Design Your Life: Get Clarity, Talk About Money, and Take Control

Does this sound familiar? ??

You come home from working a job you hate, you’re in a bad mood, and you yell at your kids and partner. This doesn’t happen just once now and then. It happens most days.

Why?

Because we are selling our souls for money and other people’s priorities instead of being in alignment and designing our lives.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

So, in this newsletter, we’ll explore how you can start to design your life of alignment and create a reality that you are happy to be a part of:?

1. Understand Your Priorities and Get Clarity on What You Want
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Talk About Money and Know How Much Money You Need
3. Stop Waiting for Someone to Recognize Your Brilliance, Take Control of Your Future

Listen to the episode or scroll down to read one of the highlights of our conversation ↓

1) Understand Your Priorities and Get Clarity on What You Want

In a recent workshop Olivia held with women leaders who wanted to understand how to win in the workplace, she asked this question:

“What is your primary concern in the workplace today as a woman in corporate and what do you want?”

90% of the room had a hard time clearly articulating their answer.

“I would say that I was very clear on what I wanted when I was at corporate until I realized what I wanted was following someone else's version of what I should have.” - Archita Fritz

Whose want are you chasing?

“Are you doing what you're doing right now because it is in alignment with your values, because it allows you to live the way you want to live, it allows you to make the money that you want to make, it gives you the flexibility that you need for whatever reason, or are you doing what you're doing now because some yahoo told you that you couldn't do it.” - Olivia Cream

This is a trap so many of us fall into.

“If you're 10 or 15 years into your career, you should not be chasing some yahoo's nos as your yeses. That's just a waste of your energy, your time, and quite frankly, just quit your job.” - Archita Fritz

Not only is it a waste of your time and energy, but it is out of alignment.?

“What experiences and relationships and goals are worth trading our time for?” - Archita Fritz

If you don’t deliberately set this exchange rate for yourself, things will naturally fill your time and you may find you have no time or energy for the things that you actually want to do.?

A great place to start is to write down all the experiences, relationships, and goals from your past week and see which ones were worth your time and which ones were not.

2) Don’t Be Afraid to Talk About Money and Know How Much Money You Need

So many women have a fear of money - both talking about it and doing the math to know how much you need to live the life you want NOT just to scrape by.

“We care about the number where you first define how you want to live your life. [...] Once you understand the way you want to live, then you go back into how much money do I need to live in my ideal state?” - Olivia Cream?

This information is so important in designing your dream life.

Then you have to have conversations about money which can make people very uncomfortable.

“We're taught not to talk about money because people might think you're trying to show off or it's taboo. Who benefits from these social norms? It sure isn't you. [...] So if you don't want to talk about money, fine, stay broke.” - Olivia Cream?

If you don’t talk about money, you are choosing to be limited in your financial success.?

“You're choosing not to unlearn everything that you were taught to keep you controlled. So you're going to stay broke.” - Olivia Cream

And while there are systemic changes that need to be made, you can start doing the work for yourself today by not being uncomfortable talking about money.

“You have to create a plan and money and comfortability with money has to be a part of that plan. Otherwise, you will forever trade time for money. And in some cases we're selling our souls for a paycheck.” - Olivia Cream

3) Stop Waiting for Someone to Recognize Your Brilliance, Take Control of Your Future

Are you waiting to be tapped?

“You're saying yes to things that are taking your time and energy that are not moving you forward at all. You're just spinning in place.” - Olivia Cream

Olivia explains that we have these trauma-based responses to continue to stay in motion even if the motion is doing nothing but depleting our energy.

What ends up happening is that we put our heads in the sand, work super hard, and wait for somebody to recognize us for our brilliance.

“Ladies stop waiting to be tapped. Know what you want. Drive towards your goal, take the reins on your career, and stop waiting for someone to recognize your brilliance. You recognize it and choose what you're going to go do with it.” - Olivia Cream

One way to take control of your career and future is what I like to call breadcrumbs.

“You might go do a bunch of different things, but as you're doing them, think strategically about how they form the breadcrumbs towards where you want to go because that's how luck happens.” - Archita Fritz

These breadcrumbs lead to opportunities.

To hear the full conversation on the Embracing “Only” Podcast, scroll up and hit play – or click here and tune into episode 78.

Ready to make a change?

We’re passionate about bringing extraordinary guests to Embracing “Only” so listeners can see what’s possible, feel inspired and empowered, and most of all, feel motivated to take action and make moves that will get them closer to their goals.

If you’re still listening, you’re probably an “only” in your workplace or field of work. And you have two paths ahead of you:

1. You work in the corporate workspace, you want to continue your journey, but learn how to thrive and grow in that environment as an “only;”
2. You have made the decision to leave the corporate workplace, but you don’t know how to make the transition or what that next step is.

If you’re #1, Olivia Grant-Cream can equip you with the tools and strategies to thrive. Connect with Olivia on LinkedIn to learn how you can excel in your current role and make your mark. More info at oliviacream.com.?

Set your sights on a place higher than your eyes can see.?

If you’re #2, Archita Sivakumar Fritz can guide you through a successful transition. Reach out to Archita on LinkedIn for support in launching your entrepreneurial journey and embracing new challenges. More info at readysetbold.com.?

Accelerate ideas to ACTION.

DM Olivia or Archita today and take the next step in your career!

EMBRACING “ONLY” PODCAST:?

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Women – particularly women of color – are constantly bombarded with societal and systemic hurdles that they face professionally with no balance in solutions.?

News, media, and coaching tend to focus on our differences and obstacles but don’t provide thought-provoking solutions to help people regain control of their lives and find direction.?

The Embracing “Only” Podcast seeks to provide a community for women to share their lived experiences and not feel alone in their journey to claim their power and purpose in the communities they seek to serve, transform, and impact.

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