Entrepreneurs face self-sabotage more than most people. We can also experience powerful self-confidence when we have the right strategies. I discuss how to overcome self-sabotage and replace it with life-altering self confidence in this episode with my guest, Dr. Robyn Lynette.

Dr. Robyn is an executive strategy partner who has spent nearly two decades working privately with CEOs and founders during the highest-stakes moments of their professional lives.

Drawing on business and sport psychology, she identifies the hidden patterns that can quickly undermine decision-making and leadership at the top, where the pressure is high and the margin for error is thin. The leaders she works with aren’t looking for help; they’re looking for an edge.

She’s also the author of the memoir I’d Like to Thank the Cartel for Getting Me Out of a Cult.

…and other golden nuggets of advice!

Robyn’s story goes back to when she used to play competitive beach volleyball. There were some days when she could get on the court and just nail it; she felt like a phenomenal volleyball player. And then there were other days when she would get on the court and her partner would hold out a volleyball and ask, “Robyn, this is a volleyball. Have you ever seen one before?” Robyn wondered, “Where did my game go?”

Because of that, Robyn’s interest was sparked. She had the opportunity in college to study high performance people and how and why they achieve more than the general population. The thing that she noticed was that across all professions, whether you’re in business, sports, or the military, is how your brain can either help you or hinder you.  She likes to joke and say, “Whether you’re using your brawn or your brain, your brain is still gonna be in the way.”

Obviously, your brain can help with critical thinking. For example, we can manage stress and override our fight or flight response. You probably know that in the modern world; we’re constantly in fight or flight mode. Because of that we have all hormones that are constantly flooding our brains; for better or worse.

If you’re going to succeed, you must be able to set that mode aside and realize, “I know I’m not being chased by a saber tooth tiger; I can do this.” Doing that starts to help. The hinder part, or problem, is if you’re constantly overcoming fight or flight and pushing down that fear, you’re also eliminating your gut instinct and your intuition. Things like those that can help you get pushed down because you’re in fight or flight mode.

Which leads us to intuition…

Entrepreneurs and Intuition

Intuition is an interesting phenomenon. There’s a lot of science around it that talks about how intuition is your sunconscious picking up on patterns before your logical mind recognizes them. Which means your emotional brain is the part of your brain that makes you think of the perfect thing to say 20 minutes after the argument.

That’s the part of your brain that was overriding things. If you want that intuition to come through, you must listen to your emotional, or subconscious part of your brain. So many of us are ignoring it, and we’re all in critical thinking mode most of the time. That’s what keeps us awake at 3:00 AM because we’re thinking of all the things that we didn’t share when we had the opportunities to do so during the day.

You should make time during the day to listen to that part of your brain. There are many ways you can do that. It could be meditation. Robyn believes meditation is an excellent practice. But she gets a lot of people telling her that they don’t have time to meditate.

Maybe for you it’s when you’re driving in the car, you leave the radio off, so you don’t have that extra input. Then your subconscious brain has a chance to bubble to the surface. Maybe for you, it’s working with someone, whether it’s a coach, therapist, strategic business partner or someone like that who talks through that stuff with you. That can trigger the part of your brain that brings up with intuition. At the end of the day, it comes down to making time to actively listen to your thoughts.

Then there’s the other side of the coin. You’ve probably had this happen to you. You have an intuition (or gut feeling), you ignore it, and then you wonder “Why did I ignore that?” It’s when you’re walking out the door and you’re thinking, “I know I’m forgetting something”, and you get 10 minutes down the road, and your brain reminds you about what you forgot. Then you have to turn around and go get it.

That happens when you’re not making time for your subconscious, emotional brain to bubble to the top. Your intuition can actually speak to your logical brain and prevent problems like that.

That is just the beginning!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

Dr. Robyn Lynette, an executive strategy partner, has spent nearly two decades working privately with CEOs and founders during the highest-stakes moments of their professional lives: funding rounds, major exits, board crises, fraud inside the leadership team, restructuring, and the quieter weight that comes with making decisions no one else can make.

With a background in business and sport psychology she works with leaders to identify the hidden patterns that undermine decision-making, relationships, and performance at the top —where the pressure is high and the margin for error is thin.

The leaders who work with Dr. Robyn aren’t looking for help. They’re looking for an edge: the ability to think clearly under pressure, communicate with authority, and lead with greater influence and self-trust.

She is also the author of the memoir I’d Like to Thank the Cartel for Getting Me Out of a Cult, which explores the personal experiences that shaped her approach to resilience, leadership, and human behavior.

Learn More About Dr. Robyn!

Check out Dr. Robyn’s Book!

Watch Dr. Robyn’s TEDx talk “Creating Success Out of Chaos” 

Want more self improvement advice? Check out “How to Design Your Ideal Life by Creating Fulfillment and Impact with Mo Salami”