Explore every episode of the podcast The Dr Sam Collins Podcast

Why women cannot self care their way out of systems that are consuming them.

The episode gives women permission to consider that their exhaustion may not be evidence of personal inadequacy. It may be more about a workplace, role, relationship or system that needs to change. It then moves beyond diagnosis and complaint to the greater possibility, what could women create if their intelligence, courage, emotional intelligence, kindness and capability were no longer being consumed by survival?

• Women's exhaustion is a leadership issue, not just a wellbeing issue.
• There comes a point when resilience is no longer the answer.
• Protecting your energy is an act of stewardship.
• Leadership is about choice, not position.
• The future changes when women reclaim where they invest their fire. 

Listeners will use the practical "Burnout, Burden or Done? Audit", separate personal responsibility from systemic responsibility, and identify one thing to stop, challenge or help redesign within the next 24 hours.

Dr Sam Collins is a speaker, author and founder of Aspire. For more than 25 years she has worked with women around the world to help them lead change, navigate transitions and create lives and careers with greater meaning, impact and freedom. She is the creator of the global Choose Freedom movement, which encourages women to reclaim their agency, shape the future and make a difference in the worlds they touch.

Website: drsamcollins.com

LinkedIn: Dr Sam Collins

Instagram: @drsamcollins

YouTube: Dr Sam Collins

TikTok: Dr Sam Collins

Books: Available on Amazon

New episodes released weekly.

This episode is educational and reflective and is not medical advice. If you are concerned about your physical or mental health, please consult a suitably qualified healthcare professional.

We often tell ourselves that money is the reason we can't make a change.

The reason we stay in the job, postpone the dream, avoid the risk or delay the conversation.

But what if money isn't the real issue?

In this episode, I explore the beliefs, fears and assumptions that shape our relationship with money and the powerful influence they have on our choices, careers, wellbeing and sense of freedom. Drawing on my own experiences growing up around financial anxiety, I reflect on the stories many of us inherit about security, success and worth and how those stories continue to shape our lives and impact in the world.

This isn't a conversation about budgeting, investing or financial advice. It's a conversation about possibility, purpose and self-trust. We explore why purpose and prosperity do not have to be opposites, why making money and making a difference can go hand in hand, and how a healthier relationship with money can create greater freedom, contribution and impact.

I also share my vision for a future where success is measured not only by profit, but by the positive impact we have on people, communities and the planet. What might happen if we applied this same thinking to our own lives and leadership?

If money genuinely wasn't an issue, what would you choose to do differently?

• How childhood experiences can shape our beliefs about money.

• The difference between financial responsibility and financial fear.

• Why many women struggle to ask for what their work is worth.

• How scarcity thinking affects our careers, confidence and choices.

• Why purpose and prosperity do not have to be competing priorities.

• How making money can enable greater contribution, creativity and impact.

• The triple bottom line of people, planet and profit and what it means for leadership today.

• The hidden costs of postponing happiness until some future date.

• How self-trust can create more freedom than financial certainty.

• Whether money is truly the obstacle or simply the name we've given to other fears.

• Practical questions to help you rethink your relationship with money.

• Why courage is often the first step towards creating the life you want.

If money wasn't an issue, what would you choose to do differently and how might that allow you to make an even greater difference in the world?

Dr Sam Collins is a speaker, author and founder of Aspire. For more than 25 years she has worked with women around the world to help them lead change, navigate transitions and create lives and careers with greater meaning, impact and freedom. She is the creator of the global Choose Freedom movement, which encourages women to reclaim their agency, shape the future and make a difference in the worlds they touch.

Website: drsamcollins.com

LinkedIn: Dr Sam Collins

Instagram: @drsamcollins

YouTube: Dr Sam Collins

TikTok: Dr Sam Collins

Books: Available on Amazon

New episodes released weekly.

This episode is for educational, informational and reflective purposes only. It does not provide personal financial, investment, tax, legal or employment advice. Listeners should consider their own circumstances and seek appropriately qualified professional advice before making significant financial or career decisions.

Many of us spend years waiting to feel confident enough before we speak up, pursue a dream, apply for a promotion, launch a business or make a change in our lives or the world around us.

But what if confidence isn't the answer?

In this episode, I challenge one of the most common messages women receive and share why I believe confidence is largely a myth. Instead, I explore the power of courage, why it can be developed like a muscle and how focusing on something bigger than ourselves can help us take action even when fear is present.

Drawing on my own experience coaching senior women leaders and working with organisations around the world, I share a personal story about finding the courage to challenge powerful systems, influence difficult conversations and create change in environments where I didn't always feel confident.

If you've been waiting until you feel ready, this episode may encourage you to stop waiting and start building your courage muscle instead.

• Why confidence can become a trap
• The difference between fear and courage
• How courage develops like a muscle
• Why "stepping outside your comfort zone" isn't always the answer
• How focusing on the people and causes you care about can make you much braver
• Small daily actions that strengthen courage over time

What if freedom is not something you earn once everything is finally in place?

In this episode, I share the lessons from my own year of freedom and what happened when I stopped waiting for the perfect time, the perfect plan and the perfect version of myself. We explore what freedom really means, why so many women are still holding back and how becoming more visible can transform not only our own lives but also the worlds we touch.

This conversation is an invitation to choose freedom on your own terms, pursue what matters most and step more fully into the difference only you can make.

Welcome to the Choose Freedom movement. The future is not something we inherit. It is something we create.

In this episode of The Dr Sam Collins Podcast, I explore the urgency of freedom. not the frantic, fear driven urgency that leaves us exhausted, overwhelmed and trying to cram even more into already full lives, but a deeper, more purposeful urgency that asks us to wake up to what our lives are really for.

This is not an episode about productivity, conventional success or the usual self-help obsession with becoming a more polished version of ourselves. I am interested in something far more important: the link between freedom and contribution. Because freedom is not just about feeling better, resting more, looking better, earning more or finally getting ourselves perfectly sorted. Freedom matters because it allows us to bring our intelligence, experience, compassion, anger, love and courage into the world at a time when the world urgently needs us.

I talk about the gap between who we are today and who we could become if one key limitation loosened its grip, whether that limitation is guilt, shame, people pleasing, exhaustion, fear of criticism, perfectionism, money, age, confidence or the belief that we are too late, too ordinary or not ready enough. I also challenge the idea that contribution belongs only to senior people in powerful rooms. The world needs conscious people in every room: in boardrooms, classrooms, kitchens, coffee shops, communities, families and movements.

The question is not simply, What do I want to do one day? The question is: What does the world need from me right now?

Why so many women are longing for freedom, meaning and contribution

Over the last few months, I've found myself reflecting on a question that I hear again and again from women all over the world and, if I'm honest, from myself too.

Is there more than this?

Not necessarily more money, more status or more success. More meaning. More freedom. More joy.

More of a sense that the life we are living reflects who we really are and what matters most to us.

We want our lives to count for something. We want to know that we matter. We want to contribute.

I also share a new idea I've been exploring called Be the Difference. It's not about saving the world, becoming famous or waiting until we have everything figured out. It's about recognising that our contribution is not determined by our position, our title, our income or whether other people see us as successful.

All of us have influence. All of us touch other lives. All of us have the opportunity to bring more humanity, courage, kindness, wisdom and integrity into the world around us.

In this episode, I invite you to reflect on where you already have more influence than you realise and what might become possible if you used that influence well.

If you've ever felt that quiet nudge that there might be another chapter waiting for you, this conversation is for you.

Most goal setting starts with what's missing.

What you haven't achieved. What you still need to fix. What isn't happening fast enough.

No wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed, procrastinate or burn out.

This week on The Dr Sam Collins Podcast, I'm sharing one of the most powerful yet simple coaching exercises I've encountered in years.

A coaching client introduced me to it this week and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Instead of asking what you want to achieve, ask yourself:

What do you want to be celebrating in the future?

Whether it's your career, your health, your relationships, your finances, your purpose or the difference you aspire to make in the world, this simple shift changes how the future feels and your chances of achieving it.

In this episode, I'll guide you through the exercise in real time so by the end you'll have a clearer picture of the future milestones you're creating and perhaps a renewed sense of hope, energy and possibility.

Because change doesn't begin when you reach the milestone.

It begins when you can see it now.

What if you're not stuck?
What if the reason you're feeling restless, frustrated or uncertain isn't because you lack clarity, confidence or capability?
What if you already know what to do?
 
In this episode of the newly relaunched Dr Sam Collins Podcast, Sam explores one of the most powerful lessons she has learned from more than 25 years of working with women leaders, entrepreneurs and change makers around the world: most women are not stuck. Most women already know what needs to happen next. The challenge is trusting themselves enough to act.

Sam introduces two important characters who will accompany listeners throughout the series: Samantha, the inner critic whose job is to keep us safe, accepted and comfortable, and the inner pioneer who calls us towards courage, possibility and the life we're capable of creating.

If you've ever found yourself overthinking a decision, waiting for certainty, second-guessing yourself or postponing a dream that won't leave you alone, this episode is for you.

Because perhaps the question isn't, "What should I do?"
Perhaps the question is, "What do I already know?"

In this episode you'll discover:
- Why smart, capable women often mistake fear for confusion
- The real reason so many women feel stuck
- How to recognise the voice of your inner critic
- How to strengthen the voice of your inner champion
- A practical challenge to help you take your next courageous step
 
Because you were never the problem.

The life you're looking for may be waiting on the other side of a decision you already know you need to make.
Perhaps it's time to trust yourself.

After a year away from the podcast, Dr. Sam Collins returns with a deeply personal new chapter — one she describes as part podcast, part "pod-course". In this opening, Sam reflects on her "Year of Freedom", twenty-five years of Aspire and the questions that have been calling her into a more honest, courageous and purposeful way of leading. This new series is for women, and for anyone ready to stop waiting for permission, trust their voice, and step more fully into the contribution they are here to make. Shorter, more intimate and more direct than before, these episodes will explore leadership, change, purpose, health, life, success, failure, the stories that keep us stuck, and what it really takes to become the person we are capable of becoming.

Zoe Holland MBE, Group Chief Commercial Officer, Fletchers Solicitors about gaining balance, finding your heart led passion and making the impossible possible.

A conversation with changemaker Tracey Cramond, Chair of the award-winning Health Care Supply Association's Women's Network dedicated to addressing women's issues in the workplace and working to drive positive change.

A conversation with the inspirational Kamila Sidiqi, Afghan entrepreneur, government official, and the subject of the New York Times bestselling book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana.

A conversation with Karen McDonagh Reynolds, transformation executive, board member, and award winning CIO. How do we get men united with equality?

A conversation with Chief Legal Officer Caryl Longley about learning the 'rules of the game', set by men for men.  

Sam chats with Georgie Moseley, Founder of 'Help Harry Help Others' cancer charity about following your dreams whoever you are and making your vision a reality.

Eileen Brewer, from being the only female on the team in tech companies in Silicon Valley to volunteering to teach girls in Rwanda about computer hardware. On saying yes and walking through fear.   

Aletta Raju, Employment Law Specialist from South Africa and Sam on finding self love and acceptance after loss.

Sam chats to Suzanne Steele, Vice President and Managing Director of Adobe Australia about the importance of purpose and having your own personal board of directors. 

Sam chats with Malan Wu from Wood Mackenzie, Robyn Dittrich, from BHP and Damien Jacotine from S&P Global following the "Collective Courage" talk for Women in Mining and Resources Singapore. 

Changemaker, child advocate and recent college graduate Destiny Ayo Vaughan shares her incredible story of creating your own destiny no matter the circumstances. Content includes child abuse and child marriage.

Sam talks with Gill Whitty-Collins about how we can achieve gender equality through closing the respect gap. 

Sam chats with Charlotte Sheridan about leaving her highly paid yet unfulfilling job and following her true passions. We discuss how to overcome our 'Thinking Errors' to overcome financial and health fears.

With no money, confidence or network and during a pandemic, Pip Hare, age 45 successfully took on on one of the toughest sporting events on the planet, racing a 60 ft yacht solo around the world in the Vendee Globe Race.

A conversation with Heather McWilliam, a former police officer who was expected to have a bright future. A story about speaking up, self-care and being a changemaker. Contents includes themes of PTSD and sexual abuse.

Dr Zareen Roohi Ahmed shares her emotional journey of loss, starting her own social business, her James Bond dream and period poverty activism! 

"I don't know what to say. I am here to support you and I won't abandon you. Let's remain friends"

Karen open discusses being a transgender woman and her experience post speaking out at the recent Aspire Resolve Global UnConference.

Sam meets the inspirational Sister Zeph from rural Pakistan who has dedicated her life to the education of girls. They talk about love, doing difficult things and crying every night. www.zephaniaheducation.org 

Sam speaks with Ibtissam Al-Farah, originally from Ethiopia and Yemen about the beauty of reinventing your life, taking risks, the rewards and making good decisions. 

Andree Simon, President and Chief Executive Officer of FINCA Impact Finance joins from Washington DC and shares her views on resilience, using our voice and speaking our truth.

Drama, shame, depression, sweat, tears and the silver linings of following through on your dreams with Sarah Kitakule, Founder of www.kitakulefoundation.org in Uganda.

Sam chats with Brita Fernandez Schmidt, Executive Director of Women for Women International about turning 50, inequality, conspiracy theories and making leaps during crisis.

Nasreen Sheikh, Founder of The Women's Empowerment Collective and One Million Masks talks to Sam from Nepal about her amazing journey to power, choice and survival.

Ex offender, survivor of domestic abuse and victim turned perpetrator, Lilly Lewis joins Sam to discuss how we can be truly free, even in lockdown.

Sam talks with her friend Karen Sherman, President of Akilah about following your own vision, life during COVID and the power of women.