Right About Now with Ryan Alford - The Universe Is Hiring: Finding Purpose and Taking Action with Anniston Riekstins

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

In this episode of Right About Now, Ryan Alford sits down with leadership coach and author Anniston Riekstins to talk about purpose, personal growth, and the mindset shifts that help people take action in their lives. Anniston shares the inspiration behind her book The Universe Is Hiring and explains why many people spend years consuming personal development content without actually applying it. The conversation explores how self-awareness, service, and small intentional actions can create real change. Ryan and Anniston also discuss how discovering your unique strengths and leaning into what truly lights you up can open new opportunities—both personally and professionally. Topics Covered • The concept behind The Universe Is Hiring • Why personal development only works when you apply it • Re-thinking your relationship with time and priorities • The “authentic self-resume” exercise for discovering your strengths • Overcoming fear and self-doubt when pursuing purpose • Why fulfillment comes from growth and progress • How service can shift your mindset and create momentum • Empowering individuals within organizations Connect With Guest & Host Anniston Riekstins Author — The Universe Is Hiring Co-Host — The InPowered Life Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annistonblairriekstins/ Podcast: The InPowered Life Podcast Book: The Universe Is Hiring: Discover the Role You Were Born to Fill Ryan Alford Host — Right About Now Website: https://ryanisright.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford

I started asking questions, well, what do I really want to do? And what am I good at? And I started unraveling a lot of things. I know a lot of people in their mid-30s. That's where those questions really start coming. But for me, it hit me early. And it started me on this journey of self-discovery. My path was being created out of necessity for myself. And I became the student. I was a student of myself. And it was through this process that led me to understanding of desire to coach and to give back because I think that's the natural path. You learn and you apply and then you want to turn around and you want to teach it. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production.

We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cash and checks? Well, it starts right about now. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to Write 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. That's why I'm excited for today's guest, who's actually one of the stars on our podcast network. She is. Anderson, Rick Steins.

Anderson, what's up? I am so happy to be here. I've been really excited about this conversation. We all want to get hired at certain points. If the universe is hiring, I want to get hired. You got a book, the universe is hiring. We'll talk about that. I did love the title.

I had to get that out. I was like, yes, because I hear a lot of titles of books where I go, I've heard it a thousand times. I have not heard of that one and it really sunk with me. Bravo. Well, thank you. And 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 just like, it was like a present that landed in my brain. I can't take credit. I don't know where it came from, but thank you. Bravo. Aniston is one of the co-host of the in-powered life podcast on the Radcast Network and also at

SVP and a large company. She's a leadership coach. She's kind of to do it all. How do you keep it all together, Anderson? 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 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 gone through this process over the last 15 years of really arranging my plate with just the things that really light me up, like spending time with my kids and Rudy and my job, but also the things that really fulfill me, like writing and podcasting and coaching and you create 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 have this firm belief that we make the time for what we want to make it for.

I'm not belittling anyone or judging anyone when I say this because I do think you nailed it with the story thing. We create these narratives and we convince ourselves like, oh, just don't have time for that. I can't get to that. But we make time for what we want. want to make time for. And everything else gets kind of bucketed over here. You subconsciously start to make that a valid reason why you don't do it. But it doesn't necessarily make it valid. Questioning your relationship with time is an important exercise that every single person should do because it becomes a scapegoat. And for instance, if there's something that was really,

really important to you, you would carve out the time. And it might come as a cost of something else. When I was writing this book, I wrote it between the hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. in the morning. Because 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 8.30. The cost was late night Netflix. It was going out for late nights and late dinners. I just couldn't have both.

But this was more important to me. So it was a choice. You have to sort of compartmentalize these things. And compartmentalize the steps that it takes to get it done. And this is what I love about. the book and about what I'm sensing from you. I'm an action guy. We can talk about shit all you want, but let's start doing things.

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. I've got all this stuff. Okay.

When are you going to do it? When are you going to put it to play? 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 took a speed reading course just so I could read more. I'm that kid. I was the nerd who loves school. But a point came where I was learning so much. I was consuming so much information, but nothing was really changing in my life. I would read a really great personal development book. And then I'd be like, oh, my God, I feel so great.

And then asked 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 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. It 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. 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 kind of wasted space. It's just an idea. But ideas don't create change. Ideas don't create change and hope is not a

strategy. That's right. Two of my favorite sayings. When you write a book, you get these impressions over time, you're pulling from themes and things that have helped you that ultimately did it. What career journey, some of those things that maybe built that path or that mind map for you? I started asking questions, I would say, in my early 20s, big questions because I felt really lost and I was looking around. I had found myself working at this amazing advertising agency right out of college. It was the dream job. It was what I had worked so long for.

I remember one day I was sitting there and I was looking around. 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. 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. I started asking questions, well, what do I really want to do? And what am I good at? And I started unraveling a lot of things. I know a lot of people in their mid-30s, that's where those questions really start coming. But for me, it hit me early. And it started me on this journey of self-discovery. My path was being created out of necessity for myself. And I became the student. I was

was a student of myself, and it was through this process that led me to understanding of desire to coach and to give back, because I think that's the natural path. 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, because it's just that natural thing within us. But what I couldn't grapple with is I've always been very career-minded and I've been successful in business. And yet, on the flip side, at home, behind closed doors, I would was miss spirituality, married to a coach. We were hosting coaching sessions in our home for years, 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 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. And 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 what will they say, oh my God, they're going to fire me.

They're going to think I'm a crack. 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 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 to face that fear. Hey guys. If you've ever built a website before, you know how quickly it can turn into a time suck. Recently, I've been playing around with Wix's new hybrid editor called Wix Harmony.

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Pretty much all the stuff you actually need once the site's live. If you're building anything right now, a side project, brand, business, whatever, Wix Harmony honestly makes it easier to get out of your own way and start making stuff happen. Go to Wix.com backslash Harmony. That's Wix.com backslash Harmony. Start your website today. Thankfully, someone came in, well, someone, that person being my husband, showed me how to do this because at the time I was working as a director at a very large company

and they head hunted 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 bring all of these spiritual ideas into. I mean, it's very corporate. I was like, so you might have to just be thoughtful of what you're saying. And he was like, I have no intention of doing that. 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? That was his wife. To my surprise, when he came in in all of his glory and all of his rudiness, he approached these sales teams as he would as a high performance coach and as a spiritual teacher. And it worked. People loved him.

The revenue went through the roof. The company was having gains like it had never seen. And 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 worse. 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. And that was the big turning point for

me. When I received the idea for this book, to your point, I received it. I was like one of those things. I was like, huh, and I wrote it all down. I was like, that's such an interesting concept. I'll think about that later. 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 you've really tweaked something within me? 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 work with? And I was like, no, but I could write a book. And I already have the whole outline because I got it in a download and like a download one day. Long story short, yes, this was the path. And it was certainly a path. And I was a student of the path. And I still am a student of this path. The Empowered Life is on our network.

Rudy and Aniston show was amazing. The moment we got on today, and Rudy and I have a lot more contact than you and I, and we started talking, I came up in the ad agency business. There's a familiarity with Aniston that's this, like, badass advertising person that I would go to another agency and be like, God, she's a badass. I respect the hell out of her. And it was kind of like that mutual respect thing, because you know how it is. Agencies to agencies when you're in agency agency meetings.

I was like, that was totally the vibe I got when you got on. You reminded me of New York. agency, badass. That's the highest compliment I can give you. I didn't know you were on the marketing and ad side. That was fascinating. There's a lot of books that get rid and a lot of stuff. And it's certainly typically by subject matter experts. There's something super credible and interesting when someone has lived and breathed and developed these concepts through their own personal development. I think that makes this highly credible because you're almost your biggest case study, perhaps 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 who am I and 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, 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. One of the exercises is it's called an authentic self-resumé because I've seen thousands of resumes in my time.

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, about who you are authentically and what your passions are, what your unique strengths are, what is your unique selling proposition? You bring to the table a gift that you have that maybe nobody else does. People have a hard time with this. They have a really hard time with it because they don't know. 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. My goal in the beginning of the book is really to help bring people back and to who they are at their core. And then from there, give them a roadmap and a step of like, how can you start today being who you came here to be? and fulfilling the role 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. When I hear you say people finding their purpose, some people are confident so maybe it's not self-doubt 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? Those are two very different things. They sound similar, but they're different. Some people, they're just naturally unsure of themselves.

And then some people just don't like the unknown. It's a different kind of fear. To answer your question, it's definitely both. You hit two of the core obstacles, but people have. One of the things in terms of self-doubt, you knew for a fact, if someone said to you, you have a gift that nobody else has, nobody else will ever have for the rest of,

eternity. 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, when you share this gift, it is going to light you up in a way that nothing outside of you can. No amount of money, no amount of things, no amount of relationships, but this. Number one, would you not walk a little straighter? Like, huh, I got this gift. If you believed that, like 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 what about the podcast everything else you guys are doing with the empower university where's all that where can we find it first of all i just want to thank you ryan and your amazing company we had been at our

podcast a couple of years before we met you and the team and you guys have assisted us in terms of supporting our growth with this podcast has been extraordinary and what you do is really such a gift to the world and so anyone who's listening to this who is he wants to to launch a podcast or has a podcast, I really hope that you guys reach out because it's incredible your service. So thank you for that. Thank you. I would say you can find me on Instagram, Aniston Blair, Rick Steens. You can find us an Empower Life podcast and we'll be keeping everyone updated with all the great announcements. The book is available on Amazon, on Barnes & Noble, eyebooks pretty much anywhere. You can find your books online and then it will be anywhere that

books are sold. The universe is hiring, discover the role you were born to fill Annison Ricksteins. Aniston, it's been a pleasure. Love having you on. Thank you so much, Ryan. This has been awesome. And I'm just so honored to be here. So thank you. Thank you. Ryan isright.com. That's where you'll find all the highlight clips, the links to all of Anderson stuff. Look, go get the book.

You know you want it. You need it. You got to take it. No hammer. You got all the softness, but it's the truth. She's bringing it to you. We love it. We love having them on the network. And we're number one for a guest like Aniston. Thank you so much for make this number one. We'll see you next time.

I write about now. This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.