That Girl Radio

Who's That Girl: Jenna Klopfenstein's Guide to Unlocking Your Next Level

• Rikki Lee • Season 4 • Episode 5

Share episode

Discover the keys to unlocking your mental edge and personal growth with Jenna Kloppenstein, a coach who embodies the transformation from high-level athlete to an empowering guide for others. Our conversation takes you on a journey through the crafting of morning rituals that launch your day into a trajectory of success, the balancing act of being an attentive parent and partner, and the inspiring tales of individuals who've bravely reshaped their lives. Jenna's unique blend of sports discipline and medical expertise fuels her passion for fostering change and unlocking the potential within us all.

Feel the burnout creeping in? Let's navigate the transitions that come with it and the pivotal moments that beckon us toward a life more aligned with our deepest desires. I get personal about my evolution from orthopedic PA to someone who chases fulfillment, with an emphasis on cherishing time above all else. We discuss the bold moves made by those who dared to follow their bliss, serving as a reminder that it's never too late to seek out joy and satisfaction in our endeavors.

Wrapping up, we delve into the actionable steps that can catapult you into the life you imagine for yourself. With insights on committing to your growth journey and the tools for intentional living, such as time blocking, we set the stage for a life that's not just about achieving but thriving. Join us as we examine the power of non-negotiables in daily life and invite you to the transformative Next Level U Live event, where leaders come together to supercharge their mindsets in a community of visionaries. Jenna Kloppenstein's perspective is not just thought-provoking—it's a catalyst for the change you've been waiting for.

Follow Jenna
https://www.instagram.com/jenna.klopfenstein/

If you're interested in stepping into your next level, grab a ticket to Next Level You LIVE in Columbus, Oh April 19-20th
https://www.jennaklopfenstein.com/nextlevelyoulive

Did you enjoy today's episode? Leave Rikki a voicemail about what you took away to be featured on the next episode.
https://www.speakpipe.com/ThatGirlRadio

Follow That Girl Radio
https://www.instagram.com/thatgirlradio/

Follow our host Rikki Lee
https://www.instagram.com/rikkilee.co/

Ready to plan that life? Grab a digital That Life Planner
https://www.therikkilee.com/product-page/2024-that-life-planner

Ready to build that savings? Grab a That Life Financial Planner
https://www.therikkilee.com/product-page/money-green-financial-planner

Love to journal? Grab the Mindfull Journal
https://www.therikkilee.com/product-page/be-mindfull-journal

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome back to that Girl Radio. It is your lovely host here, ricky Lee, also known as that Girl, and you are now tuned into your weekly supplement to help you design and live your dream life. Welcome back to our exclusive series on the pod entitled who's that Girl? In collaboration with various women who are breaking the glass ceiling, building their own tables and rewriting the blueprint for success, this week we have the pleasure of unpacking with Jenna Kloppenstein how to unlock your mental edge and step into the next level.

Speaker 1:

You, jenna Kloppenstein, is a growth and mental edge coach, speaker and host of the Next Level you podcast. She helps visionary entrepreneurs and elite performers unlock their mental edge, take fast action and activate their next level. Jenna is a former division when athlete and college soccer coach who uses the athlete mentality and her coaching framework. She spent 10 years as an orthopedic physician assistant before starting her entrepreneurial journey. Her transformational mindset work sets her apart in an industry that's nearly focused. As a growth and mental edge coach, jenna focuses on the whole human, which allows her to impact on a deeper level. Jenna is a committed wife to her best friend and an encouraging mama to their two amazing boys. Jenna, welcome to that girl radio.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, you're so awesome. Thank you for having me. It is such an honor to be here. I love podcasting. I have one of my own. I feel very fortunate that you gave me the honor to just be here with you and your community. I'm really excited about everything that we're going to dive into today.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I'm so excited to have you here, and before we get started, I always like to have a little bit of fun, and I think you can learn a lot about a person by their morning routines, and studies show that very successful people likely have a morning routine. So what is your that girl morning routine?

Speaker 2:

So there's a lot of data out there about the power of a morning routine, and something that you'll hear me say through and through and I think that morning routine is a great example of this is, I think we can get really caught up in the stigma or like people thinking, your morning routine has to look a certain way. It's a workout and it has to be a certain link, and, if you're listening, your morning routine is yours full stop. There are no rules, it's whatever gets you into your day. And so my morning routine has varied, you know, in the seasons of life for me. I am an active person, I do work out. I'm a former athlete, like you said, once an athlete, always an athlete. But in this season of life I have little humans. I have a six and a half year old and a two and a half year old, so my workouts go somewhere midday, which is me finding my groove.

Speaker 2:

And so my morning routine now is I wake up, no phone for the first half hour, sometimes the first hour, and again there's a lot of studies on that too. No phone before you wake or, sorry, when you wake up or before you go to bed. And so I have no phone for a half an hour. I drink a big glass of water with lemon or with elements, so electrolytes in it. I eat my bar, I do a quick meditation so usually a typical like five minute meditation. I read a little something, whether that's my Bible or whether that's a book that I'm reading and then my kiddos wake up and then it's family time and we are locked in to really being present with our children in this season of life. And so we are flipping pancakes, we are eating breakfast, we are having that time, and then we all walk to our oldest to school. We come back, my husband and I have coffee and conversation and then we get on with our day. So that is my morning routine in this season of life with small humans.

Speaker 1:

That sounds so fulfilling. Like it sounds pretty slow, would you say on average, like you wake up with enough time to give yourself a buffer just to breathe, because you said you're up before your kiddos.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. And if you have kiddos yourself, you know that there's a lot of unpredictability in the parent world, and so I don't. They typically wake up somewhere between 6.45 and 7.15.

Speaker 2:

And I know that right, and so I wake up between five and six, depending on when I go to bed and what day of week it is, because I time block and my schedule is all mapped out depending on the day. But I definitely definitely leave myself room to have my whoo-sa Like grounded moment to get me ready for the day, because you know what, when I don't do that, I'm more irritable. I'm more irritable mom, I'm more irritable wife, I'm more irritable person. And so it really, even if it's just 10 minutes a day, it's so important to have you time to ground yourself before you take on what's ahead of you on the day.

Speaker 1:

I definitely echo all of those sentiments because as a college student, I don't have kids, but I feel like my kids are my Carmen notifications that come up and are like nagging me about all of the assignments I have that are due today and I'm just like wait a minute, I just need five seconds to myself and then you have emails from like orgs and there's so many different things pulling at you in all different directions, and so you can be very bitter going throughout the day because you fail to give yourself the proper amount of time in the morning, and so there is a difference when you actually take the time to do that morning routine versus when you don't. But I want to just go ahead and get into the meat of today's topic.

Speaker 1:

Let's do it. So let's do it. So, sitting here today, I met with Jenna, the mental edge coach, the mama and motivational speaker. But tell me a bit about the dreamer you once were as a kid, and did she imagine herself unlocking the mental edge that you have today?

Speaker 2:

I love this question and little Jenna is really powerful. She's actually the biggest mover, I would say, in my life now. And it's really interesting because I sit here and I said to you before we press record, just how much I admire you in doing what you're doing the bold, the courageous action, using your voice for good and it just seriously gave me full body chills, reflecting back, because not a lot of people do that at a young age. We get really caught up in this like checking the boxes, achieving linear life, and life isn't linear and so I never really tapped into little Jenna until my older life, my present life, and it's super powerful. So when I think back to the dreamer of little Jenna and the more that I have like really tapped into her, I was raised by a single mom.

Speaker 2:

We lived paycheck to paycheck. My father was an alcoholic. That was my dynamic. I was the little girl with the bull cut that like was an athlete and was going to conquer the world and I didn't need anybody to do it and so what I dreamed from a young age was being the best at sports, being the best in academics, so that I could have my college paid for and I could go, get this great job and that I would have that safety and security that I didn't little Jenna didn't have. And the dreamer in me was anything that was going to get me there play division one college soccer, get that full ride, be going medicine. And I did both of the things and we'll talk about that a little bit today.

Speaker 2:

But I will tell you, dreaming is a skill. Dreaming is a skill that we have so locked in as little humans. I see my little humans, you know making their rock, a spaceship and being so imaginative. And then, as we get older and you're experiencing you just said all the things that you navigate as a college student and then you just keep navigating more and more and a longer journey of life somewhere. We forget to dream, and that's why I love the song daydream by Lily Miela. If you haven't listened to it, I highly encourage it. But the so to answer your question directly. At one time I did dream. You know, at some time I stopped dreaming because I was living the dream that a prior version of myself dreamed. I was in medicine, I was a college, I got my full ride to play division one college soccer, then I was playing soccer and then I had the life that I had dreamed, but I wasn't actively dreaming.

Speaker 1:

No, that's so real. I talked about that in a pitch that I did for a business grant and I actually ended up winning it. Because it pulls at people's hard strings. To remember that as children, we are dreamers. I mean, if you asked me what I wanted to be, it was a thousand things. There was no limits to what I could attain.

Speaker 1:

But as you get older and life continues to just hit you outside the head and people continue to speak death over your ideas, you feel like maybe the impossible is impossible, and I feel like it's so important to have people around you that remind you constantly that the impossible is possible. With faith and work, you can make anything come to a reality. And, as you said before, I mean, you're just this high achiever and extremely ambitious queen and there was an immense amount of pressure for you to get yourself out of those circumstances. I mean, you were valedictorian in high school. You received that full ride, acquired your master's as an orthopedic physician assistant, so A N At any point did you experience burnout and, if so, how were you able to manage it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, burnout's an interesting thing, you know. I say I've changed my life a big time in the last year or two years and I've had a lot of growth. And you talk about what you're talking about morning routine to dropping into dreaming, to topping into now burnout, all these things that we're talking about. The foundation of everything is well, two things for me, right, and I know you believe the same, like my. Root is always in God. My foundation is always based off my faith, right? But then there's this other foundation of changing the way that you think, the mindset piece, and that we could talk to about for hours and hours the power of mindset, the thoughts that you tell yourself in your head. And so, when you asked me about burnout, I'm not the person that hit rock bottom and changed her life. I am not the person that felt like she was drowning and had to completely blow up her life to do something else. I would say my burnout looked like somebody else had control over my day to day, my life, had power over how I was spending my time, and time is the one thing that we will never get more of that you can never buy that, everybody when they get to the end of their days. That's what they want back More time with family, more time to dream, more time to travel. It's not the money, it's not the material things, it's not the working right, it's the time. So my burnout came from a time that I transitioned my season of life with little humans. I loved being an orthopedic PA. I loved doing surgery, I loved being a college soccer coach in those seasons of my life. But my life looked very differently and it's so important that you know, especially as a listener, if you're in your 20s or your 30s I mean for any of us, but really if you're listening to this show, that you hear me say if you only take one thing from me, you are allowed to change your mind. You are an evolving human being, you are growing. You are not meant to make a decision in your teens or your 20s that determines the whole rest of your life. You're not, and I wish somebody told me that, riki. I wish somebody told me that.

Speaker 2:

So my burnout looked like? Oh my goodness, I desired to wake up and have the morning that I described to you earlier. I desired to walk my kids to school. I desired to sit and just have coffee with my husband and catch up and talk about life. I desired to have midday adventures. I desired to travel. I desired to impact lives across the globe. I desired to be sitting here with you at 9.30 am on whatever day it is Wednesday, right? I desired this.

Speaker 2:

So my burnout looked like oh my gosh, I'm in an operating room. This isn't where I want to be anymore. This is taking time away from where I actually want to serve, where I feel God is calling me. And to me it was that bridge of just saying this isn't it anymore for you, jenna. And that's okay, because I can be grateful and I can also now want more and want something different. And so when I recognized that God, my gut, was pulling me, was guiding me in a different direction, I no longer felt lit up where I was as a PA in that operating room, right? So that's my burnout. I was done giving somebody else power over how I spent my time and my cadence of life and my presence with my family and my capability to travel or do the things I wanted to do, limited by PTO. That was my burnout story.

Speaker 1:

Your take on burnout is just so inspiring because for a lot of us we don't recognize that sometimes the cure is a shift. Some of us think we just need rest and we're like we can come back to that very thing that keeps us unhappy. You are so aware of how things made you feel. So many of us just negate how things make us feel. We're like I'm grinding, I'm in hustle mode, I have to make this happen, I have to make that happen and then you are burnt out. But you don't ever think that you get to choose something else. And what you said is something my mother has been the literal embodiment of. She changes her mind like the seasons change. Growing up, in that, it felt chaotic, but as an adult now, I admire her ability to make change, because if she wasn't happy somewhere, she was going to quit and she was going to find something else that gave her what she wanted. And she was always willing to go back to the drawing board and say, okay, what do I want?

Speaker 1:

And if this isn't it. Let's make a change. And seeing her walk across the stage my freshman year to acquire her master's degree we did a trip all the way to Phoenix, arizona was just so inspiring. Because I'm like, here is my mom at this point when most people would be like my life is what it is.

Speaker 2:

And she decided.

Speaker 1:

You know what I don't like, what it is. I want to make a change, a complete career pivot, and we supported her through that and because of that, I now know at any point if I decide I don't want to do podcasting anymore, I can stop. My faith will carry me along the way and like open my eyes to what is for me. So shout out to you for being willing to make changes.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you so much Good that I just want to hold with you and what you just shared. And God, love your mama, because that's what she has taught you, what she has shown you. It is so valuable and not very many people get to see that. They see people grinding and they grow up thinking like life's just hard.

Speaker 2:

You grew up in my generation. It was like we walked uphill both ways and I put that in quotes for you and I to see, and it was always like this is just part of it. You got to grind, you got to work hard. It doesn't have to be that way, and I'm so if I'm the one person that tells you that in your life it doesn't have to be that way. You can work hard at something and it light you up. You don't have to feel exhausted or like life is a constant grind. It doesn't mean that you don't have hustle seasons. Listen, I have hustle seasons, but that doesn't have to be your feeling day in and day out, and when you lock into how you want to feel in life and you allow that to be your GPS coordinates, and if you're starting a younger age and you say how do I want to feel in my body?

Speaker 2:

How do I want to feel today, showing up in the world and then put on whatever hats you do right. How do I want to feel as a friend, how do I want to feel as a mom, how do I want to feel as a partner, whatever that is, lock into the feeling, because that is something that's unwavering and that's why faith is unwavering. It's a feeling that you have with God. That is unwavering, right, and nobody's going to come into your house and take that away. Nobody can take away your feelings and that's why they're so powerful. But we get caught up in the achievements or the checkboxes, or the material things. Those things, they're wavering feelings. That's the heartbeat, that's your GPS coordinates in life.

Speaker 1:

The GPS coordinates is such a huge piece because so many of us are calibrated to allow the world. Different qualifications and so many different things drive us in the wrong direction Because the society said it was right. So tell me how it was like calibrating your GPS to go from soccer coach to helping women step into their next level.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So give you guys a cliff note version of just my journey, to give you full permission to change your mind and to walk it through. Whatever door opens up for you that you feel is alignment, because, again, what you feel at that moment. And so I grew up like I told you check in the boxes. You said it, I was valedictorian, I got a full ride to play division one college soccer. I always knew that I wanted to be a medicine and I always knew that I love sports. It just in me, right, I'm still an athlete, I still work with athletes. And so I kept doing that and I kept checking those boxes and I said that this is going to be my path, without going back to what we said earlier, without dreaming or without, like sitting and recalibrating to who Jenna had become, who Jenna be in the moment, because who Jenna be right now is very different than the 16 year old that decided I want to go play division one college soccer and I want to be a North Puget PA. I mean, you're talking literally 20 years ago. That was me who decided that life and she was much different than me. And so, through my journey of life, I loved being a PA. I loved being a college soccer coach but, like I said before, my cadence of life was not what I wanted it to be anymore, and so how I went from what I was doing to what I'm at now, which I'll tell you know, I sit here as A mental edge coach, as a speaker that speaks all across the country, as a speaker, as a mentor for corporations and athletic teams, and all the things I dream of. That lights me up. I'm a mom, I'm a wife and I have a limitless identity, and so Do you. But how did I get here? It was really allowing myself to be still To lock into how I really wanted to feel and think about okay, how am I actually going to get to that place? I knew I loved impacting the girls that I coached, but I also knew that I wasn't gonna be a college doctor coach forever, because that lifestyle wasn't for me, and so when I transition over was I just did what we're doing right now.

Speaker 2:

Really, I use my voice and it caught on. It connected people. It has opened up so many doors that I won't share my whole journey with you, but that led to me Speaking on stages, speaking on podcast. People on my podcast open doors. Because here's the thing you only know that stuff out there If you, if you walk through the door, that is right there. At that present time, people try to connect all the dots and life You're not gonna see him, right, you just walk through the door. It's right in front of you and you figure out hey, I want to keep going down this path where I don't have a go out that door and I go walk in another door. And so I shared with you which I think will really resonate with the person listening I shared with you when I met you At the event that I spoke at, really that pivotal point of me being able to step into my next level and really leave being an or ppa and being a college soccer coach which, on paper into the world extensically.

Speaker 2:

My life was good, I had made it right, I was at the fricking mountaintop and people. And here's the thing it was great For those years, for those ten years, but what I did Was the six steps and I share this with you and I'm gonna share with you. That's listening and these are matter. Where you are in life, whether you're in college, whether you're in your career, like you can always go back to these six steps when you feel like I just feel off, I feel stuck, I don't like this is right for me anymore and I'm just gonna list them out here and then you can ask me whatever kind of to dive in more.

Speaker 2:

But number one Is radical honesty about what's not working. Right. So in that moment, say I desire different things, different feelings, different lifestyle, different impact. Okay, so what's not working in my present life? How I'm showing up who I'd be in this moment, what I'm doing To have what I want to be, who I want to be radical honesty, that's number one about what's not working. Number two is giving yourself permission to dream into something different, allowing yourself to start to create a vision for yourself. Dreaming, locking into that little you again allowing your mind, just imagine and to dream like you would, as a little girl or a little boy, and not limiting yourself you alluded to this earlier not letting yourself get in the head but who am I to do that? But I would have. That would take so much money, that would take this or that. All that's not possible for me. Know, we're not going there. We're sitting down like we're five, six, nine years old and we're just allowing yourself to dream and giving yourself full permission not to limit your dreaming. That set number two.

Speaker 2:

Number three is resource yourself. Pay attention and learn, and this is something I see you doing in your twenties. That is so, like I said, I'm a boat, because not very many people do that. We wait to our thirties or forties to do this, and I see this a lot. There's so much free knowledge out there. There's so many people doing things for you to learn from. If you just ask questions, if you just resource yourself read books, listen to podcasts which you are so high, fiving you air, fiving you for listening to this but resource yourself and then you know a skill that I learned that, even though a talker I am and then shut your mouth, open your ears, open your eyes, open your heart, open your mind, pay attention and learn, allow yourself to be a student and whatever you desire.

Speaker 2:

Number four is challenge yourself in an uncomfortable way. If you know me what, you don't probably know me that well, maybe some of you do, but I make myself uncomfortable day in and day out Physically, mentally, spiritually, and they're all parallel. You know. It's like I always have a physical challenge because that calls me up mentally. It also calls me up spiritually, and that is so important for you to really step into the next level, for you to unlock your mental edge, for you to figure out what that next thing is, for you To make yourself uncomfortable in order to create a new reality for yourself.

Speaker 2:

Number five is staying open to opportunities and possibilities, and those are those doors that we're talking about. You don't have to figure it out or know all the answers, or know the how, or know why it makes sense. Just walk through the door. Just walk through that door and figure it out. Right. Stay open to people. We're really quick to judge people by how they look, how they sound, their background, the clothes they were fill in the blank, right, don't judge them. I just give me just like. Don't judge. It's the same thing with opportunities. Don't decide it's not for you before you even given a chance. Stay open opportunities, possibilities. You'll be surprised. You know people of faith. God sends you down some paths that you're going to question, but he knows you don't know, you're not supposed to know until you walk down that path. And number six is call an accountability and community.

Speaker 2:

Life isn't meant to do alone your journey of growth and evolution and stepping into the next level you as a man. To do alone Life, business, school fill in the blank. They are not meant to do alone. You want somebody there on your hardest days to hold you accountable to who you really are and where you want to go. You also want people there to just support you and to be that community Right, to put their arms around you and just say, like I got you and that's so important in life. So those are the six steps, really like stepping into the next level you. It's a long winded answer to your original question, but I feel it's so important to tell you and this you can go back to time and time again I'm in an evolution right now that I'm going to change my business direction and you know what I'm going back to this, so you can always go back to these things and they will allow you to figure out what that next step is for you and really step into it with certainty and alignment and grounding.

Speaker 1:

Love everything about that, and this entire podcast was catapulted off of my journey to becoming what I thought was the best version of myself. But, as you said, the buzzword is evolution. Like it's never stopping, you always come back to the drawing board and say, ok, who do I want to become tomorrow? We're constantly in the pursuit of better, as women, of progress, and so you have to just want more. But it's a choice. Before we even get into the six steps, there has to be a choice in your mind right to go all in. You have to get to that point earlier, that burnout where you're like OK, there needs to be a reset, a refresher or shift.

Speaker 1:

Yeah you had 10 years in the game being an orthopedic PA, their financial security right, your, your secure and your knowledge your secure and your offerings. Like you have so much security in this space and exploring the unknown right. You've been given a God vision and you know that there's something more out there for you, but you don't know what that is. So what made you decide to go all in?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is something I'm super, super passionate about. So I don't know if you're familiar with human design or any a gram, but I would highly encourage you I didn't know about it at your age, but I would highly encourage you, if you don't know about it In your listening, to really dive into it.

Speaker 2:

It's knowing yourself more right and the better we know ourselves, the better we're able to show up in the world in any facet right. The better wife I am, the better mom I am, better friend I am. The better coach I am, better speaker I am, the more I know myself and so I'm an any of your mate, I'm a manifesting generator and so, like, look it up if you don't know. But that means like I am the personality that is my back against those, my backs against the wall. Let's freaking go. I have to do that. I thrive in that. Like pressure is not a bad thing. The athlete in me, like that's not a bad thing. Pressure it means I rise to that occasion and I actually I'm able to really thrive in that. But you have to know yourself, to know the situation. I love analogies and the analogy coming to me right now is like you can be a person that keeps dipping their toes in the water and saying like, oh, that might be a little too cold for me. Oh, I don't know if I want to get in. Or you can just say I want to get in that water, I'm just going to go cannonball in, not going to let myself keep tiptoeing around it. I'm going to cannonball in. I made a decision. Here's what I will tell you Successful people, elite people, high performers, are decisive people Because, you know, in decision waste time. The one thing I told you that we cannot afford to waste is time. So I know that, right, I've done a lot of work around this as an athlete, just like me, doing mindset work me as a coach, and I'm sharing that with you today to kind of like give you the cheat code to not have to get to where I'm at in life, to really embody that and to believe that Is decisiveness, like making a decision whatever decision you make is better than no decision. Make the decision.

Speaker 2:

So for me, I decided I wanted a different life. Right, I told you that I desired walking my kids to school. I desired to be able to work out whenever I wanted. I desired to travel. I desired to have coffee with my husband. I desired I could list a long list of things that I wasn't going to have as a PA, as a college soccer coach, because of the schedule. Right, I was very tied I time block. If you don't know what time blocking is, I got an episode on time blocking that will help you. But, like, time blocking is very much. You look at the hours of your day. We all have 24 of them and you block them. People had power over my blocks of my time right.

Speaker 2:

So for me, why I decided to go all in when I did and all into me met like within six weeks. Tell my husband, tell my boss, tell the world that I was leaving a job, that I made six figures in my early 20s and I didn't have a plan. But I knew God was leading me there and bigger and better things awaited. And my hands are up in the air. You guys can't see it, but I so believe it is because if I didn't choose to go all in, my time and energy would be day in and day out going to something that I knew wasn't for me any longer. That would prolong me putting my time and energy and having the life and being the person that I wanted to be.

Speaker 2:

And this is going to side note, but really important for you You're going to grow up in a society we grow up in a society that tells you 401k, save for retirement, save for the future, stability, all these things you do not know that you are going to get there. There's a delicate balance. I'm not a financial advisor, I'm not anything. But I get really fired up with this because people are like wait till the right time, wait till you have enough money, wait till you save. Here's the thing. I'm not waiting on anybody to live the life that I want to live, that I don't know, that God designed me and where God is calling me to go and I trust that he's got me. So I say this to my people all the time when I decided to go all in when you decide to go on, it requires you to trust yourself, trust God's plan for you and that he's got you, trust his timing and trust the unfolding of it all. Trust that everything in life happens for you If you can come from it, from that mindset that you believe in yourself, that you trust yourself, that you trust. Maybe you don't understand, you can't connect the dots, you're not going to, but you trust God has a greater plan for you and he's got you right and you trust that everything's happening for you, even the hard stuff, even the hardest days. You're going to keep going. You're going to allow yourself, give yourself full permission to go all in. And why it's important to go all in For me.

Speaker 2:

When you look at when I left being a PA, people told me, jenna, you can always go back. You can always go back. They said that here's what I'm here to tell you. I'm not going back. You can tell me that, but I'm not going back. That was 10 years of my life and they were great and they were. They were so valuable to who I am right now. But I'm not going back.

Speaker 2:

Anytime you give yourself a plan B in your mind, you will never go fully in on your plan A. So to me, it is only my plan A. I have no plan B. I'm going to trust myself, trust God and trust the unfolding of it. But that starts with the way that you think my if statements, how to change the win statements.

Speaker 2:

I told you that when I went all in, it wasn't like, oh, if I'm successful, oh, if this happens, if I leave my job, if I get clients, if I make money. It was like when, when, when it was certainty, I was certain in myself. It's a dialogue that you tell yourself in your mind and you speak out loud. That's your reality, what you believe will become true, and that's so true. There's so much about the power of the subconscious mind. That's a book that I highly recommend. The power of the subconscious mind Our mind is working even when we're asleep, and so that I mean I just went on a rant because I'm like sweating over here because I'm so fired up about this stuff is like, if you know it's for you, don't let anybody or anything get in your head and keep you from doing it. Now you'll figure it out. You will figure it out and you are resilient and you are stronger than you give yourself credit for, and if you believe in yourself, you can move mountains.

Speaker 1:

No, that's, that's amazing. Everything you just said spoke to my heart, because there has been moments where I don't know what was going on in my head, but I just went all in. I am a all in or all out kind of person and I think that's possibly why I experienced burnout a lot of the times, because I am just such a full throttle girl. Um, like we're not, we're not stopping, we're not pumping breaks, we are going full throttle. And, for me, being decisive has catapulted me to where I am today.

Speaker 1:

Like what Jenna is saying is it's not a joke. Being decisive can open so many doors for you and you don't even have to touch the door. I mean hinges, the whole frame will fall off and it will just be a walkway. Seriously, you have to just go through because you're showcasing to the universe and to God that this is what you want to do. And I feel like things fall into place so easily when you are more decisive, when people can kind of feel like I don't really know if she's all in on this, like one day she was a lash tech, then the next day she's doing brows, then the next day she's like trying to make music, like it's.

Speaker 1:

It's very confusing for people on how to support you, because you're not even clear on how you want to be supported. And so when you send out a very clear message of what it is that you want and you appoint the specific cheerleaders in your life that can say the chance you need, as you need them along the way, it's so much easier for you to keep going. And something you talked about was you gave yourself six weeks, right, you said you were going to tell your husband, you're going to tell your job and you were going to decide to make a change. And so for the listeners, can you encourage them on ways in which they can craft a similar exit strategy for themselves to make that change?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So that was a big decision. I don't know where you're at in life. You know and I'm a big believer in, you know, this statement that people say, like you're sitting here and somebody tells you something, you're like I understand, I don't understand. I don't understand your shoes, that you're sitting in the chair, that you're sitting in the car, that you're riding in right now, I don't, Only you've ridden it, only you've lived it, and that's true for all of us.

Speaker 2:

So I think that there's universal ways that we can speak to each other, and I think that that's really important. To go back to what I said before of knowing yourself, trusting yourself and also realizing that nobody knows you better than you know you. And the most important trust is the one that you have within yourself. And I think that you know, the younger we are, the more we look out for external validation, and that influences our intrinsic feeling, our internal dialogue and what I have to say to you and it's one of the most powerful statements that I've ever seen again, and I tell my kids this all the time you control you full stop. You have no control over anybody else in this world. Also, it is not your job or responsibility to justify yourself, to validate yourself, to explain yourself to anybody. That is energy expended, that does not serve you. And so my best advice is get to know yourself.

Speaker 2:

The best ways, get to know yourself stillness. For me, stillness is where the power comes. And I'm telling you, I'm a box checker, I'm a mom, or my little kid from a single mom, I'm a high achiever, I'm all those things. Stillness is hard, but when you're able to get still with yourself and to really sit with how you feel, what you desire, your thoughts, that's where the power comes from, that's where the clarity is. And then when you ground into your faith and for me you know that faith is in God, whatever you believe in right, your higher power. When you are grounded in that, I mean what you can do from there. It's infinite, it's limitless.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, that is so real, and I admire you because you remind me so much of my mom. And you've built this beautiful table for yourself where each version of Jenna has a seat the soccer coach right, the valedictorian Little Jenna, you have the orthopedic PA and now this mental edge coach. And so what was it like having to build this table, and do you foresee any new people sitting at it in the future?

Speaker 2:

What a beautiful picture and question. I've been on a lot of podcasts and a lot of rooms and stages and this is like this is a really cool one. Might be one of the coolest ones I've ever been asked. Wow, I don't. You know that's a really loaded question and you know where I see that is.

Speaker 2:

Every Jenna that's at that table has a place in my heart, a place in my journey, has a place in what I do and who I be right now. Right, and I told you in the beginning of this how powerful little Jenna is and how I really had ignored her and she wasn't sitting at my table for a lot of years, but she's so vital in who I am right now. And I think that you know, as we get older and we gain more titles, so to speak, right, so every you know being a PA, being a college soccer coach, being a mom, being a wife, being a friend, being a daughter, being a coach, being a speaker, being a podcaster these are titles, right. Then we put on our Instagram that we put in our dialogue when we tell people about ourselves, and are they pieces of what you do? Yes, but they're not who you be. Those titles are not who you are. So when I look at my table, I see past the titles. I see past the mom yeah, who I am as a mom. Ooh, she's awesome. She's loving, she's compassionate, she feels deeper than any of the other Jenna's sitting at that table. Little Jenna, she endured some tough stuff, you know. She sat on that porch and waited for her alcoholic father that never showed up. She saw her single mom really make things happen. That little Jenna fought hard. The Jenna that was in the PA Jenna was in surgery. That's people's lives, you know, like she's a badass.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully I can cast on your show the Jenna that's a wife at that table. Hmm, she loves unconditionally, she loves deep. She knows how to be a partner. You know she does the work. So it's just such a beautiful question because when you lock into who they be, those people at the table, it's not the title, right, it's just who you are embodying in that role. They all have a piece of my life and they always will.

Speaker 2:

I'm not a PA anymore, but ooh, that Jenna that was. She serves me really deep now. And are there going to be more Jenas at that table? Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I hope I have many years ahead of me and I'm constantly evolving baby and like they're gonna be some awesome, awesome Jenas at that table. You know I'm stepping into a new level of myself of really working with more like corporations and athletic teams again and she's gonna be fiery and powerful and assertive in ways that I have no other Jenna at that table has been.

Speaker 2:

And wow, this is just such a cool question. So like I would encourage you I'm gonna like reflect that back to everybody listening that this is a really powerful visual to sit with and to think about all the different versions of you and your journey of life and the seasons and like who are those people, how have they served you, how much love you have for that version of you and what she or he taught you and how you've brought that with you to serve you and who you wanna be now and where you want to go. Not the baggage you're appreciative of, even the hard stuff, but, man, you've survived it. Man, it's taught you and it's made you even more incredible and powerful and stronger and smarter than you would be without any of those missing pieces. Such a great question.

Speaker 1:

That is my favorite question to ask and I often reflect on it myself because, although I'm 21, there have been a few different versions of Rikki thus far and I admire each one. She's so resilient and when you look at the table and you see the resilience, as you said, the things that each version of you has gone through, but still she rises, still she's able to sit at this table and essentially be your wise counsel, because you can speak to every version of yourself and ask what should I do next? What's gonna serve us best? And then it takes you on to that next level. And I'm really curious to know what success looks like to Jenna, the mental edge coach, versus just Jenna, the mom, the wife and the daughter of Christ Jesus.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, success, like anything we give meaning, we have feelings that are provoked when we hear a word, right Like when Rikki said success, you probably had a feeling, a visceral feeling in your body because of the definition that you give it, the picture, the feelings that you give it. And I'll tell you, success looks a lot differently now than it did the prior versions of Jenna sitting at that table.

Speaker 2:

So, jenna, before success was all things that you could put on paper, that you could put on a resume that I had achieved, that were extrinsically not locked into the cadence of my life, not locked into the feelings, that I had not locking into who I am, who I be. I keep saying that I say all the time. Prior Jenna, success looked like money, job titles, winning state titles in athletics, getting awards in athletics right, that was success to me. How much money and security and promotions and all this stuff. None of that matters to me now. None of it.

Speaker 1:

Now listen.

Speaker 2:

I make money, honey, and I want money, because the more money great people make, the more good we do in the world, and I believe that right. God wants you to be wealthy, god wants you to live an abundant life and I don't shy away from that. I have dialogue with God all the time about money, like Lord. Where's this gonna come from, lord? I have that, but for me right now success looks like feelings. It looks like peace.

Speaker 1:

It looks like integrity.

Speaker 2:

It feels like freedom and abundance and presence.

Speaker 2:

It feels grounded.

Speaker 2:

And that is all talking about who I am, how I feel, how I show up for myself and for my family, for my children and my husband.

Speaker 2:

Because, at the root of it all, success is me believing that I am living fully in God's purpose, god's calling for me, that I have a wonderful relationship with my creator, that I have a wonderful relationship with my husband and that I have a wonderful relationship with my children, and that we all feel that we all feel the interconnectedness of our faith and our love for one another within my home. And to me, that success to know that I have also an impact on lives in the way that is so real and true to me, showing up in my true self, that I can fully detach from titles and still be able to move mountains and still be able to impact lives without titles attached to me that that's the feeling of success to me. It's who I am impact, who I am loves, who I am being grounded in that saying, an integrity, with that loving the person I see in the mirror every day when I wake up and loving the person that I give to the people that matter most to my life. That is success to Jenna and I.

Speaker 1:

I love that, and when you ground your goals and the feelings, it's something that you can tap into daily and take, basically, check in and say did I get that feeling today? And if I didn't, hey, what do I need to change so that I can get more of that feeling into my life? And so you may know this, this is like my favorite quote, but how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives, and so, for the listeners who are looking to live more intentionally you talked about this time blocking how can they live intentionally by crafting out more times for the things that are going to make them feel what they desire?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So there's a simple question that you can ask yourself, and anything that you do, or you say how you spend your time and it's does this serve me and who I was created to be, who I desire to be and where I desire to go, right, and anything that you do in life, whether that's you get up, you go to the gym, go for a walk, you go over to a friend's house, you go to a party, you go to whatever you ask yourself that Does this serve me and who I was created to be, who I desire to be and where I desire to go? And if it doesn't, if you're radically honest with yourself and it doesn't, then my question to you be like why? Why? Because somebody else may get mad at you, because somebody else told you you're supposed to be there or do that, don't do life for somebody else.

Speaker 1:

Do life for you.

Speaker 2:

It's not selfish, and I do recognize that. You know you may be listening to this and you're in your twenties, right. Like everything I'm sharing with you it is. It does resonate with you on a different level, right, but it is very important that you hear me say at your age I didn't know this stuff. But why I'm so passionate and why I feel so honored to be where I'm at right now and to speak with you and to speak with you listening, is because this is stuff, this is the real, this is the heartbeat of life that I wish I knew at a younger age. It would have actually saved me a lot of questioning and wondering and feeling of exhaustion or like I didn't fit in or you know. And so ask me that question that you just asked me again, I want to make sure I directly answer it.

Speaker 1:

So how can women start to time block intentionally to do more of the things that will bring them the feelings they want for alignment with that success?

Speaker 2:

100%, and this is so important. Time blocking is so powerful. Depending doesn't matter where you're at in life. So you ask yourself those questions, right, and anything that you do, but when you think about time blocking. So time blocking is simply you got 24 hours in the day and you look at it and you will lot every second of every day to something. It can be creativity, it can be walkie. It doesn't have to be like your robot and your living, but what that does is it allows your intentionality to go up. It allows you to focus on one thing. It allows your stress and anxiety to go down. It allows you to make more progress to who you want to be and where you want to go.

Speaker 2:

And so I always say, when you look at the 24 hours of the day here's my, here's my advice for you Start with how much sleep. Start with sleep. It's something that we all have to do, that nobody's exempt from, and eight hours of sleep is really what you're supposed to get. My my science nerd could go on with that about why that's important. But eight hours, I know in seasons of life listen, I had young kids some. I studied hard in college, like I know sometimes that goes by the wayside, but for just humor me here. So you go from sleeping and then you go to fixed things. So for Eke, it might be your classes, right? Oh well, this is my class schedule. I'm gonna plug that in there because I know I'm gonna be there. It could be your work schedule, it could be your kids activities, it could be whatever it is for you. These are my fixed hours on my throughout the week.

Speaker 2:

So you go sleep, then you go that, and then the next most important thing is that you know your top priorities and your non negotiables in life. Non negotiables I'll give you an example for me Meditation, prayer, reading, walking, working out these are all non negotiables for me. They're for me. They're for me to be the best me. Those are your non negotiables, right? Presence with my children, certain amount of time daily that I don't have my phone, that I'm intentional with my children, presence with my husband.

Speaker 2:

So these are non negotiables. You prioritize those things. Your top priorities come next. That is like that is, my top priorities are God, family, and really like those are my two priorities, because my purpose ties back to God's calling for me.

Speaker 2:

And then you fill in the blanks and now I want you to look at your week and you can say, okay, hmm, like I've taken care of myself, I've slept, I put my non negotiables on there, I got my fixed hours that I got to go to school or work or do whatever. Now what am I working with? Then go back to the questions I asked you before. Okay, to spend these what best serves me on who I want to be, how I want to feel, who I was created to be, where I want to go and that's where you feel from there. And what you'll recognize in that is that we spend a lot of hours that are unintentional and that don't serve us. And then we wonder why we are so conflicted or stressed or anxious or overwhelmed. It's because we're spending a lot of our time and energy on things that don't serve you, who you want to be or where you were created you're. You're spending them on extrinsic reasoning or people.

Speaker 1:

It's facts. I was just editing one of my vlogs and I was saying that I spent a lot of time spectating other people and deriving inspiration from what they were doing, when instead I should have just been getting in the field and doing what I needed to be doing. And so I think all the listeners should take from what she said is these tools that can really set you free and make you boundless, because you're setting aside the time for what you want to do, not what life is telling you to do, not what your job is putting on your to-do list, not what your friends are telling you to do. This is more of what you desire to do so that you can live the life of your dreams. And, jenna, I would like to invite you to tell all the listeners about Next Level U Live that is coming up very soon, so they can get some more of this mental edge coaching and really unlock their next level.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, yes. Well, I'm hoping you and so many women in your community join us, because it truly is such an incredibly transformative experience. So Next Level U Live is April 19th and 20th. It's here in Columbus, ohio, and it is a two-day transformational event experience for leaders, for high performers, for dreamers, and really this experience is for you, if you are any of those and you desire to level up in all facets, you desire to do the mindset work, you desire to be surrounded by incredible people and just like the energy and what I'll tell you.

Speaker 2:

I've been having more and more conversations about Next Level U Live and I can promise you this I don't know if you've been in any rooms, but this is unlike any room that you've ever been in and I believe that, from the people that will be in there to the experience that we're creating, we go deep, we give value, we are high level and it is just such an intimate yet powerful energy in this room and it's fully immersive and it's all Friday. So we go Friday morning to Friday evening. We got a VIP experience Friday night that is like truly a red carpet experience and then like a deep round table mastermind with high level powerhouses and you get professional photos. You get the full red carpet experience. Then you get the master mind with like inner circle to learn from and to receive and to also give your value. And just mastermind with amazing humans.

Speaker 2:

We end with a dance party. Prior to it, you get a consult with my stylist to elevate your image. You get a consult with my interior designer to elevate your environment, whether that's your workspace, your apartment, your yoga space, any of that. And then Saturday we have a workout in the morning for anybody that wants to be locked in with a beautiful breathwork session. And then we rock, and we're done it too on Saturday. But I would invite you I know you're going to put the information in your show notes here, but like, come, follow me on Instagram, reach out to me. I would love, love, love to have you there. It's going to be absolutely life changing.

Speaker 1:

And can you tell them what your social handle is, so they can go and find you?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so it is at Jenna J E N N A dot Klopfenstein, which is K L O P, as in Paul F, as in Frank E N S, as in soccer T, as in Tom E I N. So, jenna Stein, and I answer all my DMs. I would love to talk with you.

Speaker 1:

Yes. Well, it has been an absolute pleasure talking with you today about how we can step into our next level, unlock our mental edge and decide to go all in. And so, for all the listeners that really enjoyed today's podcast episode, make sure to connect with Jenna on her socials and make sure to follow the podcast. If you're not already at that girl radio, you can also follow your lovely host here, ricky Lee, at Ricky Lee dot co. On Instagram. I'm also on tiktok at the Ricky Lee, as well as on YouTube, dropping weekly episodes to help you live and design your best life at Ricky TV. And please make sure to leave a rating for the podcast. It helps us out a lot so you can reach more women like yourself who are looking to design and put their dream life. I love you, guys, and I will catch you next week.