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In today's podcast, we will look at limiting beliefs--those ideas we have that limit our success. We all have thoughts about our abilities, permission, and the way things are. But do we know whether these thoughts are keeping us from reaching our goals? First, we will explore typical ideas that can limit us. Then, we will consider how to question those thoughts.

In today's podcast, we'll explore power--also known as mastery--a critical part of self-growth and development. You'll learn about power and why it's a good thing, and some ways to focus on growing in this area.

This is a topic that affects many people, and it is called imposter syndrome. It’s really not a syndrome so much as it is a condition--like a phenomenon--that someone experiences.

It can get intense. It can take over your brain. It isn’t a mental illness so far as we can understand. So, in about 1985, there were some researchers who did a fabulous job of exploring this phenomenon. And they created this idea of imposter syndrome as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that are pretty persistent, even though an individual might be successful.

We can observe their success. They can observe their own success. And yet, there’s a sense of being a fraud and this worry that someone’s going to “find me out.”

Many People Experience Impostor Phenomenon

If you’ve ever had that experience, I want to reassure you, you’re not alone. From what we know, up to 70% of people who are successful, or people in general, experience what we call imposter syndrome or imposter phenomenon.

I’d like to talk about it a today, especially because I’m very active in the fields of education and academics. And in these fields in particular, as well as entrepreneurship, we have a lot of folks who are out there doing new things, really succeeding in great ways, and not able to compare their success or compare what they are doing to other people.

This would kind of be like this “one-man island” out there and thinking because they don’t see anyone else doing what they are doing, that maybe they’re fake. Or, maybe they’re wrong. And it’s very normal [to think].

I assure you, you’re not alone if you have that experience.

I like to share my background on this topic with you just a little bit, and also my experience with it. And then, I’ll talk about some ideas on types of imposter feelings, and then [I’ll offer] some suggestions for working through this and kind of “getting beyond it,” if you’re experiencing that.

And, of course, if you know anyone who is experiencing this and maybe it’s not you, I would encourage you to have some compassion, sympathy, and above all, maybe not try to prove to them that they are successful--but be a good listener. Because, the more someone outside of the person experiencing this tries to give them feedback, the more the feedback is external and actually might perpetuate the problem instead of helping to reduce it.

I actually have a lot of personal experience in this area. I’ve been to a couple of professional conferences—three, actually--in which this was a major topic. And in the sessions where this was being presented and discussed, there were a lot of people there. And among those people were a lot of academics, Deans, high achievers, really a variety of people at all different stages of their professional careers.

So, if there are so many people that are experiencing this, the question is, “why is it so unknown?” Or, “why don’t we hear more about how to deal with it?”

It’s relatively new. Even though 1985 was quite some time ago, it’s an idea that is not in the clinical scale of illnesses or that kind of problem. So, perhaps we don’t think it’s very serious, so we don’t give it very much attention. But when you’re the person who’s feeling like a fake or a fraud, you’re going to be discovered or “found out” as a fraud, when you’re down this path of success, it can be very threatening and very frightening to feel this way.

What is the Experience of Impostor Phenomenon Like?

If you’ve ever suffered from chronic self-doubt, or thinking that you’re intellectually a fraud, or somehow incompetent, you know exactly what I’m talking about. There’s this stress. Anxiety. Pressure. And some degree of despair, that someone outside of you knows what you’re doing, and knows more than you,

In today's podcast, I'll share four tips about how to become powerful in your own life by the way you make commitments and set goals.

You have the potential to achieve amazing things and to reach significant goals--even those that might seem impossible right now. And, when you clearly define your goal, strategically plan how to achieve it, and determine what your outcome will look like, you can make progress. It's like a roadmap that paves the way for your success.

Along the way, there will be some pushback, because any time you want to change something, you will face opposition. The most important thing you'll learn today is how to identify thoughts your brain will throw at you, trying to maintain your status quo.

This week's podcast brings gratitude into the light. We'll look at the challenge of feeling "as if" we should be grateful, when we really are not. Then, we'll explore some research about what gratitude can do. Lastly, we'll focus on practical tips to cultivate your gratitude habit.

Thanks for listening!

Many people think they lack direction, or wonder what their direction and purpose should be. Yet the answers are within, and readily accessible. In today's podcast, I'll share a simple idea about how to find your clear direction to this point and gain some joy in the process.

Want some help sorting it out? Working with a coach can give you additional tools and a partner to help you dive in and connect your direction to this point with where you'd like to be in the future.

 

In this week’s Podcast, I share some “amazing hacks” for losing weight and keeping it off. We all know that losing weight is difficult. We are tempted to give up. But take it from me–it can be done! I lost 95 lbs. and have kept it off for several years. I’m not a weight loss expert, a doctor, or a nutritionist. But, I am living proof.

Ten Amazing “Hacks” for Losing Weight and Keeping it Off, That Have Worked for Me.

The Mindset for Life podcast is focused on tools for healthy, happy living so you can show up with confidence and live the best version of you. One of those areas is health and well-being.

Today, I’d like to talk about hacks for losing weight and keeping it off. These are not based on research, and I am not a medical practitioner, a diet therapist, or a nutritionist. So, I don’t have actual expertise in this field. My expertise comes from the fact that about four years ago, I lost 95 pounds. And, I have maintained my weight loss since that time.

So, my expertise is personal, and not everything that works for me will work for you. But I do want to share with you what I’ve learned in hopes that it will bless your life.

Hack #1: Take “Selfies,” All the Time

The first hack for losing weight and keeping it off, unbelievably, is the art of the “selfie.”

A you are on a weight loss program, it is critical to take selfies all the time, especially when beginning your weight loss, and before you have really lost any weight at all.

If you use an app like “My Fitness Pal,” there’s an option in there where you can put a beginning photo next to a current photo. And, almost on a daily basis, you could go in there, see your initial weight and  your face (or your entire profile if you choose to photograph yourself that way) next to your face and your profile you (however you choose to photograph that) now.

You can see a picture I took on My Fitness Pal on my website. If you go to DrBCoach.Com and click on the “About page,” you are going to see a face-shot of me before I lost weight, and me pretty recently.

So, that’s what the selfies look like when you do them in My Fitness Pal. And, I choose to take face shots. Every once in a while, I’ll take a full-length photo of myself so I can really compare and check that out.

Those are super motivating when I’m tempted to give up on maintaining weight loss. I can look at the difference between 95-pound-larger me, and now. And, I can say, “Okay, it’s worth maintaining that.” And I can realize that I do appreciate where I’m at, and I want to stay there.

Hack #2: Be Firm with Limits, and Plan Ahead

Another amazing hack for losing weight and keeping it off is to be firm about setting and keeping your own limits. Never, ever waiver until you plan for it.

If you let yourself give in on a moment’s notice, you’re going to keep giving in. And, soon, you have no diet plan at all.

One of the best ways to avoid doing this is to plan the day before.

When I was in the biggest weight-loss phase of my own dieting, I would buy a lot of chicken, cook it all, measure it out in 4 oz. or 3 ½ oz. segments, and freeze it in these little bags. Then, on those days that I was making a family meal and I couldn’t eat that meal, I would just pop that chicken in a frying pan to warm it up with some veggies, and I was set.

So, preparing ahead of time will help you to be firm about setting and keeping your own limits, so that you can never waiver until you plan for it.

Now, if you plan for it, totally okay, right?

But, if you don’t plan for it, and you get off the diet and eat something that doesn’t reall...

In this week's Podcast, I share some "amazing hacks" for losing weight and keeping it off. We all know that losing weight is difficult. We are tempted to give up. But take it from me--it can be done! I lost 95 lbs. and have kept it off for several years. I'm not a weight loss expert, a doctor, or a nutritionist. But, I am living proof.

Ten Amazing “Hacks” for Losing Weight and Keeping it Off, That Have Worked for Me.

The Mindset for Life podcast is focused on tools for healthy, happy living so you can show up with confidence and live the best version of you. One of those areas is health and well-being.

Today, I’d like to talk about hacks for losing weight and keeping it off. These are not based on research, and I am not a medical practitioner, a diet therapist, or a nutritionist. So, I don’t have actual expertise in this field. My expertise comes from the fact that about four years ago, I lost 95 pounds. And, I have maintained my weight loss since that time.

So, my expertise is personal, and not everything that works for me will work for you. But I do want to share with you what I’ve learned in hopes that it will bless your life.

Hack #1: Take “Selfies,” All the Time

The first hack for losing weight and keeping it off, unbelievably, is the art of the “selfie.”

A you are on a weight loss program, it is critical to take selfies all the time, especially when beginning your weight loss, and before you have really lost any weight at all.

If you use an app like “My Fitness Pal,” there’s an option in there where you can put a beginning photo next to a current photo. And, almost on a daily basis, you could go in there, see your initial weight and  your face (or your entire profile if you choose to photograph yourself that way) next to your face and your profile you (however you choose to photograph that) now.

You can see a picture I took on My Fitness Pal on my website. If you go to DrBCoach.Com and click on the “About page,” you are going to see a face-shot of me before I lost weight, and me pretty recently.

Image from the My Fitness Pal app.

So, that’s what the selfies look like when you do them in My Fitness Pal. And, I choose to take face shots. Every once in a while, I’ll take a full-length photo of myself so I can really compare and check that out.

Those are super motivating when I’m tempted to give up on maintaining weight loss. I can look at the difference between 95-pound-larger me, and now. And, I can say, “Okay, it’s worth maintaining that.” And I can realize that I do appreciate where I’m at, and I want to stay there.

Hack #2: Be Firm with Limits, and Plan Ahead

Another amazing hack for losing weight and keeping it off is to be firm about setting and keeping your own limits. Never, ever waiver until you plan for it.

If you let yourself give in on a moment’s notice, you’re going to keep giving in. And, soon, you have no diet plan at all.

One of the best ways to avoid doing this is to plan the day before.

When I was in the biggest weight-loss phase of my own dieting, I would buy a lot of chicken, cook it all, measure it out in 4 oz. or 3 ½ oz. segments, and freeze it in these little bags. Then, on those days that I was making a family meal and I couldn’t eat that meal, I would just pop that chicken in a frying pan to warm it up with some veggies, and I was set.

So, preparing ahead of time will help you to be firm about setting and keeping your own limits,

Resilience, Agility, and Emotional Agility Help Us “Bounce Back,” Stay Competitive, and Live Intentionally.

Resilience, Agility, and Emotional Agility Help Us “Bounce Back,” Stay Competitive, and Live Intentionally.

Welcome to the Mindset for Life podcast. Let’s talk a little about adaptive abilities in life. There are two terms I’d like to introduce to you today. One is resilience; the other is agility.

Resilience and Agility are Beneficial, Learned SkillsThere’s a business called Mequilibrium that conducted a study in 2019 about resilience and agility in the workplace. One of their goals was to determine how these two factors contributed to happy employees that were producing really well or burn out.

So, as you might imagine, they did find some interesting results.

Benefits of Learning Resilience and Agility TogetherTogether, these skills make people more engaged at work. In the study they conducted, the researchers found that they see much more meaning at work and purpose in their work when people have both resilience and agility.

They are more hardy, basically. That means you don’t burn out as quickly or burn out as much.

In fact, in this study they were 71% better off on the burnout scale, meaning that they were less prone to burnout when they had high resilience and agility together. And, people with high resilience and agility also had much less depression and anxiety.

What If We Focus on Only One of These Skills?Now, if you were to just take away resilience (this “bounce-back” factor) and you only focused on agility (the whole strategy part) adapting quickly but not really the bounce-back part, that doesn’t really save you. Because, people with just the focus on agility and not resilience in this study, they found that those people actually had more depression, more anxiety, and were more likely to be absent from work.

So what is this mean about us in our personal lives? And, why do we care about these workplace terms in our every day, day-to-day living?

You Can Learn ResilienceOne of the results of this study was that resilience was found to be the ability to rebound productively in challenging situations. Of course, that’s the definition of resilience.  But here, it’s something that we can actually learn.

It’s a skill, not just a personality trait only a few people have.

That may surprise you. It used to be that we thought resilience was sort of this natural trait you were born with.

This skill can actually be learned and can be taught to people in the workplace.

But it can also be learned in everyday life.

What Does Resilience Really Mean?The skill of resilience requires emotional control, optimism, self-efficacy, and problem-solving.

Emotional control is the part of resilience that we’re most interested in today.

Because, a lot of what we experience in life that frustrates us or holds us back really has to do with our emotions.  It’s either our emotional response to something that’s going on, the emotions we feel in relationship to other people, our relationships with them, or the emotions we just feel about ourselves or our situation just how we are right now.

So, emotional control is big. And, it can go miles in helping us to be resilient and rebound to challenging situations.

You Can Use Agility as a StrategyThe term I mentioned, agility, this is the ability to adapt to changes. It means that you can react appropriately and adapt to changes quickly. So, you can take advantage of new opportunities.

Agility helps you keep learning. It helps you to want to try something new. And, agility means that you use strategy to do this.

Agility Keeps You CompetitiveSo, if you’re in business, agility makes you competitive.