Stop Sabotaging Your Success

In this episode, Cindy Esliger examines the difference between actionable feedback and constant validation. While it’s always wonderful to get compliments on work, and those are necessary to boost morale, seeking only positive praise will inhibit meaningful growth. It’s the honest critique and useful feedback that helps us course correct and sharpen our strengths. Cindy discusses how to break free...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger discusses negativity bias, the tendency we have to look for what’s going wrong when we’re in an environment that doesn’t affirm or value our contributions. This focus on the negative isn’t out of pessimism, but is a survival strategy. However, the more we allow ourselves to focus on the negative, the more it feels like the truth. Cindy examines how this happens and w...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explores the power of words and why language is about more than communication. The words we choose shape how we view ourselves and what we believe is possible. By using more empowering words, we can open ourselves to new options and reclaim our sense of agency. Cindy offers insight into how different words impact our mindset and how to go about reframing our thoughts...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about the invisible load of anxiety, stress, and self-imposed pressure that high-achieving women often carry under their calm and capable exteriors. What the world sees as strength hides exhaustion from trying to stay ahead of anxiety by never sitting still. Cindy breaks down how to recognize when constant busyness is a coping mechanism, how to separate stress...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explores the idea that our emotions are not just reactions to what happens around us, but are conscious and intentional choices we have control over. If we don’t consciously choose how to feel, we leave it to chance and find ourselves at the whim of spiralling emotions. Cindy proposes steering away from fear as our default and instead setting intentions for our emoti...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger addresses what it takes to build a fulfilling career and how it’s not necessarily the most talented or best-connected people who achieve fulfillment. It’s about cultivating intentionality and setting a vision to act on. She explains how to do the work when it’s uncomfortable and to stop waiting for the perfect moment to arrive before we start acting on our goals. Cin...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about reframing challenges into opportunities for growth. The challenges that pop up in the workplace over and over can erode our confidence in the long run, but what Cindy wants us to know is that we have the power to shape what the challenges mean. They can be empowering instead of destructive if we view them the right way. How do we transform struggles into...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explores emotional exhaustion, the extreme weariness that makes everything feel like just another item on an endless to-do list. It’s a common lived reality, and Cindy addresses what it feels like and how it can snowball into impacting everything from work quality to health. However, it can be managed. There is a way to reframe setbacks and find the good among the ch...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger encourages us to examine our reasons for leaving a job to make sure we’re moving from a place of strength and not defeat. Are we running from an intolerable situation or running toward something better? Cindy walks us through what both look like and why taking the time to move toward something with intention is better for our careers. So while leaving a bad job becau...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger discusses the internal voices we listen to that can prove to be one of the most insidious obstacles in navigating our workplaces. She examines how our own negative thoughts and overthinking can sabotage even the most accomplished professionals. So, how do we learn to question our own thoughts? How can we learn to separate facts from fiction in our own minds to embrac...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about choosing to opt out of toxic dynamics in the workplace. We don’t need to continue trying to win the approval of toxic coworkers. We can disengage and break free from the harmful patterns. It isn’t about giving up, it’s an act of self-protection and empowerment. Cindy explains how to identify toxic dynamics and provides guidance on how to step back and rec...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger discusses the cycle of unrealistic expectations and false promises that keeps us striving indefinitely. It’s not just exhausting, it feeds into a culture that thrives on our self-doubt and overwork. We’re left blaming ourselves instead of identifying the truth, which Cindy explains isn’t us but the system that maintains control with ever-moving goalposts. How do we b...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger examines the fine line between honesty and encouragement when offering advice. While we don’t want to ignore challenges or sugarcoat reality for others, we also shouldn’t crush their dreams prematurely by offering too much realism that comes across as pessimism. How do we encourage others while still offering constructive insights to help refine their path? Cindy off...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about the social window, the fleeting time that occurs during the first few weeks in a new environment, when people are more open to connection and bonding. The social window won’t last forever, so it’s important to take advantage of it to build relationships, establish influence, and form a supportive network. What is the best way to use the social window to o...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger discusses the value of reflecting on our past experiences as a guide to navigating a more empowered future. Looking backward can teach us a lot. When we reflect on what we’ve been through, we can see unfinished business, repeated patterns, and things we’ve also done right. All these things become a strategic tool for forward thinking. But how do we look back without...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explores the skill known as pivoting. Our careers don’t often unfold exactly as planned. More often than not, a major curveball out of left field flies in to disrupt our plans. It could be a new boss, an imploding project, or shifts in the industry, but whatever it is, we are left reeling and unsure of what to do next. Instead of panicking or withdrawing, pivoting is...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about perspective and how our perspective of our work colors how we feel about it. Our brains love to tell stories about what we’re doing, but if the story being told at work is always “I hate this,” we’ll be in misery. Cindy poses the alternative option: getting our brains to tell a story about enjoyment, which can change our experience at work to one of curio...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger addresses the cycle of enabling that keeps us picking up the slack for other people. Sometimes we are too nice, too accommodating, unable to say no, or just fixated on work being done perfectly so we do the work of others as well as our own. And when they come to expect it, we keep doing it. We’re being taken advantage of and we’re the ones allowing it. So how do we...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explores what happens when our brain’s instinct to keep us safe from threats backfires and becomes a limiting and counterproductive loop. We spend a lot of time unconsciously on high alert, looking for signs that our trust might be betrayed or we’ll be taken advantage of. But always assuming the worst limits what’s possible. Cindy looks into considering a different p...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger discusses the cumulative effect of subtle and not-so-subtle micro-aggressions that build up in us over time. It’s the minor incidents like a dismissive glance, an ignored idea, and being overlooked that we shove to the side. But they don’t go away. They build up and can have a negative impact on our career without us even realizing it. Cindy explains how we can ident...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explores the power of challenging cynicism to become a hopeful skeptic instead. She isn’t talking about blind optimism but rather the power to balance realism with possibility. Why does being jaded hold us back? What if we get greater opportunities by shifting how we think about what’s possible? Cindy uncovers how to push our boundaries to allow more hope into our ca...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about overthinking, that tendency to analyze and ponder a decision for so long that we become exhausted. Instead of being thorough, we trap ourselves in a cycle of indecision. Spending more time thinking about a decision doesn’t necessarily lead to a better outcome and Cindy examines why that is. Why wouldn’t extra thought be better? And if it isn’t, how do we...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger addresses the deeply ingrained unwritten rules we’ve been living by, the limiting beliefs we didn’t consciously agree to that have been shaping our careers. Like an outdated operating system running in the background, these limiting beliefs quietly sabotage our potential. What is possible when we uncover them and align our goals with what we really want? Cindy walks...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger focuses on making sense of the lived experiences we have, the beginning of realizing when our bad days are stacking up and we see we’re in a toxic cycle. It takes a long time to identify all the small signs for what they are. When we start to see the patterns emerge, we tend to doubt ourselves and we shouldn’t. Cindy explains why it’s vital to make sense of these liv...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about that nagging sensation in the back of our minds that something is wrong at work. Not a big catastrophe, but a subtle persistent feeling that something isn’t right and it’s causing unease. We start to question whether anything actually is off or it’s just us. We wonder if this feeling of discontent is just the way work is meant to be. Cindy is here to assu...