey as it relates to all this? I don't believe that there is ever a final destination if you will like during your lifetime here on earth like I I think if you just look at the nature of the universe the nature of the universe is expansion that's the natural that's that's the way that the universe is everything is always expanding everything is always not only the the universe and the planets and all of the elements, but our bodies as well are constantly changing in that to be stagnant and to stop changing and to stop expanding is actually is contradictory to nature.

27:16And that's where I think we become toxic and we become ill and we become sick. And so I believe that the journey is just this ever-flowing, ever-expanding, ever-evolving path. And that scientists will say and researchers have said that true happiness doesn't really come from the achievement. And all you have to do is ask someone who's just had the biggest achievement of their life. And the dopamine hit is never quite as big as you think it's going to be or lasts as long as you think it will be, but that instead it is actually the process of seeking and just continual progress, like feeling like there's progress in your life.

28:05It could be the littlest bit of progress and it could just be in one area of your life, but acknowledging and always looking for where am I progressing? Where am I expanding? I believe is a key to continued fulfillment and happiness, to have a life that just never stops and never, you just never, it doesn't mean that you're not satisfied. In fact, it's the opposite. I think it's, it's becoming satisfied and having that dopamine hit, but having it daily, being able to look for it daily. Yeah. I think, I think you nailed it. I think that's what it is. It's like, you call it evolution, call it change, whatever it is, we're evolving.

28:46And I feel the least, I don't know, fulfilled when I'm not sort of in, you know, my wife might say my changing mood, but not my mood necessarily, but like, you know, but like learning and advancing, you know, like it's just like you got to stay in a movement, both physically and in your mind. Because I think when I've been in my lowest points, it's like I feel stagnant. And I think I'm thankful to be somewhat self-aware of it because I think some people get lost in that dungeon, unfortunately. And that's why they need to read this book. Absolutely. And a really quick way out of that, at least in my experience and from what I've seen with a lot of, you know, so many different coaching clients is just, if you want a quick way, a detour out of that stagnancy is through service.