Time to Reset

Penny Zenker
  • 5.0 (127)
  • Management
  • Weekly

In a world full of challenges, complexity, and distractions, Time to Reset is your guide to tackling any obstacle with clarity, focus, and a fresh perspective. Join your host, 2 times #1 best-selling author and international keynote speaker, Penny Zenker. Each episode offers actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and practical insights for time management tips, innovation strategies, leadership lessons, problem-solving, business growth, and more. Take this Time to Reset.

  1. 6d ago

    Intentional Presence: How Top Leaders Win At Home And Work With H. Adam Holt

    What does it really take to succeed at work without sacrificing the relationships that matter most?   For entrepreneurs, executives, and working parents, finding work-life balance can feel impossible. But what if the answer isn't about balancing everything? What if it's about being more intentional with your time, attention, and leadership?   In this episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker sits down with H. Adam Holt, entrepreneur, financial advisor, co-founder of Asset-Map, and co-author of Rebl Dad, to explore what successful leaders can teach us about being more present at home.   After interviewing more than 100 CEO dads, Holt and his co-author discovered powerful patterns in how high-performing leaders approach parenting, relationships, and personal growth. Their findings reveal that intentional presence, shared experiences, and small daily decisions can make a lasting difference.   Penny and Adam discuss why traditional work-life balance may be the wrong goal, how technology and constant distractions affect family relationships, and why the leadership skills we develop at work are just as important at home.   In this conversation, you'll discover: Why work-life balance may be less important than intentional living.What interviews with more than 100 CEO dads revealed about successful parenting and leadership.How to be fully present with your family, even when work demands your attention.Practical ways to reduce digital distractions and protect meaningful time together.Why shared experiences create stronger parent-child relationships.How small changes in mindset and behavior can create long-term results.Why aligning your intentions, actions, and mindset is essential to leading by example. One of the most powerful insights from this conversation is that our children aren't just watching what we accomplish. They're watching how we show up. And that lesson extends far beyond parenting. Through Penny's Reset Mindset framework—Step Back, Get Perspective, and Realign—we're reminded that meaningful change starts when we notice where our actions are no longer aligned with our priorities. Whether you're a business leader, entrepreneur, parent, or someone looking to create stronger relationships, this conversation offers practical ways to reset your priorities and become more intentional about how you spend your time. The question to ask yourself: Are my actions and mindset supporting my intentions? Because success isn't just about what you accomplish. It's also about the relationships you build along the way. Learn more about H. Adam Holt and Rebl Dads: www.rebldads.com/ Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Intentional Presence: How Top Leaders Win At Home And Work With H. Adam Holt

  2. Oct 30

    Competing Priorities? How to Focus on What Matters Most

    Are competing priorities keeping you and your team stuck, overwhelmed, and struggling to make progress? Here's a hard truth: If you have competing priorities, you don't have priorities. In this solo episode of Time to Reset, leadership expert and keynote speaker Penny Zenker explores why competing priorities create confusion, slow decision-making, and prevent teams from achieving meaningful results. When everything feels urgent, how do you decide what actually deserves your attention? The answer isn't doing more. It's getting clear on what matters most, understanding the trade-offs, and creating alignment between your priorities and your goals. Penny shares how to use the Effort-Impact Matrix to evaluate competing demands, make better decisions, and focus your energy on the activities that deliver the greatest results. In this episode, you'll discover: Why competing priorities are often a sign of unclear leadership objectives.How to distinguish between understanding organizational goals and taking ownership of them.Why effective prioritization requires making difficult trade-offs.How to use the Effort-Impact Matrix to identify high-value activities.Why adding something to your to-do list should mean removing something else.How Reset Moments help you reassess priorities as circumstances change.How to empower your team to make decisions that support organizational goals. Here's your reset challenge: On a scale of 1 to 10, how effectively are you setting and resetting your priorities? What criteria are you using to decide what deserves your attention? Remember, not everything that demands your attention deserves your attention. When you get clear on your priorities, you can stop reacting to everything and start focusing on the 20% of activities that drive 80% of your results. Because focus determines performance, and now is as good a time as any to reset. 🎧 Listen now and discover how to turn competing priorities into clarity, alignment, and meaningful action. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Competing Priorities? How to Focus on What Matters Most

  3. Oct 23

    From Reaction To Choice: The Inner Reset With Pauline Nguyen

    What if the biggest shift in your leadership doesn't start with a new strategy, but with you? In this episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker sits down with award-winning entrepreneur, international speaker, and executive coach Pauline Nguyen to explore what it means to move from reacting to consciously choosing how you lead, work, and live. Drawing from her extraordinary personal journey, Pauline shares how she learned to stop allowing her past to determine her future. Her experience became the foundation for a powerful approach to conscious leadership: change the story, shift your internal state, and make more intentional choices about what happens next. Penny and Pauline explore: How to move from reactive leadership to conscious choiceWhy self-mastery is an essential leadership skillHow the stories we carry influence our decisions, behavior, and leadershipWhy resilience isn't just about getting back up, but knowing what to put downHow a reset moment can become the beginning of lasting changeWhy your internal state affects the way your team responds and performsWhat it means to lead by design rather than by defaultHow leaders can build greater capacity without simply pushing harder Pauline also shares lessons from 25 years of leading Red Lantern, where she built a culture that went beyond employee engagement and loyalty to what she calls team devotion. Her experience demonstrates how the way a leader shows up can shape trust, commitment, and the culture of an entire organization. If you're a leader, executive, entrepreneur, or manager who feels caught in a cycle of reacting, pushing harder, or constantly trying to keep up, this conversation offers a different kind of reset. You don't have to wait for circumstances to change before you do. The leadership reset starts within. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    From Reaction To Choice: The Inner Reset With Pauline Nguyen

  4. Oct 16

    Are You Addicted to Distraction? How to Take Back Your Focus

    Are you addicted to distraction? Do you constantly check your phone, struggle to stay focused, or feel like your attention is no longer under your control? In this solo episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker explores why we're becoming addicted to distraction, how our phones are shaping our habits, and what it takes to regain control of our attention. Penny shares a personal story about reaching for her phone during a funeral, an experience that made her question just how deeply connected we've become to our devices. From phantom phone vibrations to the constant urge to check notifications, distraction has become more than an occasional interruption. It's a habit that can affect our productivity, creativity, relationships, and well-being. But here's the reset: We have more control over our distractions than we think. In this episode, discover why distraction can become a self-reinforcing habit, how to recognize when your phone is controlling your attention, and why taking ownership of your focus is the first step toward meaningful change. Penny challenges you to stop simply reacting to distractions and start intentionally directing your energy toward the people, priorities, and goals that matter most. Ready to find out what's stealing your focus? Take Penny's free Distraction Profile Assessment to discover your distraction habits and identify practical skills to strengthen your focus in just 5–10 minutes a day. https://pennyzperspective.com/distraction It's time to stop letting distractions run your day. Take back your focus, take back your time, and reset what matters most. About Penny Zenker: Penny Zenker is the host of Time to Reset, where she explores the Reset Mindset, helping leaders and professionals step back, gain perspective, and realign their focus to achieve more meaningful results. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Are You Addicted to Distraction? How to Take Back Your Focus

  5. Oct 9

    Staying Calm Under Pressure: Leadership Tools With Sara Wegwitz

    What happens to your leadership when the pressure rises? When emotions run high, personalities collide, or uncertainty takes over, people look to the leader for cues about how to respond. And as resilience educator and leadership facilitator Sara Wegwitz explains, calm is contagious. In this episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker and Sara explore how leaders can stay calm under pressure, regulate their emotional state, and create the steadiness their teams need to think clearly and respond effectively. You'll discover why your emotional state can influence a room before you say a word, how to become the "thermostat instead of the thermometer," and simple techniques for staying grounded when tension starts to rise. You'll learn: Why calm leadership matters in high-pressure and uncertain environmentsHow a leader's emotional state affects team communication, trust, and decision-makingWhat it means to "observe, don't absorb"How to create space between stimulus and responseSimple techniques to regulate your nervous system in stressful momentsWhy calm is a skill you can practice, not a personality trait you're born with You don't need the perfect words or all the answers to lead effectively through a difficult moment. Sometimes the most powerful reset is simply learning how to steady yourself first. Because when you change the energy you bring into the room, you can change what happens next. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Staying Calm Under Pressure: Leadership Tools With Sara Wegwitz

  6. Oct 2

    Burnout Isn’t Just About Workload: 3 Warning Signs You Need a Reset

    What if burnout isn’t simply a workload problem? We often blame burnout on too much work, constant change, AI, limited resources, or the pressure to do more with less. But in this solo episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker challenges that assumption and explores why some people can move through periods of intense demand while others become overwhelmed, exhausted, and disengaged. Penny shares three warning signs that can show up before burnout begins affecting your performance: everything starts to feel urgent, simple tasks begin requiring more effort, and your focus becomes so narrow that you lose sight of the bigger picture. The problem may not always be how much you’re doing. It may be how long you’re going without the reset and recovery your brain and body need. You'll learn how chronic urgency can flatten priorities, why overwhelm makes even simple work feel harder, how stress can narrow your thinking, and why noticing these patterns sooner gives you more opportunity to adapt before exhaustion takes over. Penny also shares practical ways to interrupt the cycle, including small reset moments that can help release accumulated stress, restore clarity, and allow you to approach problems with fresh eyes. If you're experiencing burnout, cognitive overload, change fatigue, or constant overwhelm, this episode offers a different question to consider: Do you need less work, or do you need to reset and recover differently? It’s time to notice sooner, reset sooner, and create the clarity you need to focus on what matters most. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Burnout Isn’t Just About Workload: 3 Warning Signs You Need a Reset

  7. Sep 25

    Why Redefining Success Is The Key To Burnout Prevention With Meghan French Dunbar

    What if the definition of success you’ve been chasing isn’t actually yours? For many high achievers, success becomes a never-ending pursuit of the next promotion, bigger goal, higher income, or greater recognition. But when achievement starts costing you your health, relationships, time, and joy, it may be time to question the rules you’ve been following. In this episode of Time to Reset, Penny Zenker sits down with bestselling author, business anthropologist, and leadership and culture strategist Meghan French Dunbar, author of This Isn’t Working, to explore how to redefine success, prevent burnout, set healthier boundaries, and build a life and career aligned with your values. Meghan challenges the traditional “bigger is better” definition of success and explains why high achievers can find themselves trapped on a hamster wheel of KPIs, promotions, revenue goals, and external validation. The problem isn’t ambition itself. It’s when your identity and self-worth become so connected to achievement that you stop asking whether the life you’re building is actually the life you want. Penny and Meghan explore what it means to reset your definition of success by optimizing for quality of life instead of quantity of achievement. In this conversation, you’ll discover: How to redefine success on your own termsWhy high achievers are especially vulnerable to burnout and overwhelmHow values alignment affects your work, wellbeing, and decision-makingWhy your career should not determine your entire sense of self-worthHow to create an “ideal life statement” that guides your choicesWhen saying no can protect what matters mostHow to set healthier boundaries at work and in your personal lifeWhy it may be time to “unsubscribe” from obligations, relationships, and beliefs that drain your energyHow to reconnect with joy without feeling guilty about it Meghan shares the powerful practice of creating an ideal life statement: deciding what you want your life to look and feel like first, then making career and financial decisions that support it. Rather than waiting until retirement to finally live the life you want, what could you change now? Penny also shares a personal example of accepting a career opportunity just before her son’s graduation, then realizing the decision conflicted with the person and parent she wanted to be. It became a real-life reminder that success isn’t only about what you achieve. It’s also about whether your choices reflect what you say matters most. If you’re feeling burned out, overwhelmed, stuck in the achievement cycle, or questioning your relationship with work, this episode is an invitation to reset. Ask yourself: What does success actually mean to me now? Because sometimes the most important reset isn’t doing more to reach the next level. It’s deciding whether that’s where you want to go in the first place. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Why Redefining Success Is The Key To Burnout Prevention With Meghan French Dunbar

  8. Sep 18

    Are We Really Connected?

    We’re more connected than ever. We have followers, downloads, views, emails, messages, and endless ways to reach one another. But are those connections actually meaningful? In this solo episode of Take Back Time: Time to Reset, Penny Zenker reflects on a question she’s been asking herself about the podcast: Is it still creating the kind of connection and value she wants it to create? It’s a question that goes far beyond podcasting. Sometimes we get so focused on doing the work, producing the content, checking the boxes, and watching the numbers that we lose sight of the people on the other side. We forget to ask: Who am I doing this for? Is it creating value? And does it still feel meaningful? Penny explores why connection matters, how easily we can lose sight of the bigger picture, and why sometimes the reset isn’t about stopping what we’re doing. It’s about stepping back and reconsidering how we’re doing it. And this episode comes with an invitation: reach out. If Time to Reset has sparked an aha, helped you see something differently, or given you a reset when you needed one, Penny wants to hear from you. What do you value? What do you want more of? What keeps you listening? Because meaningful connection isn’t measured by a download. It happens when we actually engage with one another. Maybe it’s time for all of us to ask: Where could I reach out, reconnect, and make the work I’m doing more meaningful? Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://pennyzenker360.com/positive-productivity-podcast/

    Are We Really Connected?
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5
out of 5
127 Ratings

About

In a world full of challenges, complexity, and distractions, Time to Reset is your guide to tackling any obstacle with clarity, focus, and a fresh perspective. Join your host, 2 times #1 best-selling author and international keynote speaker, Penny Zenker. Each episode offers actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and practical insights for time management tips, innovation strategies, leadership lessons, problem-solving, business growth, and more. Take this Time to Reset.

Information

  • Creator
    Penny Zenker
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    392
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2018-2026 – Penny Zenker | Tug of War with Time Podcast | Smart Moves Coaching, LLC – All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    Time to Reset

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