High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 762: Front Row Success: How to Stop Settling and Start Living Fully with Marilyn Sherman

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

In this episode of The High Performance Mindset, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff sits down with Marilyn Sherman, Hall of Fame speaker, Certified Speaking Professional, five-time author, and founder of UpFront Presentations, to explore how to stop settling and create your own version of Front Row Success. For more than two decades, Marilyn has helped leaders strengthen their resilience, improve communication, and lead with greater confidence. She shares practical strategies to get unstuck, overcome self-doubt, and intentionally choose the seat you want in life. Episode Description Where are you sitting in the venue of your life? Marilyn explains that we all have three choices: the balcony, general admission, or the front row. The balcony is where we feel stuck and disconnected. General admission is our comfort zone, where life may not feel bad, but we're operating mostly by habit. The front row is where we feel alive, energized, valued, and fully engaged in the life we're creating. In this conversation, Marilyn shares her SEAT of Success framework: See the outcome you desire, manage your Energy, strengthen your Attitude, and build Tenacity. She and Dr. Cindra explore how fear of failure, limiting beliefs, and negative self-talk can keep us from moving forward. Marilyn also shares why taking action matters more than simply studying successful people and how starting a Win List can train your brain to notice evidence of progress and possibility. You don't have to settle for the seat you're in. You can change your choices, shift your perspective, and intentionally move toward your own front row. You'll Learn: Why fear of failure keeps more people stuck than failure itself. What it means to live in the balcony, general admission, or front row of your life. How to define what Front Row Success looks like for you. Discover the SEAT of Success framework and how to apply it to your goals. Learn how your self-talk and limiting beliefs influence the actions you take. Build greater confidence by creating a Win List and collecting evidence of your progress. Strengthen your energy, attitude, and tenacity when obstacles appear. Take intentional action to stop settling and move toward the life you truly want. Episode Resources & Links Guest Website: https://frontrowsuccess.com/ Mentally Strong Institute: https://mentallystronginstitute.com/ Request a Free Mental Breakthrough Call: https://freementalbreakthroughcall.com/ Download the National Confidence Research Study: https://confidencestudy.com/ Pre-order The Confidence Habit: https://www.confidencetools.com/

What would be possible for you if you stopped second-guessing yourself and started trusting yourself more? What if you could quiet your inner critic, handle pressure with greater confidence, and show up more fully in the moments that matter most to you? That's exactly what you'll learn at the Confidence Summit, a virtual event designed to help you build lasting confidence. You'll hear from Olympians, world-class leaders, high performers, who will give you practical tools that you can use immediately in your work, relationships, sport, and life.

And here's the best part. Registration is only $39 and you'll receive your own hardcover copy of my new book, The Confidence Habit, published by Simon & Schuster. You can join us live on the morning of August 7th, or if you're listening after the summit, you can still register to get access to the replay

and receive your hardcover copy of the Confidence Habit. Go to the Confidence Summit.com to grab your spot. That's the Confidenceummit.com. The next version of you requires a new level of confidence. Come build it with us. I'll see you there at the Confidence Summit. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset Podcast. I'm so excited that Marilyn Sherman is joining us today. Marilyn, thank you so much for being here. It's going to be incredible. Well, thanks, Sandra, for having me. I'm really happy to see you.

I'm happy to see you, and we are just talking about how we first met. We think we met it at a speaker showcase many years ago. And it's always fun to get to know and see Marilyn at the National Speakers Association meetings. So I'm really excited to have Marilyn here today. I'd like to introduce you to Marilyn and then we're just going to dive in. So Marilyn Sherman is a Hall of Fame speaker, a motivational speaker. She's a certified speaking professional, which is a CSP and a five-time author who has spent more than two decades helping leaders elevate their mindset and maximize their impact. She's also the founder of Upfront presentations.

And Marilyn has worked with organizations across health care, education, government, financial services in corporate America, where she inspires leaders to strengthen resilience, improve communication, and lead with greater confidence, which we'll be talking about today. We're also going to be talking about her signature philosophy called front row success, which teaches leaders to begin with choices that we make internally before we ever influence others externally. So in this episode, we're going to be talking about practical tools to overcome self-doubt, navigate uncertainty, and lead with purpose. And today's wrap changing world. So Marilyn, thank you so much for joining me here today. Why do you think people

should continue to listen to our episode? Well, because a lot of people are stuck and they're not happy and there's a disconnect. And I think the real threat to success is not external. I think it's internal. I think more today than ever before, we are distracted, we're disengaged and then we become delusional about what's possible. And so what I provide is not only inspiration and hope, but practical ways that people can get unstuck and have a more fulfilling life, both personally and professionally. Amazing. And Marilyn is also one of our featured speakers at the upcoming Confidence Summit on August 7th. So I'm really excited that she's going to be joining us there today. to check it out, you can go to the Confidence Summit.com.

And what's amazing about it is it's only $39. And you get an upcoming copy of my new book called The Confidence Habit. And Maryland, one thing we found in our national research study is that 70% of people struggle with a harsh inner critic and have difficulty letting go of mistakes. So I think, you know, we're going to be talking about that today. But when you just said like people are unstuck, I'm like, yeah, you know, even the research shows people are unstuck. Yeah.

No, they are stuck. And they are stuck. And they need to be unstuck. And so I have this whole philosophy that everyone, you and I, we all live in this venue of life. And we have choices where we sit in this venue of life. And the three choices are the balcony, general admission, or the front row. Balcony seats are not good seats. And that's where we're sitting in this dichotomy of, I know I can do better.

I know I can live larger. I know that there's more to my life, but I'm just not living it. And so people are, they're stuck, they're disengaged, and they're just not happy. And when they're not happy, it affects their impact and influence they have on other people. General admission is another option that people could sit in this venue of life. And that is your comfort zone. And that is where you operate by habit, that muscle memory as, you know, being an athlete and a coach to athletes, you understand muscle memory. And that's where people get into a comfort zone thinking that it's not bad, but it's not great.

And the problem with living your life in general admission is that eventually you meander back to the balcony. And then the third option is the front row. And the front row is where you get to say it doesn't get me better than this. I love what I do. I'm living my full potential. I'm valued. I'm adding value. I'm appreciated.

I appreciate others. And it's like you get to say, you know, this is the way life is supposed to be lived. So that's my philosophy. And so when I speak, when I deliver keynote presentations to businesses, large and small organizations, associations, I give them the tools an inspiration to, number one, define what front row is for you. because everyone has a different interpretation of what the front row is. For you and me, being on large stages, doing a keynote presentation and having an impact to our audiences, that's a front row moment for us.

That's what we strive for. That's what we work hard for. For others, they'd rather have root canal than get on stage and deliver a keynote presentation. So there's no judgment, but success in life starts with defining where you want. to be? What does front row look like for you? And then once you define it, then you take action. Because success doesn't come from studying successful people. Success comes from taking action to get out of the seat that you're in to move toward the seat that you want to be in. I love it. So as people are thinking about their front row, right, what that means. How would you help us define what front row means to

us. Well, think about when are you most alive? When are you most energized? When are you most happy? Those are the types of questions you ask yourself to put yourself in a mindset of, am I really living the life that I want? Am I fulfilling my bucket list dreams and hopes and goals and aspirations? If not, what needs to change? And based on my experience, people really do know what they need to change. I mean, for me, for a long time, I had, like, we all have different seats that we sit in. We have our work seat. We have a relationship seat. We have our physical health seat. We have our spiritual seat. You know, it's like our seats are all over the place. And my work was going fine. My relationship was going great. But my physical health wasn't good. I was just making really,

really poor eating choices. And I was carrying around an extra 50, 60 pounds. And one day I realized I am living a disconnected life. I'm a motivational speaker and I can't even motivate myself to put into action what I know to be true. And that is to live a more healthy lifestyle. And so I made a decision by looking in the mirror knowing where I needed to improve. So I just like to inspire people to take a hard look in the mirror and ask yourself, am I really happy with the different seats that I'm sitting in? Am I happy with my choices?

Am I happy or am I settling? And I wrote a book about it, why settle for the balcony, how to get a front-row seat in life. And I frankly believe a lot of people settle in relationships. They settle in jobs. They settle in situationships when they don't have to. So what do you think keeps people in the general admission or the balcony? I think a lot of times with their mindset, part of it could be that they don't deserve to live. their life in the front row. They're like, you know, opportunities like that don't happen to people

like me or, you know, maybe I just, I just don't deserve it. Or it could be fear. It's like, wow, I'm really comfortable with where I'm at, even though it's not ideal. And if I wanted to move forward, there's going to be an element of possible failure. And fear of failure has left. And fear of failure has left more people in the balcony than actual failure. So I encourage people to fail fast, learn the lesson, and keep moving forward. Yeah. It's hard to do. Of course.

And I'm curious. Yeah. When you think about what led you to, you know, this philosophy, tell us a little bit about, you know, you've just spent decades helping leaders become more confident and resilient. So what inspired you to dedicate your career to? leadership development in this way and to develop this philosophy of the front row. Well, I'm pretty lucky because I was exposed to personal development at a very young age. I was a student athlete in high school. I grew up on Mercer Island, a suburb of Seattle, Washington. And at my high school, they invited a motivational speaker to come and motivate the

leadership class. And I was part of leadership. And he only had three fingers, yet he was an accomplished athlete and he found a way to carry a tennis racket without having all 10 fingers. And he was so inspiring. I was like as an athlete watching someone who didn't have all of his faculties was his physical, you know, he was different and he made it happen. And I was so inspired by that. I left like walking on cloud nine and I realized I have no excuse. I have all 10 things. I have all 10 things. What's preventing me from being a better athlete? And so I went home that night and I told my dad, I said, I don't know what it's called, but I've decided on my profession.

I want to inspire people to live a better life. And my dad was always so very supportive. He never poo-pooed my dreams. He always supported me. And he said, you can absolutely do that under two conditions. Number one, get a college education, and number two, get a job. And once you do those two things, you will have credibility so that people will listen to what you have to say. And so from that day forward, since I was 16 years old, I started reading self-help books.

I started listening to Zig Zigler Tapes and Dennis Waitley and Wayne Dyer. And I started to go to seminars and I just became a sponge. And I would just sit in the front row and take, you know, copious notes. And I just started journaling. And I started to come up with, you know, if I ever had an opportunity to speak, what would I want to say? So I was developing content all while I was growing up and going off to college and getting my first job. Very cool. You know, what's interesting about that, Marilyn, is I had a similar experience in high school.

I was a college athlete as well. And my dad was the person who was always teaching me about personal development. He was a vice president of sales. And he was reading these books by Zig Zigler and all these people like to help him be a better salesperson. And then he would teach me that. And that's actually how I got interested in performance psychology was because of my dad. How did you then become a professional speaker from that? Well, I worked at a finance company and as a leader, I mean, they put me in a management,

a leadership management program. And at the end of that 18 month leadership training program, they sent all the high potential leaders to a week-long seminar put on by someone in our company, in our HR department. And as I'm sitting there watching her, listening to her, I'm realizing, I don't want to run a branch for this finance company. I want to be the leader running these leadership training programs. And so my boss said, finish the training program, get some field experience, and then eventually you can move to the HR department in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It would require relocating from Seattle to Allentown.

But eventually that might work for you. And that's exactly what I did. That position opened up. And I became a training officer for this finance company. And I wrote training programs and delivered training programs for all the leaders of this finance company that was a nationwide company. And I would just travel from city to city putting on these leadership seminars. And I really honed my skills. I joined ASTD at the time. And then I joined the National Speakers Association. And eventually I was sent to a public seminar, and I think it was a career track seminar. And after the speaker was done for the day, I went up to them.

And I said, so you don't have to write anything. All you do is go and speak. And that's it. And he said, yeah, I said, how do I get your job? So he turned me on to a book, how to make it big in the seminar, business written by Paul Kerasic. And in that book, there was a list of all the seminar companies that hire contract trainers. And they all wanted a demo video. So I did a goal setting seminar at my church, recorded it, sent it in to all of these seminar companies. And SkillPath invited me

for a live job interview. So I flew to Kansas City. And I got the job. So I, for five days, years, I worked for skill path seminars doing six-hour seminars up to five cities a week, up to three weeks a month. And I did that for five years. So I really honed my speaking skills by being in front of every imaginable audience for the seminar company. And then I went out on my own in 1998. So that's how long I've been in this professional and personal development game. and I've absolutely loved it. And there's, I love inspiring people. I love telling inspiring stories.

I love the impact that I can make by speaking and delivering motivational keynote presentations. I think that's why I was put on this earth. Hi, friends, Dr. Sindra here. And I'm so excited to announce that my new book published by Simon Schuster is now available titled The Confidence Habit. Our national research study on confidence showed there is a confidence crisis in America today. One in two Gen Zers and young millennials feel like they are not enough.

Women still scored lower on all markers of confidence compared to men. And this book provides the tangible research-backed strategies to grow your confidence, and I can't wait for you to read it. You can head over to ConfidenceTools.com to purchase your copy where there's over $594 of bonuses over there. Again, check it out at ConfidenceTools.com, and I can't wait to hear what to think about it. Can you give us an example of, I know you like telling stories? So tell us about an example or a story of someone choosing front row success and choosing to sit in the front row.

Well, there's a lot of stories. And I have one woman who, her name is Karen Tousan, and I love this story. she was a bar manager in a restaurant, but she really loved to fly. So she went to her mentor and said, I'm going to quit my job and I'm going to become a flight attendant so I can use benefits to fly wherever I want around the world. And he looked at her and he said, you may not know this about you, but you're really a high performer. And I have confidence in you that the same amount of time it would take for you to become a flight attendant, would take you to become a pilot. So why don't you go the pilot route instead of the flight attendant route?

And she had no idea. So her mindset was really in like a general admission seat. She really, she knew what her front row was. She just wasn't aware of the possibility of something even greater. And so she got her pilot's license and became a flight instructor for a jet simulator lab. and one of her first students that she was teaching on this new jet was a 40-year veteran who had a chip on his shoulder and looked at her like, what could you possibly teach me? And she wowed him in that first session, so much so that he talked about her in the van ride

back and forth to the hotel with these other pilots. And finally, these other pilots are tired of hearing about this wonder woman. We've got to meet this woman. And by the end of the week, they met with Karen. and on the last day, they invited her to take a new position as the corporate jet pilot for Young Brands. So within two and a half years, she went from a bar manager in a restaurant to a corporate jet pilot flying around the world, living her front road dream. And what I love about that story is her willingness to be open with a mentor. about what her dream was.

And then luckily, the mentor was open to give her feedback to encourage her to think even bigger than what she had thought for herself. That's front row living. Oh, that's amazing. And what an inspiring story. And also, I loved what you talked about is like the impact that someone else had on her confidence

and her belief to go after her dreams. You know, one of the things I know that you talk a little bit about is this like seat acronym S-E-A-T of success mindset. Tell us more about the seat of success and what that means to you. Yes. Well, it's really easy to remember the seat of success because I've already mentioned you. You have different choices as to where you sit in life and we have different seats, our health seat, our work seat, et cetera.

So the seed of success, the S stands for to see the outcome you desire. So we already talked about seeing your front row. What does that look like for you? Visualize it first. and because you're an athlete, you know the power of visualization, the power of the perfect serve, the power of the perfect stroke, the power of the perfect fill in the blank. It's very powerful. So see the outcome you desire. The E and CETA success stands for energy management because there are so many distractions in the world that take us off our game. We need to focus on

preserving our energy and being around people, places, and doing things. that bring us and feed us positive energy as opposed to those things that drain us of our energy. The A in the seat acronym stands for attitude because your attitude is absolutely imperative for success. And having a positive, enthusiastic mental attitude will serve you very well in every aspect of your life. But the road to the front row is not always going to be paved with, you know, rainbows and unicorns. there are going to be potholes along that way. So the tea in the seat of success stands for tenacity. You have to have your tenacity at max capacity,

especially when handling adversity. And that's just having a stick to it attitude, that it's not going to be easy. The road is going to be rough. But hang in there. Stick to your dreams and hopes and aspirations. Stay the course. Stay focused.

And eventually you will get to your front row. I love it. All right. So see the outcome you desire. Energy management is the E. Attitude is the A and T is the tenacity. How do you encourage people to keep this top of mind and to use this kind of C acronym to guide them? Well, just to remind yourself that every single day you have a choice. And if you don't like where you're sitting in your life, you have one of two choices. Either you get up and move to a new seat. stop complaining about it, stop making excuses for it, stop making stuff up as to why other people get the front row and you don't. So get up and move. Or the second option is to shift your perspective about the seat that you're in. Because maybe it's not as bad as you think. Maybe things are better than you think. Maybe you have it better than you had before. When you shift your perspective, you have more of an appreciation for how hard you've worked to where you are today. And give yourself some grace that you've handled a lot and you've made it through.

Because look at where you are today. Isn't that so true? And I know that the power of self-talk when I'm thinking about seeing the opportunity, engaging in energy management, having an attitude, you know, that really grows and helps you be successful and that tenacity. So I'm curious about, you know, we know that your inner dialogue has just a tremendous impact on your success and your performance. When you're working with people all over the world, what limiting beliefs or negative thought patterns do you see the most? And how do you see that leaders can replace them with more powerful thinking about their success? Because I think that

is one of the things that contributes to you standing and sitting in the front row. Right. And, you know, people have limited beliefs and that turns into self-talk and that self-talk turns into actions. And so ask yourself, does this thought process serve me? And if feeling like I'm not worthy of the front row, does that serve you? Absolutely not. So shift it up. Shift your mindset. Shift your dialogue. Recognize that, you know, you do work hard. You do deserve a front row seat. You're a good person. You deserve a better seat in life. Stop limiting your opportunity and your availability to get a front road just because you don't think you are worthy. So what I've seen a lot is people have this negative thought that they don't deserve it.

So switch that up because that certainly doesn't serve you. And I also believe in the power of self-fulfilling prophecy. Like if you keep saying you can't do it, you're not going to be able to do it. So shift it up. Even if you're not 100% convinced, start acting as if your goals are already achieved and talk about how much you love the front road that you're in and create that visualization, get excited about it, be enthusiastic about it. And then eventually that will become your reality. Amazing. And it starts with like understanding what that front row really is for you, right? And getting clarity on that. Because if you don't exactly know where you,

you're going, how do you manifest it and how do you really imagine that actually happening, like that S in your C, the outcome that you desire? You have to get clear on it first. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Do you have any tips or tools on how to get clarity around it? Well, one thing I like to do, and I literally was just in Paris last week, and I was at an economic summit. It was like the France's version of a DeVos economic summit. And a 2025 Nobel Prize winner for Economic Sciences spoke, and he spoke about Alfred Nobel. And he said the story, as it goes, Alfred Nobel was known for the inventor of dynamite.

And at one point, he had 90 factories around the world building explosives that would be used in war. And his brother died of a sudden heart attack. And the French newspaper got the names mixed up and they ran the obituary as if Alfred had passed. And their headline was, the merchant of death has died. And he watched his own obituary and realized what kind of life have I led. that when I die, this is what I will be remembered for. So he immediately switched his life. And he decided to dedicate his life to rewarding people who added to humanity in a positive way.

And he changed his will and left his fortune, multi-million dollar fortune, to the creation of the Nobel Prize. And so I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about that. So what that means is everybody has a story, which means everybody can change their story. And at any given time, you can change the story of your life. You can change where you're sitting and you can choose to live a front road life. I love it. What a great example of a story and how it can be changed and how you're in charge of that.

You know, I think I also want to ask you about your usher concept. And we know that leadership isn't just about titles, but it's about influence. So tell us more about your usher concept and how it can help us to develop the right mindset for success and sitting in the front row. Well, I live in Las Vegas. And if you ever come to Las Vegas, and I hope that you do. And if you ever go to a show, I guarantee you there will be an usher with two things. Number one, they have knowledge. They know where all the seats are. on the venue. And number two, they have a flashlight. And what they do is they look at your ticket and they say, follow me. And they illuminate the path through the darkness to help you get to your seat represented by your ticket. When you lead a front row life, when you are fulfilling your goals and your dreams. When you are enthusiastic and positive, you don't even realize it, but you are like an usher. You are illuminating the path for others so that others can see what's possible. And when you help illuminate the path for someone else to get out of the balcony of their life and live their

life in the front row, that is the best seat in the house. Outstanding. Excellent. Well, Marilyn, this has been so fun to talk to you. I loved just your concept of sitting in the front row, not the balcony or the general admission. I loved what we talked about, what really prevents people from sitting in the front row. And you talked about fear and how fear is more like the fear of failure is what sticks, you know, gets people stuck there instead of actually failure. I love how we talked about this idea of like your own self-talk and your seat acronym, see the outcome. that you desire your energy management, your attitude and your tenacity. What is one tool that you'd like to help people with or leave people with?

What's one mindset, habit or tool that they could use, let's say, tomorrow, that could help them really to be able to believe in themselves and really sit in the front row like you're talking about? Well, one thing that I love to share with my audiences is to start a win list immediately. I call it a win list. Some people call it a Happy File. Some people even call it a gratitude journal. But you can even have a notes section on your iPhone and just literally write down what are your wins. Let's say you attempted something and you learned something from it. That's a win. Let's say someone recognized you for doing something extraordinary. Well, that would be a win. Or maybe you got a compliment. It's a real simple compliment. That's a win. You made someone laugh and made their day. That's a win. win. When you start to write down your wins, something magical happens in the brain. Your brain will start to look for more wins because it knows that you're going to write them down. And so when you start to accumulate all these wins, it gives you evidence of positivity in your life. So then if you have

fear pop up, insecurity pop up, doubt pop up, what you can do is reframe it by going to your list and rereading all this evidence of good positive energy in your life. So that's one thing our listeners can do immediately is to start a win list. I love that. And I agree that when I do that, we actually have a win wall in my family where every day we put a win on it. And it's been fun. Actually, my son has been home for the summer from college.

And yesterday he put, I loved golfing with dad. and I beat him and that was awesome, you know. And then the day before it was like, I had a good sweaty workout or something like that. And it's fun to see like what they put on it because, you know, Maryland, as teenagers, they don't necessarily always celebrate successes or they don't say out loud what they're grateful for. So it's been fun in our family. Oh, good. It's a good practice to have.

Yeah, and that each person puts something on the wall. So it's also fun to see like, you know, what my husband puts on there too. Well, Marilyn, how can people learn more about you and follow along with your work? Where can they find you on social or on your website? It's really easy to find me. If you go to front row success.com, my website, I have a blog every Friday. I publish a Front Row Friday blog. So on my website, you can sign up for that and you can get it delivered into your inbox.

Or you can go to YouTube and search Marilyn Sherman Speaker on YouTube. and my Front Row Fridays are posted every week on YouTube. So follow me there and you'll get notified when I post another two to three minute inspirational video. And where can people find your book? Marilynne Sherman.com or FrontrowSuccess.com. And you can, and I have my newest book. We just finished it last night. So it's being in production.

So it's Front Row Success, How to Live and Lead from the Best Seat in the House. and it's just filled with front row stories about people who had been in the balcony of their life and eventually moved to the front row and how they overcame obstacles. Despite those obstacles, they went to live and lead a front row life. So that's coming out soon. So be on the lookout for that when it drops. Absolutely. I can't wait to read it.

It's going to be inspiring, listening and learning more about their stories. And also, don't forget to join us for the Mentally Strongs or don't forget to join us for the Confidence Summit, which is on August 7th. And if you're listening to this after August 7th, you also can get the recording and learn more about Marilyn as well as all the other speakers that we have there. So Marilyn, thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciated all your insight and wisdom. So thank you so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Sandra. I can't wait to see you again. Way to go for finishing another episode of the high performance mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe. And you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and enjoy my exclusive community for high performers, where you get access to videos about mindset each week.

So again, you can add over to Dr. Cyndra. That's d R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.