The Life of Try: Personal growth, one try at a time.

Wynne Leon
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Biweekly

What happens when trying matters more than getting it right? The Life of Try is a personal growth and self-help podcast about getting unstuck, navigating uncertainty, and choosing to try—especially when it’s uncomfortable or not your idea. Hosted by Wynne Leon, episode alternate between interviews and real-world stories to explore reinvention, resilience, and what it takes to keep going when plans fall apart. If you’re ready to surf the uncertainty and start your try-cycle, you’re in the right place. The Life of Try isn’t about hustle or perfection. It’s about learning as you go.

  1. 4d ago

    When Your Plan Falls Apart | How to Stay Resilient and Keep Trying

    When a plan goes wrong, how do you stay calm, resilient, and brave enough to keep trying? In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon shares the story of a chaotic family travel day from Paris to England—missed trains, wrong directions, tired kids, unexpected costs, and the kind of uncertainty that can make anyone want to give up. Through this real-life story, Wynne explores how adaptability, creative problem-solving, gratitude, and “one next step” thinking can help us recover when our best-laid plans fall apart. Inspired by Professor Angus Fletcher’s work on resilience and alternative plans, this episode is for anyone navigating change, setbacks, anxiety, mishaps, or the messy middle of trying something new. Listen in for a warm, honest reminder that trying does not require certainty—it only asks for movement, one breath and one new plan at a time. 📚 Topics Covered • Personal Growth • Self Improvement • Building Courage • Motivation • Taking Action • Making Plans • Overcoming Fear • Growth Mindset • Resilience • Opportunity Creation • Gratitude • Life Lessons • Personal Development • Inspirational Storytelling ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔔 Subscribe to The Life of Try for weekly conversations about resilience, courage, creativity, reinvention, mindset, and living with intention. 📌 Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel & Stay Updated ABOUT ME Hi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention. 🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎥 Watch Next➡️ How to Create Opportunities in Life | Motive + Means = Success Mindset ➡️ Encouraging Effort, Not Results | How to Build Resilience and Confidence➡️ How to Celebrate Small Wins | Tiny Habits, Resilience & Personal Growth 🔗 CONNECT WITH ME: • Website:→ https://wynneleon.com/ • Instagram:→ https://www.instagram.com/wynneleon/ • Facebook:→ https://www.facebook.com/wynne.leon/ • Amazon: → https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B002IKWX14

  2. Jul 8

    Barbara Nickless on A Voice In The Dark, Online Gaming and The Power of Story

    In this episode of The Life of Try, host Wynne Leon talks with Wall Street Journal bestselling author Barbara Nickless about her new psychological suspense novel, A Voice in the Dark. Their conversation moves from the dark corners of online gaming and internet manipulation to the real-world vulnerabilities of teenagers, families, and people searching for belonging. Barbara shares how deep research, FBI consultants, and her own curiosity shape her fiction, especially as she writes about FBI profiler Helen Belle, criminal humanist Benedict Hoffman, addiction, trauma, and the question of what draws people toward danger. This thoughtful author interview explores how storytelling can help us understand complicated human experiences, including moral injury, PTSD, addiction, grief, law enforcement, cybercrime, and the healing power of writing. Barbara also reflects on teaching writing to military veterans and civilians, researching dangerous places and difficult subjects, and using narrative to “de-other” people we might otherwise misunderstand. Key Takeaways: →A Voice in the Dark explores the dangers young people can face in online communities, especially when vulnerable teens and young adults are targeted by manipulative influencers. →Storytelling can help us “de-other” people by taking us inside their motivations, histories, and struggles in ways that facts and news stories alone often cannot. →Curiosity is at the heart of Barbara Nickless’s writing process. Her research into online gaming, FBI investigations, addiction, trauma, and moral injury helps make her fiction vivid, compassionate, and grounded in real human experience.→Researching modern crime fiction requires balancing accuracy with readability, particularly when writing about cybercrime, AI, online manipulation, and evolving law enforcement tools. →The conversation highlights a core Life of Try theme: trying begins with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to enter unfamiliar worlds in order to understand ourselves and one another more deeply. If you love conversations about books, personal growth, curiosity, crime fiction, psychological thrillers, resilience, and what it means to keep trying, this episode offers a rich and compassionate look at the stories that help us make sense of ourselves and one another. 📘 Order A Voice In the Dark: https://www.amazon.com/Voice-Benedict-Hoffman-Helen-Belle-ebook/dp/B0FTGGHSWL/ 🌐 Show notes and more inspiration: https://wynneleon.com 🔔 Subscribe for more: Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on: personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset. ABOUT ME Hi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention. 🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com 🎥 Watch Next ➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving ➡️ 48: How to Get Unstuck: Michael Yang on Saying Yes, Resilience and Coming Alive ➡️ How to Finally Write That Book You've Been Dreaming About | Writing Motivation

  3. Jul 1

    Embracing What Makes You Different | Kym Gordon Moore

    Are you different? Or simply finding your purpose?In this inspiring episode of The Life of Try, host Wynne Leon talks with author and educational advocate Kym Gordon Moore about her children’s book, Hennie and Her Poetry Eggs, a powerful story about courage, compassion, bullying prevention, purpose, and embracing what makes us different. Through the story of Hennie, Kym invites children, parents, teachers, and adults to have meaningful conversations about social rejection, self-worth, empathy, literacy, and building bridges for people who may feel left out. This conversation explores why standing out can feel vulnerable, how support from others helps us recognize our gifts, and why trying again after disappointment is part of growing into our purpose. Here are key take-aways for this episode: → Our differences are often where our purpose begins. Kym’s story reminds listeners that what makes us stand out may feel uncomfortable at first, but it can also become the source of our greatest gifts. → Kids absorb the language and attitudes around them. The episode highlights how adult fear, division, and intolerance can spill over into children’s behavior—making conversations about compassion, empathy, and bullying especially important. → Bullying and social rejection can hide someone’s gifts. Hennie’s journey shows how shame and exclusion can make a person feel small, but encouragement from others can help them see themselves differently. → We all need bridge-builders. One of the strongest themes is the idea of building bridges for people who feel like they are facing a ditch—offering support, kindness, and a way forward. → Purpose is personal; we can’t borrow someone else’s vision. Kym emphasizes that each person has their own dream, voice, and path, and trying to copy someone else can keep us from discovering what is truly ours.If you’re looking for encouragement, personal growth, children’s literature with a message, or a hopeful conversation about kindness and resilience, this episode offers a beautiful reminder that our differences can become the very thing that helps us shine.🔔 Subscribe for more:Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on:personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset.📌 Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel & Stay Updated: → https://www.youtube.com/@thelifeoftry?sub_confirmation=1ABOUT MEHi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying.Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention.🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.comBook: Hennie and Her Poetry Eggs🎥 Watch Next➡️ How to Reclaim Fun in Adult Life | Burnout Recovery, Joy & Resilience with Mike Rucker➡️ How to Celebrate Small Wins | Tiny Habits, Resilience and Personal Growth➡️ Fun: The Key to Habit Formationhttps://youtu.be/37ICdxs3168🔗 CONNECT WITH ME:• Website:→ https://wynneleon.com/• Instagram:→ https://www.instagram.com/wynneleon/• Facebook:→ https://www.facebook.com/wynne.leon/ • Amazon: → https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B002IKWX14

  4. Jun 24

    Motive + Means = Opportunity: A Life of Try Story

    Are you waiting for easy? Here's a formula to get you moving! In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon shares a personal story about turning a long-held dream of visiting friends in France into a real-life adventure through courage, creativity, and community support. What began as an expensive and seemingly impossible trip became an opportunity to rent out her home, ask for help, and take the next step before the whole path was clear. This motivational personal growth episode explores what it means to stop waiting for perfect timing, listen to the quiet tug of what matters, and move forward even when life feels uncertain. Through stories about Airbnb, travel logistics, helpful neighbors, pet care, and unexpected solutions, Wynne reflects on the powerful formula: Motive + Means = Opportunity. Listeners will come away with memorable takeaways about taking the first step, paying attention to the sparks around them, saying their dreams out loud, accepting support, and trusting that the path often appears one step at a time. Key take-aways for this episode: → Don’t wait for easy—move because it matters. The right time may never arrive, but meaningful goals often begin with one brave first step. → Pay attention to the sparks. A casual comment, a book passage, a flyer, or someone else’s story can become part of the solution once you start moving. → Say the dream out loud. People can’t support a goal they don’t know about, so communicate what you’re trying to do and be willing to accept help. → Use the formula: Motive + Means = Opportunity. When your why meets the resources, people, and ideas already around you, new possibilities begin to unfold. → Take the next step, not the whole staircase. You don’t need to solve every problem in advance; you only need to meet the next real step in front of you. If you’re looking for encouragement to get unstuck, try something new, pursue a meaningful goal, or find courage in the messy middle, this episode offers inspiration, practical wisdom, and a reminder that you don’t need to see the whole staircase to begin. 🔔 Subscribe for more: Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on: personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset. 📌 Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel & Stay Updated ABOUT ME Hi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention. 🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎥 Watch Next ➡️ How to Reclaim Fun in Adult Life | Burnout Recovery, Joy & Resilience with Mike Rucker ➡️ How to Celebrate Small Wins | Tiny Habits, Resilience and Personal Growth ➡️ Fun: The Key to Habit Formation 🔗 CONNECT WITH ME: • Website:→ https://wynneleon.com/ • Instagram:→ https://www.instagram.com/wynneleon/ • Facebook:→ https://www.facebook.com/wynne.leon/

  5. Jun 17

    How Writing Helps Us Survive Chronic Illness and Loss

    What does it means to keep showing up when life asks more of you than seems possible? In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon talks with Kathryn M. B. Johnson, author of Invisible, Until I’m Not, a memoir-in-essays about chronic illness, caregiving, grief, and resilience. Together, they explore what it means to live with fibromyalgia and invisible illness, how caregiving reshapes identity, and why being seen matters so deeply when pain is hard to explain. This conversation offers honest insight, emotional validation, and hope for anyone navigating chronic pain, caregiver burnout, loss, or the daily work of endurance. If you’re looking for a thoughtful podcast episode about chronic illness, caregiving, trauma, faith, and finding strength in difficult seasons, this episode is for you. In this episode, we discuss: → Chronic illness can reshape identity, relationships, and daily life in ways that are often invisible to others. → Caregiving is an act of love, but it also carries grief, exhaustion, and the need for self-compassion. → Writing can become a lifeline—a way to process pain, preserve connection, and reclaim a sense of self. → Being believed and truly seen matters deeply for people living with chronic pain or complex health conditions. → Rest is not laziness; caring for yourself is part of being able to care for others. 📘 Order Invisible, Until I'm Not: https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Until-Im-Not-Illness-ebook/dp/B0GSB7QQMH/ 🌍 Show notes and more inspiration: https://wynneleon.com🔔 Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on: personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset. 📌 Subscribe & Stay Updated: → https://www.youtube.com/@thelifeoftry?sub_confirmation=1 ABOUT ME Hi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention. 🎥 Watch Next ➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving ➡️ 48: How to Get Unstuck: Michael Yang on Saying Yes, Resilience and Coming Alive

  6. Jun 10

    Near Death, Deep Faith, New Life | Liza Anderson’s Extraordinary Story

    In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon talks with Liza Anderson, author of The Crossing: My Near Death Experience with Jesus, about surviving a sudden medical crisis, spendingweeks in an induced coma, and returning with a deeper sense of faith, presence, and purpose. Liza shares her near-death experience, her encounter with Jesus, and what recovery taught her about resilience, prayer, and living in the present moment.In this episode, you'll learn: → You don’t have to control the outcome to choose the next step. → Some of life’s deepest lessons come through suffering, but they can reshape how we live every ordinary day. → Recovery is not only physical—it’s emotional, spiritual, and relational too. → Trying can mean returning to life one small moment at a time. → Being fully present may matter more than predicting or controlling what comes next. → Sometimes courage looks less like certainty and more like choosing life again and again. → The adventure of life may be less about outcomes and more about how we show up to the moment we’re in.If you’ve ever wondered how to stay grounded when everything around you is swirling, this conversation will stay with you.🔔 Subscribe for more:Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on:personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset.📌 Subscribe & Stay Updated!ABOUT MEHi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying.Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention.🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎥 Watch Next➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving➡️ How to Overcome Burnout and Build an Upward Spiral of Growth, Fun, Resilience and Renewal➡️ 47-From Stuck to Momentum: Thomas Edison's Method for ProgressLinks for this Episode: The Crossing: My Near-Death Journey with Jesus on Amazon

  7. Jun 3

    Encouraging Effort, Not Outcome: The Secret to Helping People Keep Trying

    What does real support actually look like—especially when someone is struggling, failing, or figuring things out? In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon explores how to support others without adding pressure, and why focusing on effort instead of outcome can make all the difference. Whether you’re a parent, coach, friend, or teammate, it’s easy to unintentionally turn encouragement into expectations. But research—and stories from figures like John Wooden and Carol Dweck—show that when we shift our focus to effort, persistence, and growth, we help people stay in the process longer and build real resilience. This episode dives into: → Why it’s often harder to watch someone try than to try ourselves → How subtle signals can create pressure without us realizing it → The difference between encouragement and expectation → How to support kids, friends, and colleagues in a way that builds confidence and persistence → Practical ways to reinforce effort, not just resultsIf you’ve ever wondered how to truly support someone you care about—especially when things aren’t going well—this episode offers a powerful reframe. Because sometimes the best support isn’t helping someone succeed……it’s helping them keep going.🌍 Show notes and more inspiration: https://wynneleon.com🔔 Subscribe for more:Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on:personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset.📌 Subscribe & Stay UpdatedABOUT MEHi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying.Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention.🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎥 Watch Next➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving➡️ The Courage to Try Something New: Lindsey Goldstein on Growth, Failure and Reinvention➡️ How to Reclaim Fun in Adult Life | Mike Rucker, PhD, on Joy, Burnout and the Fun Habit🔗 CONNECT WITH ME:• Website:→ https://wynneleon.com/• Instagram:→ https://www.instagram.com/wynneleon/• Facebook:→ https://www.facebook.com/wynne.leon/ • Amazon: → https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B002IKWX14

  8. May 27

    How to Celebrate the Try

    When should we celebrate progress—only at the finish line, or all along the way? In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon explores the power of small wins, tiny habits, and incremental progress. Drawing from a personal story about preparing her home for an Airbnb experiment during the World Cup in Seattle, Wynne reflects on what it means to keep going when growth is messy, nonlinear, and full of setbacks. Along the way, she connects insights from BJ Fogg, creator of Tiny Habits and director of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, with the long-term philosophy of Toyota’s Kaizen culture, where small daily improvements add up over time, and the practical courage found in the checklist mindset associated with Captain Sullenberger. This episode is about personal growth, habit formation, celebrating small victories, and learning to recognize that progress doesn’t have to be dramatic to matter.In this episode, we discuss: → Why celebrating small wins can help you stay motivated even when progress feels slow or messy → How BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits approach shows that tiny celebrations can reinforce lasting behavior change → What Toyota’s Kaizen philosophy teaches about the long-term power of small, consistent improvements → How checklists and small-step courage can help you keep going when you feel overwhelmed or stuck → Why growth often looks nonlinear, and how to recognize progress before the final result arrives → How honoring effort along the way can help you build resilience, confidence, and momentum If you’ve ever felt stuck, overlooked your own progress, or wondered whether the little steps count, this conversation will remind you that they do. Small wins matter. Tiny steps matter. And trying counts, even before the big outcome arrives.🌍 Show notes and more inspiration: https://wynneleon.com🔔 Subscribe for more: Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on: personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset. ABOUT ME: Hi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention. 🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎥 Watch Next ➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving ➡️ 48: How to Get Unstuck: Michael Yang on Saying Yes, Resilience and Coming Alive ➡️ How to Reclaim Fun in Adult Life | Mike Rucker, PhD, on Joy, Burnout and the Fun Habit🔗 CONNECT WITH ME: • Website:→ https://wynneleon.com/ • Instagram:→ https://www.instagram.com/wynneleon/ • Facebook:→ https://www.facebook.com/wynne.leon/

See All (63)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

What happens when trying matters more than getting it right? The Life of Try is a personal growth and self-help podcast about getting unstuck, navigating uncertainty, and choosing to try—especially when it’s uncomfortable or not your idea. Hosted by Wynne Leon, episode alternate between interviews and real-world stories to explore reinvention, resilience, and what it takes to keep going when plans fall apart. If you’re ready to surf the uncertainty and start your try-cycle, you’re in the right place. The Life of Try isn’t about hustle or perfection. It’s about learning as you go.

Information