Why Readiness Is the Real Secret to Success

Why Readiness Is the Real Secret to Success

So many high achievers chase growth like it is a race. We push harder, learn faster, and keep stacking goals on top of goals because that is what we were taught success looks like. But as my guest Lindsay Preston shared in our recent episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, wanting growth and being ready for growth are two completely different things.

Lindsay is the founder and CEO of Trust and Leadership Coaching, where she helps driven leaders move from overachievement to sustainable high performance. With over a decade of coaching experience and a background in neuroscience and emotional intelligence, she has seen firsthand what happens when people try to sprint toward transformation before they are prepared for it.

Her perspective stopped me in my tracks. Because the truth is, so many of us are wanting growth, but few of us are ready for it.

The Myth of “Doing It All”

Lindsay shared how, early in her career, she believed what many of us believe — that success meant doing everything ourselves. For years, she bought into the idea that if other people could run thriving businesses with little help, she should be able to do the same. The more she tried to keep up with that picture-perfect version of success, the more exhausted she became.

Eventually she realized nothing was wrong with her. She was simply trying to carry more than any one person was meant to carry. True success, she explained, comes when you allow others in, when you build support instead of trying to prove your strength through self-reliance.

That idea resonated deeply with me because I see it every day. Ambitious people often equate self-sufficiency with worth. But high performance is not about independence. It is about interdependence. It is about building the right systems, people, and mindset to sustain growth.

The Power of Being in the Right Season

One of Lindsay’s most powerful insights was this: you have to be in the right season to get the most from coaching or any kind of growth work.

That might mean taking time to strengthen your health, clear mental clutter, or realign your priorities before trying to “amplify” your success. Coaching, she said, works best when the foundation is strong. Otherwise, you are trying to accelerate a car that does not have enough gas in the tank.6

This is a crucial distinction that so many people overlook. You can want growth desperately and still not be ready to sustain it. Readiness is not about perfection; it is about awareness. It is the ability to recognize what needs attention so that when the moment to grow arrives, you can meet it with energy and confidence instead of overwhelm.

The Difference Between Hustle and Wholeness

In our conversation, Lindsay talked about how we live in a culture that rewards busyness. We scroll through highlight reels of people who appear to “do it all” — running businesses, raising families, traveling the world — and we assume that if we just worked harder, we could have that too.

But sustainable success is not born from hustle. It is born from wholeness.

That means slowing down long enough to listen to what your body and mind are telling you. It means being honest about what you can handle and what needs to change. It means building success that feels good on the inside, not just impressive on the outside.

When you approach growth from wholeness, the results are completely different. You show up with more creativity, more resilience, and more joy. You are not just achieving — you are expanding.

When It Gets Bigger Than You

Lindsay also reminded us that every vision, if pursued long enough, eventually gets bigger than the person who started it. At that moment, you can either cling to control or choose to lead differently.

She described the moment she realized her coaching business had outgrown what she could handle alone. Instead of seeing that as failure, she saw it as evolution. Growth was calling her to build a team and share the mission. That shift allowed her to scale without burning out.

That lesson applies to all of us. Whether you are leading a company, building a brand, or simply trying to grow into your next season of life, there comes a point when you must trust others to help carry the load. Success without support is not sustainable.

How to Know You’re Ready

So how do you know if you are ready for growth?

Start by asking yourself a few simple questions:

• Is my health supporting my goals, or working against them?
  
  

• Are my relationships nourishing or draining me?
  
  

• Do I have clarity on what I truly want, or am I chasing someone else’s version of success?
  
  

If you can answer those questions with honesty, you are already taking the first step toward readiness.

Growth is not about speed; it is about alignment.

When you are ready — truly ready — every opportunity feels different. You are not forcing it. You are flowing with it.

Final Thoughts

Lindsay Preston’s work is a reminder that readiness is the bridge between potential and performance.

When you are grounded, aligned, and aware, coaching becomes a catalyst for transformation. When you are not, it can feel like another demand on an already full plate.

The next time you feel that urge to level up, pause and ask yourself: Am I ready for this season?

Because readiness, not hustle, is the real secret to success.

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Lindsay Preston and Her Coaching Philosophy

03:09 The Journey to Neuroscience and Emotional Intelligence in Coaching

05:57 Working with High Achievers and the Importance of Readiness for Coaching

09:00 Identifying Readiness for Coaching: Key Behaviors and Indicators

12:03 The Role of Total Brain Assessments in Coaching

15:01 Marketing Strategies and Building a Sustainable Coaching Business

17:48 Scaling the Coaching Business and Leadership Development Vision

Full Transcript

Lindsay Preston (00:00)

You really have to be at the right season, the right time to get into coaching.

Amanda Kaufman (00:00)

Yeah, okay.

Lindsay Preston (00:04)

high performance coaching is like, you gotta be locked in. You've gotta be at a place where you've cleaned up some things in your health or you're just aware of them and you're able to really amplify who you are.

Amanda Kaufman (00:33)

Well, hey, hey, welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And today I'm joined by Lindsay Preston, PCC. She's the founder and CEO of Trust and Leadership Coaching, where she helps driven leaders move from overachievement to sustainable high performance. With over a decade of coaching and a 92 % client success rate, with clients saying that they got all and more from working with her, Lindsay blends neuroscience

emotional intelligence, love that too, and whole person development to create measurable lasting change. She specializes in guiding leaders at every stage from rising stars, discovering their voice to masterful executive leaders that are shaping culture and legacy. Known for her direct yet compassionate style, Lindsay creates high trust environments where leaders build resilience, clarity, and impact. She's passionate,

about revolutionizing leadership by proving that success and wellbeing are not at odds, but are instead deeply connected. Lindsay, what a pleasure to have you on the show.

Lindsay Preston (01:42)

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Amanda Kaufman (01:46)

my gosh, I've been geeking out, you know, on you because you're, forgive me for saying it, such a nerd, such a nerd in such a beautiful way. And I love your emphasis as a coach on neuroscience and emotional intelligence and things like that to really help leaders activate and just loving this idea that you're helping people move out of this work-life balance oppositional conflict thing. I'm so curious, like what?

What pointed you in the direction of neuroscience is the way and emotional intelligence is the way? How did you figure that out?

Lindsay Preston (02:19)

Yeah, so it started when I was first introduced to coaching and my first impression of it was like Lucy on peanuts was like it lacked credibility and someone just put up a sign and anyone could do it because I had a psych background but I knew I didn't want to Yeah, exactly. I had a psych background but I knew I didn't want to be a therapist and so I played with HR for a while and anyways when a coaching came my way I was like, I don't know and somebody said well

Amanda Kaufman (02:31)

The therapist is in.

Lindsay Preston (02:45)

I know a process that's neuroscience backed and that was like ding ding ding, like okay, we've got some credibility here, something that's like I can ground and root myself into that this is a real deal and started the process as a client and I was like, man, this is great. This is better than what I'd had in therapy at the time for many years and it got me moving and grooving. So yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (03:05)

That's amazing. That's so cool. I'm a high performance coach myself and I would be lying if I didn't say that the fact is so science backed and then later, you know, the high performance habits book that was a peer reviewed, you know, study of high performance in high achievers was a huge factor in me wanting to do that as a coaching certification. So that makes sense. What turned you on to psychology? And you said you like tried HR, like.

Sounds like you've been a people person for a long time.

Lindsay Preston (03:35)

Yeah, so I always say things kind of chose me in the journey along the way. So when I went to college, I didn't know what I was going to major in. And I ended up taking an Intro to Psych class. And it was in a big lecture hall. And I ended up, and they had like our student ID names with our grades. And I would go and I would look at it and I was like, man, I'm making the highest grade in this class. Yet it doesn't feel like I'm ever studying. It feels really fun to me. And I was like, OK, I'm going to follow this breadcrumb.

Amanda Kaufman (03:40)

and

Lindsay Preston (04:03)

And so I ended up then majoring in it, again, not knowing where that would lead. Coming out of college, it's like, OK, what do I do with a psych degree now? Somebody had put my ears like, why don't you try human resources? And I'm like, OK. So I start going into human resources and learn pretty quickly the pros and cons of that. And then I just, in that period, I had a lot of life transition too and realized, OK, coaching is like this profession I didn't know existed. But it's the perfect one for me in that.

Amanda Kaufman (04:30)

Yeah, I had such a similar experience on my own journey in the sense of like, what are you gonna do? I don't know, engineering, I'm good at math and stuff, right? And just like going through those motions to an extent, still showing up, right? And then being in the consulting world, I was always drawn to the company I worked for how to...

core value around people development, like we develop our people and we develop ourselves. And that ended up being kind of that accidental transition to like, people, you know, I love people. And same thing, you know, coaching was very much an accident, but a beautiful one, you know, one I would never turn away from. So talk to me a little bit about who you're working with now. It sounds like you're working with a lot of high achievers, high performers. What is it about working with this crowd that sparks you?

Lindsay Preston (05:19)

Yeah, so I want to kind of backtrack in that. And I've had a coaching business now for 11 years. And when I first started out, I worked with women in transition. And so over the years, it was like, like digging into these women, no matter what the transition was, if it was career or personal or whatever. And I really found that I loved working with women in their career transitions. And so that was like, OK, maybe I'm going to dabble into more leadership coaching, started to do that. And then I started to see all these women come to me and they were burnt out.

Amanda Kaufman (05:27)

Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Preston (05:46)

And as we built up themselves in essence and who they were, it became clear of like, ooh, where I'm at at work isn't really fulfilling who I am. And so a lot of them started their own business. It was in that like boss babe movement of the 2010s. And then they realized really quickly that entrepreneurship is hard as well. And so I realized in all this, it's like, what if I could just go into like the heart of

what the problem is and really work with leaders in corporations and founders too, right? And really build them up along the way. And of course, know, like most coaches, we all wanna work with those driven, high achieving people because those are the people that get results. Because coaching is so action oriented that if you're not taking that action, especially between session.

that's when we start to have some of those yellow flags of like, ooh, maybe this is more of a therapy situation or maybe you're just needing more time to really digest what's going on and that's not quite the right fit. So yeah, that's kind of what led me to where I am today.

Amanda Kaufman (06:49)

You know, lately I've been obsessing about this idea of micro skills. You know, that there's, that when somebody, a high achiever, they're not just a high achiever because they've got, you know, drink their kale smoothie and they get up at 5 a.m. and they have all of the rituals, which they may have the rituals too. But when I look at an authentically high performer, like somebody who's been able to network into, tough to get into networks or to be able to create.

things that the general public wants to buy, like, holy amazing, you know? It's not because they're doing one or two or three or even ten things well. I've noticed with really high performers, they often have, like, these micro skills, you know? And for example, I love that you're bringing this up because I don't think we've ever talked about this on the show ever before, that some people are not yet ready

for the services of a high-performance coach, right? Like they're not ready yet because coaching's not gonna be supportive yet because there's some skills that they need to develop and those skills don't need to be facilitated with one-on-one time as a coach. That's my statement. Would you like to argue or add?

Lindsay Preston (07:59)

Thank

I

completely agree wholeheartedly. You really have to be at the right season, the right time to get into coaching. And I will say a lot of the coaching I did over the years, because I was trained by someone who used to be a therapist and she, this was like back in the nineties, and she realized like a lot of therapy wasn't moving people forward. And she was one of the first people that implemented coaching. And so a lot of my coaching over the years was really on the brink of both. Because you think about women in transition, that's a sensitive time, right?

Amanda Kaufman (08:06)

Yeah, okay.

Yeah.

Lindsay Preston (08:33)

But true, like high performance coaching is like, you gotta be locked in. You've gotta be at a place where you've cleaned up some things in your health or you're just aware of them and you're able to really amplify who you are.

Amanda Kaufman (08:45)

Yeah, yeah. my gosh, I'm so excited to have you on the show because you have so much experience as a coach. So like these skills, these micro skills that you might be looking for, maybe you look at it a slightly different way, but what are the tells that someone is ready to activate if they were to hire you as a coach? Like what are some of the behaviors maybe that you look for that tell you like,

that person can activate a coaching relationship. Like they are going to be better off and the investment is a no-brainer because they are going to definitely get ROI. What are some of the things you look for?

Lindsay Preston (09:19)

Yes, this is great question, because I'm really picky about it, because I've been in coaching programs before and spent a lot of money, and I didn't get onboarded well, and I wasn't a great fit for it, and then you leave there feeling really disheartened, and you feel worse about yourself, and so I'm, again, really picky about this. So when I'm on a consult with somebody, or I'm just talking through somebody, I'm looking for a lot of things. I'm looking for how sharp they are, and how easy they're able to communicate.

I also kind of go off the beaten path, even though they're coming to me for career and leadership growth of, okay, tell me about your family. Like, what's your family life like? Tell me about your finances. Tell me about your health. And if there are cracks in those areas, especially big cracks, I'm like, ugh, okay, we need to maybe take some extra time or maybe this isn't gonna be a right fit. Because again, I've learned the hard way.

of seasons where I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna amplify my career and amplify my business, but my marriage wasn't in a great spot. And the whole time it was just like, okay, like I had all this drama at home and like figuring all that out. And so I just wasn't able to be at a high performance place. So now I know what to look for. The other thing I'll say is that we again, not only have a really robust like discovery call, if you will.

Amanda Kaufman (10:17)

Mmm.

Lindsay Preston (10:35)

but then an onboarding process and we take our clients through a two month onboarding where we're giving them an assessment called total brain that I actually discovered when I went and got a brain scan. Because when I was in this like whole journey of like, okay, what's going on with me? I got this brain scan and they came out and they first gave me the total brain assessment. They were like, well, Lindsay, you have this, this and this. And I was like, that's crap. And then they showed me the brain scan and I was like.

Okay, I can't deny what's on the brain scan. So I brought in total brain in my practice of like, okay, let's see what's underneath the hood here to see like what we can easily clean up. Because sometimes like say focus is bad. Okay, let's build some habits. Let's play some games so you can work on your focus versus my gosh, you're testing for PTSD. Like girl, you need to go work on that, do some EMDR and then come back to me. Because again,

If you're not in that space to move forward, you're just gonna feel really stuck and it's just gonna be harder and nobody wants that.

Amanda Kaufman (11:31)

You know, I think of it as being almost like handing the keys to a Ferrari to a 16 year old. You know, right? Cause it's not that the coaching is like bad or anything like that. It's just that if you give the keys to that Ferrari to somebody who's not trained in how to drive it, didn't do anything to earn the car, right? They're going to treat it differently and get a different performance result out of it than they would if they started at the Honda Civic and you know.

Lindsay Preston (11:37)

my gosh. Yes.

Amanda Kaufman (11:58)

got to the next stage in their journey. This is so good. So these total brain scans, is that through the Amen Clinic by chance? That's really cool. I'm jealous. I wanna do that. I'm gonna do that. That's the thing I'm gonna do.

Lindsay Preston (12:06)

It is, yes. Well, I will say,

you know, the brain scan is interesting, but total brain in that assessment is very much foreshadows what's on the scan. So it bypasses the cost, the time, the pain for some people. Like when my daughter went and got it, she's big about her blood and all that stuff. So it's kind of a workaround to be able to see what's going on in your brain.

Amanda Kaufman (12:33)

That's super cool. That's really, really cool. So when you're working with these high performers, know, a question I always get from people is like, where do you find clients? And you know, you've been a coach for 11 years. A lot of coaches, in my experience anyway, are very hesitant to...

get support or help on how to get a client and then they end up, it's almost like they're hoarding all of this amazing talent or hoarding all of this amazing education or access to assessments and tools. The very things that you did, you invested, but you turned this into a business with more than a decade longevity, which, dear listener, if you're not aware, that's freakishly successful.

Like for a lot of businesses, they don't make it out of the first couple of years. I saw a stat for the coaching industry that something like 80 % of coaching business founders don't make it to the end of the third year, right? And I can vouch for that one just because I've worked with so many coaches at the Coaches Plaza as well. So what would you say? Like what's your no BS answer to somebody who's like, where do I get clients? Like what would you say?

Lindsay Preston (13:42)

I would say it's a hard gig because there have been seasons in my business where I have a lot of clients and then the marketing networking piece just goes away or it's not as strong. and what I've realized in time is for a lot of people, especially me being a woman who still has a monthly cycle and so I have ups and downs and having two kiddos.

that it was a lot to ask for one person. And that's why I got to the point where I burned out. And so once I started to realize of like, how can I like scale this in a way to bring on somebody to take the load off? And we're not just talking like a VA or anything like that. Like somebody who can help move the needle forward. That's when things started to really open up for me because...

for so many years, was just this messaging of like, you can do it, you can do all the things and like, look at all these people making money and I did it with as little help as possible and I'm sipping martinis on the beach or whatever. And I kept just kind of like, what's wrong with me? And then I realized, actually, there's nothing wrong with me and two, I'm so in depth with my clients that when I've been in programs where they have been great marketers, they haven't been great coaches.

And so I just wanna offer that to people is that at some point it's gonna get bigger than you and you have to make that jump to being like, okay, now that I have a full client load or whatever it is, how can I bring on somebody else? So did I answer your question Amanda?

Amanda Kaufman (15:07)

No,

I think it was just so honest and real and I've learned how to market more in the latter years. I've been in business only eight years. But the first two years it was a lot of word of mouth and referral based networking and I learned this magic trick which I'll share with y'all just free and clear. Whenever you meet someone cool.

just ask them who's someone who'd be better off knowing me, right? Like, can you make an introduction? And so, like, that's how I built my business in the first couple of years is I started with literally eight names on a post-it because at the time, I personally was just so, I'd been so heads down and butts up in a consulting role that had me traveling 46 weeks a year. I was friendly, I had a lot of friendly connections, but I didn't have a lot of...

shall we say like champions that, you even if I changed my career or even if I changed, you know, what I was gonna be doing that they would still be there, right? So I had my little list of eight and I just, I started there and I was adding value to the relationship as we had because we were already friendly. And then I simply asked who would be better off knowing me and that's how I was able to kick off.

the business and then later I learned marketing skills. And I'll agree with you, like our programs are pretty bodacious, but our marketing business shiny, right? In a lot of ways. So that's something that we're always working on, but I also think that it takes time to build a business. Like, so, okay, this is fine. What do you do now that's so normal at year 11 that you wouldn't dare doing in the first year?

Lindsay Preston (16:44)

Ooh, girl.

Amanda Kaufman (16:44)

when it comes

to business.

Lindsay Preston (16:46)

Now I can go into a networking event and not know anybody and it's nothing. Whereas at the beginning I'd be like, my God, I'm like, I don't know anyone. What do I say? A little lot. And now it's just like, like you're in this pool and you've been in this pool of discomfort for so long that like you just stop caring, right?

Amanda Kaufman (17:04)

I think that's the thing. It's not that

it really gets more comfortable exactly, because I still kind of get a little heavey when I'm going into a brand new room in a brand new space. A little bit of anxiety on my part, I suppose. But I agree with you completely. There's that skill of handling it and just like it is what it is. Of course it's uncomfortable. I was listening to a...

Daily fire by Brendan Burchard in the growth day app today, and he was like Why do we keep expecting things to not suck and what he was talking about is like people that get mad at traffic that live in a in a big metro area It's like you do realize it's like this every day has been like this for the past 50 years it will probably continue to be like this and yet you're mad and it's like so same thing with the networking I think it's like

Yeah, it's uncomfortable. It's never comfortable to meet new people. Yeah, that's so good. So Lindsay, where are you headed? What are you working on next?

Lindsay Preston (17:54)

Yeah, totally.

Yeah, so the big thing now is scaling what I've grown over the past 10 years. So like I said, I realized around year eight, nine, 10 ish, it was a long time to come to this conclusion of like, okay, I got to scale this baby. Like I can't just continue to do what I've been doing. And so in that finding really great people who are willing to work at a startup level, because it's not easy work, right? And

in that like training along the way. it's taking these pieces of my brain and being able to say, okay, like, here's what we do with the client at this level. And here's what we do at this client at this level. Here's how we market this. This is what we say yes to this. So we say no to so it's just a lot of decisions that are coming my way. But it's also really exciting. Because even though I love coaching, there was a season when again, around eight, nine, 10 years, I was just like, okay, I'm ready for something else. But I also loved what I did. And so now it's like I'm

Amanda Kaufman (18:49)

Mm.

Lindsay Preston (18:53)

challenged all the time, but in just totally different ways. And it's weird to be like, wow, I feel masterful as a coach. That's weird to be. Yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (18:56)

That's so beautiful.

Well, mean, you've done a lot of it. I mean, at some point, you've got to claim that greatness, you know, and it's and this surprised surprised me too. Like, and I agree with kind of hanging on to the former version. There's a great book called The E-Myth, Dear Listener, that if you haven't read it, you must because as a coach, we all start as a technician. Like we're the doer. We're the one that is in the call.

We're in the relationship. And if you're going to grow the business beyond being a freelancer, then that means you need to have management. That means that you need to have vision. And it sounds like, Lindsay, you're activating this next level of vision for it's a brand you're building. It's no longer just Lindsay is a great coach. That's amazing. What's up?

Lindsay Preston (19:47)

Totally. You nailed it. Yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (19:50)

I'm thinking about that guy that always says, what's your dream? So like, what is the vision of what you're building as the brand?

Lindsay Preston (19:58)

Yeah, so the big thing is doing leadership development differently because so much of leadership development are these one-off trainings or it's just like who you are at work as a leader. And again, as I've worked with so many people over the years and in a way that was probably on paper a lot of life coaching with some leadership coaching in it, it's like everything is intertwined. And the way that you're showing up at work relates to your health and to your relationships and to your finances, et cetera, et cetera.

Amanda Kaufman (20:25)

Yes.

Lindsay Preston (20:25)

So I'm really big about that piece and really big too about looking underneath the hood of things. So again, if it's like, just, I'm not a great communicator. Maybe I just need to go take a class at Harvard Business Review and knock this out. And it's like, well, what's underneath that? Is it that your focus is bad? Your memory is bad? Is it that you have negative thinking? Is it that you have a lot of people? Like I love like digging deep into that. And so as we move forward with my company called Trusting Leadership Coaching,

Amanda Kaufman (20:44)

Mm.

Lindsay Preston (20:53)

It's really getting companies on board and looking at, there's so much more than just these skills. It's underneath and who the person is and to getting the body on board. You know, we're a society that walks around with these brains and it's like pump everything in the brain, but it's like you have just as many, you know, nerves in your body. And so if your body's not on board, you're gonna continuously be held back.

Amanda Kaufman (21:19)

Lindsay, how can people keep up with you? What's the best way to follow you?

Lindsay Preston (21:23)

Yeah, so my hangout lately has been LinkedIn. So if you just search Lindsey Preston on there, you should be able to find me.

Amanda Kaufman (21:31)

Fabulous, thank you so much for being on the show.

Lindsay Preston (21:34)

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Amanda Kaufman (21:36)

Amazing and hey listener all of Lindsey's links are below in the show notes wherever you happen to be watching or listening And if you love this episode, don't forget to hit subscribe first but then grab the link and send it to three of your friends because they need to hear this awesome story about the journey and what really really matters in business so go ahead and share it with them and if you've been loving the show one of the best things you can do for us is Leave a review make it honest, you know, we're not gonna ask you for the five stars, you know, I think we're worth that but just

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in case, an honest review is awesome because it helps people to decide if they're going to spend time with us or not. We're going to be back with another episode very soon, but until then, make sure you do what matters.