Here on Purpose
Because we can't always control whether I can do a purpose centered job or not. But I can always control whether I have a purpose centered mindset to be giving of my self for others in any context that I can.
Azurae:Welcome to The Message Connection, a podcast dedicated to exploring all the angles that it takes to get your message to the masses. I'm your host, Azurae Phelps. And with over twenty years of experience in the world of production, I've seen behind the scenes of everything from recording studios to the Super Bowl halftime show and everything in between. Week after week, we will dig in to the medium of podcasting, as well as host conversations with entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, artists, creatives, educators, and more to see how they got to the heart of their message and what it took to get them to the place where they were ready to share it. Let's get into it.
Azurae:Welcome back to The Message Connection. I'm so excited to have my dear friend, Nancy Zugschwert here on the podcast with me. She is a speaker, trainer, and coach specializing in communication and purpose discovery. She possesses a unique blend of enthusiasm, wit, and creativity that helps people connect the dots in understanding their purpose and the necessary communication skills to be effective in any situation. As a licensed purpose factor facilitator, Nancy serves as a guide to navigate the purpose discovery process, leading people to greater fulfillment in their work and personal lives.
Azurae:She is the creator of the ultimate communication cookbook, a unique framework for understanding communication and developing skills to create strong relationships and dynamic teams. She holds a master of arts in strategic leadership and a bachelor's degree in speech communication and Spanish. Hello. Hola, Nancy. To the message connection.
Azurae:Gracias. Tell me everything. That is such an incredible history of your work and training and life. But I'm just so happy to have you as a friend and have you here to talk to us and tell me about all of it personally. Because it's one thing to read it, it's another thing to hear about it from the source.
Azurae:So welcome. So So glad to have you.
Nancy:Thank you, Azurae. I am just so grateful for your invitation for me to be here. I love your work. I love what you do and your passion for helping people. And just being connected in general, but specifically here today is awesome.
Azurae:Yeah. Thank you for coming. Okay. So let's, like Maria said, start at the very beginning. Very good place to start.
Azurae:So Gonna make me sing. Yeah. Let's go. I know you just you just had a a big musical actually thing happen for you. Right?
Azurae:You got a your was it your childhood piano?
Nancy:Oh, yes. My childhood
Azurae:piano. Right?
Nancy:Mhmm. Very good.
Azurae:So so with all of this going on, you also are a musician? Like, you're holding out on us here.
Nancy:I I mean, music lover. I once played piano much better than I do now. Very rusty. But I was always involved in music growing up. High school and from elementary school to high school, I played alto saxophone, piano, and I sang.
Nancy:I was in musical theater, did all all kinds of things in the past. I'm not much very musically involved right now, so having my piano come back to me is actually really cool. And I'm Yeah. Starting to play again. And we were excited because we really felt it was kind of it just felt like a God story in terms of how it came about that my mom was moving.
Nancy:And I had wanted that piano for years, but I had given up on that dream because we, for many years, didn't live in a house that was big enough. And so I just had let it go. And so when she was moving, I thought she I asked her if she was gonna sell it, and she said, maybe to the people who buy the house. I don't know yet. And I hung up the phone, and I had just this, like, sense in my spirit that I think I'm supposed to have that piano again.
Nancy:And so we started talking about it. And then, like, two days later, my daughter-in-law was here with my grandson. A lot of details. I don't ask I don't know if you want this whole story, but Yeah.
Azurae:No. I'm
Nancy:I told her about it. And she had been telling me that my son had been playing their piano with her kids every night, and she just loved to hear him sing. And then I brought it up. I think the piano is gonna, you know, come back. And she said, you're kidding.
Nancy:I'm like, no. And she's I said, why? She goes, Jeff just said the other day, I wish my parents had a piano in their house and we could make music together. And I just it just made my heart so happy. And so we've just kind of declared it that it's our our piano of worship and community, and we we wanna start hosting, like, Friday night worship and potluck nights and and to just really use that piano to bring people together.
Azurae:Well, this I mean, to me, this totally goes with everything that we're gonna talk about today because your heart to to bring people together and to communicate what their their purpose is, but also just, I I don't know. In in like a relaxed way, Nancy. I it doesn't feel like this, like, intense thing. It it it feels like something that you wanna be alongside of people in and just be on the journey with them because it's a journey. Right?
Azurae:I mean, like, I think we all want it to go so much faster. I mean, I do. I want it to go so much faster. And we were laughing before we started recording about how many different things you've tried over the years and the different ways that you're you're wanting to show up. And the heart behind all of it is really a desire to serve and to show up well and and and to to help people, to contribute.
Azurae:But what do you think it is that's always driven you to do that? Because this is not your first rodeo in pursuing this work. What's been the journey? Or share I mean, share with us as much as you want to, like the journey that you've taken to get to here with with always, it sounds like people at the center and community at the center.
Nancy:Yeah. That is such a great question, and I'm not sure where to start. And part of me wants to start, like, almost where I'm at and a little bit backwards. So the work that I'm doing with Purpose has emerged honestly through the discovery of a tool that is very amazing to me. It's called The Purpose Factor.
Nancy:And, you know, I started to see ads for it, like on Facebook. I was like, find out your Purpose in twenty minutes. I'm like, right, you know? But I've always loved doing assessments. I've done strength spider, Myers Briggs, DISC, Enneagram.
Nancy:You name it, I can tell you my type. And I've just always I like them for a variety of reasons. They always seem accurate for me. And to me, when I take them, they remind me of who God made me to be. And so I I hold them up to a light, not like it's telling me something I don't know, but it's it's a reminder that, oh, I'm this way because that's how I was made.
Azurae:Yeah. And, Nancy, I always say that these assessments I used to say this about the Enneagram a lot. It's just it's just a lens. Yeah. It's like not the gospel, but it is such a helpful lens on the world and then how we all fit into the kaleidoscope, the mosaic of of life and the whatever community or workplace or even family life that we find ourselves in.
Azurae:Exactly. So I love that.
Nancy:Yeah. And so where the purpose factor came in, it's another assessment. But there was something different about it to me. I took this twenty minute test, and the way my experience was as I read this, you get almost a 50 page report on it that talks about your purpose and then the elements that go into creating that. And I don't know if you know the story in the Bible about the woman at the well.
Nancy:There, Jesus was in a community, and he met a woman at a well who basically, through their conversation, he revealed things that she there's no way he could have known about her. And when she was so excited after their encounter and learning who he was, she ran into town and said, I've met a man who told me everything I've ever done. And I felt seen by this report in that kind of way. That I I had this report that that identified me so closely, And and it just sparked something that was just so so positive and elemental that I was pulled into wanting to know more about it, wanting to share it with people. And I pursued and got became a licensed facilitator.
Nancy:And so when I say I am doing purpose work, it is it's fresh and new in terms of using this tool, but I think I've helped people connect to parts of themselves my whole life. And that that's a piece of what it was, the discovery. And you might have seen me rummaging. I literally am I'm I have a core statement that tells you my purpose, and I have everybody else's inventories but my own sitting here. But, basically, my my purpose factor that I discovered is that I my purpose is to create shared experiences for people that are high impact.
Nancy:And I have seen that as a through line in my life.
Azurae:Yeah. Well, even the desire to create a Friday night gathering around the piano is, is a version of that. And, and, you know, we do I mean, you'll please speak to this more, but it seems to me, we do what we're made to do in whatever environment that we're in. Exactly. And and we can we can like dial it up or dial it down, depending on what's my season of life, and what am I up for, and and what do I do with these gifts that I have in this season that I'm in, and like own my season.
Azurae:But also, like, I bring my purpose to the backstage of my kids' musical theater performances. I bring my purpose to my marriage. I bring my purpose to the neighborhood. I bring my purpose to the Internet. I bring them you know, we we take this with us wherever we go.
Azurae:And and to me, I mean, knowing what that is and having the the full confidence that we're operating in those gifts is like, man, it's such a relief. Like the woman at the well, who's just like, oh my gosh, I'm I'm finally known. I'm I'm finally in a space where I can be confident about how I'm wired and and what I'm meant to do here. And let everybody else do their version.
Nancy:Right. And that's what's so fascinating about the ecosystem. The purpose company that created this really hit upon something in that this is so essential. Our purpose is not for us. Our purpose is the best of what we have for and using it for others.
Nancy:And when we do that, we get fulfillment. And so you'll see the threat of your life that the times when you were most fulfilled was when you were operating in your purpose. As you said, whether it's backstage at your kids play or putting together a neighborhood party or whatever it is. And that's why you can see people who have built empires, but be empty. They use skills that they had to build things and do things, but they weren't necessarily in their purpose and they come up feeling empty and flat.
Nancy:And so my in the short time I've been doing this, one of my biggest discoveries has been and this is I look at this as God. He gave us this purpose. Is that it's not outside of us. It's not a lot of people will feel like, well, my purpose is my family. My purpose is my spouse.
Nancy:My purpose is this. Well, how sad that would be if that's truly my purpose because people leave us. People leave us. They they die. They leave the Earth.
Nancy:And then if my purpose is gone and it's the same thing with fulfillment. If our fulfillment comes from externals and I built this I have this house and my my fulfillment is my car and everything else, and the market crashes and I have nothing, I don't have either. But when your purpose is what's inside of you out for others and that's how I'm fulfilled, I can have a purpose filled, fulfilled life no matter what my circumstances. And it's really powerful to land there.
Azurae:Come on, somebody. Yeah. I mean, I our counselor once said to us, you know, our daughter is a couple years away from leaving the nest. And I said, you know, we only have a couple more years with her. And she she said, oh, no, no.
Azurae:She started individuating as soon as she was born. Like and I was like, wait, what? But but it is so true. Like, even this era of teenage life, I mean, and also, you know, you're once you're a parent, you're you're a parent forever. But I just mean that that idea that even as as as parents of of teens and and young adults, as they as as they begin to enter into those seasons, I find a lot of women have a bit of an identity crisis.
Azurae:And I mean, I've been there. So I'm I'm not saying that with any judgment. It's actually like this this constant dance between again, I I think I kind of said it earlier, but like, I have these gifts. I think they're for something. But then I have these responsibilities Mhmm.
Azurae:That I feel are God given and important to me. And you and I actually connected about this kind of from the very beginning. Yeah. I mean, even just in a quick passing conversation, the, the dance of that, and again, seasons of life, like it's, it's very important. And, you know, putting, even putting the pressure on our children to find identity and like, oh, they're my purpose.
Azurae:When actually, what sounds like what you're saying is like, it's a bit of a bigger conversation.
Nancy:Right. Right. They're they're one of your roles. And that's
Azurae:Oh, good.
Nancy:That's what what I see in this stage of life is that Yeah. Many midlife women, most, we are shedding things that have always been part of us. You mean? And they're good things. I wanted to be married.
Nancy:I wanted to be a mom. I don't resent those roles. But because of the demands of those roles, I didn't always have the opportunity to live out, you know, my purpose. I'm a mother of four sons. And my sons, zero four, have a personality much like mine.
Nancy:And four zero four, especially in their teen years, were not highly appreciative of the kind of energy I bring. I'm a morning person. I'm like, we'll play the music in the morning and get everybody going. And certain songs, like, if they come on the radio now, they're like, you're not off. It's got PTSD.
Azurae:PTSD around the morning music.
Nancy:Followed me by FFH. You know? And yeah. And so, in that, I actually found a pretty long season of suppressing my natural personality, and I didn't you know, I didn't plan a lot of parties for my kids because they're introverts, you know. But and so there are just things that you do along the way.
Nancy:We have roles as daughters, for example, and now our parents are aging or ill and we're relating to them differently. Now our kids are adults. I'm not momming anymore, so I have this new role, new communication. My body's changing. If you're perimenopausal or menopausal, I mean, all these things are changing at once, and consequently, even our friends change.
Nancy:We have friends who retire, and they get to move and live their dream life. And now here we are still in cold Minnesota, or we have friends who have also passed on early. And and so or or the the women we traveled with in high school, like, we were besties and we went to all those games, it's done. It's over. And we find out that they were really good acquaintances.
Nancy:And so it's a lonely time as well. Yeah. And so to me, when you come back to that sense of purpose, it helps you realize I get to create this next in my life built on something that's always been there, but which I didn't get to build around before.
Azurae:You know, I'm a little behind you in my parenting life and in my season with work. And and again, I'm figuring out how I, I guess the, what, what I want to ask you is, okay, well, I'm burying the lead a little bit here, dear listener, because I have actually taken this purpose assessment and I'm hoping if not today, another time that Nancy can walk me through mine and will share that with you because, I just think it would be very cool for you to, to coach me through. When you reflect on being where I am, you know, I have a 16 year old and a 10 year old. So I'm in the phase where you're saying, man, I didn't, I didn't know this about myself then, or I was even suppressing some of my gifting to do the role that I was, that I was asked to do joyfully, by the way. I know that you're, that was your desire.
Azurae:So when you reflect on that time, do you think having this, this knowledge that you have now would have changed or empowered you differently? What do you what would you have done differently in light of knowing this? Or can you see that? Or does it I mean, we can't change the past, but I'm just curious. No.
Nancy:It's a wonderful question. I would say the answer, short answer is absolutely. It would it would inform doing things differently. The place where it would make the most difference is between my ears and my head.
Azurae:Wow. Okay.
Nancy:And my own perception of who I was as a mom, as a person, I think standing more confidently like, you know, teenagers are supposed to push back. Right? But if you have edges of lacking confidence in who you are, that push can really hurt. And it can really, again, cause you to go inward even if you're an outward person. And I I knew enough.
Nancy:I didn't have a lot of contention with my kids. I was a good communicator. And I pretty articulate kids. And, honestly, some of it was that they didn't talk as enough. I mean, for for boys, they I had a friend once say, long before my kids were teens, she said, you just gotta be ready.
Nancy:It's gonna be like, how's it going? Fine. Do you need anything? No. You know?
Nancy:And that was your conversation for the day.
Azurae:Like, okay.
Nancy:So I think I would have looked less to them for that affirmation and validation so that I could have just confidently been myself. I think I probably would have been more intentional about finding outlets to be actively in my purpose so that that I wasn't looking to get something from them that they couldn't provide. And I definitely would have been intentional about finding a way to help my boys see their own purpose earlier and different. So that's how knowing that earlier would have been had an even bigger impact.
Azurae:That's so that's that's awesome because what you're not saying is, oh, I would have built my business. No. I would have, no, you're actually still, because here's the truth. We learn all this stuff. We, we skill stack, and, and actually it works on us before we can work it for anyone else.
Azurae:Yeah. That that's where longevity lives, is creating a situation where we're really marinating in our own stuff. We're getting our own stuff worked out, building that healthy foundation, and then launching from there. So I love that your your first answer wasn't like, well, yeah, I would have started my business fifteen years ago, but rather how it would have actually just genuinely applied to the real life you were living at the time. And what a gift to empower our kids in this similar way.
Azurae:Not that they would have wanted to take the purpose assessment, maybe as a 14 year old, but, you know, just just having that language and knowledge. And we were, you know, talking about that even with all these other personality tests and things. I mean, kids are so curious about who they are. They they wanna know. They wanna participate in the conversation.
Azurae:And of course, they're all developing and having their own experiences that maybe shift and change some of what those answers might be over time. But I just I just love and respect so much that you're like, yeah, I would have changed how I how I showed up in my actual life then. Because that's again, and and everything grows from there. Right. That and and I love that you said between my ears.
Azurae:Because there is so much mental I call it mental jiu jitsu that we do. Lord knows I'm not doing real jiu jitsu. But the mental jujitsu that we do, trying to find out where where we land, how we fit in the puzzle. Again, whether it's in our family system or in our community with friends that change and and grow, you're so right that in these seasons when a lot of life is about facilitating family and activities and things, your friendships are often those of convenience. And that's not even speaking poorly of that.
Azurae:I think often God gives us those gifts, like people to to walk through those seasons. But then, you know, you look to your left and right and you're like, oh, wow. This this has shifted. Exactly. So who am I?
Azurae:Right. Yeah. Who am I now? So so as you've navigated through all of that, like, what's the inspiration for you now in pursuing this in this season of your life?
Nancy:Yeah. And that's actually interesting that you asked because it really is where I wanted to go next because you kinda took me back to, you know, years ago, honestly, where this would have benefited me even more would have been four years ago when I made a decision to leave my job as a communications director at a college. I felt like I was being called out of that, And I had a choice of either going kind of into the market or trying something on my own, you know, be a freelancer. And I kinda took this bold it it was sort of bold leap of faith. I had a really nice contract with my old employer that made that first couple of years.
Nancy:Not so hard. Safety net. Safety net. And then as that net changed, because I actually was changing, that's when I discovered that all the skills I'd used to show up and succeed in my life were not quite enough for the full breadth of what entrepreneurship is. So I I always tell people that when I was in a work reward world, whether that was school or work, I I figured out the system.
Nancy:I I knew how to kind of pick the opportunities that did align with my purpose. And so I could show up, do the job with ease. I knew how to study for the test even though it might have been last minute and crazy pulling the rabbit out of the hat. But I knew how to get the grade. I knew how to I, like and I was motivated to please my teachers and my parents.
Nancy:And so all of that worked for me even with some, what I think now is some neurodivergence I have that I wasn't aware of then. I made it work. Well, now I don't have a boss telling me what to do every day. And I can say, you know, if I could have done the purpose factor at the start of my entrepreneurial journey and started, first of all, like grounding in my faith, then grounding in my purpose so that I knew to evaluate every opportunity or thing I was considering against that, it would have saved me so much time and money because I started looking outside right away. Oh, I need to learn how to market, so I'm gonna join a mastermind group that teaches social media marketing.
Nancy:Great. Made a lot of friends, learned a lot of things, didn't wanna do the things, they seem hard. And I learned how to market, but I didn't know what I was marketing yet because I hadn't figured out my purpose and what my natural secret sauce or whatever it is I'm bringing to the world is. Mhmm. And then the longer that went on, the more I began to self doubt.
Nancy:Oh, I I was really misleading myself. I don't know how I succeeded all those years in the job world. I must have really faked it because I sure as heck don't know what I'm doing now. And so my my greatness is just just diminishing. I'm hiding.
Nancy:I sit in my little sparkly office on Zoom meetings and networking and feel like I'm busy. And the and I just purpose knowledge and someone to guide me in applying them would have been a game changer to, quote, ChatCPT.
Azurae:Well, I also, let's just acknowledge a lot of people have done that. I mean, you are not alone there. I think you're speaking to, and, and this is a little bit of the, like the gift and the blessing and the curse of this era that we're in with the internet and how many incredible things we have access to. How much incredible information and knowledge. We're certainly not lacking in that.
Azurae:And yet, we're when we're constantly looking outside of ourselves to solve for that and you hit on something amazing. I mean, I don't know if you're a first born, but I am. And, you describing your education and your success, like, I well, I totally relate because and maybe it was just an era. Right? It was like, if you do this, you will get an a.
Azurae:If you do this, you will get a gold star. And this is the Wild West out here.
Nancy:Oh, yeah.
Azurae:The Internet and entrepreneurship in general. There is a there is no guidebook. And while at the same time, I think there are guardrails so that you can you know, you're going somewhere. But, oh my gosh. I mean, it's kind of unlimited what what you could pursue.
Azurae:So finding something that you feel I mean, you almost have to put a stake in the ground somewhere, and and then, like, do all all of that. So you've discovered this as your stake. Would you say? Like this purpose? Yeah.
Azurae:And and and I know that god is kind, and he's not gonna waste anything that you've pursued or developed in all these years before it. So where are you starting to see or feel bubble up, like the the purpose anchor with some of these other things that you have been wired to care about and these skills that you have developed, like the communication piece? Or, you mentioned some things to me before we started recording about just kind of a passion and an interest that you have in in helping women in particular. So we've I'm I'm curious to talk about that a little bit.
Nancy:Mhmm.
Azurae:Where do you see that purpose? And again, I mean, if that's not exactly how you describe it, then you can correct me if that's not your if that doesn't that doesn't have to be your anchor. But
Nancy:No. I I I think it is. It's interesting. I did feel a little bit like I stumbled into it. And I you know, if I'm really brutally honest, I I think a little bit of it started with I kept telling myself that I was just making stuff up.
Nancy:You know, like, oh, I can do this, and then I'll do that. And and the reality is we make stuff up our whole lives. I had a friend who used to say every day, we all if you're if you're an adult, you spend your whole life at MSU making stuff up.
Azurae:And That's amazing.
Nancy:We we act confident and, like, yeah. Because that was really good. I was like, was it? I just made that up. And and and and but the thing is, we didn't just make it out.
Nancy:That that came out of me because I have years of experience, years of academy training, as Buzz Lightyear says. I have years of experience. I have wisdom and knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit. I have abilities that I've been given that help me connect the dots for people. I make it up, but it's good and it's everybody's making stuff up.
Nancy:So it doesn't just because you didn't read it in a book, just because you didn't get formally educated in something, doesn't mean you don't have something to offer. And where purpose comes in and why I'm I'm really becoming so passionate about it is we get to come back time and again to, oh, this is it. And and the phrase that keeps running through my mind is twofold. We are all here on purpose, as in God created you. You are supposed to be here.
Nancy:I don't care how you came to the planet. You're supposed to be here. You're here on purpose and for a purpose. And if we can focus our energy, and if I can work with an individual, a group, and help people step into that realization and have the the piece of understanding and seeing the pattern and celebrating it. One of my favorite things that one of my coaches that I've been working with in the with the Purpose company said to me is that chances are when someone has complimented you throughout your life on something that you did when you were in your purpose, your first inclination was to shrug it off.
Nancy:Oh, it was nothing. I just I just showed up. I just stood on that stage, and I wowed the room because that's just what I do. It just comes naturally. It's no big deal.
Nancy:And we push it away, and we minimize it. And he said that his goal, and I'm joining him in that, is to never have someone do that again. And now if someone says to me, wow. You did that so well. I don't care how hard I worked at it or if I just made it up and it sounded brilliant.
Nancy:I get to say, thank you for saying that. You know, I really felt in that project, I was operating in my purpose. It means so much to me that you recognize that. How different is that in terms of what I'm telling myself about what I do, but it's also validating the other person who, when you shrug it off and you say it's no big deal, and they're sitting there going, oh my gosh, that was a really big deal to me, and I'm never gonna try that now because I could never do that. Instead of going, wow, I wonder if I could have that kind of confidence if I knew my purpose, you know?
Nancy:And it just creates this cycle when we operate that way. That's why I'm super excited about it right now.
Azurae:Yeah. I love that. And and this idea too that years and years ago, I heard, I heard Louis Giglio, he's a teacher, pastor, talk about a tapestry and how on one side we see this beautiful picture. But if you flip it over, you see all of these tied knots. And and like, it's kind of a like a hot mess.
Nancy:It's a tangled mess. It's a tangled mess. Yes.
Azurae:But at the same time, you know, we have this sewing and weaving and and all these things that are happening that you don't see on the on the beautiful picture side. You just and yet there's so much that's gone on behind the scenes that whole time. I find it really fascinating to try and let that process happen for me. Again, I don't I don't really want it to take a long time. But, but even like in the tapestry, when I'm fully in my, my color of thread and someone else's in theirs, we're making this beautiful picture together.
Azurae:So I love that you're even saying, man, acknowledging the person who acknowledges you and then getting to respond in kind with whatever their part of the tapestry is. And again, maybe it's a little bit of a hot mess in the in the background of all the things that it took for us to get to that place, but, curious your your experience as you've been doing this and hearing other people's versions of their purpose and all of that. What's that been like?
Nancy:Oh, it's it's been super powerful. I've been working one on one with several people now. And I think the most brilliant thing I heard was just a couple of days ago. It might have been as just yesterday. I Are we only on Tuesday?
Nancy:It's only It was just yesterday. And when I asked this woman at the end of our talk as we unpacked your purpose, I said, what what does this mean to you and what practical applications do you see? And she said, it changes everything in my marketing. I see this now as the cornerstone of my brand. It's the four pillars of my marketing.
Nancy:I see that I can now even think about who I'm serving and ask the question, will I be able to serve that person in the best of my per purpose? And and so when you you realize that that knowledge of your purpose can inform everything you do. And it doesn't necessarily mean, like, you'd be on a job, for example, and go, oh, well, I can't be in this job anymore because, you know, now I know my purpose. It's oftentimes more like, well, what could you do to adjust the job so that more of your purpose can shine forth? And if organizations embrace this concept of purpose and everyone in the organization's doing that.
Nancy:Right. It's awesome. And it's very complementary to things like StrengthsFinder or DISC that you can combine that knowledge to have this multilayered approach of self team and corporate knowledge that can completely transform a workplace, for example. So there's really no limit to what it what it can do and how many ways that tapestry can be woven.
Azurae:So I had a a boss, like, decades ago who talked about, we'll get the right people on the bus, and then we'll put them in the right seats. And I love that in theory, but it doesn't always work. It doesn't always work because you you said an important thing, which is like, if everyone's on the same page about this being the goal, like, that we're all gonna communicate in the same way. And and we've all been in jobs and situations where we felt unseen or despite even at maybe even advocating for ourselves. Like, we were we there just wasn't a it wasn't clicking.
Azurae:When do you think it is time to pivot? I mean, how do they know? You know, you have this knowledge about yourself and you're like, woah. Okay. This is a real there's a real disconnect here.
Azurae:Mhmm. What's your encouragement to someone who might discover this about themselves, but be in a situation where they can't really pivot yet. What's your how would you encourage them in the season where they're, like, waiting? Or would you say cut the cord and leap?
Nancy:Well, the answer is that it's two words. It depends. And, obviously, there's everything from financial considerations to safety and security for your family and all of those things that would go into a decision like that. But, just here's an example. So I'm on page 21 of your purpose factor assessment here.
Nancy:We're not gonna go deep into that. But here in and when you get this assessment, you get a list of just in general, based on what was discovered about you through taking this, there's a a list under the heading, what most fulfills you. Mhmm. What most fulfills you? So yours, if I I may I reveal it?
Nancy:Everything here says, engaging in meaningful discussions about significant ideas. What are we doing today? Okay. Sorry. I just pulled computer.
Nancy:Having a platform regardless of its size to share with others what is truly happening.
Azurae:Let's see
Nancy:that thing. Delving deep to uncover what others could not or would not want to discover. Okay. We just checked three boxes through one single podcast. Encouraging others to question and think critically, you know.
Nancy:So here's an example. I'm not gonna read the whole list, but, like, look at
Azurae:Oh my gosh.
Nancy:Four things on your list and you can go, you're in the right chair right now, Azrae. Wow.
Azurae:You're in
Nancy:the right
Azurae:Oh, I have chills.
Nancy:Yeah. Right? And so starting with a list like this. And so if you had this list and you were sincere and you looked at it and you recognized that your work or your job didn't check any of those boxes Yeah. I would say it's a deep conversation with your boss about what could we do to change my role so that it could, or, yeah, it's it's time to look elsewhere.
Nancy:Again, the other the other consideration is, again, there's time. I mean, I think of every time I've ever had to do something that's even closely resembling an assembly line in my life, I've been like, thank you, Lord, that this is not my job. Now, I don't know people who've worked assembly lines. Some I just have pictures of, like, you know, car manufacturing things where that is their job. That's how they made their livelihood.
Nancy:And I would hate to think that those people were completely miserable the whole time and are. Not everybody's wired the way I am. But let's just say that I have to work the job. The only job I can do is assembly. I've gotta feed my family.
Nancy:Yeah. Guess what? I have hours of the day outside my job. I have relationships. Yeah.
Nancy:I can volunteer. I can serve at church. I can be with a nonprofit. I can be on a board. I can look for ways to apply this.
Nancy:So example for me was many years ago, I was in a communication job at a college. And it was fulfilling, but I'd done it on repeat, and it was getting very cyclical. And I really love public speaking, and there just was no room in that job for public speaking. And it finally occurred to me, I can seek public speaking opportunities outside of work. I joined Toastmasters, and I became a contest winning Toastmaster, getting to polish my public speaking skills, improve my communication and leadership through this outside organization.
Nancy:And So good. I could have gone to a nonprofit and said, you know what? I love to public speak. I love your mission. Could you use me as a speaker to go and be an advocate for you?
Nancy:So there's ways that we can create that. The it's when we feel like it's again, when we believe that our job has to be our purpose or has to be aligned with our purpose, that we are at much higher risk of not being fulfilled Mhmm. Because we can always control whether I can do a purpose centered job or not. But I can always control whether I have a purpose centered mindset to be giving of myself for others in any context that I can. And then that job is just something I do because I must, but I seek my fulfillment elsewhere.
Azurae:Wow. That's so awesome. And, Nina, the truth is even if you are perfectly in your purpose and you're getting to operate in that lane, guess what? There's still a lot of just responsibilities of being a human in life that are required, even in even in a job where you feel like you're right on the mark, there are gonna be moments. But I love that you are bringing it back to just, again, back between our ears.
Azurae:Like where are we mentally? Are we are we clear on who we are and how we're wired? And that's a growth journey for years, for years and layers and deeper. And I'm sure that this purpose factor assessment is almost like it's the beginning of the conversation, not the end.
Nancy:Absolutely. It is a great start to a lot of wonderful conversations. And I'm, you know, I'm just getting started. And in just a matter of a pretty short period of time, I have found it to be very, I think, inspirational as well as aspirational. And one of the things that's important to note about when you discover this is it's really not intended to be a revelation as much as a confirmation.
Nancy:That's straight from the purpose company. That's like, introduce the tool. It's like, you more if this is an accurate if it came out with accurate results for you, it's not gonna be like, I never knew that. You're going to be like, oh my gosh, how did I not see that in everything? It's like, okay, Nancy, the perky party planner is what my friends call me.
Nancy:Nancy, the one who, you know, bakes cookies for people just to make everybody happy. Nancy, you know, whatever. I see this thread of wanting to create experiences for people all the way back to being a little, little girl. All the way back to being a little girl.
Azurae:Yeah. And we we wanna be operating from that place, from the overflow and not from a graspy thing. And it sounds like what you're saying is like, this is just peels the layers back a little bit. Just to remind you who you've always been and to give you, as we said earlier, like a new lens on and some new language for how to show up in the marketplace. So how can people connect with you?
Azurae:Obviously, we're gonna have to do a part two because I really want you to break down my purse selfishly. And Yes. I want people to hear the power of that because even your short, summary got me in my feels. So how do how do people find you and connect with you if they wanna work with you directly on on this?
Nancy:Yeah. Well, honestly, probably the straightest line is shoot me an email, super hard email, nancyz@nancyz.com.
Azurae:Perfect.
Nancy:And I'm on the socials as Nancy z Unlimited. And right now, I'm, I'm in a little bit of a branding mushy spot. So, I probably look like I'm three different people on three different platforms depending on when this drops, and I'm okay with that. Some I actually thought about, like, starting a podcast called the Missy Marketer or something like that. But
Azurae:I love it.
Nancy:Anyway, that's but yeah, I'm you can Nancy Z Unlimited, most social platforms is how to find me.
Azurae:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for cracking open this conversation. And the truth is that you can't connect your message to anyone if it's not an authentic, again, overflow of who you naturally are. So I would encourage anyone to connect with Nancy and to do this assessment. It's worth your time to have that lens on your life and your business, and just to confirm who you're wired to be, which is such a gift.
Azurae:I'm so thankful for you, Nancy, and who you are and who you're wired to be and that our paths crossed. And, thank you so much for coming and being on the podcast today. Appreciate you.
Nancy:Thank you so much. It really was a joy. And I just hope everybody remembers that they're here on purpose and for a purpose. And just to embrace the journey of discovery of what that is is very worthwhile, and you're worth taking it to the next level.
Azurae:Yeah. Totally. Thank you so much. Thanks everyone for listening to The Message Connection. Thanks so much for listening to The Message Connection with Azurie Phelps.
Azurae:If you found this episode valuable, I'd love to hear from you.
Nancy:Check
Azurae:out the show notes for details on how to stay in touch, and please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. These reviews help us reach more people who will enjoy and benefit from the show. Don't forget to subscribe to The Message Connection wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.
