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There's a question I love asking founders: What do you say to yourself when you're working hard and the results still aren't showing up? The answer tells me pretty quickly whether in pursuit of their goal they're going to burnout. 

In this episode I unpack some common misconceptions in Angela Duckworth's research of Grit. We discuss the nature of tense moments. how to surrender your results and how to know if you're on your way to burnout. 

Episode Summary

We're naturally pretty hard on ourselves. The the voice that got us moving starts making us afraid to take risks, because we know how brutally we'll treat ourselves if things don't pan out.

This episode makes the case for self-compassion as an essential business skill. We talk about  Kristin Neff's three components of self-compassion and I share the concept of a "soft landing" that Andrew and I have practiced with each other for years.

My hope is that you can use this episode two ways. Listen once for the framework, and come back to it on the days when you've made a mistake, missed a mark, or need a reminder that being your own worst enemy is not the price of ambition.

Key Takeaways

Memorable Quotes

Resources Mentioned

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Subscribe & Review If this episode was helpful, subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave a review to help more people like you find the podcast. Every single rating and review goes a long way!

Book your complimentary consultation here: https://calendly.com/carolinazuleta/consult-week

I'm opened the doors to my Consult Week, which runs from August 17th through the 21st. Twice a year I open my calendar for free consultations, and every spot fills. If you have been curious about coaching or wondering whether it could serve you, this is the week to find out.

Episode Summary

Every week I sit with executives and business founders who are extraordinary problem solvers. They make decisions with incomplete information, manage competing priorities, and navigate personalities most people would find impossible. A

And still, sometimes they get stuck. Often times it's because they are so close to the problem that they cannot see it clearly. In this episode I explain what coaching actually is and what it is not. I share the cost of not having a coach, the kinds of blind spots I see in the room most often, and why the right time to hire one isn't always in a crisis.

Key Takeaways

Memorable Quotes

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We spent a week this summer at a lake house in Colorado with my husband's family and mine. By the end of the trip I noticed I was still enjoying it in a way that would have been out of reach for me a decade ago, and the difference had quite a bit to do with a skill I've been building through the work I teach.

That skill is at the center of today's episode.

It comes down to noticing a thought as it shows up, rather than becoming it. It's the same skill that keeps founders from being ruled by the three most common stories I hear:

Each one sounds like an explanation and produces the opposite of the result we say we want. I walk through where each story comes from and the specific move that helps you loosen its grip on your day.

If you're a founder trying to break through the next revenue ceiling, or a leader whose day has been getting spent by a story you didn't consciously choose, this episode gives you a framework for noticing the story before it makes the decision for you.

Key Takeaways

Memorable Quotes

"It's not about making the right choice, but about making a choice and then making that choice the right one."

"Stories will come with us. Our job is to not let them decide where we're going."

Resources Mentioned

Connect with Carolina

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I love entrepreneurship. I love the idea that we can create something from nothing, add value to the world, make money and create jobs. But there are two moments in entrepreneurship that can feel equally hard: when business isn't going well and when business is going really well. In both situations, our most common response is to work harder, push through and white-knuckle it until things feel easier. But the price we pay for that approach is enormous.

This episode challenges the default response of working harder under pressure. Whether your business is struggling or thriving beyond your infrastructure, pushing through creates costs to your health, your relationships and the quality of your decisions. Drawing from client stories and my coaching experience, I explain what capacity actually is, why it matters more than strategy, and how expanding your capacity allows you to become the leader your business needs.

Hustle Comes From Fear

It's Not Your Strategy

Most founders think their challenges are strategy problems but more often than not, it's a constrained capacity. The founder is both the visionary and the ceiling that limits growth is their identity.

What Capacity Is

The Five Dimensions of Founder Capacity

"In either of those situations, our most common response is to work harder, to push ourselves even when we're tired, to put more hours, to almost hold our breath and white knuckle through it."

"When you are pushing yourself in that way, when you are operating from stress and fear and anxiety, you are not accessing the highest level of thinking."

"Whatever the problems the business is having, they correlate to the capacity the owner has."

"As a business founder, you will be the visionary, the driver, the dreamer, and the possibility creator for your business. And also you will be the bottleneck, the ceiling that stops your business from growing more."

"Your capacity is not who you are. It's not a personal trait. It's not a fixed characteristic. Your capacity is a set of leadership skills that you can develop."

"You can think about hustling as fear management and capacity as a combination of powerful decision making, desire and self-trust."

"Business problems don't get solved only with strategy or hiring more people. They get solved by you, by your capacity to make the right decisions."

If this episode was helpful, please drop a rating and give us a follow. Your support helps other entrepreneurs discover the show and enables us to continue creating this free content.

A few days of travel turned into a flu that knocked me flat, so this week called for some rest in lieu of recording. We're revisiting an episode that absolutely deserves a second pass.

Entrepreneurship begins with a vision that doesn't exist yet. You take on financial and emotional risk with the hope that the dream becomes real. But while you're building, your brain is scanning for threats and highlighting everything that might not work.

In this episode, we explore how we can believe in something that isn't real yet. I break down why belief is one of the most significant factors in your success, how low belief sabotages business, and the skill I use to strengthen my own belief when it gets shaky.

Key Takeaways:

Belief Is Already a Practice:

 The Brain Prefers a Safer Story:

How Low Belief Sabotages Execution:

The Deeper Driver of Results:

Strengthening Belief Is a Practice:

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If this episode was helpful, please drop a rating and give us a follow. Your support helps other entrepreneurs discover the show and enables us to continue creating this free content.

In this episode the conversation is about the energy we hold when we finally put our work into the world. Under the surface, there may be a part of you that's losing belief in your idea, or so focused on how it's received you forget the why you brought this into the world in the first place. It's all too common we start a project with joy and conviction, and by the time we're ready to share it, your excitement has waned.

We also ask why so many of us do the opposite. We build something we believe in, then dim our own enthusiasm the moment it's time to hand it to someone else, worried about sounding like too much, waiting for someone else's approval before we let ourselves believe it too. This episode is an invitation to stop waiting for the world's approval and start believing in your own work first, the same way Billie and Taylor already do.

"I love my music more than any other music. People hear that and think, 'What the heck? Like, oh, you're listening to your own music?' And it's like, 'Well, yeah, that's why I make it.' I make music to listen to it, enjoy it, and to sing it. It's my favorite thing in the world." — Billie Eilish, on Good Hang with Amy Poehler

"This has been the most fun day in my entire life." — Taylor Swift, on writing "I Knew It, I Knew You" for Toy Story 5

"You are your first customer. It is to yourself who you need to sell your offer first." — Carolina Zuleta

Website: carozuleta.com Book a consultation: carozuleta.com/consult LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/carolinazuletacoaching 

If you found any part of this episode valuable, please subscribe to the Visionaries Pursuit Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review to help more entrepreneurs find the show.

Episode Summary

I built and ran my business on my own for ten years, and for most of that decade I really wanted a partner. Someone who would know the intricacies of the business, and care about the outcomes the way I did. About two years ago that finally changed, and the partnership Andrew and I created has given me almost everything I hoped it would. Unfortunately for most (and likely me too without this work), we're a rare exception. 

In this episode I get into why I believe the relationship between co-founders is one of the most underrated parts of business strategy. We cover why partnerships most often end poorly and how to mend a strained relationship. 

Key Takeaways

 Resources Mentioned

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Episode Summary

Most of us say we want to run our business in a way where our team gets all the credit. We mean it, right up until no one thanks us for the exhausting work or someone else gets credit for a win rightfully ours... even so far as feeling a touch of resentment. In this episode we sit with that flicker.  We explore how self-validation is your key to handing out credit and why so many capable leaders are still answering an old question about whether they're important enough. 

Key Takeaways

Memorable Quotes

Resources Mentioned

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If you take something away from this episode, please leave a rating and follow the show. It helps other founders find the podcast and allows us to keep creating this content for free.

Episode Summary

This week we're talking about the neuroscience behind why we put things off, even when we know exactly what to do and how much our future selves would thank us for starting. The central idea is around what neuroscientists call the Goldilocks Zone, the level of pressure that is set just right for action. Too much of it and we tip into overwhelm and avoidance but too little and we go flat and reach for the nearest distraction. I explain the roles dopamine and norepinephrine play in getting us moving, and why some brains need barely any pressure to engage while others, like mine, do their best work with a deadline breathing down their neck. 

Key Takeaways

Memorable Quotes 

Resources Mentioned

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If this episode resonated, please leave a rating and follow the show. It helps other founders find the podcast and allows us to keep creating this content for free.