The Power of Small Tip #19: Name What You’re Carrying
The Power of Small: How Little Things Make a Big Difference
Think about the last time something small made a big difference: a word of encouragement, a small idea, a two-minute lesson that stuck. This season on I Love Learning, we’re diving into The Power of Small. Host Dr. Gina Anderson will unpack stories of how learning doesn’t have to be big to be powerful because sometimes, it’s the smallest spark that ignites the biggest change.
For more on the Power of Small, check out Dr. Gina Anderson’s TEDx Raleigh talk “How Microlearning and Connections Transform Us: The Power of Being Present”.
I Love Learning Podcast, S2 EP19: Dr. Lana B. Henry
Have you ever achieved everything you were supposed to achieve — and still felt like it wasn’t enough?
Not because you hadn’t worked hard enough. Not because you hadn’t earned it.
But because the drive that built everything on the outside started somewhere much earlier — somewhere on the inside.
In this episode of I Love Learning, Dr. Lana B. Henry, licensed psychotherapist, trauma specialist, and author of The Cost of Excellence, shares a truth that too many high achievers have never been given language for:
You cannot build something new on top of unprocessed pain.
Dr. Lana works every day with people who have built extraordinary careers, companies, and lives — while quietly carrying something heavy. And what she’s found is this: the voice that tells us we’re not enough, that we don’t deserve the next step, that we should stay small — that voice isn’t our enemy.
It developed to protect us.
But what kept us safe once doesn’t always serve us now.
Healing doesn’t start with a grand gesture. It starts with a small, honest moment — the willingness to name what you’ve been carrying. Because as Dr. Lana reminds us, we can’t change what we can’t name.
And when we do the work — really do the work — what’s waiting on the other side is a freedom we’ve been withholding from ourselves for a very long time.
This week’s tip is: To pause and ask yourself one honest question — What has it cost me to be this successful? Not to judge the answer. Just to name it. Because that small moment of truth is where healing begins, and where the most meaningful kind of leadership is built.
Check out this week’s episode:
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