You’re Busy But Not Intentional w/ Alyssa Gawlinski

You’re showing up to everything but getting very little out of it.

It’s easy to say yes, stay busy, and feel like you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. But without intention, you end up scattered, drained, and wondering why nothing is actually moving forward. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down what it really means to be intentional in your work, your relationships, and how you spend your time.

She shares how being clear on your goals, your role, and and why just showing up and saying yes to everything isn’t actually helping you the way you think it is. From professional settings to personal relationships and even nonprofit work, this conversation is a real look at what happens when you’re just going through the motions and how to shift out of it. And she also shares a simple question that can completely change how you show up in conversations: do you want to vent or do you want help solving it?

So if you’ve been doing a lot but not seeing the impact you expected, this is where you start shifting how you show up.

Chapters:

01:00 Why being intentional matters

02:00 The difference between busy and intentional

03:00 Showing up with purpose at work

04:00 How to be intentional in relationships

05:00 The question that changes conversations

05:45 Being intentional with service work

06:30 Choosing what actually matters to you

07:15 How intention changes your results

Connect with Alyssa:

Instagram: @alyssag28

Instagram: @buildwithalyssa

LinkedIn: @alyssa-gawlinski

Let’s Stay Connected:
→ Follow Lauren on Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurennajar
→ Learn more or work with me: www.laurennajar.com
→ Follow Business Over Cocktails on IG: www.instagram.com/businessovercocktails
→ Attend Growth & Connect retreats & events: www.instagram.com/growthandconnect

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Business Chaser, your quick pour of strategy, clarity, and momentum. We skip the small talk and get straight to the strategy here in these bite-sized episodes. We're here to help you grow smarter, market better, and chase what matters all in 15 minutes or less. I'm your host, Lauren Najar. Tune in and let's chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Alyssa Galinsky, and I want to thank you all for joining in with Lauren and I this afternoon. It was super great to connect with Lauren to share a little bit about myself and to connect with you all. As Lauren and I wrapped up our time together, we were kind of going back and forth with some questions and answers. And there was a word that came out in our conversation that really hit home with me that I would like to talk about with you all. And that is being intentional. I think that often, myself included, it's really hard to get wrapped up in life and things that are going on, the work that we do, extracurricular activities that we may be involved in, and feeling like we need to say yes to everything and you need to show up and you need to be there for no matter what it is. And I feel as time has gone on and I've grown in my career and I've grown outside of my career in my service and nonprofit work that where I succeed and thrive the most are in the moments, the places, the events when I am intentional. Now that doesn't mean that when I attend things in the past or that I may in the future, that there isn't any intentional feelings behind it when I show up, but it's in the moments when I know that I've set a meeting for work and that is going to help on a big project that we're working on, that we've put the time in and to be able to sit across the table with our clients and highlight and showcase and connect with them on such a deeper level, knowing that we were intentional with what we wanted to present, why we went in there, what our outcome and our goals were. Those meetings are gonna be the greatest. Yes. And have I had meetings where I have stumbled in to an event, I have met somebody on the fly, and they've turned out to be such an exceptional contact and an individual that I never would have thought that I could have met that night or at that event. Absolutely. But I think showing up on a professional level to meetings, to your job daily with any work that you do, knowing that you have a plan, you know what your outcome is going to be and how you can achieve that along the way is going to be so much more beneficial than just winging it. And so I think also on a personal level, being intentional in my relationships with my friends, my family, knowing how I have to show up for those individuals will always look different, no matter who the person is. So I might show up differently in my relationship than I show up with my best friend, but that's okay. It doesn't mean that I'm any less of a person. Those relationships are just different. So you bring who you are and you grow and build those relationships with those individuals on their own and naturally so that you are showing up as your best self and you're coming to the table to provide whatever they might need in those moments. I think some of the best advice somebody has ever given me when it's it comes to dealing with any relationships in life is do you want to vent or are you looking for me to help solve this problem? And so I think that that advice is so intentional and to the point of whatever might be going on and being able to share that with anyone in a relationship, whether it's a best friend, it's a mom or dad, it's a significant other, I think it it's something that we all need to work on and try using. Because I think I know I could speak for myself. I show up and when somebody is going through a problem or a situation, my first like instinct is like, how can I solve this? How can I make it better? How can we keep things moving? And sometimes that's not what is needed. And it might just be that they had a really crappy day at work. They want to come home, they want to vent, get it off their chest, and move on with the rest of the evening or whatever's going on. So in that moment, hearing that advice and sharing it with individuals that I might lean on a lot, it has just changed things. It's still a work in progress because I, again, still show up and I just full-blown want to solve the problem, want to make it better. But being intentional about how you're showing up in any relationship, I promise, is going to be something that you'll never regret. I think when it comes to acts of service, I spoke about this on the podcast briefly. It's aligning yourself with organizations that mean something to you, that have touched your life, that have changed your life. That is where you're going to feel the most gratification. You are going to see impact on a level that you might not have ever experienced before. And I think that is the purpose of becoming involved with service and nonprofits is to make those changes in somebody else's life, to show up, to give back, to give more of who you are and your time to individuals or other organizations. And so when you, when you lead with heart and what's affected you and what has changed your life, you will be able to show up and be intentional about what your role can be when you join those nonprofit organizations. And that it's not just the latest and greatest thing that three of your friends are a part of that might not mean anything to you, but you're just jumping on the bandwagon because you feel you need to do something. I think that when you take that time to really dive deep and see what has changed your life, and sometimes it might be hard and you might not have an answer right away, and that's okay. Don't give up. Like sit on it, sleep on it, think on it. I promise that something would come to mind where you feel like you would be excellent at being able to jump in and give a piece of who you are back to the world and to these organizations. So ultimately, at the end of the day, it's being intentional, it's being true to who you are. And I think that when you slowly begin to work on that in your careers, personal, professional, nonprofit, service work, I think that you'll begin to see a change in yourself and in a change in how others are perceiving you and your work is impacting whatever you may be working on. So while you might not be able to change it overnight or know what you want to be intentional about going forward, I task you all with thinking on it, sleeping on it, and coming back to it that I think you'll know when it hits you what you're meant for, how you can show up and be better in a relationship, how you can strive and thrive more at work. So be intentional, stay true to who you are. Don't ever allow things to change you in a negative way. We are all unique and such incredible individuals, and life has made us that way. So embrace that and learn from it, grow from it, and continue to pour that back into the world. So thanks for tuning in on the podcast and connecting with Lauren and I. I hope to see all of you, I'm sure, at some event or somewhere soon. But thanks for listening. I'm Alyssa Galinsky.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

That's your quick hit of clarity and momentum for the week. If it sparks something, share it with a friend or tag us in your stories at Business Over Cocktails and or at Lauren Majar. We love seeing what resonates. Don't forget, Mondays are for full-length episodes with rich conversations, and Fridays are the Business Chaser episodes. These are bite sized insights pulled from our guests to keep you inspired and aligned throughout the week. Do you have a question or takeaway? DM us at Business Over Cocktails. We just might feature it in a future episode. Cheers!