Stop Sabotaging Your Success

Cindy Esliger addresses the self-care craze that has become less about caring for ourselves and more of a quick-fix industry. She explores setting healthy boundaries to reclaim our power and encourage us to manage life’s stresses. Self-care is important but it means more than a scented candle or something we can buy. Part of self-care is doing internal work to determine what we want and need, and what limits we have to set.

The rage and frustration we can feel while pushing back against an oppressive or toxic work culture while balancing too many stressors is what leads to burnout. An externally applied fix, something we buy or a ritual we perform, may make us feel slightly better in the short term but does nothing to protect us from future harm or continued stressors. Cindy’s definition of self-care is a process, not a product. It involves setting limits and prioritizing personal well-being over productivity.

As Cindy points out, true self-care is not always comfortable. It can be challenging and messy as we work through emotional upheaval to change our life situations in order to thrive. She offers insight from her own experiences with change, boundaries, and reclaiming our power as a survival skill. What she shares explores how boundaries safeguard mental and emotional health and lead to long-term shifts that bolster self-care and create sustainable relationships in the future. Boundaries aren’t as easy as a bubble bath but they’re much longer lasting in their effects.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Guide to Reclaiming Your Power
• Astronomic Audio
• Confidence Collective

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Contact Cindy Esliger

Career Confidence Coaching: website | instagram | facebook | linkedin | email

Cindy Esliger talks about the detrimental effect of rising stress levels and changing workplace priorities on our interactions with others. In these days where stress is an inevitable part of our daily lives, it’s more important than ever to maintain positive relationships with colleagues. Our stress affects our patience, making us assume the worst of those we work with when we need to learn how to assume the best.

Juggling multiple tasks, looming deadlines, and the demand for high-performance standards all increase our stress levels while simultaneously wearing our patience thin and causing us to misinterpret simple things like a missed email or misunderstood directive. We assume that the other person is ignoring us, or worse, attacking us in some way. We never stop to consider that they may simply be as stressed and busy as we are and that the missed email was a simple mistake. Assuming the worst leads us to say things we regret and erodes the important trust we need to maintain with our colleagues.

How can we break the cycle of negativity? We need to strive to assume the best of each other. Cindy shares five practical steps designed to aid us in assuming positive intent: 1) Pause and reflect, 2) Communicate openly instead of jumping to conclusions, 3) Practice empathy, 4) Focus on solutions, not blame, and 5) Celebrate contributions. In this episode, Cindy breaks down the steps in detail and instructs us on how to handle difficult managers and personalities, control our emotions, and look at things objectively. Her advice paves the way for assuming the best, not the worst, from those we work with.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Guide to Assuming the Best
• Astronomic Audio
• Confidence Collective

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Contact Cindy Esliger

Career Confidence Coaching: website | instagram | facebook | linkedin | email

Cindy Esliger explores the necessity of emotional intelligence in leadership, delving into why responding to challenges with calm and kindness promotes a healthy work environment. It also paves the way for both leader and team to achieve more sustainable success and growth. But how do we learn to avoid volatility in the face of struggle and what strategies promote quiet strength?

Working our way up the corporate ladder isn’t just a series of milestones but a transformative experience that shapes us both professionally and personally. With that growth, it’s inevitable to experience both trepidation and excitement as horizons broaden. Uncertainty and self-doubt can take hold. It’s in learning to battle this imposter syndrome and seek assistance that we discover how to treat ourselves with grace and extend calm and kindness outward. How to lead not with emotional turmoil but a steady hand.

Cindy discusses all the ways in which grappling with ourselves is necessary in order to advance and also lead effectively. She notes that we aren’t born being strong, calm and kind but that we learn through experience and practice how to cultivate those traits. She lays out six strategies for harnessing inner strength: 1. Confront imposter syndrome, 2. Cultivate inner confidence, 3. Manage emotions, 4. Let go of baggage, 5. Take responsibility, and 6. Replace fear with learning. As she unpacks each step, she imparts a clear path forward through emotional resilience instead of volatility.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Guide to Being Strong, Calm and Kind
• Astronomic Audio
• Confidence Collective

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Contact Cindy Esliger

Career Confidence Coaching: website | instagram | facebook | linkedin | email

Cindy Esliger examines how the scarcity mindset, which seems prudent to adopt in today’s competitive market, can negatively impact our worldview. Adopting a mindset of generosity instead paves the way for more fulfilling relationships and potentially a more successful career trajectory. But sincere generosity is different from the self-serving kind that seeks to manipulate with kind gestures. How are they different? How can we shift our thinking to generosity while avoiding manipulation?

The scarcity mindset operates from a place of believing there isn’t enough to go around and sparks fear of losing what we have. It can lead to excessive caution and to a competitive environment where our success must be at the expense of others. Generosity, however, doesn’t simply mean financial giving but encompasses sharing knowledge, time, and expertise. It views resources as expansive, rather than finite. Manipulation lies in bending this generosity into one defined by its intent, such as exploiting another’s weakness.

How can we integrate encouragement, a type of generosity, into our everyday lives? Cindy has three ways: 1. Be specific, 2. Recognize effort, not just achievement, and 3. Encourage peer recognition. Celebrating the success of others can not only enhance a career but enrich emotional well-being. Cindy explains the many ways generosity can be expressed without manipulation or self-interest and breaks down why generosity is so important in succeeding both personally and professionally.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Guide to Unlocking Your Potential
• Astronomic Audio
• Confidence Collective

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Contact Cindy Esliger

Career Confidence Coaching: website | instagram | facebook | linkedin | email

In today's episode, Cindy Esliger examines our careers and career satisfaction. Are we simply adhering to the conventional benchmarks that society labels as success? Or are we pursuing personal fulfillment and doing what genuinely motivates us? To reevaluate how we define success, Cindy dives into our inspirations, where we find courage, and how to assess our emotions. We might be ready for a shift that takes us away from the corporate ladder but closer to our personal satisfaction.

Cindy asks if our careers should focus on crafting an impressive resume, following a linear and logical career path, or if we should examine what truly energizes us when decision-making. It is possible to hold a senior position or be at a high level in a career yet feel stagnated. So how do we define career success? Is it time to reevaluate those metrics with Cindy’s help?

Conforming to a traditional career path for the sake of external rewards can be exhausting if our emotional well-being isn’t satisfied by our work. We need to move away from the approval of others and nurture a sense of personal fulfillment. Cindy pulls on her own experience with a major career shift to illustrate how sometimes the dictated path isn’t the one that breeds satisfaction. She offers insight on how to reflect on our journey, how to make decisions that steer in the right direction, and why aligning work with inner self is such an important thing to do.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Guide to Assessing Your Next Move
• Astronomic Audio
• Confidence Collective

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Contact Cindy Esliger

Career Confidence Coaching: website | instagram | facebook | linkedin | email