Unfollow Your Passion / IWN Upper Midwest Chapter - OCT 2021

How to find your voice,
share your story & 
discover meaning in
your work (again)
IWN Upper Midwest Chapter
October 28, 2021

2021 IWN Upper Midwest Annual Event
1
Welcome to our 2021 IWN Upper Midwest Annual Event
We Will Begin Momentarily
Zoom Meeting Protocols
• Today’s Event will be Recorded
• Please Mute Your Line During the Presentation
• Use Zoom Group Chat to Share Your Thoughts or Ask Questions at Anytime
throughout Today’s Session

IWN Upper Midwest Introductions
Executive Sponsor: Christie Oettinger
Co-Chairs: Manasi Shah & Kristen Douglas
Sub-Committee Co-Leads:
MyLInda Anderson & Mandy Dix – Events
Cari Groppel and Angela Sieg-Bruhn – Outreach
Lindsey Wagner and Holly Barber – Communications
Sub-Committee Members

IWN Outreach – Project Linus
Community Outreach Project in Coordination with Today’s Event
Project Linus
Blankets are collected locally and distributed to children in hospitals, shelters,
social service agencies, or anywhere that a child might need a big hug.

Today’s Speaker – Terri Trespicio
4
Terri Trespicio
Award-Winning Writer, Speaker, Brand Advisor and Author of
Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You
TEDx Talk “Stop Searching for Your Passion” has more than 7
million views
Former Magazine Editor and Radio Host at Martha Stewart,
Appearances on The Today Show, Dr. Oz, The Early Show, Oprah
Magazine and Business Insider

What does it mean to feel
invigorated? Alive? Connected?
territrespicio.com/getit

When’s the last time you felt
that way?

A lot of people are thinking
real hard about what they’re
doing…and why.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their
jobs in July 2021.
There were 10.9 million open jobs at the
end of July.
Source: Harvard Business Review, “Who Is Driving the Great Resignation?”
The Great Resignation

What do we need to feel better, more
connected to our work?
More inspired?
More motivated?
More passionate?

Mehh…not really. Let’s
debunk some of those
myths.

Copyright © 2020 Terri Trespicio All rights reserved.
Do we need to be inspired?

The Inspiration Myth

Muse visits.

Lightbulb appears.

Float on fairy wings.

Waiting is not
a great strategy.

The Motivation Myth

Motivation
is a luxury.
(It’s also for amateurs.)

Jeff Haden, The Motivation Myth
Motivation is a result,
not a precondition.”
“ Jeff Haden,
The Motivation Myth

Jeff Haden, The Motivation Myth
“ Jeff Haden,
The Motivation Myth
“Speeches don’t
provide lasting
motivation. Progress
provides lasting
motivation.”

We don’t just want to “feel”
passionate
inspired
motivated,
and in control.

We want to feel our lives have
meaning.

So how’d I get
into this?
Magazines.

The magazine
was purchased
by this woman.

Today I’m a writer, speaker,
and brand advisor.

“Stop searching for your
passion” 7M+ views

My first book is due out in
December 2021 from
Atria/Simon & Schuster.
unfollowyourpassion.com
You’re getting a copy!

OK, so what about passion?

Find your
passion.
Lousy advice

The Passion Myth

The Passion Myth
Find the one thing you’re
meant to do and do it …
forever.

You could say I
had a passion for
writing. But that
didn’t mean I had
any idea what to
do about it.
Once up on a
time, there was
an English major.

“Passion feels very democratic.
It is the people’s talent, available
to all. It’s also mostly bullshit.”
Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert
territrespicio.com/5ways Copyright © 2020 Terri Trespicio All rights reserved.
“

“I guess I’m just more talented
than all of y’all.”
When people are interviewed about
how they achieved xyz, they rarely
say,

They say they’re successful because
they’re passionate.

“Follow that car!”
Telling someone to follow their passion is like saying…

(Namely, that we’re sold a fairy tale).
Then there’s my bigger concern

And we think there’s only One True Love.
We have swapped out the
prince for passion.

Passion is not a gift or talent.
It makes us human.
It’s native software.

There isn’t anyone
who doesn’t want to feel it.

Barbara Corcoran is the biggest
name in the brokerage business.
She does not, and never has, had
a passion for real estate.
(Her words!)

Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

I’d never caught a
football in my life. 
Mainly because no
one had ever
thrown me one.

Source: Psychological science
Fixed mindset vs. growth mindset

Source: Psychological science
People who believed passions were
“fixed” were more likely to…
•Curtail other interests
•Give up when things got tough

Do you want…
a job, a career, or a
calling?
Amy Wzresniewksi
Yale School of Management

Work is a means to an ends,
necessary evil, supports life
outside of work.
Jobs, Careers, and Callings: People’s Relations to Their Work, A. Wrzesniewski et al.
JOB

Work is a path to upward
mobility, achievement,
status.
CAREER

Work is integral to identity
and self-expression; it’s
meaningful and satisfying.
CALLING

• Reported notably and significantly
higher life and job satisfaction 
• Ranked work satisfaction
significantly higher 
• Missed fewer days of work
Those who see their work as a “Calling”

Is it just about money or rank?
Nope.

Satisfaction with life and with
work may be more dependent on
how an employee  
sees her work.

Get out of your
comfort zone.
Lousy advice

I like being
comfortable.

We spend most of our lives
decidedly uncomfortable.

Comfortable doesn’t mean
complacent, lazy, or stuck.

The goal isn’t to leave the
comfort zone, but to
expand it.

You feel overwhelmed, anxious,
exhausted—or cramped, stuck,
small.
How do you know you’re
out of your comfort zone??

Take us very far out of our
comfort zones, and our
brains stop paying attention
to anything other than
surviving the experience.
“ Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, “The
Feedback Fallacy,” Harvard Business Review

It’s clear that we learn most in
our comfort zones…It’s where
we’re most open to possibility,
most creative, insightful, and
productive.
“ Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, “The
Feedback Fallacy,” Harvard Business Review

Where do you want to be
comfortable next?
Ask yourself

•Define the zone.
•Don’t apologize.
•Process in the comfort zone.
•Lean into what you’re good at.
Get comfortable.

Stay busy.
Lousy advice

Sometimes you’re not motivated,
inspired, or passionate.
Sometimes, you’re
bored.

Our culture demonizes
boredom, and presents it as
problem to be solved.

Human.
All it means is that you’re

Mark Hawkins, The Power of Boredom
“
We are all actually profoundly
bored, but because there are so
many distractions, we don’t even
know it. The busier we are, the
more bored we are likely to be.”

What does distraction cost?

The average
office worker is
interrupted or
switches tasks
about every 3
minutes…
…costing them
up to 6 hrs a
day.
Source: Washington Post

is the death of meaning.
Distraction

Keeps us stuck.
Fear of boredom

The real risk? Losing our
capacity for boredom.

Boredom isn’t a problem;  
it’s potential.

It may even help you
become more creative.

The phone book study
• One group copied phone
numbers out of the phone
book 
• One group read the phone
book 
• Control group (did nothing)
Source: Sandi Mann et al. Creativity Research Journal

Then they were given a
creative task.

Guess who was most
creative?

Boredom clarifies meaning.

Fix what’s
broken.
Lousy advice

Fixes don’t always work.

Consider: Failed Back Surgery
Occurs between 10-40% of lumbar
laminectomy surgeries. 
As much as 36% who undergo
surgery for a herniated disc saw
pain return 2 years later.

This assumes that
something’s wrong.
It’s also not the only
definition of “fix.”

But what if UNfixing them was the
answer?
“To fix” means to fasten
securely in place; to make
permanent or secure.

Meet your reticular
activating system
•Network of neurons in the
brain stem
•Regulates behavioral arousal
•Filters what info gets through

What you look for, you find.

This can affect how you see
yourself, your work…and
other people.

Traditional feedback aims to “fix.”

The problem? It focuses us on flaws.

It puts us in fight or flight.

Emphasizes the wrong things.

People don’t need feedback.
They need attention to what
they do best.
Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, “The Feedback
Fallacy,” Harvard Business Review (April 2019)
“

What makes for the
most effective team?
Google did a study
to find out…

They assumed that an ideal mix
of skills and traits was the
answer.
They were wrong.

The Five Keys to a Successful Google Team, Julia
Rozovsky, Google People Operations | November 17, 2015
Who is on a team matters less
than how the team members
interact, structure their work,
and view their contributions.
“

Feeling secure enough to contribute
was the most common feature, by
far, of high-performing teams.  
“ Why Is It So Hard to Speak Up at Work? By Ruchika
Tulshyan, New York Times, March 15, 2021

Suggesting half-formed ideas
Taking risks
Proposing solutions
Keys to innovation
Why Is It So Hard to Speak Up at Work? By Ruchika
Tulshyan, New York Times, March 15, 2021

can hinder collaboration
and innovation
Focusing only on flaws

How often do you tell
people what they’re doing
right?

Shares insights
Feels seen/recognized
Takes initiative
Takes risks
This affects whether you/your team

We assume we’re not as
qualified, or important
enough.
Why don’t we speak up?

We worry about messing up or
sounding stupid.

We don’t want to share a half-
baked idea.

We assume someone else
knows more or better.

We assume someone else will.

We don’t want to draw
criticism.

Your insight and ideas matter.
Fact:

What’s really at stake?
•You may be overlooked and underestimated
•You hold back ideas and insights that are
useful to your team
•You keep yourself from engaging in
meaningful ways

The page can be a safe place to
explore your own voice.

Our relationship to the page began
a long time ago.

This is where
we were
conditioned to
distrust
ourselves (and
each other).

Quiet the critic.
Amplify your voice.

I’ve used this particular workshop approach
for…
at L’Oreal, Google, Wells Fargo, and more
entrepreneurs
writers financial advisors
admin staff
Plus, top executives and teams
Creatives
consultants
authors
therapists
Speakers

We’re going to write to a
prompt, and then listen to a
few and practice feedback.

The Rules of Engagement

The Rules of Engagement
• No disclaiming
• We focus on what works
• No criticizing, questions, suggestions
• We stay on the page
• We refer to the “speaker,” “narrator,”
not by name

you’ll start to see it
in your own.
Look for the genius in others’ work, and

How to write
to a prompt.
Listen to what comes up,
write it down.  
Think small, detailed,
something we can see or
feel.
Write about any scene,
moment, from any time in
your life.

Ready?

Your prompt
A time you just
knew.

How to comment
• Choose one thing you loved: a word, a phrase
• Listen for where you feel a shift in energy
• Reflect back what you heard
• Stay on the page with the writer

unfollowyourpassion.com
You get your
FREE copy +
access to
special bonuses!

IWN Upper Midwest Closing Remarks
Thank you
Mandy Dix – Events Co-Lead
MyLInda Anderson – Events Co-Lead

Get it!
Want the reading & free resource list?

Unfollow Your Passion / IWN Upper Midwest Chapter - OCT 2021

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Unfollow Your Passion / IWN Upper Midwest Chapter - OCT 2021

Similar to Unfollow Your Passion / IWN Upper Midwest Chapter - OCT 2021 (14)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (17)

Unfollow Your Passion / IWN Upper Midwest Chapter - OCT 2021