Creative Genius Podcast

Season 12 Episode 5

The Secret to Drama-Free Projects (Janine Aurichio)

The Secret to Drama-Free Projects (Janine Aurichio)

Interior design is demanding work, involving thousands of detailed decisions, project challenges and competing personalities. That can give rise to a lot of friction and stress. While you can’t eliminate every stressor, you can minimize them by establishing good project management practices and cultivating mental fitness.

In this episode, Gail talks with mental fitness coach Janine Aurichio. A self-titled “Joy Master,” Janine offers an approach she calls Life Styling that trains interior designers to build the capacity to respond to life’s challenges with a positive mindset rather than getting stressed or upset for breakthrough results in their life and business. “I believe our true nature and essence is joy,” she says.

Gail asked Janine why she chose to focus on working with designers. She said that after working in the industry for twenty years she has come to admire what designers do and bring to the world. “What they do is part science and part magic,” she said, adding “beauty is my core value.”

Janine said that from what she’s seen in her practice the biggest challenges for many designers are twofold. They have an internal challenge of maintaining command over their mind and mindset, in part because they have many demands on themselves and many distractions. In addition, they have an external challenge because they lack or do not utilize a well-oiled process for managing their projects and other aspects of their business operations.

Good project management leads to more and better projects, more profit and more peace of mind,” she explained. It should be core to every interior design business.

As well, Janine identified what she sees as the three biggest mistakes designers make when managing their projects. A major one is that they think of the client as the center of the project rather than of the project itself. They are afraid to communicate truth to the client for fear of being reprimanded or even fired. They don’t have a plan for executing the project, or they have one but don’t follow it.

Janine went on to talk about how designers can better deal with their internal challenges by learning to manage their mindset. She described a four-step process that she teaches to rewire negative ways of thinking in order to develop positive intelligence. The goal, she said, is to achieve mental fitness, which she defined as your capacity to handle life’s challenges with a positive response or mindset.

Gail and Janine also discussed why good project management is so crucial to the success of a design business, the major types of “saboteurs” that contribute to negative thinking, and the steps designers can take to improve their mental fitness and boost creative flow. Get all the details by listening to the entire podcast.

If you’re listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s12e5-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

Download the Drama-Free Projects Guide PDF here: https://www.yes2yum.com/drama-free

You’ll also find other resources that Janine mentioned on the podcast on her website.

Episode Transcript

Note: Transcript is created automatically and may contain errors.

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Today we have Janine Arricchio on our podcast and her superpower is managing design projects. And her zone of genius is the inside job of managing your mindset for peak performance, thriving relationships, and maximizing happiness. And today we’re going to explore the outside in and inside out ways of creating drama-free projects. And wouldn’t we all love that? Welcome to the Creative Genius podcast, Janine.

Thank you, Gail. It’s great to be here with you and your listeners, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity. it’s so great. I love your LinkedIn post or listing that says you’re a joy master. So tell us about how you came up with that title. Yes. Well, my coaching teacher actually gave me that title because I was always so curious and asking people about what brought them joy.

And maybe you’ve heard the expression teach what you need to learn. Well, I am a joy seeker and a studier of joy because number one, for a while there, I forgot how to be joyful. And number two, because I’ve also seen this as the case for many other people, including designers and folks in our industry. And I believe our true nature and our essence is joy. And so I want to help others remember that too, while also giving them.

really effective tools to help their businesses run better and smoother. Well, anytime you can be a good project manager and have a good mindset, think things go a lot better, right? Yes, indeed they do. Well, how did you find this path for yourself? What inspired you? Well, Gail, I think it found me kind of, and isn’t that just how things are a lot of the time? It certainly was not a direct path, but the short version is that I

had a very strong people pleaser or pleaser saboteur, especially as a younger person. And I made a lot of big, important decisions really to please my dad. And so that was as a young person. Fast forward several decades and many great experiences and also some not so great ones. Let’s just say I was ready for a change. I was really unhappy in what I was doing. And it was clear to me that

personal and professional growth was what I was here to do at this time, both for myself and then to teach others. I love that. Well, why do you work with interior designers? two reasons. I’d say one is because what designers do is part science and part magic. And I just relate to that so much. That’s also that’s been kind of a thread in my life. And another is that

Beauty’s been a threat in my life. Beauty’s my number one core value, for sure. And I fell in love with the design community after going back to school and then working in the industry for 20 years. And you all are the beauty makers and I believe beauty can help heal the world. And so I want to help designers keep bringing beauty into the world. And I know firsthand how challenging this business can be and how it can dampen your joy at times.

So to be their best and their happiness and their happiest, I want to help designers sort of rediscover that joy and support them in that journey. Well, speaking of challenges, which ones are the ones that you think are the biggest ones facing designers right now? Yeah. Well, you know, this is a complex business. so I, I, you know, we could talk about that could be a whole nother podcast, right? But of the two.

Biggest ones that I’ve witnessed that kind of relate to this conversation. One is an internal challenge and one is an external challenge. And the internal one you referred to earlier, I you were called it the, I call it the inside job. And that is about, maintaining command of your mind and having a positive mindset, sort of responding versus reacting and doing that. when things are challenging and stressful.

And then the external one is having a well-oiled process, especially for managing projects. And I’ve seen many firms that don’t even have a process. And if they do, sometimes they’re not using it and both are problematic. And, you know, I love the, recent episode on policies, process and procedures. I can tell you’re kind of a process nerd like I am. And it’s not the sexy part of the business, but it’s so important.

It really is. for a lot of people that you mentioned that there are many designers who really don’t do that. They don’t do project management per se. They just do what they think is part of it. And the thing that I think is so interesting is that our job is really that. That’s what we do every single day is we have to manage projects. So if we don’t have a system for it, then how do we run our business? I guess how do we

get them interested in it? How do we encourage them to really embrace project management? What’s in it for them? Gosh, well, it impacts everything. It creates structure that sort of holds things together, right? And gives people, you know, your employees or team members guardrails and on what to do next. It impacts the many relationships that we have that you have as a designer.

whether it’s your employees or team members or vendors, it impacts your peace of mind, your staff’s motivation and buy-in and ownership of the process and ultimately the quality of your output, which impacts your reputation and your ability to get other projects. So I’d say those are some really important reasons to care. so what’s in it for them is more and better projects, more profit and that peace of mind.

which I think we all want at the end of the day. Well, we do want that peace of mind. Sometimes we don’t have that when we’re up at two in the morning and thinking about all the things aren’t going right on the project. Yes. So as far as that goes, what are the three biggest mistakes that designers make with project management? So, yeah, one I think is that, and this might be a little unconventional, but thinking of

the client as the center of the project instead of the project. And that leads to, and I can say more about that, but to me that leads to a second thing, which is I’ve seen a lot of people afraid to communicate the truth out of fear of either not being liked or maybe I won’t get another project or the client will fire me. And when you put the product, when you think of the project as your client,

then it kind of takes that charge out of, you know, having to kind of tiptoe around the client and maybe not speak the truth. So those are two big things. And the third I’d say is not having a plan or having one and not following it. So I just like to say plan the work and work the plan. And it’s not complicated, but it can be a hurdle to get over. So I’m going to add one.

for to do. this is one that I think is probably the people that do project management. You can go too far and get down into the weeds where there are too many details and you’re really getting into a procedure. But the procedure changes for the project throughout. And so really it should be more of a process. So there are definitely differences between process and project. Yes, and procedures.

So it definitely is something that I see a lot of people do where they just get to the point they’re trying to be so perfect that they’re trying to outline every detail. Well, you’ve mentioned it. that perfectionism, that is a saboteur. That waking up at 2 a.m. with the worry, that’s another one. And actually I created, I’d love to offer your guests a free download of a drama-free projects guide that I created that’s got four.

four key tips and four key tools that they can sort of put into action right away. And I think that link will be in your show notes. Yes, that’d be perfect. Well, tell us about your perspective and approach to project management. Yeah, so, you know, as I mentioned earlier, there’s the inside and the outside part. And that really is how I approach project management. And I mean, if it’s okay, think

An example might be the best way to highlight that. So I was working with a client who was struggling to keep projects on track and this was impacting, you know, the project and her team and the client was getting frustrated. We all know that, you know, everyone feeling kind of burnt out and project fatigue. They were running projects very seat of the pants, you know, not having a process to speak of. And so.

You know, first step is creating a simple, repeatable process with clear roles and responsibilities and accountability and documentation and timelines. I say simple because it doesn’t have to be complicated. think to your point earlier about getting in the weeds, sometimes we can overcomplicate it. So, you know, I think starting, creating that simple, repeatable process for your.

company and what’s going to work for you. And that might be a little different depending on different teams. So that’s step one. And then, like I said, plan the work and work the plan while remaining flexible. know, we can’t be too rigid in this business because that will also derail you. And then, you know, there’s the inside part of whoever’s leading the project and really, you know,

I can only speak from the designer’s seat. If they’re leading the project, there’s stuff going on also between your ears. And that’s the mindset part. And so figuring out one, what your role is in sort of the chaos and drama, because we all have a role. We all have ways that we go negative. You know, I’ve mentioned the pleaser and we talked about the perfectionist and there’s that judge or that imposter that comes out. So.

Knowledge is power and figuring out however you’re contributing to the issue is really important. Because at the end of the day, the only thing you really have control over is what’s going on inside your head and in your hula hoop. And when you can do that, then you can develop new behaviors and you can catch yourself and impact the project from the inside out. So when you’re coming into it,

with a more positive mindset and a calmer demeanor, that’s going to move out to everybody else in the project. Yeah, they sense it. If you’re frustrated or having a hard day, it really can’t come into the picture because it doesn’t help the team. Right. And there’s actually a neurobiological explanation for that. It’s called mirror neurons.

So everybody’s nervous system has these mirror neurons and you’ve probably experienced it when you’re with somebody who’s stressed or freaking out or upset. You might start to feel a little like a little shaky yourself. Or if you’re with someone who’s calm and confident and clear headed, you pick up on that too. So it’s just your nervous system doing its job, which is really fascinating to me. It really is. It’s contagious. know that the mirror neurons, it makes total sense though.

Is there a method or a framework you use to manage mindset? There is. And I’m so glad you asked about that because it’s really changed my life and others who I’ve taught it to. And I just have to say as a side note, I was so happy to see the last print issue of Business of Home was all about mindset and talked about the inside job on the cover. I was like, this is so awesome. Here we go. It’s just that.

The more people talk about it, the better. So I use a framework called Positive Intelligence that I did not create. It was created by a gentleman called name Shazad Shamin. And he did many, many years of research to create this. And it’s so beautiful because it’s so simple. And it actually works by teaching your brain how to respond differently. So rewiring.

neural pathways, which are the, you know, the well-worn grooves in our brain that make us respond or react in a certain way. And so they proved with functional MRIs hooked up to people’s brains that when they use this framework, the, the, fear, the survival brain where your saboteurs live actually quieted down and the other areas of your brain that are associated with positive emotions and

calm and creativity, those actually lit up. And so there’s really only four steps to this process. Would you want to hear them? Sure. Love to. Okay. So the first step is you catch yourself going negative, like having a negative emotion or a negative thought. And that’s when we’re being hijacked by that survival brain where the saboteurs lived, anything fear-based. So if you’re frustrated, irritable, stressed out, disappointed,

blaming, feeling shame, regret, any of those. You stop yourself and go, that’s, I’m, you know, being caught by my saboteurs. There are very simple exercises that you learn in this framework called a PQ rep that’s really just keying into any one of your senses. So getting out of your head and into your body. So you do a few minutes of those, which is what gets that neuropathway into your wiser brain.

And then there’s something called the sage perspective. This is step three, that you really have to believe that any situation can be turned into a gift or opportunity. Maybe not at that exact moment, maybe it’s, you know, for bigger things, it might take a while, but just knowing in your heart that, okay, somewhere in here, there’s a gift, there’s a gift of knowledge that’s gonna help me next time.

I can grow my power of empathy or curiosity or creativity and that’s going to help me the next time. Or maybe this problem is going to inspire me to do something I’ve been wanting to do or to redo a process or take some step. So there’s some gift in there. And then the step fourth step is creating that gift. It’s really taking your power back instead of feeling like an out of control kind of victim to a situation.

You know, taking that power back and being like, okay, there is a gift here that I can create. And that’s, that’s the four steps. the trick is like any. Any, anytime you’re trying to train yourself to do something new, you need to practice, right? Whether you’re learning a language or an instrument. so those exercises I mentioned about the senses, that’s, that’s something you do every day. It’s almost like physical.

fitness for your brain. It’s working out your brain. So that’s a daily practice. I can tell you these four steps and even that can certainly help. And then really getting the lasting positive change is by doing the practice. Well, it’s interesting because I’m glad you brought it up because when you said Savatour’s earlier, I thought, yeah, I went through his program. And I did. I,

can appreciate what you are sharing because it was a very good program. And it was a good reminder because I haven’t been doing those PQ reps. I love that. That’s great. How do you root out recurrent drama and stress? I’d love to know that. That sounds so amazing. That’s a pretty good promise, huh? It is. Well, so we were talking about the saboteurs. And if you believe this science or buy into this research that they’ve done,

It’s really those saboteurs and the thoughts and feelings coming from your survival brain that are causing all of your stress and the negativity. And so unfortunately, the human brain is wired for negativity three to one. It’s called a negativity bias. And that was for survival reasons. It was way more important for us to notice a danger, a threat.

you know, remembering the color of the poisonous mushroom versus the color of the pretty butterfly. And so we need to take, you know, we need to do something to overcome just how we’re naturally wired. And so none of this is to make anybody feel badly or like they’re doing something wrong. It’s just the human condition. So getting to know those saboteurs is really step one to being able to

do things differently and change and minimize that stress. And in fact, I can also provide you with a link to the saboteur assessment, which you probably took when you took the class. That’s like, that’s the self-awareness, like, okay, what’s going on here with me? And once you understand the saboteurs and can apply this process, your stress will diminish. And it can be fun if you have a colleague or a trusted

somebody to take the saboteur assessment with and kind of talk about the results because it’s really nothing to be embarrassed about. Like I said, we all do this. It’s really kind of stopping at the source. Interesting. You mentioned mental fitness and I would love for you to define that. Yes, happy to. Mental fitness is your capacity to handle life’s challenges with a positive

response or positive mindset rather than getting stressed or upset or rather than a negative one. It’s essentially having command over your mind. I love that. Yeah. What’s the difference between mental fitness and mindset? Great question. They really kind of go hand in hand. Being mentally fit gives you a positive mindset, right? So mental fitness is this state you can attain.

of being in command of your mind. And so a more positive mindset is the result of being more mentally fit. Interesting. Those are so close, but it’s such a big difference. Yes. And how do we achieve joy and how does that relate to mental fitness? Well, first, I guess I’d like to define joy and how I’m defining it. I’m not talking about, know, 24 seven, you’re skipping down the sidewalk.

know, whistling and throwing flowers around. Joy to me is about being in a place of positive emotion more often and actually at 75 % of the time, at least 75 % of the time, but on balance, being more in emotions like gratitude and wonder and awe and contentment and hope and optimism and inspiration more often than those other

you know, negative emotions that kind of rattled off earlier. So that’s how I’m defining joy. How that relates to mental fitness is, you know, when you’re mentally fit, you, that survival brain is quieter and which allows you to have fewer of those negative emotions and more of the positive ones. And so right there, you know, it’s really about just quieting that chatter.

And the saboteurs unfortunately are very loud and that more, that wiser, higher self, that sage of yours that’s in all of us is a, ironically, it’s more of a whisper, right? So we have to quiet down that committee in our head so that we can get the inspiration and gosh, for designers, be more in creative flow. I mean, when you’re…

you know, I don’t know about you, I’ve never done my best work when I’m stressed out, when I’ve been up at 3 a.m. ruminating, when I’m beating myself up to be perfect, or when I’m trying to please everyone around me and have run myself ragged. It’s like, no, we have to be in a higher place to really let that creativity flow. So it’s really important for designers. I mean, to me, joy, creativity, know, love, they’re all the same.

Well, how do you stay so joyful? I practice. It’s a priority to me. I make it a priority. I do not want to go back to the old ways, at least not for long. know, first of all, big asterisks. I have bad days. I go negative, you know, all this stuff, but I, but I don’t do it for as long anymore. I can bounce back a lot quicker and I can see myself. so, you know, it’s daily practice of just.

waking up every morning and making a decision to, for my thoughts and actions and behaviors to be more positive and that I can catch myself when they’re not. yeah, that’s my, it’s really making it a priority. and I loved too how you mentioned.

about your your morning of, you five to nine is for you and to fill up your cup. I mean, mine’s six to 10, kinda, but same thing. And that’s something I stress to all my clients is about, you know, have a morning practice, whatever it is. Don’t pick up your phone first thing, unless it’s to start a meditation app. You know, don’t jump on email right away. Write, pray, meditate, whatever, go for a walk, be in nature, whatever it is that fills you up.

So, so important, so important. Well, I think the mindset cannot be overstated how important it is to all of us. And if you’re not in a good mindset, then your day doesn’t go well and your work absolutely, as you said, does not go well. It just doesn’t. And it bleeds out and sometimes it’s hard to get out of that. You know, it’s like a downward spiral sometimes and you need something to pull you up out of there. And it’s not.

really not to shame anybody if you fall off the rails and have a bad day. It’s like pick yourself up, dust yourself off, but just knowing that one that you can, that you have agency, that you can kind of snap yourself out of it and that you can do it over and over again and over time. Once you’ve felt sort of that more extended periods of calm and ease and just groundedness,

You won’t want to, it feels really icky to go back to that other place. Well, and I think for me, I learned meditation 10 years ago and that is something that I incorporate every day. Yep. And it’s so important and people may not think of it as an important part of their day, but it’s a really important part of just getting yourself centered. A thousand percent. I don’t get out of bed without meditating first. It’s just a thing.

Now, and I do it in bed because I know once I get out of bed, it’s like the dog, the cat, you know, yeah. Exactly. I love to end our interviews with the three things that you do or suggest to be more joyful. Okay. I would say, get that morning routine that we just talked about. Even start with five minutes.

And don’t worry about you’re doing meditation wrong. There’s no such thing as doing meditation wrong. It’s a practice. And if you picked up a violin and tried to play, you wouldn’t be good out of the gate. you know, you just keep doing it. I would say there’s that, the knowledge is power that I’ve mentioned a few times. I would check out that saboteur assessment or some other way.

to really get to know what’s going on inside of you that’s keeping you from the joy. And that includes also, you know, just getting to know, love and trust yourself. What are your wants and needs? And whether we’re a busy professional or a mom or, you know, a parent or whatever’s distracting us, we often forget about ourselves and filling up our joy cup.

And then I would say there’s a trick. I mentioned that negativity bias, that three to one negativity bias. If you intentionally want to improve a relationship or improve your mindset even for every negative thought you have, add three positive ones. Or for every, if you have a challenging relationship for every sort of negative interaction.

create three positive ones. And a positive one could be a smile and a thank you. These aren’t huge, you know, huge gestures you have to make. But really being intentional, try it for a day, you know, and you’ll really be surprised at how often you do have a negative thought or feeling and it’s, again, you’re just human. So those would be the three things that I would say.

Yes, I think that’s great. And don’t judge yourself because you’re human. absolutely. the judge is the master saboteur. that keeps you, gosh, that keeps you from being your best. so just whatever you need to do to, can joke around with that voice. I named my judge. My judge is Cruella. And so whenever we judge ourselves, we judge others and we judge situations. And whenever she rears her ugly head,

I can kind of play with her now and be like, there you are. What took you so long? You’re just, that’s a lie, whatever you’re saying. So important. That’s my cat’s nickname, Cruella. Her name is Carmella. cute. She decides to bite me, she’s Cruella. Her alter ego, that’s adorable. Exactly. I think she is.

Well, it was a pleasure having you on and thank you so much for all your great wisdom and be sure to download the free items that Janine mentioned. And again, I hope we have a chance to meet sometime in person. That would be lovely. This was so much fun. I could talk about this for days. me too. I love this topic. Yeah, me too. Just let it be easy, everybody. That’s my parting thought. I love that. Thank you. Thank you.

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