Lauren LeMunyan is breaking down the myths of goal setting, helping leaders embody their future selves, and building psychological safety from the inside out.
This one hit different. I sat down with Lauren LeMunyan — certified master coach, CEO of Spitfire Coach, and creator of Future Self Design — and walked away with a completely new way of thinking about transformation. We talked about burnout, the fear of success, why SMART goals keep us stuck, and what it actually means to become the person you're designing yourself to be. It's a conversation about courage, self-awareness, and the kind of inner work that creates real, lasting change.
Lauren's path to coaching began in a meditation during her first coach training weekend — going through a divorce at 31, she heard a voice say 'you are the Spitfire Coach.' What followed was a decade of building a practice that now serves individuals and corporate teams alike. Future Self Design flips the script on traditional goal setting: instead of focusing on what's not working, it asks who you become on the other side — and challenges you to start embodying that person today.
The conversation also gets into psychological safety as a spectrum, the ladder of inference, why burnout is really about unmet expectations, and how community is the antidote to the isolation epidemic. Lauren is funny, direct, and deeply real — and this episode is packed with tools you can use immediately.
What We Cover
How Lauren went from a messy divorce to building a 10-year coaching practice
Why SMART goals recreate the same patterns — and what Future Self Design does differently
The fear of success: why it's more common than fear of failure, especially for women
What psychological safety actually looks like as a spectrum, not a binary
The ladder of inference and how we make up stories that aren't true
Why burnout is about unmet expectations — and how to address it at the root
The micro decisions that stack into sustainable transformation
Pull Quotes
"Designing your future self isn't about getting it right. It's about being curious."— Lauren LeMunyan
"Your feelings are valid — but they might be lying to you."— Lauren LeMunyan
"Where your focus goes is where your energy grows. Stop circling the problem and start building toward what you want."— Lauren LeMunyan
About Lauren LeMunyan
Lauren LeMunyan is a certified master coach, speaker, and CEO of Spitfire Coach. She is the creator of Future Self Design — an ICF-approved framework and live intensive that helps leaders move beyond goal setting and into embodying the person they are becoming. She works with individuals and corporate teams on psychological safety, inner barriers, and sustainable change. She has a podcast, a YouTube channel, and multiple books. She is a military spouse, a mom, and based in Denver.
Take Action
1) Join the Future Self Design intensive at futureselfdesign.com
2) Explore free resources, the podcast, and YouTube at spitfirecoach.com
3) If you're a coach or leader, look into ICF-approved training in the Future Self Design framework — 13 CCEs
4) Follow Lauren on Instagram and LinkedIn @spitfirecoach
Connect
Website: spitfirecoach.com · futureselfdesign.com
Podcast: The Spitfire Coach Podcast
YouTube: Spitfire Coach
Instagram & LinkedIn: @spitfirecoach
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