What if success wasn’t a scorecard, but a sense of connection? What if the most powerful thing you could do this week was to stop treating life like a zero-sum game?

Ruchika T. Malhotra, author of Uncompete and Inclusion on Purpose, joins us for a conversation about redefining success, rejecting scarcity thinking, and building a life rooted in community.

In this episode of In Confidence, Ruchika and Lisa unpack how to reject competition and the five principles of Uncompete that make confidence feel steadier and more sustainable.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why “success” keeps moving, and how to define it in a way that actually feels like you
• The five principles of Uncompete and how to apply them to your life
• This week’s micro-moment, Worst Case, Best Case, Most Likely: a simple tool to stop catastrophizing and choose your own metrics

If you’re tired of measuring, comparing, and chasing someone else’s definition of winning, this is your permission slip to choose a different path.

Get Your Copy of ⁠Uncompete⁠

00:00 Intro

01:36 Meet Ruchika T. Malhotra

10:12 Uncompete and Rejecting Competition

18:30 The 5 Principles of Uncompete

37:12 Micro-Moment #9 Worst, Best, Most Likely

41:51 Give Someone Else Their Flowers Today

44:41 Outro

46:20 Disclaimer

Welcome to Season 3, the Last Quarter Challenge. Think of it as a training plan for your confidence with weekly micro-moments that ladder up so you enter 2026 stronger than ever.

This week's micro-moment is Worst, Best, Most Likely. When we face uncertainty, our brains tend to jump straight to the worst case and treat it as fact. This practice helps you widen the lens. By naming the worst case, imagining the best case, and grounding yourself in the most likely outcome, you interrupt fear, regain perspective, and create more choices. Perspective itself becomes a confidence practice.

Try it today. Think about one situation that feels uncertain. Write down the worst case, the best case, and the most likely outcome. Notice how your body settles and your thinking becomes clearer when fear is no longer running the show and you're back in control.

00:00 Intro

00:30 Micro-Moment #9: Worst, Best, Most Likely

02:57 The Science of Worst, Best, Most Likely

09:37 Saying It Out Loud or Writing It Down

11:38 How to Practice This Challenge

15:11 Outro

15:37 Disclaimer

• Identify what is worth building on and what needs to change before you set new goals
• Stress test your 2026 plans against your time, energy, and real constraints, so they work in practice, not just on paper
• Eliminate goals that cancel each other out and prioritize the ones that compound
• Decide what deserves your attention this year and what can wait, without constant overwhelm
• Create a plan you can adapt over time instead of abandoning at the first setback

00:00 Intro

02:44 Step 1 - Your Personal Diagnostic

13:38 Step 2 - Brainstorm Your Goals

21:15 Step 3 - Sort Your Goals

25:25 Step 4 - Backward Plan

29:01 Step 5 - Calendar It Out

36:11 Outro

37:10 Disclaimer

• How the generational lens helps us understand change in a more human way.
• Why we judge, and how curiosity interrupts conflict before it escalates.
• The new rules of sacrifice, and what people will trade for purpose, convenience, and community.
• This week’s micro-moment, Lead with Compassion and Curiosity: how to pause, assume positive intent, and seek to understand.

• Why our social skills are shrinking and how to rebuild them through small, deliberate interactions.
• The cringe chasm and why jumping is often the only way forward.
• The difference between awkwardness and vulnerability and how both strengthen trust.
• This week’s micro-moment, Try Something New: how embracing discomfort builds real confidence.

Welcome to Season 3, the Last Quarter Challenge. Think of it as a training plan for your confidence with weekly micro-moments that ladder up so you enter 2026 stronger than ever.

This week's micro-moment is Try Something New. Confidence grows in moments of discomfort. Every time you try something new, you stretch your comfort zone, build resilience, and prove to yourself that you can handle uncertainty. The goal is not to be perfect. It is to be a beginner. Let go of the need to get it right and focus instead on being brave enough to start.

Try it today. Do one thing that feels unfamiliar or a little awkward. Speak up in a meeting, take a new class, or say yes to something you usually turn down. Notice how good it feels to grow and lean into a beginner’s mentality.

00:00 Intro

00:36 Micro-Moment #7: Try Something New

05:17 The Science of Trying Something New

07:30 How Lisa is Participating

09:51 How to Practice This Challenge

10:33 Join the Challenge

11:48 Outro

13:40 Disclaimer

What happens when the life you built no longer fits?

How do you untangle inherited expectations, question long held narratives, and choose a future that feels true to you?

Are you asking yourself whether you want to become a mother or not?

Ruthie Ackerman, journalist, author of The Mother Code, and founder of the Ignite Writers Collective, joins to talk about motherhood ambivalence, generational myths, and the bravery required to rewrite your own story. Through her deeply personal journey, she shows how breaking silence and letting go of a life that no longer serves you opens the door to connection, support, and possibility.

What we cover in this episode:

• How to identify the “Big Lie” at the center of your story and why naming it unlocks transformation
• Motherhood Ambivalence: what it is, why so many feel it, and why we rarely talk about it
• The nontraditional paths to parenthood that deserve to be normalized
• This week’s micro-moment, Superhero Facade: how letting people see your struggle creates more belonging, not less

Release the pressure to have it all figured out, share the truth of where you are, and discover the power that comes from dropping the cape.

Enter Our ⁠Giveaway⁠

Get Your Copy of ⁠The Mother Code⁠

00:00 Intro

01:26 Meet Ruthie Ackerman

04:52 The Mother Code

9:36 Inherited expectations and rigid roles

16:11 Ruthie’s path to motherhood and ambivalence

24:06 Micro-moment: Superhero Facade

27:00 When Ruthie wore the superhero cape

35:13 The power of sharing struggles, community, and connection

43:07 Outro

44:28 Disclaimer