The Story I'm Telling Myself

Are you forcing yourself to fit into an extroverted business mold that drains your energy and leaves you feeling fake?

Welcome to The Story I'm Telling Myself—the premier personal transformation podcast and mindset podcast hosted by Rita Ernst.

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In this raw episode, financial services specialist and author Shannon Brooks (also known as Shannon B) reveals how she built a thriving 21-year business by throwing out corporate sales scripts and unapologetically honoring her introversion.

From using a Rubik's Cube to self-regulate as an isolated child to authoring her interactive financial literacy book MoneyQuest, Shannon proves that success doesn't require pleasing everyone—it requires honoring your boundaries.

Key Takeaways & Frameworks:

• The Social Battery Model: Discover why introverted energy slow-charges like an old phone charger and how to honor low-battery days without guilt.

• Vibe, Energy, & Alignment: Shannon’s 3-part filter for evaluating whether a room matches your purpose or if it's time to "exit to the left".

• Ditching the Pitch: How abandoning rigid scripts creates genuine client trust and lasting impact.

• Atmospheric Transformation: Turning personal stories of lack into tools that empower single mothers and underserved communities.

Whether you need a self-development podcast to establish rock-solid personal boundaries or a personal growth podcast to elevate your career, this episode delivers unfiltered truth. Subscribe to this leading self-help podcast today!

Connect with host Rita Ernst

What if waking up with zero memories of your past was actually the ultimate invitation to start fresh?

Grab the complimentary episode activation guide and start your reinvention journey.

On this episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst sits down with Jenny White—former ICU nurse, brain tumor survivor, best-selling medical thriller author, and TV host. Brain surgery left her with total amnesia and unable to walk, speak, or recognize her husband of 20 years. Jenny faced a choice: grieve a past she couldn't remember, or embrace the ultimate clean slate.

In this powerful conversation on our personal transformation podcast, Jenny reveals how she used creative writing to physically rewire her brain, date her husband from scratch, and build a purpose-centered life.

Key Takeaways & Frameworks:

Joy-Oriented vs. Task-Oriented: Why shifting your daily focus from endless to-do lists to genuine joy changes everything.

The "Mount Everest" Baby Steps Rule: How taking just one or two small steps forward each day creates massive neurological and personal growth.

Ditching the Pleaser Narrative: Releasing the pressure to live up to other people’s expectations of who you "should" be.

Self-Care Without Guilt: Using body awareness, rest, and simple mindset shifts to navigate life's speed bumps.

Subscribe today to the ultimate positivity podcast for real, human-centered self-help podcast inspiration!

Connect with and buy her medical thriller fiction Jenny White

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Overcoming the Invisible Stigma: Turning Mental Health Challenges into Purpose with Yvette Leal

What happens when the story inside your head tells you that a medical diagnosis makes you unfit for your life's passion? On The Story I'm Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst sits down with veteran educator, dual-credit sociology professor, photographer, and author Yvette Leal for an unfiltered conversation on overcoming bipolar disorder stigma and imposter syndrome.

Grab the companion episode activation guide to redefine your relationship with your self-limiting story

After receiving a bipolar diagnosis at age 41, Yvette faced intense fear that societal stigma would destroy her 16-year teaching career, her home, and her custody of her young daughter. Struggling through eight dark months of depression where she wore a purple hoodie as a security blanket and a face mask to hide that she couldn't smile, Yvette fought back by building a personal transformation framework grounded in tangible evidence. By reading student thank-you notes, flooding her thoughts with daily mantras, leaning into therapy and church support, and staying on her sleep medication, she conquered self-doubt and went on to earn her Master's degree.

As a premier mindset podcast and personal transformation podcast, this episode offers actionable tools for anyone seeking to reframe personal trials into a gift of resilience.

Connect with Yvette LealRead Yvette's story in "We Choose to Be More than our Diagnoses Volume 2"Connect with host Rita Ernst

Are you running from the exact challenge that could set you free?

Grab the companion episode activation guide to shift from fleeing to the freedom of accountability.

In this powerful episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself podcast, host Rita Ernst sits down with Bubba Startz—executive producer of The Scene Projects Media Group, former welder, and father. From escaping childhood household chaos in Deadwood, South Dakota, to crossing into Mexico as a fugitive, Bubba built an automatic habit of fleeing. But his ultimate breakthrough didn't happen behind bars—it happened during a raw "mirror moment" on a dirt floor in Mexico when he realized running was destroying his children's future.

Key Takeaways & Topics Covered:

• Unmasking Unseen Avoidance: Recognizing how running from emotional weight, difficult conversations, or relationships sabotages long-term stability.
• Choosing the Consequence: How stepping directly into accountability turns legal or personal fallout into a launchpad for self-improvement.
• Growing Through What You Go Through: Using self-reflection and trade skills in a South Dakota prison to break generational cycles.

Whether you are looking for an empowering self-improvement podcast, an insightful self-help podcast, or a top-tier self-development podcast, tune into this conversation to rewire your internal monologue, stop fleeing, and claim your agency.

Connect with Bubba Startz

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Are you showing up to work physically, but sitting at your desk running on total mental empty?

In this episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst welcomes consultant psychologist Tabby Kerwin to unpack the silent crisis of presenteeism and how we navigate loss in both life and career.

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Tabby shares her deeply personal transformation after losing her father at sixteen and her husband Simon to cancer, revealing how grief isn't limited to bereavement—it stems from job loss, broken relationships, and major life shifts. While standard corporate policies treat loss as a short-term HR checklist, grief is actually a long-term mental health reality that temporarily changes your energetic capacity.

Together, they challenge the toxic myth of "getting over it" and introduce a powerful mindset shift: growing with grief. Listeners will discover how to reframe emotional pain, stop masking to make others comfortable, and embrace emotional duality so joy and sorrow can coexist.

Whether you are seeking a personal growth podcast, a mindset podcast for professional resilience, or a personal transformation podcast to reclaim your energy, this episode offers compassionate, actionable wisdom. Subscribe to this positivity podcast to learn how true connection and self-development can rewrite the stories holding you back.

Connect with Tabby KerwinListen to her TEDx talkBooks available on Amazon: * The Three Ps: Possibility, Productivity & Performance* The Three Taboos: Cancer, Grief & Mental Health* The Way to PERFORM* The 7-Minute MorningComing in 2027: Widowhood Made Me HappierConnect with your host, Rita Ernst

Are you exhausted from feeling like you have to be the all-knowing expert with every answer?

Rita Ernst welcomes UK Chartered Occupational Psychologist and co-host of Truth, Lies and Work, Leanne Elliott. Together, they unpack why our childhood conditioning to "have the right answer" triggers the expert trap in modern business—and why AI is making raw knowledge work obsolete.

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If you are seeking a personal transformation podcast that delivers actionable insights, this episode reveals how to pivot from fixing to asking "the better question." Drawing from her volunteer days with the Samaritans suicide helpline, Leanne explains why asking deep questions without giving advice builds genuine psychological safety and relationship capital.

You’ll discover practical frameworks like the "Help, Heard, or Hugged" check-in, micro-journaling for self-coaching, and how to stop rushing to solve problems before understanding them.

Tune into this positivity podcast and premier self-improvement podcast to replace burnout-inducing "command and control" with genuine human curiosity.

Subscribe today to elevate your leadership journey.

Connect with Leanne ElliottCheck out Leanne's podcast: Truth, Lies, & Work

Connect with your host, Rita Ernst

When life pulls the rug out from under you, do you sink into the struggle or choose how you rise?

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In this powerful episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst sits down with inspiration specialist Russ Hedge.

After spending years as a caregiver for his parents through Alzheimer’s and cancer, Russ received his own Stage 4 melanoma diagnosis just one week after his mother passed away. From emergency brain surgeries to severe physical setbacks, Russ shares how he transformed terminal news into an empowering movement of radical resilience and self-leadership.

If you are looking for an impactful self-improvement or self-help podcast, this conversation delivers a masterclass in emotional ownership and personal transformation.

Russ introduces the "Divine Equation" (Circumstances + Perspective = Experience) and explains why authentic positivity isn't about ignoring pain, but reclaiming control over your internal narrative.

Key Takeaways & Frameworks:

• The C + P = E Formula: Why your perspective—not your circumstances—defines your total life experience.
• Avoiding Toxic Positivity: How to honor heavy emotions without wallowing in them.
• The Awesome Filter & RAS: Rewiring your Reticular Activating System through daily morning routines.
• Ditching the Victim Narrative: Reframing life's sucker punches into purpose-driven growth.

Whether you need a mindset pick-me-up or actionable tools for your personal growth journey, this self-development episode will equip you to reframe your hardest moments.

Connect with Russ and get his book, "Life Happens, Then You Choose"Connect with host Rita Ernst.

Are you secretly terrified of public speaking, hiding behind slides, scripts, and numbers, hoping nobody notices your hands shaking? You are not alone.

In this episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst sits down with storytelling expert John Elbing to dismantle the crippling anxiety that keeps so many of us standing in our own way.

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As a premier personal growth podcast, we dive deep into how stage fright can be transformed into a professional superpower.

John shares his cringeworthy early career horror stories—including the exact presentation where the technology failed and the audience walked out one by one. He explains why standard advice like memorizing scripts or "imagining the audience naked" backfires.

His breakthrough "Standpoint" framework shifts your focus from proving your own expertise to understanding your audience's struggles, so you can replace performance anxiety with deep connection.

Listeners of our mindset podcast will learn actionable strategies to instantly bring ease to high-stakes situations.

Whether you are looking for a self-improvement podcast to boost your career, a positivity podcast to rewrite your inner narrative, or a personal transformation podcast to silence your inner critic, this episode delivers the tools to overwrite narratives of shame and self-doubt.

Stop living on autopilot. Subscribe to the ultimate self-development podcast and self-help podcast today, and join our community focused on growth and professional empowerment!Connect with John Elbing

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Is your inner critic running—or ruining—your life?

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Welcome to a transformative episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself, the go-to mindset podcast and positivity podcast hosted by Rita Ernst. In this episode, we sit down with 10-time Emmy Award-winning television producer turned storytelling strategist Valerie Gordon.

As the author of Fire Your Narrator: A Storyteller's Guide to Getting Out of Your Head and Into Your Life, Valerie shares how she went from producing national TV stories to helping professional women master their own internal scripts.

If you've been searching for a personal growth podcast or a highly tactical self-help podcast to spark a deep career shift, Valerie’s framework is your blueprint. She introduces us to "Squash"—her own snarky inner narrator—and exposes how different narrator types, like the burnout-inducing "striving narrator" and the over-accommodating "people-pleasing narrator," keep us playing small.

This episode of our self-development podcast will teach you:

The "We" vs. "Me" Success Trap: Why women default to collective credit and how to confidently own your individual impact.

Reframing Conflict: Why shifting your vocabulary from "conflict" to "challenge" is the key to moving your plot forward.

Starting at the Ending: How to visualize your optimal resolution and reverse-engineer the steps to get there.

The Power of Sonder: Embracing the liberating truth that everyone is the main character in their own story, freeing you from their imagined judgment.

Grab your headphones and learn to actively author your next great chapter!Connect with Valerie Gordon

Grab her book: Fire Your Narrator: A Storyteller's Guide to Getting Out of Your Head and Into Your Life at Barnes & Noble or AmazonConnect with your host, Rita Ernst

Are you exhausted from shape-shifting to meet everyone else’s expectations?

On this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself, host Rita sits down with Humaira Akhter, a transformational coach who shares her powerful journey from growing up in Bangladesh to navigating the corporate validation trap.

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If you are searching for a mindset podcast or positivity podcast that goes beyond surface-level advice, this raw conversation is your invitation to deep, lasting change.

Humaira details how major turning points—from a close family member missing her wedding to a life-threatening medical emergency—led her to stop seeking external approval and finally look within.

This episode is an essential guide for anyone seeking to break free from the hustle and grind culture.

Key Takeaways:

The Energy Test: Learn how to distinguish between physical fatigue and the deep mental exhaustion of corporate misalignment.

Reclaiming Your Strengths: Discover how your deepest childhood vulnerabilities hide your greatest superpowers.

The Red Thread Process: Unpack Myra's signature workbook framework—mapping your life into five distinct chapters to uncover the connective tissue of your true identity.

Whether you treat this as a personal growth podcast, a self-development podcast, or a roadmap for personal transformation, you’ll walk away with actionable steps to uncover your Zone of Genius and live with unfiltered conviction.

Connect with Humaira Akhter

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