From Mundane to Magic: Rediscovering Joy in Your Work

Feeling like your work no longer sparks joy? 

In this episode, we dive deep into the journey of rediscovering passion and purpose in your business. 

Join me as I explore the pivotal questions, decisions, and mindset shifts necessary to align your work with your soul's true calling. Discover how to navigate business pivots, overcome the fear of change, and embrace the joy of following your inner guidance.

If you're ready to transition from mundane to magical in your business, this episode is for you. Tune in to learn how to reignite the spark of joy in your work and create a fulfilling, purpose-led business that lights up your soul.

Chapters

• 0:00 Joy in Work Through Evolution
• 13:40 Navigating Soul-Led Business Transformation

Transcript

Michelle Dowker: 1:11

Does your Work Spark Joy? This was a question that I had to ask myself and in today's podcast episode, I am recounting the questions that I had to ask myself, the things that I had to consider, the decisions that I had to make and the perspectives that I had to shift in order to make the changes so that my work could spark joy. And I hope that through this discussion if your work doesn't spark joy that you'll get some helpful insights and ideas that you can ask yourself and choices that you can make so that you can find more joy in the work that you're doing. As you know from my story, I've made lots of different shifts and pivots to my niche and my focus and my audience and my clientele, and a really important question I had to answer was is my work still sparking joy? If you were like me, you've got the business strategy sorted, you know what you're doing, you're really good at it, but your work isn't sparking joy like it used to. So this is a really important part of the equation when you're looking at your business success. It's not just about the business strategy, it's not just about the financial success. There needs to be a part of the whole bigger picture where what you are doing is sparking joy, that you feel fulfilled, that you feel satisfied, that you feel excited about what you're doing.

Michelle Dowker: 2:43

If you've listened to I believe it was episode two in season one I explained the unfolding of each of the different business pivots along my career path. One thing that I want to speak to a little bit more deeply today was how I discovered what was not sparking me joy anymore and what I did about it. One of the things was that I was noticing that I was often finding myself repeating topics over and over again that were starting to feel increasingly mundane. It was feeling like maybe I was talking more about the beginner level work and through my own inner healing journey, through my own chronic illness journey and my spiritual inner awakening journey, I moved past those stages. Now, there's nothing wrong with those stages. Every single stage along the path is important and necessary, including the beginning and starting stages, and there's definitely a market for it. People need it. They need to be introduced to new concepts, like making dietary changes, like when they start to discover how to do inner healing work, when they start to discover how to do trauma healing. All of these things are absolutely important and there's a market for the beginner level. Who's an entry level and just stepping into this world. People need it. However, this work was no longer jazzing me up like it used to, so I'll use a specific example for you to help you understand.

Michelle Dowker: 4:22

With nutrition, when I started as a naturopathic doctor, I guided a lot of people through how to try an elimination diet for the very first time and everything involved with how to actually go through the process and find strategy in it, and there was a lot of explanation of what's gluten. Where do you find it? What ingredients are you going to be looking for when you're looking at ingredients lists of packages? What foods are actually dairy and what foods aren't? Where do you find sugar? How much sugar is in your food and how do you calculate that? These were things that I did a lot in the beginning years of my clinical practice, and these were important to me because 20 years ago, I had my own epiphany with nutrition, after having struggled with chronic sinus infections and migraines and chronic fatigue and brain fog that prevented me from continuing on with my university studies. After I completed my masters and when I was introduced to doing an elimination of dairy and gluten in my diet. All of a sudden, all of those symptoms went away within a matter of days and they didn't come back, and that was revolutionary for me and I was really excited and motivated to help others to discover the same for themselves. It really excited me to watch how their symptoms improved once they made the changes that I suggested to them.

Michelle Dowker: 5:56

However, after several years of navigating more complicated therapeutic diets and my own journey of deeper inner healing and personal development and the foundational nutritional guidance no longer excited me like it used to. I started noticing this especially once I discovered the autoimmune paleo for my autoimmune conditions and then went a step even further and did the carnivore diet. These are highly restrictive therapeutic diets. They're not for everybody. They did give me my life back when nothing else at the time worked. Once I went through this very intense journey with my own diet, that was the first sign that I saw that teaching people at the very beginning of their dietary journey. It just felt too far off where I had been, where I was 20 years later, and that was the first sign.

Michelle Dowker: 6:55

And then, as I was doing this deeper inner healing work for myself, I could see that this deeper inner emotional landscape was a bigger contributor to what's really going on under the surface than gluten or sugar or even AIP or carnivore. Now, the thing is is dietary choices are absolutely important and they are to be addressed first and foremost, but what I find is that it only takes people so far if these deeper things are not addressed. And I could see how working on mindset, energy and identity were areas that I was becoming more and more excited about, because I was doing the work myself and seeing the results that came from that, and as I incorporated more of that into my coaching work, I could see how much further my clients were going. Not only were they overcoming big chronic health issues, often even going into remission, but they would tell me time and time again how they finally feel empowered, liberated and whole. These clients finally became their own best friend, they would tell me. They felt free to be who they truly are, without fear, worry or guilt. They finally felt complete, and these are the reasons why their physical symptoms improved so much.

Michelle Dowker: 8:16

Beyond the diet, beyond the lifestyle, beyond herbs, beyond anything else, and this is the work that I became increasingly excited about, and as I was dialing this level of awareness in for myself, I was also mastering my intuitive and psychic skills more and more, and as I did and as I developed the confidence to use these skills with my clients, I was blowing their minds more and more. The insight and transformation that they were achieving was beyond anything I'd seen when I worked in clinical practice, and so I had to make some big decisions. I couldn't do it all and I couldn't work with everybody at every stage and level, because, first, my soul wouldn't let me. I knew from the depth of my inner, knowing that I had to move on from the foundational nutritional and natural health work that I used to do, the entry level work. My approach and my methodology was shifting, and in order for me to move fully into what truly sparks joy for me, I had to move away from what no longer did, and I had to let go of the things that I no longer wanted to do. That started with giving myself permission to do so without feeling guilty, because a client held that I was skilled to leave after.

Michelle Dowker: 9:40

My own experience and inner evolution needed me to be there for them fully, and if I tried to offer the services for everyone instead of focusing down on who I'm truly here to serve, the results anyone would receive would be diluted, and forcing myself to do work that I'm not completely lit up about actually reduces the level of impact the client receives, and that's not fair to any of us. So once I decided to pivot, I had more decisions to make. What will I offer now? This has been a continual work in progress, as I've made several shifts in pivots over recent years. I see and understand now that I went through all of these shifts so that I could understand the process behind how to make a pivot from one niche into another, from one focus into another, from one set of clients to another, so that now I can guide others to do the same much more efficiently than I did.

Michelle Dowker: 10:45

Because, if you're like me, you have an inner drive to evolve and grow and, as a result, the work you do and who you serve evolves right along with you. And this is important to allow your work to evolve right along with you. Not only is this important for you to be continuously lit up by what you're doing, but in order for the clientele that you are here and destined to serve and lead to get the best results, you must evolve your business along with your own inner evolution. And if you're like me, you likely have a flame in your belly that tells you that you can't not pivot, shift or up-level your work and your clientele. And I know for myself the work that I did in the past did provide amazing results for my patients. But I've since discovered more modalities, perspectives and angles to consider and I recognize now that the work that I do and the level of experience and insight and perspectives that I can share, hold, guide and lead is now better suited for a more advanced clientele.

Michelle Dowker: 11:58

And I know for many people who work in the mental-emotional sphere therapists, counselors, coaches who used to be completely jazzed up by introducing people to the initial stage of, say, for example, trauma therapy work or awareness work or inner healing work and as they've evolved within themselves, they're now desiring not to just shift away from survival mode behaviors but really are ready to step into full thriving mode. And I see this for myself as I've evolved within myself and my own personal healing work is. I see that, while I can help somebody at the beginning stages of learning self-awareness, that because of the baggage of experience that I have now and my deep drive to go deeper and I know I have certain astrological patterns that actually drive me to be going in this direction. My Mercury in my eighth house, my Venus in my Scorpio are all things that I'm meant to go deep and take people deeper than the initial stages, and I see this about myself now and with my experience that I have now, I can see that going deeper is what lights me up, and so not only is that important for my own personal satisfaction, but those people who are already well-versed in self-awareness and personal development and then they come to see me, they will skyrocket beyond anything that they've ever even imagined.

Michelle Dowker: 13:40

I've had clients tell me that after seven years of psychotherapy, what they experienced with me in a matter of a few months was beyond anything that they had ever gotten to in those seven years of psychotherapy, for example. And the thing is that the work that I do now and how I do it now and the modalities that I use now and the approach that I use now were not the things that I was doing when I first started my business. But as I grew and evolved, I saw that I needed to incorporate those things. At first I was afraid of what my clients would think and what anyone else would think my friends, my family, my colleagues, and there was a worry about whether it would cause my business to fall apart, whether it would fail and whether I would regret that decision of making this pivot. But what I've since realized is that it won't make your business fall apart.

Michelle Dowker: 14:38

Actually, when you align yourself to what truly lights your soul on fire, you can't not be successful. You become a guiding light and a magnet for the people who you're destined to lead. But it can, however, feel confusing To tread through the muddy waters of uncertainty. New and unfamiliar territory can be confusing, especially when you're looking at your own stuff, because often it's too close for you to see the bigger picture about yourself. This is where guidance can be worth its weight in gold, and I know this for myself.

Michelle Dowker: 15:17

I've had several mentors along the way and had I not had these mentors, I would not be where I am today. I know for the people that I guide the fact that they can consult with someone who's navigated the waters of pivots and change that they want, who's shifted niches and incorporated more of what brings my own soul and level of joy and satisfaction and fulfillment into my work, and who's now working with dreamy, ideal clients while growing my success, and this is helpful for them to be working with someone who's already gone along this path and can help you not only sort out the strategy of how to make this pivot in your work more successfully, so that you are more aligned with your inner purpose and finding more satisfaction in your work, while maintaining your success and growing it, but there's also the deeper inner aspect to consider, and that is that with change, there's always new perspectives and mindset shifts to address. With change, there's always new challenges to face, and this is the stuff of life, and this is what I'm specialized in guiding people to walk through is navigating the layers, navigating the challenges and coming out the other side. I've done it over and over again, whether it was for people working with their health, whether it was for people wanting to master their high sensitivity, whether it was for people wanting to heal their relationships, and now for people who are wanting to more fully align their work so that they do feel more aligned and fulfilled. There's always going to be layers that come up as you navigate more deeply, aligning yourself, and when you have an unbiased third party that can help you see what you can't see yet. It changes everything, and this is the thing.

Michelle Dowker: 17:23

If you're like me, you know that your work in this lifetime is supposed to be purposeful, soul-led. You are a leader and, as a leader, you know that your journey is alchemizing challenges into purpose so that you can lead others through similar things and beyond. And this is what lights me up and this is why I keep pivoting, because, as I see more and more on my journey, I can lead others through what I've gone through and come out the other side and beyond where I am, and it's a beautiful thing to watch and it makes me feel like my life has more meaning, not because of what I do, but because I am so connected to my own flow of my own journey and being able to guide others through the overflow of my joy of being connected to what I really love and then watching as the people that I work with come out the other side into a completely upgraded paradigm from where they are now. That upgraded paradigm is you fully, deeply aligned with your soul work so much so that it doesn't feel like work, that you feel excited and lit up and passionate about what you're doing. And you are handsomely compensated for what you're doing because you are this magnet for the people who you are destined to lead. And then the people that you are destined to lead naturally transform and align within themselves, and when they do that, then that positively impacts every soul that they touch in their lives. Can you see the impact of this ripple effect and how this is not only important for you in your work and doing what you love, but you aligning to yourself and what you love and really stepping into owning who you are and doing your work from that place helps the people here destined to lead to do the same. And this is how we all heal. And when you are fully aligned with what you do and fully loving what you do and operating from your inner soul-led passion, then you heal.

Michelle Dowker: 19:51

I saw it time and time again when I was working with people with chronic health conditions Is when we did this inner work of connecting and realigning it with yourself so that you feel completely aligned and connected and satisfied and fulfilled within your life. Your health just naturally balances out, and this is one of the secret sauce ingredients that isn't talked about enough In our society. We're conditioned to believe that our work is about how much money we make. Some people feel guilty about wanting to do what really truly lights up their soul if it's not what they're doing right now, because it maybe feels like a bit of a champagne problem, and why should they be complaining? Because they're already well paid for what they're doing, and financial security is only a piece of the puzzle. If you don't have that inner passion and you're not connected to your inner purpose and you're not connected to yourself and your joy, then money is only going to get you so far on its own. And if you want to have a greater impact for society, for humanity, for the greater good, as I just explained, connecting with yourself and your soul-led mission is not only healing for yourself, but this is how you lead others to do the same for themselves and this is how they can heal more effectively from within. This is the thing.

Michelle Dowker: 21:21

Diet and lifestyle is important, but it's not everything. There's this deeper aspect of self and inner connection that needs to be addressed in. If it isn't, diet and lifestyle will only take you so far. And I see the same thing in business. Business strategy is absolutely important, but if you haven't addressed aligning what you're doing to what you know that your soul purpose wants you to be doing, then the business strategy is only going to take you so far when it comes to inner satisfaction and fulfillment. If you can't tell, I'm quite passionate about this. I hope this was helpful for you in some way to deliver a little bit of perspective.

Michelle Dowker: 22:02

If you haven't considered whether or not your work is truly sparking joy, and especially if you are great at what you do but it's not as enjoyable as it used to be, and if this calls to you and you know you're at that place where you want to more deeply align your work to who you are now and where you've come on your own personal evolution journey and you want to incorporate more of that and up level the clientele of who you're working with at a more advanced stage on the journey. You want someone who's been there, done that, to help you with not only the strategy but with the inner mindset, energy and identity work, so that you can really embody that next level of your evolution more powerfully for yourself, for the clientele that you're leading and the level of success and satisfaction that you're having with the work that you know that your soul wants you to be doing. This is the work that sparks joy within me. Now my one-on-one work is designed for a very specific person in mind and for that right, fit person, magic truly happens, and that's because I'm doing my own purpose led work. When you do the work that's most aligned and fulfilled to what truly sparks joy in your soul the people who you're most aligned to work with, experience magical results. I see this over and over with the people I work with and when I help others who are pivoting within their own business and start to work with more aligned dream clientele, magic truly happens.

Michelle Dowker: 23:49

If this sounds like something that you're looking for, definitely reach out. Send me a message over Instagram and let's chat. No pressure. It's really important to ensure, especially if you want to work in a longer-term mentorship with me, that we are a fit to work together. That's really when the magic happens. And I do have some smaller one-on-one options, like the intuitive business breakthrough reading and the eight-week permission to shine self-discovery intensive. If you're not ready to go all in with a deeper dive or you'd like a taste test first, those are always options to consider. Definitely reach out, we'll chat. I'm happy to connect and I'm happy to share any information that you need. And even if you decide that you don't want to work with me, I'm happy to hear your story and hear where you're at and what sparked interest and joy within you from what I'm talking about. I look forward to speaking to you again next week.