315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap with Kelli Thompson

What would you do if you had more confidence? Today’s guest, Kelli Thompson, polled over 500 people with this question and received answers that were equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking.

In this conversation, Kelli shares the story of walking down the aisle at her first wedding when her intuition was whispering that the relationship wasn’t right, but she didn’t yet have the confidence to listen.

We discuss strategies for listening to that still, small voice within; how to stop “box-checking” for external validation; the flip side of the imposter monster: pedestal syndrome; and working through the “poop soup” of liminal space between major changes. As Kelli says, “You can’t criticize yourself into more confidence.”

More About Kelli: Kelli Thompson is a women’s leadership coach and speaker who helps women advance to the rooms where decisions are made. She has coached and trained hundreds of women to trust themselves, lead with more confidence, and create a career they love. She is the founder of the Clarity & Confidence Women's Leadership Program and a Stevie Award winner for Women in Business—Coach of the Year. She is the author of Closing The Confidence Gap: Boost Your Peace, Your Potential & Your Paycheck, which was selected as a must-read by The Next Big Idea Club.

🌟 3 Key Takeaways:

  • Your intuition is going to tell you things your brain doesn’t want to hear, but it isn’t always loud. Those little nudges and questions are trying to get your attention and are worth spending time with.

  • We often default to checking the boxes of what we, or our communities, think it means to be successful. Ask yourself: “Do I even want this? Does it feel good? Does this give me energy?”

  • New job smell wears off. The problems we bring with us into new environments are going to come up again and again unless we deal with the internal issues—boundaries, communication, confidence—that cause them in the first place.

Try This Next: Write down 3-5 things in your life that you no longer want. Where do you feel resentment? What is out of alignment? Choose one to have a conversation about or draw a boundary around as a next step.

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