In The Driver's Seat

What if the thing that terrified you most was also the thing that made you unstoppable?In this episode, I'm taking you through my years in racing from a scared 11-year-old buckling into a quarter midget, all the way to sprint cars at Knoxville, Iowa and what it taught me about self-doubt, fear, and the difference between bad equipment and a bad driver.⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 — The question everyone kept asking me 2:15 — My dad's near-fatal crash and the fear it planted in me 7:30 — Why I finally got in the car (borrowing someone else's belief) 11:08 — The "parking brake" breakthrough with Ken Rice 16:15 — Moving up: why Jim's belief mattered more than my own 21:40 — Sprint cars at Knoxville: terrified and doing it anyway 26:50 — The three lessons racing taught me about life💡 Key Takeaways • Bad equipment ≠ lack of ability. When things aren't working, check the tools, the support, and the environment before blaming yourself. • Borrow someone's belief until you build your own. Confidence often arrives AFTER the doing, not before. • Fear doesn't need to be gone. It just needs to get out of the driver's seat.🎧 In The Driver's Seat is a podcast about fueling your journey to a life of purpose and passion with practical mindset tips, inspiring stories, and the courage to live on your own terms.📬 Want more encouragement in your inbox? Subscribe to my newsletter, Hello Possibility, atlisafrench.rocks/newsletter📲 Follow Lisa Instagram: @lisafrench111 Facebook: @lisafrench111

In this episode, Lisa French takes you to a house on the corner of Elm and 10th Street in Lincoln, Illinois, where her very first best friend lived. Her Grandma French was born in 1900, collected dolls she'd find at yard sales and fix up, played rolls of music on her player piano, listened to the emergency radio scanner, and made Grandpa take her to the racetrack even though he thought racing was foolish. From dominoes partnerships and pizza delivery rituals to a buttercup yellow house and a trophy collection that grew with every race, this is a portrait of a woman who was steady, grounded, and fully present in her own life. And in the lives of the people she loved. Including what happened years after Lisa lost her, when a dream that kept coming back finally made sense.Key TakeawaysThe people who shape us most aren't always the loudest ones in the room. Sometimes they're the steadiest.Grief doesn't always look like falling apart. Sometimes it looks like running to your mom at a funeral at sixteen and crying like a little kid, because that's exactly what you needed to do.Signs from the people we've lost are real, if we're open to receiving them. The message doesn't always come the way we expect.Being chosen in the small specific ways is one of the greatest gifts one person can give another.The people who love us most don't leave us. They actually get closer.💡 "She wasn't just cheering from the sidelines. She wanted to save the pieces of our wins to keep at home with her."Resources MentionedVisualization Guide for Intentional Creation (free) lisafrench.rocks/visualizationHello, Possibility newsletter lisafrench.rocks/newsletterFollow Lisa📲 Instagram and Facebook @lisafrench111Lisa French is an Empowerment Coach, content creator, and keynote speaker based in Panama City Beach, Florida. She helps people get intentional about their lives, their work, and what they're building. Follow along at lisafrench.rocks and subscribe to her weekly newsletter, Hello, Possibility.

In this episode, Lisa French gets honest about something she's been noticing in her own life... a quiet drift toward staying home, staying in, and choosing the comfort of less human interaction.Inspired by that realization, and by a memorable week at the Knoxville Nationals when the cell signal disappeared and real connection stepped in to fill the space, Lisa explores the tension many of us are feeling. We are more connected to everything than ever before, yet somehow more disconnected from each other.If you've found yourself choosing the couch over the coffee date, the scroll over the conversation, or convenience over connection, this episode is for you.Key Takeaways• Being connected to everything is not the same as being connected to each other. The difference matters more than most of us realize.• Disconnection rarely looks dramatic. More often, it looks like an ordinary day that slowly becomes a habit.• Solitude can be intentional and restorative. It can also become the path of least resistance disguised as peace. Learning the difference is important.• Real connection has always required the same thing: presence. The tools have changed. That part hasn't.• You don't need to make a massive change. Just notice. Then choose one moment of genuine connection this week.💡 Quote from This Episode"Real connection has always required presence.”Resources• Hello, Possibility Newsletter (free weekly inspiration)lisafrench.rocks/newsletter• Visualization Guide for Intentional Creation (free)lisafrench.rocks/visualizationFollow LisaInstagram and Facebook: @lisafrench111Lisa French is an Empowerment Coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the In the Driver's Seat podcast. Through her content, speaking, and coaching, she helps people become more intentional about the lives they're creating, the stories they're living, and the possibilities they're willing to believe in. Learn more at lisafrench.rocks and subscribe to her free weekly newsletter, Hello, Possibility. 

There's a gap between the story you tell about yourself and the signal you're actually sending — and most of us have never stopped to look at it.In this episode, Lisa French gets honest about the difference between wanting to feel better and wanting to feel understood, why we reach for commiseration when something goes wrong, and what it actually looks like to start shifting your emotional broadcast — even in the smallest moments. Including a personal story she's never shared on the podcast before, this one is a warm, honest mirror for anyone who's ever wondered why certain patterns keep showing up in their life.Lisa reflects on:Why the happy, positive person venting on social media isn't a bad person — just someone with a gap worth looking atThe difference between commiseration and actually moving forwardHow what you practice in private becomes your real broadcast, not the identity you've claimedHow she navigated her second divorce quietly — and why she made that choiceThe one question to ask yourself before you post, vent, or reach for a complaint💡 "The signal you're sending isn't determined by the identity you've claimed. It's determined by what you practice — what you return to, what you rehearse, what you reach for when something goes wrong."ResourcesHello, Possibility newsletter — lisafrench.rocks/newsletterFollow Lisa📲 Instagram and Facebook: @lisafrench111

You know what you want. Maybe you've written it down. Maybe you've even made a vision board. And then life happened — the routine kicked back in, and that dream quietly faded into the background.The gap between the dream and the life you actually want is what this episode is about. And I'm giving you a real starting point to close it.In this episode, Lisa French unpacks why most visions fade (hint: it's not motivation), shares the one step most people skip, and gives you a simple but powerful practice to start closing the gap today. If your dream has gone quiet on you, this episode is for you.Lisa reflects on:Why having a vision without alignment is just decoration on a posterboard — and what changes when you close the gap.The season of her life in Iowa when everything looked fine from the outside but something felt deeply off.The real question to ask yourself instead of "what do I want?"How emotional visualization — not wishful thinking — is what actually moves things forward.Why the move to Florida wasn't a leap of blind faith, but a series of aligned steps informed by clarity.💡 Key Quote: "The dream doesn't fade because you're not trying hard enough. It fades because wishing and living are two completely different things. And nobody teaches you how to close that gap."Try This Now: Ask yourself — What am I longing for that I haven't said out loud? Not to fix it today. Just to name it. Acknowledging it is the beginning.Resources Mentioned:Visualization Guide for Intentional Creation (free) — lisafrench.rocks/visualizationHello, Possibility Newsletter — lisafrench.rocks/newsletter📅 Dream to Done Workshop — Tuesday, May 19 at 6:30 PM CT We're going to do the work together. You'll leave with your Map of Possibility: a clear, simple guide that connects your vision to real, grounded action. Live on Zoom with a limited-time replay available. lisafrench.rocks/dream-to-done📲 Follow Lisa:Instagram: instagram.com/lisafrench111Facebook: facebook.com/lisafrench111Website: lisafrench.rocks