The Courage to Choose Plan A: How Sister Monica Clare Embraced Her Calling
Are you feeling stuck in a career you find meaningless, wondering if you’ll ever find your true calling?
This week on Everyday Better, Leah Smart sits down with Sister Monica Clare — an Episcopal nun, spiritual counselor, and the creator behind the TikTok account @nunsenseforthepeople. Her path to the convent was anything but direct. For decades, she chased one career after another in Hollywood — acting, advertising, comedy, PR — all while ignoring the quiet truth she’d known since childhood: her true calling was to become a nun.
In this powerful conversation, Sister Monica shares how she learned to stop listening to the world around her and finally start listening to herself. She opens up about the values exercise that changed everything, the somatic signals that told her she was on the wrong path, and why “plan A” doesn’t have to mean certainty — just courage. Together, she and Leah explore how any of us can uncover our calling, navigate fear, build self-esteem, and make meaningful changes one small step at a time.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you're on the right path — or worried that you’re not — this episode will help you reframe failure, tune into what moves your heart, and get clearer on the life you’re truly meant to live.
You can find her book ”A Change of Habit: Leaving Behind My Husband, Career, and Everything I Owned to Become a Nun” here.
If you liked this episode, you’ll also love this one: Exploring the Universe: NASA’s Michelle Thaller’s Guide to Everyday AweFollow Leah Smart and Sister Monica Clare on LinkedIn.
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Core Values 101: A Step-by-Step Guide for Finding Your Inner Compass
Today, we’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes of Everyday Better, where Leah walks us through one of her essential personal growth exercises: defining your core values. When you're facing a tough decision and unsure which path to take, a clearly defined set of values can equip you with the clarity and confidence you need to move forward.
After explaining her own approach to uncovering what truly matters, Leah revisits some powerful moments from her previous conversation with personal growth educator Amanda Hilton. Together, they discuss prompts for identifying which values resonate most deeply with you and how to apply those values to make better decisions in your life.
Listen to Leah’s full conversation with Amanda Hilton here.
Download Brené Brown’s List of Values here.
Follow Leah Smart and Amanda Hilton on LinkedIn.
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Former BBC Journalist Shares the One Communication Habit That Builds Trust
Have you ever been in a high-stakes conversation where you tried to communicate clearly only to have the other person talk past you? Or maybe you’ve noticed yourself zoning out when others speak because you’re doing mental math on how you’ll respond.
When it comes to difficult or sensitive conversations, so many of our grievances could be solved with deep listening. It’s a way of listening that encourages each person to hear what’s underneath the surface level conversation. It enables people to be curious, empathetic and respectful so that they can engage more meaningfully and truly understand each other.
Emily Kasriel, an accomplished journalist, editor and media executive formerly of the BBC, has developed a clear approach for how to listen deeply. In her conversation with Leah, Emily guides us through how to use each of the eight deep listening steps, where deep listening is most useful, and how it can help us improve all of our relationships.
You can find her book, Deep Listening: Transform Your Relationships with Family, Friends, and Foes here.
If you liked this episode, you’ll also love this one: Are You Abandoning Yourself to Avoid Conflict?
Follow Leah Smart and Emily Kasriel on LinkedIn.
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The Atlantic’s CEO on the Power of Doing Hard Things
Nicholas Thompson is a writer, a father, a CEO, and a champion long-distance runner. Nick says that running has taught him how to navigate the hardest things in life. This conversation is about running, but it’s really about what changes when we commit to doing hard things.
Running has been a part of Nick’s life since his childhood, but it wasn’t until his forties that his running career skyrocketed. Even as he took on the demanding role as CEO of The Atlantic, Nick continued to break records as an elite runner.
Together, Leah and Nick discuss the cumulative effects of discipline, why you should challenge yourself outside of work, and how developing strong habits will impact every area of your life.
You can find Nick’s new book ‘The Running Ground’ here.
If you liked this episode, check out our conversation with Michael Gervais, one of the world’s top high performance psychologists.Follow Leah Smart and Nicholas Thompson on LinkedIn.
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Eli Rallo on Surviving Gen Z’s Quarter-Life Crisis
Before she became a TikTok star, Eli Rallo had a clear vision for what her post-grad years would look like: she’d have a fulfilling career, fabulous friends, and would finally "feel like an adult." Instead, she found herself struggling with social anxiety, a directionless career, and a nagging fear that she’d never figure it all out: enter the 'quarter-life crisis.'
Eli started sharing her unfiltered experiences online, building a community by being open about the highs and lows of her twenties. And now, in her new book of essays, she’s unpacking the lessons learned and unexpected moments of joy she discovered through embracing life’s uncertainties.
Eli and Leah sat down to explore how Gen Z is coping with “adulting” and what you can learn from the other side of a big life transition. Plus, Eli talks about the unique challenges Gen Z faces and together, they unpack how cultivating real human connection offline confronts the strains and pressures of living in a digital world.
You can find Eli’s new book ‘Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?’ here.
If you liked this episode, check out our conversation with professor Erin Cech on the problem with passion.
Follow Leah Smart and Eli Rallo on LinkedIn.
Everyday Better is your guide to creating positive change at work, at home, in your relationships, and beyond.
Each week, Leah Smart, LinkedIn's Senior Editor and a certified coach specializing in self-improvement, shares inspiring conversations with trusted voices and curates research-backed strategies to help you navigate transitions, challenges, and uncertainties with clarity and intention. Because work and the rest of your life don’t exist in silos, and what happens in one always finds its way into the other.
Discover fresh perspectives, get unstuck, and take small steps every day, toward the life you want. New episodes every Tuesday.
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