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Have you ever felt so in alignment, whether in your business or life, with all of the direction you’re taking or the moves you’re making? Where you’re honoring your core values and what makes you, you, and it all just feels so easy?
Then, maybe life throws a curveball at you, good or bad, that requires some kind of pivot, and then that pivot or season of life or business feels misaligned. Have you ever been there? I know I have, and my hope is to share a little bit of the behind-the-scenes for me being in a very huge pivot of entering motherhood and owning my own business, and how I have been feeling a bit misaligned in my own pivot recently.
I want you to know that you’re not alone if you’ve ever found yourself in this kind of season, and I hope to give you some next steps on how to get out of it.
What it means to feel in alignment
For me, living in alignment is when I’m truly honoring all of my core values in my personal life and also in my business. And that is so important because it’s what enables us to function and take action with ease. In my business specifically, I’ve found that I feel most aligned when I take action from a place of calm, a place of knowing, a place of peace, a place of excitement and passion, rather than a place of anxiety, or need, or personal gains.
If you know this about me, I am a Christian, and it’s so important that I include God in all things. The reason I share this is because when I feel those negative feelings or overwhelm, it’s usually because I’m acting out of a place of not consulting with God, which is important to me. So, even if you’re in a place where you can’t relate to that specifically, but maybe you do have a spiritual side, I just want you to think about that whenever it comes to you, even determining where you feel misaligned and how quickly you’ve acted. If it came from a place of calm, strategic action, then wonderful. If it came out of a place of stress or quick action and it felt misaligned, then that’s probably where we need to reevaluate.
How I’ve been feeling misaligned in my own business
So, let’s get into a little bit of what I’ve been going through. If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while or following me on Instagram, you know that I’m expecting my first baby in July, and I’m so excited for this next chapter! However, it also brings up unprecedented times I don’t know how to deal with because I’ve never dealt with it before, and so acting from a place of stress and feeling like I need to follow what I’ve seen other people do, I ended up realizing the changes that I was making did not feel in line with how I actually envision being a mother or a business owner in conjunction with each other, and it also didn’t align with my business values.
The biggest change that I made that was the most misaligned was changing Book It from a mentorship program into a course. I’ve seen so many educators go passive during maternity leave, and they take a full 3 months. I have never aligned with a passive business model. As much as I love passive income and have implemented it in certain ways in my business, I don’t relate to the method of completely going passive whenever it comes to my education programs.
Why I don’t align with solely passive income
This is something I’ve always known about myself, and the reason for that is I love connection. I value it so heavily in my business and that’s why if you ever apply for any program I offer, I’m going to connect with you and focus on that first and foremost. I love getting to know you for who you are before it’s ever about a sale. Connection is where I thrive.
Another huge reason for not desiring passive income for my education business is because I value service. I see my programs as the starting place for the conversations to happen. Nothing in business is a one-size-fits-all, and that’s where I like to be of service to you. If you’re going to invest in a mentor, I want to actually help you, and going the passive route does not feel in line with who I am and my business values.
But yet you just saw me say that I did change it into a course, and this is where I have felt very misaligned within the last month and a half. I was sharing about Book It being a course, but I just didn’t feel passionate about it. It’s something I couldn’t talk about as often as I needed to in order for it to be successful or for people to trust in it.
Feeling passionate about what I’m doing
I would rather feel excited about my business and about Book It and feel aligned with how it’s structured, even when I’m on maternity leave. So, if that means I have time to set aside for reviewing applications and making sure it’s a great fit for a potential student, DMing them or getting on a discovery call with them for 15 minutes to just chat, and then actually taking the time to get on a monthly call with my students to answer their questions, then I’d rather do that.
This is where I have found myself feeling guilty because you don’t see many people operate on maternity leave in this kind of way, but this feels good to me.
I also want you to know that this is not in any way minimizing the fact that I want to be a mom when I’m going to be a mom and I want to be an entrepreneur when I’m going to be an entrepreneur. I really think the only way this is possible is because I do have structures and systems in place that allow me to do this, and I have a very supportive husband. He is truly my business consultant without being my business consultant.
Pivoting back into alignment
Everything is making sense to me now. It feels peaceful to me because it’s what excites me and it’s what I’m passionate about. I’m excited about my business now and I’m excited about Book It and I want to even revamp it and make it better than it’s been. I have all these ideas to incorporate and to make it happen, but I know I’m going to have to give myself grace. I know there’s going to be a pivot with just adjusting to newborn life and the changes my body is going to go through after pregnancy.
While I know it’s coming, I don’t feel nervous about it because I know my students are the best students in the world and I will feel so excited to serve them and support them even in this season. I also know my husband is very supportive as well, and that my systems and structures are very supportive for me. I have people on my team who allow my business to keep running, even while I’m not in it as much as I probably would be.
Key Takeaways
Sometimes a pivot requires another pivot that’s back in line with what you were originally doing, so I want to leave you with a few key takeaways.
Notice where you’re misaligned
If you ever find yourself in a season of misalignment, I want you to first notice where you’re misaligned. Start by looking closely at your business or your life. When you don’t feel like things are working, what are the situations that seem to stress you out the most that are probably what’s causing the misalignment? I want you to give yourself permission to feel all of your emotions and all of the feels so you can discover what you’re actually struggling with. This information and clarity can help you work through whatever is feeling misaligned so you can find a solution for it.
Be honest with yourself
The second key takeaway is to be honest with yourself. You have to have the vulnerability to get to that point where you can understand it. See if there was a specific season where something changed that then made you feel misaligned. Was there a specific turning point? Are you struggling with vulnerability to ask for help? Be honest with yourself. This is how you get to the place of being able to take action that will get you out of this misalignment.
Be compassionate with yourself
The third key takeaway is to be compassionate with yourself. You’re going to take missteps and you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to find yourself misaligned at some point in your business because every single business is a work in progress. You can absolutely learn from your mistakes and consciously choose a different path forward. For me, this is going to look like taking the time to slow down and think a little bit more before I just make changes in my business or even my life.
Slow down
The last key takeaway is to slow down and meditate. For me, meditating looks like being in the Bible, praying, talking to my husband, and talking to my friends. Whatever your own rituals, habits, or routines are that will help you realign or even just get space to do something you love and find joy in doing. When you do something fun and you take that space to slow down and to allow yourself to reconnect with the creative side of your brain, and only when you are aligned and feel in that creative flow, can you make decisions that actually will be aligned with where you want to be or where you’re going.
I hope this was inspiring to you that it helped you feel not alone and that you have some next steps in a season where you may feel misaligned yourself.
In this episode, we cover:
- Feeling aligned with your core values in both your business and your life
- How I’ve been feeling misaligned lately in my own business
- The process of pivoting back into alignment
- The 4 key takeaways from dealing with misalignment
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