How to Reimagine Work in a Way that Re-energizes You.

What happens when you say yes to a job, or even to starting your own endeavor and, over time, the nature of it - the day-to-day experience - changes in a way that requires you to do less and less of the work that makes you come alive, and more and more the work that empties you out?

Today, on the SPARKED Podcast, we hear from listener Paulina, an Essentialist who thrives and is energized by turning chaos in order, systems, processes, solutions, and problem solving. She loves “putting out fires.” In the early days of running her own business, there was plenty of that, both for her own venture, and her clients. But things have now settled into a fairly dialed-in mode where that Essentialist impulse isn’t so organically activated. And she’s feeling less Sparked.?

Her business has moved from a ‘waterfalls and rapids’ type of pace and unpredictability to maintaining clients on retainer, feeling more like ‘a steady flowing river’. A good problem to have, she admits. But, at the same time, this change has taken away key elements that made her come alive, and it’s making her feel stuck.

She asks if it’s possible to find fulfillment in the necessary day to day maintenance of running a business or is there a way to reimagine the experience and feel sparked by her work again?

And, on deck with me this week from the Sparked Brainstrust, to help tease out what really matters and share insights and ideas is Deborah Owens. After a long career in leadership in some of the biggest companies in the world, Deborah founded her own consulting firm, Corporate Alley Cat, where she advises and coaches People of Color in all aspects of career visioning and development. She has this incredible ability to see what’s happening under the surface in any given situation, and ask questions that get to the heart of the matter and reveal possibilities that feel both empowering and expansive.

Listen to this week's episode now on your favorite podcast app.?

And, remember, we all have a unique imprint for work that makes us come alive: your Sparketype?. When you discover yours, everything - your entire work-life journey and even parts of your personal life and relationships - begin to make sense, and you feel better equipped to find, do, or create work that (finally) sparks you!

?To learn your Sparketype, check out the free Sparketype? Assessment.

AND - if you’d like to submit you’re own questions for consideration for a future episode of SPARKED, you can do it here now.