EP42: Five things leading you astray and how to stay on your path.
This episode is for anyone feeling stuck, scattered, or second-guessing themselves on their journey toward purposeful work. I share what she’s seeing come up most often as people work through the Purposeful Income Path—plus five powerful lessons that can help anyone stay grounded, focused and moving forward (even when life is messy).
You’ll learn:
Why your financial goal might be too big or abstract—and how to fix it
How to clarify boundaries that actually support your transition
What kinds of distractions can derail you—and how to stay on track
Why trying to follow multiple ideas at once keeps you stuck
The importance of making a meaningful promise to yourself (and keeping it)
If you’ve been bouncing between options or struggling to commit to one direction, this episode will help you refocus your energy and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
SPECIAL OFFER: Get Personal Feedback on Your Path (Ends July 31!)
Until the end of July, Alisa is offering personal feedback on your completed Purposeful Income Path. When you submit your path, she’ll review it with insights drawn from 15+ years as an entrepreneur and advisor to hundreds of impact-led startups.
Spot misalignment
Strengthen your boundaries
Uncover joyful, realistic income options
Get the Purposeful Income Path now: https://www.regenerativeworklife.com/purposeful-income-path
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Full Transcript
Alisa: You are travelling through Mirkwood and you need to stay on the path. Do not be tricked by the Trixie Lights. Friends, we are halfway through July and I want to remind you that we are now coming into the last week or so of you being able to get my personal feedback on your purposeful income path. So if you have been thinking about jumping in and doing this path for yourself, really now is the best possible time because when you've completed your path you can send it to me and I am going to review it with all of the benefit of 15 years experience as an entrepreneur, working with other entrepreneurs, literally doing this for hundreds of startups in the climate tech space. I really believe that this can make so much of a difference compared to doing the path on your own, which of course you are welcome to do. But as I'm going through and reviewing the paths that people are sending me, I am quickly spotting where their goals might not be aligned with the kind of work that they want to do, or boundaries aren't clear enough, or perhaps they're overlooking an option that might really, really work for them. And I'm going to be talking about that in a bit.
I'm hearing from people that this feedback is just helping everything to click into place, you know, helping people to get to those final decisions and make that last commitment to one joyful, aligned way of making money from regenerative work, which is what the purposeful income path is all about. So if you haven't discovered it yet, go over to the website, take a look. The link is in the show notes as well. And if it's something that is right for you, I really recommend that you seize the momentum, seize this opportunity to get that personal feedback and get that path over to me before the end of July so that I can get my eyeballs on it and help you move forward.
Okay, as you can hear, my voice is not great this week. I actually completely lost my voice on Sunday night but it's coming back and I generally have not been feeling great. And I'm pretty sure that it's all hormone related. Yes, that's right. We're talking about perimenopause yet again on the podcast, but you know what? It's going to be a big theme for me for who knows how long. And I want to be honest and upfront about what is going on for me. And I know a lot of you listening will be going through something similar. And if it's not perimenopause, it might just be, you know, navigating the menstrual cycle. It might be other health concerns, it might be responsibilities that you have like caring responsibilities. Basically you know life is constantly throwing us curveballs and you know that's not even getting on to the wider macro picture of all of the horror and pain that is happening in the world. It is so much for us to take on and If we're not real about the fact that that is affecting our ability to make dramatic shifts in our career, to forge new career paths, to have the courage to get our own regenerative businesses up and running, you know, then I think we're really doing ourselves a disservice because the reality is most of us, if not all of us, are dealing with challenges all the time, as we are also trying to forge a new way forward and you know for me this this just keeps coming around I feel great for essentially the first half of my cycle then things really rapidly go downhill and I would say for the second half of my cycle but um that is a you know how long is a piece of string at the moment it's extremely inconsistent and then kind of as soon as my period comes my health just seems to fall apart.
Look, I'm not here for, like, this is not a self-pity exercise. You know, everyone is going through this and much, much worse. And I am, you know, I'm taking steps to actually sort of get the help I need with this because it's not something I can ride out on my own. But this morning, I, yesterday was like basically a complete write-off. I was in bed all day and today I really, really felt... Like for my own emotional and mental health, I needed to get back to some semblance of normal. I needed some kind of forward momentum. You know, I really wanted to be showing up for the people who are inside the path, for example, who are waiting for my feedback. You know, I wanted to be here to do the podcast for you today. And I, so I just took things really, really gently this morning. Once the kids were packed off to school, I needed to clean the kitchen. And I just thought, what is the gentlest possible way that I can clean the kitchen? And I just did it so delicately. And normally I clean like with all of the resentment that I can muster. And I just did it so gently and delicately. And it actually kind of really, really helped me to see, you know just one moving one cup at a time wiping up you know one batch of crumbs at a time and just really staying focused on what I was doing like what is it in my hands, I've got like a dirty piece of tissue in my hands where does that need to go, it needs to go to the bin, okay I'm gonna go and put it in the bin and that same approach is how I then came into my work day like I'm just gonna sit down, I'm gonna do my mindset work, that's how I begin every day with my mindset work and I know that I really don't want to do it, I really don't feel like doing this and I'm not going to have any expectation that it's going to help or it's going to work but I am just going to commit to doing it. I'm going to commit to showing up and doing the same mindset work that I do every day and sure enough because it's mindset work and it's magic, by the time I got to the end of it I was feeling completely differently.
I was, was I still fragile yes was I still frustrated with my energy levels absolutely but i felt focused and i had faith again in my work, in myself in my abilities, and I just felt at that time so grateful that i have a really clear path at the moment and i'm really focused right now that focus is the launch of the Purposeful Income Path you know that that is my path that is my focus and I don't have to leave it up to how I feel.
If I left things up to how I feel, I wouldn't be doing this podcast right now. I would probably, in all honesty, be kind of crying on the sofa. And there is a time and place for that. But I also need to be able to show up when I really don't feel like it. And that is where having a path, knowing what your current goal is, knowing exactly what it is that you're going to do to achieve that goal, and just putting one foot in front of the other, just taking that. next step, even if you don't believe it's going to work, even if you don't feel like doing it, sure, it's going to be a lot slower than when life is going smoothly and you feel good. Like it's, it might be really, really kind of, you know, incremental steps forwards, but you are moving forward. And that is what having a path gives to you. And that is why I believe so much in the Purposeful Income Path because I see this so often from people, whether it's life throwing curveballs or, you know, actually sometimes they've kind of created the curveball themselves because they no longer want to be part of an old system that wasn't serving them or anyone else. And they've actively chosen to step out of that, but then they just feel kind of lost and they're spiraling. And I see people jumping from idea to idea, being so distracted by what other people think that they should do, by what they see, quote unquote successful people doing around them and they're second guessing themselves they're chasing the new shiny thing they're bouncing back and forward between you know do I create a consultancy or do I go back and get a job or can I really lean into this rewilding idea that I've had or do I just need to like accept that i need to get a part-time job whatever it it might be like it's exhausting, it's exhausting and it's overwhelming. And when you don't have the personal capacity for whatever reason to deal with that, you just need to be putting one foot in front of the other. And we all need more focus. We all need a clear path and a way of moving past the distractions and all of the demands on our attention. And that is what the Purposeful Income Path does. It gives you one clear meaningful goal to work for at a time you decide exactly what it is that you're going to do to achieve that goal you set really firm boundaries around it and you keep your eyes focused on that you see it through you go the distance one foot in front of another even when it's difficult, you keep moving forward.
So today I'm going to share some of the things that are coming up that I'm hearing back from people that I'm noticing as I'm reviewing the paths and sharing my feedback so some questions clarifications and suggestions on creating really really effective joyful and focused paths for yourself in their career or perhaps taking their first steps into building a business and look even if um it's not the right time for you to jump into the Purposeful Income Path. I recommend this episode and listening through because i think i've got about five things that i'm going to share with you here that are really useful nuggets of advice for anyone who is making a transition in their career. or taking their first steps in getting a business off the ground. So let's jump into what I'm learning from helping people to forge their purposeful income path. The first thing is that almost everybody is setting goals that are too big and too abstract and it's quite interesting because I think we must just be conditioned to think of financial goals in this way in quite a and quite a big, bold, heavy... kind of way because even in the videos that I have inside the path I'm very clear to make these goals really small and accessible and quite joyful but what I'm hearing a lot of is people setting goals like replace my corporate income or meet my basic needs and of course I understand that that's what you want but those goals are really heavy goals they're likely ones that have already been causing you some anxiety. You know, you're probably very, very focused on how on earth am I going to replace my income? How am I going to meet my basic needs? So don't set a goal that keeps you in that energetic space. If it's been feeling hard before, it's still going to feel hard even within this framework. So you need to shift things up a bit. Make your goals much, much, much, much smaller. I don't care if you are going to achieve that goal in the next two weeks. Amazing. Then you get the experience of having achieved that goal, make it really small and make it joyful. Okay so some of the suggestions that I've been sharing are things like you know if you have a trip in mind or maybe let's say you know there's a summer holiday that you that you want to take or let's set the goal that you are going to pay for that summer holiday from regenerative work or maybe you have a particular hobby that requires some investment like maybe you You do dance classes, right? And your goal is going to be, I'm going to pay for my dance classes through this regenerative work, okay? It can be really small because it's going to feel so, so freaking good when you are paying for that holiday with money that you made doing work that you feel really, really good about, okay? And that is what this is all about. Don't worry, you will get to that big goal, but you're going to get there almost without knowing it. You're to get there like with a joyful, meaningful focus, in each time the goal will get bigger and bigger but you may never actually need to set that goal of replace my income because you can think about what is that income for, what does it give me, what does it enable me to do for others and you're going to build your goal, your financial goals around that kind of thinking. So keep it small, keep it joyful, keep it meaningful. Okay.
The second thing is get super, super specific with your personal boundaries. Don't assume that you know them or that they're obvious. I really invite you to take time writing out your personal boundaries. And when I say specific, here's what I mean. Specifically, how many hours a week are you going to work? And are there days that you're going to do that on and days that you're not going to do it on? Are there blocks of time or seasons in your life? when you are not available. Specify what those are, mark them out. Are there specific activities that you do which are non-negotiable for you? Don't say I want to keep my morning routine, say every morning I am going to go for a walk and then I'm going to spend 30 minutes doing meditation. Be really really clear because the clearer they are the more likely you are to remember them and actually stick to them when things get busy and your boundaries get challenged which they almost certainly will.
Okay number three. Oh okay this is a really fun one. Beware the Trixie lights. Now I'm gonna admit something to you that I've probably not shared before which is that I'm a huge JR Tolkien fan. I'm talking books not films. Okay now there is a chapter in The Hobbit where the dwarves and Bilbo are travelling through Mirkwood. And they are told that they must stay on the path and that whatever happens, they must not leave the path because it is not safe to go wandering around in Mirkwood. And as they get deeper and deeper into the forest, they are hungry. They've run out of water and they start to see lights in the distance and they can hear people chatting and they can hear food and they can smell the food. And eventually they cave in and they rush off the path towards the lights. The lights go out and they get lost in the forest. So I love any opportunity to create a coaching metaphor from Tolkien and here is this today. Like you are traveling through Mirkwood and you need to stay on the path.
Do not be tricked by the Trixie lights. And here is what the Trixie lights might look like for you. It might look like I've just had a really good idea. This idea is so much better. I need to do this, I need to follow this right now. Or it might be, oh look at what this person that I follow is doing, that actually could really work for me, maybe I should be doing that instead. Or it might be, I've just spoken with my really successful friend who really knows what she's doing and you know, is deep into her career and she thought that I needed to change this, this and this in my business, so I'm going to make those changes. Right, I want to put it to you that whilst really well mint. All of those things are tricksy lights. It doesn't mean that they're wrong. It doesn't mean that there's not valuable information inside of what they're sharing, but you need to capture all of that somewhere and then you need to wait. You need to wait until you achieve your goal and then you can bring out all of the ideas and all the feedback and inspiration as you create your next goal and choose your next path. But right now, you need to stay on the path because otherwise you will go you're going to get lost in Mirkwood and Mirkwood is a great name for it because I'm talking about the murky depths of all of that spiraling and indecision and oscillating and going back and forth and round in circles and you do not need to be there for a moment longer choose your path and stay on the path number four you can only be on one path at a time Now, this is like, you know, the myth of multitasking. You think that you can do several things at one time, but you can't. And actually what you're just doing is diluting your focus and diluting your energy. That focus is exactly why you invested in the Purposeful Income Path. You've already tried doing all of the same things. You've already tried bouncing back and forward between ideas or trying to set up your consultancy at the same time as you're applying for part-time jobs. It's exhausting, it's overwhelming and it leaves you feeling like there's something wrong with you.
Choose one goal and one path at a time and that may mean that you need to create a specific path for one specific goal. I'm gonna, that didn't make much sense, let me put that a different way. You might realise as you do this that you need to put some things in place to have more stable income. or to have other sources of income before you go for the thing that you really really want to be doing often what this looks like is people realise that they're going to need a part-time job and I think that that is a really good thing i talk about this on episode 10 of the podcast i describe it as a bridging job go back and listen if this is you because i really clearly set out how to approach a part-time job in a way that's going to set you up for creating your own offer um If you need a part-time job, then do a whole new workbook, go through the framework again with that goal of choosing part-time work. So set an income goal for that part-time job, set boundaries, specifically time and availability boundaries around that job. Because really what you're looking for is something that is going to set you up so you have as much headspace, time and energy for the things that you really want to be doing. And then the minute that you get that job, like... day one when they make you the offer and you say yes then you can create a new pathway that's focused on the new work that you want to be doing whether that's your consultancy or your coachering your rewilding project your regenerative business whatever it is but first focus on create a path towards getting that part-time job then create the path for starting to develop your own offer you can only be on one path at a time
And finally, number five, don't skip on the final promise to yourself. This is the last step of the framework and it's really, really, really important. What you're doing here is making a serious commitment to yourself that you are going to see this through. We all learn so much when we actually commit to doing something and we go the distance and we see the course. And, you know, it's taken me like a lifetime to learn this. I have done a lot of things in my life that I got so excited about, had so much energy around and then when they didn't work out the way that I wanted in quite a short time frame I moved on because I'm quite an impatient person. But the time when I really, really committed, the most committed I've ever been, was to my previous company, Lifesize Media. And in 15 years of founding, scaling, and then selling that company to my team, I didn't waver from what we set out to do on day one, not once. And we became a market leader, we had an amazing company culture that Company supported myself, my family, 10 other employees. And if I had let myself pivot or quit when things got tough, I'd have been out of the door before we even begun. But I just knew that that was the path. And look, I'm not suggesting that you create a 15-year path here. That is not what we're trying to do here. But the point is that I committed and I saw it through and I had made that deal with myself, that this is what we were doing, that I had a vision of what the company could achieve, the position that it could have, and I was going to keep going until we got there. And that's exactly what I did. And that same commitment is what I'm asking you to make to yourself, even if you've chosen a tiny financial goal that you think you can do in a matter of weeks, wonderful. But now build the habit, the discipline and the muscle of seeing that through. and what that is going to mean is you are going to come up against thinking I chose the wrong thing or actually it's not going to work I feel that inside the launch this launch doing the Purposeful Income Path you know I've chosen to commit an entire month to selling one product which is quite you know a low-cost product I've never done something like this before and I'm constantly distracted by all of the other things that I want to do and even though I'm you know so I believe so much in the path and I'm really enjoying working through it with people um you know there's always this kind of voice of going right should we be moving on to the next thing or maybe I can make some tweaks to it or maybe I can do something else on the side but no I am here all the way through to the end of the month I am focused on the path and that serves me and it serves you and that is exactly what I want you to create inside your own path whatever that is you know what's right for you and now practice what it's like to really make that promise to yourself that you are going to go the distance.
Okay that is it for today i think my voice is just about to fully give out I hope you've been able to follow along i hope that these lessons that i've been learning and that people have been learning inside of the Purposeful Income Path are useful to you once again I warmly and wholeheartedly invite you to at least take a look at the Purposeful Income Path and think about how this might help you and if it is something that feels right to you then this is the time because you're going to get my personal feedback and that is going to really strengthen your resolve and your commitment and help you see this through so thank you for being here today thank you for spending this time with me and I will see you back on the podcast next week thank you for listening to the regenerative work life podcast it's time to put what you learned today into practice remember you were called to this work for good reason nature needs each and every one of us and you can do this If today's episode has been helpful, please take the time to share it with someone who needs a little guidance in stepping out of corporate and into regenerative. Learn more about how I can help you find your vision for a work life filled with purpose, impact and joy at regenerativeworklife.com and connect with me on LinkedIn. Just search Alisa Murphy.
I'll see you back here soon for the next episode.
