Restless Excellence
Restless Excellence is a reflective leadership podcast for people who care deeply about impact but refuse to lose themselves in the process.
Hosted by Tonya Richards, this podcast is part leadership journal, part thinking-out-loud space. Episodes are intentionally unpolished; rooted in real-time reflection, lived experience, and the questions leaders rarely get to say out loud.
Each episode explores the unseen work of leadership:
- Emotional labor and decision fatigue
- Values that are tested
- Boundaries, burnout, and sustainable excellence
- Power, integrity, and what it means to lead while still becoming
This isn’t a podcast about having all the answers. It’s about slowing down long enough to think clearly, lead responsibly, and choose alignment over optics.
If you’re navigating leadership, change, or a season of growth, and you’re willing to reflect honestly, Restless Excellence is for you.
Episodes
10 episodes
When Growth Requires Letting Go
In this episode of Restless Excellence, Tonya Richards explores something we don’t talk about enough in leadership and in life: endings.Not dramatic exits nor impulsive decisions, the quiet realization that something no longer fit...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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14:34
The Myth of Balance and What Actually Works
Hosted by Tonya Richards, this episode challenges the tidy equation we’ve all been sold: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of life, 8 hours of sleep; as if life is a ledger that only works when perfectly divided.But life doesn’t move in ne...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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9:57
Stay, Leave, or Redefine
Hosted by Tonya Richards, Restless Excellence continues its journey...but this phase hits a little different.In the first phase of the podcast, Tonya invited listeners into deep self-awareness. Where you recognize how high perform...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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20:07
Leadership Is Not a Title - It’s a Practice!
In this episode of Restless Excellence, Tonya Richards reframes leadership as a daily practice rather than a position you’re granted. Building on earlier conversations about ambition, exhaustion, and the hidden costs of excellence, thi...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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18:08
Ambitious and Exhausted - When Drive Turns into Drain
In this episode of Restless Excellence, Tonya Richards explores the subtle shift from healthy, purpose-aligned ambition to chronic overextension. Through personal reflection and real-life examples, she unpacks how high performers often...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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22:51
The Cost of Excellence No One Talks About
In this episode of Restless Excellence, Tonya Richards explores the hidden cost of high performance; the toll excellence can take when it stops being a choice and starts becoming an obligation. Through personal reflection and lived exp...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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25:24
The Unspoken Contract of Excellence
In this intimate, story-driven episode, Tonya Richards names something many high performers feel but rarely articulate: the unspoken contract that quietly forms when being capable becomes the price of belonging.Lifted from her leadership...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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17:30
The Manifesto: When Excellence Starts to Feel Heavy
There’s a moment many high performers don’t recognize right away...the moment when excellence stops feeling meaningful and starts feeling heavy.In this opening episode of Restless Excellence, Tonya Richards speaks directl...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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23:08
