The Liz Show: Executive Psychology & Performance Under Pressure

Hosted by Liz Louis (Elizabeth Louis)

Business Entrepreneurship Education

Website RSS feed

Episodes

139

Latest episode

Jul 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Welcome to The Liz Show: Executive Psychology & Performance Under Pressure. Hosted by Elizabeth Louis, an executive psychology advisor specializing in identity architecture, thinking traps, and performance under pressure, this podcast explores how high-performing individuals think, decide, and operate when the stakes are real. Episodes break down the psychological patterns that shape decision-making, confidence, composure, and leadership capacity. Topics range from cognitive distortions and identity structure to behavioral economics, high-performance psychology, and the internal constraints that limit expansion. Elizabeth also integrates biblical wisdom throughout many conversations, reflecting her own Christian worldview and the role faith can play in shaping identity, responsibility, and resilience. Some episodes focus deeply on psychological frameworks and performance science, while others explore the intersection of psychology, faith, and personal responsibility. If you're interested in understanding how internal architecture affects performance in business, leadership, and life, The Liz Show examines the patterns underneath how people think, act, and grow under pressure.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

July 15, 202629 min

Why a Scarcity Mindset Limits You in Negotiations

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains how a scarcity mindset—not a lack of negotiation tactics—often drives executives to undersell themselves, concede early, or lose leverage in high-stakes conversations. Drawing from her executive advising and performance psychology work, she argues that negotiations break down when unconscious belief systems and a dysregulated nervous system hijack performance, especially when scarcity shifts from “there’s never enough” externally to “I’m not enough” internally. She connects Type A patterns to two roots: fear of poverty and the belief that love is earned, which can create rejection dynamics, fear of others’ judgment, and toxic shame. Liz offers markers to spot scarcity-driven behavior (relief after conceding, post-hoc rationalization, and holding firm feeling unsafe) and concludes that real change requires healing identity-level beliefs, belonging, and trust in God—not more technique. 00:00 Scarcity And Negotiations 01:29 Why Skills Aren't Enough 04:04 Unconscious Beliefs Take Over 06:29 Defining Scarcity Mindset 11:26 Type A Roots And Fear 13:15 Rejection And Toxic Shame 18:23 How Scarcity Sabotages Deals 23:39 Three Warning Markers 26:11 Healing Worth And Abundance 27:12 Key Takeaways And Next Steps Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

July 8, 202611 min

Overgeneralization: The Thinking Trap Driving Toxic Shame (and How to Fix It)

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains overgeneralization as a shame-induced cognitive distortion that hurts performance and identity by turning a single incident into a sweeping conclusion, often marked by absolute words like “always,” “never,” “all,” and “everybody,” or by nominalization (making a process into a fixed “thing,” e.g., “my marriage is sick”). She describes thinking traps as typically showing up as self put-downs, catastrophic future beliefs, or critical regret-based thoughts, and notes that clients begin with a root analysis using five assessments to understand thought patterns and identity incongruence. Liz links overgeneralization to pessimism, reactive assumptions, perfectionism, critical self-talk, double mindedness, and toxic shame spirals that restrict life through rigid, grandiose “rules” about happiness. The antidote she offers is a three-column technique: evidence for, evidence against, and alternative conclusions to build mindfulness and reduce absolutist judgments. 00:00 Thinking Traps Intro 00:51 Three Shame Categories 01:56 Defining Overgeneralization 03:12 Nominalization Explained 05:00 Common Examples 05:55 Pessimism And Perfectionism 06:59 Toxic Shame Spirals 09:49 Three Column Antidote 10:30 Mindfulness In Real Life 11:21 Practice And Wrap Up Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

July 1, 202610 min

How All-or-Nothing Thinking Fuels Perfectionism, Fear of Failure, and Toxic Shame

Send us Fan Mail Liz breaks down the cognitive trap of all-or-nothing (either/or) thinking—seeing life as black-or-white—and explains how it increases suffering by driving rigid self-judgment and critical self-talk. Drawing on psychometrics work and her root-analysis approach, she frames thinking traps as symptoms that reveal deeper “weeds,” most often perfectionism, pride/need to be right, fear of failure, and difficulty giving grace, which ultimately trace back to toxic shame. Liz illustrates the trap with everyday examples and shows how it manifests as extreme self-evaluations with no room for mistakes. As an antidote, she recommends catching absolutizing language, repeating “there are no absolutes,” and shifting to spectrum-based thinking using percentages to stay in the gray. She also connects all-or-nothing thinking to grandiosity through both inflation and deflation patterns and urges listeners to track the linguistic cues that signal toxic shame at work. https://form.jotform.com/Elizabeth_Louis/what-thinking-trap-is-limiting-your Take the assessment: 00:00 All or Nothing Trap 00:38 Thinking Traps and Shame 01:53 Defining Black and White 02:34 Root Weeds Behind It 05:02 How It Shows Up 06:18 Antidote Stay in Gray 07:51 Think in Percentages 08:24 Grandiosity Two Modes 09:36 Spot the Root Signals 10:14 Closing Follow the Thread Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

June 5, 202611 min

Why You Feel Unsafe When Nothing Is Wrong

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains how trauma can leave you feeling anxious and unsafe even in objectively safe environments because the nervous system stays conditioned to detect threat based on what it has learned to expect. She describes how post-trauma bias toward threat involves the amygdala becoming more sensitive, the hippocampus mislabeling present situations as past danger (often called being “triggered”), and the prefrontal cortex becoming less effective under stress, alongside neuroception—automatic scanning for safety or threat. Liz outlines common real-time signs (tension, overanalyzing, assuming something is wrong, difficulty relaxing, waiting for the “other shoe to drop”) and how mislabeling these sensations can lead to control, self-doubt, and reinforced hypervigilance. She recommends regulating the body first, anchoring in the present, doing a reality check, staying when the instinct is to leave (when truly safe), and building new evidence through repetition, connecting this process to biblical themes and her course, “Healing Trauma: The Jesus Way.” Grab the Course Here: https://elizabethlouis.io/products/healing-trauma Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

June 3, 202629 min

Dissociation: The Invisible Trauma Response (How to Spot It and Come Back to Presence)

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains dissociation as an often-invisible trauma response that can persist from childhood into adulthood, allowing people to appear high-functioning while feeling absent from their own lives. She distinguishes dissociation from simple “zoning out,” describing it as a nervous system state shift triggered by perceived threat: trigger, sympathetic spike, inescapability judgment, prefrontal downshift, and time/sensation distortion. Liz outlines common signs (emotional and bodily disconnection, going blank in conflict, memory gaps, depersonalization, derealization) and emphasizes how intellectualizing can be a “brainy” form of dissociation. She discusses the costs—blocked connection, joy, clarity, and memory—and offers ways to catch early “pre-drop” cues and shift states through naming, orienting to surroundings, bodily anchoring, structured breathing, partial presence, and repetition. She also contrasts normal everyday dissociation with dangerous patterns and mentions her course, Healing Trauma the Jesus Way. Grab the course: https://elizabethlouis.io/products/healing-trauma Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

May 31, 202625 min

How Trauma Creates Micro-Avoidance (and Quietly Sabotages Your Potential)

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains how people often underperform not from lack of capability or discipline, but because trauma (including childhood trauma or more recent events) trains the nervous system for survival rather than expansion, creating subtle “micro-avoidance” that shows up as hesitation, overthinking, delaying decisions, and avoiding discomfort. She outlines three trauma-related shifts: a more sensitive amygdala that reads neutral cues as threats, a prefrontal cortex that becomes less effective under stress, and a nervous system that prioritizes certainty and control over growth—making pressure, visibility, and uncertainty feel unsafe even when they’re opportunities. Liz argues this creates an internal split between growth and safety, shaping identity and lowering standards over time. She recommends retraining in micro-moments by redefining discomfort, shortening the gap between awareness and action, regulating the body while acting, and building evidence through repeated follow-through, and she offers her course “Healing Trauma the Jesus Way” and one-on-one sessions. Book Your Needs Analysis Diagnostic Here: https://calendly.com/elizabethlouis/workwithme Grab the Course Here: https://elizabethlouis.io/products/healing-trauma 00:00 Why Potential Gets Blocked 01:29 Trauma Creates Hidden Patterns 03:26 Survival Brain vs Growth 05:25 Three Brain Shifts After Trauma 09:36 Uncertainty Triggers Avoidance 11:50 Micro Avoidance Explained 14:29 Avoidance Becomes A Habit 18:22 Identity Gets Rewritten 19:20 Four Steps To Retrain 23:01 Faith And Consistency 23:42 Final Challenge And Next Steps Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

May 29, 202617 min

Healing from S*xual Abuse Without Letting It Define You

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains how sexual trauma impacts the body, identity, and ability to feel safe and connected, living not only in memory but in the nervous system and conditioning beliefs like “intimacy equals danger.” It discusses how incest can create intense confusion and toxic shame because the violator is someone expected to be trusted, leading to adaptations such as avoidance, numbness, disconnection, or forcing intimacy while being internally absent. She outlines trauma neuroscience (amygdala activation, reduced prefrontal cortex activity, freeze/shutdown) and emphasizes that time alone doesn’t rewire the nervous system—repetition and retraining do. Healing includes separating identity from adaptations, catching early body cues, communicating with a safe partner, regulating in real time, building tolerance and boundaries, and reducing avoidance. She closes with faith-based encouragement and promotes the “Healing Trauma the Jesus Way” course as a mostly science-based, holistic approach. Grab the course: https://elizabethlouis.io/products/healing-trauma #sexualabuse #healing #sexualtrauma #trauma Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

May 27, 202618 min

The Pattern That Keeps Traumatized People Stuck

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains how trauma impacts identity, beliefs, relationships, decision-making, and behavior, and warns that unaddressed trauma can quietly limit your future. Liz shares personal childhood trauma, including repeated attempts on their life by a brother, and describes shifting from a victim mentality to a “victor” mindset while deepening their faith in Christ. She argues the core issue isn’t only what happened, but the beliefs, patterns, and survival identity formed afterward, often expressed through avoidance and “micro-avoidance” that compounds over time. Practical steps include separating identity from experience, identifying patterns (avoidance, shutdown, overcompensation), interrupting avoidance in real time, and building evidence of safety and capability through repetition and exposure. Healing is messy, layered, non-linear, and requires daily implementation; the episode closes by inviting viewers to a course and an upcoming trauma series. Healing Trauma the Jesus Way: https://elizabethlouis.io/products/healing-trauma The Victor Transformation: https://amzn.to/3KFqqaK Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

May 24, 202625 min

Healthy Shame vs. Toxic Shame: How to Heal Identity Wounds and Stop Hiding

Send us Fan Mail This episode explains the difference between healthy shame and toxic shame, arguing that shame is not always bad: healthy shame is a specific internal signal of misalignment that invites humility, responsibility, and repair, while toxic shame is a global identity wound that convinces a person they are fundamentally defective and drives hiding, defensiveness, and disconnection. Liz connects toxic shame to perfectionism and a “rejection mindset,” outlines how toxic shame reorganizes the nervous system around protection, and uses Genesis 3 as the first biblical picture of shame producing hiding, covering, and blame. Jesus is presented as the model of enduring shame without identity collapse because his identity was secure in the Father. The episode offers a practical process and journaling prompts to identify shame, separate behavior from identity, uncover core beliefs, return to God for stability, and repair from truth, grace, and boundaries. Mastering the Identity of Christ: The Blueprint for Kingdom Confidence: https://elizabethlouis.samcart.com/products/identity-of-christ Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile:

May 22, 202627 min

The Neuroscience of Jesus on the Cross: How to Stay Loving Under Threat

Send us Fan Mail Liz explains how conflict and perceived threat activate the limbic system and amygdala, making the prefrontal cortex (responsible for regulation, perspective, compassion, and wise decisions) harder to access, which is why people become defensive, shut down, or overexplain in hard conversations. Using a discussion with a conflict-averse friend and personal trauma history, she describes intentionally “building a bridge” from survival responses to mature regulation. She then compare normal human stress physiology to Jesus on the cross, noting that despite extreme pain, humiliation, rejection, and danger, Jesus forgave his executioners, cared for his mother, and welcomed the thief into paradise, suggesting his identity and belonging were secure in the Father and not governed by toxic shame. The episode closes with reflection questions and an action plan to identify where one’s environment still masters their internal world. Grab the course: Mastering the Identity of Christ: The Blueprint for Kingdom Confidence. https://elizabethlouis.samcart.com/products/identity-of-christ Support the show Please leave me a review on Apple Podcast! ***LET'S CONNECT:*** Checkout My Courses: Sign up for my Newsletter Website: Facebook: Tik-Tok - Instagram: Youtube: LinkedIn personal profile: