Keep Going with Zadra

Zadra Rose closes the series under a Blue Moon in Sagittarius — the sign of the seeker, the philosopher, the one who aims higher. 

This episode moves from awareness into action, introducing the concept of who before how: the idea that identity and feeling must come before action, not after. Using a real-world grant writing example, Zadra walks through the model from circumstance to result — and then backwards from result to thought — to show exactly how this works in practice. She also expands on what calmly saving the world actually means, and closes with an invitation for listeners to practice believing they matter as much as the cause they're serving.

In This Episode

• A recap of the series: what it costs to care this much (Ep 1), the sustainability/nonprofit intersection and the model introduced (Ep 2), and where it all lands today
• Why most of us act first and hope the feeling follows — and why that's backwards
• Who before how: stepping into the identity of the person who has the result, before the result arrives
• The full model walked all the way through — from unintentional thought to confirmed result, and from desired result back to the thought that creates it
• A real example: writing a capacity grant from futility vs. writing it from determination — same circumstance, completely different outcome
• The model as a tool for noticing, not fixing — curiosity over judgment
• Why mission-driven people are often the last to extend care to themselves — and why that has to change
• What it actually looks and feels like to practice believing you matter
• What it looks like to calmly save the world and why it's the only sustainable way to do this work long-term

This Week's Reflection Question

What would it look like to believe that I matter as much as the work I'm doing?

List every reason you can find to believe it's true.

This Week's Tool — Practice Who Before How

Take a goal or project in your work that feels heavy or sticky and write down the thoughts you have about it. It’s helpful to write several thoughts, because we want to find the one that's driving how you're currently showing up. Follow the line from thought through to result. Then flip it: how would you rather feel?  What would you need to think in order to feel that? When you feel that, what actions do you take and what energy do you take the action with? What is the likely result of those actions from that energy?

This Week's Action

Choose one thought that you are going to practice on purpose this week. Find one that you believe. Let’s test it out. What do you notice in your daily life, when you are living into that thought? We are gathering information. We are experiencing ourselves from a new viewpoint.

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

Zadra Rose traces her path into non-profit work and how an article on green roofs set two decades of work in motion. 

This episode explores why the intersection of nonprofit and sustainability is such a uniquely powerful place to grow as a human, not just as a professional. 

Zadra goes deeper on The Model (Circumstance, Thought, Feeling, Action, Result), unpacks how collective industry beliefs limit what we think is possible, and shares why the person you're becoming through this work is as important as the work itself.

In This Episode

• How nonprofit and for-profit sustainability organizations each measure success differently and add value in distinct ways
• What makes the Venn diagram overlap between sustainability and nonprofit such fertile ground for personal and professional evolution
• How everything on your "why my work matters" list is a thought — and why that's good news
• A more in-depth explanation of The Model - how thoughts create feelings, feelings create action, action creates results, and results end up reflecting the original thought
• The difference between discernment and toxic positivity — and why allowing yourself to feel grief, anger, and disappointment is essential to being effective
• Covey's Circle of Concern vs. Circle of Influence — and how to redirect your energy toward where you actually have traction
• Why you can't leapfrog from a limiting thought to a propelling one — and what happens to your nervous system when you try
• Why collective thoughts warrant re-examination, to free you to reach your goals

This Week's Reflection Question

Where are you letting a collective belief — something "everyone knows" in your field — limit what you think is possible for you, your organization, or your work?

This Week's Tool — The Model in Practice

Choose one thought you've been having about your work that doesn’t inspire you. Write it down. Then ask: How does that thought make me feel? What do you do — or not do — from that feeling? What result does that create? We’re not fixing it, we’re simply noticing. Awareness is the first step.

This Week's Action

Write down one belief you hold about the industry that you've never questioned. Ask yourself: is this a fact, or is this a thought? If it's a thought — is it one you'd choose, if you were choosing on purpose?

Resources Mentioned

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey (Circle of Concern / Circle of Influence)
• The Model (CTFAR) — Brooke Castillo, The Life Coach School, building on the work of Byron Katie

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

Episode Summary

This episode opens under the energy of Beltane and a Full Moon in Scorpio — a combination that calls us to go deeper, find our passion, and tell the truth. Host Zadra Rose draws on her years working in the nonprofit sector to name something that doesn't get said often enough in sustainability and mission-driven work: conviction without tools is depleting and misguided. She shares an honest account of what it looked like to love her work and still be quietly falling apart — and introduces the idea that our circumstances don't cause how we feel. It is our thoughts about our circumstances that create how we experience situations.

In This Episode

• Why the sustainability and nonprofit worlds attract people who pour from empty cups — and why that's not a character flaw, it's a pattern worth examining
• The difference between loving your work and letting it cost you everything
• What Zadra witnessed in her nonprofit colleagues — exhaustion, scope creep, funding anxiety — and what it revealed about the gap between dedication and sustainability
• An introduction to thought work — the foundational model she uses with coaching clients
• Why the relief we find in external support, however real, will always be short-lived if we haven't addressed how we're relating to our circumstances

This Week's Reflection Question

Where in my work or my life am I running on conviction alone — and what is that actually costing me?

This Week's Tool

Start noticing the thoughts running on a loop in your mind right now. Don't judge them. Simply notice. This is the first step in working with the thought model — and it costs you nothing but a few quiet minutes.

This Week's Action

Write down every reason this work matters to you. All of them. Then read the list out loud. Notice which reasons feel hollow and which fill you with something real. Both are telling you something true. Keep both lists.

Next Episode

Zadra Rose brings a new story from the intersection of sustainability and nonprofit work — and why that specific Venn diagram overlap is one of the most powerful places to do your inner work.

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

We've all heard "practice what you preach," yet what would it look like to preach what you practice? Instead of measuring yourself against some aspirational standard, I invite you to look honestly at what you're actually doing — and start there.

As the first new moon of the astrological new year lands in Aries (the sign of fresh starts and personal truth), this is the moment to take stock: not of who you wish you were, but of who you already are. The practices you celebrate, the ones you hide, the ones that aren't serving you, and the ones you keep promising yourself you'll start.

What We Cover

• What does it mean to preach what you practice — including the habits you never talk about?
• Why the things that feel obvious to you are often the things others most need to hear
• Real-talk: the helpful habits I talk about, the helpful ones I don’t, the unhelpful ones I own up to anyway (hello, 1:30am bedtime and Free Cell), and the ones I recommend but don’t always do 
• Why habits stall — and why it's almost never about willpower. The primal brain's motivational triad (seek pleasure, avoid pain, conserve energy) plus identity, belief, desire, and value all play a role
• The cheat code question: Do you like your reasons?
• Why building from "I am already strong, and now I'm growing stronger" is more powerful than building from "I need to fix what's broken"
• How to identify the practices you actually want — not the ones you think you “should” want

The Question to Sit With This New Moon

Who would you like to be, and why? What habits would reinforce that identity — and are you willing to commit to them?

Invitation

My group program #Liftoff begins May 5th! If you're ready to move from intention to action with support and community, head to ZadraRoseIbanez.com/event/waitlist to learn more.

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

Full Moon in Libra: What is Legacy without Children?

Recorded for the April Full Moon, this episode explores legacy sans children — what it really means, who it's for, and how to live it.

⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode touches on death, children, and child loss. Please listen with care if these are tender topics for you.

In This Episode

• The word "legacy" traces back to the Latin for ambassador — at its root, it's about appointing a spokesperson for your future.
• Generativity - frames legacy as a desire to transcend personal interests and contribute to others across generations. Later, updated to include “inner desire for immortality.”
• The "do it for your children" problem - a candid look at why this well-worn motivational trope falls short. 
• Legacy without children - Gaudí, the builders of great cathedrals, the cellar masters of Louis XIII Cognac — all did meaningful work without needing to witness the outcome.
• The reframe: legacy as a verb - what if legacy isn't something you leave, it's something you live?

Questions to Explore

1. How do you define legacy — and does that definition feel expansive enough?
2. Who in your life (or in history) has modeled legacy in a way that moved you?
3. What does living into your own legacy look like in your daily life, right now?

Referenced

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdADTzvJtSY

https://us.louisxiii-cognac.com/pages/the-cellar-masters

https://www.journeybeyondwealth.com/the-true-meaning-of-legacy

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

In this episode, we explore the power of intention-setting during the New Moon — not as an exercise in perfection, but as a practice of deciding who you want to become and taking steps toward that version of yourself.

When setting intentions, we often tell ourselves I'm not qualified, who am I kidding, I don't have enough to offer. This is the Voice of Limitation, and it's something my clients wrestle with constantly, whether they're pitching services, applying for promotions, or launching something new.

The antidote? Giving equal airtime to the Voice of Yes — the voice that points to your accomplishments instead of your flaws, and reminds you that you are already in progress.

The deeper message here is that New Moon intentions aren't about fixing what's broken. They're about identifying the gap between who you are today and who you want to be — and then choosing the stretch that moves you forward. 

As you step into this lunar cycle, three questions to sit with:

• What do you genuinely want to create this season?
• Where are you dismissing wins you've already earned?
• What stretch would have you step into the person you want to become?

And when the Voice of Limitation pipes up? Remember the whisper that named this podcast: Keep Going.

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.

Have a question or want to share your experience?  Leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, or where ever you listen.

Ready to explore what working with a coach could make possible for you? Schedule a conversation at [email protected] or find Zadra on Instagram and LinkedIn @ZadraRose.