Have you ever looked around at your "successful" life and wondered, is this really it?
In this episode, career and life transitions coach Kavita Ahuja shares the eye-opening truth that reinvention in midlife isn’t about throwing everything away—it’s about rediscovering who you are by reclaiming your strengths, passions, and values. If you’ve lost touch with what makes you feel alive, this conversation is your reset button.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn how to reconnect with your inner self using the Japanese concept of Ikigai
- Understand why you're not starting over—you’re starting from experience
- Discover a proven, practical framework to turn midlife confusion into meaningful clarity
Press play now to discover how to craft a more purpose-driven, fulfilling second chapter—without abandoning everything you've built so far.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kavita Ahuja (00:00):
It's not like you're starting over.
You know, you're starting fromexperience, right?
Michelle Gauthier (00:08):
You're listening to Overwhelmed Working
Woman, the podcast that helpsyou be more calm and more
productive by doing less.
I'm your host, MichelleGauthier, a former Overwhelmed
Working Woman and current lifecoach.
On this show, we unpack thestress and pressure that today's
working woman experiences, andin each episode you'll get a
strategy to bring more calm,ease and relaxation to your life
(00:32):
.
If you have ever felt stuck inyour career or your life,
wondering is this really it?
You're not alone.
So many women hit a point wherethey realized they've checked
all the boxes that they weresupposed to, but something still
feels off.
And today's guest is here tohelp us navigate that exact
transition.
(00:53):
Kavita Ahuja is a career andlife transitions coach who
specializes in helping womenreinvent themselves, especially
in midlife.
When you listen to this episode, you'll learn how to rediscover
your strengths and passions andvalues.
I can't tell you how often whenI work with a client and I say,
like, what are you into, whatare you passionate about, what's
fun for you?
They don't know anymore.
(01:13):
So that might sound silly, butit's really true.
Kavita is also going to teachus about a Japanese concept
called Ikigai that can teach usabout finding purpose and how
you can apply purpose to yourown life.
And then the third thing we'lltalk about today is why
reinvention isn't about startingover.
It's about using everythingyou've already learned to build
(01:35):
something even better.
So if you are kind of askingyourself, is this all there is?
Could there be something else?
For me, today's episode isgoing to be perfect for you, so
let's get started.
Thank you, kavita, for joiningus.
Can you just say hi and tell usa little bit about yourself?
Kavita Ahuja (01:51):
It's wonderful to be here, Michelle.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yes, absolutely.
I am a career and lifetransitions coach for women and
I really you know it kind ofties into a little bit of what
you do in terms of, you know,helping women who are feeling
perhaps overwhelmed in theirlife and there can be different
forms of overwhelm, right,Whether it's like what am I
going to do next in my life, mycareer, especially around the
(02:15):
midlife stage of life, whenwe're often questioned, you know
, is this it?
Or what am I doing, or who am Ireally?
Or all of those big questionsthat we tend, especially as
women, to ask ourselves.
So that is my passion and my,you know, my coaching focus is
on helping women in these careerand life transition phases of
(02:36):
life.
Michelle Gauthier (02:37):
That's so great and I saw from your
background that you had asuccessful pharmaceutical career
.
But you had sort of an innervoice telling you this is maybe
I don't.
You had sort of an inner voicetelling you this is maybe I
don't want to say what yourinner voice was saying, but that
there was something else foryou.
You tell us what your innervoice was saying.
Kavita Ahuja (02:53):
Well, I'm sure many of your listeners perhaps
have come from corporatebackgrounds, with all the
pressures and all of that thatour careers can lead us to.
And, yes, I was in thepharmaceutical industry for 25
years and we were talking alittle bit before this.
But I'm Indian and grown up inCanada and kind of followed the
(03:15):
traditional expectations, Iwould say, of life.
You know, education, career,marriage, kids, all of that.
And you just kind of go andyou're very successful at it and
you're almost like, oh my God,where did the time go?
And then all of a sudden it'slike you pause.
And that's what happened to me.
I was very successful Kidsgrowing up.
(03:37):
Now this is a stage of lifewhere I was like questioning is
this what I really want?
Is this what fulfills me?
Is this what, what I would like?
When I'm 90 years old, when Ilook back and go, yeah, I've
done everything that I want todo, you know, and it wasn't and
it was scary and you know, itwas overwhelming and it was the
(03:58):
time of life where a lot ofwomen also, you know, question
that.
So I decided that I was goingto take the leap and change
things and figure out who I was,and so I did that and that's
where it led me today, and mypassion is to help one do the
same.
Michelle Gauthier (04:14):
I absolutely love that because and I think
for everybody listening justbecause you thought you wanted
to, for example, have a reallysuccessful pharmaceutical career
in your case, and get marriedand have kids, and you sort of
had this dream in your mind forwhat your life wanted to be, and
you had that and maybe it wasreally great.
But then at some point, if it'snot anymore, where you're like
(04:35):
OK, this isn't fulfilling me.
That's exactly what I had,exactly that same thing.
Kavita Ahuja (04:39):
It's.
Michelle Gauthier (04:39):
It's OK to say, oh, that was good, I'm glad
I did that.
Now I want something different,and it doesn't matter, in my
opinion, how old you are, howmany years experience you had
doing something else, becauseyou and I are the same.
I had a completely differentcareer and when I decided I
wanted to become a life coach, Iwas like, who am I to become a
life coach?
I don't know anything aboutthis, yeah, but it doesn't
(05:01):
matter.
It doesn't matter.
You can still do it.
Kavita Ahuja (05:05):
Yeah, the thing is , Michelle, is that you know
it's not like.
It's not like you're startingover.
You know you're starting fromexperience, right, and
everything that has happened tous in our lives led us to the
point where we are, so it's notlike, oh, I have to give up
everything and start over.
That's why, you know, like, mypodcast is called the midlife
(05:25):
reinvention it's reinventing,it's like taking the best parts
of you and putting them intosomething that's magical, right?
Michelle Gauthier (05:32):
Yes, exactly, and I definitely did learn
things about.
You know how to be a life coachin certain methodologies, but
so much of what I learned frommy business career also helped
me.
Of course, yeah, if you feellike gosh, I already decided
this is the life I wanted.
Now I have to stick with it.
It's not true?
Kavita Ahuja (05:50):
You can take your skills and move them on.
Michelle Gauthier (05:53):
Yes, so tell us a little bit about how you
help your clients do that andwhat the listeners can take away
today if they're feeling kindof stuck and overwhelmed with
where they are.
Kavita Ahuja (06:05):
Yeah, it really actually just ties in very well
with what we were just talkingabout, because I went through
this process and I decided I'mgoing to kind of document this,
because I actually went throughit and I was like this is, a lot
of women can do it themselves.
You can, you know, figure outwhat it is that you want to do
next, but it may take longer.
You may need a guide, right?
(06:25):
So I call it the pyramid ofreinvention, and it all starts
with rediscovering who you areinside.
You know, there's a really goodquote that I like by Carl Jung.
He says that he who looksoutside dreams, but he who looks
inside wakes.
Michelle Gauthier (06:43):
That's interesting, especially for a
midlife career woman who's alsoa mother.
We're not really thinking a lotabout ourselves and who we
really are.
Kavita Ahuja (06:52):
We've been looking after everyone else.
And yes, we've had very littletime to look at, so I encourage
the pause is what I would say.
So this is the first thing I doin terms of how I actually help
my my clients is I first getthem to look at their strengths,
like whatever they're reallyreally good at, taking into
consideration all they've donein their life.
(07:13):
What are the greatest thingsthey've done?
What's their natural ability,and are they using it right now
to the utmost?
If not, why not?
And how can you use it nowRight?
The second thing is looking atyour passions, and what I mean
by that is what just makes yourheart sing.
You know what would make youwake up in the morning and go.
I mean, I can't wait to do thisthing.
Or what did you do as a childthat you know?
(07:35):
Your time went by so fast, soquickly, that you just didn't
know where the day went.
Can you bring that into today?
And the third thing is lookingat your values.
Do our values change year byyear?
Are you living your values?
Are you like is it now, youknow, serving people versus
maybe before it was, climbingthe corporate ladder?
(07:56):
And then those kind ofculminate into determining what
is called your ikigai, or reasonfor being Okay, and that is a
really interesting concept.
Once we figure that out, thenit's about visioning your future
.
It's about looking at yourobstacles that are in your way,
(08:18):
and then it's about gaining theconfidence to actually reach
your reason for being.
So it's kind of a step-by-stepprocess that is very, very
eye-opening, verytransformational.
Michelle Gauthier (08:29):
Yes, yes.
I find that a lot of timeswomen are like I don't even know
what I think is fun to doanymore.
I don't know what I like.
Like I'll say if you had awhole day to do whatever you
want, what would you do?
I don't know, and I think it'sjust because we get out of
practice.
On reflecting, and payingattention to ourselves.
But I'm really curious aboutthis ikigai concept.
(08:52):
Am I saying that right?
Yes, yes, okay.
So where?
Where?
What is this word?
Where does it originate from?
What does it mean?
Tell us all about it, yeah,yeah.
Kavita Ahuja (09:00):
I was really, Michelle, really fascinated by
this concept early on because itjust seemed to click,
especially with the time of thelife that I was going through,
the stage I was going through,and it really fits in well with
the whole transition idea, right.
So ikigai is a term originating, it's a Japanese term
originating in the village ofOkinawa, Japan, and it is so.
(09:24):
Okinawa is one of the world'sblue zones.
I'm not sure if y'all arefamiliar where the blue zone is.
Michelle Gauthier (09:30):
Yes, but tell us for anybody who doesn't know
.
Kavita Ahuja (09:33):
Yeah, so there's areas, different areas in the
world, where the largest numbersof centurions live like the
hundred year olds, and in fact,there was recently a Netflix I
don't know if there's a series.
Michelle Gauthier (09:46):
Yes, there's a Netflix documentary about it.
Yes, it's fascinating.
Kavita Ahuja (09:48):
Yeah, so he looked at Dan Bietner, looked at.
You know, why are these peoplein these areas of the world?
Why do they live for so long,and particularly in this area in
Japan?
One of the reasons he found inresearch was people follow the
concept of ikigai and thatreally means there's a
(10:08):
combination of two words to liveikuru, which means to live, and
kai, which means therealization of what one hopes
for.
So it is really the reason forbeing and it's really a lot more
than purpose.
You know, purpose can seem veryoverwhelming for a lot of
people.
When you break it down into howto find your ikigai, it's
(10:33):
really like it's four elements.
So it's kind of like a Venndiagram if you look at it.
Combination of what you love,your passion.
So, as I was talking aboutpassion earlier, right, what you
are good at, so your strengths,what does the world need?
Right?
So kind of related to yourmission or your values, and what
(10:55):
you can be paid for.
So all of that, what can youactually put forward in the
world?
So it's a really interestingconcept.
So what we do is we go in eachsection and you, you come out
with the words or how you feelin each your strengths, your
passions, your values, what youcan be paid for, and you see the
(11:17):
overlaps, right, and it's it'sso interesting because it's so
eye-opening, because you can seethe overlaps right away, and
it's like, oh my God, that iswhat I, that's what I need to do
, yeah, and it brings forward somuch positivity when you're
actually leading your lifeaccording to all the
combinations of everything.
It's not just you know what youcan be paid for or what's going
(11:39):
to make you the most money, oryou know, but it's also like how
do you want to contribute tothe world and what unique skills
do you have to to lead to that?
You know mission in your life.
Michelle Gauthier (11:51):
Yes, yes, that's so.
I love the idea of taking allthose things into consideration,
because maybe you have thishuge passion, but it's not
something that you could reallydo to like support your family,
for example, you know maybe it'snot you know, not something
that can make money.
Or maybe there's something whereyou can make a lot of money,
but it doesn't, you know, suityour values or whatever.
(12:11):
So what are some of the thingsthat you have come up with in
working with your clients, like,what are, what are some of the
results of doing this with yeah,yeah?
Kavita Ahuja (12:21):
So I've worked with so many clients on this and
it's always an eye-openingexperience and you know I can
give you an example.
So, for example, one of myclients, she she was in like an
education system.
She was an administrator forlike 25, 30 years and she came
to me she was.
She said, Kavita, I'm just likedying inside.
(12:42):
I just can't do this anymore.
I really don't know what to do.
I'm feeling very stuck.
I'm over.
She was overworked, overwhelmedand she just wanted to know what
.
What is it she wanted to do?
And so we went through thisprocess and she realizes the
things that she actually likedabout her previous job was like
this, process work and helpingpeople, getting processes
(13:04):
together.
You know she loved working withpeople, but she didn't love
other aspects.
Her passion was writing alsoand she so her strengths were in
organization and all of that.
So as we looked at all thisstuff together, we came to
realize that she would be bestsuited as a consultant in
(13:28):
process improvement.
That's what she could actuallywork at.
But at the same time, she hadher personal issues with family
members who were going throughanxiety and depression, and she
really wanted to bring that outin a writing.
So she started to write a bookon that.
So it's not about just like,okay, yes, work, yes, but other
(13:50):
parts of your life where you canapply different passions,
different skills which willcreate what I call anabolic
energy, which is positive energyin your life which will fuel
you to do the things that youreally love.
I love that, you know.
So it's like identifying whatshe likes, what she's good at,
what she's passionate about, butputting it all together, and so
(14:14):
that's just one example.
Michelle Gauthier (14:15):
I love that, though that's such a great
example and I love how you'retalking about that.
The result wouldn't just belike OK, here's your perfect job
, because here's a job you coulddo with those skills and maybe
you absolutely love it, buthere's some other fun,
interesting things that youcould do.
Like for me, I miss creativityand of course, I have creativity
in trying to find solutionswith my clients and writing in
(14:38):
things, but, like, I'm foreverdecorating my house because
that's like the outlet that Ineed for that.
So I think it's important tolook at your whole life versus
just your career.
So I love that.
That is so cool.
Thank you for sharing that withus.
I've never heard of it before.
Kavita Ahuja (14:54):
Yeah, it's you know it's age old, it's been
researched and if you can put itinto your life practically, it
really does.
It's eye-opening, you know itreally guides you and you know I
do this other exercise where Ireally take my clients through
what is it their vision forthemselves?
What is it?
What is they envision for theirlife, like, who's their inner
(15:16):
mentor?
That's your inner self, andusually they say that when they
see their inner mentor, it'sactually aligns very well with
what we came up with as ourIkigai.
Michelle Gauthier (15:28):
Oh, interesting, that's what they're
actually doing.
Kavita Ahuja (15:31):
That makes a lot of sense.
Oh, that's so cool.
Michelle Gauthier (15:35):
I also want to ask you, before we wrap up,
the two things that I askeverybody, and the first one is
what is something that you dowhen you feel overwhelmed to
make yourself feel better?
Kavita Ahuja (15:48):
Yeah, great question, because there's so
much overwhelm in our lives allthe time, right?
So I would say that whatever Ido is I always just take a pause
.
You know, it's always abouttaking the pause and assessing
how I'm feeling at that moment,you know, and taking clues from
that.
Am I, like, really stressed?
(16:10):
Why am I stressed?
And asking myself why, right?
Michelle Gauthier (16:13):
Yes, Because when you're overwhelmed it's
hard to access anything useful,like useful thoughts about what
to do.
So if you can make yourselftake that pause, that's a game
changer.
Yeah.
Kavita Ahuja (16:24):
And then, and then , and then, you know, depending
on how much time I have, if Ionly have a few minutes, I will
pause, take a deep breath, closemy eyes.
I'll say something likeeverything always works out for
me, everything's okay, right?
So if that's only 15 minutesbut I have more time, then I
will try and take a walk.
You know I'll go outside, I'lltry to go do a workout.
(16:47):
I'll, you know, listen to music, I'll meditate, you know, all
those things that will createthat anabolic energy that I
talked about earlier.
Yeah, but it is really abouttaking whatever amount of pause
you can take.
Yes, but it is really abouttaking whatever amount of pause
you can take and assessing andanalyzing what is the emotions
that you're feeling at thatmoment.
Michelle Gauthier (17:06):
Yes, that's great One of the other things we
talk about on the podcast allthe time is how to do less to
save more time, because it feelslike, as women, there's always
more that we can be doing, andso what is something that you do
consistently?
Kavita Ahuja (17:26):
to either save time or just to do less.
Yes, well, I think it's reallyimportant and what I try to do,
and what I do is is I reallyschedule my, my week ahead of
time and I schedule in downtimeme time as well, so that I'm not
looking at my day and feeling,oh my God, I didn't even have
time to take a shower orwhatever.
So it's scheduling my time aheadof time and also looking at
(17:48):
going back to you know whatwe're passionate about.
It's like, what do I reallylove to do?
That really I want to focusmore of my time on.
So for me, it's coaching, it'swriting, it's, you know, it's
podcasting, right, and all theother things, if I can delegate
those, honestly, and so it freesup more of my time to do the
(18:12):
things I love, right?
Yeah, so I recently hired avirtual assistant who does a lot
of the stuff that I don't liketo do, like, so social media
posting and all of that.
I've delegated that so thatfrees up time, you know.
So that I think it's important,like, if you do the things that
you're, that you reallyidentify that you love, that
(18:33):
bring you that positive energy,then then that that just creates
a life that's more at ease, andflow right yeah, absolutely.
I don't know if that answersyour question, but that
absolutely answers the question.
Michelle Gauthier (18:46):
I mean, I can't imagine how much time you
save in a week if you've plannedout your whole week, because
you don't have to refigure itout every day, every hour, every
minute.
You've got it all on there andI love that you can put white
space on there for yourself tojust do things that you like to
do so.
Kavita Ahuja (19:01):
that's a great answer.
Michelle Gauthier (19:02):
Thank you so much.
Kavita Ahuja (19:04):
You're welcome.
Michelle Gauthier (19:04):
Well, you mentioned your podcast, which
we'll put that in the show notes.
Where else can people followyou or find more information
about you?
Kavita Ahuja (19:12):
The best place to go is my website and you can go
to itsmytimenowcoaching.
com and there you can learnabout my coaching program, my
podcast, which is called theMidlife Reinvention Podcast.
I have an online course as well.
I do one-on-one coaching andgroup coaching, but I also have
an online course that, ifsomebody is interested in you
(19:34):
know self-directed learning,they can take a look.
Michelle Gauthier (19:36):
They can do that too.
Okay, okay, that's awesome,thank you, and thank you so much
for being a guest today.
It was so great to talk to youand I love your story and I just
want to say amazing what you'redoing for the world and that
you had the nerve to leave yourcorporate career and start
something else awesome and helpother women too.
Kavita Ahuja (19:55):
Well, I mean, it's the same to you, like you did
the same thing and you're.
I mean, I think we're from ourexperience and our passion, we
really it's important to knowthat you know it's.
You don't have to have it allfigured out.
Go with your gut and just beyourself and focus on your
ikigai, if you can, if you canyes.
If you don't.
If you want to help with that,I'm there for you.
Michelle Gauthier (20:15):
But yes, yes, yes, yes, okay, wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to theOverwhelmed Working Woman
podcast.
If you want to learn more aboutmy work, head over to my
website at michellegauthiercom.
See you next week.
It's not like you're starting over.
You know, you're starting fromexperience, right?
Michelle Gauthier (00:08):
You're listening to Overwhelmed Working
Woman, the podcast that helpsyou be more calm and more
productive by doing less.
I'm your host, MichelleGauthier, a former Overwhelmed
Working Woman and current lifecoach.
On this show, we unpack thestress and pressure that today's
working woman experiences, andin each episode you'll get a
strategy to bring more calm,ease and relaxation to your life
(00:32):
.
If you have ever felt stuck inyour career or your life,
wondering is this really it?
You're not alone.
So many women hit a point wherethey realized they've checked
all the boxes that they weresupposed to, but something still
feels off.
And today's guest is here tohelp us navigate that exact
transition.
(00:53):
Kavita Ahuja is a career andlife transitions coach who
specializes in helping womenreinvent themselves, especially
in midlife.
When you listen to this episode, you'll learn how to rediscover
your strengths and passions andvalues.
I can't tell you how often whenI work with a client and I say,
like, what are you into, whatare you passionate about, what's
fun for you?
They don't know anymore.
(01:13):
So that might sound silly, butit's really true.
Kavita is also going to teachus about a Japanese concept
called Ikigai that can teach usabout finding purpose and how
you can apply purpose to yourown life.
And then the third thing we'lltalk about today is why
reinvention isn't about startingover.
It's about using everythingyou've already learned to build
(01:35):
something even better.
So if you are kind of askingyourself, is this all there is?
Could there be something else?
For me, today's episode isgoing to be perfect for you, so
let's get started.
Thank you, kavita, for joiningus.
Can you just say hi and tell usa little bit about yourself?
Kavita Ahuja (01:51):
It's wonderful to be here, Michelle.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yes, absolutely.
I am a career and lifetransitions coach for women and
I really you know it kind ofties into a little bit of what
you do in terms of, you know,helping women who are feeling
perhaps overwhelmed in theirlife and there can be different
forms of overwhelm, right,Whether it's like what am I
going to do next in my life, mycareer, especially around the
(02:15):
midlife stage of life, whenwe're often questioned, you know
, is this it?
Or what am I doing, or who am Ireally?
Or all of those big questionsthat we tend, especially as
women, to ask ourselves.
So that is my passion and my,you know, my coaching focus is
on helping women in these careerand life transition phases of
(02:36):
life.
Michelle Gauthier (02:37):
That's so great and I saw from your
background that you had asuccessful pharmaceutical career
.
But you had sort of an innervoice telling you this is maybe
I don't.
You had sort of an inner voicetelling you this is maybe I
don't want to say what yourinner voice was saying, but that
there was something else foryou.
You tell us what your innervoice was saying.
Kavita Ahuja (02:53):
Well, I'm sure many of your listeners perhaps
have come from corporatebackgrounds, with all the
pressures and all of that thatour careers can lead us to.
And, yes, I was in thepharmaceutical industry for 25
years and we were talking alittle bit before this.
But I'm Indian and grown up inCanada and kind of followed the
(03:15):
traditional expectations, Iwould say, of life.
You know, education, career,marriage, kids, all of that.
And you just kind of go andyou're very successful at it and
you're almost like, oh my God,where did the time go?
And then all of a sudden it'slike you pause.
And that's what happened to me.
I was very successful Kidsgrowing up.
(03:37):
Now this is a stage of lifewhere I was like questioning is
this what I really want?
Is this what fulfills me?
Is this what, what I would like?
When I'm 90 years old, when Ilook back and go, yeah, I've
done everything that I want todo, you know, and it wasn't and
it was scary and you know, itwas overwhelming and it was the
(03:58):
time of life where a lot ofwomen also, you know, question
that.
So I decided that I was goingto take the leap and change
things and figure out who I was,and so I did that and that's
where it led me today, and mypassion is to help one do the
same.
Michelle Gauthier (04:14):
I absolutely love that because and I think
for everybody listening justbecause you thought you wanted
to, for example, have a reallysuccessful pharmaceutical career
in your case, and get marriedand have kids, and you sort of
had this dream in your mind forwhat your life wanted to be, and
you had that and maybe it wasreally great.
But then at some point, if it'snot anymore, where you're like
(04:35):
OK, this isn't fulfilling me.
That's exactly what I had,exactly that same thing.
Kavita Ahuja (04:39):
It's.
Michelle Gauthier (04:39):
It's OK to say, oh, that was good, I'm glad
I did that.
Now I want something different,and it doesn't matter, in my
opinion, how old you are, howmany years experience you had
doing something else, becauseyou and I are the same.
I had a completely differentcareer and when I decided I
wanted to become a life coach, Iwas like, who am I to become a
life coach?
I don't know anything aboutthis, yeah, but it doesn't
(05:01):
matter.
It doesn't matter.
You can still do it.
Kavita Ahuja (05:05):
Yeah, the thing is , Michelle, is that you know
it's not like.
It's not like you're startingover.
You know you're starting fromexperience, right, and
everything that has happened tous in our lives led us to the
point where we are, so it's notlike, oh, I have to give up
everything and start over.
That's why, you know, like, mypodcast is called the midlife
(05:25):
reinvention it's reinventing,it's like taking the best parts
of you and putting them intosomething that's magical, right?
Michelle Gauthier (05:32):
Yes, exactly, and I definitely did learn
things about.
You know how to be a life coachin certain methodologies, but
so much of what I learned frommy business career also helped
me.
Of course, yeah, if you feellike gosh, I already decided
this is the life I wanted.
Now I have to stick with it.
It's not true?
Kavita Ahuja (05:50):
You can take your skills and move them on.
Michelle Gauthier (05:53):
Yes, so tell us a little bit about how you
help your clients do that andwhat the listeners can take away
today if they're feeling kindof stuck and overwhelmed with
where they are.
Kavita Ahuja (06:05):
Yeah, it really actually just ties in very well
with what we were just talkingabout, because I went through
this process and I decided I'mgoing to kind of document this,
because I actually went throughit and I was like this is, a lot
of women can do it themselves.
You can, you know, figure outwhat it is that you want to do
next, but it may take longer.
You may need a guide, right?
(06:25):
So I call it the pyramid ofreinvention, and it all starts
with rediscovering who you areinside.
You know, there's a really goodquote that I like by Carl Jung.
He says that he who looksoutside dreams, but he who looks
inside wakes.
Michelle Gauthier (06:43):
That's interesting, especially for a
midlife career woman who's alsoa mother.
We're not really thinking a lotabout ourselves and who we
really are.
Kavita Ahuja (06:52):
We've been looking after everyone else.
And yes, we've had very littletime to look at, so I encourage
the pause is what I would say.
So this is the first thing I doin terms of how I actually help
my my clients is I first getthem to look at their strengths,
like whatever they're reallyreally good at, taking into
consideration all they've donein their life.
(07:13):
What are the greatest thingsthey've done?
What's their natural ability,and are they using it right now
to the utmost?
If not, why not?
And how can you use it nowRight?
The second thing is looking atyour passions, and what I mean
by that is what just makes yourheart sing.
You know what would make youwake up in the morning and go.
I mean, I can't wait to do thisthing.
Or what did you do as a childthat you know?
(07:35):
Your time went by so fast, soquickly, that you just didn't
know where the day went.
Can you bring that into today?
And the third thing is lookingat your values.
Do our values change year byyear?
Are you living your values?
Are you like is it now, youknow, serving people versus
maybe before it was, climbingthe corporate ladder?
(07:56):
And then those kind ofculminate into determining what
is called your ikigai, or reasonfor being Okay, and that is a
really interesting concept.
Once we figure that out, thenit's about visioning your future
.
It's about looking at yourobstacles that are in your way,
(08:18):
and then it's about gaining theconfidence to actually reach
your reason for being.
So it's kind of a step-by-stepprocess that is very, very
eye-opening, verytransformational.
Michelle Gauthier (08:29):
Yes, yes.
I find that a lot of timeswomen are like I don't even know
what I think is fun to doanymore.
I don't know what I like.
Like I'll say if you had awhole day to do whatever you
want, what would you do?
I don't know, and I think it'sjust because we get out of
practice.
On reflecting, and payingattention to ourselves.
But I'm really curious aboutthis ikigai concept.
(08:52):
Am I saying that right?
Yes, yes, okay.
So where?
Where?
What is this word?
Where does it originate from?
What does it mean?
Tell us all about it, yeah,yeah.
Kavita Ahuja (09:00):
I was really, Michelle, really fascinated by
this concept early on because itjust seemed to click,
especially with the time of thelife that I was going through,
the stage I was going through,and it really fits in well with
the whole transition idea, right.
So ikigai is a term originating, it's a Japanese term
originating in the village ofOkinawa, Japan, and it is so.
(09:24):
Okinawa is one of the world'sblue zones.
I'm not sure if y'all arefamiliar where the blue zone is.
Michelle Gauthier (09:30):
Yes, but tell us for anybody who doesn't know
.
Kavita Ahuja (09:33):
Yeah, so there's areas, different areas in the
world, where the largest numbersof centurions live like the
hundred year olds, and in fact,there was recently a Netflix I
don't know if there's a series.
Michelle Gauthier (09:46):
Yes, there's a Netflix documentary about it.
Yes, it's fascinating.
Kavita Ahuja (09:48):
Yeah, so he looked at Dan Bietner, looked at.
You know, why are these peoplein these areas of the world?
Why do they live for so long,and particularly in this area in
Japan?
One of the reasons he found inresearch was people follow the
concept of ikigai and thatreally means there's a
(10:08):
combination of two words to liveikuru, which means to live, and
kai, which means therealization of what one hopes
for.
So it is really the reason forbeing and it's really a lot more
than purpose.
You know, purpose can seem veryoverwhelming for a lot of
people.
When you break it down into howto find your ikigai, it's
(10:33):
really like it's four elements.
So it's kind of like a Venndiagram if you look at it.
Combination of what you love,your passion.
So, as I was talking aboutpassion earlier, right, what you
are good at, so your strengths,what does the world need?
Right?
So kind of related to yourmission or your values, and what
(10:55):
you can be paid for.
So all of that, what can youactually put forward in the
world?
So it's a really interestingconcept.
So what we do is we go in eachsection and you, you come out
with the words or how you feelin each your strengths, your
passions, your values, what youcan be paid for, and you see the
(11:17):
overlaps, right, and it's it'sso interesting because it's so
eye-opening, because you can seethe overlaps right away, and
it's like, oh my God, that iswhat I, that's what I need to do
, yeah, and it brings forward somuch positivity when you're
actually leading your lifeaccording to all the
combinations of everything.
It's not just you know what youcan be paid for or what's going
(11:39):
to make you the most money, oryou know, but it's also like how
do you want to contribute tothe world and what unique skills
do you have to to lead to that?
You know mission in your life.
Michelle Gauthier (11:51):
Yes, yes, that's so.
I love the idea of taking allthose things into consideration,
because maybe you have thishuge passion, but it's not
something that you could reallydo to like support your family,
for example, you know maybe it'snot you know, not something
that can make money.
Or maybe there's something whereyou can make a lot of money,
but it doesn't, you know, suityour values or whatever.
(12:11):
So what are some of the thingsthat you have come up with in
working with your clients, like,what are, what are some of the
results of doing this with yeah,yeah?
Kavita Ahuja (12:21):
So I've worked with so many clients on this and
it's always an eye-openingexperience and you know I can
give you an example.
So, for example, one of myclients, she she was in like an
education system.
She was an administrator forlike 25, 30 years and she came
to me she was.
She said, Kavita, I'm just likedying inside.
(12:42):
I just can't do this anymore.
I really don't know what to do.
I'm feeling very stuck.
I'm over.
She was overworked, overwhelmedand she just wanted to know what
.
What is it she wanted to do?
And so we went through thisprocess and she realizes the
things that she actually likedabout her previous job was like
this, process work and helpingpeople, getting processes
(13:04):
together.
You know she loved working withpeople, but she didn't love
other aspects.
Her passion was writing alsoand she so her strengths were in
organization and all of that.
So as we looked at all thisstuff together, we came to
realize that she would be bestsuited as a consultant in
(13:28):
process improvement.
That's what she could actuallywork at.
But at the same time, she hadher personal issues with family
members who were going throughanxiety and depression, and she
really wanted to bring that outin a writing.
So she started to write a bookon that.
So it's not about just like,okay, yes, work, yes, but other
(13:50):
parts of your life where you canapply different passions,
different skills which willcreate what I call anabolic
energy, which is positive energyin your life which will fuel
you to do the things that youreally love.
I love that, you know.
So it's like identifying whatshe likes, what she's good at,
what she's passionate about, butputting it all together, and so
(14:14):
that's just one example.
Michelle Gauthier (14:15):
I love that, though that's such a great
example and I love how you'retalking about that.
The result wouldn't just belike OK, here's your perfect job
, because here's a job you coulddo with those skills and maybe
you absolutely love it, buthere's some other fun,
interesting things that youcould do.
Like for me, I miss creativityand of course, I have creativity
in trying to find solutionswith my clients and writing in
(14:38):
things, but, like, I'm foreverdecorating my house because
that's like the outlet that Ineed for that.
So I think it's important tolook at your whole life versus
just your career.
So I love that.
That is so cool.
Thank you for sharing that withus.
I've never heard of it before.
Kavita Ahuja (14:54):
Yeah, it's you know it's age old, it's been
researched and if you can put itinto your life practically, it
really does.
It's eye-opening, you know itreally guides you and you know I
do this other exercise where Ireally take my clients through
what is it their vision forthemselves?
What is it?
What is they envision for theirlife, like, who's their inner
(15:16):
mentor?
That's your inner self, andusually they say that when they
see their inner mentor, it'sactually aligns very well with
what we came up with as ourIkigai.
Michelle Gauthier (15:28):
Oh, interesting, that's what they're
actually doing.
Kavita Ahuja (15:31):
That makes a lot of sense.
Oh, that's so cool.
Michelle Gauthier (15:35):
I also want to ask you, before we wrap up,
the two things that I askeverybody, and the first one is
what is something that you dowhen you feel overwhelmed to
make yourself feel better?
Kavita Ahuja (15:48):
Yeah, great question, because there's so
much overwhelm in our lives allthe time, right?
So I would say that whatever Ido is I always just take a pause
.
You know, it's always abouttaking the pause and assessing
how I'm feeling at that moment,you know, and taking clues from
that.
Am I, like, really stressed?
(16:10):
Why am I stressed?
And asking myself why, right?
Michelle Gauthier (16:13):
Yes, Because when you're overwhelmed it's
hard to access anything useful,like useful thoughts about what
to do.
So if you can make yourselftake that pause, that's a game
changer.
Yeah.
Kavita Ahuja (16:24):
And then, and then , and then, you know, depending
on how much time I have, if Ionly have a few minutes, I will
pause, take a deep breath, closemy eyes.
I'll say something likeeverything always works out for
me, everything's okay, right?
So if that's only 15 minutesbut I have more time, then I
will try and take a walk.
You know I'll go outside, I'lltry to go do a workout.
(16:47):
I'll, you know, listen to music, I'll meditate, you know, all
those things that will createthat anabolic energy that I
talked about earlier.
Yeah, but it is really abouttaking whatever amount of pause
you can take.
Yes, but it is really abouttaking whatever amount of pause
you can take and assessing andanalyzing what is the emotions
that you're feeling at thatmoment.
Michelle Gauthier (17:06):
Yes, that's great One of the other things we
talk about on the podcast allthe time is how to do less to
save more time, because it feelslike, as women, there's always
more that we can be doing, andso what is something that you do
consistently?
Kavita Ahuja (17:26):
to either save time or just to do less.
Yes, well, I think it's reallyimportant and what I try to do,
and what I do is is I reallyschedule my, my week ahead of
time and I schedule in downtimeme time as well, so that I'm not
looking at my day and feeling,oh my God, I didn't even have
time to take a shower orwhatever.
So it's scheduling my time aheadof time and also looking at
(17:48):
going back to you know whatwe're passionate about.
It's like, what do I reallylove to do?
That really I want to focusmore of my time on.
So for me, it's coaching, it'swriting, it's, you know, it's
podcasting, right, and all theother things, if I can delegate
those, honestly, and so it freesup more of my time to do the
(18:12):
things I love, right?
Yeah, so I recently hired avirtual assistant who does a lot
of the stuff that I don't liketo do, like, so social media
posting and all of that.
I've delegated that so thatfrees up time, you know.
So that I think it's important,like, if you do the things that
you're, that you reallyidentify that you love, that
(18:33):
bring you that positive energy,then then that that just creates
a life that's more at ease, andflow right yeah, absolutely.
I don't know if that answersyour question, but that
absolutely answers the question.
Michelle Gauthier (18:46):
I mean, I can't imagine how much time you
save in a week if you've plannedout your whole week, because
you don't have to refigure itout every day, every hour, every
minute.
You've got it all on there andI love that you can put white
space on there for yourself tojust do things that you like to
do so.
Kavita Ahuja (19:01):
that's a great answer.
Michelle Gauthier (19:02):
Thank you so much.
Kavita Ahuja (19:04):
You're welcome.
Michelle Gauthier (19:04):
Well, you mentioned your podcast, which
we'll put that in the show notes.
Where else can people followyou or find more information
about you?
Kavita Ahuja (19:12):
The best place to go is my website and you can go
to itsmytimenowcoaching.
com and there you can learnabout my coaching program, my
podcast, which is called theMidlife Reinvention Podcast.
I have an online course as well.
I do one-on-one coaching andgroup coaching, but I also have
an online course that, ifsomebody is interested in you
(19:34):
know self-directed learning,they can take a look.
Michelle Gauthier (19:36):
They can do that too.
Okay, okay, that's awesome,thank you, and thank you so much
for being a guest today.
It was so great to talk to youand I love your story and I just
want to say amazing what you'redoing for the world and that
you had the nerve to leave yourcorporate career and start
something else awesome and helpother women too.
Kavita Ahuja (19:55):
Well, I mean, it's the same to you, like you did
the same thing and you're.
I mean, I think we're from ourexperience and our passion, we
really it's important to knowthat you know it's.
You don't have to have it allfigured out.
Go with your gut and just beyourself and focus on your
ikigai, if you can, if you canyes.
If you don't.
If you want to help with that,I'm there for you.
Michelle Gauthier (20:15):
But yes, yes, yes, yes, okay, wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to theOverwhelmed Working Woman
podcast.
If you want to learn more aboutmy work, head over to my
website at michellegauthiercom.
See you next week.
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