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In a quiet moment, I heard a voice. And as a workaholic, and you probably know this as well as I do, so many of your listeners do, we hear a voice here, right? This is constantly going in our brains. But this voice I recognize came from somewhere else, and it came from a deeper place, and it was a whisper, but audible. And this question, which was me, asked me, if this is the next 30 years of your life, is this enough?
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Welcome to the Ownership Game with Gary Montalvo. What would it take to get into the driver's seat of your life and leave your mark? The Ownership Game starts now.
Today's episode is about finding your purpose. Purpose acts as a guiding star, giving us direction, motivation, and a sense of meaning to our lives. It shapes our goals, influences our decisions,
And it fuels our passion. Purpose is that thing that keeps us pushing when things get hard and often resulting in personal growth and learning resilience. Without a clear sense of purpose, we often feel adrift, lacking the drive or clarity that we need to navigate life challenges. But finding a purpose or more specifically owning our purpose is easier said than done. Fear, doubt.
Societal expectations and external pressures can often keep us from authentically choosing our purpose, from speaking them out loud, and more importantly, from doing something about them. To dive into this topic deeper, I invited author, speaker, and the founder of the Pajama Program, Genevieve Pituro.
After finding her purpose nearly 20 years ago, she founded the Pajama Program, a non -profit organization that promotes equitable access to healthy sleep by providing pajamas, storybooks, and sleep health education. Since launching the Pajama Program, they have distributed over 8 million pajamas to children in need. So along the way, she's become something of a subject matter expert when it comes to finding your purpose. I'm excited to have her share her expertise with us today.
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So Genevieve, I'm really excited to talk to you today because purpose is one of those things that when I'm training on it, when I'm teaching on it, people get really backed up. Like they get easily overwhelmed with the idea of trying to define their purpose. Is that your experience? And when you're doing this, can this just be overwhelming for people? Sure, it can be.
But I'll tell you what I find that's more intriguing for me. I think when you talk to a person long enough about purpose and they're not giving you that answer or they seem to be overwhelmed, a lot of times they know what they want to do. They know what they're meant to do, but they're afraid. There are a lot of things in their mind that are forcing them to keep it on the back burner.
And I try gently to explain there's a jump and there's a slide. I jumped. If a jump is not for you and it probably isn't for many people to just say, okay, the heck with it. You know, I'm an accountant and I really want to be a teacher. I'm just going to go for it. That is scary. But when people will open up a little bit about, I really want to sing. My happiest when I'm singing.
Then I talk to them about bringing it in just an hour a week, just a little bit. Doesn't have to be a whole big decision that the people are going to be rocked if you start to plan another big move. So I try to gently encourage them to talk about what it is that they love, that they would love to do, but they don't make time for, or the time's not right, and talk about ways to bring it into their lives.
And it seems to be doable more often than not, if I can get them to a place that they will admit that they know there's something there, they just don't want to risk giving it energy. Yeah. And I agree 100 % with you. Very often, one of the ways that resistance shows up is in a disguise as confusion.
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Like, I don't know, I don't know. And I'm like, I'm always like, yeah, you do. Yeah, you do, come on. You do, you really do. If you're honest with yourself, you really do. But it is the type of thing that once they speak out loud, well now it's like you gotta get responsible for that, right? Like you just said it, so now you can't pretend anymore.
That you don't know, right? And then now the game changes. Now it's like, now it's time to get an ownership, which is the reason I've named this podcast the ownership game, because it really is the first step to taking action on anything that matters to you, right? Getting an ownership. So you mentioned that you took the leap, right? So why don't we go back to the beginning for you and tell us.
what tell us, give us a little bit of background so that people understand what you meant by that. And, and how did you become, I guess the question is how did you become really focused on this topic of purpose? Like what was going on for you? I always wanted to be a corporate woman in the entertainment business because I, I was a big fan of Mary Tyler Moore's Mary Richards character for any of your listeners who remember Mary Tyler Moore.
And she worked in a big city and she was a single girl. And to me, it was so adventurous and exciting. I used to sneak down when I was a kid to watch her, watch her show, because my family is very, very traditional Italian. My dad came off the boat from Italy. I'm the first born. So I was expected to get married and have kids. wow. And I was afraid to say, but that's not really what I want. I don't think that that's that's.
what I want to do first at least, let me have this chance at this excitement that I think is success and status and something that's just pulling me. So I followed my, my marriage, how the more footsteps and for 12 years I worked in New York city in the TV world. But what happened was in a quiet moment, I heard a voice and as a workaholic and you probably know this as well as I do. So many of your listeners do. We hear a voice here, right? This is constantly going in our brains.
07:15
But this voice I recognize came from somewhere else and it came from a deeper place and it was a whisper, but audible. And this question, which was me asked me if this is the next 30 years of your life, is this enough? And in the moments sort of freaking out because I heard this and it also gave me pause. And within seconds, things just pieces just flew around and found found where they belonged. And I said,
I think I missed something in that upbringing of family and children that is probably more important than I ever gave credit to. So how can I bring children into my life at this point? And I started to think about the shelters that children were in, because I'd seen news reports of police and social workers taking children to shelters because they were in harm. And I called the shelters and I asked them if I could come in at night and read storybooks. For some reason, Gary, I don't know.
Things happen, right? Things happen, you get ideas. And the woman on the phone said, that would be lovely. We'd love for you to come in and read children, the storybooks. They're in a bad way and we need to keep them calm while we process their paperwork and everything. So I did. I went in and my business suit sat down on the floor. No chairs in the room. They brought me two just for the kids to play in. And I sat on the floor and I read stories to about a dozen kids they brought in, small, young kids, five, six, seven. And I could tell instantly.
by the clothes they wore that were tattered and soiled and the looks on their faces. Some had been crying. They looked somewhat traumatized. I couldn't imagine what they'd been through. Or should I say could imagine. And they listened silently. Week after week, different kids that did the same thing read story books sitting on the floor with them. And one night I got curious about where they were taking them to go to sleep when I was finished reading. And when I looked into the room, it was very bare like the one I'd been reading to them in.
More than one child would huddle together on a surface of a cot or a single bed or a futon. And they wore the same clothes they'd been in for who knows how long. And everything was wrong. And I had reflections of my mom sitting in our beds and how happy and loving and sweet it was with with snacks and stories and kisses and hugs. So what I saw was all wrong. And what came out of my mouth was something that was glaringly missing. I asked if I could bring pajamas.
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for the children next week. And the woman said, that'd be lovely because no one thinks of pajamas. So I shopped all week for the first time, didn't care about my job for the week. I just thought, let me just get these pajamas. And I brought them the next week and read to the children and had this surprise gift for each of them. And I started giving them out. There was a little girl who was so, so afraid of me and she just kept backing away. She just kept shaking her head. No, she didn't want anything to do with whatever I was going to give her.
until I noticed at the end, after all the kids had their pajamas, she was watching from a corner. And I went over and I knelt down and I tried to give her the pajamas and tried to have her touch them and said, honey, they're so soft. These are pink. They have pink in your shirt. There was a caregiver standing with her who's listening. And I said, don't you want your pajamas? And she leaned in and she said to me, what are they? What are pajamas? And that's, that's when I felt like the world stopped.
for me. I just, I, my mind was racing. It was like, I felt like it was exploding. And I learned when, when she put them on and gave me a smile from her caregiver, these kids don't know what pajamas are. And that set me on this entirely different path that I started something called Pajama Program, which is 24 years now, nearly 24 years, 8 million pajamas around the U S 42 chapters, because.
Not only did I feel her pain, other people felt her pain too and I would tell them what happened. Wow, okay, you just skipped over a lot of stuff though. That was beautiful. But I wanna go back to the moment you had this realization to like what was next because I feel that a lot of people get callings like this. You called it a whisper and I don't know what higher.
purpose, source you believe in. But I do believe that life, the universe, God, whispers and presents opportunities in front of you. And we just, we dismiss them, we push them aside, we get numb to them, we don't even notice them because we're just like so focused on climbing up the corporate ladder or whatever it is, right? Whatever distractions we have come up with. So...
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you really allowed yourself to hear this calling, right? And what happened next? Because you had invested a lot of time in your life to create this job and to be as successful as you were, right? So it's a pretty big leap that you took. So I want to get into that a little bit. Sure. Yes. Yes, to everything you said. The first night, and I can remember like it was yesterday, I was really thrown. I was like thrown off the center.
of the world I built that I thought I knew everything about. I knew my place, I knew my direction. Everybody else did, which is a big thing, right? When you wanna change paths. What's everybody gonna think? I have to say something to people. Am I crazy? I just, the leading factor was this is not okay. That this child and others don't know what pajamas are, the looks on their faces, the little girl's question, her smile when she put them on.
That's what led me every step of the way, even in the toughest times. I didn't tell anybody about this because of what we're all afraid of, what other people are going to think, especially if we've achieved some success or some stability, so to speak, that everybody, including ourselves, is comfortable with. So I didn't say anything. And I just kept on showing up physically at work. But my mind was on the calls I'd get about
more children or can we share? Because I was giving pajamas, which was a special gift. So people were sharing my number, the people at the shelters with their friends who ran shelters. So I kept getting calls and I, and I just couldn't say no. I wanted to comfort these kids. Now, maybe that is what my parents instilled in me, that nurturing, loving family that I, as a child I received, maybe that's how it was coming out, but it was just,
I was just obsessed with that because it was emotional. And I think the highs and the excitement of my job were just that highs and exciting and successful, but the emotional connection to humans and deep level of, of having to do something to love, to, to hug, to touch far outweighed what I believed was.
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for me, success. Yeah. So you, so it sounds like the demand started showing up first. Like it wasn't, you hadn't decided yet. Okay, let me go make this a nonprofit in a movement. It sounds like you started getting calls first and, and, and that's how it kind of the spark came. Okay. So this is great, but this is still making my
proving my point, because you could have said, I can't, I'm busy. So how are you handling this at first? Are you just buying all these pajamas yourself? Are you asking your friends what was happening there? No, I didn't say anything to anybody yet. I was running around like a crazy person, and I was spending way too much money. I was over my limits, got into financial trouble because of that. But I couldn't stop myself. That's all I could think about. That's all I could do.
And everything else was annoying me. My bosses were annoying me. Having to get to work was annoying me. Having to make an excuse for taking lunch because I had never taken lunch. All of a sudden, I'm mad that I have to make an excuse to take a lunch. I'm upset because I don't think anybody's going to understand. And I'm worried that I have a mortgage and I know I don't have any answers except I just want to show up and sit on the floor and be with the kids. I felt so grounded.
I felt like I was doing something that mattered to somebody, really mattered. Yeah. Yeah. The call. So this is so great because what happens is that whisper turns into a bang on the door, right? And then it gets louder and louder and louder. Yes, I get it. Yeah. OK. So tell me, at what point did you say, OK, this doesn't work, I have to...
I gotta make a change here and go all in. A few things, a few things happened. I thought, first I thought, okay, this is a nice thing I'm doing, right Jen? This is a nice thing. People will wanna help if they know. So let me pick someone and it took a long time to pick somebody I could test this on. So I didn't want someone too close to my life because then I'd have to, like we were talking about before, you give it air and now people are gonna look at you like, what are you doing? And I said, okay, but I wanna take.
16:47
I want to talk to somebody who knows where I've been and who I think is compassionate. So I chose a colleague, not in the same business. So she wouldn't be able to tell anybody what I was doing, but she was also on the same track of being successful in the business world. So I, I, I invited her for a drink and I had two glasses of wine because I had rehearsed this. I'm thinking about finding a way to leave my job because I met this little girl and I want to give pajamas. And I, I know I have to think about the practical parts, but right now that's all I can think about. And it sounded ridiculous.
I rehearsed it, rehearsed it. I had to do it. I had to have a drink with her. I had to give it a shot. And I said what I rehearsed, thinking, okay, there's gotta be a piece of this that she's gonna think is nice. Well, she shot it right down with all my fears. Am I crazy? Did I forget I have a mortgage? Why was I doing this? I worked so hard. I'm on this track. Why can't I just go there once a week? Why wasn't that enough? And it was like being fired at with bullets. And so I clammed up again.
I clammed up again for months until I met a man. And I was single, didn't, never married. And I said, okay, he thinks I'm going to stay in this job because that's what I'm making him think. And if it gets to be serious, I have to tell him. So I said, let me just get it out of the way now. And I told him I met this little girl, just what I said to her, and looked at me and he said, I think he should go for it. That was a big relief. I still was on my own, but
Somebody didn't think I was crazy. And that gave me a little more comfort to go to my parents. And they were so they were the next people. And then for my father was worried, not so gung -ho. My mom was the nurturer in the family, taught me bedtime. Right. So she said, I don't know how you don't know how you'll do it, but I think you'll find a way. So that's all I needed. And then I still kept it quiet for a while. And finally.
Little by little, I had to change from full time to part time because my boss didn't know who I was anymore. I never told him, but he could see my work was faltering. So I had to just say I had a lot of personal, a big load. And I went to part time and then, yeah. And after that, just got out. But not without a lot of strife and stress. Mm hmm. OK.
19:09
So I'm so glad we got into that story. I think it's important to give the background a lot because sometimes one of the things that happens is that we see these people that have accomplished amazing things like yourself and then, but we're seeing the after result, right? We're seeing the part where you've accomplished this great feat and it's like, no, there was some stuff in the background too that it took for that to happen. So I'm so glad that you shared that with us. So.
You started this nonprofit, you've done amazing, amazing things in the last 24 years. And now you're really focusing, one of the things you focus on is helping other people find their purpose and having them tap into their purpose. So let's switch topics and focus on that a bit. We know that one of the things that people deal with, we establish is the fear of speaking it out loud, the fear of owning it.
What's your advice for people who are starting to, well, I guess, before we go there, does connecting to purpose look like quitting your job and going off and doing this wild dream? I think we should kind of spend some time exploring that because I think connecting, finding your purpose can look so many different ways. And,
I don't want to leave people with the experience that this is the only way. Like for both of us, it looked like quitting our careers and going off in a whole different direction. But that's not what it has to look like for everyone, right? Right, as you mentioned, the slide, you don't even have to make money. If you're making good money and your heart is somewhere that you, where you've never told anyone the things you want to do that excite you, that you might've had a taste of.
You can't imagine how you would swap it. It doesn't have to mean you give up the money that you're making. The more money you can make, the bravo. And as long, my advice is as long as you find a way to bring that love, that purpose in, whether it is as a volunteer, whether it is as a side hustle, whether it is just immersing yourself in listening to opera, if you love opera and you've never made time.
21:32
Whatever your purpose is to share, to experience, needs to be given light. You need to embrace it. It's a gift. And when we have a gift, we have to share it because you are improving other people's lives. We may or may not know that, but by sharing something we love and we're enthusiastic about, the feeling is contagious. And people, we all need to share the good things that we're doing and we need to support each other. We need to be our...
cheerleaders and I want to hear if my dentist says that he loves ballroom dancing and now he's doing it at Lincoln Center on Sundays. I think that that's fabulous. I just spoke in Atlanta to a group and there's a man there who is a financial planner and now he decided his family recipe for toffee is something that he wants to put out market and the whole place erupted in cheers including me. How
That made us so happy, made everyone smile and laugh in support. It's freedom, no matter if you're making money or not. It's freedom to give it breath, to share it, and to just put that good energy out there. Yeah, and it's freedom for you and freedom for others. Because similar to what you just shared in my experience, whenever you're in a room like that and you
put something out like that, it doesn't just stay with you. That purpose that you share creates a context in the room. It gives other people permission in the room. It frees up the room. And it's an energy that just gets transferred. And it's very, it's...
It really is something that just vibrates and creates freedom for other people as well. You're right, the air changes. You're absolutely right, because it's stagnant if we're all just slogging along, making money, doing what's supposed to be doing, doing what we've done for 20 years. How can I change it now? Just moving along, moving along. And the older we get, the more I think the air is stale when we're together. But it was peanut brittle that he said he was making, not toffee, sorry. But it lifted everybody.
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It was just like magic, like somebody put something in the air, just like you said. And it's a look, I'm still I'm still elated. You know, just the memory of the room and the energy. Yeah. And I think that something else to keep in mind, too, is that there is a price for not answering that call. I mean, you said it. There's a stagnation that happens. But I also think it's more dangerous than that. I think that.
it transfers to physical ailments and illness. And when you suppress yourself in that way, when you're not really allowing your full authentic self, it really does do stuff in your body and causes stress and causes physical ailments. And I always say it's like, God will start with the whisper, but the knock will get louder and eventually it's gonna go, come on.
and knock the door down. And sometimes the way that it knocks the door down, it's in unexpected ways. You know, in depression, you feel about the people in your life, which is sad. It interferes with your relationship with them. And they may not even know why, because again, you're not giving it any breathing space. Yeah. I mean, if we go back to your example and you're sharing,
I'm thinking of that time period when you were still working, holding this vision, trying to do, run around during your breaks and the stress that you must have been under and you should, like things just started getting annoying all of a sudden, everything was annoying me, everything all of a sudden, everything was like, I never took, but.
That's what's happening, right? Like you're getting nagged in this other direction. And yeah, so great. Okay, so now I think some people are waking up and they're hopefully getting inspired to connect with their purpose. Let's go into what advice or process you would walk them through to do this. And yeah, and what advice would you give them to kind of get started?
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On my website, which is GenevievePitturo .com, there's an exercise. It's an exercise to help you find your purpose. Start there because that's what I do with my clients. I start there and it's 90 minutes alone time, alone, alone. And you can have a glass of wine, you can have a cup of tea, you can eat a whole pizza, you can have a cupcake, but it has to be with pen and paper, not with a laptop or any, any technical device. And just do the exercise for 90 minutes. It will, I think you will.
reveal some things, if you're honest and you really take it seriously, that you may not have put on paper. You may not have to look at or have looked at yet. That's the first place to start. And then there are so many ways to bring whatever that is into your life. And it doesn't have to be scary. It doesn't have to be a major change. You don't have to tell anybody that night, but you just have to find.
a way to bring something about it into your life. Start slow. Now, if you have that gene, like I do, like you do, to jump, then you do what you have to do and you start slowly. And I'm always here and I always will offer a free hour consultation just to talk people off the ledge or onto the ledge. And just recognize that that's a gift and that you're meant to share it. Yeah, because it really could look like,
You volunteer now we're at animal shelter. It doesn't have to look like you quit your whole job and go, I mean, more power to you if that's if that's what you got. And I think something that I think I want to go into, well, actually, no, I want to you gave two pieces of instructions that stood out that I think I think I know why you did it. So but I think it's important to talk about. So you said alone and no technology.
So let's talk about that. Well, no technology because there's power in hand pen to paper. I believe that when you write it, there's something subconscious and unconscious about planting those seeds and talking to your inner self. That is not anything that's a machine or technology. It is personal and it's your physical body absorbing and writing it as its truth. The part about being alone.
28:40
Distractions just take you away from listening to your heart. They pull you out of a sacred place where you've sat down and said, OK, this is between me and my heart. OK, heart, you ready? You're talking. You get a knock on the door. You get a phone call. You have a child crying. You have a husband calling you. You have a mom who needs you. Anything you said, OK, 90 minutes, well, I can do this for an hour. No, if you're not going to do it for 90 minutes, wait till you can do it for 90 minutes, because you have to connect.
with your heart, your soul, your higher self, God, like you said, whatever you connect with, and I use all those terms interchangeably, but you have to get there and you can't get off there and really know what's happening in your true self. Yeah. And you can't underestimate just how distracted we are today. And I think that's one of the ways that the ego,
The other thing to mention is the ego may not necessarily want you to tap into your purpose, right? Because when you tap into it, it's scary. It's really scary. You got to own it. You got to go, okay, I just said this thing. It came out of my mouth. So there is a mechanism inside your head that's trying to disguise this from you, right? So when that's happening, it's very easy to go up.
Distraction, let me go over here. And I agree that the pen and paper, there's a communion with yourself. 100%, right? The communion with yourself, I think it's really powerful. And most of us, what I'm noticing is we don't have that practice of communion with ourselves. We don't have that practice of staying in the stillness and asking those deep questions.
And most of us, this is the first thing that we grab, right? Like we just immediately grab our phones in the morning and we start responding and we start with notifications and we're in front of devices constantly. And what is that? And that is allowing other people to set our mood up for us early in the morning. 100%. Yeah, it's hijacking you. So I do, I wanted to stop there and kind of.
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highlight that point because I don't want people to underestimate just how powerful these forces and these distractions are. It does take something to find 90 minutes, no interruption, and do this work and be with yourself in a way that, and for many of you, just the act of doing that is probably gonna be hard, right? Because you just don't have that muscle. Please.
especially my ADHD people right here, I'm with you, I'm one of you. Do this, like stick it out. Like just be gentle on yourself, but do this exercise. I think it's very powerful. I think it's a powerful practice to do regularly, just to really commune with yourself, journaling on a daily or weekly basis to really ask yourself some of these deep questions. So I love it. So definitely go to Genevieve's website to get the full exercise.
and walk you through that. You mentioned something I had another question. You mentioned the ego. No, no, please. And you know, there's something and I write about it in my book and it's sort of a secret. I've discovered a bunch of secrets as every decides to include their purpose in their life. You discover things and I have to tell you what happens. What happened to me and it's happened to others who I've worked with and here talk like you're saying the ego, your brain tells you.
all the things that are scary and wrong and who's not going to like it and what's your crazy or you don't know what you're doing. Why would you do this? It's not safe. Go back, go back. Right. Your brain tells you that's what it's for. It's fight or flight. It's helpful in some ways because it will it will tell you danger danger. But when this happens and your heart pulls you to something, if you keep letting your heart win even little steps over this constant
go back, go back, go back of your brain, something clicks and it switches and you never know when it's going to be, but it's like your brain says, okay, all right, clearly she's not gonna listen to me. She's listening to that heart thing, but I'm smart. So now I'll help her when she's listening to this heart because I know how to help now. And they switch positions. The heart is leading and your head doesn't abandon you, then helps you figure out how to make it happen.
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And it's an amazing phenomena. It's just, it will switch and you will, you will know when it has switched and it does. It's just a matter of telling it the heart's leading now guy. Yeah, I 100 % agree with you. It's said differently. It's like a muscle. It's a practice, right? And when you, when most of us are really practice, which I think is why intuitively I wanted to spend some time talking in the distraction management because mostly,
we are trained to be in the distractions and to be dancing with them all day long, right? So even that, that's why one of the things that I do with my clients now, it's like one of the first things that I put in is like morning practices, some sort of meditation, some sort of mindfulness practice, some sort of journaling, because we do need to build that muscle. We do need to have that time to do that work and mostly how it occurs.
for us is like we are this way or we're not this way. And it really is not that, it really is we are practice in certain habits, right? We have a set of habits, we have a set of practices. And when something new comes along like this, like this calling that you're getting, it just requires you to develop a new set of habits, a new set of practices.
And yeah, at first it's going to be challenging. It's going to be weird. It's going to feel uncomfortable. But the more you do that, the stronger the muscle gets. Right. And a lot of us have been programmed by those who came before us, our family and other people in business, find something that's safe, find something that is a done deal. Nobody really in my life ever said, take a chance, go, you can do it.
Never. Nobody even said the word purpose. Now that's all I tell people, especially young people. And young people get it. Young people are not so happy to stay just to stay because it's stable, just to stay because there's a paycheck, just to stay because there's a gold watch when you retire, which doesn't even, that makes me laugh. Nobody ever said, go jump. Yeah. And I think that's especially true because we're both first generation from immigrants.
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So when you come from immigrants parents, like it's work hard and just stay at it, right? Like that's really the it. Like they're like purpose. No, the purpose is keep your family alive. That's the purpose. Yeah. The purpose is keep your family alive and go to school and get an education so that you could be better than us. That's it.
So it does take, so I remember telling my mom and I'm like, okay, mom, I'm leaving my career to go start a coaching business. She's like, coaching, what is that? She was like, yeah, she was like, really? Is that what you're doing? Okay. Okay, I love it. There was something else I wanted to ask you, but it left me, it'll come back. Okay, so I think,
What's next for you? And I know you have a new book coming out. So why don't you share a little bit about that? Because actually, your new book is a workbook in helping people craft their purpose, right? So we definitely should get into that. Well, the first book is the story with the ups and downs and life lessons and leadership lessons of a lot of it is how to do it the right way and how I did it the wrong way. A lot of it is.
Follow your heart, which is the one thing I did every step of the way, which is the right way. And I will stand by that for us to live. So it's good because people have always respected that when they asked and when I spoke about finding purpose, that I didn't leave the bad stuff out, that I talked about it. Because if you're going to do it, you don't want someone to tell you it's going to be perfect, it's wonderful, look at what I did, and no need talking about all the stress, because look how it ended up. You can't. People...
people won't feel like you're really supporting them. They're gonna feel less than when at the first point of their distress because it's not perfect. So I'm very honest in the book. And then the second book is Purpose, Passion and Moxie because although I speak and coach and teach in every sector, because it's about leadership generally, people still ask about starting a nonprofit because I think COVID did a lot of things for us and I think it made us more heartfelt human beings. It made us look...
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inward at where we were taking our lives and people are making changes and putting their purpose in the mix. And also it's difficult because of the technology that's come from the COVID era and the need for us to communicate that way, sort of overwhelming. But people want to be physically and heartfully connected too. So philanthropy and nonprofit work is everywhere now. So I did write this
Purpose, Passion, and Moxie, because that's what I say I had when I started it. And it's how to get your Moxie. And then, yes, it's a workbook on step -by -step how I would coach and will coach those who are intent on starting a nonprofit, because they see a way to help, and they see something that's wrong, and they want to be part of the solution. So not knowing what to do is no longer an excuse. Genevieve is literally giving you a step -by -step guide. OK?
Don't tell me you don't know how. I didn't either. You know what? We can figure it out together. Yeah. And that's also something that I think really stops people that where when they get these ideas or when they get this vision, they immediately go into, well, how, right? The preparation, the you...
let me go get a degree, let me go back to school and get a degree now and that new thing, or let me get my life ready. And you go into this path of trying to figure out all these answers that you don't really fully even understand the questions to until you get on the road, right? So you can prepare and I'm not saying be reckless by any means, but in my experience, most of the...
Questions you don't even know until you actually get Get going and then have them come up and out of your commitment to fulfill this vision That's what fuels you to figure it out. That's what fuels you to keep going I thought also do I need an MBA? Should I be getting one and I said, you know what Jen that's lame That's your your trick. You think you're telling yourself. I can't do this now because I need an MBA
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I said, you know what, you have more moxie than anybody I know. I said that to myself. I said, just rely on that. You have common sense. You have good people if you need, and of course you need people around you that are gonna support you and answer your questions. But you have moxie. We all have moxie. Just let it out. Yeah. And moxie's also a practice, right? Like you can also build that muscle and step into...
Yes, bold, fancy, gritty. This is such a fun conversation, Genevieve. I'm so glad that you came by. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I really think it's inspiring and I think it's such a not just because of the impact and the difference that you've been able to make through your organization and all the lives that you've impacted. But I just think it's courageous.
Anytime someone answers the call, I never take that for granted. I never, I'm never flipping about that. Like it takes, it takes moxie courage, boldness to answer the call and to say, okay, I'm going to do something about this little nut, little thing nudging at my side. And it's answering that question. I'm just really glad that you answered the call. If this is the next 30 years of your life, is this enough? Yeah. I mean, that's a question right there, boy. Yeah. I mean, that's.
That's the question that I always reflect on. Yeah, if that question doesn't set everything straight, nothing will. Yeah, that and a little bit of honesty. So, and as we wrap up, you have a TEDx talk coming out soon, no? Yeah, the second one. I do. Yes, it's supposed to be this month that it'll be released. So yeah, so the first one I have on my website and it's out there, and this is the second one. So...
We'll see. You never know how it's gonna look when you do it. You wanna see it on the video. I'm sure it'll be amazing. Okay, well we'll put all the ways to follow and get in touch with Genevieve so you can connect with her online and social media and her website and all the things. We'll put all that information out there for you.
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As we wrap up this episode, I think something we have to acknowledge is that finding your purpose is a deeply personal journey. For some of us like Genevieve or myself, the calling is clear. We know what our purpose is and the calling came in so loud that it would be damn near impossible to avoid it. There is a certain blessing in that, but it certainly does not make it any easier. It takes incredible courage to voluntarily pivot and give up careers.
and lives that you have spent years and maybe decades building. For some of us, we have to work a little bit to find that purpose. At least that's how it may occur to you. My take on it is that you know, you always know. But we pretend, we avoid, we push it to the side because if we said it out loud, then we could no longer hide from it. So your ego plays tricks on you.
It creates obstacles in the form of confusion and distractions, all with the purpose of keeping you out of the hot seat. But your heart knows, your spirit knows, your intuition knows. It's more of a matter of remembering and perhaps having the courage to admit it. Look, I'm not telling you to leap off some huge cliffs. As I said before, this is your journey, but I am inviting you.
and I strongly suggest that you take me up on this invitation. I'm inviting you to tune in and that you start to listen to your whispers. Do Genevieve's exercise if you need a little extra help. How you choose to answer the call is completely up to you. But in my experience, it's the only way to truly live a fulfilled life and ignoring it has deep consequences. So my prayer for you today is that you own your purpose.
and that you have the courage to pick up the pottery wheel or sign up to volunteer or maybe finish that degree or yes have the courage to leave that career for something bigger that truly gives you purpose. If you found this episode inspiring please share it with two or three people that you think would be inspired by it too.
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Your actions do a great deal to help me get the message out there and have more people living inside of their purpose. I'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Ownership Game with your host, Gary Montalvo. Make sure to like and comment on your favorite podcast platform, as well as subscribe so that you never miss an episode.