Welcome to 2026! I hope you’ve had time to reflect and recharge over the holidays, but I’m happy to be back with you for a new year of informative shows and amazing expert guests.

Can you improve your performance and resilience through neuroscience-based strategies? The answer is YES! Today’s conversation covers mental toughness, managing negative thoughts, and creating positive change from the inside out. You’ll discover practical tools for navigating the constant “noise” of your thoughts and letting your mind direct which thoughts deserve your energy and attention. Are you ready to think differently about the way you think? Join us!

Kevin Stacey is an effectiveness expert and former brain imaging specialist who helps individuals and organizations enhance performance, resilience, and results by utilizing neuroscience-based strategies. As the founder of TrainRight, Kevin has trained over 80,000 people across 48 states and four countries to break mental barriers, achieve peak performance, and navigate challenges with confidence. His diverse background blends military service, healthcare expertise, and corporate leadership. As the author of MindRight and TimeRight and a featured guest on major media outlets, Kevin delivers engaging keynotes, workshops, and coaching on mental toughness, time mastery, and high-performance strategies to clients such as Ford, IBM, The New York Times, and the Federal Reserve.

Show Highlights:

1. Overthinking is the #1 cause of unhappiness! (“Is my overthinking becoming counterproductive to the goals I want to accomplish?”)
2. Kevin’s tips for “navigating the noise”: sometimes we need to ignore it, listen to it, or quiet it.
3. Creating your own noise by controlling what you think about
4. Kevin’s tips for developing mental toughness:
5. Separate the brain (the creator of thoughts) and the mind (the director of your thoughts).
6. Use your mind to keep your brain in check.
7. Develop a different relationship with your “scary” thoughts.
8. How our brains harm our happiness
9. Change the subject to change your thinking. (“Thoughts are not facts.”)
10. Applying neuroscience to organizations by reducing insecurity and managing focus
11. Noticing and changing your thoughts interrupts the pattern of your thinking.
12. “What you think, you become; what you feel, you attract; what you imagine, you create.”
13. The “noise” will always

Here we are at the last episode of the STaR Coach Show for 2025, as I’ll be taking some time off, as I usually do, to fully enjoy the holiday season. We have logged 50 episodes this year, exploring what it takes to build coaching skills, grow sustainable businesses, and develop authentic leadership. Coaching is all about the messy, uncertain, courageous work of transformation and building something meaningful. As I look toward 2026, I’m asking myself the same questions I’m asking you today: “What matters most? Where do I need to focus? How do I make sure I’m spending my energy on what actually moves the needle?” Here’s what I know: the problem isn’t that we don’t work hard enough; the problem is that we say YES to too many things, which scatters our energy and hinders our progress. We mistake busyness for progress. In today’s episode, I’m sharing my three words for 2026, along with guidelines for choosing your three words to serve as guideposts, decision filters, and energy anchors. You’ll learn about the year I’m choosing to create with my three words and why your three words might be exactly what you need, also. Join me now!

Show Highlights:

• Reflections on where we’ve been in 2025 (with 50 weekly episodes about building coaching skills, developing leadership capacity, and growing a sustainable business)
• From 2016 until now: 9 years of the STaR Coach Show!
• My three words for 2026:
• Refresh: I need to review my existing programs through fresh eyes and breathe new life into them.
• Uplevel: It’s time to bring on more team members so I can focus on doing my genius work with excellence.
• Bold: I need to be unapologetic about my offerings and do a better job of inviting people in.
• 2026 will be a milestone year for me in three ways: The 500th episode of the podcast, my 40th wedding anniversary, and a special year of integration
• Steps to choosing your three words
• Using your three words as guideposts and filters for each decision and action—a conscious framework for decisions
• Looking back on 2025 and forward to 2026
• Here’s a toast to you for a year of intentional growth, courageous decisions, action, and meaningful impact. I’ll see you in 2026!

Resources:

Get your free resource today to help you choose your Three Words for 2026: STaR Coach Show/473

Connect with Meg:

Get Meg’s FREE download, Finding Your Perfect Match: A Coach's Self-Reflection Guide.

Explore past episodes and other resources at www.STaRcoachshow.com.

Explore the STaR Coach Community and see what’s available there for you!

Visit the STaR Coach Show YouTube Channel! Subscribe today! Join our live show taping on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 1 pm CT.

We are living in what some are calling “a loneliness epidemic.” The holidays, a time for celebrating our connections to each other, only amplify feelings of loneliness for many people. As we are more connected, digitally speaking, than ever before, we have never been more disconnected from one another as human beings. We are tackling this issue head-on today! I’m thrilled to bring you a timely interview with a husband-and-wife team that knows what it means to stick together in partnership. They give us insights into their unique partnership approach, the concept of “sticking together” in an organizational context, and practical strategies for building cohesive teams. Lee and Julie view their current work as the most important of their careers, as it addresses loneliness and the impaired social skills that have emerged since the COVID-19 pandemic in our country. This topic is essential to all of us who have lost our muscle of human connection, and we can rebuild it–one intentional step at a time. Are you ready to improve your connection skills? Join us now!

Dr. Lee Colan and Julie Davis-Colan co-founded The L Group in 1999, driven by a personal calling to equip and encourage leaders to achieve healthy growth. They are CEO advisors, executive coaches, and bestselling authors of 16 leadership books translated into 10 languages. Lee is a former chief human resource officer, organizational psychologist, and leadership consultant who has worked with some of America’s top companies. Julie is a corporate health strategist and leadership consultant who has spearheaded the implementation of corporate wellness initiatives for many of America’s leading organizations. In this episode, Lee and Julie discuss their collaborative work in leadership development, organized culture, and their newly released book: Healthy Leadership. Their next book will be published in September of 2026.

Show Highlights:

• Lee and Julie’s writing process: Pinpointing what the world needs to hear (in their next book) through their consulting work
• Social skills are skills that need to be practiced.
• Multiple factors have contributed to loneliness since the COVID pandemic.
• Fact: We were born to connect. All of our efforts to live a healthy lifestyle (nutrition, exercise, good sleep, etc.) are canceled out by our lack of social connections.
• The quality of our relationships is integral to living a long, healthy life.
• Action steps of Colan’s model to improve your connection skills:
• Reach out. “If you’re in line, get offline!” Everyone wants to be seen, heard, and acknowledged.
• Seek understanding. Find out the story behind the person and find common points of connection.
• Make memories. Initiate shared experiences, whether with new friends, old friends, or teams at work.
• Check in. A text, voicemail, email, or phone call can help cement your connection to another person. Lean into both difficult and celebratory situations by showing up.
• Rituals are an important part of connecting us and creating memories, whether with family, friends, or work teams.
• Creating connections produces positive physiological and psychological outcomes.
• Even remote workers can create intentional points of connection within their teams.
• One key takeaway from Dr. Lee: “Take one little baby step. Reach out to somebody today.”
• One key takeaway from Julie: “Make a commitment to reaching out to someone each day. Your life will be much more enjoyable, and you will be happier. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Resources:

Connect with Julie...