#22: Niki Sterner | When Your Life Finally Matches Your CORE VALUES | How Alignment Sparks Real Confidence
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What if confidence isn’t something you find, but something you feel when your life finally matches your values? We go straight at the heart of fear, numbness, and overthinking to show how clarity and courage can flip the switch from “fine” to fully alive. Through personal stories of depression, exposure therapy, and creative risks, we map the three values that rebuilt a brave life—joy, connection, and growth—and explain why alignment is the real shortcut to confidence.
You’ll hear how shutting down feelings to avoid pain also shuts out joy, and how carefully leaning into fear can create post-challenge elation (hello, whitewater rapids). We talk about dropping lifelong walls to reconnect with partners, kids, clients, and audiences, and we unpack the simple mindset shift that turns failure into feedback so you can move from endless prep to shipping your work. Along the way, we offer a clear values list—adventure, authenticity, autonomy, courage, creativity, family, faith, freedom, honesty, impact, integrity, joy, love, play, service, vulnerability—and three prompts to translate those words into daily action: where you’re aligned, where you’re not, and one small step this week to close the gap.
If you’ve felt stuck in perfection or numb behind a polished life, this conversation offers a practical compass and gentle fire to move again. Come choose values that feel like home, trade performance for presence, and stand your sacred ground—without shrinking or puffing up. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick review to help more creators and entrepreneurs find their own compass for clarity.
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Chapters
1. Welcome and Season Recap (00:00:00)
2. Core Values: Your Compass for Clarity (00:01:13)
3. Joy: From Numbness to Aliveness (00:02:39)
4. Connection: Letting the Walls Down (00:06:20)
5. Growth: From Preparation to Action (00:08:05)
6. Book Announcement and Early Access (00:10:08)
7. Building Your Values List (00:11:24)
8. Reflection Prompts for Alignment (00:14:00)
24 episodes