We’re digging into the truth behind the word “fine” with our guest, Lauren Lefkowitz. Ever catch yourself just saying you’re fine but feeling something totally different? Lauren shares her insightful tips on breaking free from the “fine” trap and empowering your clients (and yourself) to live more authentically. 

Lauren will share her poignant journey from a workaholic corporate HR professional to a transformative life coach, following a life-altering accident. She and Melinda will discuss why we often default to saying we’re “fine” even when our true feelings are far more complex, and how this can keep us from pursuing the richer, more gratifying lives we deserve. Lauren will offer insights into breaking down overwhelming feelings and tasks to move past our fears and the busyness that consumes us. We’ll also talk about practicing self-acknowledgment, celebrating our accomplishments, and genuinely being happy for ourselves — and how these actions can inspire others.

Lauren Lefkowitz is a coach who partners with executives and emerging leaders who are ready to find joy, excitement, challenge, and balance in their careers and have a personal life to love. 

In this episode Melinda and Lauren talk about: 

• The habitual response of saying “I’m fine” and how people often mask their true feelings 
• The dangers of the “fine” trap, where individuals pretend everything is okay, covering up frantic, irrational, neurotic, and emotional states 
• The toxicity of always pretending that everything is amazing and how it can harm personal growth 
• Lauren’s personal transformation from a corporate HR role to a coaching career after a significant accident, emphasizing the shift from financial success to finding joy and purpose 
• Busyness as a barrier to personal fulfillment and the importance of making space to pursue dreams 
• Lauren’s coaching approach with high achievers, focusing on identifying what isn’t working in their lives and what they truly want 
• Managing overwhelming tasks by breaking them down into manageable steps 
• The need for self-acknowledgment, the importance of celebrating one’s accomplishments, and countering the tendency to minimize one’s own achievements 
• The positive impact of openly sharing and celebrating successes to inspire others 

“I’d never really charged anyone for coaching. I felt like I was really good at it, and it came really easily to me, so it couldn’t be worth all that much money, which is not true at all.”

— Lauren Lefkowitz

Lauren Lefkowitz is an executive coach who partners with executives and emerging leaders who have gotten to the middle of their careers and think, This is IT? She works with humans who are ready to find joy, excitement, challenge, and balance in their careers and have a personal life to love. 

Lauren was an 80-hour-a-week executive, is a recovering people pleaser, and has lived with chronic illness for nearly 20 years (and once, she broke both of her shoulders chasing a vacuum). She was living the “fine is a trap” way for years, convincing herself that working all the time and never feeling well were just part of life. Despite these challenges, she decided to take control of her life, learn to set boundaries, create opportunities for personal choice, and relaunch her own career to find her version of success and joy. 

She now coaches people and teams who function the way she used to so they can find their own versions of “amazing.” Lauren makes it comfortable to get uncomfortable, create powerful goals, and create sustainable career and life transformation. And Lauren is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader, which she found time for once she realized life could be about more than work.

Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:
Mirasee
Coaches Console
Melinda’s book: The Confident Coach 
Lauren’s website: Lauren Lefkowitz Coach
Lauren’s podcast: I Could Talk to You All Day
Lauren’s LinkedIn: Lauren Lefkowitz
Lauren’s Instagram: @lauren.coach.fineisatrap
Lauren’s Facebook Page: Lauren Lefkowitz Coaching

Credits:
Host: Melinda Cohan
Producer: Michi Lantz
Supervising Producer: Cynthia Lamb
Audio Editor: Marvin del Rosario
Executive Producer: Danny Iny
Music Soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely
Making our hosts sound great: Home Brew Audio

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Music credits:
Track Title: Clouds
Artist Name: Acreage
Writer Name: Marshall Usinger
Publisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS

Track Title: Coastline Dream
Artist Name: Wild Sky
Writer Name: Adam Simons
Publisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS

Track Title: Coo Coos
Artist Name: Dresden, The Flamingo
Writer Name: Matthew Wigton
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Stars & Trees
Artist Name: Outside The Sky
Writer Name: Dustin Ransom
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Special effects credits:

24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.

Episode transcript: Beyond “I’m Fine” (Lauren Lefkowitz).