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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Dr. Lynn Chang, the founder of Career Zen, helps clients make big life changes and find meaningful career paths 
• The role that joy plays in our professional working lives
• Steps someone can take if they are questioning their current job trajectory and work-life satisfaction 

Dr. Lynn Chang is the founder of Career Zen, a holistic career coach, and self-described “recovering control freak.” Her clients come to her when they’ve reached a point in their career where they’re burnt out, fed up, unhappy, and unsure what kind of change they can make to feel fulfilled. Sometimes, Dr. Chang’s clients will change their career path entirely; some will switch to a new company in the same industry; some will stay in their current workplace after making adjustments to their self-care regimen. But no matter who she works with, all of Dr. Chang’s clients start their journey the same way – by locating the things that bring them joy. 

“We take life too seriously,” Dr. Chang says, explaining that she starts every session with yoga, breath work, and stretching so that her clients can lighten up and let go of their doubts, fears, and preconceived notions about what they “should” want out of their career – and instead get centered, grounded, and reconnected with their true self. 

Rather than searching for a job title and salary, Dr. Chang wants her clients to answer the question “What do I feel called to do?” She believes that when her clients remove their fears about money and societal expectations and get in touch with what brings them joy, they will find a career path that “transcends the job title” and delivers a truly fulfilling lifestyle. 

Some things that she encourages her clients to consider are: what kind of industry do you want to work in? If you are passionate about environmental sustainability, you might apply your skills in computer programming to help a company that provides software to farmers, for example. Connecting your work with a higher mission that aligns with your values is essential to a fulfilling career path. Dr. Chang also emphasizes the importance of your work environment: do you like you coworkers? Do you like your company culture? These things also impact your career happiness and are not described by a job title. 

But Dr. Chang’s conversation continually circles back to joy. Understanding what brings you joy and taking small steps in that direction will always manifest a career path that is aligned with your values and beliefs. “The Universe is working on your behalf,” Dr. Chang reassures our audience, “just take the first step in the direction of joy and let the universe bring you the magic!” 

Listen to the full episode to hear more about Dr. Chang’s journey going from burn out as a PhD under 30 to career coach, how to start examining your own career life so that it manifests the most fulfillment, and the role that curiosity and self-love play in our career lives. 

If you found inspiration in the podcast, be sure to share it with a friend and check out other “Balanced Badassery” episodes! 

Host: Alli Waddell

Guest: Dr. Lynn Chang

Transcript:

This is a founding media podcast.

Welcome to balanced bad-ass theory podcast, your weekly fix of wellness wisdom. I’m your host alleyway Adele. And on this episode, we’re talking about all things career with Dr. Lin Chang of careers. We talked about how life is really just a journey and how we need to find our own authentic pass rather than following the should have, could have, and would have to fit in our tiny boxes.

So here’s my conversation, with Lynn.

Hey, we’re going to be talking to. The pillar of career, it’s crazy easy. How much time you actually spend working. And if you are not mindful about that shit, it will suck your life and suck your soul right out the window. And then you’ll look up one day and you’re going to be 80 and, and be like, why? Why?

So I’m so excited to have my Panda. So share her. Will you introduce yourself to the bad-ass brigade? I’m Dr.

Lynn, Shane founder of careers in also known as the Panda girl,

girl. Yeah. And so I’m so excited to have Lynn. I put it out on my, uh, the world of Facebook, which connects me to everything awesome.

And some other shit that I don’t really like, but mostly awesome stuff. And I said, who is the best person to talk to in Austin about career and Lincoln? But I think four or five different people. And so I’m so excited. And then we had this weird conversation and then she said, can I wear a Panda outfit?

And then I said, well, of course you can. So I’m super excited for her to just come in and talk about how she believes. Um, you should give some more thoughtful in my painful approach to your career, your life choice, your purpose, and how you can actually implement that. Because I think a lot of us get down the road and then yeah.

Can’t figure out what the fuck did it. So Lynn, I’d love to just first, have you explained, what is your approach when it comes to helping people with their career mission, passion, purpose, all of that wrapped into one good

question. Yeah. I’ll start with why I’m wearing a Pandora.

Yeah, that’s a great choice besides, I mean, why the hell not.

We take life too seriously. We take ourselves too seriously. And the more we can lighten up about ourselves and our work, the more easily that the answers come, the clarity comes to us. We get downloads. Right? We get downloads.

Yeah. Yeah. And so this is just your kind of outward way to tell people. Lighten up, lighten the hell up because wouldn’t, you love to see this, like, people are like, we’re going to bring a career expert into your workplace.

And then a girl comes dressed as a Panda. You’re like, okay, whatever this lady is doing, she’s doing something. I

spread the joy, spread the joy. Yeah. So I start every career session with some yoga, some breathings and stretching, just getting grounded because around career people get really scared. They tense up, they feel small, the fearful voice.

Like I can’t leave my job, the paycheck. What about my kids? There’s so many sheds or, or the, the sheds of, well, I don’t know. I don’t have any experience. Anything else? Well, maybe I can’t do anything else. Lots of shifts. So when we breathe, And we take the time to really get centered and grounded, and then I can see them.

My third eye, I see them, I see their soul. And then all the answers come to me and I share with them like, this is your path.

This is what you should be doing. Yeah. And I bet for a lot of people, they’re probably come to you, struggling with knowing what to do. That probably feels almost like an awkward, but like, I don’t really know.

I mean, what is, what is breath and yoga going to teach me about what I should do? Should I open a cupcake shop? So do you feel like you need to. To walk people into that process, or do you feel like most people come to you and they’re like, kind of at a place where I’m like, I’m ready to try whatever you got.

Exactly. They have tried Googling everything. What is my life purpose? And Google knows everything except what you should be doing. So then they come to me pretty desperate and say like, you know what, let’s go on a journey. Let’s have some fun. And it’s pretty organic. We keep it light. We keep it fun. The thing is in school, they never taught us high school.

College never taught us what our career options were. Yes. Doctor, teacher, lawyer, engineer. You hear maybe firefighter, you hear five. There’s 500,000 and they’re changing all the time. I don’t even know 500,000. I’m the career expert. They’re changing all the time. So the question is not, what do you want to do?

What can I do? You’re called what is your calling? What are you curious about? And when I work with people, the formula is. Plus where, mm, what do you want to be doing? And then where do you want to work? The culture, the vibe, the types of colleagues you want to surround yourself with the mission of the place.

It almost doesn’t matter as much what you do on a day-to-day basis. Doesn’t matter as much what your colleagues are doing on a day-to-day basis. By the end of the day, you’ve had a long day. You’ve worked really hard. You feel good that you’ve done really good work for the world because you believe in the mission of the place.

That’s really important.

Yeah. How do you get people tuned into their calling? Because I get that a lot. They’re like, I don’t know. I don’t know. I just don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m to do and I, and for me, I kind of start with, but have you given yourself the space and the time to even explore because that’s, that’s people get, I think it’s one of those things you plan when you’re in high school and you’re like, I’m going to do this and then I’m going to go to college and then I’m going to get married.

And then all of a sudden you end up being 35 and you’re like, I’ve never thought about it again. Yeah.

Yeah. The calling, sometimes people get tripped up because they think it’s a job title. They think it’s a job title and that’s like saying, well, you’re single, I’ll set you up. Just give me the first name and that last name of person you want to marry, then I’ll set you up.

It doesn’t awesome analogy.

So work that way. The answer is not a job title. The answer is a. Tell me your vision. Tell me your dream is the one I’m working with. People. They are very stuck on, like, give me the job title, be like, let’s go beyond and transcend the job titles. And just tell me, where is your joy?

What does that dream look like? And they have different tools and activities to walk people through. And at the end of the hour, too, that we’re together like, wow. They had tears in their eyes. When I read back to them like, this is who you are, this is what you want. And I’m just sharing it back to them.

And it’s like, they’re hearing it for the first time and that’s their truth. And that’s

their path. I absolutely love that. I find that all personal work is actually an act of remembering. Not that you don’t know. It’s probably that you haven’t given yourself the space and the time to actually listen to yourself, you’ve turned off your intuition.

You’ve told yourself you’re wrong about the things that you really want and desire. And then once you like, have somebody that can hold space for you and give you like this blanket permission slip to be like magic one. That shit. Yeah. What do you really want? And all of it’s. Okay. And then all of a sudden you like read it to them.

Here’s what I want to do live on a boat. And I’m like, well good. Because both life is a lot different than corporate life and both are awesome. You just have to tell me what you envision, but if you haven’t given yourself that time. Hi, it’s so you’re, you know, I say to a lot of people you’re not gonna opt, uh, accidentally wander into your dream life.

Right? Thinking about it, like, oh my God, look, I just happened to be here. And all of the things that I

want. Yeah. It’s so important to take a step back, reflect who am I objectively, what brings me joy and taking that lens of fear of like, well, what if this doesn’t pay? And I don’t think I can get a job in that.

And people are going to think I’m ridiculous. It’s not about that. Just about speaking your truth. And then seeing, I think people are surprised by what’s really possible. Yeah, that’s entirely possible. They think that I have to go back to school. I don’t have a degree in that. Like, it’s not about that.

People see your dream, they see your joy and they want to be part of it. They’ll sign you on. Um,

and if, and if you, yeah, I love that you re you continue to come back to finding the joy part of it. Cause that’s, that’s something that I think so many people miss I’m like, just take an audit of your life and what is draining you and what is feeling okay.

And like, all we need to do is start to incorporate more of the joy stuff and less of the crappy stuff. And it’s like very quickly, the cream will rise to the top of exactly understanding what is fulfilling you. And that’s with who you’re surrounding yourself, the environment you’re in, what you’re doing every day.

Absolutely

people don’t give themselves the permission for the joy. They might think. Well, I really liked this, but how can it possibly pay the bills? And they don’t even start, they don’t even initiate or engage in that act at all. So if you love seeing nature and gardening, I say, join a community garden.

Go in there and shine your light. You’re going to be so happy. You’re gonna start radiating out that joy and people are gonna notice, and the universe is gonna start bringing you people and opportunities that are going to be vibrating at that frequency. So it’s not about you logically figuring out. Step a, B, C, D.

You just take that first step of joy and let the universe bring you the magic.

Yeah. And that’s something that I have been known to struggle with is that I’m such an idea person and my brain works so fast that I think of what I want to do. And then I think of step one and then I think of step two and then I think of step all the way to 75.

And then I think that’s a lot of shit. Still do step one, you know, and, and then it took me a long time to just realize, just do the next thing. And the thing is the end goal is not even actually the goal. You like get three steps in and there might be this whole other thing that you have never fucking thought of ever in your life.

And then like the fact that I have a ketamine clinic, if you would’ve told me. Two years ago that we would have a mental health clinic. I would have never, in a million years had that access. I would have never experienced that. And now it’s like my favorite thing besides podcasting. Um, and so it’s one of those things, but I think so many people.

See the end and then try to work it backward and then they get so overwhelmed. They just stop. Yeah. Yeah. You just, how do you help people with that? With that process? Because I feel like so many people are just overwhelmed by life and then you throw this on top of it and they’re like, how am I going to change the whole life

one step at a time?

Yes, yours is not the first story. Everyone has these magical occurrences. Of just taking it one step at a time and having faith, having trust, that’s going to unfold magically as it needs to. I’m a recovering control

freak. Yeah. Let’s talk about that. Yeah.

I used to be type a control freak, trying to make everything happen.

So I got my PhD before we even turned 30. I was very driven, very cheap oriented and they burned out so quickly. I cared so much and wanted so much. And then life dealt me a blow, like, okay, I need to take a step back. I need to take inventory. Cried cried, cried. I did my yoga, did my meditation and then realized I can reinvent myself.

I’m going to find my joy and just do this one thing that brings me joy. And that brought up a new avenue. And I did that for a little while and the next avenue opened up, the next avenue opened up. So now when I look back, my life has been phenomenal. Full of good Juju. Yeah. And if I had tried to make that happen myself, it would not have happened.

I wouldn’t be here today.

Yeah. And I think a lot of that is having faith and trust and not only just in the universe, but kind of in yourself and when things have gone wrong. You slowly, slowly lose that. You’re like, well, maybe I’m not right. You know, I, I got laid off or I tried this entrepreneurial thing and it didn’t work.

And so you, you create this whole story arc of like, obviously I have bad luck or I’m stupid, or I can’t pick something or whatever. So how do you work with people on that fear aspect that they’re going to do the wrong. Wrong, you know, make a big mistake. That’s gonna ruin my family, or I’m not going to be able to take care of my kids.

And that’s a horrible place to operate from.

People will call me and say, I just got laid off and they’re starting to go into their sob story. And I stopped them. I say, congratulations. The universe heard you. Have you been wanting, changing your job? Yes. I haven’t been happy for 18 years. Okay. Well, the university gave you 18 years to make a shift and you weren’t acting, so there you go.

Yeah. So I think the universe is always working on. We have, and then if we take the fear, what I like to say is that little fearful voice in her head, her name is. Um, her name is Greta, right? She’s been evolving for 300 million years trying to keep us alive. She wants us to stay still so that we don’t die.

It’s a very primitive lizard brain thing. So the voice comes up that fearful voice. I just tell my clients it’s great. Credit trying to keep you safe because Gretta really believes if you change your job, you’re going to die. Yeah. Yeah. She really believes that. But if you heard it, you’d kind of laughing.

I’m going to die. Maybe I won’t make as much money. Maybe it’s not as enjoyable. I’m not going to. Yeah. So people went once people realize, you know what, it’s just a voice. It’s not the truth. And she credit doesn’t even have a GED. She can’t run your

life. That is awesome. I think there’s so much power in naming those in that internal dialogue, because it allows, I think it’s so many people.

Take that on as like, this must be my soul talking to me only me, I’m a boron. And I was like, you know what? Your soul doesn’t do tell you a moron or you’re fat or whatever Mirabelle thing that they’re saying to kind of keep you small and still yes. And so having that process for people I’m sure is really powerful for them to kind of realize, you know, and I.

Have that person sit next to you. Would you let somebody sit next to you and talk like that to you? You would not. You would tell them to get the hell out of your house and sheesh she mouth. Yeah. You know, and so to move through that, I’m sure. Uh, I would love to hear one really powerful story, a transformation, a career transformation from one of your clients.

Do you have one that you could share? I have so many. I know. That’s what I figured.

I’ll tell you a recent one, just because I’ve been talking with him recently. Um, he came to me awhile ago, miserable at his job, wanting to completely change gears and ready to quit yesterday. And so I met with them. We did the yoga, we did the pre-thing.

I saw who he was. I laid out his path like this is who you are, objectives. This is the path where you belong. This is going to serve you. Well, this is not going to serve you. Well, we laid it all out. I gave him my book, the 10 day career cleanse, which is about owning your joy, owning your peace. And he started that process and he realized later, That was transformational.

He said, Lynn, I didn’t realize I had the power to find my own happiness. I decided to be grateful for where I am today at my workplace. And then things got better. My relationships with my coworkers improved, I started liking my work better. And so he’s doing better. He’s doing better. And then what happened?

He got actively recruited by three different companies. Because he was in a pleasant, happy place. The universe was going to respond to you. And now he just took that off for like a few days ago. Dream job. yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So you want to stay in a positive vibe, stay in a positive

place. Yeah, I think vibrational energy.

Can be a little woo for some people, but I’m telling you that shit works. And so like acting, acting in a high vibration. Yeah. Really will bring positive things to you. Acting in a low vibrational will act actively repel people. And everybody has been that. It’s very easy to feel. Yeah. I mean, you’ve walked into a room where somebody has.

Oh fun. Yeah. Then been like attracted to them and then you’ve walked in a room where somebody is like, yeah. And you’re like, okay, well, well, and so that is such an important thing in the choice that you’re choosing this vibration and you’re doing things daily, no matter how small to keep them yeah.

Aboriginal energy up. Right? Yeah.

Even if people aren’t very woo and spiritual, I think they’ll understand that what you put out is what you get back. What you put out is what you get back. Yeah. You get to choose. I’m totally telling you I’m a recovering control freak. When I realized I could not control other people in other states, , that’s a hard lesson to learn.

The one I learned that I realized I have control over my. My feelings and my actions. So I’m going to choose to live in that way, leaving alignment.

Yeah. And that’s, that’s stoic philosophy actually at its core, which is like, your circle of influence is actually only you and your reaction to the outside world, you know?

And when you, that there’s so much freedom. And that realization of like, actually, what can I control this side of the fence and what’s going on with me and then my reaction to how everybody else and for people that, you know, I’ve been reading actually some about control and, and what they tie it back to is actually, it’s all free.

Yeah. You know, control happens when you’re scared, because you’re trying to keep things you’re trying to manage as opposed to really dealing with the underlying emotion around that.

So we go back to the joy except for keeping, keeping us would take herself too seriously. Yeah.

So she made people do funny things to keep them.

To make themselves feel less serious. Yes. Like what? Like power poses. Oh, I love . That’s

actually one of my favorites. Yeah. So we’ll just stand in my office power pose together and I’ll play like maybe some superwoman music or Superman music.

Yeah, I got my power pose during an EMDR therapy session. And it was like the Shira pose where she has the sword above her head.

And then the hand on the thing. And it was that the universe was giving me all the, my knowledge and power down my sword arm and into there. That’s my point. You have to do it every time before I go on stage or talk, or if I’m about to have a hard conversation and it, it works. It will, it will shift your energy shifts.

Exactly. And even if it I’ll tell you, if nobody believes that, even if it’s just placebo still works, placebo works 50% of the time and it’s real life. Yeah. So what do you feel like everybody. I know this is really personalized work, but what are some exercises or practices that people could start with if they’re feeling.

They’re getting called to maybe have a career shift or change. How would you have people start that process on their

own? I think starting with the list, what brings you joy? What makes you happy? Agree? You know, is it spending time with friends? Is it volunteering with babies? I mean, what is it? Just start making a list, just naming it, seeing it concrete.

I love that. I love that. And it’s amazing when people, I can imagine when people start doing that, they’ll start naming things that people would be like, would that be? And I’m like, well, there actually was a job posted on Facebook that you could go hold babies at the hospital. Yes. I’m like, yes, that is a job.

There’s a professional Panda. Huh? In China, that’s her job every day. She goes into the pen. As you use the holes, a little planted babies, I call dibs. I would like that job. I mean,

that is, and I meet people all the time then have careers and I’m like, how come nobody told you about that job?

Exactly. I’m just so much out there, whatever you can imagine.

I’m looking at your beautiful stick shade. Yeah. There’s someone’s job to name lipstick shapes. I mean, that’s right. Yeah. There’s jobs everywhere. Yeah. I mean, you can imagine, oh

man,

I love that. Whatever you can imagine, if it doesn’t exist, then you create it

even better, then you’re cornering the market.

So, okay. So now we’ve listed things we love then, then maybe what, and what would people, I would also list your

fierce. Oh, what is that Gretta voice telling

you?

I do love that. What are some of the biggest fears that you hear consistently from people?

Well for parents, it’s about money. I need to make money for my kids, but the thing is, if your parent, your kids are watching you and they’re downloading what it’s like to have a career.

So what are you role modeling to your kids? So it’s extra more important to be authentic and dig deep and make bold choices for yourself.

I will say this. I’ve probably said this on this podcast though, but I think that’s actually one of the biggest things for people. If you need extra accountability and you are a parent, you need to understand that your kids are not listening to anything you say they are modeling all of your behavior and your internal dialogue will become their internal voice for their entire.

And being really mindful to do your own personal work so that they’re as healthy as possible is the biggest thing you can do for your children and to take care of yourself. And people think it’s a luxury, but it’s actually your biggest role as a parent. It’s your responsibility is, is to create healthy, stable kids.

And how you do that is by taking care of yourself. And make taking bold action and being really authentic and living authentic lives. If you want little authentic, happy children be authentically present. Yeah. Yeah. And if you’re stressed as shit about work and then coming home and needing to check out with a glass of wine, that’s what they’re going to feel.

Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, that’s a good one. How do you help people process those spheres?

We name it. You do. And then with yoga, we transcended. Mm. Yes. I don’t spend a lot of time with the fear stuff. Like, just get over it.

Let’s just take some action. Positive action. Move through it. Yeah. Cause everybody’s scared of all kinds of things. Yeah. And people that are successful are not scared of less things. They just have learned how to move quickly through them. They have the same fears as everybody else. I think human nature for some people they think like, oh, well they must not be scared of anything.

They’re super brave. And I’m like, they’re super brave because they feel it. And then to step forward. That’s right. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it says momentum. Exactly. Yeah. And leaning into it. That’s awesome. Okay. So we got things to do. Things we’re scared of what’s next.

I would say the wear

piece. I do love this and I think this is something people don’t talk about.

So explain the where and why that is such an important thing to kind of get nailed or

framed me the career. Fulfillment formula is what plus, where, what are you doing? And then where are you working? The mission of the place, the culture, the coworkers. So if you were to Google 16 career clusters and you’ll see all the different industries divided into 16 categories and just ask her.

What industry do I want to be a part of, I’m going to be working really hard. I’m going to do my thing and my talents, my gifts, but who do I want to elevate, for instance, agriculture and nature. Do you like the idea of helping farmers be better at their jobs? Not that you would be a farmer that you would do your talents and your gifts and helping farmers, or is the field of education or is it.

Or is it healthcare? So that 16 career clusters can be really helpful just to start identifying it. You’ll see a chart, you’ll see a list cross off the clusters. You’re like, Hmm. And

does it speak to me? Don’t want to be there or whatever, whatever,

you know, it’s different for everyone. Yeah. So cross ones that don’t speak to you circle the, I don’t know, let’s say top three or four that do speak to you and they start researching start.

King start doing information interviews, talk to people in that field. Like I’m fascinated by what you do. Tell me, how did you get started? What’s a typical week? Like what are the joys and challenges of what you do? So that’s how we network away in to confirm, to gather information. And if you do actually want it to stick, take a step forward.

They’re there for you. Those are contacts ready made, and they

can help. I mean, come on. That is a great tip for anybody. Yeah. And why the hell? Isn’t this taught when you’re in college? So weird because I have a niece who’s 19 right now and she following my mom and my sisters. Following my mother’s path to be a microbiologist and as a, you know, whatever.

And then came was like, I don’t think I want to do this. I think maybe I want to do something else, which everybody freaks the hell out. And I’m like, that’s great. Like you’re 19 of course. Why would you know that you’re going to be a microbiologist at 19? But I also feel I can hear her struggle, like to not know.

And I’m like, man, I just feel like I don’t have the guidance, but, um, That it would have been so helpful for me and for everybody to learn this skill of like, how do you follow? I think people are like, oh, if I follow my passion, I’m not going to be. Like that’s flippant. Like it’s like, oh, I’m going to just be an art, a starving artist.

Like that’s what starving artists do. Like as opposed to like, no, you could really use your intuition to guide you and what the differences. And we

want to balance the passion with the practical

as well, because you actually have to like sustain your yeah.

Life. I feel like with the passion piece artists, for instance, or new entrepreneurs, they are bestowed this divine gift and they have to express themselves.

I mean, it’s for the world. So it comes through them. It doesn’t always pay the bills. Right off the bat or ever or ever, but it’s still your responsibility to see through it come. So that’s your passion side. You do it, you express it. You have to, and then on the practical side, what’s something you can do.

We call it a support career. The supports your dream supports your passion. Monday through Friday nine to five. You don’t have to love it, but you can’t hate it. Yeah. You don’t hate it because then it drains you of all your creativity and passion. So Monday through Friday nine to five, you like the people you’d like the work and then you come home and all of your friends, ATV juices are just stirring.

That’s a big thing. Uh, Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about in big magic, which is all about like following your artistic career. And the one thing I said is she said, as a creative. One of the easiest ways to kill your creativity is make yourself make money off of it. At the beginning, she goes, because you want to put fi put financial pressure on yourself and put yourself in stress and then try to be creative.

She gives you will just like go dive right into the ground. And my dad is a, you know, well-known sculptor and has been a furniture maker my whole life. But when he switched over to just doing art yeah. Really bad because it was so much pressure. And then because it’s creative fields are such a soul endeavor, the product means so much.

And then if it’s not getting to that, you know, it’s a little more meaning than like I did this spreadsheet and this spreadsheet was not exactly whatever you want. Okay. So I love those tips. Is there anything else that you would suggest that people do it. Like kind of at the beginning, I would

say going back to the fear piece, turning your fear into curiosity for your 19 year old.

Nice. Who does not want to do microbiology anymore? It’s easy for her in the family to go into fear mode. But, but what’s the answer. What’s the answer. Like, let it be the question of curiosity. I wonder what’s going to be more fulfilling. I wonder what’s out there. I wonder what’s going to spark my interest more.

I wonder this wonder, wonder, wonder.

Yeah. Yeah, I think you’re using curiosity in all aspects of your life as something that’s. So, so many of us forget to do is like we’re getting all this information all the time and we can use every little piece of it to like, get curious about, oh, that made me feel this way.

What does that mean? Or that made me think. And what does that mean? Or it

feels lighter, doesn’t it? Oh yeah. I live in this curious place. Yeah. Have

to,

must, should have done that. You should do this and do this and did this is running your life. Do you help people get rid of the shits in their head?

Because I feel like that is like so implemented from a lot of times, by the time your kids, you know, you’re following your parents, like should, should, should, should, should, should, should. Yeah.

We name it. Sometimes we tap it out with EFT.

yeah. I want to get some stuff knocked out of your nervous system. Real fast EFT EMDR. Do it. Sematic therapy. Yeah. That’s right. So, so somebody, if somebody. Do you do any work around people being really content in their work and then how to kind of expand on that? Cause I feel like that’s the other side of the coin.

It’s really easy to be like, okay, you, you hate your job. Let’s do some change, but what have you, you’re liking your job, but you want to continue. It’s almost like, uh, you know, we talked about before we start that I believe everybody should look at their careers, a personal growth, growth path. You know, it’s one thing that you’re spending such a large time.

Of your life on. And so how do you use it to continue to grow?

Yeah. Great question. So career Zen is about do what you love, love what you do. 80% of the time people come to me because they don’t know what they want to do. They know they’re unhappy. So I help them with the exploration piece and figuring that part out.

And then 20% of the time people say, I love what I do, but I’m burnt out. I’m stressed out. This is not sustainable. What do I do? So that’s what I helped

with. So how do you do that self care? Um,

yeah, so I had to learn this the hard way myself, people in the helping professions help, because it feels so good, but then we helped so much and we put ourselves last. Every one is more important. Than ourselves. I was 35 years old and I felt like a 90 year old arthritic woman. I didn’t know what was going on until I just crashed and crumbled.

And I took some time to receive nourishment, to seek, to receive the love. And I realized, oh, this is what I’ve been needing. I need to fill my cup first. And then everything just flows through me. That’s another reason why I wrote the book is because. I found the less I do, the more I get done, the less I do with the more I get done.

Right. It’s good. One. It’s counterintuitive that you go to the gym when you’re feeling tired and you create more energy in the body. So the same thing with work, if you keep trying to push, push, push, push, the quality and productivity is not there. You actually need to take breaks, take a little nourishing breaks.

I really love that, that nourishing break thing. I have people use the Pomodoro timer where they’re only working for like 20, 20 to 25 minutes. And then you have a five minute break. First off. It allows you to actually focus for 25 minutes. And not all of a sudden you’re on Facebook, like going down some weird rabbit hole.

Um, but then you’re also giving your body breaks. Especially if you’re sitting down, get up, move around, get some water hydrate, go to the bathroom, drink some tea, do some stretching, all of that, all the self care stuff. Great. Here you go. Just breathe. How about that? Do a yoga pose. Well, I think both of those, because those are two things and I think people are at different parts in different parts of their career all the time.

So I think there’s so much to take away from that conversation. So it’s time for some rapid fire questions. Okay. Are you ready? Do you have a morning practice? And if so, what does it

look like? It means taking care of my puppy dog,

and she has a, she has a very elderly

puppy dog, most 19. What kind of dog is

she too?

Holy moly. Those dogs live a long time. Cause I have another friend that had like a 17 year old Shitzu. Yeah, that’s awesome. She’s my heart. What’s her name? Julie Jilly, shout out, shout out to Jilly thing. What’s one thing that you believe that people think you’re crazy.

For following my dreams and passion.

Isn’t that sad that people think people are crazy if they do what the hell they want. Yeah.

But I’m just living my life should just no control over what people think of me. So hell

yeah. Hell yeah. She’s dressed as a damn Panda. That’s what I’m talking about. Okay. Final question. What advice would you give your younger self?

And you can tell me how old she is. And then what advice would your 90 year old self give you two? Oh, that’s

good. Okay. So I’m 45. Now I would tell ten-year-old Lynn to breathe and that she’s beautiful and her path is all laid out for her just trust and 90 year old Lynn saying to 45 year old Lynn, I do this meditation sometimes.

So I know what she’s saying to

me. Oh, that’s awesome. Good rocking chair self is what I call her. Oh, he’s on a

rocking chair. Yeah. Um, she tells me that I’m beautiful and I’m on my path and I’m just spreading the light.

Uh that’s that’s um, I love that. Do you have any final words, thoughts, so you’d like to share.

Do what makes you happy is true. Do what makes you happy? Life is really short. We’re all on borrowed

time. She’s going to give you a big fat permission slip that you get to pick your joy and I’ll join her in that. So just, just do whatever makes you joyful. Guess what? You only get to go once. So like just do it, do it.

That’s awesome. Thanks guys. Thank you so much, Dr. Lynn. You’re welcome. My

pleasure.

Take a breath. Do a power pose. Make a list. Great advice. Thank you again. For sharing your methods and best practices for creating a career of your dreams? The balance bad-assery team includes me. Alli, what else? Producer Mariah gossip and audio engineer. Jake Wallace. Thank you again for everyone at founding media for your support balanced bad-ass series available on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, or wherever the hell you get your package.

You can follow me at Allie Waddell, a L L I w a D D E L L on all the social medias. Thanks again for listening.