December 15, 2025 • 25 mins
What happens when a successful pharmaceutical executive walks away from a 25-year career because the voice inside grew too loud to ignore? Kavita Ahuja, founder of It's My Time Now coaching and host of The Midlife Reinvention podcast, shares her powerful journey of leaving corporate success behind at 50 to help other women navigate major life transitions. From grappling with cultural expectations to that pivotal moment when her sons asked, "Mom, what do YOU really want?"—Kavita reveals why so many accomplished women feel stuck despite looking successful from the outside. Discover how one brilliant scientist with two PhDs rediscovered her passion for art and music, transforming not just her life, but her entire approach to work and relationships.
Kavita's website - https://itsmytimenowcoaching.com/
Kavita's website - https://itsmytimenowcoaching.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, most awesome one. I am Ayana Angel. You're host
of the Switch Pivolar Quick podcast and welcome. If you
have never joined us before, welcome back. If you are
familiar with us in this space that we hold for
each other. I am so excited that you have decided
to drop into this conversation today because I have a
good one for you. But first let me let you
(00:23):
know why you're here. This is a space where we
have Canada conversations helping you to get the courage and
the clarity that you need to enter into your next
chapter in life, whatever that may be, whatever that may
look like. And so today we're gonna be speaking with
a certified women's career and life transition coach. Her name
(00:45):
is Kavita Ahuja and she is the founder of It's
My Time Now Coaching and she's also the host of
a popular podcast called The Midlife Reinvention. She specializes in
helping women navigate those significant life transitions by god them
to help them align their next season in life with
their strengths, with their passions, and Kavina's compassionate approach helps
(01:09):
women transform uncertainty into opportunity. Let's get into this conversation
with Covina Covido. Welcome to the Switch Over Real Quick podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you, it's wonderful. It's wonderful, wonderful to be here.
It's really a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Of course, So your coaching practice is called It's My
Time Now. Can you share what led you to create
this platform and what that name represents for you and
the women that you work with.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
That's a great question, I think, thanks for asking It's
my Time now. It's really about the fact that we know,
why do we why are we waiting? Why do we
wait in our lives to create what we know is
inside of our hearts? You know, oftentimes we kind of
go through life, I mean sometimes with blinders maybe, or
(02:01):
or kind of like we kind of fall into things
and then twenty years later it's like, oh my goodness,
am I really happy with what I'm doing? Or am
I as fulfilled as I should be? So the reason
I chose this name, and I think it really resonated
with It resonated me and a lot of a lot
of people, is it really is your time now to
really rediscover who you are, what you want, you know,
(02:24):
and really how to get there, especially as you go
through transitions in life, whether their career or other life transitions.
So it's really, you know, if we don't want to
look back at our life with regret. So the time
aspect of it, I think was really important for me
to bring across, especially for the women who are listening
who might be like, oh, you know, I'm not sure,
(02:46):
I don't know what the next. You know you want to.
I know one of your questions is focusing on helping
people answer the question what's next? Right, So that's it.
I think the time element is super important because you know,
we have the time now to really figure it out,
so we should take the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You've mentioned and you've shared about your story in your transitions,
and I would love to find out, first of all,
what was your transition journey and getting into doing the
work that you're doing now, And did you have any
fears around making a huge transition like you did.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh my god, I had so many fears and I
still do every day. I'm sure you do too, right, Yeah,
thank you. My transition I was and I was in
the pharmaceutical industry for almost twenty five years. I'm Indian
and I live in Canada. And I grew up here,
and so I was in the pharmaceutical industry, you know,
(03:45):
as a science degree and business degree, and it would
just seem natural to go into that. And it was
great when it was great, you know, and progressively senior roles,
you know, doing really well, enjoyed it. You know, it
allowed a lot of comfort and stability in my life.
Right around the time I turned fifty, however, there was
(04:07):
something inside of me that switched, I guess, and I
began to question, as I'm sure many of your listeners
may also have that feeling. It doesn't have to be
at fifty. It can be any time in your life
when you kind of question, you know, is this it
is this what I really want to do for the
rest of my life? Is what I'm doing right now
really utilizing all of my passions, all of my strengths.
(04:30):
And the answer was really no, right, So it took
me a while. It took me at least two years before,
you know, when the start of that voice kind of
started in my inside. And then I actually left because
of those fears that you were talking about, like, oh
my god, what am I going to do? You know,
what are people going to think of? Me. You know,
(04:52):
all the judgment pieces is because I was just so
used to doing this and I was successful from the
outside and the inside though things were definite, so those
fears were definitely there, but the voice crew so loud
that I just really couldn't ignore it anymore. And that's
when I decided to leave. And then I realized that
there's so many other people who are going through these
(05:13):
transitions and life who kind of just ignore those signals,
you know, And I wanted to dig deep into that,
and I was like, why do we have these triggers?
What is a transition?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Really?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How can I help people successfully navigate these transitions and
really understand their why? And I believe when you understand
your why, then the transition that you're making in your
career and your life just it. The changes that you
make after that really stick. So a long answer to
(05:47):
your question, but that's kind of how the transition, you know,
how I transitioned into becoming a coach and a podcaster myself.
I wanted to hear other women's stories of how they
transitioned in their lives and what did they learn, what
kind of fears did they have, and what challenges did
they face? So it's been really rewarding, and it's just,
you know, it's it's what I encourage people to do
(06:10):
if they have that voice inside of them too, to
not wait.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
So on one hand, you mentioned how you know, you
have the pressures around you, right and the expectations externally,
and people think like, oh, your life is amazing, it
looks amazing. You did all the things you were supposed
to do. How did you grapple with or did you
have to grapple with maybe letting people down and how,
(06:42):
you know, like, how did that feel, especially culturally we
know from the outside what culturally a lot of Indian
parents expect, a lot of African parents expect, you know,
you know, Asian parents like, we know culturally there's a
high expectation. And so did you worry about that at
(07:04):
that point in your life or was that that burned
so big that you said, hey, it doesn't matter whatever
people expect.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
That's a great question. I think it was a bit
of both, to be honest, like you said, being you know, Indian,
I was always raised with the traditions expectations of you know,
get a good you know, get a good education, get
a good job, get married, have kids, and I follow
(07:34):
that really to a t right. And but you know,
if I think about, like, why did why do our
parents put those expectations on us? And that's because they
just want us to be safe, they want us to
be successful, right. And that's the same thing that happens internally,
is that when you start thinking about doing something new,
(07:57):
we have these inner critics in our brain going no, no, no, no,
I can't do that, and that's trying to keep us safe.
So I think the answer to that is I listened
to that for a while, and I lived my life
according to those kind of expectations for a long time.
But when that, you know, that inner guidance, I would say,
(08:18):
overtook that expectation, and then I wanted to really understand
who I was regardless of the outside expectations. That's when
it took over, you know. But I was I was
lucky in that. At first, my you know, my my
family was like, well, why would why would you do this?
Because you're doing really well, everything's great. Why are you
(08:40):
rocking the boat?
Speaker 1 (08:41):
What's you know?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Even my closest friends would say that, like, we're so
that was a bit tough, but they were not. But
I have to tell you they at the end, they
were supportive, you know, and my immediate families actually was
I actually just I had just had a podcast in
my two hundredth episode and I was talking about this
when my might thank you if my kids and my
husband we went on a vacation and they asked me,
(09:04):
you know, what do you really want? Mom? Wow, what
do you really want? And that just like it just
opened up so much for me. It's like they're so supportive,
and so I would say that, you know, the lesson
there is that you can do things. It's it's important
to have that support system, you know, whether you get
it from me, immediate people around you, or you look
(09:24):
for it in communities or groups. It's really important. So
you know, you can't ignore people around you, but you
have to still be able to follow your voice and
your guess yeah, does that make sense or absolutely?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Absolutely? And I just love the way that your children
questioned you in such a thoughtful way. And that's a
testament obviously to your parenting, right, But how many kids
would say, like, mom, what do you really want? Like
I feel like that question is enough to like break
someone down.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Oh well, I just literally cried and my last Time
episode when I was recalling it because it was really true.
I remember it was like they're like, because I was
going on, I was, you know, deciding what to do,
and they said, okay, let's just spend the next two
hours like, take out a book. This is really what happened.
Take out a book, I note book, and let's just
like brainstorm all the things you could do. I'm like,
you boys are like incredible. You know, so.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
How old were they at this time?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Oh, like early twenties.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh my gosh. I love that. That is just so
like caring and I know, I know, I feel like
that probably is something that if more people had, that
they would be more energized to do the things that
they want to do, because so many of us just
want to be seen and heard and understood, and someone
(10:48):
taking out the time to say, hey, let's work on
you and let's workshop what you want to do next.
I can't think of a better way to feel like
seen and heard and understood and loved. Oh I just
love your kids. I love him.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And actually know that you say that. It's so interesting.
I never really thought of it this way, and this
just came into my mind, is that they let me
be seen and heard and now this is what I'm
doing for others and what you're doing for others. Isn't
it the truth? That's what people want. People just want
to be seen and heard and understood.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, yeah, so right, yeah, yeah. What's one of the
things that in doing this work now for the past
but has it been like five years?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Five years?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, yeah, for the past five years. What's one of
the things that's really stood out to you in doing
the work with all of these women. Is it something
that you learned or is it something that you were
surprised to understand about this work in this process. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, you know, I guess I was surprised at how
calm and some of the challenges are with so many
women and a lot of women, you know, I mean
most of the women who come to me, they just
come because they're feeling very stuck, they're feeling very overwhelmed.
You know, They're very accomplished, they're really smart, they really
(12:18):
have a lot of experience, a lot of great things,
but they don't actually recognize how great they are. It's
really like they are so amazing, but they don't recognize it.
So I think that that's one of the things that
I see very common and I think the most rewarding
part of this work, and I don't know, I'm sure
(12:39):
you have you know, agree with.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Me, is.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Being able to really put a spotlight on somebody's life
and say how great, you know, bring out their strength,
you know, help them uncover what they're really passionate about,
and help them really uncover their why. And when they
uncover their why, then they can plans for the future.
And it's kind of like a transformational process where it's
like you can see the person like lighting up when
(13:06):
it's like, oh my god, yeah, that's actually what I
really want to do and ex then it's like that
whole process. It's like that's the first part of it,
and then the next part is like how do I
actually bring that out into the world, right. I think
it's the transformational process that is the most rewarding thing.
Is when you go through and you have somebody who
shines a light again on you, it gives you the
(13:27):
time and space to really be understand who you are,
you know. I think that's the power of coaching, where
you have somebody who's also an accountability it's like Okay, well,
you said you're going to do this. Now we've figured
out what you're going to do and how are you
going to do it, and we're I'm going to, you know,
keep you accountable for that. So I think that would
(13:48):
be the most rewarding thing.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, I would love for you to share one of
the stories maybe of I guess you don't have to
be specific, but a journey that has stayed with you
that someone.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Had one of the well, actually one of my most
recent clients. It's really interesting because you know, I said,
some women come in they're feeling stuck, and they're overwhelmed
and often even burnt out right from what they're doing.
So this particular client of mine, she is brilliant. She's
a brilliant scientist. She has two PhDs, and she has
(14:27):
this perfect job that people from the outside would be like,
oh my god, this is like the dream job, right,
and she also felt that way, right if she feels
that way, and so she's been in this job for
twenty plus years. And however, I think as time goes by,
you know how, you just kind of continue and work
(14:48):
and you don't question it. And then she also became
burnt out because of the work but deeper than that,
she wasn't tapping into what she really wanted to do,
what she really was inside her heart. So as we
work through this the process of finding what I call
the you know what the term is the ekey guy,
(15:09):
are your reason for being? We uncovered her strengths were
pretty you know, easy to identify because she's a scientist,
she's a researcher, she's brilliant, analytical, all of that. When
it came down covering her passions, she realized that she
hadn't really one of her greatest passions is music and art,
(15:31):
you know, and she did that when she was a kid,
and she had dabbled in it a little bit in
the last few years, but that was her real passion.
And the other thing is she really valued educating young
girls because she has a daughter herself, on the value
of stam education and bringing creativity into that. So all
(15:52):
these things kind of blended into like she's like, oh
my god, I can do this, I can do this.
She started a YouTube channel, she started painting again. She
sold her paintings at the local you know, the library,
and she's you know, displayed them, and she started teaching
this instrument to her daughter's class, and she said that,
(16:16):
you know, she said, oh my god, kibta like the energy,
I'm just a different person. Like the energy, the positive
energy that has been released as just as a result
of me bringing this into my life has transferred into
my work and that now I'm like my work and
my relationships are better. So it's not about always giving
up everything, right, It's about understanding and rediscovering what's inside
(16:38):
of you already. So that's just one example of like
digging into what may you have you might have buried
in your heart or you haven't done, and just uncovering that.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Ooh, I know it's getting good. But we'll be right
back after we hear from our sponsors. If you had
one clear action item that you wanted to share with
people about figuring out their why, what would that be?
(17:11):
Because I know that that sentiment of letting your why
be your north star and understanding your why it is
heavily out there, right, But I don't think there's as
much conversation around how do you get to your why?
And I know that it can be a long process
for some people, and some people it's a little bit easier.
(17:33):
But do you have any advice or maybe one thing
that you like to share about helping people figure out
their why.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's really the probably the biggest part of my coaching
that I do. That's the whole first part of it.
I would say that the biggest thing is to give
yourself the space and the time and mission to figure
that out. And yes, for some people it takes longer
(18:06):
than others, but give yourself the permission and the grace
to understand that. And the process is you know that
I went through, the I take my clients through. It
is a step by step process of finding or why.
It is determining your strengths. It is determining what are
(18:28):
you really passionate about through a step by step process.
It is about determining what you really value, and it's
about determining what does the world need right now that
you can you contribute your unique skills and talent and
passions towards that, Like what do you think is missing
in the world that you can uniquely provide? And once
(18:51):
you determine that, it's a fuel for you. It's at
that positive fuel, positive anabolic energy that grits created that
all of a sudden things will come to you. People
will come to you ironically. It seems ironic, but it's
actually not. It's a law of attraction. It's it's people
coming to you because you've put it out there. You've
actually once you put your your why out there, once
(19:13):
you actually internalize it and believe that you can do it,
uncanny things happen, and it happened to me, and they
happen to countless people that I've worked with. And it's
so I would say long answer to the question, but
the first part of it is giving yourself the permission
to understand your why because it don't expect it to
(19:36):
take one day like it's it's it's an ongoing process,
and we and why changes also throughout our lives. Yeah,
so it's not stagnant, it's it's it's it's it's an
ongoing process of determination.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah. I'm glad you pointed that out because I think
that takes some of the pressure off of figuring it
out right. A lot of times you're figuring out your why,
you feel like it's this one thing, this one conclusion
that you need to come to, and then you're married
to that conclusion forever we all know, mate.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So yeah, and it could be many wise, it could
be more than one, why, right, Like it could be
many things like my wives to be a great mother
or wife, you know whatever, and our and it could
be to be uh, you know, to to help transfer
a lot transform lives. There's different whys you have. It's
not like one and neither that's it, like you know,
so it's it's evolving and there could be more than one.
(20:30):
But it's around who you really are uniquely to you
and it's about determining that, right mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
In wrapping up, I would love to know. Trailing off
from our whys, what do you think about success specifically
with relation to yourself? What is your definition of success
for you? And do you feel like you've reached that
(20:59):
level of success that you're aiming to work?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I think success is individual, for sure, you know I
and I think my definition of success has changed dramatically,
Like as I said before, when I was in the
corporate world, do you know there's outward expressions of success.
You know, whatever level of career you're in, you know,
(21:23):
a director, you know, vice VP, whatever, right, and you
strive for that and there's nothing wrong with that if
that is your definition of success. That was and that
change when I realized that that's not what would make
me feulfilled. My definition of success is really being able
to help transform as many lives as possible through what
(21:49):
the work that I do. And I don't put a
number on it. I don't put a monetary thing on it.
It's more about being putting my best efforts out there
and having people attract people to me who need my help,
because not everybody needs my help, not but not everyone
(22:11):
is aligned with me, you know. It's who's aligned with me,
who attracts who's attracted to me, and how can we
work together to make their lives more meaningful. So it's
about changing lives and helping people. I know it sounds
very woo wu, but that's really what it is. It's
really it's changed, you know, the value it It's all
(22:33):
about my values that have changed, you know. So my
definite success is really not monetary, and that comes like
monetary success comes if you're doing something that aligns with
your why it's it's if you focus only on the outcome,
or like the monetary outcome, or like, oh I have
to get to this level. I think it's a moving target.
(22:58):
If you really do every day, you really are meant
to do with full passion and excitement and energy, then
the results will follow.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Love it, love it, Love it, Kavida, this has been
a great chat. Thank you so much for spending time
with us today. Let everyone know where they can follow you,
connect with you, maybe work with you, and just you know,
be in your orbit a bit more.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I'd love to thank you for the opportunity. Yeah. So
the best place to reach me is my website, It's
It's my Time Now coaching dot com. You can learn
about my services. I have a coaching program, I have
a co online course. I'm happy to offer forty five
minute consultation free consultation for the listeners. You can reach
(23:51):
me at Kavita k A B I T A at
It's my Time Now coaching dot com. Of course I
have yeah, thank you. I also have my podcast is
called the Midlife Free Invention Podcast and you were on it.
It was a great episode. And you can reach me
fun time.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yeah yeah, I gotta go that out.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah yeah. So those are the places you can reach me,
and of course LinkedIn Instagram, Facebook, but primarily it's my website.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Ye yes, yeah, thank you for taking the time to
spend with us today, and for all of you listening,
I hope that you are thinking a little bit more
about your why if you haven't already identified it, and
you're thinking about some of the things that we touched on,
because they're very relatable to all of us in our
everyday situations. Whether you're working in corporate or if you're
(24:44):
trying to go the entrepreneurial route or have already gone
that route, all of the things that we've discussed today
will definitely come up at some point in time or another,
And so thank you for spending time with us and
listening into this conversation, and as always, well
Hello, most awesome one. I am Ayana Angel. You're host
of the Switch Pivolar Quick podcast and welcome. If you
have never joined us before, welcome back. If you are
familiar with us in this space that we hold for
each other. I am so excited that you have decided
to drop into this conversation today because I have a
good one for you. But first let me let you
(00:23):
know why you're here. This is a space where we
have Canada conversations helping you to get the courage and
the clarity that you need to enter into your next
chapter in life, whatever that may be, whatever that may
look like. And so today we're gonna be speaking with
a certified women's career and life transition coach. Her name
(00:45):
is Kavita Ahuja and she is the founder of It's
My Time Now Coaching and she's also the host of
a popular podcast called The Midlife Reinvention. She specializes in
helping women navigate those significant life transitions by god them
to help them align their next season in life with
their strengths, with their passions, and Kavina's compassionate approach helps
(01:09):
women transform uncertainty into opportunity. Let's get into this conversation
with Covina Covido. Welcome to the Switch Over Real Quick podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you, it's wonderful. It's wonderful, wonderful to be here.
It's really a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Of course, So your coaching practice is called It's My
Time Now. Can you share what led you to create
this platform and what that name represents for you and
the women that you work with.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
That's a great question, I think, thanks for asking It's
my Time now. It's really about the fact that we know,
why do we why are we waiting? Why do we
wait in our lives to create what we know is
inside of our hearts? You know, oftentimes we kind of
go through life, I mean sometimes with blinders maybe, or
(02:01):
or kind of like we kind of fall into things
and then twenty years later it's like, oh my goodness,
am I really happy with what I'm doing? Or am
I as fulfilled as I should be? So the reason
I chose this name, and I think it really resonated
with It resonated me and a lot of a lot
of people, is it really is your time now to
really rediscover who you are, what you want, you know,
(02:24):
and really how to get there, especially as you go
through transitions in life, whether their career or other life transitions.
So it's really, you know, if we don't want to
look back at our life with regret. So the time
aspect of it, I think was really important for me
to bring across, especially for the women who are listening
who might be like, oh, you know, I'm not sure,
(02:46):
I don't know what the next. You know you want to.
I know one of your questions is focusing on helping
people answer the question what's next? Right, So that's it.
I think the time element is super important because you know,
we have the time now to really figure it out,
so we should take the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You've mentioned and you've shared about your story in your transitions,
and I would love to find out, first of all,
what was your transition journey and getting into doing the
work that you're doing now, And did you have any
fears around making a huge transition like you did.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh my god, I had so many fears and I
still do every day. I'm sure you do too, right, Yeah,
thank you. My transition I was and I was in
the pharmaceutical industry for almost twenty five years. I'm Indian
and I live in Canada. And I grew up here,
and so I was in the pharmaceutical industry, you know,
(03:45):
as a science degree and business degree, and it would
just seem natural to go into that. And it was
great when it was great, you know, and progressively senior roles,
you know, doing really well, enjoyed it. You know, it
allowed a lot of comfort and stability in my life.
Right around the time I turned fifty, however, there was
(04:07):
something inside of me that switched, I guess, and I
began to question, as I'm sure many of your listeners
may also have that feeling. It doesn't have to be
at fifty. It can be any time in your life
when you kind of question, you know, is this it
is this what I really want to do for the
rest of my life? Is what I'm doing right now
really utilizing all of my passions, all of my strengths.
(04:30):
And the answer was really no, right, So it took
me a while. It took me at least two years before,
you know, when the start of that voice kind of
started in my inside. And then I actually left because
of those fears that you were talking about, like, oh
my god, what am I going to do? You know,
what are people going to think of? Me. You know,
(04:52):
all the judgment pieces is because I was just so
used to doing this and I was successful from the
outside and the inside though things were definite, so those
fears were definitely there, but the voice crew so loud
that I just really couldn't ignore it anymore. And that's
when I decided to leave. And then I realized that
there's so many other people who are going through these
(05:13):
transitions and life who kind of just ignore those signals,
you know, And I wanted to dig deep into that,
and I was like, why do we have these triggers?
What is a transition?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Really?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How can I help people successfully navigate these transitions and
really understand their why? And I believe when you understand
your why, then the transition that you're making in your
career and your life just it. The changes that you
make after that really stick. So a long answer to
(05:47):
your question, but that's kind of how the transition, you know,
how I transitioned into becoming a coach and a podcaster myself.
I wanted to hear other women's stories of how they
transitioned in their lives and what did they learn, what
kind of fears did they have, and what challenges did
they face? So it's been really rewarding, and it's just,
you know, it's it's what I encourage people to do
(06:10):
if they have that voice inside of them too, to
not wait.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
So on one hand, you mentioned how you know, you
have the pressures around you, right and the expectations externally,
and people think like, oh, your life is amazing, it
looks amazing. You did all the things you were supposed
to do. How did you grapple with or did you
have to grapple with maybe letting people down and how,
(06:42):
you know, like, how did that feel, especially culturally we
know from the outside what culturally a lot of Indian
parents expect, a lot of African parents expect, you know,
you know, Asian parents like, we know culturally there's a
high expectation. And so did you worry about that at
(07:04):
that point in your life or was that that burned
so big that you said, hey, it doesn't matter whatever
people expect.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
That's a great question. I think it was a bit
of both, to be honest, like you said, being you know, Indian,
I was always raised with the traditions expectations of you know,
get a good you know, get a good education, get
a good job, get married, have kids, and I follow
(07:34):
that really to a t right. And but you know,
if I think about, like, why did why do our
parents put those expectations on us? And that's because they
just want us to be safe, they want us to
be successful, right. And that's the same thing that happens internally,
is that when you start thinking about doing something new,
(07:57):
we have these inner critics in our brain going no, no, no, no,
I can't do that, and that's trying to keep us safe.
So I think the answer to that is I listened
to that for a while, and I lived my life
according to those kind of expectations for a long time.
But when that, you know, that inner guidance, I would say,
(08:18):
overtook that expectation, and then I wanted to really understand
who I was regardless of the outside expectations. That's when
it took over, you know. But I was I was
lucky in that. At first, my you know, my my
family was like, well, why would why would you do this?
Because you're doing really well, everything's great. Why are you
(08:40):
rocking the boat?
Speaker 1 (08:41):
What's you know?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Even my closest friends would say that, like, we're so
that was a bit tough, but they were not. But
I have to tell you they at the end, they
were supportive, you know, and my immediate families actually was
I actually just I had just had a podcast in
my two hundredth episode and I was talking about this
when my might thank you if my kids and my
husband we went on a vacation and they asked me,
(09:04):
you know, what do you really want? Mom? Wow, what
do you really want? And that just like it just
opened up so much for me. It's like they're so supportive,
and so I would say that, you know, the lesson
there is that you can do things. It's it's important
to have that support system, you know, whether you get
it from me, immediate people around you, or you look
(09:24):
for it in communities or groups. It's really important. So
you know, you can't ignore people around you, but you
have to still be able to follow your voice and
your guess yeah, does that make sense or absolutely?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Absolutely? And I just love the way that your children
questioned you in such a thoughtful way. And that's a
testament obviously to your parenting, right, But how many kids
would say, like, mom, what do you really want? Like
I feel like that question is enough to like break
someone down.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Oh well, I just literally cried and my last Time
episode when I was recalling it because it was really true.
I remember it was like they're like, because I was
going on, I was, you know, deciding what to do,
and they said, okay, let's just spend the next two
hours like, take out a book. This is really what happened.
Take out a book, I note book, and let's just
like brainstorm all the things you could do. I'm like,
you boys are like incredible. You know, so.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
How old were they at this time?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Oh, like early twenties.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh my gosh. I love that. That is just so
like caring and I know, I know, I feel like
that probably is something that if more people had, that
they would be more energized to do the things that
they want to do, because so many of us just
want to be seen and heard and understood, and someone
(10:48):
taking out the time to say, hey, let's work on
you and let's workshop what you want to do next.
I can't think of a better way to feel like
seen and heard and understood and loved. Oh I just
love your kids. I love him.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And actually know that you say that. It's so interesting.
I never really thought of it this way, and this
just came into my mind, is that they let me
be seen and heard and now this is what I'm
doing for others and what you're doing for others. Isn't
it the truth? That's what people want. People just want
to be seen and heard and understood.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, yeah, so right, yeah, yeah. What's one of the
things that in doing this work now for the past
but has it been like five years?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Five years?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, yeah, for the past five years. What's one of
the things that's really stood out to you in doing
the work with all of these women. Is it something
that you learned or is it something that you were
surprised to understand about this work in this process. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, you know, I guess I was surprised at how
calm and some of the challenges are with so many
women and a lot of women, you know, I mean
most of the women who come to me, they just
come because they're feeling very stuck, they're feeling very overwhelmed.
You know, They're very accomplished, they're really smart, they really
(12:18):
have a lot of experience, a lot of great things,
but they don't actually recognize how great they are. It's
really like they are so amazing, but they don't recognize it.
So I think that that's one of the things that
I see very common and I think the most rewarding
part of this work, and I don't know, I'm sure
(12:39):
you have you know, agree with.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Me, is.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Being able to really put a spotlight on somebody's life
and say how great, you know, bring out their strength,
you know, help them uncover what they're really passionate about,
and help them really uncover their why. And when they
uncover their why, then they can plans for the future.
And it's kind of like a transformational process where it's
like you can see the person like lighting up when
(13:06):
it's like, oh my god, yeah, that's actually what I
really want to do and ex then it's like that
whole process. It's like that's the first part of it,
and then the next part is like how do I
actually bring that out into the world, right. I think
it's the transformational process that is the most rewarding thing.
Is when you go through and you have somebody who
shines a light again on you, it gives you the
(13:27):
time and space to really be understand who you are,
you know. I think that's the power of coaching, where
you have somebody who's also an accountability it's like Okay, well,
you said you're going to do this. Now we've figured
out what you're going to do and how are you
going to do it, and we're I'm going to, you know,
keep you accountable for that. So I think that would
(13:48):
be the most rewarding thing.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, I would love for you to share one of
the stories maybe of I guess you don't have to
be specific, but a journey that has stayed with you
that someone.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Had one of the well, actually one of my most
recent clients. It's really interesting because you know, I said,
some women come in they're feeling stuck, and they're overwhelmed
and often even burnt out right from what they're doing.
So this particular client of mine, she is brilliant. She's
a brilliant scientist. She has two PhDs, and she has
(14:27):
this perfect job that people from the outside would be like,
oh my god, this is like the dream job, right,
and she also felt that way, right if she feels
that way, and so she's been in this job for
twenty plus years. And however, I think as time goes by,
you know how, you just kind of continue and work
(14:48):
and you don't question it. And then she also became
burnt out because of the work but deeper than that,
she wasn't tapping into what she really wanted to do,
what she really was inside her heart. So as we
work through this the process of finding what I call
the you know what the term is the ekey guy,
(15:09):
are your reason for being? We uncovered her strengths were
pretty you know, easy to identify because she's a scientist,
she's a researcher, she's brilliant, analytical, all of that. When
it came down covering her passions, she realized that she
hadn't really one of her greatest passions is music and art,
(15:31):
you know, and she did that when she was a kid,
and she had dabbled in it a little bit in
the last few years, but that was her real passion.
And the other thing is she really valued educating young
girls because she has a daughter herself, on the value
of stam education and bringing creativity into that. So all
(15:52):
these things kind of blended into like she's like, oh
my god, I can do this, I can do this.
She started a YouTube channel, she started painting again. She
sold her paintings at the local you know, the library,
and she's you know, displayed them, and she started teaching
this instrument to her daughter's class, and she said that,
(16:16):
you know, she said, oh my god, kibta like the energy,
I'm just a different person. Like the energy, the positive
energy that has been released as just as a result
of me bringing this into my life has transferred into
my work and that now I'm like my work and
my relationships are better. So it's not about always giving
up everything, right, It's about understanding and rediscovering what's inside
(16:38):
of you already. So that's just one example of like
digging into what may you have you might have buried
in your heart or you haven't done, and just uncovering that.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Ooh, I know it's getting good. But we'll be right
back after we hear from our sponsors. If you had
one clear action item that you wanted to share with
people about figuring out their why, what would that be?
(17:11):
Because I know that that sentiment of letting your why
be your north star and understanding your why it is
heavily out there, right, But I don't think there's as
much conversation around how do you get to your why?
And I know that it can be a long process
for some people, and some people it's a little bit easier.
(17:33):
But do you have any advice or maybe one thing
that you like to share about helping people figure out
their why.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's really the probably the biggest part of my coaching
that I do. That's the whole first part of it.
I would say that the biggest thing is to give
yourself the space and the time and mission to figure
that out. And yes, for some people it takes longer
(18:06):
than others, but give yourself the permission and the grace
to understand that. And the process is you know that
I went through, the I take my clients through. It
is a step by step process of finding or why.
It is determining your strengths. It is determining what are
(18:28):
you really passionate about through a step by step process.
It is about determining what you really value, and it's
about determining what does the world need right now that
you can you contribute your unique skills and talent and
passions towards that, Like what do you think is missing
in the world that you can uniquely provide? And once
(18:51):
you determine that, it's a fuel for you. It's at
that positive fuel, positive anabolic energy that grits created that
all of a sudden things will come to you. People
will come to you ironically. It seems ironic, but it's
actually not. It's a law of attraction. It's it's people
coming to you because you've put it out there. You've
actually once you put your your why out there, once
(19:13):
you actually internalize it and believe that you can do it,
uncanny things happen, and it happened to me, and they
happen to countless people that I've worked with. And it's
so I would say long answer to the question, but
the first part of it is giving yourself the permission
to understand your why because it don't expect it to
(19:36):
take one day like it's it's it's an ongoing process,
and we and why changes also throughout our lives. Yeah,
so it's not stagnant, it's it's it's it's it's an
ongoing process of determination.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah. I'm glad you pointed that out because I think
that takes some of the pressure off of figuring it
out right. A lot of times you're figuring out your why,
you feel like it's this one thing, this one conclusion
that you need to come to, and then you're married
to that conclusion forever we all know, mate.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So yeah, and it could be many wise, it could
be more than one, why, right, Like it could be
many things like my wives to be a great mother
or wife, you know whatever, and our and it could
be to be uh, you know, to to help transfer
a lot transform lives. There's different whys you have. It's
not like one and neither that's it, like you know,
so it's it's evolving and there could be more than one.
(20:30):
But it's around who you really are uniquely to you
and it's about determining that, right mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
In wrapping up, I would love to know. Trailing off
from our whys, what do you think about success specifically
with relation to yourself? What is your definition of success
for you? And do you feel like you've reached that
(20:59):
level of success that you're aiming to work?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I think success is individual, for sure, you know I
and I think my definition of success has changed dramatically,
Like as I said before, when I was in the
corporate world, do you know there's outward expressions of success.
You know, whatever level of career you're in, you know,
(21:23):
a director, you know, vice VP, whatever, right, and you
strive for that and there's nothing wrong with that if
that is your definition of success. That was and that
change when I realized that that's not what would make
me feulfilled. My definition of success is really being able
to help transform as many lives as possible through what
(21:49):
the work that I do. And I don't put a
number on it. I don't put a monetary thing on it.
It's more about being putting my best efforts out there
and having people attract people to me who need my help,
because not everybody needs my help, not but not everyone
(22:11):
is aligned with me, you know. It's who's aligned with me,
who attracts who's attracted to me, and how can we
work together to make their lives more meaningful. So it's
about changing lives and helping people. I know it sounds
very woo wu, but that's really what it is. It's
really it's changed, you know, the value it It's all
(22:33):
about my values that have changed, you know. So my
definite success is really not monetary, and that comes like
monetary success comes if you're doing something that aligns with
your why it's it's if you focus only on the outcome,
or like the monetary outcome, or like, oh I have
to get to this level. I think it's a moving target.
(22:58):
If you really do every day, you really are meant
to do with full passion and excitement and energy, then
the results will follow.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Love it, love it, Love it, Kavida, this has been
a great chat. Thank you so much for spending time
with us today. Let everyone know where they can follow you,
connect with you, maybe work with you, and just you know,
be in your orbit a bit more.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I'd love to thank you for the opportunity. Yeah. So
the best place to reach me is my website, It's
It's my Time Now coaching dot com. You can learn
about my services. I have a coaching program, I have
a co online course. I'm happy to offer forty five
minute consultation free consultation for the listeners. You can reach
(23:51):
me at Kavita k A B I T A at
It's my Time Now coaching dot com. Of course I
have yeah, thank you. I also have my podcast is
called the Midlife Free Invention Podcast and you were on it.
It was a great episode. And you can reach me
fun time.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yeah yeah, I gotta go that out.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah yeah. So those are the places you can reach me,
and of course LinkedIn Instagram, Facebook, but primarily it's my website.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Ye yes, yeah, thank you for taking the time to
spend with us today, and for all of you listening,
I hope that you are thinking a little bit more
about your why if you haven't already identified it, and
you're thinking about some of the things that we touched on,
because they're very relatable to all of us in our
everyday situations. Whether you're working in corporate or if you're
(24:44):
trying to go the entrepreneurial route or have already gone
that route, all of the things that we've discussed today
will definitely come up at some point in time or another,
And so thank you for spending time with us and
listening into this conversation, and as always, well
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