What happens when a life-altering medical event completely shifts your trajectory?

In this powerful, grace-filled episode of the Authentic Voice podcast, Dr. Leslie Davis sits down with guest Laura Gates to discuss her personal journey through a traumatic diagnosis—torn carotid arteries and imminent stroke—and how surrendering to God transformed her perspective on life, work, and identity.

Laura shares her testimony of moving from an introverted, "under-the-radar" life into showing up fully in her calling as a coach helping women find purpose after life-changing medical events. Together, they unpack what it looks like to navigate debilitating migraines, low capacity, and spoon theory as a Christian entrepreneur and leader.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• A Journey of Surrender: How facing a near-death medical crisis became the catalyst for deep trust and finding purpose in God's plan.
• Energy Management & Spoon Theory: Practical insights for managing low-capacity days, protecting your space, and overcoming perfectionism as a high achiever or Type-A personality.
• Navigating Business with Physical Challenges: Learning self-compassion, setting healthy boundaries, and asking God for daily grace over your output.
• Life-Giving Rest & Connection: Finding grounding through creation, simple daily routines, journaling, and listening for God's still, small voice.

If you are navigating chronic illness, medical recovery, or simply learning how to give yourself grace while stepping into your calling, Laura's story will inspire you to stop striving and start resting in God's intentional design for your life.

Connecting with You and Next Steps:

• Podcast: [Insert Apple Podcasts/Spotify Links]
• Community Platform: Authentic Voice Leadership Community at AuthenticVoiceLeadership.com
• Instagram: @lesliebaylis

Next Steps:

• Step 1: Join a supportive community of intentional leaders at AuthenticVoiceLeadership.com.
• Step 2: Head over to the resources tab inside the community to download your free copy of The Capacity Audit Workbook grid.
• Step 3: Claim Laura's guide, Find Your Purpose After a Life-Altering Event, inside the Authentic Voice Leadership Community at gift.livingsentcoaching.com/leslie — a simple 3-step guide to help you reassess your path, uncover your divine gifts, and start taking small steps forward after life shifts.
• Step 4: Choose an accountability partner this week to help you monitor your spinning plates and prevent the next energy crash!

Connect & Resources:

• Guest: Laura Gates | Post-Medical Purpose & Life Coach
• Host: Dr. Leslie Davis

  Authentic Voice, Christian Leadership, Energy Management, Spoon Theory, Finding Purpose After Medical Trauma, Overcoming Perfectionism, Faith and Chronic Illness, Women's Empowerment, Self-Compassion.

Overcoming Execution Blocks & Self-Sabotage: Rewiring Your Brain for Business Growth with Jennie Hays

Have you ever bought all the courses and hired all the coaches, yet still find yourself completely stuck when it comes time to execute? Do you freeze up, procrastinate, or hesitate when it's time to state your price or ask for the sale in your business? What if your inability to move forward isn't a lack of discipline, but your brain trying to protect you from an old story?

In this episode, host Dr. Leslie sits down with Execution Block Specialist Jennie Hays to break down the neuroscience behind why entrepreneurs self-sabotage and procrastinate. Jennie shares how "brain landmines" formed from past experiences trigger subconscious survival instincts, leading to analysis paralysis, imposter syndrome, and sales anxiety. Learn how Brainspotting and subconscious rewiring can dissolve these blocks, allowing you to take effortless action and finally grow your business.

Key Takeaways

• Your Brain vs. Your Success: Your brain’s primary job is keeping you safe, not rich. It views visibility, rejection, and sales calls as survival threats and triggers self-sabotage to "protect" you.
• Productive vs. Non-Productive Procrastination: Discover why neurodivergent minds need time for ideas to ferment (productive procrastination) versus when a subconscious block is actively holding you back.
• The Dopamine Trap: Why giving in to distraction or putting off a launch task releases an instant dopamine hit—and how that fuels a cycle of relief followed by guilt.
• What Brainspotting Is: How your eye position correlates with stored physical and emotional memories, and how targeted resets can clear execution blocks in just 1 to 3 sessions.
• Shift Your Sales Mindset: Why charging for your services isn't a reflection of your personal self-worth, but an exchange for the value and transformation you provide your clients.

Memorable Quotes

"Your brain will lie to you flat out. Its job is not to make you successful; its job is to keep you alive." — Jennie Hays

"You never charge what you're worth. You charge what the outcome that you're giving is worth." — Jennie Hays

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Website: Jennie Hays Official Site
• Direct Email: Jennie@jenniehays.com
• Connect with Jennie: Visit her website to grab her latest freebie resource for entrepreneurs.

Enjoying the show? Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review!

Are you constantly setting high goals and hustling to reach them, only to feel exhausted and unfulfilled once you arrive?

Do you wear the "mask" of success while feeling internally depleted and disconnected from who you truly are?

What if you gave yourself permission to slow down, define success on your own terms, and align your life around your core values?

In this episode, I’m sitting down with wellness and empowerment coach Megan Caldwell to explore what it truly means to live your "rock star life." We dive into Megan’s personal story of reaching top franchisee recognition while experiencing severe burnout and why high achievers often get trapped in the hustle cycle. Megan breaks down how to get out of survival mode by using the "Power of Pause" and "Minimum Viable Action" (MVA) so you can align your daily actions with your core values, regulate your nervous system, and step into authentic authority.

• Guest Website: MegancaldwellPDX.com
• Guest Podcast: https://megancaldwellpdx.com/podcast/
• Free Gift: Rockstar Mom Morning Reset & Breakthrough Call

• Contact: leslie@mindshiftll.com
• Podcast: Authentic Voice Leadership Community
• Instagram: @lesliebaylis
• Resources: Get Free Tools and Strategy Shifts

1. Step 1: Join a supportive community of spirit-led leaders looking for soul-aligned frameworks and lasting connection at the free Authentic Voice Leadership Community.
2. Step 2 (The Book): Purchase Anchored in the Wilderness to dive deeper into emotional release and breaking up the hard soil of your heart at anchored.mindshiftll.com.
3. Step 3 (Free Gift): Grab Leslie’s free 3-Step Guide to Developing a Voice that Builds Trust and Radiates Authority at gift.mindshiftll.com/guide

Are you tired of creating endless content on social media and podcasts, only to feel like you're still your industry’s best kept secret?

Do you feel like you have to be loud, funny, or have an over-the-top personality just to stand out and connect with an audience?

What if the key to growing your business and influence isn't sharing more information, but wrapping your message in story and context?

In this episode, Dr. Leslie Davis sits down with veteran radio programmer and authority engineer Erik K. Johnson (founder of Podcast Talent Coach). With over 36,000 hours of on-air radio experience and decades of coaching broadcast talent and podcasters, Erik reveals why people don't just tune in to learn—they tune in for companionship and connection.

Together, they unpack the shift from simply sharing information to creating context through story, the critical difference between being personal vs. private, and a simple 4-step framework for creating content that moves listeners to action without burning you out.

• Free Mini Video Series: How to Go From Best Kept Secret to Recognized Authority
• Erik's Podcast: Influential Voices of Authority
• Connect with Erik K. Johnson: PodcastTalentCoach.com
• Check out Erik's Latest Workshops: PodcastTalentCoach.com/workshop

• Contact: leslie@mindshiftll.com
• Podcast: Authentic Voice Leadership Community
• Instagram: @lesliebaylis

1. Step 1: Join a supportive community of spirit-led leaders looking for soul-aligned frameworks and lasting connection at the free Authentic Voice Leadership Community.
2. Step 2 (The Book): Purchase Anchored in the Wilderness to dive deeper into emotional release and breaking up the hard soil of your heart at anchored.mindshiftll.com.
3. Step 3 (Free Gift): Grab Leslie’s free 3-Step Guide to Developing a Voice that Builds Trust and Radiates Authority at gift.mindshiftll.com/guide.

Ever wonder why you can create a perfect budget or spreadsheet, yet still find yourself making impulse purchases you later regret?

Are you tired of standard financial advice that treats you like a rational calculator when 95% to 99% of spending decisions are purely emotional?

Do you feel a constant friction between your deeply held core values and where your money actually goes every month?

In this episode, Dr. Leslie Davis sits down with Ted McLyman—retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, former Naval Academy economics instructor, and author of Confessions of a Reformed Financial Advisor. Together, they pull back the curtain on why traditional financial literacy is broken and why managing behavior, not math, is the real secret to financial freedom.

Ted shares how our primitive "feeling brain," biology, and childhood beliefs conspire against us when making financial choices. In this episode, we’re sharing the truth about behavioral finance so you can stop forcing yourself into standard budgeting boxes, align your spending habits with your core values, and build a personalized money strategy that actually fits who you are.

• Connect with Ted McLyman & Get His Book: Grab Confessions of a Reformed Financial Advisor (includes the free $50 Money Behavior System course code) at tedmclyman.com.
• Dr. Leslie’s Book: Purchase Anchored in the Wilderness at anchored.mindshiftll.com.
• Community: Join our free community of spirit-led leaders at authenticvoiceleadership.com.
• Free Guide: Download the 3-Step Communication & Authority Guide at gift.mindshiftll.com/guide.

• Contact -> leslie@mindshiftll.com
• Connect -> Authentic Voice Leadership Community
• Instagram -> @lesliebaylis

• Step 1: Join the community Authentic Voice Leadership Community.
• Step 2: Grab Ted McLyman’s book, Confessions of a Reformed Financial Advisor, at tedmclyman.com to uncover your unique money temperament and unlock your free Money Behavior System course.

Are the hidden, subconscious thoughts running in the background of your mind the real reason you keep hitting a wall with your time and money?

In this episode, Dr. Leslie Davis sits down with mindset coach Liz Taylor to explore the powerful intersection of neuroscience, behavior, and the subconscious habits that dictate how we show up as leaders.

If you are a spirit-led leader running on autopilot, understanding the link between your subconscious mind and your operational thought habits is the key to breaking free from hustle culture.

Liz breaks down the mechanics of the Habit Finder Assessment —tracking six core dimensions of thinking from self-worth to execution—revealing how identifying internal thought risks can help leaders execute a purposeful life pivot, step out of the grind, and step into authentic authority, so you can stop the five-to-ten-year "drift," navigate life transitions with grace over perfectionism, and learn to hold both joy and sorrow simultaneously in heavy business seasons.

• The Power of the Subconscious: Approximately 99% of our thoughts are subconscious. Without active self-awareness, these automated thought habits quietly control our daily behaviors and choices.
• The Habit Finder Framework: A transformative assessment tracking six core dimensions of thinking: connection with others, mental creation (dreaming/planning), physical creation (execution), structure, personal fulfillment, and self-worth.
• Rewiring and the "Drift": If you don't intentionally set targets and cultivate self-awareness, your brain defaults to the path of least resistance (confirmation bias), leading to a five-to-ten-year "drift" away from your true goals.
• Seasons of Business & Redefining the Finish Line: High achievers frequently get trapped in endless cycles of "chasing more." True leadership alignment requires defining financial finish lines, recognizing the seasonal rhythm of life and business, and intentionally integrating rest.

• Grace Over Perfectionism: Shifting away from a paralyzing need for perfection toward mindfulness, intentional awareness, and self-compassion.
• Aligning Actions with True Values: Addressing the exhaustion of the hustle grind by performing a time and money audit to align calendar schedules and bank accounts with genuine, value-driven outcomes.
• Managing High-Pressure Transitions: Recognizing how to navigate deep personal or business transitions—such as stepping into a "season of healing"—without destroying operational momentum.

• Free Thought Assessment: Take your complimentary assessment and access your free debrief at Habit Finder with Liz.
• Connect with Liz Taylor: Visit the official website at Legacy Coaching Group or reach out via email at Liz@legacycoachinggroup.com.
• Join the Free Community: Connect with like-minded spirit-led leaders at Authentic Voice Leadership.

Ever wonder how much lighter and brighter your life would feel if you finally stopped performing for everyone else's expectations and boldly embraced who God already created you to be?

In this powerful episode of Authentic Voice Leadership, Dr. Leslie Davis sits down with the radiant leader herself, Dr. Eboni L. Truss. Dr. Eboni is a former educator and the visionary founder of the Unbecoming Movement. She partners with Heaven to help high-achieving executives and entrepreneurs confront the masks they’ve been wearing, brush off the dust of past conditioning, and confidently reclaim their true identity.

If you are a high-performer who has found your worth in your work rather than the Word, this conversation is your permission slip to stop striving and start resting in your eternal identity. Dr. Leslie and Dr. Eboni dive deep into inner healing, breaking free from an orphan mentality, and learning how to step into the full bigness of your God-given calling.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The "Who You Be" Reality: Why your identity is not tied to a title, position, or corporate status, but to who you were at conception.
• Healing the Mirror Within: A beautiful breakdown of how Jesus repairs our fractured perceptions with His liquid love and redeems our past pain.
• Overcoming the Orphan Mentality: How to transition from a mindset of hyper-independence and self-reliance to fully accepting God’s intimate fatherhood.
• The "BIG" Framework: What it truly means to embrace "Believing It's God" and confidently accept the bigness of your voice and personality without hiding in plain sight.
• Dancing with the Trinity: Moving past the "middlemen" of faith to engage in your own personal, beautiful face-to-face relationship with God.

Connect with Today’s Expert:

Ready to take off the mask? Grab Dr. Eboni’s free three-step guide to reclaim the person you lost while building the life others expected at eboniltruss.com/gift.

Join the Conversation: Did you know we have a free community of spirit-led leaders just like you? Head over to authenticvoiceleadership.com right now to connect with like-minded kingdom leaders, grab exclusive resources, and keep the conversation going.

If this episode blessed you, please take a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share it with a leader who needs to shake off the dust and step into their true identity today!

Are you tired of running on a high-pressure hamster wheel, constantly striving to scale your business while sacrificing your peace of mind? In this raw, vulnerable, and unscripted solo episode, Dr. Leslie Davis shares a massive, miraculous life update directly from her future studio room.

Walking through what she calls a "flashlight season"—where God only provides enough light for the very next step—Leslie opens up about the real financial strain of the 3-to-5-year business-building phase and the deep spiritual surrender required when navigating sudden career pivots. What started as a terrifying conversation about worst-case scenarios turned into a whirlwind two-week miracle involving multiple teaching job offers, a step back from local ministry commitments, and an immediate move to Nashville, Tennessee. If you are a faith-based entrepreneur currently drowning in information, feeling stuck in business overwhelm, or feeling lost in your own wilderness, this episode will help you break the cycle of striving, ground your nervous system, and step into the floodgates of God's perfect timing.

• Navigating the Flashlight Season: How to maintain spiritual clarity, conquer anxiety, and take obedient steps when you can only see an inch in front of you.
• The Reality of Business Overwhelm: A candid look at the financial pressures of the early years of business building and the humility it takes to look at worst-case scenarios.
• Signs It's Time to Step Back: Discerning when the Lord is systematically cutting your tethers to old responsibilities to make room for a new season.
• Drinking From Deep Wells: Why the lessons and resilience you forge in your darkest wilderness moments become the very water that sustains you when things move fast.

• Grab your copy of the book: Anchored in the Wilderness
• Join the paid analog community for just the cost of shipping: The Leslie Davis Letter
• Connect with spirit-led leaders: Say hello and join the conversation at Authentic Voice Leadership.