A LOT with Audra

Ep37
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Audra Dinell: [00:00:00] Welcome back to a lot with Audra, the podcast for women who've been told they're too much or have ever felt like it.

Here we believe that your a lot is your superpower, and we're all about helping you own it. Today we're gonna talk about owning who you are with confidence, and this is a topic I've been fascinated by for about a decade. The first book I picked up on the subject is called The Confidence Code by Katie Kay and Claire Shipman.

And a little over five years ago, I was conceptualizing the thread my business, and I found a 2019 Body of Research by Kaiser Permanente that revealed many women want to go for bigger leadership roles, but the two things hold them back are confidence and connections.

Meet Emily Stevens: Confidence Expert
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Audra Dinell: So we've got a special guest today to talk about just this, and her name is Emily Stevens.

Emily is a therapist, speaker, and a business consultant who brings a no fluff results driven approach to building unshakable confidence.

With over a decade [00:01:00] of experience. She blends clinical expertise with real world strategy and is known for helping people get unstuck and take action. That actually sticks on Instagram and TikTok. She shares practical life skills. And mental health tools that help people stop spiraling and start showing up as their strongest selves.

Her signature program, the Confidence Cure helps individuals ditch self-doubt, embrace their strengths, and build a life that reflects who they truly are, not who the world has told them to be. Welcome Emily. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to

Emily Stevens: be here.

Audra Dinell: I'm so glad you're here. Well, today we are gonna talk about several things.

We're gonna talk about why confidence matters. What it really is. How to build confidence. Breaking down barriers to confidence. So you're gonna wanna get your notes out. Okay.

Emily's Journey to Confidence
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Audra Dinell: So To kick off, tell us what's one moment in your own life when confidence or the lack of it really changed everything?

Emily Stevens: I love this question because [00:02:00] immediately I can think of like multiple things in my life, like pivotal moments where. I can look back and think like, where did I get the guts to do that? Or like, what, what was that? But one that really stands out is before I was in the therapy world, before I was a therapist and doing this work, I was an on air radio dj and the way I got into radio was completely by accident.

I was in my last year at Wichita State go shockers, and I was nannying at the time and I was like, I don't wanna work with children anymore. I don't wanna do this. I need a job. And I also wasn't sure what I was gonna do post-college. And so I went to the career services website for WSU and I was just kind of like messing around on the website and went under jobs that don't require a degree 'cause I didn't have my degree yet.

And one of those was for a local radio station, morning show co-host. And it said you didn't have to have experience, you didn't have to have a degree, but you needed to love pop culture. And I was like, that [00:03:00] is me. Like, you know, I'm like, me and my US Weekly membership or subscription, remember like the whole ma US Weekly magazine.

I was obsessed with that. I was like, we can do this. And so I submitted my resume, which had nothing to do with bca. I mean, I was a nanny and I called them and I stuck with them. And I ended up being able to go in and do an audition. They didn't get back to me forever. And finally I called, and this is the thing that I always tell people like.

Don't do what I did, although this worked for me. I finally called 'cause they weren't calling me back. And I finally called and I said the guy's name, who was the manager of the radio station, I said, guy's name, I don't wanna say it out now because I don't wanna blast him now. But I said Guy's name, I think you're ignoring me.

And that was my message, that was my voicemail for him, which is wild. Because he ended up calling me back less than five minutes later. I ended up getting an internship in my last semester at WSU, and then I had an over decade long career in [00:04:00] radio all because I saw that ad and.

I can do that, like zero self-doubt, zero. And I had no ex, the first time I went in to do the audition was the first time I had ever seen a radio studio. And so that stands out to me because I had the confidence in myself to say, I don't have necessarily all the pieces for this, but that's okay because I have the willingness to try and I'll be okay even if they say.

Absolutely not. Like why are you even calling us? You have no experience. And so that really stands out to me as a time that I found the confidence to go for something, even though I had really from like on paper. No reason to go for it.

Audra Dinell: Well, and I love the second part of that story too, that you were persistent mm-hmm.

And proactive and followed up. But what I like about that part of the story is that you said what was really on your mind, and I feel like that is your brand, Uhhuh, but you didn't know it was your brand at that time. Right. And you know, I say your [00:05:00] brand, that can be taken weirdly or not Uhhuh. You know what I mean?

Some people are like personal brand, I don't know. Do I have one? But that was authentically you. Yes. Is another way to say that. Yeah. And you were like, you know what? I don't, it seems like you were like, I don't have. Anything to lose. So I'm just gonna say here what I think. Mm-hmm. And it was authentic and it got you a chance.

Emily Stevens: Yeah, it got me to the next step and honestly he was kind of ignoring me and I just called that out. So I think you're right on saying that that's part of my brand and I didn't know it was part of my brand at the time. I think that's right on.

Audra Dinell: Oh, okay. So you lead our confidence workshop at the thread.

You've been doing this for years and it's mm-hmm. When we look back at the surveys, always one of the favorite workshops. The women who come to the thread really love to be immersed in what you teach. What drew you to that type of work in the first place?

Emily Stevens: [00:06:00] So I saw how. Confidence or learning how to have confidence, how it impacted my life, and how it impacted the lives of my clients.

And I also realized we fundamentally do not understand what confidence is or how to build our confidence as women. We are not given the tools in society or in school. To really change our confidence in a big way. And so recognizing this and seeing that I was saying the same things over and over to clients, right?

I noticed there was a pattern of women dealing with similar issues or similar problems or coming up against the same similar challenges. And I realized that like I could take this. That's why I created the confidence cure. 'cause I realized I could take what I'm saying to my clients over and over and over and put this in a format that could change.

Many people's lives, they don't have to be necessarily in front of me in a therapy office. They can learn these tools and techniques, and so just seeing how it can change people's lives is [00:07:00] really what got me going more full steam in that direction.

Audra Dinell: Okay.

Defining Confidence and Self-Esteem
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Audra Dinell: So what would you say confidence really is?

Because I know there is this sort of stereotype about confidence that it is. You know, the way you look, the way you dress, the way you project yourself. Being an extrovert, being the first to speak up in, in a room throughout our community at the thread. Spending time with hundreds of women, I know there are.

There is that stereotype, uhhuh that confidence looks a certain way or confidence is a certain thing. Yes. And what is confidence really?

Emily Stevens: Okay, so there's a few parts to this, so stick with me. And you've heard this quite a few times now, having seen my workshop a few times, but confidence. The actual definition of confidence is self-trust in your abilities, in your qualities, and being able, basically having self-trust in what you're doing.

So like I feel confident speaking in front of a group of people. The other part of this is there [00:08:00] self-esteem. Okay? And self-esteem is our self-worth and our self value. But we could have used both of those interchangeably. In our society. So when I talk about confidence, I'm kind of lumping those together.

But I think it's important to separate them too because like I have confidence in speaking in front of a room of people. Now, I always make this joke when I'm doing a workshop of if you ask me to cook for all these people, I'd be like, absolutely not. Like there's no way I'm gonna do that. But the fact that I lack confidence in cooking.

Doesn't change my self value or my self worth, right? So I can be less confident in an area, but still hold my value and worth, or I can be super confident in speaking in front of a group of people and still hold that value or worth. And I think that's important to know the difference because. Those definitions help us understand what we're going after, which goes back to my whole point that we don't even understand what confidence is or what self-esteem is to understand how [00:09:00] to make it better or how to improve it at all.

But when it comes down to what is confidence really. I think it's important to give those definitions, but then beyond that, I always tell people you have to define confidence for yourself. What does confidence mean to you? Because I don't know how many times I've had women in my office or coaching clients or even business coaching clients that are like, I wanna be more confident.

Like, okay, what does that mean? And they're like, what do you mean? What does it mean? Like, what does more confidence mean to you? Because we can't hit a target if we don't know what we're trying. To define or what we're trying to achieve, like. What do you want your life to look like in the realm of confidence?

'cause it's gonna be different for everybody. Everybody's gonna have a different answer of what that looks like. Sure, there's some fundamental things that will be similar, but you really have to define it for yourself. So it's a very individualized answer once we really get down to like the nitty gritty of it.

Audra Dinell: Mm-hmm. I love that you point out that difference [00:10:00] between self-esteem and self-trust, both being. A part of confidence. Mm-hmm. That's the way I heard it. Yeah. Is that okay to say it in that way?

Emily Stevens: Absolutely.

Audra Dinell: Yeah. Because self trust is something that I just don't think we talk about enough. Mm-hmm. But it is just this internal and so important now.

Now when you try something new, you might suck at it. Mm-hmm. Or. Along the way of pursuing goals and dreams, you're going to fail at things. That self-trust can still be there for you to say, I'm gonna try this, or I tried this and failed because that self-worth is that other piece of that confidence of like.

I am going for something and I failed, but I'm still worthy. I'm still good. I still trust myself even though I tried this thing and failed. [00:11:00]

Emily Stevens: Absolutely.

Audra Dinell: Were you gonna

Emily Stevens: say something else? Yeah. Well, 'cause for me, my definition of confidence is that I'm going to be okay no matter what. Okay. That's what it means for me.

So like in that example of going for something and failing, I know that I might be upset, I might be disappointed. It doesn't mean I lack the emotions that could come with that, but I know that I'm gonna have my own back and I'm gonna be okay no matter what. Like I'm going to hold myself up. I think that's really, at the end of the day, what you have to figure out is how can you raise your self trusts?

How can you be someone who says. No matter what happens, I'm gonna have my own back. I'm gonna be okay. I'm not gonna let this. You know, a lot of people let one thing that happens bad, just like it becomes this land story. Yeah. this landslide of, everything's awful. I'm awful. When in reality it's just a little setback.

We're all human and things are going to happen, and that's why I think it's so important to define the difference of those [00:12:00] things because we want our self worth and our self value to always be high and always be there, even if we lack the confidence in certain things.

Audra Dinell: I also like the point you made about confidence really being so, like, you can't just say, this is what confidence looks like, or Here's a list of things that confident people are.

Yeah. Because it is so personalized and so individual. I really love the exercise that you walk us through in the thread workshops. Mm-hmm. Would you share just like a brief overview of that?

Emily Stevens: Which exercise are you? You were gonna say

Audra Dinell: that? So the exercise I'm thinking is when you make a list of all the things that you think are Yes.

And then what is really true to you. Mm-hmm. Those two lists.

Emily Stevens: Yes.

The Circle of Confidence Exercise
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Emily Stevens: So I call this the circle of confidence. And what I have people do is I have, and this is in the confidence cure as well, that I have people write down where their confidence comes from. This is the one you're talking about, right? Yeah. Okay.[00:13:00]

I have people write down where their confidence comes from. And I don't really give 'em any prompts other than five to seven things. And it's either where your confidence comes from or your lack of confidence. So somebody might say, I have a lot of confidence at work, so I'm gonna put that down. Or they might say, but I really don't feel confident as a mom, but I'm gonna write that down too, because that that influences my lack of confidence, right?

So we make a list. Then I have them graph it like on a pie chart, and we're not mathematicians. We're just trying to get an idea of how much space are each of these things taking in our lives. Because the truth of the matter is with women in our society, a big chunk of it usually ends up being apparent.

And I hate that and I wish it was different, but it is what it is right now. And so I like that visual 'cause I'm a visual learner to see if 50% of your confidence is coming from, or your lack of confidence is coming from your appearance. I think that's a good thing to see visually. So after they do that, then I ask [00:14:00] people now, where do you want your confidence to come from?

Like if you were designing yourself from zero, where would you want your confidence to come from? Because at the end of this exercise, I tell people that if you put your confidence in something that's external, something outside of you that is naturally going to change or could be taken away, then your confidence will go away with.

Right. Like being a mom, you can be so confident being a mom, but when your kids turn 18, that's gonna look completely different when they're out of the house. Right. And so you have to be grounded in who you are because if you put all your confidence in that, it's gonna go away when your kids go in and you're not in that same role.

Audra Dinell: And I think that's where the pie chart comes in and is so helpful because. Yes, you can be confident in being a mom. Yeah. If that's your thing, and there's nothing wrong with that. Mm-hmm. But if it's 100% like you've said, right. And then the kids go off to wherever they go after they are done living in your home, Uhhuh, I mean, you see this so much of, yeah.

It's [00:15:00] hard to transition to being an empty nester. Yeah. So I really love that exercise because I feel like when we're talking about confidence is. Unique and authentic to you. It can sort of sound like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then when you actually chart it Yes. And say, okay, I'm gonna get real with myself, and when I'm feeling the most confident, here's the things I'm factoring in.

When I'm feeling the least confident, here's the things I'm factoring in. Mm-hmm. And here's my pie chart. But then. Really kind of trying to own your own confident story and saying, okay, here's what I want it to look like. Yeah. And we see women say all sorts of really amazing things. Their work, their faith, their family their strengths, their character financials, just different unique things.

So it really, really is authentic to who each of us are. And I just think that's a great exercise, so thanks for sharing it.

Emily Stevens: Well, and it's something that we've, I mean, prior to doing that, had you ever seen anything [00:16:00] like that or done anything like that? Like a lot of people aren't in a world or aren't seeking out personal development.

Like somebody like you and I are right for fun. But a lot of people aren't seeking that out and so they've never done exercises like that. So they've never even thought about where does my confidence come from? It goes back to that idea of I wanna be more confident, but. How do we do that? Right? And so it's just getting more specific so that again, to know the target so that you can try to do things to hit that target, to be more confident

Audra Dinell: and not just taking in what the world tells you it should be, you're confident should look like, but instead

Emily Stevens: Absolutely.

You know how I feel about the word should. We don't, should all over ourselves and made sure to say the D really hard because I'm not trying to get you in trouble with anything. But yeah, it's. Really leaning into who you authentically are and just not what society says or what you think you should be, it's really what drives you the most.

Audra Dinell: Mm-hmm. So good. Okay, so [00:17:00] in your experience, how does confidence influence a woman's career relationships decision making?

Emily Stevens: Ask the question one more time.

Audra Dinell: Yep.

Defining Confidence
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Audra Dinell: So this is question three. I kind of jumped around. Oh, thank you. Because I felt like the conversation really No, you're good. Lent us to like defining confidence first. Before this.

The Impact of Confidence on Life
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Audra Dinell: The question is, in your experience, how does confidence influence a woman's career, relationships, and decision making?

Emily Stevens: So I think confidence makes all the difference. Obviously I specialize in confidence, so I'm gonna say that I think that's the foundation, but I really do because confidence is basically self-trust. And if you can trust yourself to be okay, no matter what happens, right? No matter the rejection in a relationship or a job, no matter the changes or the shifts.

How many times have you heard people say like, I hate change, right? Well, of course nobody likes change, but people can handle it better, and that comes back to that self-trust that I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna figure this out, right? So I think it makes. All the difference because it allows you to stand firm in who you are, no matter what's happening around you.[00:18:00]

I talk a lot about external versus internal, and confidence is building up that internal world. So whatever's happening externally does not impact you in the same way that it might have when you lack that confidence and self trust and self-worth and value.

Audra Dinell: Yeah.

Circle of Control and Parenting
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Audra Dinell: I think about the circle of control when you're talking about this, and this is something I talk to my kids about all the time.

Mm-hmm. My husband and I talk about. Especially in 2025, it feels like there's a lot that's outside of our control and we always go back to focusing on, okay, what can we do even as a parent? Yeah, listen, your kids are humans of their own and their actions and attitudes are not in your circle of control.

Sure. So here is what, as parents, you know, we can. Control. This is in our circle. We can decide what type of language we speak in our house. We can decide how we handle our emotions. Mm-hmm. And what we share with our [00:19:00] kids in terms of teaching outside of our circle of control is everything else. So I, when you're talking about that, I just really think about having confidence.

Means that you are focusing on what's in your circle of control and letting that be an anchor to you versus external factors in your career or relationships.

Emily Stevens: Absolutely.

Building Self-Trust and Confidence
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Emily Stevens: It all comes back to that self-trust piece, and I talk about this, about controlling the controllables, right? Like you said, there's so much we don't control, but how are we.

Taking the lead to control the things that we can. That's really the question. And like with the parenting example, how are you regulating yourself to help regulate your children? Right. A lot of times we react to things because we're uncomfortable, and so we just want it to stop because we're uncomfortable.

When in reality, if you had more confidence in your ability to just tolerate that discomfort. If you had more self-trust that we're all gonna be okay if we all [00:20:00] just like get through this, right? It can change a lot of the dynamics, especially in family systems if you are more confident and confidence is like a ripple effect, right?

It, it's contagious. Just like negativity is contagious. Being around people that are confident or feel good about themselves or authentic, it leads to the people around them being more authentic and more confident and having more self trust. You're

Audra Dinell: right. It just gives that permission. Mm-hmm. Whether it be within your family or within your work culture.

Sure. Within your friend group. Yeah. I have worked very much on this, this was one of the three parenting things in my sort of hopper this year. Mm-hmm. Of like, I'm gonna aim to keep myself regulated. To spend 10 minutes focused individual attention on each kid every single day. And then to try and train them to be like thriving, productive, successful humans.

Yeah. You know, just little things like that. I say, yeah, small job. Yeah. But I have noticed a huge, just having that goal of like. It is just my job to keep myself regulated. Yes. Not my husband, not my family members. Yes. Not my [00:21:00] kids. Just me. That has built that self-trust muscle that has built that confidence in myself as a mom.

And I have seen a ripple effect in my family this year.

Emily Stevens: Absolutely. I love hearing that, that you're like a, a case study, like a testimonial to how much self-trust can change the dynamics of a system.

Starting from Square One
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Audra Dinell: Okay, so what if someone is sitting here listening to this podcast and they are like, I'm starting from square one.

This sounds great, but I lack confidence like crazy. Like where do I even start? What would you say?

The Power of Self-Compassion
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Emily Stevens: I love this question because it has been studied that the biggest indicator of self-esteem or your self-worth, your value, and we're kind of grouping that into confidence, is self-compassion.

Audra Dinell: Mm.

Emily Stevens: So literally, the nicer you are, I'm getting goosebumps saying this, the nicer you are to yourself, the more confident you will be.

I'm gonna say it again, because people are gonna be like, nah, that doesn't apply to me. I've, I've talked to enough people, enough women to know that they're like, well, yeah, [00:22:00] of course. Like I would never say what I'm thinking in my head to my friend. Because they don't deserve that. But I do. Right? Like I'm the exception to kindness.

No, you're not. You are not the exception to kindness and the kinder you are to yourself, the more confident you will be. So there's two parts of this, and this is what I would say to anybody who's like, how can I be more confident today? I would say start being nicer to yourself, right? And do that in a way that is speaking out loud.

So if that's affirmations, if that's just coaching yourself, if that's just saying in your car, I'm okay a million times. On your way to like a presentation. Our brains take in information differently when we say it out loud. It like activates different parts of our brain, and your brain will believe something faster if you're saying it out loud.

So be nicer to yourself and honestly, start talking to yourself in a kind way. I talk to myself. All the time. Just recently, don't even know what I was saying, but my husband came in and I didn't realize he was in the room and he [00:23:00] kinda laughed and then I realized he was there and I was like, what?

And he was like, I just love when you talk to yourself. And I was like, I do it all the time, don't I? And he was like, yep, I love it. But it truly does help you. It's almost like talk therapy. Obviously you're not getting the feedback, you're not getting that challenging or affirmation, but it helps you to rewire your brain to be more positive about yourself, and that is the basis of self-worth.

If you can do anything for yourself, it's be nicer to yourself.

Audra Dinell: Oh, I've got so many things to say. I find a lot of women come to the thread and one of their strengths is empathy. Uhhuh. They're so good at relationships and relating to others and carrying the load, and they share that, and this is generalizing, but many of them share that.

They struggle with doing that for themselves. So I know you are. I've seen it in my work. You've seen it in your work? Mm-hmm. You were right on that. Many women believe self or many women. Practice [00:24:00] compassion, but self-compassion can be the hardest for them. Yeah. And I love how you say be kinder to yourself.

Practical Tips for Self-Compassion
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Audra Dinell: One way that I know I have done that is really becoming aware of my thoughts. Yes. As much as possible. Yes. I feel like this is lifelong work. I don't feel like, like nails it. No, not at all. I hear all of my thoughts that I tell myself. Yeah. It's just about like, how quick can you catch them? Yeah. The.

Addition I wanna add is doing more, talking out loud to myself because I feel like I am self-compassionate. Mm-hmm. I feel like I love myself well, and it has taken years of work to get there. Yeah. But when you can be a person who loves yourself well, it's easier to give yourself compassion.

Not all the time, not the first situation. I still have situations where I find myself beating myself up later. And then I surround myself, my husband will say, you know, give yourself some grace. Yeah. And I'm like, oh yeah. 'cause I always tell you that. Yeah, [00:25:00] exactly. But I remember there being a time in my life where I would look in the mirror and for some reason I was just challenging myself to tell myself I loved myself in the mirror and like look in myself, look in my eyes and say, I love you.

And I remember when that would just elicit like tears and just so much. Yes. And after doing this for so long, it's like I can look myself in the mirror and say, I love you. And just really. Get it. Yeah. And feel that. Feel it. Yeah.

Emily Stevens: Yeah. And just feel, feel thankful. And part of that is the saying it out loud, it's different than if you just say it in your mind.

So the out loud part is important, but also if you're somebody listening and you're like, oh my gosh, saying I love you to myself is like so far away from where I am. Just start with neutrality. Start with, I'm okay with myself. Like you don't even have to, like some people jumping to I love myself is just too far.

That's too out of the realm of even possibility. They're just like, Nope, that's never gonna happen for me. Just say I am okay with myself. That's so good. Yeah. You don't have [00:26:00] to. Love yourself necessarily right out the gate or say that if that doesn't feel authentic to you, start with something that's just neutral but isn't disparaging, that isn't putting yourself down.

That's gonna be a huge change alone for a lot of people.

Audra Dinell: Yeah, I love that. That's such a good point. Okay, so we have talked about what confidence is. Why it matters, maybe how to build it if you're starting from scratch.

Faking It Till You Make It
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Audra Dinell: What about this thought of faking it till you make it? Can you give us your take on, fake it till you make it?

Emily Stevens: Yeah. So I think fake it till you make it comes usually with a lot of good intentions, right? I think it's kind of like one of those like doctor's room. Almost like posters, like be yourself, be authentic. It's like, what does that even mean? Like that is, that should be like on my tombstone. What does that mean?

Because I feel like I ask that all the time because you have to define things more to understand. So I think when people say, fake it, so you make it, it comes from a [00:27:00] place that is actually has good intentions, but it doesn't address the lack of confidence. It doesn't help anybody get any closer to what does confidence mean to you?

It doesn't help you actually implement tools and skills. To actually change your confidence. Now, there's a caveat here in that, let's say I'm gonna start, you wanna start being a speaker, okay? And speaking kind of scares you some. So there is an element of acting as if you are a huge speaker, right?

There's a little bit of quote unquote faking it till you make it like walking out on stage, like giving yourself the courage. But there's so much more work to be done. That just going through life thinking, I'm gonna be more confident if I just keep faking it. It you're just gonna stay in the same boat because you're not actually changing anything.

You're just like putting a bandaid over a wound and we need to like actually heal the wound. Hmm.

Audra Dinell: That's good. I heard someone once say, instead of fake it till you [00:28:00] make it. Mm-hmm.

Facing It Till You Make It
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Audra Dinell: Face it till you make it.

Emily Stevens: I actually first heard that from you and I love that. I think that that. Again, it's still kind of like one of those like little sayings that doesn't help us really define or implement tools, but I think that's great.

Audra Dinell: Well, and for me, when I'm basing it, it's like I am, okay, you wanna be a speaker, you wanna be on stage at the Global Leadership Summit, Uhhuh. You know, that's a audacious goal of mine. Uhhuh, it's like, who is that? Person, what is that person doing today to prepare for that? Yes. You know, and maybe I'm not writing my speech because I don't have the contract, but maybe I am recording a podcast.

Yes. Or maybe I am, you know, just putting in the work to do research on what those speakers who are already there, what are their backgrounds like? That's kind of what I think of when uhhuh of facing something. Yes,

Emily Stevens: yes.

Audra Dinell: Like embodying who I will need to be when I am there.

Emily Stevens: Absolutely. And that's why I think the shift from fake it to face [00:29:00] it.

Because the other thing with fake it, it's. Still kind of gives you the implication in your brain that you're still not the thing.

Audra Dinell: Yeah. That you

Emily Stevens: have to fake it. Mm-hmm. And so that also is not, I always talk about if our brain is a garden, are you watering the weeds or are you watering the flowers and faking it till you make it is still telling your brain, we're not that thing.

We're not gonna be that thing. We have to fake it. We're face, it makes you ask yourself different questions. You're like, oh, what would that version of Audra. What would she be doing now to prep to be that person? And that's just a total mindset shift.

Audra Dinell: Mm.

Emily Stevens: So good? Mm-hmm.

Audra Dinell: Okay. I love this conversation. It's been so fun.

I could stay in it for much, much longer. This is

Emily Stevens: gonna be the two hour podcast episode. Just getting done.

Audra Dinell: Okay.

Final Thoughts and Takeaways
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Audra Dinell: So if you could leave our listeners with one final nugget, what would it be?

Emily Stevens: Oh man. One final nugget I would say. Today, if you're listening and you're like, I wanna be more confident, I want [00:30:00] you at some point today to sit down with a pen and paper and define what confident means, confident.

I want you to sit down with a pen and paper and define what confidence means to you.

Audra Dinell: Mm. I really appreciate you've given us so many actionable things to take away from this podcast. Defining what confidence means to you. Doing the exercise where you actually examine how you're getting your confidence or lack of, and the.

Percentage chart that goes along with it, and then where you want your confidence to come from, and then talking to yourself out loud in a way that's neutral to positive.

Emily Stevens: Yeah, absolutely. Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend or one of your children and see how different it sounds than how you talk to yourself.

Audra Dinell: Okay, so where can our listeners find you?

Emily Stevens: I'm on all social media. My handle is with Emily Stevens, and then my website. My company name is laidback achievers.com.

Audra Dinell: All right. Thanks for being here, Emily. Thank

Emily Stevens: you. [00:31:00]