Episode 121 · November 14, 2023
How to Maximize your Potential and Purpose with David Leifeste
with David Leifeste, Counselor, Life Coach & Executive Coach
56 min
How to Maximize your Potential and Purpose with David Leifeste
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In this episode
In this episode I sit down with David Leifeste — a counselor, life coach, and executive coach with nearly forty years of experience helping people discover the life they were born to live. Our mutual friend Carol Matthews connected us, and from the moment I walked into his warm, tree-filled office (he made me the best tea), I knew this was going to be a conversation full of practical wisdom and heart.
David and I are so similar — both people of faith, both rushers, both convinced there's a path we're meant to be on. We talk about why finding your purpose is less like following a map and more like a scavenger hunt, and why so many of us pour the cement too early, forcing a job or a lifestyle together only to have to take it all apart later. I love that he gives you a way to slow down without feeling like something is wrong with you.
We also dig into the difference between coaching and therapy, why more men are finally showing up for this work, and his new book, The Possibility of You, coming in January. It's built around his OASIS Method — Open, Analyze, Spiritually sense, Insight, Shift — drawn from over 100,000 conversations. If you're carrying the question "but how?", this one is for you. Keep going.
Key takeaways
- Live from the inside out, not the outside in. When you chase what parents, society, or status expect, you hijack your own life. Being true to you brings both fulfillment and the joy of the people who truly love you.
- Slow down and stop rushing toward the finish line. The now is the only place you have power — and the moments you love today are the seeds of what you want more of tomorrow.
- Gather real data on yourself using three concrete steps: take interest, aptitude, personality, and work-values assessments; ask mentors and people who know you well; and intentionally create experiences to notice what genuinely lights you up.
- Trade reactivity for responsiveness. Build small daily disciplines — check in on your people, get present, take inventory — so you're steering your life instead of getting pulled off course by traffic, moods, and social media.
- Get the problem understood accurately before you try to fix it. Being truly heard and having your story reframed objectively means whatever you do next actually works — like getting the right diagnosis before treatment.
- The OASIS Method is a practical framework for the 'but how?' question: Open (eyes, ears, heart), Analyze objectively, Spiritually sense for peace and confirmation, act on Insight, and pursue the Shift.
- Weave faith into the journey by asking for guidance. Keep your eyes, ears, and heart open, trust the process, and honor your God-given gifts and talents as you take the next step.
“We want to have a life that had meaning, a life that when it's over, it made a difference in the world — and that we got to experience ourselves uniquely.”
“It's not a map that says go 14 miles and turn right. It's a big open space — it's me, it's my heart, it's my talents. Let yourself discover it.”
“If you work from the inside out and you are true to you, you will have the best life you can have, and the people who truly love you will rejoice with you.”
“The biggest thing people say to me is, 'David, but how?' My book is on how to do the things we all know we need to do, but don't know how to do.”
About David
Counselor, Life Coach & Executive Coach
David Leifeste is a counselor, life coach, and executive coach with nearly forty years of experience helping people maximize their potential and discover the life they were born to live. His practice grew from therapy into life coaching and executive coaching, including leadership work with organizations such as QuikTrip, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Griffin Communications. Drawing on over 100,000 conversations, he is the author of the forthcoming book The Possibility of You.
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