The Wake Up Call Podcast | High Performance Leadership and Business Strategy

How do you know when to quit? Why do we continue with obligations and ignore red flags?

What if you're biggest mistake wasn't quitting? What if it was not quitting sooner?

This is a deep topic that we start to scratch the surface on in this weeks The Wake Up Call Podcast.

Capt. Ryan of Good Karma Sportfishing and Educational Programs shares the story of when we purchased a 2nd boat to be able to take clients out in the backcountry, aka Everglades National Park.

After a few years, we realized not only did our clients not prefer that type of fishing charter experience but Capt. Ryan did not enjoy fishing in the backcountry.

He was not aligned.

We sold the boat in early 2019. However, when we stopped promoting those charters in the summer of 2018, our regular business of fishing on the oceanside took off.

Often, you have to cut something, even though it cost you money to do, in order for something else to have the energy to grow.

Cost Sunk Fallacy is something that can keep business owners and entrepreneurs stuck.

I shared a personal example of wanting to achieve something for many years and so I did. After that, there was no further opportunity, and it became a "distraction."

I cut the cord, and now other ideas that have been there all along have surfaced and, in a short time, are doing very well.

As a couple, we agree on these things. However, that could be a challenge for some couples.

See the red flags and following your intuition is crucial.

Mastering the Game, my online course, helps you see the pattern and change the game.

All offers are on the Command Edge page on my website below.

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

IG @themelindavanfleet

IG @goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

Thank you for listening and sharing!

Confidence vs. Competence— Why We Trust the Wrong People.

We have entered an era where having an opinion is being confused with having expertise.

And the people actually doing the work are often too busy doing the work to compete with the people talking about it.

Are we following people because they've demonstrated expertise, or because they've mastered the appearance of expertise?

This is your wake-up call.

Below are three psychology-based concepts that I mentioned worth exploring:

— The illusion of explanatory depth: People can believe they understand something more thoroughly than they actually do. When asked to explain the mechanics in detail, their understanding may turn out to be shallow.

— The Dunning–Kruger effect: People with limited competence in a particular domain may also lack the ability to accurately assess their own performance. It's not proof that every confident outsider is incompetent, but it helps frame the importance of testing knowledge.

— Epistemic authority: This concerns who is considered credible and why. Visibility, confidence, credentials, research, and firsthand experience can all influence perceived authority, but they are not equivalent.

We also explore:

— What happens when people take advice from the wrong people?

— How do you know who to trust?

— Why are people so confident about things they don't know?

And to further validate this "trend," Google' added EXPERIENCE to it's published content guidance explicitly discusses experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness—E-E-A-T. And paid $60M to Reddit in 2024 to access to a huge collection of human conversations, questions, and experiences.

This is a huge conversation, thank you for being part of it!

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

IG @themelindavanfleet

www.patreon.com.consciousconvergence

Mastering the Game™ w/ Melinda Van Fleet. See the Pattern, Change the – Good Karma Fishing Tackle

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

IG @goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

How does getting framed, fired, The Mirror Principle, and The Serenity Prayer go together? Well, it's a doozy of a story for this solo The Wake Up Call Podcast w/ Melinda Van Fleet.

Have you ever asked yourself?

• Why do we resist the very decision that could change everything?
• Why do we confuse familiarity with "right?"
• Why do we wait for certainty before taking action that would actually create certainty?
• Why do we make the simple thing complicated when the simple thing just requires courage?

This powerful story is about my buying job at Target (over 22 years ago) and how not fitting into the culture was something I "knew." We often know what's best for us and what is going to happen, but we delay.

You don't always need another answer. Sometimes you need to stop negotiating with the one you already have.

I also cover intuition, anxiety, stress, NLP, judgment, The Mirror Principle and more.

*Note I have no hard feelings or anything negative to say about my experience at Target and never have. It's a corporation that needs to consider all factors and handle employees as best fit.

And I was not a fit, but my story is important, impactful, God-led, and can change lives. Hence why I am openly sharing it.

I still shop there and am truly grateful for my journey.

Thank you for listening and sharing so others may know there is light at the end of the tunnel and use The Serenity Prayer like I did for support, guidance, and trust.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

IG @themelindavanfleet

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

Where are you leaking your energy? Do you have an invisible contract that is running your life? Understanding how obligation can be an invisible contract in which you leak power and it affects your success is a huge key to mastering the game.

My husband, Capt. Ryan Van Fleet of Good Karma Sportfishing and Educational Programs, and I deep dive into this topic including:

• Pattern intelligence
• Sovereign choices
• Boundaries
• Personal stories aka #dietcokegate, family and career
• Psychology
• Archetypes

Obligation isn't just a mood or a bad habit—it's a subconscious survival mechanism via nervous system regulation. When you trade your sovereign authenticity for obligation, your brain registers it as a loss of autonomy.

You close down internal inspiration and open up a background open loop in your mind. The goal isn't to stop doing nice things for people or stop showing up in your business; it's to shift the psychological root from a conditioned 'should' to a conscious, sovereign choice.

Recognizing this pattern is crucial for success.

As mentioned in the podcast episode:

Questions to ask yourself:

• What are you doing right now purely because you feel obligated?
• Who would be disappointed if you stopped?
• If nobody knew you stopped doing it, would you still do it?
• When did you first say yes to this?
• Would the person you are today make the same agreement?
• Are you honoring a commitment—or avoiding someone's reaction?
• What's the cost of continuing?
• What's the cost of stopping?
• What identity are you protecting by continuing?
• What would consciously choosing it again feel like?

For the next 24 hours, notice every time you think:

"I have to." "I should." "They'll expect me to." "They'll be disappointed." "What will they think?" "But they did ___ for me."

Then ask:

"If I removed the obligation, what would I actually choose?"

Thank you for listening and sharing!

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

IG @themelindavanfleet

IG @goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

You Didn't Lose the Dream— So Where Did Your Momentum Go? In this episode of The Wake Up Call Podcast with my husband Capt. Ryan Van Fleet of Good Karma Sportfishing and Educational Programs, we cover entrepreneurship, leadership, psychology, and Human Design in relation to a very crucial energetic topic— momentum.

Entrepreneurs are constantly asked to create momentum, but nobody asks what keeps killing it.

This also goes for leaders who are managing big teams and the people on the team.

Have you ever asked yourself:

Where did my momentum go?

Then this podcast is for you!

Other wake-up call topics covered and mentioned:

• Jim Collins Good to Great and The Flywheel. A business classic book every entrepreneur should read many times.
• The Mirror Principle applied to fishing charters and cell phone use.
• The Four Stages of Competence (originally developed by Noal Burch in the 1970s), which tracks how your brain processes skills as you shift from total unawareness to effortless execution.
• The Dunning-Kruger effect.
• Human Design— sacral energy and the lulls
• Relationships and balancing each other

If this conversation is a wake-up call for you or someone you know, start by asking yourself,

"What has changed?" and see what starts to come up for you.

Conscious awareness is always the most important step.

Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast!

www.melindavanfleet.com

IG@themelindavanfleet

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

IG@goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

We are in the midst of celebrating 17 Years of entrepreneurship and moving to The Florida Keys. This episode of The Wake Up Call Podcast w/ my husband Capt. Ryan Van Fleet of Good Karma Sportfishing and Educational Program is about what we wished we'd taken seriously sooner in our entrepreneurship journey.

"Maybe the lesson isn't to try harder. Maybe it's to take seriously what you've been treating casually and surrender what was never yours to control." Capt. Ryan Van Fleet.

We cover a lot of ground in this podcast:

• Entrepreneurship and staying the course with Plan A.
• Not listening to others so you don't have doubt.
• Understanding your soul purpose and reminding your self when things get hard.
• Social Media distractions and a tip that has been working!
• Importance of taking somatics, mindset, and emotions seriously.
• Lion's Gate (recipe) and Gestation theory—keeping busy during "the void."
• Entrepreneurship growth requires discipline AND surrender. Story share from 2011.

And more.

The two questions I mentioned:

1. What are you asking to change while continuing to treat casually the very thing that would change it?
2. What have you already done your part on that's finally time to stop gripping and surrender?

Thank you for listening and sharing!

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

IG@themelindavanfleet

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

IG@goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

Your standards determine your future more than goals do. Let that one land.

And have you ever thought about how your future may be hiding inside the standards you are finally willing to hold?

That is the conversation my husband, Capt. Ryan Van Fleet of Good Karma Sportfishing and Educational Programs, and I have on this powerful The Wake Up Call podcast episode.

We are living in a world where the conversation is extremely goal-focused and very 3D action. However, the main mechanism behind everything is your thoughts and feelings. So if you are ruminating over your decisions, this can cause friction and decision fatigue.

How much energy do you waste repeatedly considering things that do not meet standards you have already established? Where are you still negotiating with a standard you have already decided on?

This is likely your gap, which could also be causing anxiety (fear of the future) or what is being classified as mental health issues when in actuality, it's likely an imbalance of energetics.

If this conversation is one that can help you in your life or business, check out my website for private, confidential mentorship options: www.melindavanfleet.com.

Thank you for listening and sharing!

Connect further:

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

THE Daily Shift link Private Telegram is located on my Patreon and is $11.11 a month.

IG @themelindavanfleet

IG @goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

Where does bringing up an old story and reminiscing turn into rumination and hold you back? Reminiscing can lead to rumination, which leads to low frequency in the field. The perfect setup for The Matrix.

This powerful episode with my husband Capt. Ryan Van Fleet of Good Karma Sportfishing and Educational Programs dives into this topic that we have never heard discussed anywhere else.

We sort through my husband's thoughts in real-time and extrapolate how that can affect your business, relationships, and life in general.

The ability to recognize these thought patterns, which turn into low-frequency emotions, is critical in a world where we are being consistently shown things from the past that may trigger us into this state of being.

If you are not aware of this (consciousness) you will be out of balance and this can affect everything from your marriage to your money to your health.

Thank you for listening and sharing this incredible episode that we recorded on our 17th Year Anniversary of leaving Minneapolis. MN on our unparalleled journey to The Florida Keys. You can read about that on my website.

As mentioned: THE Daily Shift Private Telegram is about getting better at catching the moments that quietly determine what happens next. $11.11 a month.

Join THE Daily Shift

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

IG @themelindavanfleet

IG @goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

www.patreon.com/goodkarmasportfishing

The question isn't whether experts should use AI. The question is what consumers reasonably believe they're buying when they purchase someone's expertise. How conscious of this are you?

If you are someone who uses AI, you may already be familiar with the Echo Chamber.

I learned about this year as I started to use AI to test my theories with science and psychology. The AI model was always confirming my thoughts, which is referred to as an Echo Chamber AKA Sycophancy.

Sycophancy describes an AI system becoming overly agreeable with the user's beliefs or perspective instead of maintaining independent epistemic accuracy.

We naturally notice and favor information that supports what we already believe.

AI potentially adds something new to that old human tendency:

Instead of searching through information and finding confirming evidence, we can now have personalized confirming arguments generated specifically for us.

Research has already raised concerns that personalized GenAI interactions can amplify confirmation bias.

What can you do for yourself?

Here are some questions that can help create a more balanced and grounded POV:

What am I missing?

What's the strongest argument against my position?

What assumptions am I treating as facts?

Give me three plausible interpretations that contradict mine.

Separate what I know from what I'm assuming.

What information would change your conclusion?

If you were advising the other person in this conflict, what would you tell them?

Where might confirmation bias be influencing my interpretation?

What would an expert who disagrees with me say?

Don't validate my premise automatically. Examine whether the premise itself is sound.

The second piece of understanding this conversation is who are you following and buying from with the intention to achieve the result they are selling?

And if they have used AI to solidify and amplify their confidence and certainty, you may be caught in a trap you are not aware of.

This is a big conversation, not only in terms of AI but also the personal development landscape which is already tricky in terms of Social Comparison.

Caught up in this cycle and need help with pattern recognition and intelligence?

Check out my website www.melindavanfleet.com and the Command Edge page for options.

The "Believe and Take Action Daily Guide" I mentioned is on the front page of my website in the bottom right corner.

IG @themelindavanfleet and post link I mentioned below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcYjhofRkGh/

YouTube @ownyourgreatness.

The video I mentioned:

https://youtu.be/RzJ-c5EXYZM?si=enm3Dldm-2yvOjWo

www.patreon.com/consciousconvergence

Thank you for listening and sharing!

Have you watched Monsters of God, the new docuseries on HBO by Eric Goode? Capt. Ryan Van Fleet and I watched episode one and recognized several human patterns and were curious about what the patterns reveal about us.

Your calling determines what you're drawn toward; your patterns influence what you create with it.

And it's interesting how obsession can narrow your judgment.

Some of the through-line patterns we discuss are:

• Greed
• Copying
• Energetics
• Blame
• Health
• Avoidance
• Identity

Both of us also share a personal story about copying and respect.

There is a lot here to unpack. Thank you for joining us!

Connect further:

www.melindavanfleet.com

www.goodkarmasportfishing.com

IG @themelindavanfleet

IG @goodkarmasportfishing_fl_keys