May 1, 2025 • 23 mins
If you’ve been climbing the corporate ladder but feel like something’s missing, you’re not alone. Many high-achieving women struggle to find a sense of purpose beyond their paycheck. In today’s episode, I’m sharing 5️⃣ actionable tips to help you explore and connect with your bigger purpose — without the pressure to monetize it or tie it solely to your career.
You’ll learn:
🌟 How to start building a fulfilling life outside of corporate
🌟 Why your paid work isn’t your only legacy
🌟 Practical ways to explore new opportunities, leverage your strengths, and chase true joy
🌟How volunteer work and community involvement can reveal your greater purpose
🌟 Why it’s okay (and freeing!) if your purpose isn’t tied to making money
Finding your purpose is a journey, not a race — and it often leads you to places more beautiful than you ever imagined. You’re not lost — your path is unfolding exactly as it should.
👀 Key Takeaway:
You don't have to leave corporate overnight, but you can start building a life of meaning and impact today by exploring your passions and strengths outside of work.
Ready to start your own reinvention journey?
📱 Book an Empowered Exit™ Call with me today and let’s create your personal roadmap to purpose, freedom, and fulfillment.
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
Then book a call here!
Not ready for coaching? Get a copy of my self-help book: Grab Life by the Dreams!
Mark as Played
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?
Ready?
Let's go.
Welcome back to Rock YourReinvention.
One of the biggest challengesmy clients face when leaving
corporate is building a lifeoutside of their day job.
(00:44):
They need to figure out whatelse they can fill their time
with and focus their energy on.
They also struggle withdiscovering their bigger
purpose, the legacy that theywant to leave.
One of the biggestmisconceptions among the women I
work with is that their paidwork has to be their legacy.
(01:07):
That their paid work has to betheir sole purpose.
That simply is not the truth.
It can be, but for many women,it's not.
Because for some of my clientswho might, let's say, leave
their big marketing job andstart a marketing agency, It's
(01:29):
not necessarily their purpose inlife.
It's just the work that they doto pay the bills and fund their
dream.
They can now do that marketingwork that they enjoy on their
terms and without all thepressure of working in
corporate, but it's notnecessarily the thing that they
were born to do or that givesthem all the fulfillment in
(01:50):
their life.
And I find that these twochallenges seem to be
interconnected.
This idea of building a lifeoutside of corporate and finding
your purpose.
They're very much connected andmost often come to life through
volunteer or unpaid work.
(02:11):
Isn't that interesting?
As I share in my book chapternine of grab life by the dreams,
The Essential Guide to GettingUnstuck and Living Your Purpose,
we all derive our sense ofpurpose in different ways and
from different outlets.
For some of us, it's theseemingly little things, like
(02:33):
being the positive person inyour circle or donating clothing
and toys to charity.
Others may do seemingly bigthings, like stand on a stage
and impact thousands of lives orinvent a new life-saving
technology.
Society will tell us that somepurposes are bigger or better
than others, but I disagree.
(02:54):
If we're living in alignmentwith our purpose and having a
meaningful impact on thosearound us, then our purpose is
just as good as anyone else's.
And that's far better thansquandering your potential
impact out of fear or selfsabotage.
So today, I wanna share sometips and things for you to
(03:19):
consider when exploring yourbigger purpose so you can know
what actions you need to takenext.
And this will look differentfor everyone because we all have
a different purpose.
So my first tip is to exploreyour options.
And I'm gonna share somestories with you in this episode
(03:39):
to help you paint this pictureso you can kind of see how this
unfolds.
When we moved to Greenville,South Carolina from Jersey, I
didn't know a soul, not a singleperson.
We had no friends or family inthe area or surrounding areas.
So we were basically on ourown.
And I was talking to myrealtor, like, how am I going to
meet people?
(04:00):
And I work from home.
Like this is going to be reallychallenging.
And she recommended that I joina women's training organization
called Junior League so that Icould meet people.
And thankfully I took her up onthat offer.
What I didn't realize is that Iwas going to discover a new
purpose for my life over thenext three years.
(04:22):
Okay, did you hear what I justsaid?
Three years.
This is not an overnight fix,and it's a really important
thing to remember when you'reseeking your purpose.
Now, through my work at theJunior League, I was exposed to
many things.
Local nonprofits.
We had the Julie ValentineCenter, which you may recall, I
(04:44):
ran a 5K last year and donatedover $1,000 to support sexually
abused women and children.
I have connected with andsupported the United Ministries,
which cares for our homelesspopulation in the upstate.
And Switch, an organizationaimed at ending sex trafficking.
Now I was very fortunate that Igot to explore all of these
(05:07):
different options through thejunior league, but you may need
to approach different outlets orhave different experiences
separately.
And that's okay.
So what can you do to startexploring your options?
Well, commit to having one newexperience a month.
That's totally doable.
(05:27):
And it's a great way for you tokind of see what fits and what
doesn't.
The next thing you can do isstart a purpose journal so that
you can track how you feelduring and after each one of
these new experiences.
Do you feel energized when youdo that?
Do you feel curious or bored,right?
(05:48):
This is really valuable datafor you, really valuable
insights.
That's going to give you cluesinto whether this is a path you
should keep pursuing for yourpurpose or, um, Maybe I thought
that was going to be a good fit.
And then I got into it andlike, didn't really enjoy it.
The other thing you can do.
So tip number two is toleverage your strengths.
(06:09):
We all have things that weexcel at natural gifts and
talents that come easy to us orskills that we have perfected
over the years.
And it really doesn't matterhow we acquired the gifts.
The point is you have personalstrengths.
One of my personal strengths isspeaking, teaching,
(06:32):
facilitating.
So when I was thinking about mypurpose, I knew it would have
to involve one of these gifts,right?
Your creator, God, gave youthose skills that you have for a
reason so that you couldfulfill the divine call for your
life.
Make no mistake, we don't getgifts that we're not supposed to
(06:57):
use.
So this past September, I'mattending the Switch fundraising
gala.
I snagged a last minute ticketwhen my camping trip was
canceled due to rain.
I now know that this was nocoincidence.
And they had what they call aspeed painter come to the gala.
And I don't know if you've everseen one of these.
They play really upliftingmusic.
(07:18):
I mean, it was a Christianevent, so they played Christian
music, but They can play anykind of music.
And the person just paints anentire painting, like a huge
canvas in like 10 minutes.
It's crazy.
So while we're sitting thereeating our dinner, having my
chicken salad, I'm dead centerto this in relation to the
stage.
And I just kind of peek up andI'm like, huh, I wonder what
(07:40):
he's painting.
Kind of looks like a bird.
I don't really know.
So I just keep talking to mytable mates, eating my salad.
And all of a sudden I look up.
And I realize it is Jesuswearing a crown of thorns on his
head and the food I'm like midswallow.
(08:03):
And my whole body just clenchesup and I feel the food kind of
like getting stuck in my throat.
And so I'm trying to likeabsorb this beautiful, but
painful image in front of me andswallow my food at the same
time.
And all of a sudden I hear avoice, Karin.
What are you doing to stop sextrafficking?
And I'm not going to lie.
(08:26):
At first, I was like, I thinkI'm going crazy.
And so I start rationalizingall my actions.
And I'm like, I just donatedhundreds of dollars.
I shopped the silent auction.
That's what I'm doing.
You know, I post about thisstuff on social media.
I just donated a copy of mybook to the silent auction.
Like, what do you mean?
And I just hear again thisvoice in my head.
(08:47):
No, Karin.
What are you doing to stop sextrafficking?
And at this point, I'm bawling,right?
I'm like trying not to leteveryone at the table see me
cry.
And I just surrendered and waslike, okay, God, I hear you.
I will sign up to volunteertomorrow.
(09:08):
And I did.
So let me give you the CliffNotes version here.
The tip that I want to share isis then I had to choose what I
wanted to do for Switch.
I had to leverage my strengths.
And I knew emotionally that Icouldn't handle the whole strip
club intervention that they do,which is really cool.
(09:30):
They go out, they meet thedancers, they make relationships
with them, they try to get themto agree to come out of the
life.
And I was like, I think I'llthrow bows with people in the
strip club.
Like I can't do this.
And then even thinking aboutrestoration, I was like, I don't
know if supporting them throughthe healing would be really
that feasible for me either.
And as soon as I heard thatSwitch had a prevention team
(09:51):
that went into high schools totrain students on how to stay
safe from traffickers, I knewthat was it.
It perfectly aligned with allof my natural gifts of
presenting and speaking andteaching.
Total no brainer.
So for you, what skills orgifts do you have?
Those are a clue for you.
(10:12):
And if you're not sure, it'sokay to ask some trusted friends
or family members, colleagues.
I'd recommend getting inputfrom about five people.
You know, we don't need 20people's input.
Right.
Because then that becomes awhole way to self-sabotage and
delay the process.
You're like, I just need alittle more data.
No, you don't.
(10:33):
Five people's enough.
The other thing you can do isuse one of these journal prompts
or both of them.
One is to start with one of theeasiest things for me to do is
and then fill in that blank.
Or another way to think aboutit is most people ask me for
help with this.
fill in all the types of thingsthat people typically ask you
(10:55):
for help.
And there are several morejournal prompts and tips in my
book, Grab Life by the Dream.
So if you don't have a copyyet, head over to
karenfreeland.com forward slashdreams and pick that up.
Okay, my third tip for you isto chase the joy.
You're going to explore someoptions and some of them are
(11:18):
going to be winners and somearen't.
I have a client right now thatis going through the exploration
phase and she recentlyvolunteered for something at her
church.
It very much leveraged theskills that she had and the
talents that she used in hercorporate job, which could have
been a good fit, but actuallyfor her, she didn't enjoy it
(11:41):
because it was actually toosimilar to what she'd done in
the past.
So It turns out she has areally big passion for animals,
and this project had nothing todo with animals.
So she came to this crossroadswhere it's like, okay, keep
doing these things that I'm goodat, but that don't actually
bring me that much joy, or makea big pivot and start moving
(12:03):
more in the direction of thethings that I do want to do,
that I know would light me up.
And so she came to thatrealization that it was actually
best for her to wrap up herwork at the church and
transition her time and energytowards something with animals,
something that would light herup more.
And I love this explorationbecause now she knows what a
(12:25):
good fit is for her.
And we don't know until weexperience it and then we can
chase the joy.
We can chase the things that weare like, I want to do more of
this.
So chances are you're gonnahave these experiences as well.
Remember to chase the joy ofthe things that you try out.
(12:47):
What did you get the mostfulfillment or satisfaction
from?
What was the most fun?
It's okay as an adult to havefun, it really is.
I just taught my first switchprevention class in April.
And I have to tell you, thatwas the most magical,
experience.
I loved every minute of beingwith these students.
(13:10):
It was so energizing.
And at times, I was like, oh,what did you just say in my
class?
Mm-mm.
Right?
And we had to correct somethings.
But you know what?
I was like, this is such ateachable moment.
These are coachableopportunities.
Again, right up my alley.
And although the topic is verytough, and talking about sex
(13:31):
trafficking and abuse is veryuncomfortable at times, I feel
like I'm doing my part toempower our youth, to keep them
safe.
And for me, that brings me somuch joy and it brings me so
much more joy than staying in mycorporate job and getting
another attagirl from a boss orsomeone in the C-suite who
(13:53):
probably wouldn't even attendedmy funeral if I died.
Like seriously, this is kind ofa side note, but do you know
how many people that I've workedwith in my career still keep in
touch with me?
It's laughable.
I could count them on twohands, y'all.
Could count them on two hands.
And I wasted so much timeworrying about what they would
(14:14):
think of me.
But my new mindset is that,well, someday I'm gonna have to
stand in front of God and I'mgonna have to give an account
for my life.
And I'm gonna be able to say tohim, I protected these kids
from traffickers.
I put the talents from you togood use.
And that never felt like Ican't even, sometimes I have to
(14:39):
pinch myself, right?
I never thought in a millionyears, if you had asked me when
I was 39, having my midlifecrisis, just bought my Benz to
trap myself in my corporate job.
And you said, Karin, what doyou think you're going to be
doing in five years?
Never in a million years wouldI have said, oh, I'm going to be
going into high schools andtrying to prevent sex
traffickers from preying on kidsand giving them the tools and
(15:02):
strategies they need to besuccessful.
Never.
Never.
in a million years would havethought of that, but it was all
about leaning into the joy,chasing the joy, exploring the
options, giving myselfpermission to try new things.
And so can you, if you start tochase the joy in your life, I
(15:25):
mean, is this stressfulcorporate grind bringing you
joy?
If it is, then maybe that isyour purpose.
Congratulations.
That's awesome.
If not, which I'm guessingsince you're listening to my
show is probably the case, it'stime to start chasing the joy
again.
And you won't know what that isuntil you explore your options.
(15:45):
So I've got two things for youthat you can do at this phase.
Ask yourself, what would I doif no one paid me for it or if
no one clapped?
What are those things that Iwould still do?
Because this is a clue if youfind it joyful or not, right?
(16:06):
And if you're like, I wouldstill, and I always use
marketing and operations asexamples because those are
fields that I worked in.
But if I was like, I wouldstill train people whether I was
getting paid or not.
Right?
That's me.
Like, I would still trainpeople for free.
Clearly, that's what I'm doingwith Switch.
But that's the clue for me.
Like, yeah, I would still doit.
B2B marketing?
(16:26):
No, I would not spend onesingle moment doing B2B
marketing without getting paid.
There would, no, it doesn'tbring me zero joy, zero joy.
So you got to figure that outfor yourself, right?
And then you have to giveyourself permission to quit if
it doesn't bring you joy.
Just like my client did, right?
(16:47):
She gave it a go.
She tried it out.
She didn't leave them in thelurch, right?
She tied everything up in anice bow at the end and said,
okay, this wasn't for me.
Thank you.
Here's what I've left you with.
Now you take it from here.
And that's okay.
If something drains you, you'renot failing.
You're refining.
Celebrate the clarity, sister.
It's all good.
(17:08):
Okay.
The fourth thing you can do isspeak with others.
If you don't know what optionsto explore, that's okay too.
You're not alone.
This is a great time to speakwith others just to understand
what they feel their purpose isand how they went about
discovering it.
We're not reaching out topeople and saying, what do you
(17:31):
think my purpose is, right?
This isn't the same thing asasking for advice.
We're not doing that.
You're not like, oh, what doyou think I'd be good at?
They can't answer that.
However, they can share theirown story that might spark some
ideas for you.
They can tell you the processthey used to discover their
purpose.
So make a list of five peopleright now that you want to have
(17:54):
a coffee chat with to discusspurpose and set those up over
the next two weeks.
Don't spread this out too far.
I know it's really tempting tobe like, I'm so busy.
I'm just going to have oneconversation a month.
You're not even going toremember what the first person
said by the time you get to thethird.
So do this in a short stint,pack it in.
It's the five 30 minute calls.
(18:15):
It will suffice.
You can fit this in.
It's that important.
And make sure that you prep twoor three questions to have that
conversation, right?
So you might ask them somethinglike, what helped you get
clarity on your purpose?
What role has volunteeringplayed in your journey?
How has your faith shaped yourpath?
(18:35):
Right?
It's up to you.
Just come up with somequestions so that, you know, you
can kind of guide thisconversation and pull out what
you need from them.
And the fifth tip that I wantto share with you today is that
you don't need to monetize yourpurpose.
Let me say that again for thepeople in the back.
No, I'm just kidding.
You don't need to monetize yourpurpose.
(18:58):
This is the last thing that Iwant you to consider because I
know we're in these bigcorporate jobs and we're making
all this money.
And so when you're making apivot, you're thinking about how
do I replace this corporateincome?
So you automatically assumethat everything you do when you
leave corporate has to bring youincome.
And it doesn't.
You don't need to make moneyfrom your purpose.
(19:19):
Just like I volunteer at Switchfor No Pay, you may find that
your true purpose comes fromsomething outside of your day
job.
So resist the pressure and thetemptation.
to make money from this.
Now, I'm not saying that youcan't make money from your
purpose.
You absolutely could.
I'm just saying you might oryou might not.
(19:41):
And it doesn't have to be thatway.
I think the affirmations are agreat tool here to help us with
the mindset when we're doingfree work.
And so one of the things I loveto say, you know, something
might along these lines would belike, I honor the impact of my
(20:01):
unpaid work.
It's meaningful, valuable, anddeeply aligned with my purpose.
And of course you can make thatyour own, right?
Whatever speaks to your heart.
And then you can just say itover and over so that you can
get really comfortable withdoing volunteer work.
And it's funny because a lot ofmy clients are doing volunteer
(20:24):
work on the side and like,that's what they love the most.
And I'm like, okay, this istelling you something.
Let's chase the joy.
And maybe it is taking a roleat a nonprofit for a cause that
you really believe in.
And that's awesome.
But if it's not and you decideto start your own business, like
I said, and you just maybebecome a learning and
(20:46):
development agency and you goout and you help with sales
enablement or something likethat.
And then on the side, you havethis other passion that really
speaks to your purpose.
That's okay too.
This isn't one size fits all.
Doesn't have to look the samefor all of us.
So there you have it.
Five actionable tips forfinding your purpose.
(21:07):
And I'm so excited for youbecause this can be one of the
most invigorating journeys ifyou let it be.
But you have to give yourselfpermission to let go of your
ego, to show up as yourauthentic self, to surrender
whatever doesn't fit, and tokeep exploring until you find
your joy.
(21:27):
So as a quick reminder, you'regoing to explore your options,
And again, this is gonna take alittle while.
It takes a while to fullyexplore an option.
So this doesn't have to happenovernight.
We're gonna leverage ourstrengths to the extent
possible.
And just because we have astrength doesn't always mean
(21:48):
that we have to leverage it,right?
Like I shared the one exampleof my client and she kind of
said, you know what?
This feels too similar to myday job.
That's okay too.
We're gonna chase the joy.
Go after what lights you up.
and use that journal to capturehow you feel after each one of
these experiences.
Number four, speak with others.
(22:09):
If you need some ideas, youjust wanna hear how others went
about this process, I also thinkit will give you a lot of
freedom as you start to hearother people's stories because
you'll realize they didn't haveit all figured out.
And lastly, number five, Youdon't need to monetize your
purpose.
It's okay to do something thatlights you up for the pure
(22:32):
enjoyment of it.
You're not lost.
Your path is unfolding exactlyas it should.
Now go rock your reinvention.
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?
Ready?
Let's go.
Welcome back to Rock YourReinvention.
One of the biggest challengesmy clients face when leaving
corporate is building a lifeoutside of their day job.
(00:44):
They need to figure out whatelse they can fill their time
with and focus their energy on.
They also struggle withdiscovering their bigger
purpose, the legacy that theywant to leave.
One of the biggestmisconceptions among the women I
work with is that their paidwork has to be their legacy.
(01:07):
That their paid work has to betheir sole purpose.
That simply is not the truth.
It can be, but for many women,it's not.
Because for some of my clientswho might, let's say, leave
their big marketing job andstart a marketing agency, It's
(01:29):
not necessarily their purpose inlife.
It's just the work that they doto pay the bills and fund their
dream.
They can now do that marketingwork that they enjoy on their
terms and without all thepressure of working in
corporate, but it's notnecessarily the thing that they
were born to do or that givesthem all the fulfillment in
(01:50):
their life.
And I find that these twochallenges seem to be
interconnected.
This idea of building a lifeoutside of corporate and finding
your purpose.
They're very much connected andmost often come to life through
volunteer or unpaid work.
(02:11):
Isn't that interesting?
As I share in my book chapternine of grab life by the dreams,
The Essential Guide to GettingUnstuck and Living Your Purpose,
we all derive our sense ofpurpose in different ways and
from different outlets.
For some of us, it's theseemingly little things, like
(02:33):
being the positive person inyour circle or donating clothing
and toys to charity.
Others may do seemingly bigthings, like stand on a stage
and impact thousands of lives orinvent a new life-saving
technology.
Society will tell us that somepurposes are bigger or better
than others, but I disagree.
(02:54):
If we're living in alignmentwith our purpose and having a
meaningful impact on thosearound us, then our purpose is
just as good as anyone else's.
And that's far better thansquandering your potential
impact out of fear or selfsabotage.
So today, I wanna share sometips and things for you to
(03:19):
consider when exploring yourbigger purpose so you can know
what actions you need to takenext.
And this will look differentfor everyone because we all have
a different purpose.
So my first tip is to exploreyour options.
And I'm gonna share somestories with you in this episode
(03:39):
to help you paint this pictureso you can kind of see how this
unfolds.
When we moved to Greenville,South Carolina from Jersey, I
didn't know a soul, not a singleperson.
We had no friends or family inthe area or surrounding areas.
So we were basically on ourown.
And I was talking to myrealtor, like, how am I going to
meet people?
(04:00):
And I work from home.
Like this is going to be reallychallenging.
And she recommended that I joina women's training organization
called Junior League so that Icould meet people.
And thankfully I took her up onthat offer.
What I didn't realize is that Iwas going to discover a new
purpose for my life over thenext three years.
(04:22):
Okay, did you hear what I justsaid?
Three years.
This is not an overnight fix,and it's a really important
thing to remember when you'reseeking your purpose.
Now, through my work at theJunior League, I was exposed to
many things.
Local nonprofits.
We had the Julie ValentineCenter, which you may recall, I
(04:44):
ran a 5K last year and donatedover $1,000 to support sexually
abused women and children.
I have connected with andsupported the United Ministries,
which cares for our homelesspopulation in the upstate.
And Switch, an organizationaimed at ending sex trafficking.
Now I was very fortunate that Igot to explore all of these
(05:07):
different options through thejunior league, but you may need
to approach different outlets orhave different experiences
separately.
And that's okay.
So what can you do to startexploring your options?
Well, commit to having one newexperience a month.
That's totally doable.
(05:27):
And it's a great way for you tokind of see what fits and what
doesn't.
The next thing you can do isstart a purpose journal so that
you can track how you feelduring and after each one of
these new experiences.
Do you feel energized when youdo that?
Do you feel curious or bored,right?
(05:48):
This is really valuable datafor you, really valuable
insights.
That's going to give you cluesinto whether this is a path you
should keep pursuing for yourpurpose or, um, Maybe I thought
that was going to be a good fit.
And then I got into it andlike, didn't really enjoy it.
The other thing you can do.
So tip number two is toleverage your strengths.
(06:09):
We all have things that weexcel at natural gifts and
talents that come easy to us orskills that we have perfected
over the years.
And it really doesn't matterhow we acquired the gifts.
The point is you have personalstrengths.
One of my personal strengths isspeaking, teaching,
(06:32):
facilitating.
So when I was thinking about mypurpose, I knew it would have
to involve one of these gifts,right?
Your creator, God, gave youthose skills that you have for a
reason so that you couldfulfill the divine call for your
life.
Make no mistake, we don't getgifts that we're not supposed to
(06:57):
use.
So this past September, I'mattending the Switch fundraising
gala.
I snagged a last minute ticketwhen my camping trip was
canceled due to rain.
I now know that this was nocoincidence.
And they had what they call aspeed painter come to the gala.
And I don't know if you've everseen one of these.
They play really upliftingmusic.
(07:18):
I mean, it was a Christianevent, so they played Christian
music, but They can play anykind of music.
And the person just paints anentire painting, like a huge
canvas in like 10 minutes.
It's crazy.
So while we're sitting thereeating our dinner, having my
chicken salad, I'm dead centerto this in relation to the
stage.
And I just kind of peek up andI'm like, huh, I wonder what
(07:40):
he's painting.
Kind of looks like a bird.
I don't really know.
So I just keep talking to mytable mates, eating my salad.
And all of a sudden I look up.
And I realize it is Jesuswearing a crown of thorns on his
head and the food I'm like midswallow.
(08:03):
And my whole body just clenchesup and I feel the food kind of
like getting stuck in my throat.
And so I'm trying to likeabsorb this beautiful, but
painful image in front of me andswallow my food at the same
time.
And all of a sudden I hear avoice, Karin.
What are you doing to stop sextrafficking?
And I'm not going to lie.
(08:26):
At first, I was like, I thinkI'm going crazy.
And so I start rationalizingall my actions.
And I'm like, I just donatedhundreds of dollars.
I shopped the silent auction.
That's what I'm doing.
You know, I post about thisstuff on social media.
I just donated a copy of mybook to the silent auction.
Like, what do you mean?
And I just hear again thisvoice in my head.
(08:47):
No, Karin.
What are you doing to stop sextrafficking?
And at this point, I'm bawling,right?
I'm like trying not to leteveryone at the table see me
cry.
And I just surrendered and waslike, okay, God, I hear you.
I will sign up to volunteertomorrow.
(09:08):
And I did.
So let me give you the CliffNotes version here.
The tip that I want to share isis then I had to choose what I
wanted to do for Switch.
I had to leverage my strengths.
And I knew emotionally that Icouldn't handle the whole strip
club intervention that they do,which is really cool.
(09:30):
They go out, they meet thedancers, they make relationships
with them, they try to get themto agree to come out of the
life.
And I was like, I think I'llthrow bows with people in the
strip club.
Like I can't do this.
And then even thinking aboutrestoration, I was like, I don't
know if supporting them throughthe healing would be really
that feasible for me either.
And as soon as I heard thatSwitch had a prevention team
(09:51):
that went into high schools totrain students on how to stay
safe from traffickers, I knewthat was it.
It perfectly aligned with allof my natural gifts of
presenting and speaking andteaching.
Total no brainer.
So for you, what skills orgifts do you have?
Those are a clue for you.
(10:12):
And if you're not sure, it'sokay to ask some trusted friends
or family members, colleagues.
I'd recommend getting inputfrom about five people.
You know, we don't need 20people's input.
Right.
Because then that becomes awhole way to self-sabotage and
delay the process.
You're like, I just need alittle more data.
No, you don't.
(10:33):
Five people's enough.
The other thing you can do isuse one of these journal prompts
or both of them.
One is to start with one of theeasiest things for me to do is
and then fill in that blank.
Or another way to think aboutit is most people ask me for
help with this.
fill in all the types of thingsthat people typically ask you
(10:55):
for help.
And there are several morejournal prompts and tips in my
book, Grab Life by the Dream.
So if you don't have a copyyet, head over to
karenfreeland.com forward slashdreams and pick that up.
Okay, my third tip for you isto chase the joy.
You're going to explore someoptions and some of them are
(11:18):
going to be winners and somearen't.
I have a client right now thatis going through the exploration
phase and she recentlyvolunteered for something at her
church.
It very much leveraged theskills that she had and the
talents that she used in hercorporate job, which could have
been a good fit, but actuallyfor her, she didn't enjoy it
(11:41):
because it was actually toosimilar to what she'd done in
the past.
So It turns out she has areally big passion for animals,
and this project had nothing todo with animals.
So she came to this crossroadswhere it's like, okay, keep
doing these things that I'm goodat, but that don't actually
bring me that much joy, or makea big pivot and start moving
(12:03):
more in the direction of thethings that I do want to do,
that I know would light me up.
And so she came to thatrealization that it was actually
best for her to wrap up herwork at the church and
transition her time and energytowards something with animals,
something that would light herup more.
And I love this explorationbecause now she knows what a
(12:25):
good fit is for her.
And we don't know until weexperience it and then we can
chase the joy.
We can chase the things that weare like, I want to do more of
this.
So chances are you're gonnahave these experiences as well.
Remember to chase the joy ofthe things that you try out.
(12:47):
What did you get the mostfulfillment or satisfaction
from?
What was the most fun?
It's okay as an adult to havefun, it really is.
I just taught my first switchprevention class in April.
And I have to tell you, thatwas the most magical,
experience.
I loved every minute of beingwith these students.
(13:10):
It was so energizing.
And at times, I was like, oh,what did you just say in my
class?
Mm-mm.
Right?
And we had to correct somethings.
But you know what?
I was like, this is such ateachable moment.
These are coachableopportunities.
Again, right up my alley.
And although the topic is verytough, and talking about sex
(13:31):
trafficking and abuse is veryuncomfortable at times, I feel
like I'm doing my part toempower our youth, to keep them
safe.
And for me, that brings me somuch joy and it brings me so
much more joy than staying in mycorporate job and getting
another attagirl from a boss orsomeone in the C-suite who
(13:53):
probably wouldn't even attendedmy funeral if I died.
Like seriously, this is kind ofa side note, but do you know
how many people that I've workedwith in my career still keep in
touch with me?
It's laughable.
I could count them on twohands, y'all.
Could count them on two hands.
And I wasted so much timeworrying about what they would
(14:14):
think of me.
But my new mindset is that,well, someday I'm gonna have to
stand in front of God and I'mgonna have to give an account
for my life.
And I'm gonna be able to say tohim, I protected these kids
from traffickers.
I put the talents from you togood use.
And that never felt like Ican't even, sometimes I have to
(14:39):
pinch myself, right?
I never thought in a millionyears, if you had asked me when
I was 39, having my midlifecrisis, just bought my Benz to
trap myself in my corporate job.
And you said, Karin, what doyou think you're going to be
doing in five years?
Never in a million years wouldI have said, oh, I'm going to be
going into high schools andtrying to prevent sex
traffickers from preying on kidsand giving them the tools and
(15:02):
strategies they need to besuccessful.
Never.
Never.
in a million years would havethought of that, but it was all
about leaning into the joy,chasing the joy, exploring the
options, giving myselfpermission to try new things.
And so can you, if you start tochase the joy in your life, I
(15:25):
mean, is this stressfulcorporate grind bringing you
joy?
If it is, then maybe that isyour purpose.
Congratulations.
That's awesome.
If not, which I'm guessingsince you're listening to my
show is probably the case, it'stime to start chasing the joy
again.
And you won't know what that isuntil you explore your options.
(15:45):
So I've got two things for youthat you can do at this phase.
Ask yourself, what would I doif no one paid me for it or if
no one clapped?
What are those things that Iwould still do?
Because this is a clue if youfind it joyful or not, right?
(16:06):
And if you're like, I wouldstill, and I always use
marketing and operations asexamples because those are
fields that I worked in.
But if I was like, I wouldstill train people whether I was
getting paid or not.
Right?
That's me.
Like, I would still trainpeople for free.
Clearly, that's what I'm doingwith Switch.
But that's the clue for me.
Like, yeah, I would still doit.
B2B marketing?
(16:26):
No, I would not spend onesingle moment doing B2B
marketing without getting paid.
There would, no, it doesn'tbring me zero joy, zero joy.
So you got to figure that outfor yourself, right?
And then you have to giveyourself permission to quit if
it doesn't bring you joy.
Just like my client did, right?
(16:47):
She gave it a go.
She tried it out.
She didn't leave them in thelurch, right?
She tied everything up in anice bow at the end and said,
okay, this wasn't for me.
Thank you.
Here's what I've left you with.
Now you take it from here.
And that's okay.
If something drains you, you'renot failing.
You're refining.
Celebrate the clarity, sister.
It's all good.
(17:08):
Okay.
The fourth thing you can do isspeak with others.
If you don't know what optionsto explore, that's okay too.
You're not alone.
This is a great time to speakwith others just to understand
what they feel their purpose isand how they went about
discovering it.
We're not reaching out topeople and saying, what do you
(17:31):
think my purpose is, right?
This isn't the same thing asasking for advice.
We're not doing that.
You're not like, oh, what doyou think I'd be good at?
They can't answer that.
However, they can share theirown story that might spark some
ideas for you.
They can tell you the processthey used to discover their
purpose.
So make a list of five peopleright now that you want to have
(17:54):
a coffee chat with to discusspurpose and set those up over
the next two weeks.
Don't spread this out too far.
I know it's really tempting tobe like, I'm so busy.
I'm just going to have oneconversation a month.
You're not even going toremember what the first person
said by the time you get to thethird.
So do this in a short stint,pack it in.
It's the five 30 minute calls.
(18:15):
It will suffice.
You can fit this in.
It's that important.
And make sure that you prep twoor three questions to have that
conversation, right?
So you might ask them somethinglike, what helped you get
clarity on your purpose?
What role has volunteeringplayed in your journey?
How has your faith shaped yourpath?
(18:35):
Right?
It's up to you.
Just come up with somequestions so that, you know, you
can kind of guide thisconversation and pull out what
you need from them.
And the fifth tip that I wantto share with you today is that
you don't need to monetize yourpurpose.
Let me say that again for thepeople in the back.
No, I'm just kidding.
You don't need to monetize yourpurpose.
(18:58):
This is the last thing that Iwant you to consider because I
know we're in these bigcorporate jobs and we're making
all this money.
And so when you're making apivot, you're thinking about how
do I replace this corporateincome?
So you automatically assumethat everything you do when you
leave corporate has to bring youincome.
And it doesn't.
You don't need to make moneyfrom your purpose.
(19:19):
Just like I volunteer at Switchfor No Pay, you may find that
your true purpose comes fromsomething outside of your day
job.
So resist the pressure and thetemptation.
to make money from this.
Now, I'm not saying that youcan't make money from your
purpose.
You absolutely could.
I'm just saying you might oryou might not.
(19:41):
And it doesn't have to be thatway.
I think the affirmations are agreat tool here to help us with
the mindset when we're doingfree work.
And so one of the things I loveto say, you know, something
might along these lines would belike, I honor the impact of my
(20:01):
unpaid work.
It's meaningful, valuable, anddeeply aligned with my purpose.
And of course you can make thatyour own, right?
Whatever speaks to your heart.
And then you can just say itover and over so that you can
get really comfortable withdoing volunteer work.
And it's funny because a lot ofmy clients are doing volunteer
(20:24):
work on the side and like,that's what they love the most.
And I'm like, okay, this istelling you something.
Let's chase the joy.
And maybe it is taking a roleat a nonprofit for a cause that
you really believe in.
And that's awesome.
But if it's not and you decideto start your own business, like
I said, and you just maybebecome a learning and
(20:46):
development agency and you goout and you help with sales
enablement or something likethat.
And then on the side, you havethis other passion that really
speaks to your purpose.
That's okay too.
This isn't one size fits all.
Doesn't have to look the samefor all of us.
So there you have it.
Five actionable tips forfinding your purpose.
(21:07):
And I'm so excited for youbecause this can be one of the
most invigorating journeys ifyou let it be.
But you have to give yourselfpermission to let go of your
ego, to show up as yourauthentic self, to surrender
whatever doesn't fit, and tokeep exploring until you find
your joy.
(21:27):
So as a quick reminder, you'regoing to explore your options,
And again, this is gonna take alittle while.
It takes a while to fullyexplore an option.
So this doesn't have to happenovernight.
We're gonna leverage ourstrengths to the extent
possible.
And just because we have astrength doesn't always mean
(21:48):
that we have to leverage it,right?
Like I shared the one exampleof my client and she kind of
said, you know what?
This feels too similar to myday job.
That's okay too.
We're gonna chase the joy.
Go after what lights you up.
and use that journal to capturehow you feel after each one of
these experiences.
Number four, speak with others.
(22:09):
If you need some ideas, youjust wanna hear how others went
about this process, I also thinkit will give you a lot of
freedom as you start to hearother people's stories because
you'll realize they didn't haveit all figured out.
And lastly, number five, Youdon't need to monetize your
purpose.
It's okay to do something thatlights you up for the pure
(22:32):
enjoyment of it.
You're not lost.
Your path is unfolding exactlyas it should.
Now go rock your reinvention.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com