TSLP Season 4- Now or Never: Unleashing Your Power in Your Present

🎙️ NEW EPISODE | Now or Never: Unleashing Your Power in Your Present

How much of life have you spent waiting?
Waiting for more confidence.
Waiting for the perfect opportunity.
Waiting until you feel "ready."

The truth is, your greatest opportunity to grow, lead, and make an impact may not be waiting in the future, it may be right in front of you.

Join me for an inspiring conversation with Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer as we explore what it means to stop postponing your potential and start embracing the power of the present.

Learn more about Dr. Bentzen-Mercer:
Webtsite- https://www.dr-cynthia.com
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcynthiabentzenmercer/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/drcynthiabentzenmercer/
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@DrCynthiaBentzenMercer

If you've been feeling stuck, uncertain, or hesitant to pursue what's on your heart, I believe this conversation will encourage you to stop waiting and start moving.

Thanks for tuning in to Transformation Station! If this episode fired you up, smash that subscribe button, share it with someone who’s ready to level up, and tell me the moment that hit hardest. Your voice keeps this movement unstoppable. 

Until next time, stand tall, step bold, and own your transformation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

How much of your life have you spent waiting? Waiting for more confidence, waiting for more experience, waiting for the perfect opportunity, waiting for the right time. But what if what you're waiting for is actually sitting right in front of you? Well, listen, today's conversation, we're talking about stepping out of hesitation and into intentional action. I can't wait to get this conversation started. Let's go, welcome to Transformation Station Leadership Podcast, where leadership, resilience, mindset, and transformation come together to help you and I to grow from the inside out. I'm your host, Adrian Benson, and I'm so grateful that you have joined us today. Today's conversation, let me tell you, it's for anyone who has ever felt like they've been waiting for the right moment to pursue a dream, to take a risk, to make a change, or to step into greater leadership. I'm joined today by Dr. Cynthia, and I can't wait for you to meet her. But before we dive into this great conversation, I want to celebrate today. Oh, yeah, we're celebrating today. Let me tell you what, we're celebrating. We are celebrating the fact that that's right. Give yourself a round of applause. We are celebrating 6,700 podcast downloads. I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for continuing to journey with Transformation Station Leadership Podcast. It's because of you. Now, here's the deal: you'll notice that it says season four. We're in season four. So you know what that means. If you have missed even one episode of season one, season two, or season three, I need you today, when this episode is over, I need you to go back. Go back and get caught up. And don't keep this goodness to yourself, but make sure that you are sharing Transformation Station Leadership Podcast with your tribe, your network, your pom-pom posse, everyone that you know is ready to move forward with you. Well, listen, today I am absolutely thrilled because today's conversation is classic, it's evergreen, and it's inspirational. Let me tell you a little bit about our guest today. I am so thrilled to have Dr. Cynthia Benson Mercer with her. Dr. Cynthia, she has work that inspires leaders to stop waiting for someday and to begin maximizing the opportunities already in front of them. She is leading a powerful conversations around hidden problems, the hidden problem of how high-performing individuals and organizations gradually lose alignment, not because they fail, but because they stop examining where they're headed. She is a human capital strategist, executive coach, best-selling author who brings over 30 years of experience with leaders at the highest levels of her business. Her work stop drifting. The discipline of direction offers a clear, practical way to interrupt autopilot and make better decisions and move forward with intention. It is my honor at this time to welcome to Transformation Station. Dr. Cynthia, we are thrilled and so glad to have you with us today.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Oh my gosh, Adrian, I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you so much for the invitation.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Absolutely. So I've been waiting for this conversation for a while, and I think that this is a very timely conversation for leaders, especially when we look at just where the world is, where society is, where the workforce is. This is a pivotal game changer conversation. So here's what I was thinking as I was preparing. I'm thinking about, to me, I say fact, every leader will eventually reach a crossroad. Right? One path might say, wait until you know more. And the other one might say, no, no, just go ahead and be courageous and take that step. Many of us as leaders, we have experienced that crossroad at some point in our lives. So I want to start off by asking you this question. So many leaders, so many people delay pursuing their goals because they're waiting for the right time. Why do you believe our greatest opportunity to change, to create change is often found in the present moment rather than in some future season?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Oof, that's a big, big question and an important one. So I'm gonna I'm gonna take us back to a little bit of research to answer. Um, and I'm gonna start specifically with women and women of color. And that is when we researched for now near next, Kimberly Rath and I for our the the first book, we researched women around the globe, four countries, five race ethnicities, 25-year age span. We were really specifically looking at women. So I'll get I'll get to the male listeners as well, I promise. But here's what we found was the commonality across age bands, across geographics, across race ethnicity, is that women in particular are conditioned to put your head down, work hard, and wait to get tapped. So so often it starts even before the crossroads, because there's this fundamental conditioning that says, if I put my head down and I do good work, while by the way, taking care of everyone else around me, because that's what we do, right? As women, is we're taking care of everyone else, then my work will speak for itself and I'll get tapped when the time is right. So the the first challenge in that is we're not looking up and looking forward in the first place to even identify opportunities that we should be pursuing, raising our hand for, etc. Then the second part of the equation I think is is for everyone to consider. And that is change is hard and scary. And so our old part of our brain, that old amygdala back there, wants to keep us safe. And so what's easier is kicking the can down the road. I'll do it when the kids go off to school, I'll do it when my significant other gets the perfect job, right? Even when the alternative is better for us, our brain senses change as scary and risky and will keep us stuck if we don't sort of overcome that.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yes. I know that as you were talking right now, that there are multiple people that are saying, Yes, I've had that conversation with myself, that internal conversation, right? The right time, the right time. And you know, the right time rarely arrives. It rarely arrives, right? And so many times we're waiting for the right time to grow, to move, to be, to, you know, leaders right now. Dr. Cynthia and I want to give you a moment right here to just stop and assess, have an internal conversation with no judgment, and ask yourself are you sitting back waiting right now when life is inviting you to create change? What in your journey right now is meaningful that you literally could utilize as the foundation to be able to move forward? So we're giving you the invitation right now to stop waiting for everything to be perfectly aligned. So, Dr. Cynthia, you know, fear, self-doubt, perfectionism often keeps us from stepping into our full potential. What have you found? What have you found is the biggest obstacle preventing people from unleashing the power that they all, I love that word already, that they already possess.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Right, right. Well, you you you alluded to it, right? We have our own little internal saboteur that wants to create this imposter phenomenon that we're not ready. And again, um, I coach both women and men, um, but I have a lot of research steeped with women in particular. And once again, what oftentimes we know from data and research is that women in particular want to make sure that they've ticked all the boxes, right? They over-index on performance. We've heard this, men over-index on potential. And by the way, to every man that's listening, this is not an indictment. This is we need to steal a page out of their playbook. So the very first thing is to really sit with and play cross-examiner to your internal saboteur. In other words, I'm not ready, I don't know enough, I'm not skilled enough, whatever that question is. And then, and then how do you cross-examine that? Is that true? Is there evidence of that? Have you done hard things in the past? How did you succeed? What did you bring to bear that made you successful doing hard things in the past? How can you use that same resourcefulness, that same uh way in which you showed up to do this? And so when we start cross-examining, you see people sort of light up. One of the things I think is an amazing way to sort of get out of your own negative headspace is create your highlight reel. Look back on your career, look back on the last year, look back on whatever period of time, and think to yourself, what are the things that I've done over this period of time throughout my career, throughout this position? Quantify it. Where were those things materially evident in terms of saving money, adding revenue, saving time, helping the organization's reputation and start to catalog those things? When you do, it is amazing how you start to realize wow, I am kind of a badass. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

I love that. I love that transformation station leaders. We want you right now to go ahead in the comment section, put in the comments and tell us in the chat what's resonating from this conversation that we're having today. What is inspiring you? You know, we have a leadership practice that we want to share with you that just simply says this replace perfection with consistent progress. You know, one of the things, uh, Dr. Cynthia, that I share with my team quite frequently is I'm not asking you to be perfect, I'm asking you to be progressive. I'm asking you to be progressive, just stay in that mindset of we're learning, we're doing the best we can, we're gonna grow and we're going to enjoy the journey. And I have found over the years, when I allow that to be my mindset, even if there are obstacles in front of me, I mean, I'm human, so I'm gonna get frustrated and you know, all the things. Um, but having that mindset of being progressive as opposed to being perfect, it's like it's a game changer, right? It helps me to maintain focus or just to cause myself to pause and refocus. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

I love it. And what I and what I love about that is it gives you permission to also take risks and challenges, right? Perfection doesn't give you a lot of permission. Progression says, yeah, progression says I don't exactly know what's what's ahead. It's not a perfect, it's it's not all blueprinted out, it's not black and white. Um, but I'm gonna give my pers self permission to try something new, to put myself out there and see what works.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Yes, I love that. So I'm gonna shift a little bit. Many leaders, you know, we spend a lot of time focused on you mentioned next, right? The next promotion, the next project, the next chapter. Um, and so many times when we do that, we overlook the opportunities that are right in front of us. So, from your experience, from your perspective, how can we as leaders, how can we become more intentional about maximizing the right now, the season that we're in today? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

So I think it's a both and, Adrian. I think it's, I think it is what I would offer to you is throughout now near next, the through line is start working on your future today. What that means though, to your point is do your day job with excellence, but start working on your future today. So for me, it's a both and it's not an either or. It's a what is right in front of you? How do you maximize those opportunities, your network? How do you build sponsorship? Who around you knows your aspirations? You know, we think leaders are somehow mind readers. And so, you know, we want that promotion or we want to be considered for something, but humility or whatever might keep us from raising our hand or putting it out there. Well, I can't say your name in rooms you're not in if I don't know what your aspirations are. So it's building your network, it's looking for sponsorship, it's doing your day job with excellence. And what is your next and what are the steps you're taking to work toward that? Because what a lot happens to a lot of people is life's messy. You go through an unfortunate divorce or breakup, you have a relocation, you decide to start a family. You know, that's a good messy, right? You decided to start a family, you get laid off. If you aren't thinking about your next and putting planful, intentional steps toward it, you have no momentum, right? Go into the next thing. So it's it's doing both at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

I love that. And you know, as you were talking, it goes hand in hand with this leadership principle that we want to leave with our community here. Faithfulness in today's assignment prepares us for tomorrow's opportunities. You know, that that reminds me, uh, doc, I have found so many times that in this season I may be having obstacles and I can't understand why I'm going through this or why. But when it's time to move to the next, I look back and I'm like, oh my gosh, that actually wasn't punishment, that was preparation. That's right. For what was coming next. And so, leaders, you know, you heard doc, we want to invite you, be faithful where you're at today. Allow today to grow you, mature you, teach you, and prepare you for tomorrow's opportunities. So, you know, when life doesn't unfold according to plan, you just talk to us about all the things that many times comes up, right? How can we shift from asking, why is this happening to me, to how can I go through this?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Yeah. One of the things that that we introduce um as a framework is this notion of a base camp model. And so I think of it this way: if you're trying to summit a mountain and you have a specific course you're gonna chart to get to the top of this mountain. I'm not a hiker, but I think we can all visualize this. The reality is this when you are summiting a mountain and there's a great distance to go, you stop at base camps, you pull off and you reassess. You look at the headwinds, you look at the weather, you look at everything in front of you. That's how I encourage leaders and individuals to think about their careers. You might have a destination in mind. I want to start my own business, I want to get promoted to vice president, I want to finish my undergraduate degree, I want to write a book, I want to start a podcast, whatever it is. And so you've charted this path and you have these milestones in these schools and this outline. My recommendation is if it's a long path, maybe it's a quarterly stop, maybe it's a quarterly base camp. If it's a shorter path, 90 days, six months, maybe it's every other week, maybe it's monthly. But what you do is you pull over and you assess what has changed in my personal life? Is there anything that has changed the course or my direction? What is happening right now in terms of the environment that I'm in? Is there anything new? Can I continue to forge ahead as planned? Or gosh, I didn't see that messy part of life coming when I decided to go on this path. You don't repel back down, you chart a new course to the summit. You say, okay, so this has happened. How am I going to incorporate this into my aspirational goal? And maybe I can't go straight. Maybe I need to go a little zigzag to get there. Maybe it's going to take me a little longer. Maybe I need to accelerate my pace. That's not failure. That's being progressive. Yes, that's being agile, and that's continuing to forge a path towards your aspirations that says, I'm going to use this to help me move forward rather than, you know, I'm just going to repel down and call it a day.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

This is good. Leaders, we're going to just pause for like a few moments of silence because Doc has given us a masterclass right here. And I really want you to hear and internalize how you can utilize what is resonating with you. I know it's resonating. What is ready to resonating with you right now? And while you're doing that, Doc, I'm going to invite you to talk to us a little bit about what you've created, right? You've created something called the seven-minute pivot. How does that work? And why is this, uh, why is something so small so effective?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah, thank you so much for asking. I feel like this is a game changer. Um, it's something that I discovered through hindsight, really. When we wrote Now Near Next, it was all focused on career and it was all focused on people not being intentional in their career growth. Fast forward a couple of years, and what I started to realize is there were many areas and aspects of my life that I wasn't being intentional in. I was really pretty intentional in my career, but there were times that I wasn't intentional in my relationships, or there was times that I wasn't intentional in my health and wellness. And so what the seven-minute pivot causes you to do is for every person, you take seven minutes a day, more than five, less than 10. We can all find seven minutes. Even if you're at the throes of raising small children, we can find seven minutes. You remove all distractions, and then you start, it's it's three steps. Set a timer so that you don't lull and mull over for too long. And for those of us that don't love to sit in the yuck, it gives us a time limit. So set a timer. You ask yourself, where do I feel out of alignment? Is it in my physiological health? Is it in my prosperity, my financial health? Is it in my people health with relationships? Is it in my potential? Do I feel like I'm not fully actualized? Or is it is it in my sense of purpose? I feel I'm not clear on my true north. Where do I feel out of alignment? Question one. Center in that. Question two, what is my body telling me? How do I know I'm out misaligned? That shows up in I'm sleeping too much, I'm always exhausted, I can't sleep, my I have anxiety in my in my gut, I have a chronic headache. Our body tells on us when we are out of alignment, when we're stressed about money or stressed about relationships or stressed about our jobs, we feel it before we even logically realize it. So we're jotting that down, we're journaling that. And the power of the seven-minute pivot is then you choose one small thing to do today to slightly pivot in a more positive direction. It's not a life overhaul. It's not like, oh my goodness, I've gained 10 pounds and I've let my physical health get get out of control. I'm gonna go to the gym every day this week. No, you're choosing one small thing. Maybe that small thing is a 15-minute walk. And then you celebrate that. And tomorrow you do the seven-minute pivot and you choose one small thing. You do that 365 days. You have 2,555 minutes toward a new destination. Imagine the trajectory, the change of moving from drifting, which is just kind of going down. Think of a stick in the water, right? Just subject to the winds and everything else around it, to choosing your destination. But not all at once, because that's where people throw in the towel is they say, I don't want to have the difficult conversation with my spouse, even though my relationship feels out of whack. I don't, I I I can't even imagine leaving my job even though I'm working for a toxic boss. I, you know, my my financial situation is so overwhelming. I just want to avoid it altogether. One small tiny thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

I love that. Seven minute pivot. Okay. Leaders, we're gonna find out a little bit more how we can dive more into Dr. Cynthia's uh resources, but I want you to hold on to that. What daily habits help leaders to focus, to stay intentional and empowered so that we don't simply react to life, but we actively shape it.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah. I well, I think it starts with the seven-minute pivot because I think you can even use that. I think you can use that professionally. But the other thing is, I think as leaders, we have an opportunity to do that with our teams. We have an opportunity to realize that health and human flourishing isn't just unleashing potential. It's a big part of what I do, it's what I'm passionate about. But I also recognize in moments of my life where I wasn't nurturing my relationships like I should have been. Are the people that you're privileged to lead, are they nurturing relationships? Are they taking care of their health and wellness in terms of their physical and mental health? Are they stressed about finances? Right. So do they feel like they have a sense of purpose? And you're not there to solve all of that for them. But as a leader, to recognize that we're whole people and invite and encourage your teams to also invest in a seven-minute pivot. They're more engaged, they're they they show up ready to work, they're avoiding drift. Maybe they're even talking about where their potential could be more greatly utilized. So I think for leaders, it's drink your own champagne. So do it for yourself first, right? Drink your own champagne or whatever your beverage of choice. Um but then show up as a leader and lead by example and and encourage those that report to you to really invest intentionally in all the aspects of the human flourishing.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

I love this. So everybody that's watching, those who are listening, you'll be able to do this on the DM. But those who are watching, I want you to go ahead, whether you're watching on the replay or live, tell us where you're from and what is resonating with you from everything that you just heard Dr. Cynthia share with us. I mean, the seven-minute pivot, being able to bloom where you're planted, get your you know, your work ethic and do your best and pursue your dreams. What's resonating with you and what are you willing to commit to today? So, doc, as we turn the corner on this conversation, I'm gonna ask you to continue to just take a few minutes and sew into our community today. For the leader that is listening today that feels like they've been waiting too long to pursue a dream, to start a business, to change careers, or step into leadership. Doc, what would you say to encourage that leader uh to embrace the power of right now?

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah. The most important thing, and I say this over and over and over and over again, is start intentionally working on your future today. Do your day job with excellence. But what does that mean? It means identify your next, whether that's a promotion, a lateral move, starting your own business, writing a book, finishing a degree, whatever your next is, you own that. Nobody's doing that, nobody's delegating that to you. What is your next? Pick a date certain by when you want that to happen. Six months, 18 months, three years. You choose the timeline. And then every day you're making small incremental moves toward that. It's not write the book next week, it's not finish the degree tomorrow. It's not blow up your current job and go find a new one. It's so liberating when you stop kicking the can down the road and you say to yourself, I love what I'm doing, or maybe you don't, but I'm in the situation I'm in. I feel like I have more to offer, more to give, more to do. I'm gonna pick my next. I'm gonna choose a date certain, and I'm going to just start. It might be I'm gonna pick up a book about it. I'm gonna listen to a podcast. I'm going to join a club, a group, something that you're doing every day towards your future.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

I absolutely love this. And this is, I think, a perfect way to end today. You know, leaders, we're talking about the power of now. The power of tomorrow begins with today's decision. You know, Doc, I want to thank you so much for this conversation. I know I personally am going to go back and watch on the replay because I need to take some notes from this, but then also be intentional with my today and making that decision about what is the next step. I love that. I know that there are leaders that want to find out, they want to read your book and find out more about uh the seven-minute pivot. What's the best way for our audience here to be able to engage with you?

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Well, first of all, if you connect with me on LinkedIn, I promise I will I will respond. I'm very timely in responding. Thank you for having my website there, drhyphensynthia.com. So drhyphonsynthia.com. I have a lot of free resources on my website. The seven-minute pivot is free. If you're not sure where you're drifting, there's a diagnostic survey that will tell you within a few minutes for free. Where are you drifting? How can you differently show up? There's a career audit, there's a blueprint for identifying your next and working toward it. All of those resources are free. You can also grab your copy of the books on any place you buy, you buy great reading material.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So this has been wonderful. I want to thank you so much again, Doc, for joining us, Dr. Cynthia, but joining us today for sewing into our community. It has been an honor to have you here on Transformation Station Leadership Podcast today.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Adrian, thank you so much. You are an absolute joy. I'm an energized just spending this time with you.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, what an amazing conversation. And I mean that in all truth and transparency. I learned so much, and I actually really am going to go back and watch the replay of this session. And I know that this inspirational conversation inspired you as well. And so I want to invite you, number one, don't miss an episode. This is the episode today. Don't miss one episode of Transformation Station because each week we have amazing leaders that come and really sew into us magnificently. I also want to remind you that this Sunday we're having our next lead her shift webinar. We have Christine Valdez who is joining us. You still have time to get on the registration link, sign up, and join us on Sunday for this conversation. And listen, we're talking about leading without lowering your standards. Come on now. I know that not only you need to come, but you have two or three sisters that need to come with you. So click on the link, it's in the description box so you can get the Zoom link to join us on Sunday for this community conversation. And then finally, I want to remind you that uh a greater force than failure, intentional time with God, guess what? It's waiting for you. It's on Amazon. You can get your paperback, your Kindle. It's a journal that takes you on a four-step process. If you've ever made a mistake, you've ever found yourself in a situation where you're trying to figure out how do I start over, this self-paced journal is for you. So go ahead and pick up your copy today. And as always, we don't keep all this goodness to ourselves. We want to share it with others. A special thank you to Dr. Cynthia for reminding us today that our greatest opportunities, they're not hidden in the distant future. They're found in the choices that we make today. Remember, leadership isn't built in someday. It's built when. That's right. Go ahead and put it in the chat saying with me, it's built today. So until next time, keep growing, keep leading, and keep transforming from the inside out.