In this revealing episode, Esther Zeledon, President of Be.Act.Change, shares how success itself can keep you stuck as a dissatisfied employee and how to break free into purpose. If you're in a great job that still feels like the wrong life and wonder whether to stay or start something of your own, you won't want to miss it.

You will discover:

- Why inheriting dreams from others leads to misalignment and eventual regret

- How to uncover your unique problem-solving patterns before launching anything

- What it takes to move from dissatisfaction to purposeful action with clarity

This episode is ideal for for Founders, Owners, and CEOs in stage 1 of The Founder's Evolution. Not sure which stage you're in? Find out for free in less than 10 minutes at https://www.scalearchitects.com/founders/quiz

Dr. Esther Zeledón is an award-winning author, global speaker, and coach who guides founders and changemakers to clarify their vision, create actionable plans, and persevere. A former diplomat with a PhD from UC Berkeley, Esther has worked across more than 100 countries, supporting leaders, entrepreneurs, and communities in unlocking their purpose and creating meaningful impact. She is the author of the Amazon #1 bestselling book Creating Your Limitless Life (on Your Terms), which has won multiple awards and helped thousands of people align their work and life with their deeper mission.

Want to learn more about Esther Zeledon's work at Be.Act.Change? Check out her website at https://beactchange.com/

Connect with Dr. Esther through her LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/drestherzeledon/

Get a free Kindle copy of Dr. Esther Zeldon's book Creating Your Limitless Life: On Your Terms at https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbxup6Gwy3bpeZY4Py9PmHpPPtLceyv2dMbp4CXnZa96w4GlQXcgQShd5T6JHdYfLWC4/exec

Hello, hello, and welcome, welcome once again

to the Start, Scale, and Succeed podcast-the only podcast that

grows with you through all seven levels of your journey as a

founder. I'm your host Scott Ritzheimer, and today we're

talking about the strangest kind of stuck. You have what just

about anyone would call a great job, where everything on paper

is right, and yet you still feel like you're living the wrong

life. The trap is that your success is the thing that's

keeping you stuck as a dissatisfied employee. Because

let's be honest, nobody quits a good job over a feeling that

they can't explain. But there's so much more that you can do

starting today, and here to help show us the way is Dr. Esther

Zeladon, who's an award-winning author, global speaker, and

coach. She guides founders and changemakers to clarify their

vision, create actionable plans, and persevere. A former diplomat

with a PhD from UC Berkeley, Esther has worked across more

than 100 countries, supporting leaders, entrepreneurs, and

communities in unlocking their purpose and creating meaningful

impact. She's the author of the Amazon number one best-selling

book, "Create Your Limitless Life on Your Terms, which has

won multiple awards and helped 1000s of people align their work

and life with their deeper mission. Well, Esther, so

excited to have you here, and and in many ways, I I get the

sense, and and you say this in the book that that was your

life, and and and this is not something that you've read about

in a book somewhere or studied, you know, from afar, but it's

something that you live. Tell us more. When did you find yourself

in this position, and what'd you do about

Yeah, yeah, and it's a it's real. Sometimes people

don't really understand it, right? Because they're like,

"What do you mean you left this? You were at the executive level.

You had climbed the ladder, especially as as a female

Latina, right? Had shattered, as they call, right, the glass

ceilings. But I think for me, it was I had gone to this point

where I had I had used my problem solving approach, right?

So we all have this unique way of solving problems. It's really

unique that everyone else can see, but we can't see, and

that's what we bring to our jaws, was bring to our orgs. And

I had used it, and I had raised this money, deployed this money,

but then at the point of when it got to the point where it was

just like managing and operating, I just kind of felt

my light fade, like I, you know. And then it was like it-it was

like the next step would be to go and redo it again. And there

was something about that that I was like, this is not my legacy.

And actually, I read this in my book because you know there was

something there. I had this great, you know, I had like

school paid for. So if anybody doesn't know about the

diplomatic career, you have a full package. You know, you get

your school paid for, you have the fancy house, you have the

the money, and all this stuff. And I remember going home for

Christmas, and my dad was looking at. I mean, I and I go

to him. You know, I really, I'm really thinking of like I really

want to leave this, and I really want to start my own thing. And

he looked at me. He's like, "You can't do that. You have a

family. You have this job. What do you mean? This was everything

we worked towards. And I remember like having this

moment, and I like shouted, which I rarely do to him. And I

was like, "That's not my legacy. And they all just stared at me

with these big eyes, going, "Okay, I'm not sure what's going

on here. But that's what it was. You know, when I looked at my

future, that's not what I saw myself doing, and it's not. And

it was a misalignment that was inside that I was like, I am

meant to do myself. And on top of that, you know, we all have

we all have these legacies, these things where we want to

bring bring our solutions to right. We want to feel valued.

We want to feel we want to feel utilized. Right, we want to feel

like we're using our approach, and I couldn't explain it at

that time, but I knew this that I just had to go and really see

for myself if I could do entrepreneurship, and so that's

that was that moment. And then, for some people, they'll just

jump right away. I took um, I made a plan, like, okay, I'm

going to you know have six months transition everyone

because I had like a lot of like staff and salaries and things,

but I was like, this is this is what I'm going to do.

Wow, wow. So one of the things that is so

important, and and I want to frame this conversation for

anyone who's listening is like I'm not trying to figure out if

I'm going to start my business or nonprofit. I did that a long

time ago. The rest of this conversation is going to matter

to you because if you haven't done some of the things we're

going to talk about, you can start your own business and you

can be successful at it, and you will pay the piper eventually

for it, because so much of the challenge that I see when I'm

working with these later level founders, like level four, level

five, they're having these this kind of crisis of faith in the

in themselves and in their organization. So much of it

roots back to they didn't deal. With this in day one, and it's

hung around in the background ever since. And so, for someone

who's who's in that place, they've got the job, and it's

not satisfying. We've got something for you. But for those

of you who are a little later, stay tuned because you're going

to find something in this that that's really important. So,

Esther, I want to start with from from that point. I want to

jump to this idea of inheriting dreams,

yes.

What what does that mean, and and and what's

the problem with

Yeah, yeah, and I'm so glad you brought up the point of

that it's for later too, because it doesn't matter if you're a

founder, nonprofit, or anything, right? If you're misaligned,

you're going to feel it at any time you've climbed whatever

glass ceiling you have, and when you're talking about inherit,

you know, inheriting is that like when we we see this a lot

with like different parents and generations. If you have not

done like you have not fulfilled your purpose and purposes, multi

identities, which we can get into, right? So like a lot of

things encompass your purpose, your future identity, your

resilience identity, your the legacy you want to leave all

that. If you have not really done your purpose right, and if

you followed some check marks for external validation and not

really gone after what you did, we then risk passing it on to

the next generation. It doesn't even necessarily mean your. It

can mean your direct children, which is where we see the most,

but it could also mean when you're mentoring, could also

mean when you're giving advice, right? You're passing on this

unfulfilled thing because you've created this belief that it's

not for me. This belief that I ran out of time. This belief,

well, I made this decision, so now I'm here. So instead, I'm

going to pass on to the next generation that they should do

all the things that I I didn't do, but the danger of that is

that when we're mentoring passing by, we're passing on

what we what our compass what we wanted to do, and then putting

it on their shoulders to carry, and that's part of my story too,

right? Because even though when you look at it on paper, it's

probably the same with these level four business, or when

you're starting, right? On paper, it looked like you know I

was giving back, right? It aligned with some of my values,

which was meaningful work, right? Contribution, but in the

end, it wasn't about like there was still some misalignment with

some of my values, some of my decision making framework. It

wasn't necessarily part of that legacy I wanted to me, and so

even like you were saying, even making the even when I left and

decided to make the business, that had to be answered and

dealt with. Of going, am I creating this for myself or for

someone else? Am I really creating that legacy and the

impact that I visualize? And that's going to create a

different type of thing. That, for example, other people may

have. You know, you create different businesses. I was

like, "What is that? What kind of service do I want to give?

How do I want to service people? What what is that impact? Right.

Those questions have to be answered because if not, you

start building whatever it is, or you know, with your job, this

you start building something based on externalities and not

based on yourself, and you end up in the same place again, and

or you don't do it, and then you pass on to that generation, and

you're pushing them to then follow. So then we're creating

that same exact model that we're in, where society is telling us

to have this these certain check marks and paps when it might not

even align with our values and our impact and our legacy that

we want to leave.

Yeah, it's so true, and and you said something

in passing earlier in the episode that that I I think

applies to this. And so many times, founders in the making,

right? Let's just zoom into that group. Will recognize the

dissatisfaction of their work, and they'll recognize rightly

that they're they're going to go out and start their thing. But

there's still space in between those two things, and there's

lots of practical things that have to happen in there. And

we've talked about those on the show. But one of the intensely

practical things that we can get by with, you know, not knowing

that we missed it, is not dealing with this purpose thing.

Yes,

and and so one of the things that I I I talk

with folks about in this space is you need to move from

dissatisfied employee not to entrepreneur. You need to move

to being purposeful.

Yes, that purpose needs to.

Yeah, yeah, and and so I love I love that

you've you're identifying hey we're borrowing these purposes

from other sources sometimes or or we're just kind of gliding

through life without them but how do we go about getting

beyond that how do we move from that dissatisfaction to a a

purposefulness that we can move into the next level with.

Yeah, that's a great question, right? And it's like

the first step is creating a psychological divide with

yourself, and you're like, "What is that, Esther? Okay, but it's

asking yourself big questions, like if you had, because a lot

of times these decisions, you know, is just what you're

talking about, right? You can go from disgruntled employee to

one. But then sometimes scarcity mindset takes over, like oh, I

need to make money now, or all these pools, or I need to now

make the same thing, or or or sometimes safety's trauma

response for us, and then we immediately start trying to like

follow and mimic everyone else's patterns. So that

intentionality-that's why that's what I was mentioning to mention

to you about that six-month gap for me, it wasn't even just

about transitioning people, but it was also making sure that

whatever I built was aligned with my life's purpose. Because

if not, I knew I was going to end up back in the same place. I

would make all the check marks again, entrepreneurship, and

then end up again going, "What am I doing? What is this for?

Why did I invest all this time in this? And so part of that is,

and that, and that can mean different timelines for

different people. Is sitting with yourself and asking

yourself, if I had unlimited resources, what global problem

would I solve, and how? Because then you understand what are my

patterns in solving problems, right? Because sometimes we

focus so much on like, oh, I didn't want to work on that job

because I was micromanaged, or these very like superficial

things. But sometimes it's a lot deeper. It's because I couldn't,

I couldn't solve problems the way I wanted to, or I couldn't,

you know, I couldn't do the things that I want to be

utilized for. But you got to know what that is first, because

if not, then you're going to fall into the same trap again.

So that question of $40 billion of what would I do with that.

The problem you pick is not as important, right? A lot of your

listeners right now would pick maybe water, homelessness, you

know, climate change, scarcity mindset. What matters is how you

answer that. So, what is that first thing you reach for?

What's the second thing you do? What's that third thing? You

know, we could even do it here, but like it's like, what is that

first thing? Do you connect people. Do you first research?

Do you first think about? Ooh, well, like for me, I would go

first into being like, why is this happening? Right. I go on

this whole root cause. What are the patterns? And then you know,

and that makes sense. Those my books about what are your

patterns, right? And then from there, I look at the incentives

that people have and create awareness, and then boom! Once

we know it, we can go and grow, and then that's when, when

knowing that pattern, I realized ah, that's why my job was

misaligned because I did that for a while, and then once that

stopped, it became more operational. I wasn't using my

problem-solving approach anymore, right? So then I knew

exactly when that was happening to me and why I wasn't doing it.

So when I went to make a business, I'm like, I need to

make a business where that is part of my growth, and I can

grow with that, right? And so you have to spend some time, and

and that's just one piece. The next, you know, the next

exercise, and and that's what the workbook does. It doesn't

have very easy questions, but it's actually much deeper. It's

looking at all these multiple identities you have and knowing

what are my patterns. So next one is, imagine yourself sitting

in front of you. That's 20 years from now, 40 years from now.

What are they telling you? What are they doing? How are they

living? Right, and talk and have them talk to you in present,

because that gives you insights on what do I value? How do I

want my day to look like? Right? What is the impact I want to

make? Because if you're building something that does completely

doesn't match that, that's already a red flag, right?

And the things a lot of times we have that answers in us, but

it's all the noise, and so it's taking that time to really study

what are my patterns, and then even understanding what have I

overcome and how that resilience piece. Because guess what,

that's always going to keep happening to you. So how do I

also create those structures where I'm thinking about that,

anticipating that? So it also doesn't stop me from going after

my purpose, right? That's equally as important as even

going after it, right? So taking that time to really dig that,

and that's why that time frame is really dependent on you.

Because if you've never asked these things to yourself for the

first time, the first time you do it's really emotional. It's

really confusing, and and sometimes you can be like, "What

did I do in my life? And those feelings are normal. And and I

just read this really great post the other day about the Toms

founder. He talks a lot about this because if you see him on

paper, he built this great Toms, right? Family, we all know them.

But he talks about that he didn't keep with his purpose,

right? So he had this like impact he kept with, but he

didn't keep it on through the growth, and then he lost himself

in it. So it's something you have to also revisit. You know,

it doesn't matter if you're pre like like we're talking about

right one or four. You got to constantly because you're making

decisions constantly and looking at different opportunities.

Whether you're leaving a job or whether you're already in stage

four of your company, you have to always think: Am I still in

the alignment of my purpose? Am I still making decisions that

align with the impact I want to make?

And what a tremendous advantage for a

founder who does get into the game to do it armed with that.

Just yeah, can't can't say enough about it. The. So many

different ways I want to go with it, but we we promise our our

listeners to keep this short. So what I want to do, I want to I

want to make room for a question that I ask all my guests, and

and I'm going to ask if you're very interested to see what you

have to say here. But the question is this: What is the

biggest secret that you wish wasn't a secret at all? What's

that one thing you wish every founder or pre-founder listening

today knew?

Okay, that's a great one. So, pre-founder, any stage,

I think the biggest secret I can tell you is that it's 90% in

your mind, right? And so, like, there is a huge action piece,

but if you don't believe it, and you don't believe it's of value,

and you don't believe the world needs it, and you know that,

then no one else will. Like you know, when we look at pitch

decks, these beautiful ones, right? There's all these

structured things that all of them have, but in the end, what

you're doing is creating the story of why they should believe

in you or your business, and that, and so the more clear you

are in that work we're just talking about, the more it's

going to echo through and it's going to land, and so I think

that's the the biggest secret because people spend so many

time, so much time and effort on that part to make it like

everyone else's, but it's about your own story, visions, that

all of that stuff that's based on you believing it and you

knowing that value that you bring. That's outside of the

conventional things, how you solve problems, and the impact

you want to make.

Yes, so good, so good. It's. Yeah, it's just

so important to every every part of the journey. Now, one of the

things that I really liked about the book and the workbook is

when when you say, "Okay, what's your purpose? That's such a

gigantic question that it's just like instantly our brains turn

off, and and and every other part of us, like we just like

it, just feels too big. But with the book, it's just so

practical. And so I'm, I'm wondering, how can folks get a

copy of the book? How can they get a copy of the workbook?

Where can they find out more so they can take that next step and

do it well?

Yeah, definitely. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes

Noble, anywhere. And Scott, I can also send you a link that

people can download the Kindle for free. Because for me, it's

about you having this information, arming yourself.

Because the more of us that are in alignment and feel abundant,

the more that we collectively can make impact. Right, the more

that we can then make these work environments these great places

that we all want to be in. So, this is like bigger than myself,

right? Again, this is about purpose, right? I also want to

put that all these concepts we just talked about-it's made

really easy for you and break it down because I felt that it was

like that, such an overwhelming question when I was when I was

younger, and I wasn't really given direction. Like, what are

those questions that I can explore and really understand

this myself? And that was the purpose in writing the books.

That no one else has to feel that way, overwhelmed about it.

You can do an exercise a day, you know, 15 minutes, and you're

gonna get that clarity and that next direction that you need, so

that you can be fulfilled. And then instead of us telling other

people what they should do, we're going to empower them to

go after what they want

Yeah, that's excellent. The book "Creating

Your Limitless Life on Your Terms. We'll get the link in the

show notes for you. You can go straight there, and yeah, highly

recommend it. Esther, thank you so much for being on and sharing

with us today. This is one of those conversations that

probably could have gone a very long time. You made my my job

keeping it short quite difficult, but really appreciate

you taking your time and spending it here with us today.

It means the world. And for those of you watching and

listening, you know that your time and attention also mean the

world to us. I hope you got as much out of this conversation as

I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.

Thank you.

Hey everyone, Scott Ritzheimer here. Thank you

so much for listening to the Start Scale and Succeed podcast.

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