We recently connected with Erin Mark and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Erin, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I didn’t expect to live long enough to have one. I was born with cystic fibrosis, a terminal illness. By the time I was a teenager, I knew the stats: most people like me didn’t make it past 18. My twenties felt like all these extra bonus years I never expected to have. But by my mid-thirties, I was entering end-of-life stage.
At that point, I wasn’t dreaming about the future, I was trying to figure out how to die well. My purpose, I thought, was to prepare the people I loved for goodbye. To make the most of the time I had left.
Then, at the 11th hour, a breakthrough medication was approved, and it saved my life. I was given the chance to possibly grow old like everyone else. I could start dreaming again… but I didn’t know how.
Because when you’ve spent your whole life preparing for the end, figuring out how to begin again is its own kind of terrifying.
That’s when I realized: my purpose wasn’t just to survive, it was to help others live like time is precious, too.
Today, I teach actionable tools that don’t just inspire urgency in life, but in business – from leadership to communication to how we show up when the stakes are high.
Life teaches us through people, jobs, setbacks, and second chances. But death? Death teaches differently. It taught me to lead boldly, live urgently, and to help others do the same.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
After surviving end-stage cystic fibrosis, I realized I’d been given more than just time, I’d been given a platform. Today, I’m a keynote speaker and resilience strategist, teaching people how to lead, sell, and live like time is running out, before a crisis forces them to.
My keynote, The Urgency Effect: How to Lead, Work, and Live Like Time Is Running Out, is designed for companies, conferences, and leadership events that are tired of surface-level motivation and ready for something real. I speak at corporate summits, employee engagement programs, women’s leadership events, and healthcare conferences blending personal storytelling with behavioral science and immediately actionable tools.
What makes my work different is that it’s not about inspiration alone. It’s about transformation through urgency. I teach teams how to lead better conversations, build cultures that connect, and take bold action before burnout, disengagement, or disruption take over. Whether I’m working with a sales team, an executive group, or a room full of people trying to figure out what’s next, I help them shift from waiting mode to doing mode.
Right now, I’m focused on expanding The Urgency Effect and launching a companion workshop series for organizations that want to build more resilient, courageous, and human-centered workplaces. I’m also developing a digital experience for individuals navigating life after disruption – whether that’s a scary diagnosis, a terminal illness, care-giving for someone they love, or simply a moment when everything changed. I know firsthand how disorienting it is to start over, and no one should have to do that alone.
Whether I’m on stage, online, or in a breakout session, I leave people with more than inspiration, I leave them with a blueprint for action.
Because urgency, when used well, is a superpower.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
For me, three qualities have shaped everything in my health, my career, and my ability to keep going when things felt impossible: discipline, self-storytelling, and perspective.
Motivation is easy to lose, especially when things get hard. But discipline is what carries you through the moments where motivation disappears. My life depended on it – treatments, workouts, showing up for my health even when I didn’t feel like it. That same mindset has shaped how I lead, sell, and rebuild. Focus feeds momentum. When you’re overwhelmed, narrowing your focus can be the difference between moving forward and giving up. And here’s the thing most people forget: we don’t commit to things because they’re easy, we commit because they’re hard. Because deep down, we want to become someone we’re proud of on the other side of effort. Don’t wait to feel inspired. Build routines that work even on your worst days, and always have a pivot plan for when life doesn’t go according to script. Some days aren’t about progress. They’re just about not quitting.
Another game-changer for me was learning how to tell my own story strategically. The stories we tell ourselves are powerful. They become the lens we use in crisis, and the fuel we use to keep going. When I was in end-stage cystic fibrosis with only 40% lung function, I decided to run a 5K. I had every excuse in the world not to do it. No one would’ve blamed me for sitting it out. But I needed to know I could still move forward – literally. I trained breath by breath. Some days, I could barely finish a mile without stopping to gasp for air. But I kept showing up.
On race day, I didn’t care about my time. I cared that I was out there. That I had chosen effort when ease would’ve been completely understandable. I crossed the finish line completely breathless, and completely alive. That’s when it hit me: the opportunity to get breathless is a privilege. The discomfort, the strain, the pounding in my chest – it meant I was still here. That race became one of the hardest and most important runs of my life, not because I finished it fast, but because I finished it at all. That’s the story I go back to in hard moments. When something feels overwhelming, when the fear creeps in, I remind myself: You’ve done harder things with less air.
We all hit what I call trigger moments: those high-pressure points where fear, doubt, or panic threatens to hijack the next step. That’s why the story you tell yourself matters. It has to be true. It has to be earned. And it has to be ready before you need it. Don’t wait for a breakdown to figure out your backbone. Tell the story now, so you have it when it counts.
And maybe most importantly, I’ve learned the power of perspective, especially in high-stakes environments. Some people see the goal. Others only see the obstacle. The difference isn’t resources or talent it’s how they’ve trained their mind to interpret the moment.
I once heard someone tell a story about two lumberjacks. Every morning, they started chopping wood at the same time. One chopped straight through the day without stopping. The other disappeared for an hour in the middle of his shift – same time, every day. At first, the one who kept working assumed he’d come out ahead. But every evening, the other lumberjack had more wood in his pile. Every single day. Finally, frustrated, the first one asked, “How are you chopping more than me when I never stop and you take time off?”
The other smiled and said, “I go home and sharpen my axe.”
That story stuck with me, because it’s not just about effort, it’s about how you see the effort. Most people think success means grinding nonstop. But real growth often comes from shifting your perspective, using your energy differently, and knowing when to step back so you can come back stronger. Sharpening your axe is just the beginning. The real difference comes when you stop measuring progress by your to-do list, and start measuring it by the life you’re building. It’s not about how much you check off in a day. It’s about the direction you’re headed in for the long haul.
So if you’re feeling stuck, drained, or behind, don’t just keep swinging harder. Stop. Step back. And sharpen your axe.
That’s how I survived.
That’s how I lead.
And that’s what I teach.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
When I feel overwhelmed, I go back to the basics.
I know it might sound a little cheesy, but the most powerful tool I’ve ever used is what I renamed my phone’s alarm to say: “You woke up today.”
I changed it during one of the scariest hospital admissions of my life, when I wasn’t sure I’d make it to morning. That alarm became more than a notification. It became a promise: if I was still here, I still had something to give. I got one more day.
Now, years later, that’s still the first thing I see every morning. I’ve never changed it.
Because when life feels overwhelming, I don’t try to conquer the mountain, I come back to that one line. I keep it simple. I take the next small step.
Don’t trust your feelings in high-stress moments. Emotions lie. Trust your decisions, not your doubts.
Interrupt the spiral. Move your body. Go outside. Change your space – physical motion resets mental chaos.
Visualize the finish line, not the whole journey. Thinking too far ahead can paralyze you. Focus on the next small move instead.
And there’s science to back it up. Harvard researchers found that small wins create a “progress loop” – even tiny accomplishments trigger a dopamine release, building momentum. A Stanford study showed that reframing a big task into just the next step significantly increased follow through.
Start small – make your bed, drink water, send one email, breathe fresh air. Let action interrupt the chaos.
And tonight? Rename your alarm.
It can be a quote, a goal, a single word – something that brings you back to what matters before your feet even hit the floor.
Let it be your first reminder of the day. Or your first win.
Because by tomorrow morning, over 170,000 people around the world won’t wake up. But if you do?
You’ve been handed something rare: time.
You don’t need to use it perfectly.
You just need to use it on purpose.
And if it feels overwhelming – start small. That’s where urgency begins.
Now get out there and MAKE YOUR MARK.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.erinmark.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepetitewarrior_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erin.goodrich.14
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmark/
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