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

Grab John's book

Connect with host, Rita Ernst

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

Take Humaira's Red Thread Quiz

CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST RITA ERNST

Stop micromanaging and start thriving in a culture of commitment.

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In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst sits down with Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software, to dismantle the myth of the "perfect resume."

After people with the "perfect resume" were leaving while other new hires were thriving, Sabrina and her leadership team got curious and started studying the data.

What they learned flipped the lens on her leadership and hiring practices.

Key Takeaways include:

• The Framework for Freedom: How to implement a "test-and-learn" culture using the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach.
• Mindset over Credentials: Why hiring "interesting, smart people" beats a perfect resume every time.
• The Power of "No": Turning failure into a high-margin return on investment by learning from expensive mistakes.
• Radical Transparency: How sharing financials builds an ownership mindset in your team.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a leader on the rise, this mindset podcast offers the tools for personal growth and self-development. Subscribe to this self-improvement podcast for your weekly dose of positivity and professional evolution.

Connect with Sabrina Parsons

Connect with your host, Rita Ernst

Are you "checking the boxes" of self-care while your nervous system is actually in a state of freeze?

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In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself, Elsa Valentine—an entrepreneur, artist, and coach—shares her personal transformation from scaling a high-growth nutrition brand to experiencing a total physical shutdown at the height of her success.

This mindset podcast dives deep into the difference between simply "managing" your body and actually building a relationship with it.

As a premier personal growth podcast, we explore why "ticking the box" on mental health is a myth and how an unhealed nervous system can cap your professional potential. Elsa reveals her framework for personal development, introducing her neuroscience-based app, Innate, which facilitates a powerful dialogue between your past, present, and future selves to identify triggers and find perspective. You will learn actionable steps for self-improvement, including cognitive reappraisal and widening your window of tolerance through curious awareness rather than judgment.

If you are looking for a self-help podcast that goes beyond superficial positivity to find true empowerment, this conversation on self-development and authentic leadership is for you. Stop resisting your internal signals and start reclaiming your agency.
Check out Elsa's new company, innate.love and instagram

Connect with your host, Rita Ernst

Are you allowing a single moment of shame from your childhood to dictate the rest of your life?

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In this episode of our personal growth podcast, Rita is joined by Alexia Georghiou, a retired mental health therapist and the founder of the Knoxville Happiness Coalition, to discuss her radical journey from selective mutism to global advocacy.

In this mindset episode, we explore how a childhood trauma involving spilled paint created a "safe space" of silence that Alexia finally broke through at age fifty-five.

Listeners will discover the "40% Rule"—the scientific framework showing that while half of our happiness is genetic and ten percent is situational, a full forty percent is within our intentional control.

Alexia shares provocative insights into her personal transformation journey, including how she navigated the "brain fog" of menopause and the medical dismissal of women’s health.

Whether you are looking for a self-improvement podcast to help you find your voice or a positivity podcast to rewire your brain, this conversation provides the tools to move from "freeze" to "flow". Learn to activate your vagus nerve through humming and reclaim your personal agency in this essential episode.
Connect with AlexiaGet Alexia's book: The Future of Work is HumanConnect with your host, Rita Ernst

Are you following the loneliness script of grief?

Grab the episode activation guide to reset your relationship with grief.

In this powerful episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself, host Rita Ernst welcomes writer and storyteller Dimple Dhabalia, the founder of Roots in the Clouds. In this mindset podcast episode, Dimple shares her transformative frameworks, including the "Ministry of Presence" and "Love in Action," offering a roadmap for anyone seeking a personal transformation that prioritizes human connection over industrial output.

Key Takeaways:

• Grief at Every Threshold: Why we must acknowledge the loss inherent in every life change, not just death.
• Empathy vs. Sympathy: How performative platitudes create walls, while true empathy "feels with" others.
• Challenging the Burden Story: Strategies to stop protecting others from your pain and start asking for what you truly need.

Whether you’re looking for a personal growth podcast to help you navigate a career transition or a self-development podcast to deepen your relationships, this episode will help you restore your language of connection.

Connect with DimpleGet Dimple's books

Get the 'Love in Action' empathy cards

Connect with host, Rita Ernst

Stop predicting what will make you happy and start reflecting instead.

Grab the episode companion activation guide with prompts from Suneet Bhatt.

Most of us treat happiness as a future destination—a prediction or a projection of "I’ll be happy when..."—but our guest, Suneet Bhatt, argues that we have it completely backward.

In this episode of our mindset podcast, Suneet, a Rutgers University professor and author, reveals why humans are terrible at predicting what will make them happy and how to stop the cycle of professional dissatisfaction.

This isn't just another self-improvement podcast episode; it’s a masterclass in personal transformation. Suneet breaks down the biological "negativity bias" that stacks the deck against our joy and explains how to use his "Happy Proud, Not Yet Satisfied" framework to rewire your brain for momentum.

Whether you're feeling "time-starved" or stuck on a professional plateau, you’ll learn why happiness is actually the precursor to success and the foundation of sustainable resilience.

Key Takeaways:

• Why happiness starts as a reflection of the past, not a projection of the future.
• How to combat the negativity bias that makes negative experiences feel five times stronger than positive ones.
• The three most powerful tools for resilience: community, religion, and the "strongest arrow," self-forgiveness.
• Strategies for "micro-yeses" and optimizing for the starting line rather than the finish line.

Take this deep dive into personal growth and learn to "choose not chase" your way to a more purposeful life. Then share the episode with a friend.

Connect with Suneet Bhatt : makingsenseofpurpose.com

A gift from Suneet: Find Your Best Way ForwardConnect with your host, Rita Ernst

Is it time to commit "professional suicide"?

If you’ve ever felt like your career identity is a noose instead of a safety net, this episode is your wake-up call.

⁠Grab the episode activation guide here⁠

Host Rita Ernst sits down with Tiffany Ramos-Cardwell, an HR powerhouse with over 30 years of experience, to discuss the terrifying and transformative shift from the corporate "grind" to a life of intentionality.

Triggered by her father’s health crisis and eventual passing, she had to confront the internal critic that insisted backing off professionally to make space to be his caregiver was career suicide. Instead, she discovered the power of The Harvest—learning to stop generating endless energy and start plucking the fruit from the roots she had nourished for decades.

Key Takeaways include:

• The Apple Tree Analogy: Why you don't need to work as hard today as you did 20 years ago to see results.
• Relationship Capital: Using your Emotional Bank Account as a "rainy day fund" during life’s storms.
• The "Messy Middle": How to find peace when everything feels like it’s blowing up.
• Redefining Success: Why you don't need a flashy website or a big title to be impactful.

This isn't just another self-improvement podcast; it’s a masterclass in mindset for professional women who are ready to trade hyper-responsiveness for true presence. Join us for this strategic permission to reclaim "professional suicide" and let go of what’s making you miserable.

Connect with Tiffany

Connect with host, Rita Ernst