welcome to between the covers summer series where we Spotlight South Florida authors I'm Anne bocock and I'm delighted to introduce you to Susan Ford Collins she got their new book blur clear the way ahead Susan has dedicated her career to teaching the technology of success to people around the world Susan thank you so much for spending time here so glad to meet you I'm glad to meet you let's start with the very Basics yes blur what's blur blur is that model State I think all of us have found ourselves in since covid but I found myself there well before that two and a half years before that my husband was diagnosed with cancer two weeks after a tornado and hurricane hit my house and then my sister and then my daughter so I recovered from blur got to share the way I did that with people that are blurred by covid covet is very relatable to this whole story and in the book yes there are techniques that we can all use people should read this and learn this but there's something else that I found even more interesting and that is on this you're an open book literally you open up your whole life it is raw it is painful at times why expose yourself like this well because I think other people are feeling it and sometimes they don' how to talk about it or they think they're wrong for feeling the feelings and I figured I've got to let them know that it's okay to tell people how you're feeling and what you're going through and to model that and was rough emotionally at times and when I did the audible version my voice would crack it was tough but I felt that the only way I could authentically tell the story and so I did it and was it cathartic it was very cathartic you give a technique that you have given it this is the fourth in in the series of books and it's called success filing yes I think you need to explain that it's really simple and I've done it with elementary students and I've done it with adults all over the world it's taking time each day to acknowledg yourself for the successes you're having according to your standards and your goals when we're little we get traine that we're going to wait for parents to acknowledge us or teachers or ge t stars or Rewards or bonuses but the truth is if you don't acknowledge yourself you can't stay on cour your dreams you're always on the way to somebody else's dreams so success filing is Daily building your own self-confidence and once you le to do that you can do it with your children or with your studen your employees so it really makes a life shift I think success filing was probably one of the biggest takeaways for me with this book and as you said it is something we need to put into practice just reading it and acknowledging is not enough you actually have to do it one other thing that out for me saying no it's okay to say no yes well because when I define success I studied Highly Successful People for 20 years and I asked them what made the successful and they said they couldn't tell me so I asked to shatter th ree months at a time which is quite a request you can imagine the laughter got back but what I saw was they said no they said yes they said no they cut through the stuff that was nonsense and they were able to stay on course to their dreams and their goals so no is a very important part of success success is completion it's doing the things that we set out to do it's deletion it knowing when to let go of something or to stop doing something and it's creation it's knowing when I just thought of a better way to do this and going into a whole nother phase of creativity and sharing how does affirmation fit into th scheme is it something that that we need to empower us to give us strength well I think that fits into the bucket of success filing because we're affi ourselves and we're affirming pr ogress and we're not waiting for ot people to do it that's the big key it's like I am in charge of my own self-confidence once I get that then success filing just turns the corner for you and this is universal where it is done in China I've done it in India I've done it with kids I've done it with geriatrics people you know it's hu man truth so literally you have done this all over the world I have done t all over the world and I I want back to something that you to and this was when you started you were a research psychologist and everyone is studying what's wrong with people what makes them sick what what what you know the the things that are the negatives and here you are starting out go would like to study what makes people joyous and happy and successful and they said they laugh room of 250 of my peers and I was the youngest psychologist on the staff and they just they didn't chuckle they laughed and it was the most import moment in my life because I had to decide right then and there whether I was right that I was on to something which you know studying Hi Successful People to find out what t were doing that the rest of us weren't and were they using skills laughter stunned me and turned me red because I can turn very bright red if I'm like embarrassed enough and I just stopped and I said no I know I'm on to something I've been thinking about this for months and I committed to sp my career studying Highly Successful People which I have done and I'm proud of myself of having done that it's bee quite a journey Susan we thank yo that what's the best writing advice you ever got do it every day and don't judge it just let it flow and come back the next day ideally at the same time put your butt in the chair and do it again and again and again what's the most book that you remember reading as a child oh well Doris Lessing was my absolute favorite author anything she wrote whether it was about cats whether it was about other planets I loved if we could have a one-word teaser for what blur is about what would that word be regaining Clarity I can't deal with one it's got to be a phrase regain gaining Clarity in our lives close enough if we could see your bookshelf at home what would it tell us about you I love to read you'd see lots of stacks next to my bed in the closets on the shelves lots of books and what is one thing you would tell your younger self um tell her just to go for it because know what she did and I'm very proud of her for that Susan Ford Collins series of books the technology of success her latest book is blur clear the way ahead it has been such a pleasure and such an education for me to spend time with you Susan I'm so honored to be with you thank you so much I'm Anne bocock please join me on the next between the covers foreign