Episode Summary
Ever feel like you should already know your next step, but instead, you’ve been circling the same questions for months, maybe even years?
You’re not alone. Even the most brilliant minds in history have wrestled with the same hidden blocks that keep you spinning in uncertainty. The truth is, it’s not about needing more time, more signs, or more hard work. Something else might be standing in your way and until you spot it, clarity will always feel just out of reach.
In this episode, you will:
Hear how Charles Darwin spent decades wrestling with a secret before he finally published the book that would change the world—and what ultimately pushed him forward.
Learn why Harrison Ford almost decided to spend his life as a carpenter, and the moment that changed everything for him.
Uncover what helped Willie Nelson and Howard Schultz turn struggle into lasting success
Press play now to discover how to simplify your process, stop missing opportunities, and create the kind of purposeful flow that keeps your business growing organically.
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Clarity Accelerator Mastermind:
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Resources Mentioned:
Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/
The Uncommon Way is your go-to resource for mindset mastery, strategy, and power moves tailored to ambitious women entrepreneurs and leaders ready to break the mold and lead with confidence. This top female business coaches podcast covers leadership coaching for women, business growth strategies, and the female entrepreneur mindset to help you craft magnetic messaging, attract your ideal clients, clarify irresistible offers, and leverage your secret sauce to stand out authentically.
Each episode from top-ranked women’s business coach Jenna Harrison addresses common pain points like overwhelm, decision fatigue, entrepreneur burnout solutions, and the guilt of stepping back from hustle culture. Jenna shares tools to streamline your business systems, cultivate powerful habits, and delegate with intention—all designed to help you reclaim work-life balance and boost your freedom.
Dive into transformational mindset shifts and energetic alignment that empower you to become the powerful force you were meant to be—creating aligned growth, breakthrough clarity, and unapologetic success. Whether you’re a female entrepreneur building impact, a leader navigating change, a woman founder scaling your organization, or a business coach for women entrepreneurs, The Uncommon Way equips you to design a business and life that reflect your true vision. Leave behind imposter syndrome, overworking, and people pleasing. Embrace clarity, confidence, and unapologetic success.
Full Episode Transcript:
(0:00 - 0:23) In this episode, you'll discover four top mindset traps even geniuses fall for that keep you from getting clear on your next steps. Welcome to the Uncommon Way, where high-achieving women entrepreneurs and leaders ditch the rulebook and design success on their own terms. I'm your host, Jenna Harrison, a top-ranked business coach sharing business growth strategies, mindset mastery, and power moves to help you attract ideal clients, leverage your unique genius, and scale with freedom.
(0:24 - 0:44)
Let's dive in. Welcome, welcome back to the Uncommon Way. If you ever feel like you are just not certain about your next steps, you're not clear on what you should do, or what would be the best path, what the universe is asking of you, or even just which would be the best idea, you are not alone.
(0:45 - 1:09)
In fact, the same thing has happened to many of the most famous people in history. The problem is that when you're in that place, it's possible to stay there for months, years, even decades, ask me how I know, because you'll see it from the stories I'm about to share, and I know it from my own personal experience. I stayed stuck for two decades trying to get clear on my next steps.
(1:09 - 1:44)
And when I was going through it, I kept wondering, why, why can't I get clear on this? You know, why can't I get a sign about what I should do, and then clarify things once and for all? But now I know that I didn't need to just wait, and I didn't need to go find some yogi from an ashram in India to point me in the right direction, even though I did try both of those things. What I really needed was to clear a mindset block. There was a specific reason that my brain didn't want me to figure out my next steps, didn't want me to know exactly what I should do next.
(1:44 - 2:07)
It was protecting me from something it perceived as far worse than just feeling stuck. I could survive just feeling stuck, but who knows what would happen if I got clear. So as long as that block's there, it's almost impossible for you to really step into your authority and alignment and correctly identify your next moves.
(2:08 - 2:25)
The power moves that you need for your next level. Now there are a couple of other reasons people aren't tapped into their mission or their purpose or they aren't feeling certain and decisive. But mindset blocks are a very common culprit, so that's what we're diving into today.
(2:25 - 3:02)
And after working with so many women entrepreneurs on this exact topic, I've seen four top blocks that tend to crop up over and over again. Of course there are many more than this, but these are the ones that I see most frequently. So I'm going to be telling you about them in story format, pulling in the stories of other famous people, so that A. you can identify if one of these is going on for you, and B. you'll know you're not alone, because some people that you have definitely heard about and probably admire deeply have passed through the very same thing.
(3:02 - 3:28)
In this episode, you will hear how Charles Darwin spent decades wrestling with a secret before he finally published the book that would change the world, and you'll hear what ultimately pushed him forward. You'll learn why Harrison Ford almost decided to spend his life as a carpenter, and the moment that changed everything for him. And you'll uncover what helped Willie Nelson and Howard Schultz turn struggle into lasting success.
(3:28 - 3:55)
But first, I have to tell you the funniest thing. So I recently took off a week to go on a girls trip, and, you know, we were talking about everything, life, love, business, my friend is also an entrepreneur, and her daughter was there as well, who's about 25 now. And she started looking over my website and reading it, and she was using the automatic translate feature in the chrome browser in order to read the website.
(3:55 - 4:22)
And I have this line on there that says something about how once you're really clear on these things, it'll make selling your tatas off so much easier. When it translated, she was reading, reading, scrolling. She looked over at me and she said, you're going to sell your tits? So I thought you all could relate because we all want to be found internationally, but sometimes it doesn't quite translate.
(4:23 - 4:43)
Okay, let's dive into the mindset blocks and how they make it almost impossible for you to correctly identify your next steps. One of the big ones I see is a fear of success. So early in his career, Harrison Ford worried about what success would cost him, his privacy, his family, his freedom.
(4:43 - 5:06)
And Ford was painfully shy too. So after a few small roles, he decided to deliberately avoid stardom and support himself as a carpenter, as like a kind of refuge. And it looked like he was going to achieve it because when he got his first big break, he was over 30, an age that many considered way too late to quote unquote break in back in those days.
(5:06 - 5:31)
Now, his big break actually came because some of his carpentry clients were George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola and other leading people in Hollywood. And one day he was doing carpentry at Lucasfilm when George Lucas asked him to read lines with some actors who were auditioning there. So he had to kind of fill in as the role of Han Solo in order to get the other actors to be able to deliver their lines.
(5:32 - 5:42)
And at first Ford resisted. He worried that even that would suck him back into something that he didn't want to do. But he finally agreed, good money probably.
(5:43 - 6:05)
And his effortless, sarcastic delivery as Han Solo drew laughs from the people watching. That natural delivery of his was so magnetic that Lucas eventually cast him. And he described that moment of being cast as like relief mixed with dread, as anyone would feel who had that fear of success.
(6:06 - 6:25)
But after Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Blade Runner, Ford became one of the highest grossing actors in history, made over $9 billion at the box office. And of course, we have decades of unforgettable, iconic performances because of it. But here's the great thing.
(6:25 - 6:36)
He later reflected that success actually gave him control. It gave him agency. And it proved that his fear of success had blinded him to opportunity.
(6:36 - 6:51)
He said that the control you fear losing is exactly what success buys you. He had the ability to choose the projects he cared about most. So what he once feared was a trap, became the very thing that gave him true freedom.
(6:51 - 7:18)
So when you're in that place of fearing success, it's natural that your next steps aren't perfectly illuminated, because there's a small part of your brain that doesn't actually want you to create that success. I had a client named Carly who was a bit frustrated that her business wasn't really dialed in, wasn't taking off like she wanted. And when we started talking, it turned out that she came from a blue collar background and that they used to make fun of kind of the rich uncle.
(7:19 - 7:45)
And it was something that was so embedded into their way of being that she hadn't really even pulled it out, hadn't really identified it. But deep down, she did fear that if she created more than a certain amount of money, she would distance herself more from the people she loved and that they would end up making fun of her too. But more than that, not really being able to relate to her, you know, not really having that connection and that love.
(7:45 - 8:15)
These are not the kinds of things that always sound logical when you hear it in hindsight, but it feels very real when you identify it. It turns out that what her soul was really crying out for was to pivot slightly and target a different type of person. But she couldn't really see that because by continuing in the pattern she was in, it was much more effective for the deeper underlying desire, the desire of connection with the people that she loved the most.
(8:15 - 8:41)
Fear of success is like fearing the sun because it casts shadows and you're afraid of shadows, but you forget all the warmth, right? And how it allows the plants to grow and how good it feels. Unfortunately, that's so hard for us to believe on like a gut level, a cell level. And if that's you, I hope you get help for that and continue listening to this podcast where hopefully we'll help you see a different truth.
(8:42 - 9:11)
All right, now let's talk about the fear of failure. In 1938, Charles Darwin first sketched out his theory of natural selection, but instead of publishing, he tucked it into a drawer and he kept tinkering with it and rewriting it throughout the years for over 20 years. Someone I can relate to because I also was stuck for 20 years, but he really worried that there would be so much scandal and backlash when it came out.
(9:11 - 9:22)
People would hate him. He doubted that people would even accept it and he thought he'd just be a complete failure. He once described publishing as like confessing to murder.
(9:23 - 9:42)
That's how worried he felt about what would come back at him. And he frequently described being bedridden with stomach problems and heart palpitations and anxiety, especially when deciding whether or not to publish. He wrote once, I'm forced to live very quietly.
(9:43 - 10:04)
Any excitement brings on violent palpitations. But historians widely note that his illness was bound up with this fear of rejection and controversy and that his health issues worsened under the strain of withholding his theory. He talked about it like a weight he was carrying.
(10:05 - 10:24)
And that continued. Can you imagine that year after year? Until 1858, when someone named Alfred Russell Wallace sent him a paper outlining the exact same idea as natural selection. Darwin was devastated.
(10:25 - 10:42)
He described being struck dumb. He said it was like all my originality, whatever it may amount to, it's going to be smashed because no one will ever think of him as having come to that solution first. He wrote in one letter to a friend.
(10:42 - 10:54)
He said, your words have come true with a vengeance. I never saw a more striking coincidence. If Wallace had read my manuscript, he could not have made a better short abstract.
(10:55 - 11:15)
And that just shows that Darwin's friends had been urging him to publish, but his mindset block was really what was controlling the reins. And after he got Wallace's letter, yeah, he got, he was bedridden again. All of that fear and anxiety and consternation just kicked up for him.
(11:15 - 11:33)
But that delay almost lost him the credit for the work of his life. It was only because he was forced to act that Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. It sold out on the first day and revolutionized science.
(11:34 - 11:50)
His work transformed biology, medicine, agriculture, you name it. He changed how humanity understood itself. In his autobiography, he reflected, I have deeply regretted that I did not publish my sketch in 1844.
(11:51 - 12:13)
He confessed that that procrastination was foolish and that it really haunted him. And he told confidants that he'd been a fool for putting off what he should have done long ago. I mean, this is the story of a genius literally making himself sick because of thoughts in his mind and being totally unclear about the next right step for him.
(12:14 - 12:29)
He didn't know that publishing would be better for him than not publishing because of this specific lens of his, this mindset block. But fear of failure is like locking treasure in a vault. Yeah, it's safe, but it's useless to the world.
(12:29 - 12:43)
And sometimes you do know what you're afraid of, but other times you don't. Like for me, I didn't know that I had a fear of failure. I thought I just couldn't get clear, you know, I thought I was the most confident person among my friends.
(12:43 - 13:00)
You know, I dropped out of the rap race after college to go live in Spain for a few years, and no one was doing that. I did not know or even know of a single person who had done that. But still, I knew I'd land on my feet because I was a total badass and I was going to accomplish whatever I wanted in life.
(13:02 - 13:31)
You've got to love the confidence of a 22-year-old, right? But for two decades, I just tore my hair out over that one question I couldn't answer. What am I here to do with my life? And despite mountains of journals and talking to that guru I told you about and pulling all of my friends, it just, it eluded me. I mean, I was so multi-passionate and that term was not even a thing, so I couldn't even relate to it as something that other people go through as well.
(13:31 - 13:56)
But I just thought, how can I ever choose if I'm interested in so many things? And each time I did get excited about something, a few months later there'd be a shinier, better idea that would pop into my head. And through it all, I'd get so depressed. You know, I just longed for this kind of unshakable knowingness that you read about in stories, you read about in someone's memoirs, and that it's like they have that sense of being called.
(13:56 - 14:10)
And so I would just like, I'd bargain with God. Okay, if I don't get to marry, it's okay if I don't get a family, but please, please let me have this one thing. I would date men who knew their calling just so that I could feel like I was close to it.
(14:10 - 14:22)
And there's the guitarist, the physicist, the politician. I thought like maybe that clear connection they had with the universe would somehow rub off on me, but it never did. That sense of calling just never came.
(14:23 - 14:50)
Until I realized when it came to this one thing, that me putting my stake in the ground and then having to possibly fail at it, I would just feel terrible about myself. There was no way I'd be able to live down that shame, you know, in front of my college classmates or my family. And it would just prove that all along I wasn't really that smart and I wasn't really that special or cut out for anything other than a pretty mediocre life.
(14:50 - 15:10)
I mean, I'm just giving you the kind of unvarnished peek into my mind at the time. But then when I uncovered that, everything changed. After 20 years of searching, you know how long it took for me to get clear on the uncommon way? Seven days.
(15:10 - 15:22)
After I released that block, I had this, it was like an explosion. It was this burst of clarity and it lasted for a week. I had all this like mind expansion and inspiration.
(15:23 - 15:33)
It was just, I'd never experienced anything like that before. And then I just had this download for the Connect the Dots method. It just hit me one day as I was thinking about all this stuff.
(15:34 - 15:55)
And then when I practiced it, when I applied it to myself, I saw that everything had been written right in front of me so clearly, like, but I just hadn't been able to see it. It felt like someone just cleared out this like fog or static in my brain. And what was left was so clear and it felt just undeniable.
(15:55 - 16:13)
It just clicked in, but I still didn't fully trust myself. So to be honest, I let it simmer for a few days, but then I did it. I just, I posted that Facebook update talking about my business, announcing it to the world and the rest is history.
(16:13 - 16:37)
I mean, that moment changed my life. That moment when I realized what was really getting in my way, but it's also what created the ability for all of my clients to change as well. Because that method has then since helped both me and them create millions and impact the lives of so many people through so many different industries.
(16:37 - 16:51)
So let's talk about another common block. And that's the one where you say, I should be able to figure it out myself, or I need to be able to figure it out myself. Well, Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, he grew up poor in Brooklyn.
(16:52 - 17:02)
He was the son of a truck driver who lost work after an injury. And so they were always scraping by. And as a child, he decided he didn't want to rely on anyone.
(17:02 - 17:20)
And he became really independent. He admits now that to him, needing help felt like weakness, and he thought he had to prove to himself that he didn't need anyone. So in 1987, he came on at this coffee shop, Starbucks, and had this vision.
(17:21 - 17:46)
And for the first 10 years or so, he admits he was really stubborn and he tried to do everything himself and he micromanaged and he overworked himself. He said there were many hard knocks and painful lessons in burnout before he finally made a change. And that really only came about because Starbucks really started floundering under the weight of expanding rapidly.
(17:46 - 18:12)
And he realized that the company's growth was really going beyond what he could do alone in leadership. So he began to build this circle of advisors and mentors, and he became a leader of leaders rather than the one doing all of the things. And that's the pivot that really allowed Starbucks to explode and to become a name that everyone knows.
(18:13 - 18:37)
And today, Starbucks is in over 80 countries, that's crazy, with 38,000 stores. Now, Schultz himself became a billionaire, but more importantly, his takeaway was that interdependence scales better than independence. And when he looks back on what saved Starbucks, he said it wasn't independence at all, it was vulnerability.
(18:38 - 18:59)
And now there's a famous quote of his that says, success is best when it's shared. And he really counsels everyone else who wants to really grow, that to grow with people, you know, and build with people and rely on the people you trust. I think it just really shows the ceiling that we hit when we insist on figuring everything out alone.
(19:00 - 19:18)
It really slows your growth. It's like you're trying to carry a piano all by yourself up to the stage. Maybe it's possible, technically, but it might break you in the process and be, you're really there to play, you're not there to carry the piano.
(19:19 - 19:47)
Sometimes this belief that we have to do it ourselves comes from within us, like with Charles Schultz, but other times it comes from the world around us. When I was trying to get clear, all of these people were only creating more confusion or only slowing my ability to create change in my life because they would say things like, oh, just give it time or keep working at it. You know, if you're not meant to figure it out yet, you will someday.
(19:47 - 19:58)
And I remember specifically someone saying, you know, no one else can help you with this. It's something you're just going to have to figure out for yourself. But they were so wrong.
(19:59 - 20:11)
People can help. So if you're struggling with something, even if you don't know exactly what you're struggling with, that's a sign you need help. Doesn't mean anything's wrong with you.
(20:11 - 20:31)
It means there's a piece that needs to click into place to get to your next level. That is exactly why I designed the 7-Week Reset that I've talked about in the last couple episodes. It's just meant to be this short, laser-focused intervention that's going to help you identify and release a mindset block.
(20:32 - 20:48)
And I've never met a person who didn't have one. But it's meant to just give you that reorientation to get you back in your game. And as we've seen from all of these stories, once these people got past their blocks, then their genius could naturally thrive.
(20:48 - 21:00)
And they and the world could benefit from it. So don't be the person who holds off just because you should be able to figure it out. Even a brain surgeon can't do surgery on herself.
(21:01 - 21:17)
Our brains just know us too well to make these patterns easily identifiable. If Charles Schultz had been able to see it in himself and realize how it was getting in his way, he would have asked for help 9 years earlier, 10 years earlier. But he didn't.
(21:18 - 21:41)
And he delayed growth and progress because of it. So if you are determined to do things differently and to get there quicker rather than later and easier rather than harder, which is exactly what happened to me when I first talked to a coach and she asked me a couple questions that really helped me identify what was going on for me. If that's you, then sign up for the 7-week reset.
(21:42 - 21:51)
It is completely guaranteed. It's the most accessible way to work directly with me. And you will feel like a completely different woman by Halloween.
(21:52 - 22:05)
You can sign up through the links in the comments or you can book a quick chat too if you have any questions at all. I am here for it. We'll work together throughout that time in a really personalized way that's all about you.
(22:05 - 22:27)
The things that I would say, the exercises that I would suggest, they're going to be different for you than for anyone else on the planet. Because we need you to be able to actually release it for you and then move on. We want to see your genius flourish and see you compensate it and living beautifully from these gifts that only you can give.
(22:27 - 22:47)
Let's move into the last block of this episode, which is underplaying your gifts. Or believing that people won't want that. So in 1960s Nashville, Willie Nelson was trying to mold himself into the image of what other country singers looked like at that time.
(22:48 - 22:53)
The sound was very polished. It was clean cut. He wore suits.
(22:53 - 22:57)
I know, right? Willie Nelson. He wore suits. He kept his hair short.
(22:57 - 23:08)
And he played by the rules. And he watered himself down because he doubted anyone would want the real Willie. The problem is that his career stalled because he didn't connect with audiences.
(23:09 - 23:17)
His stage presence was awkward. And audiences, they saw him as forgettable and bland. He was talented.
(23:17 - 23:26)
Yes, no one could deny that. But it was better if other people sang his songs. And he later admitted, I was doing what they wanted, not what I was.
(23:26 - 23:34)
And it didn't work. By the late 60s, he was broke, divorced two times. And he finally retired.
(23:34 - 23:43)
He sold all his possessions. And he moved back to Texas in frustration, convinced that no one wanted his music. And he said, I thought maybe I wasn't cut out for it.
(23:44 - 24:00)
But back in Austin, he let his hair grow. And out came the braids and the bandanas. And that outlaw country sound, you know, that really gritty, unapologetic style that just started drawing crowds.
(24:00 - 24:08)
They could not get enough of it. And suddenly he was embraced. He described it as a feeling of coming home to myself.
(24:09 - 24:26)
The very thing that he'd suppressed was what people adored. And of course, it catapulted him to legend status. Once he was authentic and aligned, Willie sold 40 million albums, over 40 million albums.
(24:26 - 24:37)
And the one called Redheaded Stranger was number one on the Billboard Country Album chart for 120 weeks. He's won 12 Grammys. He's become a cultural icon.
(24:37 - 24:53)
And he completely reshaped country music. His years of changing himself and erasing himself nearly ended his career. When he finally embraced his quirks, he became the artist that we know and love today.
(24:54 - 25:12)
I see this with clients too, tragically. It's even challenging for some people to do the Connect the Dots process that I walk them through in the beginning because they're jumping ahead, you know, but how can I make money from this? Or will people pay for this? And there's a time and place for that. Of course, we need to validate our offers.
(25:13 - 25:26)
But I've really only had one or two clients whose ideas did not prove viable at the time. Usually the real problem is that they don't think they would be viable. But really, it's just that there's something getting in the way.
(25:26 - 25:44)
Like maybe they're targeting the wrong people. Sometimes the thing that you are so tempted to hide is the very thing that creates your breakthrough. I remember I had a client who just was really ashamed of the fact that she didn't have a fancy background like an MBA or in, you know, working in PR.
(25:44 - 26:08)
She felt like because she was a business coach, and she felt like everyone that was was talking about how they'd transferred some great business success knowledge into what they were teaching now. But she didn't have any of that. But it turns out that what her people wanted, what they loved, was to believe it was possible for them to even if they didn't have that kind of background.
(26:08 - 26:30)
So they loved hearing her honest success story that made them want to learn from her even more. And sometimes you just are so close to that thing that you can't even see it as something special or even something that different. I have many clients who are like, but isn't everyone like this? Or can't everyone do that? No, you need to do it.
(26:30 - 26:35)
You were given those gifts. Use them. Downplaying your gifts.
(26:35 - 26:50)
It's just like painting over gold. You know, you might blend in, but it just loses all its shine and all its value. So let's get you authentic and aligned because that's what you really want, isn't it? And it's definitely what the world is waiting for.
(26:51 - 27:11)
All right, my friend. In this episode, you learned about how four mindset blocks that even geniuses have fallen for can keep you from getting clear on your next steps. You learned how Charles Darwin kept his work secret for decades, all because of a fear of failure.
(27:11 - 27:32)
And it wasn't until that now or never moment of someone else potentially getting credit that he finally published the book that would change the world. And you learned why Harrison Ford decided to spend his life as a carpenter because he was so afraid of success. But how thankfully George Lucas intervened and the rest is history.
(27:32 - 27:50)
And you also saw how Willie Nelson and Howard Schultz struggled for years until they finally let go of the blocks that were keeping them from their success. Plus, you learned what happens when you translate my website into Spanish. So good episode.
(27:51 - 27:58)
I hope it was helpful. If so, please share it with the woman you know who needs to hear it. And I'll see you back here again on Tuesday.