Dr. Mykim Tran believes that every individual has tremendous potential waiting to be unleashed. As a humanistic psychologist and inspirational leader, she has made it her life’s mission to help people discover and reach this potential.
From humble beginnings as an immigrant from Vietnam, Dr. Tran has risen to become a sought-after keynote speaker, author, and founder of a nonprofit organization. Her journey has not been easy, but the difficulties she faced only strengthened her resolve to empower others.
Turning Difficulty Into Strength
Dr. Tran’s struggles with low self-esteem began early. “Being overweight as an Asian girl is very tough,” she shares. “I didn’t have a good childhood.” She was often mocked for her weight. “I was able to overcome that by taking care of myself, eating better, increasing my self-confidence.”
However, in her 20s, Dr. Tran began taking better care of herself. As she learned to accept herself, her confidence grew. She realized that happiness comes from within, not dependent on meeting unrealistic appearance standards. “I found that I didn’t need to look skinny to feel good about myself,” she says.
This personal growth inspired her dream of motivating youth to feel good about themselves regardless of body image pressures. Dr. Tran discovered her passion for speaking while taking communication classes in college. She decided to become a motivational speaker to share her message of self-acceptance.
While developing her speaking career, Dr. Tran encountered many struggling youths from low-income backgrounds in Sacramento. Unable to afford her services, many had to walk away. This experience birthed the idea for the Wake-Up Foundation.
Waking Up Human Potential
In 2013, Dr. Tran established the Wake-Up Foundation, a nonprofit serving underprivileged youth aged 14-24. Its mission is to educate and inspire youth to find purpose and meaning in life. The organization offers programs covering key areas like self-confidence, goal-setting, stress management, productivity, physical health, and personal transformation. For example, the Personal Development Experience is an interactive workshop that teaches participants what personal development is, why it matters, and how to apply growth principles across relationships, health, career, and more. Participants also learn actionable tools and resources to drive their own development after the workshop.
There is also one-on-one motivational coaching that uniquely blends mentoring and coaching. The mentoring aspect shares inspirational stories that motivate and empower youth. At the same time, coaching provides structured knowledge, skills and guidelines for achieving goals. Wake-Up Foundation also provides a library of personal development learning materials. These focus on topics and skills that help youth continuously better themselves and transform into their best selves.
Ultimately, the Wake-Up Foundation creates an ecosystem that unlocks youth potential on multiple fronts. Through personalized guidance, interactive sessions, and self-directed learning, participants gain the mindsets and skills to live purposeful, fulfilling lives.
Gaining Expertise to Unlock Human Potential
While pursuing her master’s in psychology at Walden University, Dr. Tran discovered her affinity for humanistic psychology and its emphasis on human potential. Delving deeper into the intricacies of human behavior, Dr. Tran became captivated by the concept of actualizing one’s full potential. She learned about the profound impacts that purpose and meaning have on fueling motivation.
“I believe that’s the highest level of motivation as a human being. And that is, according to humanistic psychology, if you can have something great to work on daily, you will always have the motivation to not only do something great, but also to take good care of yourself,” she shares.
This breakthrough led Dr. Tran to pursue a PhD in Humanistic Psychology at Saybrook University. By understanding the untapped possibilities within every individual, she could better equip them with the tools for personal growth. Humanistic psychology recognizes that people are always growing. The goal is not perfection but consistent betterment of oneself and society. Dr. Tran applies this worldview in her nonprofit’s work of unleashing potential one person at a time.
Grassroots Change Movement
In her work, Dr. Tran met young people struggling with mental health issues and lacking life direction. This reflects the growing loneliness epidemic, especially heightened during the pandemic.
Seeing this need, her ambition is to spearhead a movement centered on life purpose and meaning. This involves people taking small actions in their individual lives to be kinder, improve themselves daily, and create meaning by helping others in their community.
Such grassroots change is powerful because behavior spreads through social learning. As each person transforms, becoming a positive role model for others around them, it initiates a ripple effect of change at the community level and beyond.
Dr. Tran firmly believes this sense of purpose and self-improvement is the best and longest-lasting motivator compared to more fleeting external rewards like fame or money. She hopes that the Life Purpose movement will captivate all generations and backgrounds.
Leadership Through Self-Improvement
An effective leader herself, Dr. Tran knows that leading requires first setting an example worth following. “Test out the ideas and be brave - that’s leadership,” she says.
She wrote her first book, Self-Esteem Building: How to Live Your Life as You, while pursuing her Master. In it, she shares the importance of continuously learning and making tough decisions to follow one’s dreams, even if it means failing along the way.
After establishing herself as a self-esteem expert, Dr. Tran was invited to co-author a book on healthy relationships. In Secret to Drama Free Love, she contributed insights on self-acceptance being vital for relating well with others.
Through her own story of overcoming adversity, spearheading a nonprofit to serve her community’s marginalized youth, earning advanced degrees while continuously upgrading herself, and leading a movement centered on human potential, Dr. Tran embodies the self-improvement she advocates for.
Empowering Human Potential
The Wake-Up Foundation has made a real difference in many lives. Its participants have gone on to college and meaningful careers where they continue paying it forward. However, Dr. Tran is far from satisfied. She believes unlocking human potential remains an urgent and overlooked need faced by youth and society today.
Her vision ultimately is about empowering every person to pursue self-actualization, discovering meaning and purpose that translates to world betterment. She urges those wishing to make an impact to first transform their individual lives through small daily acts of kindness. Coming from this centered position of inner purpose, individuals can powerfully elevate their family, community and the world.
Dr. Mykim Tran’s life purpose is to help individuals live up to their full potential. Through her nonprofit foundation, books, public speaking, and visionary leadership, she aims to catalyze human and societal flourishing one person at a time.
Connect with Dr. Mykim Tran : https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykimtranphd
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