How to Move from Overthinking to Aligned Action | EP 479

What if the reason you feel stuck isn’t that you need another strategy—but that you’ve stopped trusting yourself?

In this episode of CONNECT with Sheila Botelho, we’re getting real about self-trust—how we lose it, why it keeps us in a cycle of overthinking, and how to rebuild it so that your next chapter is fully yours. Sheila shares a pivotal moment in her entrepreneurial journey when, despite outward success, she felt disconnected from the business she had built.

If you’ve ever found yourself delaying the next step—telling yourself you need more clarity, credentials, or the "perfect" plan—this episode will remind you of something crucial: confidence doesn’t come before action. It follows it. Tune in for the steps to start trusting yourself again and creating the business (and life) that actually reflects who you are now.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Facing the Call for Something Bigger
• 2:55 When Grief Changes Everything
• 4:20 The Cost of Hesitation
• 5:00 Signs It's Time for Reinvention
• 6:29 Breaking the Permission-Seeking Cycle
• 8:03 Taking Action Before Feeling Ready
• 9:19 Moving Forward Without Hesitation

Transcript

Sheila: 0:01

Have you ever felt like you were made for something bigger, but instead of stepping into it, you hesitated, questioning yourself, waiting for the perfect moment? Well, over a decade ago, I found myself in that exact place. I had built a life and business I was proud of, but something inside of me was shifting. Today, I'm sharing the story of how I had to rebuild my self-trust, step back into my vision and fully commit to creating the life I wanted on my terms. Hi, welcome to the Connect with Sheila Botelho podcast. I'm committed to helping you reconnect to your purpose, elevate your well-being and build your version of a happy, successful life. And today we're talking about self-trust. I remember sitting in front of my laptop, staring into it in 2014, knowing deep in my gut that something had to change. You see, for years I had done a lot of different things, including building a business leading in direct sales, designing and promoting transformational events, developing strong marketing and sales strategies for these things, and yet I felt at this time in my life there was a growing discomfort, this restlessness. Have you ever felt like that? Like everything looks good on paper, but something inside of you is saying there's more. You are meant for more.

Sheila: 1:33

I had spent my life trusting myself for the most part. When I was younger, I was surrounded by high achieving people lawyers, government leaders, entrepreneurs who were my parents' closest friends, and they would talk about leadership. They would talk about business and impact, and even as a child, I was absorbing it all, and later I started singing and performing, thinking that was my path. But even then I knew success wasn't just about talent. It was about strategy, about creating a movement around your work, and that realization led me into marketing, personal development and, eventually, direct sales, where I learned how to build sustainable income and lead teams, and for a long time it worked beautifully. My husband and I built a business that gave us freedom. We spent years pouring into our children, also into philanthropy and into creative projects.

Sheila: 2:37

But then everything changed and in 2013, when my sister passed away, I just learned that grief is such an interesting thing. It truly, truly rearranges you. It made me question everything. It made me realize that life is short and that waiting on the sidelines was no longer an option. And so, by 2014, after having taken some time to regroup and do a lot of emotional labor that was required in the home, as my family had just experienced such a deep loss.

Sheila: 3:14

I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to evolve, of what I wanted next something expansive, something that combined all of my experiences in business, marketing, wellness and personal transformation. But instead of trusting myself, I froze. I thought maybe I need another certification, maybe I should study what others are doing, maybe I need more time, more validation, more proof before I take the leap. And that's where I got stuck. I watched other women, some with far less experience than me, step up, launch their programs, scale their businesses, and I thought why am I hesitating? Why do I feel like I'm not ready? And the answer Well, because the first time in my life I had handed over my power to other people's opinions. That hesitation cost me time, it eroded my self-trust and it made the leap into my next chapter so much harder than it needed to be. But once I saw it for what it was, I knew I had to take my power back. And that's exactly what I want to talk about today, because if you've been hesitating, if you've been overthinking instead of taking action, I want to help you break out of that cycle. By the end of this episode, you'll understand how self-trust is the foundation for any major reinvention. You'll walk away knowing how to shift from overthinking to taking action. And if you've been hesitating on a big decision in your life or business, this will be the push that you need to move forward with clarity and confidence. So I'm going to go through a few steps to just guide you through this process.

Sheila: 5:16

Step one is recognizing when it's time for a reinvention. So there were signs all around me that it was time to evolve. I had built something with my husband in direct sales, and it gave me flexibility to be present with my kids. It gave me some freedom in that regard. But something inside of me was restless and at first I ignored it. I told myself you should be grateful. You have a business that works, a life that works. Why would you want to change things? Have you ever felt guilty for wanting more? I know that feeling and here's what I realized Growth doesn't mean that you're ungrateful for what you have. It means you're honoring the next version of yourself that's waiting to emerge. And when you ignore that pull for too long, you start feeling disconnected, and that's what was happening to me. The question is are you feeling that pull right now? And if you are, it's time to listen to yourself. So step two stop outsourcing your decision-making.

Sheila: 6:29

One of the biggest mistakes I made in 2014 was looking outside of myself for permission. I told myself. Maybe I need more training, more education, more mentorship before I can fully step into this new vision. So I signed up for courses and memberships. I got certifications. I learned more. And memberships I got certifications, I learned more. And while learning is great, it became a way for me to delay the actual work. I had spent years building things, leading teams, producing events, helping others bring their dreams to life. I knew how to do this, but I had convinced myself that someone else knew better, and perhaps part of it was because I had been doing it in a more in-person, large event, group and even individual face-to-face, one-to-one type of way of building a business. And all of a sudden, we were in this social media marketing experience that now is commonplace for everyone. So it was new to me and I think that slowed me down a little bit.

Sheila: 7:43

So do you ever catch yourself waiting for permission before you take action? Because here's the truth the people who make things happen are the ones who stop waiting. Step three is commit to action before you feel ready. I wasted so much time thinking I needed to feel ready, but clarity and confidence come from doing, not from thinking. And, of course, yes, you need to take some thought and put thought into things before you take action. However, instead of asking am I ready, I started asking what's the next smallest action I can take today, what's one small thing that you've been putting off because you don't feel ready yet?

Sheila: 8:38

If I could go back to 2014, I wouldn't wait. I would act faster, I would trust myself sooner and I would definitely have gotten information and some sort of result to move on from. Had I done that and that's what I want for you Now. Imagine this. Imagine waking up knowing that you're fully aligned with your purpose. You no longer question whether you're ready, you take action and you trust that you'll figure it out along the way. What would that feel like?

Sheila: 9:19

Another question is what happens if you don't make this shift? What happens if you don't make this shift? You keep seeking more knowledge, more validation, and yet you never feel ready. One day, maybe, you look back and realize that fear, not ability, was the only thing holding you back. If you feel the pull to reinvent, it's because something inside of you knows it's time. Trust that, and if this episode resonated with you, dm me the word reinvent on Instagram and if you're ready to fully step into your next level.

Sheila: 10:09

The embodied success method is here to help you build the mindset, strategy and systems to scale your success without hesitation. So you can also tap the link in the show notes to access that. And if you found this was a helpful episode for you, please share it with a friend and stay tuned for future episodes. We're digging into some strategies and things and I'm taking a look back, as you can tell, to some things that have worked really well for me, and also uncovering some things that can really be insidious as we try to move forward in our growth journey, because we know what we know, we don't know what we don't know, and sometimes, when we look back at our history, we uncover certain patterns that, once we understand why we do the things we do, we can shift them and actually start making better choices that help us get to where we want to go. So thank you so much for listening and I look forward to seeing you in another episode. Big blessings, thank you.