#57 – Work-Life Integration Strategies You Need to Thrive in the Modern World | Empowerment & Career Advice

[00:00:00] Loree Philip: Hi, and welcome to Daring to Leap. I'm your host, Loree Phillip. Today, we're diving into the heart of work life integration with incredibly insightful Katrina Purcell. In a world where the hustle never stops, how do you align your career with your life's passions without burning out?

[00:00:19] Loree Philip: Stay tuned as we explorestrategies for managing your energy, outsourcing effectively, and embracing joy in the everyday. Discover the art of integrating work and life seamlessly so that you can truly thrive. Let's dive in.

[00:00:37] Loree Philip: Katrina Purcell has held many titles in her career, technical advisor, project manager, head of global PMO. Director of product operations, chief of staff to the CEO for two separate businesses and now founder Katrina Purcell LLC works with seed to series C tech startups and [00:01:00] nonprofits on creating efficient growth and scale.

[00:01:03] Loree Philip: Whether it's strategic planning, operational excellence, product roadmaps, agile tech transformation, or capital raise support. Her mission is to deliver tailored solutions that drive. Tangible results and unlock their full potential. Welcome to the show. Katrina.

[00:01:22] Katrina Purcell: Thank you. Every time I hear all those titles, it always, it's a little overwhelming, but I remember each one of them fondly.

[00:01:30] Loree Philip: It is. It's such an interesting journey. And I think that's where we're going to get started. I'm really excited to talk with you today about work life integration in the modern world. But before we do that, we're going to jump into your story Tell me a bit about your career journey and. How, what made you decide to shift from all of those titles to having your own business?

[00:01:56] Katrina Purcell: Yeah. So I like to say that my career was more of a [00:02:00] jungle gym than a corporate ladder necessarily. And so I started my, the first 15 years of my career in media. And I grew up in Virginia. I worked in Virginia after school for the Discovery Channel, which many of you probably know, and then moved to New York to work for Bloomberg and do live news.

[00:02:21] Katrina Purcell: Adrenaline rush. I I, I had visions at one point of being on air, but then decided that behind the scenes was much more of my speed. And in doing that, I, as my husband says, we always revert to the mean or we revert back to things we're good at. And I was always very organized, always very Project minded.

[00:02:40] Katrina Purcell: And so I moved from working on live news to actually working on the technology that supported the live news and doing projects. And a lot of those projects resulted in implementing something new that changed people's jobs. And the more that I did those types of initiatives, the more I felt I need a business degree.

[00:02:59] Katrina Purcell: So [00:03:00] my undergraduate degree was in media and I felt here I am now doing more business something that when I went to college, I thought seemed boring. And then it's funny how you shift, right? So I saw that other side of it. And so I went to business school. And when we talk a little bit about integration, that's definitely a point where, where I learned a lot about that because it was a two year program on Saturdays.

[00:03:23] Katrina Purcell: So you worked full time and you went to school full time and then switched to working in tech companies. And I have to say while it's amazing helping other people build their dreams, I realized that there was a in the amount of funding going to minority and female founded companies. A lack of resources available to them to correct that.

[00:03:45] Katrina Purcell: And while there are a lot of people who are out there trying to fix it, I don't feel like it's a zero sum game. And so I felt like if I was able to take my skills and create a way that I could help nonprofits or other companies that really want to be able to operationally [00:04:00] scale, it would fill my cup while also helping them to achieve their dreams.

[00:04:05] Katrina Purcell: And so that's where we are now.

[00:04:07] Loree Philip: That's awesome. I love the idea. And this is what I find a lot of the time talking with various female entrepreneurs and they kind of leaned, they leaned into something that would be more purposeful for themselves, but also have an impact for others, which can be so empowering and motivating.

[00:04:30] Loree Philip: My question for you, Katrina, is You know, there's that point where we're about to leave one thing and thinking about starting another thing and Something that you've never done before you think it would be great and You're kind of thinking about it, but there's always always gonna be Well, what if it doesn't work out?

[00:04:55] Loree Philip: Well, are you sure you can get this done? Are you know, there's a lot of [00:05:00] security around working for somebody else, whether that's real security or not, and we can debate that, but what came up for you and how did you get past some of those doubts and fears that actually allowed you to, to make the leap?

[00:05:16] Katrina Purcell: It's such a great question. So I think it's two parts. The first part being. I believe in always leaping with a parachute. So you might not have to pull the, the, the parachute and let it go, but you should at least have something so that a bit of a safety net, if you will. And so my husband and I kind of took a look at our finances months before I decided to, to start my own thing.

[00:05:41] Katrina Purcell: And we said, all right, what choices have we made? That we're living on one income and that if things don't work out or what if the business doesn't make money for a year or six months, what are those levers that we can pull that we can still be comfortable living our lifestyle? We live in New York city.

[00:05:59] Katrina Purcell: It's [00:06:00] not a cheap place to live. So there's a lot of. Pressure sort of associated with being able to ensure you can still pay for that lifestyle. I think the other piece of it, which is a much different piece, is that we tend to associate ourselves with our jobs. Yeah. So by saying that you've achieved some sort of title.

[00:06:19] Katrina Purcell: That actually almost tells people I'm successful and by leaving and starting your own company, you're almost taking that away because then it becomes, well, how many clients have you gotten? And are you making revenue? And do you and so it was actually much more, I would say less financial because I felt like we had sorted through that.

[00:06:39] Katrina Purcell: And that really made a lot of sense and much more my own mindset around what does success look like and how am I defining success? And how do I Want to be able to tell my story of making this decision and making it successful and really leaning into that. So I put out a [00:07:00] big post on LinkedIn and said, I'm launching my company and I'm really excited about what I have to offer.

[00:07:06] Katrina Purcell: And you have to be vulnerable because you're telling people I've quit my job. I'm now looking to take on clients. These are going to pay my mortgage, connect me with people who I can help. And you really have to sort of say to yourself, and I had a sort of a checklist, okay, if I have this many and this much revenue by this time, I'll feel comfortable continuing down this path and working through it with my husband.

[00:07:30] Katrina Purcell: And I have to say having a supportive partner who really believes in you sometimes probably more than you believe in yourself is just so important. And you, you can't. Put a price on that, because every big decision I've made, he's been there as the cheerleader, as a supporter, as the person who kind of said, even before I thought of it.

[00:07:49] Katrina Purcell: What if you started your own company?

[00:07:50] Loree Philip: I

[00:07:51] Katrina Purcell: think having a partner and having people in your life who, who can push you and who are willing to take the leap with you is so [00:08:00] important because it's hard to do it by yourself. It's much easier to do it when you have people around you and you feel like you've got that support system. But I think the most important thing is something that my sister taught me.

[00:08:11] Katrina Purcell: And so I did a very sort of some would call insane race. I did an iron man. And when I went to the start line, my sister had given me a ring that said fearless. And she said, I know it says fearless, but it's because you can't find a ring that actually says fearful. And I think the most impressive thing is that you're not doing it because you're fearless.

[00:08:33] Katrina Purcell: You're doing it because you're scared. But you've decided that it's worth it and you have to push push through that fear and Unless you can tell yourself and thank yourself for hey, I know we're scared, but we're still gonna do this Then you're never going to be able to push through it. So you recognize, yes, it's scary.

[00:08:51] Katrina Purcell: Yes, there's a lot of unknowns. Yes, there's, there is some level of security working for a company. But again, they lay people off. They, but it is very [00:09:00] different when you don't get that first paycheck on the 15th of the month. Right. So, but you have to just face the fear and say, I recognize you.

[00:09:10] Katrina Purcell: And thank you to yourself for being willing to push through that. Mm

[00:09:13] Loree Philip: hmm. There are a couple things that you said in there that I just want to double down on. One is about having support. And I, I think this is so important. And if it's not your spouse, it can be a friend. If it's not a friend, it could be an old colleague.

[00:09:32] Loree Philip: It could be a coach. It could be somebody that you have in your corner to support you when things get tough. Because they will and and it's, it's so useful. So I love that you brought that in and that your husband is so supportive. That's so cool. And the other thing that came up for me when you were talking was this idea of pushing through something the fear because you [00:10:00] decided that it's worth it.

[00:10:02] Loree Philip: And that, that nuance right there, that point is so important because at least in my experience, I realized that when I was in my 16 year career in corporate America, I was not pushing myself outside my comfort zone at all. Because I didn't feel like it was worth it to me. It wasn't important enough to deal with the pain and the fear and the, to actually push myself through it until I decided that I really wanted to do something for myself and I was really clear on the purpose and the why and how got really clear on that.

[00:10:41] Loree Philip: Until that point, I, I wouldn't have faced my fears. I didn't have a good enough reason for myself to do it. And I think sometimes you can find so much courage in that when you decide you want something that

[00:10:56] Katrina Purcell: much. Yeah. And I think sometimes you might want it [00:11:00] that much for someone else. So I know a lot of the people I mentor say they wouldn't have done it for themselves, but they look at their daughter and they think, I want her to know something better.

[00:11:09] Katrina Purcell: So I'm actually going to go do this because. I want her to see that. So I think it doesn't always have to be an innate thing in yourself, but remember, people are watching, people are learning from what you do. And, and oftentimes for me that's almost enough to say, okay, wait a minute, let me hold myself to a higher.

[00:11:28] Katrina Purcell: A higher accountability because I'm out here, being an example for someone and I know it's hard sometimes for us to think of ourselves, but you know, there's always someone watching who's thinking to themselves. Wow. That person quit their corporate career and they've now managed to do this. And you can't be what you can't see.

[00:11:47] Katrina Purcell: And so by people seeing that it gives them more power. It gives them power. More ability to think of themselves outside of the box they've created. Because oftentimes when we grow up, we see, okay, [00:12:00] successful people do these things, right? They get a career. It used to be, they stayed at a company forever.

[00:12:05] Katrina Purcell: They retired from that company. They got a watch from them and then they lived this blissful life of retirement. And. Throughout the years, we've realized, Well, that's not really happening anymore, right? There's not that level of loyalty. There's not and so I think we're really living through this shifting paradigm of what it truly means to be successful, and I think everyone has to make that decision for themselves because what I view as success and what you view as success might be very different.

[00:12:32] Katrina Purcell: There could be similarities, but they may not be exactly the same, and so we shouldn't live the exact same path. Because we won't necessarily be

[00:12:39] Loree Philip: happy. Right. Yeah. And I, I, I totally agree. And I think, what I've noticed and what I want to bring into that conversation around what does success mean to you is I think if we don't decide it for ourself, if we're not intentional about saying this is what success looks like for me.

[00:12:57] Loree Philip: We default to what success [00:13:00] society is telling us success looks like, or what our parents are telling us that success look like, or when we look at our colleagues and we see them getting this position or that position, and we decide that that's what success looks like, because that's what they're doing.

[00:13:16] Loree Philip: And so taking the the time to really get clear on that for yourself, I think is really important because oftentimes it's not the same. And you could be going down the wrong path for so long because you were chasing somebody else's idea of success. I think that's how I spent

[00:13:33] Katrina Purcell: my twenties.

[00:13:33] Loree Philip: I'm pretty sure that's how I spent.

[00:13:39] Loree Philip: Like every year until, like, last year when I left my corporate job, so. Oh, goodness.

[00:13:44] Katrina Purcell: I was saying success is an inside job. You have to do that work to decide what it means for you, and that's scary. Mm hmm. Yeah. Because sometimes it means going against what is acceptable or what the society is looking at as success.

[00:13:58] Loree Philip: Yeah, that is so [00:14:00] true. It is so true. It is easier to not look inside and figure that out. And there's a lot of vulnerability when you define success and there's a risk that you might not, meet it. And if that's what you really want, it's, it feels worse than. If it was just, oh, I was just doing it because, nah somebody else was doing it.

[00:14:24] Loree Philip: And so, so there's vulnerability in it, but the, the payoff is so big that it can be worth it. If that's what you really want to do.

[00:14:33] Loree Philip: So let's go ahead Katrina and shift gears a little bit. And we are going to talk about work life integration. And one of the things that. Especially for women, this work life discussion has evolved so much over time. We talk about work life balance. People will say, there's no balance. There's work life integration.[00:15:00]

[00:15:00] Loree Philip: You can't have it all. You can have it all, but not all at once. There's all of these And I'm going to share with you some of my favorite ways to look at this idea of how do we have a work and a life? Oh, and me some somewhere in there, there's some time for you and pull it all together.

[00:15:21] Loree Philip: for ourselves. And before we jump in, I just had this thought earlier when you're talking about, modeling for others. When I was in corporate and I looked at female leaders, executives in the corporate space, I didn't have any good role models where I could look at their life and say, that's what I want.

[00:15:44] Loree Philip: Because from my perspective, it was Like work and then a little bit of life or they didn't have any kids or they had kids, but they didn't see them or you know what I mean? Like the, the, I couldn't see [00:16:00] myself in those leaders and therefore I saw their idea of work life balance or integration or just work was going to work for me.

[00:16:07] Loree Philip: So I didn't really have a good North star for myself. I'd love to get your perspective on let's just start with what is the work life integration mean to you? So

[00:16:19] Katrina Purcell: it's such a, as you said, it's a topic that's been covered. It's evolved. I feel like you often will go to those. Sessions with very senior leaders and they say, oh, you just make it work.

[00:16:29] Katrina Purcell: And you're like, okay, but how , what does that mean? Yeah. And so I think for me, my biggest thing is again, coming down to your own personal view of success and what a happy life looks like, and not sacrificing a happy life to be successful. And so when I say happy, I mean how is your, when you're filling your cup.

[00:16:51] Katrina Purcell: What do you think of as filling your cup? And so that's partly why I quit to start my own company, because I thought I want to do work. I love to work. [00:17:00] I love to see and create impact, but I want to do it on my own terms so that it does fill my cup and doesn't leave me feeling drained and coming home to my house in a terrible mood that my husband then has to deal with.

[00:17:11] Katrina Purcell: I think it's also about for me, it's having a partner where I can sit down and have those conversations where he can say. And he just started a new role at work and we had a conversation. I know that that means that he's going to be studying and he's going to be really focused on that for the next six months until he feels really comfortable in that new role.

[00:17:31] Katrina Purcell: And so how can I pick up the slack? Because marriage life. It's not really 50 50. It's more like everyone's giving as much as they can give and you know Sometimes one person has to give more or sometimes things don't happen Does our house need to be perfectly spotless? Probably not does do we need to be eating good meals?

[00:17:52] Katrina Purcell: Yes, but can I outsource that is there a way to actually have food delivery or is there a way to have even prepared food that I can make better [00:18:00] choices? because i'm not going to order out because I I thought ahead and I have prepared food in the house already or meal planning or am I the kind of person who will meal plan?

[00:18:09] Katrina Purcell: And then my husband says, well, maybe you are, but I'm not the kind of person who's going to eat the same meal every day of the week. So you need to come up with a new plan. So it's really about starting to make those choices and understanding that you do have a finite amount of energy.

[00:18:24] Katrina Purcell: And as much as we want to read every book about, Oh, if I just wake up early, then I'll have more energy or you still have the same amount of energy and you have to decide where that energy is getting expended. And I think doing things that make you feel joyful help with that. And then outsourcing the tasks that you just don't actually find joyful.

[00:18:45] Katrina Purcell: It's something that as you are looking at your day, you're looking at your week and you're thinking about, okay, where are the things that I really love to do? How can I double up on things? So sometimes I will meet a friend for a walk or we'll take a [00:19:00] workout class together. So I'm meeting a friend and I'm getting to hang out, but I'm also doing my fitness goal.

[00:19:05] Katrina Purcell: And so we're both accomplishing something. And I think what I've had to do, too, is start to feel, start to think and field things of. Is this something that's adding value or is it something I'm doing because I've just always done it? Mm hmm. Yeah. And and so I have to say running your own company is hard.

[00:19:25] Katrina Purcell: I think that you work harder, but you're doing things you love. And so it doesn't feel like you're working harder, but you have to be better at saying, okay, I probably should stop. And on Saturday, we should probably do something fun as a family, not I will sit at my computer and do all the work that I can think of to do.

[00:19:44] Katrina Purcell: And so, It's a personal choice, and I think it is something where you can't perfectly mirror what someone else is doing because just because that works for them, it might not work for your situation. You could have a child with special needs who requires more attention. You could have kids at different life stages that [00:20:00] require more of your time or less of your time.

[00:20:02] Katrina Purcell: And so, I think being comfortable that it's going to ebb and flow and that something that works for you this month may not work a year from now. And you'll have to shift it, and that's okay. We're all a continual work in progress. You don't have to get it all figured out. And the spoiler is that no one does.

[00:20:19] Katrina Purcell: Anyone that tells you they've got it all figured out, that it's, I mean, it's just maybe for that moment they do, but no one really does. We're all just doing it as we go.

[00:20:28] Loree Philip: Yes. Yes. I think that's, I think that's so true because, there there's a lot of, we can be a bit more compassionate and graceful with ourselves when we know that we are doing our best and, I like this idea too, of.

[00:20:49] Loree Philip: What we need between work and life shifts in the phases and stages of our lives. So when I was, my kids were [00:21:00] babies, not that they're old now, they're eight and six, but when they were toddlers and babies I was at a different point in my career. I wouldn't have. Left what I was doing to start something from scratch at that point, right?

[00:21:14] Loree Philip: And, and I think there's a, there's a bit about being okay with right now, I'm going to focus more on my family because that's what I'm choosing to do. And maybe I'm not trying to go take that stretch assignment at work that I know is gonna take me out of my comfort zone. I'm going to spend a lot of extra time prepping for that kind of thing because.

[00:21:40] Loree Philip: Right now I'm going through this, but in a couple of years I can then shift into more work, for example, if my kids are now in school and so I think it's more about being intentional about it for yourself and then also not comparing yourself to everybody else because [00:22:00] you're not seeing them behind the scenes.

[00:22:02] Loree Philip: You're just seeing what it looks like from your vantage point, which is, 100 percent not truth. And like, if I post something on Instagram, it's guaranteed to be the best picture of the 20 that I took, right? And it's gonna be and I'm editing out all the other ones. And so it's Life can be messy and we have to be okay with it.

[00:22:26] Loree Philip: And so, if we go back to setting ourselves, like deciding what success looks like for us, for, for our work life. Right. And then you were talking about all the different ways that we could come up with tactics and plans and strategies on how to free up time here and spend more time there. What are some of the other things that we can look at to, to, In the how can we do this?

[00:22:54] Loree Philip: We talked about, like, just figure it out. Like, what are some more things we can do? So I

[00:22:59] Katrina Purcell: [00:23:00] think there's all of these, especially we just started the new year. Right. So there's all these challenges out there. Read 20 books do this. Okay. Only drink. 30 ounces of water. I think part of it is again, being intentional about the things that you choose to do and the things that are important to you and being able to take a look at and do a sort of a postmortem on 2023, what went well, what didn't go well, what where did you feel like you spent too much of your time and almost start a little bit of time tracking if you're not already and understanding where your energy is going and what are the things that are the most important to you in the moment.

[00:23:41] Katrina Purcell: I also think so. I've joined and done a lot of joined a lot of women's groups right now. And women's groups of other founders women's women's co working space and just trying to also put myself around people who I feel like are also striving for that type of energy that I [00:24:00] want. That are trying to make themselves better that are looking for ways to expand how they're thinking that are and so surrounding yourself with people who are trying to do the same sort of leveling up that you are is such a great way to get new ideas of how they're approaching things.

[00:24:18] Katrina Purcell: And that's how I found my current mail delivery service, which is a women owned. Startup in New York city. And on Monday, my meals come, they're loosely packed. They're already considered all of my macros, all the carbs that are made by a chef, they're fresh and they're fantastic. And I'm supporting a women owned business.

[00:24:37] Katrina Purcell: And I don't have to cook. I can cook, I can cook on the weekends. Well, and I love to cook, but I can cook on the weekends when I have time to cook. And I'm not going to get stressed by the mountain of dishes and the the things that need to be done to, to actually cook, right. Go to the grocery store.

[00:24:52] Katrina Purcell: So I think it's sitting down and it's being intentional and it's also being your own friend. So [00:25:00] one of the things that I really did in 2023, and I was mostly good at it. Was talk to myself, how I would talk to a friend because I guarantee you nine times out of 10, some of the stuff you say to yourself, you would never in a million years, say to your friend, you just wouldn't.

[00:25:15] Katrina Purcell: Because to your friend, you're going to be really supportive, and you're going to tell them they're doing their best, and you're going to tell them that they killed it today, or if they didn't kill it today, they're going to kill it tomorrow, but then to ourselves, we're a failure. We I have a woman who I'm mentoring, and she'll tell me, I took an L, and an L meaning a loss.

[00:25:34] Katrina Purcell: I said, we're converting it, and L now means a learning. You learned. Mm hmm. Even if you did something and it didn't work out. You'll learn something, right? And so think of yourself as your best friend because you kind of are, you spend the most time with yourself. And you're the one who that self talk is what gets in your brain.

[00:25:53] Katrina Purcell: And that's where all those limiting beliefs come from. That's where all of the, almost all the chaos comes from. And so by [00:26:00] joining all these groups where it's, it's a lot of positive talk, and it's a lot of women building up other women, and it's a lot of ability to kind of say, Hey, I set out for this goal and I sucked at it.

[00:26:09] Katrina Purcell: Who has an idea on how to fix it? And people who are smarter than you or who are coming from a different perspective are going to say, Hey, have you tried this? Have you tried that? And being open and honest and vulnerable, I think is, is really key to, to figuring that out.

[00:26:23] Loree Philip: Yeah, that's, that's a great insight, Katrina, because I, the, it's funny, the, the inner critic and the self talk comes up almost in every episode of my podcast, because that is how big of a deal it is. It really is. And although we're talking about work life integration and it might feel separate, it's not separate.

[00:26:44] Loree Philip: There is a story we're telling ourselves about around that. We're too busy. We can't do it all. Not that we need to do it all, but I'm just saying there's a lot of right off the bat, negativity around. Being [00:27:00] able to even come up with some ideas around a plan that will work if we're right off the bat saying it's not going to work, it's never going to work, I don't, it's never happened before,

[00:27:11] Katrina Purcell: yeah.

[00:27:11] Katrina Purcell: Or I'm a bad wife because I feel like I want to focus more on work, or I'm a bad daughter because I'm not doing these things that I should be for my parents, I'm a bad parent because I didn't go to this school function, I think it's, we always revert immediately to the negative instead of saying, Hey, I'm actually a great daughter.

[00:27:29] Katrina Purcell: I attended all the things that were important to my parents, which requires having the conversation, what's important, what's important to them, what's important to your children, what's important to your husband that you show up for and being able to work around those things and understanding what's important instead of feeling you missed one thing, which it turned out wasn't really that important to begin with.

[00:27:50] Katrina Purcell: Yeah, just having more of that information.

[00:27:53] Loree Philip: Yeah. Yeah. I want to, I want to emphasize this point because, if [00:28:00] we don't decide what's important to us. Then everybody else is going to decide how we spend our time if, if, if we don't. And so it could be that all you have to do is sit down and decide four or five things that are really important to you.

[00:28:19] Loree Philip: It doesn't matter if they're in the work bucket or the life bucket, like just any bucket, what's important to you and got plan and guard that time with your life. It's like, that will be the first thing. In your jar of things to do and, you can never then say, well, I didn't know I'm prioritizing what I said is important to me and that might give you the courage and the conviction to say no to all of the things that aren't in your priority list because we don't have to [00:29:00] be all to everyone.

[00:29:02] Loree Philip: All the time.

[00:29:04] Katrina Purcell: I love that. The thing, so my 2024 sort of resolution is to work on no is a full sentence.

[00:29:12] Loree Philip: Like, not having to clarify why, just no.

[00:29:15] Katrina Purcell: Not having to clarify why I can't attend, or why I can't participate, or what, just, you can just say, no, I'm not available. Or that doesn't my plate is full, my plate is as full as I'd like, right?

[00:29:28] Katrina Purcell: So starting to work through how do we, cause there's just so many distractions and there's so many things going on and there's so many opportunities, and so really I think as women, when we do try to say no, we tend to say, I'm so sorry, but you know, you're still very important to me. I just this, and we just have to be more comfortable in saying I've, I've set my priorities.

[00:29:51] Katrina Purcell: And I think it will also empower other women who are watching us to say, Oh, I could just do that.

[00:29:57] Loree Philip: Yes. Yeah. Everybody [00:30:00] listening. You can set your priorities. It's your life. You get to decide what you spend your time on. I mean, for the most part, you still have to show up to work if you're, but that's a decision.

[00:30:14] Loree Philip: You decided to have this particular job. So when you look at everything in your life and examine it, decide for yourself what and I love this idea of not only saying no, and I know that's easier said than done. And so it's practice. But also this idea of we like to add things like you're talking about New Year's resolutions.

[00:30:39] Loree Philip: We add a lot of things to our plate. And we say yes to things and we don't go back and let things go that aren't serving us anymore. Like, maybe you said yes last year and it's not really important to you anymore. It's okay to revisit that and, and let it go. And maybe somebody [00:31:00] might be disappointed.

[00:31:01] Loree Philip: But what if that frees up energy to actually focus on your priority this year?

[00:31:07] Katrina Purcell: And what if it also frees up that opportunity for someone who might be better suited for it? Yes. So if you start to think about everything in a more positive way, it's not, oh, what are they going to do without me?

[00:31:18] Katrina Purcell: It's maybe they'll find someone better. And that's okay.

[00:31:22] Loree Philip: Yeah, that's a great reframe. Because it's not even somebody better, but somebody that wants to do it, somebody that has the energy for it. Somebody that maybe is looking to get that experience, for whatever it is that is in their personal priority list.

[00:31:38] Loree Philip: And so, yeah, I, I've noticed this for myself too. Like even with leaving a job and a team that I love to go do something else, for example, I feel bad, like, Oh, I'll be I do so much, but then I, at the same time, somebody else. It's an opportunity they didn't have before because I was in that job for so long or whatever [00:32:00] this, whatever the situation is so that I think that's a really good point Katrina around how sometimes we talk ourselves out of letting things go and saying no and.

[00:32:13] Loree Philip: There is this next level of confidence around no is a full sentence. I love that one. I'm going to write that down. I'm going to start using that this year, too. Katrina, I'm not at that

[00:32:26] Katrina Purcell: higher level yet. I'm trying. I'm working

[00:32:28] Loree Philip: on it. Hey, we are a work in progress. That is the thing, right? And if anybody says, like you said earlier, if anybody says they have it all figured out, they're, they're missing something because.

[00:32:44] Loree Philip: Even the most amazing accomplished people are still working on themselves and what they're doing. They have room for growth. So, um, I think we're going to close up a bit here, Katrina. I'd love to hear any last closing thoughts you have for women that are really [00:33:00] looking to do a better job for themselves, integrating work and life.

[00:33:06] Loree Philip: Do you have any last closing thoughts for them? I think

[00:33:10] Katrina Purcell: the most important thing is making sure that you find work that you're passionate about. And I think that that can be anything from the specific role that you're doing to the company that you're working for. So maybe you've locked yourself into finance and you don't find finance passionate.

[00:33:27] Katrina Purcell: But maybe you can do it for a nonprofit, or you can do it for a company that has a mission for good, or you can do it for a company where you're aligned with their product or service. And so I think that we tend to be very empathetic, and we tend to look more for passions to fuel us. And so aligning whatever work you're doing to get your paycheck with something you're passionate about, I think will immediately help to refame your perspective and give you more joy.

[00:33:54] Loree Philip: Yeah, because at the end of the day it comes back to Energy is you [00:34:00] mentioned how much energy you have and it feels like you use less energy when you're working or doing something that you like to do versus if you're resisting something that you're like, this is a soul sucking work and we all have parts of the work that we do that is not our favorite.

[00:34:17] Loree Philip: I mean, that's part of life, but If you could have a bigger percentage of that time being on work that you actually enjoy, I think that would make a big difference in your day to day experience, for sure.

[00:34:31] Katrina Purcell: It will. And I think the other piece is just making sure that the lifestyle that you're living is aligned with your values.

[00:34:39] Katrina Purcell: And so we, my husband and I were able to make decisions that we made because we Don't live in the largest apartment or we don't have a car. And we so there are choices that you can make around your lifestyle creep. And this comes back to not living other people's versions of success, but also not necessarily keeping up with the Joneses and deciding [00:35:00] what are the things that I need in my life?

[00:35:02] Katrina Purcell: To make me happy and making sure that you're not living outside of those boundaries in terms of what you can afford so that you're forced into a job where you're not passionate.

[00:35:12] Loree Philip: Yeah, that's a great point. It's at the end of the day, it's really, we actually have more choices than we think we have. But we feel like we don't sometimes because we get ourselves locked into a lifestyle or we get ourselves locked into, something that really wasn't It wasn't making us happy, but we thought we needed it.

[00:35:32] Loree Philip: And the truth of it is you can let that go after the fact. It's just, it's, it's, it's hard to do. It's harder to do than it is easy for me to say, let go of that fancy house. And that kind of thing, but it's about choice and priorities and what's going to really make, make your life work for you at the end of the day.

[00:35:54] Loree Philip: Well, thank you, Katrina. I'd love for you to share with our audience on. Where they can [00:36:00] find you and learn more about you and the amazing work that you do. Sure,

[00:36:04] Katrina Purcell: so I am very active on LinkedIn, and you can just find me, Katrina Purcell. And then I also have a website, which my fantastic husband built.

[00:36:12] Katrina Purcell: It's just KatrinaPurcell. com, so very easy to find me there. And you can actually schedule time with me there as well through a calendar link.

[00:36:22] Loree Philip: Great. Well, so much for your time and your energy and insights. I had a really great time. Yes,

[00:36:29] Katrina Purcell: me too. Thank you so much for having me. Of course.

[00:36:32] Loree Philip: Bye.

[00:36:33] Loree Philip: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you've enjoyed it, I would love for you to subscribe. If you're already a subscriber, don't forget to share the podcast with a friend. Make sure to tune in next week. We'll be celebrating Valentine's Day with Kelsey Ada as we talk about self love. And affirmations. I hope that you have an amazing week. It's your [00:37:00] time to shine. Bye.