Read the full episode breakdown + show notes:
https://www.theselftrustcoach.com/blog/ep197-stop-waiting-for-validation
He walks into a live elevator pitch calm while forty founders around him are shaking, then admits he still doesn't give himself enough credit to believe he can win.
Adam W. Barney spent 20 years in global advertising and technology, managing more than $100 million in paid media, before leaving corporate to coach founders and executives through the transition points where what used to workno longer does. He's the host of Is Anything Real? and the author of Make Your Own Glass Half Full. Underneath two layoffs, a resignation decided on a flight home, and a gold key he hasn't won yet is one question: who gets to decide whatyou're allowed to believe about yourself?
In This Episode, We Explore:

• Capable as a Cage: why being the one who can untangle anything works right up until it starts costing you.
• The Next Honest Step: Adam's working definition of self-trust, and why it has nothing to do with certainty.
• Regret Minimization: the two-years-ahead question that made staying in corporate the choice he'd regret more.
• Control vs. Agency: what losing his mother to ALS taught him about choosing his next honest move inside what life handed him.
• Wanting the Win: why iterating and wanting to win were never opposites, and what it costs to let results decide which one you're allowed.

• Discernment Over Permission: why feedback can sharpen how you serve, but no one outside you can hand you self-trust.

Episode Chapters:
00:00 Meet Adam W. Barney
04:59 When being capable becomes acage
11:23 Two layoffs as identity moments
15:09 The resignation on a plane andregret minimization
16:44 Waiting for one more piece ofevidence
27:15 Losing his mom to ALS: control vs.agency
35:41 The elevator pitch and why notwant to win
42:48 Transition is information, andwhere to find Adam
Connect with Adam W. Barney:
Instagram: @adamwbarney

Website: https://www.adamwbarney.com/

Podcast: Is Anything Real?

Book: Make Your Own Glass Half Full

Newsletter: Plugged In Leadership
Join the Conversation:
This one is for the coach who keeps telling people she's entering the launch, the pitch, or the price increase "just to learn," because wanting to win out loud would mean believing she could before anyone confirmed it.
Where are you standing?
Know where your Floor is firm.
Know where it's still moving with results.
Know where to work next.
Three minutes.
https://www.theselftrustcoach.com/where-are-you-standing