Discover how small, intentional actions help you uncover your unique superpower, build confidence, and take meaningful steps toward your career goals.

Blog Recap

In this inspiring Two Marketing Moms episode, Dr. Christiane Schroeter—TEDx speaker, bestselling author, and host of The Happy Healthy Hustle podcast—shares how small, consistent actions can help you uncover your unique strengths and align your life with your true purpose

Dr. Christiane defines your superpower as the unique value only you can offer the world—something that energizes you, lights up a room, and leaves a lasting impact. Through reflective exercises like identifying your core values, defining moments, and personal legacy, she helps listeners pinpoint what makes them stand out.

Her Petite Practice Planner emphasizes progress through tiny, intentional steps—proving that sustainable success doesn’t come from grand gestures, but from small, daily actions that reduce stress and build confidence. She reminds us that “big change starts with small steps,” a philosophy that guided her all the way to her TEDx stage debut.

Dr. Christiane also encourages self-awareness and vulnerability—especially for students and professionals discovering their path. By reflecting on personal stories, she teaches how to connect passion and purpose into something meaningful and actionable

Key takeaway: Your superpower isn’t something you have to find—it’s something you uncover, one small, intentional action at a time.

Episode Transcript

Kelly Callahan-Poe

If you want to learn how small intentional actions can unlock your greatest strengths, this episode is for you.

Welcome to the Two Marketing Moms podcast. I’m Kelly Callahan-Poe and today’s episode is called Discover Your Superpower with Dr. Christiane Schroeter. Christiane is a TEDx speaker, bestselling author, college professor, and host of the Happy Healthy Hustle podcast who helps entrepreneurs achieve big results through small strategic actions. That is a word full. Welcome, Christiane.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter

I’m so glad we put all the big words right at the beginning because this episode will be all about small steps. And so, I think we eliminated all the big words and from now on only small stuff will happen.

Kelly

So, I’ve done a lot of research. I purchased your book. I purchased all of your books. Just want to let you know. And the one that we’re going to talk about today is called Discover Your Superpower. And I did a lot of the exercises in this book. And your goal with the book is to help people turn their strengths into success. And let’s take a step back first. How do you define a superpower?

Christiane

Defining your superpower as a unique value that you want to share with the world as something that you and only you have you do and that makes you really special that people seek you out for and that you feel good about sharing with the world as well. It’s something that you’re really passionate about. It makes the room light up when you do it and think about like how we all need that in our lives that person that’s just aligned with who they are meant to be.

Kelly

So, what are the steps in the book that you need to take to discover your own superpower? And first, I’m going to let you know that I found the core values, the unique value proposition, and the defining moment exercises to be the most helpful. And you also have tools on your website. So, can you take us through some of the steps to find your superpower?

Christiane

Yeah, so that exercise that you just talked about is a brilliant one. And I alluded to it already explaining what the superpower is. So, think about what do want people to say about you when you’re not in the room? And, you know, that’s sometimes like really a moment of awakening to like, I don’t think I’m actually sharing enough of my superpower with my friends, family and acquaintances and new people that I want to network with.

So, what do I really want to be known for? What do I really want that people remember me by? And that even ties in, and I do that with my students in the classroom, ties in with what legacy do you want to leave in this world? What do you want to be remembered by? Sometimes I even ask my clients, if you could envision your tombstone and what inscription do you think would be on there? I mean, of course you name the date, but what else do want to be remembered by? And that is your superpower right there. So, all these exercises sometimes make us realize that we’re not aligned enough or that we are not verbal enough in really sharing with the world what our unique values are.

Kelly

And the quiz on your website, can you just talk about that?

Christiane

Yeah, the discovery superpower quiz shows us exactly that. How well are we aligned? Is it that you are vaguely aware about your superpower? Are your kind of on your way to really stepping into it? Or are you fully aligned and you feel super confident? Like, yes, my superpower is that. And you feel that confidence shows whether people talk about you and you’re in the room, you’re leaving the room or leaving that legacy as we just talked about.

Kelly

I took the quiz twice. The first time I wasn’t as clear. I think it might have been a couple months ago when we first talked and now, I’m in flow. So, I feel good probably, probably because I read your book.

Christiane

Well, I think it’s the best testimonial ever. Definitely get that out. And you know, the fun part about the book too is, I like that you mentioned there are quizzes in there and worksheets, that it’s, you know, it’s not easy at the beginning to figure out what your superpower might be. But the book is playful enough that you’re feeling is actually like an exercise and it’s something leisurely enjoyable whether you do a word search, a quiz, or you’re reading through what somebody else’s superpower is or even listening to them that I want my podcast guests. It’s something that I feel taps into the superpower of learning because we have different learning styles. And it’s not just like, all right, here, read this book and then you know your superpower. It’s not that you could listen to the book or you could interact with the book if you’re more kinesthetic learner.

And alone that is a superpower in knowing how I learn, how do I assimilate information and how do I share that information with the world.

Kelly

I think that’s important because, you know, perhaps my generation, I love to do these exercises because that’s kind of how we learned how to read, right? And in our generation, but the current generation may just want to skip ahead and just listen to the podcast episodes that are relevant. And so, it’s nice to have both of those in there. I also listened to some of the podcasts that were helpful too. So, you’re also a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship and you have taught over 10,000 students.

What are the common mindset barriers that college students face in finding their own superpowers?

Christiane

Yeah, I actually just got an email from a student a little bit ago and there was a homework assignment to yesterday and that particular student was so hung up on a homework assignment in another class which involves a lot of math, a lot more numbers and got so hung up on the stress with regard to that homework assignment that completely she forgot to do my homework assignment.

And you know, that sounds familiar in our lives because sometimes we are very stressed out, and we are very focused on one thing and then everything else just really turns into the shadow. Even though we could do these other things, we are just so stressed about this one task that is very challenging and uncomfortable and like maybe even like kind of like sticky to our feeling. It sits all day in your mind and on your shoulders.

So, I see that a lot with my students to where it’s sometimes the self-talk is so negative that it even carries into the classroom or into their behavior. And I frequently say, you know, I’m sure it’s a challenge, but how do you think about that? Well, I this is not the first time in your life that you will encounter this. How in the future can you deal with these challenges?

So instead of asking for an extension on my homework assignment, how can you maybe deal with something like that in the future? And I see that a lot in the students that the communication isn’t always proactive, right? So now we are reacting to a missed deadline after the fact that it was missed, which is, very sweet that there is honesty there, but at the same time, just saying ahead of time,

I’m like totally overwhelmed and I’m really feeling like things are just not working very well. That’s just being honest and authentic and also vulnerable. Coming after the fact is challenging and I sometimes tell them too, like it takes a lot to share that you’re struggling with something. We don’t want to be seen as being weak or having challenges in our life. But the more I do that in the classroom and the more my students do that, I think it teaches them that those are actually the best leaders, the ones that show that they have those little holes of knowledge. And they’d say, I actually don’t know this myself, right?

Kelly

Well, if you were guiding a student to find their own superpower, I mean, I think the challenge is if you’re a student or even just going into your first job, you don’t have a lot of work experience. So how do you help them find their thing that they stand for? Because they might not know, the full picture may not be there yet, but they probably know what they’re good at. They probably would know what people say they’re good at. How are you pulling those sorts of things out of young people?

Christiane

We play a little game, we think about where the passions are, and passion could be, you know, as simple as I like playing computer games or like skateboarding. But then we also think a little bigger, like what’s your purpose in life. Like, what are you not just passionate about, but what do you feel your personal story really ties in with something that really meant a lot to you?

Like maybe you’re passionate about skateboarding because you had a mentor in your life who introduced you to skateboarding to get away from the computer games. So, see where I’m going with this. That could be a product or service they innovate to help other young teenagers get away from, you know, just sitting inside, but getting outside and helping them with a mentoring program or with a product or anything like that. So, we really tap into the story and that’s why the superpower book has a tree on it. The roots really try to get the roots uncovered because the roots are just as important in your superpower as it is figuring out, you know, the top of the tree that your superpower might change. And I like Kelly; I actually brought up that you are feeling more aligned with it. If you were to take it maybe in two years, you might even notice that your superpower is changing that made me, you were one thing in 2025, and then in 2027, you’re something different. That’s all right too. But you need to kind of keep in tune with yourself and with your roots and why you are the way that you are. So, I do that a lot with my students where I tell them, think a little bit of like how you grew up and the defining moment exercise. What was really like something that is still on your mind and that you feel really impacted who you are today. And out of these three moments, which one would you really choose to tell an investor as like, this is the reason why I’m starting a company or a service, because that will ultimately then be the building block to your company. So that’s how it works in my classroom and students relate to it. And I think they relate to it even more because I’m sharing my own personal stories with it too. So, you have to be vulnerable yourself to inspire and to do the same thing.

Kelly

Try it with my college aged sons for sure You also wrote a book called The Petite Practice Planner and the framework emphasizes small consistent steps. Can you explain how it works in relationship to supporting your superpower?

Christiane

Beautiful question. So, the petite practice is the name for these small steps. Petite meaning small in French and then practice that you progress, but you don’t exactly know how to do that yet. Basically, learners all along. And in the planner, you’re progressing through your life in small steps. Like for instance, you might feel overwhelmed because you don’t know what you’re going to eat every evening for dinner. And there’s a meal planner in there, and it allows you to line out in very simple steps just the meals that you would like to eat. And then you can go back reverse engineering and figure out what ingredients you need to buy for that. And when you go shopping to make that meal plan happens. So, think about the challenges in your life that you can eliminate with these small steps. And all of a sudden, that project that I just talked about earlier that was very overwhelming becomes much simpler because now you don’t have to worry about dinner, going to the store, ordering food, which is expensive, that adds another stress. So, the petite practice planner is really like, what can I control in my life that will do the rest of my superpower really come through and make me feel more confident in who I am? And I love the feedback that I get from my students too, because There are little drawing pages on their And of course, because it’s French inspired, they tie in with that. And students love it. They sit there and they color these pages. And they’re like, oh my gosh, this is the best planner ever. Like, I’m getting so much joy out of this. It’s like, oh yeah, I like that. Thank you.

Kelly

Well, you had some exciting news recently. You had an opportunity to step on the TEDx stage and talk about this topic. Your topic was called, Want Big Change? Start with Small Steps. Can you tell us a little bit about how it felt to share your own superpower and present your ideas in public to the world?

Christiane

Yeah, I think that TEDx talk was always my own goal. Right. So, one of the books that you mentioned is called how to master your goals. That was always my goal to do that. And I just didn’t know how to get there. And then quite honestly, Kelly, I used exactly my framework. I worked there in small steps. I set aside some time every day to practice. set aside some time every day to think about how Can I be the very best speaker when I get on that stage? And on some days, it was just like thoughts like, okay, what am I going to wear? And how am I going to have my hair? And all this is still important thoughts. And it of course ties in with your superpower. How can I be the most confident individual when I step on that stage? Because I don’t want to feel I’m not performing to the very best ability, but I’m just stepping into my voice. And that’s actually the book of that I’m writing right now, Step into Your Voice. So, when I stood on that stage, I actually, my first thought was home. I was like totally, totally in line with myself. And I was like, my gosh, this feels so good. The only reason why I thought that, Kelly, is because of all the preparation that went into it. Certainly, were highs and lows evenly distributed. were definitely days when I was like, my gosh, this is absolutely intense, the preparation for this. And I think that the petite practice is just that, that sometimes you feel, I really feel I’m practicing, and I learned something that this is not the way to do it. Great! First attempt in learning, right? You failed. I love it. So that’s how my journey to that.

That red dot really was like it was there were so many moments where I was sitting there and I was like, oh my gosh, this is not the way to do this. But guess what tomorrow I’m going to try something different. Yeah.

Kelly

Yeah. Well, you said you also had a similar round rug that you could step on when you were practicing so that you could really feel like that you were in the room. And I hadn’t thought about that. I really kind of mastering the presence of what it’s going to feel like to be there. So that was a huge part of your practice prep,

Christiane

Yeah, I shared this on my second to last podcast interview actually. My podcast, Happy Healthy Hustle, I always share little tips and tricks that make you a hustler while staying happy and healthy. And where I shared, all right, so being on the rug, on the stage, how can we replicate this at home? Say I bought the rug. Whenever I practice, I carry my rug around with me to different rooms in the house. And then I even like started putting my shoes on at the end, so I know how it feels with the shoes on the rug. And I put on like lotion, so I had the scent, and I smelled it. I saw the rug; I felt the rug. And all this is just so important because it’s friction that you’re reducing. And the friction, when it becomes more and more comfortable, feels just like what I said. It feels just like home.

It feels like I’ve done that. I’ve stood on this rug with those shoes smelling this lotion right here. I know what I’m going to do. And then you can just focus on what you do best, your superpower, the confidence speech.

Kelly

Well, thank you so much today for sharing how to master your goals. Thank you so much today for sharing how to discover your superpower. Please find Christiana’s information at twomarketingmoms.com and don’t forget to subscribe and share. Thank you for joining.

Christiane

Thank you.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter Contact Information

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianeschroeter