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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Rob, for agreeing to be part of this Project, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Rob Horlock: Yes, hello Toni.  My name is Rob Horlock.  I live in the New Forest, which is near Southampton in the UK.  I’m married to Karen, who apart from being a very nice person is one of the best coaches that you’ll ever meet.  I’ve worked in various positions in large companies.  I’ve worked in marketing, sales, project management, IT, and I’m now in the process of setting up a new website called The Mid Life Opportunity, which would be a community website for people in mid life which will offer stimulation, advanced guidance, and support to mid lifers everywhere.

Toni: Well thank you for that.  Rob, when you think about the word inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Rob: Well, I think back to my previous corporate life, I’ve inspired the members of my various teams, or I hope I have.  I’ve certainly tried to lead by example and to assure that they have the tools to manage their own personal development.  I worked for a year in China building up a new team there, and that was an interesting experience.  I worked through an interpreter and different cultures, obviously, since what seemed obvious to them didn’t seem obvious to me, and vice versa.

I hope I inspire some of the people around me as well.  I’m a fairly sort of an open book type of person – what you see is what you get.  I’m always ready to offer advice and guidance; whether it’s always accepted or not is another matter, of course.

Toni: So when I’m in engagement with you, what happens?  You said that you have helped a lot of people with personal development, whether it was in your career or personally.  So what happens?  What goes on between you and I that you’re going to inspire me to do my best?

Rob: Well, I would first of all try and find out what motivates you, try and understand what turns you on, try and understand what makes you tick.  We’d be looking at where you’re strong and where you’ve got development areas, try and make sure that you understand those, and build on the strengths that you have and the motivations that you’ve got.

Toni: And you are now creating a site for people that are mid life and struggling with certain issues, correct?

Rob: Yes I am, yes.  That’s right.  Yes.

Toni: So how will this site then help people to explore their potential?  Do you think it will?

Rob: Well, I think it will certainly help them to recognize what we call the self-imposed limitations that they might have.  A lot of people have issues in their lives, whether it’s in relationships, whether it’s in career, financial, health, and these weigh very heavily on people.  I think with assistance, people can look at their issues, understand them better, and really get to grips with what they can do themselves and what they can get outside help with to help them to move forward.  It’s really an understanding process, I guess, as much as anything, and an acceptance process.

Toni: Right, right.  And I would imagine creating a community for people to be helped through these issues, either by their peers or by professionals, is going to be a great way to maybe sit there and say “Hey, I’m not alone.”

Rob: Yes, absolutely, Toni.  You hit the nail on the head there.  They’re not alone.  And some people realize they’re not alone, of course, but a lot of people think they’re they only person in the world with their particular problem or that their particular problem is worse than everybody else’s, and of course it’s not.  Lots of other people have got exactly the same problem; lots of other people have had exactly the same problems and overcome them.  So bringing people together in a community with coaches to supervise means that people can realize that they’re not alone and can hopefully move forward with some hope of improvement in their lives.

Toni: So Rob, what inspires you?

Rob: What inspires me?  I like learning things.  I like meeting new people, either face to face or online as we’ve just met, and I’m inspired by setting up The Mid Life Opportunity.  In the course of doing this, I’ve been recruiting plenty of coaches to provide the support and guidance, and I’ve spoken to a number of coaches that I’ve never met.  I’ve really been quite inspired by the warmth with which people have embraced the idea, and several have given me truly unconditional sorts of help — providing content or helping me to organize the website — which has been inspirational.  It’s also been very pleasing for me to think that, you know, other people would help without me actually asking for help.

What else inspires me?  I live in the New Forest.  I’m a country person, not a city person, so nature inspires me.  I love all the seasons, but I particularly like this time of year which where I am now is early summer.  The sun always helps.  The sun shined today, and that always inspires me.

Success inspires me, too.  Doing something right is a great feeling, and helping somebody else to get something right is an inspiration, too.  So there are a number of things, really.

Toni: And what brought you to this place, Rob, where you wanted to create a community to help other people either discuss their issues or find the support that they need to help them along the way?  How did you get here?

Rob: It was probably personal experience.  I was myself looking for a job some time ago, and I felt that the helping support of somebody like me who reaches mid life was really poor, to be honest, whether it’s government support or private support.  I did not feel that I was getting a huge amount of help.

My wife, as I said, is a coach.  She does a lot of relationship work, and I know that there are a lot of people who’ve got relationship issues.  Some of this is driven by the fact that their partner has lost their job, so they’ve got financial issues, but that rolls into relationship issues.  So I could see that there were lots of people who had issues in various parts of their lives, and I’m trying to pull it together for those people in mid life, because at the moment I can certainly … in the UK where I am, that area is not really supported enough, so I think there’s an area there where we can help … help to develop, and help people through doing that.

Toni: So really, it’s born from your own personal experience and how you felt based on your own issues, that you can only imagine that there’s other people that may be experiencing the same, so you felt that need and you did something about it.

Rob: Yes, absolutely.  I’m convinced that there is an opportunity there to help people.  The trick, of course, will be making sure that the people know we exist, and they’re happy to come along and be helped, because not everybody is happy to be helped.  Some people are only happy if they’re unhappy.

Toni: Absolutely.  I don’t think those people would probably come to your site.

Rob: No, I don’t think they will, no.

Toni: So Rob, what do you tend to reach for on a consistent basis when you’re looking for inspiration?  Are there tools or resources that are your go-to tools and resources when you’re looking to be filled up a bit?

Rob: Well, there’s a wonderful thing called the internet of course, of which I spend far too much of my time on, which is packed full of helpful advice for everything, as we know.  So the internet is my tool of choice.  Also, asking experts.  I’ve known a number of people who are in that mid life opportunity.  I know a number of people in the various areas who are experts in their fields who I would turn to, and they of course know other people who can pass me on if necessary.  So it’s really a question of asking those people who know best; and the social media, I guess.

Toni: The final question on the Project is, how do you continue to explore your own potential so that you can help these people and put these resources together?

Rob: I’m somebody who likes to be liked and respected, I suppose.  So positive feedback from people around me helps, so I do hope that once we take off The Mid Life Opportunity, that I will begin to have some successes and we do get some positive feedback.

I mentioned nature earlier.  I’m inspired by a lot of what happens in nature, and some of the blogs that I’ve written have actually been inspired by things that I’ve seen while doing walks in the Forest or just observed kind of in the natural world.  So that kind of helps me to explore my potential.

There’s lots of things I’d like to achieve, but like everyone else there’s a balance.  It’s a balance between,  apparently, what I think I’m capable of achieving and what I need to do to keep a roof over my head and those kinds of things, so I guess I’m like everybody else.   It’s always going to be conflicting issues which impinge upon how far I will develop my potential, but certainly I’ve seen … at the moment I see The Mid Life Opportunity as an area that I can help other people and expand my own horizons, if you like, at the same time.

Toni: It’s interesting that the point that you’re at now as far as making the statement about balance, and the capability balance versus the financial risk that you have to take, and so I would hope that as your website takes off and your community grows, that you will find that balance, and then be able to teach people how to have that balance for themselves as well.  I wish you the greatest success with this opportunity, and thank you tremendously for sharing it with us on the Get Inspired! Project.

Rob: Thank you very much, Toni, for giving me the opportunity to chat with you about it.

Toni: You’re quite welcome, and we will have a link at the bottom of your transcript on how people can check you out, and I know that you’re launching at the end of the summer, correct?

Rob: Correct, yes.  Hopefully, by the end of August.

Toni: Well good luck to you.

Rob: There is actually a holding page on the website at the moment, and I’ll send you the link.

Toni: Fantastic.  And good luck to you, Rob, and thank you for joining us today.

Rob: Thank you, Toni.

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For more information about Rob Horlock:  www.midlifeop.com, midlifeop.blogspot.com

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THUMBNAIL PHOTO OF NEW FOREST:  Dave Porter
As published in The Guardian, UK

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Brad, for agreeing to do the project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Brad Meyers: Hi, my name is Brad.  I am 37 years old and live in the UK.  I’m a senior Project Manager for a large global outsourcing company.  I have been with them for about 5 years, and that’s a little about me.

Toni: When you think about the word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how do you do that?

Brad: That’s interesting.  Who do I think I inspire?  I have responsibilities within my work environment to motivate, inspire, and lead a team.  Also at home, I’ve got a little boy, my first boy.  I help inspire him to learn about his world and his environment.

Toni: How do you go about … well, I would imagine, of course, that there are two different approaches you might take to family and your son, but how do you go about motivating your team?

Brad: My team at work, that really just comes down to the individual.  I try to understand the person first before I try to create any kind of plan or approach to help them to make the best of what they are or what they can do.  As a project manager, typically my projects last between  9 and 18 months, so almost every year it’s like starting a new company because I’ll be working with new clients and new customer contacts and potentially with a new team internally also.

My first primary role as I see it is to just get to know the people, get to know what they’re about.  Obviously not to be too detailed or to pry towards their personal life, but just to understand them.  What do they like to do in their own time?  What are their priorities in life?  What responsibilities do they have other than work?  Those are the things that just come out through chats at the water cooler or when they go out to have some lunch or something, and to just get close to the person.

Toni: How does that translate into helping those people that you work with, how does getting to know them as the individual help to inspire them and explore their potential?

Brad: Well, I guess again the individual approach.  Once I get to know a little bit more about the person, I then try to understand them as their boss and a member of their employee team, I have a responsibility for them to perform well within the role that they’re being paid for, which I also always try and do through a variety of measures.

There are obviously benefit packages which can be often amended to suit the individual or there can be various training programs that can be offered to people to help them improve on skills that they don’t have or need to have to perform a particular role or maybe even to obtain some sort of official accreditation, recognized qualification in what they already do, which can make them feel good, can make people feel valued, as well as improve their overall prospect in their own careers.

Toni: When you are approaching inspiration from your family’s perspective, how do you think you might inspire them?

Brad: That’s developing.  My little boy is 10 months old.  I have a stepdaughter who is 18 who I’ve already known for a number of years, so the little boy is my first baby.  But again, obviously they are both two individuals that are on different ends of the scale, really.

My stepdaughter, I try to help encourage her by not watching her get knocked back by the no’s and try to remain positive whether she’s applying for jobs or going through her college system.  My little lad, it’s really to help and encourage him,  and not to come down too heavy on him if he is doing something that’s going to damage something of importance in the home unless he’s put himself in a dangerous situation, so just trying to be positive and interested in him, understanding what he’s trying to do.

Toni: That’s fantastic.  When you look for inspiration for yourself, Brad, what do you need?  What do you need to be inspired?

Brad: I need to find something interesting as a subject matter, I guess, really.  I can be quite analytical and if I’m not careful can suffer from analysis paralysis.  I need to try and keep a check on myself that I’m not looking too deep into things, but when looking for inspiration I try to find the whats in those sorts of things in that way or something or someone that has a new aspect on a particular topic.

Recently in the last few years I’ve read the standard sort of books that a lot of people I’m sure have read like Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie and these sorts of events and seminars I use to improve my own positivity and outlook.  After a while, you can still see there’s a common theme, so I tend to get a little bit more selective in trying to look for something particular, of a particular interest to myself.

Toni: You do a lot of reading and trying to find something interesting when you need inspiration.  Are there other things that you do when you need to kind of fill yourself up?

Brad: Looking at my son has been very interesting these last few months, seeing him develop.  He’s currently just trying to walk.  He’s mastered crawling and standing.  He will stand quite happily and then try and take his first step and sure enough fall down but he will pick himself right back up and keep going.  He doesn’t stop and this can be a tiny bit enjoyable and rewarding.

Toni: Absolutely.  There is a resiliency that’s going on there, isn’t there?

Brad: Yes, absolutely.  He doesn’t understand the boundaries which adults do.  We may have learned we can’t do that, or we shouldn’t do that, or such and such is going to happen if we do.  Sometimes our experiences can prevent us from reaching our true potential, so I guess because he hasn’t learned that, he just keeps going at whatever he wants to play with, or crying, or chew.

Toni: Or to chew.  It’s just a wonderful thing to watch, isn’t it?

Brad: Yes.  I guess my world’s been turned on its head through these last few months and it was a complete surprise to me and my wife, so yes, it’s very interesting time that we’re all going through at the moment.

Toni: When you watch your son and you read these books and you’re trying to learn something different, what does that do for you as far as what you need to explore your own potential?

Brad: There are times when it makes your head go sideways, when you have a complete paradigm shift.  I think “Hmm, I’ve never thought of it that way” and let that roll around in my head if it’s a new thought or concept or approach to handle the situation and try to meditate on that.  Let it roll around for a little while and then explore that with my friends, colleagues, and peers and things.

Toni: That allows you to take that step forward, or to go in a different path?  What does it do for you?

Brad: Well, sometimes it might be the impact of what I may have experienced and understood.  I don’t feel it straight away. Someone may have given me a good piece of advice and I may not act on that, you know?  Sometimes there’s a lot of exponential learning in all of us.  I often just let it sit there and think that’s interesting, you know, and try to see where could I make use of that new development but often I’ll just hold onto it and just let it roll around and just be aware of things; I guess it just increases my understanding or visibility of things around us, particularly with my own thinking and own place and where I am.  Sometimes it’s a question of just understanding myself better before I try and understand somebody else, you see.

Toni: When you’re doing this and you’re kind of experiencing this shift, if this is the way you choose to go and you are doing the things that you need to stay inspired and to be inspired, how does all of that that you need, whether it’s that inspiration or you’re exploring your own potential, how does that then translate into who you inspire and how you help others explore their potential?  Do you think there’s a direct connection?

Brad: There is a connection.  I don’t personally see it as a direct one.  It’s often been a growing experience for me in terms of being inspired and inspiring others.  I’m at a stage now where I understand that we can all learn from each other and not to keep our minds closed to any opportunity, and sometimes what is needed is to just reach out a little bit further to help somebody else.

In helping somebody else with a particular problem or incident, it can round out our own understanding of different environments.  Almost trying to take a walk in somebody else’s shoes and thereby doing that helping ourselves, but absolutely helping that other person with that problem.

Toni: Those who listen regularly or read these interviews know that some words come to my head when I’m listening to someone during these interviews, and I just wrote down, when you were speaking that, I wrote down that it helps, what you do, is move away from selfishness; that the way you are inspired and how your explore your own potential and how that translates into a connection with others is that it moves away from selfishness into helping others.  That’s what I heard.

Brad: Yes, that’s true actually, and that’s not to say I can’t be selfish and desire things for myself.  And sometimes we all have off days, and sometimes we can get greedy at times, but I guess overall, generally I found that not only shifting the focus away from myself and looking to understand other people or understand different world events, different languages, and different cultures, it actually has this rebound effect where it helps round out you the individual to help other people dig deeper to solve a problem in a way they might not have done before.

Toni: Right.  That’s what I’ve heard that you do, which is, I can imagine, such a gift of the people that you work with and even from your family, that it’s just kind of not focusing on you so much.  You take it in, but you also give it back.  I think that’s pretty amazing.  That’s what I heard in this interview, and you’ve given some wonderful insights into the work mentality of inspiration and how to inspire others to reach their potential, but then also what you do and how that correlates with the two, and for that, I really appreciate that you’ve given up your time today to come to the Get Inspired! Project.  We can’t thank you enough for what you’ve given us today.

Brad: You’re welcome.  Thank you very much for having me and this time together.

Toni: Good luck to you, Brad, and hopefully we will connect soon.

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For more information about Brad Meyers:  bmyers9@csc.com

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Toni Reece: Thank you for agreeing to be part of the Get Inspired! Project, Susannah, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Susannah Ford Crush: Yes, I certainly can.  My name is Susannah Ford Crush.  I am from Kent in England, and I am a photographic artist and author of poetry.

Toni: Oh, fantastic!  With the work that you do, or even in personal relationships Susannah, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Susannah: Well, I like to think that I plant a little inspiration into the lives of everyone who meets me, particularly people who read my poetry and view my photographic art.   My poetry is inspirational in the sense that I write about life, you know, the lessons we all learn, love, positivity, and triumph through adversity, and of course comedy, because life is full of that.  Generally speaking, my poetry and prose is quite observational.  I tend to focus on people and experiences.  My photographic art is very modern, and I use a lot of unique styles and techniques to create images that really catch people’s attention.  I want to give them something deeper than just a basic image, something that will make them think or leave a mark on their life in some way, however briefly that might be.

Toni: That sounds very, very interesting.  When you use your poetry or your images, how do you think that that might help others explore potential within themselves?  Susannah, are you there?

Susannah: Hello?

Toni: Yes, I’m here.  We have to forgive to the audience that we are recording on Skype and there seems to be a bit of a delay; however, we ended with you talking about how your images might encourage others to think a little bit deeper, and that you’re very observational, and my question to you was, using your poetry and using your imagery, how do you think that might help others explore their potential?

Susannah: Well, basically what I’m doing is showing people what is achievable by simply having the confidence to achieve things myself.  I am basically showing people that there are a wealth of opportunities and possibilities beyond the confines of their own personal lives.  My book entitled “In My Shoes” was a great way for me to be able to showcase an interesting combination of the best of my work in writing and photography, and it’s also a great way for people to step into my world by stepping into my shoes, which is the whole point of the title.  And so in doing that, people can take some confidence and motivation to do a lot of great things in their own lives.

Toni: I see.  Do you receive feedback from your audience and examples of how your work has helped them to explore their own potential?

Susannah: I do often get a lot of email actually from people.  Basically, I get a lot of people thanking me that something that they’ve read that I have written has really inspired them to have some confidence to really take a hold of.

Toni: So to take a hold of their own situation, so you do receive that feedback from others, then.  Susannah, we are experiencing a delay.  For those who are listening, Susannah is in the UK and Skype, as wonderful as it is, we do seem to have our issues.  Susannah, are you there?

Susannah: Yes, I am here.

Toni: Okay.  We’re going to continue through.  Are you okay with that?

Susannah: Yes, that’s fine.

Toni: Okay, great.  What do you need to be inspired, Susannah?

Susannah: Basically, it really doesn’t take all that much for me to find any inspiration.  Music has got to be one of the biggest influences in my life.   My father was a musician in the 1960s and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Pink Floyd, and my mother has always been heavily into the music scene, too, so my older brother and I had a very musical upbringing.  In fact, I can say most of my strongest childhood memories incorporate music in some way.  I grew up hearing my dad’s guitar, always allowed to explore my parents’ record collection, so that really was my first true and greatest inspiration.  I now actually write and record my own music.  I sing as well as play the guitar and drums.

Toni: So do you use the inspiration that you find in music?  How does that translate into your photography or your poetry?

Susannah: It definitely translates into my poetry firstly because basically I started off writing lyrics to songs and then I went over into poetry from there.  Basically, it then inspired me to appreciate all forms of art, so that’s how it also came to inspire me to do some photographic art as well.

Toni: When you are looking and seeking for inspiration, Susannah, do you reach for … I know music you stated … are there other tools or resources that you use to stay inspired?

Susannah: Well, I can say that from a young age I developed a gift for performing, and I’m a natural born actress.  I was put into theatre school by my parents at the age of 9 until I was 18, so the stage will always be my true home and a center of a lot of inspiration within me today.  My passion for the dramatic arts gradually led me into having an appreciation for art as a whole.

Toni: How do you compare being inspired with the music that your parents listened to, to the music that you listen to today?

Susannah: It’s hard to say really, but basically I think my true passion for music does come from the music of my parents’ generation, so we’re talking from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, basically.

Toni: That’s interesting.  My parents as well were musicians, so I understand where that inspiration comes from, from that time frame.  When you are looking to continuously explore your own potential so that your artistry can blossom and your performance may be enhanced in some way, what do you need to explore your own potential?

Susannah: I would think that basically self-belief is a key element for me to be able to explore my own personal potential.  I know that I need to set aside time regularly to boost my own confidence and remind myself of what I’m capable of achieving.  In the past, I have had confidence issues and suffered from anxiety, so it’s really important for me to remember to give myself a pat on the back from time to time.  I know that I do sometimes go through periods of not being quite as artistic as I usually am, so it’s during those periods that I like to take some time to reflect.  That’s when I really give myself credit for whatever I accomplished so far, and it really helps me to get back into a position where I can generate further potential in a creative sense; you know, basically let the creative juices start to flow again.  I could also bring in my strong imagination into this question.  Without that, I would probably be at a great loss for empowering myself to be creative in the first place.

Toni: The self-belief is a very, very important topic when it comes to inspiration.  Are there tools that you reach for, Susannah, in addition to patting yourself on the back and appreciating your gifts?  What might you reach for?  Where do you find other ways to explore that potential and to stay strong in that self-belief?

Susannah: I like to do exercises in mediation every day; that really kind of starts my day off well.  If I know that I’ve taken some time aside from how busy I can get and just sit quietly, breathe, and focus my attention on just being, basically; you know, just taking some time to relax.  I know that I can then give myself more of an ability to be able to focus myself better on being creative.

Toni: I would imagine that the self-belief and the imagination, the confidence, those are very, very strong needs to work on and to work through whether you’re creative, whether you’re in a workplace, no matter what your position in life is, I believe that the self-belief, your imagination, and your confidence has to be strong in order to move forward and to stay inspired and to inspire others.  Do you believe that?

Susannah: Oh, fully, I totally believe.  I think that’s one of the most important things that you can do for yourself, for your own confidence in whatever you do, whether it’s something artistic or otherwise.  I think you’ve really got to boost your confidence regularly, give yourself that self-belief that you can continue to be successful in whatever realm it is you are successful in.

Toni: So from what I’m understanding from you, Susannah, the who that you inspire are the people who are looking or reading your photography or your poetry, and you tried to keep that in a positive way to get people to think a little bit deeper, to know that things are achievable, and the confidence issues of being in my shoes helps, but that came from what you need for inspiration, which you’ve spoken about self-belief and confidence.  So there seems to be a direct correlation on what you seek for inspiration and to explore your own potential that translates very beautifully into your artistry and your poetry.

Susannah: Oh definitely, yes.  I think I have tried many times to try and get that really across, and it did take a lot of effort to begin with, and I suppose that’s partly due to when I was younger not having the confidence and the wisdom to be able to get that across as well, but that’s what I tried to do and really making it noticeable to other people.

Toni: Now we did have a bit of a delay there; I want to make sure because it’s very, very important to what you had just said, that we heard you say that when you were younger of course you didn’t have the wisdom of how important those attributes were.  For those people that are out there reading your interview or hearing this recording, Susannah, can you give an example of how you realized that you needed to boost that self-belief and the confidence?  How did you know that you needed to fill that up?

Susannah: Well basically, for many years I was around people, my peer group, a lot of people were complaining that they lacked inspiration and, basically, I first wrote a piece of prose that was about hearing those people complain about their lack of inspiration.  What I wanted to get across in that particular piece was all you need to do is take a look around you and stop taking what you see for granted, and you can even use your own imagination to increase your inspiration and your self-belief.  The human imagination is very, very powerful.  I have always had a very strong imagination and really used it to its fullest, and I find I can connect with other people who have strong imaginations in a very meaningful and inspirational way.

Toni: Well, I have to tell you, even with our technical glitches of speaking by Skype and recording, you’re interview is very powerful, Susannah, and to be able to be so honest about what your own needs for inspiration are and where they came from and how you explore your own potential to talk about so beautifully your poetry and your photography in the way that you did, you will definitely paint a picture for someone that will benefit from your story and just this little snapshot of your story, and for that I so appreciate you giving your time to the Get Inspired! Project so that others can benefit from this snapshot of your story.

Susannah: Well thank you very much for giving me this opportunity as well.  I’ve really enjoyed it.

Toni: Thank you, Susannah, very much, and I hope to speak to you soon.
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For more information about Susannah Ford Crush:  www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/433508

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