Amateur to Pro: Mindset, Skills & Leadership

Carolyn Mahboubi
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Daily

A weekly solo-cast with Life and Leadership Coach—Carolyn Mahboubi—for young adults, professionals, entrepreneurs, and anyone ready to level up. Drawing from over four decades of leadership and entrepreneurial expertise, Carolyn empowers her clients to transform their amateur mindset into a professional outlook—in life, business, family, and everything they do. Whether you're navigating personal growth, building leadership skills, making life decisions, or wanting to take control of your future, this podcast delivers actionable principles and personal development insights that matter.

  1. 3d ago

    Your Heart Has a Spam Filter: How 4 Environments Shape the Life That Flows Out of You

    If I could keep only one tool in my coaching toolbox, it would be GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. In this episode, I explain why the ancient advice to guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23) is really about deciding what you let into your life, and the four environments where that decision gets made every day. Before you try to change a habit, check the door. In this episode, I talk about: What the Hebrew words for "heart" (lev) and "guard" (nitzor) actually mean, and why guarding your heart is about will, thought, and decision, not just feelingsWhy garbage in, garbage out is an idea that's three thousand years oldThe four gates: physical space, people, consumption, and cultureThe Energy Audit I use with my coaching clients to sort the people in their lives into those who drain them, those who energize them, and those they feel ambivalent aboutMy own confession about pit bull reels, and how unfollowing every one of those accounts was how I closed a gate and protected my focusWhy culture eats strategy for breakfast, and why I take CEOs to culture firstThe first move before any change that lasts: awareness, not willpowerIf you've ever wondered why a habit won't stick, why certain people leave you drained, or how your surroundings, your feeds, and your circle shape your mindset, this one is for you. 📝 Read the full blog post: Your Heart Has a Spam Filter: How 4 Environments Shape the Life That Flows Out of YouConnect with me on Instagram If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. Click here to start

  2. Sep 24

    How I Punished Myself By Accident

    I hear it from clients all the time: "If only I had more clarity, I'd know what to do." "If only I were braver." "If only I had the confidence to try." But after years of coaching, I've learned that clarity, courage, and confidence are rarely the actual problem—and in this episode, I explain why. I get into the real reason so many of us feel stuck, frozen, or lost when we're facing a decision, and I share the three things I've learned to look at before I decide anything: the trade-off, the opportunity cost, and the second-order consequences. I walk through what each one means, including a humbling story about a consequence I designed for one of my kids that I ended up serving myself. If you're someone who struggles with decision-making, feels paralyzed by choices, or wants to build better judgment and self-trust in how you navigate your life and career, this episode is for you. In this episode, I cover: Why people believe there's always a clear "right" choice—and why that belief keeps us stuckThe real reason feeling frozen or paralyzed happens when we're deciding somethingWhat a trade-off actually is, and why every choice has oneWhat opportunity cost really costs you (especially if you're a people-pleaser)Second-order consequences—the effects of the effect—and why they're the hardest to seeA personal story about a punishment I gave my child that became a punishment for meWhy wisdom isn't a personality trait, and how anyone can build it 📝 Read the full blog post:Connect with me on Instagram If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover.Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time.⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠

  3. Sep 17

    I'm in the PR Business (Just Not the Kind You Think)

    She used to run Academy Awards-level events in heels, dancing backward—then years later, in a completely different world, she got quiet about her own standards. It's a version of what's known as Tall Poppy Syndrome: the taller you grow, the more pressure there is to cut yourself back down to match everyone else. I'm working with a client who was a colleague of mine years ago, back when I was a fashion executive and she ran an entire corporate department. She was everything I admired in a powerful woman—highly capable, emotionally balanced, never once apologizing for her high standards or her taste. Then she left for an even bigger role, we lost touch, and seventeen years later she reached out, timidly, to ask if I remembered her. She was stuck. Not because she'd lost her power, but because somewhere along the way—in a new world, with a different culture and a different set of unspoken rules—the same exacting standards that made her extraordinary at work started getting read as something else entirely. In this episode, I talk about what I call the PR business—permission and reminders—and why so much of this work isn't about fixing someone, it's about reminding them of who they already are until they can hear it themselves. 📝 Read the full blog post: I'm in the PR Business (Just Not the Kind You Think) Connect with me on Instagram If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. ⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠

  4. Sep 10

    The 5 Ways We Sabotage the People We’re Trying to Help

    This is a reflection on support versus transformation, and the one agreement that keeps my private coaching group from becoming a place that just feels good instead of a place that changes lives. Every week in my group, The Wisdom Circle, I watch the same instinct show up: a woman shares something raw, and five other women lean in, ready to fix it, rescue her from it, or tell her it's not her fault. Every impulse is loving. It's also, more often than not, about our own discomfort with her discomfort. That's why our first agreement is called No Frapping—no fixing, rescuing, apologizing, pleasing, or preaching. It sounds simple. It's brutal to actually practice, especially for capable, high-functioning women who've spent years being praised for exactly these habits. In this episode, I talk about what real support looks like when you take rescuing off the table, why a reflexive apology can quietly make someone else's vulnerable moment about you, and how this one agreement changes everything—in coaching, in parenting, in leadership, in every relationship that matters. 📝 Read the full blog post: The 5 Ways We Sabotage the People We’re Trying to HelpConnect with me on Instagram If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. ⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠

  5. Sep 3

    What the Jewish New Year Asks That January Doesn’t

    This is a Rosh Hashanah reflection on teshuvah, honesty, and why Elul asks something different than New Year's resolutions ever could. Every year around this time, I hear the same relieved sigh in myself and in the women I work with: "Phew, we made it." And it's true—we did. We took the dodgy turns, said yes when we meant no, told a version of the story that made us look better, and we're still here to tell it. But this year, I'm not setting resolutions. I'm doing what the Jewish tradition calls an accounting of the soul—cheshbon hanefesh—an honest list of what I actually did, in plain words, without the language that makes it sound better than it was. I've spent a decade telling women that failure is information, and I still believe that. Reframing is one of the most useful tools we have when we're stuck. But teshuvah— real repentance— asks for something reframing can't give you: confession, out loud, in words. "Say what you did," is what Maimonides demands. Not softened. Not processed into a lesson. In this episode, I talk about the difference between the reframing that gets you moving and the honest naming that Elul actually requires— and why capable women, especially, are so good at telling ourselves a kind version of the truth for years. 📝 Read the full blog post: What the Jewish New Year Asks That January Doesn't Connect with me on Instagram If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. ⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠

  6. Aug 26

    The Coach Who Doesn’t Believe in Discipline (Part 2)

    Discipline isn't your problem—your systems are. In this episode, I break down why personal development and goal setting fail without the right habit systems, and why "you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." I walk through my own Life Buckets—Health & Wellness, Coaching, Relationships, and Parenting—and share one real, unglamorous system from each: the visible workout gear that replaces a scheduled workout, the hire that removed decision fatigue from my calendar, the single-channel rule that deepened my closest relationships, and the family rituals that evolved as my kids grew up. If you've been calling it a motivation problem or a discipline problem, this episode makes the case that it's actually a design problem—and design problems are fixable. This is a conversation about habit building, productivity systems, behavior change, and what it really takes to close the gap between the life you're planning and the life you're living. In this episode: Why willpower and motivation aren't the real issue behind unmet goalsThe James Clear line that reframes discipline as a systems problemHow to divide your life into 3–5 core buckets (Life Buckets Exercise)Real systems from health, coaching, relationships, and parentingWhy a good system isn't permanent—and how to know when to retire one 📝 Read the full blog post: The Coach Who Doesn't Believe in Discipline (Part 2) Read part 1 here: The Coach Who Doesn't Believe in Discipline (Part 1) Connect with me on Instagram If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. ⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠ Topics: life coaching, personal development, habit building, systems over willpower, discipline, goal setting, productivity, behavior change, work-life balance, parenting, family systems, self-improvement, mindset coaching

  7. Aug 20

    The Coach Who Doesn’t Believe in Discipline (Part 1)

    I've spent years working with ambitious, driven women — CEOs, philanthropists, mothers juggling more than anyone should have to — and I keep hearing the same story: "I just need more discipline." In this episode, I explain why that's almost never true, and why willpower doesn't work the way we've been told it does. I walk through the real difference between discipline vs willpower, and why a well-designed life treats willpower as secondary, not essential. Drawing on a favorite teaching from James Clear about seeds and soil, I break down what environment design actually looks like in practice — and why most personal growth advice stops right before the part that matters most. If you've ever set a goal, done "everything right," and still felt stuck, this episode will change how you think about the problem. This is part one of a two-part series — the beginning of a conversation about life design, not life coaching. 📝 Read the full blog post: https://www.carolynmahboubi.com/blog/why-willpower-doesnt-work If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. ⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠

  8. Aug 13

    My Most Expensive Lesson at Gucci

    I was the first Director of Client Relations Gucci ever hired in America — a role that didn't exist at any luxury brand at the time. I had every piece of knowledge the job required. What I didn't have was wisdom, and that gap is what got me let go. In this episode, I walk through the exact moment I confused being right with being effective, why I kept trying to add my way out of a problem that only wisdom could solve, and the Lao Tzu line that reframed the whole story for me years later: to gain knowledge, add something every day; to gain wisdom, subtract something every day. If you're an accomplished, knowledgeable person who's quietly wondered why all that information hasn't delivered the fulfillment it seemed to promise, this one's for you. In this episode, I cover: The real difference between knowledge and wisdom, and why one doesn't automatically lead to the otherMy most expensive career lesson from working at Gucci in the luxury fashion industryWhy courage, not more information, is usually what unlocks growthThe subtraction principle I now use with every client I coachThe question I ask myself — and now ask you — about what's ready to be let go of 📝 Read the full blog post: https://www.carolynmahboubi.com/blog/difference-between-knowledge-and-wisdom ********** If something in you is craving a little more clarity—about where your life is working and where it's quietly asking for attention—I'd love for you to take the ⁠⁠Life Audit⁠⁠. It's free, it takes about ten minutes, and people are often surprised by what they discover. Once you complete the audit, I'll share with you three handpicked reads from my journal (or you can listen to their audio versions)—chosen specifically for the area that needs your attention the most at this time. ⁠⁠Click here to start⁠⁠

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About

A weekly solo-cast with Life and Leadership Coach—Carolyn Mahboubi—for young adults, professionals, entrepreneurs, and anyone ready to level up. Drawing from over four decades of leadership and entrepreneurial expertise, Carolyn empowers her clients to transform their amateur mindset into a professional outlook—in life, business, family, and everything they do. Whether you're navigating personal growth, building leadership skills, making life decisions, or wanting to take control of your future, this podcast delivers actionable principles and personal development insights that matter.

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