Does “the most wonderful time of the year”  feel less like a holiday and more like overwhelm?

Feeling stressed or anxious during the holidays is unfortunately all too common. 

But busyness isn’t a badge–It’s a warning that something needs to give. 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment Ⓡ, Blake shares the importance of recognizing that busyness is not a badge of honor but rather a warning sign that stress and overwhelm are taking over. By shifting existing belief systems, you can start to reduce stress and achieve personal growth.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to identify the sources of stress in your life and truly understand which systems are contributing to your overwhelm. You’ll learn how to overcome busyness through small, actionable steps and create necessary boundaries so that you can begin to prioritize what truly matters.

What You’ll Learn:

• Challenging conventional wisdom by confronting busyness (0:33)

• Why tactics and boundaries alone won’t create real change (4:16)

• Identifying the core belief that’s holding you hostage (5:07)

• Actionable steps to shift your behaviors (5:55)

• A real-world example of how this works (9:09)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “How you do one thing is how you do everything. Meaning whatever the belief systems are tied to some of the problems going on in your life, I can promise you that they're tied to multiple problems going on in your life.”

2. “Change happens through a series of small steps. But when you actually can address these things at a deeper root, change happens exponentially.”

3. “Our fear is if we stop doing so much, we'll be seen or judged as lazy. We won't be able to produce the same types of results we've produced in our career... And it is those fears unexamined that steal our joy, that steal our impact, that steal our presence.”

4. “When we can start to see that our view of things is limited, that we have blind spots, that maybe we're creating our own stress and anxiety, that maybe the things that we really care about aren't as critical for somebody else, the weight can begin to be lifted.”

Additional Resources: 

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

If fear and uncertainty are holding you back from making the changes you want in life, then there’s only one hurdle you need to overcome. 

Yourself.

For most of us, the limitations we create are self-inflicted. They are merely perceptions that can be overcome by making one simple change.

Make the decision that you CAN.

No matter what your unique challenges are, the key is to simply make the decision that you CAN overcome limitations, that you CAN push past your limits, and that you CAN build resilience.

And if you think it can’t be done, then today’s guest has a message for you.  

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake welcomes Mark Black. He is a resilience expert, coach, and author. His impressive feats of having survived a heart and double-lung transplant and the subsequent completion of 4 marathons are an inspiration to embrace possibility. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to flip the script of your limiting beliefs and begin to look at what is still possible versus what you think you can't do. You’ll learn how to push the limits rather than believe your assumptions. You’ll also hear how to begin to embrace the inevitability of change earlier in the process so that you can reap the highest rewards.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.” –Henry Ford

What You’ll Learn:

• (6:29) How Mark learned early in life to build resilience

• (13:01) Pushing beyond the fear to take a leap of faith

• (17:44) The opportunity cost of waiting for change to happen

• (23:40) What you can learn from his life experience

• (30:35) The real power that coaching provides 

Favorite Quotes:

1. “Everybody's got stuff. Somebody else's stuff is different than yours. But that's not the reason why you can't. It just means you have to adapt in different ways to deal with it.” –Mark Black

2. “Most people don't achieve the happiness, fulfillment, joy, peace of mind balance that they want for their life because of the things that they believe are true that actually aren't.” –Blake

3. “There really are far deeper levels of things that sometimes we struggle to see because we don't want to admit that where we are maybe isn't where we really want to be. But when you can really be honest with yourself about that, that's where the power really lies.” –Blake

4. “What am I showing my kids that a career should look like? What am I showing them that adult life should look like? Do I want to show them that being an adult means slogging my way through something that I hate so that I can pay bills because that's what adulthood is? Or do I want to show them that valuing my own thriving is important because that's going to make me a better human, which makes me a better parent, which helps them?” –Mark Black

5. “Most of us are far more limited by our perception than we are by our ability or our capacity. ” –Mark Black

Additional Resources: 

Web: markblack.ca

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IAmMarkBlack

Instagram: www.instagram.com/IAmMarkBlack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammarkblack

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Do you struggle to speak up and say how you truly feel in difficult situations?

Staying silent or feeling a sense of fear about speaking up doesn’t allow you to show up as your authentic self.

While holding back your truth can help you feel accepted, it can also be damaging to your self-worth, hiding your authenticity when it matters most. 

But there IS a way to stand in your truth without damaging your relationships.

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake welcomes Amy Green Smith. She is a certified life coach, speaker, and personal empowerment expert. Through her work, she helps people transform from people-pleasing to a place of radical personal empowerment and self-worth. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to shift from people-pleasing behaviors into speaking your truth with respect. You’ll hear boundary recipes that will help you overcome self-doubt and conquer the fear of rejection. You’ll learn how to find your voice and speak your truth through fearless, authentic communication.

Speaking up doesn't have to be confrontational. It’s possible to share difficult truths with grace.

What You’ll Learn:

• What we’re taught about acceptance (6:27)

• Looking to current relationships to heal past wounds (12:36)

• Determining when your fear is legitimate (21:49)

• What it looks like to be authentic in the moment (29:41)

• How to ask for what you need: a boundary recipe (38:31)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “We often think our experience is just our own, but very rarely are we actually alone.” –Blake

2. “When we're talking about finding our voice or speaking up, almost always antithetical to that, is that investment in what other people think- that people pleasing.” –Amy Green Smith

3. “Your bullshit tolerance starts to get lower and lower once you realize, like, oh, I should not be spoken to in that way.” –Amy Green Smith

4. “That's often why we end up as people-pleasers, because we see things differently than the people around us, and we're told that we are wrong or not okay, or we should be compliant. And as a result of that, we lose connection with our inner compass.” –Blake

5. “People feel safer with you if they know where you stand and where they stand with you.” –Amy Green Smith

Additional Resources: 

Connect with Amy Green Smith:

Website: https://amygreensmith.com/

Freebies: https://amygreensmith.com/free/ Social: https://www.instagram.com/heyamygreensmith/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/heyamygreensmith/ https://www.facebook.com/heyamygreensmith https://www.threads.net/@heyamygreensmith

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Is your work no longer making you happy? Are you ready for something to change but unsure what the right next step should be? 

Making a career change, especially when everything looks great on paper, can feel like a huge challenge (even more so when it feels like you’re doing it alone).  

But this unsettling feeling you’re experiencing can actually be a gift, nudging you to transition with intention because that’s the only path to fulfillment that will put YOUR values first.

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake shares the most effective way to navigate a crossroads in your life and career.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to use this season of transition as an opportunity to avoid career burnout before it happens, identify your unique secret sauce transferrable skills™, and start creating the life you’ve always wanted. You’ll learn why what you’ve been doing hasn’t produced results, and what you can do right now to finally get things moving in the right direction.  

What You’ll Learn:

• Two approaches to making a transition (1:09)

• The place most people get stuck (3:20)

• The biggest challenge we face when seeking change (5:15)

• Why you’re not gaining more clarity (7:30)

• The moment “more” becomes possible (11:48)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “This is where so many of us get stuck:  we're making these changes, or we're trying to get clarity, we're reading the books, we're changing jobs, we are having these conversations, and they're not moving us forward.”

2. “When we lack clarity, we believe that the answer lies externally, in our circumstances, in somebody's book and somebody else's journey. And I want you to know that that's just not true. The answer is always internal. It's inside of you.”

3. “We often believe clarity has to be difficult, hard and painful to get. But that's just not true. It's our approach that is difficult, hard and painful.”

4. “It's all possible, but it's only possible when we look at our circumstances and recognize where I am today is not the life I want to be repeating, and I'm done just tolerating what I have I want more.”

Additional Resources: 

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Are you feeling stuck in your career? Does it seem like finding real fulfillment requires a massive change?

It can be easy to think that change has to mean overhauling your entire career, when in fact, there are small shifts we can make to unlock progress that leads to more career satisfaction, helping you identify what’s really holding you back from happiness and recognizing your true potential.

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment Ⓡ, Blake welcomes Jason Silver Smith, author of the book, Your Grass is Greener. He’s an entrepreneur who got his start at Airbnb, and today he helps leaders build great, lasting companies that people actually enjoy working for. He’s a sought-after public speaker, instructor, and advisor on how to transform work into one of the biggest drivers of positivity in your life. 

In this episode, Jason shares how the unexpected loss of his sister led to a transformation in how he wanted to live and work. You’ll learn practical tactics that can eliminate miscommunication in the workplace for good. You’ll also learn how aligning work with personal strengths helps unlock career potential, increase workplace productivity, and lead to more workplace happiness.

What You’ll Learn:

• How a life-altering experience shifted his perspective (8:57)

• Experiencing post-traumatic growth (14:06)

• Tactics to find more joy in the work you do (18:41)

• Recognizing your agency in life and work (29:38)

• Why real change is about the small steps we take (39:34)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “The hardest moments of our life often become incredible blessings that we didn't see in other ways.” –Blake

2. “There is no job, no career, ever worth your health or ever worth your life.” –Blake

3. “When things are going really well at work, it spills over into the rest of your life. You have more energy. You're fired up for what's happening in life. And the better you feel in life, the better you do at your job. And up and up and up and up and up we go.” –Jason Silver Smith

4. “If you don't know what you're great at, it's hard to know how to deploy that in a workplace setting. And when you're not doing what you're great at, you're not doing the best work, and you're not enjoying it.” –Jason Silver Smith

5. “When we accomplish something incredible in our lives, it's usually not some massive shift that happened overnight. It's usually the culmination of a bunch of small steps we took over time.” –Jason Silver Smith

Additional Resources:

Connect with Jason:

Book: http://www.yourgrassisgreener.com

Business: http://www.thejasonsilver.com

Better Work Newsletter: http://www.thejasonsilver.com/newsletter

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/silverjay/

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/pcfp

Do you often come home from work feeling emotionally drained from dealing with a toxic boss or a challenging work relationship?

Just making it through the workday under these circumstances can feel like an accomplishment, but the truth is that over time, a toxic workplace will wear you down.

 “Life is teaching us lessons, and we will keep getting that lesson over and over and over again until we learn it. It first starts as a whisper, then a knock, then a bang on the door, and then the whole damn thing will come down.”

 Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment Ⓡ, Blake digs into the most common issues people experience in challenging workplace relationships, sharing strategies to help you reduce stress and identify the right next steps to take. 

 In this episode, you’ll learn how to come to terms with the reality of a challenging boss, co-worker, or team member in your workplace. You’ll learn how the constant exposure to toxicity and fear leads to self-doubt, and ultimately trauma. You’ll learn how to identify these patterns and make empowered choices that will help you protect your reputation and gain peace of mind.

What You’ll Learn:

• Common workplace patterns that lead to self-doubt (1:10)

• Existing in a fear-based work environment (2:13)

• How to start removing toxic people from your life (5:29)

• Understanding your values and finding alignment (9:00)

• Identifying the characteristics of poor leadership (10:52)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “If you stay in toxic circumstances or situations and either attempt to somehow make it work, avoid the conflict, or start blaming yourself… all of these are signs that you've had trauma.” –Blake Schofield

2. “It can become easy to get into a culture where people complain about work or complain about coworkers. All that does is create more toxicity.” –Blake Schofield

3. “When you value yourself, understand those healthy communication styles and how to vet leadership and organizations in a way that is supportive and aligned with that, you will no longer continue to suffer these issues.” –Blake Schofield

4. “There are healthy companies and there are toxic companies. There are companies who really empower people to learn how to collaborate, resolve conflict, and work together, and there are companies that do the opposite. Fear-based companies only care about how you perform. They don't care about what that environment actually looks like for their employees.” –Blake Schofield

Additional Resources: 

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/pcfp

 For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Are you a people pleaser with a high tolerance for handling what life throws at you? Do you pride yourself on your deep empathy for others, often procrastinating on what’s important to you?

If perfectionism and procrastination feel like inescapable parts of your life, then life is trying to tell you something. 

Procrastination isn’t a flaw. It is a signal that’s urging you to dig deeper into your underlying fears, recognize what’s misaligned, and identify what doesn’t feel safe. 

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake welcomes Elyssa Smith, a trauma-informed life strategist who helps people understand the brain science behind self-sabotage. She’s the founder of Your Best Moment and creator of the Ultimate Self-Regulation Method. Her work empowers women to overcome self-sabotage and trauma and break free from procrastination, people-pleasing, and overwhelm. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how trauma from our past influences behaviors like procrastination and perfectionism. You’ll begin to understand the two types of pain, identifying the kind that strengthens versus the kind that injures, and why knowing which is which is critical for growth. You’ll gain a fresh perspective on why you might be feeling stuck and how you can finally break free by addressing what feels unsafe.

If you’re a high achiever who often pushes yourself into burnout, these actionable strategies will help you shift from survival mode to a place of thriving.

What You’ll Learn:

• Identifying when people pleasing is helpful versus harmful (8:11)

• The build-up of ‘shoulds’ that keep us stuck (15:03)

• Pain and our fear of failure (25:32)

• Big and ‘Tiny T’ traumas that influence our patterns in life (35:25)

• Working through procrastination (43:13)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “I think often we've been rewarded for focusing on everyone else, and in some cases, made to believe that it's selfish to take care of yourself.” –Blake

2. “Helping that's harmful is helping that is at your expense. There's something to be said for sacrificing for other people, but if it's a lifestyle, that's where you get into burnout. That's where you get into resentment.” –Elyssa Smith

3. “The vast majority of our stress, anxiety, and our problems are not circumstantial. It's not the toxic boss or the environment. It's whatever belief systems, patterns, etc, that we are dealing with that are creating that anxiety.” –Blake

4. “We have this special switch that we can turn on or off that's like, ‘I will tolerate more than is reasonable for no good reason’. So I had to find that switch, and I had to turn it off and say, No, babe, we don't need to do that.”  –Elyssa Smith

5. “The path of gentleness is sort of paved with a fear of failure. And the fear of failure is what the pain of strengthening looks like.”  –Elyssa Smith

6. “If those are your answers, work harder, be better, do more, you know that that is the pain that injures. If the kind of hard work you have to do is face your fears, that's the pain that causes resilience.”  –Elyssa Smith

Connect with Elyssa Smith:

https://elyssasmith.com

www.facebook.com/elyssacsmith

www.instagram.com/elyssacsmith

www.linkedin.com/in/elyssasmith

The Stress Less Lounge FB group: https://elyssasmith.com/facebook

---------

Additional Resources:

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

How intentional have you been in your career?

It’s easy to get caught up in climbing the ladder and accept what comes to us, but the truth is that we have more influence than we often realize. 

When you gain clarity on what your values are, you develop a deeper understanding of what you bring to the table so that you can confidently leverage your skills.

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake welcomes her client Molly to share how the program helped her get intentional about what she truly wanted in her career. This led to greater empowerment in her job search as she became an equal partner in the process of her career development. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to stop shifting from job to job and start digging deeper to leverage your secret sauce transferrable skills ™ and find a more fulfilling, values-based career. You’ll hear how Molly learned to approach job opportunities from a place of power, setting clear expectations that enabled her to create a fulfilling career that doesn’t require sacrifices in her personal life or well-being. You’ll also hear how getting more in tune with her team and recognizing their values helped her develop better leadership skills and gain more confidence. 

What You’ll Learn:

• How coaching helps you see more possibilities (5:31)

• Digging deeper to gain real clarity about what you want in life  (8:14)

• Why it’s not always about making big changes (15:14)

• Telltale signs that things aren’t ok (22:03)

• Developing the skill of awareness (27:44)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “I hadn't yet created the space to really take an intentional look to say what I actually want.” –Molly

2. “It's hard to reach insights on your own, doing the same things, talking to the same people, or going through the same process. And so just to have an opportunity for someone else to come in and create a space and guide and challenge is really enlightening.” -–Molly

3. “Those of us who are servant leaders often put all of our energy externally, not really realizing that the investment in ourselves enables us to create far better outcomes for everyone else and ourselves.” –Blake

4. “A huge part of feeling the stress and anxiety of a job actually isn't the job. It's the amount of pressure and lack of comfort that you feel in admitting the things you don't know or asking for help.” –Blake

Additional Resources: 

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/pcfp

Are there times when people say things that you completely disagree with, but you don’t know how to express your thoughts or feelings without ending up in an argument? 

In a world that feels so divided, especially during an election year, it’s more important than ever to learn how to navigate difficult conversations. 

When handled respectfully, disagreements can become building blocks toward more compassion and a greater understanding of our shared humanity.

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake welcomes Justin Jones-Fosu. He’s the CEO of Work. Meaningful. as well as an international speaker, a social entrepreneur, and the critically acclaimed author of I Respectfully Disagree. His book challenges you to focus on building bridges to people rather than barriers from them.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to experience disagreements in a way that fosters personal growth and empathy by humanizing the process. You’ll hear actionable ways to engage with people you may not agree with, and learn how to gracefully navigate opposing perspectives in a divided world. 

What You’ll Learn:

• How his mom inspired his life’s mission (4:02)

• An actionable way to engage more openly and challenge your perspective (12:50) 

• What makes it so hard for people to learn from each other (17:02)

• Pillars for having respectful disagreement (23:38)

• How to cultivate your curiosity (35:52)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “We can vehemently disagree with someone's ideology and yet still passionately pursue their humanity.” –Justin Jones-Fosu

2. “Recognize your own personal discomfort because that's usually why we aren't open at first. We think, ‘Oh, I don't know anyone. I'm uncomfortable. I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do’. And if we stay stuck in that, we miss the gift of all of the beauty of the things that we can learn.” –Blake

3. “We encourage people in those moments of discomfort to remind themselves of areas where they used to be uncomfortable and that they've grown more comfortable with the discomfort. That's the power of moving forward.” –Justin Jones-Fosu

4. “Even when we are closed-minded, we should always be open-hearted.” –Justin Jones-Fosu

5. “When I gave myself compassion, I could show up more clearly and give others compassion.” –Blake

Connect with Justin Jones-Fosu: 

Book excerpt: https://howtorespectfullydisagree.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iworkmeaningful/ 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Respectfully-Disagree-Difficult-Conversations-Divided/dp/152300651X

Additional Resources: 

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Do you feel like the world is hopeless, crumbling around you, and full of negativity?

Today’s media landscape can make the world seem like a scary place. But the reality is not so lopsided. 

There’s an abundance of positivity happening in the world. 

It just doesn’t make the news. 

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake shares how the negativity bias of the media we consume can easily drag us down, affecting how we see the world and how we feel about our lives. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to start paying more attention to the input you’re receiving and exposing yourself to. Whether it’s social media or the nightly news, these outlets have a bias toward negativity and a lasting effect that, over time, distorts our view of the world. You’ll hear about a simple way to shift your habits that will almost effortlessly create more positive momentum in your life. 

What You’ll Learn:

• Noticing the input you’re exposing yourself to (0:47)

• The lasting impact of negative media (1:47)

• How the media distorts our view of the world (2:31)

• A simple shift to create more positive momentum in your life (3:57)

• Journaling your way to a more joyful life (5:32)

Favorite Quotes:

1. “There's so much negativity in the world, and it becomes really easy when you're starting to listen to that, to believe that you're seeing the entirety of truth, when, in fact, you really aren't. You're seeing something that's very jaded in one direction. It's sensational.”

2. “I'm no longer consuming things that create negativity, fear, doubt, anxiety or worry that I'm not going to do anything about. Instead, I'm focusing my energy on positive things that move me forward, things that I care about, that I can actually take action on to do something good for the world. And the difference is astounding.”

3. “A very simple shift you can make to get positive momentum in your life is to look at, what are the inputs, what are the relationships I have, and are those people actually breathing life into my life?”

4. “When things become more divisive, when social media becomes louder, when the news really wants to sensationalize even more things, it can become really easy if you allow those things in your life to begin to believe that we are us versus them divided. That all these terrible things are happening in the world when you're missing all of the amazing things that are actually showing up on a day-to-day basis.”

Additional Resources: 

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/pcfp

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com