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August 26, 2025 • 17 mins

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🎧 Episode 178: Coaching Yourself – 5 Questions to Unlock the Next Level of Your Potential

In this solo episode, I share the five most powerful coaching questions you can ask yourself to move beyond your current limitations and step into the leader you’re meant to be.

If you’re a director aiming for VP, or a VP preparing to step into the C-Suite, these questions will help you break through self-imposed barriers, sharpen your mindset, and embody the presence required to lead at the next level.

I talk honestly about the stories that hold us back, why mediocrity creeps in so quietly, and the bold moves that too many leaders avoid. You’ll also hear neuroscience-backed insights on rewiring your thinking and practical reflection prompts you can use immediately.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re capable of more but don’t know what’s standing in your way, this conversation will give you clarity, courage, and a clear path forward.

We explore:

  • Why your greatest obstacle is usually yourself
  • How to rewrite the stories you’ve been telling yourself
  • The simple visualization technique that rewires your brain for the role you want
  • Where mediocrity hides in your leadership, and how to eliminate it
  • How to embody executive presence that attracts opportunity
  • Why bold moves and fear always travel together
  • A weekly framework to self-coach and accelerate your growth

🔑 Key takeaways:

  • Your thoughts shape your reality, challenge them before they limit you
  • Acting “as if” rewires your brain to lead from your future identity
  • What you tolerate, you endorse, raise your standards first in yourself
  • Opportunities are attracted to who you’re becoming, not just what you know
  • The bold move you’re avoiding is usually the breakthrough you need

đź’ˇ Quotes to remember:

  • “Your next level isn’t waiting for permission, it’s waiting for you to start asking better questions.”
  • “Growth and fear always travel together.”

📚 Resources mentioned:

  • đź“• Download the free Listener Workbook Journal Prompts: Coaching Yourself Workbook PDF

A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!

Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com

Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/

https://www.instagram.com/evoke.greatness/

https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness

http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness








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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever felt like you're capable of more, but
you're not sure what's holdingyou back?
In this episode, I'm going togive you five powerful coaching
questions that will expose yourblind spots, rewire your
thinking and unlock the nextlevel of your leadership.
Whether you're eyeing that VPCor preparing for the C-suite,
these questions will become yoursecret weapon for growth.

(00:22):
Welcome to Evoke Greatness, thepodcast for bold leaders and
big dreamers who refuse tosettle.
I'm your host, sunny.
I started in Scrubs over 20years ago doing the gritty,
unseen work and climbed my wayto CEO.

(00:42):
Every rung of that laddertaught me something worth
passing on Lessons in leadership, resilience and what it really
takes to rise.
You'll hear raw conversations,unfiltered truths and the kind
of wisdom that ignites somethingdeeper in you your courage,
your conviction, your calling.
This show will help you thinkbigger, lead better and show up

(01:05):
bolder in every part of yourlife.
This is your place to grow.
Let's rise together.
Welcome back to another episodeof Evoke Greatness.
Today, we're diving into atopic that can change the

(01:29):
trajectory of your career andyour life, and that is coaching
yourself.
Now you might be thinking holdon, sunny.
Coaching is about someone elsehelping me see my blind spots
Like how am I going to coachmyself?
Someone else helping me see myblind spots, like how am I going
to coach myself?
But here's the thing the mostsuccessful leaders, the ones who

(01:52):
climb from mid-level to VP orfrom VP to the C-suite, they
don't wait for someone else tochallenge them.
They build the skill ofcoaching themselves.
And so today, I'm going to walkyou through five coaching
questions that, if you take themseriously, they can become your
secret weapon for growth.
So by the end of this episode,you'll not only know these

(02:13):
questions, but you'll also knowhow to use them, how to reflect
on them, how to act on them andhow to unlock a version of
yourself that you haven't evenmet yet.
Here's something I want you tosit with for a second.
Your biggest obstacle is you.
It's not your boss, it's notyour board, it's not the

(02:34):
industry or the market, it's you, friend.
Most of the barriers holdingyou back they're not external.
They're actually internalbarriers.
They're the stories that you'vetold yourself, the beliefs
you've accepted to be fact andthe ceilings you've built in
your own mind.
Neuroscience tells us thatabout 95% of our thoughts are

(02:57):
subconscious, automatic loopsthat we don't even notice, which
means unless you intentionallyinterrupt those loops, notice,
which means, unless youintentionally interrupt those
loops, you're just recyclingyesterday's thinking into
today's decisions.
And if yesterday's thinkingonly got you this far, guess
what?
It's not going to take you anyfarther.
So here's what bold leaders dothey shine a flashlight into

(03:19):
their own shadows, they getcurious and they're willing to
look at themselves with honesty,even when it's uncomfortable.
And let me say this gettinginto the C-suite is not about
being the smartest person in theroom, it's about being the most
self-aware.
So today, as I walk you throughthese five questions, I want
you to pause.

(03:39):
When I pause, reflect.
When I ask you to reflect andimagine that we're just sitting
across from one another.
I'm not just talking at you,I'm actually asking you, because
this isn't just information,this is opportunity for
transformation if you lean intoit.
So question number one what'sthe story I'm telling myself?

(04:00):
Right now, we all tellourselves stories, stories about
why we're not ready, why ourboss doesn't see our value, why
we didn't get that promotion.
And psychology proves this Ourbrains have something called
confirmation bias.
Once you tell yourself a story,your brain goes out of its way

(04:20):
to get evidence to prove itright.
So if your story is, I'm not asstrategic as the leaders above
me, your brain's gonna be likeall right, what do we need to do
?
We're gonna pull everything wecan to reinforce that belief.
Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to grab a notebookand I want you to write down one
story that you've been tellingyourself about your career or

(04:43):
leadership.
Be brutally honest.
Maybe it's I don't have enoughexecutive presence, or I'm too
young, or I'm too old.
Now challenge that.
Ask yourself what else could betrue.
Self, what else could be true.

(05:10):
Write down three pieces ofevidence that contradict your
story.
So, for example, if you thinkI'm not strategic, maybe you've
already led projects thatimpacted multiple departments.
Maybe peers already come to youfor cross-functional advice.
When you challenge the story,you create cognitive dissonance
and that's the discomfort thatyour brain needs to start
rewriting your narrative.

(05:31):
So here's where I want you topause.
I want you to take a deepbreath and I want you to ask
yourself right now what is thestory I'm telling myself and is
it really true?

(05:54):
Question number two if I alreadyhad the title I want, how would
I think, decide and act today?
Visualization is one of themost powerful tools in
neuroscience.
Your brain doesn't know thedifference between vividly
imagining something and actuallydoing it.

(06:14):
The same neural pathways fireeither way.
So here's the question If youalready had the title you're
chasing maybe it's VP, maybeit's EVP, maybe it's chief fill
in the blank how would you thinktoday?
How would you decide today?
How would you act today?

(06:37):
You see the leaders at thehighest levels make decisions
differently.
They think big picture, theythink about the enterprise, not
just the department.
They weigh out long-termimplications.
They don't just capture theshort-term wins and they

(07:00):
influence stakeholders insteadof just managing tasks.
So this week I want you to runa thought experiment.
Take one decision you're facingand I want you to answer it
twice First as your currenttitle and second as the title
you want.
And then I want you to comparethe two.
Which one do you want to leadwith?
Which one serves you?

(07:22):
My mom used to tell me when Iwas little she used to make
lists for everything and sheused to tell me okay, this
decision that I want to do, thisthing I want to do.
I want you to go get a sheet ofpaper and, on one side, write
the pros and on one side sidewrite the cons, and that I
brought into my leadership andto into being an adult in around
decisions that I make.
So here's, here's your nextpause moment.

(07:45):
I want you to think about areal decision on your plate
right now.
How would the next levelversion of you, the 2.0 version
of you, how would they handle itdifferently?
Question three where am Itolerating mediocrity?

(08:09):
In myself or in my team?
Mediocrity is a sneaky beast.
It doesn't announce, announceitself.
It just creeps in throughmissed deadlines, sloppy
communication or loweredstandards.
And then we tell ourselves it'snot a big deal.
But every time you toleratemediocrity, you're reinforcing

(08:32):
it.
And here's the psychologybehind this.
Your brain normalizes whateverit repeats.
That means the longer you letsomething slide, the harder it
is to raise the bar later.
So ask yourself, where am Itolerating mediocrity?
Maybe it's in yourself, likenot preparing for a meeting that

(08:53):
you think you can wing it.
Or maybe it's in your team,letting somebody continually
deliver late because they'rebusy.
High performers who reach the Csuite do not tolerate mediocrity
.
They set uncomfortablestandards and they hold
themselves to it.
First.
Here's the challenge Identifyone area this week where you've

(09:18):
been tolerating less thanexcellence, and I want you to
raise the standard.
Have the hard conversation,hold the line or elevate your
own effort.
Okay, time to pause.
What's the one thing thatyou've been tolerating?

(09:39):
That if you raise the standardwould immediately elevate
performance?
What's the one thing you'vebeen tolerating?
That if you raise the standardwould immediately elevate
performance?
All right, moving on toquestion four, who do I need to

(10:04):
become to attract theopportunities that I desire most
?
This is about identity.
Opportunities aren't justhanded out.
They're attracted to who youare becoming, and research shows
that people judge leaders moreby their presence than by their
words.
Executive presence is lessabout talking more and more

(10:29):
about radiating calm, confidenceand clarity.
So ask yourself who do I needto become to attract the
opportunities that I most desire?
If you want the C-suite, are youshowing up like someone who can
carry the weight of the entireorganization?

(10:49):
Are you the voice of calm inchaos or do you get rattled
really easily?
Are you the voice of calm inchaos or do you get rattled
really easily?
Are you asking visionaryquestions or just tactical ones?
Take this practical step.
I want you to ask threecolleagues or mentors how you're
currently perceived.

(11:09):
Then compare that to how youwant to be perceived the gap
between these two answers.
That's your growth plan, andI'll tell you ask people who you
can trust to be honest, becauseoftentimes we're fed fluff,

(11:30):
because people don't want tohurt our feelings or insult us.
I went through an exerciseabout this very same thing and I
asked people who I knew wouldbe brutally honest.
I wanted to grow.
I knew that I had deltas and Iwanted the light shown on that,
and so I will tell you thosethree colleagues or mentors make
sure they are people who youknow will be brutally honest

(11:53):
with you.
That will serve you.
People who you know will bebrutally honest with you, that
will serve you.
That will help you grow.
That's your growth plan.
Okay, I want you to pause againand I want you to close your
eyes for a second.
I want you to picture the rolethat you want.

(12:16):
What's the one trait that thatleader embodies that you need to
grow into?
All right, we're on the homestretch.
Question number five what is thebold move that I'm avoiding?
Every leader has one that boldconversation, that risk, that

(12:38):
step into visibility that you'vebeen putting off.
Psychology calls it lossaversion.
We are wired to avoid losingwhat we already have more than
we are to risk gaining somethingnew.
Let me say that again, we arewired to avoid losing what we
already have more than we are torisk gaining something new.

(13:03):
But the bold move you'reavoiding is probably the very
thing that would catapult youforward.
It might be asking for thatpromotion, giving that hard
feedback, being decisive,pitching that idea to a senior
leader.
So I want you to name it, Iwant you to write it down and

(13:28):
then ask what is the cost of notacting?
What is the cost of not acting?
Because inaction is a decisiontoo, too, and if you don't step

(13:51):
forward, friend someone else,will your growth and your fear
always travel together.
If you're not a little bitafraid, you're probably not
stretching far enough.
And so, last pause moment toreflect.
But what is that bold moveyou've been avoiding?
To reflect, but what is thatbold move you've been avoiding
and what would shift, what wouldchange if you finally acted on

(14:12):
it this week?
What's the bold move you'vebeen avoiding and what would
shift if you finally acted on itthis week?
Okay, now let's pull all ofthis together.
The five questions are simple,but don't confuse simple with

(14:33):
easy.
What's the story I'm tellingmyself?
If I already had the title.
How would I act today?
Where am I toleratingmediocrity?
Who do I need to become andwhat bold move am I avoiding?
Look, here's the bottom line.
You already have the potential.
What you need is the courage tohold up a mirror and ask the

(14:58):
hard questions.
And then do the work.
Do the things that most peopleavoid.
So here's your challenge forthis week.
I want you to journal thesefive questions.
I want you to reflect on them,take time and answer them
honestly, and choose one actionfrom your answers and execute on

(15:21):
it.
The truth is, you don't get tothe next level by accident.
You get there because you madea decision to stop recycling the
old stories and start demandingbetter ones.
And if you're listening to this, I know you're not satisfied
with average, with mediocrity.

(15:41):
You're hungry and you're ready.
So remember this your next levelisn't waiting for permission.
It isn't waiting for the market.
It isn't waiting for someone tonotice you.
Your next level is waiting foryou to start asking better
questions.
That's the work, that's thegrowth, and that that's how you

(16:08):
evoke greatness.
I wish you all an amazing week.
Let's go get some stuff done.
If today's episode challengedyou, moved you or lit a fire in
your soul.
Don't keep it to yourself.
Share it with somebody who'sready to rise.

(16:28):
Could I ask you to take 30seconds to leave a review?
It's the best way to say thankyou and help this show reach
more bold leaders like you,because this isn't just a
podcast, it's a movement.
We're not here to play small.
We're here to lead loud, onebold and unapologetic step at a

(16:50):
time.
Until next time, stay bold,stay grounded and make moves
that make mediocre uncomfortable.
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