Let's Talk About Confidence

John M Walsh
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Management

Let's Talk About Confidence examines the one capability that determines whether you'll attempt what matters most—and whether you'll persist when it gets hard. Not a personality trait. Not positive thinking. A learnable behaviour built through repetition, pressure, and consequence. Confidence isn't something you're born with—it's something you build through boring repetition, sustained pressure, and real-world consequences. Hosted by John M Walsh, this podcast explores how actual confidence develops in adults who've been tested. From founders who've rebuilt after failure, to leaders managing high-stakes decisions, to professionals who've had to perform without feeling ready. These aren't motivational stories. They're honest conversations about: How confidence is built (the unglamorous truth)How it's lost (and what that reveals)How it's rebuilt (often stronger than before)How it shows up in high-pressure situations Each episode examines confidence as an integrated adult skill—through the lens of performance, leadership, persuasion, credibility, competence, and reinvention. For anyone interested in the behavioural reality of confidence, not the highlight reels. For professionals, leaders, and anyone building something significant who knows confidence is the bottleneck—but wants the unglamorous truth about how it's actually developed, not another pep talk.

  1. 5d ago

    You Don’t Need Confidence to Start

    Confidence is not magic, and it is definitely not something you either “have” or you do not. I sit down with strength coach Dan Tibbett to get brutally practical about what confidence looks like in real life, especially when you walk into a room and instantly feel like you are on the back foot. Dan shares how sport shaped his mindset from a young age, why he sometimes had to act confident before he felt it, and how a simple physiological reset (posture, breath, presence) can change what happens next.  We also dig into Dan’s journey through the American college soccer scholarship system, including the moment a coaching change knocked his confidence and left him fighting through the trenches. His response is a masterclass in resilience: showing up, keeping standards high, preparing properly, and staying a good team-mate even when it would be easier to withdraw. If you are working through a “boring middle” where effort is high and results feel slow, you will recognise yourself here.  From there we bring it back to everyday confidence: the gym, weight loss, discipline, motivation, leadership, and that fear of being judged. Dan’s reminder is freeing: most people are too worried about what they look like to be looking at you. The big takeaway is simple and powerful for building self-belief: confidence comes from repeated actions and proving it to yourself over time. If this helps, subscribe, share it with a mate who needs a boost, and leave us a review so more people can find the show. Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  2. Sep 23

    You Got Promoted. Now What?

    A promotion can feel like someone finally saw your talent, and then, without warning, it can make you question it. One week you’re the trusted expert who fixes the hard problems. The next, you’re in back-to-back meetings, expected to influence people who don’t report to you, and asked to make decisions before the information is complete. That wobble in confidence isn’t weakness; it’s a sign the job has changed. We talk through the classic leap from technical expert to manager using a simple story: the high performer who keeps “helping” until the team becomes dependent on being rescued. We dig into why doing the work yourself feels so satisfying, why leadership work feels oddly intangible, and how avoidance can masquerade as dedication when you’re busy correcting details while the real issues sit untouched. You’ll hear practical shifts around delegation, standards, and the hard distinction between work being wrong and work simply not being the way you would have done it. From there we step into senior leadership realities: your presence changes the room, your first answer can shut down thinking, and your words carry more weight than you intend. We unpack decision-making under uncertainty, influencing without authority in matrix organisations, and the moment you realise being liked is not the same as being trusted. If you’re navigating a promotion, imposter feelings, or the transition into people management, this one will help you steady your confidence and lead more effectively. If it resonates, subscribe, share it with someone stepping up, and leave us a review. What part of the transition are you in right now? Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  3. Sep 16

    Are You Running on Autopilot?

    Your brain is doing you a favour and it might be quietly wrecking your confidence at the same time. I’m joined by Jen Brown, a leadership coach, speaker and former US diplomat with 23 years in high-stakes environments, to unpack how confidence is actually built, not granted at birth. We talk about why so many capable people feel like they do not belong, how childhood feedback and external validation shape self-belief, and what it takes to build confidence that holds up when the job title, praise, or “next level” disappears. Jen breaks down autopilot through a practical neuroscience lens: our minds automate to save energy, which is brilliant in a crisis, but risky in everyday leadership. We explore how leaders accidentally create dependency by answering every question, how that fuels burnout, and how to switch into intentional leadership so teams grow. She shares a powerful story from her diplomatic work during an earthquake in Ecuador to show when autopilot is exactly what you want and when it cannot sustain you. You’ll also get simple tools you can use immediately: 10 to 30-second resets for stress, a discreet fingertip technique you can do in meetings, the “hyperachiever trap” and what boundaries look like when they are healthy, plus the strategic pause and why silence can make your communication stronger. If you care about confidence, imposter syndrome, leadership development, mental fitness and work life balance, this conversation gives you a clear path to practise. Subscribe for more, share this with someone who’s stuck on autopilot, and leave a review with your biggest confidence challenge so we can tackle it next. You can find out more about Jen's work here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenbrown-coach/ https://www.journeyofgracecoaching.com Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  4. Sep 9

    The Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding

    There’s a particular kind of stress that comes from a conversation you keep replaying in your head. You know roughly what you want to say, you can imagine every possible reply, and yet the one person who needs to hear it still hasn’t. I’m John M. Walsh, and I’m taking a clear look at why we put off difficult conversations at work and at home, even when the issue is surprisingly ordinary: a boundary that keeps getting crossed, a decision that keeps getting delayed, a comment that stung, a money question, a “no” someone will not like.  We dig into what’s really underneath avoidance. It’s rarely a lack of the right words. More often it’s the fear of what happens once the conversation begins: defensiveness, rejection, humiliation, anger, or real consequences with a manager or colleague who holds influence. That’s why the confidence you actually need is not the swagger of “nailing it”. It’s the steadier skill of staying present when the response is awkward and you cannot control the other half of the dialogue.  I share practical communication tools you can use immediately: start with information rather than a confrontation, speak earlier while there’s less resentment attached, and separate observable facts from the meaning you’ve concluded. We also look at how to avoid turning the moment into a seven minute speech, how to invite a response that gives you useful information, and how to set boundaries by focusing on what you will do next rather than trying to control someone else’s behaviour. I even touch on the hardest version of all: the conversations we keep avoiding with ourselves, where clarity forces a decision.  If you want better workplace communication, healthier relationships, and more confident boundaries, listen now, then subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the one sentence you’re finally ready to say. Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  5. Sep 2

    You’re Capable of More: What’s Really Stopping You?

    You can feel it, can’t you? A next step you keep circling, a version of your life you sense is possible, and a quiet drag that pulls you back to the safe middle. We get specific about what that drag really is, and why most people spend years fighting the wrong battle. The aim is not hype or hustle, it’s a practical way to reach your potential and build real confidence that holds up on a wet Tuesday night. We start by dismantling the myth that excellence is reserved for superstars. The most useful lesson from elite performers is not their talent, it’s their willingness to commit to invisible work for years. Then we bring it closer to home: the barman, the baker, the colleague who is simply brilliant at their craft. That “glint” is what mastery looks like when skill is matched with genuine care, and it’s available in ordinary jobs and ordinary lives. From there, we give you a clean framework for personal development and career growth: the three blockers that stop progress are knowledge, skill, or belief. A knowledge gap needs learning and discipline. A skill gap needs uncomfortable reps in real situations. A belief gap needs evidence, gathered by acting first, because confidence is not what you need before you act, it’s what you earn by acting. If you want a clear next move, this is your roadmap. Subscribe, share this with someone who’s stuck, and leave a review with the one step you’re taking this week. Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  6. Aug 26

    What If Nervousness Is Proof You Care

    Nerves have a way of arriving like a storm, a meeting turns your way, a hard email lands, a conversation gets serious, and you are already reacting before you realise you have a choice. We built this short, practical guide around one deceptively simple move that changes that entire chain in real time: a deliberate one-second pause. That tiny gap is where you stop fear from driving, get your mind back online, and choose what you do next.  We walk through the full method step by step. First comes the breath, not as a platitude but as a lever: one slow exhale helps downshift the body’s alarm system so you can think clearly again. Then we use a well-evidenced psychological tool called affect labelling, naming the sensation plainly: “This is nervousness.” Finally, we reframe the meaning of the feeling with a question that cuts through self-judgement: what is this feeling telling me? Most of the time, it is telling you something oddly hopeful: you care, something matters, your values are on the line.  We also talk about why trying to suppress fear often backfires, how confidence is built after action rather than before it, and how the same one-second pause can stop you either retreating into silence or snapping into a defensive reaction. By the end, you’ll have a pocket-sized confidence tool you can use anywhere, unnoticed: pause, breathe, name it, reframe it, act anyway. If this helps, subscribe for more, share it with someone who is facing a big moment, and leave a review with the situation where you plan to try the one-second pause. Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Subscribe for more grounded conversations on confidence, share this with someone playing the long game, and leave a review with the skill you are building next. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  7. Aug 19

    Success Doesn't Remove Self-Doubt

    Watching someone build confidence in real time is far more interesting than hearing slogans about “believing in yourself”. I sit down with Stuart Cuzner, now a partner at Menzies, a top 20 UK accountancy firm, to trace the long, quiet path from a teenager who skipped A levels and university to someone leading teams, advising clients, and owning the weight of partner-level decisions. We talk about the apprenticeship route in accountancy, what AAT and ACCA really do for your skills, and why a lack of traditional credentials does not have to cap your career. Stuart shares how it felt to be the note-taker in meetings, how he earned progression step by step, and the moment he discovered his ACCA was broadly equivalent to a degree, giving him a new kind of satisfaction and confidence grounded in evidence. The conversation gets honest about imposter syndrome, especially after a merger into a bigger firm. Stuart explains the “not good enough” feeling, how a mentor and trusted colleagues helped, and why learning and relationships are the fastest way to rebuild self-trust. We also explore the boring middle, the part where growth feels slow, and how that shows up today in business development, networking, and public speaking. Then we connect it all to an unexpected place: running. From hiding on a treadmill in the garage to training for the London to Brighton 100k, Stuart shows that confidence is built the same way every time, with small steps that compound. Let’s Talk About Confidence is an educational podcast exploring confidence, behaviour, leadership, communication, and personal performance. The views shared are intended for general information and development purposes only and should not be considered medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. While practical tools and techniques are discussed, listeners are encouraged to seek appropriately qualified professional support where needed. Opinions expressed by guests are their own. All content © Breakthrough Change Management Ltd. Subscribe for more grounded conversations on confidence, share this with someone playing the long game, and leave a review with the skill you are building next. Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  8. Aug 12

    The Bit Where You Want To Quit

    The most dangerous moment in any change is rarely the crisis. It’s the quiet Tuesday when nothing is obviously getting better and you start to wonder if you’re wasting your time. We’re near the end of Season 3 of Nervous Not Broken, so I want to sit with the part nobody posts about: the boring middle, where motivation fades, progress looks flat, and people drop out even though the work is actually doing its job. We unpack why confidence and nervous system regulation don’t improve in a neat, day by day line. You’ll hear why researchers describe a plateau of latent potential, how skills become automatic through silent stacking, and why the period that feels least productive can be where the deepest learning is happening. I also name the “threshold” moment: that wave of doubt around week three or four (or month two or three) where the urge to quit can peak right as new patterns are consolidating. Then we get practical. I share five grounded ways to move through the middle without resorting to grand resets or dramatic gestures: measure showing up, make the process your identity, look for tiny signals, lower the bar without guilt, and tell one trusted person where you are so you have a witness to your momentum. If you’re working on anxiety, confidence building, exposure therapy, habit formation, or simply trying to become steadier under pressure, this is the episode that helps you stop misreading silence as failure. If this lands for you, subscribe so you don’t miss the finale, share it with someone who’s stuck in the middle, and leave a review. What are you in the middle of right now? Support the show ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW Never miss an episode - subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 💬 CONNECT WITH JOHN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnmwalshbreakthroughchange Website: www.breakthroughchange.com 📣 SHARE YOUR STORY Building confidence? Share your progress using #ConfidenceUnlocked or email info@breakthroughchange.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

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About

Let's Talk About Confidence examines the one capability that determines whether you'll attempt what matters most—and whether you'll persist when it gets hard. Not a personality trait. Not positive thinking. A learnable behaviour built through repetition, pressure, and consequence. Confidence isn't something you're born with—it's something you build through boring repetition, sustained pressure, and real-world consequences. Hosted by John M Walsh, this podcast explores how actual confidence develops in adults who've been tested. From founders who've rebuilt after failure, to leaders managing high-stakes decisions, to professionals who've had to perform without feeling ready. These aren't motivational stories. They're honest conversations about: How confidence is built (the unglamorous truth)How it's lost (and what that reveals)How it's rebuilt (often stronger than before)How it shows up in high-pressure situations Each episode examines confidence as an integrated adult skill—through the lens of performance, leadership, persuasion, credibility, competence, and reinvention. For anyone interested in the behavioural reality of confidence, not the highlight reels. For professionals, leaders, and anyone building something significant who knows confidence is the bottleneck—but wants the unglamorous truth about how it's actually developed, not another pep talk.

Information

  • Creator
    John M Walsh
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Let's Talk About Confidence
  • Show Website
    Let's Talk About Confidence