Lessons from a Quitter

One of the things that I try to stress on this podcast is the fact that there are opportunities everywhere. As new technologies emerge, entire new industries are born and those industries sprout tons of new jobs and business ideas. My guests today have been taking advantage of just that.  After Airbnb started gaining in popularity, Annette Grant and Sarah Karakaian each saw an opportunity to lever...

While the podcast showcases the specific steps and tactics people used to start over in new careers, my goal is to actually demonstrate the mindset that you need to take the leap.  Because without the mindset, all of the tactics in the world won't help you start over. If you get stuck in the fear and the doubt, you'll be stuck forever.  Through my own journey and talking with over 90 quitters, I'v...

What if the secret to your happiness wasn't in getting to the next milestone, or doing a bunch of things that society tells you to do, or accomplishing anything?  What if the secret was in undoing all of the BS you were sold?  What if the secret was in returning to who you were always meant to be before you were forced to be something you're not? This week on the podcast, I got to talk to Erika Ge...

I'm so excited to jump into March's book club pick, Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. If you haven't taken the time to read it, do yourself a favor and pick it up.   I think this book is all the more important during this uncertain time of a global pandemic. Many people are rightfully re-evaluating their life and work.    The entire premise of the book is that we need creativity in order to live the...

As we head into uncertain economic times, it's important to look to examples of people who have, not only survived but thrived through similar situations.   We need reminders that, while there are so many things we don't control, we always control how we show up.   There is no better example of this than my friend, Janelle Copeland.    Janelle had a successful career in leadership and management a...

We're all feeling scared and uncertain about the future.   I don't have the answers. But I'm hoping my perspective might quiet those fears a bit.   My advice basically falls into a couple DOs and DONTs.   DON'T:   DON'T take anyone's advice about all of the things you should be getting done right now while in quarantine.  This isn't a vacation. A lot of us are panicked and we don't need to add a l...

What if you quit your career and start over only to find out that the new career also isn't something you love?! I think that is one of the biggest reasons people stay stuck. We have this idea that if we jump, then the next thing has to be our purpose. So we become frenetic about finding it. We become so obsessed that we can't slow down long enough to figure out what we actually like (see the prob...

Clearly, we're on the same page as our guest this week, Sara Bliss. Sara is the author of Take the Leap where she provides both inspiration and advice for transforming your life. Sara features the stories of over 65 people who have taken the jump to completely new careers. She proves that it's not too late to chase your dreams, change up your life, hit it big, and go for it.   Sara has made countl...

This week on the pod, I'm reviewing Martha Beck's Finding Your Own North Star.   If you've ever wondered how you should find your calling or passion, this book is for you. It is a guide to uncovering what has always been there.   In this episode, I discuss: The difference between the essential self and the social self How to start listening to your essential self and why that's so important How to...

What if I told you there was a tool that could help you figure out what you should be doing with your life?   Sounds pretty amazing, right?!   What if I told you that tool was the ever-popular personality assessment?!   Before you roll your eyes, hear me out.   I used to laugh at these new-age, woo-woo BS tests. If it wasn't scientifically proven, I didn't want to hear it.   But then I took one......

Traci Connell is an award-winning creative entrepreneur whose business sense and design skills are combined with a passion for delivering interiors that are at the heart of a livable style. Formally trained as an elementary teacher, Traci enjoyed the creativity and structure of the classroom but knew she had not found her passion. The big "Ah-ha" moment came in 2000, when a dear friend asked, "why...

Most people accept the limitations placed on them by society, never questioning how much more they're actually capable of.  Tasha Cochran is not most people. And that is why I'm thrilled to have her on the podcast today to blow up people's assumptions of what is possible.    Tasha Cochran is an attorney, co-founder of One Big Happy Life, and a true trailblazer for lasting and effective financial f...

This week on the podcast, we're kicking off our book club for 2020. One of the biggest tools to achieving the life you want is changing your mindset. Books and podcasts have been pivotal in my own journey and the journey of so many others who have designed a life that they love.   So we're going to spend some time every month focusing on shifting our beliefs about what is possible and what we can...

Are you staying in a job you hate because of money?   The #1 reason I hear from people when they tell me they can't quit is finances.   Whether it is too much debt, not being able to replace their salary, or not being able to cut back, money seems to be a big block from living the life they want.    But when I push just a bit, I realize that most people have no real idea of their actual numbers.  ...

On this podcast, we've talked to tons of people who have quit careers that they hated in order to find something that they loved. The general premise is that this outside circumstance, namely their stressful job, is causing them to be miserable and so they make the leap in search of a circumstance that won't cause them to feel that way.   Well, on today's episode, I am honored to talk to the incre...

This week I had the opportunity to chat with Marc Allen, a strategy consultant to social impact and development funders worldwide, advising them on how to create greater human impact with their investments. We talk all about why skills are valuable. Namely how we can look at the skills we've acquired, instead of the career we've pursued, in order to help serve us in our next projects.    I love th...

 We're obsessed with trying to find the "right" answer because we think that will give us some semblance of "control" over our future.⁠ "How do I know which direction is the right one for me?"⁠ Everyone who wants to quit their job asks some version of this question:⁠ I always answer the same way:⁠ The bad news is that there is no right answer. But the good news is that there is no right answer. Th...

Sure, quitting is easy if you've always hated your job. But what if you used to love it? What if you loved it for many years? What if you were really, really good at it? I'm so excited about this week's episode with the amazing Shawn Askinosie. Shawn walked away from a very successful career as a criminal defense attorney, a job he used to love. Until he didn't. He realized that the career he once...

In 75 episodes, I think the recurring lesson that comes up in almost every single episode is that you can't think your way to the end goal. It just doesn't work that way.⁠ ⁠ There will be detours. Set-backs. New connections. And a whole lot of learning that will change your route. The only thing you have to do is start. You don't have to know how it is going to unfold. Just start.⁠ ⁠ This week on...

Hi, my name is Goli and I'm a life-long people-pleaser.⁠ ⁠ I have a feeling a lot of you are too. Because we're trained from childhood to just do what we're told and not make waves.⁠ And while I used to understand that this tendency made me overly agreeable, overly apologetic (hello, women?), and obsessed with making sure everyone liked me, I didn't realize how much it actually kept me stuck in my...

Will Day started out his career with a 2-year stint in the Peace Corps after college. He then went on to a successful career in the financial industry on Wall Street. But something felt like it was missing. In 2001, he enrolled in the Masters of Architecture program at Pratt Institute and then went to work as an architect. But that also never felt right. It wasn't until he decided to finally follo...

So often we hold on to what we know so tightly that we give up the opportunity of having something so much better. Kim Le Pham is on the podcast today and her story is such an inspiration to me. Everything this woman touches turns to gold and, yet, she never rests on her laurels. She's constantly pushing herself (and her husband) out of their comfort zone. Kim Le went from climbing the corporate l...

It's important to pay attention to what you build your identity around. A common mistake that people make is to believe that what they do equates to who they are. This misconception can create a giant roadblock when it comes to changing paths because it then poses the question, "who am I if I'm not x, y, or z?" The reality is that, clearly, you're not what you do. Our identity is made up of so man...

Even though this week's guest isn't a traditional quitter like our previous guests, she has dealt with the same limiting beliefs and fears we all deal with when starting something new. Right out of college at 21, Jenna Irvin decided she wanted to start her own brick-and-mortar fitness studio without ever having any experience in business. What I love about her story is that she didn't let the limi...