Aligned Ambition with Pooja V.

Hosted by Pooja Venkatraman

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626

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Hi! I’m Pooja – I’m a double Harvard grad, ex-BCG consultant, and now a writer, thought leader, and executive coach. I help high achievers tackle stress productivity, performance and purpose so they can fulfill their biggest ambitions and unleash their fullest potential… …without sacrificing their sanity, their relationships, their authenticity, or their paychecks. Let’s build the life and career you actually want – one that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. Book a free consult call to discuss working together: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact

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60 recent

August 17, 202616 min

430. The biggest mistake high achievers make that inadvertently caps their performance (part 1)

Hello! I know I just kicked off the 3 Misconceptions About Building Your A+ Career and Life series, and I promise I will get back to it soon! But I also have so many exciting things that I am working on for you guys, that I need a bit of time to focus on that. So for the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting this series. I hope you enjoy! ——— The biggest mistake high achievers make that inadvertently caps their performance (part 1) Is your brain Above The Line or Below The Line? Coffee Chat - one-off coaching about your situation, no strings attached: https://calendly.com/pooja-venkatraman/coffee-chat Consult Call - let’s talk about working together in a full coaching engagement: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact ——— What my clients have to say… “I would in particular recommend Pooja to this specific phenotype of high achievers. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and the outside world might never understand that our lives are not as perfect as they seem, or that we struggle as much as we do. I think that phenotype in particular, would benefit a ton from working with Pooja specifically.” —Client | Head of Business Development at MedTech Company Read client testimonials: https://poojavcoaching.com/testimonials-page

August 10, 202623 min

501. 3 misconceptions about building your A+ career and life (part 1)

Misconception #1 about building your A+ career and life as a high achiever: An A+ career and life = Corner office, C-suite title at a Fortune 500 company, millions of dollars, and a front-page NYT obituary when you die. Truth #1 about building your A+ career and life as a high achiever: An A+ career and life = whatever YOU define as an A+. Which could be the Societal A+, above. Or it could be: Having a stable career, having lots of time to do the activities you enjoy, and having an awesome marriage. It could be: Having lots of excitement, stimulation, and newness, and always saying yes to new opportunities when they come up. It could be: Having a strong relationship with God and investing deeply into your friendships and community. Or any other configuration of the 16 possible Success Scorecard elements that come out of the 20 minute clarity tool I use with my clients. (Want to know your own A+ success scorecard – in 20 minutes? Book a Free Career Audit with me and put “Success Scorecard” in the booking notes: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact ) Whatever your A+ career and life looks like… The mistake I see high achievers make is that if THEIR A+ diverges from the Societal A+... They tell themselves “I just want a B+ life. I guess I’m not that ambitious.” And then they pull back their efforts and don’t try as hard to build their ideal life… Because they don’t think it’s a worthy, ambitious goal. Which is a surefire way to have a B+ life. Not because you didn’t want the Societal A+... But because you didn’t lean all the way into building YOUR A+. Getting clear on YOUR A+... Owning it and embracing it 100%... And then systematically BUILDING it, and closing the gaps between the life you have now and the life you want… All of this is hard to do alone. Here’s what you need: 🔍 The 20 minute clarity tool I use with clients to define their A+ success scorecard in one simple exercise 💬 Time and space to identify the mental blockers that prevent you from embracing your A+ – and tools to overcome them 💪 An expert thought partner to help you systematically problem-solve and close the gaps until you’ve built the life and career you want Book a Free Career Audit with me and put “Success Scorecard" in the booking notes: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact We’ll build your A+ success scorecard together – for free. I’ll map out the plan for embracing your A+ and closing the gaps – also for free. And we’ll talk about whether working together could accelerate your progress. And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠ pooja@poojavcoaching.com ⁠⁠

August 3, 202649 min

500. The Career Advice Harvard Never Taught – an interview with the BRAVE Southeast Asia podcast

For my 500th (!) podcast episode, I have a super fun treat for you all – I am sharing an interview I did recently on the BRAVE Southeast Asia podcast with my HBS classmate, Jeremy Au! We go in full depth into my own career journey (I don’t think I’ve ever shared it in so much detail before). We talk about the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way. And as always, I share some of my favorite frameworks and tools for… 😵‍💫 Tackling stress and burnout 🧭 Making clear-headed career decisions 💪 And the lifelong pursuit of building the life & career you actually want Check out the BRAVE Southeast Asia podcast here! https://open.spotify.com/show/4TnqkaWpTT181lMA8xNu0T?si=8a94933b2bb24fbf If you want my help in building your A+ career and life, book a Free Career Audit with me here, and let’s talk about working together: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠pooja@poojavcoaching.com⁠⁠

July 27, 202653 min

499. How the 20 min clarity tool I use with clients completely changed my approach to dating

In the last few episodes, I’ve been talking a lot about the 20 minute clarity tool that I use with clients to help them get crystal clear on what they WANT. What their ideal lives look like. The true variables that they are solving for. What the POINT of life and work and everything is – according to them. It is such a powerful and insightful tool that can genuinely change how you make every decision and approach everything in your life. And I wanted to give you an in-depth look at what the output of that tool looks like, and the kinds of problem-solving and insights it can unlock. And I thought: What better way to do that, then to tell you about how using this tool completely changed my approach to dating? :) So listen in for all the tea. AND for a sense of how using this tool could change your approach to your next career step :) And if you want to use the 20 min clarity tool with me, book a Free Career Audit and put “Clarity Tool” in the booking notes: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠ pooja@poojavcoaching.com ⁠⁠

July 20, 202625 min

498. Building the life and career you actually want is cringe af

This week, I want to tell you about a subtle mental blocker that keeps high achievers stuck and confused about their next career step… And ultimately prevents them from building the lives and careers they actually want. That blocker is… “Going for what I REALLY want…feels cringe af.” What if I fail? What if I look stupid? What if I flop? What if it ends up being a huge waste of time? And I’m here to tell you… Yep. Going for what you really want is cringe af. I won’t even try to convince you otherwise. And yet… Embracing your cringe might be the noblest, most courageous, most admirable thing you ever do. This week’s podcast episode tells you why. Listen in, and then book a Free Career Audit with me: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact Because the life you want most is waiting on the other side of cringe :) And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠ pooja@poojavcoaching.com ⁠⁠

July 13, 202630 min

497. 5 reasons why high achievers end up in misaligned careers (and lives)

You know what misalignment feels like – that daily friction of dissatisfaction, unfulfillment, restlessness, anxiety, or general “something-feels-off-ness.” You know something has to change. But you can’t seem to put your finger on what it is – or gather enough courage, clarity, or conviction to pull the trigger. No high achiever AIMS to feel misaligned. If anything, you’ve spent your entire life making optimized, strategized, highly analytical decisions to AVOID feeling this way. So how did you end up here? That’s the question this week’s podcast episode answers. It gives you 5 reasons high achievers end up in misaligned careers and lives – even though they're literally aiming for the opposite. And it gives you 1 simple first step to correct that misalignment: Get crystal clear on what you want. I have a 20 minute clarity tool that I use with my clients to do exactly that. It gives you a crystal clear picture of EXACTLY what you want, stack-ranked and ready to use to guide all your decisions going forward. To use that tool with me, book a Free Career Audit with me and put “Episode 497” in the booking notes: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact I’ll email you with next steps. I can’t wait to talk to you :) And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠ pooja@poojavcoaching.com ⁠⁠

July 6, 202621 min

496. Why it’s so hard for high achievers to talk to their friends & family about what to do next in their careers

When you’re in a career transition, the people around you will inevitably ask, “So what do you want to do next?” And even though they’re SO well meaning and just want to help… Those conversations often make you feel worse instead of better. In this episode, I break down 4 reasons why that happens. (It’s not you. It’s not them. This is 100% normal.) I tell you what you need to have better, more productive problem-solving conversations. And I give you the FIRST step you need to take to navigate this transition successfully, which is: Getting crystal clear and 100% unapologetic about what you want. This is surprisingly hard to do… But I have a KILLER tool that I’ve been using with my clients to do exactly that. It takes 20 minutes, and it gives you a clear, precise, and comprehensive snapshot of EXACTLY what you want. A crystal clear, unwavering compass that can guide all your next steps from here. And I would love to use this tool with you. So here’s what I want you to do: Book a Free Career Audit here: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact Put “Episode 496” in the booking notes so I know you want to try out this tool. And I will email you with next steps :) And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠ pooja@poojavcoaching.com ⁠⁠

June 29, 202622 min

495. To build a burnout-free career: Stop trying to do a good job

When I say “stop trying to do a good job,” I do NOT mean “coast, relax, slack off, or just phone it in.” I know that you are ALLERGIC to ever doing that – because me too! I once fired a therapist for telling me to “just relax.” So when I say “stop trying to do a good job,” I mean: STOP solving the “am I good enough?” problem. And START solving someone else’s problem. Because success, achievement, and that sense of finally having arrived and becoming who you want to be… They’re a lot like how Henry David Thoreau described happiness. If you chase them directly, they will evade you. But if you focus on other people’s problems, they will gently come and sit on your shoulder. (And the pursuit of that success will fill you with purpose and fulfillment instead of stress and burnout.) If this all sounds a little abstract, listen to this week’s podcast episode for specific examples of exactly how to do this… …And a simple, one-sentence contemplation that could change your life. And then book your Free Career Audit with me and let’s make a plan for building your burnout-free career: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact We’ll identify exactly what’s not working today and why. And then build a simple, doable plan for closing the gaps. I can’t wait to talk to you :) And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠ pooja@poojavcoaching.com ⁠⁠

June 22, 202629 min

494. 3 lessons every burnt out high achiever can learn from my dad

My parents are not the stereotypical Asian immigrant parents. And my dad has created a lot of traditional success for himself…in an untraditional way. So this (day after) Father’s Day, let’s take a look at what high achievers that are “traditionally successful in a traditional way” can learn from his story :) Book a Free Career Audit here: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact And email me anytime with thoughts, feedback, and topics you’d like to see covered on the podcast! ⁠⁠pooja@poojavcoaching.com⁠⁠

June 20, 20265 min

331. 5 quick career experiments you could do this week (part 5)

I am recovering from a nasty flu this week, and recording a new podcast episode just wasn't on the cards. So instead, we'll be revisiting one of my most popular series from the past - 5 quick career experiments you could do this week! One experiment will drop each day this week. Happy experimenting! And if you want my help structuring and interpreting your career experiments so you can get clear on what's next and make it a success, book a Free Career Audit with me: https://poojavcoaching.com/contact