“Happiness in life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
One of my good friends once asked me, “How did you develop The SWEG (Steady Wisdom Empowers Greatness) Effect Workbook?” My answer? At first, it was unknowingly a work in progress. But as life went on, I realized that everyone needed one key thing to thrive.
What is that one thing?
The answer: You must believe in who you are to thrive in life. And there is no better time to discover that invaluable truth than when you are young.
Life experiences pave the way. In my case, these experiences included my childhood and teenage years, career, marriage, and raising children. The most challenging phase? Those exaggerated thoughts and emotions during my pre-teen and teenage years. The mishaps, challenges, friendships, academic pressures, competitions—combined with the inability to fully embrace life due to my own thoughts. Exaggerated, mostly false thoughts.
As a self-conscious teenager, I often wondered: Had I truly known who I was? Had I possessed a strong, positive belief in myself, how much more could I have accomplished? How many more opportunities would I have seized? How many more friendships could I have formed? How much more confident would I have felt? What other experiences could I have embraced?
If only I had the mindset to see challenges as learning experiences rather than roadblocks, I could have navigated life’s ups and downs with greater resilience.
The transitional years—elementary to middle school, middle to high school, high school to college, college to young adulthood, and beyond—are pivotal. During these years, knowing who you are and understanding how to navigate your thoughts and beliefs are crucial. Mental skills, self-awareness, a solid belief system, and a secure identity are must-haves. Looking back, I can only imagine how much more I could have experienced and enjoyed had I developed these skills earlier.
My journey toward confidence and career success began at the University of Tampa, where I studied exercise science. During my internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab Unit, I worked alongside doctors, nurses, and physical therapists. I observed open-heart bypass surgeries, conducted stress tests, and assisted with rehabilitation protocols. But what fascinated me most were the patients—their life stories and the events that shaped them.
When someone dies and is brought back to life, as happened to one of my patients, their perspective on life changes.
Fast forward a few years—I moved to Arizona and became a personal trainer, working with people from all walks of life. My mindset was shifting, and as a result, my life was falling into place. I worked with kids, teens, adults, athletes, individuals struggling with eating disorders, those battling obesity, and those at peak physical fitness. Eventually, I was promoted to Fitness Director at a prestigious club.
At first, participation was low. But I introduced programs tailored to the clientele, and word spread. The experience was incredibly rewarding. I trained professional athletes, top executives, sports team owners, and even a Supreme Court Justice.
I asked each client the same question: How did you become who you are today?
Their answers were fascinating. Their success didn’t come without setbacks.
Years later, I got married, and soon after, I had children. Raising them was an education in itself—a journey filled with joy, challenges, emotions, victories, failures, heartbreaks, disappointments, achievements, mistakes, and invaluable lessons. It was the most fulfilling, sometimes rocky, rollercoaster ride. Along the way, I learned strategies that helped me—and my children—grow.
The greatest lesson?
When we, as human beings, truly believe in ourselves—when we define our core values and unapologetically live by them—we become more self-aware and confident. When we shift our mindset to see failures, challenges, and setbacks as opportunities to grow, we take one step closer to becoming the best version of ourselves.
Developing skills such as perspective—understanding and respecting viewpoints different from our own—strengthens emotional intelligence. The ability to transform negative thoughts into positive, productive ones is a crucial life skill. And cultivating gratitude enhances mental well-being.
After years of both personal experience and research from experts, I developed The SWEG Effect Workbook. It’s designed to help young people discover who they are through thought-provoking questions, engaging communication games, and practical mindset strategies. The goal? To equip the young people in your life with the skills and habits to help them thrive.
And when that happens, The SWEG Effect takes hold—like a domino effect. You naturally surround yourself with others who have also gained the wisdom that empowers greatness.
ABOUT THE SWEG EFFECT WORKBOOK
A WORKBOOK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE PERSISTENT TO BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF THEMSELVES.
Steady Wisdom Empowers Greatness! The SWEG Effect workbook enables young people to discover and create their own empowering identity for the purpose to thrive during traditionally transitional and informative years. Each page consists of either age appropriate, thought-provoking questions, things to observe, games or fun facts that will result in the ultimate self-awareness and self-assurance every child and teenager must gain to feel confident, overcome challenges, and live their best life.
The SWEG Effect workbook is a tool to learn all about you. Every question and activity deepen your knowledge about yourself. From the very first page you will be asked strategic questions to help you choose your individual core values and how to take action to live by them each day. As you learn about who you are, you are much less likely to allow others to affect how or what you believe about yourself to be true. Your ability to communicate improves, your self-awareness becomes clearer, and your mental strength and emotional endurance heightens.
The skills from this workbook include non-verbal communication, observations through facial expressions, reading body language, how to positively self-talk, simple goal setting, the true meaning of focus, how to choose the five highest quality people to surround yourself with daily, how to overcome and learn from challenges as though they are speed bumps and not roadblocks, and more.
At the completion of the workbook, a young person will be part of an admirable group. All of which have their own personalized and empowering identity and can call themselves a SWEG – someone who has steady wisdom and empowers greatness. It is exciting to know who you are. It is priceless to feel confident. It is powerful to know you have purpose, and a choice to live your best life.
The skills from this workbook include non-verbal communication, observations through facial expressions, reading body language, how to positively self-talk, simple goal setting, the true meaning of focus, how to choose the five highest quality people to surround yourself with daily, how to overcome and learn from challenges as though they are speed bumps and not roadblocks, and more.
At the completion of the workbook, a young person will be part of an admirable group. All of which have their own personalized and empowering identity and can call themselves a SWEG – someone who has steady wisdom and empowers greatness. It is exciting to know who you are. It is priceless to feel confident. It is powerful to know you have purpose, and a choice to live your best life.