Dare to Begin with Leslie Begin

We talked about comparing yourself to other people last time. Today I want to give you another way to think about the same phrase. You vs. you. The past can educate you. The future can inspire and compel you. But you are only actually in this game today. The decisions you make today are what lead you to that future version of yourself, and those same decisions are informed by the former version of...

If you compare your journey to someone else's, it will always, ALWAYS get you off track. In one direction or the other. In this episode I break down the real psychology behind comparison. Leon Festinger's Social Comparison Theory from 1954 shows we evaluate our own worth by comparing ourselves upward, to people doing better, or downward, to people doing worse. And research specifically on weight l...

Hear me out today, mama. Criticizing your body hurts you. But it also hurts your daughter. Curse your body, and she will look for flaws in her own. In this episode I share the story of a client whose parents were morbidly obese, and how her fear of becoming like them pushed her to the opposite extreme — overexercising, overthinking every health decision, and sacrificing friendships in the process....

You are more powerful than you realize. If you can talk yourself into eating something off your plan, compromising on your goals... you can talk yourself out of it too. You are just that powerful. That expert negotiator in your head is so good at making the case for "just this once." It's a special occasion. You've had a hard day. You'll get back on track tomorrow. In this episode I show you that...

I cannot coach what I cannot see. Often when I am coaching someone and they are not getting results, I have to make the invisible visible. And one of the best ways to do that is by asking one simple question. Pretend you are a high performance coach looking at your own life. What would you say? Because here is the truth. I am not in your real life. I don't see the moments you are standing in the p...

I was interviewing a high performance coach. And as the interview went on, he started asking me questions, and I was giving him all the right answers. I knew what to do. I knew exactly how to get to the goals I had set. I was exhausted with the lack of progress, but I was feeling pretty confident. Like... I've got this. I probably don't even need the coach. Then he asked me about Brendon Burchard'...

Life feels serious and hard when you constantly measure yourself with the measuring stick of Pinterest boards and little peeks at the slices of perceived perfection in other people's lives. It leads to heavy mom guilt. Crushing comparison. But around here, we say shame OFF you. When the voices in your head have been saying shame ON you for all the different ways you feel like you have not been mea...

Dieting in the dark. Not telling anyone what you're doing. That is a problem. In this episode I make the case for living your health comeback out loud instead of hiding it. Tell a coworker. Tell a friend. Tell your Bible study girlies. Tell your family. They need to know you have a plan, that you are prioritizing your health and yourself, and that you want to be lean and strong for your longevity....

I was in a hotel room, overwhelmed, anxious about going downstairs to add more chaos to my already full life by walking into a conference I was there for. I could not get any traction with the anxiety. It just kept swirling. And I felt the Lord ask me to do something simple. Sit down. Write down the five most pervasive thoughts circling my head and my heart. The first thing I noticed shocked me. I...

The thoughts you think matter. Not the first thought that pops into your head uninvited — that one is not a big deal. It is the thoughts you allow to build a nest and live there. The ones you ruminate on. Those thoughts determine how you feel. Your feelings determine how you act. Your actions create your results. And your results become your habits. Most people try to just change their behavior. B...

Imagine a line running horizontally right in front of you. Everything in your life falls either above it or below it. Above the line is ownership, accountability, and responsibility. Below the line is blame, excuses, and denial. Above the line you are open and curious. Below the line you are closed and defensive. Above the line we see solutions. Below the line we see a lot of problems. In this epi...

I have clients who do great for stretches and then completely fall apart — at the weekend, on vacation, during a stressful week, wherever their pattern shows up. And a lot of them tend to lean negative already, beating themselves up before I even say a word. So instead of lecturing them, I use a coaching game that gets them out of shame and into insight almost instantly. I ask them one question. "...

We say "I fell off the wagon" like it was an accident. Like we tripped. Like it just happened to us. But you did not fall. You jumped. That is not shame. That is your power handed back to you. Because if you jumped, you can climb back on. In this episode I walk through six practical, honest steps for what to do after a relapse — whether that is a full return to old habits or just one hard day that...

I can have a ton of raw meat sitting in my fridge and a beautiful meal plan written out. That is a plan. But if I do not actually prepare those meals, cook them, portion them, have them ready to grab... I am not going to thrive. The plan just sits there, raw and useless, at seven o'clock when I am starving. In this quick episode I break down the difference between having a plan and actually being...

I hear this all the time. Women telling me they want to like what they see when they look in the mirror. And I also hear women quoting Paul, saying he learned to be content in all circumstances, and wondering if that means they should just accept where they are and stop wanting more. In this episode I untangle that for you. Because you can do both. You can find genuine contentment right where you...

I got a text this week from a friend on day three of her reset. And she said... "I am DYING." Hungry and irritable on Saturday. A headache she could not shake on Sunday. By Monday she was fully convinced her body was shutting down. Friend... she is so dramatic. Somebody hand this woman an Emmy. In this episode I walk through four things that might actually be going on when you feel like you cannot...

You wake up late. Skip your plan. Grab something you did not intend to eat. And by nine in the morning you have already decided the whole day is a wash. No. You get to start again at lunch. This quick episode is a reminder that every single meal is a brand new decision point. Breakfast does not own lunch. Lunch does not own dinner. One bad meal is just one meal — it is not a verdict on your whole...

I hear women say the worst things about their own bodies. I am disgusted by my body. I hate what I see in the mirror. I detest this part of me, that part of me. And it breaks my heart every single time. I grew up watching my mom's body work against her. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when I was in fourth grade, and I watched her disease progress over years. Then my dad was diagnosed wit...

A craving feels like an emergency. It is not. It is a wave. In this quick episode I share the one truth about cravings that changed everything for me. They pass. Most cravings peak and start fading within about two minutes — if you just outlast the wave instead of giving in immediately. I give you a simple, practical tool to use the very next time a craving hits. Set a timer. Do something else whi...

Leslie shares a quick mindset shift to overcome the 'I don't wanna' moments, emphasizing the importance of adulting and accountability in achieving personal goals. keywords mindset, motivation, accountability, self-control, personal development, overcoming procrastination Mindset shift from 'I don't wanna' to 'I do want to' The metaphor of driving the bus and managing inner voices Accountability t...

What feeling am I trying to avoid when I reach for this? What do I believe this habit gives me that I cannot get any other way? What would I have to feel if I put it down? What has this habit cost me? In my health. In my relationships. In my relationship with myself. In the last episode I asked you one question. Could you become her without it? Today we get practical. Because curiosity without a n...

A few years ago we had family pictures taken. And I remember that morning thinking about who I wanted to be in those photos. Fun. Relaxed. Patient. Playful. Fully present. And then I thought... I know exactly how to become that version of myself. I poured a glass of wine. And honestly I did not even sip it. I chugged it. Because the purpose of that glass was never to enjoy it. It was to make me fe...

I heard John Maxwell say something in person that hit me so hard I wanted to get it made into art and hang it by my front door. "The question in my mind changed from 'How long will this take?' to 'How far can I go?'" In this episode I talk about why we are all obsessed with the timeline and why that obsession is quietly killing our comebacks. We live in a world where Amazon delivers same day in At...

I am recording this one from the trenches. Not from the mountaintop. Not from the other side of a win. From the middle of a hard week where the toddler committee is loud and the cereal is right there and nothing feels good. I just got back from a trip where my nutrition was actually great. I did the thing. And then I came home to VBS week, late nights, a house on the market with six kids living in...

You are making progress. Real, visible, undeniable progress. And you have absolutely no idea what to do when someone notices. At first they cannot quite put their finger on it. They look at you and say... "Did you get a haircut?" And you can just laugh and say, "No! But I lost some weight so maybe my hair looks shorter! I feel great, thanks for noticing!" And then a little further down the road th...