Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Are you living a life based on performance metrics or one built on purpose? It's a question that I asked myself when I found myself lamenting over only having a certain number of followers on Instagram and comparing that to other influencers who had a ton more. And I realized I was focusing on performance metrics. I wasn't focused on the real reason that I do my work, which is to bring more women into positions of power and keep them there.

Erica: So if that speaks to you, stick around because today, we are going to uncover the science behind purpose driven living. And I will even provide you with a simple made strategy that you can do today to make that shift. So get ready for a game changing chat from me to you that just might be your catalyst for your most fulfilling chapter yet.

Erica: Welcome back, friends, to another episode of your favorite podcast from now to next. Today, I have a topic that isn't just close to my heart. It is also rooted in my other love, science. We are diving deep into the shift from performance based living to purpose driven living. And let me tell you, this isn't just another self help concept.

Erica: No. No. No. This is backed by some serious research. Now when I was thinking about this, I really did like the way it sounded.

Erica: Performance based living to purpose driven living. But it isn't enough for me to just like the way something sounds. I wanna know the why. I wanna hear about the science. So I was asking myself, what does science say about purpose driven work, and how does it differ from this traditional performance based mindset that we are so accustomed to?

Erica: And just so I can cut to the chase for you, research consistently shows that people who align their work with a sense of purpose experience higher levels of overall well-being. And isn't that what we're here for, ladies? I'm telling you. Now when we talk about purpose, we are referring to this deep sense of meaning and fulfillment that you get from your work that goes beyond checking boxes and meeting performance metrics. Yes.

Erica: That stuff is important, but purpose driven work taps into our intrinsic motivations. And that's that internal factor that motivates you, and it's linked to your increased job satisfaction, engagement, and even better physical and mental health. Now I wanna give you a real life example here because I think this is important, especially with all the different generations listening in on this podcast and in the workforce today. Now not all aspects of your job are gonna be fun, especially those for entry level admin type jobs, the individual contributor type roles. And it can be really challenging for someone to find purpose and personal fulfillment and say, I don't know, filing.

Erica: Now as an HR leader, let me tell you how I approach this. Because being an HR, trust me, when I tell you we need perfection when it comes to filing and file retention, we need it to be on point. Now I have an admin that's responsible for my filing and organizing all of our terminated employee files by year, which, trust me, very boring, very mind numbing task. I always explain the why behind it. Now, of course, we need organization.

Erica: Everybody knows that. Of course, we wanna be able to find it easier, but let's go deep with it. So I would say, like, look, Jane. I know this job is boring. I know it has a suck factor, but it's super important how we function as a business.

Erica: And if we get hit by an audit or something like that, like, the if these files are not in order, we're gonna be in serious trouble with the government. We are gonna have serious repercussions hit with fines. It's gonna derail everything. If we cannot find a file, we are in violation. So while this may bore you to death, and I get it, it's really helping out the organization as a whole.

Erica: Not to mention, when you keep these files together, it makes our HR business partner's job so much easier because she can quickly find what she needs and go about her other responsibilities. So when you do this, you are helping everyone on the team. And you know what you do then? You thank them. You seriously thank them.

Erica: You have given them then purpose for the work that they are doing and gratitude for doing the work. Now I have had conversation with leaders on this topic because Gen z in the workplace really wants connection and purpose more than the boomer population, let's say. And sometimes that can be hard for these entry level individual contributor type roles. So if you're a leader, your job is to help them connect those dots just like we did with the admin I talked about earlier. But now if you're looking for this for yourself from performance based to purpose driven and you feel stuck in that performance based mindset, you can transition out of it into the purpose driven approach, and I'm a tell you how.

Erica: The first step, it's self reflection. I want you to take time to identify those core values, your core values, and what truly matters to you. Now I'm serious, y'all. If you haven't done this, I want you to really do this exercise because for the longest time, I didn't do it because I thought it was just seriously a bunch of fluff and that it was a bit ridiculous. But when I finally sat my ass down and I did it, wow.

Erica: The clarity that came with it was astounding. So take the time, identify your core values, and really think about what gives your life meaning beyond those external achievements, beyond the dollar value, beyond the title. This is important too, because we all get to a spot in our lives and in our careers where those external achievements that we are so used to, they kinda stop rolling in. I mean, think about it. They start in grade school, accomplishments for moving up every single year until you graduate high school.

Erica: There's awards for all sorts of things. Right? Then you graduate, achievement. You get a job, achievement. Then you get a few promotions, achievement, achievement, achievement.

Erica: And then maybe if you look at it from a personal perspective, you get engaged, achievement, marriage, achievement, babies, more achievements. But what happens when all of that slows down and you're just living life? You're in the thick of it. Well, I'm a tell you one thing. If you don't have a clear sense of your values, you're not going to be able to align your work with those values.

Erica: So you need to dig deep and understand yourself, and this is where it all starts. But if y'all know me, and I'm not gonna leave you hanging on this, I'm gonna give you a real way to get started. I want you to take out a piece of paper, and I want you to draw a triangle, and I want us to take up the entire sheet of paper. Next, you're gonna draw two lines horizontally through the triangle so that you have three sections. One teeny tie one teeny tiny triangle at the top and then two sections below it.

Erica: K? At the base of this triangle is your core values. So for me, courage, growth, and health and wellness. In the middle, I want you to identify your strengths. Now I like to think that some of my top ones are connection, focus, and determination.

Erica: And then at the top, this is your long term vision. What impact do you wanna make on the world? So for me, it's to bring more women into positions of power and keep them there. And now this is where the magic comes in y'all. When you take all of these three elements and you align them, you will find a clear path to your purpose driven work.

Erica: So when I pull all of that together for myself, it's what leads me to showing up here on this podcast twice a week, every week for almost two years now. It's what led me to write a book and to get my ass up on front of stages even when I was scared, even when I didn't know what I was doing. It's simple, but it is profound if you really put some thought into it. Now I love to do this work with my clients who have hard jobs. Talk about the jobs you don't wanna do.

Erica: Right? So think about a person, we'll stick with HR, who does employee relations for a living. Those jobs are not fun. They're talking to people who have potentially sexually harassed somebody or stolen from the company or someone who did something wrong inadvertently. None of those conversations are fun.

Erica: K? Talking to people who have potentially done things that no one wants to talk about, having hard conversations all day every day, can we just say, You wouldn't catch me doing that job for a million bucks. But the people who do it, they do it because they want to make their organization a safer and happier place to be. They know that the work that they are doing during the tough conversations greatly contributes to people feeling safe and respected at work. They know their work keeps people from being accused of things they didn't do.

Erica: So they have a huge purpose. It isn't about opening and resolving cases. It's not about how many of those they can get through in a week. It's about creating a safe environment for all where everyone can thrive. And that, my friend, that is a powerful transformation.

Erica: So there you have it. You've got the science. You've got the strategies, and you've even got a few stories behind transitioning from performance based to purpose driven. Now remember, it's not what you do. It's why you do it.

Erica: So grab your pen and paper, create that purpose pyramid, and I want you to reflect on that purpose. And guess what? You might have many purposes. I've got a couple, some with my family, some with my profession, and then I want you to just sit back and watch that life transform, and then I want you to tell me about it. Hit me up on Instagram.

Erica: Hit me up on LinkedIn, and tell me how this pyramid changed your life. So friends, before I send you out into the world, thank you so much for being here. I am so grateful for you and all of you that continue to show up day in, day out, and listen to these episodes. If you enjoyed this one, please do me a favor and rate, review, and subscribe the episode. It truly helps it land in the hands of the person who may need to hear the message today.