August 1, 2024 • 43 mins
In this session, Christine visits with Nicole Carline, President of The Wellbeing Hacker and is a Co-Founder of The Legacy Builder Program. With over two decades of experience as a highly successful sales and global IT leader in Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Boston Scientific, she has a proven track record of exceeding customers' expectations. Now, Nicole is dedicated to empowering individuals to realize their greatest potential and align their careers with their strengths and core values. In this session, you will learn
- How the Japanese concept of Ikigai can help you create a map for greater satisfaction by uncovering your true purpose and aligning to your strengths.
- Examples of finding your purposes and how to get started when you are already in a full-time career or need a help getting started.
- How knowing your greater purpose beyond a paycheck can change the trajectory of your life and your legacy.
Other resources to learn more:
- Wellbeinghacker.com and/or follow WellbeingHacker channel on Instagram
- Read Lessons from the Dying: Smith, Rodney, Goldstein, Joseph: 9781614291947: Amazon.com: Books - #1 Lesson was I wish I had lived a life that was more authentically me and not aspired to what others wanted for me.
- Follow the In Pursuit of Purpose series through Nicole's LinkedIn Profile - (4) Nicole (Lucarelli) Carline | LinkedIn
- Contact Nicole Carline at nicole@wellbeinghacker.com to explore tools and coaching support if you are interested in making a career or life transition.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to ReFirement Life, the podcast for anyone navigating life transitions or planning
(00:06):
to make life transitions to ensure your next years are your best years.
Listen in for insightful, generous, and sometimes humorous conversation.
It's time to get fired up with Christine Zamuda and Muge Wood, your hosts for this
latest episode of ReFirement Life.
And welcome to episode 46 of ReFirement Life.
(00:31):
Today, we're going to talk about finding your purpose.
I'm thrilled to have a wonderful guest in Nicole Carlin.
I'll tell you a little bit about Nicole.
She currently serves as the president of the Wellbeing Hacker and is a co-founder of the
Legacy Builder Program.
With over two decades of experience as a highly successful sales and global IT leader in Fortune
(00:54):
500 companies such as Microsoft, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Boston Scientific, she has
a proven track record of exceeding customers' expectations.
Now, Nicole is dedicated to empowering individuals to realize their greatest potential and align
their careers with strengths and core values, which is something very near and dear to my
(01:16):
heart.
She is deeply immersed in self-development and constantly uncovers new strategies to
enhance overall happiness and well-being.
Today, Nicole offers coaching services such as the head coach for the Legacy Builder
Program.
She facilitates workshops for both individuals and corporations.
(01:37):
And if she's not busy enough, she co-hosts the monthly LinkedIn live events titled in
Pursuit of Purpose.
So wow, you've got a lot going on.
I'm thrilled that our worlds have intersected and that I can share some of your story with
our listeners today.
So welcome, Nicole.
Thank you, Christine.
(01:59):
I really appreciate it.
I'm so happy too that our worlds have intersected again here, that we've reconnected.
It's just been amazing.
And I love this path that you're on.
And I'm excited to talk about these paths that we've taken now post the Microsoft world
that we both enjoy together in spending time.
(02:20):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So we need to hear your story.
You had this wonderful, successful career at multiple Fortune 500 companies and still
very young in your prime, I like to say.
And now you've transitioned from corporate America.
(02:42):
Tell us a little bit about founding, well-being hackers, what is your organization, what is
exciting about this for you personally?
Sure.
I'm happy to.
So as you shared, Christine, I've spent 20 years in corporate, primarily in sales, consulting
roles, IT leadership roles.
(03:03):
And I truly do feel so grateful for the experiences I had for the network, the friends that I've
made over the years.
And there are definitely several companies I represented that I truly believed in the
product, the service.
I felt really connected to the mission of the organization.
And then, like many others along the way, there's some other organizations sometimes
(03:27):
where we have experience.
And I didn't feel as connected, right?
Or I didn't feel that maybe it was aligned to core values.
And when I was going through those periods of time, I started to question the work that
I was doing, the trajectory of my career.
So despite the success that I had in corporate, I did have this feeling that I was meant to
(03:52):
do something more, but I couldn't exactly figure it out.
But I also knew in my heart that if I didn't explore it, I would really have and feel like
I would be living with some regrets.
And so I knew this early on too, because I did lose my mom at 20 years old.
(04:13):
And it was right after college when I was getting started in my career.
So I knew there were no guarantees, right?
No guarantees for your next day, no guarantees for your next year.
We only have one life, and you have to make the most of it.
And so I started my own journey.
After this years of experience in corporate, I started my own journey on self-discovery.
(04:37):
I had a lot of ideas about how can I take the skills that I have, the experience that
I have, and transition it into something else that maybe I really haven't explored yet,
that I feel like this urge, this desire.
And I had a lot of different ideas, and I tested them.
I talked to people.
(04:58):
But I did, as part of this self-discovery, I invested in some programs, some workshops.
I invested in a life coach.
And they were all great in helping me just understand some limiting beliefs that I had
and getting to the core and the values that I had.
But it didn't exactly help me figure out what it was that I was going to do next in my career.
(05:24):
And so my brother actually reached out to me, and he said, you really need to reconnect
with our cousin Danielle, Danielle Poza.
She's helping experienced professionals through career transitions to find more meaningful
work.
And I was like, Michael, you know, sign me up.
Let's get connected.
(05:46):
And Danielle really is the founder of the Well-Being Hacker, right?
But she really walked me through this journey and built a program that's called the Legacy
Builder Program.
And when I went through it, it felt like for the first time for almost 15 years of my life,
(06:06):
like I truly rediscovered myself, right?
What I was really great at, what I wanted to contribute to the world, what I was motivated
by, and it really started giving me the clarity of what I wanted to do next.
And I remember saying to her, like, God, why don't they offer this in college, right?
(06:28):
And there's so many people who need this, who really need this.
But Danielle asked me a question through that experience, and it was really profound.
It was in one of our coaching sessions.
And she said, Nicole, really think about what do people come to you for?
And I had a few answers for that, but there was one that really stood out.
(06:51):
And I realized people come to me for career advice, for how to transfer skills from one
industry to another, for positivity, strategies on boosting confidence, salary negotiation,
interview preparation, just my overall outlook on life, right?
(07:13):
And Danielle and I, through our coaching calls, we even just started to talk about, like,
wow, we have so many synergies, we're aligned on so many of the same core values, and we
would almost, like, come up with more ideas on how to elevate this program and elevate
(07:35):
others' well-being, right?
So we started, our coaching sessions started to become strategy sessions sometimes.
And so, you know, while I went through that experience, and it was so profound, I basically
said, I said, Danielle, you know, I really, this, I truly want to help others.
And this feels so right to me.
(07:57):
This feels like this is definitely the way that I want to be able to serve more people.
And so I'd love to help bring more people through this experience, this program.
I really want to coach them and see their results.
And that's how the journey started.
And I did it part-time for about two years, and then I went to it full-time in the last
(08:20):
year.
But I can truly say, I absolutely love what I do.
Christine, it really is, like, my reason and my purpose for waking up each morning.
Yeah.
Well, as you described what you're doing, I mean, your face just lights up.
It's clear that you found something that is driving you in a way that can also help others,
(08:43):
which is fantastic.
Talk to me a little bit about how you recognized that you weren't connecting with, you know,
either using your best skills or the core values.
Like help our listeners understand what that feels like, because I have to say, as I talk
to folks that I'm coaching, sometimes they're just depleted.
(09:08):
They're in a grind.
They feel like they have no time to think.
They don't know what else to do in work because they haven't found their other thing.
Is that what it was like for you?
Or were there different things that you felt?
Just wondering.
And then conversely, the second part is, how do you feel today?
(09:30):
Yeah.
Now, so that's a great question.
And we also see those same clients, right?
Who feel burnt out, who feel deflated.
Often hear the words, I don't feel like they're getting the best of me.
And actually, I've said that multiple times throughout my career.
(09:51):
It was like I knew I had, I knew there were things that were in experiences and roles
where I really could thrive.
But I found myself, especially as I was climbing the corporate ladder and taking on more senior
roles, I was finding myself in more meetings to your point, right?
(10:13):
In more meetings that were not leveraging like my greatest strengths.
Here I am, analyzing numbers and in conversations with legal and other aspects of the work that's
important, but just isn't my natural strength, right?
It felt just more daunting to me.
(10:36):
And I wasn't excited about going into those meetings, right?
And I found myself doing that more frequently with my time just because of the role that
I was in and who I'd be reporting to.
And it was important information that was needed and necessary.
But it just was harder for me to figure out those steps, right?
(10:58):
Those things that were required of me.
And so I think that's part of it.
To your point, I usually say there's a lot of times when you're getting ready for your
day at work and you're looking at your calendar and it looks like a Tetris game, right?
I know that feeling.
(11:20):
And it's like any meeting, mighty moe, which meeting am I going to go to today?
Because there's three booked at the same time.
And I do feel like there's this loss of creativity that is not in our days anymore.
We're going from meeting to meeting to meeting and sometimes just saying what was the purpose
of that?
(11:41):
And after that full day you're drained and you're like, wow, I can't even really be in
that creative mode to figure out how to solve the problems that we're trying to work on.
And so I think a lot of people feel that way sometimes.
And what changed for me was when I did do the Gallup strength assessment.
(12:05):
And I also have done the disc assessment as well.
The disc was something that was offered to me when I was working in an organization.
And I really loved going through those exercises.
But I was a straight eye, an influencer, right?
And then in my Gallup strength assessment, my top five strengths come out as strategic,
(12:30):
positivity, communication, woo, which means winning others over and also responsibility.
And when I start to put those things together, it made sense because when you actually are
leveraging your strengths and when you're doing what is more natural to you and you're
(12:54):
doing that more often, then your work doesn't feel like your work.
It feels like you're operating in the zone.
And so I think there were times in my career where I was doing less of leveraging the
strength and I was doing more work that was not of my greatest strengths.
(13:14):
And so that caused some of that frustration, that alignment that I just didn't have that
was true to my core.
And I knew I wanted to be able to leverage more of what I was good at each and every day.
Yeah, I love how you shared that and how you can actually feel it physically, right?
(13:35):
Yes.
Over time.
And so I think our listeners are kind of taking stock on how am I doing in my current situation?
Could I optimize for something better and knowing what your strengths are is the first
step in getting there.
And I also would say that sometimes your strengths change over time.
So it's good to take some of these opportunities, whether it's a strength assessment, work with
(13:59):
a coach to figure out, well, where am I now?
What have I learned over the last 15 years?
That'll help me in the next 15.
That's right.
Yeah.
So let's go into more about the Legacy Builder Program and we're going to touch on a concept
that's part of the workshop and that's discovering your icky guy.
(14:19):
What is that like?
And I have to tell you this.
So my husband today goes, oh, you have a guest and what are you talking about?
And I said, discovering your icky guy.
And he goes, why would you need to discover an icky guy when you have me?
And I was like, oh my God, that is the worst dad joke.
Oh my God.
I guess I will show you that.
Oh.
(14:40):
That's hilarious.
I've never heard that.
That is amazing.
He has no idea what icky guy is.
I love, well, not a lot of people do.
That's why it's such an exciting topic, right?
Because we get excited to talk about it, to teach it.
So I'll go back to one of your first questions, right?
(15:04):
And the well-being hacker, right?
One of our missions, well, our mission really is to use evidence-based research to elevate
overall well-being and happiness, right?
The quality of your life.
And work plays a significant role in that.
(15:24):
So we look at well-being in five different elements, right?
Your work, your relationships, your health, your financials, and your community.
So those are five areas of well-being that, you know, one, if one area is really out of
(15:45):
alignment or out of sorts, then it certainly has impact on other areas.
And so we have to look at that.
We have to measure that, to understand, you know, where that is.
But most of our clients come to us when they are struggling with their career, with their
work, because it's where we spend a third of our time.
(16:09):
And similar to me, when you're on this trajectory, but you feel like you start questioning, you
know, can I really do this for the next 20-plus years in my life?
You want to start to explore, like, what are some other options?
Now it's also a place where people get a little bit afraid, right?
(16:32):
Because they've built this, they've built this identity, they have built financial stability.
So I think a lot of people think that if they do something, if they actually go after something
that they're more passionate about, or something that they will get excited about, that they
just have to take this significant pay cut.
I'm sure you hear that, right?
(16:53):
Absolutely.
Right?
Like, all of a sudden I'm going to do this, and then I'm not going to make any money anymore,
and I can't do that to my family.
And it's actually, like, furthest from the truth, because when you do work with someone
who's holding you accountable, right, when you do work with a coach, then you're really
going to find that alignment in terms of, you know, who you are, understanding what kind
(17:18):
of contribution do you really want to make, what kind of impact do you want to make, what
kind of legacy do you want to leave behind, right?
And so we have to think of those things, that's our guide, our map, and then we have to start
narrowing down how are we going to find more organizations or the type of work or role that's
(17:39):
going to be more aligned with our core values, where we do get to use our strengths each
and every day.
And we all have our own requirements for what our financial stability, like what our financial
should look like.
And we're holding folks accountable to say, that is, that's your number, that's what you
should go after, or more, right?
(18:00):
And so those are some of the things, you know, that we do through the Legacy Builder Program,
is just to help get the confidence, the clarity, and the contribution that people want to make.
Now, one of the steps through that process is about our topic today, right?
Discovering your Ikigai.
(18:20):
So what does Ikigai mean?
So Ikigai means it's your reason for being, the reason why you wake up each morning.
And the term originated in Okinawa, Japan.
It's been a guiding principle for longevity, contentment, and what makes life meaningful,
(18:44):
right?
Now, more people are starting to hear this term a little bit more, because there is a
Netflix documentary that's out there today.
It's called Living to 100, The Secrets of the Blue Zones.
Are you familiar with it?
Yes, yes.
I actually did an episode and covered some of their tips and learnings.
(19:07):
Fascinating, right?
It's fascinating, right?
And so it's such an awesome documentary for all of these viewers to watch, because, you
know, it really helps you understand where are the blue zones in the world?
What are these different communities?
What are the themes and the patterns of what each of these, you know, people are doing to
(19:30):
increase their longevity, right?
So the blue zones are communities where you have the most centenarians, people who are
living beyond 100 years.
And so Ikigai is, you know, really when you are thinking about what is the work that you
(19:52):
love, you know, what is it that you love?
What are you really good at?
What's the difference you want to make and how do you get paid for it?
And it's all, but it's, it's even more than that, right?
Because that is the ultimate destination, right?
But you also have to really love the process of getting there and really enjoy the simplest
(20:20):
things in life, right?
And so that is, it's just becoming more grounded and more present of everything around you.
And when you look at the people in Okinawa, Japan, they're getting so much fulfillment
and meaning from being in their gardens outside every day, from being with friends and in a
(20:42):
community and singing and dancing and feeling like they have a tribe, people that really
care for them and their well-being.
But you also have individuals who, you saw them in that documentary who are doing work,
whether it's sewing or whether it's building or doing something with our hands.
(21:02):
They spoke about Ikigai being beyond the work that they were just doing.
It was for the generations and the people who get to use these tools and the things that
they're creating beyond their time.
And so when you really think about how you can really start to uncover your purpose and
(21:23):
what that really means, it's got to be bigger than you.
And you really have to think about the impact that it's going to make.
Right, right.
And it takes a while to get to that stage, right?
Definitely.
I think for some of our listeners, they're like, wow, bigger than me.
Oh my God, I can't even handle the day-to-day of what I'm in right now.
One thing to think about, and you touched upon this a bit as you described what some
(21:48):
of the individuals are doing, gardening or what are those activities, what are those
moments in your life where time goes by so quickly and you get lost in things.
That's always a good place to start, to find your passions.
And then for some of our listeners, you don't have to upend your life completely.
(22:13):
But starting with a plan, starting with a plan, what's your first step to do more of
that and think about how you can monetize it?
That's right.
That's right.
And that's where I think it's okay for people when you really think about a lot of folks'
trajectory and what they've been through historically.
(22:35):
We grow up, we have these life experiences, we go to school, then we're choosing to go
to a university potentially.
And you have to figure out your major, then what is going to be your next step from that?
You go into a career.
And a lot of the times we follow a path of someone that we know, maybe it was one of
our parents' path.
(22:58):
My mom was a teacher, my father was in sales and consulting, so it made sense.
But I think, and a lot of our clients say this too.
We also go through our life and we have these different ideas of other things that maybe
we could have done.
I had some thoughts because I love interior design.
(23:21):
I thought, wow, can I be an interior designer or could I love to cook?
Should I go into something like that or consulting?
So there are many different thoughts and I think it's okay to give ourselves permission
to explore that further sometimes.
It doesn't mean that you have to give up everything and just jump into that to figure
(23:46):
it out.
There's people that you can talk to.
There's ways of shadowing.
There's ways of just getting a little bit more involved.
We had a guest this past week on In Pursuit of Purpose who talked about that.
I mean, today he's a CEO of a nonprofit in Chicago.
But he really created his career path and we could talk about that.
(24:11):
But he had these ideas of being a stand-up comedian and also in advertising.
But he explored it.
In a way that was just quick and had conversations around it to say, you know what?
It's not exactly what I thought it was going to be.
And so I think you've got to give yourself permission.
(24:33):
You've got to think about those moments just as you said about what you find yourself getting
lost in.
And for me, it was more about creating.
It was writing.
It's thinking about experiences.
(24:56):
It's taking new strategies.
Like I said, myself, Danielle, we're like self-development junkies.
We're reading and all the time and just going through different types of workshops to learn
different strategies.
And so when you can take those, I get lost in that.
(25:17):
And I love it.
And I want to be able to use it and share with others who may not be investing or immersing
themselves in that.
Bringing them the ways.
So yeah.
Well, I'm so glad that you found your passion and you're helping others to do it too.
(25:38):
You're like a ripple in the water.
You get started and then others can also follow your lead.
So if someone really did want to get started and figure out their natural strengths, do
you have some practical advice for them to get started?
We've talked about IkiGuy.
Obviously, there's workshops that they can attend.
(26:00):
What would you suggest?
We're also just a very big fan of the Gallup's Strengths-Based Assessment.
I think that is definitely one of the most accurate.
I'm also a fan.
Have you done or have you heard of human design?
Have not.
That's a really interesting one too.
(26:20):
It's actually very much based, there's like an astronomy tie to it.
I did hear about this.
This is floating around in a big way in the artist community right now.
Yeah, but you have to know your, well, obviously your date of birth.
You have to know the place where you were born, the city.
And you have to know the time.
(26:41):
And that was not on my birth certificate.
It's on my children's birth certificates these days, but it wasn't on mine and I didn't have
any way to find that out.
But that's another just great way to start understanding.
And again, my greatest gift according to human design is when I'm able to use my influential
(27:02):
energy.
And so when you think about this, Christine, right, when you do some work on yourself.
So I've taken the disc, I see that.
I have taken the strengths assessment.
I'm a human design.
And it's like, God, yes, when I am just speaking with others and when I get excited about a
product or service, I can't find, I can't stop myself from just sharing it with others.
(27:28):
You know, think about some times when you're in maybe like a coffee shop and if you overheard
someone else's conversation next to you, you know, what is it that you just couldn't help
yourself but jump in and be, have part of that discussion?
I'm that person too.
Yeah.
But that's, that's where you start to feel your fire and your energy, right?
(27:55):
And you've got to tap into that a little bit more.
So, so those are some things that, you know, you definitely get started with.
And then talents, of course, is we have innate talents and we have talents that we've learned
over time and skills over time.
But innate talents are really things that it would almost be impossible for you to fail
(28:16):
to do, right?
And you know, one of the things that I just remember even as a child and my parents told
me this all the time is, Nicole, you were always, it scared the heck out of them.
You were always talking to strangers.
We could not help.
You would just run up to strangers in the mall and you would start to strike a conversation.
(28:38):
And so when you
Every parent's nightmare.
Every parent's nightmare.
Every parent's nightmare.
Curious.
Always wanted to hear everyone's story.
You know, I just was always curious about others and I still am today.
But when you think about that and when organizations think about this, they have to understand
some of these things about people because it's also important to leverage them in the
(29:03):
right role.
So if they need someone who's going to go out and they need to, you know, have someone
who's influencing others, who is networking, who's not afraid to go out and meet strangers
and talk about the product or service.
That's that role that I should be doing, right?
Not behind a screen all day analyzing reports and, you know, reporting about things that
(29:29):
I'm just not as, you know, that I just don't have that natural skill around, right?
And so that's where I think organizations and individuals just need to tap more into,
you know, what is it?
What is it that gets this individual really fired up and what are some of those experiences
so we can leverage more of that in the organization, put people in the right roles where they can
(29:52):
really thrive.
Yeah, I think what's interesting about some of what you've touched on today is you had
these tools, you have these experiences, and there were consistent patterns that came up
regardless of which tool you use.
So seeing almost in a dashboard view of this is everything I have to offer the world.
(30:14):
These are the things that really get me fired up.
From there, you are essentially, you should create a personal narrative.
Yes.
And what does that look like and how do you help clients do that?
Yeah, so, so interesting, right?
Because you see, and that is exactly the point, and I went to Tony Robbins' event, Unleashed
(30:39):
the Power Within, and it was one of the best events that I had ever gone to.
And he talks about that a lot, is the patterns and the themes.
And I actually think sometimes someone else sees it more from an outside perspective than
we do seeing it within, right?
(31:00):
Because when we kind of dive into some of these things within, we just kind of look
at them as just, you know, it is the way that it is.
But for someone from the outside sometimes really starts to see those themes pull through
in many different ways, right?
Whether it's diving deeper in life experiences or a vision.
(31:21):
Now, you know, you have to take those things about, when you look at Ike Gai, it really
is like a Venn diagram, right?
Of, you know, we focus on some areas of it.
It's their natural strengths, their unwavering passions, the life experiences, the difference
(31:42):
that they want to make.
And so when you start to put these things together, it starts to show up as a way of,
okay, how can I start, you know, I could look at, if I really care, because throughout
my life, I have seen my family, and I'm using this as an example, it's actually one of our
(32:05):
clients too.
I've seen my parents and family really struggle with health care and cost of health care.
It bothers me, right?
It bothers me that it's incredible, like there's so many people that don't have access to health
care, right?
(32:26):
And they start to say like, I have some experience in health care.
I've been selling digital tools and software in this space, but I want to take like a greater
stance behind it.
And how do I now start to do that?
And so, you know, we say there's really different paths, and you mentioned it too.
(32:51):
They could, you know, they could do something in terms of like volunteering, right?
Or finding like philanthropic, so giving your money, that's one way.
But another is actually looking into organizations that are behind that cause.
So maybe a nonprofit.
(33:12):
It could also be a for-profit organization that has a purpose behind it that's aligned
to that mission, right?
Or that cause.
It could be, you know, that you can align to a company in just their overall mission
of the organization.
You feel that that is something that you also stand behind.
(33:35):
Or maybe it's just the nature of your work.
Maybe you want to do something in that within, you know, your company or your organization.
You want to find paths or ways of how you can explore that a little bit further so you
can recontextualize, right?
Or modify your job in that way.
(33:56):
And, you know, some people also can start their own business, right?
Or even, you know, or join a franchise.
So there's different paths and I think that's what's important to explore because not everyone,
you know, says that they want to be an entrepreneur.
Not everyone says that they want to work for a nonprofit.
But there are a lot of companies that are doing good and that are conscious.
(34:19):
And you need to start exploring what those paths are.
So how can you make some of that difference?
And I think what it does is it starts to also open up, you know, who are people?
There are some organizations that I need to get a little bit more involved with to learn
about and start uncovering, you know, what those opportunities are, right?
(34:42):
How do I take those skills that experience and now start crafting that?
And so we, you know, we have a document, we call it the bullseye because after you go
through, you know, all of your strengths, all of your talents, all of your passions.
And, you know, we also have some career assessments we go through in this process.
(35:03):
But you really start to pull it all together and develop a mission, right?
Something that you stand for.
And I know you're really familiar with this.
Develop that mission and you say, okay, how do I now start to, you know, think about organizations
or work that I could stand behind that, you know, that will allow me to maintain my financial
(35:28):
stability and that I can leverage like my true strength in each and every day.
It just gives you that map, right?
At the end of the day, we all need a map.
We all need a vision for what our life is going to look like in every area of our life
and we need it the same for our work.
(35:49):
And that allows us to make better decisions about the next career choice that we make
because, you know, we're using that as the guide.
It's helping us to say, does this really align with what I'm supposed to do or does
it not align?
Because I think many people just choose a career just based on what's that light or
their next like path based on, well, it just seemed like the right next step.
(36:14):
It was a promotion into this.
So they don't give that all that thought.
That's right.
That makes sense.
It does.
It does.
And I think just getting started, you know, building awareness of what are your options?
What do you really care about in life?
And I think also what you did is a bit brilliant, you know, in terms of just, hey, I started
(36:37):
this part time.
I still had my full time job.
But you got started and you tested it and you got in the pool.
The water apparently was warm.
Yes.
You stayed and thrived, which is great.
So for a lot of our listeners, if you're kind of stuck in that situation or you're starting
to feel some of the things we've talked about, not having the energy, not really fired up
(37:02):
to tackle your day, it's a good time to invest in yourself.
And taking some of these steps could be so helpful.
If we think about sort of closing out and final words of advice, a couple things that
(37:22):
I would suggest based on, you know, spending time with you and learning more from you and
Danielle is visiting a well-being hacker on Instagram, following these two brilliant
women because they have a number of events that you can tap into.
(37:44):
You also have the Living with Purpose podcast.
Yeah.
In pursuit of purpose.
Yeah.
The LinkedIn Live event.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you.
So we can put a link to that in our show notes.
And visiting the website, wellbeinghacker.com, subscribing and just staying current and
being connected.
(38:04):
Anything you'd like to close with?
I would say definitely LinkedIn.
We have a great presence on there now.
It's really where, you know, you can follow the well-being hacker page on LinkedIn or myself,
Nicole Carline and Danielle Poza.
Right.
And that's where you'll know about all of our events that we host webinars, workshops,
(38:26):
et cetera.
I think I just want to leave off with, you know, the points of, you have to think about
your why in your life.
Your why is going to really help guide you to, like, if it's big enough, if your why is
(38:48):
big enough, it's going to allow you to take actions in that direction each and every day.
My why for why I had made this transition was because I knew deep down I was feeling
this pull.
I was feeling that there was more that I had to give.
(39:11):
And I knew that if I didn't explore it or if I ignored it, that I would truly live with
that regret.
Like, if tomorrow were my last day and I never went down this path to explore or try entrepreneurship,
which I really wanted to do.
(39:32):
I knew that that would be one of my regrets.
And I think it's so important for us to really, when you think about, there's a great book,
Christine by Bronnie Ware.
It's called The Five Regrets of the Dying.
And she had worked with all individuals that were in hospice care for many, many years.
(39:57):
And she documented their epiphanies and also the top five themes of the regrets of the
dying.
And the number one is, I wish I lived a life true to myself and not what others expected
of me.
And that's my mantra, is authentically, right?
You have to figure out, you know, for when I think about those things in the career I
(40:21):
was thinking about, am I really living true to myself? Is this really what I've been wanting
to do?
Or am I doing it for my father?
Or, you know, what others are expecting of me?
And how do I just get to a place where I am living ultimately, truer to myself and what
(40:42):
I really want in my life?
And so I think that's just a great, you know, it's a great book and who not best to learn
from, right?
At the end of the day.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And I mean, as we talked about earlier, people are for the most part living longer.
Yes.
It's not too late to get started.
Never.
(41:03):
Most of our listeners probably have a good 30 years of really high productivity.
Maybe another like 20 years of just kicking back and.
Absolutely.
Having a more, you know, sedate life.
Who knows?
I mean, we see all the time people breaking world records at crazy ages.
(41:25):
So I just absolutely love to roll to started, you know, pizza, cauliflower companies and
all different kinds of things.
Right.
I mean, it's truly amazing what and then that is a key thing is building your foundation
of belief that it can happen.
Right.
And really listening and hearing the stories of others who have done it.
(41:47):
So awesome.
Well, thank you so much for that book recommendation.
I will include that in the notes as well.
And what a pleasure and delight to spend time with you.
Thank you so much for all you shared, Nicole.
We look forward to hopefully having you back another time.
You have so much to share and appreciate you.
(42:07):
You come and buy.
Thank you so much, Christine.
And I appreciate you having me and I appreciate you.
I'm so happy to have you back in my life too.
All right.
Well, with that, we'll sign off until next time.
Thank you.
Bye.
Thank you for listening.
Our hope is to spark a little joy, inspire and educate our listeners in ways to live
(42:29):
an even more meaningful life.
If you have reactions to share from what you've heard, please visit our website, refinement.life,
to leave a voice message.
You may even be featured in a future episode.
To keep in touch, subscribe to our podcast, Refirement Life, using the podcast player
of your choice.
Always remember, you are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.
(42:53):
Thanks again for joining us on this episode.
Until next time.
Welcome to ReFirement Life, the podcast for anyone navigating life transitions or planning
(00:06):
to make life transitions to ensure your next years are your best years.
Listen in for insightful, generous, and sometimes humorous conversation.
It's time to get fired up with Christine Zamuda and Muge Wood, your hosts for this
latest episode of ReFirement Life.
And welcome to episode 46 of ReFirement Life.
(00:31):
Today, we're going to talk about finding your purpose.
I'm thrilled to have a wonderful guest in Nicole Carlin.
I'll tell you a little bit about Nicole.
She currently serves as the president of the Wellbeing Hacker and is a co-founder of the
Legacy Builder Program.
With over two decades of experience as a highly successful sales and global IT leader in Fortune
(00:54):
500 companies such as Microsoft, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Boston Scientific, she has
a proven track record of exceeding customers' expectations.
Now, Nicole is dedicated to empowering individuals to realize their greatest potential and align
their careers with strengths and core values, which is something very near and dear to my
(01:16):
heart.
She is deeply immersed in self-development and constantly uncovers new strategies to
enhance overall happiness and well-being.
Today, Nicole offers coaching services such as the head coach for the Legacy Builder
Program.
She facilitates workshops for both individuals and corporations.
(01:37):
And if she's not busy enough, she co-hosts the monthly LinkedIn live events titled in
Pursuit of Purpose.
So wow, you've got a lot going on.
I'm thrilled that our worlds have intersected and that I can share some of your story with
our listeners today.
So welcome, Nicole.
Thank you, Christine.
(01:59):
I really appreciate it.
I'm so happy too that our worlds have intersected again here, that we've reconnected.
It's just been amazing.
And I love this path that you're on.
And I'm excited to talk about these paths that we've taken now post the Microsoft world
that we both enjoy together in spending time.
(02:20):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So we need to hear your story.
You had this wonderful, successful career at multiple Fortune 500 companies and still
very young in your prime, I like to say.
And now you've transitioned from corporate America.
(02:42):
Tell us a little bit about founding, well-being hackers, what is your organization, what is
exciting about this for you personally?
Sure.
I'm happy to.
So as you shared, Christine, I've spent 20 years in corporate, primarily in sales, consulting
roles, IT leadership roles.
(03:03):
And I truly do feel so grateful for the experiences I had for the network, the friends that I've
made over the years.
And there are definitely several companies I represented that I truly believed in the
product, the service.
I felt really connected to the mission of the organization.
And then, like many others along the way, there's some other organizations sometimes
(03:27):
where we have experience.
And I didn't feel as connected, right?
Or I didn't feel that maybe it was aligned to core values.
And when I was going through those periods of time, I started to question the work that
I was doing, the trajectory of my career.
So despite the success that I had in corporate, I did have this feeling that I was meant to
(03:52):
do something more, but I couldn't exactly figure it out.
But I also knew in my heart that if I didn't explore it, I would really have and feel like
I would be living with some regrets.
And so I knew this early on too, because I did lose my mom at 20 years old.
(04:13):
And it was right after college when I was getting started in my career.
So I knew there were no guarantees, right?
No guarantees for your next day, no guarantees for your next year.
We only have one life, and you have to make the most of it.
And so I started my own journey.
After this years of experience in corporate, I started my own journey on self-discovery.
(04:37):
I had a lot of ideas about how can I take the skills that I have, the experience that
I have, and transition it into something else that maybe I really haven't explored yet,
that I feel like this urge, this desire.
And I had a lot of different ideas, and I tested them.
I talked to people.
(04:58):
But I did, as part of this self-discovery, I invested in some programs, some workshops.
I invested in a life coach.
And they were all great in helping me just understand some limiting beliefs that I had
and getting to the core and the values that I had.
But it didn't exactly help me figure out what it was that I was going to do next in my career.
(05:24):
And so my brother actually reached out to me, and he said, you really need to reconnect
with our cousin Danielle, Danielle Poza.
She's helping experienced professionals through career transitions to find more meaningful
work.
And I was like, Michael, you know, sign me up.
Let's get connected.
(05:46):
And Danielle really is the founder of the Well-Being Hacker, right?
But she really walked me through this journey and built a program that's called the Legacy
Builder Program.
And when I went through it, it felt like for the first time for almost 15 years of my life,
(06:06):
like I truly rediscovered myself, right?
What I was really great at, what I wanted to contribute to the world, what I was motivated
by, and it really started giving me the clarity of what I wanted to do next.
And I remember saying to her, like, God, why don't they offer this in college, right?
(06:28):
And there's so many people who need this, who really need this.
But Danielle asked me a question through that experience, and it was really profound.
It was in one of our coaching sessions.
And she said, Nicole, really think about what do people come to you for?
And I had a few answers for that, but there was one that really stood out.
(06:51):
And I realized people come to me for career advice, for how to transfer skills from one
industry to another, for positivity, strategies on boosting confidence, salary negotiation,
interview preparation, just my overall outlook on life, right?
(07:13):
And Danielle and I, through our coaching calls, we even just started to talk about, like,
wow, we have so many synergies, we're aligned on so many of the same core values, and we
would almost, like, come up with more ideas on how to elevate this program and elevate
(07:35):
others' well-being, right?
So we started, our coaching sessions started to become strategy sessions sometimes.
And so, you know, while I went through that experience, and it was so profound, I basically
said, I said, Danielle, you know, I really, this, I truly want to help others.
And this feels so right to me.
(07:57):
This feels like this is definitely the way that I want to be able to serve more people.
And so I'd love to help bring more people through this experience, this program.
I really want to coach them and see their results.
And that's how the journey started.
And I did it part-time for about two years, and then I went to it full-time in the last
(08:20):
year.
But I can truly say, I absolutely love what I do.
Christine, it really is, like, my reason and my purpose for waking up each morning.
Yeah.
Well, as you described what you're doing, I mean, your face just lights up.
It's clear that you found something that is driving you in a way that can also help others,
(08:43):
which is fantastic.
Talk to me a little bit about how you recognized that you weren't connecting with, you know,
either using your best skills or the core values.
Like help our listeners understand what that feels like, because I have to say, as I talk
to folks that I'm coaching, sometimes they're just depleted.
(09:08):
They're in a grind.
They feel like they have no time to think.
They don't know what else to do in work because they haven't found their other thing.
Is that what it was like for you?
Or were there different things that you felt?
Just wondering.
And then conversely, the second part is, how do you feel today?
(09:30):
Yeah.
Now, so that's a great question.
And we also see those same clients, right?
Who feel burnt out, who feel deflated.
Often hear the words, I don't feel like they're getting the best of me.
And actually, I've said that multiple times throughout my career.
(09:51):
It was like I knew I had, I knew there were things that were in experiences and roles
where I really could thrive.
But I found myself, especially as I was climbing the corporate ladder and taking on more senior
roles, I was finding myself in more meetings to your point, right?
(10:13):
In more meetings that were not leveraging like my greatest strengths.
Here I am, analyzing numbers and in conversations with legal and other aspects of the work that's
important, but just isn't my natural strength, right?
It felt just more daunting to me.
(10:36):
And I wasn't excited about going into those meetings, right?
And I found myself doing that more frequently with my time just because of the role that
I was in and who I'd be reporting to.
And it was important information that was needed and necessary.
But it just was harder for me to figure out those steps, right?
(10:58):
Those things that were required of me.
And so I think that's part of it.
To your point, I usually say there's a lot of times when you're getting ready for your
day at work and you're looking at your calendar and it looks like a Tetris game, right?
I know that feeling.
(11:20):
And it's like any meeting, mighty moe, which meeting am I going to go to today?
Because there's three booked at the same time.
And I do feel like there's this loss of creativity that is not in our days anymore.
We're going from meeting to meeting to meeting and sometimes just saying what was the purpose
of that?
(11:41):
And after that full day you're drained and you're like, wow, I can't even really be in
that creative mode to figure out how to solve the problems that we're trying to work on.
And so I think a lot of people feel that way sometimes.
And what changed for me was when I did do the Gallup strength assessment.
(12:05):
And I also have done the disc assessment as well.
The disc was something that was offered to me when I was working in an organization.
And I really loved going through those exercises.
But I was a straight eye, an influencer, right?
And then in my Gallup strength assessment, my top five strengths come out as strategic,
(12:30):
positivity, communication, woo, which means winning others over and also responsibility.
And when I start to put those things together, it made sense because when you actually are
leveraging your strengths and when you're doing what is more natural to you and you're
(12:54):
doing that more often, then your work doesn't feel like your work.
It feels like you're operating in the zone.
And so I think there were times in my career where I was doing less of leveraging the
strength and I was doing more work that was not of my greatest strengths.
(13:14):
And so that caused some of that frustration, that alignment that I just didn't have that
was true to my core.
And I knew I wanted to be able to leverage more of what I was good at each and every day.
Yeah, I love how you shared that and how you can actually feel it physically, right?
(13:35):
Yes.
Over time.
And so I think our listeners are kind of taking stock on how am I doing in my current situation?
Could I optimize for something better and knowing what your strengths are is the first
step in getting there.
And I also would say that sometimes your strengths change over time.
So it's good to take some of these opportunities, whether it's a strength assessment, work with
(13:59):
a coach to figure out, well, where am I now?
What have I learned over the last 15 years?
That'll help me in the next 15.
That's right.
Yeah.
So let's go into more about the Legacy Builder Program and we're going to touch on a concept
that's part of the workshop and that's discovering your icky guy.
(14:19):
What is that like?
And I have to tell you this.
So my husband today goes, oh, you have a guest and what are you talking about?
And I said, discovering your icky guy.
And he goes, why would you need to discover an icky guy when you have me?
And I was like, oh my God, that is the worst dad joke.
Oh my God.
I guess I will show you that.
Oh.
(14:40):
That's hilarious.
I've never heard that.
That is amazing.
He has no idea what icky guy is.
I love, well, not a lot of people do.
That's why it's such an exciting topic, right?
Because we get excited to talk about it, to teach it.
So I'll go back to one of your first questions, right?
(15:04):
And the well-being hacker, right?
One of our missions, well, our mission really is to use evidence-based research to elevate
overall well-being and happiness, right?
The quality of your life.
And work plays a significant role in that.
(15:24):
So we look at well-being in five different elements, right?
Your work, your relationships, your health, your financials, and your community.
So those are five areas of well-being that, you know, one, if one area is really out of
(15:45):
alignment or out of sorts, then it certainly has impact on other areas.
And so we have to look at that.
We have to measure that, to understand, you know, where that is.
But most of our clients come to us when they are struggling with their career, with their
work, because it's where we spend a third of our time.
(16:09):
And similar to me, when you're on this trajectory, but you feel like you start questioning, you
know, can I really do this for the next 20-plus years in my life?
You want to start to explore, like, what are some other options?
Now it's also a place where people get a little bit afraid, right?
(16:32):
Because they've built this, they've built this identity, they have built financial stability.
So I think a lot of people think that if they do something, if they actually go after something
that they're more passionate about, or something that they will get excited about, that they
just have to take this significant pay cut.
I'm sure you hear that, right?
(16:53):
Absolutely.
Right?
Like, all of a sudden I'm going to do this, and then I'm not going to make any money anymore,
and I can't do that to my family.
And it's actually, like, furthest from the truth, because when you do work with someone
who's holding you accountable, right, when you do work with a coach, then you're really
going to find that alignment in terms of, you know, who you are, understanding what kind
(17:18):
of contribution do you really want to make, what kind of impact do you want to make, what
kind of legacy do you want to leave behind, right?
And so we have to think of those things, that's our guide, our map, and then we have to start
narrowing down how are we going to find more organizations or the type of work or role that's
(17:39):
going to be more aligned with our core values, where we do get to use our strengths each
and every day.
And we all have our own requirements for what our financial stability, like what our financial
should look like.
And we're holding folks accountable to say, that is, that's your number, that's what you
should go after, or more, right?
(18:00):
And so those are some of the things, you know, that we do through the Legacy Builder Program,
is just to help get the confidence, the clarity, and the contribution that people want to make.
Now, one of the steps through that process is about our topic today, right?
Discovering your Ikigai.
(18:20):
So what does Ikigai mean?
So Ikigai means it's your reason for being, the reason why you wake up each morning.
And the term originated in Okinawa, Japan.
It's been a guiding principle for longevity, contentment, and what makes life meaningful,
(18:44):
right?
Now, more people are starting to hear this term a little bit more, because there is a
Netflix documentary that's out there today.
It's called Living to 100, The Secrets of the Blue Zones.
Are you familiar with it?
Yes, yes.
I actually did an episode and covered some of their tips and learnings.
(19:07):
Fascinating, right?
It's fascinating, right?
And so it's such an awesome documentary for all of these viewers to watch, because, you
know, it really helps you understand where are the blue zones in the world?
What are these different communities?
What are the themes and the patterns of what each of these, you know, people are doing to
(19:30):
increase their longevity, right?
So the blue zones are communities where you have the most centenarians, people who are
living beyond 100 years.
And so Ikigai is, you know, really when you are thinking about what is the work that you
(19:52):
love, you know, what is it that you love?
What are you really good at?
What's the difference you want to make and how do you get paid for it?
And it's all, but it's, it's even more than that, right?
Because that is the ultimate destination, right?
But you also have to really love the process of getting there and really enjoy the simplest
(20:20):
things in life, right?
And so that is, it's just becoming more grounded and more present of everything around you.
And when you look at the people in Okinawa, Japan, they're getting so much fulfillment
and meaning from being in their gardens outside every day, from being with friends and in a
(20:42):
community and singing and dancing and feeling like they have a tribe, people that really
care for them and their well-being.
But you also have individuals who, you saw them in that documentary who are doing work,
whether it's sewing or whether it's building or doing something with our hands.
(21:02):
They spoke about Ikigai being beyond the work that they were just doing.
It was for the generations and the people who get to use these tools and the things that
they're creating beyond their time.
And so when you really think about how you can really start to uncover your purpose and
(21:23):
what that really means, it's got to be bigger than you.
And you really have to think about the impact that it's going to make.
Right, right.
And it takes a while to get to that stage, right?
Definitely.
I think for some of our listeners, they're like, wow, bigger than me.
Oh my God, I can't even handle the day-to-day of what I'm in right now.
One thing to think about, and you touched upon this a bit as you described what some
(21:48):
of the individuals are doing, gardening or what are those activities, what are those
moments in your life where time goes by so quickly and you get lost in things.
That's always a good place to start, to find your passions.
And then for some of our listeners, you don't have to upend your life completely.
(22:13):
But starting with a plan, starting with a plan, what's your first step to do more of
that and think about how you can monetize it?
That's right.
That's right.
And that's where I think it's okay for people when you really think about a lot of folks'
trajectory and what they've been through historically.
(22:35):
We grow up, we have these life experiences, we go to school, then we're choosing to go
to a university potentially.
And you have to figure out your major, then what is going to be your next step from that?
You go into a career.
And a lot of the times we follow a path of someone that we know, maybe it was one of
our parents' path.
(22:58):
My mom was a teacher, my father was in sales and consulting, so it made sense.
But I think, and a lot of our clients say this too.
We also go through our life and we have these different ideas of other things that maybe
we could have done.
I had some thoughts because I love interior design.
(23:21):
I thought, wow, can I be an interior designer or could I love to cook?
Should I go into something like that or consulting?
So there are many different thoughts and I think it's okay to give ourselves permission
to explore that further sometimes.
It doesn't mean that you have to give up everything and just jump into that to figure
(23:46):
it out.
There's people that you can talk to.
There's ways of shadowing.
There's ways of just getting a little bit more involved.
We had a guest this past week on In Pursuit of Purpose who talked about that.
I mean, today he's a CEO of a nonprofit in Chicago.
But he really created his career path and we could talk about that.
(24:11):
But he had these ideas of being a stand-up comedian and also in advertising.
But he explored it.
In a way that was just quick and had conversations around it to say, you know what?
It's not exactly what I thought it was going to be.
And so I think you've got to give yourself permission.
(24:33):
You've got to think about those moments just as you said about what you find yourself getting
lost in.
And for me, it was more about creating.
It was writing.
It's thinking about experiences.
(24:56):
It's taking new strategies.
Like I said, myself, Danielle, we're like self-development junkies.
We're reading and all the time and just going through different types of workshops to learn
different strategies.
And so when you can take those, I get lost in that.
(25:17):
And I love it.
And I want to be able to use it and share with others who may not be investing or immersing
themselves in that.
Bringing them the ways.
So yeah.
Well, I'm so glad that you found your passion and you're helping others to do it too.
(25:38):
You're like a ripple in the water.
You get started and then others can also follow your lead.
So if someone really did want to get started and figure out their natural strengths, do
you have some practical advice for them to get started?
We've talked about IkiGuy.
Obviously, there's workshops that they can attend.
(26:00):
What would you suggest?
We're also just a very big fan of the Gallup's Strengths-Based Assessment.
I think that is definitely one of the most accurate.
I'm also a fan.
Have you done or have you heard of human design?
Have not.
That's a really interesting one too.
(26:20):
It's actually very much based, there's like an astronomy tie to it.
I did hear about this.
This is floating around in a big way in the artist community right now.
Yeah, but you have to know your, well, obviously your date of birth.
You have to know the place where you were born, the city.
And you have to know the time.
(26:41):
And that was not on my birth certificate.
It's on my children's birth certificates these days, but it wasn't on mine and I didn't have
any way to find that out.
But that's another just great way to start understanding.
And again, my greatest gift according to human design is when I'm able to use my influential
(27:02):
energy.
And so when you think about this, Christine, right, when you do some work on yourself.
So I've taken the disc, I see that.
I have taken the strengths assessment.
I'm a human design.
And it's like, God, yes, when I am just speaking with others and when I get excited about a
product or service, I can't find, I can't stop myself from just sharing it with others.
(27:28):
You know, think about some times when you're in maybe like a coffee shop and if you overheard
someone else's conversation next to you, you know, what is it that you just couldn't help
yourself but jump in and be, have part of that discussion?
I'm that person too.
Yeah.
But that's, that's where you start to feel your fire and your energy, right?
(27:55):
And you've got to tap into that a little bit more.
So, so those are some things that, you know, you definitely get started with.
And then talents, of course, is we have innate talents and we have talents that we've learned
over time and skills over time.
But innate talents are really things that it would almost be impossible for you to fail
(28:16):
to do, right?
And you know, one of the things that I just remember even as a child and my parents told
me this all the time is, Nicole, you were always, it scared the heck out of them.
You were always talking to strangers.
We could not help.
You would just run up to strangers in the mall and you would start to strike a conversation.
(28:38):
And so when you
Every parent's nightmare.
Every parent's nightmare.
Every parent's nightmare.
Curious.
Always wanted to hear everyone's story.
You know, I just was always curious about others and I still am today.
But when you think about that and when organizations think about this, they have to understand
some of these things about people because it's also important to leverage them in the
(29:03):
right role.
So if they need someone who's going to go out and they need to, you know, have someone
who's influencing others, who is networking, who's not afraid to go out and meet strangers
and talk about the product or service.
That's that role that I should be doing, right?
Not behind a screen all day analyzing reports and, you know, reporting about things that
(29:29):
I'm just not as, you know, that I just don't have that natural skill around, right?
And so that's where I think organizations and individuals just need to tap more into,
you know, what is it?
What is it that gets this individual really fired up and what are some of those experiences
so we can leverage more of that in the organization, put people in the right roles where they can
(29:52):
really thrive.
Yeah, I think what's interesting about some of what you've touched on today is you had
these tools, you have these experiences, and there were consistent patterns that came up
regardless of which tool you use.
So seeing almost in a dashboard view of this is everything I have to offer the world.
(30:14):
These are the things that really get me fired up.
From there, you are essentially, you should create a personal narrative.
Yes.
And what does that look like and how do you help clients do that?
Yeah, so, so interesting, right?
Because you see, and that is exactly the point, and I went to Tony Robbins' event, Unleashed
(30:39):
the Power Within, and it was one of the best events that I had ever gone to.
And he talks about that a lot, is the patterns and the themes.
And I actually think sometimes someone else sees it more from an outside perspective than
we do seeing it within, right?
(31:00):
Because when we kind of dive into some of these things within, we just kind of look
at them as just, you know, it is the way that it is.
But for someone from the outside sometimes really starts to see those themes pull through
in many different ways, right?
Whether it's diving deeper in life experiences or a vision.
(31:21):
Now, you know, you have to take those things about, when you look at Ike Gai, it really
is like a Venn diagram, right?
Of, you know, we focus on some areas of it.
It's their natural strengths, their unwavering passions, the life experiences, the difference
(31:42):
that they want to make.
And so when you start to put these things together, it starts to show up as a way of,
okay, how can I start, you know, I could look at, if I really care, because throughout
my life, I have seen my family, and I'm using this as an example, it's actually one of our
(32:05):
clients too.
I've seen my parents and family really struggle with health care and cost of health care.
It bothers me, right?
It bothers me that it's incredible, like there's so many people that don't have access to health
care, right?
(32:26):
And they start to say like, I have some experience in health care.
I've been selling digital tools and software in this space, but I want to take like a greater
stance behind it.
And how do I now start to do that?
And so, you know, we say there's really different paths, and you mentioned it too.
(32:51):
They could, you know, they could do something in terms of like volunteering, right?
Or finding like philanthropic, so giving your money, that's one way.
But another is actually looking into organizations that are behind that cause.
So maybe a nonprofit.
(33:12):
It could also be a for-profit organization that has a purpose behind it that's aligned
to that mission, right?
Or that cause.
It could be, you know, that you can align to a company in just their overall mission
of the organization.
You feel that that is something that you also stand behind.
(33:35):
Or maybe it's just the nature of your work.
Maybe you want to do something in that within, you know, your company or your organization.
You want to find paths or ways of how you can explore that a little bit further so you
can recontextualize, right?
Or modify your job in that way.
(33:56):
And, you know, some people also can start their own business, right?
Or even, you know, or join a franchise.
So there's different paths and I think that's what's important to explore because not everyone,
you know, says that they want to be an entrepreneur.
Not everyone says that they want to work for a nonprofit.
But there are a lot of companies that are doing good and that are conscious.
(34:19):
And you need to start exploring what those paths are.
So how can you make some of that difference?
And I think what it does is it starts to also open up, you know, who are people?
There are some organizations that I need to get a little bit more involved with to learn
about and start uncovering, you know, what those opportunities are, right?
(34:42):
How do I take those skills that experience and now start crafting that?
And so we, you know, we have a document, we call it the bullseye because after you go
through, you know, all of your strengths, all of your talents, all of your passions.
And, you know, we also have some career assessments we go through in this process.
(35:03):
But you really start to pull it all together and develop a mission, right?
Something that you stand for.
And I know you're really familiar with this.
Develop that mission and you say, okay, how do I now start to, you know, think about organizations
or work that I could stand behind that, you know, that will allow me to maintain my financial
(35:28):
stability and that I can leverage like my true strength in each and every day.
It just gives you that map, right?
At the end of the day, we all need a map.
We all need a vision for what our life is going to look like in every area of our life
and we need it the same for our work.
(35:49):
And that allows us to make better decisions about the next career choice that we make
because, you know, we're using that as the guide.
It's helping us to say, does this really align with what I'm supposed to do or does
it not align?
Because I think many people just choose a career just based on what's that light or
their next like path based on, well, it just seemed like the right next step.
(36:14):
It was a promotion into this.
So they don't give that all that thought.
That's right.
That makes sense.
It does.
It does.
And I think just getting started, you know, building awareness of what are your options?
What do you really care about in life?
And I think also what you did is a bit brilliant, you know, in terms of just, hey, I started
(36:37):
this part time.
I still had my full time job.
But you got started and you tested it and you got in the pool.
The water apparently was warm.
Yes.
You stayed and thrived, which is great.
So for a lot of our listeners, if you're kind of stuck in that situation or you're starting
to feel some of the things we've talked about, not having the energy, not really fired up
(37:02):
to tackle your day, it's a good time to invest in yourself.
And taking some of these steps could be so helpful.
If we think about sort of closing out and final words of advice, a couple things that
(37:22):
I would suggest based on, you know, spending time with you and learning more from you and
Danielle is visiting a well-being hacker on Instagram, following these two brilliant
women because they have a number of events that you can tap into.
(37:44):
You also have the Living with Purpose podcast.
Yeah.
In pursuit of purpose.
Yeah.
The LinkedIn Live event.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you.
So we can put a link to that in our show notes.
And visiting the website, wellbeinghacker.com, subscribing and just staying current and
being connected.
(38:04):
Anything you'd like to close with?
I would say definitely LinkedIn.
We have a great presence on there now.
It's really where, you know, you can follow the well-being hacker page on LinkedIn or myself,
Nicole Carline and Danielle Poza.
Right.
And that's where you'll know about all of our events that we host webinars, workshops,
(38:26):
et cetera.
I think I just want to leave off with, you know, the points of, you have to think about
your why in your life.
Your why is going to really help guide you to, like, if it's big enough, if your why is
(38:48):
big enough, it's going to allow you to take actions in that direction each and every day.
My why for why I had made this transition was because I knew deep down I was feeling
this pull.
I was feeling that there was more that I had to give.
(39:11):
And I knew that if I didn't explore it or if I ignored it, that I would truly live with
that regret.
Like, if tomorrow were my last day and I never went down this path to explore or try entrepreneurship,
which I really wanted to do.
(39:32):
I knew that that would be one of my regrets.
And I think it's so important for us to really, when you think about, there's a great book,
Christine by Bronnie Ware.
It's called The Five Regrets of the Dying.
And she had worked with all individuals that were in hospice care for many, many years.
(39:57):
And she documented their epiphanies and also the top five themes of the regrets of the
dying.
And the number one is, I wish I lived a life true to myself and not what others expected
of me.
And that's my mantra, is authentically, right?
You have to figure out, you know, for when I think about those things in the career I
(40:21):
was thinking about, am I really living true to myself? Is this really what I've been wanting
to do?
Or am I doing it for my father?
Or, you know, what others are expecting of me?
And how do I just get to a place where I am living ultimately, truer to myself and what
(40:42):
I really want in my life?
And so I think that's just a great, you know, it's a great book and who not best to learn
from, right?
At the end of the day.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And I mean, as we talked about earlier, people are for the most part living longer.
Yes.
It's not too late to get started.
Never.
(41:03):
Most of our listeners probably have a good 30 years of really high productivity.
Maybe another like 20 years of just kicking back and.
Absolutely.
Having a more, you know, sedate life.
Who knows?
I mean, we see all the time people breaking world records at crazy ages.
(41:25):
So I just absolutely love to roll to started, you know, pizza, cauliflower companies and
all different kinds of things.
Right.
I mean, it's truly amazing what and then that is a key thing is building your foundation
of belief that it can happen.
Right.
And really listening and hearing the stories of others who have done it.
(41:47):
So awesome.
Well, thank you so much for that book recommendation.
I will include that in the notes as well.
And what a pleasure and delight to spend time with you.
Thank you so much for all you shared, Nicole.
We look forward to hopefully having you back another time.
You have so much to share and appreciate you.
(42:07):
You come and buy.
Thank you so much, Christine.
And I appreciate you having me and I appreciate you.
I'm so happy to have you back in my life too.
All right.
Well, with that, we'll sign off until next time.
Thank you.
Bye.
Thank you for listening.
Our hope is to spark a little joy, inspire and educate our listeners in ways to live
(42:29):
an even more meaningful life.
If you have reactions to share from what you've heard, please visit our website, refinement.life,
to leave a voice message.
You may even be featured in a future episode.
To keep in touch, subscribe to our podcast, Refirement Life, using the podcast player
of your choice.
Always remember, you are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.
(42:53):
Thanks again for joining us on this episode.
Until next time.
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