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Ever meet someone who somehow made you rethink something you've believed for years? That was Lisa Tahir for me. We sat down to talk about confidence - as you do for a podcast about confidence - and so…

Ever meet someone wh…

Ever meet someone who somehow made you rethink something you've believed for years? That was Lisa Tahir for me. We sat down to talk about confidence - as you do for a podcast about confidence - and somewhere along the way we ended up talking about forgiveness, old wounds, the stories we tell ourselves and why some of us are still carrying around emotional baggage that should've been left curbside a long time ago. Not other people's baggage, by the way. Our own. Personally, I think a lot of us secretly believe that being tough on ourselves is a virtue. We think the criticism keeps us sharp and …

I get a ton of pitches from coaches, therapists, and Experts but my guest for this episode stopped me cold: he works with anxious attachment, and he framed it in a way that made me think, this is abou…

I get a ton of pitch…

I get a ton of pitches from coaches, therapists, and experts but my guest for this episode stopped me cold: he works with anxious attachment, and he framed it in a way that made me think, this is about confidence too. So I invited him on the podcast. Trevor didn’t come to this work from some abstract theory. His life exploded first: a high-profile role at Tesla disappeared in a massive layoff. At almost the same time, a skiing accident left him with a broken jaw and the relationship he thought would last forever collapsed.  Professional confidence? Rock solid. Personal confidence? Shattered…

So picture this: three broken heating systems, all at once, all different energy sources—propane, solar, oil—and one with a ticking oil tank disaster that could have exploded. Six thousand dollars…

So picture this: thr…

So picture this: three broken heating systems, all at once, all different energy sources—propane, solar, oil—and one with a ticking oil tank disaster that could have exploded. Six thousand dollars later, and yeah, I was lucky. Sure, it could’ve been worse, but the frustration, the Stress, the sheer ugh of it? That didn’t disappear. Stack ranking our misery can give us a helpful perspective but it doesn’t erase the suck.  And here’s the confidence lesson buried in that suck: life will throw chaos at you, no matter how prepared, no matter how smart, no matter how experienced. Confid…

Hey, fellow confidence Crusaders! I’m so excited to share this episode because I got to reconnect with my longtime friend and ACI-certified confidence coach, Annet van Duinen. We talked about her in…

Hey, fellow confiden…

Hey, fellow confidence Crusaders! I’m so excited to share this episode because I got to reconnect with my longtime friend and ACI-certified confidence coach, Annet van Duinen. We talked about her incredible transformation—and wow, the glow is real.  When we first met, she was quiet, thoughtful, and introverted. Today? She’s fully embraced her true self, radiating confidence in a way that’s both wild and sensitive—her term, wild sensitive. Annette’s journey started with her ACI confidence training, which flipped her perspective on how she sees herself. By exploring her traits as bo…

If I had something on my face, like smeared makeup, or a bit of schmutz on my glasses, would you tell me? Or would you awkwardly smile, hope someone else says something, and let me walk around all day…

If I had something o…

If I had something on my face, like smeared makeup, or a bit of schmutz on my glasses, would you tell me? Or would you awkwardly smile, hope someone else says something, and let me walk around all day wondering why nobody said a word?  I mean, it’s such a weird social code, right? We freeze, we hem and haw, we sugarcoat or do nothing at all. And the wild part is we’re the same people who get frustrated when no one tells us when we look off! We just talked in an earlier episode about getting criticism— how personal it feels, and how fast our brains spin when someone points something out.…

Let me just say this upfront—if you’ve ever side-eyed anything that sounds even a little “mindset-y,” you’re in good company. I went into this conversation with executive coach and neuroling…

Let me just say this…

Let me just say this upfront—if you’ve ever side-eyed anything that sounds even a little “mindset-y,” you’re in good company. I went into this conversation with executive coach and neurolinguistic programming (NLP) practitioner Curtis McCollum curious… but not fully sold. NLP, hypnotherapy, mental emotional release—it’s a lot of language. What pulled me in though, wasn’t the terminology. It was what he was actually getting at underneath it. And that’s that a lot of what’s driving your confidence—or quietly messing with it—isn’t happening in the moment. It’s old. I…

Let me ask you something you probably don’t want to answer out loud: how much of your day is spent managing how you’re perceived? Not just the obvious stuff. I’m talking about the subtle edits. …

Let me ask you somet…

Let me ask you something you probably don’t want to answer out loud: how much of your day is spent managing how you’re perceived? Not just the obvious stuff. I’m talking about the subtle edits. The email you rewrote three times. The comment you didn’t make in the meeting. The laugh you forced because it felt easier than not. It adds up. And most of it has nothing to do with who you actually are. And then what? You feel like a fake or a phony or somehow less than because you’re constantly being pulled in two directions: do you want to be liked or do you want to be real? Because those …

If you've ever left a conversation thinking, well, that went sideways faster than I expected, this episode is for you. My guest Jen Mueller has spent years in sports broadcasting. On live TV, in locke…

If you've ever left …

If you've ever left a conversation thinking, well, that went sideways faster than I expected, this episode is for you. My guest Jen Mueller has spent years in sports broadcasting. On live TV, in locker rooms full of egos with just seconds to nail the interview. One misstep and the whole thing blows up.  Her first NFL locker room? The Dallas Cowboys in the late 90s. They yelled in her face, made it clear she wasn't welcome and she had to decide every single day if showing up was worth it. I bet most of you, at some point in time have felt something similar, whether in the parking lot outside y…

You know what we don’t talk enough about?  Nasty feedback.  Not constructive feedback. Not “well-meaning suggestions.” I mean the kind that lands sideways, feels personal and makes your stomac…

You know what we don…

You know what we don’t talk enough about?  Nasty feedback.  Not constructive feedback. Not “well-meaning suggestions.” I mean the kind that lands sideways, feels personal and makes your stomach drop before your brain can catch up. The kind that instantly puts you on the defense, even if a tiny part of you wonders whether there’s something in there worth paying attention to. This episode came out of years of being on stages, publishing work, putting ideas into the world and inevitably getting feedback that stings. No matter how much praise surrounds it, a sharp comment still finds a w…

If you’ve been in my orbit for a while, you know I’m picky about gratitude. Most of what’s out there feels fluffy, performative or totally disconnected from how confidence actually works in the …

If you’ve been in …

If you’ve been in my orbit for a while, you know I’m picky about gratitude. Most of what’s out there feels fluffy, performative or totally disconnected from how confidence actually works in the real world. So when I say this conversation stopped me in my tracks, I mean it. My guest is author, speaker, and creator of the GRASP method for confident leadership, Tara LaFon Gooch—and she didn’t come to this work from some polished, camera-ready place. She came to it terrified of visibility, of speaking of being seen at all. What drew me to her isn’t just that she teaches gratitude, but …

Let’s talk about positivity—because if I hear one more person confuse it with denial, I might flip a table. I’m not talking about the smiley, everything’s-fine, toxic kind that makes you want …

Let’s talk about p…

Let’s talk about positivity—because if I hear one more person confuse it with denial, I might flip a table. I’m not talking about the smiley, everything’s-fine, toxic kind that makes you want to roll your eyes in a waiting room. I’m talking about the real version. The kind that exists even when life is messy, inconvenient, and objectively annoying. The kind that doesn’t require you to gaslight yourself into pretending everything is great when it clearly isn’t. What got me thinking about this is how often positivity gets framed as naïve or fake, especially if you’re smart, skep…