July 31, 2025 • 35 mins
If you’ve ever worn your workaholism as a badge of honor, felt stuck in a high-paying job you should love but secretly resent, or let the fear of change hold you back, this episode will hit close to home.
For the first time, I’m reading never-before-shared entries from my personal journal—written during the height of my corporate burnout and workaholic phase. These raw reflections reveal what it really felt like to be successful on paper… yet unfulfilled, exhausted, and afraid to admit I wanted out.
You'll hear:
✅ The fears that held me hostage (like “What if we end up poor?”)
✅ The moment I realized I could walk away—and the options I had
✅ Why chasing the corporate carrot left me more empty than accomplished
✅How I began decoding the signs it was time to pivot
✅The power of planning your exit before you hit rock bottom
If you’ve been wrestling with your own “Is this all there is?” moment, let this episode remind you: You’re not crazy. You’re not alone. And yes—you can make a change.
Resources shared during the episode:
Click Here to Join the Summer Reinvention Rockstar Series Today!
If you're looking for additional support through coaching, visit my website to learn more about working together and my signature program EDIT Your Life™: www.karinfreeland.com/life-coaching
Book a call now!
Not ready for coaching? Join my Facebook Group community here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karin Freeland (00:00):
Welcome to Rock Your Reinvention, where I help
high-achieving career women likeyou get unstuck, make your
corporate exit strategy, andsuccessfully transition to your
next chapter.
Hi, I'm your host, KarinFreeland, a certified life coach
and corporate exit strategist.
Whether you want to start abusiness, become a speaker, or
something else, I'm here to giveyou the tools and strategies to
(00:23):
shift your mindset, build yourconfidence, and take bold
actions so you can rock yourreinvention.
Ready?
Let's go.
Well, I have a really specialepisode for you today, unlike
anything I've recorded before.
So if you're new here, I don'twant you to think every episode
is like this.
And if you're back, thank youfor being here.
(00:46):
Don't worry, I'm not changingthe format of my show.
Today, I wanted to share somereal life thoughts from when I
was in corporate trying todecide what to do next with my
life and career.
I've been out of corporate nowfor five years, and so sometimes
it's hard to remember the exactthoughts I had or put myself
(01:07):
back in that place of turmoil.
And let me tell you, it reallywas a season of struggle for my
soul.
I've shared a lot of thesethoughts in my book, Grab Life
by the Dreams, but I wanted tohighlight some new and never
before shared excerpts from myjournal today.
And my hope is that you willsee that you are not alone.
(01:28):
This is a normal par for thecourse type of experience when
you're going through a careerpivot, but that there is
something that you can do aboutit.
And I'm going to sort of read acouple of excerpts and then
give you my thoughts on them.
Give you another excerpt andread some thoughts on it.
And so obviously you're goingto have your own thoughts and
(01:50):
ideas that come up as well, butat least that'll give you a
little bit of context.
So, I'm not just going to readmy journal and be like, good
luck figuring out what thatmeant.
If we're ready, we are going togo back to May 1st of 2017.
I was working for a techcompany had just come out of my
chief of staff role.
(02:11):
And after that wonderful carrotwas yet moved again, I was
forced back into middlemanagement.
I decided that I was going totake a week off of work for a
staycation and told everyonethat I was going to be in the
Bahamas with no service so thatI could really see what it would
be like if I quit my job andbecame a stay at home mom.
(02:34):
That was my original thoughtwas I'm going to leave this
corporate lifestyle and I'mgoing to become a stay at home
mom.
And if you know me, you mightbe laughing because that does
sound like a pretty starkchange, but I was at such a loss
for what else I would even dothat that was like the only
thing I could think of at thetime.
Today might be the first day ofthe rest of my life.
(02:59):
Part of me is annoyed at usingthe word might, but I'm trying
to remove the pressure I put onmyself.
I might make a career move, Imight not.
I may choose to be astay-at-home mom, I might not.
I may choose to reprioritize mylife and focus on friends,
family, and hobbies, I mightnot.
(03:20):
But I do at least hope that Ican accomplish the latter.
Where do I start?
I'm 36 years old.
Is this it?
Is this my life?
I mean, it's great.
I make great money, have agreat husband, have two healthy,
great kids, live in a decenthouse with two cars, our dog
(03:42):
Peanut, and have lots of stuff.
So why am I feeling so empty?
Why do I feel like I'm missingout on my life's purpose?
I don't know.
but I'm hoping to accomplishfinding that out this week.
At first, I plan to just readbooks, work, play mom, and do
(04:04):
other chores around the house.
Maybe look for a job, but onlyto prove that there isn't
anything else out there for me.
At my Lean in Circle this week,I shared my plans to take a
week off for myself.
And one of the women made acomment.
I want to hear what you did,how you stayed focused on you
during that time.
I'd end up with a color coded,organized closet.
(04:28):
Wow.
Now I'm accountable to theseother women for how I spend my
time this week.
I don't feel pressure aroundthat, but I do feel a sense of
responsibility to them and tomyself to use the time wisely
and stay focused.
I want to spend some timeexploring what makes me happy.
(04:50):
What scares me about leaving myjob?
What scares me about being astay at home mom?
What am I passionate about?
What don't I like or do I likeabout work?
I'm not sure it has to be allor nothing.
At the great advice of myprevious career coach, I can
(05:12):
accept things as they are,change them to make things more
comfortable or leave and dosomething totally different.
Okay.
So let me walk you throughthose two little segments that I
chose to share here.
There's a few things I want tocall out.
Just because you have a goodlife on paper doesn't mean you
(05:36):
can't be unhappy.
Just because others would killto have what you have doesn't
mean you're ungrateful.
You can be grateful and beunfulfilled, right?
This really isn't a gratitudething.
You can be grateful for yourlife and still want a change.
I also want to call out theimportance of accountability,
(06:00):
right?
Because this passage showedthat by having others to report
back to, I was able to be morefocused and follow through on
the plans for that week.
And I like to think of this asmy discovery phase.
This is really where I waslike, nope, I'm going to dig in
and figure out what makes metick.
What do I really want out oflife?
(06:21):
And the third thing I thinkthis highlights is options.
We always have options.
Now we may not like all of theoptions, but we still have them.
And I knew that I could acceptthings as they were, which meant
I'd still be miserable, but itwas a choice.
I could make things morecomfortable, like setting
(06:42):
boundaries, hiring help,improving my life outside of
work, or I could leave.
I could start a business.
I could be a stay-at-home mom.
I could go to a nonprofit anddo something a little more
heart-centered, whatever.
I have that option.
And for the first time, Istarted to see that I could make
(07:05):
a change.
So what are your options?
Have you thought all of themthrough?
Like even the ones that you'relike, oh my gosh, that's crazy.
I would never buy a franchiseor like I would never really
start a dog rescue.
whatever, write those thingsdown.
And I highly recommenddownloading my career compass.
(07:26):
It's a free guide on mywebsite.
If you haven't done this yet,it is going to help you with
this exact step, really thinkingthrough all the possibilities
and then weighing them againstyour values and the other
criteria that you identify.
So you can go tokarinfreeland.com/ career-
compass right now and getyourself a copy of that free
(07:49):
e-guide, the career compass.
Now I'm going to go on to mynext two excerpts that I want to
share with you.
And this is during the sameweek.
And I say, just as I was set onleaving corporate, something
changed.
My new marketing leader said hewanted me to report directly to
(08:11):
him.
Oh no, here we go again.
Another carrot, anotheropportunity for me to tell
myself, this might be it.
You might get director andmake $ 300 to $500,000 a year.
That would change our lives.
Mine, my husband's, our boys,but is it worth it?
It's so hard for me to walkaway from that.
(08:33):
Might sound familiar, but I'vebeen looking for signs and I
think I might be seeing them.
Any coincidence thatJabberwocky's performance in
Vegas was about being thewalking dead, going through
life, just doing the motions,but not really enjoying it?
Not dancing and really feelingthe movement?
(08:53):
I feel like I was meant to seethat show, to have the courage
to go alone in a city I'd neverbeen in before.
It was worth every penny.
This morning, I saw GaboureySidibe on the news talking about
her new book.
Should I finish my memoir?
I mean, why not?
I worked for someone last yearwho wrote a book.
(09:15):
Surely he'd give me somepointers or advice.
What other signs have I beenmissing?
Who knows?
Okay, so for high achievingwomen, we always seem to be
chasing the carrot that ouremployer is dangling in front of
us.
And I was no exception.
But there is a clue here,right?
(09:36):
Because I was already askingthe question, is it worth it if
this was something that I wantedtruly deep within my core if
this was aligned to my purposethen there wouldn't be a
question here right I wouldjust have been continuing to
climb the ladder I would haveknown like nope this is great
I'm super pumped about this andeverything would have been roses
(09:59):
do you see that right I'd bepushing forward full steam ahead
like I do now as a coach,right?
As a life coach, I mean, I'llstop at nothing to change
women's lives.
It's inherent, I'm aligned.
There's no question if this isfor me.
So if you are in a season ofquestioning it, there's a good
(10:21):
indication, there's a reason,and this needs to be explored
further.
Now, I also talked about signs.
And we overlook this so muchbecause we want to feed
ourselves a specific narrative.
I wanted to force myself tostay in corporate for the good
(10:42):
of my family.
And I'm using air quotes here.
So I used to ignore a lot ofthe signs that I was given.
Eventually, I learned to readthem and could no longer ignore
them.
And to others, some of theseoccurrences are They wouldn't
mean anything, right?
But to me, they did.
So we have to always, usuallywe have to decode these signs
(11:05):
ourselves, right?
It's not something someone elsecan point out.
And I laugh when I say like,oh, for the good of the family,
because really what was goodabout me being miserable?
Nothing, right?
It really wasn't for the goodof my family, but that's what I
had tricked myself intothinking, right?
And if you want more support onrecognizing the signs, then I
(11:28):
highly recommend you go listento episode four of Rock Your
Reinvention, How to Read Signsfrom the Universe.
And I know that I'm sharing alot of different resources in
this episode, which generally islike against the podcasting
rules.
You know, you're supposed tohave one call to action, but
every single one, like whoever'slistening to this, you are
(11:49):
going to have a different issuethan maybe someone else, right?
So maybe you need somethingwith signs or maybe you need the
career compass.
And so I want to be able topoint you to the right place.
So don't feel like you have togo do all the things that I'm
going to share today.
Just pick the one that is mostrelevant for you right now.
Okay, so let's keep going inthe journal.
(12:13):
I'm going to read excerpt five.
Now, I read the book by MegynKelly, Settle for More, and you
can think whatever you wantabout Megyn Kelly, but I was
given this book and I reallywanted to dig in and see how she
made her career pivot.
When Megyn recalled her long,exhausting days in law, wishing
(12:33):
she would get in an accident,nothing serious, just enough to
take her out for a week or two,that really resonated.
It's so easy to read that andthink that's crazy.
Why would anyone wish that uponthemselves?
Why would anyone want to gethurt?
But the truth is I've had thatthought more than once.
(12:55):
And of course, in reality, I donot wish for anything bad to
happen, but it is a sign, agauge that I'm not in the right
place.
During my year as chief ofstaff, I had that thought
frequently.
And then again, when I wasworking on the show for Vegas,
(13:15):
one of our trade shows,surrounded by mean girls and
feeling like no matter what,it's never good enough.
All I wanted was to be out ofpocket for a few weeks.
The second thing that stood outwas making a plan.
When she realized it was timeto move on, she made a plan.
I would like to have somethingsimilar and documented.
(13:38):
a plan for whatever I choose,even if stay-at-home mom.
I think if I'm still at thiscompany and in my same role at
the end of 2017, I will havefailed myself.
I cannot let that happen.
And the third thing that stoodout were hobbies.
She found a hobby and metsomeone in news.
(14:01):
Danny has recommended this tome several times.
And I need to listen.
I decided to take a hip hopyoga class with my cousin in New
York City.
I had a great time and want tocommit to a class monthly.
I'd like to consider dancingagain too.
Okay.
So I hope this helped normalizeany thoughts you might be
(14:25):
having.
Because if you're like me, Ifelt crazy.
I was like, I must be the onlyone who is thinking of running
her car into a tray.
And again, I don't want to die.
I just want to be in thehospital for a few weeks.
And so obviously, if you'rehaving serious thoughts about
hurting yourself or someoneelse, please, please, please,
(14:46):
please, please seek professionalhelp.
I am not a therapist.
I am not a psychologist.
I cannot offer support in thatarea.
I personally was never indanger.
It's never anything that I wasgoing to go through with it.
It wasn't like I wanted to doit.
I was just like, oh man,wouldn't that be great to just
like get in an accident, right?
And not have to go to work fora couple of weeks.
(15:06):
And these were some pretty darkthoughts if you think about it.
So that should have beensetting off some alarm bells for
me that, hey, something here iswrong.
But I kept pushing them downbecause they were inconvenient
and you may be doing the samething.
I hope that we can likenormalize this, but then also
(15:28):
like not stay there, right?
We don't wanna stay in thatplace.
And so I love how this idea ofmaking a plan came to fruition,
right?
Because exits don't happenovernight.
Change does not happen in aninstant.
You have to make a plan totransition no matter what you're
transitioning to, right?
Even people who are retiringshouldn't just like quit work
(15:50):
one day and be like, okay, soI'm retired, now what?
Right, like you need a plan forhow you are gonna go from the
corporate world to retirement.
You need a plan for how you'regonna change jobs, change
industries, go start a business,write a book, become a speaker,
right?
Whatever it is the thing thatyou wanna go do.
Now you can DIY this, ofcourse, but as you heard, I had
(16:12):
a coach too, right?
And I was kind of leveragingsome of that guidance and advice
that he had given me.
And I wasn't too far off atthis point either from getting
my next coach.
And that's what I get to do nowevery day.
I love it.
I get to help women make theircareer pivot plans because it
makes it so much more tangible.
When you have a plan,everything starts to feel
(16:33):
possible.
And that's exciting.
That's when the real changehappens.
So whether you get help orsupport from someone like
myself, or you decide to DIY it,there has to be a plan.
That's a non-negotiable.
Now, the other thing Imentioned here, which you just
heard was around hobbies.
And if you've read Grab Life bythe Dreams, you know that there
(16:54):
is an entire chapter talkingabout rekindling your hobbies.
And you can see why that's sovaluable.
It makes us a whole person.
It gives us pleasure outside ofour careers.
It deepens our identity.
It feeds our soul.
And for the burnt out corporateprofessional, it's a start to
(17:17):
healing the burnout.
This relaxation and release isso important for your mental and
physical well-being.
And even if your hobby isn'tphysical, like mine was hip hop
yoga, right?
you know, you could be doingsomething like tennis or
whatever, but if you're doingsomething that's not quite so
physical, like scrapbooking orcross stitch or whatever else
(17:38):
that might be more of a sittinghobby, reading, whatever, you
can still reap actual physicalbenefits from it, right?
Because it's bringing you joy.
You're going to be happier.
And we know the happier peopleare usually healthier, right?
Like those benefits, right?
translate, right?
When you start to reduce someof the stress, less cortisol in
(17:58):
the body, yada, yada.
There's lots of reasons why weneed hobbies and we need rest
and relaxation in our lives.
So you don't want to skip thisstep when you're crafting a move
or a reinvention.
The other thing that you mightnot have heard, it might not
have stood out for you, is thatwhen in that book, Megan went
(18:18):
and got a hobby.
She met someone who was in thenews and she wanted to get into
the news, right?
And so then she had an in.
So you never know who you'regoing to meet when you're doing
a hobby, your next boss, yournext client, the next person
who's going to open a door foryou or make an intro.
And so that's another beautifulreason to adopt a hobby in your
(18:39):
life.
Okay, so during the third dayof my week off from work, I
wrote the following answers tothe journal questions that I
said I wanted to explore on dayone.
So let me jump ahead to thesixth excerpt that I wanted to
share with you.
(18:59):
What scares me about being astay-at-home mom?
That I'll get bored.
That I'm wasting my potential.
Will be poor.
We won't have money to enjoyour time off, like going to the
circus or baseball games.
My husband will realize hedoesn't want the pressure of
being a breadwinner.
(19:20):
He'll be annoyed I'm home allthe time.
He'll work overtime to make upthe financial gap, and I'll be
lonely.
I'll be bad at it.
I can't cook, and I'm not thebest at cleaning.
That I won't be able to getback into the workforce when I'm
ready.
I'll lose my sense ofself-worth and purpose.
(19:40):
I'll be letting others down.
I don't put a lot of emphasison this, but there is a little
voice here.
I won't have money for me tohave a hobby, so I'll lose my
sense of self.
Danny's job isn't very secure.
If he's laid off or injured,we'd be in financial trouble.
Okay, he's an electrician, bythe way.
(20:03):
So, you know, you get injured.
Okay.
So then I answered thequestion, what excites me about
being a stay-at-home mom?
The lack of pressure and stressfrom work.
Being fully present in thelives of my children.
Working on my domesticabilities.
(20:23):
Connecting with other moms thatdon't work.
Not sending my kids to beforeand after care.
Being around for their events,sports, or school activities.
Having time for just me.
Spending more time with Peanut.
That was our dog.
Okay, so...
It's funny for me now to seehow, and I hate to use this
(20:48):
word, but really, truly, howridiculous some of these fears
were.
Worrying we'd be poor, please,I would never let that happen.
I would go back to corporate ina heartbeat before it was even
close to a reality that wedidn't have food on the table or
something.
And remember, this isn't alwaysa bad thing.
Sometimes we...
(21:09):
make a change and we think it'svery black or white right and
it doesn't need to be right andi've had clients say well once I
leave corporate there's no wayi'm going back and if that's
fuels you and it's like okay nowi'm going to jump into my
business and this is reallygoing to fuel me because i know
i never want to go back thenthat's great you can hold on to
(21:29):
that thought if it's helpful butfor a lot of my clients it's
actually harmful because it thenmakes the stakes so high, like
it's, this is it.
And once I make this decision,I can never go back.
But the reality is you canalways go back, right?
And there will always be aplace for you in the workforce.
What I couldn't imagine inthose moments when I was
(21:50):
journaling all that in back in2017 was all the ways I could
occupy myself.
Like how I've been teachingmyself to swing trade the stock
market or how I volunteer for alot of my time.
And no, I'm not a stay-at-homemom, but I don't work a 40-hour
week as a coach.
I have a lot of downtime, and Iget to explore and learn a lot
(22:12):
about myself with otheractivities that I enjoy.
But at that time, when I was incorporate, boredom felt like a
real possibility because I hadno time to explore other things
outside of work, so I reallydidn't know what I would do with
myself.
And in terms of what excitesme, you know, a lot was missing
from this list because, again, Icouldn't really fathom what it
(22:35):
would be like until I got into aschedule with more flexibility.
I mean, I do like a coffeecatch up or meeting with someone
almost every single week.
Right.
So I have a ton of interaction.
I never got to do that stuffwhen I was in corporate.
So just know that even thoughyou can answer a lot of these
questions in your journal, and Iencourage you to do that, you
(22:56):
do not have the full purview,right?
Like you have a limited view ofwhat life could really be like
if you made a career change,especially if you're making one
outside of that corporatelifestyle.
All right, let's jump forward toexcerpt seven.
And this was from my very lastbook.
(23:18):
day on my week off.
Okay.
Given all my soul searching andinternal work for this week,
I've come to the followingconclusions and affirmations.
I must take time for myself.
I must prioritize my familyover work.
I'm not replaceable to them.
(23:40):
I must use my resources to makeour lives easier.
I must be happy with my currentjob and status, but be open to
signs and new opportunities.
Shift focus from what I don'thave, the director title and
pay, to what I do have, a greatjob that is building my resume
(24:00):
and credibility in creativemarketing.
I must find and make time formy hobbies, dance, hip hop,
yoga, et cetera.
I must be involved in thecommunity to have a deeper
connection.
Having a week off was awonderful gift to myself and my
team and my family.
(24:21):
I'm hoping that with more careand feeding of my soul, I can
cultivate a purposeful life forme and my family and a great
work environment for those Iinteract with.
It would be challenging to be astay-at-home mom right now.
We're so accustomed to a greatlifestyle that I'm not ready to
give that up just yet.
However, I reserve the right tochange my mind at any time.
(24:45):
This has been a very productiveweek and I feel proud of what
I've accomplished.
I'm going to try to makejournaling a more regular
practice.
It's been a great way tocapture and sort through my
feelings.
Now I'm going to bump youforward three months.
This is July 29th, 2017, right?
(25:05):
I've just gone, I went back towork.
After all of this, I realized,nope, I'm going to hire someone
to help me out with the kids athome.
I brought in their daycarelady, and I used my resources to
make things easier, right?
So if you go back to thoseinitial options that I shared
from that first excerpt, I canstay where I am and just accept
(25:28):
things.
I can make things morecomfortable, right?
So make some tweaks andadjustments to my life, or I can
leave and go do somethingcompletely different.
And so I, at this point, decideto take the second option.
Let me make things morecomfortable for So here we are
now, just three months later,July 1st, 29, 2017.
As usual, life has gotten inthe way of me journaling more
(25:51):
regularly.
On the following page is aconversation I had with a woman
at White House Black Market.
To be honest, she basicallytalked me out of going into the
fashion industry.
So many retailers arestruggling and it's a
women-dominated field, so lotsof cattiness and emotions.
On the bright side, I had threerecruiters reach out to me in
(26:11):
the past month.
I'm excited to say that one ofthose opportunities progressed
and I've accepted a new role inmarketing at an energy company.
It's exciting and terrifyingall at the same time.
I'm ready for a new challengeand to learn a new industry.
Can't say energy was exactlywhat I had in mind, but it has
given me something to talk to mydad about.
(26:32):
He was really helpful in givingme guidance on my presentation
for my final interview.
It's so interesting how I wrotedown, if I'm still at that tech
company and in my same role atthe end of 2017, I will have
failed myself.
And here I am only three monthslater with a new opportunity
that I didn't even go lookingfor, making more money, and
(26:56):
managing fewer people.
The power of God and the powerof putting positive thoughts
into the universe is strong andreal.
I now need to dig deep, tapinto my self-confidence as I
take the steps toward my newcareer.
I know I can do this job and doit well.
Till next time.
And you might be thinking, butKarin.
(27:18):
Your show is all about leavingcorporate.
Don't worry, we're gettingthere.
I don't want to foreshadow orgive away too much, but
sometimes we have to trysomething different before we
know if it's the right fit ornot.
So initially, I was not readyto leave corporate.
but I was ready to leave thetoxic company that I had been
(27:41):
working for to see if the grasswas greener somewhere else.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
Some of you may make that pivotand you may realize, you know
what, actually it was thecompany.
It was the people.
It was that specificenvironment that I was in.
And actually I'm very happy tobe doing this somewhere else.
We also see here the importanceof making declarations and
(28:04):
having deadlines that we canhave a focus on, right, to get
things to progress.
If I hadn't written in myjournal that I would have failed
myself if I wasn't out of thatcompany by a specific time, then
maybe I wouldn't have been sofueled to make the change.
Maybe my subconscious wouldhave held me back or
(28:25):
self-sabotaged me.
But because my brain knew I wasserious and I had declared it,
it got on board, which is reallyimportant.
Okay, so the last excerpt that Iwant to share with you today is
from July 10th, 2018, justabout a year later into my new
(28:46):
role at the energy company.
So here we are again.
Back in the depths ofsoul-sucking corporate America,
wishing I was doing anythingother than working.
Laughing at my entry from 2017when I was starting at the
energy company, I know I can dothis job and do it well.
(29:07):
Ha! Turns out I can't and I'mnot.
I don't know how I feel aboutthat.
On one hand, super depressing.
I've let myself down, my teamdown, my boss down.
On the other hand, I don'treally give a shit.
Does it really matter how manyMQLs I generate?
(29:27):
Will my family like me more?
Will I be a better person?
Will I get into heaven?
No, none of this actuallymatters.
Maybe that's why I'm sodisengaged.
Or maybe I'm just giving up onmyself because I didn't perform.
I don't really know.
I want to walk, but howirresponsible would that be?
(29:51):
Danny has this really greatlife mission, that's my husband,
to raise our boys to beproductive members of society
and make sure they are betteroff than we are.
I think that's really nice andthat drives him.
I don't feel like I have a lifemission.
I don't know what drives me.
And that makes me feel sad.
(30:12):
I feel stuck.
I know I have the power to makea change, but I'm scared.
Fear is preventing me fromdoing something else.
I just applied for a new job atanother company for Head of
Americas, and of course it'smore pay and work and a longer
commute, as if any of that wouldsomehow make me happier.
(30:32):
But that's what I do.
I just bury myself deeper anddeeper.
Buy a Benz, get stuck incorporate America.
I did it on purpose, but now Iwant to leave more than ever.
Okay, you hear me fighting withwhat I know deep down to be
true.
I want to walk.
(30:52):
I wanted to leave corporate sobad, but kept finding reasons to
stay.
Oh, that would beirresponsible, right?
Here we go back to this again.
And actually staying and beingmiserable and taking it out on
my family was irresponsible.
That was not the example that Iwanted to be setting for my
kids.
I also want to point out thatimportance of having a life
(31:15):
mission.
If you have not crafted thisfor yourself yet, now is the
time because this will helpshape your actions and decisions
going forward.
And it becomes a really greatfilter to see if you're in
alignment with your mission,right?
When you're making decisions oryou're making pivots, you can
always come back to this lifemission.
(31:36):
You can think of it like ananchor or a grounding point that
helps keep you attached toyourself.
So if you get too far offtrack, right, you always have
something to come back to.
And what else is interesting ishow I called out fear.
You know, and I wish in themoment that I'd had the
wherewithal to really name it.
Like what specifically was Iafraid of?
Because without labeling it, Icouldn't address it.
(31:59):
And the same is true for you.
If you're being vague in yourthoughts, I wanna encourage you
to go deeper, to peel back thelayers of the onion, to get to
the core of your fears, becausethen you can actually address
them.
And lastly, don't do what Idid.
It's very common, but don't doit.
Don't bury yourself deeper intothe problem.
(32:20):
It just makes it harder toleave.
Every time I see someone poston LinkedIn that they just got
promoted or they made moremoney, I'm like, I'm so sorry,
because now it's going to be somuch harder for you to take off
the golden handcuffs.
I mean, congrats, but notreally.
This is going to kill you inthe long run, right?
Unless you're being reallysmart and intentional with your
money and you're saving likecrazy.
(32:41):
So that you have the option,like I did eventually to pivot,
if you're just making more moneyand then therefore spending
more, not saving, going intodebt, all those things, like
you're just shooting yourself inthe foot because you're never
gonna be able to break out.
Now, never say never, right?
But it's gonna be harder andharder to break out.
So the other thing here that'sreally critical is
(33:05):
self-awareness, right?
Because you might be operatingfrom your subconscious and doing
things that are in directcompetition with what you really
want.
I don't want to be incorporate, but I'm buying a Benz
to trap myself there.
I don't want to be incorporate, but I'm taking out a
second mortgage.
What are you doing?
We're supposed to be makingthis easier for us to leave,
which going back to my earlierpoint is why you need a plan,
(33:28):
because then you will say, oh,this does not align with my
plan.
I'm not going to spend and thatmoney.
So this is where I'm going toleave you today.
You obviously know that Ieventually had the courage to
make a pivot out of corporate,to publish two books, to start
this podcast and really designand live my best life.
But maybe you didn't know thatI had some of the same concerns
(33:52):
that you did, or at leastsimilar ones.
Maybe you didn't realize howmuch I struggled and how it took
me over three years to make achange.
And I don't want you to waitthat long.
Life is too short.
I want you to take action now.
So keep listening for how tobook an empowered exit call with
(34:13):
me to discuss your career pivotand make a plan that aligns
with your timeline.
I hope to see you on a callreal soon.
Welcome to Rock Your Reinvention, where I help
high-achieving career women likeyou get unstuck, make your
corporate exit strategy, andsuccessfully transition to your
next chapter.
Hi, I'm your host, KarinFreeland, a certified life coach
and corporate exit strategist.
Whether you want to start abusiness, become a speaker, or
something else, I'm here to giveyou the tools and strategies to
(00:23):
shift your mindset, build yourconfidence, and take bold
actions so you can rock yourreinvention.
Ready?
Let's go.
Well, I have a really specialepisode for you today, unlike
anything I've recorded before.
So if you're new here, I don'twant you to think every episode
is like this.
And if you're back, thank youfor being here.
(00:46):
Don't worry, I'm not changingthe format of my show.
Today, I wanted to share somereal life thoughts from when I
was in corporate trying todecide what to do next with my
life and career.
I've been out of corporate nowfor five years, and so sometimes
it's hard to remember the exactthoughts I had or put myself
(01:07):
back in that place of turmoil.
And let me tell you, it reallywas a season of struggle for my
soul.
I've shared a lot of thesethoughts in my book, Grab Life
by the Dreams, but I wanted tohighlight some new and never
before shared excerpts from myjournal today.
And my hope is that you willsee that you are not alone.
(01:28):
This is a normal par for thecourse type of experience when
you're going through a careerpivot, but that there is
something that you can do aboutit.
And I'm going to sort of read acouple of excerpts and then
give you my thoughts on them.
Give you another excerpt andread some thoughts on it.
And so obviously you're goingto have your own thoughts and
(01:50):
ideas that come up as well, butat least that'll give you a
little bit of context.
So, I'm not just going to readmy journal and be like, good
luck figuring out what thatmeant.
If we're ready, we are going togo back to May 1st of 2017.
I was working for a techcompany had just come out of my
chief of staff role.
(02:11):
And after that wonderful carrotwas yet moved again, I was
forced back into middlemanagement.
I decided that I was going totake a week off of work for a
staycation and told everyonethat I was going to be in the
Bahamas with no service so thatI could really see what it would
be like if I quit my job andbecame a stay at home mom.
(02:34):
That was my original thoughtwas I'm going to leave this
corporate lifestyle and I'mgoing to become a stay at home
mom.
And if you know me, you mightbe laughing because that does
sound like a pretty starkchange, but I was at such a loss
for what else I would even dothat that was like the only
thing I could think of at thetime.
Today might be the first day ofthe rest of my life.
(02:59):
Part of me is annoyed at usingthe word might, but I'm trying
to remove the pressure I put onmyself.
I might make a career move, Imight not.
I may choose to be astay-at-home mom, I might not.
I may choose to reprioritize mylife and focus on friends,
family, and hobbies, I mightnot.
(03:20):
But I do at least hope that Ican accomplish the latter.
Where do I start?
I'm 36 years old.
Is this it?
Is this my life?
I mean, it's great.
I make great money, have agreat husband, have two healthy,
great kids, live in a decenthouse with two cars, our dog
(03:42):
Peanut, and have lots of stuff.
So why am I feeling so empty?
Why do I feel like I'm missingout on my life's purpose?
I don't know.
but I'm hoping to accomplishfinding that out this week.
At first, I plan to just readbooks, work, play mom, and do
(04:04):
other chores around the house.
Maybe look for a job, but onlyto prove that there isn't
anything else out there for me.
At my Lean in Circle this week,I shared my plans to take a
week off for myself.
And one of the women made acomment.
I want to hear what you did,how you stayed focused on you
during that time.
I'd end up with a color coded,organized closet.
(04:28):
Wow.
Now I'm accountable to theseother women for how I spend my
time this week.
I don't feel pressure aroundthat, but I do feel a sense of
responsibility to them and tomyself to use the time wisely
and stay focused.
I want to spend some timeexploring what makes me happy.
(04:50):
What scares me about leaving myjob?
What scares me about being astay at home mom?
What am I passionate about?
What don't I like or do I likeabout work?
I'm not sure it has to be allor nothing.
At the great advice of myprevious career coach, I can
(05:12):
accept things as they are,change them to make things more
comfortable or leave and dosomething totally different.
Okay.
So let me walk you throughthose two little segments that I
chose to share here.
There's a few things I want tocall out.
Just because you have a goodlife on paper doesn't mean you
(05:36):
can't be unhappy.
Just because others would killto have what you have doesn't
mean you're ungrateful.
You can be grateful and beunfulfilled, right?
This really isn't a gratitudething.
You can be grateful for yourlife and still want a change.
I also want to call out theimportance of accountability,
(06:00):
right?
Because this passage showedthat by having others to report
back to, I was able to be morefocused and follow through on
the plans for that week.
And I like to think of this asmy discovery phase.
This is really where I waslike, nope, I'm going to dig in
and figure out what makes metick.
What do I really want out oflife?
(06:21):
And the third thing I thinkthis highlights is options.
We always have options.
Now we may not like all of theoptions, but we still have them.
And I knew that I could acceptthings as they were, which meant
I'd still be miserable, but itwas a choice.
I could make things morecomfortable, like setting
(06:42):
boundaries, hiring help,improving my life outside of
work, or I could leave.
I could start a business.
I could be a stay-at-home mom.
I could go to a nonprofit anddo something a little more
heart-centered, whatever.
I have that option.
And for the first time, Istarted to see that I could make
(07:05):
a change.
So what are your options?
Have you thought all of themthrough?
Like even the ones that you'relike, oh my gosh, that's crazy.
I would never buy a franchiseor like I would never really
start a dog rescue.
whatever, write those thingsdown.
And I highly recommenddownloading my career compass.
(07:26):
It's a free guide on mywebsite.
If you haven't done this yet,it is going to help you with
this exact step, really thinkingthrough all the possibilities
and then weighing them againstyour values and the other
criteria that you identify.
So you can go tokarinfreeland.com/ career-
compass right now and getyourself a copy of that free
(07:49):
e-guide, the career compass.
Now I'm going to go on to mynext two excerpts that I want to
share with you.
And this is during the sameweek.
And I say, just as I was set onleaving corporate, something
changed.
My new marketing leader said hewanted me to report directly to
(08:11):
him.
Oh no, here we go again.
Another carrot, anotheropportunity for me to tell
myself, this might be it.
You might get director andmake $ 300 to $500,000 a year.
That would change our lives.
Mine, my husband's, our boys,but is it worth it?
It's so hard for me to walkaway from that.
(08:33):
Might sound familiar, but I'vebeen looking for signs and I
think I might be seeing them.
Any coincidence thatJabberwocky's performance in
Vegas was about being thewalking dead, going through
life, just doing the motions,but not really enjoying it?
Not dancing and really feelingthe movement?
(08:53):
I feel like I was meant to seethat show, to have the courage
to go alone in a city I'd neverbeen in before.
It was worth every penny.
This morning, I saw GaboureySidibe on the news talking about
her new book.
Should I finish my memoir?
I mean, why not?
I worked for someone last yearwho wrote a book.
(09:15):
Surely he'd give me somepointers or advice.
What other signs have I beenmissing?
Who knows?
Okay, so for high achievingwomen, we always seem to be
chasing the carrot that ouremployer is dangling in front of
us.
And I was no exception.
But there is a clue here,right?
(09:36):
Because I was already askingthe question, is it worth it if
this was something that I wantedtruly deep within my core if
this was aligned to my purposethen there wouldn't be a
question here right I wouldjust have been continuing to
climb the ladder I would haveknown like nope this is great
I'm super pumped about this andeverything would have been roses
(09:59):
do you see that right I'd bepushing forward full steam ahead
like I do now as a coach,right?
As a life coach, I mean, I'llstop at nothing to change
women's lives.
It's inherent, I'm aligned.
There's no question if this isfor me.
So if you are in a season ofquestioning it, there's a good
(10:21):
indication, there's a reason,and this needs to be explored
further.
Now, I also talked about signs.
And we overlook this so muchbecause we want to feed
ourselves a specific narrative.
I wanted to force myself tostay in corporate for the good
(10:42):
of my family.
And I'm using air quotes here.
So I used to ignore a lot ofthe signs that I was given.
Eventually, I learned to readthem and could no longer ignore
them.
And to others, some of theseoccurrences are They wouldn't
mean anything, right?
But to me, they did.
So we have to always, usuallywe have to decode these signs
(11:05):
ourselves, right?
It's not something someone elsecan point out.
And I laugh when I say like,oh, for the good of the family,
because really what was goodabout me being miserable?
Nothing, right?
It really wasn't for the goodof my family, but that's what I
had tricked myself intothinking, right?
And if you want more support onrecognizing the signs, then I
(11:28):
highly recommend you go listento episode four of Rock Your
Reinvention, How to Read Signsfrom the Universe.
And I know that I'm sharing alot of different resources in
this episode, which generally islike against the podcasting
rules.
You know, you're supposed tohave one call to action, but
every single one, like whoever'slistening to this, you are
(11:49):
going to have a different issuethan maybe someone else, right?
So maybe you need somethingwith signs or maybe you need the
career compass.
And so I want to be able topoint you to the right place.
So don't feel like you have togo do all the things that I'm
going to share today.
Just pick the one that is mostrelevant for you right now.
Okay, so let's keep going inthe journal.
(12:13):
I'm going to read excerpt five.
Now, I read the book by MegynKelly, Settle for More, and you
can think whatever you wantabout Megyn Kelly, but I was
given this book and I reallywanted to dig in and see how she
made her career pivot.
When Megyn recalled her long,exhausting days in law, wishing
(12:33):
she would get in an accident,nothing serious, just enough to
take her out for a week or two,that really resonated.
It's so easy to read that andthink that's crazy.
Why would anyone wish that uponthemselves?
Why would anyone want to gethurt?
But the truth is I've had thatthought more than once.
(12:55):
And of course, in reality, I donot wish for anything bad to
happen, but it is a sign, agauge that I'm not in the right
place.
During my year as chief ofstaff, I had that thought
frequently.
And then again, when I wasworking on the show for Vegas,
(13:15):
one of our trade shows,surrounded by mean girls and
feeling like no matter what,it's never good enough.
All I wanted was to be out ofpocket for a few weeks.
The second thing that stood outwas making a plan.
When she realized it was timeto move on, she made a plan.
I would like to have somethingsimilar and documented.
(13:38):
a plan for whatever I choose,even if stay-at-home mom.
I think if I'm still at thiscompany and in my same role at
the end of 2017, I will havefailed myself.
I cannot let that happen.
And the third thing that stoodout were hobbies.
She found a hobby and metsomeone in news.
(14:01):
Danny has recommended this tome several times.
And I need to listen.
I decided to take a hip hopyoga class with my cousin in New
York City.
I had a great time and want tocommit to a class monthly.
I'd like to consider dancingagain too.
Okay.
So I hope this helped normalizeany thoughts you might be
(14:25):
having.
Because if you're like me, Ifelt crazy.
I was like, I must be the onlyone who is thinking of running
her car into a tray.
And again, I don't want to die.
I just want to be in thehospital for a few weeks.
And so obviously, if you'rehaving serious thoughts about
hurting yourself or someoneelse, please, please, please,
(14:46):
please, please seek professionalhelp.
I am not a therapist.
I am not a psychologist.
I cannot offer support in thatarea.
I personally was never indanger.
It's never anything that I wasgoing to go through with it.
It wasn't like I wanted to doit.
I was just like, oh man,wouldn't that be great to just
like get in an accident, right?
And not have to go to work fora couple of weeks.
(15:06):
And these were some pretty darkthoughts if you think about it.
So that should have beensetting off some alarm bells for
me that, hey, something here iswrong.
But I kept pushing them downbecause they were inconvenient
and you may be doing the samething.
I hope that we can likenormalize this, but then also
(15:28):
like not stay there, right?
We don't wanna stay in thatplace.
And so I love how this idea ofmaking a plan came to fruition,
right?
Because exits don't happenovernight.
Change does not happen in aninstant.
You have to make a plan totransition no matter what you're
transitioning to, right?
Even people who are retiringshouldn't just like quit work
(15:50):
one day and be like, okay, soI'm retired, now what?
Right, like you need a plan forhow you are gonna go from the
corporate world to retirement.
You need a plan for how you'regonna change jobs, change
industries, go start a business,write a book, become a speaker,
right?
Whatever it is the thing thatyou wanna go do.
Now you can DIY this, ofcourse, but as you heard, I had
(16:12):
a coach too, right?
And I was kind of leveragingsome of that guidance and advice
that he had given me.
And I wasn't too far off atthis point either from getting
my next coach.
And that's what I get to do nowevery day.
I love it.
I get to help women make theircareer pivot plans because it
makes it so much more tangible.
When you have a plan,everything starts to feel
(16:33):
possible.
And that's exciting.
That's when the real changehappens.
So whether you get help orsupport from someone like
myself, or you decide to DIY it,there has to be a plan.
That's a non-negotiable.
Now, the other thing Imentioned here, which you just
heard was around hobbies.
And if you've read Grab Life bythe Dreams, you know that there
(16:54):
is an entire chapter talkingabout rekindling your hobbies.
And you can see why that's sovaluable.
It makes us a whole person.
It gives us pleasure outside ofour careers.
It deepens our identity.
It feeds our soul.
And for the burnt out corporateprofessional, it's a start to
(17:17):
healing the burnout.
This relaxation and release isso important for your mental and
physical well-being.
And even if your hobby isn'tphysical, like mine was hip hop
yoga, right?
you know, you could be doingsomething like tennis or
whatever, but if you're doingsomething that's not quite so
physical, like scrapbooking orcross stitch or whatever else
(17:38):
that might be more of a sittinghobby, reading, whatever, you
can still reap actual physicalbenefits from it, right?
Because it's bringing you joy.
You're going to be happier.
And we know the happier peopleare usually healthier, right?
Like those benefits, right?
translate, right?
When you start to reduce someof the stress, less cortisol in
(17:58):
the body, yada, yada.
There's lots of reasons why weneed hobbies and we need rest
and relaxation in our lives.
So you don't want to skip thisstep when you're crafting a move
or a reinvention.
The other thing that you mightnot have heard, it might not
have stood out for you, is thatwhen in that book, Megan went
(18:18):
and got a hobby.
She met someone who was in thenews and she wanted to get into
the news, right?
And so then she had an in.
So you never know who you'regoing to meet when you're doing
a hobby, your next boss, yournext client, the next person
who's going to open a door foryou or make an intro.
And so that's another beautifulreason to adopt a hobby in your
(18:39):
life.
Okay, so during the third dayof my week off from work, I
wrote the following answers tothe journal questions that I
said I wanted to explore on dayone.
So let me jump ahead to thesixth excerpt that I wanted to
share with you.
(18:59):
What scares me about being astay-at-home mom?
That I'll get bored.
That I'm wasting my potential.
Will be poor.
We won't have money to enjoyour time off, like going to the
circus or baseball games.
My husband will realize hedoesn't want the pressure of
being a breadwinner.
(19:20):
He'll be annoyed I'm home allthe time.
He'll work overtime to make upthe financial gap, and I'll be
lonely.
I'll be bad at it.
I can't cook, and I'm not thebest at cleaning.
That I won't be able to getback into the workforce when I'm
ready.
I'll lose my sense ofself-worth and purpose.
(19:40):
I'll be letting others down.
I don't put a lot of emphasison this, but there is a little
voice here.
I won't have money for me tohave a hobby, so I'll lose my
sense of self.
Danny's job isn't very secure.
If he's laid off or injured,we'd be in financial trouble.
Okay, he's an electrician, bythe way.
(20:03):
So, you know, you get injured.
Okay.
So then I answered thequestion, what excites me about
being a stay-at-home mom?
The lack of pressure and stressfrom work.
Being fully present in thelives of my children.
Working on my domesticabilities.
(20:23):
Connecting with other moms thatdon't work.
Not sending my kids to beforeand after care.
Being around for their events,sports, or school activities.
Having time for just me.
Spending more time with Peanut.
That was our dog.
Okay, so...
It's funny for me now to seehow, and I hate to use this
(20:48):
word, but really, truly, howridiculous some of these fears
were.
Worrying we'd be poor, please,I would never let that happen.
I would go back to corporate ina heartbeat before it was even
close to a reality that wedidn't have food on the table or
something.
And remember, this isn't alwaysa bad thing.
Sometimes we...
(21:09):
make a change and we think it'svery black or white right and
it doesn't need to be right andi've had clients say well once I
leave corporate there's no wayi'm going back and if that's
fuels you and it's like okay nowi'm going to jump into my
business and this is reallygoing to fuel me because i know
i never want to go back thenthat's great you can hold on to
(21:29):
that thought if it's helpful butfor a lot of my clients it's
actually harmful because it thenmakes the stakes so high, like
it's, this is it.
And once I make this decision,I can never go back.
But the reality is you canalways go back, right?
And there will always be aplace for you in the workforce.
What I couldn't imagine inthose moments when I was
(21:50):
journaling all that in back in2017 was all the ways I could
occupy myself.
Like how I've been teachingmyself to swing trade the stock
market or how I volunteer for alot of my time.
And no, I'm not a stay-at-homemom, but I don't work a 40-hour
week as a coach.
I have a lot of downtime, and Iget to explore and learn a lot
(22:12):
about myself with otheractivities that I enjoy.
But at that time, when I was incorporate, boredom felt like a
real possibility because I hadno time to explore other things
outside of work, so I reallydidn't know what I would do with
myself.
And in terms of what excitesme, you know, a lot was missing
from this list because, again, Icouldn't really fathom what it
(22:35):
would be like until I got into aschedule with more flexibility.
I mean, I do like a coffeecatch up or meeting with someone
almost every single week.
Right.
So I have a ton of interaction.
I never got to do that stuffwhen I was in corporate.
So just know that even thoughyou can answer a lot of these
questions in your journal, and Iencourage you to do that, you
(22:56):
do not have the full purview,right?
Like you have a limited view ofwhat life could really be like
if you made a career change,especially if you're making one
outside of that corporatelifestyle.
All right, let's jump forward toexcerpt seven.
And this was from my very lastbook.
(23:18):
day on my week off.
Okay.
Given all my soul searching andinternal work for this week,
I've come to the followingconclusions and affirmations.
I must take time for myself.
I must prioritize my familyover work.
I'm not replaceable to them.
(23:40):
I must use my resources to makeour lives easier.
I must be happy with my currentjob and status, but be open to
signs and new opportunities.
Shift focus from what I don'thave, the director title and
pay, to what I do have, a greatjob that is building my resume
(24:00):
and credibility in creativemarketing.
I must find and make time formy hobbies, dance, hip hop,
yoga, et cetera.
I must be involved in thecommunity to have a deeper
connection.
Having a week off was awonderful gift to myself and my
team and my family.
(24:21):
I'm hoping that with more careand feeding of my soul, I can
cultivate a purposeful life forme and my family and a great
work environment for those Iinteract with.
It would be challenging to be astay-at-home mom right now.
We're so accustomed to a greatlifestyle that I'm not ready to
give that up just yet.
However, I reserve the right tochange my mind at any time.
(24:45):
This has been a very productiveweek and I feel proud of what
I've accomplished.
I'm going to try to makejournaling a more regular
practice.
It's been a great way tocapture and sort through my
feelings.
Now I'm going to bump youforward three months.
This is July 29th, 2017, right?
(25:05):
I've just gone, I went back towork.
After all of this, I realized,nope, I'm going to hire someone
to help me out with the kids athome.
I brought in their daycarelady, and I used my resources to
make things easier, right?
So if you go back to thoseinitial options that I shared
from that first excerpt, I canstay where I am and just accept
(25:28):
things.
I can make things morecomfortable, right?
So make some tweaks andadjustments to my life, or I can
leave and go do somethingcompletely different.
And so I, at this point, decideto take the second option.
Let me make things morecomfortable for So here we are
now, just three months later,July 1st, 29, 2017.
As usual, life has gotten inthe way of me journaling more
(25:51):
regularly.
On the following page is aconversation I had with a woman
at White House Black Market.
To be honest, she basicallytalked me out of going into the
fashion industry.
So many retailers arestruggling and it's a
women-dominated field, so lotsof cattiness and emotions.
On the bright side, I had threerecruiters reach out to me in
(26:11):
the past month.
I'm excited to say that one ofthose opportunities progressed
and I've accepted a new role inmarketing at an energy company.
It's exciting and terrifyingall at the same time.
I'm ready for a new challengeand to learn a new industry.
Can't say energy was exactlywhat I had in mind, but it has
given me something to talk to mydad about.
(26:32):
He was really helpful in givingme guidance on my presentation
for my final interview.
It's so interesting how I wrotedown, if I'm still at that tech
company and in my same role atthe end of 2017, I will have
failed myself.
And here I am only three monthslater with a new opportunity
that I didn't even go lookingfor, making more money, and
(26:56):
managing fewer people.
The power of God and the powerof putting positive thoughts
into the universe is strong andreal.
I now need to dig deep, tapinto my self-confidence as I
take the steps toward my newcareer.
I know I can do this job and doit well.
Till next time.
And you might be thinking, butKarin.
(27:18):
Your show is all about leavingcorporate.
Don't worry, we're gettingthere.
I don't want to foreshadow orgive away too much, but
sometimes we have to trysomething different before we
know if it's the right fit ornot.
So initially, I was not readyto leave corporate.
but I was ready to leave thetoxic company that I had been
(27:41):
working for to see if the grasswas greener somewhere else.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
Some of you may make that pivotand you may realize, you know
what, actually it was thecompany.
It was the people.
It was that specificenvironment that I was in.
And actually I'm very happy tobe doing this somewhere else.
We also see here the importanceof making declarations and
(28:04):
having deadlines that we canhave a focus on, right, to get
things to progress.
If I hadn't written in myjournal that I would have failed
myself if I wasn't out of thatcompany by a specific time, then
maybe I wouldn't have been sofueled to make the change.
Maybe my subconscious wouldhave held me back or
(28:25):
self-sabotaged me.
But because my brain knew I wasserious and I had declared it,
it got on board, which is reallyimportant.
Okay, so the last excerpt that Iwant to share with you today is
from July 10th, 2018, justabout a year later into my new
(28:46):
role at the energy company.
So here we are again.
Back in the depths ofsoul-sucking corporate America,
wishing I was doing anythingother than working.
Laughing at my entry from 2017when I was starting at the
energy company, I know I can dothis job and do it well.
(29:07):
Ha! Turns out I can't and I'mnot.
I don't know how I feel aboutthat.
On one hand, super depressing.
I've let myself down, my teamdown, my boss down.
On the other hand, I don'treally give a shit.
Does it really matter how manyMQLs I generate?
(29:27):
Will my family like me more?
Will I be a better person?
Will I get into heaven?
No, none of this actuallymatters.
Maybe that's why I'm sodisengaged.
Or maybe I'm just giving up onmyself because I didn't perform.
I don't really know.
I want to walk, but howirresponsible would that be?
(29:51):
Danny has this really greatlife mission, that's my husband,
to raise our boys to beproductive members of society
and make sure they are betteroff than we are.
I think that's really nice andthat drives him.
I don't feel like I have a lifemission.
I don't know what drives me.
And that makes me feel sad.
(30:12):
I feel stuck.
I know I have the power to makea change, but I'm scared.
Fear is preventing me fromdoing something else.
I just applied for a new job atanother company for Head of
Americas, and of course it'smore pay and work and a longer
commute, as if any of that wouldsomehow make me happier.
(30:32):
But that's what I do.
I just bury myself deeper anddeeper.
Buy a Benz, get stuck incorporate America.
I did it on purpose, but now Iwant to leave more than ever.
Okay, you hear me fighting withwhat I know deep down to be
true.
I want to walk.
(30:52):
I wanted to leave corporate sobad, but kept finding reasons to
stay.
Oh, that would beirresponsible, right?
Here we go back to this again.
And actually staying and beingmiserable and taking it out on
my family was irresponsible.
That was not the example that Iwanted to be setting for my
kids.
I also want to point out thatimportance of having a life
(31:15):
mission.
If you have not crafted thisfor yourself yet, now is the
time because this will helpshape your actions and decisions
going forward.
And it becomes a really greatfilter to see if you're in
alignment with your mission,right?
When you're making decisions oryou're making pivots, you can
always come back to this lifemission.
(31:36):
You can think of it like ananchor or a grounding point that
helps keep you attached toyourself.
So if you get too far offtrack, right, you always have
something to come back to.
And what else is interesting ishow I called out fear.
You know, and I wish in themoment that I'd had the
wherewithal to really name it.
Like what specifically was Iafraid of?
Because without labeling it, Icouldn't address it.
(31:59):
And the same is true for you.
If you're being vague in yourthoughts, I wanna encourage you
to go deeper, to peel back thelayers of the onion, to get to
the core of your fears, becausethen you can actually address
them.
And lastly, don't do what Idid.
It's very common, but don't doit.
Don't bury yourself deeper intothe problem.
(32:20):
It just makes it harder toleave.
Every time I see someone poston LinkedIn that they just got
promoted or they made moremoney, I'm like, I'm so sorry,
because now it's going to be somuch harder for you to take off
the golden handcuffs.
I mean, congrats, but notreally.
This is going to kill you inthe long run, right?
Unless you're being reallysmart and intentional with your
money and you're saving likecrazy.
(32:41):
So that you have the option,like I did eventually to pivot,
if you're just making more moneyand then therefore spending
more, not saving, going intodebt, all those things, like
you're just shooting yourself inthe foot because you're never
gonna be able to break out.
Now, never say never, right?
But it's gonna be harder andharder to break out.
So the other thing here that'sreally critical is
(33:05):
self-awareness, right?
Because you might be operatingfrom your subconscious and doing
things that are in directcompetition with what you really
want.
I don't want to be incorporate, but I'm buying a Benz
to trap myself there.
I don't want to be incorporate, but I'm taking out a
second mortgage.
What are you doing?
We're supposed to be makingthis easier for us to leave,
which going back to my earlierpoint is why you need a plan,
(33:28):
because then you will say, oh,this does not align with my
plan.
I'm not going to spend and thatmoney.
So this is where I'm going toleave you today.
You obviously know that Ieventually had the courage to
make a pivot out of corporate,to publish two books, to start
this podcast and really designand live my best life.
But maybe you didn't know thatI had some of the same concerns
(33:52):
that you did, or at leastsimilar ones.
Maybe you didn't realize howmuch I struggled and how it took
me over three years to make achange.
And I don't want you to waitthat long.
Life is too short.
I want you to take action now.
So keep listening for how tobook an empowered exit call with
(34:13):
me to discuss your career pivotand make a plan that aligns
with your timeline.
I hope to see you on a callreal soon.
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