Transforming Challenges into Confidence & Living Your Best Life with Lucy Liu

In this inspiring episode, Jenna aka Jennifer welcomes the remarkable Lucy Liu—a global business strategist, certified life coach, international bestselling author, and host of The Lucy Liu Show. Lucy empowers high-achieving women to break free from overwhelm, cultivate unshakable confidence, and create fulfilling lives. Together, they explore Lucy's journey of transforming a perceived hindrance—sharing her name with a celebrity—into her greatest asset.

Lucy shares powerful insights on overcoming limiting beliefs, embracing personal growth, and making bold decisions that lead to lasting confidence and joy. From practical tips on grounding practices to the importance of celebrating wins, Lucy offers a masterclass on creating a life aligned with your dreams. Whether you're looking for inspiration or actionable steps to step into your power, this episode has it all.

Tune in for an authentic and uplifting conversation that will leave you believing, “There is always a way.” Don’t miss this episode packed with gems for your personal and professional transformation!

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Chapters

• 0:06 Unleashing Your Inner Power
• 12:03 Navigating Life's Challenges and Celebrating Wins
• 23:39 The Power of Daily Decisions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to Empowered Within, a soul-quenching, transformational podcast that will set your soul on fire. Through candid and inspiring conversations, leading experts, celebrities, healers and I share our journeys of how we've overcome challenges to living an empowered life from within. I'm your host, jennifer Pilates. Welcome to another episode of Empowered Within. Hi there, and welcome to the show I am honored to have with us the one and only Lucy Liu.

Speaker 1: 0:41

It has been a minute, so I am so excited to have her here today, so let's find out a little bit about her. Lucy Liu is a global business strategist and certified life coach, helping high-achieving women in life transitions unstuck, kiss, overwhelm goodbye, cultivate rock star confidence, seek clarity, reach for your dreams and live a joyful, fulfilling life. She is an unshakable, optimist wife, mother, easygoing entrepreneur, certified. I Am Remarkable Women Empowerment Workshop facilitator and an international bestselling author and speaker. She's the author of two international bestselling books the Rising Sisterhood and Asian Women who Boss Up. She also inspires as the host of her weekly podcast, the Lucy Liu Show, which is the fueling station for your mind, business and life. She has been featured in the Medium Voyage, la Elephant Journal, thrive, global Fox, cbs, nbc and dozens more media outlets. Welcome to the show, lucy.

Speaker 2: 1:47

Oh, thank you so much for having me, jennifer. I'm so excited to be here today, oh my gosh, I'm so excited.

Speaker 1: 1:51

We were just talking a minute ago and I said, oh my gosh, we, I swear it's been like a year and a half. We've been trying to get you on the show Non-stop. I don't know about you, but when I started my podcast I thought, my gosh, how am I ever going to get guests? And literally within like a month, year wait list. Three years later, year wait list Like it's insane and I love it.

Speaker 2: 2:14

So I'm so blessed and grateful to have you here Finally. Oh yeah, it's so true, right, like when we think about anything we want, it seems so impossible and then a year later, in hindsight, it just happens.

Speaker 1: 2:25

It just happens. So, all right, we've got to start with the obvious here, your story of sharing the name of a celebrity. I want to hear your story of how your name went from being a hindrance to being your biggest asset.

Speaker 2: 2:41

Oh, yes, I love sharing this story because that's what people interested to hear. Obviously, my name is Lucy Liu and there is another incredible woman by the same name. She is an actress, she's a director, she is an actor, artist. Actually, she's super talented and I love her so much I can't even hate her.

Speaker 2: 3:04

But the truth, the reality is, because she became so famous and I already have my name, I always felt behind. Like in high school I felt behind. Well, she's so popular, she's so famous, and look at me, where am I? Who am I so popular? She's so famous, and look at me, where am I? Who am I? There was this constant urge to compare myself to her and feeling behind. So, actually, in high school, I dropped myself out of high school with straight A's because I felt so behind. And I do live in California and we had this, something called the California Proficiency Test, which I took, and I give you a little piece of tiny piece of paper that says you're proficient enough to go to only a community college, and that's what I did I graduated. So I graduated only sophomore year and I went to a community college.

Speaker 2: 4:10

I wanted to be ahead of others and guess what, even though I was physically ahead of my peers for two years, I still felt behind it was never enough, it was never on time. I was always less than so. I think what the lesson there was that even though what you think success is in life right, you're chasing, you're always chasing the different shiny objects in life and that could be anything you're really looking forward to chase after. Whether that's status, right, the materialistic things, a more luxury of life, a more reputable position, whatever it is that you're seeking in life, you know it's really when is enough? We think that it's ahead right. If you're in business, oh, when I make six figures, seven figures, eight figures, I'll be happy. We're always chasing something that we think is what success means. But it only took me decades of personal development to learn that actually none of that matters, because enough is a decision right.

Speaker 2: 5:31

I was living in autopilot for 20 years of my life, thinking, well, lucy Liu, you know I'm going to be nobody, no one knows who I am. I'm never going to be famous like her and I'm just going to be famous like her and I'm just going to live through the motion of life. And even though I was okay financially, I was still stressed, I was still overwhelmed all the time. I was still unhealthy and I still felt unfulfilled. And what made the difference? Only was I made the decision to really honor who I am, and now I learned to love my name.

Speaker 2: 6:09

Lucy Liu is actually my maiden name and I decided to even keep it after marriage because that reminds me of the times when I wasn't confident enough to really be myself and stop comparing to others. And, by the way, I live near Hollywood, in Los Angeles. So I actually signed up with a casting director when I was in middle school and every time I went to an audition the director would run out of their office, get super excited like, oh, lucy Liu's on my list. And the moment they see me they make this such disappointment face like, oh, you're not the Lucy Liu. Every time I made a restaurant reservation I mean, I am in LA everyone would ask me are you the Lucy Liu?

Speaker 2: 7:01

And I felt like I was disappointing people left and right all through my life. And I know maybe if you're listening or watching this, you have a different story, but that story might be similar in the form of your name is too common, it's too hard to pronounce, or just something that you dislike your life, that you think is holding you back. Let me tell you, whatever is your hindrance now becomes your asset. And look at me today, because I chose to live the other way, right, the confident way, and to really just embrace my name, love my name, and that's exactly why I launched my own podcast, the Lucy Liu Show. You know, obviously we're going to have limiting beliefs like, oh what if, you know, nobody likes me because I started with zero listeners, zero followers. We start I'm a nobody, remember. But that's exactly what inspires my audience knowing that I really felt like nobody and I still went for my dreams. And now I live such a fulfilling life, helping other women shatter their limiting beliefs and really just to live the epic life that you deserve.

Speaker 1: 8:20

I think that is such an incredible story and so inspiring, and it's truly a story that we all have in one area or another in our lives. You know you can apply that to so many different things. So take me back to that one moment where you decided okay, I'm going to step into the personal development ring and I solely want to work with women. That's what I'm going to do. What was that moment like and how did you get there?

Speaker 2: 8:45

Yeah, Honestly, I did not know what coaching was. We understand that professional athletes had coaches, right? Basketball players they had all. Basically, I think the coaching industry was known to people in the athletic field high impact. Like we know, billionaires and entrepreneurs at very high levels had coaches on their sides and I did not have the luxury of that and I did not know that as normal human beings we can have this luxury until I was following a blogger who was teaching a course on how to start your website and I was like, oh, what am I good at? I can start a blog. So I started a actually a personal development blog and very soon after she jumped in the coaching, she became a life coach and I was like blown away and I was like, oh, my goodness, that's for me, that's what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.

Speaker 2: 10:47

I think when something excites you so much that it's right for you, you know that's going to bring you more fulfillment than having income in your bank account, right, I mean that's nice, we always like that right Income in your bank account. But at the end of the day, what's the point of making millions of dollars if you can't sleep at night? What's the point of having all the things that you want, the luxury items in your life, if you're not happy from the day, the moment, at each waking up to a brand new day, right? Do you want that to be full of pressure, stress and worry about what that next deal is going to be about or that you know to-do list? Or do you wake up in the morning, like I do now today? I get so excited looking at my calendar because Jennifer Pilates on my calendar today. That is super exciting for me because I am ready to provide value to whoever comes into my presence and that's me of service and that brings me joy and that's on the top of my joy list and I also always recommend all my clients to make a list of joy.

Speaker 2: 12:04

What truly brings you joy? What activities in life brings you joy? Engage in those activities first, right, that should be your non-negotiables and, as soon as you're attending all your non-negotiables, that gives you the boost of confidence you need to tackle all your days, and even as coaches. That doesn't mean we don't have a bad day. It doesn't mean life don't throw curve balls at us, but how do you react to it. That's going to make a world of difference and how you react becomes your reality of life, so that reality added together is your life, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 12:47

So you're touching and segwaying into a perfect part. When we talk about the limiting beliefs and we say you know, and everyone's listening, going well, this sounds really great, but right Cause there's always a but in quotations there. What are a few? What are your top three go-tos for helping people to break free from their limiting beliefs?

Speaker 2: 13:06

That's a good question, because limiting beliefs, oh boy, we all have them. We all have that inner voice. The moment you make a powerful decision, you hear this little tiny voice telling you otherwise. Right, almost immediately, when you feel empowered, there's always the other inner voice.

Speaker 2: 13:28

And I think I always say everything starts with awareness. So, number one, that would have to start with awareness, because you've made a decision to work on yourself, because you've made a decision to live a different way of life, a better way of life, and because you believe it's possible. Now you're going to be aware of these little limiting beliefs and the little negative voices inside of your head and once you catch it, it's okay. Notice it's there. Don't be like I'm trying to fight it off Because, just like when you're in the ocean, if you were trying really hard, you're drowning in overwhelm and negativity.

Speaker 2: 14:16

You know, think of that as the ocean waves. If you're just treading water, you're going to be okay, just let it be. You're going to flow, you're going to float, right. But if you're fighting it, the harder you're fighting it. You're like oh man, I got to get out of this. Like, you know, why am I in this funk? As soon as you do that, guess what? You're going to drown. So think of that analogy, right, just find your way of grounding yourself, whether that's through. There's so many modalities, right Yoga, exercise, getting out in nature, journaling, gratitude journaling, breath works. There are tons of modalities that will keep you grounded. Just try them on and see what fits your life and make sure you do a daily exercise that's keeping you grounded, so you have awareness and because you're keeping these activities of grounding, you're going to have that tool to use when you feel like you're drowning, so that you can calm down, have comp and stay afloat of your negative waves.

Speaker 1: 15:26

What does it look like for you, lucy? Because our lives aren't perfect and you've mentioned that we saw stressful moments and deadlines, and life and the world around us. What practices do you employ to help fight off or release the stress? Keep yourself on track with your to-do lists and make time for life. Being a mom outside of being an entrepreneur? Good question.

Speaker 2: 15:57

First of all, I have to say I'm a person who is against to-do lists. I'm a person who is against to-do lists, so I don't actually have a to-do list. I have things on my calendar, right. So, for example, right now, if, jennifer, you're on my calendar, I'm going to do this podcast. If I need to do something, if it takes a minute or two, I just do it now. If it takes time to do, I need to schedule that on my calendar. So even be it. You know, I make little things, even like time for laundry time. Oh, I need time to upload my own podcast. Whatever it is that I need to do, instead of having a to do list, I pretty much schedule them in my calendar, so I don't have to be looking at a list to begin with.

Speaker 1: 16:49

So really that's a great mindset shift, cause I always talk about the same thing. I don't have a to-do list. I might have like a goal for them. You know goals for the month or for the week, but I don't. I scrapped that a long time ago. It's so stressful, I think it can become more stressful, and then you put more stuff on it and you never do it Right. So then you're already battling against yourself. You're your own worst enemy. So I love that You're just like. No, I have a schedule today. This is my schedule.

Speaker 2: 17:15

Yeah, but you know what?

Speaker 1: 17:15

I know.

Speaker 2: 17:16

I get it. I have. I had a lot of clients who are like no, I can't live without a to-do list, I'm a list person. Okay, well, in that case, what I tell them to do is to rename their list to something else. We've heard of the done list, the celebration list, the ta-da list. Like when you check one item off, you go ta-da right. Like our minds just subconsciously hates to-do lists. Like when we see oh to-do list, oh, we hate it. Like our mind, we actually naturally tend to not even get to it. Right, there's resistance automatically.

Speaker 1: 17:53

I love the idea. I love let's rename it I'm so old school I love to write everything down. So even if I have my, my elect, what do I want to call it? Like a technical electric calendar or scheduler. I love paper and pen. I love to physically check something. I'll like scratch it off.

Speaker 2: 18:11

That feels so good to me. Yeah, yeah, and some people use post-it notes so that when it's done, it's throw away the post-it note, you don't want to see it anymore. But do something that's more empowering. Instead of resisting, instead of, you know, letting it be a chore, it should be a celebration that you've done it.

Speaker 1: 18:32

Absolutely, and it's all about celebrating those little steps so that when you do accomplish that big goal, whatever it may be, you actually celebrate it. Because I'm sure you've fallen into this, lucy, I know I've fallen into this where it's like, oh, yay, we hit another goal on our podcast and we just like move on with the day, like it was no big deal and we'd been looking forward to that for so long and it's so. It's important to even schedule in those moments of celebrating yourself.

Speaker 2: 19:00

Yeah, that's actually one of the top things I start my coaching calls with is to ask the client to celebrate their wins of the week, because sometimes, actually most of the time, they're like, oh, I haven't celebrated. But once you really intentionally look for the wins, they're always there. Big or small it's always there. But if you don't celebrate it, we're always naturally looking for the lack. What am I lacking in my life? Like, we're not celebrating the wins, and that's a natural phenomenon. But as soon as you focus on your wins, guess what? You're going to attract more wins, right, you're going to win again. What gets celebrated gets repeated, yes, oh.

Speaker 1: 19:43

I love that exclamation point. That's fabulous, oh my goodness. So when we look back over the years, what have been a couple of the obstacles or potholes that you may have hit and that you're so proud of, that you've celebrated, that you've overcome, be that in any area.

Speaker 2: 20:05

Oh my goodness, there's so many potholes. I always say that life throws us lemons, make lemon juice with it, right, and I think the best version I've heard is life throws you lemons, but make grapefruit juice and let everyone wonder how did you do it? So we don't see the behind the scenes. Right, there's always, always, limits. Oh my goodness, I can't even think of whether it's with business, whether it's your relationship. I think in hindsight, a lot of times.

Speaker 2: 20:43

I think it's about making bold moves and making that determined decision, like when it gets difficult, when it gets painful, when there is a heartbreak. I think all these painful times, they are all mandatory, we all get them. As long as we're breathing. We get these mandatory painful moments or heartbreaks. But I think what's important is the transformation after. That's your choice when you want to take this to. If you're in a dark tunnel, right, do you want to stay in the tunnel forever and be in darkness, or do you just trust that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that, even if you can't see the next bend, just keep on going? Just, you know, have your headlight on, just believe that there's light at the end of the tunnel, and that's what I believe in that's one of my mantras in life is that I always believe there is a way right.

Speaker 2: 21:49

There are certain things we cannot get away with. We're born, can't change that right, and we get sick, so we can't change that. If I come down with a flu, be it, it happens. There's nothing I can do. Once it happens, we age. That's something I can't change as well, at the end of life there's death.

Speaker 2: 22:16

If it's not these four things, there's something you can do about it. If it's not about aging or dying or getting sick, you can take control of it and you can make the decision that you can be in control or you let it control you. It's always one or the other. So you get to make that choice. And when things get hard, I just tell myself it's temporary. Even life is temporary, right. Even life is temporary, right. So if it's temporary, there's something I can do about it. Yes, I give myself grace and time to grieve and to feel the emotions, but because I know that's temporary, I give myself time, but then I expedite the healing process. But then I expedite the healing process. I expedite myself and put myself back because I know I choose to be this more confident and best version of Lucy, of myself.

Speaker 1: 23:32

Which is beautiful, and you exude it. You just glow. I love that. How can someone who's sitting at home going sounds great. I don't know where to begin to help myself to feel more confident. Where does someone?

Speaker 2: 23:36

start. Yeah, baby steps, baby steps. It becomes hard when we are at point A and then you're thinking, oh, I want to get to point Z, right, but that is so daunting, like, it seems so impossible. When you think it's impossible, it's because you are setting your goal. Not that it's not big enough or small enough, right, because the size of a goal or the, you know what we think about it, it's all in your mindset. However, if you chunk down the goal small enough, it's always possible. So, if you want a goal, say you okay, you want to be a million dollar business? Well, you got to start by making that first dollar. So it's always possible, right, it's always possible.

Speaker 2: 24:26

So start looking at point A to just point B. You want to get to point Z, as in zebra, but that's far away. Okay, well, let's only look at point A and B. What's your next baby step? That's all you need to be focusing on, and that's going to seem so easy. And hey, once you're at point B, then getting to point C would seem a lot easier. And I know life happens. So sometimes maybe you're like working on your goal point A, b, c and then, once you're at point C, you might even change your mind. You might even pivot, but that's okay because that's life. And guess what? Clarity only comes with action. So only if you take action, only if you get to point B or C would you know if that's what you like to do in life or not. Because if you are just staying at point A for the rest of your life, you would only be thinking about the point Zs, right? So what is that saying that it's always better to live a life of oh wells than what ifs?

Speaker 1: 25:35

right, Absolutely. And so you know, when we look back at you a wife, a mother, the podcast, two books and there's a third book coming, or the third book just is coming out right now.

Speaker 2: 25:46

Yes, I have my solo book. It is on Amazon and it's called A Confident and Epic. It's 21 decisions to living your best life. And I am a bit advocate about making decisions because now I get interviewed on podcasts and people always ask me well, lucy, how did you get to where you are now? And when I look back, it's truly the daily decisions I made. It's the decisions I made along the way that got me here.

Speaker 2: 26:15

And I think every day I mean we make like really 30,000 decisions, but we just don't know right. We decide what time we wake up. We get to decide if we hit the snooze button or not. We get to decide what to drink for breakfast, what to wear. We're constantly making decisions, but these small decisions are only there to help us live the motion of each day. But really it's our intentional, purposeful, really the big decisions that we make that's going to shape your life. So I'm really big on decisions. Make a decision to change your life. Confidence is a decision. It's not something you're born with or something other people's born with. It's not unattainable, it's still possible, whether you're introverted or extroverted. It has nothing to do with your personality, but it's really a decision and what you have enough. Enough is not an amount. Enough is a decision as well. Everything in life you want is only a decision away.

Speaker 1: 27:27

How very true. I love that so much. Oh my gosh, this has been so amazing, Lucy. You are just dropping gems left and right. I hope everyone has had their pen and paper out. If not, you know you're going to need to rewind and start all over again, because this is a masterclass 101 right here, which is absolutely amazing. So we're getting to this point in the show, Lucy, where I always ask this one question Are you ready? Let's do it All right. What is one thing that no one knows about? Lucy Liu?

Speaker 2: 28:01

Oh well, everyone see me because I speak on confidence. I am a big advocate for everything about confidence and you see me talking on social media. You can see me speaking about it, I write about it and people automatically think that I am very confident, I'm very extroverted, I can do things, I'm powerful, but in reality I am very introverted. Right now I spend most of my time alone at home and I feel like in the room I am actually the quiet one in the room. So I want everyone to know that you can be very calm, you can be the quiet one in the room, but you can still be confident Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 28:47

I love that. I find that to be such the hidden secret of so many of us that the reality is is that we're introverted homebodies and just want to be left alone. Oh, my goodness. Well, as we are closing out the show, what is one last piece of advice or inspiration that you'd like to leave with us today?

Speaker 2: 29:06

I always like to leave with that believe there is a way. I think that is what got me through every bump in the road and every obstacle, because when you truly just have that mindset, your mind is open to receive new opportunities, new experiences, and even if it might be a negative experience, there's always a lesson learned from that. So believe there is a way.

Speaker 1: 29:35

Absolutely, that is fabulous. Thank you so much. Well, please share with our audience. Where can they best connect with you, learn more about you and grab your books, Yay?

Speaker 2: 29:45

So the best place. If you are currently in your favorite podcast platform, just hit the search button and search for the Lucy Liu show. That's L-U-C-Y-L-I-U, so fueling short weekly episodes to fuel your mind, business and life doses of inspiration. So start there and then you can connect me on social media. I am most active on Instagram at M-S-L-U-C-Y-L-I-U, that's at MissLucyLiu, and pretty much have the same handle across all social media.

Speaker 1: 30:21

Well and, as always, all of Lucy's information and her links are going to be over in the show notes at JenniferPilatescom. Lucy, thank you so much. This was so well worth the wait. I can't wait to have you back again. We'll talk about your new book and see where you are bringing your confidence and shining your light in the world next. Thanks again for having me. Oh, thank you so much. As we say, until next time, may you live an empowered life from within. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates. Your feedback is important. It helps me to connect with you and gives me insight into who you are and what you're enjoying about the show. For today's show notes and discount codes from today's sponsors, head over to JenniferPilatescom. Until next time, may you live an empowered life from within.