Protect Your Purpose and Your Plan | Episode 58

What 3 Years of Waiting Taught Me Nobody Else Will Tell You

Why You Keep Waiting to Feel Ready You're not lazy. You're not unclear. You know exactly what the move is.  You've known for months. Maybe someone has already told you to make it. But every week it slides back to the bottom of the list with a new reason attached, and you keep calling that reason patience. It's not patience. It's a stall with better vocabulary, and it's quietly costing you years. This is the episode that ends the excuse. Before another round of preparation, before another "right season," before one more "I'll know when I'm ready," we sit with one thing: the exact difference between waiting and stalling, and what it actually takes to move. Readiness is not a feeling you wait for. It's what shows up after you move. Once you understand that order, you stop waiting for permission that was never coming. What You'll Learn: ⓵ The exact test that tells you whether you're actually waiting on information or just stalling with better vocabulary. If you can't name the missing piece, you already have what you need. ⓶ Why readiness is a receipt, not a ticket. The feeling you're waiting for shows up after you move, never before, and if you feel completely ready the move is too small to matter. ⓷ The real difference between unready and unmoved. Unready means you lack something real. Unmoved means you have what you need and you're still standing still. Confusing the two has cost you years. The Practice: Name the one move you've been calling "not yet." Write it as a sentence: "I have been waiting to feel ready to do ___." Then take one concrete action toward it in the next seven days. Make the call. Open the document. Set the date and tell one person who will actually ask you about it. Reply DONE when it's scheduled. This episode is for you if: • You have the clarity and the capability, and you're still parked in the same spot • You keep calling it "the right season" or "waiting on God" when you already know the move • There's one thing on your list that never moves, not to done and not to the trash One question before you close this: What's the one move you've been calling "not yet"? Reply. One sentence is enough. I read every response. Subscribe to the Still Standing Podcast wherever you get podcasts. Support the show [https://cash.app/$ClarenceStowers] 📲 Stay Connected: 🔔 Subscribe to my YouTube channel [https://youtube.com/@ClarenceStowersTV] 📸 Connect on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/clarence.stowers] 📲 Connect on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/CEStowers/] 📖 Read my Substack for Weekly Insights [https://clarencestowers.substack.com/about] 🎁 Support Mars Hill Anywhere [https://marshillchicago.org/giving] 📚 Amazon Author’s Page [https://amazon.com/author/cestowers] ✉️ Subscribe to My Newsletter [https://clarencestowers.ck.page/profile]:  🛜 Website: https://www.clarencestowers.com [https://www.clarencestowers.com] 🎧 Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-clarence-stowers-leadership-podcast/id1595677363]

I'm Still Here

I'm Still Here. You haven't quit. You haven't collapsed. You didn't walk away. But somewhere in the last year, maybe longer, you stopped recognizing the version of yourself that used to show up automatically. And you've been quietly waiting for that person to come back. That wait is costing you more than the original loss did. This is the Season 2 premiere of Still Standing. Before anything else this season, before the frameworks, before the plan, before the next step, we have to sit with one thing. Not where you're going. Where you actually are right now. And what it means that you're still in it. Still here is not the same as back. And once you understand that difference, everything about what comes next changes. What You'll Learn: ⓵ Why "still here" is not a trophy or proof of strength. It's a starting line. What you do at that starting line determines whether this season goes somewhere or stays stuck. ⓶ Why the version of you before the loss already did its job. The person you were before the sale, the silence, the exit, the grief, that version didn't disappear because something broke. It left because something finished. Waiting for its return means waiting for the wrong person. ⓷ Why you're not carrying damage. You're carrying data: lived experience about who you are under pressure and what you're made of when the structure that held you up gets removed. That data is the curriculum this season is built on. The Practice: Write one sentence before you do anything else: "I'm still here because ___." Don't edit it. Don't write the polished version. Write the first honest answer, the one you haven't said out loud yet. Reply and send it. That sentence is the foundation of everything this season does for you. This episode is for you if: * You've survived something that still doesn't have a proper name * You keep measuring yourself against who you were before the loss and wondering when you'll get back there * You're standing at the beginning of something new, and you're not entirely sure how you arrived here One question before you close this: What's the one thing you've endured that you never gave yourself proper credit for surviving? Reply. One sentence is enough. I read every response. Subscribe to The Clarence Stowers Leadership Podcast wherever you get podcasts. New episodes drop Tuesdays at 7:30 PM CST. Substack: clarencestowers.substack.com Instagram: @clarence.stowers YouTube: @ClarenceStowersTV Support the show [https://cash.app/$ClarenceStowers] 📲 Stay Connected: 🔔 Subscribe to my YouTube channel [https://youtube.com/@ClarenceStowersTV] 📸 Connect on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/clarence.stowers] 📲 Connect on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/CEStowers/] 📖 Read my Substack for Weekly Insights [https://clarencestowers.substack.com/about] 🎁 Support Mars Hill Anywhere [https://marshillchicago.org/giving] 📚 Amazon Author’s Page [https://amazon.com/author/cestowers] ✉️ Subscribe to My Newsletter [https://clarencestowers.ck.page/profile]:  🛜 Website: https://www.clarencestowers.com [https://www.clarencestowers.com] 🎧 Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-clarence-stowers-leadership-podcast/id1595677363]

You Stayed Too Long. Let's Be Honest

You knew before you admitted it. You knew when the work stopped fitting. You knew when your energy changed. You knew when showing up became maintenance instead of mission. But you stayed. In this episode of Still Standing, Clarence Stowers talks about the hidden cost of staying in a season that has already ended. This isn't about quitting hard things. It's about telling the truth about what you've already outgrown. You'll learn the difference between enduring and staying, why fear often disguises itself as commitment, and the one question that exposes what you're avoiding. Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do isn't making a move. It's admitting you've been staying too long. In this episode: • Why staying too long rarely announces itself • The difference between enduring and simply staying • The three costs of overstaying your season • The question that exposes what you're avoiding • A simple exercise to help you name the real fear underneath your hesitation Reflection Question: What are you still pretending is working? Action Step: Write one sentence: "What I am afraid will happen if I leave." That sentence may tell you more about your future than anything else. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who may be standing in a place they already know they're supposed to leave. Subscribe and get 1% better every day. Support the show [https://cash.app/$ClarenceStowers] 📲 Stay Connected: 🔔 Subscribe to my YouTube channel [https://youtube.com/@ClarenceStowersTV] 📸 Connect on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/clarence.stowers] 📲 Connect on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/CEStowers/] 📖 Read my Substack for Weekly Insights [https://clarencestowers.substack.com/about] 🎁 Support Mars Hill Anywhere [https://marshillchicago.org/giving] 📚 Amazon Author’s Page [https://amazon.com/author/cestowers] ✉️ Subscribe to My Newsletter [https://clarencestowers.ck.page/profile]:  🛜 Website: https://www.clarencestowers.com [https://www.clarencestowers.com] 🎧 Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-clarence-stowers-leadership-podcast/id1595677363]

Why I'm Changing Everything (And What's Coming Next)

If you have been listening to this show, you deserve to hear this directly. Something is changing. Not because things went wrong. Because things finally went right. This is Bridge Episode 2 of Still Standing. Today I am not pivoting. I am closing one chapter with intention, so we can both walk into the next one with both hands free. What You Will Learn: ① Why this show has always been about you, and why that does not change ② Why every new chapter requires a closing ceremony, and what happens when you skip it ③ The real cost behind the shift, the signals I ignored for two years, and what finally made me stop ④ Why you are not losing something, and why you are getting more of what you came here for ⑤ What Season 2 holds and why it has your name on it Key Takeaways: ① This show has always been about you. That does not change. What changes is how we show up together. ② Every new chapter requires closing the last one with intention. That is what today is. ③ The mission is the same. The method is sharper. The voice is clearer. ④ You are not losing something. You are getting more of what you came here for. ⑤ What is next has your name on it. Stay close. The Practice: Tell one person about this show. Not because the numbers need it. Because someone in your circle is in the middle of something hard right now, and they need to know they are not alone. This episode is for you if you have been here long enough to trust something about this show and you want to know what comes next. After you listen, tell me: what is the one thing this show named for you that nobody else was saying? I read every comment. Support the show [https://cash.app/$ClarenceStowers] 📲 Stay Connected: 🔔 Subscribe to my YouTube channel [https://youtube.com/@ClarenceStowersTV] 📸 Connect on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/clarence.stowers] 📲 Connect on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/CEStowers/] 📖 Read my Substack for Weekly Insights [https://clarencestowers.substack.com/about] 🎁 Support Mars Hill Anywhere [https://marshillchicago.org/giving] 📚 Amazon Author’s Page [https://amazon.com/author/cestowers] ✉️ Subscribe to My Newsletter [https://clarencestowers.ck.page/profile]:  🛜 Website: https://www.clarencestowers.com [https://www.clarencestowers.com] 🎧 Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-clarence-stowers-leadership-podcast/id1595677363]

Thirty Years In. Here's What I Finally Stopped Pretending.

Thirty years. That is how long I did this before I admitted something I had known for a while. The podcast I was making no longer matched the life I had actually lived. This is the bridge episode for Still Standing with Clarence E. Stowers, Jr. No frameworks. No 3-step system. Just the truth about what ended, what it cost, and what this show is now - delivered in five minutes. What You'll Hear: ① What ended - and why it ending was not failure ② What it cost to keep going when the old structure stopped holding ③ What Still Standing is now and exactly who it is for If you have been doing something for a long time and have finally stopped pretending it still fits, this episode is for you. The Practice: Before you close this app, pull up one name. The person you already know is carrying something they have not said out loud. Send them this episode. No explanation needed. Just: This one is for you. After you listen, tell me: what have you been pretending for too long? Subscribe to Still Standing wherever you listen. Search: Still Standing with Clarence E. Stowers, Jr. Support the show [https://cash.app/$ClarenceStowers] 📲 Stay Connected: 🔔 Subscribe to my YouTube channel [https://youtube.com/@ClarenceStowersTV] 📸 Connect on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/clarence.stowers] 📲 Connect on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/CEStowers/] 📖 Read my Substack for Weekly Insights [https://clarencestowers.substack.com/about] 🎁 Support Mars Hill Anywhere [https://marshillchicago.org/giving] 📚 Amazon Author’s Page [https://amazon.com/author/cestowers] ✉️ Subscribe to My Newsletter [https://clarencestowers.ck.page/profile]:  🛜 Website: https://www.clarencestowers.com [https://www.clarencestowers.com] 🎧 Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-clarence-stowers-leadership-podcast/id1595677363]