High achievers often rush into execution mode before clearly defining desired outcomes, leading to misaligned results and wasted resources. Slowing down to clarify what success actually looks like becomes a force multiplier for your time and effort.

In today’s episode you will learn about:

• Our natural instinct as high achievers is to jump straight into building mode when improving processes or programs

• Planning feels slow while execution gives us the satisfaction of immediate progress

• A critical question before any initiative: "What result do I actually want this to create?"

• Case study of an executive revamping a leadership program by first defining desired outcomes

• Defining impact before building prevents misaligned decisions and team confusion

• Clarity upfront becomes a "force multiplier" for your time and resources

• Apply this principle when rebuilding processes, restructuring teams, or launching new services

• When leading others, ask "what outcomes do we want to achieve together?"

If today's insight resonated and you're ready for more clarity, structure and progress in your business, let's connect. I partner with high performing leaders and business owners who are navigating growth and want a strategic thought partner to help them follow through on what matters most. You'll find details about one-on-one coaching in the show notes.

Interested in 1:1 Coaching?

Kristin partners with high-performing financial advisors, leaders, and business owners who are ready to lead with more clarity, focus, and intention.

Clients often come to her with a strong vision—but they aren’t sure how to close the gap between where they are now and where they want to go. Many are navigating a season of growth, stepping into expanded leadership, or realizing they’ve outgrown their current systems and ways of working.

They know they’re capable of more and want a strategic thought partner to help them get there—someone who will ask the tough questions, create space to think deeply, and offer a proven process for turning ambition into meaningful progress.

If this sounds like the kind of partnership you’ve been craving, email meet@kristinburke.com to learn more and connect.

Connect with Kristin

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Goal Setting Success Course

Breakout Plan

Every driven professional eventually reaches a crossroads where working harder no longer produces the desired growth. Mark Kull found himself at this junction after achieving Northwestern Mutual's prestigious Forum recognition in consecutive years, only to realize he was trapped in an unsustainable cycle of effort.

What followed was a transformative journey from frantic producer to strategic business builder. Mark shares the counterintuitive wisdom that reshaped his approach: "You often have to slow down to speed up." This perspective shift led him to create what he considers more valuable than any to-do list – a comprehensive "don't-do list" that freed him to focus on his highest-impact activities.

The conversation explores Mark's deeply personal definition of success: being "front door famous" – showing up as the same authentic person whether with family, clients, or strangers. This consistency of character guides his leadership and life choices more powerfully than traditional financial metrics ever could.

Mark reveals the practical strategies that supported his transition, from calculating the true hourly value of his client-facing time to intentionally hiring team members with complementary strengths rather than similar personalities. He candidly discusses the challenges of letting go, acknowledging that "in our desperation to want to be everything to everybody, we don't really become much of anything to anybody."

Perhaps most surprisingly, Mark credits consistent sleep and wake times as his most important habit – a discipline that builds self-trust and reinforces his capacity for follow-through in every area of life. His approach demonstrates how elite achievement often comes not from doing more, but from doing the right things with remarkable consistency.

Ready to rethink your approach to growth? Connect with Mark at mark.kull@nm.com or visit https://cpp.nm.com/ to learn how strategic delegation and intentional habits might transform your personal and professional trajectory.

In this podcast you will learn:

• Redefining success as being "front door famous" – maintaining consistency of character across all environments

• Creating a strategic "don't-do list" rather than just focusing on to-do lists

• Calculating the hourly value of client-facing time to determine what tasks to delegate

• Hiring people with complementary skill sets rather than similar personalities

• Making the shift from "producing forum" to "being a forum producer" through systems and processes

• Building in non-negotiable growth opportunities like mastermind groups and industry conferences

• Using flexible growth methods like reading that can be done at various times without rigid scheduling

• Celebrating wins intentionally rather than constantly moving goalposts

• Maintaining consistent habits like regular sleep and wake times to build self-discipline

• Finding team members who genuinely enjoy the tasks on your don't-do list

Highlights:

0:00

Self-Actualization and Introduction

7:12

Defining Elite Success Personally

11:40

The Journey from Forum Producer

20:24

Building a Strategic Business

30:24

Creating Space for Growth

39:06

The Power of Consistency

42:50

Celebration and Final Thoughts

Interested in 1:1 Coaching?

Kristin partners with high-performing financial advisors, leaders, and business owners who are ready to lead with more clarity, focus, and intention.

Clients often come to her with a strong vision—but they aren’t sure how to close the gap between where they are now and where they want to go. Many are navigating a season of growth, stepping into expanded leadership, or realizing they’ve outgrown their current systems and ways of...

The tension between achieving immediate goals and building for the future offers valuable insights on managing competing priorities with limited capacity. Mini-episodes of Elite Insights deliver actionable ideas to help leaders stay focused and make meaningful progress.

In this episode you will learn how:

• Quarterly reviews provide essential space to reflect on goals, priorities, and how time and energy are being allocated

• High achievers often default to working harder when faced with challenges, rather than being strategic about capacity

• Competing priorities like revenue goals and strategic expansion can create tension when approached with the same intensity

• Intensity doesn't create instant results - dividing focus across too many priorities leads to overwhelm and feeling defeated

• Some leaders over-rotate on new strategies while unintentionally stopping activities that generate immediate results

• Consistency in both immediate priorities and future investments compounds over time

• Four key questions to clarify priorities: What drives revenue now? What sets up future positioning? What can you sustainably commit to? Where are you spreading too thin?

If you're feeling the pull between short-term goals and long-term growth and want a clear strategy to move forward with focus, let's talk. I partner with high-performing leaders and business owners who are ready to align their priorities, protect their time and follow through on what matters most. You'll find details about one-on-one coaching in the show notes.

Interested in 1:1 Coaching?

Kristin partners with high-performing financial advisors, leaders, and business owners who are ready to lead with more clarity, focus, and intention.

Clients often come to her with a strong vision—but they aren’t sure how to close the gap between where they are now and where they want to go. Many are navigating a season of growth, stepping into expanded leadership, or realizing they’ve outgrown their current systems and ways of working.

They know they’re capable of more and want a strategic thought partner to help them get there—someone who will ask the tough questions, create space to think deeply, and offer a proven process for turning ambition into meaningful progress.

If this sounds like the kind of partnership you’ve been craving, email meet@kristinburke.com to learn more and connect.

Connect with Kristin

LinkedIn

Instagram

Website

Goal Setting Success Course

Breakout Plan

Imagine building your business around what naturally energizes you instead of constantly trying to fix your weaknesses. What if that's actually the secret to sustainable success?

In this illuminating conversation with Lindsay Schmit, Gallup-certified strengths coach and founder of Right Hand Consultants, we explore how self-awareness transforms from a personal development exercise into a powerful business strategy. Lindsay shares how the CliftonStrengths framework helps high-performing leaders identify their natural talents and leverage them for greater impact.

We take a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at my own strengths profile, examining how talents like Relator, Significance, Focus, Achiever, and Futuristic shape my coaching approach and business decisions. Lindsay explains why certain strengths appear prominently in entrepreneurs and leaders and how they influence everything from goal-setting to scaling strategies.

The research is compelling: people who focus on developing their strengths are three times more likely to report excellent quality of life and six times more likely to be engaged at work. Yet, many ambitious professionals continue pouring energy into fixing weaknesses, missing opportunities for exponential growth in areas of natural talent.

Whether you're leading a team, scaling a business, or seeking more sustainable success, this conversation offers practical wisdom for aligning your strengths with your strategy. Discover why the best leaders don't try to become well-rounded individuals—they build well-rounded teams, creating championship rosters where diverse talents complement each other perfectly.

Ready to lead with greater clarity and purpose? Email me at meet@kristinburke.com to learn about my fall leadership planning days, where we'll help you and your team step out of the day-to-day and create an actionable plan aligned with your natural strengths and vision.

In this episode you will learn how:

• Conventional development focuses on fixing weaknesses, while strengths-based development focuses on what you do best
• People who develop their strengths are three times more likely to report excellent quality of life and six times more likely to be engaged at work
• The CliftonStrengths assessment identifies 34 talent themes grouped into four leadership domains: strategic thinking, influencing, executing, and relationship building
• Successful people are highly aware of their weaknesses but don't try to master what doesn't come naturally to them
• When you know your strengths, goal setting becomes more strategic and aligned with your vision, based on what energizes you
• Business owners can scale more efficiently by aligning their business model with their energy and natural style
• Movement, mindfulness, self-awareness, intentional reflection, surrounding yourself with complementary thinkers, and staying curious are key habits for achievement

Highlights:

0:00

Understanding Strengths for Strategic Goal Setting

5:49

Self-Awareness as a Strategic Advantage

9:07

The CliftonStrengths Framework Explained

16:09

How Strengths Impact Goal Achievement

21:44

Kristen's Strengths Profile Revealed

31:07

Scaling Your Business Using Strengths

34:20

Key Takeaways and Moving Forward

Fall Leadership Planning Day

Align your team around what matters most in 2026 with the clarity, focus, and commitment needed to drive results.

A Fall Leadership Planning Day is a customized strategy session designed to create the space for strategic dialogue and critical leadership discussions so your team leaves aligned, accountable, and ready to execute.

Using a proven framework of visioning, reflecting, brainstorming, and planning, the day is structured to:

• Reconnect to your...

Quarterly team reviews are essential for high-performing teams, strengthening relationships, clarifying priorities, solving problems, and celebrating progress. Mid-year is the perfect opportunity to pause with your team and assess what's working and what needs to shift for the rest of the year.

In this episode you will learn how:

• Quarterly reviews build relationships by helping team members connect beyond their roles

• When people feel connected, they become more engaged, accountable, and collaborative

• Reviews clarify priorities through reflection on past work and planning for the future

• A simple agenda includes reflecting, checking progress, planning ahead, and brainstorming

• Celebrating progress builds momentum and reinforces the impact of everyone's work

• Schedule reviews before team meetings so you enter with focus and clarity

• They save time in the long run by creating alignment and making future meetings more efficient

Mid Year Goal Check In

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Goal Setting Success Course

Breakout Plan

The journey to elite achievement isn't just about working harder—it's about becoming the person who can consistently reach remarkable goals with clarity, confidence, and resilience. In this thought-provoking episode, we explore how personal development serves as the foundation for both professional success and financial growth.

When urgent client demands and daily execution take over, personal development often falls to the bottom of our priority list. But what if the quieter work of developing yourself is actually the catalyst for your next level of success? As the saying goes, "what got you here won't get you there." Your future achievements will likely require new skills, habits, and mindsets that you haven't yet developed.

We unpack what personal development actually looks like beyond vague intentions—from establishing meaningful morning routines and setting stronger boundaries to developing specific leadership capabilities like coaching your team and building financial acumen. The key lies in first creating space for reflection to understand where you currently stand and where growth would make the most impact. Through powerful questions and honest self-assessment, you'll gain the clarity needed to create an intentional development plan.

The Personal Development Plan (PDP) framework I share focuses on three critical areas: skills to develop, behaviors to adopt, and beliefs to strengthen. By selecting 1-2 priorities in each category and breaking them into specific actions with deadlines, you create a roadmap that aligns your growth with your biggest goals. This isn't about fixing what's broken—it's about becoming the kind of leader who can consistently show up for the growth you want.

Ready to take control of your personal and professional growth? Visit kristInburke.com and use code GROW50 for $50 off my Goal Setting Success course, where you'll learn the exact process I use with clients to set clear, aligned goals and build the structure for follow-through. Because when you grow with intention, remarkable results follow.

In this episode you will learn how:

• Personal development includes reading books, hiring coaches, building better habits, and being intentional about the people and content you surround yourself with
• Growth is often overshadowed by client work, leadership demands, and daily execution
• Perfectionism can prevent you from starting unless you can do it perfectly
• Reflection helps create clarity about where you are now and where you want to grow
• A Personal Development Plan (PDP) should include skills to develop, behaviors to adopt, and beliefs to strengthen

Highlights:

0:00

Personal Growth Fuels Professional Success

2:01

What Personal Development Actually Looks Like

3:24

Why High Achievers Neglect Growth

4:54

The Power of Reflection

6:20

Creating Your Personal Development Plan

9:46

Implementing and Evolving Your Plan

11:08

Final Thoughts and Resources

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Goal Setting Success Course

Breakout Plan

I explore the powerful question that can transform your approach when progress on goals stalls: "Is this goal still connected to my vision?" This simple inquiry helps distinguish between goals worth pursuing and those that no longer serve your greater purpose.

In this episode you will learn how to:

• Recognize when energy around a goal fades and knowing when to pause rather than push
• Understand that goals set from comparison, pressure, or others' expectations often lose momentum
• My personal story of letting go of an arbitrary reading goal that had become a "should" rather than a strategic choice
• The difference between quitting and realigning with what truly matters
• Three ways to reset goals that remain connected to your vision: reset your strategy, timeline, or the goal itself
• Viewing being behind as feedback rather than failure

Ready to reset with purpose and move forward with clarity?

Feeling behind, stuck, or unsure where to focus next—even though you know you're capable of more?

The Strategic Reset Sprint is a focused, six-week coaching experience designed to help business owners, advisors, and leaders reflect, realign, and build a 90-day plan they can actually follow—so they can move forward with focus, confidence, and a clear plan to execute.

Whether you’re returning from time off, navigating a transition, or simply need to regain clarity and momentum—this Sprint gives you structure, support, and a strategic plan to move forward with purpose.

You’ll get:

• A guided reflection to assess what’s working (and what’s not)
• Three private coaching sessions
• A one-page, actionable 90-day plan
• Email access between sessions
• The clarity and accountability to reset your momentum—fast

Spots are limited.

Email me at meet@kristinburke.com to learn more and find out if the Sprint is right for you.

Connect with Kristin

LinkedIn

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Website

Goal Setting Success Course

Breakout Plan

Time management challenges plague leaders who find their calendars filled with other people's priorities instead of their own high-impact work. Creating an ideal calendar begins with understanding your capacity and intentionally aligning how you spend time with your most important goals.

In this episode, you will learn how to:

• Know your capacity by setting a realistic weekly time budget
• List your high-impact work that truly moves the needle on your goals
• Identify time-consuming tasks that don't directly support your priorities
• Delegate more tasks or improve systems to accomplish work efficiently
• Become goal-driven rather than calendar-driven to lead with purpose
• Ensure every meeting has a focused agenda to prevent wasting time
• Revisit your calendar when things feel off or your goals shift

Ready to reset with purpose and move forward with clarity?

Feeling behind, stuck, or unsure where to focus next—even though you know you're capable of more?

The Strategic Reset Sprint is a focused, six-week coaching experience designed to help business owners, advisors, and leaders reflect, realign, and build a 90-day plan they can actually follow—so they can move forward with focus, confidence, and a clear plan to execute.

Whether you’re returning from time off, navigating a transition, or simply need to regain clarity and momentum—this Sprint gives you structure, support, and a strategic plan to move forward with purpose.

You’ll get:

• A guided reflection to assess what’s working (and what’s not)
• Three private coaching sessions
• A one-page, actionable 90-day plan
• Email access between sessions
• The clarity and accountability to reset your momentum—fast

Spots are limited.

Email me at meet@kristinburke.com to learn more and find out if the Sprint is right for you.

Connect with Kristin

LinkedIn

Instagram

Website

Goal Setting Success Course

Breakout Plan