Are you ready to turn your career aspirations into a reality?
Whether you are feeling incredibly driven and like the high achiever you are, or if
you're feeling a little stuck and unable to really see what that future can hold
for you and what's possible, or if you're feeling just overwhelmed and exhausted
and a little bit like being an ordinary Barbie is okay, you're in the right place.
Because no matter how you define success for your career and your
professional life is what's going to enable you to give you that direction.
That's what we're talking about today is creating a professional bucket list
for you to help you take those things that you've always wanted to do with
your career and make it a reality.
So whether your success is a specific title or a role or responsibilities at
a corporation, whether it is owning your own business, whether it's being a certain
type of coach or consultant or business owner and giving you the success that
you want, whatever that means to you, based on your internal values, that is
what you can put into your professional bucket list and that is how you create
it because we want you to have, I want you to have an unstoppable successful
journey that's perfectly perfect for you.
Hello friends.
I'm Kendra Losee from KendraLosee.
com.
And you've tuned into the Invisible to Invincible Podcast where
passionately driven business owners share their journeys from
hidden gems to industry leaders.
Together, we'll uncover the secrets, mental shifts and business strategies that
turn hidden gems into undeniable forces.
So hit that subscribe button and let's dive in.
All right, as I've already said, I'm Kendra Losee.
As I've been interviewing different business owners and leaders and
what they do and these incredible women, I have found that.
I want to be able to talk to you directly.
So one of the things that I've incorporated into this podcast is
that the first episode of every month is going to be just me.
You're going to get me solo talking about insights that I find throughout the month
that I found in talking to clients and looking at the industries that I work
with and things that I'm noticing as we're moving forward throughout the year.
So the first episode of every month, it's me.
I'm here!
To kick off the new year, one of the things that I really wanted to talk about
is creating a professional bucket list.
As we were nearing the end of 2023, I started, you know, there's a lot of people
who are getting laid off who want to leave their jobs and aren't sure what's next
and they aren't sure what they want to do.
There's a lot of questions, especially as the world around
us is changing so rapidly.
There's a lot of people in a specific age group I'm going to say over 40.
Although age isn't really the number, isn't the factor, the circumstances
around what's happening is the factor.
It's people who've been working a long time, and they're midway through their
career, or looking out towards the end of their career, and people are asking
themselves, what have they accomplished?
What do they still want to accomplish?
Has it been worth it?
What's their purpose?
And all of those questions.
I was talking to a friend and they made the comment that, they were
really excited to see what I was doing because I'm chasing my dream.
It was one of those phrases that stopped me in my tracks.
And I'll tell you why in a second.
The first time that someone said a phrase that stopped me in my
tracks and really made me stop and reevaluate where I was in my career.
It was about 10, 12 years ago.
I was out to dinner with a group of friends and I happened to mention
that I was being interviewed for a chief marketing officer role for a
pretty large university in California.
And one of my friends, You know, they were talking about it and like, it
was a very big deal because someone said specifically you would, you
know, this role is something you would have before the age of 40, which is
pretty unheard of, at that level.
Someone else made just a very offhand comment about climbing the corporate
ladder and what a good job I've done.
That phrase, climbing the corporate ladder really stuck with me.
I went home that night and I thought about it for a while and I even did
some journaling about it because climbing the corporate ladder
had never been a goal of mine.
Titles had never been a goal of mine.
Having work that challenged me that made a difference that impacted the lives of
other people That was a goal of mine.
And if I can make great money while I was doing it, even better.
But climbing the corporate ladder, like that wasn't, that wasn't what I wanted.
And then when I got there, what was there?
Just a lot of work and politics and things that I didn't necessarily enjoy doing.
The job I'd had, had basically been killing me.
And now I was looking to step into a larger role.
I didn't love that.
I didn't love how it felt.
So what I ended up doing was actually giving myself a demotion at that
time and taking a job at a digital agency that gave me a chance to
get my hands dirty and relearn the things that I loved about marketing.
And working with people in a dynamic, interesting environment.
So when my friend said that I was chasing my dream it stuck
with me because I stopped.
Later, when I was thinking about it and it just kept coming back
to me, you are chasing your dream.
And I had to ask myself, am I?
Is this my dream?
Am I chasing it?
And you know what it is.
The work I'm doing now has absolutely become my dream.
It's aligned with my values, being able to help people show up and
share their stories and share what they do with confidence,
with clarity, with consistency.
I absolutely love.
And that is a dream worth having.
That is something that's worth chasing.
You know, I spent last year developing my business.
I spent last year laying the groundwork for my business.
I spent last year focusing on my health in order to be able to lay the groundwork.
That was the second part of that comment that caught me is am I chasing my dream?
Or am I just letting it happen and seeing what, what plays out?
And that's never been me.
I've never been someone that's not high achieving.
That's not actively pursuing and chasing what I want, in every way I can.
The last year, year and a half, my health really held me back and I fought
through it and I learned to find help.
I did a lot of research and found ways to help and found people
who can help me and I did it.
In 2022, I gained 70 pounds and felt terrible and ended up with COVID for five
months, which did not help my health.
In 2023, I found the doctors that can help, did the healing work I needed
to do, and I lost all of that weight.
Now as I continue to feel better, I found that I've done all that foundational work.
I have the energy to chase my dream and I have the energy to help you chase yours.
So let's talk, let's talk, let's talk about a professional bucket list.
I told you that story because I think it's really important to understand your
values, what's most important to you.
And it's incredibly important to also understand how to turn those dreams that
you've, that you want to chase, those dreams that you want to make reality into
actually turn them into reality to make yourself define what success looks like
and what you want to accomplish between now and the end of your career and maybe
even after, like, what do you want to do?
One of the things that I, I did this the first time when I was
23 and had just been laid off.
I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know how to find a job I wanted and I wasn't sure if what I'd been
doing was really what I wanted to do.
So I did a bunch of research and read some books and found this idea
that became the spark for having a professional life bucket list.
What that meant is taking everything that I wanted and actually
placing it in different decades or different parts of my life.
One of the things that that original list included was writing a book.
Another thing that original list included was when I retired, I wanted
to teach that list included writing multiple books, starting my own business.
It included many dreams that I had dropped in as a very
naive, very naive 23 year old.
But I've kept that list and I refined it.
So when I started teaching in my thirties at a university, I almost honestly
said no, when I was offered teaching because I was like, no, I'm not, I'm
not supposed to do that till I retire.
But I'm so glad I did because it taught me so much about myself.
So when you define your bucket list and when you start writing down
the ideas of things that you want to accomplish, you put that into
and you break it into sections of where it can fall in your life, it
starts to become a map for yourself.
When you go back and look at the things that you've accomplished ,the
things that you have enjoyed the most and understanding what work motivates
you and really lights you up and understanding how you can do more of that
and putting it into your bucket list.
It can be so inspiring and motivating.
Like I said, if you're feeling stuck, it can help you.
If you're having trouble figuring out what you want to do next, or what
direction do you want to go, or what you want to accomplish, having a bucket list
for your professional life can help.
Like I said, I created a workbook on this because I wanted to combine
mindset with some of the things that I have learned and to help people go
from being feeling stuck or trying to figure out what's next into creating
a plan and to building that Next step.
There's a workbook that you can find on my website that outlines this and it
gives you The step by step and how to create your professional life bucket list.
And I called it wildly Creative and wholeheartedly driven your guide
to creating bucket list because I want you to Get creative To throw
those big ideas on the wall and see what sticks, how they fit.
You never know.
And that can be the most exciting part about it.
Whether you're feeling stuck or whether you're feeling like I said, like an
ordinary Barbie, or you're feeling like you're the high achiever and passionate
leader you are, start writing your ideas down, put them in, put them in a plan.
Start putting those down so that you can start focusing on accomplishing
them because each and every single one of us define success in a unique way.
What my vision for success and my values that feed into my
feelings of success are going to be completely different than yours.
So what does that mean for you?
Well, you have to define it.
You know, some people use inspiration boards and vision boards.
And I do like those because I'm a very visual person, but I've had vision
boards that just sat on a wall or sat in a closet or sat behind a door
and they don't necessarily do things for you unless you start to put those
wishes and those ideas into action.
Unless you start to create a plan for one of those or some of those or all of those.
Do you want to travel the world and work from all over?
Great.
What do you need to do to do that?
Make, put that on your bucket list.
One of the things that I always wanted to do was live in another country and I will.
The time just hasn't been right yet.
but what do I need to do in order to make that happen?
I'm making those steps right now.
So one of the things that I'm going to give you a few tips for creating
your professional bucket list.
And one of the things that I think that will help a lot is like I said, go
back to what you enjoy doing the most.
What motivates you?
Where do you get those feelings and those, where do you see
yourself being the most motivated?
What does that sound like?
What does that look like?
What does that feel like?
And write it down.
Start reminding yourself of the things you've accomplished and the
things that you've already done in your life that are pretty incredible.
That will help start to give you that motivation and that vision for what's
to come and what else you want to do.
Like I said, the workbook as you go through it will help you break those
down into starting to pick the top ones and starting to put that plan together
for what that can look like and how you can turn that into a reality.
Then you can take those steps to keep going.
But it starts with understanding what that means to you and understanding
what that looks like and writing it down and documenting it.
So whether you are feeling wildly creative and wholeheartedly driven, it's time to
turn your wish list into a bucket list.
And actually take those dreams and those ideas and things that you might have
always had in the back of your mind that would be cool to do and prioritize them.
Actually ground them.
With your values and your priorities and create that vision for yourself.
Then start making that, turning them into goals and making them smart goals that are
specific and measurable and have deadlines and things that you can work towards, and
you can keep that bucket list near you to help you focus on the big picture, even
as you're working on the detailed work.
And working on getting it done . Just doing that helps
have that sense of purpose.
So you're not just feeling like you're running in circles.
You are chasing dreams.
You are making those dreams a reality and whether climbing the corporate
ladder is on your bucket list or not, or building your own business and being
your own boss, whatever it is, there's no wrong answer because you will have
defined what success means to you.
You will have created a commitment by mapping short term goals in order to
make those long term accomplishments.
You want to make sure that you capture it all.
So when you go to create your bucket list, you can do this on your own or you
can download the guide from KendraLosee.
com And and you can use it to help become whole heartedly
driven if you're not already.
Because no one wants to settle for ordinary and no one wants to keep running
their career on other people's terms.
This is your professional life.
So what are you going to do to make the most of it?
I can't wait.
I cannot wait to see what you accomplish.
It's going to be exciting.
I'm sure it already is.
Let's be clear, but it's going to be exciting.
Thank you for joining us today and remember at KendraLosee.
com you can find the workbook for The bucket list to create your own bucket
list and you can also find our business and visibility and coaching services
and, and I want to specify this.
You can see and learn more about the upcoming Invisible to Invincible
Lab, which is a mindset and marketing course designed to bring clarity,
confidence, and consistency to how you and your business show up.
We are all about high achieving entrepreneurs guiding you to success
both in your business and in life because it is never too late to
make your business and career work for you, not the other way around.
Until next week, I'm Kendra Losee.
Thank you.