Inspired By: Cindy Ratzlaff
“It is never too late to become your next best self.”
Marketing pioneer, writer, and Conference for Women speaker Cindy Ratzlaff opens up about happiness. The former vice president of brand marketing at Rodale is currently a contributor to Business Insider, and her essays on happiness have appeared on Oprah.com, CNN.com and Wowowow.com. She has also co-authored two bestselling books on happiness and boundaries, “Queen of Your Own Life” and “Queenisms: 101 Jolts of Inspiration.”
Q: Please share how your professional career began and how you ended up where you are today?
A: I began my publishing career as a temp working for the famous Simon & Schuster editor, Michael Korda. I read slush pile manuscripts and wrote rejection letters. I fell in love with book publishing and spent ten years with Simon & Schuster as a publicist. After moving to Rodale, I was able to broaden my experiences to include marketing and brand development which led to launching my own business and specializing in helping books, authors and publishers.
Q: What it your best advice for moms who want to both tackle career and create a happy home?
A: Set strong boundaries with your clients about time. Do not take your tablet, laptop and phone to bed with you. Put yourself and your family on your own calendar. Dare to say no as often as you say yes.
Q: What are the top 3 tips you would offer to a woman looking to reinvent her life?
A: 1) It is never too late to become your next best self. As long as you’re alive, you can reinvent your life if you believe you’re worth the effort. Dare to believe you’re worth the effort.
2) Put your ideas into categories: wants, needs, necessary to sustain life. Smart women can get distracted because they have so many great ideas. Dare to prune.
3) Give yourself permission to abandon ideas that don’t pan out. It’s perfectly acceptable to admit a path wasn’t what you’d hoped it would be. It’s not acceptable to sit down and give up. Turn your head to the left and right until you see another path.
Q: What was the hardest career transition in your life and how did you grow from it?
A: The hardest transition was being downsized from a job where I’d achieved such visibility and notoriety. I felt embarassed, hurt, angry and even dumb. But from that low point, I started my own business and was able to set my own course, explore new interests and write a book about claiming happiness. I’d have never given myself the time and space to write if it hadn’t been forced upon me. Now I schedule me time, writing time, into my calendar daily.
Q: What is the one thing you make time for in your daily life that helps keeps you refreshed and positive?
A: I make time to write for pleasure. I write affirmations seven days a week and share them on a blog and on Facebook. I write articles for other blogs. I write chapters for a new book. It is the most pleasurable, joyful time of my day.