Dr. Colleen Georges: The Architect of New Narratives
Dr. Colleen Georges is a renowned life coach, author, and educator. She is the creator of the RESCRIPT framework and a TEDx speaker. She is a coach whose work focuses on silencing the inner critic and amplifying the inner advocate. With a practical methodology rooted in positive psychology and a personal history of overcoming anxiety, Dr. Colleen is not just offering advice; she is providing a roadmap for mental restructuring. Her work is a testament to the power of self-authorship, resilience, and the practice of gratitude. For her dedication to helping individuals rewrite their internal narratives and her impactful coaching methodology, The Influential Today Magazine is proud to honor Dr. Colleen Georges as one of the Most Inspiring Life Coaches to Follow in 2026.
The Spark of a Helper
The journey to becoming a renowned life coach often begins with a single moment of clarity. For Dr. Colleen Georges, that moment arrived early. Her path into the world of counseling and coaching was not an accidental stumble but a deliberate walk that began in her adolescence. “My path into counseling and coaching began when I took my very first job working as a camp counselor at age 14,” she recalls. Even as a teenager, she found a distinct spark in helping others navigate their challenges and build confidence.
This early inclination led her to study psychology in college, where she deepened her commitment to service by working with teens in foster care during her undergraduate years. These formative experiences reinforced a crucial truth for her: the immense importance of providing support for those facing life’s most difficult hurdles.
While her original intention was to become a family therapist, a pivotal suggestion from an advisor during her first year of graduate school steered her toward a different horizon. She explored an internship in career counseling at Rutgers University, a decision that “opened the door to over two decades of work in higher education.” In these roles, supporting students through academic, personal, and career development, she began to notice a universal thread. She saw that people struggled not just with external challenges, but with the “internal dialogue that held them back.”
From Personal Anxiety to Professional Framework
Her expertise is not merely academic; it is forged in the fire of personal experience. In her twenties, she faced a formidable opponent: chronic anxiety, panic attacks, and crippling self-doubt. “I recognized how much negative self-talk can shape the way we view our potential,” she admits.
Instead of succumbing to these feelings, she became her own first client. She began utilizing cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindset strategies, and gratitude practices to fundamentally alter her thinking patterns. Over time, she synthesized these methods with her professional background to create the RESCRIPT framework. This practical toolset was designed to help individuals challenge limiting beliefs and build healthier thought patterns. “RESCRIPT is grounded in what I’ve seen work both in my own life and in the lives of the clients and students I’ve supported,” she explains. It is a methodology designed to move people from being stuck in unproductive stories to writing new ones that reflect their true strengths and values.
The Power of RESCRIPT
The framework that she developed is comprehensive, represented by the acronym RESCRIPT: Release Rumination, Engage Growth Goals, Seek Strengths, Challenge Catastrophizing, Restrict Regret, Invite Imperfection, Pursue Perspective, and Think Thankfully.
While every principle in the framework is vital, Dr. Colleen points to one specific practice that saved her during her most difficult years: Think Thankfully. “In my twenties… while I tried various tools, it was a consistent gratitude practice that created the most noticeable shift,” she shares. By focusing daily on what was going right, however small, she was able to interrupt negative thought cycles and reduce the mental space that anxiety occupied.
She is careful to note that this wasn’t a magic wand. “It didn’t solve everything overnight,” she says candidly. But over time, it trained her brain to focus less on potential disasters and more on what was already working. It is a perspective shift that helped her function effectively, and it remains a practice she engages in “every single day.”
Managing the Inner Antagonist
A core component of her coaching involves dealing with what she terms the “Inner Antagonist”—that negative voice that breeds self-doubt. Her advice for quieting this voice is practical and immediate. She advises clients to first notice the specific phrases this antagonist uses and to write them down, creating compassionate alternatives.
In the heat of the moment, she suggests a grounding technique: gently saying your name and telling yourself, “Stop, thinking this way isn’t helping you.” The next step is to pivot to control. She encourages asking, “What do you control in this situation?” and taking quick action on that specific piece.
She offers a vivid example: “If your Inner Antagonist says, ‘You’re going to bomb this interview,’ pause and replace it with, ‘You’ve prepared, you know your strengths and accomplishments, and you’ll tell your career story with confidence.’” By reviewing notes or taking a deep breath—actions within one’s control—the individual disarms the anxiety. She reminds her clients that “discomfort doesn’t equal danger or destruction, no matter how much your mind wants to convince you that it does.”
Cultivating the Inner Advocate
Silencing the critic is only half the battle; one must also amplify the “Inner Advocate.” She believes this advocate is built through small, consistent habits, such as acknowledging strengths and giving oneself permission to be imperfect.
However, she highlights a powerful, often overlooked strategy: “Simply telling yourself why you’re proud of yourself.” She notes that while people rarely do this, it feeds the Inner Advocate. She suggests replacing defeatist thoughts with affirmations of effort, such as, “You’ve led big projects, trained your team, and grown so much this year. I’m really proud of you.” This practice ensures that when life gets stressful, a grounded, compassionate inner voice is ready to remind you, “You’ve done hard things before, you’ve got this.”
Transforming Fear into Opportunity
She is open about the fact that even experts face fear. One of the biggest turning points in her career occurred when she was invited to co-teach a women’s leadership course at Rutgers. “At the time, public speaking absolutely terrified me,” she reveals.
Despite the terror, she had a mentor who believed in her. With that encouragement, she said “yes.” That single word changed everything. It not only helped her work through her anxiety but also sparked a love for teaching, speaking, and empowering others. It served as a potent reminder that “fear often shows up right before something big and meaningful.”
That initial leap of faith has had a lasting legacy. A new iteration of that women’s leadership course was developed, and she has now been teaching it for 15 years. She describes engaging with the young women in her class as “one of the greatest gifts of my life,” a gift born entirely from pushing past fear.
The TEDx Experience
Her expertise eventually led her to the TEDx stage with her talk, “Re-Scripting the Stories We Tell Ourselves.” Her goal was to give people language for the universal experience of the stories we tell ourselves. “I wanted people to understand that we’re not forever stuck with these old, limiting narratives. We can RESCRIPT them,” she asserts.
She emphasizes that the shift can be simple, moving from “You can never change careers” to “You can work on a cross-departmental project.” This talk became the foundation of her framework and clarified the heart of her work: helping people choose stories that support who they want to become.
Rooted in Positive Psychology
Underpinning all of her work is a deep foundation in positive psychology. This academic background informs almost everything she teaches. “It’s the foundation of how I help people understand their strengths, shift their self-talk, pursue meaningful careers… and live fulfilling lives,” she says.
A self-professed lover of learning, she has completed numerous coaching certifications to build a “huge toolkit” of evidence-based strategies. She blends research with real-world applications—such as cognitive reframing and goal-setting—ensuring that her clients walk away with tools they can actually use in their daily lives.
Real Lives, Real Change
The efficacy of her methods is best seen in the lives of her clients. Dr. Colleen recounts the story of a music and radio industry professional who dreamed of performing a one-woman show off-Broadway but was held back by fear. Through coaching, they worked on rescripting her self-talk and mapping out a “real, doable plan.”
The client shifted her schedule and put her dream first. The result was a triumph: her first three performances sold out in under an hour, leading to an extended run. She recalls sitting in the audience on opening night, “holding the Playbill with her name on it, one of the most powerful testaments to the impact of rewriting the story you tell yourself.” This client has since taken her journey further by writing a memoir, proving that “when you push past one big fear, it grows your ability to do it again and again.”
The Art of Balance
As a juggler of roles—educator, coach, author, wife, and mother—Dr. Colleen relies on intentionality and structure to maintain balance. She is a proponent of time-blocking, ensuring that everything from client sessions to household responsibilities has a place on her calendar.
She is an early riser, waking around 4 or 5 AM to secure quiet time for exercise, reading, and reflection before the day begins. She sets clear boundaries, protecting her evenings for her husband and son. “Weekend mornings I see clients, but weekend afternoons and evenings are for doing fun things like hiking or spending time with friends,” she details. She regularly checks in with herself to ensure she is not just being productive, but “actually fully living my life with purpose, peace, and joy.”
A Future Guided by Heart
Looking toward the future, Dr. Colleen offers a refreshing perspective in a world often obsessed with the “next big thing.” Her vision is one of contentment and consistency. “Honestly, I just want to keep doing what I’m already doing because I already have a life and career I love,” she says.
She feels incredibly fortunate to spend her days supporting clients and has created a business that brings her freedom and purpose. Her approach to the future is to let herself be “guided by what feels right rather than chasing what’s next.” She is giving herself permission to follow her heart, aiming simply to keep showing up for her community and living a life that reflects the work she teaches. In doing so, Dr. Colleen Georges continues to write a story of inspiration, proving that the most powerful script is the one we write for ourselves.
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