The traditional 9 to 5 might be the status quo, but it’s not a system that works for everyone. For creatives, it can feel misaligned with how you work best and company values can often conflict with your own. 

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake welcomes Kathleen to share her story. As a lifelong creative, the traditional 9-5 had her experiencing cycles of burnout within just a few months of a job. She had long felt like something was misaligned but was fearful of leaving due to financial security.

In this episode, you’ll hear why Kathleen finally decided to reach out and embrace career coaching, and how that decision drastically impacted her life in just a few calls. She shares how her natural gift for building relationships became clear when working with Blake, and how that realization opened up the floodgates of opportunity.

Career coaching helped Kathleen gain clarity, trust in herself, and live into her belief system. Gaining an understanding of how she worked best finally allowed her to remove the stress and friction that had been holding her back.

Wherever you’re at in your career journey, it is possible to find more fulfilling work without taking a pay cut or starting over ™. 

What You’ll Learn: • How to open a new door when an old one closes (4:57)
 • Why Kathleen pushed past her doubt and decided to reach out (9:43)
 • What was different about the advice she received from Blake versus her friends and family (11:28)
 • How she began to recognize her Secret sauce transferable skills™ (19:33)
 • The moment Kathleen realized how profound her results really were through the program (26:07)


Favorite Quotes: 1. I had seen some women that I thought were very powerful and inspirational. And at the time, I wasn't considering myself in that realm. I thought maybe I'm just this anomaly. It was fear that I wasn't the same as everybody else.  -Kathleen
 2. I wish I would have reached out a lot sooner because I was immediately put at ease. -Kathleen
 3. Going back and reflecting on my past and the things we were learning in the program, I really started to see my value and have hope for the future. -Kathleen
 4. I hear a lot from women, ‘Well, what if I don't have Secret sauce transferable skills ™?’ There's no way that you don't. Everyone does… but we can't see it for ourselves. -Blake
 5. I realized I had clarity, but I did not know it was there. You helped me dig deeper and discover it by helping me realize that I was fighting too hard, and not making things simple enough, I realized I was going against my grain for so long that if I just may be relaxed and let things happen, things would come to fruition. -Kathleen


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Before you hire a coach, it’s important to know how to hire the right coach. 

It’s why I’ve confidently invested over $450,000 in coaching to date – because knowing what to do before hiring a coach is the key to making it a wise and life-changing investment.

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment Ⓡ, Blake outlines the best method for finding and hiring the right coach. If you’ve been thinking it’s time to invest in career coaching, then this episode will help you make the right choice. 

In this episode, you’ll learn what to do before you hire a coach and where to start your career coaching journey. She shares specific questions that any coach worth the investment should be able to answer for you from the start. You’ll also hear why women don’t invest as much in themselves as their male counterparts, and how that is reflected in the C-suite. 

If you’re ready to take the right next step in your career™, then investing in yourself with the right career coach is the first step.

What You’ll Learn: • Investing in a sure thing versus the uncertainty of the stock market (1:06)
 • Why women don’t tend to invest in themselves as much as men do (3:58)
 • Where to start if you want to hire a coach (4:56)
 • Setting yourself up for coaching success (6:31)
 • Two questions to choose the best program for you (11:58)


Favorite Quotes: 1. Investing in myself has not only blown open the doors of possibility for my life, it's allowed me to create a life I didn't even realize was possible. -Blake
 2. Women have not been taught to invest in ourselves. We've been taught to invest in everyone else. -Blake
 3. If you don't define it, you can't create it. Without clarity on what it is that you want, you're never going to be able to get it. -Blake
 4. When you take the time to get clarity and ensure that the partnership is the right match, you can feel good that the investment that you're making in yourself will ultimately lead to great benefit to you, to those who care about you, and those that you influence. -Blake


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Are you more perceptive of your environment and the people around you, tending to notice subtleties and details that other people miss?

And are you driven to achieve, not necessarily because you want to climb to the top of the ladder & make all the money, but because you have a deep yearning to constantly be better? To learn more? To grow?

If so, you might be what this week’s guest Melody Wilding calls a “Sensitive Striver®”.

Unfortunately, being someone who feels so deeply and is so sensitive to the world can often leave you feeling depleted if you don’t have self-protective mechanisms in place to keep you safe.

The good news? Sensitivity – the thing you likely have perceived as a weakness your entire life – can actually be YOUR GREATEST STRENGTH.

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment, Blake welcomes Melody Wilding, the best-selling author of Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work. Recently named one of Business Insider’s “Most Innovative Coaches” for her groundbreaking work on “Sensitive Strivers,” her clients include CEOs, C-level executives, and managers at top Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Amazon, and JP Morgan, among others. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to harness your sensitivity as a superpower, using your finely tuned emotions to achieve more success in the workplace. You’ll hear about the patterns that “sensitive strivers” tend to experience and why those experiences ultimately lead to breakdown moments. 

Are you ready to learn how to allow your emotions to work for you?

Rather than accepting things that don’t feel good, your emotions can help guide you toward a future that’s better aligned with your values.

What You’ll Learn:

• The familiar emotional patterns of career women trying to do it all (2:51)

• Recognizing the power you have to create change (8:56)

• What it means to be a “Sensitive Striver” (12:45)

• What to do if early conditioning is negatively impacting your career (18:33)

• Harnessing emotion as your superpower (24:58)


Favorite Quotes:

1. I still am constantly working on trying to relax trying to enjoy my downtime, just because I've been so conditioned that that is not okay that I'm not doing enough. And it's been a lot of unlearning to realize that that is exactly what I need to do to take care of myself. –Melody Wilding

2. I think it's a really important thing for people to understand is that very few things in your life are unchangeable. –Blake

3. As strivers or high achievers, we struggle to give ourselves grace, and it's the very thing that will enable us to be even more successful. –Blake

4. Resentment is a very strong emotional signal that you have overextended yourself. You have agreed to something that is no longer aligned with your values or your energy. –Melody Wilding

5. Sensitivity, when leveraged, can be your biggest superpower.  –Melody Wilding


Additional Resources: 

Connect with Melody: Website: melodywilding.comFree chapter from her book, Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work: https://melodywilding.com/chapter

-------------------- Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

How often do you stop and take a moment to appreciate what you have?

When life feels challenging or our work circumstances are less than perfect, we have a tendency to focus on what’s missing. But when you flip your focus and hone in on what you do have, then you can instantly shift how you feel.

And that shift toward abundance has the power to alter what you invite into your life. 

Gratitude will help you attract more of what you want because it allows you to believe you deserve it. 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment®, Blake reveals why expressing gratitude and cultivating a daily gratitude practice is such a powerful tool for change. Gratitude is the simple act of focusing on what you have rather than what’s lacking in your life. This powerful tool is the simplest, quickest route to changing how you feel. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to stop focusing on the negative aspects of your life and work through a daily gratitude practice. Feeling grateful for what you have helps attract more of what you want by simply shifting your focus away from the negative. 

Challenging yourself to wake up every day and remind yourself of what’s good can literally change your life.

What You’ll Learn: • Why the holidays can feel overwhelming (0:50)
 • How focusing on the negative affects your outcome (2:06)
 • A gratitude challenge that will shift your thoughts toward abundance (5:25)
 • When gratitude shows up in unexpected places (7:08)
 • How to feel gratitude instantly (8:18)


Favorite Quotes: 1. By focusing on gratitude, you can take someone who is depressed, unhappy and ungrateful and turn them into somebody who has gratitude and a positive approach to life.
 2. When we talk about lack or the things we wish we had, we actually create more lack.
 3. If we don't stop and appreciate things, are we even really enjoying the fruits of our labor?
 4. A life of abundance and fulfillment has to be centered in a life of gratitude.


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Do you feel overwhelmed in the face of change, unsure how to make the first step?

Most people believe that a fulfilling career and work-life balance require massive shifts and changes to achieve…

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Fulfillment is about creating a life with intention…and that doesn’t always require huge shifts at all.

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment®, Blake welcomes Kari to share her story. Feeling overwhelmed but not knowing what she wanted or what the right next step was, she decided to give herself grace through the wisdom of support. Her story helps dispel the myth that better balance and more fulfillment require huge shifts.

In this episode, you’ll learn how a series of small shifts created a HUGE impact in Kari’s life and career. You’ll hear about the steps she took to create the changes she desired, and why gaining clarity made such a big difference. She shares what surprised her about the process, and the bigger-than-expected effect the program had on her life as a whole, from her career to her relationships with her husband and children.  

Listen to Kari’s incredible story that showcases how you can create incredibly positive shifts in your life without having to start over or change companies…

What You’ll Learn: • Why Kari decided she was ready for career coaching (4:29)
 • What surprised her about the overall program and the impact it had on her life (5:56)
 • How a shift in perspecitve helped her move into a new, more satisfying role (12:05)
 • Why developing clarity plays such an important role in the process (15:29)
 • How life coaching has positively affected her personal life and relationships (20:19)
 • An important ah-ha moment Kari had about change (25:13)


Favorite Quotes: 1. When I committed to this, it was like I'm doing it! I'm going to carve out the time, I'm going to have somebody that I can lean on. I can have other women to learn from, I can have a plan, I can have someone to keep me accountable. And I felt like I really needed that support system to do it. –Kari
 2. When I came in, I was like, this was all about career. But what it's unlocked for me is far more than that. –Kari
 3. Many women are unfulfilled because their life is hectic and crazy. They either think I can't progress up my career because I'm not willing to sacrifice or I just need to find a job where I have better balance. But a lot of times, both of those things actually aren't true. –Blake
 4. When you get to this crossroads in your life and your career, you want to be looking at developing lifelong skills. Not just putting a bandaid on your problem, but lifelong skills that you can benefit from and continue to move forward. –Blake


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

With the holiday season in high gear, do you feel like you’re being pulled in 100 different directions?

At the center of all of your roles and responsibilities, there’s a person. Someone who dreams of having more space to just “be.” But, with so many things crowding your to-do list every day, it’s hard to find the space to breathe. 

What if you could find more ease and feel more present in every moment of your life? What if there was a way to relieve yourself of all of that stress? What if you could tap into that passion and excitement you once had?

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment, Blake welcomes Renee Metty, a co-contributor of the Ascend Community, a community for purpose-driven, high-achieving men and women looking to reduce stress and achieve goals with more ease and consistency. You can join us in the Ascend Community here: bit.ly/joinascendcommunity

Renee is also the founder of The Cove School, a mindfulness-based preschool and With Pause, a support network for leaders, educators, and parents, she’s spent over a decade helping people bridge gaps with ease. She expertly combines her entrepreneurial, educational, and corporate backgrounds with her formal training in mindfulness, body language, and emotional intelligence to help others architect successful futures. 

In this episode, you’ll learn to dispel the misconception you might have about mindfulness and learn what it really is – and how it can help you reach your greatest potential. You’ll gain the tools to help you feel calmer and learn a few simple mindfulness exercises you can practice whenever you need grounding. And if this is the type of content that resonates, join us in the Ascend Community for more here: bit.ly/joinascendcommunity

A New Year is coming… 

If you want to reduce stress and friction in your life, achieve your goals with more ease, and cultivate greater peace of mind, then this episode is for you!

What You’ll Learn: • Renee’s bigger picture purpose (7:46)
 • What we think “mindfulness” is versus what it really means (11:24)
 • The misconception we have about multitasking (14:27)
 • How The Ascend Community was born and how it works (18:46)
 • The biggest lesson Blake learned this year (24:10)
 • How to center yourself right now (27:19)


Favorite Quotes: 1. What I realized is that I create space for people to gather and love that's inviting restoring and healing. And so whenever people ask me what I do, we, you know, I think most of us tend to say our role or what's like the job we're doing, but the bigger picture is, I am able to create space for people to allow them to unfold their journey. -Renee Metty
 2. Often we don't realize the very people that are in our lives might be the people that completely change them. -Blake
 3. Exponential growth can't be planned for, it's not ever what you expect it to be. And if you try to engineer it, it's like sand slipping through your fingers. -Blake
 4. I've come to find that mindfulness is simply put, just awareness. It is bringing awareness to your moment-to-moment experience. It's just paying attention in a very different way. -Renee Metty
 5. We're surrounded by people who are challenging us and showing us a better way, helping us find our way to create more extraordinary things in our lives and to actually reach our potential. -Blake


Additional Resources: 

Learn more about what Renee does here: www.withpause.com

Want more content & expert advice like this? Join us in the Ascend Community, a community for purpose-driven, high-achieving men & women. Our focus on alignment, connection & empowered action reduces stress & enables you to achieve your goals with more ease & consistency in an environment where you are surrounded by people who hear, see & understand you.

You can sign up for a free account in Success Finder and join the Ascend Community here: bit.ly/joinascendcommunity

What goes through your mind when you’re sizing up someone’s long-term potential on a date?

You probably want to know whether or not you want the same things, share similar values, and perspectives on the world. If those things don’t match up, then you’re likely not going to pursue the relationship. After all, dating is a two-way street – you’re not just looking to impress the other person. You’re trying to determine whether they have long-term potential.

If we applied the same level of screening we naturally reserve for dating to another significant area of our lives, it could save us from a lot of stress and disappointment. 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment, Blake reveals the critical mistake we make when sitting through a job interview. Rather than viewing it as a long-term partnership based on mutual values and respect, we’re too focused on making a good impression. And that can often end up in compromises that won’t satisfy either party in the long run. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how shifting your perspective when it comes to the interview process could help you recognize the red flags and know when to walk away. Viewing a potential job opportunity through the lens of a first date will help you understand whether or not your skillset is truly being valued. You’ll also learn how career coaching inverts the problem, helping you to see the entire interview process differently to yield better long-term results.

What You’ll Learn: • What we’re forgetting about the job search process (1:06)
 • Why you should walk away if someone isn’t willing to give you what you know you’re worth (2:18)
 • How to view your job search more like a dating experience (4:06)
 • Risks to be aware of when you’re looking for a new role (5:25)


Favorite Quotes: 1. Somewhere along the line, we thought that the job search was about impressing the company. We never actually realized that this is a two way street.
 2. A person willing to take advantage of you and pay you the least amount of money possible will never be a great person to work for. You'll always be fighting to be seen and valued.
 3. Just like dating, if you aren't treated well in your job from the beginning, you can guarantee it will get worse - not better. 
 4. We have to know and love ourselves in order to stand in our value, properly communicate it, and know when to walk away because we deserve better.


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Are you waiting for the RIGHT moment to make a change?

When you start to think about how many “right” moments you’ve experienced in your life, you might begin to realize that perfect timing doesn’t exist. 

The longer you wait for “perfect”, the longer you’re putting off creating the life you actually want. 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment podcast, Blake shares a powerful shift you can make right now that will bring you the changes you seek sooner than you believed possible. 

In this episode, you’ll learn why leaning in to change, even in periods of chaos, is actually the key to success. You’ll understand why perfect timing is an illusion, and that making changes and accomplishing achievements in ALL circumstances can actually happen at any time. 

Stop believing that the only way you can be successful is by waiting for the right circumstances.

The perfect time to create the changes you want in your life is NOW. 

What You’ll Learn: • One shift that will help you start achieving your goals sooner (1:38)
 • Why there’s no such thing as perfect timing (2:35)
 • Taking action now and learning to expect the unexpected (3:33)
 • What happens when you stop expecting life to be perfect (6:28)
 • Removing the friction of excuses and imperfect circumstances (8:04)


Favorite Quotes: 1. If you can begin to understand the way you're looking at life, and you can begin to understand the patterns that are truly keeping you stuck from living the life you want, then you can take power to change them.
 2. With any two or three-month period of time, we will have some form of chaos brought into our lives. Whether it is sickness or death, an unexpected project, or a trip, or a health incident, we cannot control those things. But we can control how we react to them.
 3. In order to create the lives we want. We have to be willing to take action even when it's not perfect.
 4. Learning how to continue to make progress, despite whatever's going on, is the key to success.
 5. When you learn how to dance in the rain, you remove so much friction from your life. You stop looking at the excuses and the circumstances and you start getting really clear that everything depends on you.


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Do you always have a plan for everything? 

For type-A personalities, planning might give you a sense of control and comfort. But life doesn’t always happen according to plan. 

Predicting the future is impossible, so applying regimented plans to a future that is unknown might actually be holding you back.

In fact, when you loosen the reigns and stop trying to control exactly how things should go, you might just find something better. 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment, Blake reveals why planning can sometimes prevent you from actually achieving your goals. By focusing on what you expect things to look like, you might be missing the golden opportunities that are right in front of you.

In this episode, you’ll learn why planning doesn’t always get you where you want to go, and how it could actually be hindering your progress. You’ll hear how career coaching can help you let go of the things you can’t control and clear the path toward finding the changes you seek. By choosing a different path than the one you’ve always traveled, new opportunities will open up. 

Sometimes, you just need another perspective in order to recognize the gold at your feet.  

What You’ll Learn: • The impossibility of predicting your future (1:41)
 • Why the need for control can hinder your desire for change (3:23)
 • When it makes sense to plan versus when it doesn’t (6:13)
 • How you can start to challenge your assumptions (7:13)


Favorite Quotes: 1. If you are a type A planner, pride yourself on being responsible, making sure you consider all the angles before you take action, then you are likely stunting your ability to truly create the results, impact, and life that you want.
 2. We can't know what's possible for us until we expand our perspective.
 3. Whether you want to achieve a new goal, create change in your life, or just reach your highest potential, it starts by letting go of your attachment to the outcome.
 4. As long as you're taking steps forward toward the goal that you want, how it comes to fruition doesn't really matter.


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Do you ever feel like you don’t fit in at work?

When you feel like one person at home, another with your friends, and yet another version of yourself when you’re at work, that could be a sign that your life and career aren’t in alignment. 

Alignment feels like you’re among “your people.” You feel joyful and inspired like your creativity knows no bounds. Misalignment, on the other hand, can feel isolating. 

Often, we allow limiting beliefs that we’ve carried throughout our lives to dictate how we see ourselves. 

But, what if you were given the tools to change those limiting beliefs?

What if those unique traits you hide were the key to helping you find the kind of career that makes you feel alive…as though you were winning at life? 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment, Blake welcomes Lindsey to the show. She shares how the program helped her detach from limiting beliefs about her ability to communicate and lean into her unique secret sauce transferable skills. Her communication style and creativity have since become her driving force, connecting her to people who inspire joy and spark curiosity in her work life.

In this episode, you’ll learn how Lindsey uncovered her secret sauce transferable skills, and how those skills have taught her how to win in life. After decades of feeling like she didn’t fit the corporate mold, she's now been able to find a role that allows her to be herself at work. That ability to be authentic has been a game-changer in her quest to find alignment in her life and career. 

What You’ll Learn: • How Blake helped her realize why she was misaligned in her career (7:51)
 • Why being able to share your authentic self in the workplace matters (10:40)
 • The limiting beliefs that she finally learned to let go of (14:00)
 • What Lindsey learned about herself that helped reshape her career and find alignment (20:56)
 • What you should know about the things that come easy to you (32:00)


Favorite Quotes: 1. In the career space, I've always felt like I was judged and I just never fit in. I just felt like I was always falling short. –Lindsey
 2. When you're not getting the results that you want, it feels hard, and you feel like you have to hustle to create something, that's usually a sign of misalignment. –Blake
 3. Companies are like people. They have different personalities and they have different cultures. And if you find yourself constantly feeling like you have to put on a mask or struggling or feeling like you can't show up and be who you really are, those are signs of misalignment. –Blake
 4. The ability to triumph over that big limiting belief that I couldn't communicate, that led to personal development that lifted so much in me. –Lindsey
 5. Success and being a work in progress are not mutually exclusive. –Lindsey


Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is.  We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: http://www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes