The Smart Rebel

Lotte is a mother of 4 kids, some of whom are gifted. Her son's coach recently told her: 'your children got their intelligence from you'. But Lotte can't believe that she would be the gifted parent. It surely must have come from their dad's side, right? I get approached by so many moms like Lotte, who simply can't believe they are gifted themselves. Women who feel the oppos...

Regina is an architect who fears she comes across as a 'show-off'. She wants to feel proud of the things she does, but doesn't want others to resent her for her achievements. Her friends often aren't willing to celebrate her, and she's seen several friendships end over this. How to deal with the jealousy of others? In this session, we discuss how being confident and successful...

Manon found out about her giftedness later in life, and struggles with sadness around this discovery. She feels like it's too late, she has many regrets, and wishes she could turn back the clock so she could do 'big things'. Now she wonders: what should I do next? A 'late' discovery often comes with mixed feelings. It can be overwhelming, and even make you feel like you're...

Kelly Danahy is a gifted multipotentialite. Meaning, she has diverse interests, talents, and possibilities. She has potential in lots of different professions and pursuits. Which is a great thing! But not always easy, when you're trying to figure out your career plans... Especially not when you're afraid of narrowing down and picking a niche. In this coaching session, I help Kelly find cla...

Yury is a 22-year old gifted student from Russia who feels like he is different from others in his age group. He prioritizes and values different things, and struggles with societal pressure to act more like a 'normal 22-year-old'. He is concerned he should be going out and partying more, instead of being so focused on work. In this episode, we focus on two issues: 1. How to live his life...

This episode exposes the limits of what coaching can do. It shows the difference between therapy versus coaching. I am joined by Libby, who starts off the conversation with a focus on time management. But along the way, we uncover the underlying reasons as to why Libby is short on time and can't accomplish her goals. Here, we touch on traumatic topics including abuse, toxic family dynamics, an...

Setare is a psychologist who wants to be more than just one thing. She's had a passion for fashion for many years, but never felt the drive to take this to the next level. And that has a lot to do with perfectionism, lack of confidence, and money-mindset blocks.. And that first step is always the hardest. In this episode, I help Setare overcome her doubts, stop postponing, and get started on h...

Maupie is struggling with a recent break-up. He doesn't know how to handle the intensity of his feelings, and feels like he is often more deeply invested in the relationship than the other person. In this episode, we talk about how his giftedness impacts his romantic relationships, and what he can do to start seeing his intensity as a positive instead of a negative. Thanks for listening to The...

Amber is a theatre director, teacher and filmmaker. The discovery that she is highly gifted helped her understand why she has always felt misunderstood. She had a lot of negative experiences in the past, but these days, she is living a much happier life. So why then, if she's doing so much better, does she still find herself crying in the toilet at work? In this session, we discuss some of the...

Lisa just quit her job as a consultant, because she feels that she wasn't making enough of an impact. But now, she's at a loss as to what to do with her career. She has many different interests she'd like to pursue, but the idea of a career without a clear path scares her. Wouldn't that lack structure, stability, and continuity? I coach Lisa through her fear of change towards a new...

Robert McKay is the CEO of an education company that helps 2E students thrive at school. But as a multi-passionate person, he is currently contemplating a career shift. He's got many great ideas: from research projects and political initiatives, to the development of financial education courses. Yet he has one problem that keeps him from pursuing those interests: he doesn't know how to get...

Laura has a passion for social transformation. But the structures and rules of her corporate job suffocate her. She is frustrated by 'business-as-usual' practices, the constant focus on profit, and her colleagues' lack of reflection on business ethics. So, Laura wants to spark change from within. Yet she keeps running into resistance: her emails filled with rational arguments and facts...

Anne is a remarkably talented person, and a former client of mine. In this episode, she shares how her life has developed since we completed our coaching program two years ago. What stands out, is the long-term impact that my coaching has had on her. She had to overcome some big challenges, including having never obtained a high school diploma. Yet today, Anne is thriving in life, has marvelous pl...

Brandon is pursuing an academic career in Neuroscience, and comes into this session with a big question: How can I reach the big career success I desire in a highly specialized field, without sacrificing the diversity of my many interests and talents? Together, we uncover his big career vision, working at highly esteemed institutions like MIT. He is frustrated about his training being so focused a...

Payam is an Iranian man who is twice exceptional (2E), experiencing giftedness in combination with ADHD and Autism. He is passionate about his field of Natural Language Processing, yet for the past years, he’s experienced severe delays with his MA degree. Overthinking, anxiety, and perfectionism keep slowing him down, and assignment deadlines frequently lead to panic attacks. In this episode we ex...

Meet Antonia, an ambitious clinical psychology student, based in Vienna. She brings two topics to the table. In the first half, we discuss her struggles with procrastination. Because while she enjoys psychology as a topic, she admits that she puts everything off until the last minute. Despite the little effort she puts in, she still gets great results. This makes her feel guilty, and insecure, as...

Amelie comes into this session with big questions: 'What am I going to do with my life?', and 'How do I fit into this world?'. She feels insecure about herself, because while she is good at many different things, she isn't 'the best' at anything in particular. And so, she tells me: 'I am not extraordinary'. In this episode, I coach Amelie around this negative be...

Steve is known by his friends to be the life of the party, a true 'social butterfly'. But few know that Steve himself grapples with deep-rooted social anxiety. As soon as he is not the center of attention, he feels excluded from the rest of the group. This really bothers him, so in this session, I coach him to get a better understanding of why social situations are so stressful and often u...

Marlies came into this session wanting to talk about her tendency to procrastinate, but we end up talking about much deeper, underlying issues. You see, Marlies struggles with a fear of disappointing others. She is scared to let people down. Because that's how she has often felt in life: like she doesn't fit the mold.  In this episode, we get to the bottom of this fear, and Marlies finally ge...

Charlotte is a physical therapist from Belgium who recently found out she is gifted. But she struggles to recognize herself as such, and feels like an imposter. Charlotte also feels like her giftedness is putting a lot of pressure on her to be perfect all the time, because if people see her as super smart, that means she can now no longer make any mistakes. But is that really true? In this session...