117: Reinventing Yourself: Taking the Road Less Traveled with Coach Polly

Coach Polly solo today! Your resume might look like a patchwork quilt, and you might secretly wonder if that means you are unfocused.  It's more common than you might think.  In this episode you'll learn how a simple comment with a client flipped the whole narrative inside. 

Maybe reinvention is not a flaw? 

Maybe it is a super power. 

This episode is a solo Coach Polly session and I walk through how I’ve moved from corporate work, consulting, real estate, marketing, coaching, construction, and now a fresh pull toward AI. Instead of forcing it into a clean career ladder narrative, I reframe it as a path...even a sojourn (stay somewhere temporarily...then move on to the next). 

Detours that once felt inconvenient start to look like preparation, resilience, and perspective. I share the mindset shift that helped me release years of shame, plus the uplifting quotes that keep me grounded when the road ahead is foggy and the next step seems uncertain. 

We also get practical about career pivots and personal growth: 

• how to spot “quiet” opportunities
• why beginner mindset is a form of courage, and 
• how reinvention stacks skills rather than erasing them. 

If you feel behind, stuck, or like your life does not “look right,” this is a permission slip to measure success differently, lean into curiosity, and try one small experiment this week...whether that is learning AI, joining a new group, or exploring a new craft. I hope what is shared resonates for you, touches something inside your deep knowing as a fellow traveler on this life journey. We invite you to subscribe and share this message with a friend who needs the reframe so more people can find the road that fits them.

Follow Coach Polly @getbusythriving and Coach Sam @thesamanthapruitt 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/everydayawesomeproject

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/everydayawesomeproject

Linktree for ALL THE THINGS: https://linktr.ee/everydayawesomeproject

Website/About Us: https://everydayawesomeproject.com/about-us/

Transcript

Why Reinvention Is On My Mind

Polly Mertens 0:07

Hey superstars, Polly here. Welcome back. And no Samantha Pruitt today. This is a solo episode. I was inspired by this episode. I'm calling it Reinventing Yourself, Taking the Road Less Traveled. And I was thinking about calling it things like detours or actually divine interventions and all sorts of things. And really how it started is I was having a conversation yesterday with a future consulting client who's is now signed up as a consulting client for their business. And, you know, where it went and where we navigated in the conversation was like, so, you know, like, not why should I hire you, but like, how, how, who are you? Like, how do you, you know, because I was referred to this person. And he's like, So who are you? And how, how should how can you help me? Um, that kind of a conversation, right? So I was like, well, where do I start? You know, and I I sort of went through my resume of like, well, I did this and I studied this and I did this, and oh yeah, and I created that business, and oh yeah, I helped do this, and um, you know, all these things along the way. And then I created websites and I was an SEO expert and and just like this patchwork quilt, and it had me think, wow. And he said along the way, he goes, Wow, you know, you're really someone who's reinvented yourself. And, you know, we moved on in the conversation, but that stuck with me, and I was like, reinventing yourself. And in a conversation I was having um with uh someone last evening, was I was really, they were talking a lot about AI, just really excited about AI and AI, and and I've had this similar conversation with this person. We go on walks sometimes, and it was like, I don't know, the last four conversations, just AI has almost dominated the conversation. I was like, man, you know, I am not reinventing myself in this area. I don't know. So it was like the merging of those two. And as I heard how much he was excited about it, how much I've heard about AI like on the forefront and it's coming and all this stuff, and I was like, and I have time right now. Like I'm I'm more available for time. So I was like, you know what? I really appreciate you bringing to light how much you're learning and getting out of and incorporating and just like this like hunger he has for learning AI. And I was like, you know, it seems like the most people that are learning AI right now are like middle-aged men that are just fascinated with it. And I was like, well, what would prevent me from it? So that's a little bit of what started this stirring inside of me. But, you know, so I just wanted to tell you a little bit about reinventing yourself, how I see it and the journey that I've been on, and you know, just kind of disclose, you know, some of the shame that I've had about how my life has gone. And now I'm like, wait a minute, there's a whole nother way of looking at this. So my hope is uh wherever you are in your life, whether you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, or whatever, if you have or you haven't reinvented yourself, or however it's looked for you, or if this title just sounded interesting to you, I hope you get some value from this because as I've done some reflection since those two conversations and realized, wow, there's a way I was looking at it, and now I look at it differently, and I it feels completely different inside my body. So um, yeah, you know, so I've had this, you know, a sharing. Um, I had this package work quilt. So, you know, I, you know, I had an undergraduate business degree, then I got my MBA, I've had some corporate roles, I've done consulting, I've been a real estate agent, investor, I've done, you know, advisor and marketing director role, I've, you know, done eating disorder coaching, website building, lots of different solar, you know, construction, flipping, lots of different industries, lots of different roles, perspective, all sorts of things. And it's like, and I go into a company and you know, it's not always great to be just like a Swiss Army knife. Um, you know, if I were hiring people, I want people like really good skills.

The Patchwork Resume Problem

Polly Mertens 3:50

But there's definitely traits and qualities that you want, right? And that moment, you know, as I shared this with this person and just heard myself in this conversation. And previously I would have made myself wrong for it, right? You know, many of us are taught that like a successful career looks like a ladder, a career ladder. Well, what it how is a ladder? It's very linear and you grow up it, right? You go up it to get from a lower rung to a higher rung. It's steady, it's linear, it's predictable. You know, and we're taught that like that's how it goes, right? Or we're given, you know, sometimes our mind can identify with an image of something. And if I stuck to that ladder, most of my life I've made how my life has unfolded wrong, right? hasn't always felt wrong. It's always felt quite guided and right for me, right? Doesn't look like the ladder doesn't look like a lot of other people's and call it more maverick or, you know, I even love the nomadic idea. But I realized something powerful. And my career was never a ladder. It was a path, right? And I just, I just hadn't recognized it. I was looking at it as wrong, like, oh, my life, my career, how things have gone for me, do not look like this steady linear trajectory from one level to the next, and you have this like perfect growth path and b-b. And I've actually said, I never want that. Like I just said, my body inherently, it's like, uh, no, thank you. So, you know, what I want to share on this whole episode is how what if reinvention is not failure or lack of progress or lack of focus or you know, doing it wrong? What if it's the most valuable skills that we can cultivate, especially in a rapidly changing world with who knows what is coming, right? What if reinventing ourselves is actually adaptability, it's curiosity, it's flexibility, it's the ability to take what's next and to grow and not be stuck or stagnant or lost or feel left out or left behind. I never feel that way, right? I'm always like cutting edge, like creating what's next, what's next? What do I want, right? So if you believe that you had to follow a career ladder, and and I'm using that in this case, but you can explore this into a lot of areas of your life. So take, you know, this and allow your mind to creatively stretch that metaphor into whatever works for you. So, you know, the ladder is choose a profession, stay on the, stay on that, you know, rung and climb upward. But real life doesn't look like that. If I look at 90% of my friends and people I know, and not to say that I just hang out with mavericks or whatnot, but I tend to, but I don't think there's many people that it does look like that, right? And we think in our you know, teens and twenties, like, you know, just as like there's a lot of structure for most families and most people as you grow through life. You've got, you know, kindergarten, grade school, junior high, high school, hot college, you know, and it's like, and then this career ladder is the next step of that. Well, I think that's just an industrialized concept to make us workers, and that's not what we are here for, right? Or I'm not here for. So looking back, you know, a lot of moments in my life and maybe in yours, sometimes it felt like a detour, right? It was like, um it felt like a left turn, a roadblock, detour, like can't go further on this path. But it actually, you know, it was part of the journey as I look back now. And so what if these disruptions that we have in our life are actually divine interventions guiding us just to new possibilities? You know, as Robert F Robert Frost, great line. I love this quote if you know it. Two rows, two roads diverged in a wood. And I I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Just love that quote, right? Like, I mean, if you just think about that, like there's the well-worn path, the ladder, whatever, and it's like, wait a minute, what's over here? Right? So instead of treating life or your career like a well-planned vacation, what if we thought of it like a sojourn? You know, like I know, and you know, as I was thinking about this episode, and I was like, how does this, you know, as I start

Detours That Were Actually Direction

Polly Mertens 8:00

to think about this ladder, I'm like, my life is more like a meandering path. And then I was like, wow, how have I done that? And how does that also translate into how I do life, if you will? I it would, I mean, there have been times, maybe, I don't have to think about this, that have gone on a well-planned vacation, like, right? I have done, you know, back in the day you had to book your travel way more in advance. So I've done those. But now I just like get in the RV and go. I just like book a flight and I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna go explore. Like, I'm just gonna go three days and be somewhere. No plan whatsoever. Like often I'll get in my RV and I'll just like, I'm gonna go north. I think I'm gonna go to Shasta. May not end up in Shasta, may end up in like Tahoe, may end up in Oregon, you know. And that's a bit how my career has looked, right? So if you have the vacation or the life that's like, you know, exactly where you're going and what you're doing and when you're coming home. A sojourn is very different. A sojourn, a sojourner, right, and you know, look this up, is um you travel, you explore, you discover things you didn't even plan for. You allow the journey to unfold, you allow career to unfold, if you will. So your career, my career has become more of a sojourn as I look at it, like my vacations, like my trips, if you will, like my travel. I'm a sojourner. I'm not a career path or a career laddaler, right? Whatever. So every step of my career, every path, every place I've stopped along the way, I could stand there, look around, and see what's next. And that was really, I think, what I started to look at this that there was this shame that I was caring about. Um, wow, you know, like I can remember going and visiting. So I have this really super great group of girlfriends, and we get together from college and we get together, and you know, they have largely have followed that career ladder path. Like, get the job out of school, work your way up, um, have a good family, da-da-da, retire and you're whatever, right? And have all this money saved up. And, you know, I go, and the more I'm a part of this group, the more I'm not like this group, because I don't tend to hold the same job for or a job for very long. Five years, probably the most, right? And I have this shame of like, wow, am I doing it wrong? Is it wrong? Is you know, am I am I effing up? You know, like what the hell? But now it's like, no, it's just, it's a path. I'm on, I'm on an exploration, I'm on a sojourn. That's how I'm doing my life. And I really just release that shame, actually, just in preparing for this. Like I just had this pivot of thought of like, no, I'm not doing it wrong. I'm doing it as a shojourn. Like I do travel, like, and I love that. Like I would not want, I don't think I would want trips that are super hyper planned, right? Or they're linear, you know. No, thank you. Like, I yeah, I definitely, as a Virgo, I have things that I like that are linear and discipline, routines, and consistency. But uh, think it turns out with career and travel and expiration of life, it's not that way. So I just want to tell you, you know, if the path before you is clear, this is a quote from Joseph Campbell, you're probably on someone else's. If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's. I can tell you, my path has not been cleared at all. Like a little visibility. Like if you're driving along, it's like foggy as fuck out there, like very limited visibility. But yet you keep going on, keep going on. I love that, you know, as I was reflecting on this episode, it was like there's a great quote. I'm not quite sure who spoke it, but I've heard Martin Luther King say it, which is, you know, you don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step, right? Or if you're taking a trip from Los Angeles to New York, you don't have to have every single mile planned out and prescribed, right? You can just go, I'm heading northeast, right? So if the path before you, what if it's clear? It's probably someone else's. And I was like, ching, that sounds like me, you know? So it's like this constant um uncertainty. It's it's being comfortable with uncertainty and not knowing the path or the map or even the landscape, or sometimes the destination. I'm being downright okay with that, right? So what I've reframed, this shame and like, oh, I'm doing it wrong, is and I hope you will take this on as well, is what if reinventing ourselves? What if career pivots and changes and course corrections in life?

Turning Shame Into A Superpower

Polly Mertens 12:45

They're a superpower. Like, what if reinvention is a superpower? It builds you an incredible toolkit. So, like every pivot adds perspective, skills, new relationships, network adaptability, clarity, insight, ability to like see patterns and connect things that other people couldn't. But then over time you could gain confidence in your ability to learn new things, enter new arenas. Like I am not afraid, like all of a sudden I'm in the construction industry. Like I used to be in SEO marketing, digital marketing, and now I talk to contractors and I'm like, and I can like I re you know, remodel, you know, lots of houses. I can walk into a construction site and hold my own. I'm like, wow, I can walk and talk to a construction company owner and guide them like confidently, because the network and the web of the things that I know and the experiences that I've had from running job sites and having things F up and seeing the the landscape and you know, like the as a guide, I've been down a lot of these roads before, whatever the industry is, like hiring people and firing people and you know, building new CRMs and and workflows and processes and cash flows and um you know, building teams and blah blah blah blah blah, you know, and like organizing your schedule and staying on track and all this stuff. And I was just like, wow, rather than being scattered, you know, what if we're just versatile? Like super specialists can go deep in one lane, and people who reinvent themselves, they develop pattern recognition across many lanes. Like, wow. And this ability to adapt is increasingly valuable. And I see it even more so. Like as I was talking with this friend, as I said about AI, I was like, I'm going all freaking in, right? Like, I don't know where and I don't know where I'm gonna come out on the other side. It's not like, oh, I'm gonna do this so I can get there. It's like you know, swimming along, swimming along through the fog, getting a little more clear. Oh, have a conversation. Wow, these people are really lit up about AI. Oh, tell me more. Like seeing what it's doing in their life and what how they're interpreting it, incorporating it, and trying new things. And I was like, wow, it's just like a sandbox of opportunity, and things aren't finite, and there's possibility. And I'm like, dang it, all right, okay. So, you know, the ability to be increasingly valuable in a world where, man, technologies and industries and opportunities are constantly evolving, reinvention, flexibility, adaptability, seeing all of this is a superpower, right? So I would invite you, you know, if you haven't already to have that courage to be a beginner again. So I hope something you're hearing in this is like giving you permission to not have it always look perfect, linear, exact, let go of any shame that you might be having, like, oh, I'm not as where I thought I would be, or you know, or people on either side of you, the comparison trap, like let it go, right? And be a beginner again. If you're not already, like if reinvention and pivoting isn't something you're doing, whether you have an interruption, like I had the

The Courage To Be Beginner

Polly Mertens 16:00

2008, you know, stock market or not, sorry, the housing market, I was a realtor, like thriving, like wow, so opportunity, great, great, great, 2008, right? I was like, oh, hell no, I need to get out of this. Like I saw the door closing on that opportunity and where that was gonna go. And I went, I'm not going into that dark, damn dark tunnel, like you know, helping people who are losing their houses. I did not want to be that agent. I was like, all right, reinvent, pivot, right? And yet then I saw solar and I got into solar, and then I saw SEO, and now I'm like AI, right? And all this opportunity. So it's it's out there. So, and you know, and when I thought about like being a beginner again, I remember after 2008, you know, I'd been making a ton of money as a realtor, I was doing great. And then I had to eat some humble pie and was like, could not find a J O B to, you know, I I I decided I, you know, stepping out of an industry, you often, if you're going into a new one, you can start on the ground floor. You know, you kind of it felt like taking a step back. I became an executive assistant, two high-level people, to C-level people. But at the time it was like, oh my God, I'm gonna become an executive assistant. Are you fucking kidding me? Like, wow. But I was willing to be open and I was like, these are freaking brilliant people. I had such an educational experience being that and being humble, but I always rise to the top because I bring excellence to what I do, and I trusted in that. And not and not, and I was thinking it was like within six months, I was pulled out of inside of that company to go and help the commercial sales team. Like, let's build a commercial sales team inside the solar company and crush it, right? And we became, you know, the number one. It was like, yeah, right. But that opportunity led to the next one, to the next one. I didn't see all that. I was just like, oh, need money, need income, 2008. Like it was dire, right? But I was willing to become a beginner again and just say, you know what, you can bring all of what I know and all of who I am to everything that I do, like I always do. So, you know, having a mindset of a beginner's mindset, willing to go back, you know, from expert back to beginner, you know, like I'm gonna step into AI and be just like, I have no idea. Like I was an SEO expert, I have been a real estate expert, I have been a flipping expert, you know, and I'll be like, okay. And I'm like, but in a couple of weeks and 30 days, look out, right? And you can too. So, you know, a career or a life or a sojourn life experience built on curiosity, rarely is it gonna be boring, right? Or stagnant or stuck. Because if you're always curious and open, you're opportunistic and optimistic. Don't be overly optimistic, don't be overly opportunistic, but be curious. And my favorite word this year, wonder, right? Like in wonderment. And there's a quote by Anas Nin says, Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Our life shrinks or expands in proportion to our courage. And our courage is not the absence of fear, it's the ability to act in spite of fear. That's what courage is, right? So reinvention is often simply the courage to start again. The courage to be a beginner again, to begin to not know something, to be in new territory, new people, new industry, to F up left and right, right? To not know. To not know and and want to know, be hungry for it, right? So I think that's I would call it a sojourner's mindset. And I would say some questions or like principles, you know, if the sojourner, rather than the fixed itinerary, you know, if curiosity becomes your compass, you don't need to know the entire map, right? Instead, you move towards what interests you. You take the next step, you stay and open to what emerges. And, you know, your pivots, they feel messy in the beginning. They reveal themselves as the path, right? So if you've taken any trips like I have, where I don't know where I'm going, you know, half the time we're just like, wow, this feels good. Oh, wow. And they get a little curious. And some of my best inspiration and vacations, I always say I love knowing and learning from people who travel because they have the best advice, you know. And you go somewhere and you get a little bit closer to that thing, and then you meet people and they give you a tip about this place or that restaurant or this trail or watch out for that, or oh, you're not you're gonna be able to not be able to do that right now. Maybe go over here. If you're paying attention and you're open to it, it's incredibly valuable, right? And that comes whether it's your your sojourn in life or your sojourn in your career or whatever it is. So, you know, these these detours are divine. They're divine adjustments, course corrections, course straightening, if you will, to where you're supposed to be, where I'm supposed to be. And so I want to leave you with some questions to ask yourself. Um, and just see if you're staying open and curious. So are you keeping an open or growth mindset? Would you say you're open to learning new things? You're open and you're curious and you're up to like just a mindset for growth, continual growth in whatever area, not like you're stupid, not like you have to be the expert or perfect, but

Questions To Find Your Next Step

Polly Mertens 21:10

just like open and listening and paying attention. Like I was like tuning into all this activity in my friend's life, and I was like, wow, I'm really open to that. And I declared, you know, I'm gonna like really embody this and embrace this because it feels like there's so much over there that I could lean into and step into that could help me in a lot of ways with my coaching clients, with my consulting clients, with my own business, right? And it's like, why not? So, do you like learning new things? Are you trying new activities? Are you taking new classes? Are you meeting new groups of people? Like being around new groups of people, fascinating the things you'll be exposed to. Like I always love going to potlucks because I love trying people's different food. I'm like, what's that? I I don't eat that all the time, you know, like exposure to new things and and being around, like I was just telling my friend who was telling me this about AI. I said, I really acknowledge you and I appreciate you. For all that you're being curious about and you're sharing with me, because it's having an impact on me. That's going to change the course of, you know, and it was my choice. I could like reject it or be like, that's good for you, buddy, but not for me. But instead, I'm like, wow, this really is lighting him up. And there's just so much talk. Why not like start to see what over there is and could be for me, for you too? So new groups of people, new, new technologies, right? What experiences or skill, what experiences or skills might you be undervaluing because they don't fit a single path? So are you labeling like I was your life, your past incorrectly? And could you connect the dot? And you couldn't connect the dots because maybe you're in the middle of the path. You know, like, you know, like me, I've had a lot of history in life, you know, like looking at the first three pivots in that career, I was like, oh, I'm so like all over the map. And now I'm like, yeah, I'm all over the map. Like, and I used to call it a patchwork quilt. And then I turned it into a portfolio. Now I'm just like, yeah, I'm a career sojourner, right? Like I'm doing life as an unfolding, as a beautiful discovery of the landscape and actually like creating it instead of being guided and directed by some linear planned path, like this is the way to whatever, right? So what if you weren't afraid to begin again? What if you weren't afraid to be a beginner again? What would you explore next? What would you be curious about? What have you like maybe been thinking about or hearing about or just want to, you know, it could be anything, it could be something personal, it could be like gardening, it could be walking. I've been seeing so much about Tai Chi, and I'm into like animal flow, and it's like in any area of your life, like what could you explore next, right? And what's a small first step you could take in the next week, in the next month, to get curious again. But how about just being in a state of wonder? Like, hmm, I wonder. Like, what if you just walked around with in a state of wonder for a day? Like you took a Saturday and you're just like, oh, I wonder. Like some days I'll just have my weekends, just like no plan and an absolute unfolding of like what feels good. Sometimes I'll go in the garden and then I'm like, oh, I'm hungry. And then like, oh, I want to go to the this and then up blah blah blah. Oh yeah, and then this. And I just allow it to be guided by what my body and my intuition is taking me for. So I ask you, what if the twists and the turns or the detours in your story are not mistakes? They're not anything to be ashamed of, they're just divine moments, and you're actually right on track. What if? How would that feel in your body? How would you embrace like how you're doing it, how you're doing it life? Like you're a freaking reinvention master. Or what if you could be? Like, what if you gave yourself a little courage and curiosity? Like, what would you start to lean into? So, where to look for what's next is what I want to talk a little bit about. And then I'll just kind of close this up. So, opportunities often show up quietly, you know. Like my friend, you know, it

Following Quiet Signals Like AI

Polly Mertens 25:00

was I would say like over the past few weeks, like I said, my friend's been just sharing, like, I'm doing this with AI, blah, blah, blah. And it was like quiet. And then yesterday it was just like this rumble. It was like, like I couldn't ignore it anymore, right? And I was like, there's opportunity here. I don't know what it is, but it's just like my body was like, I'm a yes for this. So opportunities often show up quietly. So pay attention to curiosity. Maybe emergent technologies, inspiring conversations, or problems you feel drawn to solve. Because I was like, wow, well, I know a lot about a lot of these industries. And I know a couple things from teaching entrepreneurship. One is like 10% better, 10% different. Like that's all you need. Like when post-its were just yellow and they were a certain size, and then somebody started making pink ones and yellow ones, and they started making them flags and little bit, like 10% markers were always yellow when I was a kid, or highlighters, sorry. Highlighters were always yellow. And then they became pink and green, and then they were skinny and they were fat and they were like 10% different. Like I know some of these inherent things about like creating opportunities and entrepreneurialism. So I'm like looking over here at this emerging technology and inspiring conversations, and I'm like, what problems can I solve? So are there new skills that you're just drawn to for frickin' no other reason? That sounds fun. Who knows? Right? Like AI, like I have no idea how I'm going to use this right now. I have some curiosity. Like one of the things that I would love to solve for myself is I see how long as a web developer, and I'm not like a self-proclaimed web developer. Yes, I can create a website, whatnot, but I see also the developers that that's their jam and that's what they do best. How freaking long it takes us to create them. And I just hear people saying, oh, yeah, you can create a website in an afternoon. And I was like, I want to know that. I want to know that because I'm like the incremental painfulness of creating a website, like ours and cost, there's got to be a better way. And so if there's a better mash trap out there, I'm like, let's do this, let's learn this because we can bring that shit to a lot of people. And I would love to help from myself. I was like, I got three websites right now that Samantha and I have one, and I have two, and I'm like, I would love to reinvent those and make them sexy as hell on my own, right? And I will, and that's where part of this is going. I was like, I'm gonna use that as the first step, but there'll be many more. So, you know, these signals, these, these, and um, these callings, these interesting conversations, these interesting things that we read about and get curious about, not from like a painful, like fear-based, like, oh, I better learn that, you know, like I better know this, right? But more of like, wow, that sounds like he's having a lot of fun over there. Like the things he's just popping off, right? Get curious, and maybe it's something else for you, right? But what if it could take you to that next chapter? What if it's the next step with the next cobble or path on your crooked path, right? So for me right now, you know, Samantha and I are definitely in a year to live. Like that's in the background of all of this. But how fun to be like, okay, I'll play AI inside of this because it's fun, it's interesting, it could be amazing, right? And this year I am all about. I said in December 2025, my life in December 2026 will be unrecognizable, unrecognizable to the me who I was. And I still don't even know what that means or looks like, but I know something about this is like, oh, okay, that's got something to do with it, right? So, you know, whatever it is for you. So, you know, in 2008, for me, it was like, I'm creating websites, right? Now I'm like creating websites with AI. It's gonna be the next thing I'm exploring and building and looking at this new area of technology, just embracing it, right? Embrace whatever feels good for you. That may or may not like I got down the wrong um class yesterday. I was like, found myself in an AI for developers and I didn't realize it. And I was and they were just like talking super tech. Wait, I was all, if this is how it is, I'm I'm probably a no for this. So I went back to chat and I was like, you told me to take this class, and I and man, I don't, and they go, Oh no, no, no, take this one. And I was like, Okay, well, there you go. So I'm just like feeling it out as I go, like, oh, that's a no. Okay, next, right? So final thought. So for a long time I believed that, you know, pivots, you know, meant I lack direction, right? Or I look back on my life with this, like, like, what were you doing? What's going on? Get get in line, right? Like, like snap out of it. And now I'm like, I'm fully fucking embracing

Stacking Skills Instead Of Starting Over

Polly Mertens 29:15

the sojourner that I am. Like, hell yeah, I'm doing it differently than Maverick. Now, you know, I see how I've created, you know, new perspectives, I've created resilience, I've created inner confidence in myself to reinvent. I'm not afraid of the unknown, I'm not afraid of new opportunities, I'm not afraid of new industries, new territories, new people, new what ifs, becoming a beginner again, all over again. Like AI is like basic. I'm going back to basics, right? So I think reinvention is not like a starting over, it's a stacking, right? You're not like blank slate like nothing. No, you bring all that damn stuff with you. Like I walked into that job as an executive assistant knowing a lot. Like I knew a lot already. So I didn't like start over, I just like stepped into something new and I stacked what I knew and then boom, boom, boom, rise to the top. So, you know, my life wasn't a ladder, my career was not a ladder, it was a path. A damn beautiful sojourn filled with frickin' learning and adaptation and growth. And I'm sure some, if not a lot of you, are having that experience too. And what looked like a detour seemed inconvenient. God, the stock, you know, the mark, capital market, and then the financial market, and then let go from this job or whatever. Like it seems like it's an inconvenience, or this isn't what's supposed to be happening. But you know what? Every time it is what it's supposed to be happening. And it actually, if we can look at it as a divine intervention, a divine detour, a divine direction guiding us to where we're supposed to be and what actually feels fulfilling for us if we listen and if we tune into that. So looking back, I don't see this scattered career now with this pivot of mind framing, right? I see a journey, a career journey, a series of reinventions that taught me far more than a straight line career ladder ever could have. And I'm prepared for what's next. I'm prepared for a world that's like AI. Bring it on. Like, oh, I can't wait to play in it, right? Who knows where this is gonna go? But I'm not afraid of something new or the shift or the downsizing of this, because you know what? I'll pivot again. So I want to leave you with one final thought. Maybe a few, but one that I can think of is like what is something new you could explore or be curious about? If there's anything in this that prompted you of you're stagnant in some area of your life, maybe it's your career or something, it's your relationship or whatever, or your health, your studies. You know, you haven't learned anything in a long time. You haven't tried anything new, you're doing all the same, right? Like, I get that, you know. Like I have, you know, if you're watching this video, uh, like I have a card, like every day I've got like these routines that I do in my morning routine and whatnot. And I'm doing new things. Like I was just thinking, I was gonna say this earlier, but it's like like I'm growing up my hair. Like I've highlighted my hair since I was in my 20s. Yeah, like high school. High school, like fully bleached blonde in 20s, and I haven't known myself to be a full, you know, strawberry blonde brunette, whatever brunette, more so. And I'm like, and I'm getting more gray, and I'm like, embrace that shit. Like, let's go, reinvent, like, whoa, who is this woman that's emerging? Like living into putting those gloves on and be like, uh-huh, I'm dolled up in all of me, more so, right? So, what's something you could try to explore? An area you could be curious about, something you could bring wonder to, and it will just light you up. And anything, I hope something in this gave you peace of mind, a permission slip, inspiration to get out there, soften those edges, like get out there and sojourn for a while and just explore, baby. All right, so one last thing to remind you of is how your life feels is way more important than how it looks.

How Your Life Feels Matters Most

Polly Mertens 33:05

And every day is your opportunity to find your awesome.