Work with Me
Feel better. Focus more. Do big things.
If you're reading these words, I’m willing bet I know at least three things about you:
You want to put stuff that is important to you into the world.
You've been stuck either hiding (the work is not happening), or chasing (it's happening but feels terrible 95% of the time) or both.
And you've been trying to resolve this problem on your own for a long time, which means you've tried a LOT of things.
My life feels completely different now.
–Tom
Software Developer
The last one is a really safe bet because my clients tend to be extremely smart, resourceful and self-reliant. They're used to being able to figure things out that defeat most people. Which makes it especially frustrating when this one particular, super-important problem just will not budge no matter how many books you read, schedules you try, meditation minutes you log, or times you promise yourself that next week will be different.
It requires a special kind of mental fortitude to keep running into the same wall over and over and over, particularly when each impact feels worse than the last one. High-achieving people don’t tend to grant themselves any As just for effort, but honestly—that is warrior shit.
But even warriors get tired, and if you’re on this page, you are probably really fucking tired. After several years, most of us are tired enough to contemplate giving up. But how can we give up when we can feel that big electrifying, storm-the-castles life with our talents waiting on the other side of the wall? We can’t keep trying, but we can’t stop either.
What we need is a third option–an approach that actually tackles the problem at the root.
We need to dismantle the damn wall, for good.
I call this wall internal resistance.
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At the bottom, it arises from deep, hidden beliefs or commitments that pull against our conscious goals and plans. But after years of dealing with this inner conflict, we also develop a bunch of unhelpful habits of mind—things like the negative associations that get built up around the work we want to do, or the view of ourselves we wind up adopting when we can’t seem to stop letting ourselves down. Then there’s all the cultural baggage layered on top, from what we think it means to be really good at something to the backwards way we’re taught to try to motivate ourselves.
Internal resistance is each of things, and it’s also the intricate synergy between them as they unfold across a day or a life.
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If this sounds complex, that’s because it is.
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But that’s actually never been the problem, because you are really good at complex things. Advanced-level analysis is your fricking wheelhouse. The real problem is that you haven’t had a conceptual framework or practical tools adequate to the task at hand.
Trying to resolve internal resistance with the usual self-help advice is like trying to pick a lock with a bowling ball.
Yeah, you might make a dent, but the door is going to stay locked. Much the same is true when it comes to many kinds of therapy. Most therapy techniques will help you create a detailed narrative describing exactly how the door was created, but they still leave you stuck on the wrong side.
Thanks to Jane for doing what she does and doing it so well. Don't think words can describe my shift. Honestly. I'm a different human.
–Oladoyin
Energy Systems Analyst
To unlock the door for good, we need tools powerful enough to transform our underlying beliefs and probing enough to help us identify those beliefs in the first place. We need a framework so comprehensive it can hit every level where internal resistance manifests–and so customizable it can address the specific way it manifests for each of us.
This is exactly what the Blazing Talents programme provides.
Blazing Talents
This is my intensive, small-group, 12-week programme, which admits only six people maximum per group. It's specially designed and demonstrated to dismantle your internal resistance by targeting each of its core layers:
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I teach you a focused, practical approach to mapping and dismantling the negative thought loops that are derailing your days. The tools I share with you are tailored to address the way high-powered brains like yours get derailed by long-standing battles with internal resistance. I coach you through applying these tools live on our calls as well as in our online messaging forum. As these patterns dissolve, you reclaim more and more space in your brain for the work you want to do.
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We use a bespoke exploratory technique to identify the particular hidden beliefs driving your internal resistance. Then I take you through a process based on cutting-edge neuroscience that enables us to actually transform these deep beliefs at the source. Most techniques that promise to ‘rewire your brain’ actually create parallel neuropathways alongside the negative ones you’re trying to shift. Unfortunately, the more upset or stressed we are, the more likely we are to revert to the older wiring that was causing the problems in the first place.
The approach I use–based on new research published in the last 10 years–actually rewrites the original belief at the source, so the unhelpful wiring no longer exists, period. Because these negative beliefs have been coloring your view of yourself and the world for years, the transformation that comes from excising them just can’t be overstated. It is like being given a new brain.
I really feel like a different person now. The things at work that felt impossible now feel light. Not only did I become unstuck, I became a different, happier version of myself.
–Nisha
Museum Curator
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We examine and transform the way you’ve come to see yourself in relation to your talents, your past achievements and your future goals. It’s hard to maintain self-trust after years of feeling like your own worst enemy. Add to that the high-achievers conviction that they should be able to do everything perfectly, always, and you’ve got a recipe for viewing yourself as a problem rather than a powerhouse. Via a unique approach developed over decades of mentoring and coaching, we create a new bedrock self-image for you that feels exactly right, gloriously switched-on, and fucking indomitable.
Plus, once we start to dig into the details of how internal resistance really works, your intellectual curiosity kicks in and the process of unravelling those intertwined threads starts to take on a fascination of its own. All your in-built desire to master a mental challenge starts to fuel your transformation instead of adding to your frustration.
And that means the most powerful resource for shifting internal resistance is the one already installed in your head. As soon as we get that never-stops-working, hyper-analytical brain chewing on the problem in a way that’s useful rather than paralyzing, you’ll change faster than you can imagine.
What's on the other side
The big changes you see will happen first on the ground where you're struggling the most, whether that's not being able to work, not being able to find it satisfying, or not being sure what your true talents even are. Once we get these blocks cleared away, then we'll start working on the bigger stuff that becomes possible when your brain, talent and vision are all pulling in the same direction.
This program has been so transformative for me.
–Diwank
AI startup founder & CEO
So you might find that for you it looks like:
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No more days spent wandering everywhere but your desk or surveying your progress with a sinking stomach at bedtime. You'll know you can work on what you care about consistently, no fucking around.
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No more being too afraid to put your One Big Idea into the world—because you'll know there's more where that one came from. And you'll be able to trust yourself to follow through on the next one too.
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No more feeling like your relationship to your talents is always on hold in some way, like the real thing is always around the corner or up at the next milestone. Instead, you'll feel certain that you're exactly where you need to be, going exactly where you want to go.
- When you get negative feedback, you'll be able to trust yourself to figure out what's useful to learn and to set aside the rest, because you'll know that no one else's evaluation of your work can ever substitute for your own.
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- You'll be able to trust yourself, period.
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No more scrolling other people's social media at midnight, wondering how they seem to have gotten to this miraculous land of achievement and satisfaction, because you'll be too immersed in and compelled by the work you're doing to worry about anyone else's stuff.
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You won't wrap up a big project feeling totally bereft after 24 hours, when the high has worn off and you're right back to thinking you're not good enough. Instead, you'll know how to relish the process itself, because it'll be a rich, engaging, exciting part of the daily fabric of your life.
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You will have the unshakeable authority that comes from knowing you do the things that matter to you, no matter what.
Right now, it might seem preposterous to think that this can happen. But, actually, I think there's already a part of you that believes you can get there. It's the part of you that hasn't given up. No matter how hopeless you may feel at times, you always take one more step forward. The proof is that you're here right now, reading these words.
Another way to say this is: part of you already KNOWS that you can do this.
We're going to put that part of you in charge.
How We Do It
This programme is intensive and immersive on purpose. You will be obsessed and you will change fast. I estimate we'll cover as much ground as I would in 18-24 months of weekly individual coaching.
Some of the stuff I will teach you is so simple and effective you'll be outraged no one told you about it before. Some of it is so advanced it will keep changing and stretching you far after the programme ends. And you'll need that advanced work, because you'll be working at the edge of your capabilities, where exciting and terrifying and important stuff happens. Here’s how it works:
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I take you through a bespoke, detailed and tested curriculum that gives you targeted practices to eradicate unhelpful habits of mind, cutting-edge neuroscience techniques to locate and rewrite the deep beliefs driving your internal resistance, and a new, revelatory way of defining your relationship to your talents. All the teaching is live, with ample time to ask questions along the way.
I don't beat myself up and it's just become my new normal. It would be difficult to overstate what a big deal this is!
–Glynnis
Environmental Scientist
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You get coached by me at least seven times in 20-30 minute sessions distributed across our twice-weekly group calls. These sessions are where we identify how the curriculum specifically applies to you and use the tools and techniques I share to change your relationship to productivity, goals and achievement.
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You get weekly slides and worksheets designed to help put all the tools and concepts you’re learning into practice. You share your responses to these prompts and anything else you’d like in our Slack space–an online messaging forum–for coaching via text, with a response guaranteed from me within 24 hours, Monday through Friday. That means you get continuous feedback, coaching and advice to ensure we hit every benchmark along the way to embedding the changes you want.
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We harness the near-magical power of small-group coaching. People who have never experienced it tend to think that group coaching is a watered-down or even budget version of coaching one-on-one. In fact, the opposite is true. Small-group coaching works at least twice as fast as individual coaching.
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Here’s why. When I coach you, it’s an intense experience that shifts the furniture in your brain in real time. But when you watch me coach others, you can zoom out, see the patterns at work, and connect the dots to the techniques and concepts you’re learning.
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Plus, because internal resistance tends to operate in our cognitive blindspots, you gain an essential awareness of how it functions when you see it at work in others. The interplay between these different kinds of learning is like rocket fuel.
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You also get copies of all teaching and coaching calls to keep, quarterly alumni calls for the first year, and bonus 30-minute one-on-one introductory and exit sessions that help set you up for success in the programme and plan the best next steps after. You’ll have priority access to and discounts for all events I host in the future as well.
Because you'll have lots of chances to participate by quietly listening and learning (i.e., without having to be on the hot seat or interact) this programme is introvert-safe. Introverts: I am one of you, I share your qualms about anything with the 'group' label, and I have designed this programme to give lots of space for those of us who need less interaction. See FAQ below for more on this.
Weekly live teaching on techniques and tools
Weekly live coaching on Zoom
On demand text-based coaching Monday-Friday
Weekly practice sheets and guides
​Got questions?
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Some of the most frequently asked questions about Blazing Talents are below. For questions about my coaching practice in general (including pricing) see the main FAQ. Any other queries, contact me directly or book a consult.
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How much direct contact will I get with you?
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You'll have at least seven opportunities to be coached by me over the course of the programme, and you'll have access to coaching from me Monday-Friday coaching via Slack, an online messaging system. You'll also receive weekly live teaching sessions, when you'll be able to ask me questions.
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What if I don't like groups/the group dynamic is weird?
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This programme is designed to foster learning in parallel, rather than group interaction. In practice, this means you see each other get coached, but no one contributes to that exchange except me and the person getting coached. It's never a group discussion.
This framework creates a dynamic that is inherently respectful and supportive, because people are always in listening-mode rather than talking-mode when it comes to other people's experiences. You never have to fear what you might hear from other group members, because the only responses will come from me.
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Maybe equally important, something really powerful happens in our brains when we know we can only witness rather than weigh in. Once the chance to comment is taken off the table, we start to slow down and really absorb what we're seeing instead. (It's basically the polar opposite to what happens in our usual lives online.) And the learning that happens in this witnessing-only mode is on a different level.
Of course, this doesn't mean you can't ask questions about an aspect of coaching I offered someone else, whether for clarification or to understand how it might apply to you. Being able to follow up after you take something in and think about it is crucial too. But this would be distinct from any comment on someone else's experience.
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The one place where direct interaction is absolutely invited is in the area of our message board devoted to victories, where you share your wins and everyone helps you celebrate.
What if the other people in the cohort aren't like me?
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They will for sure be like you in some key ways (very smart, ambitious and unsatisfied with the status quo of their lives) because that's who the programme is designed for. Other than that, I hope you do find some important differences, because they'll stretch your brain and challenge your default thinking about who is a good fit when it comes to friends, contacts and coworkers.
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I think you'll be surprised by how much you wind up identifying with people who you thought were nothing like you. In my experience and that of many others I know who have done group coaching, the similarities we find under the hood as the programme unfolds are often more powerful, unexpected and lasting than those we see at the outset.
I wish Jane could teach her techniques to my therapist so therapy could be a transformative for me as this program has been!
–Michelle C.
Professor
This is possible for you
Whatever you do, don't give up on your talents because you think that nothing can change, that you'll never figure out how to put your work into the world or how to love doing it again.
It does not have to be this hard.
You can leave this suffering behind and learn to surf the smaller, inevitable ups and downs of achievement like a badass.
I want you to work with me because I know how to get people there. But, most importantly, I just want you to get there, one way or another. If I'm not the person who can help you, I believe you can find someone or something else that can.
Remember: every one of us who has made it to the other side was once where you are now.
We're waiting for you. Don't give up.