If you're a driven, capable professional facing a major life or career transition, chances are you're not held back by fear, but by subtle traps that keep you circling the same questions for years.

This episode uncovers why your usual tools for problem-solving may actually be keeping you stuck.

Listen now to uncover the three most common traps that keep high-functioning professionals stuck in midlife transitions, and how to move beyond them with clarity and purpose.

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Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor

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Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.

Are you stuck knowing what needs to change in your life, but still not taking action?

If you're in midlife and feel like you're spinning your wheels, this episode is for you. Stanley Bronstein has not only lost over 220 pounds and kept it off for 17 years, but he's transformed his entire life from the inside out. What he shares today is more than motivation. It's a system for lasting change.

In this inspiring conversation, you’ll discover:

• Why shifting from “I have to” to “I get to” is the mental switch that changes everything.
• The four traits you must cultivate to finally close the gap between knowing and doing.
• How choosing excellence over perfection will free you to take consistent action, even when you're afraid of failing.

Listen now and learn how to unlock the power within you to create lasting change - starting today.

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KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:

01:46 - Introducing Stanley Bronstein and the theme of change

03:31 - Hitting the breaking point and choosing life

06:39 - Starting immediately and taking responsibility

08:29 - The gap between knowing and doing

09:37 - Awareness, truth, and the power of perspective

12:14 - From “have to” to “get to”: Peggy Chun’s lesson

15:12 - Reprogramming the mind and believing in yourself

18:43 - The four pillars: willingness, belief, discipline, commitment

25:13 - Excellence over perfection and constant improvement

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MEMORABLE QUOTE:

“You don’t have to do these things. You get to do these things.”

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VALUABLE RESOURCES:

Stanley's website: https://thewayofexcellence.com/

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Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor

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🎙️ Want to be a guest on the podcast?

Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery

˚

Conversations and insights on career transition, career clarity, career change and career pivots for midlife professionals, including second careers, new ventures, leaving a long-term career with confidence, better decision-making, and creating purposeful, meaningful work.

˚

Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.

What if the career path you’re on was never really your choice to begin with?

Snippet of wisdom 95.

In this series, I select my favourite, most insightful moments from previous episodes of the podcast.

Today my guest is the career coach Keith Anderson, who talks about how societal and parental programming shape our identity, and why acknowledging it is key to change.

Press play to discover how reconnecting with your true self can lead to a career that fulfils you.

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VALUABLE RESOURCES:

Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor

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Listen to the full conversation with Keith Anderson in episode #508:

https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/508

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🎙️ Want to be a guest on the podcast?

Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery

˚

Conversations and insights on career transition, career clarity, career change and career pivots for midlife professionals, including second careers, new ventures, leaving a long-term career with confidence, better decision-making, and creating purposeful, meaningful work.

˚

Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.

Are you feeling the pressure to make a big career or life decision, but your mind just won’t quieten enough to know what’s next?

If you’re an accomplished midlife professional in transition, the noise in your head can be the biggest obstacle. Overthinking, emotional pressure, and fear of “throwing it all away” often block clarity at the exact moment you need it most.

In this episode, Edward Howard, former global banking leader with decades of Zen training, shares a simple inner reset that helps you calm mental noise, reconnect with yourself, and make clear decisions even during uncertainty and high-stakes conversations.

• Learn how to use a simple one-breath reset to regain clarity and emotional steadiness in moments of pressure.
• Understand why career transitions feel so destabilising and how awareness helps you move forward without panic or paralysis.
• Discover a practical way to build self-trust and make better decisions as you navigate your next chapter.

Listen to discover how one intentional breath can help you cut through uncertainty, regain clarity, and take confident next steps in your transition.

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KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Why calm disappears during transition
01:54 - Introducing Edward Howard and his background
02:34 - Career transition and the experience of stuckness
05:35 - A defining moment that triggered change
09:36 - Awareness as a performance tool
10:20 - The three minds from Zen explained
16:57 - Using one breath to shift mental state
19:41 - The one-breath technique in practice
26:24 - One Breath Leadership and closing reflections

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MEMORABLE QUOTE:

"Awareness is not a mind state—it’s noticing what mind you’re in, and then using the breath to act accordingly."

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VALUABLE RESOURCES:

Edward's book: https://www.onebreathleadership.com/

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Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor

˚

🎙️ Want to be a guest on the podcast?

Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery

˚

Conversations and insights on career transition, career clarity, career change and career pivots for midlife professionals, including second careers, new ventures, leaving a long-term career with confidence, better decision-making, and creating purposeful, meaningful work.

˚

Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.

Stuck in a “successful” career that looks great on paper but feels soul-sucking? It might be time to reverse-engineer work you actually love.

If you’re a high achiever who’s quietly miserable, this episode shows how to move from fear and obligation to clarity and momentum, without blowing up your finances or identity.

• Learn practical exercises to pinpoint fit fast: design your perfect workday, run a time vs. enjoyment audit, and write your “internal résumé” to surface real strengths.
• Replace anxiety with a plan: shift from 20% happy to 80% through calculated, incremental moves (not impulsive leaps), guided by the Three C’s:community, contribution, and challenge.
• Navigate the messy middle: handle reputational noise, manage ego with a beginner’s mindset, and translate transferable skills so opportunities find you.

Hit play to learn the exact steps and scripts to start feeling more fulfilled at work, starting today.

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MEMORABLE QUOTE:

"It’s gonna be okay. You got this!"

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VALUABLE RESOURCES:

Rachel's website: https://madeformorecoach.com/

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Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor

˚

🎙️ Want to be a guest on the podcast?

Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery

˚

Conversations and insights on career transition, career clarity, career change and career pivots for midlife professionals, including second careers, new ventures, leaving a long-term career with confidence, better decision-making, and creating purposeful, meaningful work.

˚

Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.

What happens when the role you have built your identity around no longer makes sense, but nothing has replaced it yet?

When your work has shaped how you introduce yourself and how the world sees you, loosening your grip on that role can feel deeply unsettling. Instead of clarity or excitement, you may experience doubt, a drop in confidence, and a strange sense of emptiness.

In this episode, we explore the overlooked phase of professional transition where old identities fall away, familiar measures of success stop working, and you find yourself between who you were and who you are becoming.

• Understand why disorientation and low energy often follow the decision to step away from a long held professional identity.
• Recognise the quiet loss that comes with leaving a role that once provided certainty and status.
• Learn why this in-between phase is not something to fix, but something to move through.

Listen now to make sense of the space between identities and to understand why you are not meant to feel finished yet.

˚

Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.

Ever feel like your career transition is “going nowhere”… even though you’re doing all the right things?

If you’re in that messy in-between of job loss, burnout, values mismatch, or a pivot that’s taking longer than you expected, this episode will feel like a deep exhale. Michelle Schafer (two-time restructuring survivor turned career coach) breaks down why this phase feels so uncertain, why confidence takes a hit, and what to do when the “sprout” hasn’t shown up yet… even though growth is happening under the surface.

• Learn practical ways to manage the emotional rollercoaster of uncertainty (without pretending you’re fine).
• Discover simple, repeatable actions to rebuild confidence, especially if job searching feels harder than it used to.
• Get a clear career-transition strategy: how to define your target, create a plan, and stop wasting energy on unfocused applications.

Press play now to get a grounded, step-by-step approach that helps you regain clarity and confidence, so you can move toward work that energises you and aligns with what you believe.

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KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:

01:40 - Michelle’s background and restructuring experiences

03:30 - The planted seed: discovering coaching

07:00 - The seed and gardening metaphor for career transition

09:48 - Navigating uncertainty during transitions

13:54 - Emotional regulation and building supportive practices

16:18 - Confidence dips and practical reflection strategies

21:10 - Strategy, clarity and planning your career direction

27:45 - Resources, final questions and concluding insights

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MEMORABLE QUOTE:

"Use your network more. Look through your network, not just at it, because every connection opens the door to many more."

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VALUABLE RESOURCES:

Michelle's website: https://mschafercoaching.ca/

˚

Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor

˚

🎙️ Want to be a guest on the podcast?

Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery

˚

Conversations and insights on career transition, career clarity, career change and career pivots for midlife professionals, including second careers, new ventures, leaving a long-term career with confidence, better decision-making, and creating purposeful, meaningful work.

˚

Support the show

Career transition and career clarity podcast content for midlife professionals in career transition, navigating a career change, career pivot or second career, starting a new venture or leaving a long-term career.

Discover practical tools for career clarity, confident decision-making, rebuilding self belief and confidence, finding purpose and meaning in work, designing a purposeful, fulfilling next chapter, and creating meaningful work that fits who you are now. Episodes explore personal development and mindset for midlife professionals, including how to manage uncertainty and pressure, overcome fear and self-doubt, clarify your direction, plan your next steps, and turn your experience into a new role, business or vocation that feels aligned.

To support the show, click here.