July 24, 2025 • 37 mins
Welcome to the very first episode of The Becoming You Project — a podcast about reinvention and realignment, and reclaiming all that it is to be you.
In this debut episode, Jess Callahan invites you to explore a question that so many of us eventually face:
“Is this my life… or the life I was taught to want?”
We talk about what it really means to "become you"—not as a self-help cliché, but as a radical and necessary act of coming home to yourself.
We’ll look at the invisible map society hands us:
Be productive. Make people proud. Never ask for too much.
Check the boxes, keep the peace, follow the script.
But what happens when all of that still leaves you feeling… off?
This episode visits ten questions we should ask ourselves if we want to gauge how self aware we really are. Questions like –
- How does your body communicate to you that it’s headed into overwhelm?
- When do you feel the most like yourself in life?
- What is the core wound that you’re healing in your lifetime?
Whether you’re deep in burnout recovery, walking through a season of change, or craving more authenticity and clarity in your purpose-driven life—this episode is your invitation to go inward.
To download the core values finder, follow this link: https://www.jesscallahan.com/core-values-finder
For more from Jess Callahan, visit: www.jesscallahan.com
Or let's connect on --
Instagram - @jesscallahan_
Substack - becomingyouproject.substack.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey there, I'm Jess Callahan and this is The
Becoming You Project.
This is a podcast aboutreinvention and finding your
voice and your purpose.
It's about redefining success onyour terms and small acts of
rebellion against the systemsthat keep us overwhelmed.
(00:23):
Because your path to becomingyou has ripple effects that
shift the world around you.
So let's dive in.
Hey guys, welcome.
I'm so excited to be here.
This is the very first episodeof the Becoming You Project.
And I really wanted to getstarted today by talking about
(00:43):
what Becoming You actually meansand just dive in a little bit
deeper into this whole idea ofself-awareness.
So how do we know that we areliving authentically?
How do we know that we areshowing up as the truest version
of ourselves, and it's not justsomething that we're telling
(01:05):
ourselves.
Because this idea of livingauthentically can be something
that feels really uncomfortable.
And truth be told, we are allreally wired to avoid what feels
uncomfortable.
And so self-awareness can besomething that we tell ourselves
that we've done, we've checkedthat box, but really there's so
(01:27):
many more layers to peel back Somany of us live our lives by
this invisible map, and it's nota map that we chose ourselves.
It's a map that we were more orless handed in our upbringing,
and it's a map that's beenpassed down generationally for
(01:48):
centuries.
But we're told that if we followthis unspoken series of
instructions, this map, that weget to live the good life.
And so we are agreeable.
and productive and we strive tomake people proud.
We climb the ladder.
We're grateful.
(02:09):
We are always so grateful and weare very careful that we never
ask for too much.
And we do it.
We play the part.
We check the boxes.
We fill in the blanks.
We are sold on this idea thatthe good life means that we have
great career.
We find a relationship.
Maybe we have kids.
We get this house with a whitepicket fence.
(02:30):
And maybe the idea of theidyllic house is changing, but
owning a house is definitely onthat list.
Hustle on that list and findingbalance.
I'm using air quotes here.
Finding balance also on thisinvisible map.
But somewhere along the way,this feeling starts to creep in.
(02:54):
Maybe it starts as like a dullache, a quiet knowing, this like
void that takes root in thedeepest parts of you.
And the more you try to ignoreit, the more it grows.
And it like, it presents us thissmall voice inside of us that
(03:15):
asks us, is this my life or isthis the life that I was taught
to want?
Right?
And why am I so tired even whenI'm doing everything right?
I'm using air quotes there,right?
And why does it still feel likesomething's missing?
And that, my friend, is wherethe Becoming You Project begins.
(03:40):
It begins in this moment when wedecide that it's time to stop
following the invisible map.
It begins in the recognitionthat...
People-pleasing is really just away of deluding ourselves, of
deluding our personalities, ourperspectives, and ultimately the
unique gifts that each of us hasto share with our world.
(04:02):
And we do it so that we don'toffend anyone.
We don't share our perspectivesand opinions.
And I think a lot of times wedon't even let ourselves form
real perspectives and opinionsbecause we're so afraid of
offending someone because wehave been taught that we are
supposed to appeal to everyone.
(04:24):
But when we shed these layersand we really like follow this
path, commit to this path tobecoming our truest selves, we
know that we'll find deepermeaning.
We'll begin to live our purpose.
And then we can make these soulconnections that light our
(04:45):
worlds on fire in the bestpossible way.
Think about a snake.
A snake doesn't shed its skinbecause it's broken or
something's missing.
It sheds its skin because it hasoutgrown the old layer or the
past version of itself.
(05:05):
It is literally a biologicalnecessity to shed its skin in
order to keep growing.
So the first step of This wholeidea of becoming you is really
where I want to focus time forthe rest of this episode.
The first step to genuinelyknowing ourselves is having the
(05:31):
courage to recognize how much wedon't actually know ourselves.
And I know it sounds sort ofcontradictory, but it is.
It's really easy to just tellourselves that we know
ourselves.
another box that we checked, youknow, it's like, I know that
self-awareness check, but likeself-awareness is a lifelong
(05:54):
journey.
It is a path that we commit tofollowing for the rest of our
lives because we're constantlychanging and shifting and
evolving.
And we live a different versionof ourselves every year, every
week, every day sometimes.
And Without being really intouch with that process and how
(06:15):
we're changing and where ouredges are shifting, we don't
know ourselves and we don't knowthat we are living life to its
fullest and getting the most outof life.
We're not being honest withourselves and so we're not able
to show up in a way where ourlight can shine the brightest.
(06:35):
There's a research study that Iread a while ago and it changed
my life.
It changed my entire perspectiveon self-awareness and my own
self-awareness.
So Tasha Yorick, she's anorganizational psychologist and
she did this research study thatinvolved more than 300
organizational leaders.
(06:55):
And the study found that highself-awareness correlates
strongly with Things likeperformance, trust building, how
well these leaders communicatewith others and make decisions.
It found that leaders who areself-aware are more promotable,
better at managing teams, lesslikely to derail their own
(07:19):
success, but it also leads tobetter relationships, lower
stress levels.
And so even though the researchcomes through a professional
lens and success really meanssomething different to everyone,
one of the most powerfulfindings is really relevant to
all of us.
It's in this idea of there beinga self-awareness gap.
(07:42):
So her research found that ifyou were to ask a large section
of the general population ifthey're self-aware, 95% of
people would say yes.
But the research actually saysthat only 10 to 15% of people
have true self-awareness.
(08:04):
And so she says that that meansa huge number of people are
lying to themselves aboutthemselves every day.
And I think that that's shockingin some ways, but also not
shocking at all because I do Ithink that I think that this is
one of the biggest lies that wetell ourselves in our lives I
think that we I think it'sdeeply uncomfortable for us to
(08:27):
go inward to really be likeintrospective about the things
that drive us that shape ourbehaviors and I think that the
idea of like facing our shadowis really uncomfortable and so
we just you know it's anautomatic response we're just
like yep I know myself cool andBut we don't go any deeper.
(08:47):
And some of us do.
But even then, I think that wereach this inner plateau, sort
of like this inner depth that wehave to revisit with intention
if we want to go deeper.
And the deeper you go, the moremeaning that you're able to
derive out of your life, themore fulfillment that you get,
(09:08):
the more this void of somethingmissing disappears because all
along, as we search to fill thisvoid that something is missing
and we fill it with these yesprojects and we take on new
roles and we take new coursesand we're just constantly taking
(09:33):
on more to fill the void, butreally the thing that's missing
is us.
It is our connection to the selfand Okay, so I came up with a
list of questions that we caneach ask ourselves to gauge how
well we know ourselves.
And it's not, this is by nomeans like a complete list of
(09:53):
questions.
These are just, you know, in thework that I've done and in my
own journey, these are thequestions that I think have been
the most profound in helpingpeople peel back new layers in
this like quest of becomingcloser to our authentic selves.
The goal here isn't to reallyexpose how much we don't know
(10:15):
ourselves.
It's more of an invitation tojust introspect and to take a
little bit of time to go deeperin some of the areas that maybe
we didn't realize that we maybelike lack self-knowledge or just
some areas that we could justlike focus on, invite into our
meditations, do some journalingaround, do some active research
(10:39):
and inner investigation on wherewe really stand on some of these
things.
So I'm going to go through thequestions with a couple of
examples, and I'm excited tohear what you come up with.
I'm excited to hear if you'reable to peel back any more
layers or what you've learnedabout yourself on your own
journey of self-discovery.
Here's the first one, and Ithink that this is really It's
(11:01):
another one that we prettyquickly have an answer to, at
least like in the discussionsthat I've had with other people.
But I invite you to kind of takethis a little bit deeper, sit
with this a little bit more.
Okay.
Are you an introvert or anextrovert?
And the answer, like the beingin the middle doesn't, it's not
(11:25):
an actual answer.
So I think that there are like5% of people who are true
ambiverts, which sit in themiddle.
It's a spectrum.
We all have some introvertedqualities.
We all have some extrovertedqualities in us.
But which side of the spectrumdo you fall on?
And one of the reasons that thisis so important is because
whether you are an introvert oran extrovert, really, it depends
(11:50):
on it.
It also...
can help you with like energymanagement.
It depends on how you refillyour energy after a long day.
So do you refill your energy insolitude or is it being around
other people that really fillsyou up?
So like say you've been at aconference all day and you have
just been conversing with otherpeople about, you know, the same
(12:13):
topic.
You've maybe been on your feet.
You have just, you're justtired.
You're You cannot wait to dot,dot, dot, fill in the blank.
So are you really excited to goback to your hotel room to put
on some comfy PJs, to read abook maybe, and to just like sit
(12:36):
in your own energy torejuvenate?
Or do you really want to go outwith colleagues for a happy hour
or dinner at a restaurant or abar and it's that being around
other people that really fillsyou up at the end of the day?
I think that when we know thisabout ourselves, we're able to
(12:57):
shift our lives, shift ourschedules around making sure
that we have the right balanceof energy in and energy out.
we're able to really own thisidea that if we know we're
moving into a phase where thingsare just going to be busy and
they're going to drain ourenergy, we can sort of just
(13:17):
accept the fact that we need to,if you're an introvert, you need
to really build in time at theend of the day to recoup your
energy.
Or maybe you've had a reallylong stretch of energy out,
things that drain you and so youneed to block off a couple of
days where you don't have likeoutward facing meetings or phone
(13:40):
calls you can still do whateverit is whatever work that you're
doing create whatever it is thatyou're creating but you just
have different cycles that youebb and flow with so that you're
sure that you can replenishyourself okay the next question
is what What are your values?
(14:00):
And this is another easyquestion.
I think it's really easy forpeople to just say, I know my
values and then rattle some off.
Maybe if pressed further, it'sactually kind of a hard process.
It's a hard process to gothrough in order to really
figure out what your values are.
And I'm not talking about valuesthat have been passed down from
(14:23):
like your family or certaingroups that you associate with.
I think that a lot of times it'seasy for us to just attach like
what we think our values shouldbe based on our upbringing or,
you know, maybe it's likereligious groups, political
groups.
And so, you know, and it helpsus avoid the deeper, maybe
(14:43):
sometimes more uncomfortablework of figuring out what our
own true values are and how dowe really like, how do we really
like pit some of them againsteach other in order to come up
with this list, a short andreally intentional list of what
guides us.
So I encourage you, if you don'tknow what your personal values
are, I have a values finder thatI can link to, or you can just,
(15:06):
you can go online and figure outhow to do it.
But I really like to do it likeone of those March Madness
brackets, like start with a listof a ton of values and just
circle the ones that stand outto you.
And then basically like theMarch Madness bracket, go
through the values, kind ofpitting them against each other
left to right until you come upwith your top.
(15:27):
Three is usually the number thatis advisable, but I think I have
five and I'm okay with that.
I don't feel the need to...
to narrow mine in anymore.
I feel really strong about myvalues and I'm good with five.
So you pick the number, only youknow what that number looks
(15:49):
like, but take the time toreally sit and figure out what's
important to you.
I think that as we go throughthis process of finding our
voices, finding ourselves, thesecan be sort of like the
guardrails to figure out what'sthat hill you're willing to die
on or where, if you're Knowyourself through the formation
(16:10):
of perspectives and opinions.
Your values, that's a reallygood, those are really good like
bumpers sort of to press upagainst as you start to figure
those things out about yourself.
Okay, the next one is what arethe signals that your body sends
you when you're headed intooverwhelm?
(16:31):
I know from personal experienceand then just from being really
curious and living in this spacefor a while now, that there are
a lot of us who ignore what ourbodies tell us when it comes to
overwhelm.
We push through because we livein this world where we derive
our value from productivity andwhatever it is that society
(16:55):
calls success.
We associate value with success.
climbing a ladder of some sort,job titles, how much money we
make, output and income.
And so we ignore what's going onin our bodies because there's
just so much noise.
(17:17):
We just keep going.
We don't pause.
We don't rest.
We don't take moments of truesilence.
mindfulness to really likeobserve what's going on in our
bodies and what the subtle cuesare and so that's why so many of
us are living in overwhelmburnout even like functional
freeze when not to get too techybut it's like it's a part of our
(17:41):
nervous system where we just wefreeze things feel stuck and
frozen and our minds are reallyoverwhelmed and when your mind
is living in a perpetual stateof overwhelm, it's really hard
to do something different.
It's really hard to thinkdifferently.
It's hard to make a differentchoice because your body is just
(18:04):
operating off of like the firstthing that makes it feel safe.
So in order to really like peelback those layers, we start by
listening to the body andfiguring out how the body tells
us that we're moving intooverwhelm.
For me, I really like ignoredthese signals for years and
(18:26):
years.
And eventually I ended up in achronic pain flare up with a
fibromyalgia diagnosis.
And it took me a really longtime to really understand what
was going on.
It has been the journey of mylife to heal my nervous system.
And it's something that I willhave to continue to do for the
rest of my life because I justperpetually and habitually
(18:49):
ignored these signs.
of overwhelm that just, youknow, it led me on this path to
no turning back, I guess.
Okay.
The fourth question is anotherquestion that has to do with
listening to the body.
The question is, what does yourintuition sound like?
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What is your body's yes?
And what is your body's no?
So that's all one question.
So, okay.
I'll give you an example.
When When my body is telling methat something is a yes, I feel
light.
(19:30):
I have a lot of clarity andbreakthroughs, and I find that
there are a lot ofsynchronicities that start to
support whatever path that I'mon.
If it's a yes, my own body andmy own intuition affirm the fact
that it's a yes.
If it's a no, I find that thisone's a little bit harder to
(19:51):
explain, but I'm going to try toexplain this feeling in my body
that I get this knowing.
It's a sense of knowing.
So if I'm asking myself aquestion and the answer is no,
when I use my mind's eye to sortof look in the direction of this
question, my body sort ofcontracts and everything feels
(20:15):
better.
blocked and there's no clarity.
There's no, like I have to workreally hard to figure out what
the next right step is or whatthe path forward looks like.
Everything feels really blocked.
And to me, that's a no.
Or like if I'm getting some sortof message from, from my
intuition and it's somethingthat I need to pay attention to,
(20:38):
I feel it right in like the coreof my stomach, right where my
ribs meet in the front.
And I know I get this like, justthis like deep feeling and it's
like, pay attention here.
It's time to listen.
And I think similar to, youknow, what we just talked about
with your body's signals whenyou're We override our intuition
(21:01):
all the time.
Not to mention, I mean, I'mgonna go into this in another
episode, why we've been sodisconnected from our intuition.
It's literally this likesystemic disconnection that has
happened intentionally forcenturies.
So we've been taught not totrust ourselves and our
intuition, but there's also justso much noise in our environment
(21:22):
that it's almost impossibleunless we are really
intentionally listening to thesignals coming from our body
because intuition really doeslive in the body first.
Okay, the next question is, whatis the core wound that you're
healing in your lifetime?
This one's a little bit deep,but it nods to like none of us
(21:45):
leave childhood unscathed.
So like so what are what's justlike the stuff that you carried
with you into adulthood that youneed to unpackage and really
work with?
If we turn to astrology for somecontext on this one.
Chiron is, it's like a minorplanet meets a comet.
(22:07):
And in the world of astrology,it's known as the wounded
healer.
And depending on where Chironsits in your natal chart and the
relationship that it has toother planets in your chart, it
helps us understand what thecore or initial wound is that
(22:27):
we've really had to work throughin our lives.
And the lessons of Chiron arealso in this idea that when we
heal the wound and when weintegrate that healing, we're
able to use those lessons in oursoul's purpose or in how we are
able to help others.
(22:48):
So some examples of Chironwounds might be that you might
have wounds related toself-worth or identity or Maybe
you have wounds associated withlike self-expression or a fear
of judgment or beingmisunderstood.
You could have wounds aroundemotional security.
(23:09):
You could have like woundsaround like feeling emotionally
disconnected or struggling tofeel safe in the world.
You may have a fear of rejectionor wounds related to
perfectionism andself-criticism.
These are just like a couple ofthe examples of the wounds that
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Chiron can point to.
Your core wound, you don't haveto look at it through the lens
of astrology.
I will dive into more astrologylater because I do really love
it as a tool for learning theself better.
But either way, this issomething that you can do shadow
work to discover.
You can work with a therapist,but there are core wounds that
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you are either actively workingto heal or they are actively,
but subconsciously shaping yourlife.
And so what are the core woundsthat you are working to heal?
And then how can you use thathealing to help those around
you?
Question six is what are yourinner resources?
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What are you really good at?
And in what situations do youshine the brightest?
I think that sometimes when wefocus on the things that we're
really good at, it can be seenas like arrogant or
braggadocious.
That's such like a ridiculouslybig word, but okay, you know
(24:39):
where I'm going.
It's like we sometimes we stopourselves from really leaning
into our strengths at timesbecause we don't want to be seen
as being, you know, overlyconfident in that way, but it's
really important that we knowwhat are the gifts that we bring
into a certain situation?
What are the gifts that we bringinto this world?
(25:00):
And I think that at the sametime, that leads us into the
next question, which is like,what are the core challenges
that you're working through?
I think when we know ourstrengths and our weaknesses and
we know them intimately, ithelps us in relationships.
It helps us in work situations.
It helps us with our ownrelationship with ourselves and
(25:21):
the goals that we set, theconfidence we build when we're
able to achieve them, or how itimpacts us when we fail,
depending on what yourrelationship is with this word
failure, it really shapes how wework through life in all of
these areas.
And knowing our strengthsenables us to put us in these
(25:42):
positions where we can shine thebrightest, but it also enables
helps us to understand wherethose edges are, those growth
edges and what we need to workon in order to make improvements
in our relationships and ourwork product and the things that
we're creating.
So seven specifically, I have,what are the core challenges
that you're working through foryourself and in your
(26:03):
relationships?
So really not, not shying awayfrom the knowing that we all
have stuff to work on.
We all have stuff that we needto just dive into more deeply in
order to peel back these, um,like layers that can be
(26:23):
preventing us from having justlike deeper, more honest
connections with others.
Okay.
Number eight, this one may ormay not, um, you may or may not
like this one, but how do youfeel about political movements
and social issues?
And you, you can't say I'm notpolitical because You can't say,
(26:46):
I don't like to get involved inthis stuff because living life,
especially right now, is to bepolitical.
When you make a choice to notform an opinion, it doesn't mean
that you have to protest orshout it from the rooftops.
But when you don't formopinions, when you don't figure
(27:07):
out how you feel about certainsituations, that non-action is
also political.
being political.
Non-action is still action.
And so you have to make achoice.
But I think that when we do takethe time to understand what it
is that we believe and feelabout these certain situations
and things that are happening,some of this might tie back to
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your values and finding theedges of your belief systems in
order to find your voice.
Or maybe it's really just aninternal process that helps you
Just know yourself better.
But I think that when you makethese opinions, it helps you
(27:48):
understand yourself better.
It helps you understand whereyou kind of fit into this larger
society as a whole.
It helps you figure out howyou're able to do whatever it is
that is the work of your life.
How are you going to pursue yourpurpose?
A lot of times, political andsocial issues...
(28:09):
shape that.
And so it's not until you startto look in that direction and
start to really dig into how youfeel about certain things that
you're able to kind ofcrystallize what the path to
more or what's next really lookslike.
Okay.
The next one is when do you feelthe most like yourself?
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And this is a really loadedquestion, but what are the
things that you're doing or thepeople that you're around or
what are the activities thatjust fill you with joy and
inspiration and they don't drainyou.
It's a place that you can go.
(28:52):
It can maybe be a safe space, aspace of comfort, a space of
pushing you outside of yourcomfort zone.
But what is it when you start tofeel disconnected from yourself
or you start to feel the weightof life on your shoulders, or
you just start to feeluninspired, where can you go to
reconnect with inspiration?
(29:13):
For me, I found, I'm going to goback to astrology here, but if
you're familiar with astrology,you know that there is a sun
sign, a rising sign, and a moonsign.
A lot of times we all associateourselves with our sun sign.
It's the easiest one.
The sun was in Scorpio when Iwas born.
I'm a November baby, and so I'ma Scorpio.
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That's my sun sign.
And one of the very first thingsthat I really was able to
embrace about myself fromastrology is I'm a Sagittarius
rising, and Sagittarius is,among other things, about life.
adventure and the pursuit ofknowledge and new experiences
broadening worldview.
(29:55):
And I've always felt reallyconnected to travel, but over
time I started to tell myselfthat it was really just trivial.
It was a luxury.
It was something that I would dowhen I wasn't in hustle mode or
needing to achieve and that Iwould put it on the back burner
until I reached my goals.
And then I really just startedto realize that like travel is
(30:16):
the thing that unlocks the thepart of me that can connect with
inspiration.
And so when I travel, I meet anew version of myself.
I find out more about myself.
I'm able to show up better in mylife and push my professional
pursuits, but also I show upmore balanced for myself and my
kids.
(30:37):
And that's just my own personalthing.
That maybe travel drains you,but maybe it's creativity,
picking up a paintbrush.
Maybe it's going out with agroup of friends and just
laughing all night.
Maybe it's just spending a nightin with your kids, like watching
(30:57):
TV.
Maybe it is total solitude, awalk outside.
It can be anything, but only youknow that.
Only you can figure out what itis that fills you up.
And so I encourage you to findthat thing.
And again, this is not an easy,you're not just going to Flip a
switch, check a box, and youhave found it.
It's something that you reallyhave to sit with and contemplate
(31:20):
and maybe continue to experiencelife for a while.
And then you start to justrecognize like, hey, this feels
really good.
Like I feel really, reallyinspired after doing X or fill
in the blank.
And so you note that toyourself.
And it's just, it's a seed thatyou plant now that you come back
to later when you feel thoselittle like sparks of
inspiration.
Okay.
(31:41):
And the last question is, Whenwe're talking about the work
that you do on a day-to-daybasis, what inspires you and
what drains you?
What's the work that you coulddo all day and you would still
(32:01):
feel energized and in flow?
And what's the work that youavoid doing that you're You
might tell yourself that you'renot good at doing.
It's really just like it is amassive energy expenditure.
I'm going to use the example ofthe working genius.
This is one of my very favoritepersonality type tests.
(32:23):
It really has to do with thework of your life.
And that doesn't have to beprofessional work.
This can be creative work.
It can be work that you do athome, in your family unit, any
work that you do.
So the idea behind the workinggenius is that in any like
project or work, there are sixdifferent phases or types of
(32:46):
work and that we all do all ofthem, but there are two that are
a genius and two that are ourareas of frustration, which
leaves two that are sort of likethat in between.
So When you're working in yourgenius, you could do this work
forever and it's inspiring andit fills you up.
But when you're working in yourfrustrations, these are the
energy drains.
(33:07):
This is where you just, you burnout really quickly.
And then those like thecompetencies, the two in the
middle are the areas that youcan do them.
You are perfectly capable ofdoing them.
You might even do them reallywell, but if you do them for too
long, ultimately it will drainyou.
And so I'll go through themreally quickly, but I really
encourage you if this interestsyou at all to Look at the
(33:29):
Working Genius podcast.
There's a book.
There's this whole just likework methodology that you can
follow.
But the six phases are wonder.
And this is the part of the workwhere you can really like just
sit with a problem, you know,trying to figure out whether
there's a problem to begin with.
(33:50):
Does something need to change?
It's sort of this area of likeobservation and contemplation.
The next one is invention.
And this is the area where we'rejust coming up with big ideas,
new ideas.
They don't have to be greatideas, but just like creating
something new.
(34:10):
The next one is discernment.
And so this is where we havelike somebody who's good at
discernment is really good atquickly identifying if
something's a good idea or a badidea.
It's like a really good...
intuitive radar.
This person is the one you go towhen you really want advice and
(34:30):
you know that they are going togive you thoughtful advice, but
that's like rooted in intuitionalmost.
The fourth area is galvanizing.
And this is the person that likeis ready to, it's like this
person is a cheerleader.
They are, they found a greatidea and they want to get
everyone else on board.
They are rallying the troops andgetting everyone excited about
(34:52):
an idea or a concept.
The next one is enablement.
So it's like project management,detail work, checking the boxes.
And the last one is tenacity.
And this is the person who hasthat like staying power, is able
to see a project through to theend, really like seeing what the
final like result looks like,putting that like last little
(35:14):
bow on the project.
And just to share like apersonal anecdote quickly, I
found in my own life that, youknow, in past lives, I was
really like Most of the workthat I was doing was in
enablement and tenacity.
It was like that, that likedetail work that it's really
important, but it's also not oneof my strengths at all.
(35:36):
I'm really not good at stayingon top of the detail work.
I am, um, my strengths are ininvention and And discernment.
And so I love working withentrepreneurs.
I love working with new businessideas, coming up with business
ideas, helping people shapetheir ideas to something that
could really like work in thereal world.
(35:59):
But that's where my energy sortof is, is best supported, um,
that's just one way that you canreally figure out what work
inspires you and what drainsyou.
And this can be helpful forthings like, you know, if you're
starting a business, what, whatdo you outsource?
It might not be the thing thatyou think you're supposed to be
outsourcing or who do you teamup with?
How can you fill your gaps?
(36:20):
Um, it can also help you athome, like knowing if you need
to get some support at home, youknow, maybe you're working and
you have kids and you just don'thave, um, 8,000 arms to be able
to like do all of the thingsthat you need to do.
It can help you figure out whereyou need support so that you can
really focus on the areas thatare your strengths.
Okay.
Those are my 10 questions forbuilding strength.
(36:43):
self-awareness.
And I know we went through themreally quickly.
This is sort of just like ateaser on where I see the
podcast going.
Each of these questions, youknow, opens up a bigger dialogue
and invitation forintrospection.
And I'm really excited to divedeep in all of these areas.
So hopefully, you know, you havesome You have some things to
(37:05):
dive into following thisepisode.
And if you have questions orwant to connect on any of this,
please, I would love for you toreach out and just hear what's
on your mind.
Otherwise, I will see you nextweek.
Bye.
Hey there, I'm Jess Callahan and this is The
Becoming You Project.
This is a podcast aboutreinvention and finding your
voice and your purpose.
It's about redefining success onyour terms and small acts of
rebellion against the systemsthat keep us overwhelmed.
(00:23):
Because your path to becomingyou has ripple effects that
shift the world around you.
So let's dive in.
Hey guys, welcome.
I'm so excited to be here.
This is the very first episodeof the Becoming You Project.
And I really wanted to getstarted today by talking about
(00:43):
what Becoming You actually meansand just dive in a little bit
deeper into this whole idea ofself-awareness.
So how do we know that we areliving authentically?
How do we know that we areshowing up as the truest version
of ourselves, and it's not justsomething that we're telling
(01:05):
ourselves.
Because this idea of livingauthentically can be something
that feels really uncomfortable.
And truth be told, we are allreally wired to avoid what feels
uncomfortable.
And so self-awareness can besomething that we tell ourselves
that we've done, we've checkedthat box, but really there's so
(01:27):
many more layers to peel back Somany of us live our lives by
this invisible map, and it's nota map that we chose ourselves.
It's a map that we were more orless handed in our upbringing,
and it's a map that's beenpassed down generationally for
(01:48):
centuries.
But we're told that if we followthis unspoken series of
instructions, this map, that weget to live the good life.
And so we are agreeable.
and productive and we strive tomake people proud.
We climb the ladder.
We're grateful.
(02:09):
We are always so grateful and weare very careful that we never
ask for too much.
And we do it.
We play the part.
We check the boxes.
We fill in the blanks.
We are sold on this idea thatthe good life means that we have
great career.
We find a relationship.
Maybe we have kids.
We get this house with a whitepicket fence.
(02:30):
And maybe the idea of theidyllic house is changing, but
owning a house is definitely onthat list.
Hustle on that list and findingbalance.
I'm using air quotes here.
Finding balance also on thisinvisible map.
But somewhere along the way,this feeling starts to creep in.
(02:54):
Maybe it starts as like a dullache, a quiet knowing, this like
void that takes root in thedeepest parts of you.
And the more you try to ignoreit, the more it grows.
And it like, it presents us thissmall voice inside of us that
(03:15):
asks us, is this my life or isthis the life that I was taught
to want?
Right?
And why am I so tired even whenI'm doing everything right?
I'm using air quotes there,right?
And why does it still feel likesomething's missing?
And that, my friend, is wherethe Becoming You Project begins.
(03:40):
It begins in this moment when wedecide that it's time to stop
following the invisible map.
It begins in the recognitionthat...
People-pleasing is really just away of deluding ourselves, of
deluding our personalities, ourperspectives, and ultimately the
unique gifts that each of us hasto share with our world.
(04:02):
And we do it so that we don'toffend anyone.
We don't share our perspectivesand opinions.
And I think a lot of times wedon't even let ourselves form
real perspectives and opinionsbecause we're so afraid of
offending someone because wehave been taught that we are
supposed to appeal to everyone.
(04:24):
But when we shed these layersand we really like follow this
path, commit to this path tobecoming our truest selves, we
know that we'll find deepermeaning.
We'll begin to live our purpose.
And then we can make these soulconnections that light our
(04:45):
worlds on fire in the bestpossible way.
Think about a snake.
A snake doesn't shed its skinbecause it's broken or
something's missing.
It sheds its skin because it hasoutgrown the old layer or the
past version of itself.
(05:05):
It is literally a biologicalnecessity to shed its skin in
order to keep growing.
So the first step of This wholeidea of becoming you is really
where I want to focus time forthe rest of this episode.
The first step to genuinelyknowing ourselves is having the
(05:31):
courage to recognize how much wedon't actually know ourselves.
And I know it sounds sort ofcontradictory, but it is.
It's really easy to just tellourselves that we know
ourselves.
another box that we checked, youknow, it's like, I know that
self-awareness check, but likeself-awareness is a lifelong
(05:54):
journey.
It is a path that we commit tofollowing for the rest of our
lives because we're constantlychanging and shifting and
evolving.
And we live a different versionof ourselves every year, every
week, every day sometimes.
And Without being really intouch with that process and how
(06:15):
we're changing and where ouredges are shifting, we don't
know ourselves and we don't knowthat we are living life to its
fullest and getting the most outof life.
We're not being honest withourselves and so we're not able
to show up in a way where ourlight can shine the brightest.
(06:35):
There's a research study that Iread a while ago and it changed
my life.
It changed my entire perspectiveon self-awareness and my own
self-awareness.
So Tasha Yorick, she's anorganizational psychologist and
she did this research study thatinvolved more than 300
organizational leaders.
(06:55):
And the study found that highself-awareness correlates
strongly with Things likeperformance, trust building, how
well these leaders communicatewith others and make decisions.
It found that leaders who areself-aware are more promotable,
better at managing teams, lesslikely to derail their own
(07:19):
success, but it also leads tobetter relationships, lower
stress levels.
And so even though the researchcomes through a professional
lens and success really meanssomething different to everyone,
one of the most powerfulfindings is really relevant to
all of us.
It's in this idea of there beinga self-awareness gap.
(07:42):
So her research found that ifyou were to ask a large section
of the general population ifthey're self-aware, 95% of
people would say yes.
But the research actually saysthat only 10 to 15% of people
have true self-awareness.
(08:04):
And so she says that that meansa huge number of people are
lying to themselves aboutthemselves every day.
And I think that that's shockingin some ways, but also not
shocking at all because I do Ithink that I think that this is
one of the biggest lies that wetell ourselves in our lives I
think that we I think it'sdeeply uncomfortable for us to
(08:27):
go inward to really be likeintrospective about the things
that drive us that shape ourbehaviors and I think that the
idea of like facing our shadowis really uncomfortable and so
we just you know it's anautomatic response we're just
like yep I know myself cool andBut we don't go any deeper.
(08:47):
And some of us do.
But even then, I think that wereach this inner plateau, sort
of like this inner depth that wehave to revisit with intention
if we want to go deeper.
And the deeper you go, the moremeaning that you're able to
derive out of your life, themore fulfillment that you get,
(09:08):
the more this void of somethingmissing disappears because all
along, as we search to fill thisvoid that something is missing
and we fill it with these yesprojects and we take on new
roles and we take new coursesand we're just constantly taking
(09:33):
on more to fill the void, butreally the thing that's missing
is us.
It is our connection to the selfand Okay, so I came up with a
list of questions that we caneach ask ourselves to gauge how
well we know ourselves.
And it's not, this is by nomeans like a complete list of
(09:53):
questions.
These are just, you know, in thework that I've done and in my
own journey, these are thequestions that I think have been
the most profound in helpingpeople peel back new layers in
this like quest of becomingcloser to our authentic selves.
The goal here isn't to reallyexpose how much we don't know
(10:15):
ourselves.
It's more of an invitation tojust introspect and to take a
little bit of time to go deeperin some of the areas that maybe
we didn't realize that we maybelike lack self-knowledge or just
some areas that we could justlike focus on, invite into our
meditations, do some journalingaround, do some active research
(10:39):
and inner investigation on wherewe really stand on some of these
things.
So I'm going to go through thequestions with a couple of
examples, and I'm excited tohear what you come up with.
I'm excited to hear if you'reable to peel back any more
layers or what you've learnedabout yourself on your own
journey of self-discovery.
Here's the first one, and Ithink that this is really It's
(11:01):
another one that we prettyquickly have an answer to, at
least like in the discussionsthat I've had with other people.
But I invite you to kind of takethis a little bit deeper, sit
with this a little bit more.
Okay.
Are you an introvert or anextrovert?
And the answer, like the beingin the middle doesn't, it's not
(11:25):
an actual answer.
So I think that there are like5% of people who are true
ambiverts, which sit in themiddle.
It's a spectrum.
We all have some introvertedqualities.
We all have some extrovertedqualities in us.
But which side of the spectrumdo you fall on?
And one of the reasons that thisis so important is because
whether you are an introvert oran extrovert, really, it depends
(11:50):
on it.
It also...
can help you with like energymanagement.
It depends on how you refillyour energy after a long day.
So do you refill your energy insolitude or is it being around
other people that really fillsyou up?
So like say you've been at aconference all day and you have
just been conversing with otherpeople about, you know, the same
(12:13):
topic.
You've maybe been on your feet.
You have just, you're justtired.
You're You cannot wait to dot,dot, dot, fill in the blank.
So are you really excited to goback to your hotel room to put
on some comfy PJs, to read abook maybe, and to just like sit
(12:36):
in your own energy torejuvenate?
Or do you really want to go outwith colleagues for a happy hour
or dinner at a restaurant or abar and it's that being around
other people that really fillsyou up at the end of the day?
I think that when we know thisabout ourselves, we're able to
(12:57):
shift our lives, shift ourschedules around making sure
that we have the right balanceof energy in and energy out.
we're able to really own thisidea that if we know we're
moving into a phase where thingsare just going to be busy and
they're going to drain ourenergy, we can sort of just
(13:17):
accept the fact that we need to,if you're an introvert, you need
to really build in time at theend of the day to recoup your
energy.
Or maybe you've had a reallylong stretch of energy out,
things that drain you and so youneed to block off a couple of
days where you don't have likeoutward facing meetings or phone
(13:40):
calls you can still do whateverit is whatever work that you're
doing create whatever it is thatyou're creating but you just
have different cycles that youebb and flow with so that you're
sure that you can replenishyourself okay the next question
is what What are your values?
(14:00):
And this is another easyquestion.
I think it's really easy forpeople to just say, I know my
values and then rattle some off.
Maybe if pressed further, it'sactually kind of a hard process.
It's a hard process to gothrough in order to really
figure out what your values are.
And I'm not talking about valuesthat have been passed down from
(14:23):
like your family or certaingroups that you associate with.
I think that a lot of times it'seasy for us to just attach like
what we think our values shouldbe based on our upbringing or,
you know, maybe it's likereligious groups, political
groups.
And so, you know, and it helpsus avoid the deeper, maybe
(14:43):
sometimes more uncomfortablework of figuring out what our
own true values are and how dowe really like, how do we really
like pit some of them againsteach other in order to come up
with this list, a short andreally intentional list of what
guides us.
So I encourage you, if you don'tknow what your personal values
are, I have a values finder thatI can link to, or you can just,
(15:06):
you can go online and figure outhow to do it.
But I really like to do it likeone of those March Madness
brackets, like start with a listof a ton of values and just
circle the ones that stand outto you.
And then basically like theMarch Madness bracket, go
through the values, kind ofpitting them against each other
left to right until you come upwith your top.
(15:27):
Three is usually the number thatis advisable, but I think I have
five and I'm okay with that.
I don't feel the need to...
to narrow mine in anymore.
I feel really strong about myvalues and I'm good with five.
So you pick the number, only youknow what that number looks
(15:49):
like, but take the time toreally sit and figure out what's
important to you.
I think that as we go throughthis process of finding our
voices, finding ourselves, thesecan be sort of like the
guardrails to figure out what'sthat hill you're willing to die
on or where, if you're Knowyourself through the formation
(16:10):
of perspectives and opinions.
Your values, that's a reallygood, those are really good like
bumpers sort of to press upagainst as you start to figure
those things out about yourself.
Okay, the next one is what arethe signals that your body sends
you when you're headed intooverwhelm?
(16:31):
I know from personal experienceand then just from being really
curious and living in this spacefor a while now, that there are
a lot of us who ignore what ourbodies tell us when it comes to
overwhelm.
We push through because we livein this world where we derive
our value from productivity andwhatever it is that society
(16:55):
calls success.
We associate value with success.
climbing a ladder of some sort,job titles, how much money we
make, output and income.
And so we ignore what's going onin our bodies because there's
just so much noise.
(17:17):
We just keep going.
We don't pause.
We don't rest.
We don't take moments of truesilence.
mindfulness to really likeobserve what's going on in our
bodies and what the subtle cuesare and so that's why so many of
us are living in overwhelmburnout even like functional
freeze when not to get too techybut it's like it's a part of our
(17:41):
nervous system where we just wefreeze things feel stuck and
frozen and our minds are reallyoverwhelmed and when your mind
is living in a perpetual stateof overwhelm, it's really hard
to do something different.
It's really hard to thinkdifferently.
It's hard to make a differentchoice because your body is just
(18:04):
operating off of like the firstthing that makes it feel safe.
So in order to really like peelback those layers, we start by
listening to the body andfiguring out how the body tells
us that we're moving intooverwhelm.
For me, I really like ignoredthese signals for years and
(18:26):
years.
And eventually I ended up in achronic pain flare up with a
fibromyalgia diagnosis.
And it took me a really longtime to really understand what
was going on.
It has been the journey of mylife to heal my nervous system.
And it's something that I willhave to continue to do for the
rest of my life because I justperpetually and habitually
(18:49):
ignored these signs.
of overwhelm that just, youknow, it led me on this path to
no turning back, I guess.
Okay.
The fourth question is anotherquestion that has to do with
listening to the body.
The question is, what does yourintuition sound like?
(19:10):
What is your body's yes?
And what is your body's no?
So that's all one question.
So, okay.
I'll give you an example.
When When my body is telling methat something is a yes, I feel
light.
(19:30):
I have a lot of clarity andbreakthroughs, and I find that
there are a lot ofsynchronicities that start to
support whatever path that I'mon.
If it's a yes, my own body andmy own intuition affirm the fact
that it's a yes.
If it's a no, I find that thisone's a little bit harder to
(19:51):
explain, but I'm going to try toexplain this feeling in my body
that I get this knowing.
It's a sense of knowing.
So if I'm asking myself aquestion and the answer is no,
when I use my mind's eye to sortof look in the direction of this
question, my body sort ofcontracts and everything feels
(20:15):
better.
blocked and there's no clarity.
There's no, like I have to workreally hard to figure out what
the next right step is or whatthe path forward looks like.
Everything feels really blocked.
And to me, that's a no.
Or like if I'm getting some sortof message from, from my
intuition and it's somethingthat I need to pay attention to,
(20:38):
I feel it right in like the coreof my stomach, right where my
ribs meet in the front.
And I know I get this like, justthis like deep feeling and it's
like, pay attention here.
It's time to listen.
And I think similar to, youknow, what we just talked about
with your body's signals whenyou're We override our intuition
(21:01):
all the time.
Not to mention, I mean, I'mgonna go into this in another
episode, why we've been sodisconnected from our intuition.
It's literally this likesystemic disconnection that has
happened intentionally forcenturies.
So we've been taught not totrust ourselves and our
intuition, but there's also justso much noise in our environment
(21:22):
that it's almost impossibleunless we are really
intentionally listening to thesignals coming from our body
because intuition really doeslive in the body first.
Okay, the next question is, whatis the core wound that you're
healing in your lifetime?
This one's a little bit deep,but it nods to like none of us
(21:45):
leave childhood unscathed.
So like so what are what's justlike the stuff that you carried
with you into adulthood that youneed to unpackage and really
work with?
If we turn to astrology for somecontext on this one.
Chiron is, it's like a minorplanet meets a comet.
(22:07):
And in the world of astrology,it's known as the wounded
healer.
And depending on where Chironsits in your natal chart and the
relationship that it has toother planets in your chart, it
helps us understand what thecore or initial wound is that
(22:27):
we've really had to work throughin our lives.
And the lessons of Chiron arealso in this idea that when we
heal the wound and when weintegrate that healing, we're
able to use those lessons in oursoul's purpose or in how we are
able to help others.
(22:48):
So some examples of Chironwounds might be that you might
have wounds related toself-worth or identity or Maybe
you have wounds associated withlike self-expression or a fear
of judgment or beingmisunderstood.
You could have wounds aroundemotional security.
(23:09):
You could have like woundsaround like feeling emotionally
disconnected or struggling tofeel safe in the world.
You may have a fear of rejectionor wounds related to
perfectionism andself-criticism.
These are just like a couple ofthe examples of the wounds that
(23:30):
Chiron can point to.
Your core wound, you don't haveto look at it through the lens
of astrology.
I will dive into more astrologylater because I do really love
it as a tool for learning theself better.
But either way, this issomething that you can do shadow
work to discover.
You can work with a therapist,but there are core wounds that
(23:53):
you are either actively workingto heal or they are actively,
but subconsciously shaping yourlife.
And so what are the core woundsthat you are working to heal?
And then how can you use thathealing to help those around
you?
Question six is what are yourinner resources?
(24:15):
What are you really good at?
And in what situations do youshine the brightest?
I think that sometimes when wefocus on the things that we're
really good at, it can be seenas like arrogant or
braggadocious.
That's such like a ridiculouslybig word, but okay, you know
(24:39):
where I'm going.
It's like we sometimes we stopourselves from really leaning
into our strengths at timesbecause we don't want to be seen
as being, you know, overlyconfident in that way, but it's
really important that we knowwhat are the gifts that we bring
into a certain situation?
What are the gifts that we bringinto this world?
(25:00):
And I think that at the sametime, that leads us into the
next question, which is like,what are the core challenges
that you're working through?
I think when we know ourstrengths and our weaknesses and
we know them intimately, ithelps us in relationships.
It helps us in work situations.
It helps us with our ownrelationship with ourselves and
(25:21):
the goals that we set, theconfidence we build when we're
able to achieve them, or how itimpacts us when we fail,
depending on what yourrelationship is with this word
failure, it really shapes how wework through life in all of
these areas.
And knowing our strengthsenables us to put us in these
(25:42):
positions where we can shine thebrightest, but it also enables
helps us to understand wherethose edges are, those growth
edges and what we need to workon in order to make improvements
in our relationships and ourwork product and the things that
we're creating.
So seven specifically, I have,what are the core challenges
that you're working through foryourself and in your
(26:03):
relationships?
So really not, not shying awayfrom the knowing that we all
have stuff to work on.
We all have stuff that we needto just dive into more deeply in
order to peel back these, um,like layers that can be
(26:23):
preventing us from having justlike deeper, more honest
connections with others.
Okay.
Number eight, this one may ormay not, um, you may or may not
like this one, but how do youfeel about political movements
and social issues?
And you, you can't say I'm notpolitical because You can't say,
(26:46):
I don't like to get involved inthis stuff because living life,
especially right now, is to bepolitical.
When you make a choice to notform an opinion, it doesn't mean
that you have to protest orshout it from the rooftops.
But when you don't formopinions, when you don't figure
(27:07):
out how you feel about certainsituations, that non-action is
also political.
being political.
Non-action is still action.
And so you have to make achoice.
But I think that when we do takethe time to understand what it
is that we believe and feelabout these certain situations
and things that are happening,some of this might tie back to
(27:28):
your values and finding theedges of your belief systems in
order to find your voice.
Or maybe it's really just aninternal process that helps you
Just know yourself better.
But I think that when you makethese opinions, it helps you
(27:48):
understand yourself better.
It helps you understand whereyou kind of fit into this larger
society as a whole.
It helps you figure out howyou're able to do whatever it is
that is the work of your life.
How are you going to pursue yourpurpose?
A lot of times, political andsocial issues...
(28:09):
shape that.
And so it's not until you startto look in that direction and
start to really dig into how youfeel about certain things that
you're able to kind ofcrystallize what the path to
more or what's next really lookslike.
Okay.
The next one is when do you feelthe most like yourself?
(28:32):
And this is a really loadedquestion, but what are the
things that you're doing or thepeople that you're around or
what are the activities thatjust fill you with joy and
inspiration and they don't drainyou.
It's a place that you can go.
(28:52):
It can maybe be a safe space, aspace of comfort, a space of
pushing you outside of yourcomfort zone.
But what is it when you start tofeel disconnected from yourself
or you start to feel the weightof life on your shoulders, or
you just start to feeluninspired, where can you go to
reconnect with inspiration?
(29:13):
For me, I found, I'm going to goback to astrology here, but if
you're familiar with astrology,you know that there is a sun
sign, a rising sign, and a moonsign.
A lot of times we all associateourselves with our sun sign.
It's the easiest one.
The sun was in Scorpio when Iwas born.
I'm a November baby, and so I'ma Scorpio.
(29:34):
That's my sun sign.
And one of the very first thingsthat I really was able to
embrace about myself fromastrology is I'm a Sagittarius
rising, and Sagittarius is,among other things, about life.
adventure and the pursuit ofknowledge and new experiences
broadening worldview.
(29:55):
And I've always felt reallyconnected to travel, but over
time I started to tell myselfthat it was really just trivial.
It was a luxury.
It was something that I would dowhen I wasn't in hustle mode or
needing to achieve and that Iwould put it on the back burner
until I reached my goals.
And then I really just startedto realize that like travel is
(30:16):
the thing that unlocks the thepart of me that can connect with
inspiration.
And so when I travel, I meet anew version of myself.
I find out more about myself.
I'm able to show up better in mylife and push my professional
pursuits, but also I show upmore balanced for myself and my
kids.
(30:37):
And that's just my own personalthing.
That maybe travel drains you,but maybe it's creativity,
picking up a paintbrush.
Maybe it's going out with agroup of friends and just
laughing all night.
Maybe it's just spending a nightin with your kids, like watching
(30:57):
TV.
Maybe it is total solitude, awalk outside.
It can be anything, but only youknow that.
Only you can figure out what itis that fills you up.
And so I encourage you to findthat thing.
And again, this is not an easy,you're not just going to Flip a
switch, check a box, and youhave found it.
It's something that you reallyhave to sit with and contemplate
(31:20):
and maybe continue to experiencelife for a while.
And then you start to justrecognize like, hey, this feels
really good.
Like I feel really, reallyinspired after doing X or fill
in the blank.
And so you note that toyourself.
And it's just, it's a seed thatyou plant now that you come back
to later when you feel thoselittle like sparks of
inspiration.
Okay.
(31:41):
And the last question is, Whenwe're talking about the work
that you do on a day-to-daybasis, what inspires you and
what drains you?
What's the work that you coulddo all day and you would still
(32:01):
feel energized and in flow?
And what's the work that youavoid doing that you're You
might tell yourself that you'renot good at doing.
It's really just like it is amassive energy expenditure.
I'm going to use the example ofthe working genius.
This is one of my very favoritepersonality type tests.
(32:23):
It really has to do with thework of your life.
And that doesn't have to beprofessional work.
This can be creative work.
It can be work that you do athome, in your family unit, any
work that you do.
So the idea behind the workinggenius is that in any like
project or work, there are sixdifferent phases or types of
(32:46):
work and that we all do all ofthem, but there are two that are
a genius and two that are ourareas of frustration, which
leaves two that are sort of likethat in between.
So When you're working in yourgenius, you could do this work
forever and it's inspiring andit fills you up.
But when you're working in yourfrustrations, these are the
energy drains.
(33:07):
This is where you just, you burnout really quickly.
And then those like thecompetencies, the two in the
middle are the areas that youcan do them.
You are perfectly capable ofdoing them.
You might even do them reallywell, but if you do them for too
long, ultimately it will drainyou.
And so I'll go through themreally quickly, but I really
encourage you if this interestsyou at all to Look at the
(33:29):
Working Genius podcast.
There's a book.
There's this whole just likework methodology that you can
follow.
But the six phases are wonder.
And this is the part of the workwhere you can really like just
sit with a problem, you know,trying to figure out whether
there's a problem to begin with.
(33:50):
Does something need to change?
It's sort of this area of likeobservation and contemplation.
The next one is invention.
And this is the area where we'rejust coming up with big ideas,
new ideas.
They don't have to be greatideas, but just like creating
something new.
(34:10):
The next one is discernment.
And so this is where we havelike somebody who's good at
discernment is really good atquickly identifying if
something's a good idea or a badidea.
It's like a really good...
intuitive radar.
This person is the one you go towhen you really want advice and
(34:30):
you know that they are going togive you thoughtful advice, but
that's like rooted in intuitionalmost.
The fourth area is galvanizing.
And this is the person that likeis ready to, it's like this
person is a cheerleader.
They are, they found a greatidea and they want to get
everyone else on board.
They are rallying the troops andgetting everyone excited about
(34:52):
an idea or a concept.
The next one is enablement.
So it's like project management,detail work, checking the boxes.
And the last one is tenacity.
And this is the person who hasthat like staying power, is able
to see a project through to theend, really like seeing what the
final like result looks like,putting that like last little
(35:14):
bow on the project.
And just to share like apersonal anecdote quickly, I
found in my own life that, youknow, in past lives, I was
really like Most of the workthat I was doing was in
enablement and tenacity.
It was like that, that likedetail work that it's really
important, but it's also not oneof my strengths at all.
(35:36):
I'm really not good at stayingon top of the detail work.
I am, um, my strengths are ininvention and And discernment.
And so I love working withentrepreneurs.
I love working with new businessideas, coming up with business
ideas, helping people shapetheir ideas to something that
could really like work in thereal world.
(35:59):
But that's where my energy sortof is, is best supported, um,
that's just one way that you canreally figure out what work
inspires you and what drainsyou.
And this can be helpful forthings like, you know, if you're
starting a business, what, whatdo you outsource?
It might not be the thing thatyou think you're supposed to be
outsourcing or who do you teamup with?
How can you fill your gaps?
(36:20):
Um, it can also help you athome, like knowing if you need
to get some support at home, youknow, maybe you're working and
you have kids and you just don'thave, um, 8,000 arms to be able
to like do all of the thingsthat you need to do.
It can help you figure out whereyou need support so that you can
really focus on the areas thatare your strengths.
Okay.
Those are my 10 questions forbuilding strength.
(36:43):
self-awareness.
And I know we went through themreally quickly.
This is sort of just like ateaser on where I see the
podcast going.
Each of these questions, youknow, opens up a bigger dialogue
and invitation forintrospection.
And I'm really excited to divedeep in all of these areas.
So hopefully, you know, you havesome You have some things to
(37:05):
dive into following thisepisode.
And if you have questions orwant to connect on any of this,
please, I would love for you toreach out and just hear what's
on your mind.
Otherwise, I will see you nextweek.
Bye.
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