The Universe Is Hiring: Finding Purpose and Taking Action with Anniston Riekstins

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice

Episode: The Universe Is Hiring: Finding Purpose and Taking Action with Anniston Riekstins
Host: Ryan Alford
Date: March 10, 2026

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode centers on finding genuine purpose, building a life aligned with your true self, and the crucial role of taking action instead of just learning or wishing. Anniston Blair Riekstins—leadership coach, SVP, podcast co-host, and author of The Universe Is Hiring—shares her personal journey from advertising exec to coach and author, offering insight on integrating all aspects of your identity, overcoming self-doubt, and moving from self-development consumption to meaningful, real-world application.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Path of Self-Discovery & Integration

• Early Questions & Double Life:
  • Anniston describes how, even in her early 20s in a "dream" ad agency job, she felt restless and started questioning the path she was on.
  • "I started asking questions, well, what do I really want to do and what am I good at? …My path was being created out of necessity for myself and I became the student. I was a student of myself." (01:00)
• Living Authentically:
  • She realized she was living a divided life—corporate leader by day, spiritual coach at home. The fear of what colleagues would think made her suppress her whole self in professional life.
  • Her husband Rudy’s example—showing up authentically at work and seeing extraordinary results—gave her the push to start embracing her true self everywhere.
  • "I know I'll never get where I want to go unless I can start being who I want to be. And that means everywhere. Not just at home." (11:48)

2. The Myths of Time and Productivity

• Challenging Your Story About Time:
  • Anniston and Ryan both emphasize that 'not having time' is often an excuse, not a reality.
  • "We make the time for what we want to make it for… You subconsciously start to make that a valid reason why you don't do it, but it doesn't necessarily make it valid.” – Ryan (04:03)
  • Anniston shares how writing her book meant sacrificing late-night pleasures for pre-dawn work, illustrating that choice defines priorities:
  • "When I was writing this book, …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." (04:30)

3. From Consumption to Action: The Personal Development Trap

• Learning is Not Enough:
  • Both speakers are candid about the “guru economy”—people endlessly learning but not applying knowledge.
  • "I was learning so much, I was consuming, consuming so much information. But nothing was really changing in my life… And it's because I was missing a really important element, which is actually taking something from the book, applying it, experiencing it." – Anniston (06:50)
  • "Ideas don't create change. And hope is not a strategy." – Ryan (08:02)

4. The Book: The Universe Is Hiring

• What to Expect: Actionable Self-Work
  • Anniston describes the book as hands-on, experience-driven. Every chapter includes exercises designed to drive genuine change—not just inspiration.
  • Example: “Authentic Self Resume”—an exercise challenging readers to draft a resume, not about their career, but their authentic self, strengths, and unique value.
  • “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.” (15:37)
• Rediscovering Forgotten Dreams:
  • Anniston wants the book to help people reconnect with passions and dreams they may have dismissed as unrealistic.
  • "My goal in the beginning of the book is really to help bring people back into who they are at their core. And then from there… how can you start today being who you came here to be and fulfilling the role that I believe that we all have uniquely." (15:37)

5. Core Obstacles: Self-Doubt and Fear of the Unknown

• Root Causes of Inaction:
  • Anniston points to self-doubt and discomfort with uncertainty as the two big blocks to purposeful action.
  • "Some people, they're just naturally unsure of themselves, and then some people just don't like the unknown." – Ryan (17:38)
  • Anniston frames how internalizing your unique “gift” would change how you show up:
  • "If you believed that, like, how would you show up, 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." (18:06)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the book’s genesis:

  • "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 a present that landed in my brain. I can't take credit." – Anniston (02:39)

• Anniston on self-application:

  • "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." (06:50)

• On living with integrity:

  • "I know I'll never get where I want to go unless I can start being who I want to be. And that means everywhere. Not just at home." – Anniston (11:48)

• Ryan’s praise for authenticity:

  • "There's something super credible… 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." (14:30)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Self-Discovery & Building a Purposeful Life:
  [01:00] – [04:30]

• The Real Cost of Time and Compartmentalizing Priorities
  [04:30] – [06:23]

• Learning vs. Doing: Action as the Missing Ingredient
  [06:23] – [08:02]

• Tackling Self-Doubt and Integrating Your Authentic Self
  [08:19] – [11:48]

• Case Study: Rudy’s Unapologetic Authenticity at Work
  [11:48] – [13:55]

• What to Expect from “The Universe is Hiring” (Book Deep Dive)
  [15:37] – [17:38]

• Overcoming Self-Doubt & Fear of Uncertainty
  [17:38] – [19:05]

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Links, Resources, and Where to Find Anniston

• Podcast: “Empowered Life” (Radcast Network)
  [19:05]
• Book: The Universe Is Hiring — available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and other online retailers [19:31]
• Follow Anniston: Instagram – @AnistonBlairRickSteins
• Website for more details: ryanisright.com [19:59]

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Overall Tone & Takeaway

Casual, candid, and motivational—Ryan and Anniston cut through self-help platitudes and challenge listeners to stop waiting, start integrating their aspirations with their actions, and discover what truly makes them come alive. Fear, time excuses, and passive learning are debunked with practical exercises and real talk. The message is clear: the universe isn’t waiting—so it’s time to show up and get hired.

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Transcript

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[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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, a 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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

This is right about now with Ryan Alford. A Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to right 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 Addison. Rick Steins. Edison. What's up?

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

I am so happy to be here. I've been really excited about this conversation

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

we all want to get hired at certain points. If the universe is hiring, I want to get hired. You got to 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 it was. I hear a lot of titles of books where I go. I've, like, I've heard it a thousand times. I have not heard that one. And it really sunk with me. Bravo.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

Bravo. Aniston is one of the co hosts of the In Powered Life podcast on the Radcast Network and also at SVP at a large company. She's a leadership coach. She's kind of a do it all. How do you keep it all together, Addison?

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

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, don't have time for that. I can't get to that. But we make time for what we 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.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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 4am and 6am in the morning because that was the only time I knew I was gonna have a quiet house. That's when I'm at 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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

You have to sort of compartmentalize these things and compartmentalize the steps that it take 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.

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[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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[Ryan Alford (Host)]

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[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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[Ryan Alford (Host)]

We could 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'm learning. I've got all this stuff, okay, when are you going to do it? What are you going to put it to play? That's a lot of your kind of mantra here, isn't it?

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

100%. 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, 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 ask 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 common. Comfortable 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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

Ideas don't create change. And hope is not a strategy.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

That's right.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

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 journeys, Some of those things that maybe built that path or that mind map for you.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

I started asking questions, I would say, in my early 20s, big questions, because I felt really lost. And I was looking around. I'd 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, myself. And I became the student. I was a student of myself. And it was through this process that led me to understanding, a 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 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, what 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, to start showing up and to face that fear.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

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[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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 gonna 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? I 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, 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 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 like, 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.

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[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

This path,

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

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 adency 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 an agency, Agency meetings. I was like, that was totally the vibe I got when you got on. You reminded me of New York ad 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 Written 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 breathe and develop 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.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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, 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 and I 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 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 resume 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 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. 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 into who they are at their core. And then from there give them a roadmap and 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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

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? 9 out of 10 times? Is it just self doubt or is it an inability to take action that 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.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

It's a different kind of fear. To answer your question, it's definitely both. You hit two of the core obstacles that 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, 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, 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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

What about the podcast? Everything else you guys are doing with the Empower University, where's all that? Where can we find it?

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

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 who wants 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.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

Thank you.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

I would say you can find me on Instagram, Aniston Blair, Rick Steens, you can find us an Empowered life podcast. And we'll be keeping everyone updated with all the great announcements. The book is available on Amazon, on Barnes and Noble ibooks, pretty much anywhere you can find your books online. And then it will be Anywhere that

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

books are sold, the universe is hiring. Discover the role you were born to fill. Aniston. Rick Staines. Aniston, it's been a pleasure. Loved having you on.

[Aniston Blair Rick Steins]

Thank you so much, Ryan. This has been awesome. Awesome. And I'm just so honored to be here. So thank you.

[Ryan Alford (Host)]

Thank you. Ryan is right. Dot com. That's where you'll find all the highlight clips, the links to all of Aniston's stuff. Look, go get the book. You know you want it, you need it, you gotta 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 reason. We got guests like Aniston. Thank you so much for making us number one. We'll see you next time. All right.

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.

[Grainger Announcer]

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